The present disclosure is directed to crystalline forms of morphine sulfate and pharmaceutical compositions comprising any of the crystalline forms of morphine sulfate. Also provided are processes for the preparation of crystalline forms of morphine sulfate.

Morphine is the most abundant of at least 50 alkaloids found in opium, poppy and poppy derivatives, Papaver somniferum. Poppy straw is opium poppy (Poppy somniferum) that is harvested when fully mature and dry, minus the ripe poppy seeds. An agricultural by-product of the poppy seed harvest, the straw was a waste product before the 1930s when a chemical process became available to extract morphine from it. Poppy straw consisting mainly of the capsule became a valuable source of morphine. Today, poppy straw is a major source of many opioids and other alkaloids. It is the source of 90% of the world supply of legal morphine (i.e. for medical and scientific use).
During processing, poppy straw is pulverized and washed many times in water and/or various acids and other chemicals to produce poppy straw concentrate (PSC) or concentrated poppy straw (CPS). Once dried, the concentrate is a beige to brown colored powder and contains salts of various alkaloids. It can range from about 9 to 30 times the morphine concentration of poppy straw. Morphine is generally 8% to 17% of the dry weight of opium, although specially-designed cultivars reach 26% or produce little morphine at all. The latter varieties, including the Przemko and Norman strains of the opium poppy, are used to produce two other alkaloids, thebaine and oripavine, which are used in the manufacture of semi-synthetic opioids like oxycodone and etorphine as well as other types of drugs. At least one manufacturer, Tasmanian Alkaloids, produces both high-morphine and high-thebaine/oripavine types of CPS.
Morphine is produced most predominantly early in the life cycle of the plant and, past the optimum point for extraction, various processes in the plant produce codeine, thebaine, and in some cases low quantities of hydromorphone, dihydromorphine, dihydrocodeine, tetrahydrothebaine and hydrocodone.
Morphine, generally administered in a salt form, is a potent opiate analgesic, for the relief of moderate to severe pain, and has been approved for use for decades. It can be administered as an injectable solution, suppository, capsule, tablet or extended release product. Like other opioids, e.g. oxycodone, hydromorphone and diacetylmorphine (heroin), morphine acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to relieve pain. Today, morphine sulfate is sold under various trade names including Astramorph PF™, Avinza®, DepoDur®, Duramorph, Infumorph, Kadian®, MS-Contin®, Oramorph® SR and RMS. Kadian® is a morphine sustained-release dosage form for once or twice per day dosing. Kadian® is currently available in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 and 200 mg morphine sulfate extended release capsules.
Morphine is regarded as the opioid drug of choice in the treatment of cancer pain, for example. Side effects of morphine treatment include, for example, nausea and vomiting, constipation, sedation, confusion and loss of appetite. It has been suggested that the use of modified release morphine formulations, apart from their convenience and their ability to provide continuous analgesia, may also result in a lower incidence and severity of morphine-related side effects. Sustained-release morphine dosage forms are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,202,128, 5,215,758, 5,378,474 and 5,672,360.
All references cited herein, including the morphine sulfate products associated with the above-mentioned trade names, are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.


An grid for a lead acid battery plate includes a central plate lug, the lug preferably having an expanded base for the collection of current and the grid being constructed in such a manner that the amount of metal is concentrated in the vicinity of the lug. A unique cast-on strap design for use with the grids is also disclosed. Substantial manufacturing advantages result from the use of such grids, and the performance of the battery can be increased to the point that individual battery plates may be eliminated, resulting in lighter weight batteries and material cost savings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of lead acid batteries, and more particularly, to a unique battery grid construction having a center lug. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to positive or negative battery plates made from such center lug grids. The invention also relates to cast-on straps of a unique design which permits materials cost savings, improved conductivity and manufacturing efficiencies in the assembly of the battery elements. In a further refinement of the present invention, the invention relates to grid constructions which include grid lugs having expanded bases and which concentrate metal, typically lead alloys, in the area of the lug to facilitate current collection. In combination, the present invention permits the elimination of individual battery plates or altering the size of the plates, yielding lighter weight batteries having performance characteristics similar to the heavier batteries which they are designed to replace or batteries of similar weight having dramatically improved performance characteristics.
2. Description of Prior Battery Systems
Lead acid batteries typically comprise a series of thin, flat, generally rectangular grids for carrying a current through the battery. The grids also serve as a substrate for supporting electrochemically active materials or "paste" deposited thereon during manufacture to form battery plates. The paste typically comprises a mixture of lead oxide and a dilute acid solution, for example sulfuric acid. The paste composition is determined by power requirements, cost and the battery environment, as is known in the art.
It is also known that groupings of individual battery plates may be assembled, interleaved with separator material, and cast together to form plate stacks. The latter are then assembled in a container to form a final battery. A typical example would be an automobile battery of the 12-volt variety where, six individual stacks are placed into a plastic container having six compartments. Obviously, to permit current to flow throughout the battery, it is necessary to join the cast-on straps of one stack with the appropriate cast-on strap of the adjacent stack. Moreover, it is necessary to provide terminal electrodes which will extend through the casing to permit electrical contact with the vehicle's electrical system.
After the battery plates are fully assembled, they are formed, i.e. charged, and the battery is placed into service. An important characteristic of batteries is called "cold cranking power," i.e. the amount of power which can be generated per unit of time. Further references will be made to cold cranking power in later sections of this specification.
In more recent years, the grid has been formed in a screen-like pattern, having a matrix or a honeycomb pattern of alternating metal strips and open spaces. A porous chemical paste is applied to the grids and the lead frame members at the top, bottom and sides. After the paste is cured, the electrodes are assembled into a battery casing, whereupon the housing is filled with aqueous electrolyte solution and sealed. In current systems, the lugs have been symmetrically offset from the centerline of the battery by amounts ranging from 1/2 inch to much larger amounts, and in many designs, the lugs of either the positive or negative battery plates are located near an upper corner of the plate. During assembly, it is necessary to couple together the positive lugs of the battery plates and to couple together the lugs of the negative plates. This is typically accomplished using cast-on lead straps formed by taking assembled battery plate stacks, inverting them, and dipping the lugs into molten lead contained within a mold. In the most common batteries in use at the time of the filing of this specification, such cast-on straps have an upstanding end position, as will be explained more fully when the drawings are described later herein.
Several of these basic battery principles are illustrated in United States patents which will be discussed below. The first is U.S. Pat. No. 669,085, issued Mar. 5, 1901 to Heidel and entitled "Battery Electrode." This patent relates to a method of mounting battery grids in a container, where recessed bosses are provided around the edges of the battery and plugs are seated in the bosses to serve as insulating spacers between the electrode and the battery cell. In FIG. 1 of the patent, an element which is unnumbered appears to be relatively near but is offset from the centerline of the battery. The element appears to be pasted, which would make it entirely distinct from the types of collector systems used today.
Another battery storage plate is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,193, issued Sep. 9, 1969 to Hughel and entitled "Storage Battery Positive Plate With Lead Fibers." In this device, 5-25% of short lead fibers are used with the positive paste material. The collectors shown in this device extend from the edges of the grids.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,545, issued Dec. 2, 1975 to Margulies, et al., a "Grid Structure For High Rate Lead/Acid Battery" is described. In this device, the grid is constructed of more numerous vertical elements than horizontal elements and a collector tab is provided offset from the center of the top. A tapered portion is provided on the top frame element. In addition, at least two current-carrying grid elements are tapered in width and expand from the bottom of the plate toward the top thereof, the purpose of which is stated to be to maximize mechanical support while minimizing the resistive paths in regions of highest current density. In the background section of this patent, reference is made to an earlier patent wherein the tops of several "bars" nearest the terminal are thickened to provide ample current-carrying capacity in the region of the terminal lug.
Another earlier grid design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,553, issued Oct. 3, 1978 to Buckethal, et al. and entitled "Composite Battery Plate Grid And Method Of Manufacturing." This patent, owned by the assignee of the present invention, describes a composite grid including a plastic support having conductive members cast in a pattern extending generally radially from the collector lug, which in this patent is located near a corner of the grid. The grid includes a rectangular frame, and horizontal and vertical grid elements, as well as the radial elements previously mentioned. The patent relates primarily to methods for molding the grid, especially the plastic support thereof.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,852, issued Sep. 9, 1980 to Qureshi for "Radial Grids For Lead Acid Batteries," the storage grid is described as including a frame having a lug on the upper edge near the corner, a set of wires parallel to one another connecting the side frame elements and a set of radial arms diverging away from the upper edge to connect the upper edge to each of the three other edges of the frame. From the patent drawings, it appears that the radial and horizontal arms are generally uniform in cross-section, although the pattern of open spaces varies as the radial arms tend to converge toward the top of the grid. Several embodiments of the radial wire design are shown.
A different grid arrangement for lead acid batteries is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,183, issued Mar. 16, 1982 to Qureshi and entitled "Grid For Batteries." The grid disclosed in this patent for supporting the active battery material is characterized by a "quasi-radial design" adapted to provide efficient battery operation. In addition to the horizontal grid elements and straight radial elements emanating from the upper frame, the design includes several elements which are partially radial and partially vertical in configuration. The obliquely arranged wires extend toward the bottom frame element.
Yet a different arrangement for grid elements is disclosed in Anderson, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,459, issued Nov. 26, 1985 and entitled "Battery Grids." The horizontal and angled wires defining this grid form a plurality of parallelogram spaces of substantially equal size, whereby paste pellets may be more uniform in the pasting operation. The lug is located on the top frame generally adjacent a corner, and in one embodiment, a tapered wire element is arranged vertically with the taper extending from bottom to top to divide the grid into two rectangular sections, each of which contains the parallelogram spaces.
A different battery plate configuration is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,180, issued Jul. 28, 1987 to Bish, et al. and entitled "Electric Storage Battery." The lugs for the respective positive and negative grids are each offset from the centerline of the battery and are coupled to like plates using a device which includes an insulating collar tightly engaging the root of each lug. The collars of the several plates abut one another and may serve to form a mold for shaping a plate strap cast thereon. The lug itself is depicted as being generally rectangular at its upper end and generally trapezoidal in the portion intermediate the upper portion and the grid itself.
Finally, another battery grid is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,799, issued Mar. 24, 1992 to Bowen, et al. and entitled "Battery Electrode Growth Accommodation." In this device, a battery grid includes a plastic frame and a plate suspended from the top of the frame to hang freely in the plastic frame. The suspension mechanism permits expansion of the paste in the planar direction of the grid. The grid itself is a relatively standard design, with a lug offset from the center of the upper frame member, with horizontal wires and a plurality of radially extending wires.
While it is apparent from the foregoing description that numerous plate and grid designs have been developed in the lead acid battery art, several problems still remain in the design and manufacture of such batteries. One of the most significant problems is the weight associated with this type of energy source, especially in these times of increasing concern for fuel efficiency and maintaining components at their lowest possible weight. Most commercial battery plates include lead alloy grid materials, combined with the electrolyte and lead based paste materials. Any system which reduced the battery weight, while maintaining the power required for a particular application, would be a significant advance in the art.
Further problems relate to the manufacture of such batteries, where the plates must be coupled by cast-on straps and where the straps must be welded to one another in adjacent cells to permit current flow through the system. Ways in which such manufacturing problems could be overcome would also represent a significant advance in the art.
Furthermore, it is always advantageous to look for ways to maximize the efficiency of the grid in transferring current from the sites where the electrochemical reactions are occurring to the collector lugs. Improvement in grid design in this area is also important.
Any system which combines the various advantages discussed in the previous few paragraphs would represent a very substantial advance in this art.

