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This invention relates in general to radio receiver monitoring and testing circuitry, and more particularly to radio receiver monitoring and testing circuitry which determines if a radio frequency transmitted to the radio receiver is within frequency tolerances and modulation limits by monitoring and testing a detected intermediate frequency (IF) signal from the demodulator portion of a radio receiver. In the past, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has required periodic testing of radio transmitting equipment for determining whether the radio frequency signal of the transmitting equipment was within the prescribed frequency tolerances and modulation limits. The frequency tolerances vary depending upon the frequency spectrum being used. Generally, the percentage of permissible error in the transmitting frequency is very small and is further dependent upon the frequency being used. For example, 0.01% error may be acceptable at 25 MHz, but this gradually decreases to 0.0005% at 150 MHz and further to 0.00015% at 810 MHz. Crystal controlled oscillators can initially satisfy such tight frequency tolerances. However, aging and other phenomena can cause the crystal frequency to drift with the passage of time, temperature changes and the like. As is known to those skilled in the art, the radio frequencies are divided into different bands and numerous transmitting frequencies are assigned to various operators of transmitting equipment. Exacting frequency tolerances and modulation limits are required so that the transmitted signal does not cause appreciable noise or interference with the signal transmitted from an adjacent operating frequency. That is, small deviations in the transmitted signal from the center frequency will cause noise in the signal received from an adjacent center frequency, but as the deviations become greater, portions of the transmitted signal will begin to interfere with the signal at the adjacent center frequency. Annual inspection of transmitting equipment for frequency tolerances and modulation limits is an expensive procedure. The testing equipment must have greater accuracy than the transmitting equipment to determine what degree of error is present and such sophisticated test equipment usually requires operation by trained and licensed personnel. Furthermore, testing requirements specified by the FCC generally require that the transmitting equipment be disconnected and brought to the testing location, and after the test, reinstallation is required. Due to the ever increasing use of two way communication equipment, the burden for maintaining the accuracy of the frequency and modulation of the transmitter is now placed upon the owner. However, the FCC continues to seek out operators of offending equipment. Offenders are subject to fines, imprisonment, and loss of licenses. In addition, once an FCC citation issues, considerable additional costs are incurred in preparing replies and responses to the government. Many businesses utilize a plurality of two way radio transmitters and receivers, often called transceivers, for maximum efficiency in utilization of manpower and equipment. In such instances, the cost of testing and maintaining the radio equipment within the prescribed specifications is multiplied by the number of transmitters in use. Similarly, the probability that at least one of the transmitting units is out of specification increases as the number of units in use increases.

Such dispensers are generally known from the prior art. As an example, reference is made to DE 10 2004 050 679 A1 disclosing a nasal dispenser. Such dispensers are used for discharging pharmaceutical media. It is often desirable to hinder accessibility of the medium for children so that they may not inadvertently have contact to potentially hazardous media during game-playing. There are various options for child-proof dispensers known from the prior art. Thus, DE 10 2009 049 903 A1, for example, proposes dispensers that, on the one hand, cannot be actuated with a cap placed-on, since the actuating handle is blocked by the cap. On the other hand, this document features cap designs that can be removed from the respective dispenser only by a sequence of sophisticated moves. Numerous of the known configurations for child-proof dispensers are related to dispensers that indeed have originally been designed to be child-proof dispensers. However, such child-proof dispensers are comparatively expensive to manufacture, since the partial components thereof are for the most part not adaptable to other possibly non-child-proof dispensers, so that specific tools are required for most of the components of such child-proof dispensers.

The present invention relates to an optical recording medium driving apparatus adopting a land/groove recording system which makes high-density recording possible by changing height of adjacent tracks. In recent years, as the performance of computers becomes higher, the demand of large-capacity memory becomes higher. Therefore, optical disks and magneto-optical disks have been produced. However, higher capacity is demanded for the future multimedia eras. For example, DVD-ROM (Digital Video Disc-ROM) has been put to practical use, and thus a rewritable recording medium whose capacity corresponds to that of such a DVD-ROM is required. One of the techniques to achieve storage capacity corresponding to that of the DVD-ROM is an optical disk using a land/groove recording system. A rewritable optical disk conventionally adopted a land recording system or groove recording system. However, such recording systems are now being shifted to the land/groove recording system which can achieve higher-density recording. In the land recording system whose storage capacity is up to 640 MB, a track count at the time of seek was carried out by a cross tracking signal which is generated when crossing a track. However, in the land/groove recording system, since the cross tracking signal is 0, this signal cannot be used. Therefore, in the land/groove recording system, it is considered that the track count is carried out by a tracking error signal (TES). Moreover, in the land/groove recording system, since an ID prepit of a recording pattern becomes shallow, it is necessary to enlarge a pit so that sufficient signal strength can be obtained. However, when the pit is enlarged, the tracking error signal in the ID section becomes weak, and thus track miscount occurs. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a constitutional example of a conventional optical recording medium driving apparatus for recording and/or reproducing data using an optical disk adopting the land/groove recording system. This optical recording medium driving apparatus is schematically shown mainly a tracking error signal detecting part. After a light outputted from a laser 111 is shaped to a parallel circular beam by using a beam shaping device, the light passes through a beam splitter 112 and its optical path is bent by a rising mirror 113. Thereafter, the light is condensed by an objective lens 114 so as to be emitted onto a surface of a disk 110. The light diffracted by a groove on the surface of the disk 110 passes through the objective lens 114 again. Then the light is reflected by the beam splitter 112 so that its optical path is bent, and the light enters a two-piece detector 115. FIG. 2 is a drawing showing the diffracted light which enters the two-piece detector, and it shows a state of the two-piece detector in FIG. 1 viewed from an upper surface (detecting surface). As for the two-piece detector 115, its two-piece detecting portions are provided in the right-and-left direction of FIG. 1. Two lights (first-order diffracted lights D1), which are diffracted by both edges of the groove, are diffracted in the right-and-left direction at a predetermined angle so that portions of the first-order diffracted lights D1 enter the detecting portions on the right and left sides. Moreover, a zero-order diffracted light D0 enters the central portion of the two-piece detector 115 with it going over both of the detecting portions. Distribution of the light intensity occurs in an area where the zero-order and first-order diffracted lights D0 and D1 are overlapped (cross hatching section in FIG. 2) due to an interference effect caused by track shifting. The respective detecting portions detect the light intensity utilizing this distribution. The two-piece detector 115 converts the lights, which are inputted after divided into two, into current signals, and inputs them into current/voltage converting circuits 116 and 117. The current/voltage converting circuits 116 and 117 respectively convert the inputted current signals into voltage signals so as to output them. The voltage signals outputted respectively from the current/voltage converting circuits 116 and 117 are amplified by amplifiers 118 and 119, and a difference signal is generated in a differential amplifier 122. The difference signal is outputted as a tracking error signal. The objective lens 114 is automatically tracked based on the tracking error signal and the seek is again carried out. FIG. 3 is a drawing showing an example of the ID section of the optical disk adopting the land/groove recording system suggested by the applicant of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a plan view (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-79125 (1998)). Here, the hatching section is a portion which is formed into a concave shape. On this optical disk, information can be recorded in tracks formed by land portions 102 and groove portions 101 provided between the land portions 102. Rows of prepits 104 and 103, which correspond to pre-format information of the adjacent land portion 102 and groove portion 101, are formed with them being shifted in the circumferential direction. Count grooves 106 for counting tracks are formed on both sides of the rows of the prepits 104 for the land portions 102, and through grooves 105, which go through the rows of the prepits 103 for the groove portions 101, are formed. FIG. 4 is a waveform chart showing TES (tracking error signal) obtained by the conventional optical recording medium driving apparatus. In the case where a tracking error signal 201 at the time of seek is created from such an optical disk by the optical recording medium driving apparatus shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 3, the strength of a TES 202 of the ID section (a dotted line shows a strength of the tracking error signal 201 obtained not in the ID section but in the recording domain) is weakened due to the prepit 104 compared with the tracking error signal in the recording domain, and it crosses the zero line. Therefore, there arises a problem that track miscounts occurs. The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the above problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical recording medium driving apparatus which can obtain a tracking error signal necessary for an accurate track count. An optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention for recording and/or reproducing data in/from an optical recording medium, where information can be recorded in plural tracks, based on a light emitted to the tracks of the optical recording medium, is constituted so as to have a detector for detecting a position of the emitted light, a peak-hold circuit for holding a peak of a position detected signal outputted from the detector so as to output the position detected signal, a bottom-hold circuit for outputting a bottom of the position detected signal so as to output the position detected signal, and a switching circuit for switching signals based on the output signals from the peak-hold circuit and bottom-hold circuit so as to output either signal. The optical recording medium driving apparatus is constituted so that the signal outputted from the switching circuit is used as a tracking error signal. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the peak-hold circuit holds a peak of the signal outputted from the position detector so as to output the signal, and the bottom-hold circuit holds a bottom of the signal outputted from the position detector so as to output the signal. The switching circuit switches signals based on the output signals from the peak-hold circuit and bottom-hold circuit so as to output either signal, and the signal is used as a tracking error signal. As a result, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained. Another optical recording medium driving apparatus according the present invention is constituted so that the switching circuit includes an absolute value circuit for outputting an absolute value of the signal based on the output signal from the peak-hold circuit, an absolute value circuit for outputting an absolute value of the signal based on the output signal. from the bottom-hold circuit, and a comparison circuit for comparing the absolute values outputted from the absolute value circuits so as to select either signal with the larger absolute value. The optical recording medium driving apparatus is constituted so that the switching circuit outputs the signal selected by the comparison circuit, and tracking servo and seek are carried out. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the two absolute value circuits output respectively the absolute value of the signal based on the output signal from the peak-hold circuit and the absolute value of the signal based on the output signal from the bottom-hold circuit. The comparison circuit compares the absolute values outputted by the absolute value circuits, and the switching circuit outputs either signal with the larger absolute value. Here, as for ID for land/groove recording which is effective for adoption to the present invention, the ID is formed as a prepit on the extension of the land and on the extension of the groove. FIG. 5 is a waveform chart showing TES obtained by the optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention. The signal based on the output signal from the peak-hold circuit, as shown in FIG. 5A, becomes a signal 403 whose fall due to the prepit of the ID section in the land portion was recovered. The signal based on the output signal from the bottom-hold circuit, as shown in FIG. 5B, becomes a signal 405 whose fall due to the prepit of the ID section in the groove portion was recovered. Here, a dotted line in the drawing is a reproduction waveform when the light spot crosses not the ID section but the land/groove. Therefore, in the ID section of the land portion, amplitude of the signal 403 based on the output signal from the peak-hold circuit becomes larger than the other, and in the ID section of the groove portion, amplitude of the signal 405 based on the output signal from the bottom-hold circuit becomes larger than the other. When the signal whose amplitude is larger than the other is selected, namely, the signal whose fall in the ID section was recovered is selected, the waveform becomes closer to that of the portions other than the ID section. As a result, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained. Here, the two-piece detector is used as the aforementioned position detector, and the two peak-hold circuits and two bottom-hold circuits hold peaks and bottoms of the two signals outputted from the two-piece detector so as to output the signals. The switching circuit switches the signals based on the output signals from the two peak-hold circuits and signals based on the output signals from the two bottom-hold circuits so as to output the signals. These signals can used as a tracking error signal. Further, the optical recording medium driving apparatus can be constituted as follows. Namely, one absolute value circuit outputs an absolute value of the signal based on the difference signal of the output signals from the two peak-hold circuits, and the other absolute value circuit outputs an absolute value of the signal. based on the difference signal of the output signals from the two bottom-hold circuits. The comparison circuit compares the absolute values outputted from the absolute value circuits and outputs either signal with the larger absolute value. Still another optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention for recording and/or reproducing data in/from an optical recording medium, where information can be recorded in plural tracks, based on a light emitted to the tracks of the optical recording medium, includes a detector for detecting positions of the emitted light, a peak-hold circuit for holding a peak of a difference signal of position detected signals outputted from the detector so as to output the difference signal, a bottom-hold circuit for holding a bottom of the difference signal so as to output the difference signal, and a switching circuit for switching the output signals from the peak-hold circuit and bottom-hold circuit so as to output either output signal. The optical recording medium driving apparatus is constituted so that the signal outputted from the switching circuit is used as a tracking error signal. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the peak-hold circuit holds a peak of the difference signal of the position detected signals from the detector and outputs the difference signal, and the bottom-hold circuit holds a bottom of the difference signal of the position detected signals outputted from the detector and outputs the difference signal. The switching circuit switches the output signals from the peak-hold circuit and bottom-hold circuit and outputs either output signal, and the signal is used as a tracking error signal. As a result, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained. Still another optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention is constituted so that the switching circuit includes an absolute value circuit for outputting an absolute value of the output signal from the peak-hold circuit, an absolute value circuit for outputting an absolute value of the output signal from the bottom-hold circuit, and a comparison circuit for comparing the absolute values outputted from the absolute value circuits so as to select either signal with the larger absolute value. The switching circuit outputs the signal with the larger absolute value selected by the comparison circuit. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the two absolute value circuits output respectively absolute values of the output signals from the peak-hold circuit and bottom-hold circuit. The comparison circuit compares the absolute values outputted from the absolute value circuits and selects either signal with the larger absolute value, and the switching circuit outputs the selected signal. As shown in FIG. 5A, the output signal from the peak-hold circuit becomes a signal 403 whose fall due to a prepit of the ID section in the land portion was recovered, and as shown in FIG. 5B, the output signal from the bottom-hold circuit becomes a signal 405 whose fall due to the prepit of the ID section in the groove portion was recovered. Therefore, in the ID section of the land portion, amplitude of the output signal 403 from the peak-hold circuit becomes larger than the other, and in the ID section of the groove portion, amplitude of the output signal 405 from the bottom-hold circuit becomes larger than the other. When the output signal whose amplitude is larger than the other is selected, namely, the signal whose fall was recovered is selected, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained. Still another optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention for recording and/or reproducing data in/from an optical recording medium, where information can be recorded in plural tracks, based on a light emitted to the tracks of the optical recording medium, said driving apparatus is constituted so as to have a detector for detecting a position of the emitted light, and a low-pass filter for removing a frequency component generated due to prepits provided in the optical recording medium from a position detected signal outputted from the detector, and so that a signal based on an output from the low-pass filter is used as a tracking error signal. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the low-pass filter filters the position detected signal outputted from the detector to remove high frequency component generated due to the prepit, and recovers the fall portions, where the frequency is comparatively high and which are generated in the ID sections of the land portion and groove portion, and the signal based on the output signal from the low-pass filter is used as a tracking error signal. Therefore, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained. Still another optical recording medium driving apparatus according to the present invention for recording and/or reproducing data in/from an optical recording medium, where information can be recorded in plural tracks, based on a light emitted to the tracks of the optical recording medium, said driving apparatus is constituted so as to have a two-piece detector for detecting positions of the emitted light, and a low-pass filter for removing a frequency component due to prepits provided in the optical recording medium from position detected signals outputted by the two-piece detector, and so that a signal based on an output from the low-pass filter is used as a tracking error signal. In this optical recording medium driving apparatus, the low-pass filter filters the difference signal of the position detected signals outputted from the two-piece detector to remove high frequency component generated due to the prepit, and recovers the fall portions, where the frequency is comparatively high and which are generated in the ID sections of the land portion and groove portion, and the signal based on the output from the low-pass filter is used as a tracking error signal. Therefore, a tracking error signal necessary for the accurate track count can be obtained.

As is well known, bobbin cases are commercially available, on the bottom of which a shaped resilient or spring-like thin plate is fastened, this thin plate forming a braking spring which is effective to prevent an undue feed or advancement of the bobbin under the thread traction, which would otherwise cause a breakage in the thread. Depending on the thread being used, the pressure of such a braking spring has to be suitably regulated by the action of an adjusting screw running in a threaded hole in the bobbin case with one of the ends of this screw pressing perpendicularly against the braking spring. However, it is known that the bobbin cases are alternately subjected to vibrations at each of the thread passages. Due to these stresses, the pressure spring adjusting screw in the threaded hole of the bobbin case is urged to a great extent, so that the position of said screw is varied with the different stitching speeds. Accordingly, the pressure on the bobbin braking spring, which consists of a resilient thin plate secured at one of its ends to the bobbin case, will vary as a function of the above-mentioned factors and, therefore, new adjustments are repeatedly required. Additionally, such drawbacks in the bobbin as those causing the lower thread to "jump" beyond the bobbin flange are not avoided, and as a result, a breakage in the thread takes place. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bobbin case of the above-mentioned design, wherein the adjusting screw for the bobbin braking spring is prevented from loosening or generally changing its position during the operation of the sewing machine. This object is accomplished by using means for exerting a pressure on the adjusting screw of the braking spring which is perpendicular to the axis of the screw, so that an even, constant loading can be imparted. Thus, following regulation of the pressure on the bobbin braking spring by means of said adjusting screw, the latter invariably maintains its position, so that the braking spring presses evenly on the bobbin. Accordingly to a particular embodiment of the invention, it is contemplated that a thrust means be used which substantially comprises a plunger urged by a spring against said adjusting screw. Preferably, such a spring may be the spring normally used for the return of the bobbin case latch; therefore, the said thrust means performs a dual function, i.e., it acts as an abutting element for the latch spring and operates as a means for exerting a clamping pressure on the adjusting screw. The thrust means may be made from any suitable material whose hardness is not unduly high, such as (plastic) synthetic material, or metal material having substantially similar characteristics. The hole or bore for the spring and the associated thrust means is generally formed at an offset position relative to the axis of the adjusting screw, thus forming a side shoulder limiting the forward stroke of the thrust means; accordingly, the threaded hole is not obstructed and the adjusting screw can be easily and freely removed and threaded inwardly again. According to another embodiment of the invention, the thrust means may be formed as a leaf spring which is inserted into a side housing opening to the threaded hole for the adjusting screw, and the leaf spring is suitably shaped to press laterally and perpendicular to the axis of the screw.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly, and in particular, a seat assembly including an air bag. The seat assembly includes a tear seam which upon rupturing facilitates egress of the air bag during deployment. 2. Background Art Vehicles and associated seating systems are designed to protect an occupant from injury after the vehicle sustains a hit having longitudinal and lateral force components. The side air bags offer protection from the adverse consequences of a blow having primarily a lateral component. Such devices may be in the form of a side air curtain disposed in a headliner of the vehicle, or an air bag disposed within a vehicle seat assembly. One limitation of air bags that are located within a seat assembly is that the air bag needs to break through the seating material before it can fully deploy to protect a vehicle occupant. During deployment, such an air bag may encounter foam, or other seat pad materials. It must then break through a seat trim cover in order to escape from the seat assembly. Such encounters may impede or prohibit full, speedy deployment. Another limitation is that the air bag should break through the cover material at a predetermined location to optimize effectiveness. Prior vehicle seat assemblies equipped with side air bags and manufacturing methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,816,610; 5,860,673; 5,938,232; 5,967,603; 6,045,151; 6,237,934; 6,299,197 and 6,588,838, for example.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention is generally related to an exhaust system of a marine engine and, more particularly, to the provision of a porous member in the exhaust system to vaporize liquid water that flows in a reverse direction through the exhaust system. 2. Description of the Related Art Those skilled in the art of internal combustion engines are aware of many types of catalyst systems that are available to improve exhaust emissions emitted by the engines. U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,082, which issued to Takahashi et al. on Jul. 18, 1989, describes an exhaust gas purifying device for a marine engine. A catalyst exhaust system for an outboard motor is described. A throttle control arrangement is incorporated for assuring rapid heating of the catalyst to its operating temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,282, which issued to Takahashi et al. on Feb. 13, 1990, describes an exhaust gas purifying device for a marine engine. A catalytic exhaust system for a marine outboard drive is described wherein the catalyzer material is supported by a heat conductive bracket and the bracket is cooled by a cooling jacket that is supplied with coolant from the engine cooling jacket. In one embodiment, the water jacket is cooled both internally and externally by delivering water from the cooling jacket into the exhaust system to impinge upon a wall of the cooling jacket. U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,185, which issued to Gilbreath et al. on Jul. 28, 1992, describes an anti-moisture device for engine exhaust systems. The device is intended to remove moisture droplets from an interior surface of a duct, characterized by an outer edge secured to the interior surface of the duct, an inner edge surrounding an opening, and a connecting wall between the outer edge and the inner edge. The inner edge of the anti-moisture device is positioned closer to a downstream end of the duct than the outer edge whereby the connecting wall is positioned at an angle relative to the interior surface of the duct. Moisture droplets traveling upstream will be caught between the connecting wall and the interior surface of the duct, on the downstream side of the device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,934, which issued to Wolf et al. on Dec. 1, 1992, describes a catalyzer installation for boat engines and a method for catalytic exhaust gas cleaning. The invention is intended for use in boat engines and the catalyzer is subdivided into a reduction part location upstream in the exhaust gas line and an oxidation part located coaxially downstream after it. An intermediate space is located between the reduction and oxidation parts. Both catalyzer parts are surrounded by a preferably cylindrical, water cooled casing and the casing has a downstream secondary air inlet to which a secondary air blower can be connected, the secondary air separating the very hot catalyzer from the double walled, water cooled casing and, in particular, flowing around the oxidation catalyzer part in counterflow for air preheating so that the air preheating in this manner is passed through the intermediate space into the oxidation part. U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,167, which issued to Lassanske et al. on Apr. 20, 1993, describes a marine propulsion device internal combustion engine and method for making the same. The propulsion device comprises a driveshaft housing, a propeller shaft rotatably supported by the driveshaft housing, an internal combustion engine drivingly connected to the propeller shaft, the engine including a cylinder block defining a cylinder having an exhaust port, and defining an exhaust outlet, and an exhaust passage between the exhaust port and the exhaust outlet, an exhaust catalyst apparatus mounted on the cylinder block, the apparatus including a tongue extending into the cylinder block exhaust passage and dividing the cylinder block exhaust passage into an upstream portion communicating with the exhaust port and a downstream portion communicating with the exhaust outlet. The apparatus includes an exhaust passage communicating between the upstream portion and the downstream portion. The catalyst is located in the apparatus exhaust passage. U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,949, which issued to Shiozawa on May 25, 1993, describes an exhaust gas cleaning system for a marine propulsion unit. It is intended for use with a watercraft engine. A plurality of horizontally positioned exhaust ports are located within an engine cylinder head. An exhaust manifold communicates with each of the exhaust ports at a first end and forms a gas collecting pipe at its second end. The second end of the gas collecting pipe is positioned above the exhaust ports. A generally horizontally positioned exhaust pipe extends from the second end of the gas collecting pipe and continues in a rearward direction. Means are provided for introducing coolant from the engine into the rearwardly extending portion of the exhaust pipe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,185, which issued to Lassanske et al. on Apr. 26, 1994, describes catalytic elements for marine propulsion devices. A marine propulsion device comprising a propulsion unit including a propeller shaft, a housing including an exhaust gas inlet and an exhaust gas outlet, a catalytic element supported in the housing for reorientation from a first orientation to a second orientation different from the first orientation, and structure for reorienting the element from the first orientation to the second orientation is described. U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,217, which issued to Mineo on Jun. 28, 1994, describes an exhaust system for a small boat. It includes a water trap device for precluding water entering the exhaust system if the watercraft becomes inverted from entering the engine through the exhaust system. Coolant from the engine is delivered to a cooling jacket that encircles the entire exhaust system and is introduced into the exhaust gases downstream of the water trap so that in the event of inversion and righting the engine coolant will also not enter the exhaust system. This also provides protection for catalyzers in the exhaust system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,827, which issued to Holtermann et al. on Apr. 25, 1995, describes a marine propulsion device with improved catalyst support arrangement. An internal combustion engine includes an exhaust port, an exhaust conduit communicating with the exhaust port and having an inner surface, the conduit including first and second conduit portions having respective ends, the first and second conduit portions being connected end to end, a catalyst which is located within the conduit and which includes catalytic material and a sleeve surrounding the catalytic material, wherein the sleeve has a length and an outer surface spaced from the inner surface of the conduit along substantially the entire length of the sleeve. The sleeve has a rigid, radially outwardly extending flange captured between the ends of the conduit portions, and a flexible gasket between the flange and the end of one of the conduit portions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,232, which issued to Holtermann on Jun. 20, 1995, describes a marine propulsion device with means for supplying secondary air to a catalytic converter. The marine propulsion device comprises a combustion chamber, an exhaust passage, an air pump and a three-way catalytic converter. The air pump pumps air into the exhaust passage at or immediately upstream of the catalytic converter. By this construction the internal combustion engine can be run slightly rich, but the catalytic converter will see a close to stoichiometric mixture so that the pollutants in the exhaust stream can be oxidized or reduced appropriately since the catalytic converter will be able to operate as a three-way catalytic converter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,634, which issued to Nakayama et al. on Jul. 18, 1995, describes an exhaust treatment for an outboard motor. The exhaust gases are normally discharged to the atmosphere at a point below the level of the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. A catalyst bed is provided in the exhaust system and the catalyst bed is protected from damage by pumping water from the exhaust conduit in response to certain conditions. These conditions may be either rapid deceleration of the engine or watercraft, stopping of the engine, or any of the combination of sensed factors. The water is pumped by a water pump which is positioned either in the outboard drive or in the hull of an associated watercraft. The pumping of water is initiated for only a predetermined time and until the sensed condition no longer is existent. U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,785, which issued to Kato et al. on Apr. 25, 2000, describes an exhaust system and control for a marine propulsion engine. An outboard motor exhaust system and control for insuring good running and effective exhaust gas silencing and treatment is provided. The system includes a very compact exhaust system that includes an expansion chamber formed beneath the exhaust guide plate and to which the exhaust gases are delivered and removed at optimal locations. Furthermore, a feedback control employing a combustion condition sensor is employed along with a catalyst in the exhaust. Sensors are provided upstream and downstream of the catalyst to insure that it is operating at optimum conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,022, which issued to Woodward on Sep. 12, 2000, describes a catalytic reactor for marine applications. The reactor for an internal combustion engine has a cooling jacket surrounding multiple catalyst elements. A thermal barrier layer is formed between the catalyst elements and the cooling jacket to prevent overcooling of the catalyst elements. The thermal barrier layer can be formed from insulating elements such as fibrous material, a plurality of annular rings disposed around the catalyst elements, a corrugated layer, or can be formed by an empty space. U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,726, which issued to Holpp et al. on Apr. 9, 2002, describes a honeycomb body configuration. It includes a honeycomb body with a fluid inlet side and a fluid outlet side. The honeycomb body is formed of at least partially structured sheet metal layers which form channels through which a fluid can flow. The honeycomb body is surrounded by an inner tubular jacket and an outer tubular jacket provided concentrically in relation thereto. The inner tubular jacket is configured as a corrugated hose in at least one axial subregion thereof. The inner tubular jacket has at least one further axis subregion which lies smoothly against the honeycomb body. The corrugated subregion and the outer tubular jacket are connected at least in a longitudinal partial region of the corrugated subregion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,193, which issued to Schaper on Oct. 28, 2003, describes a method and apparatus for end-surface connection of a carrier matrix of a honeycomb body by a joining technique. It relates in particular to a catalyst carrier body. The matrix is disposed in a tubular jacket and is laminated and/or wound from at least partially structured sheet metal foils or layers. The end surface of the honeycomb body is at least partially heated with the aid of a surface inductor having induction coils. U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,235, which issued to Holpp et al. on Dec. 9, 2003, describes a catalyst carrier configuration for installation close to an engine. It includes a housing and at least one catalyst carrier body disposed in the housing. The catalyst carrier body has partition walls defining a plurality of passages for an exhaust gas. A flange surrounds the catalyst carrier body and extends radially is outwards from the catalyst carrier body. The flange has a second that extends at least partially into an outer wall of the housing and can be disposed between a cylinder head and a manifold of an internal combustion engine. The catalyst carrier configuration can be mounted close to an internal combustion engine. A structural unit having at least two catalyst carrier configurations and an exhaust system are also provided. U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,178, which issued to Kurth et al. on May 25, 2004, describes a method for producing a centered honeycomb body. The method includes forming a honeycomb body by stacking and/or winding layers of steel sheet containing chromium and aluminum resulting in the honeycomb body having channels through which a fluid can flow. The honeycomb body is introduced into a tubular jacket. U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,422, which issued to Westerbeke et al. on Oct. 5, 2004, describes an emission control method. It is intended for use with a fixed speed internal combustion engine and includes injecting a controlled flow of air into the exhaust between a first catalyst bed adapted to reduce hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and a second catalyst bed adapted to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the present invention.

