A stent having variable thickness with improved radiopacity, MRI compatibility, radial stiffness, and flexibility and to the method of making such stents.

Stents and stent delivery devices are employed in a number of medical procedures and as such their structure and function are well known. Stents are typically cylindrical, radially expandable prostheses introduced via a catheter assembly into a lumen of a body vessel in a configuration having a generally reduced diameter, i.e. in a crimped or unexpanded state, and are then expanded to the diameter of the vessel. In their expanded state, stents support or reinforce sections of vessel walls, for example a blood vessel, which have collapsed, are partially occluded, blocked, weakened, or dilated, and maintain them in an open unobstructed state. They have also been implanted in the urinary tract and in bile ducts. Stents are advantageous because they can reduce the likelihood of restenosis, and because the patency of the blood vessel is maintained immediately after the intravascular treatment.
Stents are available in self-expanding and in inflation expandable versions which employ a dilatation balloon for expansion. Both versions are well known and widely available in a variety of designs and configurations, and are made from a variety of materials including plastics and metals with metals being more typically used.
For stent delivery, the stent and optionally a balloon, are positioned at the distal end of the catheter, around a core lumen. The stent and balloon are held down and covered by a sheath or sleeve. When the distal portion is in its desired location of the targeted vessel the sheath or sleeve is retracted to expose the stent. Self-expanding stents are typically in unexpanded state using a variety of methods including sheaths or sleeves, for example, during delivery to the site of deployment.
The catheter delivery system is advanced through the patients vascular system until the stent is at the desired location within a blood vessel, and then the expandable member is inflated on the catheter to expand the stent within the blood vessel. For the self-expanding variety, the sheath or sleeves may be retracted, leaving the stent free to self-expand. For the inflation variety, the expandable member, i.e. the balloon, may be expanded using a variety of methods such as through an inflation fluid, once the sheath or sleeves are removed, and the stent expands with the expandable member. The expandable member is then deflated and the catheter withdrawn, leaving the expanded stent within the blood vessel to hold the occluded or blocked vessel open.
In any case, the advancement of the stent through a patient's vasculature can involve traversing sharp bends and other obstacles which may require the stent to be highly flexible. Stent flexibility also permits the stent to be deployed in and conform to a tortuous section of a patient's vasculature.
It has also become highly desirable and common to employ a visualization technique referred to as radiographic fluoroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to allow the physician to accurately position and patency the stent at the desired location, and also to check the position during follow-up visits. The techniques require the stent to have good radiographic properties for fluoroscopy and good magnetic properties that avoid stent movement, floating, and image artifact during MRI.
One property is sometimes achieved at the expense of the other. Flexibility can be improved by decreasing the thickness of the material. On the other hand, radiopacity, for stents formed from stainless steel or NITINOL®, for example, is determined by the radiographic density of the material and the thickness of the stent tubing wall. Therefore, the use of thin material can reduce the radiopacity of the stent, making it more difficult to accurately visualize the stent. Conversely, the use of thicker material which can improve radiopacity, can reduce stent flexibility which can negatively impact the deliverability of the stent in a patient's vasculature.
MRI safety and compatibility is optimal when materials having low magnetic susceptibility are employed such as tantalum, titanium, niobium, and so forth. However, such materials are not necessarily optimum for properties such as flexibility, radial strength, and/or radiopacity, for example.
One method for improving the radiopacity is to deposit a thin surface coating or plating or a more radiographically dense material such as gold. This may change the properties of the stent, however, and these highly radiographic materials are often very costly.
Other desirable properties include radial strength so that the stent is resistant to elastic recoil and radial compression. This can also be difficult to achieve with a thin walled and small diameter stent.


A reversible receptacle for housing single ended or double ended connectors where said receptacle can be attached to a structure frontwards or backwards and can be manipulated without any interference from heavy gauge ground cables. The receptacle includes a reversible frame that has both a front and back opening. The openings permit selective access to the mounted connectors.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a receptacle for mounting connectors and in particular to a reversible receptacle for mounting connectors used in telecommunications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunication systems often use metallic wires to carry electrical signals to and from a subscriber's site. Typically the wires (e.g., tip and ring in a telephone system) terminate at the subscriber's site at a terminal block to which the subscriber's telecommunications equipment (e.g., telephone, facsimile machine, modem) are connected. In many instances, the wires are inserted into multiple contact connectors where each contact corresponds to an individual wire. One example of a multiple contact connector is the well known ZIDC (Z-shaped Insulation Displacement Connector) manufactured by Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J. Another multiple contact connector manufactured by Krone, Inc. of Germany.
The connectors are typically disposed in a housing which serves to store the connectors and localize them to one specific location to facilitate any future maintenance, additional wiring or rewiring that may be needed. The housing of the connectors also allows electrical access to each of the terminated wires so that they can be monitored electrically and/or visually. Many times, the connectors such as the ones discussed above are configured to allow protection circuitry to be connected thereto. The protection circuitry are used to divert occasional large current surges to electrical ground and thereby prevent the subscriber's equipment and the metallic wires from being damaged. The large current surges are often from lightning, voltage spikes and other energy surges that cause large amounts of current to flow through the metallic wires. The protection circuitry serves to create an electrical path to a robust electrical ground allowing the large currents to be routed safely to ground. Typically, the robust electrical ground comprises the housing electrically connected to a heavy gauge wire (e.g., thick metallic stranded cables) connected to earth ground. The housing and the heavy gauge wire must be able to withstand (i.e., provide a path to earth ground for the surge current without melting) the electrical energy carried by the surge currents.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical connector housing configuration. For clarity, only a portion of the housing is shown with only one connector (118) disposed therein. Connector 118, which is manufactured by Krone Inc., has contacts 119 is mounted onto two oppositely positioned housing extensions 102 each having an extension opening 116. Housing 100 comprises top surface 122, side surfaces 114, back surface 120 and bottom surface 124. Grounding connector 108 having cable openings 112 and secure openings 110 is attached to one of the side surfaces 114 of housing 100. Heavy gauge ground cables (not shown), typically connected to earth ground, are inserted in openings 114 and 116 and are secured to grounding connector 108 by inserting screws (not shown) into secure openings 110. Secure openings 110 are sometimes threaded to facilitate the insertion of screws therein. Housing 100 is attached to a structure (not shown) with the use of mounting brackets 104. Typically a screw, nail or other fastening device (not shown) is inserted into bracket openings 106 for mounting housing 100 to the structure.
Bundles of wires (not shown) terminate at the connector contacts. These bundles of wires enter and exit housing 100 though openings (not shown) in back surface 120 or through openings in side surface 114 between extensions 102. There is often a need to troubleshoot particular wires or wire pairs and thus access to the back of the connectors is often required. Also, surge protection circuitry is often attached to the connectors to prevent subscriber equipment connected thereto from being damaged. The installation of such circuitry to one or more connectors often requires the temporary removal of such connectors or access to the rear of such connectors. Further, double ended connectors, such as the double ended ZIDC connectors manufactured by Lucent Technologies, Inc., are now frequently used instead of the single ended connectors such as the Krone connector 118 depicted in FIG. 1. The use of double ended connectors often necessitates access to the rear of the housing during installation for wiring, visual inspection and electrical monitoring of such connectors.
The housing depicted in FIG. 1 cannot efficiently use double ended connectors as there would be little or no access to one end of these connectors when disposed in housing 100. Troubleshooting wires or connector contacts for the housing connector combination of FIG. 1 is labor intensive as access to the rear of the connectors often requires that the housing be dismounted from the structure to which it is mounted and the connectors removed from the housing (100) in order to gain access to the rear of such connectors. This is often a very awkward, tedious and slow process complicated by many bundles of wires that typically enter and exit the housing. Further, the ground cables (not shown) attached to the housing 100 are typically heavy gauge or thick metallic cables making manipulation of the housing difficult. Consequently, in many cases the ground cables have to be disconnected from the housing when making a wiring change or troubleshooting the wiring.
Another connector housing design has a receptacle portion and a base portion. The base is attached to a structure while the receptacle portion is hingedly attached to the base. The receptacle portion, which is used to house connectors, has a rear opening that provides access to the rear of any mounted connector. Double ended connectors can be mounted within the receptacle portion such that when it is swung about the hinged attachment, access to both ends of the mounted connectors is possible. Typically, both the base and the receptacle are made of a metallic material and a ground cable is attached to the base to provide the proper ground. The hinge connection that connects the base to the receptacle is also typically metallic thereby providing electrical ground to the receptacle portion. Although this design solves the problem of obtaining access to both ends of a mounted double ended connector, it has several disadvantages. First, the receptacle portion when swung around to expose the rear ends of the mounted connectors does not provide a conformable orientation in order to comfortably perform rear wiring. This is because the back of the receptacle portion is often angled with respect to the base. Therefore, the connectors are often times wired individually outside of the housing and then are mounted onto the housing when all wiring is completed. This is often a labor intensive and thus costly operation. Also, the hinge connection included in this design makes the design and manufacture of such a device costly. Further, this design requires an additional flexible ground cable that is connected to the swingable receptacle portion as that portion may not have the proper ground because the hinge mechanism which connects the base to the swingable receptacle often does not provide a reliable ground connection. The additional ground cable connected to the receptacle makes manipulation of the receptacle even more difficult and thus complicates troubleshooting and/or wiring of the mounted connectors.
Therefore, there exists the need to have a connector receptacle which can be easily oriented to allow access to both ends of mounted connectors therein thereby facilitating wiring of mounted connectors. There exists an additional need to have a connector receptacle that has a robust grounding mechanism that does not interfere with the wiring of the connectors and the manipulation of the housing.