Lead acid batteries containing center lug plates and high performance cast-on straps


An IC which includes a first circuit and a plurality of first paired terminals each including a first power supply terminal and a first GND terminal which are connected to the first circuit, and a second circuit and a plurality of second paired terminals each including a second power supply terminal and a second GND terminal which are connected to the second circuit. The first and second paired terminals are isolated inside. A printed board with the IC mounted has an inductor which is provided in a route that guides a wiring line from the first GND terminal to the second GND terminal and the GND of the printed board. The printed board has a portion where each of the first GND terminals is arranged inside the terminal array of the IC. The inductor suppresses a high-frequency potential variation generated by the operation of the first circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed board and a semiconductor integrated circuit and, more particularly, to, e.g., an IC such as an ASIC having a plurality of power supply and GND terminals and a printed board with an IC mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent semiconductor integrated circuits (to be referred to as ICs hereinafter), the packaging density is increasing along with the progress of microfabrication technology, and the scale of circuits mounted in ICs is dramatically becoming large. Especially in an IC chip structure roughly divided into an internal core circuit and an I/O buffer part, the density in the internal core circuit rises. As a result, the number of switching elements such as CMOS formed in the internal core circuit increases, and the operation speed becomes higher year after year.
Since an enormous number of switching elements formed in the internal core circuit repeatedly turn on/off simultaneously in a clock cycle to operate the IC, an instantaneous carrying current is generated at the same timing. The instantaneous carrying current drops the voltage by an impedance that is parasitic to the path of the current flowing to wiring lines inside the IC and print patterns outside the IC. The periodical potential variation at a high frequency acts as a noise source. The noise is propagated through the printed board with the IC and even the entire device having the printed board.
The internal arrangement of an IC is roughly divided into an internal core circuit part and an I/O buffer part serving as an interface to an external device, as described above. In the conventional IC, the power supply wiring line of the internal core circuit part and the power supply wiring line and GND wiring line of the I/O buffer part are formed as a common wiring line in the IC.
When the power supply and GND wiring lines of the internal core circuit part and I/O buffer part are commonly formed in the IC, a high-frequency potential variation generated in the power supply and GND wiring lines of the internal core circuit part is propagated to those of the I/O buffer part. The high-frequency potential variation propagated to the power supply and GND wiring lines is output because connection to the power supply wiring line occurs when the signal output terminal of the I/O buffer part is at a high level (H) while connection to the GND wiring line occurs at a low level (L).
In addition, the high-frequency potential variation is propagated to the signal output terminal via a parasitic capacitance between the signal output terminal and the power supply wiring line of the I/O buffer part and a parasitic capacitance between the signal output terminal and the GND wiring line of the I/O buffer part. Even a parasitic capacitance with a high frequency drops the impedance so that the noise is propagated. For example, when the parasitic capacitance is 10 pF and the frequency of the noise component is 200 MHz, the impedance of the parasitic capacitance is about 80Ω. That is, the parasitic capacitance causes noise propagation to the signal output terminal although its magnitude changes depending on the magnitude of the parasitic capacitance in the I/O buffer part and the noise frequency.
The high-frequency potential variation propagated to the signal output terminal is propagated to the printed board, cable, and metal case and finally increases the radiant noise level from the device.
The signal input terminal of the I/O buffer part high-frequency-couples to the power supply wiring line and, more particularly, to the GND wiring line in the IC chip via the parasitic capacitance. For this reason, the high-frequency potential variation generated in the power supply and GND wiring lines by the instantaneous carrying current in the internal core circuit is propagated to the printed board via the terminal. This increases the radiant noise level from the device, as in the signal output terminal.
Under these circumstances, many techniques of isolating wiring lines in an IC have been proposed so far, mainly aiming at suppressing the above-described noise interference in the IC, as will be described below.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-119071 (patent reference 1) discloses a wiring structure in an IC, in which at least one of the power supply of at least one specific circuit and a reference potential wiring line is electrically disconnected and insulated from the power supply of another circuit formed on the same chip as the specific circuit and/or the reference potential wiring line. Even when a large current flows to the specific circuit and generates noise, the noise pulse is not transmitted to other circuits. This prevents any circuit operation error by the noise.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-67682 (patent reference 2) discloses a wiring structure in an IC, in which the power supply layer and ground layer of a semiconductor chip are isolated from a signal wiring line layer. In addition, each of the power supply layer and ground layer separately has an input buffer, output buffer, and internal logic circuit. This easily provides a measure against the influence of switching noise upon simultaneous operation of output buffers.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-37258 (patent reference 3) discloses an IC having a double-layer structure which incorporates a circuit formed by connecting elements provided on a predetermined substrate by using wiring lines provided in a plurality of wiring layers. In particular, the IC includes a plurality of wiring lines which are formed in the plurality of wiring layers and have a layout pattern to isolate a circuit part serving as a noise source from a circuit part for reducing noise, and contacts for connecting the plurality of wiring lines. The IC further comprises a constant potential wiring line to connect the plurality of wiring lines connected to each other to a constant potential part. This suppresses a signal from a circuit part in the IC from being induced to another circuit part in the IC as noise.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-112320 (patent reference 4) is related to an IC having first power supply and GND wiring lines and second power supply and GND wiring lines. According to patent reference 4, the first power supply and GND wiring lines are isolated from the second power supply and GND wiring lines. The first power supply and GND wiring lines connect to output buffer circuits which operate simultaneously. The second power supply and GND wiring lines connect to input/output buffer circuits other than the output buffer circuits. That is, patent reference 4 provides an effect of largely increasing the number of simultaneously operated output buffer circuits by isolating the power supply and GND wiring lines of the output and input buffer circuits which operate simultaneously.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-74259 (patent reference 5) is related to a semiconductor memory having a plurality of output terminals. As a characteristic feature of patent reference 5, power supply and GND wiring lines connected to output transistors arranged for the output terminals are isolated from adjacent wiring lines. This can reduce the influence from peripheral circuits and the influence from other adjacent output circuits. Especially, the wiring width can be reduced by connecting some of power supply wiring lines or (GND wiring lines) arrayed in parallel, thus providing an effect of suppressing any increase in the area.
As the operation speed of an IC increases, the amount of noise generated by a variation in the GND or power supply voltage during the operation increases in the external output terminal. When the working voltage of the IC drops, the noise margin also decreases. Accordingly, an operation error caused by noise during use poses a serious problem. To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-291511 (patent reference 6) proposes an IC in which peripheral power supply and GND wiring lines for an external output terminal or external input/output terminal are separated, on the pattern in the IC, from internal circuit power supply and GND wiring lines which supply a power supply voltage to an internal circuit. This prevents noise generated in the former wiring lines from influencing the internal circuit connected to the latter wiring lines.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-8233 (patent reference 7) is related to an IC having, as an internal circuit, a circuit which generates/outputs a periodic pulse signal and a circuit which operates on the basis of the periodic pulse signal. As a characteristic feature of the IC, each of the internal circuits and an output circuit including a load means for pulling up or down an input terminal and a driving means for driving an output terminal separately comprises power supply and GND wiring lines and power supply and GND terminals. Circuits which often process the periodic pulse signal are grouped as the internal circuits and separated from the power supply system of the output circuit including the load means for pulling up or down the input terminal and the driving means for driving the output terminal. Harmonic noise generated in the internal circuits does not radiate not only from the output terminal but also from the input terminal that is pulled up or down. Patent reference 7 can limit the noise radiation source to only the power supply system of the internal circuits and reduce the periodic spectral harmonics electromagnetically radiated from the IC.
The power supply wiring line and GND wiring line isolated from each other in the IC are high-frequency-isolated by the inductance component parasitic to the wiring part in the semiconductor chip and the parasitic inductance component of the bonding wires that connect the semiconductor chip to the lead frame. Hence, it is possible to prevent any operation errors and noise propagation independently of the pattern wiring on the printed board.
As described above, many techniques of isolating the power supply and GND wiring lines of each functional block from those of other functional blocks in an IC have been disclosed to prevent various kinds of noise interference in the IC.
Even for a printed board with a plurality of ICs, various proposals have been made to solve the problems concerned with noise, such as radiant noise and operation errors, by isolating the power supply wiring lines or GND wiring lines of the ICs or separating a high frequency by using, e.g., an inductance element.
