1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general, relates to gimbals and, more particularly, to permanent magnet wide-gap motors that are used to move the gimbal payload about its inner axes.
Gimbals are commonly used to hold sensors stable when mounted on a moving vehicle, be it a land based vehicle, a sea (i.e., a water based) vehicle such as a boat or ship, or an air based vehicle such as an airplane.
The ability to hold a sensor stable while the vehicle moves is useful for a great variety of purposes. These purposes include obtaining information useful for navigation. Another purpose relates in general to an ability to align and then to hold the sensors where desired. All manner of sensors may be used, for example, television cameras as well as other sensors that use any preferred technology. Whatever information is being provided by the sensors is more reliable if the sensors themselves are held steady.
In general, gimbals have a plurality of outer axes and a plurality of inner axes. Course adjustments are commonly accomplished by movements made along the outer axes. Finer adjustments are commonly made with the inner axes.
There are a number of discreet functions a gimbal must achieve. It must both properly orient, maintain position, and support the size and weight of the sensors. This can vary from application to application.
The sensors are placed inside of a gimbal shell along with numerous other component parts that are used to orient the gimbal ball as required. The gimbal shell is often in the general shape of a ball and is therefore sometimes also referred to as a gimbal ball or simply a ball. In general, for any given size of the gimbal shell, the space (i.e., volume) that is available for the sensors is limited and a more usable volume is desirable. Accordingly, it is desirable to locate the motors that move the payload within the ball (i.e., the inner axes) as far away from the center payload area as possible. Another way of stating this objective is to locate the motors in a space that is not well used by sensors.
Gimbals often include a cardan assembly that is disposed within a ball. The cardan assembly supports the weight of the payload that is carried by the gimbal as well as allowing small rotational movements (inner axis motion) that affect the positioning of the payload within the ball.
These changes in position are accomplished by rotating the payload (within the gimbal ball) about three axes (typical), namely elevation, roll, and azimuth. Courser adjustments are accomplished by moving the gimbal ball itself typically about the two outer axes, elevation and azimuth.
The cardan assembly includes a cardan shaft that spans the inside diameter of the ball. The center of the cardan shaft is used, in certain designs, to define the internal elevation axis.
Prior art designs place the cardan shaft so that it also aligns with the external axis. In particular, the internal elevation axis is set to align with the external elevation axis.
The instant invention is applicable for use with prior art designs and also with a newer offset cardan type of gimbal, as is described in an application filed for an Offset Cardan in the section, “Related Applications”.
The sensor(s) is used to look at any given object(s) of interest, which is sometimes called a target(s). For example, the gimbal may be disposed in an airplane and it may be used for mapping terrain or for some other purpose. There may be a reference location that the gimbal must periodically slew to, perhaps to periodically coincide the area that is being mapped with a reference location or perhaps to periodically look for changes that might be occurring at the reference location. Then the gimbal must slew back to its original orientation to continue the mapping process. Ideally, this slewing action is preferably accomplished as quickly as possible.
This type of slewing typically occurs primarily along the azimuth axis. Smaller angular changes typically occur on the pitch and roll axes. Another common name applied to motion about the azimuth axis is “yaw”. This is when an airplane, for example, moves left or right as controlled by its rudder. Such motion in an airplane is referred to as yaw and it occurs about the azimuth axis.
Because the payload has mass, the ability to slew quickly, especially about the azimuth axis, is related to the torque that is applied. A greater torque for any given configuration results in faster slew times, which is desirable.
There is another problem that limits the slew rate along the inner azimuth axis for a gimbal. The outer azimuth axis serves to keep a viewing window disposed in front of the sensor (i.e., camera) within its range of travel, which includes a greater range of travel than the inner axis. However, the inner axis must also slew as fast as the outer axis in order to prevent the limited rotation inner axis from exceeding its travel, that is to keep the sensor (camera) pointing at its intended target.
If the inner axis cannot accelerate as fast as the outer axis, the rate of slew for the inner axis will slow down and therefore limit the slew rate for the outer axis. This makes it especially important to be able to accelerate the inner axes as fast as possible.
Therefore it is desirable to speed up the inner rate of slew, primarily along the azimuth axis because that axis is where the greatest angular degree of motion and also where periodic changes in orientation often occur.
Another problem relates to the shaking of the payload during use of the gimbal. Isolators (i.e., any means to isolate the payload from the gimbal ball and the vehicle upon which the gimbal is itself mounted) are provided in virtually all high performance gimbals to isolate vibration and other changes in position of the vehicle, for example the airplane, apart from that of the payload (i.e., the sensors). The object is to minimize the sensor's vibration as it is pointed at the intended object of interest while the airplane vibrates, for example.
The isolators allow the payload to translate (i.e., move) within a given range of motion inside of the ball. Wide-gap motors provide a relatively wide space intermediate the magnets thereof with uniform magnetic flux. This allows space for the payload to move without impacting the magnet or any other part of the motor as the isolators translate.
It is important to understand that the internal axes provide finer corrections than do the external axes and accordingly, a smaller range of motion is therefore acceptable for the payload in the gimbal ball. Larger corrections are made by moving the entire gimbal ball relative to the vehicle upon which the gimbal itself is mounted.
It is useful to note that the cardan assembly may be used to support multiple types of sensors simultaneously as the payload. For example, a zoom television camera can be used for general spotting purposes and to locate an object of interest as well as for general pointing (i.e., aiming) of the gimbal. Upon locating the object of interest, a larger focal length camera can be used to more carefully study it. Accordingly, both types of cameras can be simultaneously mounted as part of the payload that is supported by the cardan assembly.
The payload may also be active instead of passive. A passive payload merely observes the object of interest whereas an active payload is adapted to affect it. The payload may be used to support an active component that can, for example, illuminate the object. For example, a gimbal can contain a source of illumination, such as a spotlight or a laser, and be mounted on, for example, a helicopter. Accordingly, as the helicopter hovers and fluctuates in its position relative to the object, the gimbal can be used to compensate for any movement by the helicopter in order to hold the source of illumination constantly upon the object.
If the source of illumination is a spotlight, then a larger physical payload capacity allows for a larger and brighter spotlight to be used. A larger payload typically increases the mass that is being carried which tends to slow down the rate of slewing. It is desirable to optimally locate as high a torque motor as possible which, all other factors being equal, allows for a greater payload mass and therefore increased utility for the gimbal.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a cross plane wide-gap motor system for a gimbal that improves the aforementioned prior art limitations. In particular there is a need to step with high torque and allow good stability with the same motor arrangement simultaneously.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be useful and desirable.
2. Description of Prior Art
Gimbals are, in general, known. While the structural arrangements of the known types of devices, at first appearance, may have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.


There has been a great deal of attention directed towards the elaboration of organic compounds from readily available building blocks. One reason for such attention relates to the synthesis of pharmaceutical molecules, synthetic polymers, pesticides, food supplements, and a host of other, useful materials. Moreover, the preparation of electronics chemicals can benefit greatly from improved synthetic schemes. Of particular importance is the coupling of compounds between their respective carbon atoms, which is an important tool for synthesizing and building organic compounds. The coupling of compounds is usually complicated due to sensitivity of different functional groups on the compounds to the reaction conditions or catalysts. While some methods for coupling compounds are available, they do not always offer the efficiencies or economies required for large scale production and are not appropriate for all syntheses. Accordingly, there is continuing interest in improving methods of synthesis involving carbon-carbon coupling, called cross-coupling when between different organic molecules.
The art of cross-coupling reactions catalyzed by palladium catalysts is a powerful method to combine organic molecules by joining their carbon atoms. In the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction, carbon atoms of a boronic acid and an aryl halide are coupled via palladium catalysis under basic conditions. Recently, palladium catalysts, such as Pd(PPh3)4, have been used with the Suzuki reaction to cross-couple an aryl or a vinyl boronic acid to an aryl or vinyl halide or triflate. Certain other palladium catalysts, like PdCl2(dppf) and Pd(OAc)2, are also available. Primary alkyl groups can also be transferred by the Suzuki reaction using 9-BBN reagents and PDCl2(dppf) as a catalyst.
A category of palladium catalysts useful in cross-coupling reactions are palladium-phosphine complexes. In one example, Sunagawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,186, describe the synthesis of crystalline palladium tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) or Pd(PPh3)4. Sunagawa et al. also describe palladium tetrakis(triphenylphosphine) to be useful in the field of organic synthesis, explaining its use as a catalyst for deprotecting reactions of allyl esters or allyl ethers or allylation reactions of carbon or nitrogen atoms. Beller et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,107 describe a number of palladacycles and their importance as catalysts for processes such as the synthesis of substituted styrenes, preparation of stilbenes and cinnamic acids from aryl halides.
Despite the usefulness of palladium-phosphine complexes and their use in cross-coupling reactions, the use of phosphine ligands often can result in side reactions such as phosphonium salt formation and aryl-aryl exchange between substrate and phosphine. In addition, it is known that highly sensitive compounds often do not tolerate the basic conditions required by the Suzuki reaction. Also, this reaction requires extensive refluxing of the reaction mixtures. Furthermore, a popular phosphine catalyst, tri-tert-butylphosphine is known to be very expensive and may not be practicable for large scale production of materials.
Accordingly, there still remains a need for an economical, selective and efficient means for cross-coupling of compounds, particularly aryl compounds, via their respective carbon atoms. Further, there is a need for an economical, selective and efficient cross-coupling reaction that provides mild conditions for the synthesis of aryl derivates such as arylpyridines and aryl anilines, particularly sterically hindered ortho-substituted anilines.


