The present invention relates to x-ray inspection of containers, and, more particularly, to x-ray inspection employing the detection of backscatter radiation by means of a plurality of backscatter detectors in order to derive information including spatial and material information with respect to contents of the containers.
It is desirable to be able to determine the presence of objects, such as contraband, weapons, or explosives, that have been concealed in an enclosure, such as luggage or a shipping container, or that are concealed behind a surface such as a wall. Additionally, it is desirable to obtain information regarding the geometrical and material characteristics of such objects. Conventional x-ray techniques provide measures either of attenuation, in the case of transmission techniques, or of scatter, in the case of scatter techniques.
Various methods of identifying a backscatter signal with a position within an illuminated enclosure employ scanned beams of x-rays, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,809,312 and 4,825,454 which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. In practice, the backscatter intensity may give only a crude measure of the atomic number of the object since the backscatter intensity is a function of several variables: the effective atomic number of the object; the object""s geometry, including its distance from the x-ray source and the detectors; and the presence of material interposed between the object and the x-ray source/detector arrangement. It is desirable to obtain and process further scatter data so as to resolve a portion of the ambiguity inherent in backscatter measurements.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, in a preferred embodiment, there is provided an inspection system for characterizing an object concealed by a concealing surface. The system has a source of penetrating radiation for emitting a beam that has an orientation and is incident upon the concealing surface at a plane of incidence. The source of penetrating radiation is characterized by a source position. The system also has a first scatter detector having a specified position with respect to the source position and beam orientation, for generating a first signal corresponding to penetrating radiation that has been scattered by the object. Additionally, the system has a second scatter detector having a field of view. The second scatter detector also has a specified position with respect to the source position and beam orientation and generates a second signal corresponding to penetrating radiation that has been scattered by the object. Finally, the system has a controller for determining an effective depth of the object with respect to the plane of incidence on the basis of at least the first and second signals.


The present invention relates generally to the field of can lids and specifically to lids for use on aluminum or metal beverage cans.
The applicant knows of no prior art which teaches the unique structure of his invention. U.S. Pat. No. 2,753,051 discloses a hinge on a pintle for sealing a container. Otherwise none of the structure of the present invention is shown. U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,832 (Yeater) discloses a removable cover for containers. Essentially it is a plastic cover having a pop down lid which locks into place by the force of the user pushing on the cap so that the projections 23 on the bottom side of the cap are pushed past the constricted middle section 16. The structure of the present invention is not disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,255 (Fournier) discloses a two-part lid hinge. The two sections of this lid are connected by a hinge 16 which just may be a piece of plastic. The two sections are oriented so that the second section can be hooked over and on to the first so that the peripheral channel of the second section engages over the peripheral channel of the first section to provide a shallow space between the two sections bounded by a peripheral seal. Small openings are provided in a first section leaving a relatively large continuous imperforate area in that section. A removal tab is provided for forming a drinking opening in the second section, the tab being positioned so that it is disposed opposite the imperforate area in the first section. Again the structure of the present invention is not specifically disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,559 (Lombardi) discloses a lid for a food container. It is a plastic cover that snaps over the top of a food container having a section of that lid that has been cut out so that it may be folded back along a hinge 22. The hinge does not have or disclose the present invention's structure nor does the cap itself disclose the structure of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,411 (Elfelt) discloses a lid for drink cups that includes a drinking flap of limited circumferential extent that may be selectively pivotally opened and closed. Such a drinking flap may be initially defined by frangible, i.e. breakable, lateral edges in the lid and may be held in its open position by the pull tab on the flap being inserted in a slit for a straw orifice. Essentially all this patent discloses, that is pertinent to the structure of the present invention, is a cap with hinges. The Elfelt structure does not appear to be re-usable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,200 (Bush) discloses a child resistant dispensing closure. Again, the structure of this invention is much different from the structure of the present invention and all that is really pertinent with this reference is the fact that there is a cap with a hinge. U.S. Pat. 4,361,250 (Foster) discloses a plastic container closure. This cap may be re-usable and has a flap or portion of the cover that flips open, similar in function to the present invention, in that the flap of Foster seals well. However, the structure of Foster is different from the structure of present invention. The hinged flap of Foster has hinge strips with depending pins formed along the sides of the flap that are integrally connected with the flap by tearable webs. After the flap has first been closed, the pins are anchored to the top of the closure and prevent the flap from opening during shipment of the container. Initial opening of the flap is effected by swinging the flap upwardly with a substantial force to tear the webs and separate the webs from the strips and the anchor pins. The torn webs provide visual indication that the flap has been opened. Accordingly, this is apparently a one use device or cap since once the webs have been torn the re-useability of the device is questionable. It is designed to be tamper resistant and tamper evident packaging. The structure of the present invention is not disclosed. U.S. Pat. 4,494,679 (Cleevely) discloses a thermoplastic container closure for dispensing solids. Again, this is another structure showing a hinged flap or flip cap. However, this flip cap does not appear to have a pintle hinge-type structure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,326 (Morehead) merely discloses a protector for a drink can opening. Specifically it is a device designed to attach to the portion of the lid where the pop tab or the pull tab is located so that it can be swung over or incorporated into the structure of the pop can lid in order to have a grating in place over the drinking opening and prevent the ability of insects like bees to enter into the container. Other than the slits the structure is completely different from the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,214 (Dart) discloses a non-spill drink through lid. Slits to drink through are disclosed. No other structure of present invention is disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,372 (McFarland) discloses a cap for a hot beverage cup. The cap is a disposable, removable closure cap for beverage containers and includes a depression permitting the beverage to be drunk while the cap remains in place on the container. The cap includes perforations in a depending wall located closely adjacent an inner wall of the container in order to limit the flow of beverage into the depression defined in the upper surface of the cap. A slit in the cap permits the aroma of the beverage to be enjoyed while the beverage is being drunk from the depression. The cap may be formed from sheet plastic material. This structure is completely different from the structure of the present invention, although it does disclose slits. It does not disclose the lip protection feature of the present structure although the well 28 of the McFarland device is designed to produce a somewhat similar effect. However the structure is completely different. U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,088 (Durgin) discloses a beverage container lid which includes a foldable flap which may be opened to allow the user to drink from a beverage container which is covered by the lid. A recess in the beverage lid is provided to receive the opened flap and to firmly secure the flap in its open position. The recess includes a pair of detentes on either side and an overhang at one end which cooperate to hold the flap firmly within the recess. The flap of course is also hinged. The structure of this cap is different than the structure of the cap which is the present invention, although it appears that recess 40 allows the flap to be flipped back and locked in place so that it is out of the way when a person drinks from the container. U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,865 (Turner) discloses a container lid with an integral stop. Essentially the structure of Turner is quite different from the present invention's structure and the main similarity is the fact that it discloses a hinged flap on the lid. The hinge is molded unitarily to the upper margin of the central support in the cover. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,774 (Nabinger) also discloses a removable and re-sealable lid for a container but Nabinger's structure is much different from the present invention's structure.


This invention relates to novel hydratropic acid derivatives.