For example, each of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-13909 (patent reference 8), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-41629 (patent reference 9), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-223997 (patent reference 10), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-233951 (patent reference 11), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-274558 (patent reference 12), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-69169 (patent reference 13), Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-133747 (patent reference 14), and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-282781 (patent reference 15) discloses a printed board in which the wiring line of the external power supply terminal or GND terminal of an IC is physically pattern-isolated or isolated by using an inductance element from those of other ICs mounted on the printed board.
Patent reference 15 discloses a multi-layered circuit board with an IC such as an ASIC having a plurality of power supply terminals and GND terminals. Patent reference 15 discloses the following arrangement to provide a circuit board capable of reducing EMI noise radiated from the circuit board while suppressing the number of bypass capacitors. A main power supply plane and a sub power supply plane which is formed into an island shape and has a clearance to ensure electrical disconnection from the main power supply plane are provided in a first layer. A first power supply pattern which is formed in a layer different from the first layer and connected to a bypass capacitor connects the main power supply plane to the sub power supply plane. Power supply to at least some power supply terminals of the IC is done via a second power supply pattern which connect to the sub power supply plane without intervening a bypass capacitor.
As described above, the packaging density of an internal core circuit is increasing every day along with the progress of microfabrication technology. The number of switching elements such as CMOS formed in the internal core circuit is further increasing, and its operation speed is constantly becoming higher.
The arrangements proposed by patent references 1 to 7, which isolate power supply and GND wiring lines in an IC to prevent noise generated in the internal core circuit of the IC from being propagated to other block circuits, do not suffice. In other words, improvements from two aspects, i.e., a measure for the internal arrangement of an IC and an improved pattern wiring method for a printed board are necessary.
Patent references 8 to 14 disclose a printed board with a plurality of ICs in which the power supply patterns or GND patterns of the ICs are isolated by wiring or by using inductance elements. These arrangements can prevent a high-frequency potential variation that occurs in the power supply terminal or GND terminal of each of the ICs separately mounted on the printed board from being propagated to the power supply terminals or GND terminals of other ICs.
However, in an IC such as an ASIC having a plurality of functional blocks in one package, each functional block has a power supply terminal and a GND terminal. The power supply terminals or GND terminals of a single IC are connected by one wiring line on the printed board. For this reason, a potential variation caused by a high-frequency current generated in the internal core circuit is propagated to the power supply terminals or GND terminals of all I/O buffers via the pattern on the printed board. Hence, the high-frequency potential variation is propagated to input/output signal lines from all I/O buffers.
As a result, the high-frequency potential variation propagated to the signal input terminals and signal output terminals is propagated to the printed board, cable, and metal case as high-frequency noise. The cable serves as an antenna to radiate the propagated noise. The metal case may serve as a noise radiant antenna depending on its shape. For example, a metal case formed by juxtaposing flat metal sheets at very short intervals or a plurality of cases having a long gap at their joints, serve as antennas.
In a device formed by wholly enclosing the printed board and the cable by a box-shaped metal case, noise propagated to the cable is finally shielded by the BOX-shaped metal case. Hence, the radiant noise level from the device is low. In the BOX-shaped metal case enclosing the device, the metal sheets contact each other at many joints so that the radiant noise level from the device is low. Examples of a device enclosed by a BOX-shaped metal case are measuring instruments such as an oscilloscope and a personal computer.
However, if it is difficult to wholly enclose a device by a BOX-shaped metal case, noise propagated to the cable is not suppressed, and finally, the radiant noise level from the device becomes high.
For example, an image forming apparatus is equipped with not only electrical parts such as a printed board and a cable but also many parts for an electrophotographic process. It also includes a number of parts such as a cartridge and a fixing device which are changed by the user. A paper feed cassette is also provided as a printing medium supply unit. In this case, enclosing the whole device degrades usability. To partially enclose only the printed board and cable by a metal case, a lot of complex parts are necessary, resulting in an increase in the size and cost of the device.
When the I/O port of an ASIC connects to only another IC in the same printed board, the influence on radiant noise is small because there is no connection to the cable serving as an antenna. In an image forming apparatus, however, the ASIC often has a number of I/O ports which are connected to circuits on other printed boards via cables. This increases the influence on radiant noise.
In patent reference 15, a plurality of power supply terminals provided in one IC are distributed to the main power supply plane and a sub power supply plane which is formed into an island shape and has no bypass capacitor. Power to some terminals is selectively supplied from the power supply planes. This arrangement can reduce the number of bypass capacitors and prevent common-mode noise generated by, e.g., the high-speed switching operation of the IC for leaking to the main power supply plane. According to patent reference 15, a GND plane layer connected to a ground potential is formed so that the internal logic GND terminal of the ASIC connects to a stable GND potential. For this reason, noise leakage from the internal logic GND poses no serious problem.
However, if the IC operation becomes quicker, and its harmonic noise reaches a noise frequency where the impedance of the GND plane is no longer negligible, the current flowing to the GND plane layer formed as a common impedance changes to a noise source. The noise frequency is, e.g., approximately 500 MHz to 5 GHz. This makes the GND potential of the IC unstable in the high-frequency band. The high-frequency noise generated in the GND plane increases the EMI noise level radiated from the circuit board. To reduce the inductance component of the GND plane, a conductive layer (generally, 35-μm thick copper foil) is thickened by several times. However, this increases the cost.
In a single-layered single-sided printed board or a two-layered double-sided printed board, the inductance component of the GND plane is relatively large. For this reason, the wiring impedance of the GND pattern has an effect even in a lower frequency band (e.g., 100 MHz to 200 MHz band). This makes the GND potential of the IC unstable. The high-frequency noise propagated to the GND pattern is propagated to the power supply terminal of the I/O buffer part via the GND terminal of the I/O buffer part and the bypass capacitor. That is, the high-frequency noise is propagated to all input/output signal terminals of the IC.
As described above, in a single-layered single-sided printed board or a two-layered double-sided printed board, it is impossible to form a power supply plane and GND plane capable of supplying a stable power supply voltage and reference GND potential to the entire printed board. As a measure against noise, the GND pattern is connected by a solid GND structure which is as close to a four-layered board as possible. An ASIC mounted on a single-layered single-sided printed board or a two-layered double-sided printed board is rarely a very high speed, large scale integrated circuit, unlike an IC mounted on a four-layered printed board, from the viewpoint of the application purpose. Hence, a measure against noise is taken by making the area of the solid GND as large as possible.
However, even in an ASIC which is mounted on a single-layered single-sided printed board or a two-layered double-sided printed board and operates at a relatively low clock speed (e.g., about 10 MHz to 20 MHz), the packaging density of the internal core circuit is increasing year after year. As a result, the number of switching elements such as CMOS used in the internal core circuit is increasing, and the operation speed is becoming higher.
Even when the system clock speed used for an actual operation is as low as about 20 MHz, the rise speed (Tr) and fall speed (Tf) of a system clock pulse used in an internal operation exhibit a steep signal waveform. This increases the instantaneous carrying current that flows due to switching of the internal core circuit driven by the system clock.
The frequency of the recently used system clock is also becoming higher in inverse proportion to the decrease in the cost of the IC. Since the rise speed (Tr) and fall speed (Tf) of the system clock pulse increase, and the speed of the system clock itself also increases, the frequency band of the harmonic component contained in radiant noise becomes high. When the frequency of the radiant noise component is high, the impedance value by the pattern wiring on the printed board increases, and the GND potential of the printed board becomes increasingly unstable. In the single-layered single-sided printed board or two-layered double-sided printed board incapable of forming a flat power supply wiring line or GND wiring line, unlike the four-layered printed board, the impedance up to a relatively stable frame GND increases so that the influence on the GND terminal potential of the IC increases more and more.
For example, the power supply and GND terminals of the internal core part and those of I/O buffer parts provided in a single IC are arranged almost at the same location in consideration of the size of the entire printed board. For this reason, in the IC having a number of power supply and GND terminals, the wiring impedance between the power supply terminals or GND terminals is smaller than the impedance up to the frame GND, and interference in a high-frequency band occurs more readily than before. That is, the high-frequency potential variation generated in the power supply and GND terminals of the internal core circuit is more easily propagated to those of the I/O buffer unit via the pattern wiring on the printed board. Consequently, the radiant noise level propagated to the signal input/output terminals of the I/O buffer unit becomes high.
In addition, if the single-layered single-sided printed board or two-layered double-sided printed board is changed to a four-layered printed board to form a solid GND with a low impedance, the cost of the printed board largely rises.
The high-frequency potential variation is propagated to the power supply and GND wiring lines on the printed board and all signal input/output lines from the I/O buffer. To prevent this, it is necessary to add a filter onto the printed board or use a ferrite core or shield metal sheet. However, these measures require a very long design time and high cost.