Today, people often utilize computing devices for a wide variety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices, for example, to communicate with other users. Such communications are increasingly popular over a social networking system. Digital communications, such as those on a social networking system, may involve various types of communication. Some types of digital communication allow a user to engage in focused exchanges. For example, the user may target a particular user or users through the use of a messaging system or an email system supported by a social networking system. As another example, the user can enter into audio communications or video communications with other users.
In many instances, video communications can be preferred by users because video communications can allow the users to most effectively convey information and simulate real life communications. In some instances, two participants in different locations can engage in video communications. It also can be desirable to allow a group of users in multiple locations to use video communications to facilitate communications among the group.


This invention relates generally to pneumomassage apparatus adapted to displace excess fluid from the body part of a patient and more particularly, to an articulated sleeve for this purpose which fits onto and conforms to the foot and lower leg of the patient.
Lymph is a clear fluid which circulates in tissue spaces of the vertebrates and by way of a tubular network passes into the venous system. Lymph is derived from the liquid plasma of the blood but without the red corpuscles. Lymphedema is a disorder that often follows a surgical procedure such as a lymphnode dissection of the groin in the treatment of cancer. It results in an excessive accumulation of lymph in the body tissues which if not reduced may have serious consequences.
To reduce lymphedema or other abnormality giving rise to excess fluid in an afflicted body part, such as an upper or lower limb, it is known to provide an apparatus to compress successively portions of the afflicted part to produce a sequential or peristaltic action pumping excess fluid toward the heart. This apparatus can also be used to improve blood circulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,923 discloses an inflatable cell-type apparatus for treating edema, the apparatus including a sleeve of flexible material divided into a plurality of internal inflatable cells extending along one dimension of the sleeve, each cell having a port for insetting and outletting air to individually inflate or deflate the cells. The sleeve when applied to the body part to be treated then surrounds it with inflatable cells extending annularly around the sleeve. Means are provided to apply pressurized air to the ports in accordance with a predetermined sequence for inflating and then deflating the cells.
In the pneumomassage apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,681 for applying intermittent compression to a body part, use is made of an inflatable sleeve divided into successively overlapping inflatable cells. Pressurized fluid is applied cyclically to successive groups of cells, so as successively to inflate each group while at the same time partially deflating the preceding group.
A useful feature of the sleeve shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,681 is that the sleeve is formed from a trapezoidal blank, one inclined edge of which is provided with one component of a zipper. Adjacent the opposing inclined edge is a row of spaced complementary zipper components. To fit the sleeve to the limb of a patient, the zipper component on the one edge is connected to a selected complementary component on the opposing edge, thereby creating a sleeve whose dimensions conform to the limb of the patient.
Also of prior art interest is the pneumomassage device disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,518 in which the device is provided with a boot having a series of compartments which conform to the contour of a human foot and leg, the foot part of the boot. A compressor is provided for successively inflating and deflating the compartments of the boot in a rhythmic, preselected cycle.
The inflatable cell-type body treating apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,923 for the treatment of edema includes a flat inflatable band divided into a plurality of internal inflatable cells extending along one dimension of the band, and wrappable about the body part to be treated to form a sleeve with the inflatable cells extending annularly around the sleeve. The inflatable cells are in partially overlapping relationship widthwise of the band.
Inasmuch as a sleeve in accordance with the invention includes overlapping cells inflated and deflated sequentially by a controlled compressor in a manner similar to those of the pneumomassage sleeves disclosed in the above-identified U.S. prior art patents, the disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
In order to massage both the foot and lower leg of a patient afflicted with edema, it is known to fit a conical or tubular sleeve on the leg and to fit a separate sleeve on the foot. The advantage of this arrangement is that the patient, as he is being treated, is free to maintain his foot in a natural position and to flex it. This freedom of foot movement promotes the comfort of the patient and is desirable when the treatment is to be carried out for a prolonged period. However, the need for separate foot and leg sleeves and to sequentially inflate the cells in the sleeves introduces unwanted complications.
On the other hand, where the apparatus for treating a patient is in a boot format as in the ""518 patent, it can then only be used with those patients whose foot and leg fit into the boot.
In view of the foregoing, the main object of this invention is to provide an articulated pneumomassage sleeve adapted to fit onto and conform to a foot and lower leg of a patient suffering from an excess of body fluid, the sleeve functioning to displace excess fluid and relieve the patient""s condition.
Among the significant advantages of an articulated sleeve in accordance with the invention are the following:
A. The articulated sleeve can be fitted onto the foot and lower leg of patients whose foot and leg dimensions lie within broad ranges. Hence the articulated sleeve functions as a universal pneumomassage appliance.
B. The articulated sleeve can be quickly installed on the foot and leg of a patient or quickly removed therefrom without any difficulty for the patient such as the difficulty experienced when trying to put on a combination of a cylindrical sleeve and a boot.
C. When the articulated sleeve is mounted on the foot and leg of a patient, the foot section is then hinged to the leg section, so that the patient is then free to flex his foot in the course of treatment.
D. The articulated sleeve is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, for incorporated in its structure are standard zippers or other fasteners, and the sleeve is made of bow cost materials.
More particularly, an object of this invention is to provide an articulated sleeve having on its rear side a row of normally-fastened transverse articulation joints, articulation of the sleeve being effected by unfastening a selected joint.
Also an object of this invention is to provide a pair of pants having an upper section that extends to the waist of the patient and a pair of legs below the upper section, each formed by an articulated sleeve enveloping inflatable cells.
Briefly stated, the objects are accomplished by a pneumomassage articulated sleeve adapted to fit onto a foot and lower leg of a patent afflicted with lymphoedema or other disorder resulting in, excess body fluid. Enveloped by the sleeve is a series of overlapping inflatable cells which when the sleeve is worn, are sequentially inflated to create massaging forces giving rise to a sequential or peristaltic massage action pumping the excess fluid away from the foot and leg.
Along the rear of the sleeve is a row of transverse slots forming articulation joints, each of which is normally fastened. To accommodate the sleeve to the patient to be treated a slot in the row is unfastened to define a foot section conforming to the foot of the patient and a leg section hinged to the foot section conforming to the lower leg of the patient.
A sleeve in accordance with the invention can be used for other pneumomassage purposes, as for example, for cosmetic massaging.


This specification relates to online content provisioning.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources, such as video and/or audio files, and web pages for particular subjects. Access to these resources has provided opportunities for content items to be provided with the resources. There are many different types of content items that can be provided, such as video items, text items, audio items, image items, and combinations thereof. For example, some online content items include a text portion and an image portion. The performance of an online content item is often affected by the form of media used to present the content item.
Some advertisements only include a textual portion. In such cases the content item could be enhanced by accompanying the textual portion by an image portion to display jointly to users. However, unless a content item provider specifies an image or images to be provided with the textual portion, selecting a suitable image to display is a time-intensive process that involves a manual search of images and review of the images and the textual portion.


Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which the pancreas cannot create sufficient insulin (Type I or insulin dependent) and/or in which insulin is not effective (Type 2 or non-insulin dependent). In the diabetic state, the victim suffers from high blood sugar, which can cause an array of physiological derangements associated with the deterioration of small blood vessels, for example, kidney failure, skin ulcers, or bleeding into the vitreous of the eye. A hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar) can be induced by an inadvertent overdose of insulin, or after a normal dose of insulin or glucose-lowering agent accompanied by extraordinary exercise or insufficient food intake.
Conventionally, a person with diabetes carries a self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) monitor, which typically requires uncomfortable finger pricking methods. Due to the lack of comfort and convenience, a person with diabetes normally only measures his or her glucose levels two to four times per day. Unfortunately, such time intervals are so far spread apart that the person with diabetes likely finds out too late of a hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic condition, sometimes incurring dangerous side effects. It is not only unlikely that a person with diabetes will take a timely SMBG value, it is also likely that he or she will not know if his or her blood glucose value is going up (higher) or down (lower) based on conventional method. This inhibits the ability to make educated insulin therapy decisions.