Reversible receptacle for mounting connectors


A system for converting and attaching material strips to a substrate includes a dispenser configured to advance an elongated tape having length l1 and width w1 with l1>w1 relative to a surface of a substrate. A cutting tool cuts the elongated tape transversely along the width w1 of the tape to produce a strip having length l2 and width w2. During the cutting, a portion of the cutting Stool pushes a first surface of the strip against a gripper while cutting the tape. The gripper holds the first surface of the strip against the gripper while moving to position an opposing, second surface of the strip over the surface of the substrate. The gripper releases the strip after positioning the strip.

One of the promising energy resources today is sunlight. Globally, millions of households currently obtain power from solar photovoltaic systems. The rising demand for solar power has been accompanied by a rising demand for devices and materials capable of fulfilling the requirements for these applications. Converting sunlight to electrical power may be accomplished by the use of photovoltaic cells (PV cells). Photovoltaic cells are relatively small in size and typically are combined into a physically integrated PV cell module having a greater power output. Photovoltaic cell modules are generally formed from two or more "strings" of PV cells, comprising a plurality of PV cells arranged in a row and electrically connected in series using tinned flat copper wires which may also be referred to as electrical connections, tabbing ribbons, bus bars or bus wires.
Photovoltaic cell modules typically comprise one or more PV cells surrounded by an encapsulant, on both sides of the PV cell. Two panels of glass (or a suitable polymeric material) are positioned adjacent and bonded to the front-side and backside of the encapsulant. At least the front side panel is transparent to solar radiation and is typically referred to as front-side layer. The backside panel may be transparent to solar radiation and is referred to as the backside layer, or backsheet. The front-side layer and the backsheet may be made of the same material or different materials. The encapsulant is a light transparent polymer material that encapsulates the PV cells and also is bonded to the front-side layer and backsheet so as to physically seal off the cells. This laminated construction provides mechanical support for the cells and also protects them against damage due to environmental factors such as wind, snow, and ice.
The PV cell module may be fit into a metal frame, with a sealant covering the edges of the module engaged by the metal frame. The metal frame protects the edges of the module, provides additional mechanical strength, and facilitates combining it with other modules so as to form a larger array or solar panel that can be mounted to a suitable support that holds the modules at the proper angle to maximize reception of solar radiation.

Conversion and application of material strips


An apparatus for monitoring the alcohol content of an individual, preferably in connection with vehicle operation, has a sensor head coupled to a remote control module. The sensor head measures both breath pressure and breath alcohol levels. The data from the sensor head is processed by the control module to determine whether a valid breath sample exists and what action is to be taken based upon the alcohol level of the breath.

It is well recognized that the consumption of alcoholic beverages resulting in intoxication constitutes a significant public health and safety risk. Blood alcohol level is a well-recognized determinant for establishing liability under "driving while intoxicated" and "driving while impaired" statutes. It is also well appreciated that the degree of alcohol in the breath is an accurate determinant of blood alcohol level. Thus, there have been numerous devices developed to sense and measure breath alcohol levels, and particularly to serve as an analyzer or testing system in conjunction with an automotive ignition system interlock. Depending upon the breath alcohol level recorded, the vehicle may be prevented from starting, prevented from further operating, or caused to emit a warning or alarm.
It is accordingly the purpose of the present invention to provide an ignition interlock device which is responsive to the alcohol level in a sensed breath sample which is of broad applicability, which provides an audible interface with the user/driver, and which is of accurate operation.


A distributed notification system is described herein. A distributed notification grouping can be created in which a master device is appointed for a subnet. The master device can poll a server periodically on behalf of peer or slave devices so that the peer or slave devices do not poll the server unless they are appointed as the master or are retrieving notification data from the server.

To reduce the cost of purchasing client devices and corresponding service charges, an enterprise may allow employees to utilize personal client devices under a "bring your own device" (BYOD) policy to access enterprise resources, such as electronic mail, contacts, and calendar data. Within the enterprise setting, client device administrators configure client devices to gain access to such resources, thereby allowing employees to remain highly productive regardless of whether the employees are on premises at the enterprise facility.
Information technology (IT) administrators might require that users enroll their devices as managed device with a remotely executed management service. Once enrolled, a managed device can receive notifications from the management service to receive management commands and other data. For example, management commands can cause applications, settings, or profiles to be installed on the client device. Push notifications are often implemented through a polling methodology. In other words, a client device actually polls the server (e.g. a management service) on a periodic basis and retrieves a notification when one is available. In this scenario, a push notification seems instantaneous, but the push framework is actually implemented through repeated polling of the server. As the population of devices that is managed by the management service increases, repeated polling can introduce resource bottlenecks on the server.

Distributed push notifications for devices in a subnet


A system and method for managing control information in a wireless communications system. The method comprises broadcasting a predetermined number of preambles through beamforming from a base station, detecting, by a subscriber station, a predetermined frame associated with one selected preamble that has the highest power level, and identifying one or more subcarriers for carrying control information through the selected preamble.

In communication systems, whether they conform to GSM, CDMA, or other technology standards, the communications between the base stations and the mobile terminals typically include one or more traffic channels for communicate traffic data and one or more control channels for exchanging control information or control signals. For some control channels, for example, a pilot channel of CDMA systems, the control information has to be broadcasted omni-directionally to cover the whole or sectored cell. On the other hand, it is desirable to steer narrow beam formed for communicating through traffic channels with specified mobile equipments without interfering others nearby. The beam formed pattern for the traffic data is directed to particular users, and it has a narrow beam width.
The narrow beam width beamforming provides a roughly 9 db performance advantage for the traffic data over control data, as traffic data can be aimed at specific user(s), but control data must be sent to everyone under the coverage of the telecommunication system.
WiMAX is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX can be used for a number of applications, including "last mile" broadband connections, hotspots and cellular backhaul, and high-speed enterprise connectivity for business.
WiMAX has a special mode to improve control channel efficiency called Diversity Map Scan. This mode is intended to balance the link budget of the control channel for systems using beamforming for traffic data. Unfortunately, without an appropriate scheme, the benefits of beamforming are reduced by high overhead and un-realized range.
When in the Diversity Map Scan mode, the communications system operates by transmitting multiple narrowband signals (called AAS-DLFPs) one after the other in the time domain. FIG. 1 illustrates a frame 100 containing an AAS Diversity Map Zone 102 therein. It illustrates a four-antenna configuration where the AAS preamble and AAS DL MAPs structure are repeated four times to support the corresponding four groups of users. The downlink (DL) subframe includes a non-AAS section and an AAS section specified by information elements provided in a DL MAP. Within the AAS zone, subchannel numbers 4 and N−4 (N is the index for the last logical subchannel) are allocated to the AAS DL MAP where AAS MAP allocations are specified for AAS users.
Within the AAS zone, the AAS BS specifies allocations to be used for Subscriber Station (SS) Ranging. In Time Division Duplex mode, a base station (BS) of the communications system can extract the channel information required for beamforming from Ranging Request messages received from the SS's. In Frequency Division Duplex mode, beamforming is done through AAS Feedback Request and Response messages where channel response information along with information regarding Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Carrier to Interference plus Noise Ratio (CINR) are reported back to the BS by the SS.
Each SS must listen to the first preamble of the frame, then looks in a defined zone for additional preambles which indicate the location of these AAS-DLFPs, which must be independently decoded by the SS. After up to 16 AA-DLFPs have been analyzed, the SS picks the best one and reports to the BS which AAS-DLFP had the best signal. The AAS-DLFP then points to a private map with the control information. From this point forward, the BS transmits the control information on the private map until channel conditions force a change.
What is needed is an improved method and system for effectively enhance the communication for the control information between the base station and the subscriber station using beamforming in a wireless communications system.

