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The technical journal "Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift" (ATZ) 82 (1980) 4 includes an article entitled "Verringerung des Kraftstoffsverbrauchs von Ottomotoren durch elektronische Steuerung von Einspritzung und Zundung". On page 173 of this article, a paragraph 3.5 is directed to the digital engine electronics. In this paragraph, in addition to various lambda values, also the ignition time points can be set to values which are matched with the particular lambda value. FIG. 6 on page 173 shows an ignition characteristic field expanded over intake pipe pressure and rotational speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,891 relates to a method for controlling the operational performance of an internal combustion engine. A method is disclosed for controlling the smoothness of the operation of an engine and provides that the ignition angle in addition to the change of the fuel/air mixture and/or the quantity of exhaust gas fed back is changed. A combined displacement of the ignition angle, the lambda value or the exhaust gas quantity fed back is proposed in the context of a smoothness control.
European patent 0,033,616 discloses a control system for the idle speed wherein the ignition displacement is displaced in proportion to the deviation between the actual and desired speeds and the air or mixture intervention by means of an integral component based on the actual-desired speed deviation is controlled out.
The cooperative relationship between lambda control and idle speed control has been shown not to be optimal in known systems having lambda control and idle speed control. In principle, the two functions of idle speed control and lambda control operate completely independently of each other. However, since both are coupled via the engine, unpleasant operational conditions can occur because the controllers can also operate against each other in dependence upon operating range. The torque supplied by the engine is a function of lambda. If the lambda value changes, this has an influence on engine speed via the changed torque. Since the speed in idle should be held constant, the engine speed controller must intervene immediately in order to reverse the lambda influence. Accordingly, a poor operation of the engine can result at idle in the presence of unfavorable phase conditions for the two controller interventions. | {
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The present invention relates, in general, to a broad class of transducers which are herein referred to as "electro-mechanical" transducers. It is intended that this class of transducers includes microphones, speakers, relays, linear or rotational motors, and even servo-motors or other transducers wherein the mechanical response characteristics of the transducer include some mass or moment of inertia, some elasticity, such as a spring suspension system, and some loss or dissipation.
It is known that transducers of this general type have an inherent dependency upon, or sensitivity to, the frequency of the signal which drives the transducer. The present invention is particularly directed to compensate for, and therefore substantially eliminate the effects of this inherent frequency dependency of the mechanical response of a transducer.
In a general sense the present invention relates to a class of devices which operate on the Bli principle--namely a force is produced on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field. The meaningful output may be velocity as in the case of a moving coil type of speaker or it may be displacement as with the recording head for a chart recorder.
In a speaker of the type mentioned, there is mass (the mass of the cone and transducer coil), and elasticity or spring parameter (in the suspension system for the cone and coil), and some loss (including the dissipation in the cone and the work performed in vibrating the air to generate the acoustic radiation).
These three parameters of mass, spring parameter, and loss are referred to herein as the "mechanical response parameters" of the transducer. As mentioned, they inherently produce a frequency dependency of the mechanical response to an electrical signal.
In addition to the mechanical response parameters indicated above, a transducer of the type with which the present invention is concerned, particularly audio speakers, has an ohmic loss and self-inductance which may alter the response characteristic of the transducer.
The present invention can best be understood from the detailed analysis of the problem and specific solution presented below; however, in brief, the present invention provides a current-controlled power amplifier (that is, one which has a very high output impedance in comparison to the load so that its output current is substantially independent of load impedance) for driving the speaker. In other words, a "current-controlled amplifer" is one in which the output current of the amplifier is controlled by the input signal (either voltage or current) and it is independent of load impedance. In this manner, the impedance of the transducer coil caused by its ohmic resistance and self-inductance have no distorting frequency effect because the current-controlled power amplifier forces the desired current into any electrical load having an impedance value from a short circuit (zero impedance) to the highest impedance within the power rating of the amplifier.
The use of a current-controlled power amplifier to drive the speaker, therefore, overcomes the frequency-dependency of the electrical parameters of the speaker coil, but it does not compensate for the frequency dependency of the mechanical response parameters of the speaker.
To compensate for the frequency dependency of the mechanical response parameters of the speaker, the input signal of the current-controlled amplifier (or simply "current amplifier") is modified to have a frequency characteristic which is the complement of the corresponding frequency characteristic of the mechanical response parameters of the transducer. In this context, term "complement" is intended to mean that the input signal is large when the mechanical response is small and vice versa. Detailed analysis presented below will more precisely define the meaning.
In the illustrated embodiments, this modification of the current drive signal is accomplished through the use of a scaled electrical network which is a model of the mechanical response parameters of the transducer. That is to say, the input signal to the current power amplifier is derived by applying the input voltage signal, after amplification, to an electrical network, the elements of which are selected and designed to be the electrical counterparts of the equivalent circuit of the actual mechanical parameters of the speaker. This is sometimes referred to as the "modeled electrical network" or "compensation network"; and it will be explained in greater detail within. In summary, then, the input electrical signal acts upon the modeled electrical network so as to modify that input signal in such a manner that the resulting signal has a frequency characteristic which is the complement of the corresponding frequency characteristic of the mechanical response parameters of the speaker. This resulting signal is then used to drive a current amplifier which, in turn, drives the speaker.
The result is an overall response for the system which is substantially independent of frequency.
The present invention finds particular utility in the field of high-fidelity sound reproduction where heretofore the principal element of such a system limiting fidelity of the reproduction has been the speaker. In order to overcome this problem and to achieve better fidelity, the effort has been to design better speakers because the frequency response of the electrical portion of the system has not been matched by the frequency response characteristic of the speakers. The present invention, then, provides an economical and convenient method of modifying the overall system response for any speaker, even an inexpensive one, to achieve system performance with a much improved frequency response, and therefore higher fidelity. As mentioned, this may be accomplished even with inexpensive speakers.
Further, in order to achieve improved results, the modeled electrical network need not match perfectly with the frequency characteristic of the mechanical response parameters of the speaker at all frequencies of interest. An improved response will be obtained, as will be discussed, if the matching occurs at only a finite number of frequencies such as at resonance, at a frequency lower than resonance, and at one or more frequencies higher in the audio spectrum.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it permits simulation of any of the mechanical response parameters which may be non-linear or itself have a frequency dependency. Further, such simulation may be accomplished in the exact circumstances in which the speaker is intended to be used. For example, I have found that slight variation may occur in the mechanical response characteristics of the speaker when it is enclosed or mounted in a cabinet.
In still another aspect of the invention, there is disclosed a method for determining the exact values of the elements in the modeled electrical network for a given speaker.
The audio frequency response to a room in which the system may be operated, may in itself be imperfect. The room response may be modeled by the methods of this invention and compensation may be included as part of the total electrical model to provide improved audio response of the total system composed of the speaker system operating in the room.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description accompanied by the attached drawing. | {
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Augmented reality (AR) is a live view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated graphics. Information about the augmented objects is overlaid onto the real world. Augmentation is conventionally in real time and in visual context with environmental elements. With the help of advanced AR technology, the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable. Because AR brings out the components of the digital world into a person's perceived real world, the user experiences and interacts with the augmented reality, strongly depend on the photo-realistic quality of the augmented object and its integration with the real environment.
In prior art, the graphics used in AR is based on the conventional raster technology. However, raster graphics are very mediocre due to the tradeoff of quality and speed, in favor of speed. Its visual context lacks such necessary elements of photo-realism as reflections, refractions, color bleeding, caustics, etc. The only graphics technology competent to deliver the required highest photo-realism is ray tracing, found today in the film industry.
Ray tracing is a computer graphics technique for generating images by tracing the rays of light and simulating the effects of their encounters with virtual objects. The idea behind ray-tracing is to find mathematical solutions to compute the intersection of a ray with various types of geometry, by solving the visibility between points. This technique is capable of producing a high visual realism. In low-end ray tracing, light sources are the only illuminating objects in the scene.
More realistic imaging is delivered by the high-end ray tracing, called path tracing, which is based on global illumination. Global illumination takes into account not only the light which comes directly from a light source, but also subsequent cases in which light is returned by other surfaces in the scene, whether reflective or not.
Path tracing, referred to as Monte Carlo ray tracing, renders a 3D scene by randomly tracing samples of light paths. Repeated sampling for any given pixel in the image will eventually cause the average of the samples to converge to the correct solution of a rendering equation, making it one of the most physically accurate 3D graphic rendering methods in existence. Path tracing can generate images that are faithful to reality, and are indistinguishable from photographs (e.g. the Avatar movie). The visual quality is higher than that of the low end ray tracing, but at a much greater computational cost.
The most time-consuming tasks in the ray tracing of prior art are traversals of acceleration structures, as well as intersection tests between rays and polygons. Every single ray is traversed across an accelerating structure (e.g. K-trees or BVH trees), seeking polygons that are candidates for intersection. These traversals become a major time-consuming action—they typically take 60%-70% of the image generation time. Then, many scene polygons located along a ray, must undergo a line-polygon intersection test, to determine the earliest hit along the ray's path.
The layout of the prior art ray tracing method is depicted in FIG. 1. First, an acceleration structure must be constructed 10. The construction is done as a preprocessing step, and takes much more time than generating a single image. Generally, the construction time depends on the scene size. The bigger the scene, the longer the construction time. Every major modification in the scene necessitates a reconstruction of the acceleration structure. The memory size is typically doubled by the acceleration structure. Tracing of rays 12 is based on massive traversals of the acceleration structure 11, when each ray is traversed across the structure in search of intersections between the ray and various scene objects. The resulting intersection points are lighted, textured, shaded 13, and aggregated into image pixels.
There are two major drawbacks associated with the use of acceleration structures in ray tracing of prior art; (i) they must be repeatedly reconstructed for scene changes, and (ii) traversals of these structures are time-consuming. Both disadvantages contradict with the real-time requirements of AR.
Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to introduce a global illumination ray tracing to AR and VR.
Another object of the present invention is to accelerate the performance of global illumination ray tracing up to real time, making it suitable for AR and VR.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the computational complexity of ray tracing by making the prior art accelerating structures redundant.
Another object of the present invention is to further reduce the computational complexity of ray tracing by reducing and simplifying the intersection tests.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the power consumption of ray tracing.
Yet another object of the present invention is to introduce global illumination ray tracing to the consumer level of computing devices. | {
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A magnetic material is composed of a number of domains. Each domain contains parallel atomic moments and is magnetized to saturation, but the directions of magnetization of different domains are not necessarily parallel. Local preferred directions of magnetization depend upon the underlying microscopic structure of the material. Magnetic recording media microstructure generally includes grains or particles comprising regions of constant crystal structure or geometry. The local directions of easiest magnetization depend upon the geometry of the crystals. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, adjacent domains may be oriented in different directions, controlled by the underlying grain structure. The resultant effect of all these various directions of magnetization may be zero, as is the case with an unmagnetized specimen. When a magnetic field is applied, domains nearly parallel to the direction of the applied field become more prevalent at the expense of the others. A further increase in magnetic field causes more domains to rotate and align parallel to the applied field. When the material reaches the point of saturation magnetization, all domains are parallel to the applied field and no further domain growth or rotation would take place on increasing the strength of the magnetic field.
The ease of magnetization or demagnetization of a magnetic material depends on material parameters including composition, crystal structure, grain orientation, and the state of strain. The magnetization is most easily obtained along the easy axis of magnetization but most difficult along the hard axis of magnetization. A magnetic material is said to possess a magnetic anisotropy when easy and hard axes exist. On the other hand, a magnetic material is said to be isotropic when there are no easy or hard axes.
In a perpendicular recording media, magnetization is formed easily in a direction perpendicular to the surface of a magnetic medium, typically a magnetic recording layer on a suitable substrate, resulting from perpendicular anisotropy in the magnetic recording layer. On the other hand, in a longitudinal recording media, magnetization is formed in a direction in a plane parallel to the surface of the magnetic recording layer, resulting from longitudinal anisotropy in the magnetic recording layer.
Thin-film magnetic recording media require small exchange decoupled magnetic particles. Decoupling is commonly achieved by having a non-ferromagnetic material between the ferromagnetic particles. This non magnetic region has been formed in the prior art by films having a higher percent composition of either chromium, boron, or an oxide material at the boundaries between magnetic particles than within the magnetic particles. Separation of magnetic particles is imperfect, and some separation mechanisms are difficult to apply in a manufacturing process. An improved magnetic grain isolation method is desired.
The current perpendicular recording media (so called granular media) is processed using 02 reactive sputtering technique, and oxide dispersants to achieve smaller and physically isolated grains, and also uses a thick amorphous soft magnetic under layer (SUL) such as Fe, Ni, or Co-based alloy films as a mirror pole for recording performance. The Fe-based SUL forms a part of the media design. Since the SUL is based on iron, these alloy films are prone to severe corrosion. Because these Fe-based SUL films and other media layers are hard to cover at disk edges (chamfer area) as well as at mechanical defects (voids, pits etc.) by the carbon overcoat material, harsh environmental conditions (HCl and water vapors at ambient and elevated temperatures) make the edges and other mechanical defects at the data zone area severely susceptible to corrosion. This produces edge corrosion at the edges and defect corrosion at voids and other mechanical defects. Hence, solution(s) that provide a corrosion-resistant SUL in the perpendicular media design and prevents the edge as well as the mechanical defect corrosion of the perpendicular media is desired. | {
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Existing ERP systems may use a number of order tracking and inventory databases to store information that may be used to determine the availability of various raw material inputs and the status of work-in-progress orders and sales orders in a production process. These same databases may also store information on customers associated with the sales orders. However, when a purchase planner or production planner is faced with a deficiency in a specific raw material, it may be helpful to a planner or manager to understand the consequences of the product deficiency. For example, when a manager learns that a quantity of raw material may not become available at an expected time, it may be beneficial for the manager to understand what other related product orders, such as a work-in-progress orders and final product orders, may be affected.
Existing ERP applications may offer little or no help to a production planner in determining what related production orders may be affected by a deficiency in a raw material order. Existing ERP systems may only present reservations for the raw-material in text-based lists or tables or only show the direct reservations for a raw material in a first production step. Subsequent, dependant production steps, sales orders and customers may not be included in any one table. Thus, the manager may be unable to determine, in an efficient manner, which orders and, consequently, which customers, may get hurt from the product (raw material) deficiency. Furthermore, even if the manager is able to determine possible affected sales orders and customers, the manager may not be provided an efficient way to react to the deficiency by, for example, reallocating an available quantity of the deficient product or material to a production path that optimizes customer service. In other words, the manager may not be able to easily determine an optimal path to reroute available quantities of raw material to where the raw material or product would most benefit a supply company or production company. | {
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to infrared surveys of geographical areas and, more particularly, to an improved survey system and method using infrared and color television images and having means for determining and recording coordinates of points of interest of the survey.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Geographical surveys utilizing infrared sensors are extremely useful for a number of activities. For example, such surveys are applicable to detection of gas pipeline links; detection of problems in electric power transmission lines; determining the density of populated areas; search and rescue missions; pollution studies; and timber surveys. Infrared detection systems provide information concerning areas having a distinct temperature differential from the background temperatures and use of such systems for surveys is known in the art. However, a major problem in such surveys that has not been adequately solved is accurate determination of the location of small ground features detected by an infrared system.
A typical prior art infrared survey system is disclosed by Dibbero, U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,961. An airborne multiple sensor system is used having an infrared camera, a television camera, and a radar scanner. The multiple sensors provide detection and identification of camouflaged targets such as required in military operations. No means for producing accurate ground coordinates of detected targets is provided. Parker et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,915, teach recording on magnetic tape of thermal ground and reference data obtained from an airborne scanner to produce color images. U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,158 to Grainge et al. shows two airborne infrared scanners that scan in different directions.
None of the above systems provide accurate identification of ground coordinates, such as latitude and longitude, of located targets nor altitude from which the survey was made. Therefore, a need remains for an accurate survey system utilizing infrared scanning, color video, and video recording that includes means for recording the latitudes and longitudes of small areas of interest located during the survey. For aerial surveys in which a system provides latitude and longitude coordinates, which provides means for locating the coordinates with a ground vehicle is required. | {
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This invention relates in general to a refrigeration compressor, and more particularly to a hermetic refrigeration rotary motor-compressor.
Reciprocating piston refrigeration hermetic motor-compressors are well known in the art. They possess, however, inherent disadvantages of having reciprocating motion of a piston causing high stresses in certain components, vibration, noise, and limiting their rotational speeds. Further, they must be equipped with suction valves complicating design, lowering efficiency and causing other numerous disadvantages.
Various types of rotary compressors have been proposed to replace the reciprocating piston compressors in the refrigeration, air conditioning and other systems, in order to overcome some of their disadvantages, and to realize new advantages. However, such efforts have not been fully successful and the reciprocating piston compressor is in widespread use in hermetic motor-compressor machines today. | {
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HF links (the acronym standing for High-Frequency, situated between 3 MHz and 30 MHz) offer a non-line-of-sight communication capacity making it possible to carry out communications at long, or indeed very long distance, without requiring recourse to a satellite or to relay stations.
Hence, HF band communications use the reflection properties of the ionospheric layers for these frequencies. The drawback of the use of this band stems from the fact that, depending on the position of the ionospheric layers, propagation quality is not identical over the whole of the band. Thus, the HF band is generally divided into channels, thereby making it possible to allocate the frequency resource to various users, to afford frequency diversity to a communication, and also to adapt the use of the frequency resource to the transmission quality of the various channels, this quality varying as a function of time of day and geographical position.
Among the communication norms which use the HF band, the MIL STD 188-110C annex F standard, or the proposed STANAG 4539 annex H standard, describe the employment of several distinct 3 kHz channels for communicating. The invention lies in particular within the framework of transmissions of this type, using several 3 kHz channels, but also within the framework of multichannel transmissions using channels of greater width, such as for example in annex D of the MIL STD 188-110C standard, in the HF band or in other frequency bands. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus having a configuration that a record medium having an image recorded thereon in an image recording section is conveyed by a conveyor belt and then separated from the conveyor belt in a separating section.
2. Description of Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-256790 discloses an inkjet recording apparatus including an endless conveyor belt that adsorbs a record medium on the external surface thereof by electrostatic action, and a recording head that records an image by ejecting ink droplets on the record medium adsorbed to the external surface of the conveyor belt. In this inkjet recording apparatus, a plurality of conveyor belts are looped around a drive roller and a driven roller in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of a record medium with a predetermined space therebetween. This inkjet recording apparatus includes a separation guide having a body plate and a plurality of teeth extended from the body plate toward the upstream in the conveyance direction. The body plate is disposed further downstream from the drive roller positioned downstream form the recording head. Each of the teeth extended from the body plate is positioned between two of the conveyor belts adjacent to each other. The plurality of teeth of the separation guide contact the lower face of a record medium conveyed by the plurality of conveyor belts, thereby separating the record medium from the conveyor belts, to forward the record medium to the body plate. That is, peeled from the plurality of conveyor belts by the plurality of teeth of the separation guide, the record medium is separated from the plurality of conveyor belts, irrespective of the radius of curvature of the conveyor belts. Therefore, separation of a record medium from the plurality of conveyor belts can be ensured without a need of consuming power, while allowing the plurality of conveyor belts to last longer.
However, in the inkjet recording apparatus of the above publication, the body plate of the separation guide is positioned downstream from the conveyor belts, and a feed roller and a spur roller are paired and are positioned further downstream from the body plate. This results in a long length of the inkjet recording apparatus in the conveyance direction of a record medium, which is against recent demands for downsizing an inkjet recording apparatus. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to content control systems or copy protection signals.
2. Related Art
Currently, a video or media device such as a DVD player may contain trigger bits to activate at least one of many conventional types of copy protection signals, copy inhibit signals, or data signals used for content control. These trigger bits are encoded or inserted in the DVD disk, which then commands a circuit in the DVD player to appropriately apply at least part of the copy protection signal or data signal to its media/video output. Depending on the trigger bits' value, a level of copy protection is added to the video output of the DVD. However, it may desirable for rights owners, such as movie studios, to insist that copy protection or copy inhibit signals are on (i.e. trigger bits are set) all the time unless otherwise authorized. It should be noted that one would still be able to play back the media, but not make a copy of it. For example, if a library or the like is concerned that media can be easily copied, the library can distribute all media with copy protection signals or copy inhibit data signals active such that the borrower may not make a copy without authorization. Such authorization may require the borrower to communicate to the library to retrieve an access code or authorized command for the media/video player to turn off the copy protection signals or copy inhibit signals. Thus, in some circumstances, it is necessary to have the flexibility to disable a copy protection signal or copy inhibit data signal that has been triggered active by default. Existing copy protection systems do not provide this level of flexibility. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to digital computer systems, and more particularly to cache memory systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cache memories are used in many computer systems to improve system performance. A cache memory is a relatively small, fast memory which resides between a central processor and main system memory. Whenever the processor reads the contents of a memory location which is stored in the cache memory, the time required to access such location is drastically reduced. A good cache technique can provide a "hit ratio" of well over ninety percent, meaning that no main memory access is necessary for over ninety percent of the read operations performed. Access of data which is stored in the cache can improve access times by factors of three to ten times.
A cache performs functions requiring two different types of memory. The first type is the data memory, in which the data is actually stored. The second type is known as a tag memory, or tag RAM, which is used to determine which memory locations are actually stored in the cache. In general, the cache tag RAM contains a plurality of entries corresponding to the entries of the data cache. Each entry is indexed by some number of least significant bits of the address generated by the central processor, with the tag entry itself containing the most significant bits of the memory location which is stored in the corresponding data cache entry. If the most significant bits stored in the cache tag match the most significant bits of the address currently being generated, with the least significant bits of this address acting as an index to the tag RAM, a cache "hit" has occurred and the data to be read may be taken from the corresponding data cache entry. If data corresponding to the desired address is not located in the data cache, the tag entry will not match the most significant bits of the address, and a "miss" occurs. This indicates that the data must be retrieved from main system memory and placed into the data cache. At this time, the current contents of the cache tag entry are overwritten with the most significant bits of the newly retrieved address.
In multi-processor systems, it is possible to provide each processor in a system with its own cache memory. Each local processor accesses its own cache whenever possible, and accesses main system memory through a system bus only when necessary.
This situation introduces an important problem known as the "cache coherency problem." This problem arises whenever it is possible for shared variables in main system memory to be accessed by two or more processors in the system. These processors can be local central processing units, or input/output devices attached to the bus. The cache coherency problem arises when a single memory location is cached in two or more local caches. If one of the processors writes a new value into that memory location, it will be inconsistent with the value of the same variable, or main memory location, currently cached in the other caches. The cache coherency problem also arises when a non-caching device writes to a location in system memory which has been cached by another device.
One technique utilized in dealing with the cache coherency problem is to have all local processors having caches monitor, or "snoop," the main system bus at all times. If another processor or device writes data to a memory location which is currently stored in a local cache, the local cache entry is invalidated. If that location is later accessed by the local processor, the updated data is then retrieved from the main system memory.
Using a dual-port memory array in this manner, however, results in an area penalty on the tag RAM chip. This is because a dual-port memory, compared to a single-port memory array, can be two and a half to three and a half times larger, or more.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a cache tag memory which reduces space consumption as well as maintain the coherency of the cache memory. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to compositions of carbide-based and oxycarbide-based nanorods, carbon nanotubes including carbide and/or oxycarbide compounds, rigid porous structures including these compositions, and methods of making and using the same. More specifically, the invention relates to rigid three dimensional structures comprising carbon nanotubes bearing carbides and oxycarbides, carbide and/or oxycarbide-based nanorods having high surface areas and porosities, low bulk densities, substantially no micropores and increased crush strengths. The invention also relates to using the compositions of carbide-based nanorods, oxycarbide-based nanorods, carbon nanotubes comprising carbide and oxycarbide compounds and the rigid porous structures including these compositions as catalysts and catalyst supports, useful for many types of heterogenous catalytic reactions frequently encountered in petrochemical and refining processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heterogeneous catalytic reactions are widely used in chemical processes in the petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries. Such reactions are commonly performed with the reactant(s) and product(s) in the fluid phase and the catalyst in the solid phase. In heterogeneous catalytic reactions, the reaction occurs at the interface between phases, i.e., the interface between the fluid phase of the reactant(s) and product(s) and the solid phase of the supported catalyst. Hence, the properties of the surface of a heterogeneous supported catalyst are significant factors in the effective use of that catalyst. Specifically, the surface area of the active catalyst, as supported, and the accessibility of that surface area to reactant chemiabsorption and product desorption are important. These factors affect the activity of the catalyst, i.e., the rate of conversion of reactants to products. The chemical purity of the catalyst and the catalyst support have an important effect on the selectivity of the catalyst, i.e., the degree to which the catalyst produces one product from among several products, and the life of the catalyst.
Generally catalytic activity is proportional to catalyst surface area. Therefore, a high specific area is desirable. However, that surface area must be accessible to reactants and products as well as to heat flow. The chemiabsorption of a reactant by a catalyst surface is preceded by the diffusion of that reactant through the internal structure of the catalyst.
Since the active catalyst compounds are often supported on the internal structure of a support, the accessibility of the internal structure of a support material to reactant(s), product(s) and heat flow is important. Porosity and pore size distribution of the support structure are measures of that accessibility. Activated carbons and charcoals used as catalyst supports have surface areas of about 1000 square meters p and porosities of less than one milliliter per gram. However, much of this surface area and porosity, as much as 50%, and often more, is associated with micropores, i.e., pores with pore diameters of 2 nanometers or less. These pores can be inaccessible because of diffusion limitations. They are easily plugged and thereby deactivated. Thus, high porosity material where the pores are mainly in the mesopore (>2 nanometers) or macropore (>50 nanometers) ranges are most desirable.
It is also important that self-supported catalysts and supported catalysts not fracture or attrit during use because such fragments may become entrained in the reaction stream and must then be separated from the reaction mixture. The cost of replacing attritted catalyst, the cost of separating it from the reaction mixture and the risk of contaminating the product are all burdens upon the process. In other processes, e.g. where the solid supported catalyst is filtered from the process stream and recycled to the reaction zone, the fines may plug the filters and disrupt the process. It is also important that a catalyst, at the very least, minimize its contribution to the chemical contamination of reactant(s) and product(s). In the case of a catalyst support, this is even more important since the support is a potential source of contamination both to the catalyst it supports and to the chemical process. Further, some catalysts are particularly sensitive to contamination that can either promote unwanted competing reactions, i.e., affect its selectivity, or render the catalyst ineffective, i.e., “poison” it. Charcoal and commercial graphites or carbons made from petroleum residues usually contain trace amounts of sulfur or nitrogen as well as metals common to biological systems and may be undesirable for that reason.
Since the 1970s carbon nanofibers or nanotubes have been identified as materials of interest for such applications. Carbon nanotubes exist in a variety of forms and have been prepared through the catalytic decomposition of various carbon-containing gases at metal surfaces. Nanofibers such as fibrils, bucky tubes and nanotubes are distinguishable from continuous carbon fibers commercially available as reinforcement materials. In contrast to nanofibers, which have, desirably large, but unavoidably finite aspect ratios, continuous carbon fibers have aspect ratios (L/D) of at least 104 and often 106 or more. The diameter of continuous fibers is also far larger than that of nanofibers, being always>1.0μ and typically 5 to 7μ.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,466 to Ledoux et al. discloses a process for isomerizing straight chain hydrocarbons having at least seven carbon atoms using catalysts which include molybdenum compounds whose active surface consists of molybdenum carbide which is partially oxidized to form one or more oxycarbides. Ledoux et al. disclose several ways of obtaining an oxycarbide phase on molybdenum carbide. However, their methods require the formation of molybdenum carbides by reacting gaseous compounds of molybdenum metal with charcoal at temperatures between 900° C. and 1400° C. These are energy intensive processes. Moreover, the resulting molybdenum carbides have many similar drawbacks as other catalysts prepared with charcoal. For example, much of the surface area and porosity of the catalysts is associated with micropores and as such these catalysts are easily plugged and thereby deactivated.
While activated charcoals and other materials have been used as catalysts and catalyst supports, none have heretofore had all of the requisite qualities of high surface area porosity, pore size distribution, resistance to attrition and purity for the conduct of a variety of selected petrochemical and refining processes. For example, as stated above, although these materials have high surface area, much of the surface area is in the form of inaccessible micropores (i.e., diameter <2 nm).
It would therefore be desirable to provide a family of catalysts and catalyst supports that have high accessible surface area, high porosity, resistance to attrition, are substantially free of micropores, are highly active and selective and show no significant deactivation after many hours of operation.
Nanofiber mats, assemblages and aggregates have been previously produced to take advantage of the increased surface area per gram achieved using extremely thin diameter fibers. These structures are typically composed of a plurality of intertwined or intermeshed nanotubes. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a roll for use under high or low temperature conditions; for example conveyor rolls such as those used in a flat glass annealing lehr. The roll has at least one tire member with a frusto-conical surface which engages against a matching frusto-conical surface of a retaining member, and the tire member is of a different material from the retaining member.
Such rolls usually have annular tires which project from a central shaft. Under some temperature conditions, for example when transporting flat glass after it has been annealed, a range of materials are available for the tires, and a resilient material, for example rubber, can be selected which, because of its resilience, accommodates differential thermal expansion between the shaft of the roll and the tires mounted on the shaft. When designing rolls for operation under high temperature conditions, for example up to temperatures of the order of 650.degree. C. a rigid tire material is usually necessary and this gives rise to problems due to differential expansion as between the shaft of the roll and the tires when any change in temperature takes place for example during warming-up of the lehr or when a hot roll in a lehr has to be changed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A roll for hot or cold rolling is known from United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,374,130, in which a ring of hard metal alloy mainly consisting of hard carbides, is inset into the wall of a steel roll. The ring has frusto-conical faces and the roll body is cast into the ring, and the ring is compressively stressed as the cast roll body cools.
If the material of the shaft, in a roll of known construction, has a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than the material of the tire, the shaft will expand more than the tire as the temperature of the roll increases and the tire may be subjected to undesirable stress which may be sufficient to rupture the tire. If the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material of the shaft is less than the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material of the tire, the tire will expand more than the shaft and will tend to become detached from the shaft.
This problem has been alleviated to a degree, in the past, by designing the roll so that the parts of the roll have dimensions at the particular temperature of use such that any stress to which the tire is subjected has an acceptable value. This however can impose the need fo effecting adjustment after the roll has been assembled in the workshop at room temperature and during its heating up to the temperature of use. Further this usually limits the temperature of use to the particular temperature for which the roll is designed or, at best, a narrow temperature range around that particular temperature. It is a main object of the present invention to solve the problem of how to design a roll having one or more projecting tires spaced apart along the roll, which roll is suitable for use under hot or cold conditions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Of the many types of electrolyzers that are commercially used for manufacturing fluorine and other chemicals, they all are subject to problems with respect to either reduced efficiency due to resistance between the cathode and anode or gas migration from one electrode compartment to the other electrode compartment.
The state of the art in the area of fluorine electrolyzers provides proof that the decrease of resistance between the cathode and the anode provides a positive effect on the efficiency of the electrolyzer because of the reduction on power consumption. As the resistance decreases, the overvoltage is decreased proportionally, which is a reduction on power.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved electrolyzer for manufacturing fluorine and other chemicals that provides improved efficiency by reducing the resistance between the anode and the cathode.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrolyzer that has improved safety due to a reduction of gas diffusion between the anode compartment and the cathode compartment in each direction, by employing an electrolyte-feeding compartment having a double diaphragm with a cavity therebetween at higher pressure than the adjacent cathode compartment and at higher pressure than the adjacent anode compartment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrolyzer with a membrane and electrode compartments (cathode and anode) independent of the gas compartments.
It is another object of the invention to provide electrode zones, anodic and cathodic, with multi-electrode elements.
It is another object of the invention to provide electrode elements disposed at an angle to direct the flow of molecular fluorine gas in an opposite direction to molecular hydrogen gas.
It is another object of the invention to provide total insulation between the fluorine side and the hydrogen side of the electrolyzer (electrical insulation and diffusional insulation. | {
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The subject invention is directed to new and novel regio-regular, functionalized hydrocarbon polymers (i.e., polymers bearing oxygen and/or nitrogen atom in pendent functional groups) and methods of forming the same. Specifically, the present invention is directed to regio-regular polymers having substantially all viciral (i.e., head-to-head) configuration of functional groups pendent from the polymer backbone chain. The polymers are formed by ring-opening metathesis polymerization of a C.sub.7 -C.sub.12 cycloalkene having a vicinal pair of functional groups pendent from ring carbon atoms. The resultant polymer may then be hydrogenated to provide a substantially straight chain alkylene polymer having head-to-head pendent functional groups periodically distributed along the polymer chain. These polymers exhibit enhanced gas barrier and/or tensile properties and have other properties which make them useful in forming films and other articles.
High pressure, free radical polymerization has been an important industrial technique for providing a wide variety of polymer products. The technique requires an initiator, such as a peroxide, to initiate the chain growth. A variety of homopolymers and copolymers have been formed by this technique. However, the monomeric units forming the copolymers are normally randomly distributed along the polymer chain backbone and the polymer has a high degree of short and long chain branching due to side reactions. Even when forming functional group containing homopolymers, there is a high degree of head-to-tail arrangement of the functional groups with respect to the polymer chain. Head-to-tail orientation of consecutive mers of a vinyl polymer can be simply represented as: --CH.sub.2 --CHX--CH.sub.2 --CHX--, while head-to-head orientation is represented as: --CH.sub.2 --CHX--CHX--CH.sub.2 --, where X represents functional groups. Normally, only small amounts of head-to-head arrangement of functional group containing monomeric units may be found in polymers formed by free radical polymerization.
More recently, polymerizations have been conducted with Ziegler-Natta or metallocene catalyst. However, polymerization by this technique is generally limited to non-functionalized monomers, such as olefins suitable for forming polyethylene, polypropylene and the like.
Ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) has been studied during the past two decades using early transition metal complexes. These studies were conducted on strained cyclic olefins to provide polymers of controlled molecular weight and structure. For example, cyclobutenes have been the subject of ROMP to provide poly(butadiene) or polybutenamer. It has been well documented that this polymerization is driven by the high strain energy of the cyclobutene ring (29.4 kcal/mol). In Makromol. Chem. 1962, 56, 224, Dall'Asta et al first reported the ROMP of cyclobutene using TiCl.sub.4 /Et.sub.3 Al to provide a polybutadiene having high cis configuration. Other two component ROMP catalyst systems have been used to polymerize cyclobutene and its derivatives. In addition, one component catalysts, such as Ph(MeO)C.dbd.W(CO).sub.5, PhC.dbd.WCO.sub.5 and RuCl.sub.3 were successfully used in similar polymerizations.
However, in none of the above cases was a living polymerization observed. Polymerization reactions are considered living when the reaction is capable of proceeding substantially in the absence of termination steps and chain transfer reactions. When the rate of polymer chain initiation occurs faster than chain propagation the living system affords polymers of controllable molecular weight and narrow polydispersity. Living polymerization systems are also capable of synthesizing block copolymers (see Noshay et al, Block Copolymers, Academic Press, N.Y. 1977).
The area of functionalized polyolefins has received great attention recently. The fine tuning of the type and amount of functional groups, as well as the location of the functional groups on the polymer backbone to optimize the properties which can be achieved by a particular polymer has been of great interest. Functionalized alkylene polymers have conventionally been prepared by free-radical or anionic polymerization of vinyl monomers. However, such polymerization techniques of functionalized vinylically unsaturated monomers have provided polymers with a preponderance of head-to-tail configuration of the monomeric units, with a high degree of branching and, where copolymerization is conducted, the monomeric units are generally randomly distributed along the polymer backbone chain. Due to the electrophilic nature of transition metal catalysts, such as metallocene or conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts, towards a large variety of functional groups, the synthesis of polyolefins with polar functional groups has met with only limited success.
Recently, the ROMP of certain substituted strained cyclic and bicyclic olefins has been accomplished. 3-Methylcyclobutene and 3,3-dimethylcyclobutene as well as norbornene have been ring opened and polymerized. The ROMP of cyclobutenes which are substituted with acid or alcohol functional groups has only been accomplished indirectly. For example, highly strained 3,4-disubstituted cyclobutenes bearing benzyl-protected methylene ether or ester pendent groups have been subjected to ROMP followed by post-polymerization removal of the protection group to provide a polyallyl alcohol homopolymer product.
With the development of other metathesis initiators, such as those described by Nguyen et al in JACS 1992, 114, 3974 and JACS 1993, 115, 9858; by Schwab et al in JACS 1996, 118, 100; Schrock et al, in JACS 1990, 112, 3875; Fox et al in Inorg. Chem. 1992, 31, 2287; and by Grubbs et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,940, one has achieved metathesis polymerization of certain cyclic olefin compounds which contain functional groups. However, such polymerizations were not living polymerizations and, therefore non-linear, high dispersity polymer products were achieved. Further, the monomers were highly strained compounds, such as norbornene derivatives which provide a cyclic moiety within the polymer chain or, alternately, were mono functional acyclic olefins which provided polymers having the functional groups randomly located along the polymer chain.
It has been highly desired to provide a linear polyolefin polymer having pendent functional groups uniformly distributed in a controlled manner along the polymer backbone. Such polymers are believed capable of providing polymer films and articles having uniform structure and highly desired properties. | {
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Throughout this application, various references are referred to within parentheses. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic citation for these references may be found at the end of this application, preceding the sequence listing and the claims.
The peptide neurotransmitter neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 amino acid member of the pancreatic polypeptide family with widespread distribution throughout the mammalian nervous system (Dumont et al., 1992). The family includes the namesake pancreatic polypeptide (PP), synthesized primarily by endocrine cells in the pancreas; peptide YY (PYY), synthesized primarily by endocrine cells in the gut; and NPY, synthesized primarily in neurons (Michel, 1991; Dumont et al., 1992; Wahlestedt and Reis, 1993). All pancreatic polypeptide family members share a compact structure involving a xe2x80x9cPP-foldxe2x80x9d and a conserved C-terminal hexapeptide ending in Tyr36 (or Y36 in the single letter code). The striking conservation of Y36 has prompted the reference to the pancreatic polypeptides"" receptors as xe2x80x9cY-typexe2x80x9d receptors (Wahlestedt et al., 1987), all of which are proposed to function as seven transmembrane-spanning G protein-coupled receptors (Dumont et al., 1992).
NPY and its relatives elicit a broad range of physiological effects through activation of at least five G protein-coupled receptor subtypes known as Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4 (or PP), and the xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d. While the Y1, Y2, Y3, and Y4 (or PP) receptors were each described previously in both radioligand binding and functional assays, the xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d receptor is unique in that its classification is based solely on feeding behavior induced by various peptides including NPY.
The role of NPY in normal and abnormal eating behavior, and the ability to interfere with NPY-dependent pathways as a means to appetite and weight control, are areas of great interest in pharmacological and pharmaceutical research (Sahu and Kalra, 1993; Dryden et al., 1994). NPY is considered to be the most powerful stimulant of feeding behavior yet described (Clark et al., 1984; Levine and Morley, 1984; Stanley and Leibowitz, 1984). The stimulation of feeding behavior by NPY is thought to occur primarily through activation of the hypothalamic xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d receptor. For example, direct injection of NPY into the hypothalamus of satiated rats can increase food intake up to 10-fold over a 4-hour period (Stanley et al., 1992). Similar studies using other peptides has resulted in a pharmacologic profile for the xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d receptor according to the rank order of potencies of peptides in stimulating feeding behavior as follows: NPY2-36xe2x89xa7NPYxcx9cPYYxcx9c[Leu31,Pro34]NPY greater than NPY13-36 (Kalra et al., 1991; Stanley et al., 1992). The profile is similar to that of a Y1-like receptor except for the anomalous ability of NPY2-36 to stimulate food intake with potency equivalent or better than that of NPY. A subsequent report in J. Med. Chem. by Balasubramaniam and co-workers (1994) showed that feeding can be regulated by [D-Trp32]NPY. While this peptide was presented as an NPY antagonist, the published data at least in part support a stimulatory effect of [D-Trp32]NPY on feeding. In contrast to other NPY receptor subtypes, the xe2x80x9cfeedingxe2x80x9d receptor has never been characterized for peptide binding affinity in radioligand binding assays. The fact that a single receptor could be responsible for the feeding response has been impossible to validate in the absence of an isolated receptor protein; the possibility exists, for example, that the feeding response could be a composite profile of Y1 and Y2 subtypes.
This problem has been addressed by cloning rat and human cDNAs which encode a single receptor protein, referred to herein as Y5, whose pharmacologic profile links it to the xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d receptor. The identification and characterization by applicants of a single molecular entity which explains the xe2x80x9catypical Y1xe2x80x9d receptor allows the design of selective drugs which modulate feeding behavior. It is important to note, though, that any credible means of studying or modifying NPY-dependent feeding behavior must necessarily be highly selective, as NPY interacts with multiple receptor subtypes, as noted above (Dumont et al., 1992).
As used in this invention, the term xe2x80x9cantagonistxe2x80x9d refers to a compound which decreases the activity of a receptor. In the case of a G-protein coupled receptor, activation may be measured using any appropriate second messenger system which is coupled to the receptor in a cell or tissue in which the receptor is expressed. Some specific but by no means limiting examples of well-known second messenger systems are adenylate cyclase, intracellular calcium mobilization, ion channel activation, guanylate cyclase, and inositol phospholipid hydrolysis. Conversely, the term xe2x80x9cagonistxe2x80x9d refers to a compound which increases the activity of a receptor.