This invention relates to pencil sharpeners, particularly to manually operated pencil sharpeners.
In the prior art there have been known manually operated pencil sharpeners which are provided with a receptacle for receiving shaving scraps which result from the use of the sharpener. One such prior art pencil sharpener with a receptacle and dust-proof cover is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,854 to Becker. The Becker pencil sharpener has a relatively short, large diameter cylindrical configuration, and it does not lend itself easily to placement within a shirt or jacket pocket in conjunction with pencils and pens.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a manually operated pencil sharpener which can be conveniently carried around in a breast pocket along with pens, pencils and other similarly shaped writing implements.
It is a further object of the inventon to provide such a pencil sharpener having interchangeable tools for sharpening different writing implements.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method for the manufacture or treatment of a material web, in particular of a paper or cardboard web, while using a respective machine, in particular a paper machine. The present invention further relates to an apparatus for measuring the hardness and/or the compactness of at least one clothing, in particular, of at least one felt, fabric, belt and/or the like, of a machine, in particular, of a paper machine, for the manufacture or treatment of a material web, in particular of a paper or cardboard web.
2. Description of the Related Art
Previous technologies for studying machine clothing involved online studies of moisture and/or permeability of machine clothing in order to determine their condition and performance. These studies were unable to provide information regarding the compaction (or density) of the machine clothing in cross direction or in machine direction over time. Apart from this, such measurements were unable to provide any indication of nip profile in situations where the clothing had passed through a pressing operation. A method of this kind is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,893 and DE 691 29 788 T2.


1. Field of the Invention
A system and method for storing and sequencing a plurality of luggage items. More specifically a system and method for automatically storing, sequencing, and retrieving luggage items from a storage area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When passengers travel via commercial conveyance methods such as on airliners, the conveyance company often allows the passengers to check their luggage items. The conveyance company and their agents, collect, process, transport, and return to the passenger the checked luggage items upon arrival at the final passenger's final destination.
During processing of the luggage items by the conveyance company, it is often necessary to hold luggage items in process for a period of time. An example of this occurs when a passenger checks in very early for a flight. That passenger's luggage items must be held until the airline is ready to load the flight.
In the current state of the art, stored luggage is managed a number of ways. For example, the stored luggage items may be manually stored in an area designated for this purpose. Such manual handling methods tend to be labor intensive, prone to worker injury, and prone to manual miss-handling error.
According to another example method, as illustrated in FIG. 1, stored luggage items may be sorted to, and accumulated on, long sections of belt conveyor. Each section of belt conveyor may hold a group of luggage items that have common attributes such as flight number or departure time window.
Certain issues associated with such conveyor storage systems have been recognized. For example, such systems require substantial floor space and capital investment. Furthermore, the handling of stored bags in large groups obviates the possibility of processing individual bags or smaller groups of bags. Such handling may be necessary when a passenger changes itinerary or when a flight schedule changes unexpectedly. When these events happen, the entire group, or entire belt section, must be re-sorted to separate the desired luggage item(s) from the group. These handling constraints impair the flexibility of these systems.
In view of the foregoing, there remains a need for improvements to systems and methods for storing and sequencing luggage items.


Many industrial, commercial and consumer processes involve the injection of a gas into a liquid. Intimate contact of the gas and liquid is generally beneficial to the process, and the degree to which this can be achieved will depend on the system's ability to overcome the tendency of the gas to separate from the liquid and coalesce into large bubbles or pockets. Intimate contact, i.e., an increase in the interfacial area can be achieved in a variety of ways, such as the use of specially designed nozzles for the injection of the gas, the use of propellers or stirrers for mechanized mixing, or the insertion of specially engineered conduit sections which function as static mixers.
While any of these methods will suffice to shear gas into small bubbles, certain effects are preferably avoided. Pressure drops, such as those inherent in nozzles, should be avoided or minimized since they consume energy and impede flow. Clogging or fouling of flow passages should also be avoided, since this can cause a rapid rise in the pressure drop if not stop up the flow completely. Still further, the possibility of corrosion must be considered, particularly when this results in frequent or time-consuming down-time for disassembly and replacement of parts.


1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a polished semiconductor wafer for the fabrication of electronic components, having a front surface and a back surface and an edge which forms the periphery of the semiconductor wafer and is part of a profiled boundary of the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer has a polished front surface, into which the components are formed. Strict demands are imposed on the flatness of the front surface, and these demands are extraordinarily high if it is intended to accommodate electronic structures with line widths of 0.1 μm or below (≦0.1 μm technology). To enable the maximum number of circuits of this type to be integrated, it is necessary to ensure the required flatness to as close as possible to the edge of the front surface.
2. The Prior Art
Most efforts to increase the flatness of the side faces of the semiconductor wafer in general and the front surface in particular have consistently been concentrated on substeps involved in the production of a semiconductor wafer which influence the flatness. These substeps include in particular steps such as the lapping and/or grinding and polishing of one or both side faces. At least one polishing step, carried out as a single-side or double-side polishing step, is virtually always carried out. As is made clear by European Patent No. EP 1119031 A2, however, it is also possible for substeps such as the etching of the side faces to have an effect on the flatness, in particular on the flatness in the edge region of the side faces. A semiconductor wafer is usually etched prior to a first polishing step, in order to remove damage from the surface left behind by a previous shaping operation, for example by grinding and/or lapping of the semiconductor wafer. The abovementioned patent application states that a raised portion in the edge region of the polished front surface of the semiconductor wafer is likely if the semiconductor wafer is exposed to a flow of a liquid etchant which is guided onto the boundary of the semiconductor wafer during etching. To avoid this effect, a shield can be positioned in front of the boundary of the semiconductor wafer preventing the etchant from being able to strike the boundary of the semiconductor wafer directly. The document does not give any indications with regard to any potential for targeted influencing of the flatness of a semiconductor wafer in its edge region, in particular with a view to making the semiconductor wafer suitable for the ≦0.1 μm technology.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to circuitry for use with a guidance system for an automatically guided vehicle (AGV) and more specifically to circuitry for detecting the presence of a valid guidepath signal from various types of sensors, such as photocell arrays, infrared light, sound, and the like which operates over a large dynamic range without the need to make gain or threshold adjustments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatically guided vehicles are generally known in the art. Examples of such vehicles are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,328,545; 4,345,662; 3,379,497; 4,623,032; 4,602,334; 4,627,511; 3,039,554; 3,610,363; 3,933,099; 4,003,445; 4,151,526; 4,602,334 and 4,500,970. Such automatically guided vehicles are used in a wide variety of applications, including the transfer of raw materials and subcomponent parts in manufacturing and assembly facilities, the cleaning of floors in warehouses and parking lots and the delivery of mail in business offices. AGVs are also used in a wide variety of applications in the agricultural industry such as, plowing, harvesting, mowing, and the like.
In each application the AGV is guided by on-board sensors which follow a guidepath. Various types of systems are used for automatically guiding the vehicle along a guidepath.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,445, the guidepath consists of a fluorescent material, applied to a floor, carpet or the like which emits visible light in a predetermined frequency range. The fluorescent material, however, is normally invisible under ambient lighting conditions. In this type of guidance system, an ultraviolet light located on the vehicle, irradiates the guidepath. This radiation stimulates the fluorescent materials in the guidepath causing it to emit visible radiation which is sensed by sensors onboard the AGV.
Optical guidance systems for use along a predetermined guidepath are susceptible to spurious operation due to background radiation. Thus, the guidance system must be able to detect a "no-line" situation. Also such systems are affected by the non-uniform intensity of the fluorescent guidepath. The solution to this problem has heretofore been attempted. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,445 discloses an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit for distinguishing between varying intensities of the reflected light from the fluorescent guidepath and background radiation. In this system, AGC feedback circuitry is disclosed for continuously adjusting the gain of the sensor circuit to compensate for the variations in the guidepath intensity. The AGC circuitry is also coupled to other circuitry for detecting a no-line situation. However, such circuitry is relatively complicated and requires a continuous gain adjustment of the sensor circuit to compensate for the varying intensity of the guidepath.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer-assisted methods for identifying and designing small molecule mimetics of erythropoietin.
2. Description of Related Art
Erythropoietin (EPO) is the primary regulator of the proliferation and differentiation of immature erythroid cells. EPO is produced in the fetal liver and in the adult kidney in response to hypoxia (low oxygen levels in blood or tissue). It circulates in the blood stream where it targets the EPO receptor (EPOR) on committed progenitor cells in the bone marrow and other hematopoietic tissues. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is widely used in therapy of patients with anaemia due to chronic renal failure, cancer chemotherapy and AZT treatment.
The EPO receptor belongs to the cytokine receptor superfamily which includes receptors for other hematopoietic growth factors such as interleukins (ELs), colony stimulating factors (CSFs) as well as growth hormone prolactin and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF). The structural architecture of this family of receptors consists of three modules: a ligand binding extracellular domain, a short trans membrane region and a large cytoplasmic domain. It has been proposed that the extracellular domain of this superfamily comprises two discrete domains each containing approximately 100 residues that fold into a sandwich consisting of 7 antiparallel .beta.-strands with the topology of an Ig constant domain. Members of the family share two characteristic motifs in their extracellular domain: a pair of conserved disulfide bridges in the N-terminal domain, and a WSXWS box (SEQ ID NO:2) (where X is any amino acid residue) in the C-terminal domain. For most members of this receptor superfamily, oligomerization of one or more polypeptide chains is essential for forming high affinity receptor complexes. A homodimer complex has been demonstrated to be the active form of hGHR and a similar model has been suggested for G-CSF, prolactin and EPO receptors.
Erythropoietin induces dimerization of two EPO receptor molecules, which results in subsequent phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic domains by the association with two tyrosine kinase (JAK2) molecules to initiate a cascade of events that leads to the relevant biological.
Given the importance of erythropoietin, it would be very desirable to be able to identify molecules capable of binding the EPO receptor and eliciting the response normally elicited by EPO.