Method and system for control channel beamforming


A turbine frame includes first and second coaxially disposed rings having a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart struts extending therebetween. A plurality of clevises join respective first ends of the struts to the first ring for removably joining the struts thereto. Each of the clevises includes a base removably fixedly joined to the first ring, and a pair of legs extending away from the base and spaced apart to define a U-shaped clevis slot receiving the strut first end. The first strut end is removably fixedly joined to the clevis legs by a pair of expansion bolts. The clevis base includes a central aperture aligned with a first port in the first ring for providing access therethrough. And, the strut first end abuts the first ring for carrying compressive loads therebetween and providing a seal therewith.

Gas turbine engines include one or more rotor shafts supported by bearings which, in turn, are supported by annular frames. The frame includes an annular casing spaced radially outwardly from an annular hub, with a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart struts extending therebetween. The struts may be integrally formed with the casing and hub in a common casting, for example, or may be suitable bolted thereto. In either configuration, the overall frame must have suitable structural rigidity for supporting the rotor shaft to minimize deflections thereof during operation.
Furthermore, frames disposed downstream of the engine's combustor, are, therefore, subject to the hot combustion gases which flow downstream from the combustor and through the engine's turbine which extracts energy therefrom for rotating the shaft. Since the struts extend radially inwardly from the casing, they necessarily pass through the combustion gases and must, therefore, be suitably protected from the heat thereof. Accordingly, conventional fairings typically surround the struts for providing a barrier against the hot combustion gases, and through which fairings cooling air may be channeled for preventing elevated temperatures of the frame.
Such a frame including fairings to protect against the combustion gases, typically referred to as a turbine frame, must, of course, be configured to allow the assembly thereof. In one conventional configuration, the casing, struts, and hub are an integral cast member, and, therefore, each of the fairings must be configured for assembly around each strut. For example, the fairing may be a sheet metal structure having a radial splitline which allows the fairing to be elastically opened for assembly around a respective strut, and then the fairing is suitably joined together at its splitline to complete the assembly.
In an alternative configuration, the struts may be integrally joined at one end to ether the casing or the hub, and at its other end bolted to the complementary hub or casing. In this way, the fairing may be an integral hollow member which can be positioned over the free end of the strut prior to joining the strut free end to its respective casing or hub. In such an assembly, provisions must be provided to ensure that the joint between the strut end and the casing or hub provides suitable rigidity to ensure an overall rigid frame to suitably support the rotor shaft. In a typical conventional configuration wherein the strut outer end is bolted to the casing, the casing is an annular member having a plurality of radially extending generally inversely U-shaped slots which receive the strut ends. Conventional expansion bolts extend in generally tangential directions through the spaced apart radial legs defining the U-slot for rigidly joining the strut end to the casing. The expansion bolts provide zero clearance between where they pass through the strut end and the casing to ensure effective transmittal of both compression and tension loads between the strut and the casing. This arrangement allows assembly of the expansion bolts from the exterior of the casing.
However, the U-slots themselves provide circumferentially spaced apart discontinuities along the circumference of the casing which interrupt the hoop stress carrying capability of the casing and, therefore, decrease the overall rigidity of the frame. This reduction in rigidity may be minimized by making the strut outer end as small as possible in transverse configuration, with a practical limit being the transverse configuration of the central portion of the strut itself. This relatively small size of the strut outer end also ensures that the fairing surrounding the strut may be made as small as possible since it must be typically assembled over the strut outer end to complete the assembly of the turbine frame. Minimizing the strut, and hence, the fairing, reduces both weight and aerodynamic penalties.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a turbine frame having reduced size struts for reducing the size of the fairing surrounding the strut while also rigidly mounting the strut to both the casing and the hub. In a configuration where the strut is bolted to either the casing or the hub, the joint therebetween should provide suitable rigidity to ensure the overall rigidity of the entire turbine frame for carrying both compression and tension loads through the struts without undesirable deflections of the hub which would affect the proper positioning of the rotor shaft supported thereby. Furthermore, it is also preferable to provide hollow struts to form a common channel through the casing and the hub for channeling air therethrough or for carrying service pipes such as lube oil or scavenge oil pipes into the engine sump located below the hub. This must be done without significantly reducing the overall structural rigidity of the turbine frame due to the required apertures, or interruptions, in either the casing or the hub for carrying the airflow or service pipes therethrough.


A method of monitoring human activity includes monitoring accelerations using an inertial sensor disposed at one of a plurality of locations on a human body, wherein at least one of the plurality of locations is not a foot location. A plurality of steps are counted based on the accelerations. A gait characteristic of the plurality of steps is determined. The characteristic is used to determine a stride length. At least one of a distance traveled and a speed of travel are determined based on the stride length.

The development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology has enabled manufacturers to produce inertial sensors (e.g., accelerometers) of sufficiently small size, cost, and power consumption to fit into portable electronic devices. Such inertial sensors can be found in a limited number of commercial electronic devices such as cellular phones, portable music players, pedometers, game controllers, and portable computers.
Step counting devices (e.g., pedometers) are used to monitor an individual's daily activity by keeping track of the number of steps that he or she takes. In general, step counting devices are clipped to a user's hip, and do not accurately count steps when placed elsewhere on a user's body.
Some step counting devices include an inertial sensor placed at specific locations on a user's body (e.g., in a user's shoe). Inertial sensors placed in a user's shoe (known as foot pods) may be used to determine a user's speed and distance because the foot comes to rest once for each step. However, conventional devices are not able to accurately determine distance and speed based on inertial sensors placed elsewhere on a user's body. Such conventional devices generally measure only a number of steps walked.

Human activity monitoring device with distance calculation


When employing conventional ion implantation equipment, the peripheral edge of the wafer is contaminated by metallic ions generated from the collision of the accelerated ion beam with the disk that supports the target, namely a wafer. The present invention provides a magnet for forming a magnetic field which will repel the generated metallic ions. The magnet is disposed on the disk and surrounds the wafer to prevent the metallic ions from impinging the wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to preventing the contamination of a wafer in ion implantation equipment, and more particularly, to preventing the periphery of the wafer from being contaminated by metallic ions generated during an ion implantation process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, ion implantation in the manufacture of semiconductor devices refers to technology that injects ions into a given target. The ion implantation equipment supplies energy to the ions sufficient to accelerate the ions to such a degree that they can penetrate the target surface.
In conventional ion implantation equipment, the concentration of impurities is controlled within a limit ranging from 10.sup.14 to 10.sup.18 atoms/cm.sup.3. Such equipment is widely used for implanting ions into a given target material, because it controls the concentration of impurities better than other impurity implantation techniques.
Ion implantation equipment generally includes at least the following components: vacuum loadlock, ion source, beam extracting and accelerating device, mass analyzer, accelerator tube, and a disk for mounting a target thereon. The equipment is designed to produce varying levels of high voltage to effect ion decomposition, extraction, and acceleration. During the ion implantation process the ion gas supplied from the ion source is turned into plasma and the ions are accelerated and extracted by an electric field formed by the applied voltage. The extracted ions form an ion beam. The amount and size of the ions are analyzed at a point where the ion beam is diffracted, and the ion beam is then accelerated sufficiently to penetrate the target to an intended depth.
The above-described conventional ion implantation equipment generally has a structure as shown in FIG. 1, and comprises an ion source 12, an ion extracting and accelerating device 14, a mass analyzer 16, an accelerator tube 18, a tandem electron chamber 20, and a disk 22 disposed in a path along which the generated ion beam propagates toward the wafer 10. In addition, a Faraday cup assembly 24 is provided to neutralize the environment in which the ions are injected into the wafer 10, and to measure the doping dose.
The ion source 12 supplies the source gas to the ion extracting and accelerating device 14. Positive ions are generated and extracted by the beam extracting and accelerating device 14 so as to form an ion beam 17, and the resultant ion beam 17 is diffracted and analyzed in the mass analyzer 16.
The ion beam 17 is accelerated in the accelerator tube 18 and tandem electron chamber 20, and then injected into the wafer 10 held on the disk 22. The amount of the ions injected into the wafer 10 is measured by the current meter 28 of the Faraday cup assembly 24.
When the ion beam 17 finally reaches the wafer 10 and the disk 22, the positive ions collide therewith beneath the wafer surface. The injected positive ions act as impurities inside the wafer 10. The reverse bias power source 26, integrated with the Faraday cup assembly, is used to constrain the movement of secondary electrons given off the target wafer when irradiated with the ion beam 17.
When the positive ions collide with one another in the disk 22, metallic ions are scattered from the disk 22. As a result, the wafer periphery is contaminated by the metallic ions as shown by the arrows in FIG. 1. The contaminants are mostly heavy metals, such as iron and aluminum. The contaminants at the wafer periphery adversely affect the semiconductor manufacturing process, thereby reducing the production yield.
The above problem occurs more often in ion implantation equipment wherein the ion implantation is conducted at an energy level higher than 300 keV, namely in connection with the so-called Deep Process.
The amount of the heavy metal contaminating the wafer periphery is proportional to the accelerating energy of the ion beam and the beam current. Accordingly, it is a generally accepted practice to reduce the accelerating energy of the ion beam and the beam current in order to prevent the heavy metal contamination of the wafer when using conventional ion implantation equipment.
However, because the accelerating energy of the ion beam is an important factor in the Projected Range (PR) or depth of implantation, there is a limit to how much the accelerating energy can be reduced in order to, in turn, limit the metal contamination.
Although a reduction of the beam current reduces the amount of the contaminants, this results in the reduction of the number of wafer-injected ions, and an increase in the time necessary to process a wafer. Accordingly, reducing the beam current results in a corresponding decrease in the manufacturing productivity.