Almost every tennis player has at one time or another faced the tedious and time-consuming task of retrieving large numbers of tennis balls lying about the court, for example, after a session of practicing serves or other strokes. There are accordingly several devices now available to relieve the player of the tiring necessity of bending over and picking up the balls by hand, one by one. One common ball retriever is a basket with bottom openings slightly smaller than the diameter of a tennis ball, and with a long handle. To pick up a ball from the court, the player, while standing upright and holding the long handle, pushes the basket down over the ball, which then passes through one of the bottom openings and is trapped in the basket. The main problem with using these baskets is that they usually allow the player to pick up no more than one or two balls at a time. Much more efficient and less tiresome devices to retrieve balls from a court or other surface resemble shopping carts or "mowers." The user walks normally, pushing the cart before him, and arms that are mainly parallel to the surface of the court and that angle out from the cart try to funnel the balls to a central, revolving drum, belt, or scooper that lifts the balls up from the ground and deposits them into a basket. The tips of the arms are often curved relative to the arms themselves, or are provided with rollers or other devices, in order to support the ends of the arms on the court, or to reduce the tendency of the arms to snag on the net or damage walls. Crown Manufacturing Company at present manufactures a cart of this type under the name "Ball Mower." In addition, the following patents disclose such carts: U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,398 (Offner, Dec. 23, 1969); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,868 (Folz, Jul. 20, 1971); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,533 (Meyer, Mar. 7, 1978); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,524 (Morris, Sep. 9, 1980); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,490 (Keller, Feb. 24, 1981); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,428 (Rohrer et al., Jan. 26, 1988); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,527 (Ray, Jul. 4, 1989). These and other similar devices for retrieving balls have at least two disadvantages that are as common as they are irritating. First, while the user pushes the cart around the court, many balls often bounce away from the arms, particularly out from the curved ends. Also, when the cart changes directions, balls escape from the arms and bounce away, even when the cart is moving slowly. Second, the collection baskets in these known devices typically do not hold balls securely until they can be reused or transferred to another device such as an automatic "serve cannon." In most known ball retrievers, such as those described in the patents referred to above, the balls that are lifted by the rotating drum, shaft, etc., are dropped either over an edge or through an opening in the collection basket. In many ball retrievers, the basket is open above, and some retrievers require a lid; in others, there is a second opening in the basket. In both cases, in order to remove the retrieved balls from the device, one must pour the balls either through the second opening or directly from the open basket. In both cases, either the balls must be poured slowly, with great care, and with frequent and cumbersome need to move the balls along by hand, or the balls tend to bounce out of the basket back onto the ground. In the "Ball Mower," for example, the side walls of the ball collection basket are only about five inches high, in part to allow it to be mounted and removed from the main frame of the device. As balls are lifted from the tennis court and are deposited into the basket, balls tend to bounce over one another and many roll over the rim of the basket and out onto the court again. Later, when one wishes to remove the basket and dump the collected balls, for example, into a serve machine, one must tilt the basket, one rim of which is held behind a down-turned metal lip on the main frame of the device, and then pull the basket, still tilted, away from the main frame; balls then tend to fall out of the basket over the basket rim. The object of this invention is to provide a ball retrieval device that collects and retains balls more efficiently than is now possible using existing devices. In particular, the invention has as its object to prevent balls from "escaping," both when they are being collected from an underlying surface such as a tennis court, and also when they are transferred to another device such as a ball-throwing machine in an easily attached and removed collection basket.

The present invention relates to a reaction product of a titanate and an acetoacetate which has been modified so as to lower its freezing point. It has long been known that titanium esters react with high molecular weight hydroxyl-containing compounds so as to cross-link them and produce gels; J. Oil and Colour Chem. Assoc. 31, 405 (1948). However, the cross-linking reaction made through the use of simple alkyl esters of titanium proceeds too rapidly for most industrial uses. The cross-linking rate imparted by titanium esters can be depressed by combining a titanium ester with a variety of multifunctional compounds including an acetoacetate; U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,108 and Feld & Cowe, The Organic Chemistry of Titanium, published by Butterworth (1965). It should be noted that there is disagreement as to the structure of the complexes or chelates so-formed; cf. the structure given in the patent with that given by Yamamoto et al., J.A.C.S. 79 (1957), 4344-8. The reaction product of tetraisopropyl titanate (also known as tetraisopropoxytitanium) and ethyl acetoacetate, at a titanate:acetoacetate mol ratio of 1:2, finds industrial use in cross-linking high molecular weight compounds. In that commercial reaction product, the isopropanol liberated in the reaction is removed, e.g., by distillation. That reaction product is normally a liquid, and sometimes it remains in the liquid state even after having been supercooled to some considerable extent. However, in the supercooled state, it sometimes spontaneously freezes, especially in the presence of a nucleating agent, such as dust or a part of the reaction product in crystal form. The reaction product of tetraisopropyl titanate and ethyl acetoacetate at a 1:1 mol ratio has an even greater tendency to freeze; when seeded with crystals of that reaction product, it may even freeze solid at room temperature (about 20.degree.-25.degree. C.).

With the separation of call and media processing (e.g. voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)) combined with the distribution of call state across multiple elements (e.g., session initiation protocol (SIP) call stateful proxies), hang calls associated with certain failures can no longer be cleared. Specifically, any failure that prevents call release messages to reach call stateful elements would result in the creation of hang calls. Hang calls may have adverse effects on a communication network. For example, the hang calls may consume memory and processing resources of various elements within the network or create a lack of synchronization between elements within the network. This can have an adverse impact on subsequent calls within the network.

FIG. 1 shows an electronic circuit 100 of the prior art, which includes a power amplifier 102 coupled to a harmonic filter 104. Power amplifier 102, which includes a Wilkinson power combiner, has an amplifier 106, an amplifier 108, a resistor 110, a transmission line section 112, and a transmission line section 114 coupled as shown. Harmonic filter 104 consists of several discrete electrical components such as capacitors and inductors. When an operating signal is applied at an input 116, power amplifier 102 provides for linear amplification which results in an amplified operating signal at an output 118. Due to non-idealities of amplifiers 106 and 108, however, power amplifier 102 also generates undesirable signals such as harmonic signals at output 118. Typically, such harmonic signals can be reduced in amplifiers 106 and 108 only with a resulting undesirable tradeoff in amplifier efficiency. Capacitance and inductance values of the capacitors and inductors of harmonic filter 104 are selected to reject or filter out such harmonic signals, resulting in an amplified and filtered operating signal at an output 120. FIG. 2 shows another circuit of the prior art, an electronic circuit 200 including a power amplifier 202 and a harmonic filter 204. Power amplifier 202, which includes a Wilkinson power combiner mentioned above, has an amplifier 206, an amplifier 208, a resistor 210, a transmission line section 212, and a transmission line section 214 coupled as shown. When an operating signal is applied at an input 216, power amplifier 202 generates an amplified operating signal and harmonic signals at an output 218. Harmonic filter 204 consists of transmission line sections and capacitors having electrical values selected to reject such harmonic signals, resulting in an amplified and filtered operating signal at an output 220. FIG. 3 shows another circuit of the prior art, an electronic circuit 300 including a power amplifier 302 and a harmonic filter 304. Power amplifier 302, which includes a ninety-degree hybrid power combiner, has a phase shifter 305, an amplifier 306, an amplifier 308, transmission line sections 310, 312, 314, and 316, and a resistor 318 coupled as shown. When an operating signal is applied at an input 320, power amplifier 302 generates an amplified operating signal and harmonic signals at an output 322. Harmonic filter 304 consists of transmission line sections having impedances chosen to filter out harmonic signals, resulting in an amplified and filtered operating signal at an output 324. In the prior art, power amplifiers 102, 202, and 302 of FIGS. 1-3 have been used interchangeably with harmonic filters 104, 204, and 304. Although electronic circuits 100, 200, and 300 of the prior art function as required, they include many electrical components which together consume a great deal of physical space on a substrate and allow for considerable signal loss of the operating signal. Accordingly, there is a need for power amplifier and filter circuitry that consumes less physical space and allows for less signal loss of the operating signal, and circuitry especially suitable for high-powered radio transmitters.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic condition caused by the failure of the anti-reflux barrier located at the gastroesophageal junction to keep the contents of the stomach from splashing into the esophagus. The splashing is known as gastroesophageal reflux. The stomach acid is designed to digest meat, and will digest esophageal tissue when persistently splashed into the esophagus. A principal reason for regurgitation associated with GERD is the mechanical failure of a deteriorated gastroesophageal flap to close and seal against high pressure in the stomach. Due to reasons including lifestyle, a Grade I normal gastroesophageal flap may deteriorate into a malfunctioning Grade III or absent valve Grade IV gastroesophageal flap. With a deteriorated gastroesophageal flap, the stomach contents are more likely to be regurgitated into the esophagus, the mouth, and even the lungs. The regurgitation is referred to as “heartburn” because the most common symptom is a burning discomfort in the chest under the breastbone. Burning discomfort in the chest and regurgitation (burping up) of sour-tasting gastric juice into the mouth are classic symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). When stomach acid is regurgitated into the esophagus, it is usually cleared quickly by esophageal contractions. Heartburn (backwashing of stomach acid and bile onto the esophagus) results when stomach acid is frequently regurgitated into the esophagus and the esophageal wall is inflamed. Complications develop for some people who have GERD. Esophagitis (inflammation of the esophagus) with erosions and ulcerations (breaks in the lining of the esophagus) can occur from repeated and prolonged acid exposure. If these breaks are deep, bleeding or scarring of the esophagus with formation of a stricture (narrowing of the esophagus) can occur. If the esophagus narrows significantly, then food sticks in the esophagus and the symptom is known as dysphagia. GERD has been shown to be one of the most important risk factors for the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma. In a subset of people who have severe GERD, if acid exposure continues, the injured squamous lining is replaced by a precancerous lining (called Barrett's Esophagus) in which a cancerous esophageal adenocarcinoma can develop. Other complications of GERD may not appear to be related to esophageal disease at all. Some people with GERD may develop recurrent pneumonia (lung infection), asthma (wheezing), or a chronic cough from acid backing up into the esophagus and all the way up through the upper esophageal sphincter into the lungs. In many instances, this occurs at night, while the person is in a supine position and sleeping. Occasionally, a person with severe GERD will be awakened from sleep with a choking sensation. Hoarseness can also occur due to acid reaching the vocal cords, causing a chronic inflammation or injury. GERD never improves without intervention. Life style changes combined with both medical and surgical treatments exist for GERD. Medical therapies include antacids and proton pump inhibitors. However, the medical therapies only mask the reflux. Patients still get reflux and perhaps emphysema because of particles refluxed into the lungs. Barrett's esophagus results in about 10% of the GERD cases. The esophageal epithelium changes into tissue that tends to become cancerous from repeated acid washing despite the medication. Several open laparotomy and laproscopic surgical procedures are available for treating GERD. One surgical approach is the Nissen fundoplication. The Nissen approach typically involves a 360° wrap of the fundus around the gastroesophageal junction. The procedure has a high incidence of postoperative complications. The Nissen approach creates a 360° moveable flap without a fixed portion. Hence, Nissen does not restore the normal movable flap. The patient cannot burp because the fundus was used to make the repair, and may frequently experience dysphagia. Another surgical approach to treating GERD is the Belsey Mark IV (Belsey) fundoplication. The Belsey procedure involves creating a valve by suturing a portion of the stomach to an anterior surface of the esophagus. It reduces some of the postoperative complications encountered with the Nissen fundoplication, but still does not restore the normal movable flap. None of these procedures fully restores the normal anatomical anatomy or produces a normally functioning gastroesophageal junction. Another surgical approach is the Hill repair. In the Hill repair, the gastroesophageal junction is anchored to the posterior abdominal areas, and a 180° valve is created by a system of sutures. The Hill procedure restores the moveable flap, the cardiac notch and the Angle of His. However, all of these surgical procedures are very invasive, regardless of whether done as a laproscopic or an open procedure. New, less surgically invasive approaches to treating GERD involve transoral endoscopic procedures. One procedure contemplates a machine device with robotic arms that is inserted transorally into the stomach. While observing through an endoscope, an endoscopist guides the machine within the stomach to engage a portion of the fundus with a corkscrew-like device on one arm. The arm then pulls on the engaged portion to create a fold of tissue or radial plication at the gastroesophageal junction. Another arm of the machine pinches the excess tissue together and fastens the excess tissue with one pre-tied implant. This procedure does not restore normal anatomy. The fold created does not have anything in common with a valve. In fact, the direction of the radial fold prevents the fold or plication from acting as a flap of a valve. Another transoral procedure contemplates making a fold of fundus tissue near the deteriorated gastroesophageal flap to recreate the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). The procedure requires placing multiple U-shaped tissue clips around the folded fundus to hold it in shape and in place. This and the previously discussed procedure are both highly dependent on the skill, experience, aggressiveness, and courage of the endoscopist. In addition, these and other procedures may involve esophageal tissue in the repair. Esophageal tissue is fragile and weak. Involvement of esophageal tissue in the repair of a gastroesophageal flap valve poses unnecessary risks to the patient. A new and improved device and method for restoration of a gastroesophageal flap valve is fully disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,214, issued Sep. 14, 2004, for TRANSORAL ENDOSCOPIC GASTROESOPHAGEAL FLAP VALVE RESTORATION DEVICE, ASSEMBLY, SYSTEM AND METHOD, which patent is assigned to the assignee of this invention, and is incorporated herein by reference. That apparatus and method provides transoral endoscopic gastroesophageal flap valve restoration. A longitudinal member arranged for transoral placement into a stomach carries a tissue shaper that non-invasively grips and shapes stomach tissue. A tissue fixation device is then deployed to maintain the shaped stomach tissue in a shape approximating a gastroesophageal flap. Whenever stomach tissue is to be transorally shaped as, for example, by the improved device last mentioned above, it is necessary to feed the device down the esophageal passage including the mouth, throat, and esophagus and into the stomach. Unfortunately, the throat and esophagus are capable of expanding to only a diameter of about two centimeters (2 cm) without damage. Further, the back of throat defines a radius of approximately only 4.4 cm in the average adult. Hence, for any kind of device to be guided down into the stomach, the device must have a maximum perimeter of no more than about 6.28 cm (2 cm×π) and be flexible enough to bend through the radius of 4.4 cm defined by the back of the throat. While being flexible enough to travel down the throat and esophagus, the device must also be rigid enough to shape the stomach tissue necessary to form the gastroesophageal flap. The present invention addresses these issues.

This invention relates to telephone systems wherein connections between subscriber stations, or between subscriber stations and lines extending beyond such stations, e.g. office lines, are established by operating a line key which is connected with the called subscirber station or office line, and in which systems the control means for establishing connections are decentralized and arranged mainly at the subscriber stations and at the line transmissions, respectively. There are two principal kinds of branch systems, i.e. "systems with exchanges" and "series systems." In a "series system" an external office call passes all the series stations connected in parallel to a voice line, and ends in a main series station which is provided with a buzzer. The series branch stations are provided with keys for establishing connections with office subscriber stations. Other series stations than the aforementioned main series station may recieve office calls. Each entitled branch station may likewise receive the call as long as a calling signal is transmitted to the branch stations as, for instance, by means of an additional buzzer. Internal calls among the branch stations are also conducted over the common voice line, each branch station being connected with the others by so-called call lines. The system requires a large number of call lines because all signalling operations are performed by the individual branch stations. Such systems are expensive and complex since they require multi-wire cables. In a modification of the above system the call lines are also used as voice lines, each station of the system being connected to the others by such a line. Hence, in such a system several calls may be conducted simultaneously. Each station may add itself to an established connection so that conference calls may be had. There are many prior art versions of systems under consideration. In these systems voice information as well as control information is transmitted in conventional, i.e. analog form. As a result, these prior art systems require complex multi-wire cables. A telephone system which is not subject to all the limitations of the aforementioned prior art systems is disclosed in the paper by Aaronson and Acameora, "A Frequency-Division Multiplex Key Telephone System," IEEE Transactions on Communications Technology, Dec. 1971, pages 1242-1243. The main series station of this system is provided with a space multiplex switching network adapted to connect the voice circuit of each station with each external line and with each internal line. The main series station receives information (receive, hold, connect) from a subscriber station and performs the required control and acoustical and optical signalling functions. A second pair of wires is used for transmitting these control signals between the main series station and all subscriber stations. The independent control of the various functions required at the main series station is effected by a frequency multiplex representation of the various signals. The pair of voice wires is also used to transmit the control signals emanating from a subscriber station to the main series station upon depression of a key at the former. The principal object of the present invention is to provide small branch telephone systems which combine the advantages of branch systems with exchanges and of series systems or, in other words, to provide a small branch telephone system which does not require complex wiring, nor complex centrally located control means.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a navigation server and the like which supports guiding of a mobile body by a navigation device, on the basis of communication with the navigation device. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique of making a navigation device set and output a new route to a destination position, in the case where an automobile departs from a route to the destination set by the navigation device mounted on the automobile (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H06-068389 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-261782). However, there is a possibility that a route lacking adequacy in view of various circumstances such as a situation not taken into consideration at the time of route setting by the navigation device, and that the automobile is guided according to such route.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to inflatable occupant restraints for automotive vehicles and, more particularly, to such restraints deployed on the sides of the vehicles. 2. Background Art The use of inflatable occupant restraints, or air bags, in automotive vehicles has become common in the automotive industry. Most new vehicles are configured with inflatable occupant restraint systems which respond to frontal impacts. In order to enhance the energy-absorbing capability of their products, the automotive industry has turned its attention to developing energy-absorbing restraints responsive to excessive loading laterally of a vehicle. One of the areas of the vehicle under consideration for use of inflatable occupant restraints to decrease lateral loading is the interior side of the vehicle, for example, the area between the upper portion of an occupant and the vehicle side glass. A roof side rail mounted side inflatable restraint system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,459 (Daniel), assigned to the assignee of the present invention, which is adequate for that portion of the interior vehicle side between the A and B pillars. It has also been proposed to extend the side air bag system across pillars to form a curtain along a substantial portion of the vehicle side interior to provide a restraint for occupants in the first and second row of vehicle seats of passenger vehicles. See, for example, U.S. Pat. 6,152,482 (Patel et al), assigned to the assignee of the present invention. However, merely extending the curtain air bag, in order to provide rollover protection in minivans and sport utility vehicle with a third row of seats, presents several problems including interference with air conditioning ducts located in the roof rail and in meeting time deployment criteria. In accordance with the present invention, an inflatable occupant restraint is provided for protecting occupants seated in the third row of an automotive vehicle. The proposed restraint does not deploy through the vehicle trim and is deployed within the time requirement necessary to protect occupants in the third row seats. The proposed restraint is provided in addition to the current curtain design protecting front and second row seat passengers. The proposed restraint can also be used in a rear lift gate with fixed glass for rear impact protection. The inflatable occupant restraint of the present invention includes a plurality of approximately vertically disposed inflatable restraint devices which are connected together and in a preferred embodiment are attached to the side of the vehicle between the C pillar and the D pillar. One or more horizontal tethers secured to the inflatable restraint devices and to the C and D pillars hold the devices in position prior to and after inflation of the devices.

Ground-engaging implement systems for machines tend to be subjected to harsh operating conditions. Mechanical forces transmitted between and among components in an implement system can subject the components to tremendous stress and strain as the implement system operates to cut, dig, break, or otherwise interact with materials such as soil, gravel, concrete, and rock. In addition to mechanical forces that require robust design and construction, repeated contact with hard materials can result in significant wear upon material-engaging surfaces of the equipment. In the case of implement systems employing a bucket, it is well known to employ replaceable teeth or tooth tips which can be swapped out when they become worn. One known design used with buckets for backhoes, excavators, and the like, employs tooth mounts that are welded to an edge of the bucket, and serve to position digging teeth for cutting into a material. The digging teeth or tooth tips can be held in place by a variety of strategies, such as pins, welding, or other forms of fastening technology. In some systems mounting elements for the teeth are structurally integrated into the bucket itself, namely, at corners of the bucket. A single cast piece can be used to connect adjacent walls of the bucket structure, and also provide suitable geometry for tooth mounting. Additional tooth mounts and teeth are positioned between the corners along a lower edge of the bucket. It has been observed for some years that orienting bucket teeth in particular ways can enhance the digging effectiveness of the bucket in some instances, namely, orientations of the teeth that are mounted at the corners. Accordingly, in one known design integrated bucket corner tooth mounts are purpose built for their left hand or right hand position in the bucket so as to position an associated tooth at an appropriate orientation for the location. U.S. Pat. No. 8,943,716 to Renski et al. is entitled Implement Tooth Assembly With Tip End Adapter, and proposes an adapter having a forward extending adapter nose with a keystone-shaped contour. A ground-engaging tip has a nose cavity for receiving the adapter nose, with complimentary surfaces of the adapter nose and adapter cavity increasing retention between the adapter nose and the tip when downward forces are applied.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to a storm door, and more particularly to a storm door with a sash weight balancing assembly and also to a storm door having an improved method of assembly. 2. Description of the Prior Art Storm doors and windows have been used for many years for providing reduced transmission of thermal energy through doors and windows. Storm doors may be readily removable or be provided with a window sash that may be replaced with a screen to provide ventilation. Other storm doors have operable sashes that are often limited to certain preset positions and also the full weight of the sash must be lifted in order to move the sash. U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,145 does describe a storm door assembly that utilizes a counterbalance. However, this storm door has only one sash that is operable. Another windowpane is positioned on top of a screen assembly. It is therefore possible to only ventilate either the top or the bottom, depending upon how the door is constructed. The present invention addresses the problems associated with the prior art and provides for a storm door which has sash weight balancing assemblies for two operable sashes that are positioned adjacent to a screen. The screen and sashes allow for the storm door to be ventilated at either the top or bottom or both. Further, the present invention provides for a storm door which utilizes a unique and improved assembly. In one embodiment, the invention is a storm door that has a frame. The frame has first and second sides, a top extending between and interconnecting the sides at their upper ends and a bottom extending between and interconnecting the sides at their lower ends. A first jamb liner is operatively connected to the first side and forms a vertically extending first hollow chamber between the first side and the first jamb liner. A second jamb liner is operatively connected to the second side and forms a vertically extending hollow chamber between the second side and the second jamb liner, the jamb liners form first, second and third positions relative to the door""s exterior to interior orientation. A screen is positioned between the first positions. A first slidable window sash is positioned between the jamb liners at the second positions and the second slidable window sash is positioned between the jamb liners at the third positions. First and second sash weight balancing assemblies are connected to the first and second sides, respectively, and each are connected to the first slidable window sash. The first and second sash weight balancing assemblies are located in the first and second hollow chambers, respectively, for counterbalancing the first slidable sash. Third and fourth sash weight balancing assemblies are connected to the first and second sides, respectively, and each are connected to the second slidable window sash. The third and fourth sash weight balancing assemblies are located in the first and second hollow chambers for counterbalancing the second slidable sash. In another embodiment, the invention is a storm door having a frame. The frame has first and second sides. The sides are operatively connected at their top ends by a top and at their bottom ends by a bottom. The sides have first and second side end members operatively connected to a side connecting member, thereby forming sides having openings. First and second jamb liners have first and second jamb liner end members operatively connected to a jamb liner connecting member. The first and second jamb liners are positioned in the opening of the first and second sides, respectively, forming hollow chambers between the sides and liners. The first jamb liner end members are positioned on the side first end members and the second jamb liner end members are positioned proximate the side connecting members. A first flexible member is forced between the jamb liner connecting members and the sides, whereby the jamb liners are firmly held in place by the first flexible members. In another embodiment, the invention is a storm door having a frame. The frame has first and second sides. The sides are operatively connected at their top ends by a top and their bottom ends by a bottom. The sides have a wall to form an opening. First and second jamb liners are positioned in the openings of the first and second sides, respectively, to form hollow chambers between the sides and liners. The wall jamb liners have at least two points of contact with the sides to limit movement of the liners. Flexible members are forced between the sides and liners whereby the jamb liners are firmly held in place by the flexible member.

MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical systems) accelerometer has been widely used in the automobile application, such as electronic stability control (ESC), adaptive cruise control (ACC), airbag systems and collision detection. The MEMS accelerometer even finds more applications in consumer electronics, for instance, the cell phone, PDA, digital still camera (DSC), and video games. Thus, the requirement of multi-axes accelerometer is rapidly increasing. Presently, a capacitive-based type sensing approach has been widely applied as an inertial sensor. There are several advantages for the capacitive-based type sensing approach. Capacitive-based techniques are inherently less noise than piezoresistance techniques because of the lack of thermal noises. In the differential capacitive sensing approaches, because the output signal is a function of the capacitance difference existing between stationary electrode and movable electrode, any temperature effect acts the same to both capacitors and is therefore cancelled out therebetween, so that the signal stability is further improved. In the past, there are various in-plane accelerometers utilizing surface micromachining, bulk micromachining and CMOS-MEMS technologies. The out-of-plane CMOS-MEMS accelerometers use electric routing technique as parallel vertical combs for capacitive sensing. However, the sensitivity is quite restrictive because of the area variation sensing scheme. Recently, CMOS-MEMS out-of-plane accelerometer with fully differential gap-closing capacitance sensing electrodes is presented. A post-CMOS wet etching process is established to realize the accelerometer with sensing electrodes of the sub-micron gap in the out-of-plane direction. However, one of the main challenges for multi-axes accelerometer is how to detect the acceleration in the Z-axis (out-of-plane axis). In early periods, the capacitive sensing is employed using overlap area variation between movable and stationary vertical comb electrodes, and Z-axis capacitive sensing with a torsional suspension has been demonstrated using the technologies of DWP (Dissolved Wafer Processing). Also a monolithic three-axis micro-G resolution silicon capacitive accelerometer system implemented by using the combination of surface and bulk fabrication processes is demonstrated. However, the fabrication process is complicated with high cost. A three-axis capacitive accelerometer has been developed using SOI (silicon on insulator) wafer. However, the electrode design in Z-axis is not the differential sensing architecture. The above-mentioned researches suffer from either non-differential sensing or complicated fabrication processes in the Z-axis sensing. Recently, the Z-axis differential SOI accelerometer is developed in different type of Z-axis novel vertical comb electrodes. The novel vertical electrodes are fabricated using two masks and a time-controlled RIE (Reactive Ion Etch) process, and then provide electrodes in different movable and stationary heights. According to this design, Z-axis acceleration is differentially detected easily using a set of the novel vertical electrodes. Furthermore, differential capacitive three-axis SOI accelerometer has been demonstrated using the novel vertical combs. However, Z-axis accelerometer with the gap closing differential electrodes using SOI wafer has still not yet been reported. Accordingly, in order to fill the gap of the above-mentioned deficiencies in the state of the art, the applicant provides a gap-closing differential capacitive sensing three-axis accelerometer on SOI wafer to solve the above deficiencies in the prior art and reduce the cost thereof. In order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional techniques, the new concepts and the solutions are proposed in the present invention so as to solve the above-mentioned problems. The present invention is described below.

In many conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database, from a user's own systems. Remote access to a database includes accessing the database over a network, and consumes network resources as well as resources of the database system being accessed. If a client has exclusive access to the database, access issues are fairly similar between accessing a local database versus accessing a remote database. However, access to a remote database shared by multiple users means that resource use by one user prevents those resources being used by another user. If the remote shared database additionally executes code for users, remote debugging can decrease performance of the database. Thus, remote debugging in an environment where a user does not have exclusive control over the user means that one user may use a disproportionate amount of database system resources to perform the debugging. Thus, remote debugging may either be disallowed, or the significant performance degradation may occur. It will be understood that traffic to the database system related to debugging would not appear the same to the system as other traffic. Better system performance is achieved when all traffic can be handled in a standardized way, rather than having different rules and resource use for different kinds of traffic. Trying to implement breakpoints, code step through, and evaluation further complicates remote debugging due to the traditional exclusivity of execution resources required to implement such debugging techniques. It will be understood that consistency in execution needs to be maintained for breakpoints and code step through to function properly. Also, traditional distributed execution would create inconsistency in evaluation of the debugging process. Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including a description of the figures, which may depict some or all of the embodiments described below, as well as discussing other potential embodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presented herein. An overview is provided below, followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.

This invention relates to a frequency lock loop circuit employing a gated frequency difference detector. It has been found that the well-known phase lock loop circuit requires a limiter to maintain the loop gain constant. The phase detector output is the product of both the input amplitude and the sine of the phase angle. The above-mentioned limiter maintains the input amplitude constant for varying input RF levels and in this way keeps the loop gain constant. This limiter is usually very costly and physically very large. A system which avoids the use of the above mentioned limiter is described in the above identified related U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,156. This apparatus requires the use of four detection levels, a positive and negative level for each of a pair of quadrature video signals. This apparatus suffers from the disadvantages that the thresholds must be near the zero crossings of the sine wave in order to develop the decoded outputs to operate the phase detector. Further, the thresholds must have a value greater than the peak noise value to prevent false triggering.

Over the past years, privacy and security policies, and related operations have become increasingly important. Breaches in security, leading to the unauthorized access of personal data (which may include sensitive personal data) have become more frequent among companies and other organizations of all sizes. Such personal data may include, but is not limited to, personally identifiable information (PII), which may be information that directly (or indirectly) identifies an individual or entity. Examples of PII include names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, and biometric identifiers such as a person's fingerprints or picture. Other personal data may include, for example, customers' Internet browsing habits, purchase history, or even their preferences (e.g., likes and dislikes, as provided or obtained through social media). Many organizations that obtain, use, and transfer personal data, including sensitive personal data, have begun to address these privacy and security issues. To manage personal data, many companies have attempted to implement operational policies and processes that comply with legal and industry requirements. However, there is an increasing need for improved systems and methods to manage personal data in a manner that complies with such policies.

The present application relates generally to additive manufacturing (e.g., three-dimensional printing) techniques. In particular, this application relates to modifying features in designs of objects to make them physically capable of being manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques and machines. Different additive manufacturing machines may have different capabilities regarding accuracy and resolution of manufacturing and constraints, such as size for example, on building of objects. For these and other reasons, the manufacturing of certain objects or designs may not be feasible using certain additive manufacturing techniques or machines. Accordingly, there is a need for techniques to modify designs that are not capable of being generated using certain additive manufacturing techniques and/or machines.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to pixel circuitry for an image sensor and in particular to pixel circuitry for an image sensor having a global shutter mode. 2. Discussion of the Related Art FIG. 1 illustrates a pixel circuit 100 suitable for operation in a global shutter mode. Circuit 100 comprises a pinned photodiode 102 coupled between ground and a node 104. “Pinned” means that the photodiode is initially at a fixed voltage, such as 0 V, before an accumulation of charge. Node 104 is coupled to a power supply voltage VRT via an overflow transistor 106 controlled by an overflow signal OF, and to a storage node 108 via a transfer gate transistor 110, controlled by a signal TG. Node 108 is further coupled to the supply voltage VRT via a reset transistor 112 controlled by reset signal RST, and to the gate node of a sense transistor 114. Transistor 114 has one of its source/drain nodes coupled to the supply voltage VRT, and its other source/drain node coupled to a pixel line 116 via a read transistor 118 controlled by a signal READ. Operation of pixel 100 in a global shutter mode will now be described with reference to the timing diagram of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows timing diagrams for signals OF, DATA, TG, READ and RST, applied to the pixels in three adjacent rows in an image sensor n, n+1 and n+2. Initially, signal OF comprises a pulse and the falling edge of this signal initiates a start of an integration period ti of the pixels in the image sensor. Towards the end of the integration period ti, node 108 of each pixel in the image sensor is reset by applying a short pulse to the gate of reset transistor 112. Next, during a transfer period TR, the signal TG to the transistors 110 of each pixel is asserted high for a short duration, to transfer charge accumulated by a photodiode during the integration period to node 108, and TG is brought low to end the integration period ti. The signal at node 108 in each pixel in the image sensor is stored until the corresponding row is read. Rows are read consecutively, and in this example the first row to be read is row n. For this, the signal READ applied to pixels in row n is asserted, connecting node 108 to column line 116, and the voltage on line 116 is sampled by sampling circuitry (not shown), as indicated by arrow Ln. Node 108 is then reset by applying RST for a short pulse, and then a reference value is sampled by the sampling circuitry, as indicated by the arrow LREFn. The read pulse then returns low, and the signals captured by the is sampling circuitry at Ln and LREFn are converted into digital format and output as indicated by the DATA signal. Rows n+1 and n+2 are then read one after the other in the same manner. A problem with the circuit of FIG. 1, and the method described in relation to FIG. 2, is that there is a large delay between the end of the global integration period ti, and the read-out of the last rows that are read during which the image signal stored at node 108 becomes degraded in quality. For example, assuming that the read out of one row of 3000 pixels takes approximately 75 μs, when there are over 2000 rows, the delay before the first row is read may be only 30 μs, whereas the delay before the last row can be 75 ms or more. During this delay, crosstalk between the photodiode and the storage node 108 can add to the signal stored on node 108, and furthermore current leakage from node 108, known as dark current, can cause the signal at node 108 to deteriorate. Such interference is undesirable as it can result in a degrading of the image quality between the first and last pixels to be read.

Traditionally, diesel engines are used as a drive source of vessels such as tankers or transport ships and onshore power generation facilities. However, the exhaust gas of the diesel engine contains a large amount of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter, and the like which are harmful substances hindering preservation of the environment. For this reason, in recent years, gas engines that can reduce the amount of harmful substances generated are becoming prevalent as an alternative engine for diesel engines. A so-called gas engine that generates power by using a fuel gas such as natural gas supplies a mixed gas obtained by mixing a fuel gas with the air to a cylinder and combust the same (see Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2; hereinafter PTL 1 and PTL 2, respectively). Further, as an engine device combining the characteristics of a diesel engine and characteristics of a gas engine, there is a dual-fuel engine which allows a use of a premixed combustion mode in which a mixture of a gaseous fuel (fuel gas) such as natural gas and air is supplied to a combustion chamber and combusted, in combination with a diffusion combustion mode in which a liquid fuel such as crude oil is injected into the combustion chamber and combusted (see patent Literature 3 and Patent Literature 4; hereinafter, PTL 3 and PTL 4, respectively).

Strapping machines, both automatic and manual, are known for securing straps around loads. Steel strap can be used to secure loads, such as structural steel members, pipe, steel coils, metal plates and like materials that could otherwise overload or compromise the integrity and/or strength of plastic strap material. Typically, a hand-held tensioning tool is positioned on the load and the strap is positioned in the tool and tensioned. A seal is then applied to the strap to secure the tensioned strap around the load. The seals can be of the crimp-type, in which a seal element is positioned around overlying courses of strap material and crimped onto the strap. Alternately, a crimp-less seal, which uses a set of interlocking cuts in the strap can be used. Alternately still, a spot weld can be used to join the two ends of the strap. The hand-held tools can be fully manual or can be powered, such as by pneumatic motors, electric motors or the like. Welding steel strap is also known, but is currently only done using spot weld and inert-gas (i.e., TIG) welding processes. During production, steel strap is spot welded, butt welded or inter-gas welded to join feed coils together to maintain a continuous manufacturing process. Typically, steel strap has a coating to prevent rust or corrosion from accumulating on the strap. In order to effectively weld the strap to itself using spot welding techniques, the coating must first be removed so that the bare metal is welded together. Material preparation and welding can be a time consuming and labor intensive effort. Nevertheless, painted strap is still spot welded, however, joint strength cannot be consistently maintained. Accordingly, there is a need for an automated steel strap welding machine. Desirably, such a machine can apply, tension and seal steel strap material around a load. More desirably, such a machine can be used with steel strap having a coating thereon, without the use of a crimp-type seal, and without removal of the coating. More desirably still, such a machine includes modular components to allow for quick replacement of components to minimize machine down time.

1. Field of the Invention This invention is in the field of proximity comparing devices for measuring relative distances to a flagstick and including a clamping ring which is received in releasable engagement with the flagstick and a reel which provides adjustable amounts of string from the clamping ring to the ball being measured, thereby enabling the user to readily ascertain which of two balls is farther from the flagstick. 2. Description of the Prior Art In numerous instances in the game of golf, it is necessary to determine which of two balls is farthest from the flagstick since the Rules of Golf require that the player whose ball is farthest from the flagstick play first. Many golfers participate in a game among their foursome wherein points are awarded for the longest drive, for the first player to reach the putting green, for being closest to the flagstick while on the putting green, and finally for the first to hole out his putt. In that type of sport, it becomes important to determine which of the balls is nearest to the flagstick to determine the award of points and also to determine which player is entitled to go first. When two balls are on a putting green, each at a substantial distance from the flagstick, it is very difficult to determine by eye which is the closer to the flagstick. This is particularly true if the balls are on opposite sides of the putting green. Heretofore, some players have gone to the extreme of carrying a measuring tape in their bags. When the two balls being measured are sufficiently far apart, however, it takes two players to make the measurements, one to hold the end of the measuring tape against the rim of the cup and the other to do the actual measuring. The time-honored manner of determining which player is "away" when the two balls are relatively close to the hole consists in measuring the distances with the flagstick itself. However, this is also a two-man undertaking since one player must hold the base of the flagstick against the rim of the cup while the other player does the measuring. This process takes a substantial amount of time and is limited to balls which are no more than the length of a flagstick away from the hole.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to sheet-fed or web-fed rotary offset lithographic printing presses, and more particularly, to an improved printing and coating apparatus which combines lithographic and flexographic printing and coating operations and methods in a continuous in-line operation without the loss of a printing unit. 2. Background of the Prior Art Offset lithography is a process well known in the art which utilizes the planographic method. Image and non-printing areas are essentially on the same plane of a thin metal plate and the distinction between them is maintain chemically. Ink is offset from a plate on the plate cylinder to a rubber blanket on a blanket cylinder and then from the blanket to a substrate supported on an impression cylinder on which printing occurs. Conventional sheet-fed, rotary offset printing presses typically include one or more printing units through which individual sheets are fed and printed. After the last printing unit, freshly printed sheets are transferred by a delivery conveyor to the delivery end of the press where they are collected and stacked uniformly. In a typical sheet-fed, rotary offset printing press such as the Heidelberg Speedmaster line of presses, the delivery conveyor includes endless chains carrying gripper bars with gripper fingers which grip and pull freshly printed sheets from the last impression cylinder and convey them to the sheet delivery stacker. Printed lithographic ink on the surface of the substrate sheet dries relatively slowly through oxidation and is easily smeared by subsequent transfer cylinders between the individual printing units of the press. Any relative movement of the freshly printed surface relative to a support surface can result in smearing. Modified and specialized equipment and techniques have been developed to combat this problem. A related problem that is faced in the prior art is the problem of "offsetting" and "set off" of freshly printed ink at the delivery end of the press after the printed sheets are collected and stacked. A similar problem occurs in roll form material produced on a web-fed press. In some printing jobs, offsetting is prevented by applying a protective and/or decorative coating material over all or a portion of the freshly printed sheets. Some coatings are formed of an ultra-violet (UV)-curable or water-dispersed resin applied as a liquid solution over the freshly printed sheets to protect the ink from offsetting or set-off and improve the appearance of the freshly printed sheets. Such coatings are particularly desirable when decorative or protective finishes are applied in the printing of posters, record jackets, brochures, magazines, folding cartons and the like. In cases where coating is to be applied, the coating operation is carried out after the last printing unit, most desirably by an in-line coating application. It is highly undesirable to process the sheet through the press a second time in order to apply coatings, although this is sometimes done for special effects that are not otherwise obtainable. The ability to overall coat, spot coat or print with aqueous, flexographic and UV curable inks and/or coatings in combination with lithographic, flexographic and waterless printing processes on a rotary offset printing press is highly desirable. Flexographic printing or coating with aqueous, flexographic and UV curable inks from a blanket or a relief plate can permit much heavier wet and dried ink film layers on the substrate. This is largely due to the nature of lithographic inks. Lithographic inks are generally oil based inks that are formulated to print from planographic surfaces based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Lithographic inks are generally very strong in color value to compensate for the lesser amount that is printed. They are among the strongest of all inks. The average amount of ink transferred to the paper is further diluted by the double split of the ink film between the plate cylinder and the blanket cylinder and between the blanket cylinder and the substrate to be printed in the nip between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder. In many situations, only a quarter of the film thickness on the plate is transferred to the substrate. This can make it difficult to obtain sufficient opacity with white or metallic (gold, silver or other metallic) ink or in printing specialized vehicles such as "scratch-and-sniff" materials from a slurry containing encapsulated essence. This often mean that sheets or substrate must be removed and transferred to a second type of machine using the flexographic process to apply greater amounts of ink thickness and make successive or two passes to achieve desired print quality. The prior art has attempted to solve these problems and obtain higher applied film weights in a variety of ways. It is known to provide a printing machine with a downstream coating station having a blanket roller coater associated with a coating application unit for application of a protective coating over the entire printed area of copy sheets or web before they go to the stacker. Jahn, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,615,293 and 4,706,601 disclose separate duplex coating units disposed downstream of a printing press. These permit coating selected portions of the substrate using a relief plate and they permit blanket coating. A number of coating units are known which are appended to or mounted upon the final printing station in the press. Most of these coating units prevent of the printing unit on which it is mounted from doing its normal printing function resulting in the loss of one printed color. A four color press using such a coating apparatus would permit printing only three colors in line in a single pass operation because the last station is converted to a flexographic printer-coater. Bird U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,796,556 and 4,841,903 disclose a liquid application station for the final downstream printing station which converts the lithographic station to a printing coater or a continuous film coater by moving a carriage having a coating unit into impression with the plate or blanket cylinder of the last station on the press. When the coater is used, the normal lithographic printing function on that station is inoperative. DiRico, U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,414 discloses a process and apparatus in use in combination with the last station of an existing offset lithographic press where the coating means is retractable to be used or not as a printer requires. Since the DiRico coater utilizes a blanket cylinder on the last unit of the press, this last unit cannot be used for color printing when it is used for coating. DeMoore, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,316 discloses a retractable printer-coater unit which though not limited to the last printing station of an offset lithographic press, is useful for lithographic or flexographic printing when the ordinary lithographic operation of the station in which it is mounted is not being used. The lithographic operation of the station is lost when this printer-coater is in operation. Sarda, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,051 illustrates a retractable lithographic printing unit which does not disable normal lithographic printing on the lithographic printing station. It enables printing another lithographic color at a station by adding a second blanket roller and a retracting inked and dampened applicator for the second blanket roller of the printing station. Koehler, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,934,305 and 5,178,678 disclose a flexographic liquid film applicator unit which employs a special "blanket" cylinder which engages the substrate on the impression cylinder of the last lithographic printing station on a multi-color lithographic press. The unit slides in and out on "inclined tracks". Manual reengagement and registration of a drive gear on the applicator with a press drive gear using "index" marks is required to reset the applicator "blanket" cylinder after the unit has been moved away from the printing station. DeMoore, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,077 is a delivery cylinder coater for use on the final printing station of a lithographic printing press. The delivery cylinder is provided with a coating blanket. A flexographic applicator roll applies liquid coating to the delivery cylinder as it rotates into the freshly lithographically inked surface of the sheets coming off the press. The coating pickup anilox roller frictionally engages the surface of the delivery cylinder and is rotated by a hydraulic motor. Such apparatus provided by the prior art has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Retrofitting existing presses is often difficult because of space considerations. A dedicated coating unit is often not possible because of space considerations and involves press downtime and substantial capital costs. Devices that utilize the print cylinder or blanket cylinder of the press limit the ability of that station to lithographically print in the normal manner. In retrofitting presses, space considerations are a major problem, especially the space between printing units. Coaters which utilize the plate cylinder or the blanket cylinder of the printing station still suffer from the disadvantage that the coating is split which reduces the wet film thickness that can be applied to the substrate itself. A few add on coating units that print directly on the substrate on the impressions cylinder or a transfer cylinder are limited to the last printing station on the press where there is more room for installation. Such equipment can be moved away or the operator can do the make ready work on the opposite side of the last printing station in the conventional work space for the operator. If such equipment is mounted in the interstation space on a lithographic press, the equipment interferes with operator access to the next station. It is preferable not to have to cut into press frame to gain access to the main gears and not to have to manually engage and disengage indexed gear teeth of gears on the coater with gears on the press. The ability to flexographically coat, spot coat or print on the substrate at an intermediate printing station with an apparatus that parks completely out of the way, which permits coating on the substrate just after it has been lithographically printed on the same impression cylinder, can apply a full coating thickness directly to the substrate, does not require modifying the press drive or cutting into the press gears, and permits further lithographic printing or perfecting on the next or following stations would be highly desirable. The present invention is able to fulfill these needs and more.

High Availability (HA) Clusters are a class of distributed systems that provide high availability for applications. The high availability is achieved using hardware redundancy to recover from single points of failure. HA clusters generally include two or more computer systems called “nodes.” For this reason, HA Clusters are generally referred to as Node Availability Management Systems. Node Availability Management Systems manage both nodes and applications running on the nodes. Each node runs a local operating system kernel. The cluster software, which may be considered an extension of the operating system, starts applications on one or more nodes of the cluster and monitors various aspects of the software and hardware stack. The component of the software that handles application availability is generally referred to as an Availability Manager (AM). In the event of hardware or software failure, the AM automatically restarts applications on the same node or “fails over” the applications to other nodes in order to keep the applications available. In addition, the AM is able to bring applications online or offline in response to administrative requests. The AM can be thought of as reacting to events. These events can generally include administrative commands and error notifications from other parts of the system (e.g., application death, node death, application non-responsiveness, etc.). HA Clusters typically have a single node, referred to as the president node, that makes all the decisions regarding actions to execute following an event. The president node dictates orders to the remaining nodes, referred to as worker or slave nodes, in order to carry out the execution of the actions. Numerous execution models are available for carrying out decisions made by the president node. A common model is a standard procedural approach, where each decision is processed by a separate code path in the president node. When the president node wants to dictate orders to the slave nodes, it makes decision-specific inter-node communication calls to the worker nodes to process the event. Any HA Cluster that uses a president node must consider the possible failure or death of the president node. A common approach to this possibility involves “checkpointing” or “state propagation”. Using this approach, state information is saved to other nodes or to persistent storage so a new president may take over operations following a president node death or malfunction.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to rotary printing machines, and more particularly to a device for changing between single-side printing and perfecting printing in sheet-fed rotary printing machines. 2. Description of the Prior Art The invention relates to a device whereby turning drums and press cylinders disposed between the individual printing units of a series-construction sheet-fed rotary printing machine can be changed over as required between a single-side printing configuration or a perfecting configuration. In change-over type single-side printing or perfecting printing machines, the sheets are engaged by the printing cylinder via suckers or grippers disposed on the turning drum. These suckers or grippers suck or grip the front edge or rear edge of the sheets. In order to change the machine over from single-side printing to perfecting, and in order to adjust to different formats, it is necessary to make a phase shift between the printing cylinders and the turning drums. DE Utility Model 8 319 431 discloses a device for changing over to single-side printing or perfecting as required. This device is characterized in that a clampable double wheel in a toothed wheel/toothed rim configuration is disposed on the turning drum and the required switching and clamping operations are carried out by hydraulic or mechanically actuated devices. DE-OS 3 136 349 discloses a method of adjusting the drive, based on DD-WP 135 812. A double gearwheel is disposed on the printing cylinder trunnion. The first gearwheel is permanently connected to the trunnion, whereas the second gearwheel, which is a toothed rim, is clamped or released by spring force and a friction lining disposed on the flat side surface of a ring. The ring is toothed in addition to the first gearwheel. Adjusting members for hydraulically clamping or releasing the connection are disposed on the ring which transmits the contact pressure. The required changeover to single side printing or perfecting, as represented by these devices is relatively expensive to achieve, which is a disadvantage. The hydraulic clamping devices are expensive and have to be located separately from the gear systems. DE-AS 1,056,573 also discloses a drive arrangement with a central wheel. For each printing cylinder, there is a gear coupled to the central wheel. By means of intermediate planetary gear wheels there is brought about a translation into a slower rate. However, this solution cannot be arranged in a closed gear train and does not permit separate drive of individual turning drums. It is unsuited, therefore, for the changing over to single-side printing or perfecting printing. In the roll machine building art there is also known an arrangement for length-register regulation. Thus, as shown in DE-AS 1,411,775, the drive of a form cylinder occurs from the main drive shaft over two gear wheels, a differential gear and its off-drive shaft. A servomotor controls the differential gear in such manner that the form cylinder is accelerated or retarded for the length-register adjustment. However, this solution cannot be arranged in a closed gear train in order to bring about a changing over to single-side printing or perfecting printing.