In order to test compounds for selective binding to the human Y5 receptor the cloned cDNAs encoding both the human and rat Y2 and Y4 (or PP) receptors have been used. The human and rat Y5 receptors were disclosed in PCT International Application No. PCT/US95/15646, published Jun. 6, 1996, and filed as a continuation in part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/349,025, filed Dec. 2, 1994, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. The human and rat Y2 receptors were disclosed in PCT International Application US95/01469, published Aug. 10, 1995, as WO 95/21245, and filed as a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/192,288, filed Feb. 3, 1994, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. The human and rat Y4 receptors were disclosed in PCT International Application PCT/US94/14436, published Jul. 6, 1995, as WO 95/17906, and filed as a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 08/176,412, filed Dec. 28, 1993, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. The Y1 receptor has been cloned from a variety of species including human, rat and mouse (Larhammar et al, 1992; Herzog et al, 1992; Eva et al, 1990; Eva et al, 1992).
The synthesis of novel aryl sulfonamide and sulfamide compounds are disclosed which bind selectively to the cloned human Y5 receptor compared to the other cloned human NPY receptors, and inhibit the activation of the cloned human Y5 receptor as measured in in vitro assays. The in vitro receptor binding and activation assays described hereinafter were performed using various cultured cell lines, each transfected with and expressing only a single Y-type receptor. In addition, the compounds of the present invention were shown to inhibit in animals either NPY-induced feeding behavior or feeding behavior exhibited by food-deprived animals.
This invention is also directed to the treatment of feeding disorders such as obesity and bulimia nervosa using the compounds described herein. In addition, the compounds of the present invention may also be used to treat abnormal conditions such as sexual/reproductive disorders, depression, epileptic seizure, hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage, congestive heart failure or sleep disturbances, or any condition in which antagonism of a Y5 receptor may be useful.
This invention is directed to novel aryl sulfonamide and sulfamide compounds which bind selectively to and inhibit the activity of the human Y5 receptor. This invention is also related to uses of these compounds for the treatment of feeding disorders such as obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and abnormal conditions such as sexual/reproductive disorders, depression, epileptic seizure, hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage, congestive heart failure or sleep disturbances and for the treatment of any disease in which antagonism of a Y5 receptor may be useful. | {
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The present invention relates generally to castors and more particularly to free floating castors.
The state of the art castors, as we are all aware, are wheels that trail the direction of motion of the platform or trolley onto which they are mounted. The wheel in the castor assembly has freedom to revolve, in the horizontal plane, around the vertical axis of the castor assembly, through 360.degree.. The wheel being located at a certain distance (trail distance) from the single vertical axis of the assembly at the end of a trail arm makes the wheel follow the direction of the motion of the trolley.
Standard castors have two inherent flaws--one, the castors have a tendency to get wedged, and two, swiveling/fishtailing of the trolley onto which the castors are fitted when the direction of motion is reversed.
Wedging is a momentary restriction in the smooth motion of a castor trolley experienced during reversal of direction of its travel. While reversing the direction of motion, the castor becomes dynamically unstable. The wheel initially follows the reverse path and then deviates. During this process, the castors have to revolve to realign. The castors could either revolve in the same or opposite directions. Wedging occurs when both castors revolve either inwards or outwards, i.e., in opposite directions. During the reversal motion, the wheels get dragged momentarily until they realign. In order to overcome wedging, extra efforts needs to be applied which will be proportional to the weight on the wheels. This difficulty would, in day-to-day life, have been experienced while handling baggage trolleys at airports, etc.
Fishtailing of the trolley also occurs while reversing. Owing to the revolving action, the castors could revolve in the direction opposite to the intended one. For instance, while reversing the direction from forward to rearward, the castors could revolve in clockwise direction. Thereby, the trolley will swing towards the right hand side. In case of an obstruction ahead and in order to avoid it, one needs to apply additional force to turn left. However, on doing so, one finds a momentary resistance to the effort because the castors are revolving in the wrong direction. By continuing to pull backwards, one could hit the obstacle. The way out would be to push forward again, make the castors revolve in the opposite direction and then pull back or apply enough force to drag the wheels in the desired direction. | {
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Life expectancy in the United States, and around the world, has been slowly rising each year. Cleaner water, better sanitation and nutrition, and a greater access to medical services has allowed individuals to live fuller and longer lives. Medical science continues to forge ahead in discovering new treatments and procedures to combat diseases and conditions that have plagued humans for centuries.
Among the continuing innovations in the medical sciences is the increasing amount of pharmaceutical treatments available for a variety of illnesses. Diseases that were once virtual death sentences, such as HIV, can now be managed through a strict regimen of pharmacological treatments. Additionally, more and more people are taking an increasing number of daily vitamins and supplements as prophylaxis against illness.
Unfortunately, keeping track of a daily regimen of pills can be a herculean task, especially when the regimen requires a strict adherence for effective treatment. Some treatments require dozens of pills daily. While many pill sorters have appeared in the market place, most do not allow for the easy arrangement of pills, nor do they allow the user to easily carry pills around on their person, especially when the user might be travelling to a remote location. What is needed is a pill sorting system that allows a user to sort medications and seal them into easily opened bags for transport. | {
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The present invention relates to digital communication systems and more particularly to systems and methods for simplifying the implementation of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmitters and receivers. The present invention also generally relates to computation of transforms such as the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT).
Wireless communications represent a highly useful alternative and supplement to wired services. Wireless offers access to untethered devices and thus addresses the reality that the modern worker often does not operately solely at a fixed workstation but rather moves frequently from location to location throughout the day. The remote location may be a conference room near the employee's desk, a client location across town, an airport, or a hotel room in another city or country.
Furthermore, for both office and home environments, even where computing devices have fixed locations, it may nonetheless be difficult or expensive to extend network access with the desired bandwidth everywhere as desired. The owners of older homes do not wish to incur the expense of rewriting for modern network technologies. As business grow and evolve, the demand for network connections may not correspond well to previously established wiring patterns.
Wireless communication is also highly useful in providing broadband Internet access to business and residences. A significant fraction of business and residences cannot get broadband Internet access through either Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology or cable modems. Wireless communications allows for broadband Internet access to be provided to these locations without the need to construct a new wired infrastructure.
As data rates increase to accommodate enhanced data communication services, multipath transmission effects becomes an obstacle to effective use of radio techniques for wireless communications. Within the most useful portions of the spectrum, a wireless signal will take two or more paths between the transmitter and the receiver due to reflections caused by terrain, foliage, buildings, indoor walls, etc. Because the paths are not the same length, there will be a difference in arrival times and the received wireless signal will interfere with time-shifted versions of itself. A further complication then arises because at particularly high data rates the self-interference will be between different data symbols transmitted at different times.
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a highly powerful modulation technique that addresses the problems posed by multipath interference. To accomplish this, OFDM divides the available spectrum into many low data rate, narrow sub-channels that are transmitted in parallel. Since each sub-channel has a much lower data rate compared to the overall data rate the immunity to multipath is improved. At the same time interference between each sub-channel is eliminated by ensuring that the carrier frequency of each sub-channel is orthogonal to every other sub-channel. This is achieved by selecting sub-carriers to be a “frequency bin” used within an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). Incoming data is mapped to a constellation point for each sub-carrier or “frequency bin”. The IFFT is then used to convert the frequency domain OFDM symbol into N time domain samples where N is the size of the IFFT that was used.
A guard interval or cyclic prefix is added to complete an OFDM symbol (or block). The cyclic prefix is used to prevent inter-symbol interference and maintain the orthogonality between each OFDM symbol. The cyclic prefix is usually selected to be at least as long as the duration of the impulse response of the channel. It is created by copying the last L-samples of the time domain signal and appending this to the beginning of the OFDM block. A set of subchannel values are input to the IFFT procedure within the transmitter and recovered by use of an FFT at the receiver. These subchannel values are complex values that are chosen from a constellation of points to communicate data. The more points there are in the constellation, the more bits of data that may be sent in each sub-channel per OFDM symbol time.
The complex samples that are output by the IFFT are used to define the amplitude and phase of the real sinusoidal, composite signal carried over the airwaves. In the simplest approach, the real and imaginary components of the IFFT output samples are separately converted from digital form to analog form. For each time domain sample, the real value of the symbol defines the amplitude of an in-phase “I” component of the modulated signal while the imaginary value defines the amplitude of a quadrature “Q” component that is 90 degrees phase shifted from the “I” component. For high data rate systems, a relatively dense constellation is used on each sub-carrier and it is absolutely critical that the I and Q components are scaled identically at each stage of processing within both the transmitter and the receiver. Any imbalance between the I and Q channels will lead to distortion and performance degradation.
Because it is difficult to achieve perfect balance between the I and Q channels using analog circuits an alternative approach has emerged. In this approach, the digital baseband samples are interpolated to a higher sampling frequency, filtered to remove images and then upconverted to an Intermediate Frequency (IF). All this is done in the digital domain, not the analog domain, and thereby eliminates the variations associated with analog circuits. The digital signal is then converted to a passband analog signal using a Digital Analog Converter (DAC). This results in an oversampled analog signal centered at the selected IF. Since the result of this digital up conversion is a real passband signal, this process obviates the need for precisely balanced analog processing of separate I and Q channels and eliminates the need for two DACs. A similar approach is taken at the receiver where a passband signal is digitized at a low IF using an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). This signal is then down converted to baseband and processed by a digital decimation filter to remove adjacent channel signals and reduce the sampling rate.
Problems arise, however, in the digital implementation of this prior art approach. In order to sufficiently separate sampling images and adjacent channel signals from the desired signal, long and computational intensive digital filters are required. This leads to higher power consumption, increased gate count, and more expensive demodulation hardware for the system as a whole.
What is needed are systems and methods for improving OFDM implementation in the areas of, e.g., power consumption, communications performance, and computational complexity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device using a liquid crystal panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some conventional display devices using liquid crystal panels, an EL panel is used as a backlight for a liquid crystal panel a, as shown in FIG. 5. The liquid crystal panel a is connected with electrodes of a circuit board b by an LCD connector. Since the liquid crystal panel a has a large number of pins, a relatively large area is required for wiring. Usually, the wiring is placed under the liquid crystal panel a. Therefore, an EL driver circuit c for driving the EL panel is not placed under the liquid crystal panel a but in a remote position on the circuit board b. Lead wires d are brought out from the EL panel for connection with the EL driver circuit c.
When the EL driver circuit c is placed on the circuit board b remote from the liquid crystal panel a as mentioned above, space must be secured on the circuit board b for this purpose. This makes the circuit board b bulky. Furthermore, the EL panel is driven with a high driving voltage and so a step-up circuit is employed. This results in considerably severe RF switching noise which affects the surroundings from the lead wires d. For example, in the case of an instrument for measuring minute electrical currents such as a photometer, the noise may deteriorate the performance of the instrument. Consequently, the EL panel cannot be placed close to the minute current detection portion or a high-gain amplifier unless any countermeasure is taken. In this manner, limitations are placed on the placement of the EL driver circuit.
When the output voltage from the step-up circuit is coupled to the EL panel by the lead wires d, if the step-up circuit is placed remote from the EL panel, the effect of noise varies according to the manner in which leads are wired. As a result, shielded wires must be used or another countermeasure is necessary. In this regard, there are many problems associated with such arrangements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a display device free of the foregoing problems.
Accordingly, a display device in accordance with the present invention includes a liquid crystal panel spaced a given or set distance from a circuit board and an EL panel for illuminating the liquid crystal panel located behind the liquid crystal panel. Furthermore, an EL circuit board having an EL driver circuit thereon is located behind the EL panel. In this embodiment, the EL panel and EL circuit board are placed close to each other, and the surroundings are prevented from being adversely affected by noise generated by the EL driver circuit.
The space between the liquid crystal panel and the circuit board is maintained by a support member. Preferably, the liquid crystal panel is held against the circuit board by a holddown frame. This structure facilitates maintaining the spacing between the liquid crystal panel and the circuit board.
Preferably, a shielding plate is mounted on the circuit board and opposite the EL panel to cut off noise produced by the EL driver circuit. This structure can prevent the surroundings from being adversely affected by noise.
It is also desirable that the EL circuit board be electrically connected with the shielding plate. In addition, the EL circuit board is preferably connected via a contact member with power-supply electrodes on the circuit board, the electrodes being exposed from the shielding plate. Moreover, the EL circuit board is preferably connected via the contact member with electrodes used for supplying control signals, the electrodes being exposed from the shielding plate. This structure facilitates making connections and assembling the display device.
Other objects and features of the invention will appear in the course of the description thereof, which follows. | {
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The invention is in an improved method and apparatus for the production of benzenecarboxylic acids and benzenedicarboxylic acid esters or mixture thereof by the oxidation of xylenes or toluylic acid esters by means of oxygen or gases containing oxygen, in the presence of catalysts containing heavy metal, at elevated temperatures and elevated pressure.
Terephthalic acid dimethyl esters can be prepared by oxidizing p-xylene (PX) with air in the liquid phase. In a first phase of the preparation, a methyl group of the PX is oxidized in the presence of a heavy metal catalyst to form p-toluylic acid. The acid is then esterified with methanol to p-toluylic acid methyl ester (PT-ester=PTE). PTE is then further oxidized together with PX to the terephthalic acid monomethyl ester, and is then transformed with methanol to terephthalic acid dimethyl ester end product which is separated off by distillation, while the remaining part is the so called working ester.
The two oxidation processes are performed together, insofar as possible. The liquid reaction phase placed in the reactor is a mixture preferably prepared from fresh PX and the working ester (derived from the esterification with a high content of PTE plus an amount of by-products) the amount of the working ester being the predominate portion. This reaction phase used as starting mixture allows operation in the fluid state for all of the substances to be manipulated during the production process.
The progress of the oxidation of the starting mixture to form the oxidator liquid which contains specified contents of the target products is determined by measuring the acid number of the reaction phase in the reactor which is called the "oxidator". The acid number is measured in milligrams of potassium hydroxide per gram of the oxidator liquid. By the acid number only the carboxylic acid group-COOH is measured. The selectivity of the oxidation is determined by analyzing the reactor exhaust gas in which a content of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide indicates an undesired decarboxylation and the content of residual oxygen indicates the utilization grade of the oxygen.
Production on a large technical scale is performed continuously in the conventional process with a pressure between 0.5 and 1.1 MPa at a temperature of from 135.degree. to 170.degree. C. An effort is made to operate with a high air input or high yields per unit time and capacity, at a high oxygen reaction and a low yield of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and by-product formation, and at the same time to carry off the considerable reaction heat in a narrow temperature range in the oxidation zone adapted to the progress of the reaction. The oxidators are constructed, for example, in the form of bubble column reactors of 10 or more meters in height. The reaction gas is introduced through gas distributors in the vertical liquid column.
Limitations are created by frothing and oxygen gas breakthroughs which lower operating safety and economy. The reaction heat is carried away and recovered by evaporating boiler feed water in heat exchanging systems inside or outside of the oxidator. Highly developed but very expensive tubular reactors are standard equipment.
In another procedure the oxidation gas is introduced into the oxidator liquid by gas jets, so as to achieve high substance transformations, the reaction heat being removed as described above. In this procedure too, the amount of air introduced also is limited by elevated oxygen contents and combustion products in the exhaust gas, as well as unavoidable frothing in the oxidator. Very high or very long oxidators are required.
Due to the highly exothermic oxidation reaction, local temperature peaks are unavoidable in either process. This results in an elevated formation of CO, CO.sub.2, increased amounts of low aliphatic acids and oxidation products of high molecular weight, all of which result in yield losses.
The objective therefore was to increase the selectivity and yield of the reaction, i.e., the formation of terephthalic acid monomethyl esters from PTE and of p-toluylic acid from PX as well as to increase the rate of oxidation, and by reducing the residence time of the liquid products in the oxidator to reduce the thermal stress on the products, and to manage i.e. control the increased amount of heat per unit time resulting therefrom, while maintaining favorable reaction temperatures and conditions. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a forming device, especially to an internal high-pressure forming device, with a multiple-part forming tool and a clamping device which holds the parts of the forming tool together against the deforming action.
2. Description of the Related Art
In internal high-pressure forming, strict requirements must be set for the strength of the clamping of the forming tool parts and of the forming tool itself. Especially in the end phase of production of a formed article in which the formed article workpiece substantially rests against the forming walls of the tool mold cavity, the very high working pressure required for complete forming of the workpiece is transmitted to the tool and clamping device. However, in spite of this high loading, no deformations of the mold cavity impairing the dimensional stability of the formed article should come about, e.g., in that clamping jaws holding together tool parts of the forming tool give way by expansion of the mold cavity. Tools and clamping devices of internal high-pressure forming devices of this kind must be designed to be correspondingly stable. | {
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The following background description constitutes a description of the background to the present invention, which does not, however, necessarily constitute prior art.
Vehicles, for example cars, buses and trucks, are driven forward by an engine torque produced by an engine in the vehicle. This engine torque is provided to the vehicle's driving wheels through a powertrain in the vehicle. The powertrain contains a range of inertias, torsional compliances and damping components, meaning that the powertrain, to a varying degree, may have an impact on the engine torque being transferred to the driving wheels. Thus, the powertrain has a torsional compliance/flexibility and a play, which means that oscillations in torque and/or revolutions, so called powertrain oscillations, may occur in the vehicle when the vehicle, for example, sets off once a torque has been requested from the engine. These oscillations in torque and/or revolutions occur when forces, which have been built up in the powertrain in the period between the engine providing the torque and the vehicle moving off, are released as the vehicle moves off. Powertrain oscillations may make the vehicle rock longitudinally, which is described in further detail below. These rocking movements in the vehicle are very disruptive for the driver of the vehicle.
Therefore, in some prior art solutions for avoiding these powertrain oscillations, preventive strategies have been used at the request of the engine torque. Such strategies may utilise limited torque ramps when the engine torque is requested, whereat these torque ramps have been adapted so that the requested engine torque is limited in such a way, that the powertrain oscillations are reduced, or do not occur at all.
The torque ramps which are used today when an engine torque is requested thus introduce a limit to how the torque may be requested by the engine in the vehicle. This limitation is necessary under the solutions of prior art, in order to reduce the disruptive powertrain oscillations. Allowing the driver and/or, for example, a cruise control to freely request a torque would, with current art systems, often give rise to considerable and disruptive powertrain oscillations, which is why limiting torque ramps are used.
The limiting torque ramps in current art are normally static. Static torque ramps, which may also be termed static torques, have an advantage in that they are of a very limited complexity, which is one of the reasons why they are so often used. However, static torque ramps have a number of disadvantages, relating to the fact that they are not optimized to all driving events that the vehicle may be exposed to. For certain driving modes, the static and limited torque ramps give rise to a reduction in vehicle performance, as, due to the torque ramp, the requested torque is unnecessarily low for driving modes, wherein it would have been possible to request more engine torque without the occurrence of powertrain oscillations. For other driving modes, the torque ramp does not limit the requested torque sufficiently, which means that powertrain oscillations occur and therefore rocking movements in the vehicle. Therefore, the use of torque ramps, for certain driving modes, provides non-optimal torques, which may give rise to an unnecessary reduction in vehicle performance and/or rocking that reduces the comfort, caused by powertrain oscillations. | {
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A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of biochemistry, molecular biology, and virology. More particularly, it relates to the identification of 259 nucleotides of previously unrecognized sequence located at the 3′ end of the GB virus B (GBV-B) genome.
B. Description of Related Art
Chronic hepatitis C is a major threat to the public health. Serologic surveys suggest that as many as 3.9 million Americans are chronically infected with the responsible virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV) (Alter, 1997). These individuals are at increased risk of developing progressive hepatic fibrosis leading to cirrhosis and loss of hepatocellular function, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma. The course of chronic hepatitis C is typically lengthy, often extending over decades, with insidious clinical progression usually occurring in the absence of symptoms. Nonetheless, liver disease due to HCV results in the death of 8,000–10,000 Americans annually, and chronic hepatitis C is the most common cause of liver transplantation within the U.S.
Therefore, HCV is a major public health problem. However, therapy for chronic hepatitis C is problematic. Recombinant interferon-α is approved for treatment of chronic hepatitis C (Consensus Development Panel, 1997). The benefit of interferon-α results primarily from its antiviral properties and its ability to inhibit production of virus by infected hepatocytes (Neumann et al., 1998). Nonetheless, even under optimal therapeutic regimen, the majority of patients with chronic, hepatitis C fail to eliminate the virus or resolve their liver disease. Treatment failures are especially common in persons infected with genotype 1 HCV, unfortunately the most prevalent genotype in the U.S. Thus, there is an urgent need to better understand the virus and develop better treatment. Unfortunately, technical difficulties in working with HCV have made it necessary to use infectious surrogate viruses in efforts to develop treatments and vaccines for HCV.
Scientists' efforts to better understand HCV and to develop new drugs for treatment of hepatitis C have been stymied by two overwhelming technical deficiencies: first, the nonexistence of a high permissive cell line that supports replication of the virus and second, the absence of a permissive animal species other than chimpanzees, which are endangered and therefore available on a limited basis.
Presently, those who are working on HCV treatment and prevention are employing an infectious chimeric virus of sindbis and HCV and/or an infectious clone of pestiviruses as surrogate virus models in HCV drug discovery efforts, due to the above technical difficulties of working with HCV. Alternatively, they are using isolated proteins or RNA segments of HCV for biochemical and structural studies. This approach precludes functional studies of virus replication and its inhibition.
GBV-B is a hepatotropic flavivirus that has a unique phylogenetic relationship to human HCV and strong potential to serve as a surrogate virus in drug discovery efforts related to hepatitis C antiviral drug development. GBV-B causes acute hepatitis in experimentally infected tamarins (Simons et al., 1995; Schlauder et al., 1995; Karayiannis et al., 1989) and can serve as a surrogate virus for HCV in drug discovery efforts (due to technical difficulties in working with HCV). GBV-B virus is much closer in sequence and biological properties than the above-described models. It will be easier to make biologically relevant chimeras between HCV and GBV-B than by using more distantly related viruses. GBV-B is hepatotropic (as is HCV), whereas the viruses used in these competing technologies are not. In view of the above, an infectious clone of GBV-B would be useful to those working on HCV treatment and prevention.
Unfortunately, the use of GBV-B as a surrogate or model for HCV has not been possible in the past, because no infectious molecular clone of GBV-B virus genome could be prepared. It is now known that this obstacle was encountered because the GBV-B genome was believed to be 259 nucleotides shorter than its actual length (Muerhoff et al., 1995; Simons et al., 1995). Others, previous to the inventors, had failed to realize that the 3′ sequence of GBV-B was missing from the prior sequences. Without this 3′ sequence, it is not possible to prepare an infectious GBV-B molecular clone. | {
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An automated system can enable product manufacturing at greater speeds, lower cost and with a higher safety margin than is generally possible with a manually operated system. Many automated systems employ sensors to guide the movement of the various interworking parts that make up the system. Since the desire to lower product manufacturing costs will likely continue to grow, so will the use of automated systems. Therefore, the number of sensors can be expected to increase. | {
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Systems are known in the prior art in which a plug carries a large number of electrical contacts which are accessible from its front side to complete a plug-in connection, and which is provided at its rear side with corresponding multiple contacts each adapted to be secured to a wire or lead. It is also known to provide a closure cap through which the wires extend, and which is adapted to be secured to the rear side of the plug. Also often provided is a so-called wire shield, which is secured to the plug behind the cap, and serves to hold the wires in an appropriate wire dress and also relieves stress on the connections to the plug contacts if the wires are pulled or otherwise stressed. For convenience, these wire shields have been made so that they are latchable to the casing of the connector plug.
In some significant cases, the space available on the casing for the plug for securing the wire shield and/or the cap to it is minimal. This is particularly true of modular plugs which are designed to be plugged side-by-side into a common header, whereby the sides of the plug casings are not readily available to accommodate latching structures for securing the wire shield and the caps. In addition, the bottom of the plug casing often includes other integral structures, such as latches used for other purposes. It has therefore become desirable in some applications to provide structures for latching a wire shield, and preferably also a rear cover cap, to a multi-contact plug, which structures occupy only a small portion of the plug casing. It is also desirable that the latching arrangement be capable of securing the wire shield without the cap, when a cap is not used. | {
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The present invention relates to an automatic dishwashing composition disposed in a water soluble package that can be added directly into an automatic dishwasher.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,191,088; 5,998,346; 5,693,602; 5,750,483; 5,468,411; 5,279,756; 5,240,632 and 5,205,954 relate to an aqueous gel automatic dishwashing composition. The use of these compositions are burdensome and difficult to obtain precise dosing.
The present invention relates to an automatic dishwashing cleaning system comprising:
(a) a water soluble container; and
(b) an aqueous liquid automatic dishwashing composition disposed in said water soluble container.
An object of the present invention is to provide an aqueous automatic dishwashing composition disposed in a water soluble container, wherein the system containing the aqueous automatic dishwashing composition and container can be placed directly into an automatic dishwasher.
The present invention relates to an automatic dishwashing cleaning package which is a system comprising:
(a) a water soluble container; and
(b) an aqueous automatic dishwashing composition disposed in said water soluble container, wherein said aqueous liquid automatic dishwashing composition comprises approximately by weight:
(i) 15% to 25%, more preferably 17% to 23% of pentasodium triphosphate;
(ii) 15% to 25%, more preferably 17% to 23% of sodium citrate;
(iii) 5% to 15%, more preferably 7% to 13% of potassium citrate;
(iv) 0.5% to 15%, more preferably 7% to 13% of potassium sulfate;
(v) 0 to 10%, most preferably 0.1% to 8%, more preferably 0.5% to 8% of a mixture of a protease enzyme and an amylase enzyme in a weight ratio of protease enzyme to amylase enzyme of 10:1 to 1:10, more preferably 2:1 to 1:2;
(vi) 0 to 6%, more preferably 0.25% to 5% of a sodium salt of a polyacrylic acid homopolymer and/or a sodium salt of a copolymer of polyacrylic acid and sulfonic acid;
(vii) 0.1% to 4% of an ethoxylated nonionic surfactant; and
(viii) the balance being water.
Excluded from the instant compositions are anionic surfactants, fatty acid or alkali metal salts of fatty acid, alkali metal silicates, chlorine bleach compounds, and crosslinked polyacrylate polymers.
The nonionic surfactants that can be used in the present automatic dishwasher detergent compositions are generally described as ethoxylated/propoxylated fatty alcohols which are low-foaming surfactants and may be possibly capped, characterized by the presence of an organic hydrophobic group and an organic hydrophilic group and are typically produced by the condensation of an organic aliphatic or alkyl aromatic hydrophobic compound with ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide (hydrophilic in nature). Practically any hydrophobic compound having a carboxy, hydroxy, amide or amino group with a free hydrogen attached to the oxygen or the nitrogen can be condensed with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide or with the polyhydration product thereof, polyethylene glycol, to form a nonionic detergent. The length of the hydrophilic or polyoxyethylene chain can be readily adjusted to achieve the desired balance between the hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. Typical suitable nonionic surfactants are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,812 and 3,630,929.
Preferably, the nonionic surfactants that are used are the low-foaming polyalkoxylated lipophiles wherein the desired hydrophile-lipophile balance is obtained from addition of hydrophilic poly-lower alkoxy group to a lipophilic moiety. A preferred class of the nonionic detergent employed is the poly-lower alkyoxylated higher alkanol wherein the alkanol is of 9 to 18 carbon atoms and wherein the number of moles of lower alkylene oxide (of 2 or 3 carbon atoms) is from 3 to 15. Of such materials, it is preferred to employ those wherein the higher alkanol is a high fatty alcohol of 9 to 11 or 12 to 15 carbon atoms and which contain from 5 to 15 or 6 to 16 lower alkoxy groups per mole. Preferably, the lower alkoxy is ethoxy but in some instances, it may be desirably mixed with propoxy, the latter, if present, usually being major (more than 50%) portion. Exemplary of such compounds are those wherein the alkanol is of 12 to 15 carbon atom and which contain about 7 ethylene oxide groups per mold.
Useful nonionics are represented by the low foam Plurafac series from BASF Chemical Company which are the reaction product of a higher linear alcohol and a mixture of ethylene and a propylene oxides, containing a mixed chain of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, terminated by a hydroxyl group. Examples include Product A (a C12-C15 fatty alcohol condensed with 6 moles ethylene oxide and 3 moles propylene oxide). Product B (a C12-C15 fatty alcohol condensed with 7 mole propylene oxide and 4 mole ethylene oxide), and Product C (a C12-C15 fatty alcohol condensed with 5 moles propylene oxide and 10 moles ethylene oxide). Another group of liquid nonionics are available from Shell Chemical Company, Inc. under the Dobanol trademark: Dobanol 91-5 is a low foam ethoxylated Cg-C11 fatty alcohol with an average of 5 moles ethylene oxide and Dobanol 25-7 is an ethoxylated C12-C15 fatty alcohol with an average of 7 moles ethylene oxide. Another liquid nonionic surfactant that can be used is sold under the tradename Lutensol SC 9713.
Plurafac nonionic surfactants from BASF are biodegradable, low-foaming surfactant which are specially preferred for the instant automatic dishwashing compositions. Plurafac(trademark) SLF18 which is water dispensible and has a low surface tension and low cloud and is low foaming is especially preferred for use in the instant automatic dishwashing compositions.
Other useful surfactants are Neodol 25-7 and Neodol 23-6.5, which products are made by Shell Chemical Company, Inc. The former is a condensation product of a mixture of higher fatty alcohols averaging about 12 to 13 carbon atoms and the number of ethylene oxide groups present averages about 6.5. The higher alcohols are primary alkanols. Other examples of such detergents include Tergitol 15-S-7 and Tergitol 15-S-9 (registered trademarks), both of which are linear secondary alcohol ethoxylates made by Union Carbide Corp. The former is mixed ethoxylation product of 11 to 15 carbon atoms linear secondary alkanol with seven moles of ethylene oxide and the latter is a similar product but with nine moles of ethylene oxide being reacted.
The sodium salt of the polyacrylic acid homopolymer has a molecular weight of about 2,000 to about 8,000, more preferably about 3,000 to about 6,000. A preferred sodium salt of the polyacrylic acid homopolymer is Acusol 445ND(trademark) having a molecular weight of about 4,500 which is manufactured by Rohm and Haas. The sodium salt of the copolymer of polyacrylic acid/sulfonic acid has a molecular weight of about 8,000 to about 16,000 and is Acusol(trademark) 587 manufactured by Rohm and Haas.
The detergent formulation also can optionally contain a mixture of a protease enzyme and an amylase enzyme and, optionally, a lipase enzyme that serve to attack and remove organic residues on glasses, plates, pots, pans and eating utensils. Lipolytic enzymes can also be used in the automatic dishwashing composition. Proteolytic enzymes attack protein residues, lipolytic enzymes fat residues and amylolytic enzymes starches. Proteolytic enzymes include the protease enzymes subtilisn, bromelin, papain, trypsin and pepsin. Amylolytic enzymes include amylase enzymes. Lipolytic enzymes include the lipase enzymes. The preferred amylase enzyme is Duramyl(trademark) 300L, Type DX having an activity of 300 KNU/g. It is an alpha amylase prepared by submerged fermentation of a selected strain of Bacillius.
A preferred protease enzyme is Everlase(trademark) 16.OL Type, Ex sold by Novozyme. It has an actively of 16 EPU/g and is prepared by submerged fermentation of an genetically modified strain of Bacillus. Another useful protease enzyme is Durazym(trademark) 16.0 L Type Ex which is sold by Novozyme and has an activity of 16 DPU/g. It is a protein-engineered variant of Savinase.
Other conventional ingredients may be included in the instant compositions in small amounts, generally less than about 3 weight percent, such as perfume, hydrotropic agents such as the sodium benzene, toluene, xylene and cumene sulphonates, preservatives, dyestuffs and pigments and the like. The preferred colorant is a yellow dye or pigment. Preferred yellow colorants are Nylosan Yellow N-LGL (Cl Acid Yellow 218), Graphtol Yellow 4534-2 Paste (Cl Pigment Yellow 14, Cl21095), DandC Yellow No. 10 and FDandC Yellow No. 6 and mixtures thereof. A titanium dioxide pigment dispersion such as Hostatint White(trademark) R30 manufactured by Clariant which contains 70 wt. % of titanium oxide can be mixed with the yellow colorant in a weight ratio of 1:20 to 20:1. The instant compositions have a pH of at least about 9., more preferably at least about 8.5.
The water soluble container which can be in the form of a sachet, a blow molded capsule or other blow molded shapes, an injected molded ampoule or other injection molded shapes, or rotationally molded spheres or capsules are formed from a water soluble thermoplastic resin. Water soluble plastics which may be considered for forming the container include low molecular weight and/or chemically modified polylactides; such polymers have been produced by Chronopol, Inc. and sold under the Heplon trademark. Also included in the water soluble polymer family are melt processable poly(vinyl) alcohol resins (PVA); such resins are produced by Texas Polymer Services, Inc., tradenamed Vinex, and are produced under license from Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. and Monosol film produced by Monosol. Other suitable resins include poly (ethylene oxide) and cellulose derived water soluble carbohydrates. The former are produced by Union Carbide, Inc. and sold under the tradename Polyox; the latter are produced by Dow Chemical, Inc. and sold under the Methocel trademark. Typically, the cellulose derived water soluble polymers are not readily melt processable. The preferred water soluble thermoplastic resin for this application is Monosol Film. Any number or combination of PVA resins can be used. The preferred grade, considering resin processability, container durability, water solubility characteristics, and commercial viability is Monosol film having a weight average molecular weight range of about 55,000 to 65,000 and a number average molecular weight range of about 27,000 to 33,000.
The sachet may be formed from poly(vinyl) alcohol film. The pelletized, pre-dried, melt processable polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) resin, is feed to a film extruder. The feed material may also contain pre-dried color concentrate which uses a PVA carrier resin. Other additives, similarly prepared, such as antioxidants, UV stabilizers, anti-blocking additives, etc. may also be added to the extruder. The resin and concentrate are melt blended in the extruder. The extruder die may consist of a circular die for producing blown film or a coat hanger die for producing cast film. Circular dies may have rotating die lips and/or mandrels to modify visual appearance and/or properties.
Typical film properties are:
1. Tensile strength (125 mil, break, 50% RH)=4,700 to 5,700 psi
2. Tensile modulus (125 mil, 50% RH)=47,000 to 243,000 psi; preferred range is 140,000 to 150,000 psi
3. Tear resistance (mean) (ASTM-D-199 gm/ml)=900-1500
4. Impact strength (mean) (ASTM-D-1709, gm)=600-1,000
5. 100% Elongation (mean) (ASTM-D-882, psi)=300-600
6. Oygen transmission (1.5 mil, 0% RH, 1 atm)=0.0350 to 0.450 cc/100 sq. in./24 h
7. Oxygen transmission (1.5 mil, 50% RH, 1 atm)=1.20 to 1.50 cc/100 sq. in./24 h
8. 100% modulus (mean) (ASTM-D-882, psi)=1000-3000
9. Solubility (sec) (MSTM-205,75xc2x0 F.) disintegration=1-15; dissolution=10-30
Typical resin properties are:
1. Glass Transition Temperature (xc2x0C.)=28 to 38; preferred is 28 to 33,
2. Weight Average Molecular Weight (Mw)=15,000 to 95,000; preferred is 55,000-65,000
3. Number Average Molecular Weight (Mn)=7,500 to 60,000; preferred is 27,000 to 33,000. Preferred poly(vinyl) alcohol film is formed from Monsol 9500 or Monosol 8630
The extruded film is slit to the appropriate width and wound on cores. Each core holds one reel of film. The reels of slit film are fed to either a vertical form, fill, seal machine (VFFS) or a horizontal form, fill, seal machine (HFFS). The Form, Fill, Seal machine (FFS) makes the appropriate sachet shape (cylinder, square, pillow, oval, etc.) from the film and seals the edges longitudinally (machine direction seal). The FFS machine also makes an end seal (transverse direction seal) and fills the appropriate volume of aqueous suspended liquid above the initial transverse seal. The FFS machine then applies another end seal. The liquid is contained in the volume between the two end seals.
Blow molded capsules are formed from the poly(vinyl) alcohol resin having a molecular weight of about 50,000 to about 70,000 and a glass transition temperature of about 28 to 33xc2x0 C. Pelletized resin and concentrate(s) are feed into an extruder. The extruder into which they are fed has a circular, oval, square or rectangular die and an appropriate mandrel. The molten polymer mass exits the die and assumes the shape of the die/mandrel combination. Air is blown into the interior volume of the extrudate (parison) while the extrudate contacts a pair of split molds. The molds control the final shape of the package. While in the mold, the package is filled with the appropriate volume of liquid. The mold quenches the plastic. The liquid is contained within the interior volume of the blow molded package.
An injection molded ampoule or capsule is formed from the poly(vinyl) alcohol resin having a molecular weight of about 50,000 to about 70,000 and a glass transition temperature of about 28 to 38xc2x0 C. Pelletized resin and concentrate(s) are fed to the throat of an reciprocating screw, injection molding machine. The rotation of the screw pushes the pelletized mass forward while the increasing diameter of the screw compresses the pellets and forces them to contact the machine""s heated barrel. The combination of heat, conducted to the pellets by the barrel and frictional heat, generated by the contact of the pellets with the rotating screw, melts the pellets as they are pushed forward. The molten polymer mass collects in front of the screw as the screw rotates and begins to retract to the rear of the machine. At the appropriate time, the screw moves forward forcing the melt through the nozzle at the tip of the machine and into a mold or hot runner system which feeds several molds. The molds control the shape of the finished package. The package may be filled with liquid either while in the mold or after ejection from the mold. The filling port of the package is heat sealed after filling is completed. This process may be conducted either in-line or off-line.
A rotationally molded sphere or capsule is formed from the poly(vinyl) alcohol resin having a molecular weight of about 50,000 to about 70,000 and a glass transition temperature of about 28 to 38xc2x0 C. Pelletized resin and concentrate are pulverized to an appropriate mesh size, typically 35 mesh. A specific weight of the pulverized resin is fed to a cold mold having the desired shape and volume. The mold is sealed and heated while simultaneously rotating in three directions. The powder melts and coats the entire inside surface of the mold. While continuously rotating, the mold is cooled so that the resin solidifies into a shape which replicates the size and texture of the mold. After rejection of the finished package, the liquid is injected into the hollow package using a heated needle or probe after filling, the injection port of the package is heat sealed.
The invention may be put into practice in various ways and a number of specific embodiments will be described to illustrate the invention with reference to the accompanying examples.
All amounts and proportions referred to herein are by weight of the composition unless otherwise indicated. | {
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(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmitting apparatus and an optical transmitting system. Particularly, the present invention relates to a technique for optimizing signal quality of an output optical signal of an optical amplifier in an optical transmitting apparatus or an optical transmitting system having the optical amplifier in a hybrid structure.
(2) Description of Related Art
With an increase in information communication quantity, development of optical fiber communication systems in large capacities and at low costs is lively in these years. For the purpose of increasing the capacity, there has been studied and developed a wavelength division multiplex (WDM: Wavelength Division Multiplex) transmission system which multiplexes optical signals at a plurality of wavelengths as a channel signal and transmits it. To realize a lower cost, there is a demand for a long-distance system, in which a distance (called a 3R section) between a terminal (terminal once converting an optical signal into an electric signal, and again regenerating the optical signal) to a terminal can be extended as much as possible.
In the latter, in order to extend the 3R section as much as possible, it is essential how low an optical noise level generating in an optical amplifier disposed in a regenerator can be suppressed. With regard to this point, distribution Raman amplifiers (DRAs) attract attention in recent years, which are tried to be introduced into real systems.
Optical signals are heretofore amplified intensively by an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in a regenerator. However, the EDFA generates a relatively large amount of noise, although being able to amplify with a high gain, which is one of factors that limit a transmission distance of the whole system. Namely, even if an optical receiving terminal can receive an optical signal at a sufficient level (power) transmitted for a long distance, the terminal cannot normally demodulate the signal because of a poor optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) representing quality of the received optical signal.
In order to avoid such phenomenon, a DRA is disposed in front of the EDFA, for example, as a structure of an optical amplifier (hereinafter referred as an amplifier structure) of a regenerator, a part of a transmission loss due to an optical transmission path (optical fiber) is compensated by the DRA, then the EDFA intensively amplifies the optical signal.
Advantage of this amplifier structure is that this amplifier structure is expected to improve the OSNR as compared with a system configured with only the EDFA, since the DRA can amplify with a lower noise than that of the EDFA because the DRA is an optical amplifier of a distribution amplifier type which distributively amplifies an optical signal using the optical transmission path although its gain is smaller than that of the EDFA.
FIG. 11 shows an example of WDM transmission system using a hybrid amplifier configured with a DRA and an EDFA as a regenerator. In the WDM transmission system shown in FIG. 11, optical signals each at a predetermined wavelength are generated by respecitve transponders (optical transmitters) 101 equal in number to multiplexed wavelengths, signal levels of the optical signals are adjusted by respective optical variable attenuators 102 each at a corresponding wavelength, and the optical signals are wavelength-multiplexed by an optical multiplexer 103 in an optical transmitting terminal 101, then sent as a WDM signal to an optical transmission path 500.
The WDM signal is transmitted to an optical receiving terminal 400 while being amplified by regenerators 200 and 300. Namely, a DRA 301 complimentarily amplifies the WDM signal with a low noise by distribution amplification to compensate a part of a transmission loss due to the optical transmission path 500, and EDFAs 201 and 302 intensively amplify the WDM signal to compensate a remaining transmission loss due to the opical transmission path 500, whereby the WDM signal is transmitted through the optical transmission path 500. Incidentally, the number of the regenerators 200 and 300 is determined according to a transmission distance between the optical transmission terminal 100 and the optical receiving terminal 400, and regenerating (amplifying) capacities of the regenerators 200 and 300.
When the above WDM signal is finally received by the optical receiving terminal 400, the WDM signal is demultiplexed into optical signals at respective wavelengths by an optical demultiplexer 401, and received by optical receivers 402 at respective wavelengths.