The present invention relates to controlling surface defects, as described hereinafter, in steel strip that has a corrosion-resistant metal coating that is formed on the strip by hot-dip coating the strip in a molten bath of coating metal.
The present invention relates particularly but not exclusively to metal coated steel strip that can be cold formed (e.g., by roll forming) into an end-use product, such as roofing products.
The present invention relates particularly but not exclusively to metal coated steel strip having an aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy coating that can be cold formed (e.g., by roll forming) into an end-use product, such as roofing products. The applicant is interested particularly in aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy coated steel strip that is sold in Australia under the registered trade mark Zincalume and in other countries under the registered trade mark Galvalume.
The present invention also relates particularly but not exclusively to metal coated steel strip having an aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy coating with small spangle size, i.e., a coating with an average spangle size of the order of less than 0.5 mm. Coated steel strip products with larger spangle size do not tend to show the generally small defects because the defects are camouflaged by the appearance of the spangle pattern.
The term “aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy” is understood herein to mean alloys comprising the following ranges in weight percent of the elements aluminum, zinc and silicon:
Aluminum: 50-60
Zinc: 37-46
Silicon: 1.2-2.3
The term “aluminum-zinc-silicon” alloy is also understood herein to mean alloys that may or may not contain other elements, such as, by way of example, any one or more of iron, vanadium, chromium, and magnesium.
In the conventional hot-dip metal coating method, steel strip generally passes through one or more heat treatment furnaces and thereafter into and through a bath of molten coating metal, such as aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy, held in a coating pot. The furnaces may be arranged so that the strip travels horizontally through the furnaces. The furnaces may also be arranged so that the strip travels vertically through the furnaces and passes around a series of upper and lower guide rollers. The coating metal is usually maintained molten in the coating pot by the use of heating inductors. The strip usually exits the heat treatment furnaces via an outlet end section in the form of an elongated furnace exit chute or snout that dips into the bath. Within the bath, the strip passes around one or more sink rolls and is taken upwardly out of the bath. After leaving the coating bath, the strip passes through a coating thickness control station, such as a gas knife or gas wiping station, at which its coated surfaces are subjected to jets of wiping gas to control the thickness of the coating. The coated strip then passes through a cooling section and is subjected to forced cooling. The cooled strip may thereafter be optionally conditioned by passing the coated strip successively through a skin pass rolling section (also known as a temper rolling section) and a tension leveling section. The conditioned strip is coiled at a coiling station.
The present invention is concerned particularly but not exclusively with minimizing the presence of particular surface defects on steel strip that has been hot dip coated with an aluminum-zinc-silicon alloy.
The particular surface defects are described by the applicant as “rough coating” and “pinhole-uncoated” defects. Typically, a “rough coating” defect is a region that has a substantial variation in coating over a 1 mm length of strip, with the thickness varying between 10 micron thick and 40 micron thick. Typically, a “pinhole-uncoated” defect is a very small region (<0.5 mm in diameter) that is coated.


A reflective mask substrate to be used in a lithography technology using light in a soft X-ray region or vacuum ultraviolet region having a wavelength of from approximately 0.2 to 100 nm (The substrate, lithography and light are hereinafter referred to as “substrate for EUVL”, “EUVL” and “EUV light”, respectively.) is required to have a high flatness of a surface of the substrate such that a strain is not generated on a transferred image even upon irradiation of EUV light and also to have a small surface roughness so that a high reflectance is obtained, namely it is required to be highly flat and highly smooth. In addition, in order to suppress influences due to the temperature change, it is required that a coefficient of thermal expansion is low. For that reason, it is preferably used as the substrate for EUVL a substrate resulting from a quartz glass substrate containing SiO2 as a major component, in particular a quartz glass with low thermal expansion which has been made to have low thermal expansion by incorporating TiO2 as a dopant, through processing to give high flatness and high smoothness. Though the shape, size, thickness, etc. of the substrate for EUVL are not limited, usually used substrate are plate-shaped bodies having a rectangular or square planar shape, a substrate size of typically 152 mm in square, and an effective area of the substrate, which is to be highly flat and highly smooth, is 142 mm in square.
In mechanical polishing, even if it is intended to process the surface of the foregoing substrate so as to give high flatness and high smoothness, there is a problem in flatness that a concave-convex shape which is a periodical series of a convex and a concave is formed within the surface of the substrate. In such a concave-convex shape, the distance from one convex to an adjacent convex is typically from 75 to 150 mm. For that reason, it was difficult only by the mechanical polishing to obtain a flatness of not more than 0.15 μm in terms of PV (peak-to-valley), which is required for a substrate of a reflective mask for EUVL. As a method of obtaining a desired highly flat surface free from such a concave-convex shape, Patent Documents 1, 2 and 3 disclose methods of obtaining a flat surface shape by carrying out processing through optimizing local processing amounts while employing a processing method such as gas cluster ion beam etching, plasma etching or polishing with a magnetic viscous fluid.
However, when dry etching is applied to a glass substrate, defects inherent to the dry etching are caused; and when polishing with a magnetic viscous fluid is applied, defects inherent to the polishing with a magnetic viscous fluid are caused, resulting in a problem that the surface roughness becomes large. Patent Document 3 discloses a method of improving such surface roughness or defects by employing non-contact polishing such as EEM.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-8-293483
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2002-316835
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2004-291209


Directed damage of the skin is used to stimulate regrowth of collagen and to improve skin appearance. A well known method of directed damage is ablating the epidermis using laser radiation having wavelengths strongly absorbed by water so as to heat the water to above boiling temperature. Typical lasers used for epidermis ablation are CO.sub.2 and Er:YAG lasers. Ablating the epidermis using RF (radiofrequency) current is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,387. This treatment significantly reduces wrinkles and improves the skin appearance. The main disadvantages of skin resurfacing are the long healing period that can be over a month long and the high risk of dischromia. These disadvantages have reduced the popularity of ablative skin resurfacing in recent years.
Non-ablative skin resurfacing is based on heating of the dermis to a sub-necrotic temperature with simultaneous cooling of the skin surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,801 describes penetrating the dermis with infrared laser radiation with dynamic cooling of the skin surface using a cryogen spray.
Wrinkles are created in skin due to the breakage of collagen fibers and to the penetration of fat into the dermal structure. Thus, destroying adipose cells and structure, can improve the surface structure. However, most wrinkle treatment methods target the collagen and do not have a significant effect on deep wrinkles Radio frequency (RF) energy has been used for the treatment of the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,749,626 describes use of RF for collagen formation in dermis. This patent describes a method for collagen scar formation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,470,216, 6,438,424, 6,430,446, and 6,461,378 disclose methods and apparatuses for affecting the collagen matrix using RF with special electrode structures together with cooling and smoothing of the skin surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,453,202, 6,405,090, 6,381,497, 6,311,090, 5,871,524, and 6,452,912 describe methods and apparatuses for delivering RF energy to the skin using a membrane structure. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,453,202 and 6,425,912 describe methods and apparatuses for delivering RF energy and creating a reverse temperature gradient on the skin surface. Although a non-ablative treatment is much safer and does not scar the skin tissue, the results of non-ablative treatments are less satisfactory.
A method described in U.S. patent application No. 20030216719 attempts to maintain the efficiency of ablative treatment with a shorter healing time and a lower risk of adverse effects. The device described in that patent coagulates discrete regions of the skin where the regions have a diameter of tens of micrometers and the distance between the regions is larger than the regions themselves. This treatment provides skin healing within a few days but the results are very superficial and less spectacular than with CO.sub.2 laser treatment, even after multiple treatments.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,116 describes a method of applying electromagnetic energy to the skin through an array of electrodes and delivery electrolyte using a microporous pad.
A device for ablation of the skin stratum corneum using RF electrodes is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,711,435, 6,708,060, 6,611,706, and 6,597,946. However, the parameters of this device are optimized for the ablation of the stratum corneum so as to enhance drug penetration into the skin, and not for thermal collagen remodeling.