The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method for increasing by many orders of magnitude the concentration of a specific nucleic acid sequence in a test sample. The PCR process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195; 4,683,202; and 4,965,188, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In PCR, a test sample believed to contain one or more targeted nucleic acid sequences is combined in a total volume of usually about 20 to 200 .mu.l with the following reagents: an aqueous buffer, pH 8-9 at room temperature, usually also containing approximately 0.05 M KCl; all four common nucleoside triphosphates (e.g., for DNA polymerase, the four common dNTPs: dATP, dTTP, dCTP, and dGTP) at concentrations of approximately 10.sup.-5 M to 10.sup.-3 M; a magnesium compound, usually MgCl.sub.2, usually at a concentration of about 1 to 5 mM; a polynucleotide polymerase, preferably a thermostable DNA polymerase, most preferably the DNA polymerase I from Thermus aquaticus (Taq polymerase and the Stoffel fragment of Taq polymerase are the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,818, incorporated herein by reference; the latter enzyme lacks the 5'.fwdarw.3' exonuclease activity of native Taq polymerase), usually at a concentration of 10.sup.-10 to 10.sup.-8 M; and single-stranded oligonucleotide primers, usually 15 to 30 nucleotides long and usually composed of deoxyribonucleotides, containing base sequences which are Watson-Crick complementary to sequences on both strands of the target nucleic acid sequence(s). Each primer usually is present at a concentration of 10.sup.-7 to 10.sup.-5 M; primers are synthesized by solid-phase methods well known in the art of nucleic acid chemistry.
In the simplest form, PCR requires two primers for each target sequence. These primers, when annealed to the opposing target strands, have their 3' ends directed toward one another's hybridization sites and separated by about 100 to 1,000 nucleotides (occasionally up to about 10,000 nucleotides). The polymerase catalyzes magnesium-dependent, template-directed extension of each primer from the 3' end of the primer, incorporating nucleoside monophosphates into the growing nucleic acid and releasing pyrophosphate.
This extension reaction continues until the polymerase reaches the 5' end of the template strand to which the extended primer was annealed, at which point the polymerase is free to bind to another primer-template duplex and catalyze extension of that primer molecule; the extension reaction also stops if the reaction mixture is heated to temperatures sufficient to separate the template from the extended primer before the enzyme has reached the 5' end of the template. After the enzyme has worked long enough to transform a large fraction of the primer-template duplexes into double-stranded nucleic acid, the latter can be denatured at high temperature, usually 90.degree. to 100.degree. C., to create two single-stranded polynucleotides, which, after cooling to a temperature where they can be annealed to new primer molecules, serve as templates for another round of enzyme-catalyzed primer extension. Because both DNA strands serve as template, each round of nucleic acid replication approximately doubles the concentration of the specific nucleic acid sequence defined at its ends by the two primer sequences. Therefore, the total concentration increase in the target nucleic acid sequence in a PCR amplification is by a factor of approximately 2.sup.n, where n is the number of completed thermal cycles between a high temperature where double-stranded DNA is denatured and a lower temperature or set of temperatures (40.degree. to 75.degree. C.) where primer-template annealing and primer extension occur.
Although one can move PCR reaction tubes manually back and forth between thermostated baths in the two temperature ranges, PCR most commonly is performed in an automated temperature-controlled machine, known as a "thermal cycler," in which a microprocessor is programmed to change the temperature of a heat-exchange block or bath containing reaction tubes back and forth among several specified temperatures for a specified number of cycles, holding at each temperature for a specified time, usually on the order of one-half to two minutes. Such a thermal cycler is commercially available from Perkin Elmer Cetus Instruments and described in the European Patent Publication No. 236,069 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 670,545, filed Mar. 14, 1991, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 620,606, filed Nov. 29, 1990, both of which are incorporated herein by reference. The total cycle time is usually less than 10 minutes, and the total number of cycles is usually less than 40, so that a single, multi-cycle amplification, amplifying the targeted nucleic acid sequence 10.sup.5 to 10.sup.10 times, normally takes less than seven hours and often less than four hours.
The practical benefits of PCR nucleic acid amplification have been rapidly appreciated in the fields of genetics, molecular biology, cellular biology, clinical chemistry, forensic science, and analytical biochemistry, as described in the following review volumes and articles: Erlich (ed.), 1989, PCR Technology, Stockton Press (New York); Erlich et al. (eds.), 1989, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Cold Spring Harbor Press (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.); Innis et al., 1990, PCR Protocols, Academic Press (New York); and White et al, 1989, Trends in Genetics 5/6:185-189. PCR can replace a large fraction of molecular cloning and mutagenesis operations commonly performed in bacteria, having advantages of speed, simplicity, lower cost, and sometime increased safety. Furthermore, PCR permits the rapid and highly sensitive qualitative and even quantitative analysis of nucleic acid sequences, often with greatly increased safety because so much PCR product is made that nonisotopic detection modes suffice.
Despite rapid and broad adoption of PCR by a range of biological and chemical disciplines, PCR has sometimes suffered from the occurrence of side reactions which interfere with amplification of the specific target sequence or sequences. Many amplifications yield non specific side products differing in size and sequence from the sequence targeted by the primers used. Sometimes nonspecificity is caused by mis-priming, where primers have been annealed to non-target sequences, also present in the nucleic acid of the test sample similar to the target sequence. Although the genomic DNA commonly contained in PCR test samples has customarily been thought to be completely double-stranded, procedures used to prepare DNA for amplification appear to render that DNA, to a significant extent, single-stranded. Single-stranded DNA is especially susceptible to mis-priming if mixed with a complete set of PCR reagents at ambient or sub-ambient temperatures. Many PCR reagents also yield primer dimers or oligomers, double-stranded side products containing the sequences of several molecules joined end-to-end, the yield of which correlates negatively with the yield of amplified target sequence.
Recently several methodological modifications have improved PCR specificity and sensitivity significantly. In Hot Start.TM. PCR, complete mixing of PCR reagents and test sample is delayed until reactants have been heated to a temperature in the 50.degree. C.-80.degree. C. range, sufficient to minimize mis-priming and primer dimerization; thermal cycling is started immediately after mixing at elevated temperature. In manual Hot Start.TM. PCR, the operator heats the reaction tube, containing test sample and a subset of PCR reagents, to the elevated incubation temperature, opens each tube separately to add a small volume of liquid containing the missing reagent(s), and closes each tube before moving on to the next one. See Frohman et al., 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:8998-9002; Ward et al., 1989, Nature 341:544-546; Newton et al., 1989, Nucl. Acids Res. 17:2503-2516; and Faloona et al., Abstract 1019, 6th International Conference on AIDS, June 20-24, 1990, San Francisco, Calif. More recently, Hot Start.TM. PCR was rendered more convenient and precise by (1) replacement of the conventional mineral oil vapor barrier by a layer of wax melting in the 50.degree. C. to 80.degree. C. range, (2) assembly of reaction tubes such that before thermal cycling, PCR reactants are grouped into subsets separated by a solid wax layer, and (3) convective mixture of all reactants during the first heating step of thermal cycling after the solid wax melts into a lighter-than-water oil. Such wax-mediated, Hot Start.TM. PCR is the subject of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 481,501, filed Feb. 19, 1990, now abandoned in favor of continuation application U.S. Ser. No. 07/890,300, filed May 27, 1992, incorporated herein by reference.
Alternatively, nonspecific amplified nucleic acid resulting from primer dimerization and mis-priming while completely mixed PCR reactants stand at room temperature before thermal cycling can be destroyed by an enzymatic restriction process described in PCT U.S. patent application Ser. No. 91/05210 filed Jul. 23, 1991, which published as PCT Patent Publication No. WO 92/01814 on Feb. 6, 1992, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 609,157, filed Nov. 2, 1990, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 557,517, filed Jul. 24, 1990, now abandoned each of which is incorporated herein by reference. To perform such restriction, one of the conventional four dNTPs is replaced by a structural analogue which is incorporated into all amplified nucleic acid by the PCR polymerase. Also included in the reaction mixture is an enzyme which digests nucleic acid at (and only at) positions which contain the structural analogue; this enzyme must be active only at temperatures below about 50.degree. C., so that it does not damage amplified nucleic acid during thermal cycling at higher temperatures. Preferably the restriction enzyme is permanently inactivated during thermal cycling, so that it cannot damage amplified nucleic acid if the latter is stored for any significant period of time at room temperature after amplification and before analysis. The most practical restriction enzymes are glycosidases which cleave from the polynucleotide phosphodiester backbone the unconventional nucleic acid base introduced by the dNTP analogue. The resulting abasic sites experience cleavage of the polynucleotide phosphodiester backbone upon heating. This restriction process has been integrated practically with PCR by replacing dTTP with dUTP and by incorporating in the reaction mixture the enzyme uracil-N-glycosidase.
A chemical variant of the Hot Start.TM. process incorporates into the PCR reagent mixture a single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) at a concentration sufficient to bind a significant fraction of the single-stranded DNA present before thermal cycling is started. This ssDNA comprises minimally the primers, the concentrations of which are well known by the operator, and may also include slight or considerable amounts of the test sample DNA, depending on whether the latter has been prepared in a way which might denature it. During thermal cycling, the binding of the SSB to primers and single-stranded template strands formed by PCR product denaturation must be weak enough not to interfere with primer-template annealing and enzymatic primer extension. Before thermal cycling, while reactants stand together at room temperature, SSB binding to the primers and any single-stranded regions of test sample DNA must be strong enough to block mis-priming and primer dimerization. Two heavily studied SSBs (Chase and Williams, 1986, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 55:103-136) are commercially available and have been used with PCR: gene 32 protein from the bacteriophage T4 and the 19 kilodalton SSB from E. coli (19 kda is the subunit size; the normal active species is a tetramer). SSB is the major active ingredient of Perfect Match.TM. polymerase enhancer, a mixture of E. coli SSB and bovine serum albumin sold by Stratagene (San Diego, Calif.) for the purpose of increasing PCR specificity and yield. Bacteriophage gene 32 protein has been included in PCR mixtures to improve amplification of long targets (Schwarz et al., 1990, Nucl. Acids Res. 18:1079) and to relieve polymerase inhibition by blood in the test sample (Panaccio and Lew, 1991, Nucl. Acids Res. 19:1151). However, essentially all organisms possess SSBs with compositions unique to each organism. Other SSBs which have been characterized biochemically include one from a filamentous bacteriophage (Brayer and McPherson, 1984, Biochemistry. 23:340-349), a family of sequence-homologous proteins from plant virus (Saito et al., 1988, Virology 167:653-656, and Citovsky etal., 1990, Cell 60:637-647), and one from Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Citovsky et al., 1989, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:1193-1197). SSBs possess enough structural similarity to suggest that DNA binding is associated with a consensus structure of alternating aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) and charged amino acids (glutamate, aspartate, lysine, and arginine) (Prasad and Chiu, 1987, J. Mol. Biol. 193:579-584) such that artificial polypeptides might be created which function as well as the biological SSBs in improving PCR specificity and yield. In addition, enough is known about SSB structure and function to suggest ways to improve function by genetic engineering.
Although the three basic tactics of PCR specificity enhancement (Hot Start.TM. methods, amplified DNA restriction, and SSB addition to the reaction mixture) each can serve alone to improve specific amplification, combinations of the three approaches may have special benefits. For example, whereas Hot Start.TM. methods block only that nonspecificity resulting from reactant incubation at ambient temperature before cycling is started, SSB s may reduce mis-priming which arises during thermal cycling. On the other hand, SSB used without a manual or wax-mediated Hot Start.TM. process occasionally will trigger massive primer dimerization which interferes with specific amplification. The combination of the two methods optimally reduces mis-priming and primer dimerization.
The preceding background art has dealt with conventional PCR, wherein test sample nucleic acids are extracted from a biological source in a way which destroys target sequence association with individual cells or subcellular structures. So-called in situ nucleic acid hybridization methods have evolved to detect target sequences in the cells or organelles where they originated (for a review of the field, see Nagai et 1987, Intl. J. Gyn. Path. 6:366-379). Typically, in situ hybridization entails (1) preparation of a histochemical section or cytochemical smear, chemically fixed (e.g., with formaldehyde) to stabilize proteinaceous subcellular structures and attached to a microscope slide, (2) chemical denaturation of the nucleic acid in the cellular preparation, (3) annealing of a tagged nucleic acid probe to a complementary target sequence in the denatured cellular DNA, and (4) localized detection of the tag annealed to target, usually by microscopic examination of immobilized nonisotopic (absorbance or fluorescence staining) or isotopic (autoradiographic) signals directly or indirectly generated by the probe tag. However, conventional in situ hybridization is not very sensitive, generally requiring tens to hundreds of copies of the target nucleic acid per cell in order to score the presence of target sequence in that cell.
Recently, the sensitivity enhancement associated with PCR amplification of target sequence has been combined with the target localization of in situ hybridization to create in situ PCR, wherein PCR is performed within chemically fixed cells, before (Haase et al., 1990, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:4971-4975, incorporated herein by reference) or after (Nuovo et al., 1991, Amer. J. Pathol. in press, incorporated herein by reference) the fixed cells have been attached to a microscope slide; the amplified nucleic acid is located by microscopic examination of autoradiographs following isotopically tagged probing (Haase et al., supra) or stained patterns directly deposited on the microscope slide following enzyme-linked detection of biotin-tagged probes (Nuovo et al., supra). The cells may be suspended (Haase et al., Supra) or may be part of a tissue section (Nuovo et al., supra) during in situ amplification.
In situ PCR requires a delicate balance between two opposite requirements of PCR in a cellular preparation: the cell and subcellular (e.g., nuclear) membranes must be permeabilized sufficiently to allow externally applied PCR reagents to reach the target nucleic acid, yet must remain sufficiently intact and nonporous to retard diffusion of amplified nucleic acid out of the cells or subcellular compartments where it is made. In addition, the amplified nucleic acid must be sufficiently concentrated within its compartment to give a microscopically visible signal, yet remain sufficiently dilute that it does not reanneal between the denaturation and probe-annealing steps. Haase et al., supra, relied on paraformaldehyde fixation of cells to have created sufficient but not excessive permeability. Nuovo et al., supra, also employed a single, commercially available, proteinase treatment to improve permeability.
Both Haase et al., supra, and Nuovo et al., supra, used a series of PCR primer pairs to specify a series of overlapping target sequences within the genome of the targeted organism to improve retention of amplified target nucleic acid within the cellular compartment where it was made. The resulting PCR product was expected to be so large (greater than 1,000 base pairs) that its diffusion from site of origin should be greatly retarded. However, the use of multiple primer pairs severely reduces the practicality of in situ PCR, not just because of the expense associated with producing so many synthetic oligonucleotides, but even more seriously because many PCR target organisms, especially pathogenic virus, are so genetically plastic that it is hard to find even a few short sequences which are sufficiently invariant to make good primer and probe sites. Other important target sequences, such as activated oncogenes, inactivated tumor suppressor genes, and oncogenic chromosomal translocations, involve somatic point mutations and chromosomal rearrangements which can be distinguished from the parental sequence if relatively short PCR products are amplified from single primer pairs. Multiple primer pairs and long structures would frustrate attainment of the specificity often needed to distinguish cancerous cells from their normal neighbors. Multiple primer pairs jeopardize PCR in a different way as well; they promote primer dimerization and mis-priming, reducing sensitivity and specificity and increasing the likelihood of false-negative results because nonspecific amplification radically reduces the yield of amplified target sequence. Reinforcing the tendency of multiple primer pairs to enhance nonspecific amplification are the rather high primer concentrations preferred for in situ PCR (Nuovo et al., supra).
One useful variant of conventional PCR detects target RNA sequences in test samples by creating complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences with the catalytic mediation of added reverse transcriptase; the cDNA then is subjected to standard PCR amplification (Kawasaki et al., 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85(15):5698, and Rappolee et al., 1989, J. Cell. Biochem. 39:1-11). Recently, such RNA PCR has been streamlined by using a thermostable DNA polymerase which, depending on exact chemical conditions, also shows strong reverse transcriptase activity. This enzyme and its optimized application to RNA PCR are subject of PCT U.S. patent application Ser. No. US90/07641, filed Dec. 21, 1990, incorporated herein by reference. Adaptation of in situ PCR to RNA targets will realize the full potential of the method to differentiate among neighboring cells in a histochemical or cytochemical preparation with respect to somatic mutation, pathogenic infection, oncogenic transformation, immune competence and specificity, state of differentiation, developmental origin, genetic mosaicism, cytokine expression, and other characteristics useful for understanding both normal and pathological conditions in eukaryotic organisms.
The present invention increases the convenience, sensitivity, and specificity of in situ PCR, also eliminating any need for multiple primer pairs to detect a single target sequence. In doing so, it also allows in situ PCR to discriminate among alleles and increases the practicality of in situ PCR analysis of RNA targets.