In the case of a hybrid optical amplifier using the DRA 301 and the EDFA 302 as described above, it is possible to arbitrarily set a set gain of the DRA 301 and a set gain of the EDFA 302 within certain ranges (input level operable ranges of the DRA 301 and the EDFA 302) by changing pumping conditions of them.
Generally, there is used a method of estimating a DRA gain fluctuation due to variations in transmission path loss immediately before the DRA 301 and variations in fiber parameters of the optical transmission path 500, and beforehand setting a pumping light power of the DRA 301 so that a range of the DRA gain fluctuation falls in the operating range (input dynamic range of the EDFA 302) of the EDFA 302.
An output level of the regenerator (hereinafter referred as a node) 200 or 300 is defined in consideration of a non-linear phenomenon generating on the transmission path, so that outputs of the EDFA 302 are required to be kept at a constant level (power). For this, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-98433, for example, there is proposed a technique (hereinafter referred as a known technique) of monitoring a level (power) of an output optical signal of the DRA or EDFA, feed-back-controlling a pumping light power of the DRA such that a level of the output optical signal (level of an input optical signal to the EDFA) is always constant, thereby controlling an output of the regenerator at a constant level.
However, operating conditions of the DRA 301 are determined by fiber parameters of the optical transmission path 500 in the above method of beforehand setting the pumping light power of the DRA 301. When considering characteristics of a total node of the DRA 301 plus EDFA 302, it is difficult to say that they operate in the optimum conditions from a viewpoint of OSNR.
The above described known technique is to feed-back-control the pumping light power of the DRA in order to control a level (power) of outputs of the regenerator at a defined constant level, which does not improve the OSNA. Accordingly, it is hardly said that the regenerator operates under conditions that the optimum OSNR of the whole node can be obtained, like the above pre-setting method.
In a WDM transmission system, a dispersion compensating fiber (DCF: Dispersion Compensating Fiber) is generally installed in a node, when it is necessary to compensate wavelength dispersion generating in a WDM signal due to a wavelength dependent transmission loss characteristic of the optical transmission path 500. As a position at which the dispersion compensating fiber is to be disposed, it is said that between stages of the EDFAs (structure in which the EDFAs are in two stages, and the DCF is interposed between the stages) is suitable. This is to prevent degradation of the OSNR due to a DCF loss as much as possible by interposing the DCF having a relatively large loss between the stages of the EDFAs.
In a hybrid optical amplifier structure, there is used a DRA with an optical fiber being as an amplification medium. As compared with a known node structure including only an EDFA, a level diagram of an optical signal in the node is largely different, so that it is not always optimum from a viewpoint of OSNR that the DCF is interposed between stages of the EDFA.
In the light of the above problems, and object of the present invention is to optimize optical signal quality (OSNR) in an optical transmitting apparatus in a hybrid optical amplifier structure.
To attain the above object, the present invention provides an optical transmitting apparatus comprising a first optical amplifier by which quality of an output optical signal after amplified is changed according to its amplification gain, a second optical amplifier by which quality of an output optical signal after amplified is changed according to an input level of the output optical signal from the first optical amplifier, and a controlling means for performing an adaptive control on the amplification gain of the first optical amplifier so that quality of the output optical signal outputted from the second optical amplifier becomes maximum.
In the optical transmitting apparatus according this invention structured as above, the above controlling means so controls an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier that output optical signal quality of the second optical amplifier becomes maximum. Accordingly, it is possible to optimize final quality of an output optical signal of the optical transmitting apparatus although an input level of an optical signal to the second optical amplifier is not always constant unlike a case where an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is so controlled that an output optical signal level of the second optical amplifier is constant.
The above controlling means may comprise a control target value storing unit for storing an output optical signal level of the first optical amplifier, at which quality of the output optical signal of the second optical amplifier is maximum, beforehand determined as a control target value on the basis of a gain-to-noise characteristic of the first optical amplifier and an input level-to-noise characteristic of the second optical amplifier, and a first gain control unit for setting the amplification gain of the first optical amplifier on the basis of the control target value of the control target value storing unit.
By employing the above structure, the controlling means can realize optimization of output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus, using a simple control that an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is set on the basis of the above control target value beforehand determined on the basis of a noise characteristic of each of the above optical amplifiers.
In this case, the above first gain control unit may comprise a level monitoring unit for monitoring an output optical signal level of the first optical amplifier, and a comparing unit for comparing the control target value of the control target value storing unit with an output optical signal level of the first optical amplifier monitored by the level monitoring unit, thereby controlling the amplification gain of the first optical amplifier so that a result of comparison by the comparing unit becomes minimum. Accordingly, even after the above amplification gain setting, it is possible to always maintain the output optical signal level of the first optical amplifier at an optimum value at which output optical signal quality of the second optical amplifier is maximum.
The above controlling means may comprise a control target value calculating mans for calculating the control target values for each of second optical amplifiers having a different input level-to-noise characteristic on the basis of the gain-to-noise characteristic of the first optical amplifier and the input level-to-noise characteristic of the second optical amplifier, and storing the control target values in the control target value storing unit. In this case, an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is always controlled on the basis of quality of an actual output optical signal of the second optical amplifier, so that it is possible to optimize output optical signal quality of the whole transmitting apparatus even at a time of initial setting of an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier and in an operating state after the initial setting.
In an optical transmitting system according to the present invention, an optical regenerator comprises a first optical amplifier by which quality of an output optical signal after amplified is changed according to its amplification gain, and a second optical amplifier by which quality of an output optical signal after amplified is changed according to an input level of the output optical signal from the first optical amplifier, whereas an optical receiver comprises an optical signal quality monitoring unit for monitoring quality of a received optical signal, and a control unit for controlling the amplification gain of the first optical amplifier in the optical regenerator so that quality of the received optical signal monitored by the optical signal quality monitoring unit becomes maximum.
In the optical transmitting system according to this invention structured as above, an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier in the optical regenerator in the system is so controlled that quality of a received optical signal monitored in the optical receiver becomes maximum. Accordingly, it is possible to optimize quality of a received signal in the optical receiver, that is, quality of an optical signal of the whole transmitting system, without providing the above adaptive control function to each regenerator in the system.
The optical transmitting apparatus and the optical transmitting system according to this invention provide the following effects and advantages:
(1) An amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is not such controlled that a level of an output optical signal of the second optical amplifier is always constant, but such adaptively controlled that quality of an output optical signal outputted from the second optical amplifier becomes maximum. Accordingly, quality of an output optical signal of the whole transmitting apparatus can be in the bast state. This allows a transmission distance of an optical signal to be extended, and the optical transmitting system to be configured at a low cost.
(2) The above adaptive control can be realized by a simple control that an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is set on the basis of a control target value beforehand determined on the basis of a noise characteristic of each of the optical amplifiers. Accordingly, it is possible to realize, in a simple structure, a gain control by which quality of an optical signal of the whole optical transmitting apparatus can be always optimized. This allows a reduction in size and cost of the controlling means, further of the optical transmitting apparatus.
(3) An output optical signal level of the first optical amplifier is monitored, the output optical signal level is compared with the above control target value, and an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is such controlled that a result of the comparison is minimum. It is thereby possible to always maintain quality of an optical signal of the whole optical transmitting apparatus in the optimum state, thus the whole optical transmitting system can be operated in the best conditions with respect to the optical signal quality.
(4) The above control target value can be set to each of second optical amplifiers having different noise characteristics on the basis of a gain-to-noise characteristic of the first optical amplifier and an input level-to-noise characteristic of the second optical amplifier. Even when another second optical amplifier having a different noise characteristic is employed in the optical transmitting apparatus, it is possible to automatically optimize output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus, which largely contributes to improvement of flexibility in configuring the system.
(5) The above adaptive control can be realized by monitoring quality of an output optical signal of the second optical amplifier, and such controlling an amplification gain of the second optical amplifier that the quality becomes maximum. In this case, an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier is always controlled on the basis of actual quality of an output optical signal of the second optical signal. Accordingly, even at a time of initial setting of an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier and in an operating state after the initial setting, it is possible to optimize output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus.
(6) The adaptive control in this case can be realized by monitoring, for example, an error rate of an output optical signal of the second optical amplifier, and such controlling an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier that the error rate becomes minimum. In this case, it is possible to always reduce the signal error rate of the whole optical transmitting apparatus to the minimum, and optimize signal quality of the whole transmitting apparatus, as well.
(7) The above adaptive control can be realized by monitoring an optical signal-to-noise ratio of an output optical signal of the second optical amplifier by an optical spectrum analyzer or the like, and such controlling an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier that an actual optical signal-to-noise ratio becomes maximum. In this case, it is possible to always operate the optical transmitting apparatus in conditions that signal quality (optical signal-to-noise ratio) of an output optical signal of the whole optical transmitting apparatus is best.
(8) Further, the dispersion compensator for compensate wavelength dispersion of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal is disposed at a position, at which quality of an output optical signal of the second optical amplifier is maximum, beforehand determined on the basis of a noise characteristic of each of the optical amplifiers, among a position in a front stage of the first optical amplifier, a position between the first optical amplifier and the second optical amplifier, and a position in a rear stage of the second optical amplifier. Even when it is necessary to compensate wavelength dispersion in the optical transmitting apparatus, wavelength dispersion can be compensated at an appropriate position from a viewpoint of output optical signal quality in the whole optical transmitting apparatus, and the optical transmitting apparatus can be operated in a state that the output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus is best.
(9) Particularly, when the above dispersion compensator is disposed at least in a front stage of the first optical amplifier or between the first optical amplifier and the second optical amplifier, it is possible to more improve output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus as compared with a case where the dispersion compensator is disposed at another position.
(10) The dispersion compensator may be divided and disposed at a plurality of positions among a position in a front stage of the first optical amplifier, a position between the first optical amplifier and the second optical amplifier, and a position in a rear stage of the second optical amplifier. In which case, it is possible to allow the output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus to be in the best conditions.
(11) When the dispersion compensator is divided and disposed at least at a position in a front stage of the first optical amplifier and a position between the first optical amplifier and the second optical amplifier, it is possible to more improve output optical signal quality of the whole optical transmitting apparatus than a case where the dispersion compensator is disposed at another position.
(12) When a Raman optical amplifier is employed as the above first optical amplifer, whereas a rare-earth-doped optical fiber amplifier is employed as the above second optical amplifier, it is possible to obtain the above effects and advantages more effectively.
(13) In the optical receiving terminal, quality of a received optical signal is monitored, and an amplification gain of the first optical amplifier in the optical regenerator is such controlled that the quality becomes maximum, as well. It is thereby possible to operate the whole optical transmitting system in the best conditions with respect to signal quality. In this case, a gain control on the first optical amplifier is intensively performed from the optical receiving terminal. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to provide the above adaptive control to each of the regenerators, which allows simplification of the optical regenerator and reduction in cost of the same, and reduction in size, cost and the like of the whole optical transmitting system. | {
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The Circulatory System and the Nature of Hemoglobin
The blood is the means for delivering nutrients to the tissues and removing waste products from the tissues for excretion. The blood is composed of plasma in which red blood cells (RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets are suspended. Red blood cells comprise approximately 99% of the cells in blood, and their principal function is the transport of oxygen to the tissues and the removal of carbon dioxide therefrom.
The left ventricle of the heart pumps the blood through the arteries and the smaller arterioles of the circulatory system. The blood then enters the capillaries, where the majority of the exchange of nutrients and cellular waste products occurs. (See, e.g., A. C. Guyton, “Human Physiology And Mechanisms Of Disease” (3rd. ed.; W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, Pa.), pp. 228-229 (1982)). Thereafter, the blood travels through the venules and veins in its return to the right atrium of the heart. Though the blood that returns to the heart is oxygen-poor compared to that which is pumped from the heart, when at rest, the returning blood still contains about 75% of the original oxygen content.
The reversible oxygenation function (i.e., the delivery of oxygen) of RBCs is carried out by the protein hemoglobin. In mammals, hemoglobin has a molecular weight of approximately 64,000 daltons and is composed of about 6% heme and 94% globin. In its native form, it contains two pairs of subunits (i.e., it is a tetramer), each containing a heme group and a globin polypeptide chain. In aqueous solution, hemoglobin is present in equilibrium between the tetrameric (MW 64,000) and dimeric forms (MW 32,000); outside of the RBC, the dimers are prematurely excreted by the kidney (plasma half-life of approximately 2-4 hours). Along with hemoglobin, RBCs contain stroma (the RBC membrane), which comprises proteins, cholesterol, and phospholipids.
Exogenous Blood Products
Due to the demand for blood products in hospitals and other settings, extensive research has been directed at the development of blood substitutes and plasma expanders. A blood substitute is a blood product that is capable of carrying and supplying oxygen to the tissues. Blood substitutes have a number of uses, including replacing blood lost during surgical procedures and following acute hemorrhage, and for resuscitation procedures following traumatic injury. Plasma expanders are blood substitutes that are administered into the vascular system but are typically not capable of carrying oxygen. Plasma expanders can be used, for example, for replacing plasma lost from burns, to treat volume deficiency shock, and to effect hemodilution (e.g., for the maintenance of normovolemia and to lower blood viscosity). Essentially, blood substitutes can be used for these purposes or any purpose in which banked blood is currently administered to patients. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,401 to Bonson et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,736 to Morris et al.)
The current human blood supply is associated with several limitations that can be alleviated through the use of an exogenous blood substitute. To illustrate, the widespread availability of safe and effective blood substitutes would reduce the need for banked (allogeneic) blood. Moreover, such blood substitutes would allow the immediate infusion of a resuscitation solution following traumatic injury without regard to cross-matching (as is required for blood), thereby saving valuable time in resupplying oxygen to ischemic tissue. Likewise, blood substitutes can be administered to patients prior to surgery, allowing removal of autologous blood from the patients which could be returned later in the procedure, if needed, or after surgery. Thus, the use of exogenous blood products not only protects patients from exposure to non-autologous (allogeneic) blood, it conserves either autologous or allogeneic (banked, crossmatched) blood for its optimal use.
Limitations of Current Blood Substitutes
Attempts to produce blood substitutes (sometimes referred to as “oxygen-carrying plasma expanders”) have thus far produced products with marginal efficacy or whose manufacture is tedious, expensive, or both. Frequently, the cost of manufacturing such products is so high that it effectively precludes the widespread use of the products, particularly in those markets where the greatest need exists (e.g., emerging third-world economies).
Blood substitutes can be grouped into the following three categories: i) perfluorocarbon-based emulsions, ii) liposome-encapsulated hemoglobin, and iii) modified cell-free hemoglobin. As discussed below, none has been entirely successful, though products comprising modified cell-free hemoglobin are thought to be the most promising. Perfluorochemical-based compositions dissolve oxygen as opposed to binding it as a ligand. In order to be used in biological systems, the perfluorochemical must be emulsified with a lipid, typically egg-yolk phospholipid. Though the perfluorocarbon emulsions are inexpensive to manufacture, they do not carry sufficient oxygen at clinically tolerated doses to be effective. Conversely, while liposome-encapsulated hemoglobin has been shown to be effective, it is far too costly for widespread use. (See generally, Winslow, Robert M., “Hemoglobin-based Red Cell Substitutes,” Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (1992)).
Most of the blood substitute products in clinical trials today are based on modified hemoglobin. These products, frequently referred to as hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs), generally comprise a homogeneous aqueous solution of a chemically-modified hemoglobin, essentially free from other red cell residue (stroma). Although stroma-free hemoglobin (SFH) from humans is the most common raw material for preparing a HBOC, other sources of hemoglobin have also been used. For example, hemoglobin can be obtained or derived from animal blood (e.g., bovine or porcine hemoglobin) or from bacteria or yeast or transgenic animals or plants molecularly altered to produce a desired hemoglobin product.
The chemical modification is generally one of intramolecular cross-linking, oligomerization and/or polymer conjugation to modify the hemoglobin such that its persistence in the circulation is prolonged relative to that of unmodified hemoglobin, and its oxygen binding properties are similar to those of blood. Intramolecular cross-linking chemically binds together subunits of the tetrameric hemoglobin unit to prevent the formation of dimers which, as previously indicated, are prematurely excreted. (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,465 to Rausch et al.)
The high costs of manufacturing HBOC products have greatly limited their commercial viability. In addition, the present inventors have found that known HBOCs have a tendency to release excessive amounts of oxygen to the tissues at the arteriole walls rather than the capillaries. This can result in insufficient oxygen available for delivery by the HBOC to the tissues surrounding the capillaries. This is despite the fact that the initial loading of the HBOC with oxygen may be relatively high, compared with that normally achieved with natural red blood cells, except in the case of very low affinity mutants.
In most instances, HBOCs have been designed to have oxygen affinities that are the same as or lower than that of native hemoglobin. However, as discussed above, this may result in insufficient delivery of oxygen to the tissues. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a blood substitute that comprises an HBOC with high oxygen affinities in an aqueous diluent. | {
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Recently, widespreading networks, such as a network (hereinafter called WAN (Wide Area Network)) typically represented by the Internet, which is publicly used over a wide area and a network (hereinafter called LAN (Local Area Network) which is installed in ordinary houses or the like and used locally, various data communications via these networks, are mainstream.
When image content, music content and the like are transmitted over a network, authentication and key exchange are performed for a communication partner and the content is enciphered and transmitted (refer to the following document).
DTCP Specification Volume 1 Version 1.3 (Information Version) http://www.dtcp.com/daTa/info—20040107_dtcp_Vol—1—1p3.pdf
There arises herein the case that although copy and transmission in a home are permitted, content transmission to another home connected to WAN is restricted from the viewpoint of copyrights. For example, although a content of recorded television broadcast can be used if only it is used privately (in a home), if the content is transmitted via the Internet to a third party, it can be considered that this infringes the copyright, thus a restriction of this kind is therefore necessary.
Under this restriction, an apparatus (transmitter) for transmitting a content protected under copyright is required to judge whether a communication partner apparatus (receiver) for receiving the content is in the same LAN or connected via WAN (the Internet).
For example, whether the communication partner is connected via WAN (the Internet) can be known by checking from the IP address whether the communication partner is in the same subnet or by using the number (Hop Count) of IP routers through which an IP communication packet passes. However, if technologies such as VPN (Virtual Private Network) are used, even communications via WAN (the Internet) can establish a connection like the same subnet connected without an IP router. Namely, the content can be improperly acquired. | {
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Since their inception, electric motors have become more commonly used blocks in electrical, electronic, and electromechanical systems. Over time, different types of motors have been invented. Some motors have more specialized uses, while other motors, for example, the AC induction motor, have relatively widespread use in many areas.
The applications of electric motors have also evolved over time. Consequently, electric motors are now used in many areas of scientific, consumer, industrial, and medical products. Although in some applications, for example, a typical consumer-grade cooling fan, the electric motor is powered on or off, other applications entail more sophisticated control of motors. For example, the speed, torque, direction of rotation, and perhaps other attributes of motors are controlled in various applications.
To provide the capability to control various attributes of motors, motor controllers have been developed. The motor controllers usually include an electronic circuit that is used together with a power semiconductor drive circuit, such as an inverter. Different motor controllers can control different motors, such as alternating current (AC) motors or direct current (DC) motors, using techniques such as back electromotive force (back EMF) control, and field oriented control (FOC), direct space vector modulation (DSVM), pulse width modulation (PWM), etc., as persons of ordinary skill in the art understand. | {
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This invention relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly to a system and method for discriminating supraventricular tachycardia from ventricular tachycardia during a tachycardia event.
The heart is generally divided into four chambers, the left and right atrial chambers and the left and right ventricular chambers. As the heart beats, the atrial chambers and the ventricular chambers go through a cardiac cycle. The cardiac cycle consists of one complete sequence of contraction and relaxation of the chambers of the heart. The terms systole and diastole are used to describe the contraction and relaxation phases the chambers of the heart experience during a cardiac cycle. In systole, the ventricular muscle cells contract to pump blood through the circulatory system. During diastole, the ventricular muscle cells relax, causing blood from the atrial chamber to fill the ventricular chamber. After the period of diastolic filling, the systolic phase of a new cardiac cycle is initiated.
Through the cardiac cycle, the heart pumps blood through the circulatory system. Effective pumping of the heart depends upon five basic requirements. First, the contractions of cardiac muscle must occur at regular intervals and be synchronized. Second, the valves separating the chambers of the heart must fully open as blood passes through the chambers. Third, the valves must not leak. Fourth, the contraction of the cardiac muscle must be forceful. Fifth, the ventricles must fill adequately during diastole.
When the contractions of the heart are not occurring at regular intervals or are unsynchronized the heart is said to be arrhythmic. During an arrhythmia, the heart""s ability to effectively and efficiently pump blood is compromised. Many different types of arrhythmias have been identified. Arrhythmias can occur in either the atrial chambers or in the ventricular chambers of the heart.
Ventricular fibrillation is an arrhythmia that occurs in the ventricle chambers of the heart. In ventricular fibrillation, various areas of the ventricle are excited and contract asynchronously. During ventricular fibrillation the heart fails to pump blood. Since no blood is pumped during ventricular fibrillation, the situation is fatal unless quickly corrected by cardiac conversion. Ventricular tachycardia is another arrhythmia that occurs in the ventricular chambers of the heart. Ventricular tachycardia is a very serious condition. Ventricular tachycardias are typified by ventricular rates between 120-250 and are caused by disturbances (electrical or mechanical) within the ventricles of the heart. During a ventricular tachycardia, the diastolic filling time is reduced and the ventricular contractions are less synchronized and therefore less effective than normal. Ventricular tachycardias must be treated quickly in order to prevent the tachycardia from degrading into a life threatening ventricular fibrillation.
Arrhythmias that occur in the atrial chambers of the heart are referred to generally as supraventricular tachycardias. Supraventricular tachycardias include atrial tachycardias, atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. During certain supraventricular tachycardias, aberrant cardiac signals from the atria drive the ventricles at a very rapid rate. Such a situation occurs during paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. This condition begins abruptly, lasts for a few minutes to a few hours, and then, just as abruptly, disappears and the heart rate reverts back to normal.
Cardioverter-defibrillators, such as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), have been shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of sudden cardiac death. Sudden cardiac death is typically caused by either ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Cardioverter-defibrillator systems operate by sensing and analyzing cardiac signals and applying electrical energy to the heart when either a ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation is detected. One common way cardioverter-defibrillators detect cardiac arrhythmias is to sense and analyze the rate of ventricular contractions. When the ventricular rate exceeds a programmed threshold value, the cardioverter-defibrillator applies electrical energy in one or more specific patterns to treat either the ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation.
Rapid ventricular rhythms, however, can occur in the presence of a supraventricular tachycardia. As previously mentioned, one example is during paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. In this situation, treating the ventricles with electrical energy is inappropriate as the treatment does not address the precipitating factor of the rapid ventricular rate. Therefore, a need exists for reliably assessing and determining the origin of a rapid ventricular rate. By reliably discriminating the origin of the rapid ventricular rate, more appropriate and effective therapies can be applied to treat the heart.
The present subject matter discloses a method and a system for discriminating, or classifying supraventricular tachycardias (SVT) from malignant ventricular tachycardias (VT) during a tachycardia event. In one embodiment, the present subject matter is implemented in an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. By using the method of the present subject matter, the implantable defibrillator assesses and determines the origin of a rapid ventricular rate, allowing the implantable defibrillator to reduce the number of inappropriate therapies delivered to the heart.
In one embodiment, QRS-complexes are sensed during normal sinus rhythm (NSR). A plurality of feature points are located on the sensed NSR QRS-complexes based on morphological features of the individual NSR QRS-complexes. The plurality of feature points from the NSR QRS-complexes are then used to determine a NSR template. In one embodiment, a plurality of NSR QRS-complexes are used to determine the NSR template.
In one embodiment, the NSR template includes a median value for each of the plurality of feature points taken along the NSR QRS-complex. A numerical convolution is then preformed on the values of the NSR template. A numerical convolution is also preformed on the plurality of feature points for each of the plurality of the NSR QRS-complexes. This process gives a NSR filter output for each of the NSR QRS-complexes. Using the NSR filter output for each NSR QRS-complex, a median NSR filter output template is determined. In one embodiment, the median NSR filter output template includes the median values of the NSR filter output values for each NSR QRS-complex.
Once the median NSR filter output template has been determined, the system senses for the occurrence of a tachycardia event. When a tachycardia event is detected, the system senses the tachycardia complexes. In one embodiment, QRS-complexes are extracted, or sampled, from the tachycardia complexes in the sensed signals. The plurality of feature points are then located in the QRS-complexes. The feature points located in the QRS-complexes during the tachycardia event are based on morphological features of the QRS-complex. In one embodiment, the morphological features taken from the QRS-complex during the tachycardia episode are from the same relative position as the morphological features taken along the NSR QRS-complex.
A tachycardia complex output is then determined by performing a numerical convolution of the median NSR filter output template with the plurality of feature points from a QRS-complex of a tachycardia complex sensed during the tachycardia event. The differences between the values of the tachycardia complex output and the median NSR filter output template are summed to give a sum of residual value. The sum of residual (SOR) value is then compared to a sum of residual (SOR) threshold value, and when the SOR value is greater than or equal to the SOR threshold value the tachycardia complex is classified as a ventricular tachycardia complex. When the SOR value is less than the SOR threshold value the tachycardia complex is classified as a supraventricular tachycardia complex. When the number of tachycardia complexes classified as either ventricular tachycardia complexes or supraventricular tachycardia complexes exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the tachycardia event is classified as the tachycardia event that exceeded the threshold value (i.e., as either a ventricular tachycardia or a supraventricular tachycardia).
These and other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention. | {
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With the rapid development of the ultra large scale integration (ULSI), the manufacturing process of integrated circuits (ICs) has become more and more complex and precise. Thus, stripe structures, such as poly silicon gates, and interconnect metal lines, etc., have become thinner and thinner; and the distance between stripe structures have become smaller and smaller as well. Therefore, it has become more and more difficult to form stripe structures which match the desired technology requirements using dry etching processes.
A process for forming stripe structures normally includes forming a patterned photoresist layer with stripe patterns by exposing a photoresist layer using a photomask having the stripe patterns; and followed by etching the to-be-etched layer by a dry etching process using the patterned photoresist layer as an etching mask. During the dry etching process, because the corner angles of the stripe structures are relatively thin; and they may be overly etched, the corner angles are easy to turn into arcs. In order to overcome the overly etching issues, a double-patterning method using double-lithography and double-etching has been developed.
FIGS. 1˜3 illustrate the method using the double-lithography and double-etching scheme. FIG. 1 illustrates a mask for the first lithography; FIG. 2 illustrates a mask for the second lithography; and the FIG. 3 illustrates the stripe structures formed by the method.
Specifically, a photoresist layer is formed on the to-be-etched layer firstly; and then the first lithography process is performed to expose and develop the photoresist layer using the mask illustrated in FIG. 1. Then, a first etching process is performed onto the to-be-etched layer using the patterned photoresist layer as an etching mask. After the first etching process, a second photoresist layer is formed on the to-be-etched layer which has been etched by the first etching process; and performing the second photolithography process to expose and develop the second photoresist layer using the mask illustrated in FIG. 2. Then, the to-be-etched layer etched by the first etching process is etched by a second etching process one more time; and stripe structures illustrated in FIG. 3 are formed. Because the stripe structures are formed by two etching processes, the shape of the corner angles of the formed stripe structures may match the desired requirements.
However, with continuously decreasing the critical dimension of the semiconductor processes, a distance between the end points of a stripe structure 1 and a stripe structure 2 which are in a same line is correspondingly shrunk. Thus, the difficulties for photolithography processes are increased; and the morphology of the sidewalls at ends of the stripe structure 1 and the stripe structure 2 may not match the desired requirements. The disclosed device structures and methods are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems. | {
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Structures and techniques have been proposed to enhance the performance of semiconductor devices, such as by enhancing the mobility of the charge carriers. For example, U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0057416 to Currie et al discloses strained material layers of silicon, silicon-germanium, and relaxed silicon and also including impurity-free zones that would otherwise cause performance degradation The resulting biaxial strain in the upper silicon layer alters the carrier mobilities enabling higher speed and/or lower power devices. Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0034529 to Fitzgerald et al. discloses a CMOS inverter also based upon similar strained silicon technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,685 B2 to Takagi discloses a semiconductor device including a silicon and carbon layer sandwiched between silicon layers so that the conduction band and valence band of the second silicon layer receive a tensile strain. Electrons having a smaller effective mass, and which have been induced by an electric field applied to the gate electrode, are confined in the second silicon layer, thus, an n-channel MOSFET is asserted to have a higher mobility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,204 to Ishibashi et al. discloses a superlattice in which a plurality of layers, less than eight monolayers, and containing a fractional or binary or a binary compound semiconductor layer, are alternately and epitaxially grown. The direction of main current flow is perpendicular to the layers of the superlattice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,119 to Wang et al. discloses a Si—Ge short period superlattice with higher mobility achieved by reducing alloy scattering in the superlattice. Along these lines, U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,934 to Candelaria discloses an enhanced mobility MOSFET including a channel layer comprising an alloy of silicon and a second material substitutionally present in the silicon lattice at a percentage that places the channel layer under tensile stress
U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,262 to Tsu discloses a quantum well structure comprising two barrier regions and a thin epitaxially grown semiconductor layer sandwiched between the barriers. Each barrier region consists of alternate layers of SiO2/Si with a thickness generally in a range of two to six monolayers. A much thicker section of silicon is sandwiched between the barriers.
An article entitled “Phenomena in silicon nanostructure devices” also to Tsu and published online Sep. 6, 2000 by Applied Physics and Materials Science & Processing, pp. 391-402 discloses a semiconductor-atomic superlattice (SAS) of silicon and oxygen. The Si/O superlattice is disclosed as useful in a silicon quantum and light-emitting devices In particular, a green electromuminescence diode structure was constructed and tested. Current flow in the diode structure is vertical, that is, perpendicular to the layers of the SAS. The disclosed SAS may include semiconductor layers separated by adsorbed species such as oxygen atoms, and CO molecules. The silicon growth beyond the adsorbed monolayer of oxygen is described as epitaxial with a fairly low defect density. One SAS structure included a 1.1 nm thick silicon portion that is about eight atomic layers of silicon, and another structure had twice this thickness of silicon. An article to Luo et al. entitled “Chemical Design of Direct-Gap Light-Emitting Silicon” published in Physical Review Letters, Vol 89, No. 7 (Aug. 12, 2002) further discusses the light emitting SAS structures of Tsu.
Published International Application WO 02/103,767 A1 to Wang, Tsu and Lofgren, discloses a barrier building block of thin silicon and oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, antimony, arsenic or hydrogen to thereby reduce current flowing vertically through the lattice more than four orders of magnitude The insulating layer/barrier layer allows for low defect epitaxial silicon to be deposited next to the insulating layer
Published Great Britain Patent Application 2,347,520 to Mears et al. discloses that principles of Aperiodic Photonic Band-Gap (APBG) structures may be adapted for electronic bandgap engineering In particular, the application discloses that material parameters, for example, the location of band minima, effective mass, etc, can be tailored to yield new aperiodic materials with desirable band-structure characteristics. Other parameters, such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and dielectric permittivity or magnetic permeability are disclosed as also possible to be designed into the material
The resistance to carrier flow in semiconductor devices is a significant source of inefficiency, particularly in majority carrier devices such as metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide enhanced semiconductor materials that could reduce carrier flow on-resistance in such devices. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printers. In particular, the present invention relates to a printer having a control panel capable of facilitating user manipulation of printer function as well as displaying information which is of importance to the user, but unrelated to printer function. More particularly, the present invention relates to a printer capable of displaying useful Internet-derived information as well as information regarding printer function using a display screen included in the printer control panel.
2. Background of the Invention
Printers are well known computer peripherals widely used in both home and business computing environments. State of the art printers offer ever increasing levels of speed, print quality, and easily manipulated format options. Despite, their usefulness, however, printers generally sit idle for most of their service lives. In fact, it is not uncommon for printers to sit idle over 95% of the time they are in service, and, when idle, the value of state of the art printers is generally limited to their ability to process future print jobs as needed. It would therefore be desirable to increase the utility of printers by reducing the amount of idle time.
One approach to improving reducing printer idle time is to provide multi-function printers that integrate one or more additional document processing functions. For example, multi-function printers which integrate copier, scanner, or facsimile capabilities, are well known in the art. However, even multi-function printers sit idle for a significant portion of their service lives, and, as is true of known devices including only printer function, the value of an idle multi-function printer is generally limited to its ability to process future documents as needed. Thus, it would be an improvement in the art to provide a printer offering significant utility even when not executing a print job or other integrated document processing function. | {
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Swim fins have long been used for skin diving, scuba diving, and other recreational and nonrecreational uses in order to create greater propulsive forces than can be accomplished by the foot alone. A swim fin generally consists of a portion for securing the fin to the users foot as well as a web or blade that is supported to extend from the front part of the foot for assisting in propulsion.
The stiffness of the blade or web of swim fins relates to the energy needed for proper operation of the blade. The more flexible the blade, the less energy and strength required for that particular pair of fins. However, the more flexible the blade, the slower the speed that is achievable. For that reason, beginner swimmers or swimmers having limited physical strength should ordinarily choose swim fins with more flexible blades. On the other hand, as the swimmer's strength increases, swim fins with stiffer blades should be used to achieve maximum speed and efficiency.
In addition, swimmers using swim fins for prolonged time periods tire. Under those circumstances, it is desirable to use swim fins with greater flexibility as the use of the fins continue over a prolonged time period.
Heretofore, the only solution commonly available to a swimmer wishing to change the stiffness of the swim fins being used is simply to substitute a swim fin with stiffer blades.
As a result, swimmers have often used swim fins that are much too stiff for them in the hope that with continued use and practice, and consequent pain and discomfort, the swimmer would be accustomed to the stiffer swim fin.
Existing swim fins conventionally include side ribs which have outerwalls that are either convex or lie in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the web. These ribs may bend or collapse over the surface of the web when the fin is flexed. If so, the flexing or bending of the fin is not smooth and the efficiency of the fin is impaired.
Insofar as the applicant is aware, there have been no direct efforts to solve this problem, although there have been several designs of swim fins having reinforcing elements within the blade for a variety of purposes. Thus, for example, the applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,506 issued Feb. 15, 1977, 3,649,979 issued Mar. 21, 1972, 3,913,158 issued Oct. 21, 1975, 4,083,071 issued Apr. 11, 1978, 3,055,025 issued Sept. 25, 1962 and 4,627,820 issued Dec. 9, 1986. While each of these patents relate to swim fins, and to various treatments of the blade or web, none of them appear to deal directly with the problem of providing a blade with adjustable or variable stiffness. | {
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Wearable computing devices (or simply wearable devices), such as a smart watch, provide convenient access to certain communication and computing features. In some cases, the wearable device may run applications (or limited versions of applications) that are typically found on larger mobile devices. Due to their comparatively small form factor, meaningful use cases for wearable devices have been elusive in today's market. | {
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This invention relates to electrographic writing heads for recording information on a dielectric recording medium and in particular to an improved electrographic writing head employing interleaved arrays of writing nibs, small geometry thick film resistors and semiconductor driver circuits fabricated on adjacent glass epoxy substrates, or on opposite surfaces of a single substrate, separated by a ground plane.
In the prior art, an electrographic writing head ordinarily consists of an array of electrodes, which are either wire wound or deposited on an insulating substrate. The electrodes terminate in writing nibs which are held close to the dielectric surface of a writing medium. The opposite surface of the writing or recording medium is conductive and is coupled with a counter electrode which is held at a predetermined voltage potential relative to the writing nibs.
Low voltage control signal lines may selectively address writing nibs or groups of writing nibs to cause an electrical discharge from the nib to the recording medium. The charge deposited on the recording medium is developed into an image by the application of a liquid or powdered toner which clings to the recording medium by electrostatic attraction between the deposited charge on the recording medium and oppositely charged colored toner particles.
The writing nibs ar typically connected together in groups wherein the groups of nibs share control electronics. For example, many writing nibs may be connected together to a single high voltage driver circuit. This creates a multiplexed writing head. The counter electrode behind the recording medium is also segmented with each segment being energized synchronously with its corresponding group of nibs.
Although the multiplexing scheme according to the prior art reduces the number of switching elements, it also adds a considerable amount of complex circuitry. This added complexity for the sake of saving switching elements has several serious disadvantages.
A significant problem in prior art electrographic writing heads concerns the appearance of unwanted bands in written images at the counter electrode boundaries. Because all the writing nibs can not be energized simultaneously, they must also share the time it takes the recording medium to move from one scan line position to the next. This creates the need for relatively high speed and hence high power electronics on the writing heads. The increased power demand of a typical prior art multiplexed writing head raises cost by necessitating expensive power supplies and high power consumption. The increased power demand in prior art electrographic writing heads also reduces reliability.
Yet another problem inherent in prior art multiplexed electrographic writing heads, is that the constant switching of fairly high capacitance nib groups requires expensive high voltage driver circuits with high current sinking capability in order to attain reasonably fast writing speed. Therefore at maximum plotting speeds, the power consumption of an entire multiplexed nib array can be significant.
Most prior art electrographic writing heads also suffer from a problem known as "flaring". This occurs when the charged deposited on the recording medium does not follow the outline of the nib delivering it, but rather spreads in an uncontrolled manner over the medium. Flaring is caused by excessive discharge from the writing nibs due to the buildup of energy in the capacitance that inherently exits between spatially adjacent writing nibs. Upon discharge of a writing nib, the energy of this stored capacitance may also be discharged, resulting in an arc which may be uncontrolled.
The severity of flaring depends upon the nib-to-nib and nib-to-ground capacitances. If these capacitances can be minimized, the flaring may be reduced, since the stored energy available for causing flares is also reduced.
A further disadvantage inherent in prior art multiplexed writing heads, wherein many nibs are connected to a single high voltage driver, is that plotting speed may be limited due to the need for a minimum write time of 20 to 30 microseconds per writing group. Any less writing time would result in severe image degradation. With an average of 50 nib writing groups, the speed at which one scan line may be drawn is determined by the product of the minimum writing time times the number of writing groups, thus approximately 1000 to 1500 microseconds. This translates into two inches per second at 400 lines per inch resolution or less than 1 inch per second at 1000 lines per inch. It will be appreciated that the prior art is severely limiting for high speed printing applications.
Another disadvantage of a prior art multiplexed writing heads is the uneven charge distribution at the fringes of each nib group which may result in image striations or "banding" during the writing and toning process. This is a considerable problem in the prior art and many attempts have been made to minimize uneven charge distribution, but to no avail.
Prior art writing head structures have the disadvantage of taking up prohibitively large amounts of space with so called mother boards, including large and bulky connectors and so called daughter boards which contain large number of high voltage drivers as well as pull-up and series resistors. These prior art interconnect schemes are unduly space consuming and are in addition prohibitively expensive and unreliable.
In addition, in order to achieve reasonably fast RC writing time constants on the order of 100 microseconds, the value of the pull-up resistors needs to be fairly low. This however, has the disadvantage of high power dissipation and low reliability when several thousand nibs are switching simultaneously.
In the prior art, other attempts have been made to substantially reduce intercoupling capacitance and flaring by using thin film elements in an electrographic writing head. Thin film elements are disadvantageous because they are very expensive to manufacture and require complex processing techniques as compared to thick film elements which may be implemented on printed circuit boards.
Previously, it was thought impractical or impossible to use exclusively thick film elements in an integrated electrographic writing head. The lower limit of writing nib thickness is governed by catastrophic damage of the writing nib end due to disintegration upon application of a high voltage and subsequent discharge. Although it is possible to reduce the energy delivered to the nib, there is a limit as to how far the voltage can be reduced and still obtain a suitable writing discharge. It was further believed however, erroneously, that "[T] he upper limit of nib write end thickness is governed by a thickness that is too large providing too much capacitance and defeating the purposes sought after . . .". See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,450, issued Aug. 23, 1988 at col. 4, lines 24-27.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages of prior art devices, it is apparent that what is needed is an improved electrographic writing head which is able to achieve the seemingly contradictory objectives of maintaining fast RC time constants and high writing speed while minimizing power consumption.
What is also needed is an improved electrographic writing head which has greater reliability while at the same time minimizing inter nib capacitance and consequently reducing flaring and other nonconformities in plotting operations. | {
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The present invention relates to heating and cooling systems. In particular, the present invention relates to an energy savings device used within conventional heating and cooling systems that regulates the temperature of predetermined areas of a facility and reduces the overall cost associated with heating and cooling the facility.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional single zone (i.e., whole house) forced air heating and cooling system, which typically employs a single central heating and cooling plant 11 with respective conduits 15 and 17 to transfer the heated or cooled air to all the various areas or rooms 10, 18 and 19 serviced. In such systems, a single (main) control thermostat 20 and heating/cooling mode control 22 is typically located in one of the cooled or heated areas or rooms serviced (e.g., room 10) to control the temperature of an entire facility or household 13. In conventional hot water heat systems, boiler and/or water cooler is employed to heat or cool water which is circulated pipes (which would augment or replace conduits 15 and 17) to heat exchangers (not shown) located in various rooms 10, 18 and 18. Like forced air systems, the single (main) thermostat 20 and mode control is typically located in one of the many heated or cooled rooms to automatically control the temperature for the entire facility or household 13.
In the above systems, conduits 15 and 16 transfer the heated or cooled fluid or air to each area or room 10, 18 or 19 serviced. Such systems are limited in that they fail to adequately provide for the automatic, individual temperature control in each of the rooms or areas. For example, dampers 16 are often utilized to alter airflow within the supply conduit 15 to balance the heating and cooling throughout the facility or household 13 to more evenly heat/cool the facility. In an attempt to overcome the limitations of the single zone systems of FIG. 1 and to conserve energy many homes have multiple zone heating and cooling systems, each zone being a subset of the entire facility 13. These systems require the installation of separate heating/cooling plants 11 for each zone. While more efficient than single zone systems, such systems are disadvantageous due to the prohibitively high costs of installing separate heating/cooling plants and conduits or pipes for each zone.