This invention concerns a pair of eyeglasses adjustable in wearing angle, particularly having its temples adjustable their angles relative to a lens body so as to permit this eyeglasses wearable by persons having differently sized faces. Common eyeglasses are made with their temples having their angles relative to a lens body unchangeable. However, different persons have differently sized faces, so to get a pair of eyeglasses suitable to a person is not easy, as the size of a lens body and the length of temples have to be proper to the person. Maybe a pair of eyeglasses change its configuration by friction or collision with other objects in wearing, without possibility of adjusting it by a wearer himself in case of deformation.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to providing a robust error recovery due to data losses incurred during transmission of signals. 2. Art Background A number of techniques exist for reconstructing lost data due to random errors that occur during signal transmission. However, these techniques cannot handle the loss of consecutive packets of data. Consecutive loss of packets of data is described in the art as burst error. Burst errors result in a reconstructed signal with such a degraded quality that it is easily apparent to the end user. Additionally, compression methodologies used to facilitate high speed communications compound the signal degradation caused by burst errors, thus adding to the degradation of the reconstructed signal. An example of burst error loss affecting transmitted and/or stored signals is seen in high definition television ("HDTV") signals and mobile telecommunication applications wherein compression methodologies play an important role. The advent of HDTV has led to television systems with a much higher resolution than the current standards proposed by the National Television Systems Committee ("NTSC"). Proposed HDTV signals are predominantly digital. Accordingly, when a color television signal is converted for digital use it is common that the luminance and chrominance signals are digitized using eight bits. Digital transmission of color television requires a nominal bit rate of two hundred and sixteen megabits per second. The transmission rate is greater for HDTV which would nominally require about 1200 megabits per second. Such high transmission rates are well beyond the bandwidths supported by current wireless standards. Accordingly, an efficient compression methodology is required. Compression methodologies also play an important role in mobile telecommunication applications. Typically, packets of data are communicated between remote terminals in mobile telecommunication applications. The limited number of transmission channels in mobile communications requires an effective compression methodology prior to the transmission of packets. A number of compression techniques are available to facilitate high transmission rates. Adaptive Dynamic Range Coding ("ADRC") and the discrete cosine transform ("DCT") coding provide image compression techniques known in the art. Both techniques take advantage of the local correlation within an image to achieve a high compression ratio. However, an efficient compression algorithm results in compounded error propagation because errors in an encoded signal are more prominent when subsequently decoded. This error multiplication results in a degraded video image that is readily apparent to the user.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to metal semiconductor alloy contacts to semiconductor devices. For more than three decades, the continued miniaturization of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) has driven the worldwide semiconductor industry. Various showstoppers to continued scaling have been predicated for decades, but a history of innovation has sustained Moore's Law in spite of many challenges. Since it has become increasingly difficult to improve MOSFETs and therefore complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) performance through continued scaling, methods for improving performance without scaling are being considered. One approach for doing this is to increase carrier (electron and/or hole) mobilities.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to industrial equipment and, more particularly, to a weighbelt feeder apparatus, such as a weighbelt feeder for use in industrial process control. 2. Description of the Related Art Weighbelt feeders are used, especially in production flow lines, for continuous measurement of the throughput quantity or mass flow rate of a material being transported. Normally, a weighbelt feeder apparatus is placed in a flow or feed line and comprises a conveyor belt for carrying the material to be transported. The mass flow rate of the material is determined by measuring the mass of material on the belt at a particular instance in time and the speed of the belt. Flow control is obtained by either varying the flow speed of the material or the thickness of the layer of material transported over the weighbelt feeder. Typically, in a weighbelt feeder apparatus, the conveyor belt moves along metallic side rails which also support mechanical components, such as the pulleys, bearings, shafts and ends of idlers upon which the belt moves. The mechanical load on the side rails is supported by steel frames, each including a horizontal cross-member upon which the rails are supported. In certain conventional current designs, the cross-members of the support frames are cantilevered to facilitate removal and replacement of seamless conveyor belts, while also supporting the middle area and mechanical components between the belt strands. However, in such conventional designs, a significant amount of time is still used to remove/replace the belt, which requires almost a complete disassembly of the top half of the apparatus to remove the skirt boards, cover panels and support posts. In addition, weighbelt feeders are currently designed with steel frames constructed using standard sized steel sections, such as C-channel, square, round or rectangular hollow sections. Manufacturing the apparatus in such a case involves creating small welded assemblies that are bolted together to create the support frame. Here, there is a significant amount of time required to fabricate these small weldments and bolt them together for final assembly. Further, since such conventional designs use standard sections in common metric or imperial sizes, the availability of these components is dependent on the regional area of production. As a result, it is difficult to create a configurable global solution of the product. Further disadvantageously, it is also more difficult to configure a three-dimensional model of all the combinations and perform structural analyses efficiently in an effort to optimize the design of a support frame having such sections.

A large number of electronic devices communicate information via packetized data. This data may be sent and received using IP addresses that are assigned to the electronic devices and route packetized data. An IP address can be assigned to an electronic device and to send it data, the IP address can be resolved by a domain name server that correlates the name of the device with its assigned IP address. While the domain name server is typically thought of as resolving domain names into IP addresses, this type of server can also resolve other identifiers/names into IP addresses as well. For instance, an email address or telephone number can be resolved into an IP address using the domain name server model. IP addresses can be assigned to electronic devices both statically and dynamically. But regardless of whether the IP address is assigned statically or dynamically, a number of challenges exist with regard to domain name servers. For instance, assigning static IP addresses can be an inefficient use of available IP addresses because a device having a statically-assigned IP address may only actively use that IP address for a fraction of each day thereby wasting the use of that IP address for the remainder of the day. Similarly, dynamically assigning IP addresses calls for maintaining a dynamic domain name server that updates a domain name with a current IP address each time the IP address is dynamically assigned. Maintaining such a server can involve significant computer processing requirements. Electronic devices are more frequently equipped with the capability to communicate wirelessly and as a result can be mobile. As the electronic devices move from one place to another, it can be difficult to maintain a centralized domain name server that can resolve IP addresses for these devices. This is especially true when mobile electronic devices include position-determining capabilities.

The prior art has typically attempted to carried out this connection with various types of brackets. U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,780 ('780 patent) discloses a unitary bracket having multiple flanges between which the sawhorse members will be positioned. The flanges have apertures such that holes may be drilled through the sawhorse members and bolts placed through the flange and sawhorse members. The bracket disclosed in the '780 patent illustrates a comparatively complex shape requiring a more complex manufacturing process and requiring a relatively large amount of metal to manufacture. Since this bracket is one piece, the distance between the flanges is fixed and the bracket can only accommodate a board of a single predetermined thickness. Also because the flanges are fixed, the sawhorse member is retained primarily by the bolts rather than frictional force between the flanges and sawhorse member. Furthermore, constructing a sawhorse with this bracket is unduly time consuming since holes must be drilled in the sawhorse members at each point they are connected to the bracket. When the sawhorse members deteriorate or become damaged, replacement requires that the bolts be completely removed from the bracket and the construction process repeated with new sawhorse members. U.S. Pat. Nos. 617,463 (the '463 patent) and 4,890,952 (the '952 patent) disclose brackets which are connected to sawhorse members without apertures being drilled in the members. However, these brackets substantially enclose the sawhorse members and therefore accommodate only one member (i.e. board) size. The '952 patent does not grip the leg members and apparently relies on gravity to maintain the sawhorse legs in the proper position. The '463 patent employs an involved wedging system at the top of the cross piece and therefore limits not only the size of the legs, but also the size of the cross piece. What is needed in the art is a sawhorse bracket that overcomes the disadvantages discussed above by relying on frictional forces to grip the sawhorse members while not requiring apertures to be formed through the sawhorse members.

Bipolar stimulator probes attachable to an electrical stimulator device or an electromyographic (EMG) device are commercially available for surface stimulation of peripheral nerves. Such apparatus provide both a stimulation electrode and a reference electrode on a single device. There are also bipolar bar electrode configurations, and sets of separate (individual) electrodes, for surface recording of nerve and muscle action potentials, and that can also serve to provide electrical muscle stimulation. These types of devices can be used in surface stimulation for eliciting muscle twitches of the type sought in a muscle pain and discomfort relieving method developed by the present inventor, referenced herein as Surface Applied Electrical Twitch Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation (SA-ETOIMS™). This methodology is described in U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/715,137, entitled “Intramuscular Stimulation Therapy Using Surface-Applied Localized Electrical Stimulation,” filed Sep. 9, 2005, and corresponding regular U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/470,757, filed Sep. 7, 2006, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. This technique involves the provision of brief electrical stimulation at multiple motor end-plate zones (twitch-points) in many muscles. It is important that the stimulation method be “user friendly,” to both patient and treating clinician. That is, the stimulation should not cause significant additional discomfort to the patient and the method should be easy to apply for the clinician. Commercially available standard bipolar stimulating probes have an inter-probe distance of 2 cm or less between the active and reference electrodes. This type of bipolar stimulation induces significant stimulation pain making it undesirable for use in the SA-ETOIMS™ procedure. In addition, due to the close proximity of the active and reference electrodes, twitches that may be elicited with such devices are small and have low forces, and therefore do not provide significant pain relieving effects. Similarly, as mentioned, surface electrodes that can be used for recording as well as stimulation purposes are available in the form of a bar electrode pair. Such devices have an inter-electrode distance of about 3-4 cm, and thus the same problem of inducing stimulation pain arises if these devices are used to perform SA-ETOIMS™. Stimulation/recording electrodes are also available as separate (individual) electrodes. However, separate individual electrodes are less than ideal for use in the SA-ETOIMS™ procedure, since both the active and reference electrodes have to be moved in bi-manual fashion to multiple stimulus and reference sites, thus slowing down and encumbering the SA-ETOIMS™ procedure and making the procedure more difficult for the clinician. These difficulties are alleviated to some extent by use of a monopolar stimulation tool, as is explained below. The present inventor has performed SA-ETOIMS™ using monopolar stimulation, that is, with a generally pen-like tool having a single electrode mounted on its tip, which is used in conjunction with a separate reference electrode. Providing the stimulation electrode in the form of a stiff, pen-like tool gives the clinician a firm place to hold the tool in order to easily move the electrode to different stimulation sites in a rapid and efficient manner. The pain or discomfort relieving therapeutic effects are substantially achieved only when such sites with large force twitches are stimulated. SA-ETOIMS is performed in a time-based fashion, i.e. in incremental treatment segments of 10-15 minutes sessions to one hour sessions. For therapeutic effects to be substantial, it is essential that many large force twitch sites be sought, located and treated within the limits of timed sessions which are affordable and paid for by the patient as fee-for-service performed. To be able to search for as many large force twitch sites as possible within a given time-frame, the electrode needs to be moved to another site as soon as the twitch is elicited, i.e., within a fraction of a second. Therefore, it is crucial that the stimulation probes and reference electrodes allow expedient performance of the SA-ETOIMS procedure. However, a stimulation electrode provided in the form of a known-type adhesively applied disposable electrode has no firm place for the clinician to hold onto effectively, and is also impractical for efficient use in a treatment method involving electrode relocation every fraction of a second. The monopolar stimulation probe, similar in size and length to that of a pen, is very useful in SA-ETOIMS procedure and can be easily applied onto the skin surface for stimulation to evoke muscle twitches and to facilitate the search for large force twitch sites. However, the monopolar stimulation method requires use of a separate remote surface reference electrode, which is typically a known-type adhesively applied disposable electrode. The treatment is less painful than with bipolar stimulation with electrodes that are spaced 2-4 cm or less apart. However, monopolar stimulation has disadvantages. With monopolar stimulation, moving the stimulating probe to different stimulus points has to be accompanied by relocating the disposable separate reference electrode to different body sites, multiple times, to avoid repetitive unnecessary stimulation and induced pain at the reference site. This type of surface reference electrode is not conducive to rapid movements, e.g., every second. Therefore, in practice, the electrode is moved after every minute or so. This bimanual work wastes time for the treating clinician since the disposable reference electrode will lose its adhesiveness, dislodge and/or fall off when subjected to multiple re-positioning and re-application onto the skin surface. To avoid skin irritation from repetitive stimulation at one reference site only, and to avoid having to often move the single, separate reference electrode from place to place, several reference electrodes can be placed at different sites on the skin. By rotating the activation of different reference electrodes, there is better and more even distribution of the stimulus to different reference sites. This reduces the number of times any single reference electrode is subjected to removal and relocation. However, to activate a reference electrode placed at a different site, the clinician has to detach an alligator clip from the first reference electrode and re-attach it onto the next reference electrode with one hand, since the other hand holds onto the monopolar probe used for treatment. This creates inconvenience for the clinician since the alligator clip might not attach well when performed single-handedly. If bimanual attachment is required, it is disruptive to the treatment. It is also cumbersome since the multiple electrodes still need to be physically removed and rotated for placement at other skin sites to avoid discomfort at sites that have undergone previous repetitive stimulation. In prolonged treatments necessitating multiple different site placements of the reference electrodes, the electrodes can eventually lose their adhesiveness also causing them to fall off the skin surface. Additionally, when the reference electrode does not stick properly to the skin, the reduction in contact area of the reference electrode to the skin induces more treatment pain. For optimal pain relieving results with SA-ETOIMS™, it is desirable to search for as many muscle motor points that can produce large force twitches as quickly as possible in a time-based treatment. Stimulation can be enhanced, and the yield of large force twitches made easier, when the surface reference electrode is placed at a distance from the stimulating probe. If the reference electrode is placed close to the stimulating probe, the treatment is painful and the twitches are small. The further the reference electrode is placed away from the stimulating probe, e.g., by as much 2-3 feet, the easier it is to elicit the sought-after large force twitches from deeply situated motor end plate zones (twitch-points). As one example, the reference electrode can be on the mid or low back region while stimulating calf muscles or arm muscles, but this creates a problem for the clinician if the reference electrode is at a site not within easy reach. The clinician then has to temporarily stop the treatment every time he/she has to reach over to the reference electrode or has to move closer to re-position the remote reference electrode to another location within reach. Additional disadvantages of the monopolar stimulation approach (with separate reference electrode) include the fact that the lengthy separated wires of the stimulating and reference electrodes tend to get tangled, requiring that the clinician stop the treatment to untangle the wires. Additionally, there is a difficulty in finding a suitable site for reference electrode placement on the ventral (front) surface of the body where the skin is more sensitive to electrical stimulation, especially those associated with repetitive stimulation to one site. Also, if the clinician forgets to remove the reference electrode from the back of the body while treating muscles on the front of the body or the chest, a trans-thoracic current may be induced and adversely affect heart rhythm.

The present invention is directed towards a novel hybrid thick film substrate and, more particulary, to one having a metal base with overlying layers of selectively screened and fired thick film materials to provide necessary electrical properties. There are numerous electrical circuit designs which require that conductive connections be formed upon a base substrate. In the electrical industry, printed circuit boards are formed on a great variety of base materials, For the most part, the substrates are composed of material with a relatively low thermal conductivity such as epoxy-glass or ceramic. In the fabrication of printheads useful in thermal printing applications, ceramic substrates have been preferred because of their excellent thermal stability, reasonable costs, and good electrical properties. While these properties have proven satisfactory for many applications, they do not provide for optimum electrical and thermal performance for all systems, particularly for the thermal ink jet printing application. For this application, for example, the thermal conductivity requirements are generally more stringent than those afforded by the ceramic class of substrate materials. This is because of the temperature control standard required to maintain a heated and pulsed printhead at the required operating temperature. Another difficulty with the prior art substrates, particularly ceramic, is the difficulty of achieving close dimensional tolerances of the substrate. The above disadvantages can be overcome by using a metal as the base of the substrate. A metal, for example, copper, is 20 times as conductive as alumina ceramic and enables either maximum cooling or constant elevated (or reduced temperature operation) a condition most desirable for thermal ink jet printing. A metal substrate can be blanked to close tolerances and is cost effective in high volume manufacturing operations. A further advantage of using metal in the substrate is that it can be used as a ground plane and for EMI shielding for those applications requiring such functions. The problems associated with using metal as a substrate have been the difficulty in overcoating the metal substrate with the thick film layers necessary to enable the electrical components to be mounted on the substrate, and the implementation of suitable passivation techniques to prevent oxidation of the base metal. There are some prior art examples of metal substrates used for various applications. U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,230 Griff discloses a method for fabricating circuitry which utilizes a pure copper sheet as a base plate with a dielectric layer (such as epoxy), and a copper foil layer laminated on the copper base plate. The copper foil layer is then etched to form a desired pattern and a second dielectric layer and copper foil layer are laminated over the first layer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,147 to Ohishi et al. discloses an electrically insulating substrate having good thermal conductivity, the substrate is used for the manufacture of a printed wiring board. The substrate may comprise a highly thermal conductive metal plate, such as aluminum, copper, silver or iron (see Col. 3, lines 28-30). A film composed of a dispersion of metal oxide particles is formed on the metal plate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,925 to Finley et al. discloses a printed circuit board having a metal substrate with a fired dielectric layer coated thereon. The resultant coated substrate is then passed through standard metallization processes to form a desired electrical circuit pattern. While these prior art designs may be satisfactory for the circuits and functions disclosed therein, there are other applications which utilize more complex geometries and have more stringent operating requirements. The present invention is, therefore, directed to a novel hybrid thick film substrate which, in one described embodiment, provides the support for a thermal ink jet printhead. However, the invention is not limited to any such particle application, but is applicable to any system which requires high thermal conductivity and stability afforded by the substrate design of the present invention. More particularly, the invention is directed toward a highly thermally conductive substrate comprising a conductive metal base, a passivation layer overlying said metal base and at least one screened and fired dielectric layer overlying said passivation layer.

Typically, entries in a Logical-to-Physical (L2P) address table are 4 bytes each. However, to reduce error correction code (ECC) overhead, the size of a codeword used with the media (e.g. non-volatile memory of data storage device) that stores the L2P table is typically 128 bytes or more. The codeword size results in a write amplification of 32 times or more (e.g., writing 128 bytes to the L2P table to update 4 bytes of the 128 bytes). In such a process, a 128 byte section of the L2P table is read from the media, a 4 byte subsection is modified, and the resulting 128 byte section is written back to the media. It is relatively inefficient from a performance, power, and endurance perspective to perform a 4 byte read-modify-write L2P table update for every 4 kilobyte sequential write. This challenge also arises in data centers, where it is typical for writes to be larger than 4 kilobytes, but still random from an access pattern perspective. These large granularity writes also result in the same inefficiency challenge.

The present invention relates to tissue culture systems and, more particularly, to a culture system capable of supporting human tumor stem cell colony growth in vitro. Tumor stem cells are the cell renewal source of a neoplasm and also serve as the seeds of metastatic spread of cancer. Studies of transplantable tumors in animals indicate that tumor stem cell colony-forming assays, either in vivo or in vitro, can be used to study the biological properties of these cells and to delineate differences in individual sensitivity to a variety of chemotherapeutic agents, as described, for example, by M. Ogawa et al., Blood 41, 7 (1973) and by G. Steel et al., Cancer Res., 35, 1530 (1975). As an example of such a study, the development of an in vitro colony-forming assay for stem cells from transplantable mouse myeloma (a plasma cell neoplasm) permitted detailed analysis of the effects of anticancer drugs in vitro, and the assays are predictive of therapeutic responses even in animals with advanced mouse myeloma. Such an analysis is described by C. Park et al., J. Nat. Cancer Inst., 46, 411 (1971). The ability to grow colonies from primary tumor cell explants in semisolid culture media has even greater potential application. Unfortunately, primary explantation of human tumors for colony formation in vitro has met with little success. One major problem has been the creation of an environment that gives tumor cells a selective advantage over normal cells. Several investigators have had occasional success in obtaining colony growth in soft agar with pediatric solid tumors, as described, for example, by R. McAllister et al., Pediatr. Res., 2, 356 (1968) and A. Altman et al., Cancer Res., 35, 1809 (1975). Most recently, the effect of drugs on human stem cell colonies has been studied with the use of xenografts established in nude mice and then culturing cells from these grafts in agar in diffusion chambers intrapertioneally implanted in mice that had been irradiated, as discussed by I. E. Smith et al., Br. J. Cancer, 34, 476 (1976). However, such multiple-step systems have not been clinically practical. A standard colony-forming assay for human tumor stem cells could be used to determine the sensitivity of tumor cells from individual patients to drugs, irradiation, and other therapeutic modalities and would permit the demonstration of resistant clones of cells in previously treated patients. The development of such a colony-forming assay seems especially important in view of evidence described by P. Roper et al., Cancer Res., 36, 2182 (1976) indicating that the only valid measure of drug efficacy in killing an established culture of human lymphoma cells is the inhibition of their colony-forming capability.

1. Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, and specifically, to an image forming apparatus that may be used as a printer, copier, facsimile, or a multi-functional apparatus integrating functions of a printer, copier, and facsimile. 2. Description of the Background Related art image forming apparatus use an electro-photography process to produce images in color or monochrome on a recording member, such as sheet and film. A personal computer may be connected to the image forming apparatus to be used as a printer, for example. In such usage, a user uses an image forming apparatus as his or her personal apparatus. From the viewpoint of usability of the image forming apparatus (e.g. printer), the image forming apparatus is generally placed in an area which is close to a personal computer of the user. In such an environment, a relatively small apparatus is preferable when considering operability of image forming apparatus. The apparatus may have smaller dimensions (e.g., height, width, length) to accommodate the image forming apparatus in a smaller area. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of enhancing usability and reducing maintenance costs for a personal user, the image forming apparatus may have a configuration which is user-friendly when a user conducts replacement work of consumable supplies, such as a developing agent (i.e., toner) and/or maintenance work by him or herself. Generally, an image forming apparatus includes four color developing agents (i.e., toners) to conduct color image forming, for example. Therefore, such a color image forming apparatus may have a relatively large number of components compared to a monochrome image forming apparatus. Thereby such a color image forming apparatus may be more likely to occupy a larger space than a monochrome image forming apparatus. Furthermore, productivity of such a color image forming apparatus may become lower because color image printing may require more time than monochrome printing, wherein productivity may be expressed by indicators, such as a number of pages to be printed per unit time. Therefore, an image forming apparatus using tandem type may be used to conduct color image printing, in which the image forming apparatus includes a plurality of photosensitive members, arranged in one direction, and a plurality of developing units, disposed closely to each of the photosensitive members. With such a configuration, each color image formed on the each of the photosensitive members can be sequentially transferred to a recording member. In general, such tandem type image forming apparatus may consume a relatively large amount of toner. Thereby, from the viewpoint of operability of the image forming apparatus, a refilling unit may be provided separately from a developing unit rather than integrating the refilling unit and the developing unit as a cartridge. The refilling unit supplies refilling toners to the developing unit. Furthermore, in order to reduce an area or space occupied by the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may have a sheet ejection portion, which stacks printed recording members, on its top side, for example. The image forming apparatus of tandem type may have the properties as above-mentioned, and a further enhancement of operability of the image forming apparatus of tandem type may be made. An image forming apparatus for color image forming requires a plurality of developing agent containers (e.g., toner bottles), thereby a consideration may be given to “visibility” to enhance operability of the developing agent containers. For example, in an image forming apparatus, a plurality of toner bottles may be arranged in one direction, which is perpendicular to an ejection direction of recording members, for example. However, such an image forming apparatus may have a configuration that a user may feel it is difficult to operate the image forming apparatus. Generally, a user is not familiar to configurations and replacement work of image forming apparatus. Thereby the user may feel difficulties to conduct replacement work for the image forming apparatus.

The present invention relates to prosthetic systems for the replacement of limbs or portions thereof. More particularly, the invention concerns a modular shoulder prosthesis system that can be used in the extremities that have experienced bone loss or significant, irreparable bone trauma. For treatment of various problems with the shoulder such as degenerative arthritis and trauma of the shoulder, one method of providing relief to a patient is to replace the articulating surfaces of the shoulder, i.e. the humerus and glenoid articulating surfaces. In such replacement, pin relief, increased motion and anatomic reconstruction of the shoulder joint are goals of the orthopaedic surgeon. With multiple variations in human anatomy, prosthetic systems need to accurately replicated human anatomy with minimal component inventory. Artificial or prosthetic joints for the extremities are well-known. Many of prosthetic joints are modular, meaning that they include a selection of different components to account for differences in patient anatomy or surgical procedures. For example, U.S. Patent No. 5,314,479, owned by the assignee of the present invention, discloses a modular shoulder prosthesis that includes an array of selectable stems, bodies, collars and head members. The modular prosthesis of the ""479 Patent allows the orthopaedic surgeon to assemble a custom prosthetic joint by selecting different sizes, shapes and orientations of the individual joint components. As indicated above, current modular prostheses consist of a series of humeral stems and heads for replacement of articulating surfaces. The stems are offered with various metaphysis and diaphysis sizes. Humeral heads are offered in various radiuses of curvature, diameters, and heights. Any locking member used to rigidly attach the humeral head to the humeral stem has a fixed position, offering no means for positional adjustment of version, varus/valgus angulation. Eccentricity can be addressed using humeral heads with the attachment feature placed off center from the articulating exterior spherical surface. However, the eccentric position of the humeral head is only adjustable about the fixed central axis of the locking member located on the humeral stem. More importantly, version, varus/valgus angulation adjustments are not possible with these embodiments. In view of the above-noted shortcomings, modular shoulder prostheses have been developed that allow orienting the humeral head in multiple angular positions. Each of these embodiments, however, is deficient in design, and thus each is considered a sub-optimal solution. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,197,062 issued to Fenlin provides a modular shoulder prosthesis that utilizes an offset male taper member. The offset male taper member is rotated about the connecting axis of the humeral stem thus changing the angular position of the humeral head. Some of the problems associated with this particular embodiment include having to completely remove the humeral head to make positional adjustments, and version and varus/valgus angulation adjustments are not independent of one another. In EP 0712617, a modular shoulder prosthesis is provided that allows positional adjustments of the humeral head. This prosthesis utilizes a split spherical ball and locking set screw to rigidly secure the humeral head in the selected position. While independent adjustment of humeral head position is possible with this prosthesis, such adjustments to humeral head position can only be made when the humeral stem is removed from the humeral canal because of the location of the locking set screw. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,335 and EP 0715836, a shoulder prosthesis is provided that has a locking member consisting of a split spherical ball and locking set screws. A humeral head with a spherical cavity receives the spherical ball. The locking set screws located on the lateral aspect of the humeral stem below the head resection plane advances a pusher that compresses the ball against the humeral head stem while locking the ball against the cavity to lock the humeral head in place. The location of the locking set screws make it impossible to remove the humeral head or make positional changes to the humeral head after the humeral stem is engaged in the bone. With the above shoulder prostheses, once the shoulder prosthesis has been inserted into the patient""s bone, the angular position of the humeral head cannot be changed without removing the humeral stem. Misalignment caused by such factors as incorrect resection are not readily correctable with respect to humeral head alignment. Consequently, there is a need for a modular shoulder system that can accommodate differences in patient anatomy, particularly with respect to angular positioning of the humeral head with respect to the humeral stem. There is a further need for a shoulder prosthesis that provides version and varus/valgus angulation/positioning that is easily set and reset. In order to address these needs, the present invention provides a shoulder prosthesis designed to meet the challenges of shoulder replacement surgery. In one embodiment, shoulder prosthesis comprises at least three components, namely a humeral stem, a humeral head, and an adjustment and/or humeral head locking device. In one form, the subject invention provides a shoulder prosthesis. The shoulder prosthesis includes a humeral stem adapted to be implanted into a humerus and including an expansion receptor, a humeral head defining an articulation surface and a mounting cavity, and an expansion device cooperating with the mounting cavity and the expansion receptor to couple the humeral head to the humeral stem, the expansion device allowing angular positioning of the humeral head relative to the humeral stem and locking of a selected angular position of the humeral head relative to the humeral stem by expansion of the expansion device relative to the expansion receptor. In another form, the subject invention provides a shoulder prosthesis. The shoulder prosthesis includes a humeral stem having a proximal end and a distal end, the proximal end having a post extending therefrom, the post having tapered threads extending essentially from said proximal end of the humeral stem to an end of said post, a humeral head having an articulation surface and a bottom surface, and a mounting cavity in the bottom surface, and an expansion member configured to be received in the mounting cavity and having a threaded bore adapted to be received on the threaded post, the expansion member allowing humeral head angulation and fixing of a selected humeral head position when the expansion member is advanced onto the threaded bore such that expansion member expands. In yet another form, the subject invention provides a shoulder prosthesis. The shoulder prosthesis includes a humeral stem having a proximal end and a distal end, the proximal end having an expansion cavity therein, a humeral head having an articulation surface and a bottom surface, and a mounting cavity in the bottom surface, and an expansion device configured to be received in the expansion cavity, the expansion device having an expansion member with a threaded bore and a mounting expander, the mounting expander having a head adapted to receive the mounting cavity of the humeral head and a threaded body adapted to receive the expansion member, the expansion device allowing humeral head angulation and fixing of a selected humeral head position when the mounting expander is advanced onto the threaded bore such that expansion member expands.