Mechanism for preventing metallic ion contamination of a wafer in ion implantation equipment


A hull is formed of a forward section, a rearward section and intermediate sections there between. The forward section is in a generally triangular configuration. The forward section has a forward-most point. The forward section has rearwardly extending sides. The rearward sections are formed of exterior and interior walls. A space is provided between the interior and exterior walls. The intermediate sections are formed in a generally triangular configuration. The intermediate section have a forward-most point. The intermediate sections have rearwardly extending interior walls and laterally spaced exterior walls. A saloon is above water level and is secured to the top and interior walls of the hull. The saloon has a front at the rearward end of the intermediate section. The saloon has a rear spaced forward of the end of the unitary hull.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybridhull boat system and more particularly pertains to increasing boating performance capabilities while decreasing drag during operations and use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of boat systems of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, boat systems of known designs and configurations previously devised and utilized for the purpose of transporting users over water through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,715 issued Mar. 19, 1968 to Stacey relates to a powered trimaran with retractable pontoons. U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,890 issued Feb. 24, 1987 to Lott relates to a trimaran with planing hull. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,564 issued Feb. 9, 1993 to Robbins relates to a boat for personal watercraft.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe hybridhull boat system that allows increasing boating performance capabilities while decreasing drag during operations and use.
In this respect, the hybridhull boat system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of increasing boating performance capabilities while decreasing drag during operations and use.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved hybridhull boat system which can be used for increasing boating performance capabilities while decreasing drag during operations and use. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A context information collection and distribution system registers read identification information in a computer device that manages and controls an RFID tag reading device and is located in a lowest hierarchy in wide area network topology. The computer device located in the lowest hierarchy in the wide area network topology notifies a computer device located in a higher management domain hierarchy that the computer device located in the lowest hierarchy manages read identification information of a target. Further, the computer device located in the management domain hierarchy notifies a computer device located in much higher ID system hierarchy that the computer device located in the hierarchy just under the management domain hierarchy manages the read identification information of the target.

Conventionally, a context-aware service which provides target identification information (hereinafter referred to as identification information) to a thing or a person (hereinafter referred to as a target) freely moving in a wide area, detects the identification information on a network, and uses information around the target as context information is known. In the context-aware service, it is a problem how efficiently the context-aware service identifies a detection position of the target on a network in a large scale network infrastructure (hereinafter referred to as a context distribution mechanism) and collects the context information of the target.
To solve the problem, for example, there is a conventional technique as described below. A context collection device and a management server that manages a detection device that detects identification information are worked together through the identification information of the target, and a list of the identification information of the target is notified to the context collection device. The context collection device selects and extracts context information from the list notified from the management server. Therefore the context collection device need not process a large amount of context information from an irrelevant management server, so that the context collection device can quickly provide the context information.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-287040
However, in the above conventional technique, there is a problem as described below. When using only one context information collection device, which collects tens of thousands to hundreds of millions of identification information items, it is impossible to realize speedy processing even if a high-performance computer device specialized for context information collection processing is used. Hence, distribution of the load of the context information collection device is required.
However, in many cases, the identification information is identification information which is given to a product by a standard-setting organization such as EPC Global used for SCM (Supply Chain Management). Such identification information is temporarily referred at various locations, so that a distribution method such as DNS (Domain Name Service) which is hierarchized and in which load is geographically distributed is effective. The primary objective of the identification information is to manage the product efficiently, and hence the identification information system includes hierarchical semantic information.
Since the identification information is different from network device identification information such as an IP address and an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name), the identification information has no relation to geographic information and network topology.
Therefore, when associating the identification information with the network device identification information to manage them, all network devices to which load is distributed need to have a correspondence relationship between all the identification information items that can be detected on the network and all the network device identification information items of the network devices that refer to the identification information items.
In this case, not only the amount of information of the correspondence relationship is huge, but also the correspondence relationship between all the identification information items and all the network devices needs to be managed synchronously, so that there is a problem that the load of each network device is huge.
Further, since the context information may be referred by a plurality of referrers, some identification information items are associated with identification information of a plurality of network devices located at different positions. Thus there is a problem that paths cannot be aggregated on the network.
To solve the problems as described above and achieve an object, in an aspect of a context information collection management system, a target identification information detection and collection management device, a domain management device, a semantic information system management device, a route management device, and a context information collection management method, a context information collection system is constituted by a global hierarchy in which information including identification information is sorted by referring to a semantic information section of the identification information and a domain hierarchy that is a local hierarchy in which information including identification information is sorted by referring to uniqueness of the identification information in order to detect the identification information from a network, wherein the identification information to identify a person or a thing is constituted by the semantic information section to identify a management domain and a type, and a unique serial number.
In the domain hierarchy, the referrer of the identification information and corresponding context information can obtain the context information including the identification information on the basis of any unique identification information that is registered regardless of the type of the identification information. On the other hand, when referring to information including the identification information over the domain boundary, the context information including the identification information is transmitted to a sorting device of the domain hierarchy which requests a sorting device of the global hierarchy to refer to the information over the domain boundary.

Context information collection management system


An insulating-film-forming composition including an organic solvent and a hydrolysis-condensation product which is obtained by hydrolysis and condensation of a component (A) in the presence of a component (B).