Another disadvantage of conventional single zone systems is that in homes that employ a single main thermostat 20 for all the rooms 10, 18 and 19, all of the rooms are heated or cooled to substantially the same temperature without any provision to control and maintain the individual room temperatures during the period of use or non-use. This condition results in the wasting and excess use of energy. For example, because the facility thermostat 20 is in room 10, it is not possible to raise the temperature of room 18 to 70xc2x0 F. while maintaining the other rooms 10 and 19 at 60xc2x0 F. It is not possible to do so as the heating plant 11 will turn-off when room 10 reaches 60xc2x0 F., which will be before room 18 reaches 70xc2x0 F. Dampers 16 or room vents (not shown) may be adjusted to divert warm air to room 18, however, this too fails to accurately vary and control the individual room temperatures. Other systems, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,927 to Zelczer et al. disadvantageously require flow control devices that close the fluid flow.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a device that will individually control room temperatures in facilities having a conventional heating/cooling plants. There is also a need for a device that reduces energy consumption with minimal compromise in comfort. Further, there is a need for the device to operate in both heating and cooling environments, baseboard heating systems, and forced air systems. Yet further, the device should be relatively cost effective in achieving these needs. The present invention provides such a system.
The present invention provides an area or room temperature control apparatus for a central heating and/or cooling systems having a central fluid heating or cooling plant or a central forced air heating or cooling plant with respective conduits which direct the heated or cooled fluid or air to the individual rooms being serviced by the same system in a home or an office complex. The area temperature control apparatus operates automatically to control the temperature in each individual room within a predetermined temperature range during any particular time period. It also operates to reduce unnecessary heating or cooling of individual rooms or areas consisting of one or more rooms during cyclical periods of use, whereby substantial energy savings may be realized with minimal compromise to comfort. More particularly, the area temperature control apparatus operates within heating/cooling systems to deliver heated or cooled air to individual rooms within a facility to maintain individual rooms substantially at a predetermined temperature after a first (main) thermostat controlling the heating/cooling plant is activated and the respective conduits attain a prescribed temperature.
The energy savings device (ESD) of the present invention provides for individual control of the temperature of each room within the facility. This device provides a fan and two additional thermostats to control the temperature in each room. One thermostat is located in the ESD to activate a fan only when the baseboard-heating element, cooling element, or conduit temperature provides a pre-selected sufficient temperature level range to activate a fan. The fan size is designed to provide sufficient air transfer capacity to increase or decrease the temperature of any room. The speed of the fan preferably provides airflow that exceeds the airflow velocity of the facility heating and cooling unit. The other thermostat is located remotely in each room and deactivates the fan when the temperature in any room exceeds or is less than the desired temperature level. Such a unit provides for increased comfort and energy savings from the reduced heating or cooling of rooms not in use, while reducing the environmental impact due to the efficiency of the unit. | {
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Usually, a discussion activity among group members provides a significant function for well solving problems currently encountered by combining and integrating diverse knowledge, different ideas and various perspectives into high quality decisions and innovations. On the contrary, group members can reach consensus and make better decision more easily through discussion activities. Basically, the discussion activity is essentially an information sharing and integrating process. Group members who involve in a discussion activity usually retrieve the discussion topic and analyze it in their minds by utilizing their specialized background knowledge. They provide different comments and suggestions for the discussion topic, enumerate evidence to support their opinions and try to unify other opinions to make a final conclusion regarding to the discussion topic.
In general, during a regular discussion process, several problems will raise which influence the quality of final conclusion. There are also challenges that sometimes obstruct the successful rate of solving the discussed issue if the issue were not addressed carefully. The challenges to proceed an effective discussion are listed as follows:
(1) Participants cannot definitely express what they are actually thinking. Gaps always exist between the mental ideas and the way they have been actually expressed. It is even worse for a communication among participants from different technical fields. Consequently, it is apparent that each participant spends a lot of time trying to understand each other, explains project information to the other and is incapable of leveraging information to support decision-making and solve problems.
(2) It is also a major problem in lack of an integrated platform and an appropriate media for facilitating interactions among participants from different technical fields or organizations. The discussion only based on the paper documentation is not enough to fully and clearly express the complicated and sophisticated information nowadays, but there exists only quite a few supporting tools nowadays to share relevant information easily and flexibly and no systematical or intuitive visualization tools effective enough to reduce communication misunderstanding.
(3) The opinions raised in the discussion may be diverged depending on how much each participant understands the discussion topic. It also causes too much irrelevant information beyond some participants' concern still being significantly emphasized during the discussion.
In particular, a discussion process is even more complicated for any on-site construction in civil engineering field. A construction site layout planning (CSLP) needs many experts from different disciplines to work to obtain her to make decisions and solve problems. For a long time, the construction site layout planning is considered as a critical part in construction planning by practitioners, inventors and researchers. A good on-site layout planning can increase the productivity for the construction activities, improve safety and avoid obstructing materials and equipment movements in the construction site. Unfortunately, there are few efforts regarding exploring the interaction of onsite information with the field crew.
A project manager has to call several brief meetings regarding the construction plan and progress every day and schedule and coordinate daily activities among different contractors and workers in order to control the construction machinery and to improve the safety and productivity of construction. The conventional meeting flow is as follows: every sub-contractor provides their construction plans, such as the schedule to the working items they take, the moving path of their equipments and so on, to the site director in paper format. The site director makes a feasible integration and arrangement according to every sub-contractor's plan. However, the traditional approach becomes ineffective and is prone to create errors because only the experienced and well-trained planners are able to generate the effective layout design with paper script. Observations of the project meetings reveal that communicating project information through paper-based graphical representations limits the team's ability to solve problems and make decisions. Since there is so much information, such as the diagrams and detailed schedules, the team requires and refers to during the meeting, it is hard for the team to focus on the same issue.
Despite the advancement in computer-aided engineering technology for civil engineering construction which can be used for helping planners in their decision-making process by allowing them to express various scenarios by taking several interrelated factors into consideration for site layout and path finding, there remains a lack of multi-disciplinary and multi-organizational discussion environment that can assist project teams in formulating this plan. However, site planners who have a key role in the site management currently rely mainly on their experience and intuition when considering the allocations of paths for logistics, vehicles, and site operatives.
In response to the current challenge of discussion activity, it is necessary to create an effective discussion platform that distinguishes and provides an intuitive user interface to help communications and interactions among different participants. Information interaction approaches can increase the visibility and readability of information so users can browse, and diagnose problems from the information effectively. Therefore, the present invention provides a discussion environment to provide a more intuitive cooperation and communication approach, to decrease the possibility of construction conflicts, help engineers to improve site layout discussion and in particular, information sharing and interaction.
It is therefore attempted by the applicant to deal with the above situation encountered in the prior art. | {
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RLC protocol performance is governed by, among other factors, the RLC window size (WS). The window size of a protocol indicates how many blocks of data (blocks) that a transmitter can send without the need to receive acknowledgment information from the receiver. Both of the peer RLC transmitter and receiver have an RLC transmit and an RLC receive window, respectively, of size WS. At any given time, there may be at most WS outstanding blocks in the transmit (receive) window. As an example, a window of size WS=1 implies the transmitter can only send one block at a time, and that an acknowledgment from the receiver is required after each transmitted block before the transmitter can send the next block. A window of size WS=64 implies that the transmitter can send up to 64 blocks without receiving an acknowledgment from the receiver. Hence the larger the window size, the larger is the effective data rate. Typically, a good balance between the window size, the maximum rate at which blocks are sent/received, and the available (radio) resources that the protocol can use is needed to ensure optimum data throughput of the protocol.
In the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) RLC a WS=64 is available. However, a problem can arise when the amount of used radio resources becomes high (e.g., when four or more timeslots are used) and when the round-trip delay on the RLC layer is relatively long. For example, it may take up to about 200 ms before an acknowledgment for a transmitted block is received. Under such conditions transmit window stalling regularly occurs (i.e., no new blocks can be sent, as all blocks within the transmit window have already been transmitted). This problem is overcome in the Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS) RLC, which allows for defining the window size as a function of the number of allocated timeslots.
A disadvantage of the use of a large window size is the inherent need for a large acknowledgment bitmap. Ideally, the receiver should be able to send one acknowledgment bitmap that covers the entire receive window. In the acknowledgment bitmap there is one bit allocated per block in the WS, with each bit indicating the success or failure of the error-free reception of the corresponding block. However, a large acknowledgment bitmap may not fit within one RLC/MAC (Medium Access Control) control block. To this end a rather complex technique using bitmap compression and network-controlled partial bitmap reporting was introduced for EGPRS RLC, as well as the occasional dropping of channel quality reports from the mobile station.
The introduction of a new physical layer (flexible layer one) in the Global System for Mobile Communication/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (GSM/EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN) has motivated the need for a definition of new values for RLC parameters to allow for optimum RLC performance, while avoiding GPRS limitations with multislot transmission schemes and EGPRS complexity for acknowledgments.
In the prior art the network commands the mobile station to send either first partial bitmaps or next partial bitmaps, with or without channel quality reports, even in those cases where the RLC receiver (the mobile station in a downlink (DL) data transfer) may have better insight as to which partial bitmap(s) should be sent.
However, the data transfer could be also to the opposite direction (on the uplink (UL) from the mobile station to the network). In this case the current specifications allow either first partial bitmaps or next partial bitmaps to be sent, but the strategy to be used in this context has not been determined.
As was noted above, in EGPRS the problem of accommodating extensive acknowledgment information in one RLC/MAC control block was addressed by a combination of network-controlled partial bitmap reporting, bitmap compression and dropping channel quality reports occasionally from the acknowledgment message. These mechanisms are defined in 3GPP TS 44.060 §§ 9.1.8.2 and 9.1.10. However, these approaches do not provide an optimum solution. | {
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It has become common in electronic devices having a display screen such as mobile communication terminals (cellular phones) that the display unit be configured with a touch panel and the user touches the screen for input. The touch panel allows for a more intuitive input operation and provides a useful input method particularly to mobile communication terminals having smaller keys.
Mobile communication terminals have become multifunctional and carry multiple types of radio devices. More specifically, they generally carry not only radio devices for voice telephone calls and data communication, which are the main functions of mobile communication devices, but also multiple radio devices for reception of one segment broadcast and radio communication with Bluetooth (registered trademark) and wireless LAN.
These radio devices are used by switching the reception or communication frequency. The operation frequency varies depending on the frequency used and may interfere with the touch panel drive frequency. In such a case, the detection of touch to the touch panel is influenced and the touching may not be detected properly, forcing the user to retry.
Touch panel detection errors occur often due to the influence of the above external factors. Techniques for reducing detection errors, for example, by taking into account environmental change such as temperature change (for example, Patent Literature 1) or by changing detection conditions depending on whether the back light is ON or OFF (for example, Patent Literature 2) have been proposed. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a keypad used in a portable terminal, and more particularly to a keypad and a keypad assembly having a light guide panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A keypad used in a portable terminal typically includes an elastic pad plate, a plurality of key buttons formed on the upper surface of the elastic pad with characters printed on the upper surface thereof, respectively, and a plurality of protrusions (or actuators) formed on the lower surface of the elastic pad. This type of portable terminal normally has about 15–20 light emitting devices serving as a back light of the keypad.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a keypad assembly according to the prior art. As shown, the keypad assembly 100 includes a keypad 110, a switch board 150, and a plurality of light emitting diodes(LEDs) 170.
The keypad 110 includes an elastic pad 120 having the shape of a plate, a plurality of key buttons 140 formed on the upper surface 122 of the elastic pad 120 with characters, numbers, etc., printed on the upper surface thereof, respectively, and a plurality of protrusions 130 formed on the lower surface 124 of the elastic pad 120, which is opposite to the upper surface 122 of the elastic pad 120. Each of the protrusions 130 is aligned with the center portion of the corresponding key button 140. The elastic pad 120 has a plurality of grooves 126 formed on the lower surface 124 thereof. The grooves 126 are positioned around the respective protrusions 130 to prevent the LEDs 170 from interfering with the protrusions 130.
The switch board 150 has a plate-shaped PCB (Printed Circuit Board) 155 and a plurality of switches 160 formed on the upper surface of the PCB 155 facing the keypad 110. Each switch 160 is comprised of a conductive contact member 162 and a conductive dome 164 covering the contact member 162 completely.
The plurality of LEDs 170 are mounted on the upper surface of the PCB 155, and each LED 170 is positioned to be covered by the corresponding groove 126 of the elastic pad 120.
When the user presses one of the key buttons 140, the portion of the keypad 110 positioned beneath the pressed key button 140 deforms towards the switch board 150. As a result, one of the protrusions 130 corresponding to the deformed portion presses the corresponding dome 164, thus providing an electrical contact with the corresponding contact member 162.
Due to the operation of the switches 160 in the vicinity, the LEDs 170 must not be positioned beneath the corresponding key buttons 140. Light outputted from the respective LEDs 170 passes through the elastic pad 120 and illuminates the respective key buttons 140 at an oblique angle. As a result, the key buttons 140 are dimly illuminated in a non-uniformly fashion. In particular, the center of each key button 140 looks darker, and the periphery thereof looks brighter. If more LEDs are installed to enhance an uniform illumination of the key buttons 140, power consumption and manufacturing cost increase. | {
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It has been popular for centuries to keep and display pet animals such as small birds and mammals for the enjoyment of household members and guests. It has long been the practice to construct wire frame cages to enclose the animals so that the animals may be observed and heard as they lead their captive lives, and to ensure that the animals receive adequate lighting and ventilation. Wire cages however possess a number of drawbacks, not the least of which is the difficulty of cleaning animal droppings from the assembly of wires, which tends to collect the droppings and is difficult to clean short of scrubbing and hosing down the entire cage. This presents the additional difficulty of having to remove the animal prior to cleaning the enclosure. With small flying birds, removal from the enclosure can be an exasperating experience.
Moreover, some persons find the odor of the animals to be unpleasant, and wire cages do nothing to contain this odor. Glass walled animal enclosures provide relief from unpleasant odors from animal droppings, but still possess the disadvantage that the animals must be removed from the enclosure to clean the glass walls. Glass walled enclosures must further include provision for ventilation lest the animals suffocate. Prior art ventilation systems often do nothing but exhaust odoriferous air from the enclosure to the exterior, where it can annoy those viewing the animals.
In addition to the need for removing odor from the air expelled from an animal enclosure, there is often a need to protect the animals inside the enclosure. Certain species of small birds are susceptible to some diseases carried by humans, and it would be desirable to provide an animal enclosure which minimizes the exposure of these animals to air-borne disease-causing organisms and to particulate matter in the air such as dust.
With almost all animal enclosures, there is the need for cleaning of the bottom of the enclosure, which tends to collect the greatest amount of animal droppings. These droppings also can accumulate on perches provided for the animals. Traditional methods of receiving these wastes include the use of a newspaper-lined tray which is unpleasant to look at and which exposes the animal droppings to the air so that the unpleasant odors can waft to the exterior of the enclosure.
Perches are sometimes provided for animal enclosures so that the animal can sit on perch in a more natural environment. These perches are sometimes made from naturally occurring tree stems and branches to provide an aesthetically pleasing and natural appearance. Such perches will typically become fouled with animal droppings after a period of use, and thus require periodic replacement. Since naturally occurring branches do not grow alike, there is frequently a need to compensate for variations in the size and configuration of a replacement branch so that the perching area is suitable for the animal and fits within the enclosure.
Accordingly, there has long been a need for an animal enclosure which has easily cleanable walls, which does not require removal of the animals for cleaning, which possesses a superior method of receiving and disguising the animal droppings, which does not exhaust air contaminated by the odor of animal droppings to the exterior of the enclosure, and which filters the incoming air for the animals. Moreover, there is a need for a device which compensates for variations in naturally occurring tree branches when used for animal perches. | {
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1. Field of the Art
This invention is an extension of Applicants' prior invention disclosed in the above-referenced patent applications relating to novel anti-IL-6 antibodies, novel therapies and therapeutic protocols utilizing anti-IL-6 antibodies, and pharmaceutical formulations containing anti-IL-6 antibodies. In preferred embodiments, an anti-IL-6 antibody is Ab1, which includes rabbit or humanized forms thereof, as well as heavy chains, light chains, fragments, variants, and CDRs thereof, or an antibody or antibody fragment that specifically binds to the same linear or conformational epitope(s) on an intact human IL-6 polypeptide fragment thereof as Ab1. Preferably, the anti-IL-6 antibody is an IL-6 antagonist. In preferred embodiments, the anti-IL-6 antibody has an in vivo half-life of at least about 25 days, an in vivo effect of raising albumin, has an in vivo effect of lowering C-reactive protein, has an in vivo effect of restoring a normal coagulation profile, possesses a binding affinity (Kd) for IL-6 of less than about 50 picomolar, and/or has a rate of dissociation (Koff) from IL-6 of less than or equal to 10−4 S−1.
The invention also pertains to methods of screening for diseases and disorders associated with IL-6, and methods of preventing or treating diseases or disorders associated with IL-6 by administering said antibody or a fragment or a variant thereof.
In one aspect, this invention pertains to methods of improving survivability or quality of life of a patient in need thereof, comprising administering to the patient an anti-IL-6 antibody, such as Ab1 or a fragment or variant thereof, whereby the patient's C-reactive protein (“CRP”) level is lowered, and/or the patient's albumin level is raised, and optionally monitoring the patient to determine the patient's CRP and/or albumin level.
In another aspect, this invention relates to methods of lowering the C-reactive protein level in a patient in need thereof, comprising administering to the patient an IL-6 antagonist such as Ab1, whereby the patient's CRP level is lowered, and monitoring the patient to assess the CRP level. In another aspect, this invention relates to methods of raising the albumin level in a patient in need thereof, comprising administering to the patient an IL-6 antagonist such as Ab1, whereby the patient's serum albumin level is raised, and monitoring the patient to assess the albumin level.
In another aspect, this invention pertains to methods of preventing or treating cachexia, weakness, fatigue, and/or fever in a patient in need thereof, e.g., a patient showing elevated CRP levels, comprising administering to the patient an anti-IL-6 antibody or antibody fragment or variant thereof, whereby the patient's cachexia, weakness, fatigue, and/or fever is improved or restored to a normal condition, and optionally monitoring the patient to assess cachexia, weakness, fatigue, and/or fever.
In another embodiment, this invention pertains to methods of preventing or treating thrombosis in a patient in a state of hypercoagulation, comprising administering to the patient an anti-IL-6 antibody, such as Ab1 or a fragment or variant thereof, whereby the patient's coagulation profile is improved or restored to a normal condition, and optionally monitoring the patient to assess coagulation profile.
In another aspect the invention provides novel pharmaceutical compositions and their use in novel combination therapies and comprising administration of an anti-IL-6 antibody, such as Ab1 or a fragment or variant thereof, and at least one other therapeutic compound such as a statin, anti-coagulant, anti-emetic, anti-nausea agent, anti-cachexia agent, chemotherapy agent, anti-cytokine agent, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
Weight loss, fatigue, and muscular weakness are very common symptoms of patients with advanced forms of cancer, and these symptoms can worsen as the cancer continues to progress. Fatigue, weight loss and muscular weakness can have significant negative effects on the recovery of patients with advanced forms of cancer, for example by disrupting lifestyles and relationships and affecting the willingness or ability of patients to continue cancer treatments. Known methods of addressing fatigue, weight loss and muscular weakness include regular routines of fitness and exercise, methods of conserving the patient's energy, and treatments that address anemia-induced fatigue and muscular weakness. Nevertheless, there remains a need in the art for methods and/or treatments that improve fatigue, weight loss and muscular weakness in cancer patients.
Thrombosis is a significant cause of mortality in cancer patients. Bick, N Engl J Med 349:109-111 (2003). For example, serious, life-threatening thrombotic events occur in approximately 6% of lung cancer patients. Alguire et al., J Clin Oncol 2004 Vol 22 (July 15th Supplement) No. 14S: 8082. Cancer patients often exhibit hypercoagulation, in which the coagulation system has an increased clotting tendency. Rickles and Edwards, Blood 62:14-31 (1983). Markers of hypercoagulation correlate with poor patient outcome for at least some cancers. Bick, Semin Thromb Hemostat 18:353-372 (1992); Buccheri et al., Cancer 97:3044-3052 (2003); Wojtukiewicz, Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis 3:429-437 (1992). Causes of hypercoagulation include the cancer itself and the cancer treatments (e.g., chemotherapy). Hypercoagulation results in an increased risk of thrombitic events, which can be further exacerbated when patients become bed-ridden. When not contraindicated, anticoagulant therapy has conferred survival benefit in some cancers. Lebeau et al., Cancer 74:38-45 (1994); Chahinian et al., J Clin Oncol 7:993-1002 (1989). However, therapeutic options are often limited because many cancer patients are at an elevated risk of major bleeding, precluding administration of anticoagulants that could otherwise be given prophylactically to reduce the risk of thrombosis. In summary, the available methods for prevention of thrombosis in cancer patients are unsatisfactory, and thus there is a need for new therapies. Such therapies would enhance cancer patient survival and promote better quality of life.
Thrombosis can also be a significant cause of adverse events and mortality in other patient groups, including those with chronic illness or chronic inflammation, surgical patients, bed-ridden individuals, and orthopedic patients. When they are not otherwise contraindicated, preventative methods include calf compression and anticoagulants (e.g. low molecular weight heparin). These preventative methods can reduce—but not eliminate—the risk of thrombosis. Because these preventative methods are not always effective and are contraindicated for some patients, and because anticoagulants can cause potentially lethal side-effects such as major bleeding, there is a need for alternative methods to prevent thrombosis in these patients. Such methods should improve patient outcomes.
Interleukin-6 (hereinafter “IL-6”) (also known as interferon-β2; B-cell differentiation factor; B-cell stimulatory factor-2; hepatocyte stimulatory factor; hybridoma growth factor; and plasmacytoma growth factor) is a multifunctional cytokine involved in numerous biological processes such as the regulation of the acute inflammatory response, the modulation of specific immune responses including B- and T-cell differentiation, bone metabolism, thrombopoiesis, epidermal proliferation, menses, neuronal cell differentiation, neuroprotection, aging, cancer, and the inflammatory reaction occurring in Alzheimer's disease. See A. Papassotiropoulos et al, Neurobiology of Aging, 22:863-871 (2001).
IL-6 is a member of a family of cytokines that promote cellular responses through a receptor complex consisting of at least one subunit of the signal-transducing glycoprotein gp130 and the IL-6 receptor (“IL-6R”) (also known as gp80). The IL-6R may also be present in a soluble form (“sIL-6R”). IL-6 binds to IL-6R, which then dimerizes the signal-transducing receptor gp130. See Jones, S A, J. Immunology, 175:3463-3468 (2005).
In humans, the gene encoding IL-6 is organized in five exons and four introns, and maps to the short arm of chromosome 7 at 7p21. Translation of IL-6 RNA and post-translational processing result in the formation of a 21 to 28 kDa protein with 184 amino acids in its mature form. See A. Papassotiropoulos, et al, Neurobiology of Aging, 22:863-871 (2001).
As set forth in greater detail herein IL-6 is believed to play a role in the development of a multitude of diseases and disorders, including but not limited to fatigue, cachexia, autoimmune diseases, diseases of the skeletal system, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma, alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Due to the perceived involvement of IL-6 in a wide range of diseases and disorders, there remains a need in the art for compositions and methods useful for preventing or treating diseases associated with IL-6, as well as methods of screening to identify patients having diseases or disorders associated with IL-6. Particularly preferred anti-IL-6 compositions are those having minimal or minimizing adverse reactions when administered to the patient. Compositions or methods that reduce or inhibit diseases or disorders associated with IL-6 are beneficial to the patient in need thereof.
The function of IL-6 is not restricted to the immune response as it acts in hematopoiesis, thrombopoiesis, osteoclast formation, elicitation of hepatic acute phase response resulting in the elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) protein. It is known to be a growth factor for epidermal keratinocytes, renal mesangial cells, myeloma and plasmacytoma cells (Grossman et al., 1989 Prot Natl Acad Sci., 86, (16) 6367-6371; Horii et al., 1989, J Immunol, 143, 12, 3949-3955; Kawano et al., 1988, Nature 332, 6159, 83-85). IL-6 is produced by a wide range of cell types including monocytes/macrophages, fibroblasts, epidermal keratinocytes, vascular endothelial cells, renal messangial cells, glial cells, condrocytes, T and B-cells and some tumour cells (Akira et al, 1990, FASEB J., 4, 11, 2860-2867). Except for tumour cells that constitutively produce IL-6, normal cells do not express IL-6 unless appropriately stimulated.
Elevated IL-6 levels have been observed in many types of cancer, including breast cancer, leukemia, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, lymphoma, lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and multiple myeloma (e.g., Chopra et al., 2004, MJAFI 60:45-49; Songur et al., 2004, Tumori 90:196-200; Blay et al., 1992, Cancer Research 52:3317-3322; Nikiteas et al., 2005, World J. Gasterenterol. 11:1639-1643; reviewed in Heikkila et al., 2008, Eur J Cancer, 44:937-945). As noted above, IL-6 is known or suspected to play a role in promoting proliferation or survival of at least some types of cancer. Moreover, some of these studies have demonstrated correlation between IL-6 levels and patient oucome. Together, these results suggest the possibility that inhibition of IL-6 can be therapeutically beneficial. Indeed, clinical studies (reviewed in Trikha et al., 2003, Clinical Cancer Research 9:4653-4665) have shown some improvement in patient outcomes due to administration of various anti-IL-6 antibodies, particularly in those cancers in which IL-6 plays a direct role promoting cancer cell proliferation or survival.
As noted above, IL-6 stimulates the hepatic acute phase response, resulting in increased production of CRP and elevated serum CRP levels. For this reason, C-reactive protein (CRP) has been reported to comprise a surrogate marker of IL-6 activity. Thus, elevated IL-6 activity can be detected through measurement of serum CRP. Conversely, effective suppression of IL-6 activity, e.g., through administration of a neutralizing anti-IL-6 antibody, can be detected by the resulting decrease in serum CRP levels.
A recent clinical trial demonstrated that administration of rosuvastatin to apparently healthy individuals having elevated CRP (greater than 2.0 mg/1) reduced their CRP levels by 37% and greatly decreased the incidence of myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularization, hospitalization for unstable angina, or death from cardiovascular causes. Ridker et al., N Engl J Med. 2008 Nov. 9 [Epub ahead of print].
In addition to its direct role in pathogenesis of some cancers and other diseases, chronically elevated IL-6 levels appear to adversely affect patient well-being and quality of life. For example, elevated IL-6 levels have been reported to be associated with cachexia and fever, and reduced serum albumin. Gauldie et al., 1987, PNAS 84:7251-7253; Heinric et al., 1990, 265:621-636; Zamir et al., 1993, Metabolism 42:204-208; Zamir et al., 1992, Arch Surg, 127:170-174. Inhibition of IL-6 by a neutralizing antibody has been reported to ameliorate fever and cachexia in cancer patients, though improvement in these patients' serum albumin level has not been reported (Emille et al., 1994, Blood, 84:2472-2479; Blay et al., 1992, Cancer Research 52:3317-3322; Bataille et al., 1995, Blood, 86: 685-691).
Numerous studies have suggested that CRP is a valuable prognostic factor in cancer patients, with elevated CRP levels predicting poor outcome. See, e.g., Hefler et al, Clin Cancer Res, 2008 Feb. 1; 14(3):710-4; Nagaoka et al, Liver Int, 2007 October; 27(8):1091-7; Heikkila et al, J Epidemiol Community Health, 2007 September; 61(9):824-33, Review; Hara et al, Anticancer Res, 2007 July-August; 27(4C):3001-4; Polterauer et al, Gynecol Oncol, 2007 October; 107(1):114-7, Epub 2007 Jul. 6; Tingstedt et al, Scand J Gastroenterol, 2007 June; 42(6):754-9; Suh et al, Support Care Cancer, 2007 June; 15(6):613-20, Epub 2007 Jan. 18; Gerhardt et al, World J Gastroenterol, 2006 Sep. 14; 12(34):5495-500; McArdle et al, Urol Int, 2006; 77(2):127-9; Guillem et al, Dis Esophagus, 2005; 18(3):146-50; Brown et al, Cancer, 2005 Jan. 15; 103(2):377-82. Decreased serum albumin (hypoalbuminemia) is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality in many critical illnesses, including cancers (e.g., Vigano et al., Arch Intern Med, 2000 Mar. 27; 160(6):861-8; Hauser et al., Support Care Cancer, 2006 October; 14(10):999-1011; Seve et al., Cancer, 2006 Dec. 1; 107(11):2698-705). The apparent link between hypoalbuminemia and poor patient oucome might suggest that restoring albumin levels through direct albumin infusion could promote patient survival, however, albumin infusion alone has not improved survival of patients with advanced cancer (Demirkazik et al., Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 21: 2002 (abstr 2892)) or other critically ill patients groups (reviewed in Wilkes et al., Ann Intern Med, 2001 Aug. 7; 135(3):149-64).
The Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) is an inflammation-based prognostic score that combines levels of albumin (<35 mg/L=1 point) and CRP (>10 mg/L=1 point) (Forrest et al., Br J Cancer, 2004 May 4; 90(9):1704-6). Since its introduction in 2004, the Glasgow Prognostic Score has already been shown to have prognostic value as a predictor of mortality in numerous cancers, including gastro-oesophageal cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, bronchogenic cancer, and metastatic renal cancer (Forrest et al., Br J Cancer, 2004 May 4; 90(9):1704-6; Sharma et al., Clin Colorectal Cancer, 2008 September; 7(5):331-7; Sharma et al., Eur J Cancer, 2008 January; 44(2):251-6; McMillan et al., Nutr Cancer, 2001; 41(1-2):64-9; McMillan, Proc Nutr Soc, 2008 August; 67(3):257-62; Ramsey et al., Cancer, 2007 Jan. 15; 109(2):205-12). Because the combination of elevated CRP and reduced albumin predicts cancer patient mortality, a treatment that both lowers CRP and raises albumin would suggest a strong possibility of also promoting patient survival.
U.S. patent application publication no. 20080081041 (relating to treatment of cancer using an anti-IL-6 antibody) discloses that since IL-6 is associated with disease activity and since CRP is a surrogate marker of IL-6 activity, sustained suppression of CRP by neutralization of IL-6 by their anti-IL-6 antibody (CNTO 328, Zaki et al., Int J Cancer, 2004 Sep. 10; 111(4):592-5) may be assumed necessary to achieve biological activity. The same patent application indicates that the relationship between IL-6 and CRP in patients with benign and malignant prostate disease was previously examined by McArdle (McArdle et al. 2004 Br J Cancer 91(10):1755-1757). McArdle reportedly found no significant differences between the concentrations of IL-6 and CRP in the patients with benign disease compared with prostate cancer patients, in the cancer patients there was a significant increase in both IL-6 and CRP concentration with increasing tumor grade. The median serum CRP value for the 86 subjects with prostate cancer was 1.8 mg/L. Based thereon the inventors in this patent application postulate a proposed dose and schedule wherein 6 mg/kg of an anti-IL-6 antibody (CNTO 328) is administered every 2 weeks and allege that this is likely to achieve sustained suppression of CRP in subjects with metastatic HRPC.
IL-6 signaling is mediated by the Jak-Tyk family of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases, including JAK1, JAK2, and JAK3 (reviewed in Murray J Immunol. 2007 Mar. 1; 178(5):2623-9). Sivash et al. report abrogation of IL-6-mediated JAK signalling by the cyclopentenone prostaglandin 15d-PGD2 in oral squamous carcinoma cells. British Journal of Cancer (2004) 91, 1074-1080. These results suggest that inhibitors of JAK1, JAK2, or JAK3 could be employed as antagonists of IL-6.
Ulanova et al. report that inhibition of the nonreceptor protein tyrosine kinase Syk (using siRNA) decreased production of IL-6 by epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2005 March; 288(3):L497-507. These results suggest that an inhibitor of Syk could be employed as an antagonist of IL-6.
Kedar et al. report that treatment with thalidomide significantly reduced serum levels of CRP and IL-6 to normal or near normal levels in a substantial fraction of renal cell carcinoma patients. Int J Cancer. 2004 Jun. 10; 110(2):260-5. These results suggest that thalidomide, and possibly derivatives thereof, such as lenalidomide, may be useful antagonists of IL-6.
In addition, another published patent application, US 20070292420 teaches a Phase I dose escalating study using an anti-IL-6 (cCLB-8) antibody for treating refractory patients with advanced stage multiple myeloma (N=12) and indicate that this study demonstrated that some patients had disease stabilization. The application also reports that after discontinuation of treatment there was acceleration in the increase of M protein levels, suggesting disease re-bound after the withdrawal of therapy. Anti-IL-6 cCLB-8 antibody inhibited free circulating IL-6.
The application also indicates that this antibody trial resulted in no toxicity (except transient thrombocytopenia in two heavily pretreated patients) or allergic reactions were observed and that C-reactive protein (CRP) decreased below detection level in all patients. Their antibody (cCLB-8 antibody) reportedly possessed a circulating half-life of 17.8 days, and that there was no human anti-chimeric antibody (HACA) immune response observed (van Zaanen et al. 1998). They allege that the administration of CNTO 328 did not cause changes in blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature, hemoglobin, liver functions and renal functions. Except for transient thrombocytopenia in two heavily pretreated patients, no toxicity or allergic reactions allegedly were observed, and there was no human anti-chimeric antibody (HACA) immune response observed. Three patients in their study reportedly developed infection-related complications during therapy, however, a possible relation with anti-IL-6 cCLB-8 antibody was concluded by the inventors to be unlikely because infectious complications are reportedly common in end stage multiple myeloma and are a major cause of death. They conclude based on their results that this anti-IL-6 cCLB-8 antibody was safe in multiple myeloma patients.
Certain of the anti-IL-6 antibodies disclosed herein have also been disclosed in the following published and unpublished patent applications, which are co-owned by the assignee of the present application: U.S. 2009/0028784, WO 2008/144763, U.S. Ser. No. 12/391,717 filed Feb. 24, 2009, and U.S. Ser. No. 12/366,567 filed Feb. 5, 2009.
Other anti-IL-6 antibodies have been disclosed in the following U.S. patents and published patent applications: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,482,436; 7,291,721; 6,121,423; 2008/0075726; 2007/0178098; 2007/0154481; 2006/0257407; and 2006/0188502.
As noted above, elevated IL-6 has been implicated in pathogenesis of cachexia, weakness, fatigue, and fever. Diseases and disorders associated with fatigue include, but are not limited to, general fatigue, exercise-induced fatigue, cancer-related fatigue, inflammatory disease-related fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome. See, for example, Esper D H, et al, The cancer cachexia syndrome: a review of metabolic and clinical manifestations, Nutr Clin Pract., 2005 August; 20 (4):369-76; Vgontzas A N, et al, IL-6 and its circadian secretion in humans, Neuroimmunomodulation, 2005; 12(3):131-40; Robson-Ansley, P J, et al, Acute interleukin-6 administration impairs athletic performance in healthy, trained male runners, Can J Appl Physiol., 2004 August; 29(4):411-8; Shephard R J., Cytokine responses to physical activity, with particular reference to IL-6: sources, actions, and clinical implications, Crit Rev Immunol., 2002; 22(3):165-82; Arnold, M C, et al, Using an interleukin-6 challenge to evaluate neuropsychological performance in chronic fatigue syndrome, Psychol Med., 2002 August; 32(6):1075-89; Kurzrock R., The role of cytokines in cancer-related fatigue, Cancer, 2001 Sep. 15; 92(6 Suppl):1684-8; Nishimoto N, et al, Improvement in Castleman's disease by humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody therapy, Blood, 2000 Jan. 1; 95 (1):56-61; Vgontzas A N, et al, Circadian interleukin-6 secretion and quantity and depth of sleep, J Clin Endocrinol Metab., 1999 August; 84(8):2603-7; and Spath-Schwalbe E, et al, Acute effects of recombinant human interleukin 6 on endocrine and central nervous sleep functions in healthy men, J Clin Endocrinol Metab., 1998 May; 83(5):1573-9; the disclosures of each of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Diseases and disorders associated with cachexia include, but are not limited to, cancer-related cachexia, cardiac-related cachexia, respiratory-related cachexia, renal-related cachexia and age-related cachexia. See, for example, Barton, B E., Interleukin-6 and new strategies for the treatment of cancer, hyperproliferative diseases and paraneoplastic syndromes, Expert Opin Ther Targets, 2005 August; 9(4):737-52; Zaki M H, et al, CNTO 328, a monoclonal antibody to IL-6, inhibits human tumor-induced cachexia in nude mice, Int J Cancer, 2004 Sep. 10; 111(4):592-5; Trikha M, et al, Targeted anti-interleukin-6 monoclonal antibody therapy for cancer: a review of the rationale and clinical evidence, Clin Cancer Res., 2003 Oct. 15; 9(13):4653-65; Lelli G, et al, Treatment of the cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome: a critical reappraisal, J Chemother., 2003 June; 15(3):220-5; Argiles J M, et al, Cytokines in the pathogenesis of cancer cachexia, Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, 2003 July; 6(4):401-6; Barton B E., IL-6-like cytokines and cancer cachexia: consequences of chronic inflammation, Immunol Res., 2001; 23(1):41-58; Yamashita J I, et al, Medroxyprogesterone acetate and cancer cachexia: interleukin-6 involvement, Breast Cancer, 2000; 7(2):130-5; Yeh S S, et al, Geriatric cachexia: the role of cytokines, Am J Clin Nutr., 1999 August; 70(2):183-97; Strassmann G, et al, Inhibition of experimental cancer cachexia by anti-cytokine and anti-cytokine-receptor therapy, Cytokines Mol Ther., 1995 June; 1(2):107-13; Fujita J, et al, Anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody prevents muscle atrophy in colon-26 adenocarcinoma-bearing mice with modulation of lysosomal and ATP-ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathways, Int J Cancer, 1996 Nov. 27; 68(5):637-43; Tsujinaka T, et al, Interleukin 6 receptor antibody inhibits muscle atrophy and modulates proteolytic systems in interleukin 6 transgenic mice, J Clin Invest., 1996 Jan. 1; 97(1):244-9; Emilie D, et al, Administration of an anti-interleukin-6 monoclonal antibody to patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and lymphoma: effect on lymphoma growth and on B clinical Symptoms, Blood, 1994 Oct. 15; 84 (8):2472-9; and Strassmann G, et al, Evidence for the involvement of interleukin 6 in experimental cancer cachexia, J Clin Invest., 1992 May; 89(5):1681-4; the disclosures of each of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Another cachexia-related disease is failure to thrive, also known as faltering growth, in which a child exhibits a rate of weight gain less than expected. Failure to thrive is typically defined as weight below the third percentile or a decrease in the percentile rank of 2 major growth parameters in a short period. Failure to thrive results from heterogeneous medical and psychosocial causes, and the cause sometimes eludes diagnosis. One recent study (totaling 34 patients) reported a statistically significant elevation in IL-6 levels in patients diagnosed with failure to thrive. Shaoul et al. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr., 2003 October; 37(4):487-91. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device. In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a non-volatile semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a non-volatile semiconductor memory device, for example, a NAND flash memory, reading and writing are carried out in units of pages (e.g., 2 KB) while erasing is carried out in units of blocks (e.g., 128 KB). As described above, the erase unit is larger than the write unit in the NAND flash memory. An overwrite operation in a flash memory will be described below.
An overwrite is carried out with respect to a page included in a logical block “a”.
Data of the logical block “a” is held in a physical block (actual memory addresses) “A” in a flash memory space. In order to carry out an overwrite with respect to the flash memory, data stored in the overwrite page must be erased once. Moreover, in a NAND flash memory, data of the entire physical block including the page is erased in addition to the page. For this reason, the following operation is carried out.
A spare block (physical block) “B” is prepared. The spare block B is in an already erased state, and does not correspond to any logical blocks. All pages of the physical block “A” including the page having a write request are copied (in this case, data of the page to be overwritten is updated). Thereafter, the block including the old data is erased. The foregoing operation is carried out, and thereby, the data of the logical block “a” is held in the physical block B, and not the physical block “A”.
In order to enable access, the flash memory prepares an address correspondence table (mapping table) of logical blocks and physical blocks. This technique is disclosed in JPN. PAT. APPLN. KOKAI Publications No. 10-124384 and No. 11-110283. More specifically, logical address/physical address conversion is carried out. In the conversion, a logical address/physical address conversion table, that is, a mapping table is used. Conversion means for converting a logical address into a physical address has a function of outputting a physical block address for a logical block address input. For example, if a logical block “a” is input, before the foregoing overwrite operation, a physical address corresponding to the physical block “A” is output. On the other hand, after the overwrite operation, an address corresponding to the physical block B is output. In the manner described above, access is made with respect to memory.
Conventionally, an SRAM is used for the logical address/physical address conversion. However, if an SRAM is used, an SRAM sense amplifier and control circuit for controlling the SRAM are required.
Moreover, a logical address decoder for decoding the logical address is required to access the SRAM. In addition, a physical address decoder for decoding the physical address output from the SRAM is required to access the flash memory. Thus, if the SRAM is integrated with a flash memory chip, an address decoder and address bus are required. | {
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In the oil and gas industry, refracturing operations are conducted to re-stimulate existing wellbores. Such operations typically require the isolation of existing perforations. In one method, a casing liner is run downhole to block all or a portion of existing perforations. In another method, fluids are pumped into the existing perforations to provide a temporarily restricted flow path into those zones.