The invention relates to a shaft for manually guided lift vehicles and lift loaders equipped with a driving mechanism which has a steering head at its free end that contains gripping handles and operating switches for the driving and lifting operation of the vehicle.
A steering head on a shaft of a lift vehicle is known which comprises operating gripping handles directly connected with the stem of the shaft as well as having actuating control switches for the lift vehicle. Gripping handles are supported at a stem of the steering head by means of bows. The steering heads, during operation of the lift vehicles are subjected to multiple stress as a result of improper operating and handling which may damage parts of the steering head making the lift vehicle inoperative.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved steering head which has an easily exchangeable design.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by having the steering head comprising two cup elements which are detachably connected with one another. One cup element is fixedly connected with the shaft and is constructed as a supporting part for the second cup element, which contains the gripping handles as well as the operating switches.
It is advantageous if the supporting part is provided with at least two supporting noses which are arranged at a distance from each other and at opposite sides of a stem of the shaft. Corresponding supporting noses are provided on the second cup element, disposed opposite the forementioned supporting noses in a contacting manner. Fastening screws for connecting the two cup elements with one another are located in the noses.
It is also advantageous if the second cup element has an arcuately shaped cross-section and a bent connecting leg with a front edge which is provided with a surrounding shoulder into which a front edge of the supporting part overlaps from the outside. By such a construction the two cups are form-lockingly held together such that the joint that locks the outer surfaces of the two cup elements extends in a flush manner at the connecting area. To provide better support is preferable if the two cup elements each have receiving bores for the fastening screws that have axes that extend at a distance from the switch and from the gripping handle.
Plug in connections can be used to connect electrical connecting lines (from the switches on the second cup element) to the feeding lines in the supporting part.
The principal advantage achieved by the invention is, that as a result of its two-piece construction, the steering head is easily and rapidly exchangeable when the part of the steering head receiving the operating elements is damaged. This limits the time that the vehicle cannot be used and does not require the vehicle to be taken out of service.
In order to achieve this rapid exchanging of the one element of the steering head in a simple manner, the head is formed of two parts connected by way of two screws and with the supporting part at the shaft stem. The fastening screws can be reached in a straight line by means of a screwdriver without any impairment by any parts of the steering head.
By means of the special development of the two cup elements of the steering head with corresponding supporting noses and mutually engaging connecting edges, a sturdy structural unit is provided. Here the cup element (connected with the stem) essentially absorbs the forces occurring at the steering head.
So that a fast and problem-free disconnecting and connecting of the electrical lines takes place, the electrical feeding lines are connected with the other lines leading to the operating switches through one or more electrical plugs.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile phone, and especially to processing performed by a mobile phone upon writing a PRL (Preferred Roaming List).
(2) Description of the Related Art
Some telecommunications carriers have a mutual agreement to provide a service called roaming, which is the extending of connectivity in another carrier's service area. The roaming service allows users to use their mobile phones via a communication system (i.e. base station) of a carrier other than the carrier with which the users are registered. A list called PRL indicates which of available communication systems the mobile phone should use by priority, and also indicates other information regarding the respective communication systems.
With the use of PRL, the users are allowed to set up a selection condition, such as a communication mode, that needs to be satisfied by a communication system to be selectable. The mobile phone selects a communication system to be used, based on the PRL stored therein and the selection condition set by the user. That is, by setting up a selection condition specifying a specific communication mode, the user can ensure that the mobile phone conducts communications with a communication system in the desired communication mode.
For example, the user may set up such a selection condition that the mobile phone does not use any communication system available via a roaming service. Use of a roaming communication system generally incurs extra charges. By setting a selection condition for not using a roaming service, the user can save such extra charges.
The PRL stored in a mobile phone needs to be updated in the case where the telecommunications carriers build a new base station or remove an existing base station. In such a case, information contained in the PRL may no longer be consistent with the current state of communication systems. In order to maintain the accuracy of the PRL, each time a change is made to the communication systems, the mobile phone newly acquires a PRL reflecting the change, and selects a communication system to use based on the newly acquired PRL. A method for updating data stored in a mobile device from an external source is disclosed in JP Patent Application Publication No. 2001-217847.
It should be noted, however, that the newly acquired PRL may not contain any communication system satisfying the selection condition set by the user.
Suppose, for example, the user specifies an analog communication mode as a selection condition, whereas all the communication systems contained in the newly acquired PRL are capable of digital communications and not capable of analog communications.
In the case where, as described above, the PRL does not contain any communication system satisfying the user-set selection condition, the mobile phone cannot select any communication system. As a consequence, the mobile phone will be unable to carry out communications.
In order to avoid such an undesirable occurrence, upon acquisition of a new PRL, a state-of-the-art mobile phone automatically resets the selection condition set by the user, so that all the communication systems are made selectable. This arrangement serves to prevent that the mobile phone will be unable to conduct communications.
It should be noted, however, according to the above arrangement, each time a new PRL is acquired, the user-set selection condition is automatically discarded and changed to a predetermined state. This change of the selection condition takes place without informing the user or without user's consent.
According to OTAPA (Over-the-air Parameter Administration), the mobile phone automatically acquires a new PRL from an external source without requiring any user operation. Thus, the PRL acquisition and the change of selection condition take place while the user is not aware of it. As a result, it is possible that while the user believes that the mobile phone sets up communications using a communication system satisfying the selection condition set by the user, a communication system actually used is the one not desired by the user.