The present invention relates to an insulating-film-forming composition, a method of producing the same, a silica-based insulating film, and a method of forming the same. More particularly, the invention relates to an insulating-film-forming composition suitably used for an interlayer dielectric of a semiconductor device or the like, a method of producing the same, a silica-based insulating film, and a method of forming the same.
Silica (SiO2) films formed by a vacuum process such as a CVD process have been extensively used as an interlayer dielectric film in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and the like. In recent years, in order to form an interlayer dielectric having a more uniform thickness, a spin-on-glass (SOG) film, which is a coating-type insulating film containing a tetraalkoxysilane hydrolyzate as the major component, has also been used. Along with an increase in the degree of integration of a semiconductor device, a low-relative-dielectric-constant interlayer dielectric called an organic SOG containing a polyorganosiloxane as the major component has been developed.
However, more excellent electrical insulation between conductors has been demanded accompanying a further increase in the degree of integration and multi-layering of a semiconductor device. Therefore, an interlayer dielectric exhibiting excellent storage stability, a lower relative dielectric constant, and superior mechanical strength has been in demand.
In the manufacturing process for semiconductor devices, a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) step for planarizing an insulating layer and a washing step are conducted. For this reason, in addition to the dielectric constant characteristics, mechanical strength and chemical resistance of a degree to resist corrosion with a chemical fluid are demanded for application to an interlayer dielectric and a protective film of semiconductor devices.
A composition containing a mixture of fine particles obtained by the condensation of an alkoxysilane in the presence of ammonia and a basic partial hydrolyzate of an alkoxysilane (JP-A-5-263045, and JP-A-5-315319) and a coating solution obtained by the condensation of a basic hydrolyzate of polyalkoxysilane in the presence of ammonia (JP-A-11-340219 and JP-A-11-340220) have been proposed as materials having a low relative dielectric constant. However, the materials obtained by these methods are not suitable for industrial manufacture because of unstable properties of the reaction products and fluctuation of film characteristics such as a relative dielectric constant, cracking resistance, mechanical strength, and adhesion.
A method for forming an insulating film with a low dielectric constant from a coating solution prepared by mixing a polycarbosilane solution and a polysiloxane solution has been proposed (JP-A-2001-127152 and JP-A-2001-345317). This method, however, has a problem in that carbosilane domains and polysiloxane domains are unevenly scattered in the coating film.
A method of using an organosilicate polymer obtained by hydrolysis-condensation of a carbon bridge-containing silane oligomer which is prepared from an organometallic silane compound has been proposed (WO 2002/98955). The material obtained by this method produces a reaction product with poor stability and cannot be stored for a long period of time. In addition, the coating exhibits poor adhesion to a substrate.
A method of forming a low-dielectric-constant insulating film by hydrolysis-condensation of a highly branched polycarbosilane (U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,041) has been proposed. However, since the method requires an aging treatment with ammonia, a trimethylsilylization treatment, curing at a high temperature of 500° C., and the like after applying the polymer to a substrate, the method is unsuitable for practical use.

Insulating-film-forming composition, method of producing the same, silica-based insulating film, and method of forming the same


Forging equipment and techniques prevent damage to the die set while also preventing abnormal flow of the material used in the forging process. In one embodiment, the forging equipment comprises a die set with a holding portion, constructed separate from the guiding portion. The holding portion is configured to accommodate the workpiece material and the punch portion as it is dropped down on the workpiece. At the comer where the holding portion and the guiding portion meet, the holding portion forms a retaining cavity, which has a sufficient size to accommodate a metal sealing assembly. The metal sealing assembly at one end terminates in an angled material contacting surface that prevents formation of cracks and abnormal flow of material away from its intended path of flow.

Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention is forging metallic or other suitable materials in accordance with cold, warm, or hot forging operations.
Background
As is well known, forging is a process by which a product is formed from a metallic or other suitable materials into a particular or desired shape. During the forging process, metallic materials, such as aluminum, may be subjected to conventional cold, warm, or hot forging operations to force the materials to assume a particular shape.
Although there are many different forging techniques, one particular type utilizes a die set including a holding portion, within which a workpiece is disposed. A punching portion of the die set is dropped down to press against the workpiece and force it to flow into a guiding portion of the die set and to assume a particular shape within the guiding portion. During this type of conventional forging process, the die set suffers damage. Also, there is stagnant buildup of dead material from abnormal flow of material.
FIG. 1a further illustrates the manner in which such a conventional forging process can generate damaging cracks. A workpiece W is disposed within the holding portion 4'(2') of the die set 2', which is integrally formed with the guiding portion 5'(2') of the die set 2' as a single unit. The punching portion 3'(2') is pressed against the workpiece W to accelerate the plastic deformation phase of the workpiece. This exerts extreme pressure on the die set 2'. As the workpiece W is pressed down, the portion of it that contacts an area of the guiding portion 5'(2'), as indicated by reference letter W1, pushes downward in the direction of the pressing action, as illustrated by the vertical arrows in Figure la. At the same time, the portion of the workpiece that contacts the wall of the holding die 4'(2'), as indicated by reference letter W2 pushes outward, exerting pressure on the holding die 4'(2') in a direction illustrated by the horizontal arrows in FIG. 1a. Consequently, at the corner C where the holding portion 4'(2') transitions into the guiding portion 5'(2'), forces are simultaneously exerted in two different directions, perpendicular to each other. The diverging forces at the corner C in this integrally formed configuration cause the die set 2' to tear and cracks to occur at the corner C. When such cracks occur, the die set 2' is damaged and rendered ineffective, requiring replacement.
To overcome this problem, in another configuration, the holding portion 4'(2') and the guiding portion of the die set are formed separately. Such a configuration is illustrated in FIG. 1b. This configuration is further reinforced from the outside to resist cracks. While this configuration, addressed the problem of alleviating the forces at the corner C that caused the cracks, it gave rise to yet other problems. For instance, as the punch die 3' presses down on the workpiece, there is a tendency for the workpiece material under pressure to escape into any space or clearance that may exist between the holding die 4' and the guiding die 5'. The material slipping into the clearance between the holding die 4' and guiding die 5' results in the formation of burrs. Gradually, with time and usage, the seepage increases, causing buildup of dead material that serves as a wedge, prying the holding die 4' away from the guiding die 5'. Additionally, the formation of burrs destroys the layer of lubricant that is applied on the workpiece prior to commencing the forging process. Once the lubricant is destroyed, the material is further obstructed from flowing along its intended path down into the guiding portion 5'.
In addition, as the workpiece W presses down along the inner walls of the holding die 4', material collects at the corner E where the holding die 4' and the guiding die 5' meet. The arrows in Figure lb illustrate the sluggish and abnormal flow patterns along the corner E, resulting in buildup of material at that location that ultimately remains there and stagnates. The stagnant material is essentially dead metal (indicated by reference numeral D) that prevents products from forming properly.
In a further attempt to address this problem and to prevent the buildup of dead material, the guiding die 5' is curved at the corner E, to provide a rounded surface, instead of sharp corners where the dead metal D once remained. But again, such a configuration not only resulted in the same problem where burrs occur, but, the same bidirectional forces at the curved portion also resulted, causing cracks.