The present invention relates to a process utilizing a solution containing sophorosides, said process being adapted for cleansing hydrocarbon-impregnated solid particles. This process is more particularly intended for washing oil well cuttings. In the field of oil drilling, the cuttings pulled out by the tool are taken up to the surface by the upflow of the drilling fluid injected through the channel of the drill string. Drilling fluids containing hydrocarbons are very commonly used to solve drilling problems in formations reactive in the presence of water, for example some clays or salt. The drilling fluids suited to high temperatures may also be based on mineral oil. Particularly, in the North Sea, about 75% of the wells are drilled with oil-based fluids. In these cases, the cuttings coming up to the surface are impregnated with a relatively large amount of hydrocarbons. Discharge of these impregnated cuttings is generally regulated by the local authorities. More particularly, in offshore drilling operations, discharge of such cuttings is no longer allowed until they have been subjected to an additional treatment to conform to current standards. The operator thus has to face the following choices: not to use drilling fluids containing hydrocarbons any longer, PA1 to transport the polluted cuttings on shore to subject them to a specific treatment before discharge, PA1 to cleanse the cuttings so as to be able to discharge them at sea. PA1 bactericidal agents when the product appears in the lactone form, PA1 emulsifying agents in the farm-produce industry (U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,344) and hydrating agents in the cosmetic industry (U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,961). In these applications, the product appears in the ester form. PA1 the diversity of the possible sophoroside structures provides a high flexibility of use and makes them easily adaptable to a specific application. This is explained hereafter in the description of the sophorosides; PA1 sophoroside compounds are not toxic. Moreover, their innocuousness allows their use in the farm-produce industry and in cosmetology; PA1 they are entirely biodegradable; PA1 they are stable notably in alkaline medium, unlike sugar esters. Drilling fluids are generally alkaline; PA1 the fermentation manufacturing process disclosed by application FR-90/16,211 enables good efficiency rates to be obtained; PA1 the raw materials, sugars and fatty bodies, are little costly and easily available. PA1 partial or total deacetylation of the sophorose group, PA1 partial or total delactonization. Delactonization consists in the opening of the lactone cycles (formula (2)), which liberates the carboxylic acid group, PA1 esterification of the carboxylic acid group through alcohols whose structure and molecular mass also constitute parameters for adjusting the properties. For example, according to patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,340, the HLB value ranges from 6 (lipophilic surfactant) to more than 20 (very hydrophilic surfactant) when the alcohol used for the esterification has a number of carbon atoms passing from 18 (stearylic alcohol) to 1 (methyl alcohol). The first two choices may not be viable for technical and/or economic reasons. It would thus be advantageous to use the third technique while having an efficient and economical means for washing the cuttings on site. Document EP-A-0,330,379 notably describes an aqueous solution intended for cleansing oil-impregnated surfaces, for example drill cuttings. But this document does not recommend the use of sophorosides. Documents U.S. Pat. No 4,645,608 and EP-A-0,084,411 also describe methods for washing cuttings and recommending formulations containing mainly solvents and surface active agents or surfactants. None of these two documents envisages using sophorosides.

This invention relates to a thermal transcription recorder, and more particularly to such a recorder in which multi-coloured drawings are painted by transcription from different coloured ink sheets. A prior art of this invention is disclosed in a Japanese patent application No. 310388/88 filed on Dec. 8, 1988 by the same applicant of the present invention. In this prior art, there are provided an ink sheet stock assembly where different kinds of thermal transcription ink sheets of different colours are stored separately, and a sheet selection assembly which takes a desired ink sheet from the sheet stock assembly. An ink sheet is wound between a pair of reels, and each end of the rotary axis of a reel is held by a supporting axis allowing the rotation of the rotary axis while the supporting axis is grasped. In the prior art, the transfer of the supporting axes of a reel between the sheet selection assembly and the sheet stock assembly, is performed entirely by the motion of the sheet selection assembly, and therefore, the motion of the sheet selection assembly becomes complicated and a fairly large force is required for the transfer of the supporting axes between the clutch of the sheet stock assembly and that of the sheet selection assembly.

This relates generally to computers and, particularly, to video processing. There are a number of applications in which video must be processed and/or stored. One example is video surveillance, wherein one or more video feeds may be received, analyzed, and processed for security or other purposes. Another conventional application is for video conferencing. Typically, general purpose processors, such as central processing units, are used for video processing. In some cases, a specialty processor, called a graphics processor, may assist the central processing unit. Video analytics involves obtaining information about the content of video information. For example, the video processing may include content analysis, wherein the content video is analyzed in order to detect certain events or occurrences or to find information of interest.

Memory is one type of integrated circuitry, and is used in computer systems for storing data. An example memory is DRAM (dynamic random-access memory). DRAM cells may each comprise a transistor in combination with a capacitor. The DRAM cells may be arranged in an array; with wordlines extending along rows of the array, and with digit-lines extending along columns of the array. The wordlines may be coupled with the transistors of the memory cells. Each memory cell may be uniquely addressed through a combination of one of the wordlines with one of the digit-lines. A continuing goal of integrated circuit fabrication is to achieve ever-increasing levels of integration, and a related goal is to pack circuit components into increasingly tighter arrangements. It is becoming difficult to achieve tighter packing of memory configurations with conventional fabrication processes. Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop new fabrication processes.

The invention relates to an article packing machine and more particularly to the box flaps on such a machine so that the top of the box is open for the loading and packing of articles in the box. In the packing of bottles and other containers into boxes, the cardboard boxes are typically conveyed to an article loading station beneath a grid set. Articles are conveyed on an upper conveyor to the grid set which arranges the articles for loading and packing into the box. The problem occurs in the loading of articles into cardboard boxes having closure flaps of insuring that the closure flaps are open so the top of the box is open for loading of articles. Heretofore, a plow-shaped device has been utilized to spread open the major side flaps of a cardboard box and the minor rear end flap is also sometimes engaged and opened by the plow-shaped device. Once opened, the side flaps are fed between two vertically spaced rods on each side of the box. The rods hold the flaps open as the box is conveyed. The arrangement is not suitable to accommodate a variety of different size flaps since short flaps will easily slip between the rods. The problem of opening the minor end flaps is a problem which has not been satisfactorily met. In particular, ineffective devices have been proposed for opening the rear minor flap such as a loose chain hung above the box which falls into the box and drags a closed flap open as the chain is dragged across the flap. In furtherance of the present invention there has been disclosed flap opening apparatus for use with a reciprocating rake conveyor which advances containers incrementally for processing along a conveyor line leading to an article loading station. This conveyor lends itself readily to the location of a flap opening station at one of the advancement positions where the box is stopped reliably. At a flap opening station the apparatus of the present invention is advantageously employed to open the end and side closure flaps of the cardboard box prior to being advanced to the article loading station. Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for effectively opening the closure flaps of a cardboard box being conveyed on an article loading machine prior to being filled with articles. Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a simplified flap opening mechanism for use on an article loading machine which is both reliable and inexpensive to manufacture and use. Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for opening the end and side closure flaps of a cardboard box being conveyed on an article loading machine prior to being filled with articles which may be used with a reciprocating rake conveyor which advances the boxes incrementally along a conveyor path and stops the containers precisely at a fixed location for carrying out the flap opening process. Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for opening closure flaps of a box being conveyed on an article loading machine which retains the flaps in an open position while being conveyed. Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for opening the closure flaps of a box being conveyed on an article loading machine which includes a rocker foot which dips underneath the closed flap and lifts it toward an open position reliably in a prescribed manner while the box is stopped at a flap opening position. Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a flap opening foot which moves both in a rotational and translational movement to engage underneath the closed flap and raise it to an open position in which a unique cam slot and bell-crank follower are utilized to move the flap opening foot in a prescribed motion. Still a further important object of the present invention is to provide a flap opening foot which may be adjusted in its rocking stroke to lift a closed flap of a cardboard box on an article conveying machine in which the flap engaging foot may be adjusted in its position to dip in and out of a partitioned socket in the cardboard box while engaging the flap.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the transferring of a signal in water or in oil and more particularly to a signal transmitting and receiving device using ultrasonic wave. 2. Description of the Prior Art The present inventors have already suggested that the combination of a plurality of frequency signals and a plurality of unit time regions should be used for the transferring of information in a signal transmitting and receiving device using ultrasonic wave. This information transferring system using the combination of frequencies and time regions is explained assuming that a frequency-time matrix (hereinafter referred to as FT matrix) is comprised by m different frequency signals f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.3, . . . f.sub.m in a row and n unit time regions t.sub.1, t.sub.2, t.sub.3, . . . t.sub.n in a column. When the m frequency signals are selected on the condition that the unit time region t.sub.1 always contains one frequency signal and the same frequency signal is not used in two or more of the n unit time regions, the total number of combination patterns of frequencies and unit time regions (hereinafter referred to as FT patterns) is expressed as follows. EQU M = m.sup.. (n - 1) ! /(n - m) ! (1) In the transferring of information by the use of such FT patterns, it is common practice that the operators at the transmitting and receiving sides determine previously that each of the FT patterns represents a specific unit information piece such as an alphabetical character or a numerical value. The operator at the transmitting side resolves any given information into a plurality of unit information pieces and sequentially converts the unit information pieces into FT patterns in accordance with which frequency signals are sequentially oscillated in the respective unit time regions. The operator at the receiving side can know the contents of the information by decoding the frequency signals sequentially. The above-described system has the advantage that each unit information piece is transferred within a shorter time as compared with other systems such as an FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) system, especially in the transferring of information underwater and that errors can be easily detected. This provides a possibility for the realization of communications with high speed and high reliability. Another advantage of the above-described system is the elimination of the inconvenience resulting from the fixing of FT patterns as is seen in RADAS (Random Access Discrete Address System) similar to the system under consideration. Incidentally, the inconvenience of the RADAS is that since different FT patterns are allotted to different receiving stations with which a transmitting station interchanges information, the transmitting station is required to transmit information including the allotted FT pattern to the associated receiving station. This limits the receiving stations to which the information is capable of being transmitted, with the result that it is impossible to transfer specific information to a plurality of receiving stations at the same time, thus restricting the field of applications of the system.

In today's electrical supply systems, there are occasions when alternate sources of electrical power are necessary or desirable. For example, the capability of switching from utility power to emergency generator power is very important for many businesses, hospitals and industries, and is also being employed in residential applications. In certain applications, it is desirable for separate electrical circuits or even separate groups of electrical circuits to be arranged so that when one group of circuits is switched to a conductive state, another group of circuits is switched to a non-conductive state in alternating fashion. In some arrangements, it may be desirable to alternately switch a common load between separate power sources so that, as one power source is disconnected from the load, the second power source is connected to prevent interruption of power to the load. In order that the alternate switching may be effective essentially simultaneously, a need has been recognized to employ a coupling mechanism which functions to switch one circuit OFF as the other circuit is switched ON. Prior art interlocking systems provide an interlock for first and second aligned circuit breakers having first and second external operating handles oriented thereon such that the operating handles are parallel and disposed away from each other when the switches are OFF, and towards each other when the switches are ON. The interlock includes a linkage arrangement disposed across the face of the circuit breaker switches for applying a linear force between the first operating handle and the second operating handle. The linkage arrangement is formed such that pushing the first operating handle from an OFF position to an ON position pushes the second operating handle from an ON position to an OFF position. An example of an interlock of this type is disclosed in Flegel U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,646 issued Jul. 15, 1997. The above-described interlock functions satisfactorily for switches which have parallel handles and which move along a common axis between their ON and OFF positions. However, it is common to feed utility or primary power to a load center through a main circuit breaker which is oriented perpendicularly to the branch circuit breakers. With this arrangement, the switch handle of the main circuit breaker moves between its ON and OFF positions in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the branch circuit breaker switch handles. This construction prevents use of known prior art interlocks with the main circuit breaker, since known interlocks can only be used with aligned switch handles which move along a common axis. It is thus desirable to provide an interlock mechanism which prevents two circuit breakers in nonparallel relation to each other, and possibly of different sizes, from being turned ON simultaneously. It is also desirable that the interlock mechanism permits both of the circuit breakers to be switched OFF at the same time. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a circuit breaker interlock which is useable when the circuit breakers have switches operational in transverse directions. A further object of the invention is to provide an interlock that prevents two power sources from supplying power to an electrical panel simultaneously. Yet another object of the invention is to provide an interlock that allows the circuit breakers to reside simultaneously in an OFF position so that no power is supplied to the electrical panel. Yet another object of the invention is to provide an interlock that is easily adaptable to commonly available circuit breakers and electrical panels. Yet another object of the invention is to provide an interlock which is relatively simple in its components and construction, and adaptable to other switching applications.

The four-member family of syndecans belongs to the type I transmembrane proteins that bear heparan sulfate (HS) chains on their extracellular domains (Bernfield et al., 1992). They share similar structure: conserved short, one span transmembrane domain (TM) and the following approximately 30 amino acid length cytoplasmic domain (CD). The N-terminal, divergent extracellular domains (ectodomain) contain three glycosaminoglycan (GAG) attachment sites for heparan sulfate near the N terminus, and may bear chondroitin sulfate at juxtamembrane region (Kokenyesi and Bernfield, 1994). The syndecan-4 ectodomains comprise cell adhesion segments (CBD) mediating cell-cell attachment (McFall and Rapraeger, 1997). Via their heparan sulfate chains the members presented on all adherent cells are capable of binding cell and matrix adhesion molecules, chemokines, growth factors, and extracellular matrix proteins, providing docking surface for microbes, and for viruses (Woods and Couchman, 1998, Beauvais and Rapraeger, 2004, Carey, 1997, Park et al., 2001). The syndecans are expressed in distinct cell-, tissue-, and developmental stage-specific patterns, thus the syndecan-1, -2, -3 are most abundant in epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and neuronal tissues, respectively, whilst syndecan-4 is expressed ubiquitously, so it is present on virtually all cell types (Bemfield et al., 1992). The syndecans are usually considered as co-receptors, however syndecan-4 had been reported to mediate signals across the membrane via direct activation of protein kinase C alpha (PKCα, Oh et al., 1997). The activation complex of PKCα is regulated by the phosphorylation of Ser179 of syndecan-4 CD (Horowitz and Simons, 1998). When the Ser179 became phosphorylated the syndecan-4-PKCα activation complex fell apart (Couchman et al., 2002). The syndecan-4 is targeted to lipid rafts, discrete regions of the plasma membrane enriched by cholesterol and sphingolipids. The lipid rafts act as scaffolds for molecules involved in cell adhesion, vesicular trafficking and other signaling cascades. The syndecan-4 is enriched in the focal adhesions and mediates stress-fiber formation, which span the cell and terminate at the focal adhesions anchoring the cell to the extracellular substrata in REF, RPE cell lines (Woods and Couchman, 1994). The ligand or antibody-mediated clustering leads the redistribution of syndecan-4 to the membrane rafts which later stimulated efficient endocytosis, where the core protein was internalized from the plasma membrane in a lipid raft-dependent, but clathrin-independent manner (Tkachenko et al., 2004). The oligomerization of syndecan-4 molecules assumed the key step towards the downstream signaling (Tkachenko and Simons, 2002, Choi et al., 2005). The heparan sulfate is supposed as a negatively charged surface to bind and tether big molecules and particles on the cell surface. It was assumed that polycations could penetrate via heparan sulfate (Kopatz et al., 2004). The possible role of heparan sulfates were suggested in binding of viruses and bacteria (Park et al., 2001; Barth et al., 2003), however, there was not suggested any direct mechanism that could support their uptake via any syndecans. The state of the art presently emphasizes the role of the syndecans as a part of larger membrane protein complexes mostly having extracellularly oriented functions, like in cell adhesion processes, in the mechanism of signal transduction. There is no mention in the art that the members of the syndecan family would be able to specifically carry a ligand into the cytoplasm of the cell or specifically target that ligand into one of the compartment of the cells, although basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) could induce the syndecan-4 endocytosis, and the FGF2 internalization was interpreted as a consequence of syndecan-4 endocytosis, and not directly via syndecan-4 (Tkachenko et al., 2004). However, it was unexpectedly found that syndecan-4, the ubiquitous member of the syndecan family is able to internalize a ligand after specifically binding it via the extracellular domain, and said ligand remains continually attached to the extracellular domain within the cell organelles, and the ligand is being trafficked through the cell compartments along with the syndecan-4. Immunocytochemical staining unraveled that the syndecan-4 complex was present in the early endosomes, in the Golgi apparatus, and it accumulated in the perinuclear region. In addition, it was also found that the syndecan-4 was able to enter the nucleus of the cell, localized mainly with PML bodies and to the nuclear speckles characterized as segments for RNA processing. In addition, it was also found that the nuclear targeting of syndecan-4 delivers the specifically attached ligand into the nucleus of the cell, making possible designing novel targeting systems for agents to be delivered into the nucleus, aiming the RNA processing areas.

Videos may be analyzed based on their visual content to identify an activity being performed during video capture. Analyzing visual content may involve techniques that are computationally expensive.

This invention relates generally to the field of design automation of integrated circuits, and more specifically to the field of performance optimization of digital integrated circuits. In the field of integrated circuit design, computers are used to automate the design process. Current integrated circuit designs have become so complex that the design process cannot be completed without the aid of computers executing design automation software. Typically, during most of the design process, the integrated circuit design exists only in the form of electronic data, stored in the memory of a computer or some other storage medium. Integrated circuit design includes several steps. The designer creates the design by specifying the function of the design, typically by composing existing or new electronic components (or cells) having various functions. While some components (or cells) are custom designed specifically for a particular chip, most components are standard and are designed in advance and kept in one or more libraries. The designer creates the desired function by interconnecting, with nets, selected cells. Logic synthesis software aids the designer by performing some of the laborious and repetitive tasks of selection, interconnection and optimization of selected cells from the cell library. The resulting design is represented as a net list that defines the collection of cells and interconnections between the cells. In a subsequent part of the design process, called the physical design, a set of photographic masks are created for use in manufacturing of a chip. To this end, the cells are placed on the chip area and the interconnections between the cells are routed. Physical design automation software automatically places the cells and routes the connections. Larger cells (or blocks) are usually placed at the periphery of the chip. Most of the cells are small standard cells which have a rectangular shape and a uniform height. These standard cells are typically placed in rows of the same uniform height. Placer software is used to physically place the cells in the chip layout. For the interconnections between the cells, a number of metal layers, usually between 2 and 7, are available. Routing software is used to construct the interconnection with a variety of rectilinear metal shapes. The physical design ends with the generation of photographic masks describing the layers of the integrated circuit design. One measure of the performance of a chip is determined by the time required to propagate the signals from register to register. Clock signal control the storing of data into these registers. The number of levels of cells that the signals propagate through and the delay of each of these cells and their interconnections determine the speed of propagation of signals. The number of levels of cells can be reduced during logic synthesis. Capacitive, resistive and inductive effects cause a delay of the interconnections. For example, as capacitance and resistance increase with the length of an interconnection, the placement of the cells influences the performance of the chip. The capacitance that a cell needs to drive is the sum of the capacitance of the net and the capacitance of the inputs of the other cells connected to that net. If a cell drives a larger capacitance, the delay increases. Using larger transistors, this larger capacitance can be driven with the same delay. That is, the larger transistors can drive larger loads (with the same delay). However, such larger transistors cause the input capacitances of these cells to be larger, thereby slowing down the previous stage in the net list. A variety of techniques are used for performance optimization in the design of digital integrated circuits. Because the length of the nets is important for the performance, there are placement methods that attempt to optimize the performance, generally referred to as timing driven placement schemes. One such scheme is disclosed is U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,551, entitled xe2x80x9cTiming Driven Placement,xe2x80x9d issued Jun. 8, 1993 in which an attempt is made to place the cells on the chip in such a manner that the nets that limit the performance of the chip to the greatest extent remain as short as possible. Other methods for optimizing the performance of a chip design are based on the sizing of the transistors. One such method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,967, entitled xe2x80x9cMinimization of Circuit Delay and Power Through Transistor Sizing,xe2x80x9d issued Mar. 9, 1999. Such methods assume that each transistor can be given an accurate individual size. These methods generally use numerical continuous multiple variable optimization algorithms. While this can lead to very accurate optimization, the wide variety of possible transistor sizes requires many custom cell designs, which can make the design very costly. Most libraries contain few versions (typically 3 or 4) of the same cell, each with different transistor sizes, potentially in parallel within an individual cell. Hence sizing algorithms have been developed that select the best drive strength from the limited available standard drive strengths. An example of one such sizing algorithm is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,805, entitled xe2x80x9cLogic Synthesis Having Two-Dimensional Sizing Progression for Selecting Gates from Cell Libraries,xe2x80x9d issued May 27, 1997. Other methods for performance optimization are based on the insertion of amplifying standard cells, or buffers. These buffers can drive a large load while presenting a small load at their input. Buffers do not effect the logic function. An example of a buffering algorithm is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,170, entitled xe2x80x9cSimplified Buffer Manipulation Using Standard Repowering Function,xe2x80x9d issued Aug. 29, 1998. Buffering is area efficient in the sense that little cell area is required to drive a large load. Compared to transistor sizing though, an extra stage of logic is added, and sizing cannot entirely eliminate the intrinsic delay of this stage. Another set of methods for performance optimization in digital IC design is based on duplicating standard cells with multiple fanouts. The capacitance of all the pins of the output net is then distributed among the original cell and the duplicate cells, each of the cells driving a disjunct subset of the fanouts. This technique is known as xe2x80x9ccloning.xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,435, entitled xe2x80x9cAutomated Circuit Design System and Method for Reducing Critical Path Delay Times,xe2x80x9d issued Mar. 7, 1999, describes, among other things, one such cloning method. However, cloning has several limitations including potential difficulty finding an acceptable balance when partitioning fanouts; cloning cannot be used to drive single fanouts with large capacitances (such as primary outputs); cloning cannot be used to drive large capacitances due to long wires; cloning cannot be used for standard cells with bidirectional pins; and cloning cannot easily be used for multi-source nets. Therefore, what is needed is a scheme for automatically generating circuit designs capable of driving large loads in such a manner as to avoid one or more of the problems or limitations in the art described above. Methods and apparatuses for automated design of parallel drive standard cells are disclosed. A standard cell having insufficient drive strength to drive a load is identified. The standard cell is duplicated one or more times to provide a set of multiple standard cells having sufficient combined drive strength to drive the load. The set of standard cells are coupled in parallel to drive the load. In one embodiment, the set of standard cells are aligned vertically or horizontally on the integrated circuit to provide a stacked set of standard cells.