The inventor of the present invention has recognized the success of semiconductor devices has been mainly driven by an intensive transistor down-scaling process. However, as field effect transistors (FETs) approach sizes less than 100 nm, physical problems such as short channel effect begin to hinder proper device operation. For transistor based memories, such as those commonly known as Flash memories, other performance degradations or problems may occur as device sizes shrink. With Flash memories, a high voltage is usually required for programming of such memories, however, as device sizes shrink, the high programming voltage can result in dielectric breakdown and other problems. Similar problems can occur with other types of non-volatile memory devices other than Flash memories.
The inventor of the present invention recognizes that many other types of non-volatile random access memory (RAM) devices have been explored as next generation memory devices, such as: ferroelectric RAM (Fe RAM); magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM); organic RAM (ORAM); phase change RAM (PCRAM); and others.
A common drawback with these memory devices include that they often require new materials that are incompatible with typical CMOS manufacturing. As an example of this, Organic RAM or ORAM requires organic chemicals that are currently incompatible with large volume silicon-based fabrication techniques and foundries. As another example of this, Fe-RAM and MRAM devices typically require materials using a high temperature anneal step, and thus such devices cannot be normally be incorporated with large volume silicon-based fabrication techniques.
Additional drawbacks with these devices include that such memory cells often lack one or more key attributes required of non-volatile memories. As an example of this, Fe-RAM and MRAM devices typically have fast switching (e.g. “0” to “1”) characteristics and good programming endurance, however, such memory cells are difficult to scale to small sizes. In another example of this, for ORAM devices reliability of such memories is often poor. As yet another example of this, switching of PCRAM devices typically includes Joules heating and undesirably require high power consumption.
From the above, improved semiconductor memory devices that can scale to smaller dimensions with reduced drawbacks are therefore desirable.


Various devices and systems are known for use in harvesting solar energy by the use of photovoltaic cells. These include slat concentrators, which are photovoltaic devices generally comprising a series of parallel trough-shaped off axis parabolic reflectors to concentrate sunlight on photovoltaic receptors mounted on respective adjacent reflectors. The reflectors are typically automatically actuated to track the sun in order to ensure accurate reflection and concentration of solar radiation on the photovoltaic receptors.
The photovoltaic receptors forming part of such concentrators have a limited lifespan and the photovoltaic devices therefore require periodic removal and replacement of the photovoltaic receptors. There is a relationship between the operating temperatures of the photovoltaic receptors and their lifespan. Additionally, a photovoltaic receptor generally displays higher efficiency at lower temperatures.


Grid computing is a method of harnessing the power of many computational resources in a network. Grid computing is a distributed computer infrastructure involving large-scale sharing applications and/or high performance processing and network bandwidth.
Referring to FIG. 1, a grid computing environment comprising a plurality of heterogeneous computing nodes distributed across multiple administrative domains. A virtual organization (e.g., VO-X, VO-Y, and VO-Z) may include nodes from different domains. For example, VO-Z includes nodes from each of Administrative Domains 110, 120, and 130.
A node (hereinafter also referred to as a computing resource) may be a member of several virtual organizations. An end-user (e.g., USER M, USER N, or USER O) may need to access remote nodes either in the same administrative domain, or across domains. For example, User O may access VO-Y from within Domain 120, or User N within Domain 130 may access the same node from outside of Domain 120. Similarly, User M of Domain 130 may access both VO-Y and VO-Z through a single node in Domain 110.
Traditionally, grid computing has provided for the execution of batch jobs in the scientific and academic community. Batch execution on a grid computing environment requires authentication, authorization, resource access, resource discovery, and other services. In support of batch processing of jobs on a grid computing environment, protocols, services, application programming interfaces, and software development kits have been developed. The conventional method and system are not particularly suited for interactive grid computing sessions.
In a grid computing environment, security can be a concern. As a result, a grid computing service, providing access to desktops for use, may reside behind a firewall. In addition, a user that is accessing a grid computing resource, may reside behind another firewall. Conventional methods for providing grid computing resources cannot traverse firewalls and provide a secure connection simultaneously.
Port forwarding can be used to traverse firewalls between organizations. In this solution a third party host is needed between firewalls which is accessible from both organizations. Both organizations need to connect to this bridge host to open a tunnel.
This solution may be fine for academic settings, but in commercial environments, the client may not want to go over an intermediate bridge for connecting to the ASP. Also, bridge host needs to be especially set up in order to do port forwarding.
A grid computing infrastructure that can hide the complexities of resource management from the user and that can provide secure graphical and multimedia interactive sessions is needed.


The present invention relates to a process for the early detection of damage to machine parts, particularly rolling element bearings, in which process forced vibrations are detected by means of a vibration pickup.
British Patent No. 1,367,773 discloses a process for the early detection of damage to machine parts, particularly rolling element bearings, in which process signals from forced vibrations stemming from the machine are detected by means of a vibration pickup. Peak values of the forced vibrations always occur whenever a flaw in an otherwise undamaged surface rolls over a second undamaged surface. The picked up signals are transmitted to a peak value detector and to a mean value calculator. By means of a divider, the ratio of the output signal of the peak value detector to the output signal of the mean value calculator is formed and transmitted to a display unit. If the ratio exceeds a preselected limit, a signal is activated. Surface defects can be detected by means of this process, as long as they are still low in number and extent. However, in the case of this process, access to previously measured results is necessary to set the limit values of the ratio.
A process of the type mentioned above, in which forced vibrations of the machine are detected at the machine by means of vibration pickups, is known from West German Patent No. 3,245,505. For this purpose, vibration pickups are used to measure a first structure-borne noise parameter in the high-frequency range and a second structure-borne noise parameter in the low-frequency range of the frequency spectrum, and both measured values are compared by means of a comparator. On the basis of the measured values of the first structure-born noise parameter and of the second body-noise parameter, an auto-performance spectrum G.sub.11 or G.sub.22, respectively, is formed for each of these parameters. A cross-performance spectrum G.sub.12 is also formed calculated on the basis of both structure-borne noise parameters. A coherence function is formed from these values and a rise in the coherence function serves as a signal for the early detection of damage. Although this process makes it possible to carry out early detection of damage independent of the previous determinations of reference values, this process is not suitable for estimating the remaining service life of the machine part.