A precordial strip assembly for use on a patient having skin, right and left arms and legs and a heart with a precordium lying thereover comprising an elongate strip having first and second surfaces. Six conductive contact elements identified as V.sub.1 through V.sub.6 are mounted in spaced apart positions along the length of the strip. In other embodiments, conductive contact elements identified as LA, LL and RA can be mounted on the strip. A reference contact element can be carried by the strip for serving as a common reference for each of the conductive contact elements. The contact elements are exposed on the first surface of the strip and are adapted to contact the patient's skin for detecting heart signals from the patient when the precordial strip assembly is placed on the precordium of the patient. Junction means is carried in a single region by the strip and is electrically connected to the contact elements. One or more microchips can be connected to the contact elements for transmitting a radio frequency signal which carries the heart signals detected by the contact elements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to medical instrumentation and a method and system for the use thereof and, more particularly, to electrocardiographic and cardiocirculatory monitoring equipment and a method and system relating thereto.
2. Prior Art
Every muscle can perform only one movement, the shortening of its fibers by contraction. This also applies to the heart muscle. Every action of a muscle has associated with it an electrical activity which changes in the course of the contraction. The electrical signal thus associated with the muscle action is transmitted through various tissues and ultimately reaches the surface of the body whereupon such electrical signals can be detected by electrodes applied to the skin. Thus, such signals that are being detected by the electrodes can be recorded with the aid of suitable electrocardiographic equipment or can be observed in or recorded with a monitor/recording unit. The record thus obtained is called an electrocardiogram or a rhythm-monitoring strip.
As early as 1855 action currents from the heart were recorded as measurements were being made of a beating frog heart. The first actual recording of a frog electrocardiogram was made by A. D. Waller in 1887. The first recording of a human heart electrical action signal (hereinafter "heart-signal") was made by A. D. Waller in 1889. Modern electrocardiography, however, started with Einthoven (credited with the bipolar lead triangle setting for recordings of standard limb leads I, II and III), who invented the string galvanometer and applied it to recording small voltages of short duration, which is the category into which heart-signals fall. His recording techniques have not been improved upon very much since they were first published many years ago. Here it should be noted that the term "lead" as used herein is being used in the medical sense and not the electronic sense (i.e., "lead" is a spatial position at which the heart-signal is viewed, not a wire).
After Einthoven's work, the entire field of research stagnated for nearly thirty years until the introduction by Wilson of upper and lower extremities' local leads and the zero electrode used in unipolar recordings.
The entire twelve-lead system is fed by unipolar and bipolar signals. Unipolar leads are divided into unipolar extremity or limb leads and unipolar precordial or chest leads.
In the unipolar lead system, the limb leads are:
aVR--the unipolar right arm lead, (R designating the right arm); PA1 aVL--unipolar left arm lead, (L designating the left arm); and PA1 aVF--unipolar left leg lead. PA1 1. Rhythm PA1 2. Rate PA1 3. P wave PA1 4. P-R interval PA1 5. QRS interval PA1 6. QRS complex PA1 7. ST segment PA1 8. T wave PA1 9. U wave PA1 10. Q-T duration
In all of these limb leads, the "a" stands for "augmented". The unipolar chest leads are designated by the letter "V" followed by a subscript numeral which represents the exact location on the chest. In a standard electrocardiographic setting there are six precordial leads, V.sub.1 -V.sub.6.
In the unipolar lead system, the potential differences are measured between each of the electrodes that are placed on the right arm, left arm, left leg, and precordial points V.sub.1 -V.sub.6 on the chest and a common reference point consisting of an electrode on the right leg. Each of the lead electrodes is independently considered as an active point compared to the common reference electrode (point) on the right leg, and is measured in relation to that common reference electrode.
In standard bipolar leads, lead I is the potential difference between the arms, i.e., the left arm potential minus the right arm potential. Lead II is the potential difference between the left leg potential and the right arm potential. Lead III is the potential difference between the left leg and the left arm. If the leads are diagrammed on the body they inscribe, essentially, an equilateral triangle. The polarity of these widely-separated bipoles was arbitrarily determined many years ago in order to record upright electrical deflections in these three limbs leads in most normal objects. The electrocardiograph generates the lead voltages from the potentials applied to it from the electrodes. The term "lead" as used in electrocardiography means view of the heart's electrical impulse. That view varies among leads.
The electrocardiograph is widely used by the medical profession. The standard electrocardiograph requires at least ten wires which are attached to the body of the patient at one end and to the electrocardiograph at the other end to detect heart-signals and transform them into a twelve-lead electrocardiogram evaluation. This involves attaching six electrodes to the chest or precordial area to obtain recordings of leads V.sub.1 -V.sub.6 as well as attaching four electrodes to the arms and legs of the patient to obtain recordings of leads I, II, III, aVR, aVL and aVF. (For heart rhythm monitoring, only three electrodes and three terminal wires are applied to the chest.) After the ten electrodes are attached to the patient, ten specific wires must be connected between each specific electrocardiograph terminal and the related electrode of the predetermined position.
In electrocardiographic terminology, the terms "dipole", "bipole" and "unipolar" have different meanings and applications. The "single dipole" concept is used to represent the local spread of excitation over cardiac tissue as recorded by a single recording electrode. This local excitation is in the form of a local influx and/or outflux of electrically charged elements, referred to as ions, through the cell membrane. The term "equivalent dipole" has been a term used since the days of Einthoven to represent the theoretical "electrical center" of a volume conductor used to describe the progression, magnitude and location of the electrical activity of the human body. This "equivalent dipole" has both direction and magnitude at any instance in the cardiac cycle and is traditionally represented as a vector that points in the direction of the positive pole of a dipole having both positive and negative poles. The vector has a length proportional to the magnitude of the dipoles' potential difference (i.e., the potential difference between its positive and negative poles).
The term "bipolar" has several uses in clinical electrocardiography and electrophysiology. Bipolar endocardial and epicardial recordings refer to recordings made between a cathode and anode of a recording device which are relatively closely spaced (e.g., several millimeters to one centimeter). For example, bipolar cardiac recordings are taken by modern pacemakers having leads that are reasonably closely spaced. In surface electrocardiographic practice, bipolar lead systems, as discussed above, are defined as limb lead systems that measure the potential differences between the three limb electrodes on the right and left arms and the left leg. The term "unipolar" is used in the practice of surface electrocardiography as described above.
The conventional and currently existing electrocardiographic systems are limited in operation. An early manifestation of acute myocardial ischemia is the development of ST-segment and T-wave changes. Clinical decisions for treatment are based on ST-segment shifts on the surface electrocardiogram. ST-segment depression is believed to represent subendocardial involvement, with less extensive myocardial injury. ST-segment elevation reflects transmural involvement, with greater extent of myocardial injury. Currently existing electrocardiographic monitoring equipment in the coronary intensive care units (CICU) and intensive care units (ICU) provides single-lead arrhythmia monitoring of cardiac events which is unable to detect myocardial ischemia in real time occurrence.
In the surgical setting, the cardiac catheterization laboratory protocol of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) procedures employs the use of three-lead arrhythmia monitoring which is unable to detect ischemic events during actual performance of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.
In the ambulatory setting, Holter monitoring provides only arrhythmia recording and detection, which is unable to identify or locate coronary silent ischemia. Transtelephonic electrocardiogram transmission currently employs single-lead arrhythmia monitoring which is unable to identify or locate myocardial ischemic events in patients who have undergone percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedures, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, or are currently being treated with antiarrhythmic drugs or are experiencing stable angina pectoris episodes.
In other settings, existing protocols employ single-lead electrocardiographic monitoring in the coronary intensive care mobil unit and emergency room, thereby permitting arrhythmia monitoring only. As can be seen, current coronary care electrocardiographic monitoring techniques are aimed at detection of cardiac arrhythmias rather than myocardial ischemia.
Existing electrocardiographic systems are also limited in diagnosing myocardial ischemia after noncardiac surgery. Patients undergoing noncardiac surgery sometimes have postoperative cardiac events. Adverse cardiac events are a major cause of morbidity and mortality after such surgery. It is necessary to determine the predictors of these outcomes in order to focus efforts on prevention and treatment. It would be helpful to know which patients are at highest risk. Clinical experience has demonstrated that postoperative myocardial ischemia during the first 48 hours after surgery confers a nearly threefold increase in the odds of having an adverse cardiac outcome and, more importantly, a ninefold increase in the odds of having an ischemic event (cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction or unstable angina) in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. In some clinical studies, postoperative myocardial ischemia was prevalent, occurring in more than 40 percent of the patients, and was silent in nearly all cases studied.
In addition, many and frequent difficulties are associated with the practical operation of the conventional and currently existing electrocardiographic systems due to the following factors:
1. The need to connect predetermined specific wires to predetermined specific electrodes (e.g. defined limb and side to defined wire, as well as specific precordial points to defined precordial wires) is time-consuming. In addition, connection errors are relatively frequent.
2. The wires often need to be untangled, resulting in the loss of precious time.
3. Existing electrocardiographic systems are somewhat impractical for use in coronary intensive care mobile units where speed of operation is critical.
4. Wire defects and damage are difficult to detect.
5. During many surgical procedures, single lead arrhythmia monitoring wires extend beneath the sterile surgical field. These wires often become disconnected from the electrodes and can interrupt the surgical procedure. In addition, existing electrocardiographic systems do not permit myocardial ischemia detection during surgery.
6. Patients in intermediate coronary care units sometimes disconnect the signal carrying wires from the electrocardiographic monitor while ambulating. By doing so, cardiac rhythm monitoring is interrupted.
7. Current electrocardiographic monitoring is limited in range and distance by the proximity between the patient and the electrocardiograph or monitor.
8. Current percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), diagnostic heart catheterization and other invasive interventional procedures performed in the cardiac catheterization suite; electrocardiographic monitorings in coronary intensive care units, intensive care unit (ICU) and coronary intensive care mobile units; and thrombolytic therapy monitoring; in each case, employ single lead or three lead electrocardiographic detection which provides only arrhythmia monitoring and is unable to diagnose myocardial ischemic events.
9. Patient compliance with the procedures and requirements of current electrocardiographic systems is minimal.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to overcome the problems previously experienced in connection with the application of electrocardiographs in the taking of electrocardiograms and in connection with the rhythm monitoring of patients.
Another object of this invention is to provide an electrocardiographic and monitoring system in which the physical wires between the patient and the electrocardiograph or monitor are eliminated.
Another object of this invention is to provide an electrocardiographic and monitoring system in which a reduced standard number of wireless electrodes provide a complete standard twelve-lead electrocardiogram.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a precordial strip assembly containing a plurality of conductive elements for placement on the precordium area of a patient.
Another object of the invention is to provide a precordial strip assembly containing a reference conductive element permitting elimination of the standard right leg reference electrode.
Another object of the invention is to provide a precordial strip assembly having RA and LL conductive elements positionable on the patient in a position remote from the V.sub.1 through V.sub.6 and LA conductive elements.
Another object of the invention is to provide a self contained precordial strip assembly for detecting and transmitting heart signals.