Chemical vapor deposition methods are employed to form films of material on substrates such as wafers or other surfaces during the manufacture or processing of semiconductors. In chemical vapor deposition, a chemical vapor deposition precursor, also known as a chemical vapor deposition chemical compound, is decomposed thermally, chemically, photochemically or by plasma activation, to form a thin film having a desired composition. For instance, a vapor phase chemical vapor deposition precursor can be contacted with a substrate that is heated to a temperature higher than the decomposition temperature of the precursor, to form a metal or metal oxide film on the substrate. Preferably, chemical vapor deposition precursors are volatile, heat decomposable and capable of producing uniform films under chemical vapor deposition conditions.
The semiconductor industry is currently considering the use of thin films of various metals for a variety of applications. Many organometallic complexes have been evaluated as potential precursors for the formation of these thin films. A need exists in the industry for developing new compounds and for exploring their potential as chemical vapor deposition precursors for film depositions.
For the chemical vapor deposition of silicon-containing films (e.g., SiO2), compounds such as silane, chlorinated silanes, and alkoxy silanes (e.g., TEOS) are well known. However, as next generation oxide materials with higher dielectric constants, so called ‘high-k’ materials (e.g., HfO2), are integrated, and concurrently new precursors are developed for these materials (e.g., hafnium amides), other silicon precursors will require development for the deposition of ternary systems and beyond (e.g., hafnium silicates).
For silicon amide compounds with cyclic amide ligands, an example reported in the literature is tetrakis(pyrrolidinyl)silane (a solid at room temperature, mp=30° C.). Inorg. Nucl. Chem. Letters 1969 5 733 discloses tetrakis(pyrrolidinyl)silane compound and a low yield synthetic method for preparation thereof.
U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. U.S. 2002/0187644 A1 and U.S. 2002/0175393 A1 disclose metalloamide precursor compositions having stated utility for forming dielectric thin films such as gate dielectric, high dielectric constant metal oxides, and ferroelectric metal oxides and to a low temperature chemical vapor deposition process for deposition of such dielectric thin films utilizing the compositions.
In developing methods for forming thin films by chemical vapor deposition or atomic layer deposition methods, a need continues to exist for precursors that preferably are liquid at room temperature, have adequate vapor pressure, have appropriate thermal stability (i.e., for chemical vapor deposition will decompose on the heated substrate but not during delivery, and for atomic layer deposition will not decompose thermally but will react when exposed to co-reactant), can form uniform films, and will leave behind very little, if any, undesired impurities (e.g., halides, carbon, etc.). Therefore, a need continues to exist for developing new compounds and for exploring their potential as chemical vapor or atomic layer deposition precursors for film depositions. It would therefore be desirable in the art to provide a precursor that possesses some, or preferably all, of the above characteristics.


Integrated lens arrays or aspherical lenses are used in various projectors as important optical components to condense light from a high-brightness light source or to diffuse such light uniformly. Nowadays, such lenses for optical components are required to have high precision. In particular, microlens arrays utilized for image processing are required to have high optical precision to provide high-definition images.
Precision press-molding, wherein polishing is not necessary, has been widely adopted as a method for producing such optical lenses. In order to produce high-precision lenses by this method, it is necessary to decrease the thermal deformation of molds and to enhance transferability. Therefore, an important technical problem is to lower the deformation temperature of the glass material.
Low-melting point borosilicate crown glasses are known as glass materials having low deformation temperatures. However, since the chemical durability of low-melting point borosilicate glasses tends to decrease with lowering deformation temperature, they are not suitable for practical use in lens arrays or aspherical lenses.
In contrast, conventional glass materials such as Pyrex (registered trademark) and white plate glasses have good chemical durability. However, such glass materials have high deformation temperatures; therefore, when they are used for press molding, mold thermal deformation tends to occur, which makes it difficult to produce high-precision lenses.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1993-19379 discloses, as a glass for press molding, an optical glass for precision press molding comprising SiO2, B2O3, and Al2O3 as principal components, and further comprising 3% to 12% by weight of Li2O. Although this glass is described as having a deformation temperature of 560° C. or lower and allowing precision press molding at a temperature of 600° C. or lower, an improvement is desired in terms of press moldability at low temperature. This glass is also unsatisfactory in terms of chemical durability.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-89183 discloses an optical glass for press molding comprising, as an essential component, an alkali metal oxide comprising Li2O, Na2O, and K2O. Although this glass has improved press moldability at low temperature, a further improvement is desired in terms of chemical durability.


Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with the development of genetically modified whole cell cancer vaccines. More specifically, the present invention relates to vaccines capable of augmenting tumor antigen expression, presentation, and processing through expression of the GM-CSF transgene and attenuating secretory immunosuppressive activity of TGF-β via furin bi-functional shRNA transgene induced knockdown.
The prevailing hypothesis for immune tolerance to cancer vaccines include the low immunogenicity of the tumor cells, the lack of appropriate presentation by professional antigen presenting cells, immune selection of antigen-loss variants, tumor induced immunosuppression, and tumor induced privileged site. Whole cancer cell vaccines can potentially solicit broad-based, polyvalent immune responses to both defined and undefined tumor antigens, thereby addressing the possibility of tumor resistance through downregulation and/or selection for antigen-loss variants. A method for making a master cell bank of whole cell vaccines for the treatment of cancer can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,763,461 issued to Link et al. (2010). According to the '461 patent, tumor cells are engineered to express an α (1,3) galactosyl epitope through ex-vivo gene therapy protocols. The cells are then irradiated or otherwise killed and administered to a patient. The α-galactosyl epitope causes opsonization of the tumor cell enhancing uptake of the opsonized tumor cell by antigen presenting cells which results in enhanced tumor specific antigen presentation. The animal's immune system thus is stimulated to produce tumor specific cytotoxic cells and antibodies which will attack and kill tumor cells present in the animal.
Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, often abbreviated to GM-CSF, is a protein secreted by macrophages, T cells, mast cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts. When integrated as a cytokine transgene, GM-CSF enhances presentation of cancer vaccine peptides, tumor cell lysates, or whole tumor cells from either autologous patient tumor cells or established allogeneic tumor cell lines. GM-CSF induces the differentiation of hematopoietic precursors and attracts them to the site of vaccination. GM-CSF also functions as an adjuvant for dendritic cell maturation and activation processes. However, GM-CSF-mediated immunosensitization can be suppressed by different isoforms of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) produced and/or secreted by tumor cells. The TGF-β family of multifunctional proteins possesses well known immunosuppressive activities. The three known TGF-β ligands (TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3) are ubiquitous in human cancers. TGF-β overexpression correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis. Elevated TGF-β levels within the tumor microenvironment are linked to an anergic tumor response. TGF-β directly and indirectly inhibits GM-CSF induced maturation of dendritic cells and their expression of MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecules. This negative impact of TGF-β on GM-CSF-mediated immune activation supports the rationale of depleting TGF-β secretion in GM-CSF-based cancer cell vaccines.
All mature isoforms of TGF-β require furin-mediated limited proteolytic cleavage for proper activity. Furin, a calcium-dependent serine endoprotease, is a member of the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family. Furin is best known for the functional activation of TGF-β with corresponding immunoregulatory ramifications. Apart from the previously described immunosuppressive activities of tumor secreted TGF-β, conditional deletion of endogenously expressed furin in T lymphocytes has been found to allow for normal T-cell development, but impaired function of regulatory and effector T cells, which produced less TGF-β1. Furin expression by T cells appears to be indispensable in maintaining peripheral tolerance, which is due, at least in part, to its non-redundant, essential function in regulating TGF-β1 production.
High levels of furin have been demonstrated in virtually all cancer lines. The inventors and others have found that up to a 10-fold higher level of TGF-β1 may be produced by human colorectal, lung cancer, and melanoma cells, and likely impact the immune tolerance state by a higher magnitude. The presence of furin in tumor cells likely contributes significantly to the maintenance of tumor directed, TGF-β-mediated peripheral immune tolerance. Hence furin knockdown represents a novel and attractive approach for optimizing GM-CSF-mediated immunosensitization and vaccine development. Chen et al. (2004) in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20040242518 provide methods and compositions for inhibiting influenza infection and/or replication based on the phenomenon of RNAi as well as systems for identifying effective siRNAs and shRNAs for inhibiting influenza virus and systems for studying influenza virus infective mechanisms. The invention also provides methods and compositions for inhibiting infection, pathogenicity and/or replication of other infectious agents, particularly those that infect cells that are directly accessible from outside the body, e.g., skin cells or mucosal cells. In addition, the invention provides compositions comprising an RNAi-inducing entity, e.g., an siRNA, shRNA, or RNAi-inducing vector targeted to an influenza virus transcript and any of a variety of delivery agents. The invention further includes methods of use of the compositions for treatment of influenza.
Interferon-gamma (γIFN) is a key immunoregulatory cytokine that plays a critical role in the host innate and adaptive immune response and in tumor control. Also known as type II interferon, γIFN is a single-copy gene whose expression is regulated at multiple levels. γIFN coordinates a diverse array of cellular programs through transcriptional regulation of immunologically relevant genes. Initially, it was believed that CD4+ T helper cell type 1 (Th1) lymphocytes, CD8+ cytotoxic lymphocytes, and NK cells exclusively produced γIFN. However, there is now evidence that other cells, such as B cells, NKT cells, and professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) secrete γIFN. γIFN production by professional APCs [monocyte/macrophage, dendritic cells (DCs)] acting locally may be important in cell self-activation and activation of nearby cells. γIFN secretion by NK cells and possibly professional APCs is likely to be important in early host defense against infection, whereas T lymphocytes become the major source of γIFN in the adaptive immune response. Furthermore, a role for γIFN in preventing development of primary and transplanted tumors has been identified. γIFN production is controlled by cytokines secreted by APCs, most notably interleukins (IL) IL-12 and IL-18. Negative regulators of γIFN production include IL-4, IL-10, glucocorticoids, and TGF-β.