Printed board and semiconductor integrated circuit


A toilet seat and lid lifter assembly which is constructed of a first frame member of generally U-shape and a second frame member of generally S-shape for gripping both a toilet seat and a toilet lid together such that the seat and lid can be simultaneously lifted or lowered without having to touch by hand.

In the use of a toilet, the toilet seat and the toilet lid have to be lifted frequently when the toilet is used for certain purposes. For instance, when the toilet is used for urination by a male. This becomes a tedious task since most people lift one thing at a time, i.e. lifting the toilet lid first and then lifting the toilet seat after the lid has been lifted. It is especially tedious when in a public bathroom since the lid and the seat are usually not clean and it becomes a dreadful job for lifting the seat and the lid. It is therefore desirable to provide a way of lifting the toilet seat and the toilet lid simultaneously without having to touch either the seat or the lid by a person's hand.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simple tool that can be used to lift a toilet seat and a toilet lid simultaneously without having to touch them by hand.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple tool for lifting a toilet seat and toilet lid simultaneously that is of a compact size and can be carried easily by the user.


Method and apparatus for expanding the functionality of vehicle cassette tape player decks to permit driver dictation or other recording and automatic remote station relaying of same through integration with cellular radio telephone apparatus and the like.

While audio mono, multi-channel and stereo tape recorders (analog and digital) with recording and playback functions have been employed for decades in many settings, including fixed and portable versions, the conventional tape deck systems available for automobiles have been restricted to playback functions for the listening entertainment of the operator and other passengers. This operator-passive listening mode has extended, also, to FM and AM radio reception, though operator-active speaking from the vehicle has, within the past decade, become customary through the use of a separate cellular radio telephone transmitter-receiver also provided in the vehicle, but at a different location than the tape deck-radio receiver.
There are, however, serious restraints upon operator-active functions during vehicle movement that do not exist in the usual fixed or portable tape recorder settings, in view of the necessity that the operator give substantially total attention to driving and minimal or insignificant operational attention to the tape deck. It is to the problem of enabling such minimal diversion of the operator's attention while expanding the functionality of the tape deck to permit the operator to dictate and record and/or automatically transmit the dictation via the vehicle cellular radio, either in real time or by playback, that the present invention is primarily directed. Adding such facility to the vehicle-installed tape deck with safe and minimal attention diversion from the driving function obviates the current need for separate tape recorders to be carried by the operator or vehicle. And it also achieves the very desirable result of (1) enabling operator-active dictation for local storage while driving, and subsequent playback; (2) for real time automatic relay to remote stations, such as the operator or another's office, home, or message center or the like; and/or (3) for subsequent playback and automatic transmission to remote stations at desired times. With the incorporation of the features of the invention, furthermore, it also fortuitously becomes possible to enable recording of the AM-FM radio broadcast reception at the vehicle, if desired, and either real-time transmittal of the same to a remote location via the vehicle cellular radio telephone and/or the subsequent transmission by playback of the broadcast recorded by the tape deck.

Method of and apparatus for expanding functionality of vehicle cassette tape-player decks to permit dictation or other recording and automatic remote station relaying of the same


The present invention relates to chemoprotective compounds and a method for producing chemoprotectant precursor-enriched extracts from crucifer seeds. More particularly, a method is provided for producing chemoprotectant precursor-enriched extracts from radish seeds with increased ratio of glucoraphanin to glucoraphenin. The general method comprises preparing an aqueous extract, contacting the aqueous extract with an adsorbent, removing the adsorbent to obtain a glucosinolate-containing extract, drying the glucosinolate-containing extract to obtain a dried glucosinolate-containing extract, mixing at least a portion of the dried glucosinolate-containing extract with a solvent to form a glucosinolate-containing suspension, clarifying the glucosinolate-containing suspension, contacting the glucosinolate-containing suspension with a catalyst, and introducing hydrogen for a time sufficient to obtain a chemoprotectant precursor-enriched extract. The chemoprotectant precursor-enriched extracts may be further processed to form a chemoprotectant precursor-enriched isolate or processed for use in various applications, including incorporation into a variety of food products and pharmaceuticals.

It is generally agreed that diet plays a large role in controlling the risk of developing cancers and that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables may reduce cancer incidences in humans. The presence of certain minor chemical components in plants may provide a major protection mechanism when delivered to mammalian cells. Moreover, providing pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, or foods fortified or supplemented with cancer-fighting chemical components derived from plants may provide additional health benefits. An important trend in the U.S. food industry is to promote health conscious food products.
Cruciferous vegetables contain phytochemical precursors to potent chemoprotectants, especially glucoraphanin (which is also known as sulforaphane glucosinolate or 4-methylsulfinylbutyl glucosinolate) and its associated conversion product sulforaphane, that appear to trigger carcinogen detoxification mechanisms when delivered to mammalian cells. Glucosinolates are found in dicotyledenous plants and most commonly in the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) families. Glucosinolates are sulfur-containing compounds of the general structure:
Glucosinolates include an R-group derived from amino acids and a thioglucosidic link to the carbon of a sulphonated oxime. The thioglucosidic bonds of the glucosinolates are hydrolyzed by beta-thioglucosidases into unstable glucosinolate aglycones, which undergo spontaneous rearrangement into chemoprotectant isothiocyanates, such as sulforaphane, and other compounds, such as nitriles and thiocyanates.
In addition to reducing the risk of certain cancers, glucoraphanin, through its bioactive conversion product sulforaphane, has recently been shown effective in destroying organisms responsible for causing the majority of stomach ulcers and may provide novel approaches for reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular and ocular diseases. Efforts are being undertaken to gain approval for making label claims on food products either naturally high in these agents or for foods containing added crucifer chemoprotectants. Products containing chemoprotectant additives, although without such label claims, are already on the market.
Cruciferous vegetables also contain other compounds, such as indole glucosinolates (for example, 4-hydroxyglucobrassican), which may be problematic for maintaining good health. Not only are these compounds weak inducers of the carcinogen detoxification system, but they can also induce systems which may bioactivate certain pro-carcinogens. Therefore, it is advantageous to produce glucoraphanin-containing preparations containing as little residual indole glucosinolates, or other adverse compounds, as possible.
The production of glucosinolates, particularly glucoraphanin, is problematic because of their high cost. Until the present invention, the best production source of glucoraphanin was expensive specialty broccoli cultivars. The considerable health potential of glucosinolates has not been realized due to the high cost of sourcing glucoraphanin. Hence, there is a need to provide alternative methods for producing high yields of glucosinolates, particularly glucoraphanin.
The present process, which is both technically straightforward and attractive from a production cost standpoint, provides such improvements. Indeed, the present process makes it possible to prepare extracts enriched with chemoprotectant precursor compounds, particularly glucoraphanin, from relatively inexpensive radish seeds while offering the health benefits of extracts prepared from substantially more expensive broccoli cultivars.