Wireless electrocardiographic and monitoring system and wireless electrode assemblies for same


A thermal transfer recording medium where a fusion thermal ink layer is formed on one side of a support and a heat-resistant sliding layer is formed on the other side of the support. The heat-resistant sliding layer is comprised of silicone copolymer having functional groups and isocyanate compound, and the ratio of the silicone copolymer having functional groups to isocyanate compound is within a range of 70:30 to 50:50 by weight. It is preferred that the functional groups include carboxyl groups and the silicone copolymer include polyorganosiloxane graft polymer whose main chain is vinyl copolymer. In addition, the amount of silicon in the silicone copolymer is within a range of 30 to 50%, the acid value of the silicone copolymer is within a range of 50 to 70 mg/KOH. On the other hand, polyisocyanate having three or more functional groups is used for the isocyanate compound; for example, an adduct of xylylene di-isocyanate having two functional groups and trimethylolpropane is used.

A thermal transfer recording medium, so-called ink ribbon, on which a thermal fusion wax layer and a thermal sublimation transfer layer are formed makes direct contact with a thermal head; therefore, the medium requires heat resistance and a sliding ability, and for such, a heat-resistant sliding layer is usually formed on the backside of a support (a base film).
Many studies have been made on the heat-resistant sliding layer composed of silicone-based materials. Such silicone-based materials include heat-resistant resins such as silicone resin, epoxy resin or the like (Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 7,467/80, etc.), silicone wax (Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 137,693/85, etc.), silicone oil (Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 148,697/84, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 273,887/87, etc.).
However, as speed of thermal transfer printers increases and the shape of a thermal head changes, various problems are posed. For example, residue is formed when the thermal head bears against the heat-resistant sliding layer, and the layer is allowed to melt by the heat of the thermal head, resulting in its sticking. Residue forming at the heat-resistant sliding layer is such a phenomenon that the layer is ground by contact with the thermal head and resulting residue sticks to the thermal head, depending on the adhesion between the base film and heat-resistant sliding layer, the sliding ability, hardness of the heat-resistant sliding layer, and the like. If these characteristics are not well-balanced, the entire layer falls off in the worst cases.
This phenomenon leads to the inability of print at the part where residue remains between the heat-resistant sliding layer and the thermal head resulting in poor heat conductivity from the thermal head to an ink layer. As a result, there is a tendency that printed letters and numbers become illegible and a record can also be misread, as in the case of printed bar codes or the like.
Moreover, particularly in the case where silicone oil is used, the silicon oil is transferred to the ink layer and the recording quality becomes degraded if the ink ribbon is stored with the ribbon rolled up tightly.
In order to solve these problems, there have been attempts to modify the silicone oil and resin, and it has been reported that silicone-(meth)acrylic graft polymer made from the combination of silicone macromer and (meth)acrylic polymer showed good results (for example, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 143,195/86, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 1,575/87, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 30,082/87, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 214,475/89, Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 274,596/90, and the like.)
In the case where the aforesaid silicone-(meth)acrylic graft polymer is used for the heat-resistant sliding layer, the (meth)acrylic component is oriented on a side of a support (a base film), and the silicone is oriented on the other side, or the side of the heat-resistant sliding layer. Therefore, both strong adhesion to the support and good sliding ability are expected to be achieved.
However, as a result of study and investigation made by the present inventors, it has been formed that further improvement was necessary since the residue formation still remained and the amount of residue increased with high-speed printing though the sliding characteristics were slightly improved by using the aforesaid silicone-(meth)acrylic graft polymer.


In a unit cell that forms a water electrolysis device, which is an electrochemical device, an electrolyte membrane/electrode structure is sandwiched between an anode-side separator and a cathode-side separator. A load-applying mechanism is disposed between a cathode-side feeder and the cathode-side separator, while an anode-side feeder is set with a smaller contact area range than the aforementioned cathode-side feeder. The anode-side feeder and the cathode-side feeder are set with a larger contact area range than an anode electrode catalyst layer and a cathode electrode catalyst layer, and a contact surface that touches a solid polymer electrolyte membrane on the aforementioned anode-side feeder is disposed projecting farther to the side of the aforementioned solid polymer electrolyte membrane than a contact surface on the anode-side separator and a contact surface on a frame member.

For example, a water electrolysis device is used to produce a hydrogen gas as a fuel gas for a power generation reaction in a fuel cell. The water electrolysis device contains a solid polymer electrolyte membrane for decomposing water to generate the hydrogen (and oxygen). Electrode catalyst layers are disposed on either side of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane to form a membrane-electrode assembly, and current collectors are disposed on either side of the membrane-electrode assembly to form a unit.
A plurality of the units are stacked, a voltage is applied to the stacking-direction ends, and the water is supplied to the anode-side current collector. Then, the water is decomposed to generate hydrogen ions (protons) at the anode side of the membrane-electrode assembly. The hydrogen ions are transferred through the solid polymer electrolyte membrane to the cathode side, and bonded with electrons to produce the hydrogen. Meanwhile, at the anode side, the oxygen generated simultaneously with the hydrogen is discharged together with the residual water from the unit.
Known water electrolysis devices include high-pressure hydrogen production devices capable of generating a high-pressure hydrogen (at a pressure of several tens MPa) at the cathode side. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a high-pressure hydrogen production device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-070322 contains a cathode current collector 2 and an anode current collector 3 disposed on either side of a solid polymer membrane 1, separators 4a and 4b, and flow paths 5a and 5b. When water is supplied to the flow path 5b in the anode-side separator 4b and the current collectors 2 and 3 are energized, the water is electrolyzed to generate the high-pressure hydrogen gas in the flow path 5a in the cathode-side separator 4a
The high-pressure hydrogen production device further contains a disc spring 6 as a pressing means for pressing the cathode current collector 2 into tight contact with the solid polymer membrane 1. The disc spring 6 is disposed in the flow path 5a to press the cathode current collector 2 toward the solid polymer membrane 1. Therefore, the contact resistance between the solid polymer membrane 1 and the cathode current collector 2 is not increased even under the high pressure at the cathode side.


In a multi-function electronic device, consists of a display mounted on the device and a two part cover with each cover part slidable on the device in opposite directions for covering and exposing the display. The two part cover is equipped with a full function keyboard.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of this application relates to an arrangement of components that combines the functions of a multi-use electronic device to optimize their usefulness. More specifically, this application describes an electronic device having a display and a two part cover with each part slidable on the device in opposite directions for covering the display. The two part cover is equipped with a split full function keyboard.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Mobile telephones and similar communication devices now provide a multitude of services, such as, Internet access, personal information management, facsimile, text messaging, picture, video, radio, in addition to telephone communication. This requires an arrangement of the components in a package that allows the efficient and ergonomically convenient use of the various functions.
With the introduction of such multi-function electronic devices, it has become increasingly more difficult to design a user interface that enables the user to access the many types of functions and applications available in small hand held devices. It is a particular challenge to present a simple and efficient means by which the user can communicate with the device for browsing, selecting, and operating amidst the wide array of functional choices. The user interface generally consists of a keypad for entering data and commands and a display screen for presenting information relating to operation of the selected function. The keypad and display are in continuous competition for space on the device, as it is desirable that each be as large as possible for ease of use and viewing. This is particularly difficult when it is advantageous to provide a full function keyboard, for example, a QWERTY style keyboard.
It is a purpose of this invention to use a slidable cover which is split in two to cover and expose the display panel, wherein a keyboard is mounted on the cover to maximize the allotment of space to a display and a keyboard.

Multi-function electronic device with split cover


Class of carrier molecules which when covalently linked to an immunogen enhances the host's immune response to that immunogen regardless of whether the complex of carrier and immunogen is administered parenterally, enterally, or orally to the host. In addition, processes are provided for production of the complexes, as well as hybrid DNA sequences encoding complexes, recombinant DNA molecules bearing the hybrid DNA sequences, transformant hosts and vaccines comprising the complexes as well as methods for production of the vaccine.