Online auctions delivered to users via the World Wide Web have become a popular activity for users interested in purchasing goods and services at the least possible amount online. Many online auctions allow a person to bid on an item in an attempt to obtain a winning bid and an associated opportunity to purchase the auction item at the winning bid price. Known online auction websites allow several users to compete with other online auction participants by submitting bids on a particular item until a predefined period of time has elapsed, and the highest bidder is determined.
At least some known online auction websites require users to purchase a bid unit that represents an opportunity to submit a bid in an auction and to redeem a bid unit each time the user places a bid on an auction item. Once the user has redeemed all of the bid units, the user cannot participate in the auction until additional bid units are purchased or provided. By requiring a user to purchase bid units to participate in the auction the online auction receives revenue from each user participating in the auction.
Many auction participants are attracted by the opportunity to win new auction items of high value at a low price, but may become frustrated with a requirement to purchase new bid units each time a user wishes to place a bid on an auction item. Auction participants may also become frustrated by purchasing bid units, participating in the auction, and not winning an auction. Likewise, online auction providers desire new auctioning opportunities to appeal to their auction participants, entice users to place additional bids, spend more time in the auction website, and have additional opportunities to benefit from winning new auctions. Accordingly, there is a continued need for systems and methods that create, provide, and facilitate new and interesting online auctions that are fair to each customer.
Some online auction formats, such as the penny auction, also known as a click to bid auctions have been known to be subject to fraud, cheating, and abuse by both customers and auction operators. The two most common forms of cheating are known as “shill” bidders and “bot” bidders. A “shill” bidder is used by an auction operator to artificially inflate the price of the auction while increasing the amount of the customer bids by having employees of the auction operator pose as bidders and bid against the real customers. A “bot” bidder accomplishes the same result, however the false bidding is accomplished by software code, or script, which poses as a real person competitively bidding in the auction. The reputation of the penny auction industry has been severely damaged by the use of shill and bot bidders. The reputation of fraud in the industry has been so damaging that many people refuse to participate in a penny auction for fear of being cheated out of their money.
Another detractor to acquiring new customers and retaining existing penny auction customers is the potential for any customer to be out bid by a well-financed competitor customer, thereby winning most auctions. For example, a customer who has the personal financial ability to purchase ten times the bids of a lesser well-financed customer is at a distinct and nearly insurmountable advantage. The better financed customer could simply keep bidding in an auction against the lesser financed customer until he or she runs out of bids and is unable to purchase more bids to remain competing in the auction. This appearance that penny auctions unfairly provide advantage to well-funded customers is known to prevent many new potential customers from trying the product for a first time, thereby severely limiting the potential growth of a penny auction business.
The present invention is aimed at one or more of the problems identified above.


The present invention concerns a process and a device for validating/invalidating a message sent over an information transmission network.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with a process and a device for validating a message sent over a network between at least two stations connected to the network by means of a response in a communication frame, the message including at least one header field sent by a first station and one data field sent by a second station.
In prior art transmission processes and devices of the above kind, also known as communication frame response processes and devices, at least one of the stations accesses the network in order to transmit the beginning of a message frame, also known as the header field, and in accordance with the message header field another station accesses the network to transmit the end of the message frame, containing event or data information from that station, the end of the frame being also generally known as the data field.
However, the above processes and devices give rise to a number of problems, in particular concerning updating and transmission of the data field. The time of transmission of the data is not under the control of the station producing the data, but rather that requiring the data.
If the station producing the data wishes to update it, there is a risk that the update will take place during the transmission of the data over the network, if the update is carried out in the meantime.
The risk is then that the corresponding station transmits internally inconsistent information, some of which has been updated and the remainder of which has not.
One prior art proposal for solving this problem is to add a validity marker to the data field, for example at the beginning of this field.
The marker is set to a particular value before any updating of the data and changed to a different value when the update has been done.
A station reading the data can then analyze the marker to determine if the data is being modified and updated or not and therefore if it should be regarded as valid or invalid.
However, this mechanism is inadequate as it does not solve the problem of transmitting an inconstant data field, in particular if the updates starts while the data is being transmitted.
The aim of the invention is therefore to solve these problems.


Conventional Petrie dishes used for procedures such as observation, growth, expansion, biopsy and manipulation of mammalian cells are not unique and are mostly generic. The user usually has to add droplets or media pools to the flat surface of the dish and then use it for the particular purpose. The media pools are thus randomly placed in the Petrie dish, and thus the technician must spend additional time locating the various media pools and observing the specimens in the individual media pools. The time spent can be minutes to tens of minutes. The standard Petrie dish thus complicates the process of monitoring specimen growth and development, and complicates the ability to tell which specimen is which.
One problem with using generic Petri dishes in specimen procedures is that they do not have unique dish configurations which enhance their utility in such procedures. Another problem with the current dishes is that they require the user to use micro drops of a specimen medium solution on the surface of the dish. Some dishes may create surface tension problems with the specimen medium solution. This can result in the micro drops collapsing and the media solution that the sample is in then becomes compromised by an overlain layer of oil. The reverse may happen too and the droplets may not adhere well to the bottom of the dish causing them to move in the dish.
It would be highly desirable to provide a specimen treatment dish assembly that will inherently locate the specimen being treated in a definite predetermined location in the dish and retain the specimen in that definite location. It would be further desirable to provide a specimen treatment dish assembly which does not require movement of the optics, such as a microscope, to observe and log the changes in the several specimens being treated in the dish.


Research in the area of flapping wing flight has been conducted by the biological and engineering communities. Researchers have studied the flight dynamics of animals and ornithopters. However, none of these efforts has resulted in an aircraft capable of six-degrees-of-freedom flight with only two actuators.


The present invention relates to compositions useful for inducing alignment of a liquid crystal medium with polarized light and liquid crystal display elements.
Most liquid crystal devices, including displays, have a finite pre-tilt angle, controlled, for instance, by the mechanical buffing of selected polymeric alignment layers. Liquid crystal molecules in contact with such a layer align parallel to the buffing direction, but not exactly parallel to the substrate. The liquid crystal molecules are slightly tilted from the substrate, for instance, by about 0.5-15 degrees. For most display applications, a finite and uniform pre-tilt angle of the liquid crystal is desirable. For other display applications requiring predominately homeotropic alignment of liquid crystals, a much higher pre-tilt angle is desired, for instance, 85-89.9 degrees. In these cases, controlling the pre-tilt by a mechanical rubbing process is very difficult.
A new process for aligning liquid crystals with polarized light was disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 4,974,941 entitled xe2x80x9cProcess of Aligning and Realigning Liquid Crystal Mediaxe2x80x9d. Controlling the pre-tilt angle of liquid crystals in contact with optical alignment layers, while maintaining high uniformity of alignment, is an important requirement for optical alignment materials. Continuing effort has been directed to the development of compositions for optical alignment of liquid crystals and liquid crystal displays.
The present invention provides polarizable fluorinated amines of the general formula
wherein A is a divalent or trivalent organic moiety, Lf is a divalent organic radical comprising at least four fluorinated carbon atoms; P is a polar group comprising a Pi electron system containing at least one heteroatom selected from the group N, O, and S; and s is 1-2.
The invention further provides polyamic acids prepared from these amines and at least one tetracarboxylic dianhydride and the corresponding polyimides derived therefrom.
The invention further provides a process for inducing pre-tilt in alignment of a liquid crystal using an optical alignment layer bonded to such polyimides, and liquid crystal display elements prepared from such optical alignment layers.


The invention relates generally to liquid phase liquid crystal polymers having imino- and amino-borane backbone chains with side chains that impart desirable properties and applications.