The present invention relates to a method for processing received signals transmitted via a transmission channel and also relates to a corresponding device. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method and corresponding device for channel impulse response improvements in TDMA systems.
Recently, mobile radio telecommunication systems have widely spread. Such mobile radio telecommunication system operate for example according to a commonly agreed standard, like for example the GSM standard. According to GSM standard, data transmission is performed according to a method of time divisional multiple access (TDMA). The TDMA transmission principle specifies that data are transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver and vice versa only during respectively specified time slots of frames.
Data transmission in such telecommunication systems substantially relies on digital data transmission. However, between a mobile radio transceiver device as a subscriber terminal (hereinafter: mobile station MS) and a stationary radio transceiver device as a serving radio network element (hereinafter: base station BS) data have necessarily to be transmitted as analogue data via the air interface Um.
Consequently, data transmitted by the mobile station MS are received via a base station antenna means of a reception device of the base station BS as analogue data. In the course of the further processing of the thus received data by the reception device, the analogue data are analog to digital converted, i.e. passed through an A/D converter means. At the next stage of the processing, the obtained digital data are supplied to an equalizer means for being equalized. The thus obtained output data are then supplied to a channel codec means for coding/decoding the data. At the reception side, decoding is performed to separate received speech data from associated signaling data.
Particular attention in the course of this processing has to be paid to the equalizing of the received data, since the equalizing is required to reconstruct, at the reception side, the transmitted signal from a mixture of received signals.
For example, assuming a situation in a radio telecommunication network with a base station BS and only a single mobile station MS present in the radio coverage area of the base station. Then, a signal s transmitted from the mobile station MS may reach the base station BS directly via line of sight at a time s(t). However, the same signal s may be deflected by, e.g., a building, a mountain or the like present in the environment. Thus, the same signal may reach the base station BS at a later point of time s(t+T), and is thus superposed to the signal s(t). Due to the delay T, both received signals are no longer in phase with each other. Moreover, the delayed signal s(t+T) may even be more attenuated than the signal s(t) due to the longer transmission path. Thus, the signal received by the base station BS and originating from the mobile station MS is distorted. Now, assuming that another mobile station MSxe2x80x2 is additionally present, then signals sxe2x80x2(txe2x80x2), sxe2x80x2(txe2x80x2+Txe2x80x2) are additionally received by the base station BS, which may lead to interference between the respective transmitted data symbols (intersymbol interference).
Therefore, an equalizer means has to reconstruct (detect) the initially transmitted signal s(t) and/or sxe2x80x2(txe2x80x2) from the received mixture of signals s(t), s(t+T), sxe2x80x2(txe2x80x2), sxe2x80x2(txe2x80x2+Txe2x80x2).
The thus reconstructed (or detected) signal is required to be as similar to the originally transmitted signal as possible. This reconstruction is therefore a main concern when designing equalizers, e.g. for use in a reception device of a base station BS.
Hitherto, in equalizers of reception devices used in mobile telecommunication systems, the channel impulse response (CIR) is estimated, and the thus estimated channel impulse response is used to detect, i.e. to reconstruct the transmitted data symbols.
Document WO 94 28661 representing the prior art described in the preambles of claims 1 and 7 discloses a method for estimating a channel state based on a low complexity model. This method is used by a received in Rayleigh fading environments, and the receiver contains at least one channel stated estimator which uses an auto regressive model for channel variations.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,547 discloses a method and an apparatus for coherent communication. According to this method, reference symbols are inserted into a data stream. The channel response is estimated by utilizing the stream of reference samples. An estimated data symbol is detected from the stream of data samples by utilizing the estimated channel response.
Document WO 97 23089 discloses a method and apparatus for channel identification utilizing two Least-Squares (LS) estimators. Each LS estimator is used for calculating a sequence of channel values, and further for determining and estimated channel impulse response, over an entire frequency band thereof.
The estimated channel impulse response is usually based on the received samples of the stream of data symbols. Therefore, it is an estimate of the actual (observed) channel impulse response. However, an error in the channel impulse response leads to a degraded performance when detecting/reconstructing transmitted data symbols from received data symbols.
In a previous solution, the above described estimated channel impulse response is assumed to be ideal, thereby disregarding errors, and it is used as it is for data symbol reconstruction. However, this solution was unsatisfactory due to the error in the observed channel impulse response being not taken into account.
Another known solution for improving the performance of an equalizer is disclosed in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,233 by Labedz et. al., assigned to Motorola Inc. The basic idea described therein is to estimate the energy of taps in the impulse response. Those taps having an energy below a predetermined threshold level are zeroed in order to reduce noise in the estimated channel impulse response. This previously proposed method may be applied to complex taps or real taps, i.e. may be performed separately for real and imaginary taps. The method disclosed in the Labedz patent improves (i.e. reduces) the bit error rate BER in the reproduced detected signal (which is an indication for the quality of a receiver) in situations where the channel interference ratio C/I or C/(I+N), respectively, with N being a noise signal superposed to an interfering signal, is low and the channel has a poor quality. The method is also beneficial in channels having a short impulse response. (The term taps refers to coefficients of each respective delay element of the corresponding FIR model for the used circuitry. Thus, based on the tap values, poles and zeroes of the transmission function may be calculated.)
However, under good channel conditions, the method as proposed by Labedz et. al. even degrades the receiver performance which may be attributable to the zeroing of amplitude coefficients of certain taps.
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for processing received signals transmitted via a transmission channel, and to provide a corresponding device which improve the receiver performance in all channels irrespective of actual channel conditions.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a method for processing received signals transmitted via a transmission channel, the method comprising the step of obtaining an observed response function of said transmission channel, based on said received signals; characterized by the steps of deriving an estimated variance of said received signals; and modifying said observed response function by applying said estimated variance to said observed response function, thereby obtaining a modified impulse response; wherein said step of modifying is effected by multiplying said estimated response function with a vector, the components of which being determined on the basis of parameters of the estimated response function and said estimated variance.
Furthermore, the present invention proposes a device for processing received signals transmitted via a transmission channel, said device comprising obtaining means adapted to obtain an observed response function of said transmission channel, based on said received signals; characterized by deriving means adapted to derive an estimated variance of said received signals; and modifying means adapted to modify said observed response function by applying said estimated variance to said observed response function, thereby obtaining a modified impulse response; said modifying means further comprises a multiplying means adapted to multiply said estimated response function with a vector, the components of which being determined on the basis of parameters of the estimated response function of said estimated variance.
Advantageous further developments of the present invention are as set out in the respective dependent claims.
According to the present invention, the proposed method and/or device are very easy to implement. Moreover, the present invention improves the receiver performance in all channel types as specified in the GSM 5.05 recommendation (e.g. channel models xe2x80x9cHT100xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cRA250xe2x80x9d). Additionally, the improvement may be achieved not only independent of the channel type as such, but also independent of the specific channel condition, i.e. in situations of different channel interference ratios.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described herein below in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.