In order to protect an animal against an invading pathogen (bacterial, viral or parasite) it is often advisable to vaccinate the animal with the whole organism or with such subunits of the pathogen as to elicit a protective immune response in the host. The immune response generated to such antigenic challenge can often be augmented by the co-administration of an immunopotentiating agent or adjuvant. The best of these agents are the depot type adjuvants (such as Freund's complete adjuvant, Freund's incomplete adjuvant and montanide). These adjuvants are capable of increasing the antibody response after antigen injection to some 50 to 100 times the level obtained with antigen injected alone.
Whilst adjuvants such as Freund's complete adjuvant, Freund's incomplete adjuvant and Montanide can greatly enhance the immune response to an antigen, they suffer from some disadvantages. When used with an antigen in an injectable form, large lesions often form at the site of injection, a situation which renders them unsatisfactory for such use in humans, pets or in meat animals. Furthermore, these adjuvants fail to act as immunopotentiating agents when administered orally or enterally.

Immunopotentiating complexes comprising TraT proteins


A computer and a waking method thereof are provided. The computer includes a switch circuit, a chipset, a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIE) device, and an embedded controller. The chipset includes a first wake-up pin and a power button pin, wherein the first wake-up pin is coupled to a terminal of the switch circuit. The PCIE device includes a second wake-up pin, and the embedded controller includes a general purpose input pin and a general purpose output pin. The general purpose input pin and the second wake-up pin are coupled to another terminal of the switch circuit. The general purpose output pin is coupled to the power button pin.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an electronic device, and more particularly to a computer and a waking method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the fast development of computers, the more functions the computer has, the much power the computer dissipates. Electricity waste may be easily made when the user does not put the computer into a power saving state as the user does not use the computer.
The standard of advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) has defined a number of power states, including a working state S0, a standby state S3, and a shutdown state S5. When the computer is in the working state S0, all components of the computer are powered normally. When the computer is in the standby state S3, the remaining components, instead of the memory and the controllers which need to be powered to maintain the data, are not powered. When the computer is in the shutdown state S5, a standby power with a low power is maintained only, leading to that the power dissipation for the shutdown state S5 is lower than that for the standby state S3.


The invention relates to gyroscopic instruments. The method for calibrating the scale factor of an angular velocity sensor or an axisymmetric vibratory gyroscope, which method uses a control amplitude signal, a control precessional signal CP and a control quadrature signal CQ for exciting the vibration of a resonator on a resonant frequency, involves a first step of pre-calibration which consists of measuring and recording an initial scale factor and the value of an initial control signal, and a second step of measuring the value of the current control signal and establishing a scale factor SF that is corrected on the basis of a proportional relationship involving the initial scale factor SF°, the initial value of the control signal Y° and the current value of the control signal Y° according to the formula SF=SF°Y/Y°.

It is known that a vibratory gyrometer or gyroscope may be manufactured from an axisymmetric or non-axisymmetric resonator with two degrees of freedom. The present invention relates primarily to the first category, namely, to vibratory rate gyroscope manufactured from axisymmetric resonators. Since axisymmetric resonators may be used in vibratory gyroscopes, the present invention also relates to these types of gyroscopes.
The resonator is made to vibrate at its resonant frequency by an amplitude control signal. The orientation of the vibration is controlled by a precession control signal. The demodulation of this signal makes it possible to know, by calculation, the applied precession rate and/or the inertial angle velocity. The excitation of mechanical vibrations of both the principal mode (antinode) and the precession mode (node) is produced by electrical actuators (electromagnetic, piezoelectric or electrostatic actuators), with a gain which is dependent on the ratio of the force generated, which is applied to the resonator, to the amplitude of the mechanical oscillations' excitation signal. The transmission coefficients of the detectors at the antinode and the node are determined by the ratio of the amplitude of the vibrations to the electrical signal being processed, at the output of the detectors.
The precision of calculation of the rate of rotation is a function of the precision of calculation of the scale factor of the manufactured system, and in particular of the precision of determination of the actuators' and detectors' gains of the resonator. The scale factor is the ratio of the rate of rotation of the vibration to the value of the output signal, in the case of a gyrometer. The scale factor of the vibrating gyroscope is the ratio of the rate of the rotation to the value of the precession control signal, in the case of a gyroscope.
The scale factor is a function of temperature and evolves over time. It is common to compensate for temperature variations in the scale factor using a computation unit and temperature measurements, either by tabulation of the scale factor or by a polynomial calculation. These methods may be inadequate and do not take aging into account.
A method for calibrating the scale factor of a vibratory gyroscope is described in US Patent Publication No. 2005259576. The method consists of measuring the output signal of the vibratory gyrometer or gyroscope while it is mounted on a support set and rotated at a constant rate. The scale factor is the ratio of the value of the applied rate of rotation to the value of the output signal. This method may be carried out before the operational use of the sensor using appropriate means. It cannot be carried out while the sensor is in use, unless another sensor is available.
European Patent EP 2 092 271, published on 08.25.2009, proposes two calibration methods, making it possible to improve the precision of the scale factor in the case of an axisymmetric resonator.
The first method adds to the forces controlling the vibration a stiffness control mechanism, making it possible to modulate the frequency of the vibration. Measuring this frequency modulation makes it possible to carry out a confluent analysis. Since the frequency modulation generally does not exceed 1 Hz, and since the average frequency of the resonators that are normally used is between 2 and 20 kHz, the precision required for the frequency measurement for a scale factor with a precision of 0.05% is of the order of 0.25 to 0.025 ppm. Since the resonant frequency of the resonators used is not sufficiently stable versus temperature, this precision of measurement is not fully consistent with an outdoors operational thermal environment.
The second method consists of processing the amplitude control signal using the amplitude detection signal amplified by a constant gain and which is phase-adapted, and in observing the exponentially increasing evolution of this amplitude, then in inverting the sign of the gain to observe the exponentially decreasing evolution of the amplitude, and also in calculating a correction term based on these observations. After this preliminary phase, the amplitude is adjusted to a fixed value. The drawback of this method is that it causes the amplitude, and therefore the scale factor, to vary significantly during calibration. The device is not operational during calibration. After calibration, the benefits afforded by this operation decrease to zero over time.

Calibration method for the scale factor of an axisymmetric vibratory gyroscope or gyrometer


An in-tank fuel filter includes a body having upper and lower panels comprising an outer shell or layer of extruded mesh, layers of spun bonded and melt blown filtration media and a fitting for mounting the filter to an in-tank fuel pump inlet. The outer layer of the body is extruded mesh material that has the general appearance of a woven fabric but includes connections at every filament intersection. This outer layer protects the finer, inner filtration layers which include a first layer of spun bonded material, a layer of melt blown filtration media defining smaller pore sizes and a second layer of spun bonded material. The mounting fitting is made of a fuel compatible material and may either be a multiple part device or be in-situ molded on one of the filter panels. Separating ribs or a stuffer may be disposed in the interior of the filter to prevent its collapse and improve fuel withdrawal through the mounting fitting.

The invention relates generally to in-tank fuel filters and more specifically to an in-tank fuel filter having layers of spun bonded and melt blown filtration media and an outer shell of extruded mesh.
The modular assembly approach to motor vehicle manufacture increasingly demanded and practiced by automobile manufacturers has effected the design and componentry of motor vehicles in numerous ways. With regard to fuel systems, and particularly the fuel supply and filtration components, fuel filters have changed from a single, in-line assembly typically disposed under the hood and adjacent the carburetor, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,758, to modular designs wherein a filter, fuel pump and fuel level sensor constitute an assembly which is disposed within and secured to the fuel tank. Such an in-tank filter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,850.
Typically, such in-tank filters comprise a single layer of a woven nylon, polyester or acetal fabric which is folded and sealed by heat, radio frequency or ultrasonic energy along its edges. In order to improve small particulate filtration capability, the exterior woven fabric layer may be supplemented by an interior non-woven layer having finer pores which provide improved small particulate filtration capability. Given the comparative pore sizes of the outer and inner layers and the particulate filtration capability required of such filters, the exterior layer, in fact, provides little from the standpoint of filtration. Rather, it is present primarily to provide a suitably durable protective covering for the non-woven interior layers.
Such protection is also necessary because such in-tank filters are disposed either on the end of a suction tube or directly at the inlet of an in-tank fuel pump. In order to achieve the maximum withdrawal of fuel from the tank, the filter is positioned, and in some installations pressed, against the bottom surface of the fuel tank. In this condition, the lower surface of the fuel filter is subjected to abrasive action due to the small though inevitable relative movement between the filter and the bottom surface of the fuel tank.
The present invention addresses problems associated with this type of filter installation, achieves the small particulate filtration capability of melt blown filtration media and exhibits excellent abrasion resistance due to the incorporation of an extruded mesh outer shell.

Depth media in-tank fuel filter with extruded mesh shell