The present invention relates to a bumper system for motor vehicles.
As is known, the main function of bumper systems for motor vehicles is to convert impact energy to deformation energy in a collision with another vehicle or with any stationary or non-stationary obstacle. This limits damage to the motor vehicle.
As a rule, one known embodiment of such a bumper system comprises a cross-member that has a U-shaped cross-section, with the bar portion thereof connected via crush boxes to the longitudinal supports of the motor vehicle. The ends of the leg portions of the cross-member are connected, especially joined, using a closure plate, such that the closure plate prevents the cross-member from opening and/or flattening under a bending load. The profile of the bumper system is closed and thereby achieves high flexural rigidity, while remaining lightweight.
Both steel alloys and aluminum alloys are suitable materials for the cross-member and the closure plate. Furthermore, combinations of these materials are possible.


1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for the region of cans held under propellant pressure where liquid to pasty substances containing solvent pass out, including an operating device for delivering the substances.
It is known to store substances initially in cans, in which they are held under pressure. This pressure can be produced in various ways, for example by means of a propellant gas, bladders under internal pressure, pistons under spring pressure, or the like. When an operating device is operated, the substance passes out into the atmosphere. For this purpose, a spring-loaded button is pressed. A part of this actuating device can also be tilted by pulling a lever 36, so that the substance passes out of the tube 37, as described in European Patent Application 91 114 634.8. The substances may, for example, be lacquers, lubricants and, in particular, substances which in the air harden to a foam.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
It has become possible, in accordance with Swiss Patent Document CH-PS 676 354, to produce the valve part of the operating device without rubber or other comparable substances. Such devices can consequently be stored and transported even in a horizontal position. However, the weakest link in the chain is still the region downstream of the valve. The substance, particularly the one which subsequently forms the polyurethane foam, can there form a clot. Although the problems in the valve region have been overcome, it is therefore possible to use the can only once if the substance contained in the so-called stem loses solvents through evaporation. In addition, moisture can pass from the interior to the exterior of the device, and also in particular from the exterior to the interior.
Particularly in the field of hobbies it is known that small amounts of substances are needed. If larger amounts are bought, this is detrimental in various respects: more than is needed is bought. The unused residues must be disposed of as special refuse. To some extent this is also the case when smaller cans are produced. It would, however, be more advantageous also to make larger cans available for hobby purposes, provided they can be used until they are quite empty. It would be ideal if, over a long period of time, it were possible to use the can at the end of its life in exactly the same way as when it is fresh from the factory.
If the substance has already solidified in the stem, it is also possible that when the valve is subsequently operated a number of times, solidified material will also pass into the valve, so that the latter itself will leak. Even if the removable part of the operating device were to be cleaned, the leaking valve could in the meantime have entirely or to a substantial extent destroyed the pressure in the can.


Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with the protection of integrated circuit fingerprint sensors from the environment during regular use, as an example.
Heretofore, in this field, the detection of fingerprint patterns has been useful for the identification of specific individuals based on the observation that each individual person has a unique fingerprint. Fingerprints, therefore, can be used not only to positively identify individuals, but to exclude individuals whose fingerprint profile does not match a pre-existing set of patterns.
Fingerprint sensing has evolved from optical and mechanical sensing technology that acquires a fingerprint image. Generally, the mechanical and optical sensors obtained a fingerprint image using a scanner or a camera, processed the acquired information into an analog or digital signal that could be analyzed, and provided an output based on the acquired signal. Unfortunately, the lighting and contrast conditions available at the time the image was acquired affected the analysis and consequently the output from the sensor.
Another class of fingerprint sensors are capacitive sensors, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,056 issued to Tsikos. The Tsikos patent demonstrates the use of a sensor that incorporates a sensing member that has a sensing surface for receiving a fingerprint. The sensing surface has a means for sensing the ridges and valleys of the skin of the finger under observation. A sensing member containing a multitude of capacitors that sense the patterns of the fingerprint when the finger is pressed against the sensing surface. The information obtained is transformed into an electric signal. The capacitors are insulated from the environment of use by a flexible membrane that conforms itself to the contour of the fingerprint. Unfortunately, the repeated cycles of flexing and compression of the flexible membrane can lead to device failure and the need to replace the membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,056 issued to Ruell, et al., discloses a fingerprint sensor that provides an electric output signal in response to the topographic relief of the fingerprint. The sensor incorporates a contact body that is formed at least in part by a light transparent elastic material. The elastic contact material can be attached to a flat sensor plate that has a light receiving surface. The sensor also incorporates a light source and a photodetector to measure the valleys and ridges of the fingerprint. As with the sensor described hereinabove, the elastic nature of the contact body leads to cycles of compression and flexing that lead to the deterioration of the contact point between the sensor and the finger.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air intake system of an aircraft and having an excellent secretiveness (stealth).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore it has been known that if an air intake port of an air intake system of an aircraft is provided on an upper surface of an airframe of the aircraft, the secretiveness or security of the aircraft will be high, especially against radair beam irradiation from below, i.e., on the lower surface of the airframe. However, since turbulence of air on the upper surface of the airframe is violent and the performance at such an air intake port is degraded upon taking a large angle of attach and at high mobility, it was difficult to practically employ such system.
In other words, in the prior art if it is contemplated to dispose an air intake port having excellent secretiveness on an upper surface of an airframe, when the aircraft takes a large angle of attack and at high mobility, the air intake port would introduce to the engine tubulent air on the upper surface of the airframe, and thus the performance (total pressure recovery, distortion, etc.) of the air intake port would be degraded. Under such circumstances, the engine would stop frequently, resulting in fatal shortcomings for an airframe having high mobility.


Air filtration masks (referred to herein as “filter masks”) are widely used to protect people from air borne contaminants and gasses. For example, air borne dust particles are a known hazard commonly on work sites. Consequently, workers normally wear filter masks to avoid inhaling the dust particles. To that end, filter masks used in this application are manufactured with a filter material specified to prevent, among other things, a substantial majority of dust particles from being inhaled by the worker.
In addition to primarily filtering inhaled air, some filter masks are specifically manufactured to filter both inhaled and exhaled air. For example, hospital staff often wear filter masks to prevent both their germs from infecting patients, and patients' germs from infecting them.
There is a need in the art to improve the filtration efficiency of filter masks. Accordingly, filter masks with a higher efficiency filter layer and/or multiple filter layers have been developed for that purpose. However, this often has the undesirable effect of increasing the air resistance through the filter mask and may cause several problems.
For example, a person wearing the filter mask may have a more difficult time breathing due to the increased air resistance. To overcome this problem while still providing improved filtration efficiency, filter masks have been developed that have an increased filter area. Manufacture of such filter masks, however, can be quite complex. For example, increasing the filter area can cause various portions of the filter layer to overlap or can be costly to construct. Overlap can effectively increase the thickness of the filter layer, thus causing the same air resistance problem as discussed above.
Additionally, since a person wearing the mask while performing manual labor must typically breathe heavier, the filter layer(s) is more likely to flex and eventually collapse around the face. This collapse may cause portions of the face mask to contact and irritate the face of the person wearing the face mask, as well as cause discomfort. Consequently, efforts have been made to stiffen the mask, such as by adding additional material to the filter mask. However, adding additional material to the face mask adds complexity to the production process and increases cost.


Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle door structure. More specifically, the present invention relates to vehicle door structure having a first bracket and a reinforcing bar with a contoured end surface that is spaced apart from adjacent surfaces of the first bracket in an undeformed state, the contoured end surface being shaped to maximize surface area contact between the first end section of the reinforcing bar and the adjacent surfaces of the first bracket in response to a force being applied to the reinforcing bar and causing the first bracket to deform.
Background Information
Many areas of a vehicle body structure are provided with reinforcing structures. For example, vehicle doors usually include reinforcing structures.