There are three important subpopulations of T Lymphocytes (T cells): helper T cells, which interact with B cells to amplify production of antibody; effector T cells, which carry out the direct cell-killing function of T cells and make certain lymphokines (non-antibody products) which are responsible for delayed hypersensitivity; and supressor T cells, which participate in the regulation of both antibody-medicated and cell-mediated immunity.
T cells must be activated before any of these forms of activity are expressed. Usually the activation follows from exposure to antigen, but other less specific factors such a interleukin 2 are also believed to participate in the activation of T cells.
Usually there is a latent period of around a week to 10 days after first exposure to antigen before the T cells develop initial reactivity. Shortly after that the reactivity subsides. Upon a second contact with antigen, T cells show an accelerated memory response with high activity developing within 2-5 days.
The addition of antigen to cultured lymphocytes induces a small proportion of T cells to differentiate into the large rapidly dividing blast cells. T cells can also be transformed by culturing them together with the lymphocytes of individuals of the same species, a so-called mixed lymphocyte culture. Because of extensive polymorphism at HLA loci, the two cell populations are virtually always different antigenically and they stimulate each other to undergo blast transformation. For example, isolated blood lymphocytes from recipient and prospective donor are maintained together for several days in tissue culture. Blast transformation occurs if allogenic cells are present. This process may be referred to as alloactivation. Mixed lymphocyte cultures may be established by treating one set of cells in a manner that prevents blast transformation of that set of cells such as irradiating the cells.
A T lymphocyte will recognize an antigen only if the antigen is properly presented by a presenting cell which in many cases is a macrophage. The antigen must be presented juxtaposed to a compatible Ia molecule, a surface molecule coded for by one of the class I transplantation or histocompatibility genes. In man, there are at least two distinct families of Ia molecules encoded by mixed lymphocyte culture genes, HLA-DR and MT or DS. These genes control the formation of the specialized complementary Ia structures on the surface of a presenting cell and the T cells that provide for proper presentation of antigens. T cells may interact with B cells, or other T cells, if the cell possesses complementary Ia structures and if it recognizes the same antigenic determinant or a different determinant on the same antigenic molecule.
During the process of activation, T cells develop new surface antigens, so-called T cell activation antigens. Most of these T cell activation antigens, however, are not T cell specific. For example, the transferrin receptor, the insulin receptor and the 4F2 antigen appear on proliferating cells of many types. Only one T cell activation antigen, Tac (Interleukin-2 receptor), is found only on activated T cells.
The kinetics of antigen appearance on activated T cells has been studied in order to gain some insight into the function of these molecules. Cotner et al. examined the kinetics of appearance of several T cell antigens and found that each exhibited a characteristic and reproducible time of appearance (9). Based upon this, the antigens could be classified as early, intermediate or late appearing antigens.
The relevancy of various cell surface markers to the functional heterogeneity of alloreactive T cell clones has been examined and the rearrangement of the T B-chain gene of the antigen receptor in wild and mutant variants of clones with altered phenotypes and function compared (7). BALB/C mice have been immunized with helper T cell clones to produce two monoclonal antibodies which detect distinct cell surface molecules associated with T cell helper activity and with the production of T replacing factor (8).
The 4F2 antigen, Tac, the 49.9 antigen and the transferrin receptor appear within 24 hours of mitogen stimulation, before the onset of DNA synthesis, and are classified as early antigens. Early appearing antigens may be associated with cell growth. The HLA-DR antigen and the 19.2 antigen (Ia antigen) do not appear until about 72 hours after activation and are classified as late antigens. Expression of the OKT 10 antigen by activated T cells is intermediate.
The molecule or molecules associated with T cell helper function are unknown. Human helper T cells are defined as lymphocytes which express the T4 surface antigen, a T cell specific glycoprotein molecule expressed by cells which recognize and are restricted by major histocompatibility complex class II antigens. This molecule is also found on killer and suppressor lymphocytes suggesting that the T4 molecule is not involved in helper function. Similarly, the T cell antigen receptor does not seem to be involved in any specific T cell function because the gene which encodes the B-chain of the receptor is rearranged and expressed by helper, suppressor and cytotoxic T cells.


In order to satisfy owners and producers of digital content, such as music, movies, and the like, digital content distribution requires many commercial and technical safeguards. Providers of digital content often must take measures to prevent access to their content by unauthorized computer programs, for fear that these applications will illegally copy, display, or distribute the protected content. Moreover, legitimate content providers often license content from content owners and/or producers (e.g., artists, record labels, movie studios, etc.), and the terms of the licenses typically require that adequate safeguards be used so that the licensed content is protected from pirating. Thus, distributors of such content often use digital rights management (“DRM”) tools to prevent copying and recording of their content. But DRM techniques and the strict terms of the licenses between content providers and content owners/producers often impede legitimate content providers from offering fast, convenient, and ubiquitous access to their content catalogs. The ideas disclosed herein help alleviate these problems, and allow legitimate content providers to expand the ways in which they provide licensed digital content to users and third parties.


For several years, there has been a growing interest, in the field of cosmetics, for depigmenting products: age spots (lentigo senile), chloasma, freckles, pigmentation spots that appear on mature skins after a prolonged exposure to the sun, are badly tolerated by affected people.
Fashion phenomena favouring light complexions in Asia and Africa are also factors in favour of the development of depigmenting products.
Melanin is a pigment synthesized by melanocytes which are specific cells of the epidermal basal layer.
Hyperpigmentations are often caused by hyperactivity of the melanocytes, eventually associated to an increase of their number.
Within melanocytes, oxidation reactions that lead to the formation of melanin are mainly catalyzed by tyrosinase. Resulting pigments are uniformly distributed over the epidermis surface, except when the mechanism is disrupted: melanin is then anarchically accumulated in some areas.
The depigmenting properties of some substances have been known for long: as soon as 1936, Oettel noticed a decrease of pigmentation among black cats hair which had been given hydroquinone (Hemsworth B. N. , J.Soc Cosmet. Chem., 1973, 24, 727-733).
Some substances showed a depigmenting action but cannot be used in cosmetic because of their toxicity (for example, mercury salts), of the cutaneous irritation they induce (mercaptoamines, oxidizing products such as hydrogen peroxide) or because of the excessive slowness of their action (ascorbic acid or ascorbic acid derivatives).
Other compounds such as phenolic derivatives, corticosteroids, analogs of vitamin A, some vegetal extracts are used as components in many depigmenting preparations now on the market.
However, these compounds show some side-effects: among phenolic derivatives, hydroquinone, which is an inhibitor of tyrosinase, induces quite a few secondary reactions (inflammatory reactions, burns, prickling sensations, irreversible dyschromia in spots); corticosteroids induce such secondary reactions and cannot be used in cosmetic; analogs of vitamin A (beta carotene, canthaxanthine) are able to block the melanocyte activity but the problem with these substances is making them to penetrate into the cells without being metabolized by the cell enzymes. Plant extracts, containing either arbutin (glucose hydroquinone) or flavonoids or also cinnamic derivatives, are also used as depigmenting agents but have a very slow action.
Generally speaking, the problem with these depigmenting agents of the prior art is that it will take at least a two months treatment before seeing the first results in vivo.


This invention relates to a structure to surround the fusion plasma of a fusion reactor, or other fusion plasma containing device, said structure commonly called a blanket.
Fusion reactors of all varieties produce energetic neutrons which can advantageously be captured in a blanket region or structure substantially or completely surrounding the reactor core. In a fusion-fission hybrid reactor, the blanket contains a fertile fuel intended to breed fissile fuel and to produce energy by neutron induced fission. In a pure fusion reactor, the blanket contains fertile species which capture neutrons to form valuable isotopes. In both reactor types, the blanket is cooled by a coolant by which means heat is transferred away to cool the reactor, and perhaps generate useful power.
While many nuclear transformations are possibly of interest in a fusion reactor blanket, the generation of tritium from a neutron-induced nuclear reaction of lithium nuclei is especially important since tritium is a fusion reactor fuel.
The design of a suitable blanket is considered a significant obstacle to the development of a practical fusion power reactor. Several concepts have been proposed encompassing liquid lithium or solid lithium compounds for tritium breeding, solid fertile fuel for fissile element breeding, and gas, liquid, and even pebble bed coolants. All have technical handicaps. A solid blanket must be replaceable for isotope recovery and for blanket repair which, it develops, is a difficult task. A liquid lithium blanket can be continually or intermittently processed for tritium recovery and can readily be used to recover heat deposited therein by conventional means. However, liquid lithium and other liquid metals in the presence of the strong magnetic fields (in magnetic confinement fusion reactors) experience magnetohydrodynamic forces which limit the serviceability of that type of blanket. Gas cooled blankets have intrinsically lower material densities which reduce the efficiencies of heat transfer. Pebble bed blankets generally require high coolant pumping power.
Consequently, it is desired to provide a blanket for a fusion reactor which can be refueled on-line, has high density, and is well adapted for power and isotope production.