These conventional methods have drawbacks. For example, the use of fluids to temporarily restrict the zones does not provide complete isolation of the existing perforations. As a result, during re-stimulation of the new perforation clusters, some fluids are lost into the existing perforations. This phenomenon is especially troublesome for tight formations which is require higher treating pressures. Also, the casing liners used to block all or a portion of the perforations are typically permanent installations, thus resulting in zones that can no longer be produced—and those casing liners that can be removed require expensive and dangerous removal operations. Moreover, the use of permanent casing liners typically results in a smaller flow diameter which limits the treatment rate during the stimulation service. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing scales from varieties of small and medium-sized fish.
2. Description of Related Art
Scale removal is a necessary procedure in the preparation of the common varieties of fish such as pan fish found on a typical fishing trip. Much of the scale removing procedure is still performed using some type of hand-held device. While this ensures a properly performed job, the drawback is that only one fish may be scaled at a time. This constraint has the effect of unnecessarily extending the time required to scale a plurality of fish in one sitting.
It has therefore been a goal in the art to provide an apparatus capable of removing scales from a number of fish concurrently. Several devices have been designed for such a purpose. In one type of device a bucket fish scaler is provided with an insertable cylindrical sleeve containing an abrasive surface and an electro-mechanical rotatable impeller to agitate the surrounding water. The fish are thus forced against the abrasive surfaces for scaling. An example of such devices are included in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,095 to Bissell, Jr. and 4,763,386 to Wissbroecker. While this scaling device appears to be conceptually sound, problems have been encountered with damage to the fish fillet during the scaling operation. This is apparently a result of excessive impeller rotation due to electro-mechanical power input and also due to the use of abrasive edges which tend to cut into the fish during scaling.
Other fish scaler assemblies include horizontal cylinder and agitator assemblies with the horizontal agitators including a number of perpendicularly extending, longitudinally spaced rods. These rods typically embody the abrasive units required for the scaling operations. Examples of such devices are shown in German Patent No. 366,185 to Nordischer Maschinenbau and German Patent No. 437,620 to Robert Scheibel. While these devices may be effective in commercial applications, the present teaching includes a portable unit capable of being transported to relatively inaccessible environments. The shortcomings of the other, more cumbersome, devices are in this respect apparent.
These devices also require specialized assemblies for containment and processing of the fish by rotation of the agitator along the horizontal axis. The teachings of the present invention allow for the adaptability of commonly found five gallon buckets used by fishermen today for fish scaling purposes.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an effective and lightweight fish scaling device and method of fish scaling capable of performing scaling operations on most varieties of small to medium sized fish without damage to the flesh of the fish. It is also a object of the present invention to provide a fish scaling device capable of being operated by manual means, therefore not constrained by the requirement of electro-mechanical power for rotation with the attendant requirement of an AC/DC power source.
It is still further an object of the present invention to provide a fish scaling apparatus embodying a novel rotatable scaling arm configuration useful in removing the scales from many varieties of fish. | {
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Activation of the Ras signal transduction pathway indicates a cascade of events that have a profound impact on cellular proliferation, differentiation, and transformation. Raf kinase, a downstream effector of Ras, is a key mediator of these signals from cell surface receptors to the cell nucleus (Lowy, D. R.; Willumsen, B. M. Ann. Rev. Biochem. 1993, 62, 851; Bos, J. L. Cancer Res. 1989, 49, 4682). It has been shown that inhibiting the effect of active ras by inhibiting the raf kinase signaling pathway by administration of deactivating antibodies to raf kinase or by co-expression of dominant negative raf kinase or dominant negative MEK, the substrate of raf kinase, leads to the reversion of transformed cells to the normal growth phenotype (see: Daum et al. Trends Biochem. Sci. 1994, 19, 474-80; Fridman et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1994, 269, 30105-8. Kolch et al. (Nature 1991, 349, 426-28) have further indicated that inhibition of raf expression by antisense RNA blocks cell proliferation in membrane-associated oncogenes. Similarly, inhibition of raf kinase (by antisense oligodeoxynucleotides) has been correlated in vitro and in vivo with inhibition of the growth of a variety of human tumor types (Monia et al., Nat. Med. 1996, 2, 668-75). Thus, small molecule inhibitors of Raf kinase activity are important agents for the treatment of cancer (Naumann, U.; Eisenmann-Tappe, I.; Rapp, U. R. Recent Results Cancer Res. 1997, 143, 237; Monia, B. P.; Johnston, J. F.; Geiger, T.; Muller, M.; Fabbro, D. Nature Medicine 1996, 2, 668).
Inhibition of p38 has been shown to inhibit both cytokine production (eg., TNFα, IL-1, IL-6, IL-8) and proteolytic enzyme production (eg., MMP-1, MMP-3) in vitro and/or in vivo. The mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase p38 is involved in IL-1 and TNF signaling pathways (Lee, J. C.; Laydon, J. T.; McDonnell, P. C.; Gallagher, T. F.; Kumar, S.; Green, D.; McNulty, D.; Blumenthal, M. J.; Heys, J. R.; Landvatter, S. W.; Stricker, J. E.; McLaughlin, M. M.; Siemens, I. R.; Fisher, S. M.; Livi, G. P.; White, J. R.; Adams, J. L.; Yound, P. R. Nature 1994, 372, 739).
Clinical studies have linked TNFα production and/or signaling to a number of diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (Maini. J. Royal Coll. Physicians London 1996, 30, 344). In addition, excessive levels of TNFα have been implicated in a wide variety of inflammatory and/or immunomodulatory diseases, including acute rheumatic fever (Yegin et al. Lancet 1997, 349, 170), bone resorption (Pacifici et al. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metabol. 1997, 82, 29), postmenopausal osteoperosis (Pacifici et al. J. Bone Mineral Res. 1996, 11, 1043), sepsis (Blackwell et al. Br. J. Anaesth. 1996, 77, 110), gram negative sepsis (Debets et al. Prog. Clin. Biol. Res. 1989, 308, 463), septic shock (Tracey et al. Nature 1987, 330, 662; Girardin et al. New England J. Med. 1988, 319, 397), endotoxic shock (Beutler et al. Science 1985, 229, 869; Ashkenasi et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 1991, 88, 10535), toxic shock syndrome, (Saha et al. J. Immunol. 1996, 157, 3869; Lina et al. FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 1996, 13, 81), systemic inflammatory response syndrome (Anon. Crit. Care Med. 1992, 20, 864), inflammatory bowel diseases (Stokkers et al. J. Inflamm. 1995-6, 47, 97) including Crohn's disease (van Deventer et al. Aliment. Pharmacol. Therapeu. 1996, 10 (Suppl. 2), 107; van Dullemen et al. Gastroenterology 1995, 109, 129) and ulcerative colitis (Masuda et al. J. Clin. Lab. Immunol. 1995, 46, 111), Jarisch-Herxheimer reactions (Fekade et al. New England J. Med. 1996, 335, 311), asthma (Amrani et al. Rev. Malad. Respir. 1996, 13, 539), adult respiratory distress syndrome (Roten et al. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 1991, 143, 590; Suter et al. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 1992, 145, 1016), acute pulmonary fibrotic diseases (Pan et al. Pathol. Int. 1996, 46, 91), pulmonary sarcoidosis (Ishioka et al. Sarcoidosis Vasculitis Diffuse Lung Dis. 1996, 13, 139), allergic respiratory diseases (Casale et al. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 1996, 15, 35), silicosis (Gossart et al. J. Immunol. 1996, 156, 1540; Vanhee et al. Eur. Respir. J. 1995, 8, 834), coal worker's pneumoconiosis (Borm et al. Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 1988, 138, 1589), alveolar injury (Horinouchi et al. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 1996, 14, 1044), hepatic failure (Gantner et al. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therap. 1997, 280, 53), liver disease during acute inflammation (Kim et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1997, 272, 1402), severe alcoholic hepatitis (Bird et al. Ann. Intern. Med. 1990, 112, 917), malaria (Grau et al. Immunol. Rev. 1989, 112, 49; Taveme et al. Parasitol. Today 1996, 12, 290) including Plasmodium falciparum malaria (Perlmann et al. Infect. Immunit. 1997, 65, 116) and cerebral malaria (Rudin et al. Am. J. Pathol. 1997, 150, 257), non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM; Stephens et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1997, 272, 971; Ofei et al. Diabetes 1996, 45, 881), congestive heart failure (Doyama et al. Int. J. Cardiol. 1996, 54, 217; McMurray et al. Br. Heart J. 1991, 66, 356), damage following heart disease (Malkiel et al. Mol. Med. Today 1996, 2, 336), atherosclerosis (Parums et al. J. Pathol. 1996, 179, A46), Alzheimer's disease (Fagarasan et al. Brain Res. 1996, 723, 231; Aisen et al. Gerontology 1997, 43, 143), acute encephalitis (Ichiyama et al. J. Neurol. 1996, 243, 457), brain injury (Cannon et al. Crit. Care Med. 1992, 20, 1414; Hansbrough et al. Surg. Clin. N. Am. 1987, 67, 69; Marano et al. Surg. Gynecol. Obstetr. 1990, 170, 32), multiple sclerosis (M. S.; Coyle. Adv. Neuroimmunol. 1996, 6, 143; Matusevicius et al. J. Neuroimmunol. 1996, 66, 115) including demyelation and oligiodendrocyte loss in multiple sclerosis (Brosnan et al. Brain Pathol. 1996, 6, 243), advanced cancer (MucWierzgon et al. J. Biol. Regulators Homeostatic Agents 1996, 10, 25), lymphoid malignancies (Levy et al. Crit. Rev. Immunol. 1996, 16, 31), pancreatitis (Exley et al. Gut 1992, 33, 1126) including systemic complications in acute pancreatitis (McKay et al. Br. J. Surg. 1996, 83, 919), impaired wound healing in infection inflammation and cancer (Buck et al. Am. J. Pathol. 1996, 149, 195), myelodysplastic syndromes (Raza et al. Int. J. Hematol. 1996, 63, 265), systemic lupus erythematosus (Maury et al. Arthritis Rheum. 1989, 32, 146), biliary cirrhosis (Miller et al. Am. J. Gasteroenterolog. 1992, 87, 465), bowel necrosis (Sun et al. J. Clin. Invest. 1988, 81, 1328), psoriasis (Christophers. Austr. J. Dermatol. 1996, 37, S4), radiation injury (Redlich et al. J. Immunol. 1996, 157, 1705), and toxicity following administration of monoclonal antibodies such as OKT3 (Brod et al. Neurology 1996, 46, 1633). TNFα levels have also been related to host-versus-graft reactions (Piguet et al. Immunol. Ser. 1992, 56, 409) including ischemia reperfusion injury (Colletti et al. J. Clin. Invest. 1989, 85, 1333) and allograft rejections including those of the kidney (Maury et al. J. Exp. Med. 1987, 166, 1132), liver (Imagawa et al. Transplantation 1990, 50, 219), heart (Bolling et al. Transplantation 1992, 53, 283), and skin (Stevens et al. Transplant. Proc. 1990, 22, 1924), lung allograft rejection (Grossman et al. Immunol. Allergy Clin. N. Am. 1989, 9, 153) including chronic lung allograft rejection (obliterative bronchitis; LoCicero et al. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 1990, 99, 1059), as well as complications due to total hip replacement (Cirino et al. Life Sci. 1996, 59, 86). TNFα has also been linked to infectious diseases (review: Beutler et al. Crit. Care Med. 1993, 21, 5423; Degre. Biotherapy 1996, 8, 219) including tuberculosis (Rook et al. Med. Malad. Infect. 1996, 26, 904), Helicobacter pylori infection during peptic ulcer disease (Beales et al. Gastroenterology 1997, 112, 136), Chaga's disease resulting from Trypanosoma cruzi infection (Chandrasekar et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 1996, 223, 365), effects of Shiga-like toxin resulting from E. coli infection (Harel et al. J. Clin. Invest. 1992, 56, 40), the effects of enterotoxin A resulting from Staphylococcus infection (Fischer et al. J. Immunol. 1990, 144, 4663), meningococcal infection (Waage et al. Lancet 1987, 355; Ossege et al. J. Neurolog. Sci. 1996, 144, 1), and infections from Borrelia burgdorferi (Brandt et al. Infect. Immunol. 1990, 58, 983), Treponema pallidum (Chamberlin et al. Infect. Immunol. 1989, 57, 2872), cytomegalovirus (CMV; Geist et al. Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 1997, 16, 31), influenza virus (Beutler et al. Clin. Res. 1986, 34, 491a), Sendai virus (Goldfield et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 1989, 87, 1490), Theiler's encephalomyelitis virus (Sierra et al. Immunology 1993, 78, 399), and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; Poli. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 1990, 87, 782; Vyakaram et al. AIDS 1990, 4, 21; Badley et al. J. Exp. Med. 1997, 185, 55).
A number of diseases are thought to be mediated by excess or undesired matrix-destroying metalloprotease (MMP) activity or by an imbalance in the ratio of the MMPs to the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). These include osteoarthritis (Woessner et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1984, 259, 3633), rheumatoid arthritis (Mullins et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1983, 695, 117; Woolley et al. Arthritis Rheum. 1977, 20, 1231; Gravallese et al. Arthritis Rheum. 1991, 34, 1076), septic arthritis (Williams et al. Arthritis Rheum. 1990, 33, 533), tumor metastasis (Reich et al. Cancer Res. 1988, 48, 3307; Matrisian et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., USA 1986, 83, 9413), periodontal diseases (Overall et al. J. Periodontal Res. 1987, 22, 81), corneal ulceration (Burns et al. Invest. Opthalmol. Vis. Sci. 1989, 30, 1569), proteinuria (Baricos et al. Biochem. J. 1988, 254, 609), coronary thrombosis from atherosclerotic plaque rupture (Henney et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., USA 1991, 88, 8154), aneurysmal aortic disease (Vine et al. Clin. Sci. 1991, 81, 233), birth control (Woessner et al. Steroids 1989, 54, 491), dystrophobic epidermolysis bullosa (Kronberger et al. J. Invest. Dermatol. 1982, 79, 208), degenerative cartilage loss following traumatic joint injury, osteopenias mediated by MMP activity, tempero mandibular joint disease, and demyelating diseases of the nervous system (Chantry et al. J. Neurochem. 1988, 50, 688).
Because inhibition of p38 leads to inhibition of TNFα production and MMP production, inhibition of mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase p38 enzyme provides an approach to the treatment of the above listed diseases including osteoporosis and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and COPD (Badger, A. M.; Bradbeer, J. N.; Votta, B.; Lee, J. C.; Adams, J. L.; Griswold, D. E. J. Pharm. Exper. Ther. 1996, 279, 1453).
Vasculogenesis involves the de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial cell precursors or angioblasts. The first vascular structures in the embryo are formed by vasculogenesis. Angiogenesis involves the development of capillaries from existing blood vessels, and is the principle mechanism by which organs, such as the brain and the kidney are vascularized. While vasculogenesis is restricted to embryonic development, angiogenesis can occur in the adult, for example during pregnancy, the female cycle, or wound healing.
One major regulator of angiogenesis and vasculogenesis in both embryonic development and some angiogenic-dependent diseases is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; also called vascular permeability factor, VPF). VEGF represents a family of isoforms of mitogens existing in homodimeric forms due to alternative RNA splicing. The VEGF isoforms are highly specific for vascular endothelial cells (for reviews, see: Farrara et al. Endocr. Rev. 1992, 13, 18; Neufield et al. FASEB J. 1999, 13, 9). VEGF expression is induced by hypoxia (Shweiki et al. Nature 1992, 359, 843), as well as by a variety of cytokines and growth factors, such as interleukin-1, interleukin-6, epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor.
To date, VEGF and the VEGF family members have been reported to bind to one or more of three transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases (Mustonen et al. J. Cell Biol., 1995, 129, 895), VEGF receptor-1 (also known as flt-1 (fms-like tyrosine kinase-1)), VEGFR-2 (also known as kinase insert domain containing receptor (KDR); the murine analogue of KDR is known as fetal liver kinase-1 (flk-1)), and VEGFR-3 (also known as flt-4). KDR and flt-1 have been shown to have different signal transduction properties (Waltenberger et al. J. Biol. Chem. 1994, 269, 26988); Park et al. Oncogene 1995, 10, 135). Thus, KDR undergoes strong ligand-dependant tyrosine phosphorylation in intact cells, whereas flt-1 displays a weak response. Thus, binding to KDR is a critical requirement for induction of the full spectrum of VEGF-mediated biological responses.
In vivo, VEGF plays a central role in vasculogenesis, and induces angiogenesis and permeabilization of blood vessels. Deregulated VEGF expression contributes to the development of a number of diseases that are characterized by abnormal angiogenesis and/or hyperpermeability processes. Regulation of the VEGF-mediated signal transduction cascade will therefore provide a useful mode for control of abnormal angiogenesis and/or hyperpermeability processes.
Angiogenesis is regarded as an absolute prerequisite for growth of tumors beyond about 1-2 mm. Oxygen and nutrients may be supplied to cells in tumor smaller than this limit through diffusion. However, every tumor is dependent on angiogenesis for continued growth after it has reached a certain size. Tumorigenic cells within hypoxic regions of tumors respond by stimulation of VEGF production, which triggers activation of quiescent endothelial cells to stimulate new blood vessel formation. (Shweiki et al. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci., 1995, 92, 768). In addition, VEGF production in tumor regions where there is no angiogenesis may proceed through the ras signal transduction pathway (Grugel et al. J. Biol. Chem., 1995, 270, 25915; Rak et al. Cancer Res. 1995, 55, 4575). In situ hybridization studies have demonstrated VEGF mRNA is strongly upregulated in a wide variety of human tumors, including lung (Mattern et al. Br. J. Cancer 1996, 73, 931), thyroid (Viglietto et al. Oncogene 1995, 11, 1569), breast (Brown et al. Human Pathol. 1995, 26, 86), gastrointestional tract (Brown et al. Cancer Res. 1993, 53, 4727; Suzuki et al. Cancer Res. 1996, 56, 3004), kidney and bladder (Brown et al. Am. J. Pathol. 1993, 143I, 1255), ovary (Olson et al. Cancer Res. 1994, 54, 1255), and cervical (Guidi et al. J. Nat'l Cancer Inst. 1995, 87, 12137) carcinomas, as well as angiosacroma (Hashimoto et al. Lab. Invest. 1995, 73, 859) and several intracranial tumors (Plate et al. Nature 1992, 359, 845; Phillips et al. Int. J. Oncol. 1993, 2, 913; Berkman et al. J. Clin. Invest., 1993, 91, 153). Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to KDR have been shown to be efficacious in blocking tumor angiogenesis (Kim et al. Nature 1993, 362, 841; Rockwell et al. Mol. Cell. Differ. 1995, 3, 315).
Overexpression of VEGF, for example under conditions of extreme hypoxia, can lead to intraocular angiogenesis, resulting in hyperproliferation of blood vessels, leading eventually to blindness. Such a cascade of events has been observed for a number of retinopathies, including diabetic retinopathy, ischemic retinal-vein occlusion, retinopathy of prematurity (Aiello et al. New Engl. J. Med. 1994, 331, 1480; Peer et al. Lab. Invest. 1995, 72, 638), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD; see, Lopez et al. Invest. Opththalmol. Vis. Sci. 1996, 37, 855).
In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the in-growth of vascular pannus may be mediated by production of angiogenic factors. Levels of immunoreactive VEGF are high in the synovial fluid of RA patients, while VEGF levels are low in the synovial fluid of patients with other forms of arthritis of with degenerative joint disease (Koch et al. J. Immunol. 1994, 152, 4149). The angiogenesis inhibitor AGM-170 has been shown to prevent neovascularization of the joint in the rat collagen arthritis model (Peacock et al. J. Exper. Med. 1992, 175, 1135).
Increased VEGF expression has also been shown in psoriatic skin, as well as bullous disorders associated with subepidermal blister formation, such as bullous pemphigoid, erythema multiforme, and dermatitis herpetiformis (Brown et al. J. Invest. Dermatol. 1995, 104, 744).
Because inhibition of KDR leads to inhibition of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and permeabilization, KDR inhibitors will be useful in treatment of diseases characterized by abnormal angiogenesis and/or hyperpermeability processes, including the above listed diseases. | {
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The heart of a computer is an assembly that is referred to as a magnetic disk drive. The magnetic disk drive includes a rotating magnetic disk, write and read heads that are suspended by a suspension arm adjacent to a surface of the rotating magnetic disk and an actuator that swings the suspension arm to place the read and write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The read and write heads are directly located on a slider that has an air bearing surface (ABS). The suspension arm biases the slider into contact with the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing, the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic impressions to and reading magnetic impressions from the rotating disk. The read and write heads are connected to processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
The write head includes a coil layer embedded in first, second and third insulation layers (insulation stack), the insulation stack being sandwiched between first and second pole piece layers. A gap is formed between the first and second pole piece layers by a gap layer at an air bearing surface (ABS) of the write head and the pole piece layers are connected at a back gap. Current conducted to the coil layer induces a magnetic flux in the pole pieces which causes a magnetic field to fringe out at a write gap at the ABS for the purpose of writing the aforementioned magnetic impressions in tracks on the moving media, such as in circular tracks on the aforementioned rotating disk.
In recent read head designs a spin valve sensor, also referred to as a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor, has been employed for sensing magnetic fields from the rotating magnetic disk. The sensor includes a nonmagnetic conductive layer, hereinafter referred to as a spacer layer, sandwiched between first and second ferromagnetic layers, hereinafter referred to as a pinned layer and a free layer. First and second leads are connected to the spin valve sensor for conducting a sense current therethrough. The magnetization of the pinned layer is pinned perpendicular to the air bearing surface (ABS) and the magnetic moment of the free layer is located parallel to the ABS, but free to rotate in response to external magnetic fields. The magnetization of the pinned layer is typically pinned by exchange coupling with an antiferromagnetic layer.
The thickness of the spacer layer is chosen to be less than the mean free path of conduction electrons through the sensor. With this arrangement, a portion of the conduction electrons is scattered by the interfaces of the spacer layer with each of the pinned and free layers. When the magnetizations of the pinned and free layers are parallel with respect to one another, scattering is minimal and when the magnetizations of the pinned and free layer are antiparallel, scattering is maximized. Changes in scattering alter the resistance of the spin valve sensor in proportion to cos θ, where θ is the angle between the magnetizations of the pinned and free layers. In a read mode the resistance of the spin valve sensor changes proportionally to the magnitudes of the magnetic fields from the rotating disk. When a sense current is conducted through the spin valve sensor, resistance changes cause potential changes that are detected and processed as playback signals.
In the face of the ever increasing demand for improved data rate and data capacity, researchers continually strive to decrease the size and increase the write performance of write elements. One recently constructed write head, termed a bionic head, has been manufactured by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. The bionic head includes a first pole (P1) that includes a first layer of magnetic material, and a magnetic pedestal (P1 pedestal) formed on that first layer of magnetic material. A thin layer of dielectric material is formed over the top of the P1 pedestal, and the second pole extends over the first pole from the pole tip region to the back gap. The bionic head provides excellent track width control, bit size and magnetic field strength.
Write heads, such as the bionic head described above, have suffered from recession. Recession of the P1 pedestal is a term that refers to the P1 pedestal sinking into the write head (ie. away from the magnetic medium). As can be appreciated, this recession of the pedestal portion of the first pole increases the effective fly height of the write head. As slider fly heights decrease, the effect of this recession becomes a larger percentage of the fly height budget, seriously degrading write performance. To maintain performance standards, manufacturers must specify a maximum allowable level of recession. A head having recession greater than this amount must be scrapped. Currently yield losses due to recession have been as high as 0.5%.
Therefore, there is a strong felt need for a way of reducing recession in the construction of a write head such as a bionic head. Such a means for reducing recession would preferably involve existing manufacturing techniques and materials so as not require significant additional manufacturing expense. Such a method would also preferably not negatively affect other performance parameters such as track width control, write gap thickness, or field strength among others. | {
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As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An asset tag is a label that identifies the item or component to which it is attached, such as a server, desktop computer, laptop computer, or a peripheral device. The asset tag may be used for tracking and inventory of the asset. Although an asset tag is usually a physical label, such as a bar code or customer box label, an electronic asset tag may be embedded in the basic input/output system (BIOS) memory of a computer. Unlike a physical label, which can be removed or damaged, the embedded electronic asset tag can provide permanent identification of the item or component. Thus, items and/or components can be tracked and inventoried using physical asset tags and/or embedded electronic asset tags.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory card and, more particularly, to an extended memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory cards are usually used as a storage medium for portable electronic devices such as digital cameras and multimedia players. There are several kind of memory cards currently available on the market, for instance, the Secured Digital (SD) card, the Memory Stick (MS), the Multimedia card (MMC), the Compact Flash (CF) card and so on. Although these memory cards vary in respect of the electrical specifications and physical sizes thereof, all of them are featured by high storage capacity and low power consumption. Also, the reduced size memory card was developed from the foregoing memory cards as advanced with the development of technology and miniaturization of portable electronic devices. For example, the MMC card was miniaturized to become the reduced size (RS) MMC card, and the MS card was miniaturized to become the MS Duo card.
Many portable electronic devices are designed to provide either a mini slot into which the user can insert the reduced size memory card, or a standard slot for receiving the memory card. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, when a conventional RS-MMC card 12 is inserted into a portable electronic device with the mini slot, the conventional RS-MMC card 12 operates normally. However, if the user wants to insert the conventional RS-MMC card 12 into a portable electronic device with a standard slot, the user has to connect the conventional RS-MMC card 12 with an extended card 14 because the RS-MMC card is smaller in physical size than the MMC card 10. The physical size of the combination of the extended card 14 and the conventional RS-MMC card 12 is therefore equivalent to that of the MMC card 10 to operate normally in the portable electronic device. The extended card 14 is merely an adapter design without any additional function. The inventor of the present invention thus provides an extended card having improvements over the function of the extended card 14. | {
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This invention relates to a poultry cage system, and more particularly to a unique way of discharging poultry from cages for transportation.
In accordance with the prior art, poultry such as chickens are generally placed shortly after birth into growing cages where they are raised for a specific length of time, generally a specific number of weeks. After such time period has lapsed, they are removed from these cages for slaughter (in the case of fryers) or to special poultry houses (for layers). The particular operation of removing the poultry from their initial cages is costly and time consuming. It involves an excessive amount of labor since confined poultry tend to be nervous when an attempt to physically remove them from their cages is undertaken. Also, when poultry are raised in large numbers, they are generally housed in large complex structures comprising many many rows of cages arranged in tiers. Thus, it is extremely inconvenient for an attendant to gain immediate access to all the individual cages for removal of the poultry therefrom. While attempts have been made to urge the poultry from their cages through proper openings onto access ways which lead toward a collection point, such attempts have been unsuccessful. The poultry resist moving toward a discharge end without positive physical manipulation.
In addition to the foregoing disadvantages, it has been difficult in accordance with the prior art to simply urge the poultry to leave the cages they are confined within. Part of this difficulty is the basic nature of the poultry which as pointed out above tends toward that of excitability which results in the poultry tending to want to stay within the cage it is confined within. The configuration of prior art cages however have contributed to this difficulty by the presence of an access opening in one of the partitions of the cages with a remaining partition portion on the same side. In these cases, the poultry required to be driven through a defined opening in one side of the cage tend to seek an avenue toward the position along that panel which remains and hence blocks its passage from the cage. Thus, there is a need in this art for an improved poultry cage construction. | {
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The present invention relates to novel naphthopyran materials. More particularly, this invention relates to indeno-fused photochromic naphthopyran materials and to compositions and articles comprising such naphthopyran materials. This invention also relates to naphthols used in making the novel naphthopyrans. When exposed to light radiation containing ultraviolet rays, such as the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight or the light of a mercury lamp, many photochromic materials exhibit a reversible change in color. When the ultraviolet radiation is discontinued, such a photochromic material will return to its original color or colorless state.
Various classes of photochromic materials have been synthesized and suggested for use in applications in which a sunlight-induced reversible color change is desired. Although indeno-fused photochromic naphthopyrans are known, it has unexpectedly been discovered that materials demonstrating a bathochromic shift in the visible lambda max and/or an increase in sensitivity, which is measured as a change in optical density over time, can be prepared. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stable immunogenic products comprising immunogenic protein heterocomplexes for obtaining a humoral immune response with production of specific antibodies raised against one ore more antigens, in particular against a “self” antigen, as well as their use in the field of vaccines.
2. Related Art
Obtaining a high level antibody response from a given antibody, in an individual, is an object commonly sought, whether the antigen is a “foreign” antigen or a “self” antigen.
However, the problem of a good recognition of the antigen against which an antibody response is being sought, in an individual, should be solved in a number of cases, more particularly (a) when the antigen of interest behaves like a “hapten”, i.e. a low molecular mass chemical structure which is little or not immunogenic under a free form, but that, once fixed on a high molecular mass molecule, is able to induce the production of specific antibodies of such a hapten, and (b) when the antigen of interest is a self protein, i.e. a protein being naturally produced in the individual, for which there exists an immune tolerance due to the deletion of corresponding lymphocyte T clones, during the development of the immune system.
In order to cause, or increase, the recognition of an antigen of interest by B cells, various immunogenic constructions were developed in the state of the art.
A first immunogenic construction form comprises a covalent coupling of the antigen of interest on a carrier molecule, the carrier molecule bringing structures recognized by the auxiliary T lymphocytes (“T helper” cells), in association with class II molecules of the Histocompatibility Major Complex (HMC), and activating the auxiliary T lymphocytes then producing various cytokins, amongst which IL-2, said cytokins activating in turn the specific B cell clones of the antigen of interest. The specific B cells of the antigen of interest, once activated, multiply and produce antibodies specific to the antigen of interest, which is the objective being sought. Generally, such a type of immunogenic constructions comprises products of the covalent chemical coupling between the antigen of interest and the carrier molecule, which, after purification and removal steps of the non coupled products, are final products with a well defined chemical structure.
The first form of an immunogenic construction is for example illustrated by the article by Richard and al. describing the preparation of products of the covalent coupling between IL-9 and ovalbumin (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 97(2): 767-772). It is also illustrated in such U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,461 (Terman) which discloses coupling products between one or more copies of an antigen of interest, against which a specific antibody response is being sought in an individual, and a carrier molecule consisting in a “Superantigen”. The antigen of interest is coupled exclusively covalently to the carrier molecule, for example, by means of glutaraldehyde (also called “pentanedial”), the non-covalently coupled products being removed in order to obtain a chemically well-defined final product.
Optionally, the product from the covalent coupling between the antigen of interest and the superantigen could be prepared in the form of a polymer of said coupling product, for example, through a non covalent bond of the monomeric coupling products between one another, through ionic interactions, adsorption interactions as well as biospecific interactions. For example, the monomeric coupling products could form complexes with highly positively or negatively charged molecules, through salt bridges produced in low ionic strength conditions. Larges complexes of monomeric coupling products are prepared using charged polymers such as poly(L-glutamic acid) or poly(L-lysine) polymers. According to another embodiment of a monomeric coupling product polymer, the exclusively covalent coupling products between the antigen of interest and the superantigen could be adsorbed or coupled non covalently at the surface of microparticles, such as latex beads or other hydrophobic polymers.
A second embodiment of such immunogenic constructions commonly called “MAP” structure (for “Multi-Antigenic Protein”) generally have the form of a protein backbone comprised of a linear or branched, poly(lysine) polymer, onto which one or more antigens of interest are covalently bound.
A third embodiment of such immunogenic constructions consists in microparticles onto which fixed the antigen(s) of interest is/are bound. Various forms of antigen carrier microparticles are known.
For example, iscomes (for “immunostimulating complexes”) are known comprised of an antigenic complex and an adjuvant, the QuilA compound.
Liposomes are also known having the same drawbacks as the iscomes, i.e. more particularly some toxicity and immunological side effects, due to their lack of purity.
Biodegradable microparticles are also known such as lactic acid and glutamic acid polymers (Aguado and Lambert, 1992, Immuno. Biol., Vol. 184: 113-125) as well as starch particles (U.S. Patent Application 2002/0098203—Gutavsson et al.), in the polymeric matrix of which antigens of interest are trapped. Such particles release the antigen under their soluble form during the degradation of the polymeric matrix.
Particles have also been disclosed exclusively comprised of hybrid recombinant proteins, as disclosed in French Patent Application FR 2,635,532 (Thiollais et al.).
Porous microspheres are also known wherein the antigens are immobilized within micropores through captation or physical coupling, as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,116 (Cahn).
However, the various solutions suggested in the state of the art share in common at least one technical inconvenient related to their preparation method, i.e. the loss of a high proportion of the antigenic material of interest, due to a necessary step for removing the non coupled or non adsorbed antigens.
Moreover, while the prior art techniques allow to provide an association between the low molecular mass antigen of interest with a carrier molecule, they are generally not adapted to coupling a high molecular mass antigen of interest, for example, of more than 10 kDa, with the carrier molecule, because, in particular, of steric hindrances preventing coupling a high number of molecules of antigens of interest having a high molecular mass with an identical carrier molecule.
Finally, most if not all the known peptide antigenic constructions encompass in their structure a single carrier molecule, which is a technical inconvenient when the objective is to induce a preventive or therapeutic immune response both against the antigen of interest and the carrier molecule itself.
There is therefore a need in the state of the art for improved immunogenic constructions allowing for the production of a high level of antibodies specific to an antigen of interest in an individual where such a humoral immune response is sought, being less expensive, simple to prepare and able to be synthesized reproducibly. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The device of this invention resides in the art of pliers for applying clips and more particularly relates to a hand-operated clip applier which uses closing jaws to apply hog ring clips.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many well known clip appliers in the prior art relating to hog ring type clips. Pliers of the type based on the principle of closing jaws are disclosed early in the prior art. For example in U.S. Pat. No. 130,853 of 1872 to H. W. Hill entitled Improvements in Instruments for Ringing Hogs, the hog ring clips are shown applied by pliers having a jaw with slots formed therein to hold the rings. Many other jaw-type clip appliers have been developed over the years. Such prior art includes a variety of manually and pneumatically operated clip pliers for clenching hog ring type clips with jaw members which close around the clip to clench the clip around the desired object(s).
The present inventor has received patents in this field, the most relevant being U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,973. The clip pliers of that invention rely on intricately-shaped upper and lower jaws that are difficult to machine and may require adjustment during the life of the device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of packaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to a packaging substrate configured for connection to rotary cutting and grinding wheels.
2. Related Art
Rotary cutting wheels are marketed through one of a retail or bulk mode. Retail commonly results in the rotary cutting wheel being sold as a single item purchase whereas bulk sales results in multiples of the item being purchased at one time. The existing packaging varies greatly for each type of mode. Both modes require numerous warning messages attached to and accompanying the cutting.
Bulk sale packaging can include such warnings on the box and/or literature with which the bulk is sold and in some cases requires the bonding of labels to both sides of the wheel in order to affix the required warnings. Retail packaging additionally requires individual packaging wherein the rotary cutting wheel is packaged adjacent a card bearing such warnings and shrink wrapped together as one unit such that the card and associated wheel may be hung from a display rack. Other costly retail packaging has been used to contain cutting wheels, such as clam shell and blister packages.
A type of cuttings wheels is an abrasive grinding wheel, which is one of two types commonly known in the trade, a type 1 or flat wheel and type 27or raised hub wheel. The rough, porous and uneven surfaces of abrasive wheels, as opposed to steel blades, necessarily require the use of a paper blotter or blotters adhesively bonded about the hub of the wheel which are used to display at least some of the warning, identification, UPC bar code, and operating information. The amount of the information which can be printed on the blotter is limited since the blotter cannot interfere with the configuration and use of the cutting wheel. This limitation is furthered in type 27 wheels wherein only one side of the wheel may include a blotter, as the face of one side of the cutting wheel is used to cut.
While these warning, identification, UPC bar code and operating information are necessary and required, they add increased expense to the cost of the product in the case of placing double blotters, one on each side of the cutting wheel. There is also added expense and waste in shelf space in that a store supplier of the rotary cutting wheels presently has to stock, shelve and display two different types of packages for the same wheel.
Accordingly, there remains a need to improve the packaging of rotary cutting wheels in order to facilitate the display of required warning messages with minimal expense. There is also a need to reduce the waste in stock, shelf and display space within a store. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The deterioration of coffee, i.e. the loss of a "fresh" or palatable flavor and aroma, is primarily caused by oxidation and evaporation. In a conventional 8-12 cup coffee decanter, deterioration is generally so complete within one or two hours, depending on the rate of consumption, as to render the remaining coffee undrinkable.
The role of oxidation, alone, in deteriorating coffee flavor is obvious to anyone who drinks coffee from a Thermos. When the Thermos is first opened, whether after one or several hours, the coffee tastes perfectly fresh. If the Thermos is resealed with a small amount of coffee remaining therein, such as a half cup, it rapidly deteriorates as evidenced by the poor taste when it is consumed, say, one hour later. There was obviously no significant evaporation from the sealed Thermos but fresh air was admitted at the time the first cup was poured.
The deteriorating role of evaporation is even more obvious as the coffee solution is concentrated by evaporation.
The concept of extending the "pot life" of coffee, i.e. that time period during which it retains the flavor and aroma of freshly brewed coffee, by substantially eliminating its exposure to atmosphere while yet retaining the ability to pour coffee in conventional fashion was introduced by applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,758. In a pour type coffee decanter, the patented concept involves sealing the main body of contained coffee with respect to atmosphere. The top of the decanter is sealed by a movable follower, such as a bellows or bag, and that coffee contained within the lower end of a small diameter pour spout opening into the coffee decanter adjacent the bottom thereof serves as a liquid seal between atmosphere and the main body of the decanter contained coffee.
The result is that the only oxidation that can occur takes place at the upper coffee level in the pour spout. By keeping the cross section of the pour spout sufficiently small, that quantity of coffee that is oxidized and subsequently finds its way through the liquid seal to the main reservoir of contained coffee is negligible over the first 4-8 hours depending upon the cross section of the pour spout. Similarly, the only loss to atmosphere that can occur by way of evaporation is at the small upper coffee level in the pour spout since a state of equilibrium inherently exists across a gas/vaporizable liquid interface in a sealed container.
Stated differently, the patented concept involves pouring from the bottom of the decanter while keeping the top of the decanter sealed with a movable follower maintaining atmospheric pressure on the coffee so that it can be poured without creating a vacuum lock.
In applicant's copending application, Ser. No. 219,461, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,257 filed Dec. 23, 1980, is disclosed method and apparatus whereby the movable follower may be eliminated and coffee readily dispensed while yet retaining substantially all the advantages of a totally sealed decanter, albeit over a shorter time span, by providing vent means of such small dimension that the vapor pressure of a quantity of contained coffee within the decanter exceeds atmospheric pressure. The result, as explained in the aforesaid copending application, is a vapor seal across the vent means that precludes the ingress of air at all times except when coffee is actually being dispensed through the pour spout. The volume of entry air that occurs during pouring is, of course, negligible as compared with that volume which enters a conventional open decanter over a period of from one to several hours.
A concomitant, and significant, consequence of the restricted vent means is greatly reduced evaporation as compared with a conventional decanter from which the vapor may freely escape.
Thus, where vapor may freely escape, as from a conventional decanter, equilibrium across the gas/liquid interface is never attained and evaporation may proceed to completion. Conversely, in a closed system, partial pressures of the coffee vapor will increase until a state of equilibrium exists at which time for every molecule escaping across the liquid/gas interface in gaseous form another is returning from the gaseous to the liquid form at which point no further liquid volume loss to evaporation occurs. The latter is what occurs in the patented process where the space above the decanter contained coffee is totally sealed.
An analogous result is achieved by the restricted vent means disclosed and claimed in the aforesaid copending application which, in effect, imposes a back pressure on the contained gaseous phase so that equilibrium is approached with the result that percentage return from the gaseous to liquid phase approaches that of escape from liquid to gaseous. The result, over a period of up to about 4-6 hours depending on the rate of depletion by dispensing, is negligible coffee volume loss to evaporation. In actual tests conducted with a six cup volume in a twelve cup decanter with the coffee maintained at 175.degree. F. and a single 1/16" diameter vent hole; loss to evaporation was less than one-third cup over a five hour period as contrasted with a two and one-half cup loss to evaporation from a conventional decanter. It will be obvious that the smaller the vent means the closer the approach to equilibrium and the lesser volume loss to evaporation.
In summary, concerning the vent means which for the present explanation will be assumed as a single pin hole in an otherwise sealed top of a coffee decanter which decanter includes a small diameter pour spout opening into the decanter immediately adjacent the bottom thereof; the vent means is necessary to permit the pouring of the coffee, in the absence of any movable parts, without developing a vapor lock. Regarding its role in reducing oxidation, the vent means must be of sufficiently small cumulative area to produce a back, or superatmospheric, pressure within the decanter to prevent ingress of air by a vapor seal across the vent means when the decanter is in the upright, or non-pouring, position. The role of the restricted vent means in reducing volume loss through evaporation is that of causing the partial pressures across the gas/liquid interface to approach equilibrium.