Method of enriching glucoraphanin in radish seed preparations


An image forming apparatus includes a developing apparatus having a container for storing a developer, a developer carrier in which a surface that carries the developer is configured so that a plurality of dielectric portions is interspersed on a surface formed of a conductor portion, and a regulating member that regulates a layer thickness of the developer that is carried on the developer carrier. In addition, a voltage applying unit applies voltages to the developer carrier and the regulating member. The voltage applying unit has a period, during non-image formation, over which voltages are applied to the developer carrier and the regulating member, with an absolute value of potential difference between the applied voltages being greater than that when a voltage is applied during image formation to at least one of the developer carrier and the regulating member, such that a force generated to attract the developer toward the developer carrier during non-image formation is weaker than that generated during image formation.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic scheme.
Description of the Related Art
Developing assemblies in which a developer feed/stripping member is omitted have been proposed in order to reduce the size and lower the cost of developing assemblies of image forming apparatuses. Developer feed/stripping members have the function of supplying and stripping a developer (toner) to/from a developing roller (developer carrier). Developer feed/stripping members are used mainly as countermeasures against ghosting, solid image tracking defects and toner melt adhesion.
Herein, ghosting denotes a phenomenon where, upon formation of a halftone image following formation of a solid image of high density, vestiges of the solid image are visible on the halftone image. Solid image tracking defects are a phenomenon where the density at the trailing end of the image drops, and which occur when a 100% solid image is drawn over the entirety of the image. Toner melt adhesion is a phenomenon where every time that an image formation operation is performed, the toner on the developing roller is not replaced but remains therefor a long time. This is exacerbated with repeated rubbing, and, eventually, the toner becomes fixed to the surface of the developing roller. In order to omit a developer feed/stripping member, therefore, the above problems need to be dealt with by resorting to some other means.
Accordingly, developing assemblies from which a developer feed/stripping member has been scrapped have been proposed wherein the surface of the developing roller is configured to have dielectric portions and conductor portions that are distributed, mixed with each other regularly or irregularly, over the surface of the developing roller (Japanese Patent Nos. 3272056 and 3162219). Specifically, a developer regulating member rubs the dielectric portions of the developing roller surface, directly or via toner, so that, as a result, the dielectric portions become charged, and small closed electric fields are formed on portions, of the dielectric portions, adjacent to the conductor portions. Toner having been transported onto the developing roller surface is acted upon by gradient forces derived from the small closed electric fields. The toner is drawn thereby onto the developing roller surface, to be carried thereon.
In toner supply by gradient forces, however, the attraction force of the developing roller towards the toner may in some instances be stronger than in cases where a developer feed/stripping member is used, and toner melt adhesion may occur.
Technologies proposed for suppressing occurrence of toner melt adhesion in developing rollers that exploit gradient forces include methods that involve forming a predetermined potential difference during non-image formation, to cause thereby toner on the developing roller to migrate to a developer feed/stripping member (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H09-197803). Specifically, schemes have been disclosed that involve forming a potential difference such that toner on the developing roller is attracted towards the developer feed/stripping member, to electrically strip off the toner on the developing roller.
In such a technology, however, a developer feed/stripping member has to be provided in order to electrically attract toner on the developing roller. This constitutes an impediment to reductions in size and cost.

Image forming apparatus having voltage application to regulating member and developer carrier


A bearing can include a ball member, a race, and a liner located on an interior surface of the race, the liner having a first surface bonded to an interior surface of the race, the liner having a second surface that is adjacent to the ball member. The bearing also includes a wafer having a wear surface that is aligned with the second surface of the liner, the wafer being an electrically conductive member. Operational wear of the liner can be calculated by comparing a measured resistance of the wafer to an original known resistance of the wafer.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a system and method for monitoring wear in a bearing.
2. Description of Related Art
Bearings can be used in a wide variety of implementations. One conventional implementation is the use of a rod end bearing in a rotor system of a helicopter. The rod end can have a liner between the ball and the race in order to reduce friction therebetween. Over time, the liner can wear away and necessitate replacement of the bearing. Conventionally, the amount of wear is detected by applying a load and measuring the amount of relative motion between the ball and the race of the bearing. This process is labor intensive, inaccurate, and can require special procedures and equipment to perform.
There is a need for an improved system and method of monitoring wear in a bearing.

System and method of monitoring wear in a bearing


In order to be able to accept single sausage portions after leaving the filling machine and to be able to deposit them in an ordered manner with respect to quantity and position, an acceleration device for accepting the sausage portions from a filling machine in a row and for conveying them further, and a transfer device for pushing the single sausage portions sideways from the acceleration device at defined positions.

During the fully automatic production of sausages, normally filling machines are used which determine the sausage geometry with regard to length, weight and caliber. Here the term "filling machine" comprises the complete sausage-producing unit, consisting of vacuum filler, twist-off unit, length unit including the parting unit.
Numerous filling machines possess a parting device to subdivide the produced sausage skein into individual sausage portions, i.e. single sausages or chains of sausages with a predetermined number. Once the subdivided sausage portions have left the filling machine, they lie without arrangement on the table provided for them or on a conveyor belt. A conveyor belt can, for example, serve as a feeder for higher level systems, such as a freezing tunnel or cooking equipment.
If sausage portions are transferred onto a table or onto a conveyor belt in a disarranged manner, they must be placed into a suitable package involving increased manual work in sorting. With a disarranged transfer into a freezing tunnel or continuous-flow cooking system optimum distribution cannot occur, because the sausages lie over one another randomly. Consequently, the maximum throughput through the following processing equipment is not achieved.

Device and method for the ordered deposition of parted sausage portions

Albert H. Handtmann Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG


An apparatus comprises a processing platform configured for characterization, provisioning and access of data set virtual neighborhoods. The processing platform comprises a virtual neighborhood describer, a virtual neighborhood provisioner and a virtual neighborhood visitor. The virtual neighborhood describer is configured to generate characterizations of data set virtual neighborhoods responsive to one or more requirements, such as specified or derived requirements, or combinations thereof. The virtual neighborhood provisioner is configured to utilize the characterizations to generate provisioned data set virtual neighborhoods responsive to one or more corresponding provisioning requests. The virtual neighborhood visitor is configured to access at least one of: (a) one or more data set content indexes associated with at least one of the provisioned data set virtual neighborhoods, and (b) one or more data sets associated with at least one of the provisioned data set virtual neighborhoods, responsive to a given submitted access request.

In conventional information processing systems, data sets are often processed without adequate knowledge of interrelationships among those data sets. For example, such knowledge may be buried in particular processes or code, or may be otherwise difficult to obtain. As a result, obtaining such knowledge may require expertise on arcane details of processing operations and system design. Other types of information relating to data sets, such as data set lifecycles, are similarly opaque.
Accordingly, data set access in conventional systems is generally handled by complex extractions that do not support changing requirements of data consumers, or by providing access to heterogeneous data sources without the understanding of interrelationships that would make the data more relevant and useful.

Data set virtual neighborhood characterization, provisioning and access


A planar frequency tripler comprised of two semiconductor diode structures connected back-to-back by an n.sup.+ doped layer (N.sup.+) of semiconductor material utilizes an n doped semiconductor material for a drift region (N) over the back contact layer in order to overcome a space charge limitation in the drift region. A barrier layer (B) is grown over the drift region, after a sheet of n-type doping (N.sub.sheet) which forms a positive charge over the drift region, N, to internally bias the diode structure. Two metal contacts are deposited over the barrier layer, B, with a gap between them. To increase the power output of the diodes of a given size, stacked diodes may be provided by alternating barrier layers and drift region layers, starting with a barrier layer and providing a positive charge sheet at the interface of a barrier on both sides of each drift region layer with n-type .delta. doping. The stacked diodes may be isolated by etching or ion implantation to the back contact layer N.sup.+ and a separate metal contact deposited on each stacked diode.