In recent years, electronic presentations have been made using multiple display devices (e.g., monitors, etc.). In such cases, an operator giving the presentation connects an external display device, such as an external monitor or projector for an electronic device, such as a laptop personal computer (PC) carried by the operator and causes an external output device to display the screen content of the laptop PC by operating the laptop PC in, for example, a mirror display mode.
In some conventional electronic devices, such as computer equipment, an operating system for a multi-monitor system can be used to connect two or more display devices to one terminal so that the display devices can be used on the same system in case one display device is separated, which can be intended by a user. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-62177 describes a multi-monitor display in which a small-screen display device is disposed on a side or upper surface of a large-screen display device so that the display screens of these display devices are driven by the same operating system.
In a case in which a multi-monitor setting of the laptop PC is the mirror display mode, for example, the screen content of the laptop PC can be unintentionally displayed on the external display device immediately after the external display device is connected to the laptop PC. Since screen contents of the laptop PC may include content that the operator does not want to be displayed on the external display device, the operator generally wants to quickly switch out of the multi-display mode. This switching operation, however, usually involves pressing a special key or the like, and is not currently known to users. Operation of a special key, in some cases, involves pressing an operation function key “Fn” as a special key and an F-number key (e.g., “F7 ”) at the same time, and this pressing causes the multi-display mode to switch OFF.
Even when the multi-display mode switches OFF by operating the special key, if the mirror display mode has been selected, the display content of the laptop PC can be displayed on the external display device at least for a moment, and a screen content not intended by the operator is displayed on the external display device.


In recent years, valve opening/closing timing control devices that make it possible to change the opening/closing timing of an intake valve and an exhaust valve in accordance with the operation status of an internal combustion engine (hereinafter referred to as an “engine” as well) have been put to practical use. These valve opening/closing timing control devices have a mechanism that, for example, by changing the relative rotation phase of the driven rotating body with respect to the rotation of the driving rotating body (hereinafter referred to as simply “relative rotation phase”) by means of an engine operation, changes the opening/closing timing of an intake/exhaust valve that is opened and closed accompanying the rotation of the driven rotating body.
In general, the optimal opening/closing timing of the intake/exhaust valve differs according to the operation state of the engine, such as the state in which the engine is started, and the state in which the vehicle is traveling. By constraining the relative rotation phase to an intermediate lock phase between the maximum retard phase and the maximum advance phase when starting the engine, the opening/closing timing of the intake/exhaust valve that is optimal for starting the engine is realized, and a case in which a knocking sound is generated due to a partition of a fluid pressure chamber formed by the driving rotating body and the driven rotating body swinging is suppressed. For this reason, it is desired that the relative rotation phase is constrained to the intermediate lock phase before the engine is stopped. The stopping of the engine also includes idling stops in which the engine is stopped for a short amount of time at an intersection or the like so as to suppress the discharge of exhaust gas or the consumption of gasoline.
Patent Document 1 discloses a valve timing adjustment device that can reliably perform locking when a lock pin is to be locked in an intermediate phase between the maximum advance phase and the maximum retard phase. With this valve timing adjustment device, a control valve is configured to connect an advancing port and a lock port to a main supply port and a discharge opening respectively by moving to a first region, and to connect both the advancing port and the lock port to the main supply port by moving to a second region that is shifted away from the first region in a second direction. The first region is a lock region for locking the rotation phase in a restricted phase using a first main restricting member. Furthermore, the first region has a reduction region in which an advance supply flow amount to be supplied to an advancing chamber by connecting the advancing port in communication with the advancing chamber to the main supply port is reduced to a flow amount that is smaller than the flow amount at the moving end in the first direction. Accordingly, in the constricted region, the speed at which a vane rotor rotates to the advance side is a slower speed that corresponds to the flow amount controlled to be a smaller amount. Furthermore, when the phase of the vane rotor gradually changes to the advance side in this way, the lock port and the discharge opening are connected so that working oil is discharged from the lock chamber. Accordingly, locking of the rotation phase that accompanies the flow of the working oil from the lock chamber can be performed reliably due to the phase of the vane rotor gradually changing to the advance side.


Augmented reality (AR) technology augments an image of a real-world environment (reality) by superimposing supplemental information (such as, pictures, videos, three-dimensional (3D) models, and other sensory enhancements) onto the real-word environment. The AR technology overlays virtual objects onto the image of the real world, enhancing a user's perception of reality and providing a user with an immersive, interactive experience.


For many years, radiation therapy has been an indispensable part of cancer therapy. Especially, X-rays and Gamma rays, consisting of small particles called photons, have been used for attacking the tumor. They remove electrons out of tumor cell atoms and destroy larger molecules within the cells by destroying smaller chemical compounds before. Radiation beams also damage the genetic code, the DNA of the cells and thereby the construction plans for essential proteins. Furthermore, cells cannot replicate any more and consequently, they die. However, the energy is only partly transferred to the tumor. This problem has been partly solved by modern techniques in which photon beams hit the tumor from multiple directions and meet at a defined target where they discharge a maximum of energy. At the same time mobile apertures screen the sensitive healthy tissue from radiation. The so called Intensity Modified Radiation Therapy (IMRT) improves the treatment results of conventional radiotherapy considerably.
Ion radiation does not use photons, but positively charged ions, atomic nuclei which have lost at least one electron from the atomic shell. The particles mainly used are hydrogen atomic nuclei (protons) and carbon atomic nuclei, which are very heavy. This particular type of ions is therefore called heavy ion. Atomic nuclei are accelerated in large devices to about three quarters of the speed of light and shot into the tumor. The depth of penetration can be enhanced by speeding up the ions. Ion beams have always been interesting candidates for radiation therapy, since they have special physical characteristics: When they hit the body they travel very fast through the outer layers and lose hardly any energy before they decelerate in the depth and eventually get stuck and transfer their entire deleterious energy to the surrounding tissue. Scientists call this moment the Bragg peak after its discoverer, the English physicist William Henry Bragg. Therefore, ion beams are well-suited for treating tumors located deeply inside the body. Also, tumors with irregular edges can be scanned accurately to the millimeter with the Intensity-Controlled Raster Scan Method.
Radiation therapy with protons and carbon ion beams has been shown to be an effective treatment for tumors. In addition, such therapy has been shown to result in less damage to surrounding healthy tissue than conventional gamma radiation therapy.
Radiation planning for determining the magnitude and position of a radiation dose to be administered is typically based on previous MRI imaging or CT imaging, which may have taken place at a considerable time period before the therapy takes place. In the intervening period, the tissue to be irradiated may have moved, or changed shape. This may result in the irradiation of healthy tissue and/or missing diseased tissue, which may prevent the disease from moving to a remission.
In the past several years, techniques have been developed for more precisely targeting incident radiation upon tumors in a human body. Such techniques have been achieved by using advances in X-ray sources and collimation systems. Also, imaging of the body has been improved by optimizing the related targeting algorithms by mapping the body with CT systems and inputting the data into the algorithm(s). Recently, MRI systems and X-ray systems have been presented that combine attributes of both types of imaging.
Unfortunately, for the treatment of tumors such as those from malignant cancers, X-ray therapy does not possess the precision of dose administration or stopping power that particle-based therapy has. It is difficult or impossible to irradiate targeted tissue and transfer the energy of the radiation to the desired tissue in a precise manner, as X-rays by their nature as highly energetic photons, pass through most soft tissue unimpeded.
While radiations systems and methods do exist to irradiate tumors and other tissue with particles, e.g., protons, carbon nuclei, etc., such charged particles by definition will naturally deflect from a straight line trajectory in the presence of a high-strength magnetic field such as produced by common MRI systems. Such deflection can render ion beam targeting inaccurate, and can potentially cause the irradiation of healthy tissue while at the same time diseased tissue can escape radiation exposure.