Mailing systems, such as, for example, a mailing machine, often include different modules that automate the processes of producing articles, such as, for example, mail pieces. Mail pieces can include, for example, envelopes, post cards, flats, and the like. The typical mailing machine includes a variety of different modules or sub-systems each of which performs a different task on the mail piece. The mail piece is conveyed downstream utilizing a transport mechanism, such as rollers or a belt, to each of the modules. Such modules could include, for example, a separating module, i.e., separating a stack of mail pieces such that the mail pieces are conveyed one at a time along the transport path, a moistening/sealing module, i.e., wetting and closing the glued flap of an envelope, a weighing module, and a metering/printing module, i.e., applying evidence of postage to the mail piece. The exact configuration of the mailing machine is, of course, particular to the needs of the user. A control panel device, hereinafter referred to as a User Interface Controller (UIC), performs user interface and controller functions for the mailing machine. Specifically, the UIC provides all user interfaces, executes control of the mailing machine and print operations, calculates postage for debit based upon rate tables, provides the conduit for a Postal Security Device (PSD) to transfer postage indicia to the printer, operates with peripherals for accounting, printing and weighing, and conducts communications with a data center for postage funds refill, software download, rates download, and market-oriented data capture. The UIC, in conjunction with an embedded PSD, constitutes the system meter that satisfies U.S. information-based indicia postage (IBIP) meter requirements and other international postal regulations regarding closed system meters. In many instances, it is desirable to have the UIC be removable from the mailing machine. For example, since the UIC stores postage value, i.e., monetary value, therein, a user may wish to secure the UIC during times that the UIC will not be used, such as, for example, during lunch or overnight, to prevent unauthorized use of the postage value stored therein. Accordingly, it is desirable for a user to be able to remove the UIC from the mailing machine for secure storage, such as, for example, in a locked cabinet or office, for any time periods during which use of the mailing machine and UIC are not authorized. By removing and securing the UIC, the postage value stored therein will also be secure. When use of the mailing machine and UIC is authorized, the UIC can be replaced on the mailing machine. As another example, in many situations the UIC must be coupled to a network to perform specific activities, including, for example, refilling of postage, remote inspection, downloading of rate information, etc. In many cases, however, a dedicated network connection, such as, for example, an analog telephone line or local area network connection may not be available. Accordingly, it is desirable for a user to be able to remove the UIC from the mailing machine and transport just the UIC to a location where such a connection is available. This allows the mailing machine to be located anywhere within an office, without having a network connection nearby. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional mailing machine. Mailing machine 10 comprises a base unit, designated generally by the reference numeral 12, the base unit 12 having a mail piece input end, designated generally by the reference numeral 14 and a mail piece output end, designated generally by the reference numeral 16. A UIC 18 is fixedly mounted on the base unit 12, and includes one or more input/output devices, such as, for example, a keyboard 20 and a display device 22. One or more cover members 24 are pivotally mounted on the base 12 so as to move from the closed position shown in FIG. 1 to an open position (not shown) so as to expose various operating components and parts for service and/or repair as needed. The base unit 12 further includes a horizontal feed deck 30 which extends substantially from the input end 14 to the output end 16. A plurality of nudger rollers 32 are suitably mounted under the feed deck 30 and project upwardly through openings in the feed deck so that the periphery of the rollers 32 is slightly above the upper surface of the feed deck 30 and can exert a forward feeding force on a succession of mail pieces placed in the input end 14. A vertical wall 34 defines a mail piece stacking location from which the mail pieces are fed by the nudger rollers 32 along the feed deck 30 and into a transport system (not shown) that transports the mail pieces in a downstream path of travel, as indicated by arrow A, through one or more modules, such as, for example, a separator module and moistening/sealing module. Each of these modules is located generally in the area indicated by reference numeral 36. The mail pieces are then passed to a metering/printing module located generally in the area indicated by reference numeral 38, and exit the mailing machine 10 at the output end 16. There are problems, however, with conventional mailing machines as illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the UIC 18, and associated input/output devices are typically fixed and non-adjustable. The UIC 18 is oriented in a fixed position, typically such that it faces out from the mailing machine 10 perpendicular to the path of travel A and axis of the mailing machine 10, thereby allowing the operator to access the UIC 18 when standing directly in front of the mailing machine 10. This presents problems to the user of the mailing machine 10 to be able to see the output device, such as a display 22, from all locations around the mailing machine 10. The use of display technology, such as, for example, liquid crystal displays (LCD), which reduce both the end user cost and energy consumption, further compounds this problem as the field of view is significantly reduced when viewing the display from an angle as opposed to viewing the display from directly in front of the display. The inability to view the display from all locations is especially true of larger mailing machines, where the modules 36, 38 can extend for some distance up to several feet long. For example, an operator standing at the input end 14 of the mailing machine 10 will not be able to view the display device 22 on the UIC 18. Similarly, an operator located at the output end 16 may also not be able to view the display device 22 on the UIC 18. The problem is further compounded if there is a single operator that has to move between the input end 14 and output end 16 during operation of the machine, while checking status of the UIC 18, as indicated by the display device 22, to ensure proper operation of the mailing machine 10. If the operator is unable to clearly view the display device 22 during operation of the mailing machine 10, errors in the processing of the mail pieces can occur. In addition, the inability of the operator to know operating status of the mailing machine 10 during operation can lead to inefficiency in operation of the mailing machine 10, as well as decreased customer satisfaction with the mailing machine 10. Thus, there exists a need for an improved mailing machine providing for increased operator efficiency.

Many polymeric viscosity index improvers are available for lubricating oils but most of these viscosity index improvers do not have sufficiently high shear stabilities to be acceptable in gear oil service. Commercial gear oils viscosity index improvers include polyisobutylenes and polymethacrylates. To be acceptable gear oil viscosity index improvers, both of these types of polymers must be presheared to a uniform low molecular weight. This preshearing adds expense to the manufacturing process. Further, these presheared polymers are not efficient as thickeners, and a relatively large amount of either is required to impart an acceptable viscosity index improvement to a base gear oil. Another prior art gear oil viscosity index improver is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,680. This patent describes a relatively low molecular weight hydrogenated butadiene-styrene diblock copolymer. The polymer is 30 to 44 weight percent butadiene and has a molecular weight within the range of 12,000 to 20,000. This is a lower molecular weight version of a diblock copolymer which is known to be useful as a viscosity index improver for motor oils. Like the presheared viscosity index improvers, the low molecular weight results in a relatively low thickening efficiency. A high concentration is therefore required to impart an acceptable viscosity index for multigrade gear oils. Hydrogenated conjugated diolefin polymers having a star, or radial configuration are known to be useful as viscosity index improvers for motor oils, but, again, these motor oil viscosity index improvers are not acceptable as gear oil viscosity index improvers due to low shear stability. Such motor oil viscosity index improvers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,673. The star polymers are generally oil soluble to much higher molecular weights than linear counterparts. Because higher molecular weight polymers are more efficient thickeners this results in less polymer being required. This results in a significant cost advantage for the use of hydrogenated radial conjugated diolefin polymers as motor oil lubricating oil viscosity index improvers. The higher molecular weight star polymer is also disclosed as being more shear stable than linear counterparts, but shear stabilities sufficient for gear oil service are not disclosed. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gear oil composition which has excellent shear stability, an acceptable viscosity over a wide temperature range and which requires a lower level of polymer additive than the gear oil compositions which comprise prior art polymeric viscosity index improvers. In another aspect it is an object of this invention to provide a method to improve the viscosity index of a gear oil and also maintain an acceptable shear stability.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to a waveguide parametric device that provides relatively high laser power in the wavelength range from the visible to the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and, more particularly, to a multi-mode waveguide parametric device that generates an output beam at these wavelengths by providing quasi-phase matching between a signal beam and a pump beam, where the parametric device includes alternating oppositely orientated layers having a periodicity that provides the quasi-phase matching only for fundamental mode propagation. 2. Discussion of the Related Art There is a significant need for a high power mid-wave infrared (MWIR) laser source for both military and industrial applications. For example, heat seeking missiles typically have a detector that detects mid-wave infrared wavelengths, particularly 3-6 μm, as a target. An MWIR laser source could provide an infrared counter measure by directing a beam from the source into the detector of the missile. Further, laser radar applications (LADAR) in the mid-wave infrared wavelengths are able to effectively penetrate moisture in the air, thus making them an all weather radar solution. Other applications for MWIR laser sources include atmospheric laser remote sensing and material processing. Additionally, a similar need exists for high power sources of visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelengths. For example, visible blue green wavelengths propagate well in ocean water, enabling detection of underwater mines or communicating with submerged submarines, and high power NIR beams are useful for LADAR and remote sensing. It is known in the art to provide an MWIR laser source that generates a laser beam in the mid-wave infrared frequency range. However, there are significant design challenges for providing an MWIR laser source that generates mid-wave infrared wavelengths at high power. One approach for high power applications is to generate a laser beam that is not in the mid-wave infrared frequency range, and then use a non-linear conversion process, such as difference frequency generation (DFG), with appropriate phase matching to convert the laser beam to the mid-wave infrared frequencies. However, such a conventional solution is proven to be costly and relatively ineffective. Similarly, conventional high power sources for the visible or NIR employing second harmonic generation (SHG) or optical parametric amplification (OPA) are known to encounter serious performance limitations. As is known in the art, single mode waveguides typically provide the best quality laser beam at a particular frequency band. As the size of the waveguide increases, however, more modes are typically generated, which reduces the brightness and quality of the beam. Technological advances in optical waveguide design and operation have allowed the size of the waveguide to increase and still provide for single mode beam propagation.

This invention relates to a ski boot having aerated padding possessing varying degrees of softness over different areas of the foot with the greatest degree of firmness of the padding at the malleoli. More particularly, the invention is embodied in a boot constructed with an outer rigid upper and a soft inshoe possessing the variable softness feature in different areas. Ski boots are known in the prior art having an outer rigid upper, generally constructed of plastics material, and a soft inshoe, the essential purpose of which is to form a padding for the skier's foot. In these known boots, the softness of the inshoe is substantially constant over its entire area of contact with the rigid upper and the skier's foot, and this is a disadvantage, in that different regions thereof are subjected to different stresses and/or are required to transmit different forces imparted by the skier to the outer rigid upper, and consequently to the ski. A further disadvantage is the fact that if the padding completely fills the space between the skier's foot and the outer upper, regular ventilation of the foot is prevented, with consequent discomfort for the skier during use of the boot. Similarly, if this space is not completely filled by the padding, control of the ski is difficult and imprecise.

The present invention is directed to optical communications. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an optical dispersion compensator. The characteristics of an optical fiber affect the nature of a signal pulse as it traverses the fiber. A major concern, especially in long-haul optical networks, is optical pulse dispersion. Optical pulse dispersion in an optical communication network causes optical signal pulses to spread out in the time domain. Optical pulse dispersion is primarily caused by the differences of the propagation velocity of wavelength components, optical modes, or polarization comprising the optical pulse. Dispersion leads to intersymbol interference in which the optical pulses spread out and overlap one another, thus making it impossible for the detection of the individual pulses. In order to counter the effects of intersymbol interference it is required that the pulses be spaced further apart, which directly limits the possible data rate. One method of avoiding optical dispersion is by using dispersion shifted fiber that prevents dispersion at a certain wavelength. For example, most dispersion shifted fiber is designed with a dispersion zero point around 1550 nm. However, the main drawback with dispersion shifted fiber is that it cannot be used where the fiber has already been installed. Digging up a few hundred kilometers of roadway to replace fiber types is extremely costly. Further, if wavelength division multiplexing (xe2x80x9cWDMxe2x80x9d) is being used, the problems of four-wave mixing effectively prohibit the use of dispersion shifted fiber. Various other methods have been proposed and implemented to counter the effects of optical dispersion, thus allowing for higher data rates than otherwise allowed. These methods typically provide for dispersion compensators to be inserted at intervals along a fiber. Dispersion compensators cancel the pulse dispersion that has occurred. One type of dispersion compensator is dispersion compensating fiber. Dispersion compensating fiber has its core profile controlled to counteract dispersion. For example, in order to equalize an installed fiber link with dispersion at 1550 nm of 17 ps/nm/km (standard fiber) a shorter length of compensating fiber can be placed in series with it. The compensating fiber typically has a dispersion of xe2x88x92100 ps/nm/km in the 1550 nm wavelength band. Because the dispersion acts in the opposite direction to the dispersion of the standard fiber the compensating fiber xe2x80x9cundispersesxe2x80x9d the signal. Therefore, a 100 km length of standard fiber for operation at 1550 nm can be compensated by connecting it to 17 km of compensating fiber. However, in most circumstances the existing optical fiber has already been installed, so the added length of fiber sits at one end of the link on a drum. This adds to attenuation and additional amplification may be needed to compensate for the compensating fiber. Compensating fiber has typical attenuation of 0.5 dB/km. In addition, the narrow core of dispersion compensating fiber makes it more susceptible to non-linear high power effects than standard fiber and it is also polarization sensitive. Another method to reduce optical dispersion is mid-span spectral inversion, which requires inserting a device in the middle of the optical link to invert the spectrum. This process changes the short wavelengths to long ones and the long wavelengths to short ones. If the spectrum is inverted in the middle of the link (using standard fiber) the second half of the link acts in the opposite direction. When the optical pulse arrives, it has been rebuilt exactly compensated for by the second half of the fiber. One problem with mid-span spectral inversion is that it is difficult to implement in all situations because an active device has to be placed into the middle of the fiber link. This may or may not be practical. In addition, mid-span spectral inversion xe2x80x9cundoesxe2x80x9d the effect of stimulated Raman scattering in WDM links, thus causing amplification problems. Another know method for reducing optical dispersion is the use of chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings. In a chirped Fiber Bragg Grating, the spacing of the lines on the gratings vary continuously over a small range. Shorter wavelength light entering the grating travels along it almost to the end before being reflected. Longer wavelength light is reflected close to the start of the grating. Therefore, short wavelengths are delayed in relation to longer ones. Since the pulse has been dispersed such that short wavelengths arrive before the long ones, the grating can restore the original pulse shape and undo the effects of dispersion. However, chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings need to be quite long. For single-channel application, up to 20 cm is commonly required. In a WDM system a fully continuous chirp would require a very long grating. To compensate for 100 km of standard (17 ps/nm/km) fiber the chirped grating needs to be 17 cm long for every nm of signal bandwidth. Therefore, a WDM system with channels spread over 20 nm would need a chirped Fiber Bragg Grating 340 cm long. Long Fiber Bragg Gratings are very difficult to construct. Another problem with chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings is that they have a ripple characteristic in the Group Velocity Dispersion they produce. This ripple can be a source of transmission system noise. The longer the grating the larger the problem with ripple and its resultant noise. In addition, short Fiber Bragg Gratings are filters. When a signal is processed through many stages of filtering, the signal gets very narrow and distorted, and can also have increased noise. Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved optical dispersion compensator. One embodiment of the present invention is an optical dispersion compensator that includes a saturable absorber. Coupled to the saturable absorber is a pre-amplifier and a post-amplifier.

The present invention relates to a bicycle rear derailleur shifting controller, and more particularly to a simple structure of bicycle rear derailleur shifting controller, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which can easily be controlled to shift the rear derailleur mechanism of the bicycle. A regular bicycle rear derailleur-shifting controller is generally comprised of a base and a rotary knob. The base comprises a coupling tube coupled to the handlebar of the bicycle. The rotary knob is fastened to an endpiece at one end of the derailleur cable, and rotatably coupled to the coupling tube of the base. Further, an arcuate spring member and a detent section are respectively provided at the base and the rotary knob. The arcuate spring member comprises an indexing projection shifted between notches at the detent section. The derailleur cable is driven to shift the rear derailleur mechanism of the bicycle upon rotary motion of the rotary knob. This structure of bicycle rear derailleur shifting controller is not satisfactory in function. Because the derailleur cable is wound round the coupling tube of the base and turned radially with the rotary knob around the coupling tube, it tends to be hindered by internal structure of the base, causing the rear derailleur mechanism shifting operated unable to be accurately achieved. The present invention has been accomplished to provide a bicycle rear derailleur-shifting controller, which eliminates the aforesaid problem. According to one aspect of the present invention, the bicycle rear derailleur shifting controller comprises a base having a shell and a coupling tube extended from the shell, a rotary knob having a body coupled to the coupling tube of the base and a handgrip formed integral with one end of the body, the body having a recessed portion, a raised block, and a locating hole through the raised block, a spring plate fixedly mounted inside the shell of the base, the spring plate having a protruding portion, an arched positioning block mounted in the recessed portion at the body of the rotary knob, the positioning block having a series of notches meshed with the protruding portion of the spring plate to guide rotary motion of the rotary knob on the coupling tube and to hold the rotary knob in position after a rotary motion, a cover plate covered on the recessed chamber to stop the rotary knob from axial movement on the coupling tube of the base, and a derailleur cable moved with the rotary knob to shift the rear derailleur mechanism of the bicycle. According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover plate comprises a plurality of projections raised from a smoothly curved side edge thereof and inserted into the recessed portion at the body of the rotary knob to stop the rotary knob from axial movement along the coupling tube.

Surface wave radar systems, in particular high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR) systems, have recently been developed to overcome the line-of-sight limitation of microwave radar systems. HFSWR exploits a phenomenon known as a Norton wave propagation whereby a vertically polarised electromagnetic signal propagates efficiently as a surface wave along a conducting surface. HFSWR systems operate from coastal installations, with the ocean providing the conducting surface. The transmitted signal follows the curved ocean surface, and a system can detect objects beyond the visible horizon, with a range of the order of 200 km. The successful detection of a target by a surface wave radar system traditionally involves compromises between a number of factors, including propagation losses, target radar cross-section, ambient noise, man-made interference, and signal-related clutter. It is desired to provide an improved surface wave radar system and data processing method, or at least a useful alternative to existing surface wave radar systems and methods.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a basket lift apparatus, and particularly, to a refrigerator having a basket lift apparatus capable of improving convenience for a user by lifting a basket when the basket received in a lower portion of a body is taken out. 2. Description of the Background Art FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a refrigerator showing that a basket is received in a body. The conventional refrigerator includes: a body 1 whose front is open and which has a receiving space; an upper cooling chamber 3 disposed at an upper side of the body 1, having a pair of upper doors 2 opened in both directions, and storing food items; and a lower cooling chamber 6 disposed at a lower side of the body 1, separated from the upper cooling chamber 3 by a partition wall 4, and having a lower door 5 which is slidingly opened. And, a machine room 8 having therein a compressor 7 and the like for generating cool air to be supplied to the upper cooling chamber 3 and the lower cooling chamber 6 is formed at the rear of the body 1. A basket 9 for receiving frozen food items is disposed at the lower cooling chamber 6 and can slide in the front and rear direction (back and forth). The lower door 5 is fixed at the front of the basket 9. A user pulls the lower door 5 to open the basket 9 and pushes it to close the basket 9. Here, a guide rail 10 is installed between the basket 9 and an inner surface of the lower cooling chamber 6 and guides the basket to allow the basket 9 to slide in the front and rear direction (back and forth). And, a plurality of drawers 11 which are slidingly opened and store food items are provided above the basket 9. In the refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art having such a structure, when a user pulls the lower door 5 frontward in order to take out food items from the lower cooling chamber 6 or to put the food items therein, the basket 9 is slid and opened. And, when the lower door 5 is pushed rearward after the food items are taken out of the basket 9 or received therein, the basket 9 is slid and closed. However, since the refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art having such a structure has a basket at its lower portion (i.e., the basket is installed at a lower side), a user has to stoop or crouch down to put in and/or take out food items into and/or from the basket, which causes inconvenience for the user.

The center of gravity (CG) of a golf club head is a critical parameter of the club's performance. Upon impact, the position of the CG greatly affects launch angle and flight trajectory of a struck golf ball. Thus, much effort has been made over positioning the center of gravity of golf club heads. To that end, current driver and fairway wood golf club heads are typically formed of lightweight, yet durable material, such as steel or titanium alloys. These materials are typically used to form thin club head walls. Thinner walls are lighter, and thus result in greater discretionary weight, i.e., weight available for redistribution around a golf club head. Greater discretionary weight allows golf club manufacturers more leeway in assigning club mass to achieve desired golf club head mass distributions. Various approaches have been implemented for positioning discretionary mass about a golf club head. Many club heads have integral sole weight pads cast into the head at predetermined locations to lower the club head's center of gravity. Also, epoxy may be added to the interior of the club head through the club head's hosel opening to obtain a final desired weight of the club head. To achieve significant localized mass, weights formed of high-density materials have been attached to the sole, skirt, and other parts of a club head. With these weights, the method of installation is critical because the club head endures significant loads at impact with a golf ball, which can dislodge the weight. Thus, such weights are usually permanently attached to the club head and are limited in total mass. This, of course, permanently fixes the club head's center of gravity. Golf swings vary among golfers, but the total weight and center of gravity location for a given club head is typically set for a standard, or ideal, swing type. Thus, even though the weight may be too light or too heavy, or the center of gravity too far forward or too far rearward, the golfer cannot adjust or customize the club weighting to his or her particular swing. Rather, golfers often must test a number of different types and/or brands of golf clubs to find one that is suited for them. This approach may not provide a golf club with an optimum weight and center of gravity and certainly would eliminate the possibility of altering the performance of a single golf club from one configuration to another and then back again. It should, therefore, be appreciated that there is a need for a system for adjustably weighting a golf club head that allows a golfer to fine-tune the club head to accommodate his or her swing.

The huge pipes with which feedwater is conducted to steam generators heated by nuclear fission, are beginning to evidence progressive defects. This problem is only one of the myriad of other technical problems descending upon these installations. Fortunately, consistent improvement in inspection apparatus and techniques have given early warnings by spotting the appearance of internal cracks in the walls of these feedwater pipes. Forewarned, the maintenance personnel rise to the occasion by developing tools and techniques to catch these defects in their early stages of development and overcome them. Thus far, the internal cracks of these feedwater pipes have appeared only in straight runs. But the location, size, and expense of replacement of straight-run sections make it advisable to directly attack the developing defects in situ. Some of the internal cracks can be ground out and leave enough wall thickness for safety. Other cracks are ground out and the depression filled with weld material which is to be ground flush with the internal pipe surface. Superficially, it would appear that personnel could crawl inside of these rather large pipes and apply a hand-held grinding machine to the cracks. Large as the pipes are, perhaps in the order of 17-18", they remain a limited boundary within which it is difficult, or impossible, to operate hand-held grinding machines effectively. Adjustable support structure for the grinding machine must be provided. Within the boundary of the pipes, personnel can insert and install support apparatus for the grinding machine. The actual radial adjustment of the grinding machine from the axis of the pipe to the predetermined station on the internal wall, and axial movement as required, must be carried out by manual operation of the support structure. Within these specifications, the present invention provides a tool which obviates still another problem in nuclear power generation.

The present invention relates generally to interactive video systems and to improvements in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,695,953 and 4,711,543 entitled TV Animation Interactively Controlled by the Viewer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus wherein a viewer dynamically interacts with an animated video presentation to control action sequences and enable rapid and repeated switching of multiple tracks of recorded data representing different actions while retaining a continuous action sequence, and enable branching at the termination of an action sequence by effecting track rewind. U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,953 teaches a double-circuit video system that in one embodiment enables a player to repeatedly touch or hit an animated character during a continuous action scene as displayed on a projection screen or video monitor and thus change the action repeatedly. Another embodiment enables a player to swing a racket before the screen or video monitor, hit the mid-air projected image of a perspective ball animated action, return the ball back to the animated character opponent, and play a simulated game during which the player exercises the same skills used to play the game simulated. An ultrasonic transducer in a playing instrument and a microphone combination disposed on the video monitor face or at angles to the playing action permits the calculation of a signal representing the monitor contact position or the mid-air position of the playing instrument action relating to the game. The signal thus calculated is compared to a similar representation of the position of the character or object in the associated frame of the animation displayed by the video monitor and digitally coded on tape or disc. U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,543 teaches a method of animation to provide smooth animation displayed on the video monitor of a continuous action scene during rapid and repeated switching of multiple tracks of data representing different animation action sequences. While the interactive video systems disclosed by the above-cited U.S. patents admirably fulfills the roles of educational and amusement systems, it is a primary objective of the present invention to extend the capabilities and effectiveness of such systems.