A need exists to generate a near-millimeter wave radiation of moderate power from a fundamental input wave using solid-state devices in a phased array that combines the outputs of the devices with no ohmic contacts between devices in a two-dimensional grid.
Gallium arsenide Schottky barrier varactor diodes are the classical devices for frequency multiplication in the microwave region. During the last two decades efforts have been made to adapt this device for operation in the millimeter wave region. The most important improvement was the introduction of a moderately doped epitaxial layer on a heavily doped substrate for reduction of series resistance without loss of capacitance swing. However, the Schottky barrier varactor diode is still hampered by significant disadvantages, such as a substantial parasitic series resistance due to the ohmic back contact and the relatively long path from that contact to the active layer, especially when the skin effect becomes important. Another disadvantage is that the second harmonic is mainly generated so that for higher order multiplication expensive idler circuits must be provided.
Those disadvantages are overcome by the device disclosed in the aforesaid patent and illustrated schematically in FIG. 1a. It introduces the concept of back-to-back varactor diodes with electron blocking barriers (B) over a positive charge sheet, an intrinsic drift region (I), and a n.sup.+ doped region N.sup.+ that provides a back contact between the two BIN.sup.+ diodes. FIG. 1b is a diagram of its equivalent circuit. However, such a BIN.sup.+ device has its limitations; it is space charge limited.
The replacement of the Schottky barrier (which blocks only reverse current) by a barrier involving a positive charge sheet (which blocks also forward current) will enable the BIN.sup.+ device to reach the maximum capacitance without any external bias because it is already at an arbitrary reverse bias set by the positive charge sheet. When two such diodes are connected back to back in antiseries through the n.sup.+ doped region, a symmetrical capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristic is obtained, and the structure generates only odd harmonics without idlers. Thus, by integrating two diodes back to back on one chip, back ohmic contacts are eliminated.
In contrast to conventional varactor diodes with a Schottky barrier, BIN.sup.+ diodes with a Mott or heterojunction barrier allow operation with a symmetric C-V characteristic of high Cmax/Cmin ratio by connecting two diodes back-to-back.
Each BIN.sup.+ back-to-back diode structure may be constructed, top to bottom, of Schottky metal contacts for external connections, a barrier layer with a thickness d.sub.bar .apprxeq.10 to 30 nm, a charge sheet of n-type doping, a drift region of intrinsic GaAs with a thickness d.sub.drift .apprxeq.50 . . . 150 nm, and an n.sup.+ layer internally connecting the two diodes in antiseries. As noted above, no bias is required as the sheet doping controls the operating point of the diodes. Thanks to the favorable structure geometry, the parasitic series resistance is minimal and does not degrade due to skin effect.
Lateral isolation from other devices on the same chip can be achieved by mesa etching and deposition of an insulating dielectric, such as SiO.sub.2. An additional light etch after metal deposition for surface contacts is recommended in order to reduce near-surface leakage between the metal contacts. The simple, high-yield planar process is appropriate for high-reliability hybrid integration of single devices with planar waveguide coupling and filter structures as well as for on-chip integration with planar antennas in quasi-optically coupled multidiode arrays.
The theoretical models presented here are not intended to be rigorous but rather to serve as guides to the prototype design of such structures. In this spirit, an intrinsic cut-off frequency is estimated for each type of diode from the minimum series capacitance of the drift layer, C'.sub.min, occurring in depletion and its maximum series resistance, R'.sub.max, occurring in accumulation, as EQU .omega..sub.ci =1/R'.sub.max C'.sub.min. (1)
Parasitic series resistance must be added to R'.sub.max for calculation of the extrinsic cut-off frequency. In reality, time averages of series capacitance and resistance affect the harmonic generation of the diodes making it dependent on the signal waveforms and thus on the embedding and driving conditions.
As noted above, when the drift region is intrinsic (I), electrons injected from the back contact layer (N.sup.+) carry a space charge limited current with a transit time limited frequency response. The C-V characteristic in this case has a steep transition, (dC/dV)/C=q/kT, between C.sub.min and C.sub.max enabling the "space charge varactor" to generate a frequency spectrum of high harmonic content suitable for triplers and higher order multipliers already at low power levels. With EQU C'.sub.min =.epsilon..sub.drift A/d.sub.drift ( 2)
and the high-field approximation EQU R'.sub.max =d.sup.2.sub.drift /2.epsilon..sub.drift V.sub.s A,(3)
one obtains EQU .omega..sub.ci =2v.sub.s /d.sub.drift' ( 4)
where A is the area of a single diode and v.sub.s is the effective electron saturation velocity, which may depend on d.sub.drift and the field distribution. As d.sub.drift /v.sub.s represents the average time needed by an electron to cross the drift region, the response of the BIN.sup.+ diode is transit-time limited and does not depend on the electron concentration. Estimates of the value of the average electron velocity in 100 nm GaAs layers range from 0.6.times.10.sup.7 cm/s for space averaging to 3.times.10.sup.7 cm/s for time averaging. A simulation for transit time devices gave values 1 to 2.times.10.sup.7 cm/s. Similar values have been calculated for Si. Table 1 lists the calculated intrinsic cut-off frequencies.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Calculated for d.sub.drift = 100 nm and N = 10.sup.17 /cm.sup.3 .eta./ .mu. (N) v.sub.s E.sub.crit (N) f.sub.ci (BIN) f.sub.ci (BNN) .eta..sub.o [cm.sub.2 /Vs] [cm/s] [kV/cm] [GHz] [THz] ______________________________________ Si 12 700 1 .times. 10.sup.7 15 300 1.5 GaAs 13 4500 1 to 2 to 4 300 to 8.6 2 .times. 10.sup.7 600 ______________________________________
The validity of the BIN.sup.+ concept of the aforesaid patent was proven with a single whisker-coupled SiO.sub.2 /Si diode operating as a frequency doubler in a waveguide mount and performing closely to the predictions of a large signal analysis for a stepfunction C-V.
FIG. 2 shows C-V characteristic curves from a pair of back-to-back BIN.sup.+ diodes with characteristic values related to physical diode properties. The maximum capacitance is reached when both diodes are in accumulation, whereas at the minimum capacitance one diode is in accumulation and the other fully depleted, leading to ##EQU1## with C.sub.bar =.epsilon..sub.bar A/d.sub.bar and C'.sub.min =.epsilon..sub.drift /d.sub.drift, where A is the area of each single diode, .epsilon..sub.BAR is the dielectric constant of the barrier and .epsilon..sub.drift is the dielectric constant of the drift region. The halfwidth of the C-V curve is close to 2V.sub..function., where V.sub..function. is called flatband voltage because at that voltage the field at the barrier is zero, marking the transition between accumulation and depletion of the drift region.
For the most general case of a trapezoidal barrier, as shown in FIG. 3, the flatband voltage V.sub..function. is determined by the following Equation (7) from the n-type doping sheet, N.sub.sheet, together with the barrier height at the metal interface, .PHI..sub.M, the barrier height at the interface with the drift material, .PHI..sub.D, and a and N.sup.+, the back contact layer, .PHI..sub.N+ (.apprxeq.0.1 V at room temperature). ##EQU2## with L.sub.D =.sqroot.2.epsilon..sub.drift kT/q.sup.2 n.sup.+ being the Debye length of the back contact layer N.sup.+. This formation covers several types of barriers which are listed in Table 2. In particular, this discussion refers tot he triangular barrier created by the doping sheet in all-GaAs material, i.e., .PHI..sub.D =0, as a Mott barrier.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ Properties of various barriers Barrier m.sub.bar/ Type Material Drift Region .PHI..sub.M [V] .PHI..sub.D [V] m.sub.O ______________________________________ Mott GaAs GaAs 0.8 0 0.07 Hetero- AlGaAs GaAs 1.2 0.4 0.10 junction Hetero- AlAs GaAs :.tau. 2.0 1.0 0.15 junction :X 1.4 0.6 0.19 Oxide SiO.sub.2 Si 3.2 . . . 4.1 3/2 1.0 ______________________________________
As the capacitance changes, the series resistance also changes, as shown in FIG. 2. The maximum, EQU R.sub.max =2R'.sub.max +R.sub.N+' ( 9)
is the resistance of both drift regions of the back-to-back diodes in accumulation plus the parasitic series resistance, whereas the minimum EQU R.sub.min =R'.sub.max +R.sub.N+' ( 10)
is the resistance of only one accumulated diode plus parasitic because the other diode is fully depleted. As a reasonable average value R=1.5 R.sub.max '+R.sub.N+ has been used in the simulations.
FIG. 4 shows a simulated result for a tripler to 200 GHz. For a given halfwidth 2V.sub..function. the efficiency .eta. peaks at a certain input power with the peak shifting to higher powers, broadening and reaching a saturation value for larger halfwidths. Furthermore, the input power is related to the peak voltage drop over the capacitance V.sub.c' by P.sub.in .varies.V.sub.c. The condition for maximum efficiency, obtained from many simulations, can be described by ##EQU3## where 2V.sub..function. should be much larger than kT/q for a BIN+structure.
A discussion of what limits V.sub.c follows with reference to FIG. 5 where the conduction band edge of back-to-back BIN.sup.+ structure with Mott barriers and a 100 nm drift region has been plotted from a PISCES simulation depicting the situation 100 ps after the application of a large voltage step. (The solution after only 10 ps is practically identical as expected for a transit time of the order of 1 ps.) The steady-state solution differs by a decreased voltage drop over the forward biased barrier due to a substantial leakage conductance. The fields are high in the reverse biased diode and low in the forward biased diode as long as the input frequency is much smaller than the cut-off frequency.
The forward biased barrier exhibits a leakage current of density ##EQU4## which is caused by thermionic emission (TE) over the barrier with m.sub.bar being its effective mass and .PHI..sub.B its effective height. The leakage current in the reference biased barrier is dominated by Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling with a density ##EQU5## which, in contrast to the thermionic current, is a
reverse leakage barrier E.sub.bar >0. As a consequence, the current rises very sharply with the total applied voltage and will overtake the forward leakage current at a breakdown voltage. Beyond that voltage, the barriers would become highly rectifying in a sense that would lead to a build-up of charge between the barriers, which would shift the flatband voltage.
This functional breakdown voltage is estimated by equating the exponents of Equations (12) and (13). This leads to the barrier breakdown field ##EQU6## FIG. 5 shows by the solid line triangular peak the effective height of the Mott barrier (around 0.3 V). A dotted line shows the effective height of a heterojunction barrier to be higher and not so thin that current tunnels through the barrier. Thus, the above derivation of the breakdown holds not only for Mott (triangular) barriers but also for the trapezoidal heterojunction and oxide barriers as long as these barriers are not so thin that the current tunnels through the full barrier at breakdown, i.e., .PHI..sub.M -E.sub.bar,BD d.sub.bar .ltoreq.0 must be fulfilled. For these trapezoidal barriers, shown by a dotted line in FIG. 5, which leak only a little in forward direction, it is estimated that .PHI..sub.B .apprxeq..PHI..sub.D as the voltage drop over the forward biased diode will be about V.sub..function., which will usually be larger than .PHI..sub.M -.PHI..sub.D, of FIG. 3.
The breakdown voltage of a single diode is related to the barrier breakdown field by ##EQU7## Applying Q=.intg.CdV to the single and the back-to-back diodes, the breakdown voltage of the latter becomes ##EQU8## This derivation assumes that the voltage drop over the barriers is still determined by their capacitance rather than their conductance, which is a good approximation for heterojunction barriers at high frequency operation. (Note that V.sub.BD decreases with increase in sheet doping as illustrated by the dashed line in FIG. 5.)
Table 2 above lists the properties of various barriers starting with the simple GaAs Mott barrier, suitable only for low-power applications, and progressing to AlGaAs/GaAs with about 50% Al,AlAs/GaAs and SiO.sub.2 /Si. The Schottky barrier heights .PHI..sub.M of the III-V compounds have been estimated by the 2/3-bandgap rule. Note that tunneling through the X-valley is facilitated by the isotropic momentum distribution in the metal, which limits the advantage of a pure AlAs barrier.
With these parameters and the maximum allowed voltage drop over the capacitance, max(Vc), set equal to V.sub.BD, the results for the AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction barrier tripler in the following Table 3 have been obtained. The area has been chosen to achieve matchable impedance levels.
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ Simulated Performance of a AlGaAs/GaAs BIN+ Tripler to 200 GHz ______________________________________ d.sub.bar [nm] 20 d.sub.drift [nm] 80 N.sub.sheet [cm.sup.-2 ] 5.5 .times. 10.sup.12 A [.mu.m.sup.2 ] 6 C.sub.max [fF] 15 C.sub.min [fF] 5 R [.OMEGA.] 20 2V.sub.f [V] 2.0 V.sub.c [V] 11.5 P.sub.in [mV] 19 .mu. [%] 35.5 P.sub.out [mV] 6.7 R.sub.1 [.OMEGA.] 48 X.sub.1 [.OMEGA.] 300 R.sub.3 [.OMEGA.] 35 X.sub.3 [.OMEGA.] 50 ______________________________________
Since already V.sub..function. .apprxeq.1V the effective height of the forward biased heterojunction barrier, .PHI..sub.B, was set to .PHI..sub.D. The area has been chosen to achieve matchable impedance levels.