Atrial tachyarrhythmias are quite common, and are seen even in patients who are not acutely ill. One such atrial tachyarrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, does not usually pose an immediate threat to the patient's life, but prolonged atrial fibrillation can compromise patient hemodynamics. Inadequate blood flow due to atrial fibrillation may lead to blood clots, which increase the risk of strokes. Other symptoms may include palpitations of the heart, dizziness, or loss of consciousness.
One method of treating atrial fibrillation is to deliver a countershock to terminate the arrhythmia. For example, the countershock may be applied via an external or implantable defibrillator. However, this method of treating atrial fibrillation risks causing ventricular tachyarrhythmias, including life-threatening ventricular fibrillation.
One method of reducing the risk of ventricular fibrillation is by synchronizing the delivery of a countershock to an electrical ventricular activation (R-wave) of the heart. There is, however, a need in the art to further reduce the risk of inducing ventricular tachyarrhythmias, such as life-threatening ventricular fibrillation, during the countershock treatment of comparatively less exigent atrial tachyarrhythmias.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for preparing granules having a uniform granule size, good disintegrating properties, relatively great apparent density and abrasion resistance by subjecting a crystalline sugar, a basis, adjuvants and a binder-containing solution to a mixing apparatus, whereby the crystalline sugar is coated with the basis and adjuvants to form granules of a uniform particle size.
2. Prior Art
In general, granule or particle products have been heretofore prepared by powdering raw materials such as a basis and some suitable adjuvants, mixing the powdered material with a corrigent such as powdered sugar under wetting conditions, and granulating the mixture by means of an extruder-type or crushing type granulator.
The just-mentioned prior-art method is, however, defective in that: (1) The yield of the granule product becomes low due to substantial loss of the powdered material in the binding stage and, if a binder is used in a larger amount so as to raise the yield, the ultimate granular product will be deteriorated in disintegratability and solubility; (2) It is difficult to produce granules of uniform size and relatively great apparent density, and the commercial value of the products is lowered due to undesirably wide distribution of granule sizes and inconveniences in handling; and (3) A great number of production steps and manual operations are required, causing frequent operational troubles.
In order to overcome these defects, many improved methods have been proposed by introducing new apparatus of different types, including the method using a fluidized bed granulation apparatus and the method of coating core material with a sprayed suspension with use of a coating apparatus. However, the last-metioned coating method has a vital disadvantage that it requires a solvent in such a large amount that may spoil the working conditions with increased possibility of risky accidents, such as fire, explosion and the like, and also may give rise to environmental pollution. In addition, an enormous cost is required for installation of the facilities for collecting the solvent in order to prevent environmental pollution. Moreover, the spraying method has also the disadvantage that it is difficult to coat the core material completely with a powdery material. This results in reduction in yield and undesirably requires provision of a fine powder-collecting apparatus. Furthermore, the coated material is easily excoriated from the ultimate product even by slight friction, such as, for example, that occurred by sieving, due to insufficient binding between the core material and the coat, thus spoiling the commercial value of the product.


1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates generally to database systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for the identification of latent relationships amongst data elements in very large computer databases.
2. Description of Related Art
Businesses, governments, agencies, and other institutions have for a long-time required various people to fill out reports and forms. The fate of many of these filings is they get forgotten. Paper forms are, in general, hard to file and access. So very often the purpose and objective in requiring the filing of forms gets lost in the impracticality of dealing with so much paper.
The Federal suspicious activity report (SAR) is a case-in-point. A SAR is required to be filed by bank officials in every instance in which some unusual financial transaction or contact has occurred. Under Title 12 Code of Federal Regulations xc2xa721 (12 CFR 21), all financial institutions operating in the United States, including insured banks, savings associations, savings association service corporations, credit unions, bank holding companies, non-bank subsidiaries of bank holding companies, Edge and Agreement corporations, and American branches and agencies of foreign banks, are required to make this report following the discovery of insider abuse involving any amount, violations aggregating $5,000 or more where a suspect can be identified, violations aggregating $25,000 or more regardless of a potential suspect, or transactions aggregating $5,000 or more that involve potential money laundering or violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.
The information provided by SAR filings across the country is invaluable to law enforcement. But the data entry, indexing and filing of paper reports results in a lot of information being lost due to misfilings, alternative wordings, misspellings, typographical errors, and other inconsistencies. So the Treasury Department, has a website (www.occ.treas.gov) that provides downloadable software for electronic filing and distribution of SAR""s. To make that report, the filing institution prepares a SAR, and files it with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Department of the Treasury through the IRS Detroit Computing Center. The reports are then made available electronically to appropriate law enforcement agencies.
Banks that do not wish to file electronically can continue to file paper-based reports. FinCEN has made copies of the forms available for download in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF).
The FinCEN SAR database and other modern databases are proliferating in almost every area of science, technology, and society in general. Information systems are getting larger, more complex, and more important. Data mining technology has been developed that extracts useful information from databases. The identification of latent relationships among data elements in very large databases is a particularly lofty goal of current systems. This problem is made even more difficult when there are errors or variations in the type of data such as misspellings and abbreviations.
A variety of data mining methods have appeared on the commercial market in database software packages. But these prior art products are only useful when applied to small databases, where the data is pristine, and when identifying the sought-for information is comparatively straightforward. Such conventional database systems are confounded as the size of the database, the noise in the data, and the complexity of the information increases.
High-performance data mining tools take advantage of the format and structure of a given set of data. The data format and data structure are usually not subject to change. Data users must understand the data well enough to be able to identify any relationships that may exist amongst the data elements, even though the nature of such relationships may not be known beforehand. Search speeds can be improved if each database is decomposed into separate components. Once decomposed, the detection of latent relationships amongst the seemingly independent data elements becomes easier, and the speed at which the database may be searched for information can be significantly enhanced.
Many databases use fixed-width data fields, while others use a combination of fixed fields, free text and even graphic images. Fixed-field databases are the easiest to deal with, and conventional approaches to data mining may produce reasonable results provided the data is error-free. Free-text databases are more troublesome, particularly when any latent relationship information occurs in variable-width fields. Misspelled words and the use of abbreviations only complicates the job more.
An object of the present invention is to provide a database method and system for the identification of any latent relationships amongst independent data elements in very large databases.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a database method and system for effective data mining by relatively inexperienced users.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a law enforcement tool for detecting obscure relationships and subtle activities of criminals and their organizations.
Briefly, a database method embodiment of the present invention quickly identifies latent relationships among data elements in very large databases. The database method converts each word in a document in a large database into a very wide digital-bit vector. Unique words appearing in the document are encoded into particular bits of the corresponding vector by writing ones. The possibility of a keyword being present in any document can therefore be quickly ascertained by throwing out all vectors with digital zeros in the critical bit positions that must be ones.
An advantage of the present invention is that a database search tool is provided that can scan exceedingly large databases quickly and efficiently.
Another advantage of the present invention is a data mining tool is provided that can cope with alternate spellings, misspellings, and abbreviations used for keywords in report form inputs.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to remotely operated systems, and more particularly to a computerized system for monitoring, reporting on, and controlling remote systems by transferring information signals through a wide area network (WAN) and using software applications hosted on a connected server to appropriately process the information.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
As is known, there are a variety of systems for monitoring and controlling manufacturing processes, inventory systems, emergency control systems, and the like. Most automatic systems use remote sensors and controllers to monitor and automatically respond to system parameters to reach desired results. A number of control systems utilize computers to process system inputs, model system responses, and control actuators to implement process corrections within the system. Both the electric power generation and metallurgical processing industries have had success controlling production processes by implementing computer controlled control systems in individual plants.
One way to classify control systems is by the timing involved between subsequent monitoring occurrences. Monitoring processes can be classified as aperiodic or random, periodic, and real-time. A number of remotely distributed service industries implement the monitoring and controlling process steps through manual inspection and intervention.
Aperiodic monitoring systems (those that do not operate on a predetermined cycle) are inherently inefficient as they require a service technician to physically traverse an area to record data, repair out of order equipment, add inventory to a vending machine, and the like. Such service trips are carried out in a number of industries with the associated costs being transferred to the consumers of the service.
Conversely, utility meter monitoring, recording, and client billing are representative of a periodic monitoring system. In the past, utility providers sent a technician from meter to meter on a periodic basis to verify meter operation and to record utility use. One method of cutting operating expenses in the utility industry involved increasing the period at which manual monitoring and meter data recording was performed. While this method decreased the monitoring and recording expense associated with more frequent meter observation and was convenient for consumers who favor the consistent billed amounts associated with “budget billing,” the utility provider retained the costs associated with less frequent meter readings and the processing costs associated with reconciling consumer accounts.
Lastly, a number of environmental and safety systems require constant or real-time monitoring. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems, fire reporting and damage control systems, alarm systems, and access control systems are representative systems that utilize real-time monitoring and often require immediate feedback and control. These real-time systems have been the target of control systems theory and application thereof for some time.
A problem with expanding the use of control systems technology to distributed systems are the costs associated with the sensor-actuator infrastructure required to monitor and control functions within such systems. The typical approach to implementing control system technology is to install a local network of hard-wired sensors and actuators along with a local controller. Not only is there expense associated with developing and installing appropriate sensors and actuators but the added expense of connecting functional sensors and controllers with the local controller. Another prohibitive cost associated with applying control systems technology to distributed systems is the installation and operational expense associated with the local controller.
Accordingly, an alternative solution to applying monitoring and control system solutions to distributed systems that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a light source and, in particular, to a light-emitting diode (LED) package.
2. Description of Related Art
As the luminous efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs) is increasingly improved, LEDs have replaced fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps in some fields, for example, lamps of scanners requiring for quick response, lamps of projection apparatus, backlight sources or front light sources of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), illumination for dashboards of automobiles, traffic lights, common illumination devices, etc. Compared with conventional lamps, the LEDs have absolute advantages, for example, small volume, long lifespan, low driving voltage/current, non-fragile, mercury free (no pollution), and good luminous efficiency (power saving).
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a conventional LED package. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional LED package 100 includes an LED chip 110, a lead frame 120, and an encapsulant 130. The LED chip 110 is disposed on the lead frame 120 and electrically connected therewith. The encapsulant 130 wraps the LED chip 110 and a part of the lead frame 120 for protecting the LED chip 110. The encapsulant 130 has a convex top surface 132 for preventing the total internal reflection (TIR) of the beam 112 emitted from the LED chip 110 due to the interface between the encapsulant 130 and air.
FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of another conventional LED package. Referring to FIG. 2, the other conventional LED package 200 includes an LED chip 210, a circuit board 220, and an encapsulant 230. The LED chip 210 is disposed on the circuit board 220 and electrically connected therewith. The encapsulant 230 is disposed on the circuit board 220 and wraps the LED chip 210. The encapsulant 230 also has a convex top surface for preventing the TIR of the beam 212 emitted from the LED chip 210.
However, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the range of the light emitting angle θ1 and θ2 of the conventional LED packages 100 and 200 is large, approximate to 180 degrees, such that the LED packages 100 and 200 are not suitable for illuminating distant objects. For example, when the LED package 100 or 200 is applied as a light source in the projection apparatus (not shown), the beam 112 or 212 is hard to be mostly converged on the light valve (not shown) of the projection apparatus, such that the brightness of the light valve is not enough.