The present invention relates to a process of producing a titanium oxide coating agent for the purpose of forming a titanium oxide film on a substrate, and a titanium oxide film coating formed using such a coating agent. Among processes of forming a titanium oxide film, there are a coating process wherein a titanium oxide powder slurry or an aqueous solution of titanium chloride is coated and then fired on a substrate, a sol-gel process wherein a sol prepared by hydrolysis of a metal alkoxide is coated and then fired on a substrate, a sputtering process wherein an oxide target is sputtered in a high vacuum to form a film on a substrate, a CVD process wherein an organometallic compound or a halide is decomposed upon volatilization in a heating furnace to form a film on a substrate, a plasma spray coating process wherein solid particles are fused by a plasma generated in the atmosphere to spray them onto the surface of a substrate, etc. Of these processes, the process using a coating solution is now considered to be simple and of high practicality for the formation of a titanium oxide film. With the titanium oxide powder coating process that is simple, however, it is difficult to obtain an intimate film in close contact with the substrate. Generally, high synthesis temperatures are needed for titanium oxide film formation, and so it is required to use a heat-resistant substrate capable of standing up to such synthesis temperatures. Thus, there is some limit to the type of available substrate. Another problem with this process is that harmful halogen compounds, etc. are generated by firing because acids or suitable organic dispersants are commonly used to obtain a dispersion solution of titanium oxide fine particles. In the process of coating and firing an aqueous solution of titanium chloride, titanium sulfate, etc., too, harmful halogen compounds are generated. In addition, firing temperatures as high as several hundred 0xc2x0 C. are needed. A commercially available titanium oxide sol prepared by the sol-gel process is industrially advantageous in that it can be coated and impregnated, coated over a large area and synthesized at low temperatures. One problem with this sol is, however, that the raw materials are not only expensive but also chemically unstable and susceptible to influences by temperature control and atmospheres and so hard to handle, because the synthesis must be carried out using organic metals such as titanium tetraisopropoxide and tetrabutyl titanate. Another problem with the sol-gel process is that it is unsuitable for materials susceptible to attacks by acids because heating at 400xc2x0 C. or higher is needed for removal by firing of acids and organic substances contained in the starting sol. Low-temperature firing is likely to yield a porous product. Yet another problem with the sol-gel process is that it involves complicated process steps and has to use an organic solvent. A titanium oxide sol prepared by the sol-gel process contains acids and alkalis or organic substances, and so offers a corrosion problem with respect to the substrate material to be coated. A further problem is that temperatures of at least 400xc2x0 C. are needed for the decomposition of the organic substances, and so harmful by-products such as halides and nitrogen oxides are generated during firing by heating. With the prior art processes, it is thus difficult to prepare a crystalline titania film of high density at low temperatures. For the sol-gel process capable of preparing the titania film at a relatively low temperature, on the other hand, the organic substances, acids, etc. must be decomposed and removed by thermal treatment. Otherwise, this makes the titania film porous; that is, the thermal treatment temperature should be relatively high so as to prepare a film of high density. Besides, such aids are unfavorable because harmful substances such as nitrogen oxides and organic substance vapors are generated by the thermal treatment. When a titanium oxide film is formed of a peroxotitanium hydrate, on the other hand, it is known that a film having good properties can be obtained at a relatively low temperature. It is also known that the peroxotitanium hydrate is formed by direct addition of an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide to a solution of titanium tetrachloride, titanium sulfate or the like thereby forming peroxotitanium hydrate ions, and permitting the hydrate ions to precipitate out in a solid form. At pH 1 or higher, the peroxotitanium hydrate ions are also generated in the form of polynuclear ions containing at least two titanium atoms. At normal temperature, these hydrate ions condense slowly and then precipitate out. It is thus difficult to use the peroxotitanium hydrate ions at pH 1 or higher as a titanium oxide coating agent; in other words, there is some limit to the type of substrate to which a strong acid coating agent of pH 1 or less can be applied. In addition, harmful substances such as hydrogen halides and sulfur oxides are generated by thermal treatment from halogens, sulfur, etc. included in the hydrate ions. To prepare a titanium oxide film of high purity, JP62-252319(A) has proposed to add a hydrogen peroxide solution directly to hydrogenated titanium or alkoxytitanium for dissolution, thereby producing peroxidized titanium, i.e., a substance regarded as a peroxotitanium hydrate. A problem with these titanium raw materials is, however, that their unstableness causes some considerable exothermic reaction when the hydrogen peroxide solution acts thereon, resulting in adverse influences such as thermal decomposition of the raw materials and the product. When the peroxotitanium hydrate is produced in large amounts, therefore, the resulting peroxotitanic acid polymerizes and increases in viscosity. Worst of all, particles grow to such an extent that the transmission of light through the solution is cut off and so the solution becomes turbid. When the solution is used as a coating agent, this in turn causes the close contact of the film with an associated substrate to become worse and the density of the film to drop as well. JP63-35419(A) and JP01-224220(A) disclose a process of producing an aqueous solution referred therein to as a titanyl ion hydrogen peroxide complex or titanic acid and regarded as a peroxotitanium hydrate by adding a hydrogen peroxide solution to a hydrous titanium oxide gel or sol. Upon the direct addition of the hydrogen peroxide solution to titanium hydroxide, however, much heat is generated due to the simultaneous occurrence of peroxidization and solution formation and, hence, sufficient cooling under agitation is needed. However, as the amount of the peroxotitanium hydrate to be produced increases, temperature control becomes difficult. Unless sufficient cooling can be carried out, a polymer grows in the form of particles due to viscosity increases and condensation. This may in turn cause the solution to become turbid. When a gel or sol of hydrous titanium oxide is prepared, it is common to add a basic substance such as ammonia thereto. However, impurities, i.e., cations such as ammonium ions and anions such as chlorine ions are likely to be taken in and absorbed on the gel or sol due to momentary precipitation of hydrous titanium oxide. In particular, the presence of anionic impurities such as chlorine ions and sulfate ions may often promote condensation of a peroxotitanium hydrate formed after the addition of a hydrogen peroxide solution, resulting in a failure in obtaining a transparent aqueous solution. In addition, complete removal of impurities is difficult to achieve even when the hydrous titanium oxide is washed with distilled water. In view of stable production of peroxotitanium hydrate, there is thus a grove problem. In Japanese Patent Nos. 2875993 and 2938376, the inventors have already showed that a coating agent with anatase ultrafine particles dispersed can be obtained by heating an aqueous solution of peroxotitanium hydrate, thereby making it possible to form a crystalline titania film of improved adhesion. With the processes already proposed by the inventors, it is possible to form a crystalline titania film that is more improved in terms of adhesion than that obtained by a conventional process. However, when an anatase sol is prepared by heating an aqueous solution of peroxotitanium hydrate while the amount of cation residues such as ammonium ion residues is large, peroxo groups are less susceptible to decomposition, yielding large particles. When these particles are used as a coating agent, a problem often arises in conjunction with adhesion or density. Especially when anionic impurities such as chlorine ions and sulfate ions remain in a large amount, the polymerization of peroxotitanic acid formed after the addition of a hydrogen peroxide solution is often promoted, resulting in a failure in obtaining a transparent aqueous solution or a density increase. Even with a titanium hydrate with ionic impurities adsorbed thereon, it is prima facie possible to prepare a transparent solution of peroxotitanic acid if a hydrogen peroxide solution is allowed to act thereon after the concentration of ionic impurities is reduced by repeating washing with purified water. However, too long a time is needed for washing because as the lower the impurity concentration, the more difficult it is to precipitate the hydrate. It is thus strongly desired to provide a production process that can be more easily carried out than a process using the titania film-forming solution proposed by the inventors in Japanese Patent Nos. 2875993 and 2938376 and provide a solution enabling a stable titania film of improved properties to be obtained even when produced in large amounts. Accomplished to eliminate such problems as explained with reference to the prior art, the present invention provides a new process of producing an aqueous solution of peroxotitanium hydrate. In other words, it is one object of the present invention to prevent condensation due to thermal influences or growth of particles than needed in the process of producing an aqueous solution of peroxotitanium hydrate with a hydrogen peroxide solution, which may otherwise cause a film adhesion or density drop when the aqueous solution is used as a coating agent. It is another object of the present invention to obtain a titanium oxide-forming solution that makes it possible to form a titanium oxide coating film of improved adhesion and increased density. The present invention also provides a new process of producing a crystalline titanium oxide particle that is also useful as a titanium oxide-forming film coating agent. In other words, it is one object of the present invention to prevent condensation due to thermal influences or growth of particles than needed in the process of producing an aqueous solution of peroxotitanium hydrate with a hydrogen peroxide solution, which may otherwise cause a film adhesion or density drop when the aqueous solution is used as a coating agent. It is yet another object of the present invention to obtain a crystlline titanium oxide particle that makes it possible to form a titanium oxide coating film of improved adhesion and increased density. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a titanium oxide-forming solution usable as a titanium oxide coating agent or the like, and a process of producing the same. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stable titanium oxide-forming solution with which problems with a conventional process of producing titanium oxides can be solved, and a new process of producing a sol with anatase fine particles dispersed therein, which can be obtained from the same. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a production process wherein solution formation can be promoted by adjustment of impurity ions in the reaction step at which a titanium oxide-forming solution is obtained from the starting materials.

The efficiency of internal combustion engines is often expressed in terms of thermal efficiency, which is a measure of an engine's ability to convert fuel energy into mechanical power. Conventional internal combustion engines with reciprocating pistons typically have relatively low thermal efficiencies. Conventional automobile engines, for example, typically have thermal efficiencies of about 0.25, which means that about seventy-five percent of the fuel's energy is wasted during engine operation. More specifically, about forty percent of the fuel's energy flows out the exhaust pipe as lost heat, while another thirty-five percent is absorbed by the cooling system (i.e., coolant, oil, and surrounding air flow). As a result of these losses, only about twenty-five percent of the fuel's energy is converted into usable power for moving the car and operating secondary systems (e.g., charging systems, cooling systems, power-steering systems, etc.). There are a number of reasons that conventional internal combustion engines are so inefficient. One reason is that the cylinder head and walls of the combustion chamber absorb heat energy from the ignited fuel but do no work. Another reason is that the ignited fuel charge is only partially expanded before being pumped out of the combustion chamber at a relatively high temperature and pressure during the exhaust stroke. An additional reason is that reciprocating piston engines produce very little torque through much of the piston stroke because of the geometric relationship between the reciprocating piston and the rotating crankshaft. While some advancements have been made in the field of piston engine technology, it appears that the practical limits of piston engine efficiency have been reached. The average fuel economy of new cars, for example, has increased by only 2.3 miles-per-gallon (mpg) in the last 20 years or so. More specifically, the average fuel economy of new cars has increased from 26.6 mpg in 1982 to only 28.9 mpg in 2002. Although a number of alternatives to the conventional internal combustion engine have been proposed, each offers only marginal improvements. Hybrid vehicles, for example (e.g., the Toyota Prius), and alternative fuel systems (e.g., propane, natural gas, and biofuels) still use conventional reciprocating piston engines with all of their attendant shortcomings. Electric cars, on the other hand, have limited range and are slow to recharge. Hydrogen fuel cells are another alternative, but implementation of this nascent technology is relatively expensive and requires a new fuel distribution infrastructure to replace the existing petroleum-based infrastructure. Accordingly, while each of these technologies may hold promise for the future, they appear to be years away from mass-market acceptance.

Manufacturers are particularly concerned that high quality products portray a high quality image. To this end, identifying labels are preferably made of high quality material and attached to the product in a high quality manner. In the mattress field, for example, mattress companies have specifications regarding the appearance and the attachment of the label. Among these is the requirement that the outer edge of the label must be securely sewn to a top panel of the mattress. In addition, the label should not have trim tails or other unsightly features. To date, attaching labels to quilted mattresses has been particularly troublesome. Attempts have been made to use top-of-the-line programmable X-Y sewing machines, e.g., Mitsubishi No. PLK A 3040, to implement a commercially acceptable attachment of labels to thick, puffy, or quilted materials, such as quilted mattress panels. These machines, however, fail to provide an acceptable cost/performance ratio for the mattress construction field. Attempts have also been made to sew labels to thick, puffy, or quilted materials, using less expensive programmable sewing machines, such as using 360.degree. clamping machines having a bottom plate and an upper frame. Panels are placed face-side-up and then clamped down. The upper clamp includes a window to hold the label. The panel and label are then sewn together. These attempts have proved inadequate for quilted mattress panels, in particular, because the clamping action forms an uneven surface under the label, i.e., a "concave effect." Because of the concave effect, the label cannot be held in place properly, even if an extra stage of depressing the label is used. The label gets bunched, possibly misaligned, and appears unsightly. Two stage clamping methods and apparatus have also been attempted. The panel is placed face-side-up, and a first stage of clamping holds the quilted panel. The label is then placed, and a second stage of clamping captures the edge of the label, approximately 1/16 of an inch in from the label edge. Though the label is held relatively securely, stitching can only be performed inwardly of the second stage clamp. Consequently, the peripheral edge is not sewn down. Though these machines offer slightly more control over the label placement than the 360.degree. clamping machines, described above, they produce a commercially unacceptable product, because the labels are unattached at the peripheral edges. Adhesive techniques have also been attempted. The label is first glued to the mattress panel, then later stitched. These methods increase the manufacturing cost, because they involve extra handling and because the use of adhesive materials requires improved ventilation systems and the like. Moreover, many of the methods and machines, described above, are difficult to use in the field of mattress construction because of the extra weight and thickness of the materials involved in mattress construction. Thick and puffy panels are more difficult to load and unload in a machine then are thin fabrics. Complicating this problem, standard machines do not begin operation with the needle in a position providing the maximum needle clearance. Rather, prior art machine start operation with the take up lever at top dead center. On the Mitsubishi No. PLK A 4516, for example, this position places the needle 5/16 of an inch below maximum clearance. In addition, the PLK A 4516 monitors the shaft position with an encoder, and if the shaft is rotated more than 6.degree. from the start position, the encoder sends a reset signal to a controller of the machine. As such, there is a need in the art for a cost effective label stitching machine that can sew labels to thick, puffy, or quilted materials, such as a quilted mattress panel, in a high quality manner. There is also a need in the art for a label stitching method and apparatus in which the label can be sewn, without bunching, and in a reliable, high quality manner. There is also a need in the art for a label stitching method and apparatus that sews the labels to quilted mattress panels without leaving unsightly trim tails. There is also a need in the art for a label stitching method and apparatus in which the materials may be easily loaded and removed from the apparatus.

1. Field of the Art The present invention relates to dietary lipid digestion-absorption inhibitory agents and ingesta which are expected to have a dietary lipid absorption inhibitory effect, an obesity preventing effect and the like. 2. Related Art In recent years, intake of lipid is increasing with the improvement or westernizing of the eating habits in Japan. According to the report of the "National Nutrition Survey" conducted (in Japan) in the year of 1989, the ratio of caloric intake from lipid is in excess of 25% on an average, and this ratio is already in a danger zone. Such a constant excessive ingestion of lipid causes the problem of obesity, and a variety of its complications, for instance, heart or circulatory diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes and the like, are becoming even an object of public concern in developed countries. For this reason, the approaches aiming at removal of body fat or lowering of dietary lipid are now being actively made in many countries, and a variety of methods, medicines and commodities as described below have been proposed. First of all, the intake of lipid can be restricted by alimentotherapy, fat substitutes, or anotectic agents. Alimentotherapy is, however, attended with great difficulties when it is practiced for a prolonged period of time, because this therapy often adopts an excessively restricted diet, whereas lipid-rich tasty foods are abundant in our present-day life. With respect to fat substitutes, a great variety of commodities such as substitutes having a carbohydrate base, a protein base or an oils and fats base, and synthetic fat substitutes have been developed. However, it is not easy with such substitutes to satisfy present-day people, who tend to pursue natural taste and genuine relish. On the other hand, there is a method in which only a feeling of plenitude is obtained by taking konjak mannan or the like, thereby diminishing appetite itself. Such a method is however accepted only by a very few obesity patients because konjak mannan cannot be readily ingested due to their physical properties. Further, mazindol, fenfluramine and the like have been known as anorectic agents. However, these medicines can be administered only under the control of a medical doctor, and their side effects have also been reported [Hadler A. J.: J. Clin. Pharm., 12, 453(1972); and Stunkar D. A., et al: Lanset, 1, 503(1973)]. As a method which can replace the foregoing impracticable methods, there is an approach to prevention of absorbed aliments from being accumulated as fat, without limiting the ingestion of fat and the like. Dehydroepiandrosteron [Yen T. T., et al: Lipid, 12, 409(1977)] can be mentioned as a medicine for this purpose. However, it has been reported that this medicine entails a side effect whereby the hormonal balance is lost [Baulien E. E., et al.: J. Clin. Endocrinal Metal, 23, 1298(1963); and Siiteri P. K., et al.: Steroid, 2, 713(1963)]. Further, it has been known that the hot-taste component (capsicin) of capsicum is useful for promoting the decomposition of accumulated. body fat [Kawada T., et al: J. Nutr., 116, 1272(1986)]. However, this component has not yet been put to practical use due to its stimulating taste. The use of thyroid hormone may also be considered because it promotes the decomposition of body lipid. However, it has been pointed out that thyroid hormone is poor in lipid specificity, and that this hormone decreases the amount of muscles rather than that of lipid [Kyle L. H., et al: N. Eng. J. Med., 275, 12(1966); and Gray G. A., et al: Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 26, 715(1973)]. An approach to prevention of ingested lipid from being absorbed by the alimentary canal, which is made to overcome the above-described shortcomings, is attracting public attention these days. However, neomycin, which is known as a medicine having the above effect, gives rise to a serious side effect of causing fatty diarrhea [Falcon W. W., et al: Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 132, 879(1966)]. Capsules of a certain type which can trap dietary lipid at an alimentary canal [Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 52713/1989], crosslinked products of collagen [Specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,850], and capsule preparations containing sodium polyacrylate as an aggregating agent [Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 120227/1991] have been disclosed. However, their effects are still unclear, because, for example, we found that the total amount of discharged lipid was not observed in any of the above disclosures. An oral lipid absorber comprising a crosslinked polymer of long-chained alkyl(meth)acrylate has been proposed as a material having a lipid absorption inhibitory effect [Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 23136/1993]. In recent years, it has been found that chitosan has a lipid absorption inhibitory effect [Nagyvary J. J.: Nutr. Rep. Int., 20, 677(1979); I. Ikeda: J. Nutr., 119, 1383(1989); and Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 290170/1991], and this effect of chitosan seems to be hopeful. However, in the above studies, the lipid concentration in blood after feeding is adopted as an index, and there are many obscure points in the total balance of lipid. The effects of chitosan of increasing the amount of lipid discharged in the stool and decreasing body lipid, evaluated by using chickens have been reported [Kobayashi, et al: Nihon Kakin Kaishi, 28, 88(1991)]. However, it does not discuss multiplier effects of chitosan and other components. As described above, various approaches have been made in order to decrease dietary lipid or to reduce body fat, and a variety of materials, commodities and methods have been proposed for this purpose. However, they are not excellent in taste or are harmful to health, so that most of them are abandoned before the purpose is fully attained.

A related-art air-conditioning system including a ventilator includes a refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a four-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion unit, and an indoor heat exchanger. The refrigerant circuit is filled with refrigerant. During cooling, the refrigerant is compressed into high-temperature high-pressure gas refrigerant by the compressor and is then delivered to the outdoor heat exchanger. The refrigerant which has flowed into the outdoor heat exchanger radiates heat to air and thus liquefies. The liquefied refrigerant is subjected to pressure reduction into a two-phase gas-liquid state by the expansion unit. In the indoor heat exchanger, the refrigerant removes heat from ambient air and thus gasifies. On the other hand, the air from which heat has been removed can cool an indoor space. The gasified refrigerant returns to the compressor. The ventilator performs an operation of exchanging indoor air for outdoor fresh air. A high enthalpy of air introduced from outdoor air during cooling causes a cooling load (outdoor air load). Examples of other loads include a load (indoor load) generated in an indoor space and a load (overall heat transfer load) due to heat entering through a wall of a structure. It is necessary for air-conditioning devices to process the outdoor air load, the indoor load, and the overall heat transfer load. The outdoor air load and the indoor load include a latent heat load as well as a sensible heat load. Related-art air-conditioning systems have processed the latent heat load while keeping a temperature (refrigerant evaporating temperature) in the indoor heat exchanger at a constant low temperature. In such an operation of processing the latent heat load while the evaporating temperature is kept at a constant low temperature, however, operation efficiency (energy efficiency) is reduced because the operation is performed while the low evaporating temperature, which leads to a large power consumption, is kept regardless of load. Increasing the evaporating temperature can reduce the power consumption, thus improving the operation efficiency. Disadvantageously, however, latent heat will be processed insufficiently, causing an increase in humidity of indoor air. This may result in a reduction in comfort. An air-conditioning system has recently been developed which sets an evaporating temperature upper limit determined on the basis of the humidity of indoor air and controls an evaporating temperature within a range at or below the set evaporating temperature upper limit on the basis of the evaporating temperature, the temperature and humidity of indoor air, and a set temperature while avoiding insufficient processing of latent heat (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).

1. Field of the Invention The embodiments described herein are directed to methods for fabricating a thin film transistor, non-volatile memory devices, and more particularly to methods for fabricating a thin film transistor, non-volatile memory device comprising multiple layers of memory cells. 2. Background of the Invention Non-volatile memory devices are finding uses in more and more products. For example, flash-based memory devices are being used in MP3 players, digital cameras, as storage devices for computer files, etc. As these uses grow, there is a need for larger memories housed in smaller packages. This requires the fabrication of highly dense memories. Accordingly, research and development has been directed at increasing the density of conventional non-volatile memory devices. One approach for increasing the density of non-volatile memory devices is to create a stacked memory device, i.e., a device in which layers of memory cells are stacked on top of each other. Unfortunately, to date little effort has been put into creating certain types of stacked memory devices. For example, there are few stacked nitride read-only memory designs. This is in part because stacked memory devices are not necessarily compatible with the latest fabrication processes, which can make fabricating a stacked memory device inefficient and costly. There are other approaches to increasing the density of conventional non-volatile memory devices; however, these approaches do not necessarily address the needs of all applications. Accordingly, there is still a need for further, or other approaches for increasing the density of conventional non-volatile memory devices. One particular type of non-volatile memory device is the nitride read-only memory device. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional nitride read-only memory structure 150. As can be seen, nitride read-only memory 150 is constructed on a silicon substrate 152. The silicon substrate can be a P-type silicon substrate or an N-type silicon substrate; however, for various design reasons P-type silicon substrates are often preferred. Source/drain regions 154 and 156 can then be implanted in substrate 152. A trapping structure 158 is then formed on substrate 152 between source/drain regions 154 and 156. Control gate 160 is then formed on top of trapping layer 158. Source/drain regions 154 and 156 are silicon regions that are doped to be the opposite type as that of substrate 152. For example, where a P-type silicon substrate 152 is used, N-type source/drain regions 154 and 156 can be implanted therein. Charge trapping structure 158 comprises a nitride trapping layer as well as an isolating oxide layer between the trapping layer and channel 166 in substrate 152. In other embodiments, trapping structure 158 can comprise a nitride trapping layer sandwiched between two isolating, or dielectric layers, such as oxide, or more specifically silicon dioxide layers. Such a configuration is often referred to as an Oxide-Nitride-Oxide (ONO) trapping layer. Charge can be accumulated and confined within trapping structure 158 next to source/drain regions 154 and 156, effectively storing two separate and independent charges 162 and 164. Each charge 162 and 164 can be maintained in one of two states, either programmed or erased, represented by the presence or absence of a pocket of trapped electrons. This enables the storage of two bits of information without the complexities associated with multilevel cell technology. Each storage area in nitride read-only memory cell 150 can be programmed independently of the other storage area. A nitride read-only memory cell is programmed by applying a voltage that causes negatively charged electrons to be injected into the nitride layer of trapping structure 158 near one end of the cell. Erasing is accomplished by applying voltages that cause holes to be injected into the nitride layer where they can compensate for electrons previously stored in the nitride layer during programming. A nitride read only memory device is constructed by manufacturing arrays of memory cells such as the cell illustrated in FIG. 1. Arrays are constructed by tying the cells together via word and bit lines. The bit lines are often polysilicon lines, while the word lines can be polysilicon or metal. While nitride read-only memory devices, such as the device illustrated in FIG. 1, can be configured to store multiple bits per cell, the density of nitride read-only memory devices can be increased by using a stacked construction. Unfortunately, the stacking of nitride read-only memory devices is rarely done and when it is, the process can be inefficient and therefore more costly.