Since the overall purpose of the invention disclosed in the aforesaid copending application is to insure that the entire contents of a coffee decanter may be consumed without having to discard the last few cups because they have deteriorated to an unpalatable state; the importance of having a small diameter pour spout extend to substantially the bottom of the decanter and remain submerged at all times as the coffee level is depleted may be appreciated. Thus, by the time the coffee level has been substantially depleted, as for example to the two or three cup line, both oxidation and evaporation will, if permitted, play a far greater deteriorating role than when a full decanter of coffee is initially made. First, the smaller coffee volume will normally be at a higher temperature than the original filled decanter (assuming a standard, automatic drip coffee maker burner to be used) and as with most other chemical reactions, oxidation is accelerated by increased temperature as is the rate of evaporation. Secondly, deterioration due to oxidation proceeds more rapidly because of the proportionally greater surface area exposure in a small volume while even an equal rate of evaporation produces a far greater proportional concentration in a small, as compared with a large, volume of liquid. If the lower end of the pour spout does not remain submerged as the coffee level is depleted the liquid seal is broken, air reaches the remaining coffee to oxidize the same and the approach to equilibrium across the liquid/gas interface is destroyed allowing evaporation to proceed toward completion. This is why many conventional coffee pots of the electric or stove top percolator type which have outside pour spouts are not suitable for use with the present invention. In all cases they have at least a portion of the pour spout opening into the pot at a level well above the bottom of the pot and as soon as this upper level of the pour spout opening into the pot is reached by the declining coffee level the remainder of the coffee is quickly deteriorated by oxidation and evaporation.
Accordingly, the entirety of the lower open end of the pour spout must be positioned so that it remains completely submerged at all times, with the liquid seal intact, until substantially all the coffee is dispensed, else the primary advantage of retaining the palatability of the remaining coffee is lost. In actual practice, with various 8-12 cup coffee decanters it is more desirable to insure that the liquid seal remains intact, if possible, until the next to last cup is dispensed leaving only one cup subject to the deteriorating effects of oxidation and evaporation. In actual practice it is found that this last cup is usually consumed before it is substantially deteriorated. The foregoing translates into a necessary positionment of the lower open end of the pour spout at such a height above the bottom of the decanter that the entire lower open end of the pour spout remains completely submerged at remaining coffee levels falling generally within the range of 1/6 to 1/4 the height of a full decanter fill level of an 8-12 cup decanter. The range is stated thusly to take into account various pot capacities and configurations though it will be apparent that the lower end of the spout should be as low as feasible.
If the top assembly is to be placed on the decanter after it is filled with coffee then the vent means need involve only a single vent, or pin hole, opening whereas if the top is to be placed on the decanter prior to its placement under a drip coffee maker to receive freshly brewed coffee through a central "vent means", then a second vent opening must be provided to allow escape of displaced air as the pot is filled. It is not the number or the spacing of the vent openings that is critical, rather it is their cumulative area; i.e. their cumulative area must be sufficiently small as to maintain superatmospheric pressure within the decanter when it contains a quantity of hot coffee above, for example, 160.degree. F. Indeed, specific holes need not be formed in the top assembly if the top assembly is so interfitted with the open top of the decanter that vent air can be admitted while precluding the outflow of coffee as the decanter is tilted to "pour from the bottom". Exemplary of the latter would be a screw cap substantially, but not totally, sealed with respect to atmosphere.
As would be expected from the foregoing discussion, the patented concept wherein the decanter is totally sealed by a movable follower extends the "pot life" of coffee over a longer time span than does the "restricted vent means" concept disclosed in the aforesaid copending application. The reasons are:
(1) There is no air indrawn to the sealed container during dispensing to oxidize the decanter contained reservoir; and PA1 (2) The partial pressures across the gas/liquid interface within the decanter reach equilibrium so that there is no evaporative loss to atmosphere PA1 (1) To introduce a "temperature differential" concept for extending the pot life of coffee which requires no special top assembly as for sealing or providing a restricted vent means; indeed, the decanter top may include the large central opening characteristic of conventional automatic drip coffee maker decanters; and PA1 (2) To combine the "temperature differential" concept with the "vent means" concept to produce, in a decanter having no moving parts, a pot life extension substantially equal to that of the patented concept employing a totally sealed decanter.
whereas the "restricted vent means" concept limits, rather than eliminates, the deteriorating effects of oxidation and evaporation. | {
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This invention relates to a weapon grip including a grip body and a grip shell having an approximately U-shaped cross section and being releasably and replaceably inserted on the grip body. The grip shell is a one-piece component having a rear wall and two side walls formed thereon.
German Offenlegungsschrift (application published without examination) 195 05 829 describes a handgun grip, to the rear side of which a replaceable back part is secured by inserting a lug into a recess of the grip at the upper end of the rear part and inserting a pin through aligned bores in overlapping webs at the lower end of the rear part. By replacing the back part, the grip may be adapted to the hand configuration of the marksman.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,036 discloses a handgun grip which is formed of a grip body and a generally U-shaped grip shell which may be releasably inserted on the grip body. The grip shell has a rear wall and two side walls formed thereon to constitute a one-piece component. The grip shell is inserted from behind and is secured by a transverse pin. Such a mode of securement has the disadvantage that it is not play-free.
German Offenlegungsschrift 30 00 017 describes a grip having a grip member which is approximately U-shaped and may be attached to the grip body from behind and may be secured thereto by screws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,887 describes a handgun grip which includes a grip body and a grip shell. The grip shell which has two side walls and a bottom wall connecting the side walls, is inserted from below onto the grip body and is secured by a screw which passes through the bottom wall and is screwed into a yoke. To ensure that the yoke is aligned for allowing the insertion of the screw, the yoke is guided in arcuate grooves provided in the side walls. | {
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The present invention, in general relates to support of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. More specifically, it relates to managing and resolving IT incidents related to the IT infrastructure.
An IT incident is an event that is apparent and typically results in an interruption or a reduction in the performance of enterprise applications, hardware or network. IT incidents are often the result of failures or errors in the applications, electronic devices, or network infrastructure. Examples of IT incidents are exceeding disk-usage threshold, web page not displaying, application performing below performance thresholds, printer not printing, forgotten password, and so forth. These and similar IT incidents are often reported to an IT service desk. The IT service desk very often is a central point where IT incidents are reported and service requests are made. The IT service desk typically keeps users informed about the IT incidents, actions, and opportunities that affect the users.
According to conventional methods, the IT incidents are typically referred to the IT staff and handled manually by the IT staff with assistance from documentation, knowledge bases, and scripts. The IT staff typically comprises a team of dedicated technical professionals. The documentation, knowledge bases, and scripts also need to be manually updated periodically as new IT incidents keep occurring. However, as a result of IT infrastructure complexity and a need to reduce IT failures, automation of IT incident management is required. The ability to identify the root cause of IT failures, document solutions, and automate the problem-resolution processes can enhance the performance of the IT infrastructure.
Currently, the need for automation is partially fulfilled using methods that utilize IT service desk software. Existing IT service desk software for IT incident handling provides interfaces for maintaining a log of IT incidents and solutions for those IT incidents. Other software includes monitoring software that keeps a track of network infrastructural devices and raises alarm in case of an error. The monitoring software may contain limited scripts to diagnose errors. Manual intervention is often required while using monitoring software, to resolve the IT incidents. | {
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In the medical field, it is often desirable to measure the thrombotic potential of blood, the tendency of blood to form a clot, and cardiologists have been using such measurements to predict the progression of diseases such as atherosclerosis and heart disease. In recent years, cardiologists have collected data indicating that blood elements play a significant role in heart disease and have concluded that blood clots are the primary cause of the majority of heart attacks.
The accumulating evidence has led to a scientific explanation of the correlation between heart disease and blood clotting processes. More specifically, areas of blood vessels that are covered with fatty plaques become brittle, causing the vessels to crack and fissure as the vessel is stretched. Tiny rifts in the vessel wall expose collagen which attracts formed elements in the blood known as platelets. The platelets aggregate near the rift and adhere to the collagen to restrict blood flow and initiate clotting processes. Cardiologists propose that heart attacks occur when a clot intended to repair a rift in a vessel wall grows too aggressively, blocking the entire passage and obstructing blood flow to the heart.
A significant medical advantage may be gained by using measurements of the clotting process in vitro to predict the likelihood of similar blood clotting processes occurring in vivo. Such measurements can be used to identify patients at greatest risk of heart attacks or strokes by reproducing in vitro the circumstances that lead to these maladies. Early detection of a highly reactive clotting response in a patient's blood permits a physician to treat the patient for excessive blood clotting activity to reduce the patient's susceptibility to heart attack or stroke.
In the past, apparatuses have been devised for evaluating the blood clotting process and associated platelet response of a blood specimen. However, problems with these apparatuses have arisen. Transfer of blood from a patient's circulatory system to the diagnostic apparatus significantly alters the blood elements responsible for clotting, specifically, the blood platelets and plasma protein-clotting factors. When a blood specimen is exposed to a surface other than healthy endothelial tissue, such as glass or other artificial surfaces, blood platelets in the specimen contact the foreign surface and become activated. Blood platelets immediately identify any synthetic blood container as foreign. Likewise, plasma protein-clotting factors, primarily factors VII and XII, become activated upon contact with damaged tissue or a foreign surface to initiate blood coagulation.
These changes significantly affect the transferability of observations on blood in vitro to conclusions about in vivo behavior. Moreover, analysis of the blood specimen using these prior art apparatuses typically requires centrifugation to remove the cellular components of the blood sample, resulting in further alteration of the blood from its state in the bloodstream.
Present procedures for evaluating blood clotting processes attempt to delay the above-described changes by adding anticoagulants, such as sodium citrate, to the blood specimen. Prior to evaluating the clotting potential of the specimen, the effect of the anticoagulant is reversed. However, since the blood was previously exposed to the abnormal surfaces of the blood evaluation device, some clotting factors are partially, or completely, activated, and many of the platelets also have become activated, including undergoing a shape change known as the disk/sphere transformation. Thus, in many respects, the blood specimen has begun the clotting process before diagnostic testing begins, and it becomes difficult to determine the blood specimen's original thrombotic tendency.
As an alternative to treating the blood specimen with anticoagulants, a class of blood evaluation devices has been devised to compensate for any minor activation of blood elements by massively activating the blood specimen immediately upon withdrawal f rom the bloodstream. These devices, generally referred to as whole blood coagulation analyzers, intermix a thrombogenic material, such as ground glass or diatomaceous earth, with the blood specimen to rapidly induce complete activation. Tests using this method of rapid activation, however, produce inconclusive results because clotting occurs too rapidly to distinguish excessively active clotting processes from healthy clotting processes.
Additionally, if blood can be withdrawn and studied in vitro without clotting and without the necessity to mix an anticoagulant with it, it is believed that characteristics other than clotting can be much more accurately observed.
The difficulties suggested in the preceding are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many which tend to reduce the accuracy, effectiveness, and physician satisfaction with prior apparatuses and associated methods for testing blood clotting processes. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that such methods and apparatuses appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.
Accordingly, it is therefore a general object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method for manipulating blood in vitro which will obviate or minimize difficulties of the type previously described.
It is a specific object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which permits recovery of a blood specimen from a patient for determining the thrombotic tendency of the patient's blood.
It is another object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which may be used to identify individuals at high risk of maladies resulting from excessive blood clotting activity and to monitor high risk individuals during specific therapy to decrease the clotting activity.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which maintains a blood specimen in vitro in essentially the same state as found in vivo.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which alleviates the necessity of adding anticoagulants to the blood specimen and then reversing their effects prior to performing diagnostic testing.
It is yet a further object of the invention to provide a blood extracting and receiving assembly which is self contained, disposable, and economical to manufacture.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a method for inhibiting activation of blood elements, specifically platelets, and those blood clotting factors which become activated upon exposure to an unnatural surface.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method for determining the thrombotic tendency of a blood specimen under sufficiently controlled conditions to permit discrimination between clotting rates which are dangerously high and those that are within an acceptable range. | {
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Turbidimetry is a science of measuring decreased intensity of light caused by scattering or absorption of the light by an inhomogeneous system. The light scattering and absorption can be caused, for example, by an inhomogeneous system comprising solid particles distributed in a liquid, wherein the solid and the liquid have different indices of refraction, or by an inhomogeneous mixture of two liquids having different indices of refraction.
Turbidity is a measurable value for a sample. Turbidity of a sample can be related to an intensity of an incident light and an intensity of a transmitted light (after scattering and assuming there is no absorption of the light) by the following expression:I=I0e−τL
wherein I0 is the intensity of the incident light, I is the intensity of the transmitted light, τ is turbidity, and L is an optical path length, i.e., a distance through the sample that the light traverses.
Measurements of turbidity are typically reported in units called Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU), also called nephelos turbidity units. When suspended formazin is tested in a nephelometer apparatus, the turbidity units are referred to as Formazin Nephelometric Units (FNU). An instrument for measuring water turbidity is called a turbidimeter. Some turbidimeters are called haze meters, which can be used to measure turbidity of gas, including atmospheric gas. Units of turbidity also can be expressed as European Brewery Convention (EBC) units of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or Formazin Turbidity Units (FTU) of the American Society of Brewing Chemists (also known as ASBC-FTU). Other units of turbidity are Formazin Attenuation Units (FAU).
Turbidimetry is used in a variety of applications. For quality control or public health purposes, turbidity, including haze, of chemical reactions, formulations, and quality testing samples is monitored using known turbidity assay methods. Turbidity assays measure a degree of “cloudiness,” haziness, or opaqueness of a test sample. Turbidity testing is performed with nephelometers, turbidimeters and haze meters in diverse industries such as personal care products, consumer products such as cleaning mixtures, and water and beverage quality testing. Turbidity of test sample aliquots is measured and referenced to turbidity calibration standards to assess progress and quality of process steps or quality testing samples.
Turbidity assay methods and instruments are known. In one type of turbidity assay method, for example, a nephelometer apparatus measures light from a light source beam that is scattered off suspended particles or a discontinuous liquid (e.g., suspended liquid droplets) at 90° from the light source beam. The light source beam typically is in near infrared wavelengths and are selected in order to reduce any potential effects of color, if any, in a test sample.
Robust single layer standards are required for calibrating conventional turbidity measuring instruments, including haze meters. A conventional single layer turbidity calibration standard consists of solid particles suspended in a liquid. An example of such a standard is AMCO Clear® (APS Analytical Standards, Inc., a subsidiary of GFS Chemicals, Inc., Powell, Ohio), which consists of styrene divinylbenzene sub-micrometer copolymer beads (121 nm average diameter) suspended in an ultra-pure aqueous media. The beads can be suspended in the aqueous media for a period of time due to a phenomenon known as Brownian motion, a random movement of small particles suspended in a liquid or gas medium caused by collisions of the particles with molecules of the medium.
Drawbacks of conventional turbidity standards include settling of suspensions and evaporation and yellowing of liquids upon exposure to turbidity measurement or storage conditions. In addition to these drawbacks, other weaknesses are known. For example, there are physical limitations of Brownian motion. Consequently, standards that rely on Brownian motion to maintain suspension of particles are limited by the size of particles that may be suspended in a liquid. Further, an AMCO standard designed for one turbidimeter cannot be reliably used with a different type of turbidimeter, even if these meters are from a same manufacturer. Also, formazin has been used as a standard, but dilutions of formazin are highly unstable. Further, while a “stabilized formazin” (e.g., STABLCAL™, Hach Company, Loveland, Colo.) is more stable than formazin, preparing stabilized formazin requires strictly following a special mixing protocol. And a refractive index of low level stabilized formazin standards is very different from that of low level formazin standards and from most ultra-pure turbidity water. Differences in refractive indices can lead to very different test results. So, a turbidimeter calibrated with stabilized formazin at low levels cannot be verified with formazin standards. Further, producing standards having stable distributed suspensions of a discontinuous liquid in a different, continuous liquid has been problematic.
Also, temperature-dependent measurements of turbidity such as in studies of properties of polymers (e.g., molecular weight distribution studies) require turbidity calibration standards to work across a wide temperature range from below 0° C. to above 150° C. For example, a polymer sample may be dissolved in a solution at or near a precipitating temperature and then the temperature of a resulting mixture is lowered so that the polymer begins to precipitate out of solution, thereby increasing turbidity of the mixture (see Cantow Manfred J. R., ed. Polymer Fractionation, 1967, Academic Press, pages 191 to 211). Under these conditions, water-based and other liquid-based turbidity calibration standards may freeze, resulting in a turbidity change; concentrate due to evaporation; degrade due to heating; expand volumetrically; or the like.
The above-mentioned drawbacks can preclude an use of a conventional turbidity standard or limit the standard's shelf life to as little as a few days before the standard has to be discarded or remixed, which may or may not restore a suspension to its previous state.
Also, where a test sample has two or more layers, for example an organic layer and an inorganic layer (e.g., an aqueous layer), robust multi-layer turbidity calibration standards that emulate the test sample over a range of layers, concentrations and temperatures are needed to calibrate turbidity measuring instruments. But only single layer turbidity calibration standards have been prepared and used. Turbidity of multilayer test samples conventionally is carried out by dividing the layers from each other, and then separately measuring the turbidity of each of the divided layers. In addition to having the drawbacks mentioned previously for single layer standards, multi-layer turbidity test samples tend to develop a rag layer at an interface between two layers. The rag layer is due to partial mixing of the layers, which then are unusable. Three or more layer standards would compound the rag layer stability problem intrinsic to multi-layer turbidity standards. Historically, multilayer turbidity standards comprised of two or more liquid-based layers were also expected to also develop rag layers, and thus are unknown.
As chemical reaction, formulation, and quality testing samples become more complex, greater numbers of single layer and multi-layer turbidity test samples are needed. Further, globalization of industry research and manufacturing is increasing a need to transfer turbidity calibration protocols from site to site. Stable and reliable single and multi-layer turbidity calibration standards are required for testing increasing numbers of turbidity test samples and for calibrating turbidity measuring instruments at one research site to different such instruments at another research site or manufacturing site.
There is an increasing need in diverse industries for stable single layer and multi-layer turbidity calibration standards to provide reliable reference points in analyses of turbidity of single and multi-layer reaction, formulation, and quality testing samples. The standards could be used for calibration and quality control purposes. Ideally, the standards would resist time- and temperature-dependent changes to turbidity (e.g., due to settling or agglomeration of suspended solids or discontinuous liquids), color (e.g., due to oxidation), composition (e.g., due to reaction), or concentration (due to evaporation or volume expansion upon heating), as well as resist migration of components from layer to layer. | {
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1. Technical Field
This method relates to infrared welding of thermoplastic parts. Directed infrared welding provided for non-surface contact of the heat source with the work piece for applications where traditional welding techniques such as hot plate, electromagnetic body, vibratory or ultrasonic welding is not appropriate.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art devices of this type have relied on a number of different configurations to focus infrared energy source by focusing the energy to a desired area. Such techniques include general focus infrared welding in which a concentrated beam of infrared radiation is scanned on a surface to progressively raise the temperature of the radiated area, continuous heating by infrared sources and soddering by infrared energy, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,649,811, 4,725,716 and 5,113,479.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,811 an elliptical or cylindrical reflector is used to channel a concentrated output of radiant energy having a relatively high flux density output which can be applied to a raised area of the heat sensitive work piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,716 is directed towards the use of infrared energy to solder components on electronic circuitry boards using a heat sink to absorb excess heat that would build up on adjacent components. The circuit board is momentarily positioned below an infrared source with a large heat sink directly therebelow.
A method of infrared heating on a continuous thermoplastic laminate is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,479 in which a source of infrared radiation is positioned within a directional reflector to restrict the area to be exposed on thus heated. The laminated web can have color stripes to absorb heat generated by the IR energy source, thus increasing efficiency and accuracy of the portions of the web to be heated. | {
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The mechanical and electrical properties of nanomaterials such as, for example, nanotubes, nanowires and nanorings, have led to intense interest in these materials. Potential applications for these nanomaterials include miniaturized electronic, optical, thermal and electromechanical systems. Many of these nanomaterial applications further rely upon the superior strength of the nanomaterials. Deformation and failure of nanomaterials under mechanical load is of particular importance in structural applications such as, for example, composite systems and load carrying components in electromechanical systems. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the mechanical properties of individual nanomaterials is desirable, since there may be property differences observed for individual nanomaterials compared those observed in a bulk sample.
Many methods for mechanical characterization of individual nanomaterials are presently known in the art. The majority of these techniques employ electro-mechanical or thermo-mechanical coupling. Testing methods for real-time observation of individual nanomaterials under stress include, for example, resonance-based methods, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based tensile testing using electrostatically- and thermally-actuated platforms, atomic force microscope (AFM)-assisted bending, and compression and tension tests. A number of the aforementioned techniques are either indirect (e.g., resonance based testing) or direct but qualitative (e.g., AFM-assisted bending). Furthermore, a significant drawback of known direct measurement techniques is that sample load and deformation cannot be simultaneously and independently measured in a quantitative manner. Electrostatically- and thermally-actuated platforms have been able to overcome some of the aforementioned limitations, but their implementation is both expensive and challenging.
In view of the foregoing, new devices and methods for direct measurement of the mechanical properties of nanomaterials would be of considerable benefit in the art. In particular, such new devices and methods would desirably incorporate capabilities for simultaneous observation and mechanical testing of the nanomaterials under load. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Conventional cleaning devices, such as brushes, brooms, scrubbers, mops, and sponges, often lack the ability to reach differing oriented surfaces as a result of their cleaning material being oriented in a fixed configuration.
A cleaning device, and method for its use, is needed which will allow a user to orient the cleaning material of the cleaning device into differing configurations in order to clean variably oriented surfaces. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In performing printing with a network printer that is an example of a network device, when a host terminal of a user is present in a location apart from the network printer, it, is likely that a content of a print is seen by others until the user reaches the network printer. This causes a problem when the user prints a confidential document that the user does not desire to be seen by others. Therefore, it is demanded to provide a security function in the network printer.
Conventionally, as a technique for improving security for the network printer, for example, a printing apparatus disclosed in a patent document 1 and an image output apparatus described in a patent document 2 are known.
In the invention described in the patent document 1, first, the printing apparatus judges whether a print job received from a host terminal is a normal print job or a spool print job. When it is judged that the print job is a spool print job, the printing apparatus expands the print job into output data and stores the output data expanded in a storage together with job designation information. Then, when a user inputs job designation information, the printing apparatus specifies a print job, which should be performed, from plural print jobs stored in the storage on the basis of the job designation information inputted. The printing apparatus reads out output data of the print job specified and performs printing.
In the invention described in the patent document 2, first, a host terminal transmits an authentication code to a printer server together with print data. The printer server generates data for collation from the print data received, encrypts the received print data with the authentication code to generate storage data, and stores the storage data and the data for collation in a storage in association with each other. When a user selects the storage data with a UI unit and inputs the authentication code, the printer server decrypts the storage data with the authentication code as a key and judges whether the storage data could be decrypted correctly with reference to the data for collation. If the storage data could be decrypted correctly, the printer server causes a print engine to print a result of the decryption.
However, in the inventions described in the patent documents 1 and 2, there is a problem in that, when the user wishes to change a print destination after the host terminal transmits a print job or print data, the user has to delete the print job or the print data and then perform the transmission again, which requires time and labor. Thus, a print system described in a patent document 3 is proposed as a technique that allows a user to arbitrarily change a print destination even after a print job or print data is transmitted.
In an invention described in the patent document 3, a host terminal transmits print data and a password to a printer server. A network printer transmits a password and a job number inputted to an image input apparatus to the printer server. The printer server transmits, after performing authentication, the print data to the network printer to cause the network printer to print an image.
In an invention described in a patent document 4, a print job received from a host terminal at a request source of the print job is transferred to a network printer serving as a transfer destination set in advance. When an NW board of the network printer detects PDL analysis abnormality or occurrence of jam or the like in a printing engine unit through communication with a PDL board, the NW board instructs the network printer serving as the transfer destination to start page analysis processing for the print job. [Patent Document 1] JP-A-4-364971 [Patent Document 2] JP-A-2001-306273 [Patent Document 3] JP-A-2003-140875 [Patent Document 4] JP-A-2002-189578
In the invention of the patent document 3, print data is held by the printer server on a network. Thus, there is a problem in that the print data is likely to be stolen because of illegal access or the like while the printer server holds the print data.
If the inventions described in the patent documents 1 and 2 are applied to the invention described in the patent document 4, it is possible to perform confidential printing while improving a degree of freedom of changing a print destination.
However, in such a combination, as in the invention of the patent document 3, print data is held by each printing apparatus that is likely to execute print processing on a network. Thus, there is a problem in that the print data is likely to be stolen because of illegal access or the like until printing is started after the printing apparatus or the like holds the print data.
Such a problem is anticipated not only in the case in which printing is performed by a network printer but also in the case in which, for example, a display device such as a projector or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is connected to a network and display is performed by the display device. In other words, when an image or the like is displayed using the projector, the LCD, or the like, even if image data (video data) or the like is held in a server or the like and taken out and displayed when necessary, data is likely to be stolen because of illegal access or the like while the data is held in the server or the like.
Thus, the invention has been devised in view of such unsolved problems inherent in the conventional techniques and it is an object of the invention to provide an output system, a network device, a device using apparatus, an output control program and an output request program, and an output method that can improve a degree of freedom of changing an output destination and improve security for output data. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger and a method of producing the same, and more particularly to a heat exchanger for use in a cryogenic refrigerator, such as a reversed Stirling cycle refrigerator, a Gifford-MacMahon cycle refrigerator, a pulse tube refrigerator, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
One typical example of known heat exchangers comprises a regenerative matrix for allowing a gas to flow therethrough and having a heat conductivity, a heat capacity, and a wide contact surface held in contact with the gas, and is thus adapted to exchange heat energy between the regenerative matrix and the gas while the gas is passing through the regenerative matrix. The heat exchanger is generally utilized as a regenerator for a cryogenic refrigerator.
A typical cryogenic refrigerator of this type, for example, a pulse tube refrigerator, is shown in FIG. 32 as comprising a gas cylinder 1, a regenerator 2, a pulse tube 3, a reciprocating piston 4, an orifice valve 5, and a buffer tank 6.
The gas cylinder 1 is formed with a chamber having the reciprocating piston 4 movably received therein and divided into two spaces one of which defines a hermetical sealed gas chamber 1a having a center axis and a gas flow port opened to the regenerator 2. The regenerator 2 comprises a pair of heat exchanging portions 2a and 2b and a regenerative matrix portion 2c interposed between the pair of heat exchanging portions 2a and 2b. The heat exchanging portion 2a of the regenerator 2 is mechanically connected to the gas cylinder 1 through the gas flow port of the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1.
The pulse tube 3 is formed with a gas chamber 3a and has a first longitudinal end portion mechanically connected to the heat exchanging portion 2b of the regenerator 2, and a second longitudinal end portion opposite to the first longitudinal end portion and mechanically connected to the buffer tank 6 through the orifice valve 5. The gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1, the regenerator 2, and the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 therefore collectively define a hermetically sealed closed system.
The gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1, the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3, and the buffer tank 6 are filled with a refrigerant gas. The regenerator 2 is formed with a plurality of gas flow passageways for allowing the refrigerant gas to flow between the gas cylinder 1 and the pulse tube 3 therethrough with a large gas contact area surface to be held in contact with the refrigerant gas. The regenerative matrix 2c of the regenerator 2 is adapted to exchange the heat energy with the contacted refrigerant gas.
The reciprocating piston 4 is reciprocated along with the center axis of the gas cylinder 1 to have the refrigerant gas in the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1 repeatedly compressed and expanded and to allow the compressed and expanded refrigerant gas to flow between the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1 and the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 through the gas flow passageways of the regenerator 2.
The buffer tank 6 is designed to cooperate with the orifice valve 5 to regulate a pressure in the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3, thereby causing a pulsatory motion of compressed and expanded gas in the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3.
The reciprocating motion of the reciprocating piston 4 and the pulsatory motion of gas flow are repeated at a predetermined cycle, but performed at different phases from each other while the refrigerator operates. The pulsatory motion of gas flow in the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 is phase shifted by one fourth of the cycle, i.e., a phase angle of 90 degrees with respect to the reciprocating motion of the reciprocating piston 4.
The refrigerator is repeatedly operated in accordance with the following four processes consisting an isothermal compression process, an isovolumetric heat radiating process, an isothermal expansion process, and an isovolumetric heat absorbing process.
In the isothermal compression process, the refrigerant gas is compressed in the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1, and the heat energy is transferred from the refrigerant gas to the heat exchanging portion 2a of the regenerator 2. Accordingly, the heat exchanging portion 2a of the regenerator 2 is heated while the refrigerant gas is cooled.
In the isovolumetric heat radiating process, the heat energy is radiated from the heat exchanging portion 2a of the regenerator 2 to the outside of the refrigerator 2. The cooled refrigerant gas flows from the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1 to the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 through the regenerator 2. The regenerative matrix 2c of the regenerator 2 is operated to exchange the heat energy with the refrigerant gas, when the refrigerant gas is transferred between the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 and the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1 through the regenerator 2. In this case, the heat energy is transferred from the regenerator 2 to the refrigerant gas.
In the isothermal expansion process, the refrigerant gas is expanded in the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3, and the heat energy is transferred from the heat exchanging portion 2b of the regenerator 2 to the refrigerant gas. Accordingly, the heat exchanging portion 2b of the regenerator 2 is cooled while the refrigerant gas in the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 is heated.
In the isovolumetric heat absorbing process, the heated refrigerator gas flows from the gas chamber 3a of the pulse tube 3 to the gas chamber 1a of the gas cylinder 1 through the regenerator 2. The heat energy is transferred from the regenerator 2 to the refrigerant gas. The refrigerator repeatedly performs the aforesaid processes.
A conventional regenerator constituting the heat exchanger of the above type is shown in detail in FIG. 33. The regenerator of the heat exchanger comprises a cylindrical casing 7 and a plurality of regenerative plates 8. The cylindrical casing 7 is formed with a chamber 7a having an opened end.
Each of the regenerative plates 8 is produced by modeling a mesh plate after a predetermined pattern. As a result, the regenerative plates 8 thus constructed have a tendency to be irregular in size and shape, thereby causing the heat exchanger to be irregular in relationship between the neighboring two regenerative plates 8 in the cylindrical casing 7. For this reason, it is difficult for the heat exchanger to obtain a desired efficiency of heat exchanging between the regenerative plates 8 and the gas.
In the process of producing the heat exchanger, the regenerative plates 8 are inserted into the cylindrical casing 7 through the opened end of the chamber 7a of the cylindrical casing 7 one by one by hand to form into a regenerative heat exchanging unit 9 including thousands of regenerative plates 8. Therefore, the heat exchanging unit 9 is produced to be laborious in work and management of the large number of regenerative plates 8, thereby taking much time of manufacturing process and bringing a high cost.
The heat exchanger of another type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,269, filed Aug. 13, 1993 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention in which each of the regenerative plates is made of a thin metal plate formed with a plurality of holes by etching. This type of heat exchanger has an advantage in a flexible design of the regenerative plates as well as making the regenerative plates uniform in size and shape. As a result, the heat exchanger can effectively exchange the heat energy between the regenerative plates and the gas. However, this type of heat exchanger has still a drawback to be encountered in that the heat exchanger comprises a large number of regenerative plates inserted in the gas casing one by one by hand, thereby taking much time of manufacturing process and bringing a high cost.
In the aforesaid heat exchanger, the neighboring two regenerative plates 8 are held in directly contact with one another so that the regenerative plates 8 in the heat exchanger define as a whole a heat transmission path in parallel relationship with the gas flow passageways. In consequence, the heat exchanger further has a drawback to be encountered in that the heat energy is liable to transfer between the neighboring two regenerative plates 8, thereby causing a loss in the heat conductivity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Modern paintball guns are generally capable of operating at high rates of fire. At high rates of fire, even when electronic sensors and other sophisticated equipment are used to prevent ball breaks in the breech of the paintball gun, ball breaks may occasionally occur. The internal paintball gun chambers and components may also need routine maintenance and/or lubrication. When a ball breaks in the breech of the paintball gun, or when other cleaning or servicing of the internal pneumatic components needs to take place, a bolt and/or other pneumatic components of the paintball gun must generally be removed to gain access to the breech and the internal pneumatic components of the paintball gun. Although quick-removal bolt assemblies, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,544, have been provided for a number of years for stacked-tube design paintball guns, quick removal solutions for single-bore or spool-valve designs have been more complicated to provide. Although some prior art solutions provide a rearwardly removable pneumatic assembly in a spool-valve design, these mechanisms generally require that the pneumatic assembly be unthreaded from the paintball gun bore after the gun has been degassed and may therefore have a more complicated removal process than desirable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test system including a tester for testing the quality of manufactured semiconductor parts and a plurality of handlers for carrying semiconductor parts into, or carrying them out from, the tester, and more particularly to the collection of operation status data on the tester and the handlers.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, a test has been made in an IC or LSI parts factory to see if manufactured semiconductor parts satisfy the specified characteristics. In this test process, a test system has been used which includes two types of components: one is a tester for measuring the characteristics of semiconductor parts under a specified test condition (e.g., input voltage, ambient temperature, operating frequency) and the other is a handler for carrying semiconductor parts into, and carrying them out from, a test position so that the tester can test them. To meet the need for testing various types of semiconductor parts and for performing various types of tests, a variety of testers and handlers are provided. And, depending upon the semiconductor part to be tested and test items to be used in the test, a specific combination of a tester and handlers is used.
In general, the tester designed for various semiconductor parts is large; it is installed in a fixed location within the factory. By contrast, the handler designed for semiconductor parts which is limited, is mobile; a handler is selected according to the type of semiconductor parts to be tested or the type of test to be performed. When the test system is in operation, a plurality of appropriate handlers are connected to the tester to measure the characteristics and performance of the semiconductor parts to be tested.
To improve the utilization of the tester and the handler, the system also collects their operation data. The next time the same semiconductor part is manufactured, collected data is used in selecting the tester and the handler best suited for testing the semiconductor part.
However, to reduce the workload on a worker responsible for collecting data, the conventional system has collected data only on the tester which most affects the utilization of the test system. In addition, it does not collect data on an operation change that occurs within a short period of time. This prevents data necessary for the optimum operation of the test system from being collected, making it difficult for the tester and handler to further increase the operation. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to measurement of the three-dimensional shape of an object to be measured.
Description of the Related Art
There is known a three-dimensional measurement apparatus that projects a slit pattern typified by a space encoding method from a projection unit such as a projector to an object to be measured (to be referred to as a “target object” hereinafter), and obtains the three-dimensional coordinates of the target object by the principle of triangulation based on a position at which an image capturing unit has observed the reflected light. One problem with measurement by this apparatus is that the measurement accuracy of three-dimensional coordinates greatly depends on the material of a target object.
For a target object made of a material such as plastic, the measurement accuracy may degrade or measurement itself may become impossible owing to a phenomenon called subsurface scattering or internal scattering. Such a target object needs to undergo a treatment of, for example, coating in advance the surface of the target object with a white powder or the like. This becomes an obstacle that greatly limits the scope of application of three-dimensional measurement apparatuses.
As a method of avoiding observation of internal scattering, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-281399 (Reference 1) discloses a method in which a linear polarization plate is arranged in an optical path to separate surface reflected light and internal scattering light, and the three-dimensional shape of a target object including a semitransparent portion is accurately measured.
As a method of suppressing the effect of internal scattering, Reference 2 proposes a three-dimensional shape measurement method of modulating slit light by a maximum length sequence (MLS) including a high-frequency component to reduce the effect of internal scattering.
Reference 2: Tatsuhiko Furuse, Shinsaku Hiura, Kosuke Sato, “More Accurate 3D Scanning Method by Controlling Subsurface Scattering”, MIRU2008 Meeting on Image Recognition and Understanding
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-275529 (Reference 3) discloses a method of preventing the effect, on a peripheral target object, of inter-reflection caused by secondary reflection between objects when projecting a phase shift pattern to three-dimensionally measure a plurality of target objects, though this method is not a countermeasure against the effect of internal scattering. More specifically, Reference 3 discloses a method of performing three-dimensional measurement while avoiding secondary reflection from an adjacent object using a checkerboard pattern mask.
However, the method in Reference 1 separates surface reflected light and internal scattering light using polarized light, so the geometrical relationship between the light source, the light receiving portion, and the measurement target surface needs to satisfy a predetermined condition. It is not always easy to satisfy this condition and perform measurement.
Since the method in Reference 2 modulates a gray code by MLS, for example, as many as 31 types of patterns need to be projected to each bit of the gray code, greatly prolonging the measurement time.
The method of performing three-dimensional measurement using the checkerboard pattern mask in Reference 3 suppresses only the effect of inter-reflection from a non-projection region adjacent to a projection region in the checkerboard pattern. Although this method is effective for an ideal target object for which an inter-reflection generating portion can be limited, it cannot cope with more common inter-reflection, or internal scattering that affects a region near the incident position of incident light on a non-measurement target. | {
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Paclitaxel (Taxol®) is a therapeutic agent with antitumor activity against ovarian, breast, and lung carcinomas. The compound is extracted from the bark of the Pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia, as well as from needles and stems of this and other Taxus species, and its complex chemical structure has been determined. Interest in this compound arises from not only its clinical activity against poorly responsive solid tumors but also from its unique mechanism of action. Paclitaxel promotes tubulin polymerization and stabilizes microtubules that result in the inhibition of cell migration and chromosome segregation by blocking the transit of cycling cells in the G2/M phase. More recently, paclitaxel has been proposed as a therapeutic for stabilizing microbules in the brain cells of individuals who are deficient in normal tau proteins, for example in individuals suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. See Trojanowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,898.
In 1997, a group of Japanese researchers described a novel small synthetic compound designated GS-164, which was reported to stimulate tubulin polymerization and stabilize microtubules. See Shintani et al., GS-164, a small synthetic compound, stimulates tubulin polymerization by a similar mechanism to that of Taxol, Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 40:513-520 (1997); Japanese Patent No. 8-325147 (1996). The researchers reported that GS-164 has activities similar to those of paclitaxel in vitro and in vivo, even thought it was structurally unrelated. The compound was reported to stimulate tubulin polymerization with one-tenth the activity of paclitaxel. According to the authors, the stereoisomer of GS-164 that was responsible for its microtubule-stablizing effects was determined to be the R/R isomer, which mimicked the structure of paclitaxel.
| {
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Embodiments relate to a light emitting device, a light emitting device package, and a lighting system.
In light emitting devices, P-N junction diodes having the properties of converting electrical energy into light energy may be formed by combining group III and V elements on the periodic table. Light emitting devices may realize various colors by controlling the composition ratio of compound semiconductors.
Nitride semiconductors are attracting much attention in the fields of optical devices and high-power electronic devices because of their high thermal stability and wide band gap energy. In particular, blue light emitting devices, green light emitting devices, and UV light emitting devices, which use nitride semiconductors have been commercialized and are widely used.
According to related art, a passivation layer is disposed on a side surface of a light emitting device. When a single-layered passivation layer having the same refractive index is disposed on a side surface and a top surface of the light emitting device, it is difficult to obtain an optimized light output. This is because a reflective index layer satisfying an anti-reflection coating condition is disposed on a side surface and an optimized reflective index layer on the top surface is changed according to a period of a light extraction pattern.
Since diffraction efficiency of the light extraction pattern depends on a refractive index at an interface, a refractive index of the passivation layer filling the pattern may become an important parameter. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a technical field of vehicular velocity controlling system and method for an automotive vehicle (host vehicle) to control a vehicular velocity of the host vehicle to become substantially equal to a set vehicular velocity set by a vehicular driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of vehicular velocity controlling systems have been proposed, in which the vehicular velocity is merely controlled so that the vehicular velocity is made substantially equal to a set vehicular velocity that the vehicle driver has set and in which the vehicle is running in accordance with the set vehicular velocity in an event where a preceding vehicle which is running ahead of the vehicle is not present and the inter-vehicle distance is detected and the vehicular velocity of the host vehicle is controlled in a predetermined vehicular velocity range lower than the driver""s set vehicular velocity (hereinafter, also called a set vehicular velocity) in accordance with a detected inter-vehicle distance and/or relative velocity to the preceding vehicle where the preceding vehicle is present.
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. Heisei 9-286257 published on Nov. 4, 1997 exemplifies a previously proposed inter-vehicle distance controlling system in which with the vehicular velocity controlling system of a preceding vehicle follow-up type as a prerequisite, the vehicular velocity when the preceding vehicle was placed at the position of the host vehicle is referred to and the vehicular velocity is implemented with the vehicular velocity as an upper limit value thereof.
In the previously proposed inter-vehicle distance controlling system disclosed in the above-described Japanese Patent Application First Publication, a road surface frictional coefficient is detected.
If the road surface frictional coefficient is small, namely, if the vehicle is running on a low frictional coefficient (xcexc) road surface, the referenced vehicular velocity is applied as an upper limit value.
As described above, the vehicular velocity of the preceding vehicle by which the host vehicle is followed is set to the upper limit value of the vehicular velocity when the vehicle has arrived at the position. If a vehicle driver of the preceding vehicle has decelerated the preceding vehicle due to some reason, the host vehicle is also decelerated according to the deceleration of the preceding vehicle.
It becomes possible to reduce the vehicular velocity in response to some phenomenon that would be recognizable from the host vehicle so that a running stability would be improved.
However, in such previously proposed vehicular velocity controlling systems as described above in which the vehicular velocity is merely controlled to become substantially equal to the set vehicular velocity, the vehicular velocity is controlled in accordance with the set vehicular velocity of a vehicular driver irrespective of a vehicular running state. In addition, in the other previously proposed vehicular velocity controlling systems in which the vehicular velocity is controlled in accordance with the set vehicular velocity of a vehicular driver irrespective of a vehicular running state.
In addition, in the other previously proposed vehicular velocity controlling system in which the vehicular velocity is controlled with the inter-vehicle distance and relative velocity of the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle taken into consideration, the vehicular velocity is controlled in accordance with the set vehicular velocity by the vehicular driver in the same way as described in the former case when the distance to the preceding vehicle is sufficient and when the preceding vehicle is running at a sufficiently high velocity so that the vehicular velocity is controlled at a velocity value which accords with the set vehicular velocity by the driver and irrespective of a running state except the preceding vehicle.