Planar varactor frequency multiplier devices with blocking barrier

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Computer storage media, computerized methods, and systems for semantically navigating between content using zoom operations, as well as other user-initiated operations, are provided. The zoom operations include an open-pinch gesture (zoom in) and a closed-pinch gesture (zoom out) physically applied to a touch-screen display of a client device, where the touch-screen display presents a document with original content. When one or more of the zoom operations have been detected as being performed upon a targeted portion of the original content, new content that is relevant to the targeted content is retrieved, as opposed to simply expanding or contracting the original content within a display area of the touch-screen display. The document is transitioned to a view with representations of the new content organized according to a format, where the format is dictated by a type of the one or more zoom operations being performed.

Documents within search results are largely disconnected from each other from a semantic point of view. For instance, if a user desires to understand more about a particular web document with respect to an intent behind a search query, the user is forced to leave the web document and return to a search-engine results page (SERP) or submit a new search query. By leaving the web document, the user is required to personally carry the context of the web document for later entry within the new search query or when reviewing the listing of documents within the SERP. For example, the context about the document may be author, where the user wants to discover other documents written by the same author of the web document being viewed. In order to identify these other documents, the user must determine the author of the web document, commit a mane of the author to memory, leave the web document, enter the name of the author within a follow-up search query, and review the search results that are returned in response to the follow-up search query to discover the sought-after documents.
Further, when a user wants to view documents that are returned in association with a search query, the user is forced to take a number of actions to navigate from one document to the next: click a link to open the first document, click a go-back button, and click a link to open a second document. These actions, when performed numerous times for numerous search sessions, can be time-consuming and provide a frustrating user experience. Accordingly, a new functionality for navigating between the selected document and other search results and/or other documents would introduce an efficient way to review multiple documents, or other relevant information, without conducting a rigid succession of clicks.
Accordingly, this efficient way for navigating between documents, as introduced by embodiments of the present invention, involve a semantic zoom-based functionality for organizing content relevant to a document, thereby enhance a user's searching experience. This zoom-based approach may transform multi-page websites into a single infinite canvas that allows a user to fluidly access sought-after content and/or areas of interest without the delays inherent with clicking through a predefined organization of web pages.

Semantic searching using zoom operations


Devices and methods for measuring a target ion concentration uses an electrode pair. The pair includes a working electrode and a reference electrode. The working and reference electrodes are ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). The reference ISE can include a sodium ISE. The ISE pair interacts with body fluids where a target ion concentration changes more than sodium ion concentration over time. Some ISE membranes of a pair vary essentially only in the ionophore. An ISE pair can determine the ratio of a target ion concentration to sodium ion concentration in vivo. Periodic measurement of sodium concentration in drawn blood can be used to calibrate an ISE pair and provide target ion concentration as an output. Or, a potassium/sodium ISE pair beneficially monitors potassium concentration changes over time in heart- or kidney-failure patients. Then, manual or automatic titration of a diuretic material can be implemented to maintain a desired potassium concentration.

Maintaining proper electrolyte concentration in the human body is not normally a concern in a majority of healthy people, and does not typically receive a great amount of general attention. The healthy human body is able to maintain an electrolyte balance within appropriate limits.
When, due to sudden illness, chronic illness, extreme diet, or medication, electrolytes become unbalanced, the result can be fatal. For example, when blood potassium concentration drops below a lower threshold, cardiac arrhythmia can occur, which can lead quickly to cardiac arrest and sudden death.
Heart failure is a chronic condition, in which the heart mechanically deteriorates over time. Heart failure can often be initiated by a non-fatal heart attack that kills cardiac muscle tissue, resulting in a weaker heart. The weaker heart does not pump as much blood with each stroke, leading to the heart enlarging to compensate in volume for the lack of strength.
The reduced pumping action of the heart can cause fluid to accumulate in the body, particularly in the extremities. In order to reduce the amount of fluid accumulation, heart failure patients are often prescribed diuretics, which reduce the amount of water maintained in the body. Diuretics work by regulating the excretion of water from the body through the kidneys. Increased water voiding reduces the amount of water held in the body, but can also increase the amount of potassium excreted, thereby decreasing the potassium concentration in the patient's blood. As previously described, low potassium levels can prove fatal.
Kidney disease patients may also be prescribed medications that alter the electrolyte balance. Even if not taking medication, patients having kidney problems may benefit from having electrolyte balance monitored. Examples of patients that would benefit from improved electrolyte monitoring include heart failure patients on ACE inhibitors and diuretics, hypertension patients, diabetes patients, kidney failure patients, and patients on dialysis.
Current patient management techniques may include visits to physicians or lab every other day to draw blood and measure electrolytes. Some single use, at home tests that require drawing blood (e.g. finger sticks) also exist. Applicant is not aware of any implantable, continuous potassium sensors currently available.
Many current cardiac rhythm management (CRM) products might be improved if biochemical sensors were incorporated, to either optimize the therapy or to measure physiologic variables for diagnostic purposes. In one example, related to heart failure, it has been found that the risk of both morbidity and death among patients with severe heart failure is reduced substantially, when aldosterone receptor antagonist-spironolactone is added to standard drug therapy (in conjunction with an ACE inhibitor and/or a loop diuretic). Higher doses of spirinolactone is needed to treat severe heart failure conditions. However, the higher the spirinolactone dose, the higher the risk of hyperkalimia. Thus it would be highly desirable to have an in vivo K+ sensor to optimize spirinolactone dosing. In addition, if sensors were available for both Na+ and K+ to monitor kidney function, it would benefit heart failure disease management significantly, since the kidney is the main organ regulating body fluid excretion and balance.
Ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) have long been used to measure ion concentrations. One well-known ISE is a hydrogen ISE, typically known as a pH electrode. Other ISEs are also well known and commercially available. For example, ISEs exist which are selective for sodium ions. Sodium ISEs can be used on a bench top to measure sodium concentration in blood.
Electrochemical potentials are associated with electrochemical half-cell reactions. The half-cell reactions each have a potential relative to that of a standard half cell. Potentiometric ion-selective electrodes do not function by measuring absolute electrical potential. Rather, the ISE (the working electrode) and another electrode (the reference electrode) are coupled as a pair, and the differential electrical potential between the two is used as an indication of ion activity near the ISE.
The reference electrode used with an ISE is often a Ag/AgCl (metal/metal halide) electrode immersed in a saturated KCl solution, at defined concentration, pressure, and temperature. The KCl solution may in turn be immersed in, and in fluid communication with another solution, a salt bridge. The KCl can be depleted over time, and the KCl refilled through a port in the reference electrode designed for that purpose. The size of the KCl reservoir can be reduced, with an attendant reduction in time between required refills. This reference electrode is typically quite large, complicated to fabricate, and prone to drift in potential caused by samples and environment.
Current reference electrodes are thus not optimally suited for long term implantation. Applicant believes that both the reference electrode size and refill requirement has posed significant challenges to develop implantable ISEs, due to the need for a reference electrode, and the current lack of suitable implantable reference electrodes.
What would be desirable are small ISE electrode pairs suitable for implantation into a human body that do not require a conventional reference electrode.