The present invention relates to personal armor for protection against projectile threats in general, and more particularly to armor intended to counter higher speed projectiles such as rifle rounds.
Persons exposed to projectile threats, such as police officers and soldiers, may seek a certain level of protection by wearing armored clothing. Such body armor is available in a variety of forms to address various levels of potential threats.
Low velocity projectiles such as handgun rounds, fragmentation rounds from a grenade or mortar, and miscellaneous shrapnel may be countered by so-called “soft armor.” Soft armor is worn in the form of jackets, vests, etc. which are composed of assemblies of ballistic fabric such as those formed from DuPont Kevlar® fibers. Typically, soft armor will employ 15-30 layers of thin flexible tightly woven ballistic fabric. This material is generally lightweight and effective in stopping handgun rounds. However, the multiple layers required to make the soft armor are also an effective insulator, trapping heat close to the wearer's body.
In a more serious threat situations, where higher velocity rifle rounds must be countered, soil armor has typically been supplemented with hard armor. The hard armor is fabricated of rigid plates of ceramic, polymer, or metal. These plates are usually molded or formed to conform to a standard wearer. To provide the greatest area of coverage, and hence protection, these plates are often large and hence can interfere with the wearer's mobility. A common approach to mounting the plates to the wearer is to secure them within exterior pockets fabricated on a soft armor jacket or vest. This modular approach allows the wearer to assess the level of risk and to add or subtract hard armor as the situation demands. However, the result is a more bulky and potentially hot armor assembly. Because the hard armor plates can compromise mobility, the wearer may choose to sacrifice a greater level of protection for greater ease of movement. The option to remove some levels of protection, however, means that occasionally the wearer of the armor encounters a higher velocity projectile without the appropriate hard armor protection.
What is needed is a body armor system which is effective against high velocity projectiles yet which does not unduly compromise wearer mobility or temperature regulation.


Mobile communication systems have been developed to provide voice services while ensuring the activity of a user. However, the mobile communication systems have been expanded to their regions up to data services as well as voice. Today, the shortage of resources is caused due to an explosive increase of traffic, and more advanced mobile communication systems are required due to user's need for higher speed services.
Requirements for a next-generation mobile communication system basically include the acceptance of explosive data traffic, a significant increase of a transfer rate per user, the acceptance of the number of significantly increased connection devices, very low end-to-end latency, and high energy efficiency. To this end, research is carried out on various technologies, such as dual connectivity, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), in-band full duplex, Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), the support of a super wideband, and device networking.


This invention relates to a reagent and method for determining the activity of retroviral protease, e.g. human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease. More particularly, the invention relates to novel fluorogenic substrates and a fluorometric assay for HIV protease and other retroviral proteases.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which only a few years ago was a medical curiosity, is now a serious disease. As a consequence, a great effort is being made to develop drugs and vaccines to combat AIDS. The AIDS virus, first identified in 1983, has been described by several names. It is the third known T-lymphocyte virus (HTLV-III) and has the capacity to replicate within cells of the immune system and thereby lead to a profound destruction of T4.sup.+ T-cells (or CD4.sup.30 cells). See, e.g., Gallo et al., Science 224, 500-503 (1984), and Popovic et al., Ibid., 497-500 (1984). This retrovirus has been known as lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) or AIDS-related virus (ARV) and, most recently, as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Two distinct AIDS viruses, HIV-1 and HIV-2, have been described. HIV-1 is the virus originally identified in 1983 by Montagnier and co-workers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris [Ann. Virol. Inst. Pasteur 135 E, 119-134 (1984)], while HIV-2 was more recently isolated by Montagnier and his co-workers in 1986 [Nature 326, 662 (1987)]. As used herein HIV is meant to refer to these viruses in a generic sense.
A useful approach being investigated recently for potential use in the treatment of AIDS is the development of synthetic peptides as inhibitors of retroviral protease. Thus, it is known that retroviruses, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), express their genetic content by directing the synthesis of a polyprotein by the host. This precursor is then processed by proteolysis to give essential viral enzymes and structural proteins. A virally encoded enzyme, the retroviral protease, is contained within the polyprotein and is responsible for the specific cleavages of the polyprotein yielding mature viral proteins.
Various novel peptide inhibitors of retroviral protease such as HIV protease are described in applicants' copending application Ser. No. 07/320,742, filed Mar. 8, 1989. Included among these are short peptides of about 4 to 8 amino acid residues derived from HIV cleavage sites such as, e.g. p24/p15, which have been modified to incorporate an internal CH.sub.2 NH bond isostere. An illustrative example of such peptides is
Ac--Thr--Ile--Nle--.psi.[CH.sub.2 NH]--Nle--Gln--Arg--NH.sub.2.
HIV protease thus is a logical therapeutic target in the search for AIDS drugs. In order to facilitate the exploration of potential inhibitors of HIV protease and to optomize lead compounds, a convenient assay to kinetically characterize the inhibitor which allows for automation and high throughput would be desirable. Initial assays used in the characterization of HIV protease were based on HPLC separation of products and substrate at fixed time intervals. See Moore et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 159, 420-425 (1989); Darke et al., Ibid. 156, 297-303 (1988); Schneider and Kent, Cell 54, 363-368 (1988). The HPLC assay quickly became the rate-limiting step in the development of HIV protease inhibitors with desirable therapeutic properties. A continuous assay which allows for quantitative kinetic characterization of the interaction of the inhibitors with HIV protease would be preferable. The strategy of developing either a chromogenic or fluorogenic substrate is proposed by the present inventors based on their work characterizing short peptide substrates of known HIV protease cleavage sites. Toth et al., Proc. 11th Am. Peptide Symp., Rivier and Marshall, Eds., ESCOM, Leiden, In Press 1990. Fluorogenic substrates for hydrolytic enzymes have been widely used in biochemistry because of their high sensitivity. See, e.g., Guilbault, Enzymatic Methods of Analysis, Pergamon Press, 1970, pp. 43-47.
Recently, Nashed et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 163, 1079-1085 (1989), and Hyland et al., Abstr. 2nd Int. Conf. Drugs Res. Immunologic and Infectious Disease. AIDS. New York Acad. Sci., I-20 (1989), have reported a spectrophotometric assay based on cleaved chromogenic substrates containing p--NO.sub.2 --Phe at position P1. In these cases, the substances were an octapeptide, a nonapeptide, and a decapeptide. A high-throughput, radiometric assay for screening for HIV protease inhibitors, which is not continuous, has also been reported by Hyland et al., supra.


The present apparatus is directed to a fluid mud pump and, more particularly, to a mud pump to be utilized to intensify fluid pressure for use in drilling oil wells or in conditioning oil wells such as fracturing with extremely high pressure or abrasive fluids. Various mud pumps and pressure intensification pumps are already known to exist that employ various and sundry means to overcome the difficulties encountered in prolonged pumping of high volume, high pressure, and abrasive materials. The present invention is an apparatus which will provide improvement in mud pumping operations in such areas as reduced mud pressure pulsation, less operating energy required for fluid pressure intensification, slower operating piston speeds and longer piston strokes thus resulting in extended life of all operating parts, wider range of mud flow and pressure controllability, greater simplicity of manufacture, improved adaptability and operation, plus other less apparent improvements. Thus the context of the problem to be dealt with in the present invention is that of a non pulsating output, highly efficient and controllable hydraulic powered fluid output pump.