Therefore, even if, for example, the vehicle is running on a low road surface having a low frictional coefficient, it is possible to set an arbitrarily high set vehicular velocity. In addition, in a case where the control such that the vehicular velocity of the preceding vehicle by which the host vehicle is followed is set to the upper limit value of the vehicular velocity of the host vehicle is carried out, such a situation that the preceding vehicle is present, a vehicle driver takes an attention to a state of the road surface and operates for the preceding vehicle to be decelerated to cope with the low frictional coefficient of the road surface.
In this case, there is a possibility of improving the running stability since the vehicle is also decelerated. However, if the vehicle driver of the preceding vehicle does not take the attention to the low frictional coefficient of the road surface on which the preceding vehicle is running and the vehicle driver of the preceding vehicle does not decelerate the preceding vehicle, the host vehicle would not be decelerated.
That is to say, there is a task to be solved such that the vehicular velocity of the host vehicle is controlled dependently on the preceding vehicle.
It is, hence, an object of the present invention to provide vehicular velocity controlling system and method for an automotive vehicle in which the host vehicle is running with its vehicular velocity suppressed to be lowered irrespective of the vehicular velocity of the preceding vehicle when the vehicle is running on the low frictional coefficient road surface, an improvement of the vehicular running stability independently of the preceding vehicle is made, and a sense of security of the host vehicle driver can be achieved.
The above-described object can be achieved by providing a vehicular velocity controlling system comprising: a vehicular velocity detector to detect a vehicular velocity; an inter-vehicle distance detector to detect an inter-vehicle distance from a vehicle to a preceding vehicle which is running ahead of the vehicle; a manual vehicular velocity setting section enabled to manually set a set vehicular velocity; a vehicular velocity controller to perform a vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the inter-vehicle distance is substantially made equal to a target inter-vehicle distance set on the basis of at least the vehicular velocity during a presence of the preceding vehicle detected by the inter-vehicle distance detector and in such a manner that the vehicular velocity is substantially made equal to the set vehicular velocity through the manual vehicular velocity setting section during an absence of the preceding vehicle; a road surface frictional coefficient detector to detect a road surface frictional coefficient of a road surface; and an upper limit vehicular velocity setting section that sets an upper limit value of the vehicular velocity for the vehicular velocity control in accordance with the detected road surface frictional coefficient, below the upper limit value of which the vehicular velocity controller is enabled to perform the vehicular velocity control, in such a manner that as the road surface frictional coefficient becomes lower, the upper limit value becomes lower.
The above-described object can also be achieved by providing a vehicular velocity controlling system comprising: a vehicular velocity detector to detect a vehicular velocity; a manual vehicular velocity setting section enabled to manually set a set vehicular velocity; a vehicular velocity controller to perform a vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the vehicular velocity is substantially made equal to the set vehicular velocity by the manual vehicular velocity setting section; a road surface frictional coefficient detector to detect a road surface frictional coefficient of a road surface; and an upper limit vehicular velocity setting section that sets an upper limit value of the vehicular velocity in accordance with the detected road surface frictional coefficient, below the upper limit value of which the vehicular velocity controller is enabled to perform the vehicular velocity control, in such a manner that as the road surface frictional coefficient becomes lower, the upper limit value of the vehicular velocity control becomes lower.
The above-described object can also be achieved by providing a vehicular velocity controlling method comprising: detecting a vehicular velocity; detecting an inter-vehicle distance from a vehicle to a preceding vehicle which is running ahead of the vehicle; manually set a set vehicular velocity; performing a vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the inter-vehicle distance is substantially made equal to a target inter-vehicle distance set on the basis of at least the vehicular velocity during a presence of the preceding vehicle; performing the vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the vehicular velocity is substantially made equal to the set vehicular velocity an absence of the preceding vehicle; detecting a road surface frictional coefficient of a road surface; and setting an upper limit value of the vehicular velocity for the vehicular velocity control in accordance with the detected road surface frictional coefficient, below the upper limit value of which the vehicular velocity control is enabled to be performed, in such a manner that as the road surface frictional coefficient becomes lower, the upper limit value becomes lower.
The above-described object can also be achieved by providing a vehicular velocity controlling method comprising: detecting a vehicular velocity; manually setting a set vehicular velocity; performing a vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the vehicular velocity is substantially made equal to the set vehicular velocity; detecting a road surface frictional coefficient of a road surface; and setting an upper limit value of the vehicular velocity in accordance with the detected road surface frictional coefficient, below the upper limit value of which the vehicular velocity control is enabled to be performed, in such a manner that as the road surface frictional coefficient becomes lower, the upper limit value of the vehicular velocity control becomes lower.
The above-described object can also be achieved by providing a vehicular velocity controlling system comprising: vehicular velocity detecting means for detecting a vehicular velocity; inter-vehicle distance detecting means for detecting an inter-vehicle distance from a vehicle to a preceding vehicle which is running ahead of the vehicle; manual vehicular velocity setting means for manually setting a set vehicular velocity; vehicular velocity controlling means for performing a vehicular velocity control in such a manner that the inter-vehicle distance is substantially made equal to a target inter-vehicle distance set on the basis of at least the vehicular velocity during a presence of the preceding vehicle detected by the inter-vehicle distance detecting means and in such a manner that the vehicular velocity is substantially made equal to the set vehicular velocity through the manual vehicular velocity setting means during an absence of the preceding vehicle; road surface frictional coefficient detecting means for detecting a road surface frictional coefficient of a road surface; and upper limit vehicular velocity setting means for setting an upper limit value of the vehicular velocity for the vehicular velocity control in accordance with the detected road surface frictional coefficient, below the upper limit value of which the vehicular velocity controlling means is enabled to perform the vehicular velocity control, in such a manner that as the road surface frictional coefficient becomes lower, the upper limit value becomes lower. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention claims benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-60556 filed on Mar. 5, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
The present invention relates to an endoscope system for observing fluorescent, and more particularly, to a light source device for irradiating an inspection object, or a subject, with an excitation light to induce fluorescence.
Generally, by irradiating organic tissue with an excitation light, the organic tissue can be made to generate fluorescence having a longer wavelength than that of the excitation light. A fluorophor in the body includes collagen, NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide acid), FAD (flavin adenine dinucleotide), pilus zinc nucleotide, etc. The details are described in xe2x80x9cUltraviolet Laser-Induced Fluorescence of Colonic tissuexe2x80x9d K. T. Schomacker et al., Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 12: 63-78 (1992).
In a combination of the phenomenon of generating fluorescence and fluorescence measuring techniques, tissue abnormality may be detected with high precision at a single cell level. Additionally, combining the fluorescence measuring techniques with endoscope techniques may provide a potential for diagnosing an early lesion which has been impossible to be detected by conventional endoscopes.
Connective tissue containing collagen resides substantially in the lower layer of mucosa, or submucosa. For example, when an endoscope transmits an excitation light from its lumen through the mucosa to excite the collagen, the fluorescence intensity to be induced is subject to the state, particularly the thickness, of the mucosa. Since cancer cells typically arise in the mucosa, the increased thickness of the mucosa caused by the grown cancer cells may attenuate the fluorescence. Thus, the position of the cancer cells may be identified to diagnose the lesion by measuring the attenuation of the fluorescence intensity. In this case, the collagen is typically excited by ultraviolet light or a blue component of visible light.
When the organic tissue is irradiated with ultraviolet light of 365 nm in wavelength, the organic tissue emits blue fluorescence having a peak at a wavelength of 460 nm due to NADH contained therein. The fluorescence intensity of NADH varies depending upon the oxidation-reduction state of NADH. In the tissue of low oxygen concentration, NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) contained in the tissue is deoxidized and thereby the ratio of NADH is increased. Based on this, the fluorescence intensity of the tissue is increased.
Since the tissue of cancer cells, or cancerous tissue, is typically in an oxidation state, such tissue has a lower ratio of NADH and resultingly weaker fluorescence intensity. Thus, the cancerous tissue may be diagnosed by detecting this variance in the fluorescence intensity of NADH.
FIG. 13 shows a fluorescence spectrum of organic tissue irradiated with light of 365 nm in wavelength. As shown in FIG. 13, each fluorescence intensity of inflammatory tissue and cancerous tissue is lower than normal tissue. The same phenomenon will arise when organic tissue is irradiated with white light. FIG. 14 shows a reflection spectrum. As shown in FIG. 14, in a wavelength range of 400 to 600 nm, each reflection factor of inflammatory tissue and cancerous tissue is lower than normal tissue because the inflammatory tissue and cancerous tissue contain a larger amount of blood than that in the normal tissue. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-252218 discloses an endoscope adapted to selectively carry out visible light observation with the use of white light and fluorescent observation with the use of ultraviolet light by applying the above phenomenon.
Since fluorescent light, or fluorescence, detected by a fluorescent observation endoscope is weaker than the reflected light caused by irradiating with visible light, such fluorescent cannot be detected with a sufficient S/N ratio (signalxe2x80x94noise ratio) in regular endoscope observation. Thus, it is necessary to enhance the intensity of fluorescence to be detected. In order to improve this problem, it is effective to apply ultraviolet light of about 350 nm in wavelength to an excitation light. The conversion factor of the fluorescence resulting from exciting with the ultraviolet light is about ten times greater than that resulting from exciting with a blue component of visible light.
Conventional light source devices for endoscopes comprise a light source for emitting at least visible light between blue light and red light, an infrared cutoff filter for blocking infrared light, and a condenser lens for condensing light emitted from the light source at an incident end-face of a lightguide. The light emitted from the light source typically includes components of wavelengths other than that of visible light. Particularly, a xenon lamp may emit infrared light of 750 nm or more in wavelength with high energy. The light emitted from the light source is condensed at the incident end-face of the lightguide through the condenser lens. Then, light energy concentrated at the incident end-face of the lightguide is converted into thermal energy. The resultingly generated heat causes an undesirable high temperature at the incident end-face of the lightguide. In order to prevent this heat generation, the infrared cutoff filter is provided between the light source and the incident end-face of the lightguide to block infrared light. The infrared cutoff filter includes an infrared-cutoff interference filter composed of a transparent glass plate coated with a multilayer interference film and an infrared-cutoff absorption filter formed of a material capable of absorbing infrared light.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-106059 discloses a method for dividing infrared light to block off the light in a particular frequency range. In this method, an interference filter and an absorption filter are disposed between a light source and an incident end-face of a lightguide. Spectral transmission factor properties of the infrared interference filter and infrared absorption filter are shown in the curves A and B of FIG. 15, respectively. Conventional infrared cutoff filters do not practically block light of 400 nm or less in wavelength and allow it to be transmitted therethrough. However, any transmission factor of an ultraviolet light region in the infrared interference filter is not specifically described. Further, as shown in FIG. 16, since the infrared interference filter has a sharp gradient of the transmission factor property around 350 nm in wavelength, the transmission factor in 350 nm in wavelength can be undesirably lowered to a large extent due to dispersion in manufacturing. In the interference filter, as compared with the transmission factor in the visible light region, the transmission factor in the ultraviolet light region is drastically lowered by a reflect action of the multilayer interference film and an absorption action of the material forming the multilayer interference film.
Thus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-106059 merely discloses a technique for a regular light source optical system for endoscopes in which light of 400 nm or less in wavelength is not used and it is unnecessary to emit ultraviolet light, and describes a phenomenon that conventional infrared cutoff filters cannot sufficiently block light of about 400 nm in wavelength and resultingly allow it to be transmitted therethrough. However, when it is intended to positively emit ultraviolet light of 400 nm or less in wavelength (particularly, 350 nm in wavelength) with employing the infrared cutoff filter in a light source optical device for endoscopes, insufficient transmission factor of the ultraviolet light will be undesirably provided.
As described above, in the conventional infrared cutoff filters, ultraviolet light has a lower transmission factor than that of visible light. Consequently, when such infrared cutoff filters are applied to a light source for fluorescent observation endoscopes, ultraviolet light may not be sufficiently emitted.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a light source device for endoscopes capable of preventing an incident end-face of a lightguide from generating heat due to infrared light emitted from a light source, and capable of radiating sufficient ultraviolet light and visible light.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a light source device for endoscopes for selectably applying fluorescent observation and reflection light observation with irradiation of blue to red visible light, said light source device comprising: a light source unit including a light source; a wavelength control filter; a condensing optics; and a lightguide, wherein the light source unit, the wavelength control filter, the condensing optics and the lightguide are linearly arranged along an optical axis, light from the light source unit includes at least light of ultraviolet wavelength and light of visible wavelength in the range of 400 to 650 nm and infrared wavelength when light from the light source unit is condensed at the light guide by the condensing optics, and the wavelength control filter is arranged between the light source and the lightguide, and the wavelength control filter transmits at least light of ultraviolet wavelength and visible light wavelength in the range of 400 to 650 and blocks light of infrared wavelength.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter satisfies the following conditions,
T350 greater than 0.6xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
T400-650 greater than 0.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
T800-950 less than 0.1xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
where T350 is a transmission factor for 350 nm in wavelength, T400-650 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm, T800-950 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 800 to 950 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 800 to 950 nm.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter satisfies the following conditions,
T350 greater than 0.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
T400-650 greater than 0.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
T800-950 less than 0.1xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
where T350 is a transmission factor for 350 nm in wavelength, T400-650 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm, T800-950 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 800 to 950 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 800 to 950 nm.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter satisfies the following conditions,
T350 greater than 0.6xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
T400-650 greater than 0.8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
T800-1200 less than 0.05xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(5)
where T350 is a transmission factor for 350 nm in wavelength, T400-650 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 400 to 650 nm, T800-1200 is an average transmission factor for a wavelength range of 800 to 1200 nm which is derived from averaging transmission factors measured in each 10 nm in a wavelength range of 800 to 1200 nm.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes which further includes a means for blocking light of 330 nm or less in wavelength.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter is a transmission interference filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter includes a transmission interference filter and a transmission absorption filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter includes a transmission absorption filter and a transmission interference thin film provided on the surface of the transmission absorption filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes, which further includes a color separating filter provided between the light source unit and the lightguide.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter includes three or more reflection surfaces, and is adapted to inflect the optical axis therein.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter is a reflection interference filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter includes a reflection interference filter and a transmission absorption filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter includes a reflection interference filter and a transmission interference filter.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the single light source includes a light emission part and a reflector.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the reflector has an ellipse shape.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the reflector has a parabola shape.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the light guide has an incident end-face, wherein the incident end-face is adjustably located at a position where ultraviolet light is condenses by the condensing optics.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the light guide has an incident end-face, wherein when the transmission interference filter is arranged along the optical axis to allow fluorescent observation to be conducted, the incident end-face of the lightguide is adjustably located at a position where ultraviolet light is condenses by the condensing optics, and when the transmission interference filter is spaced apart from the optical axis to allow visible light observation to be conducted, the incident end-face of the lightguide is adjustably located at a position where visible light is condenses by the condensing optics.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the wavelength control filter is an interference filter including an amorphous thin film.
The objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a light source device for endoscopes wherein the interference filter is formed by laminating at least two groups of the amorphous thin films, wherein one group of the amorphous thin film has a high refractive index and includes at least one component selected from the group consisting of Sc2O5, Ta2O5, HfO2 and ZrO2, and another group of the amorphous thin film has a low refractive index and included at least one component selected from the group consisting of SiO2 and MgF2. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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As semiconductor devices are developed with high integration, the size of patterns required for a semiconductor device is getting smaller. As the size of patterns is getting smaller, influence between adjacent patterns during the photolithography process causes an optical proximity effect. Accordingly, an optical proximity correction (OPC) is executed to correct a layout designed by a designer and to suppress pattern distortion caused by the optical proximity effect.
A process of optical proximity correction starts with designing a layout of target patterns to be projected on a wafer and fabricating a test mask having test patterns. Patterns are formed on the wafer by performing a wafer process using the test mask and the line widths of the patterns formed on the wafer are measured. A model calibration for the optical proximity correction is executed using the data on the measured line widths. An optimal recipe necessary for the optical proximity correction is written using the calibrated model. The optical proximity correction is executed using the calibrated model and the recipe, and it is verified whether the optical proximity correction was properly executed. It is, then, decided whether an error detected during the verification process is within a range of an error tolerance.
If the error detected during the verification process is outside the range of the error tolerance, the optical proximity correction is re-executed in all areas of the mask by re-executing the model calibration and correcting the recipe. At this time, after the optical proximity correction is completed, the error may be outside the range of the error tolerance, in only a specific pattern or area. Nevertheless, according to the conventional optical proximity correction process, the optical proximity correction is re-executed again for the entire wafer chip using a new model or a new recipe in order to correct a specific pattern or area. As patterns become finer and more complex, executing the optical proximity correction becomes increasingly time consuming. Accordingly, an improved optical proximity correction is required to reduce the time for fabricating a mask. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The following relates generally to the electronic countermeasure arts, the unmanned autonomous vehicle arts, signal jamming arts, communications arts, satellite navigation and communication arts, law enforcement arts, military science arts, and the like. It finds particular application in conjunction with the jamming and hijacking of drones, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it will be understood that it also finds application in other usage scenarios and is not necessarily limited to the aforementioned application.
Unmanned or autonomous aerial vehicles (“UAV”), more commonly known as “drones”, have become more and more prevalent in both the military and civilian context. Current, commercially available drones embody technology that was until recently, solely within the purview of governmental entities. The drones available to the civilian and military markets include navigation systems, various types of eavesdropping components, high-definition or real-time video output, long life lithium batteries, and the like. Furthermore, current civilian models may be operated by any individual, without regarding to licensing or regulation.
The propagation of civilian drone usage has resulted in invasions of privacy, interference with official governmental operations, spying on neighbors, spying on government installations, and myriad other offensive operations. Military usage of drones, including armed drones, has increased substantially as battery storage has increased and power consumption has decreased. This widespread use of drones has led to security and privacy concerns for the military, law enforcement, and the private citizen. Furthermore, drones have substantially decreased in size, resulting in smaller and smaller, while the capabilities of the drones themselves have increased. This poses a security risk for security personnel as the operator of the drone may be far away, making the determination of the operator's intent particularly difficult to ascertain.
The drones in use typically operate using multiple frequency bands, some bands used for control signals between the drone and the operator, GPS/GLONASS signals for navigation, and other frequency bands for video and/or audio signal transmissions. This use of multiple frequencies results in difficulty in effectively tailoring a jamming signal directed solely to the offending drone, without negatively impacting other, non-offensive radio-frequency devices.
Furthermore, current commercially available jammers, while illegal in some jurisdictions, are generally omnidirectional in nature. To avoid issues relating to non-offensive devices, these jammers typically are limited in radius from less than a meter to 25 meters. Those jammers having larger effective radii for signal jamming or denial require substantial power (plug-in/non-portable) or are bulky. A common problem with all of these jammers is their inability to specifically target a drone, while allowing non-threatening devices to remain operational. Furthermore, due to the distances, and heights, at which drones operate, the portable jammers currently available lack the ability to effectively jam signals that may be used by the drones. For example, such commercially available jammers for Wi-Fi or GPS will propagate a jamming signal circularly outward, rendering the user's own devices inoperable while within that radius. The unintended consequences of such jamming may cause vehicle accidents or aircraft issues, depending upon the strength and radius of the jammer being used.
In addition to the foregoing problems, current jammers lack the ruggedness associated with field operations. That is, the commercially available jammers are delicate electronics, not designed for use by soldiers in the field. As noted above, the commercial jammers currently available further utilize multiple antennae, each directed to a different frequency band. These are not ruggedized pieces of equipment, capable of being utilized in field operations by law enforcement, security, or military. The multiple antennae are prone to breakage during transport. Those rugged military or law enforcement jammers that are available are portable in the sense that they are backpack or vehicle born devices, requiring substantial training to effectively operate.
Previous attempts at hand-held or portable jammers utilized standard form-factors for hand-held weapons. However, these designs are intended to compensate for recoil as the weapon fires. Rifle form-factors typically utilize a two hand approach, with the hands being spaced apart to steady the rifle when firing. This hand placement, with the weight of the average weapon, can be tiring, particularly when holding the weapon on target. Generally, because the weapon fires so quickly, the aforementioned design does not necessarily adversely affect its use. However, with directed energy weapons, which must remain on target while active, this displacement of at least one of the hands away from the body of the operator, places considerable strain on the extended arm.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a ruggedized form factor directional drone jammer that provides a soldier or law enforcement officer with simple, targeted anti-drone capabilities. Such a jammer is portable, including power supply, and comprises a rifle-like form allowing the soldier or law enforcement officer to aim via optic, electronic or open sights at a target drone for jamming of the drone control and/or GPS signals, while preventing interference for other devices utilizing the jammed frequencies. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to provide a suitable form-factor that relieves arm strain while maintaining aim on a targeted drone. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family consists of at least eighteen distinct members (Basilico et al., Adv. Cancer Res. 59:115-165, 1992 and Fernig et al., Prog. Growth Factor Res. 5(4):353-377, 1994) which generally act as mitogens for a broad spectrum of cell types. For example, basic FGF (also known as FGF-2) is mitogenic in vitro for endothelial cells, vascular smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and generally for cells of mesoderm or neuroectoderm origin, including cardiac and skeletal myocytes (Gospodarowicz et al., J. Cell. Biol. 70:395-405, 1976; Gospodarowicz et al., J. Cell. Biol. 89:568-578, 1981 and Kardami, J. Mol. Cell. Biochem. 92:124-134, 1990). In vivo, bFGF has been shown to play a role in avian cardiac development (Sugi et al., Dev. Biol. 168:567-574, 1995 and Mima et al., Proc. Nat""l. Acad. Sci. 92:467-471, 1995), and to induce coronary collateral development in dogs (Lazarous et al., Circulation 94:1074-1082, 1996). In addition, non-mitogenic activities have been demonstrated for various members of the FGF family. Non-proliferative activities associated with acidic and/or basic FGF include: increased endothelial release of tissue plasminogen activator, stimulation of extracellular matrix synthesis, chemotaxis for endothelial cells, induced expression of fetal contractile genes in cardiomyocytes (Parker et al., J. Clin. Invest. 85:507-514, 1990), and enhanced pituitary hormonal responsiveness (Baird et al., J. Cellular Physiol. 5:101-106, 1987.)
Several members of the FGF family do not have a signal sequence (aFGF, bFGF and possibly FGF-9) and thus would not be expected to be secreted. In addition, several of the FGF family members have the ability to migrate to the cell nucleus (Friesel et al., FASEB 9:919-925, 1995). All the members of the FGF family bind heparin based on structural similarities. Structural homology crosses species, suggesting a conservation of their structure/function relationship (Ornitz et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271(25):15292-15297, 1996.)
There are four known extracellular FGF receptors (FGFRs), and they are all tyrosine kinases. In general, the FGF family members bind to all of the known FGFRs, however, specific FGFs bind to specific receptors with higher degrees of affinity. Another means for specificity within the FGF family is the spatial and temporal expression of the ligands and their receptors during embryogenesis. Evidence suggests that the FGFs most likely act only in autocrine and/or paracrine manner, due to their heparin binding affinity, which limits their diffusion from the site of release (Flaumenhaft et al., J. Cell. Biol. 111(4) :1651-1659, 1990.) Basic FGF lacks a signal sequence, and is therefore restricted to paracrine or autocrine modes of action. It has been postulated that basic FGF is stored intracellularly and released upon tissue damage. Basic FGF has been shown to have two receptor binding regions that are distinct from the heparin binding site (Abraham et al.,. EMBO J. 5(10):2523-2528, 1986.)
It has been shown that FGFR-3 plays a role in bone growth. Mice made homozygous null for the FGFR-3 (xe2x88x92/xe2x88x92) resulted in postnatal skeletal abnormalities (Colvin et al., Nature Genet. 12:309-397, 1996 and Deng et al., Cell 84:911-921, 1996). The mutant phenotype suggests that in normal mice, FGFR-3 plays a role in regulation of chrondrocyte cell division in the growth plate region of the bone (Goldfarb, Cytokine and Growth Factor Rev. 7(4) :311-325, 1996). The ligand for the FGFR-3 in the bone growth plate has not been identified.
Although four FGFRs have been identified, all of which have been shown to have functional splice variants, the possibility that novel FGF receptors exist is quite likely. For example, no receptor has been identified for the FGF-8a isoform (MacArthur et al., J. Virol. 69(4) :2501-2507, 1995.).
FGF-8 is a member of the FGF family that was originally isolated from mammary carcinoma cells as an androgen-inducible mitogen. It has been mapped to human chromosome 10q25-q26 (White et al., Genomics 30:109-11, 1995.) FGF-8 is involved in embryonic limb development (Vogel et al., Development 122:1737-1750, 1996 and Tanaka et al., Current Biology 5(6) :594-597, 1995.) Expression of FGF-8 during embryogenesis in cardiac, urogenital and neural tissue indicates that it may play a role in development of these tissues (Crossley et al., Development 121:439-451, 1995.) There is some evidence that acrocephalosyndactylia, a congenital condition marked by peaked head and webbed fingers and toes, is associated with FGF-8 point mutations (White et al., 1995, ibid.)
FGF-8 has five exons, in contrast to the other known FGFs, which have only three exons. The first three exons of FGF-8 correspond to the first exon of the other FGFs (MacArthur et al., Development 121:3603-3613, 1995.) The human gene for FGF-8 codes for four isoforms which differ in their N-terminal regions: FGF isoforms a, b, e, and f; in contrast to the murine gene which gives rise to eight FGF-8 isoforms (Crossley et al., 1995, ibid.) Human FGF-8a and FGF-8b have 100% homology to the murine proteins, and FGF-8e and FGF-8f proteins are 98% homologous between human and mouse (Gemel et al., Genomics 35:253-257, 1996.)
Heart disease is the major cause of death in the United States, accounting for up to 30% of all deaths. Myocardial infarction (MI) accounts for 750,000 hospital admissions per year in the U.S., with more than 5 million people diagnosed with coronary disease. Risk factors for MI include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, truncal obesity, smoking, high levels of low density lipoprotein in the plasma or genetic predisposition.
Cardiac hyperplasia is an increase in cardiac myocyte proliferation, and has been demonstrated to occur with normal aging in the human and rat (Olivetti et al., J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 24(1):140-9, 1994 and Anversa et al., Circ. Res. 67:871-885, 1990), and in catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy in rats (Deisher et al., Am. J. Cardiovasc. Pathol. 5(l1):79-88, 1994.) Whether the increase in myocytes originate with some progenitor cell, or are a result of proliferation of a more terminally differentiated cell type, remains controversial.
However, because infarction and other causes of myocardial necrosis appear to be irreparable, it appears that the normal mechanisms of cardiac hyperplasia cannot compensate for extensive myocyte death, and there remains a need for exogenous factors that promote hyperplasia and ultimately result in renewal of the heart""s ability to function.
Bone remodeling is the dynamic process by which tissue mass and skeletal architecture are maintained. The process is a balance between bone resorption and bone formation, with two cell types thought to be the major players. These cells are the osteoblast and osteoclast. Osteoblasts synthesize and deposit matrix to become new bone. The activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts are regulated by many factors, systemic and local, including growth factors.
While the interaction between local and systemic factors has not been completely elucidated, there does appear to be consensus that growth factors play a key role in the regulation of both normal skeletal remodeling and fracture repair.. Some of the growth factors that have been identified in bone include: IGF-I, IGF-II, TGF-xcex21, TGF-xcex22, bFGF, aFGF, PDGF and the family of bone morphogenic proteins (Baylink et al., J. Bone Mineral Res. 8 (Supp. 2):S565-S572, 1993).
When bone resorption exceeds bone formation, a net loss in bone results, and the propensity for fractures is increased. Decreased bone formation is associated with aging and certain pathological states. In the U.S. alone, there are approximately 1.5 million fractures annually that are attributed to osteoporosis. The impact of these fractures on the quality of the patient""s life is immense. Associated costs to the health care system in the U.S. are estimated to be $5-$10 billion annually, excluding long-term care costs.
Other therapeutic applications for growth factors influencing bone remodeling include, for example, the treatment of injuries which require the proliferation of osteoblasts to heal, such as fractures, as well as stimulation of mesenchymal cell proliferation and the synthesis of intramembraneous bone which have been indicated as aspects of fracture repair (Joyce et al. 36th Annual Meeting, Orthopaedic Research Society, Feb. 5-8, 1990. New Orleans, La.).
The present invention provides such polypeptides for these and other uses that should be apparent to those skilled in the art from the teachings herein.
The present invention provides an isolated polynucleotide molecule encoding a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) homolog comprising a polynucleotide sequence that encodes for a polypeptide that is at least 80% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 55 to 175.
In other embodiments, the polynucleotide molecule encodes for a polypeptide that is at least 80% identical residues 55 to 196 or 207 of SEQ ID NO: 2.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for an isolated polynucleotide molecule comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 175.
In other embodiments, the polynucleotide molecule encodes for a polypeptide that is at least 80% or 90% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 175.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for an isolated polynucleotide molecule comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 196.
In other embodiments, the polynucleotide molecule encodes for a polypeptide that is at least 80% or 90% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 196.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for an isolated polynucleotide molecule comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 207.
In other embodiments, the polynucleotide molecule encodes for a polypeptide that is at least 80% or 90% identical to the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from amino acid residues 28 to 207.
In other aspects, the present invention provides for a polynucleotide molecule as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 6 from nucleotide 163 or 82 to nucleotide 525 or 585.
In other aspects, the present invention provides expression vectors and cultured cells containing DNA segments comprising the polynucleotide molecules encoding for the FGF homolog polypeptides.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a method of producing an FGF homolog, wherein the cultured cell expresses polypeptide encoded by polynucleotides comprising the sequences disclosed herein.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an isolated FGF homolog polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 55 to 175.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the sequence of amino acid residues as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 175.
In other embodiments, the polypeptides are at least 80% or 90% identical to the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 175.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the sequence of amino acid residues as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 196.
In other embodiments, the polypeptides are at least 80% or 90i identical to the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 196.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a polypeptide that is at least 60% identical to the sequence of amino acid residues as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 207.
In other embodiments, the polypeptides are at least 80% or 90% identical to the sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 207.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for pharmaceutical compositions of the FGF homolog polypeptides in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for an FGF homolog fusion protein with a first and second portion joined by a peptide bond.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a method expanding mesenchymal cells population comprising administering an FGF homolog polypeptide as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residues 28 to 175, wherein the polypeptide increases the number of cells as compared to cell populations without the polypeptide.
In other embodiments, the cells are cardiac myocytes, skeletal myocytes, fibroblasts, osteoblasts and pluripotent stem cells.
In another aspect, the present invention provides for a method for improving cardiac performance in a patient by administering a therapeutic amount of an FGF homolog polypeptide as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residue 28 to residue 175 and results in improvement in cardiac performance.
In other embodiments, the cardiac improvement is measure as increase in total ejection fraction, a decrease in end diastolic pressure, an increase in dP/dt or a decrease in vascular resistance.
In other aspect, the present invention provides for increasing cardiac performance in an individual comprising administering an effective amount of a composition comprising an FGF homolog polypeptide as shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 from residue 28 to residue 175, where the composition results in improved cardiac performance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to programmable thermostats and in particular to the display capabilities of such thermostats.
Programmable thermostats have heretofore included alphanumeric displays located within the thermostat. These displays are typically located on the front of the thermostat so as to be viewable by a person making selections as to set point temperatures that are to occur at various times of the day or night. The size of these displays is constrained by virtue of the limited space available for such displays on the front panel of the thermostat. As a result, the displays are relatively small resulting in only limited information being displayed. There is no room for on-screen instructions as to how to program the thermostat.
What is needed is a thermostat with a capability to legibly display more information than is permitted on the front face of the thermostat.
A thermostat is provided with an image projection capability that allows images concerning the operation of the thermostat to be projected onto a surface in the vicinity of the thermostat. The image projection is preferably accomplished by directing an internally generated image to an image enlargement device which thereafter projects an enlarged image onto the surface in the vicinity of the thermostat. The image is preferably generated by a microprocessor and displayed on an internal image forming device located within the body of the thermostat. One or more mirrors or prisms located within the body of the thermostat transfer the image to the image enlargement device which is preferably a convex mirror. The enlargement device is preferably mounted within a housing located on a top front portion of the thermostat so as to maximize the projection length onto the surface in the vicinity of the thermostat. The surface that receives the projected image is preferably defined by a screen affixed to the wall that the thermostat is mounted to. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for producing cocoa extract, in which cocoa is subjected at relatively high temperature to extraction with water and then the aqueous extract on the one hand and the cocoa freed of water-soluble constituents on the other hand are separated from one another.
2. Description of Related Art
German Offenlegungsschrift 2,342,177 discloses a process for cocoa treatment, in which an aqueous extract is obtained from cocoa fragments. For this, cocoa fragments consisting of unroasted beans are subjected to an extraction operation with water at a temperature of 70.degree. C. to 135.degree. C. Since cocoa fragments have a relatively high fat content (approximately 60% by weight) and cocoa butter becomes molten at approximately 30.degree. C., fat can easily pass into the extract. In one embodiment of the process according to German Offenlegungsschrift 2,342,177, the formation of a fat emulsion can be prevented by starting the extraction at a high temperature and continuing it at decreasing temperatures. In an extraction process, maintaining to differing temperatures requires measures involving a relatively high outlay. In German Offenlegungsschrift 2,342,177, drastic conditions, such as working under pressure and high temperatures are provided for the process described, in order to obtain a satisfactory yield. These conditions can lead to undesirable reactions of cocoa constituents and release undesirable constituents from the cocoa. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to the discovery and asexual propagation of a new and distinct variety of Heuchera, a member of the Saxifragaceae family and commonly known as alumroot or coral-bells. The new plant was discovered by Adrian J. R. Bloom, as a mutant of the Heuchera americana species in a cultivated planting of Heuchera americana plants that were growing in the Blooms of Bressingham nursery in Bressingham, England. Seedlings were grown from seed collected from the parent species. From these seedlings, superior stock was then selected. The new Heuchera variety was discovered as a whole specimen and further superior stock was then propagated asexually. The new Heuchera variety was first propagated by Mr. Bloom in the same Bressingham nursery in 1986, and testing has shown that it maintains its distinguishing characteristics, as hereinafter set out, over several succeeding generations through asexual propagation using division, shoot cuttings and tissue culturing.
The new variety of Heuchera has been named `Absi`, and it is a hardy, herbaceous, summer-flowering perennial characterized by its graceful flowers and especially by its decorative foliage which stays dark metallic purple-bronze year round. `Absi` may be distinguished from its parent, Heuchera americana, by the following combination of characteristics: the `Absi` plant has larger leaves with a distinctively ribbed surface, and a distinctively bronze and glossy upper surface and bright purple lower surface. The leaves of the parent Heuchera americana are broad and begin as flushed and veined coppery brown, later becoming a glistening dark green with age. `Absi` is particularly distinguishable from the variety it most closely resembles, Heuchera, `Palace Purple`, in that the color of its leaves is a much richer and deeper purple-bronze than that of the `Palace Purple`. Heuchera `Palace Purple` leaves are a metallic, coppery purple, the intensity of which varies from plant to plant. In addition, the `Absi` has strongly ribbed leaves which are larger than those of `Palace Purple`. Also, `Palace Purple`, unlike `Absi`, is unstable in commerce and often grown from seed, thereby resulting in much variance with regard to its foliage characteristics.
Due to its richly colored foliage and its delicate flowers, `Absi` is useful for ground cover, rock gardens, and ornamental planting. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ionizing radiation sensitive materials which are useful as electron beam resists and information recording media.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known that electron beam irradiation will cause crosslinking of certain polymers. An article by Herbert S. Cole et al entitled "Electron Sensitive Resists Derived from Vinylether-Maleic Anhydride Copolymers" in the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, July, 1975, p. 417-420 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,402 describes a series of such materials made of octadecylvinyl ether and maleic anhydride copolymer half esterified with, among other allyl or propargyl alcohol or hydroxyalkyl acrylate. The authors state that the most efficient radiation induced crosslinking reactions are activated through the presence of an unsaturated terminal group in the resist, and, accordingly, there is a direct association between increased sensitivity and terminal unsaturation. Their experimental results indicated that reduction or elimination of terminal unsaturation caused a drastic decrease in the sensitivity of the resist polymer, and that to require a radiation dose no greater than 5.times.10.sup.-7 C/cm.sup.2 an unsaturated half ester is required and that the unsaturation must be terminal unsaturation.
In the present invention, contrary to the teaching of Cole, it has been discovered that resist compositions equally as sensitive can be obtained with a copolymer that has the terminal unsaturation drastically reduced. Even more significantly, it has been found that the contrast of such resists improves appreciably, which feature provides a resolution capability of less than 0.5 micrometer. This increased contrast is achieved herein with resists made by reacting an alkylvinyl ether-maleic anhydride copolymer with a hydroxyalkyl acrylate such as hydroxyethyl acrylate, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, 3-hydroxypropyl acrylate, 3-hydroxypropylmethacrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate, 4-hydroxybutyl methacrylate or allyl or propargyl alcohol or pentaerythritol triacrylate and an N-hydroxyalkyl amide or an N-aminoalkyl amide to form the novel half-ester copolymer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a dewatering system and, in particular, relates to calibrating a sensor circuit in the dewatering system to compensate for accumulative contamination deposited on a sensor that is repeatedly immersed in water over its operating life.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dewatering system for an enclosed space, such as a sump pump for an electrical underground vault, often uses a sensor to detect for the presence of water in the enclosed space. The enclosed space is usually subject to waste water accumulation as water from rain, irrigation, leaks, and other sources enter and flood the enclosed space. The sensor is generally mounted at a fixed location in the enclosed space and generates a signal to indicate the presence of water when the sensor is immersed in water. One problem with using the sensor in a dirty environment is that there is an accumulative contamination deposited on the sensor each time the sensor is immersed in water. The sensor may become ineffective as its sensitivity is changed by the contamination. Regular maintenance, including periodic cleaning of the sensor, may be required to ensure reliable operations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In recent years, worldwide restrictions on exhaust gas are becoming tighter from the viewpoint of environmental protection.
Exhaust gas purification catalysts are being employed in internal combustion engines as one measure. In order to efficiently purify the hydrocarbons (hereunder abbreviated as “HC”), CO and nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas, exhaust gas purification catalysts employ a variety of catalysts, including platinum-group elements such as Pt, Pd and Rh, as catalyst components.
PTL 1 describes an exhaust gas purification catalyst comprising a heat-resistant AlPO4 compound having a tridymite-type crystal structure and a BET specific surface area of 50-150 m2/g, and at least one type of precious metal component selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd and Rh, supported on the AlPO4 compound (claim 1 of PTL 1). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to wagering games and, more particularly, to wagering games and methods with a randomly selected feature game.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, various types of gaming machines have been developed with different features to captivate and maintain player interest. In general, a gaming machine allows a player to play a game in exchange for a wager. Depending on the outcome of the game, the player may be entitled to an award which is paid to the player by the gaming machine, normally in the form of currency or game credits. Gaming machines may include flashing displays, lighted displays, or sound effects to capture a player's interest in a gaming device.
Another important feature of maintaining player interest in a gaming machine includes providing the player with many opportunities to win awards, such as cash or prizes. For example, in some slot machines, the display windows show more than one adjacent symbol on each reel, thereby allowing for multiple-line betting. Some gaming machines offer a player the opportunity to win millions of dollars by providing progressive jackpots. Additionally, feature games of various types have been employed to reward players above the amounts normally awarded on a standard game pay schedule. Generally, such feature games are triggered by predetermined events such as one or more appearances of certain combinations of indicia in a primary game. In order to stimulate interest, feature games are typically set to occur at a gaming machine on a statistical cycle based upon the number of primary game plays.
These and other examples in the prior art have been described to provide a player with more excitement. There continues to be a need for more innovative games and gaming machines to stimulate and excite players. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a treatment of a pancreatic disease with a 15-ketoprostaglandin compound.
Prostaglandins (hereinafter, prostaglandins are referred to as PGs) are members of a class of organic carboxylic acid that are contained in human and most other mammalian tissues or organs and that exhibit a wide range of physiological activities. Naturally occurring PGs possess as a common structural feature the prostanoic acid skeleton: ##STR1## Some synthetic analogues have somewhat modified skeletons. The primary PGs are classified based on the structural feature of the five-membered cycle moiety into PGAs, PGBs, PGCs, PGDs, PGEs, PGFs, PGGs, PGHs, PGIs and PGJs, and also on the presence or absence of unsaturation and oxidation in the chain moiety as:
______________________________________ Subscript 1 13,14-unsaturated-15-OH Subscript 2 5,6- and 13,14-diunsaturated- 15-OH Subscript 3 5,6- 13,14- and 17,18- triunsaturated-15-OH ______________________________________
Further, PGFs are sub-classified according to the configuration of hydroxy group at 9 into .alpha.(hydroxy group being in the alpha configuration ) and .beta.(hydroxy group being in the beta configuration).
2. Background Information
PGE.sub.1, PGE.sub.2 and PGE.sub.3 are known to have vasodilating, hypotensive, gastro-juice reducing, intestinehyperkinetic, uterine contracting, diuretic, bronchodilating and anti-ulcer activities. Also, PGF.sub.1.alpha., PGF.sub.2.alpha. and PGF.sub.3.alpha. are known to have hypertensive, vasocontracting, intestine-hyperkinetic, uterine contracting, luteo-regressive and bronchocontracting activities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,856 discloses the hepatocyte-protecting action of 15-methyl-PGE.sub.2 and 16,16-dimethyl-PGE.sub.2 . JP-A-164512/1983 discloses the activity of 15-(3-propylcyclo- pentyl)-16,17,18,19,20-pentanor-6-oxo-PGE.sub.1 methyl ester in the treatment of acute pancreatitis. JP-A-203911/1983 discloses the cell-protecting action of certain 6-oxo-PGE.sub.1 and PGI.sub.2 having methyl group(s) at one or two of positions 15, 16, 17 and 20 and specific 15-cyclopentyl-PGI.sub.1. All these compounds, however, do not belong to 15-keto-PGs or their derivatives.