Ion sensor for long term use in complex medium


Novel techniques are described for location-tracked media delivery. For example, a particular consumer premises has multiple media consumption devices, each located in a different room of the premises. One or more media streams being consumed via one or more of the media consumption devices can be tracked. As one or more consumers move through the premises, their respective physical locations in the premises can also be tracked with respect to media consumption regions of the media consumption devices. By detecting movement of the consumers with respect to the consumed streams and the media consumption devices, embodiments can automatically provide various features. For example, streams can automatically be transferred or cloned among the media consumption devices, and/or streams and devices can be adapted automatically to facilitate some continued media consumption in some dead space regions.

Television users and other audiovisual media consumers have become accustomed to increased flexibility when consuming media, such as by having access to hundreds of channels, advanced program guides, on-demand programming, digital video recording and storage, and other features that provide viewing flexibility. However, when a user begins consuming such media on a particular non-portable device (e.g., a television), the user typically must remain within a limited area to continue consuming the media on that device. Otherwise, if the user moves to a different location, such as a different room of a house, the user typically must find a new device in the new location and configure the new device to continue delivering the same media (e.g., by tuning to the same channel as on the previous device, logging onto a subscription service and resuming playback, etc.).
Such configuring can often be frustrating. For example, with broadcast media, or the like, the user may miss portions of the media being broadcast while the user is changing locations and configuring the new device. With subscription streaming media, the configuring may involve logging into a subscription service on the new device, locating the desired media again, and resuming playback; all appreciably interrupting the consumption experience. These and other frustrations can be exacerbated when multiple people are jointly consuming media, and fewer than all the people change location.

Location-tracked media delivery across multiple media consumption devices


The distal end of a flexible tip epidural catheter is stiffened by the insertion of a stress oriented plastic tubular section into the end of the interior of the catheter removed from a terminal flexible tip and then expanded into contact with the wall of the interior of the catheter interior to stiffen a section approximately the length of an epidural needle in which it is to be used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the administration of local anesthetic and more particularly to so-called epidural catheters for the injection of local anesthetic in the epidural space in the spine.
2. Preliminary Discussion
The name of a popular epidural catheter, Flextip™, itself infers that the distal end is very flexible and more proximal regions of the catheter are less so. Inasmuch as styleted epidural catheters are, for normal uses, professionally unacceptable and have been so for the better part of fifteen years, any viable soft tip epidural must solve the problem of stiffening that section of catheter which must be pushed to advance the catheter past the curved tip of the introducing epidural needle and into the patient's epidural space. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this stiffened section must of necessity be located within the epidural needle's length from the distal end of the catheter being inserted. Were this not so, in use when resistance is encountered as the catheter's distal tip transits the tip of the needle and attempts to enter the epidural space, the anesthesiologist would be unable to overcome this resistance by pushing on the extremely flexible and essentially 'unpushable' soft distal tip of the catheter which has not yet entered the needle hub. It will be equally apparent to those skilled in the art that the length of the stiffened section can effectively control the maximum depth to which the catheter can be inserted, in this manner minimizing the likelihood of the catheter's soft tip curling back upon itself and creating a knot that seriously complicates later removal.
3. Discussion of the Prior Art
The first Flextip, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,456 to Botterbusch and Frankhouser, provided for a stiffer proximal section of the catheter with a solid, higher durometer polyurethane tube butt-welded to a 'less than needle's length' section of softer polyurethane tubing.
The Flextip Plus and its later mimics achieve proximal stiffness with a unifilar stainless steel wire coil. The initial tension of the coil provides the catheter with column strength and pushability up to a buckling load, judged initially by some to be less than desirable, especially in fine gage (smaller diameter) catheters. A 'less than needle's length' of highly flexible, stretched coil at the distal end assures a soft, atraumatic tip of a length insufficient to interfere with insertion into the needle.
The catheter described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,940 to Beisel offers high strength and low marginal cost, being based on a continuously wound, coated, and processed structure. Despite offering some disclosure about 'providing regional stiffness,' an acceptable method of providing this required regional stiffness has remained illusive.
Vitullo et. al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,563 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 0040030289 allude to the unsolved problem, that is the need to employ a stylet for inserting such catheters, and deem them less than totally satisfactory.
If one cannot provide the soft tipped catheters with adequate regional stiffness required for insertion into the needle, an attempt to improve thread assist devices, or TADs, seems reasonable. A simple TAD, in the form of a male luer adapter with a small hole that effectively straightens the epidural catheter in its passage through the epidural needle hub, is the very device that allowed first development of stylet free epidurals. Though relatively stiff in comparison to newer flextips, the slightly softer simple tube catheters could be inserted without a stylet using this simple TAD to eliminate the depth of the female luer hub from the column being pushed and, by so shortening the unsupported length, increasing its column strength to a level adequate for insertion.
With the later advent of helical reinforcement in catheters, epidural catheters' distal tips could become much softer, thereby all but eliminating venous cannulation and paresthesiae during their insertion; these simple TADs were, however, unusable with catheters based on U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,940.
Vitullo, et. al. teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,563 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 0040030289 the use of an externally applied UV curable or heat-shrinkable sleeve to achieve regional stiffening. Although UV curable materials can be die-coated in continuous deposits, intermittent deposits are very difficult to achieve at best. In addition, UV cured materials lack the optimal tensile properties to enable them to serve well in reasonable thicknesses. Both of the above-mentioned external stiffeners present the distinct disadvantage of locally increasing the catheter's O.D. and thereby limiting useable, already precious wall thickness through the length of the catheter. Inasmuch as the epidural needle determines the largest diameter that will pass, the diminished wall thickness available imposes further limitation on the combined thickness of external tubular covering(s) and the thickness of any helical reinforcements. Decreasing these only slightly greatly diminishes the maximum internal pressure, overall strength and kink resistance of the catheter.
Samson teaches methods of catheter stiffening in several U.S. patents pertaining to interventional radiological catheters. These neurological and peripheral vascular devices, which are far more procedure specific and intricate than epidural catheters, are less burdened with cost constraints and therefore need not be made by continuous methods. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,080 and others previous Samson teaches the use of spiral, coaxial ribbon stiffeners, spiraling in one or both spiral directions, either uni- or multifilar, and of various widths wound upon an inner tubular liner before applying the outer coating. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,099 a metallic braid lies between at least one internal stiffener member and the exterior tubing member. Although the inner stiffening tubing is of length and wall thickness similar to those in the present invention, they are made by a method of construction which is entirely distinct, being built individually from within upon a mandrel, the outer cover being applied last by heat shrinking, utilizing mostly radiation crosslinked polyolefins. Furthermore, the melting point of the inner stiffening tubing is about equal to the shrink temperature of the exterior tubular member. The costs of these methods of construction are also simply too great to be useful in the production of epidural catheters.
Truckai, et. al., in U.S. Patent teaches a deflectable electrophysiology catheter with a flexible stiffener member sliceable within an axial lumen to be used to control catheter stiffness.
Racz, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,891 teaches a catheter structure utilizing a coil or other flexible means for increasing a tube's end strength adhered within either the proximal or distal end acting as an anchor for an axial cord laterally mobile within the catheter. These end modifications can 'possibly (increase) its rigidity, but do not generally involve decreasing the tip's flexibility.' They provide generally a method to reinforce the proximal end so as to anchor the intraluminal cord, on which the catheter's tensile integrity depends.
Carter, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,326 teaches a structure for vascular catheters that achieves stiffness control with an interior stiffener comprising a spirally cut tubing member, where the spiral pitch may be varied, and a gap introduced between slit sections to control stiffness. Similar to the case for Samson, v.s., these catheters are constructed individually on mandrels from the inside outward.
Larson teaches, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,475,209 a catheter with a spiral cut transition member disposed within the annular lumen between inner and outer tubes.
Jansen, et al., teach, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,638,316 the use of spiral wound stiffeners, the first metallic, the second non-metallic which result in a relatively stiff proximal segment and a relatively flexible distal segment into which only the second stiffener continues.
Chow, in various U.S. Patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,976,120, 6,171,296 and 6,296,631 teaches construction of a catheter with changing flexibility by using reinforcing strand(s) which changes diameter from proximal to distal end of the catheter. These variations in reinforcing strands are not economical to employ in the manufacture of epidural catheters.
Le, et al., teach in U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,027, the construction of microcatheters by the application of resins of different Shore hardness, along and about the braid which overlies an inner resin layer, thereby establishing two regions of different stiffness.
There is still, therefore, an unmet need to make a strong, economical epidural catheter based on a continuously wound and extrusion-coated structure with regional stiffening adequate to allow insertion.

Stylet free flexible-tip epidural catheter and method of making