European Patent Application No. 0,310,305 describes that 15-keto-PGs can be used as catharitics.
In addition, some 15-keto (i.e. having an oxo group at position 15 in place of the hydroxy group) prostaglandins and 13,14-dihydro-15-ketoprostaglandins are known as substances naturally produced by enzymatic actions during metabolism of primary PGs (Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 66, 509, 1966). It has also been described that 15-ketoprostaglandin F2.alpha. has an antipregnant activity. However, it has not been reported that 15-ketoprostaglandin compounds are therapeutically effective in the treatment of a pancreatic disease.
The pancreatic disease includes acute pancreatitis, acute pancreatic necrosis, chronic pancreatitis, hereditary pancreatitis, and pancreatic cysts, some of which are not etiologically clarified. Effective medicament has not been found and there is a continuous need for developing agents for treatment of pancreatic disease.
As a result of extensive studies about the biological properties of 15-ketoprostaglandin compounds, the present inventors have discovered that these compounds have an activity of improving or recovering injured pancreatic function in the experimental acute pancreatitis model and therefore useful as an agent for treating pancreatic disease. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a jig-saw puzzle work board and storing device. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved design for a portable jig-saw puzzle work board of the type shown, for example, in applicant's co-pending application, Ser. No. 419,966.
Anyone who has ever indulged in piecing together jig-saw puzzles has experienced the frustration of searching for an adequate work surface, such as a spare table, on which to assemble the puzzle pieces. Another aggravation is discovering in the morning that a partially-done puzzle left overnight on a table has been upset by a pet or a child.
For these reasons, several attempts have been made in the prior art to provide a suitable work board for assembling jig-saw puzzles. However, none of the prior art devices is completely satisfactory due to failure to provide a lightweight structure which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, which has convenient means for opening and closing the device without upsetting the pieces of a partially assembled puzzle being retained therein, and which provides a deformable and resilient padding, unattached to any other portion of the device, for placing thereon pieces of the puzzle prior to assembly. | {
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Secondary metabolites are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the normal growth, development or reproduction of organisms. They are often used as defenses against predators, parasites and diseases, for interspecies competition, and to facilitate the reproductive processes (coloring agents, attractive smells, etc).
Secondary metabolites of fungi include both “friends and foes” of human health. For example, penicillin and derivatives produced by Aspergillus, Cephalosporium and Penicillium species are widely used antibiotics, lovastatin is a potent cholesterol-lowering drug produced by Aspergillus terreus and aflatoxins, produced by several Aspergillus species, are highly toxic carcinogens contaminating many crops.
Secondary metabolic pathways are often tightly correlated with the fungal developmental program and response to external cues including light. Since secondary metabolites are usually restricted to a much more limited group of organisms, they have long been of prime importance in taxonomic research. Secondary metabolites are especially useful for drug or other technological development, or as an inspiration for unnatural products. Biosynthetic genes for fungal secondary metabolites are often clustered and regulated by pathway-specific transcription factors. Secondary metabolism is also regulated at an upper hierarchic level by a global epigenetic control mechanism.
However, methods of producing large amounts of secondary metabolites are difficult and provide unpredictable results. Therefore a need exists for methods of producing large amounts of secondary metabolites that address these problems.
The distribution of natural products is characteristically restricted to certain fungal taxa, particularly the Ascomycetes. Perhaps the greatest number of known secondary metabolites has been ascribed to the Ascomycete genus Emericella (asexual stage=Aspergillus). Much of the current understanding of fungal secondary metabolite regulation arises from studies of the genetic model Aspergillus nidulans. This organism produces many natural products including sterigmatocystin ST (ST; the penultimate precursor to aflatoxin) and penicillin and has been used as a heterologous host to study the biosynthesis of other natural products including lovastatin. Critical advances in understanding fungal secondary metabolism have been largely based on primary studies from A. nidulans and/or secondary studies in other fungi where researchers were able to exploit the knowledge gained from A. nidulans to their fungus of choice.
A. nidulans, a mold, produces many compounds relevant to biotechnology and human health and is a well-suited model for the analysis of the interplay between secondary metabolism, light and differentiation. A. nidulans grows vegetatively in the soil by hyphal tip extension until competent for development and secondary metabolism. In reproduction, A. nidulans forms airborne asexual spores in light but preferentially undergoes sexual reproduction in the dark. Sexual reproduction in the dark results in an increase in secondary metabolism and in the formation of sexual fruit bodies called cleistothecia, which consist of different cell types. Mutations resulting in defects in fungal development often impair secondary metabolism. There is genetic evidence for a connection between fruitbody formation, secondary metabolism, and light in A. nidulans reproduction, but the molecular mechanism is not known.
Aspergillus flavus, an opportunistic pathogen of oil seeds, occurs as a saprophyte in soils worldwide and colonizes several important agricultural crops, such as maize, peanut, and cottonseed, before and after harvest. The pathogen generates asexual spores, conidia, as the source of inoculum and overwinters as sclerotia which germinate to produce conidia in the subsequent season. A. flavus and other aspergilli, such as Aspergillus parasiticus, can produce the polyketide-derived carcinogenic secondary metabolite aflatoxin. In the United States, annual yield losses in the million-dollar range from aflatoxin contamination on peanut and maize crops are frequently reported. Aflatoxin-contaminated food and feed is also a major problem in developing countries, especially in Asia and Africa. Recently, an outbreak of aflatoxin poisoning from maize was reported to have killed a hundred people in Kenya. Therefore, measures to control Aspergillus infections and aflatoxin production are urgently needed to protect human and animal health. The identification and characterization of molecules necessary for A. flavus conidial, sclerotial, and aflatoxin production are critical to develop rational control strategies.
VeA, a conserved velvet protein encoded by the veA gene, increases expression during sexual development. However, VeA transport into the nucleus is inhibited by light. It acts as a negative regulator of asexual development. VeA is required for cleistothecial production in A. nidulans and sclerotial production in both A. parasiticus and A. flavus. In addition, the VeA gene regulates the expression of sterigmatocystin (a precursor of aflatoxin) and penicillin genes in A. nidulans and aflatoxin genes in A. parasiticus and A. flavus. VeA interacts with LaeA in an as-yet-unclear mechanism, although analysis shows that VeA and LaeA negatively regulate each other at the transcript level in A. nidulans (1) and LaeA negatively regulates veA in A. flavus (21).
LaeA, another protein located in the cell nucleus, is present in numerous fungi and is a master regulator of secondary metabolism in Aspergilli and other fungal genera. LaeA is also necessary for sclerotial formation in A. flavus and affects cleistothecial development in A. nidulans.
The deletion of LaeA silences numerous secondary metabolite gene clusters, including those responsible for the syntheses of the antibiotic penicillin as well as for toxins such as ST or gliotoxin. It has been suggested that LaeA might control the accessibility of binding factors to chromatin regions of secondary metabolite clusters because LaeA prevents heterochromatin maintenance of some clusters.
Other factors have been reported which link morphological development with secondary metabolism. Of particular interest are a family of oxylipin-producing oxygenases (encoded by ppo and lox genes) which have been shown to balance ascospore and conidial production in A. nidulans (40, 41) and sclerotial and conidial production in A. flavus, as well as secondary metabolite production in both species. Most recently, a density-dependent switch from sclerotial-to-conidial development in A. flavus was found to be affected by oxylipin production. Both oxylipin production and the response to oxylipin signaling are dependent on an intact VeA protein. VeA is also required for ppoA expression, and VeAPpoA interactions affect both sexual and asexual development in A. nidulans. The impact of the loss of these proteins on pathogenesis has been explored to some degree for LaeA and Ppo mutants but not yet reported for VeA.
LaeA is a key determinant in aspergillosis caused by A. fumigatus and seed rot by A. flavus and Ppo loss impacts virulence attributes of A. fumigatus, A. nidulans, and A. flavus.
Despite present methodologies, a need exists for improved methods of controlling production of secondary metabolites to obtain improved production of important natural products and/or novel natural products with medicinal value. | {
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The present invention pertains to the field of micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a MEMS mirror devices and methods for fabricating the same.
A MEMS device is a micro-sized mechanical structure having electrical circuitry fabricated using conventional integrated circuit (IC) fabrication methods. A well-known MEMS device is a microscopic gimbaled mirror mounted on a substrate. A gimbaled mirror is a device that may pivot on a hinge about an axis. By pivoting about an axis, a gimbaled mirror can redirect light beams to varying positions. Typically, MEMS gimbaled mirrors are arranged in an array on single silicon wafer substrate.
A prior process for fabricating MEMS gimbaled mirrors on a substrate is a surface micro-machining process. A surface micro-machining process-utilizes thin layers to mount the MEMS mirrors off the substrate. A disadvantage with using the micro-machining process is that the gimbaled mirrors are mounted by only a few xcexcm (xe2x80x9cmicro-metersxe2x80x9d) off the substrate. At such a small height, the gimbaled mirror is inhibited from pivoting at large angles with respect to an axis thereby limiting the number of positions for redirecting light.
One kind of micro-machining process to make gimbaled mirrors is the stress curling method. The stress curling method applies a stress gradient on a thin cantilever layer. The stress gradient causes the end of the cantilever layer to curl that is used to lift a gimbaled mirror off the substrate. A disadvantage with using the stress curling method is that it is process dependent and it is difficult to control the stress gradient. Another disadvantage with the stress curling method is that cantilever layer requires a large area on the substrate that reduces the number of gimbaled mirrors that can be arranged on the substrate.
Another kind of micro-machining process to make gimbaled mirrors utilizes hinges and scratch motors. A scratch motor uses electrostatic force to move a mass that raises a gimbaled mirror off the substrate by rotating the mass around a hinge. A disadvantage with using scratch motors and hinges is that it requires a large area of space on the substrate to make the scratch motors and hinges thereby limiting the number of gimbaled mirrors to be arranged on the substrate. Furthermore, scratch motors are difficult to make at a microscopic level.
A micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) mirror device is disclosed. The MEMS mirror device includes a substrate. Electrodes are formed supported by the substrate. A support structure is formed adjacent to the electrodes. A hinge pattern and a mirror pattern having a center mirror component are formed such that support structure supports the hinge pattern and mirror pattern. The support structure also supports the hinge pattern and mirror pattern such that a bottom surface of the center mirror component in a stationary non-rotating position is capable of exceeding a height of 50 xcexcm above the electrodes.
A MEMS mirror device fabrication method is disclosed. A substrate is exposed selectively to form exposed regions and unexposed regions in the substrate. Electrodes are formed supported by the substrate. A mirror pattern having a center mirror component and a hinge pattern are formed supported by the substrate. Portions of the substrate are removed in the exposed regions to form a support structure from the unexposed regions such that the support structure supports the mirror pattern and hinge pattern.
Another method for fabricating a MEMS mirror device is disclosed. A release layer is formed on a first substrate. A mirror pattern having a center mirror component and a hinge pattern are formed supported by the release layer. Electrodes are formed supported by a second substrate. A support structure is formed. The first substrate is attached with the second substrate using the support structure. The first substrate and the release layer are removed such that the support structure supports the mirror pattern and hinge pattern.
Another method for fabricating a MEMS mirror device is disclosed. A release layer is formed on a first substrate. A mirror pattern having a center mirror component and a hinge pattern are formed supported by the release layer. Electrodes are formed supported by a second substrate. A support structure is formed using a third substrate. The first substrate is attached with the second substrate using the support structure. The first substrate and release layer are removed.
Another method for fabricating a MEM gimbaled mirror device is disclosed. Electrodes are formed supported by a first substrate. Portions of a second substrate on a bottom side are removed selectively. Portions of the second substrate on a topside are removed selectively to form a mirror, frame pattern, and hinge pattern. The first substrate is attached with the second substrate.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings, and from the detailed description, which follows below. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Aspects of the present disclosure are related to the field of virtual machines and more particularly to controlling access to inputs and outputs of the virtual machine.
Cloud computing and virtual machines (VM) are used by enterprises to access software applications and perform a wide variety of computing functions. Management and security issues are important concerns in the virtual machine environment. The problem is exacerbated because virtualization environment administrators are usually not the VM owners; therefore, they can get access to VM consoles they do not own. When a customer receives a VM in a cloud, the VM console can be accessed by the virtualized environment administrators, potentially exposing data for access from the virtualized environment management system.
Further, while using the VM console in a shared virtualization environment, someone may view everything done on a console. For example, when the VM owner uses a console, someone may open it, view the console and potentially can alter the data. Moreover, someone with access to the virtualization environment can directly open and work on the VM console. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a 3-dimensional comb structure using an electrostatic force, and an inertia detection sensor and an actuator which uses the 3-dimensional comb structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A 3-dimensional comb structure using an electrostatic force protrudes perpendicularly with respect to a flat plane surface, and has a structure such that an electrostatic force, which is generated between a pair of interlocked combs by applying a voltage thereto, is constant with respect to the relative motion between the combs.
In many cases, electrostatic actuators are used to move micro structures. An electrostatic comb drive (U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,346) is well known as an electrostatic actuator. The basic principle of the electrostatic comb drive will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
A pair of combs 1 and 2 mesh with each other with a gap s between fingers thereof. When a power supply 3 is connected to each of the combs 1 and 2 via conductive wires 4 and 5, respectively, a horizontal electrostatic force (F.sub.s) 6 acting upon a finger of the comb 2 is expressed by the following Equation 1: ##EQU1##
wherein .epsilon..sub.0, t, s and V denote the permittivity of free space, the thickness of a finger in a direction perpendicular to the surface, the interval between a finger of the comb 1 and an adjacent finger of the comb 2, and a voltage 3 applied to a bridge between fingers, respectively. The electrostatic comb drive can be manufactured by a CMOS process such as a process for manufacturing a semiconductor RAM, and has a constant force with respect to the motion of a comb, as shown in Equation 1.
FIG. 2 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,346 can be taken as an example of an actuator using the principle of FIG. 1, which is the principle of an existing electrostatic comb drive. This electrostatic actuator 20 includes a mass body 22 having a plurality of movable comb fingers 27, at least one elastic member 23 connected to the mass body 22, and a plurality of fixed combs 25 which are meshed with the movable comb fingers 27, facing the movable comb fingers 27. Here, the plurality of movable comb fingers 27 are supported by a substrate 21 via supporters 24, and the fixed comb fingers 25 are supported by the substrate 21 via fixed comb supporters 26. When a voltage is applied to the fixed comb fingers 25 and the movable comb fingers 27 via an appropriate means (not shown), the mass body 22 is moved linearly in a horizontal direction with respect to the substrate 21 by the electrostatic force generated by Equation 1. The electrostatic force generated in this structure is constant with respect to the distance of motion, as shown in Equation 1. However, according to this structure, the movable comb fingers 27 and the fixed comb fingers 25 are parallel to the substrate 21. Also, since the movable comb fingers 27 and the fixed comb fingers 25 are installed on both ends of the flat mass body which is parallel to the substrate 21, the number of combs can increase in proportion to the length of each end of the mass body. Thus, an electrostatic force is small due to the limit in the number of combs. Furthermore, the mass body must move largely to be used in acceleration sensors or gyro sensors. However, in this conventional comb structure, a small amount of electrostatic force makes it difficult to directly drive the mass body, so that the mass body can only be driven at the resonance point. | {
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This invention relates generally to ram-type blowout preventers, and, more particularly, to actuators for the rams of a blowout preventer either for shearing a pipe extending through the bore of the blowout preventer and then sealing across the bore or for sealing around a pipe extending through the bore. Still more particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for enhancing the pressure area and limiting the stroke of the operating piston of the actuator.
As is well known in the art, a ram-type blowout preventer composes a housing connected to a wellhead with the housing having a bore which is in alignment with the wellbore. Rams are movable within guideways extending transversely from the bore between an outer position removed from the bore and inner position across the bore and engaging with one another to seal off the bore. In a pipe ram blowout preventer, the inner ends of the rams have recesses for sealing around the pipe suspended within the bore. In a shear ram blow-out preventer, the inner ends of the rams include blades to shear pipe and also seal which may be flat or otherwise complimentary for sealing across the open bore after the pipe is sheared. Upon inward movement of the rams into the bore, the sealing engagement between the seals carried on the rams effectively terminates any fluid flow through bore.
A hydraulically actuated cylinder having a piston interconnected to the respective ram by means of a shaft or a "stem" effects the movement of the rams into sealing engagement. The stem is provide with stem packings or seals disposed about the stem to prevent pressure and fluid in the bore from being communicated along the stem into the hydraulic circuit of cylinder.
The actuator is rigidly affixed to one end of the housing and extends outwardly in the same direction on either side of a respective ram stem. The actuator includes a bonnet in which is disposed a piston and cylinder with the bonnet being affixed to the housing by means of bonnet bolts. The cylinder is connected to a hydraulic circuit for providing fluid under pressure to move the piston within the cylinder. The piston is disposed on the stem to reciprocate the ram.
Typical shear ram blowout preventers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,946,806; 4,043,389; 4,313,496; and 4,132,267. Typical pipe ram blowout preventers are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,492,359 and 4,504,037. A preferred ram-type blowout preventer is shown on pages 637-645 of the Composite Catalog of Oilfield Equipment and Services, 1992-93, published by World Oil.
As can be appreciated, a substantial pressure force must be applied to the shear rams of a shear ram blowout preventer to shear the pipe extending through the bore of the preventer. Various means have been employed in the prior art actuator to ensure that the actuator provided adequate shear force. For example, a booster piston and cylinder may be piggy backed onto the primary operating piston and cylinder to ensure sufficient force to both shear the pipe and seal the bore.
The actuators for the rams are designed for removal of the rams in the field to change the pipe rams or shear rams of the blowout preventer. One method is the use of ram change pistons and cylinders whereupon removal of the bonnet bolts, the ram change pistons and cylinders are hydraulically actuated causing the bonnet to travel radially inward and outward with respect to the blowout preventer housing in a manner like that of the ram operating piston. Upon moving the bonnet into the outward position because it is no longer restrained by the bonnet bolts, the pipe ram or shear ram, as the case may be, is also pulled along the ram guideway outwards of the blowout preventer bore so as to be removed from the housing and thus exposed and rendered accessible for servicing or replacement.
It is often desirable to either replace a pipe ram with a shear ram or vice versa. Since the stroke of a shear ram is longer than the stroke of a pipe ram, it is necessary that a plurality of parts be replaced to modify the actuator to accommodate another type of ram. For example, a much greater force is required on a shear ram than on a pipe ram since the shear ram must not only shear the pipe extending through the blowout preventer housing bore but also must then seal the resulting open bore. Thus, in adapting an actuator previously used for a pipe ram, the standard bonnet must be replaced with a large bore shear bonnet to provide a larger capacity operating piston to increase force on the shear ram to shear the pipe. The adaptation of the actuator for a shear ram, particularly when done in the field, is complicated and time consuming.
Further, the substantial operating piston force required to shear the pipe in a shear ramtype blowout preventer is much greater than the amount of force required to seal the open bore after the pipe has been sheared. This over capacity force on the elastomeric seals of the shear ram reduces the life of the seals. It is preferred that the operating piston force on the seals be reduced after the shear rams have sheared the pipe. However, the hydraulic pressure on the operating piston frequently remains at the same high level during both the shearing and sealing operations.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to smoking articles such as cigarettes, and in particular to catalytic systems containing metallic or carbonaceous particles that reduce the content of certain harmful or carcinogenic substances, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, carbazole, phenol, and catechol, in both mainstream cigarette smoke and side stream cigarette smoke.
It is widely known that tobacco smoke contains mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds that cause substantial morbidity and mortality to smokers. Such compounds include polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), carbazole, phenol, and catechol.
The carcinogenic potential of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is well known. PAHs are a group of chemicals where constituent atoms of carbon and hydrogen are linked by chemical bonds in such a way as to form two or more rings, or xe2x80x9ccyclicxe2x80x9d arrangements. For this reason, these are sometimes called polycyclic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatics. Examples of such chemical arrangements are anthracene (3 rings), pyrene (4 rings), benzo(a)pyrene (5 rings), and similar polycyclic compounds.
Such compounds have been identified in all situations where combustion of organic materials is taking place, and where pyrolysis is incomplete. Several industrial sources of these compounds are known: incomplete pyrolysis of coke in metallurgy, in aluminum pot rooms, and of fuel oil in heat generating equipment, to name but a few. It is also known that internal combustion engines (diesel or gasoline engines) are a major source of these pollutants. Incomplete combustion of the most simple hydrocarbon, methane, often referred to as natural gas, has also been found to be a source of 3,4-benzopyrene emissions. PAHs have also been identified in tobacco smoke. Several of these PAHs are known to be carcinogens for lung tissue and others are suspected of similar effects, operating by genotoxic mechanisms, and their presence in tobacco smoke has further been linked with the synergism observed in smokers exposed to high levels of respirable dusts in uncontrolled workplace situations.
Tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) are electrophilic alkylating agents that are potent carcinogens. They are formed by reactions involving free nitrate during processing and storage of tobacco, and by combustion of tobacco containing nicotine and nornicotine in a nitrate rich environment. It is also known that fresh-cut, green tobacco contains virtually no tobacco specific nitrosamines. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,202,649 and 6,135,121 to Williams; and Wiernik et al., xe2x80x9cEffect of Air-Curing on the Chemical Composition of Tobacco,xe2x80x9d Recent Advances in Tobacco Science, Vol. 21, pp. 39 et seq., Symposium Proceedings 49th Meeting Tobacco Chemists"" Research Conference, Sep. 24-27, 1995, Lexington, Ky. In contrast, cured tobacco products obtained according to conventional methods are known to contain a number of nitrosamines, including the two most harmful carcinogens Nxe2x80x2-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) and 4-(N-nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). Of these two, NNK is significantly more dangerous than NNN. It is widely accepted that such nitrosamines are formed post-harvest, during the conventional curing process, and in the combustion process.
Carbazole, phenol, and catechol are all compounds produced in cigarette smoke. Carbazole is a heterocyclic aromatic compound containing a dibenzopyrrole system and is a suspected carcinogen. The phenolic compounds in cigarette smoke are due to the pyrolysis of the polyphenols chlorogenic acid and rutin, two major components in flue-cured leaf. Currently, the literature identifies catechol, phenol, hydroquinone, resorcinol, o-cresol, m-cresol, and p-cresol as the seven phenolic compounds in tobacco smoke. Catechol is the most abundant phenol in tobacco smoke (80-400 xcexcg/cigarette) and has been identified as a co-carcinogen with benzo[a]pyrene (also found in tobacco smoke). Phenol has been shown to be toxic and is identified as a tumor promoter in the literature.
The most common method for removing harmful components from tobacco smoke is the use of a mechanical filter device. Various filters for reducing or removing undesirable components from tobacco have been proposed and constructed. In general, a porous filter may be provided as a mechanical trap for harmful components, interposed between the smoke stream and the mouth. This type of filter, often composed of cellulose acetate, mechanically or adsorptively traps a certain fraction of the components present in smoke.
Cigarette filter devices may contain a variety of granular or particulate adsorbents in addition to any porous materials, e.g., cellulose acetate tow, present in the device. Activated carbon, or charcoal, is the most widely preferred granular adsorbent. Other types of adsorbents include, for example, kaolin clay as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,389. U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,279 discloses a cigarette filter composed of a powdered aluminum silicate mineral that may be prepared by rendering the mineral electropositive and then cationizing it by absorbing macromolecular cations (such as methylene blue and FeSO4) thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 3,428,054 discloses a cigarette filter composed of mineral particles, such as slag, and absorptive powdered clay, such as kaolinite, bound together by a non-toxic binder. U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,365 discloses a cigarette filter composed of powdered clay, such as kaolin, into which from 1 to 13 percent by weight of iron or zinc oxide may be incorporated. U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,118 relates to a specially prepared kaolin clay powder which has been acid activated for use in filters. U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,223 teaches the use of alumina and activated alumina as base materials in absorptive filter compositions.
An improvement in the effectiveness afforded by mechanical-type filters or filters containing adsorptive materials may be provided by including means for chemically trapping or reacting undesirable components present in smoke. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,294 provides a filter element containing an organic acid, such as citric acid, which reduces the harshness of the smoke. Inclusion of L-ascorbic acid in a filter material to remove aldehydes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,250. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,672 also describes a filter for specifically removing aldehydes, such as formaldehyde, from tobacco smoke by providing a combination of an enediol compound, such as dihydroxyfumaric acid or L-ascorbic acid, together with a radical scavenger of aldehydes, such as oxidized glutathione or urea, or a compound of high nucleophilic activity, such as lysine, cysteine, 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione, or thioglycolic acid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,739, the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses cigarettes incorporating a filter element containing an acidic material having a pKa at 25xc2x0 C. of less than about 3, such as phosphoric acid. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,021 discloses a double or triple chamber cigarette filter containing lignin, which is effective in reducing levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines.
While the filters present on most available cigarettes are effective in reducing levels of certain undesirable components in tobacco smoke, filters still allow a significant amount of undesirable compounds to pass into the mouth. Moreover, while filters may be preferred to reduce the amount of undesired components in mainstream smoke, which is the smoke that is drawn through the mouth end of a smokable article or device and inhaled by the smoker, filters do not reduce the amount of undesirable components in sidestream smoke. Sidestream smoke is the smoke that is given off from the end of a burning tobacco product between puffs and is not directly inhaled by the smoker. Sidestream smoke gives rise to passive inhalation on the part of bystanders, and is also referred to as second-hand smoke.
One approach to removing undesired components from tobacco smoke is the use of catalysts. Palladium catalyst systems have been proposed for cigarettes. The following patents describe such systems: U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,430 to Collins et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,251 to Bryant et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,251 to Bryant et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,784 to Norman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,822 to Bryant et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,191 to Norman et al., each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Early attempts at incorporating catalytic systems into mass-produced cigarettes have met with limited success. Therefore, a catalytic system that reduces the levels of certain carcinogenic or otherwise undesirable components from tobacco smoke, and which is amenable to use in mass-produced cigarettes, is desirable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Braille music systems and software methods, and more particularly to music software methods and systems for converting musical scores to Braille, and vice versa.
2. Description of the Related Art
The entry or typing of Braille notation is commonly achieved using a dedicated six-key Braille typewriter or note taker. A Braille typewriter produces hard copy embossed Braille output, whereas a Braille note taker used with a computer produces a digital file. As Braille note takers are very expensive to purchase, they are thus not readily available to all users who wish to be able to produce Braille notation.
For sighted musicians, musical score software has become popular, enabling a musician to either write a score directly into the software, capture notes on a music keyboard, or to purchase digital files containing the score from the music publisher. For blind or visually impaired musicians, it is more difficult to obtain musical scores, because such scores must be transcribed into Braille notation, which is typically carried out on an individual order basis. The transcription may be done manually or with a combination of software applications followed by manual editing. In either case, the transcription of scores into Braille can be a lengthy process, often taking weeks to months to achieve. Musical scores are thus not as accessible to blind or visually impaired musicians as they are to sighted musicians.
It is also difficult for blind or visually impaired musicians to create their own scores, either in Braille or in print. If the blind or visually impaired musician creates a score using a Braille note taker or typewriter, it is very difficult for them to check their work for accuracy as they create it, because there is no aural feedback mechanism to enable them to listen to the score as they create it. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat developing apparatus for heating and development of a dry type photosensitive material on which a latent image has been formed owing to exposure, and more particularly to a heat developing apparatus arranged to use a heat developing photosensitive material which contains an inhibitor for inhibiting development.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, a medical image recording apparatus for use in a digital radiography system, a CT or an MR has been adapted to a wet system with which an image is photographed or recorded on a silver-salt photosensitive material. Then, a wet process is performed to obtain an image. On the other hand, in recent years a dry system heat developing apparatus has attracted attention which does not perform the wet process.
The foregoing heat developing apparatus is arranged to use a heat developing photosensitive material. The heat developing apparatus is arranged to form a latent image on the heat developing photosensitive material by performing exposure corresponding to the image. Then, a heat developing portion of the heat developing apparatus heats and develops the heat developing photosensitive material. Then, the heat developing photosensitive material having the formed image is discharged to the outside of the heat developing apparatus.
The foregoing dry system heat developing apparatus is able to form an image in a time shorter than time required for the wet process. Moreover, the problem of the waste solution process experienced with the wet process can be overcome. Therefore, a need for the heat developing apparatus is expected to be increased.
The density of the heat developing photosensitive material realized during the heat development which is performed by the conventional dry system heat developing apparatus is raised as the heat development temperature is raised and the heat development time is elongated. Therefore, to realize a stable density, the heat development temperature and a period of time in which development is substantially started and the same is completed (substantial heat development time) must precisely be controlled. The substantial heat development time varies owing to an influence of irregularity of the temperature occurring when the temperature of the heat developing photosensitive material is raised or irregularity of the temperature occurring when a cooling process is performed. To meet the above-mentioned requirements and eliminate the influence, it might be considered feasible to employ a structure of the apparatus incorporating a heating means which is a stable heat storage member having a large size.
However, if the heat developing apparatus incorporates the foregoing heat storage member, the overall size of the apparatus cannot be reduced. What is worse, the cost of the apparatus is enlarged excessively. If the precise control of the heat development temperature and the heat development time is not performed, a stable density cannot be realized. Thus, there arises a problem in that irregularity of an image occurs.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a heat developing apparatus which is capable of realizing a stable density without a necessity of precisely controlling the heat development temperature and the heat development time so as to prevent image irregularity without enlargement of the size and the cost of the apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
There is a continuing need for fire protection materials that permit dissipation of heat and deter the spread of flames, smoke, vapors and/or heat during a fire. Various materials have been used to protect surfaces from excessive heat and flame, including, among others, insulative materials, endothermic materials, intumescent materials, opacifiers, and so-called “superinsulation materials”.
The use of insulative materials such as ceramic or bio-soluble blankets, felt or thick paper-like material, or mineral wool blankets and boards are problematic because the materials are typically very thick and/or heavy. These materials are bulky and difficult to install. In addition, insulative materials can become detached from surfaces when the heat of a fire expands or destroys the means by which the insulative materials are attached.
Endothermic materials absorb heat, typically by releasing water of hydration, by going through a phase change that absorbs heat (i.e. liquid to gas), or by other physical or chemical change where the reaction requires a net absorption of heat to take place. Infrared opacifiers, such as carbon black, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, or zirconium dioxide, as well as mixtures of these, reduce the radiation contribution to thermal conductivity. When activated, endothermic materials and opacifiers restrict heat transfer and, consequently, keep the cold-face temperature lower than it would be absent such materials.
It is known to provide materials designed to retard the spread of fire and heat by an endothermic reaction. A known fire protection material in the form of semi-rigid or rigid boards or molded sections comprises an endothermic-reactive insulating fibrous material comprising (a) an inorganic endothermic filler which undergoes multiple endothermic reactions; (b) inorganic fiber material; and (c) an organic polymer binder. Another known material comprises an endothermic, flexible, fibrous, fire-protective sheet material made of a composition comprising (a) a refractory inorganic fiber; (b) an organic polymer binder, such as an acrylic resin; and (c) an inorganic, endothermic filler, such as alumina trihydrate, which undergoes an endothermic reaction between about 100° C. to 600° C.
Use of endothermic materials somewhat reduces the thickness problem inherent in insulation systems, but endothermics have their own problems. Due to the fact that the material has water molecules trapped in dry form, the system tends to be quite heavy, may be difficult to install and have high associated labor costs. Also, once installed, these systems are extremely difficult to remove and replace in order to perform maintenance work or to update electrical and communication networks hidden within a surface.
Intumescent materials expand to at least about 1.5 times their original volume upon heating to temperatures typically encountered in fire-like conditions, creating an insulation layer that separates the protected item from the fire. One major advantage of intumescent materials is that the unreacted material is thin and lightweight, and easier to install. Intumescent materials generally comprise a mixture of heat resistant inorganic fibers and an intumescent substance. In the event of a fire, the presence of the intumescent substance causes the intumescent material to expand to form an effective seal against the passage of fire and smoke.
The degree to which the intumescent fire protection material expands is important during a fire event, as the intumescent fire protection material must fill the space it is designed to occupy and must do so at a rapid rate. Accordingly, intumescence at the temperatures commonly encountered in a fire event, rapid rate of expansion, and a high degree of expansion are all desirable performance properties of an intumescent fire protection material. A high degree of expansion ensures that the intumescent fire protection material will expand firmly against the periphery of the opening to be sealed, thereby providing an effective seal against the passage of fire and smoke.
It is important in fire protections applications that, once the fire protection material has expanded in response to exposure to elevated temperatures during a fire, that the material cannot shrink if maintained at the increased temperature or exposed to repeated heating and cooling thermal cycling. Because of the low char strengths of sodium silicate-based materials, shrinkage occurs in both situations. Accordingly, intumescent materials that possess a high degree of expansion and char strength for use in passive fire protection applications, and which do not exhibit substantial shrinkage upon prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures or thermal cycling, are desired. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The background to the invention is as follows. Copper clad laminates are at present manufactured by taking copper foil produced generally in accordance with the teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,656, laying it on top of one or more sheets of partially cured resin impregnated base material, and placing the two materials between press plates on a laminating press. Under heat and pressure the partially cured resin adheres to the copper foil so that, when removed from the press, the two materials are firmly bonded together.
Such copper foil as is used in this process is available in unsupported form in a thickness range of 9 .mu.m upwards to in excess of 105 .mu.m. Since such foil is frequently in excess of 1 meter wide, handling sheets of it can be difficult and, particularly in thicknesses between 9 and 20 .mu.m, a great deal of scrap is generated in the laying up process. In order to preserve the surface quality of the laminate great care has to be taken to exclude all dust particles from between the surface of the copper foil and the press plates, which are used to separate the laminates in the press during manufacture.
In order to facilitate the handling of thin copper foils it has been proposed to manufacture such materials by continuously depositing such copper onto a carrier foil of aluminium of chromium-plated copper and processes for so doing are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,576 and U.K. Patent Specifications Nos. 1 460 849, 1 458 260, and 1 458 259. In practice foils produced by these techniques are costly and unreliable and have found little favour in the industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,598 describes a process in which a stainless steel press plate known as a caul plate is coated with a silane as a release agent and is then electroplated with copper. The exposed surface of the copper is then oxidised and treated with a silane as a bonding agent. The copper-clad caul plate is then laminated to resin-impregnated base material in a laminating press. After the laminate is removed from the press, the caul plate is removed from the copper-clad dielectric board which has been produced. The copper coating is found to have a variable thickness of about 5 to 12 .mu.m.
It is notoriously difficult to uniformly electroplate a surface provided with an organic parting layer such as silane. As a result, the deposit will suffer from porosity. During laminating, the resin will therefore seep through the pores, both causing adherence to the caul plate and contaminating the surface of the laminate.
What is desired is a method by which thin copper layers of 3 microns and upwards can be successfully and economically laminated to dielectric base materials with great reliability. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In the semiconductor industry, there are several possible methods for connecting, i.e., bonding, different functional units to one another. One of these methods is the chip-to-wafer (C2W) method in which individual chips are bonded individually to a substrate. Another important method is the so-called “advanced chip-to-wafer” (AC2W) method in which the chips are first tentatively (temporarily) joined to the substrate and a permanent connection takes place in one bonding step, all chips being permanently bonded to the substrate at the same time. In the bonding step, the chips and the substrate are heated while the chips are being pressed onto the substrate (bonding force).
The aforementioned pressure and heating processes create technical problems, especially for structures which are becoming smaller and smaller, for example, due to thermal expansion during heating.
Therefore the object of this invention is to devise a pressure transmission apparatus and a bonding device with which the aforementioned method can be optimized and scrap is minimized during bonding.
This object is achieved with the features of the claims. Advantageous developments of the invention are given in the dependent claims. All combinations of at least two of the features given in the specification, the claims and/or the figures also fall within the scope of the invention. At the given value ranges, values within the indicated limits will also be considered to be disclosed as boundary values and will be claimed in any combination. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Human skin is susceptible to oxidative stress due to various causes, such as external environmental stressors including exposure to ultraviolet radiation, air pollution, cigarette smoke, chemicals, cosmetics, drugs, ozone and even oxygen itself, as well as to internal stress due to natural biological processes.
For example, the damaging effect of the ultraviolet (UV) part of solar radiation on the skin is well recognized. UV radiation is known to be the predominant cause of premature aging of the skin. UV radiation may lead to photochemical reactions, wherein then the photochemical reaction products intervene in the skin mechanism. Predominantly such photochemical reaction products are free-radical compounds, for example hydroxy radicals. Also, undefined free-radial photoproducts, which are produced in the skin itself, may trigger uncontrolled side reactions due to their high reactivity. Furthermore, lipid peroxidation products, such as for example hydroperoxides and aldehydes, are produced. Free-radical chain reactions may be triggered, resulting in skin damage.
Moreover, UV radiation is ionizing radiation. Hence, there is the risk that ionic species are produced on UV exposure, which species in turn are able to intervene oxidatively in the biochemical processes.
In additional to externally generated oxidative stress, internally generated oxidative stress may occur as a natural by-product of cellular energy production. Both internal and external oxidative stress leads to inflammatory pathways mediated by the formation of free radicals (molecules with unpaired electrons that are highly reactive) that, left unchecked, can cause severe cellular damage to cell membranes, lipids, proteins and DNA. The superoxide radical, a natural by-product of metabolic energy production, causes serious deleterious effects to living cells if not quenched, neutralized or reduced almost immediately after production. It is known that lipid peroxidation is a major problem in biological systems. Protecting against cell membrane oxidation is of paramount importance in living biological systems since the cell membrane is the cell's first line of defense against oxidation
The lifetime summation of damage caused by run-away free radicals is one of the main theories of aging, “the damage accumulation theory of aging”. There is therefore a high interest in modern medicine regarding the use of antioxidants, substances that scavenge and eliminate free radicals, to counter the deleterious effects (i.e., aging) of the free radical mediated inflammatory pathways caused by oxidative stress.
Oxidative damage to the skin and its more detailed causes are discussed in J. Fuchs et al., “Skin Diseases Associated with Oxidative Injury” in “Oxidative Stress in Dermatology”, 1983, pp. 323 et seq.
Antioxidants are substances, to include free radical absorbers or scavengers, that prevent oxidation processes, including oxidation of a molecule such as a lipid, lipoprotein, protein or DNA, or autooxidation of fats containing unsaturated compounds. Various antioxidants are used in the field of cosmetics and pharmacy. These include, for example tocopherol, kinetin, ubiquinone, ascorbic acid, lipoic acid sesamol, colic acid derivatives, butylhydroxy anisole and butylhydroxy toluene. Antioxidants can thus help protect human cells, such as skin cells, from both externally and internally generated oxidative stress.
Topical application of antioxidants is used to optimize the cutaneous antioxidative capacity and to limit skin damage. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrates antioxidative and photoprotective properties of antioxidants. See K. Scharffetter-Kochanek et al., “Photoaging of the skin from phenotype to mechanisms”, Exp Gerontol 2000, 35:307-316; and J. Wenk et al., “UV-induced oxidative stress and photoaging”, Curr Probl Dermatol 2001, 29:83-94. Accordingly, antioxidants may be incorporated in the cosmetic or dermatological formulations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,045 describes treating skin changes, for example involving oxidative processes, using idebenone. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of determining a mass of fuel to be introduced into a suction pipe or into a cylinder of an internal combustion engine, through the prescription of a combustion air ratio in the cylinder.
Air mass-guided motor control systems for internal combustion engines need to know the mass of fresh air flowing into the cylinder, in addition to the rotational speed, for the calculation of the injection time. A basic injection time is stored in a characteristic map as a function of those two variables. In order to take into account the most diverse operating states of the internal combustion engine, such as, for example, starting, warming up, full load, overrun operation, etc., during the calculation of the injection time, various additive and/or multiplicative correction factors act on the basic injection time, with the result that at the end of the correction chain it is no longer known what combustion air ratio is being realized in the cylinder by the driving of the injection valves.
In the case of internal combustion engines, a defined combustion air ratio is intended to be set as a function of the operating point. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The embodiment relates to a wireless power receiver and a control method thereof.
A wireless power transmission or a wireless energy transfer refers to a technology of wirelessly transferring electric energy to desired devices. In the 1800's, an electric motor or a transformer employing the principle of electromagnetic induction has been extensively used and then a method for transmitting electrical energy by irradiating electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves or lasers, has been suggested. Actually, electrical toothbrushes or electrical razors, which are frequently used in daily life, are charged based on the principle of electromagnetic induction. Until now, the long-distance transmission using the magnetic induction, the resonance and the short-wavelength radio frequency has been used as the wireless energy transfer scheme.
Recently, among wireless power transmitting technologies, an energy transmitting scheme employing resonance has been widely used.
Since an electric signal generated between the wireless power transmitter and the wireless power receiver is wirelessly transferred through coils in a wireless power transmitting system using electromagnetic induction, a user may easily charge electronic appliances such as a portable device.
However, due to the thickness of each of a receiving coil, a short-range communication antenna and a printed circuit board constituting a receiving side, a size of an electronic appliance becomes larger and it is not easy to embed them in the electronic appliance. Specifically, the size of the electronic appliance is increased corresponding to the thickness of the receiving coil, the short-range communication antenna and the printed circuit board.
Further, when an overcurrent flows through the short-range communication module, it is difficult to effectively cope with the overcurrent.
Further, a magnetic field generated from the receiving coil exerts an influence on an inside of an electronic appliance, so that the electronic appliance malfunctions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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