The present invention provides compositions and methods for modulating the expression of RECQL4. In particular, this invention relates to compounds, particularly oligonucleotides, specifically hybridizable with nucleic acids encoding RECQL4. Such compounds have been shown to modulate the expression of RECQL4. Genomic integrity is critical to the health and survival of any organisms and cells have evolved multiple pathways for the repair of DNA damage. One class of enzymes involved in the maintenance of genomic integrity and stability are DNA helicases. These proteins play important roles in DNA replication, repair, recombination and transcription by unwinding duplex genomic strands allowing the repair machinery access to damaged or mispaired DNA. For example, the RecQ family of helicases has been shown to be important players in linking cell cycle checkpoint responses to recombination repair (Chakraverty and Hickson, BioEssays, 1999, 21, 286-294; Frei and Gasser, J. Cell Sci., 2000, 113, 2641-2646; Wu et al., Curr. Biol., 1999, 9, R518-520). More recently, these helicases have been implicated in the process of posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) (Cogoni and Macino, Science, 1999, 286, 2342-2344). In this process, the helicase is required to separate the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) before any hybridization and silencing mechanism could be initiated. The RecQ family consists of five members and can be divided into two distinct groups according to whether they contain an additional carboxy- or amino-terminus group. One class containing the longest members of the family include genes known to be defective in several syndromes including the BLM gene in Bloom""s syndrome, the WRN gene in Werner""s syndrome and the RECQ4 gene in Rothmund-Thompson syndrome. Mutations in these genes lead to an increase in the incidence of cancer as well as other physiologic abnormalities (Karow et al., Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev., 2000, 10, 32-38; Kawabe et al., Oncogene, 2000, 19, 4764-4772). The second class contains the RECQL gene and the RECQ5 gene which encode little more than the central helicase domain and have not been associated with any human disease. RECQL4 (also known as RecQ protein-like 4, RTS for Rothmund Thomson Syndrome and RECQ4) was cloned by Kitao et al. along with the gene for RECQ5 (Kitao et al., Genomics, 1998, 54, 443-452). A multi-tissue Northern analysis revealed that RECQL4 is predominantly expressed in the thymus and testis indicating a somewhat tissue-specific pattern of expression. The RECQL4 gene was mapped to chromosome 8q24, and chromosomal aberrations of several types have been associated with this site. The protein and nucleic acid sequences of the human RECQL4 gene are disclosed in the European Patent Application EP0999273 and the corresponding PCT Publication WO 99/05284 (Shimamoto et al., 1999; Shimamoto et al., 2000). Also disclosed are antibodies to the RECQL4 protein, kits for diagnosing disease associated with RECQL4, transgenic and knockout animals of the RECQL4 gene and probes to the RECQL4 gene. Kitao et al. reported that mutations in the RECQL4 gene are the cause of a subset of cases of Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, RTS (also known as poikiloderma congenitale) (Kitao et al., Nat. Genet., 1999, 22, 82-84). RTS is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by abnormalities in the skin and skeleton, juvenile cataracts, premature aging and predisposition to cancers (Kitao et al., Genomics, 1999, 61, 268-276; Lindor et al., Am. J. Med. Genet., 2000, 90, 223-228). In these studies, Kitao found 3 patients with RTS who carried two types of mutations in the RECQL4 gene. These mutations were shown to be inherited from the parents in one family and not in ethnically matched controls, suggesting that mutations of RECQL4 are responsible for only a subset of RTS cases (Kitao et al., Nat. Genet., 1999, 22, 82-84). Other types of mutations associated with the disorder include exon deletions, short string deletions, base pair changes resulting in premature termination and frameshifts. While mutations in the RECQL4 gene are responsible for some cases of RTS, the normal function of the gene product and its regulation are still unclear. It is, however, believed to be involved in DNA metabolism, a potential therapeutic target in hyperproliferative conditions such as cancer. Currently, there are no known therapeutic agents which effectively inhibit the synthesis of RECQL4. Consequently, there remains a long felt need for agents capable of effectively inhibiting and/or modulating RECQL4 activity. Antisense technology is emerging as an effective means for selectively reducing the expression of specific gene products and may therefore prove to be uniquely useful in a number of therapeutic, diagnostic, and research applications for the modulation of RECQL4 expression. The present invention provides compositions and methods for modulating RECQL4 expression. The present invention is directed to compounds, particularly antisense oligonucleotides, which are targeted to a nucleic acid encoding RECQL4, and which modulate the expression of RECQL4. Pharmaceutical and other compositions comprising the compounds of the invention are also provided. Further provided are methods of modulating the expression of RECQL4 in cells or tissues comprising contacting said cells or tissues with one or more of the antisense compounds or compositions of the invention. Further provided are methods of treating an animal, particularly a human, suspected of having or being prone to a disease or condition associated with expression of RECQL4 by administering a therapeutically or prophylactically effective amount of one or more of the antisense compounds or compositions of the invention. The present invention employs oligomeric compounds, particularly antisense oligonucleotides, for use in modulating the function of nucleic acid molecules encoding RECQL4, ultimately modulating the amount of RECQL4 produced. This is accomplished by providing antisense compounds which specifically hybridize with one or more nucleic acids encoding RECQL4. As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9ctarget nucleic acidxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cnucleic acid encoding RECQL4xe2x80x9d encompass DNA encoding RECQL4, RNA (including pre-mRNA and mRNA) transcribed from such DNA, and also cDNA derived from such RNA. The specific hybridization of an oligomeric compound with its target nucleic acid interferes with the normal function of the nucleic acid. This modulation of function of a target nucleic acid by compounds which specifically hybridize to it is generally referred to as xe2x80x9cantisensexe2x80x9d. The functions of DNA to be interfered with include replication and transcription. The functions of RNA to be interfered with include all vital functions such as, for example, translocation of the RNA to the site of protein translation, translation of protein from the RNA, splicing of the RNA to yield one or more mRNA species, and catalytic activity which may be engaged in or facilitated by the RNA. The overall effect of such interference with target nucleic acid function is modulation of the expression of RECQL4. In the context of the present invention, xe2x80x9cmodulationxe2x80x9d means either an increase (stimulation) or a decrease (inhibition) in the expression of a gene. In the context of the present invention, inhibition is the preferred form of modulation of gene expression and mRNA is a preferred target. It is preferred to target specific nucleic acids for antisense. xe2x80x9cTargetingxe2x80x9d an antisense compound to a particular nucleic acid, in the context of this invention, is a multistep process. The process usually begins with the identification of a nucleic acid sequence whose function is to be modulated. This may be, for example, a cellular gene (or mRNA transcribed from the gene) whose expression is associated with a particular disorder or disease state, or a nucleic acid molecule from an infectious agent. In the present invention, the target is a nucleic acid molecule encoding RECQL4. The targeting process also includes determination of a site or sites within this gene for the antisense interaction to occur such that the desired effect, e.g., detection or modulation of expression of the protein, will result. Within the context of the present invention, a preferred intragenic site is the region encompassing the translation initiation or termination codon of the open reading frame (ORF) of the gene. Since, as is known in the art, the translation initiation codon is typically 5xe2x80x2-AUG (in transcribed mRNA molecules; 5xe2x80x2-ATG in the corresponding DNA molecule), the translation initiation codon is also referred to as the xe2x80x9cAUG codon,xe2x80x9d the xe2x80x9cstart codonxe2x80x9d or the xe2x80x9cAUG start codonxe2x80x9d. A minority of genes have a translation initiation codon having the RNA sequence 5xe2x80x2-GUG, 5xe2x80x2-UUG or 5xe2x80x2-CUG, and 5xe2x80x2-AUA, 5xe2x80x2-ACG and 5xe2x80x2-CUG have been shown to function in vivo. Thus, the terms xe2x80x9ctranslation initiation codonxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstart codonxe2x80x9d can encompass many codon sequences, even though the initiator amino acid in each instance is typically methionine (in eukaryotes) or formylmethionine (in prokaryotes). It is also known in the art that eukaryotic and prokaryotic genes may have two or more alternative start codons, any one of which may be preferentially utilized for translation initiation in a particular cell type or tissue, or under a particular set of conditions. In the context of the invention, xe2x80x9cstart codonxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctranslation initiation codonxe2x80x9d refer to the codon or codons that are used in vivo to initiate translation of an mRNA molecule transcribed from a gene encoding RECQL4, regardless of the sequence(s) of such codons. It is also known in the art that a translation termination codon (or xe2x80x9cstop codonxe2x80x9d) of a gene may have one of three sequences, i.e., 5xe2x80x2-UAA, 5xe2x80x2-UAG and 5xe2x80x2-UGA (the corresponding DNA sequences are 5xe2x80x2-TAA, 5xe2x80x2-TAG and 5xe2x80x2-TGA, respectively). The terms xe2x80x9cstart codon regionxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctranslation initiation codon regionxe2x80x9d refer to a portion of such an mRNA or gene that encompasses from about 25 to about 50 contiguous nucleotides in either direction (i.e., 5xe2x80x2 or 3xe2x80x2) from a translation initiation codon. Similarly, the terms xe2x80x9cstop codon regionxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctranslation termination codon regionxe2x80x9d refer to a portion of such an mRNA or gene that encompasses from about 25 to about 50 contiguous nucleotides in either direction (i.e., 5xe2x80x2 or 3xe2x80x2) from a translation termination codon. The open reading frame (ORF) or xe2x80x9ccoding region,xe2x80x9d which is known in the art to refer to the region between the translation initiation codon and the translation termination codon, is also a region which may be targeted effectively. Other target regions include the 5xe2x80x2 untranslated region (5xe2x80x2 UTR), known in the art to refer to the portion of an mRNA in the 5xe2x80x2 direction from the translation initiation codon, and thus including nucleotides between the 5xe2x80x2 cap site and the translation initiation codon of an mRNA or corresponding nucleotides on the gene, and the 3xe2x80x2 untranslated region (3xe2x80x2 UTR), known in the art to refer to the portion of an mRNA in the 3xe2x80x2 direction from the translation termination codon, and thus including nucleotides between the translation termination codon and 3xe2x80x2 end of an mRNA or corresponding nucleotides on the gene. The 5xe2x80x2 cap of an mRNA comprises an N7-methylated guanosine residue joined to the 5xe2x80x2-most residue of the mRNA via a 5xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 triphosphate linkage. The 5xe2x80x2 cap region of an mRNA is considered to include the 5xe2x80x2 cap structure itself as well as the first 50 nucleotides adjacent to the cap. The 5xe2x80x2 cap region may also be a preferred target region. Although some eukaryotic mRNA transcripts are directly translated, many contain one or more regions, known as xe2x80x9cintrons,xe2x80x9d which are excised from a transcript before it is translated. The remaining (and therefore translated) regions are known as xe2x80x9cexonsxe2x80x9d and are spliced together to form a continuous mRNA sequence. mRNA splice sites, i.e., intron-exon junctions, may also be preferred target regions, and are particularly useful in situations where aberrant splicing is implicated in disease, or where an overproduction of a particular mRNA splice product is implicated in disease. Aberrant fusion junctions due to rearrangements or deletions are also preferred targets. It has also been found that introns can also be effective, and therefore preferred, target regions for antisense compounds targeted, for example, to DNA or pre-mRNA. Once one or more target sites have been identified, oligonucleotides are chosen which are sufficiently complementary to the target, i.e., hybridize sufficiently well and with sufficient specificity, to give the desired effect. In the context of this invention, xe2x80x9chybridizationxe2x80x9d means hydrogen bonding, which may be Watson-Crick, Hoogsteen or reversed Hoogsteen hydrogen bonding, between complementary nucleoside or nucleotide bases. For example, adenine and thymine are complementary nucleobases which pair through the formation of hydrogen bonds. xe2x80x9cComplementary,xe2x80x9d as used herein, refers to the capacity for precise pairing between two nucleotides. For example, if a nucleotide at a certain position of an oligonucleotide is capable of hydrogen bonding with a nucleotide at the same position of a DNA or RNA molecule, then the oligonucleotide and the DNA or RNA are considered to be complementary to each other at that position. The oligonucleotide and the DNA or RNA are complementary to each other when a sufficient number of corresponding positions in each molecule are occupied by nucleotides which can hydrogen bond with each other. Thus, xe2x80x9cspecifically hybridizablexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccomplementaryxe2x80x9d are terms which are used to indicate a sufficient degree of complementarity or precise pairing such that stable and specific binding occurs between the oligonucleotide and the DNA or RNA target. It is understood in the art that the sequence of an antisense compound need not be 100% complementary to that of its target nucleic acid to be specifically hybridizable. An antisense compound is specifically hybridizable when binding of the compound to the target DNA or RNA molecule interferes with the normal function of the target DNA or RNA to cause a loss of utility, and there is a sufficient degree of complementarity to avoid non-specific binding of the antisense compound to non-target sequences under conditions in which specific binding is desired, i.e., under physiological conditions in the case of in vivo assays or therapeutic treatment, and in the case of in vitro assays, under conditions in which the assays are performed. Antisense and other compounds of the invention which hybridize to the target and inhibit expression of the target are identified through experimentation, and the sequences of these compounds are hereinbelow identified as preferred embodiments of the invention. The target sites to which these preferred sequences are complementary are hereinbelow referred to as xe2x80x9cactive sitesxe2x80x9d and are therefore preferred sites for targeting. Therefore another embodiment of the invention encompasses compounds which hybridize to these active sites. Antisense compounds are commonly used as research reagents and diagnostics. For example, antisense oligonucleotides, which are able to inhibit gene expression with exquisite specificity, are often used by those of ordinary skill to elucidate the function of particular genes. Antisense compounds are also used, for example, to distinguish between functions of various members of a biological pathway. Antisense modulation has, therefore, been harnessed for research use. For use in kits and diagnostics, the antisense compounds of the present invention, either alone or in combination with other antisense compounds or therapeutics, can be used as tools in differential and/or combinatorial analyses to elucidate expression patterns of a portion or the entire complement of genes expressed within cells and tissues. Expression patterns within cells or tissues treated with one or more antisense compounds are compared to control cells or tissues not treated with antisense compounds and the patterns produced are analyzed for differential levels of gene expression as they pertain, for example, to disease association, signaling pathway, cellular localization, expression level, size, structure or function of the genes examined. These analyses can be performed on stimulated or unstimulated cells and in the presence or absence of other compounds which affect expression patterns. Examples of methods of gene expression analysis known in the art include DNA arrays or microarrays (Brazma and Vilo, FEBS Lett., 2000, 480, 17-24; Celis, et al., FEBS Lett., 2000, 480, 2-16), SAGE (serial analysis of gene expression)(Madden, et al., Drug Discov. Today, 2000, 5, 415-425), READS (restriction enzyme amplification of digested cDNAs) (Prashar and Weissman, Methods Enzymol., 1999, 303, 258-72), TOGA (total gene expression analysis) (Sutcliffe, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2000, 97, 1976-81), protein arrays and proteomics (Celis, et al., FEBS Lett., 2000, 480, 2-16; Jungblut, et al., Electrophoresis, 1999, 20, 2100-10), expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing (Celis, et al., FEBS Lett., 2000, 480, 2-16; Larsson, et al., J. Biotechnol., 2000, 80, 143-57), subtractive RNA fingerprinting (SuRF) (Fuchs, et al., Anal. Biochem., 2000, 286, 91-98; Larson, et al., Cytometry, 2000, 41, 203-208), subtractive cloning, differential display (DD) (Jurecic and Belmont, Curr. Opin. Microbiol., 2000, 3, 316-21), comparative genomic hybridization (Carulli, et al., J. Cell Biochem. Suppl., 1998, 31, 286-96), FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization) techniques (Going and Gusterson, Eur. J. Cancer, 1999, 35, 1895-904) and mass spectrometry methods (reviewed in (To, Comb. Chem. High Throughput Screen, 2000, 3, 235-41). The specificity and sensitivity of antisense is also harnessed by those of skill in the art for therapeutic uses. Antisense oligonucleotides have been employed as therapeutic moieties in the treatment of disease states in animals and man. Antisense oligonucleotide drugs, including ribozymes, have been safely and effectively administered to humans and numerous clinical trials are presently underway. It is thus established that oligonucleotides can be useful therapeutic modalities that can be configured to be useful in treatment regimes for treatment of cells, tissues and animals, especially humans. In the context of this invention, the term xe2x80x9coligonucleotidexe2x80x9d refers to an oligomer or polymer of ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or mimetics thereof. This term includes oligonucleotides composed of naturally-occurring nucleobases, sugars and covalent internucleoside (backbone) linkages as well as oligonucleotides having non-naturally-occurring portions which function similarly. Such modified or substituted oligonucleotides are often preferred over native forms because of desirable properties such as, for example, enhanced cellular uptake, enhanced affinity for nucleic acid target and increased stability in the presence of nucleases. While antisense oligonucleotides are a preferred form of antisense compound, the present invention comprehends other oligomeric antisense compounds, including but not limited to oligonucleotide mimetics such as are described below. The antisense compounds in accordance with this invention preferably comprise from about 8 to about 50 nucleobases (i.e. from about 8 to about 50 linked nucleosides). Particularly preferred antisense compounds are antisense oligonucleotides, even more preferably those comprising from about 12 to about 30 nucleobases. Antisense compounds include ribozymes, external guide sequence (EGS) oligonucleotides (oligozymes), and other short catalytic RNAs or catalytic oligonucleotides which hybridize to the target nucleic acid and modulate its expression. As is known in the art, a nucleoside is a base-sugar combination. The base portion of the nucleoside is normally a heterocyclic base. The two most common classes of such heterocyclic bases are the purines and the pyrimidines. Nucleotides are nucleosides that further include a phosphate group covalently linked to the sugar portion of the nucleoside. For those nucleosides that include a pentofuranosyl sugar, the phosphate group can be linked to either the 2xe2x80x2, 3xe2x80x2 or 5xe2x80x2 hydroxyl moiety of the sugar. In forming oligonucleotides, the phosphate groups covalently link adjacent nucleosides to one another to form a linear polymeric compound. In turn the respective ends of this linear polymeric structure can be further joined to form a circular structure, however, open linear structures are generally preferred. Within the oligonucleotide structure, the phosphate groups are commonly referred to as forming the internucleoside backbone of the oligonucleotide. The normal linkage or backbone of RNA and DNA is a 3xe2x80x2 to 5xe2x80x2 phosphodiester linkage. Specific examples of preferred antisense compounds useful in this invention include oligonucleotides containing modified backbones or non-natural internucleoside linkages. As defined in this specification, oligonucleotides having modified backbones include those that retain a phosphorus atom in the backbone and those that do not have a phosphorus atom in the backbone. For the purposes of this specification, and as sometimes referenced in the art, modified oligonucleotides that do not have a phosphorus atom in their internucleoside backbone can also be considered to be oligonucleosides. Preferred modified oligonucleotide backbones include, for example, phosphorothioates, chiral phosphorothioates, phosphorodithioates, phosphotriesters, aminoalkylphosphotri-esters, methyl and other alkyl phosphonates including 3xe2x80x2-alkylene phosphonates, 5xe2x80x2-alkylene phosphonates and chiral phosphonates, phosphinates, phosphoramidates including 3xe2x80x2-amino phosphoramidate and aminoalkylphosphoramidates, thionophosphoramidates, thionoalkylphosphonates, thionoalkylphosphotriesters, selenophosphates and borano-phosphates having normal 3xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 linkages, 2xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 linked analogs of these, and those having inverted polarity wherein one or more internucleotide linkages is a 3xe2x80x2 to 3xe2x80x2, 5xe2x80x2 to 5xe2x80x2 or 2xe2x80x2 to 2xe2x80x2 linkage. Preferred oligonucleotides having inverted polarity comprise a single 3xe2x80x2 to 3xe2x80x2 linkage at the 3xe2x80x2-most internucleotide linkage i.e. a single inverted nucleoside residue which may be abasic (the nucleobase is missing or has a hydroxyl group in place thereof). Various salts, mixed salts and free acid forms are also included. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of the above phosphorus-containing linkages include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,687,808; 4,469,863; 4,476,301; 5,023,243; 5,177,196; 5,188,897; 5,264,423; 5,276,019; 5,278,302; 5,286,717; 5,321,131; 5,399,676; 5,405,939; 5,453,496; 5,455,233; 5,466,677; 5,476,925; 5,519,126; 5,536,821; 5,541,306; 5,550,111; 5,563,253; 5,571,799; 5,587,361; 5,194,599; 5,565,555; 5,527,899; 5,721,218; 5,672,697 and 5,625,050, certain of which are commonly owned with this application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference. Preferred modified oligonucleotide backbones that do not include a phosphorus atom therein have backbones that are formed by short chain alkyl or cycloalkyl internucleoside linkages, mixed heteroatom and alkyl or cycloalkyl internucleoside linkages, or one or more short chain heteroatomic or heterocyclic internucleoside linkages. These include those having morpholino linkages (formed in part from the sugar portion of a nucleoside); siloxane backbones; sulfide, sulfoxide and sulfone backbones; formacetyl and thioformacetyl backbones; methylene formacetyl and thioformacetyl backbones; riboacetyl backbones; alkene containing backbones; sulfamate backbones; methyleneimino and methylenehydrazino backbones; sulfonate and sulfonamide backbones; amide backbones; and others having mixed N, O, S and CH2 component parts. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of the above oligonucleosides include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,034,506; 5,166,315; 5,185,444; 5,214,134; 5,216,141; 5,235,033; 5,264,562; 5,264,564; 5,405,938; 5,434,257; 5,466,677; 5,470,967; 5,489,677; 5,541,307; 5,561,225; 5,596,086; 5,602,240; 5,610,289; 5,602,240; 5,608,046; 5,610,289; 5,618,704; 5,623,070; 5,663,312; 5,633,360; 5,677,437; 5,792,608; 5,646,269 and 5,677,439, certain of which are commonly owned with this application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference. In other preferred oligonucleotide mimetics, both the sugar and the internucleoside linkage, i.e., the backbone, of the nucleotide units are replaced with novel groups. The base units are maintained for hybridization with an appropriate nucleic acid target compound. One such oligomeric compound, an oligonucleotide mimetic that has been shown to have excellent hybridization properties, is referred to as a peptide nucleic acid (PNA). In PNA compounds, the sugar-backbone of an oligonucleotide is replaced with an amide containing backbone, in particular an aminoethylglycine backbone. The nucleobases are retained and are bound directly or indirectly to aza nitrogen atoms of the amide portion of the backbone. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of PNA compounds include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,539,082; 5,714,331; and 5,719,262, each of which is herein incorporated by reference. Further teaching of PNA compounds can be found in Nielsen et al., Science, 1991, 254, 1497-1500. Most preferred embodiments of the invention are oligonucleotides with phosphorothioate backbones and oligonucleosides with heteroatom backbones, and in particular xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94NHxe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94, xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94N(CH3)xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 [known as a methylene (methylimino) or MMI backbone], xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94N(CH3)xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94, xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94N(CH3)xe2x80x94N(CH3)xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 and xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94N(CH3)xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 [wherein the native phosphodiester backbone is represented as xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94Pxe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94] of the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,677, and the amide backbones of the above referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,240. Also preferred are oligonucleotides having morpholino backbone structures of the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,506. Modified oligonucleotides may also contain one or more substituted sugar moieties. Preferred oligonucleotides comprise one of the following at the 2xe2x80x2 position: OH; F; Oxe2x80x94, Sxe2x80x94, or N-alkyl; Oxe2x80x94, Sxe2x80x94, or N-alkenyl; Oxe2x80x94, Sxe2x80x94 or N-alkynyl; or O-alkyl-O-alkyl, wherein the alkyl, alkenyl and alkynyl may be substituted or unsubstituted C1 to C10 alkyl or C2 to C10 alkenyl and alkynyl. Particularly preferred are O[(CH2)nO]mCH3, O(CH2)nOCH3, O(CH2)nNH2, O(CH2)nCH3, O(CH2)nONH2, and O(CH2)nON[(CH2)nCH3)]2, where n and m are from 1 to about 10. Other preferred oligonucleotides comprise one of the following at the 2xe2x80x2 position: C1 to C10 lower alkyl, substituted lower alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, alkaryl, aralkyl, O-alkaryl or O-aralkyl, SH, SCH3, OCN, Cl, Br, CN, CF3, OCF3, SOCH3, SO2CH3, ONO2, NO2, N3, NH2, heterocycloalkyl, heterocycloalkaryl, aminoalkylamino, polyalkylamino, substituted silyl, an RNA cleaving group, a reporter group, an intercalator, a group for improving the pharmacokinetic properties of an oligonucleotide, or a group for improving the pharmacodynamic properties of an oligonucleotide, and other substituents having similar properties. A preferred modification includes 2xe2x80x2-methoxyethoxy (2xe2x80x2-Oxe2x80x94CH2CH2OCH3, also known as 2xe2x80x2-O-(2-methoxyethyl) or 2xe2x80x2-MOE) (Martin et al., Helv. Chim. Acta, 1995, 78, 486-504) i.e., an alkoxyalkoxy group. A further preferred modification includes 2xe2x80x2-dimethylaminooxyethoxy, i.e., a O(CH2)2ON(CH3)2 group, also known as 2xe2x80x2-DMAOE, as described in examples hereinbelow, and 2xe2x80x2-dimethylaminoethoxyethoxy (also known in the art as 2xe2x80x2-O-dimethylaminoethoxyethyl or 2xe2x80x2-DMAEOE), i.e., 2xe2x80x2-Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94N(CH2)2, also described in examples hereinbelow. A further prefered modification includes Locked Nucleic Acids (LNAs) in which the 2xe2x80x2-hydroxyl group is linked to the 3xe2x80x2 or 4xe2x80x2 carbon atom of the sugar ring thereby forming a bicyclic sugar moiety. The linkage is preferably a methelyne (xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94)n group bridging the 2xe2x80x2 oxygen atom and the 4xe2x80x2 carbon atom wherein n is 1 or 2. LNAs and preparation thereof are described in WO 98/39352 and WO 99/14226. Other preferred modifications include 2xe2x80x2-methoxy (2xe2x80x2-Oxe2x80x94CH3), 2xe2x80x2-aminopropoxy (2xe2x80x2-OCH2CH2CH2NH2), 2xe2x80x2-allyl (2xe2x80x2-CH2xe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CH2), 2xe2x80x2-O-allyl (2xe2x80x2-Oxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94CHxe2x95x90CH2) and 2xe2x80x2-fluoro (2xe2x80x2-F). The 2xe2x80x2-modification may be in the arabino (up) position or ribo (down) position. A preferred 2xe2x80x2-arabino modification is 2xe2x80x2-F. Similar modifications may also be made at other positions on the oligonucleotide, particularly the 3xe2x80x2 position of the sugar on the 3xe2x80x2 terminal nucleotide or in 2xe2x80x2-5xe2x80x2 linked oligonucleotides and the 5xe2x80x2 position of 5xe2x80x2 terminal nucleotide. Oligonucleotides may also have sugar mimetics such as cyclobutyl moieties in place of the pentofuranosyl sugar. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such modified sugar structures include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,981,957; 5,118,800; 5,319,080; 5,359,044; 5,393,878; 5,446,137; 5,466,786; 5,514,785; 5,519,134; 5,567,811; 5,576,427; 5,591,722; 5,597,909; 5,610,300; 5,627,053; 5,639,873; 5,646,265; 5,658,873; 5,670,633; 5,792,747; and 5,700,920, certain of which are commonly owned with the instant application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Oligonucleotides may also include nucleobase (often referred to in the art simply as xe2x80x9cbasexe2x80x9d) modifications or substitutions. As used herein, xe2x80x9cunmodifiedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cnaturalxe2x80x9d nucleobases include the purine bases adenine (A) and guanine (G), and the pyrimidine bases thymine (T), cytosine (C) and uracil (U). Modified nucleobases include other synthetic and natural nucleobases such as 5-methylcytosine (5-me-C), 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine, xanthine, hypoxanthine, 2-aminoadenine, 6-methyl and other alkyl derivatives of adenine and guanine, 2-propyl and other alkyl derivatives of adenine and guanine, 2-thiouracil, 2-thiothymine and 2-thiocytosine, 5-halouracil and cytosine, 5-propynyl (xe2x80x94Cxe2x89xa1Cxe2x80x94CH3) uracil and cytosine and other alkynyl derivatives of pyrimidine bases, 6-azo uracil, cytosine and thymine, 5-uracil (pseudouracil), 4-thiouracil, 8-halo, 8-amino, 8-thiol, 8-thioalkyl, 8-hydroxyl and other 8-substituted adenines and guanines, 5-halo particularly 5-bromo, 5-trifluoromethyl and other 5-substituted uracils and cytosines, 7-methylguanine and 7-methyladenine, 2-F-adenine, 2-amino-adenine, 8-azaguanine and 8-azaadenine, 7-deazaguanine and 7-deazaadenine and 3-deazaguanine and 3-deazaadenine. Further modified nucleobases include tricyclic pyrimidines such as phenoxazine cytidine(1H-pyrimido[5,4-b][1,4]benzoxazin-2(3H)-one), phenothiazine cytidine (1H-pyrimido[5,4-b][1,4]benzothiazin-2(3H)-one), G-clamps such as a substituted phenoxazine cytidine (e.g. 9-(2-aminoethoxy)-H-pyrimido[5,4-b][1,4]benzoxazin-2(3H)-one), carbazole cytidine (2H-pyrimido[4,5-b]indol-2-one), pyridoindole cytidine (H-pyrido[3xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x2:4,5]pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-2-one). Modified nucleobases may also include those in which the purine or pyrimidine base is replaced with other heterocycles, for example 7-deaza-adenine, 7-deazaguanosine, 2-aminopyridine and 2-pyridone. Further nucleobases include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,808, those disclosed in The Concise Encyclopedia Of Polymer Science And Engineering, pages 858-859, Kroschwitz, J. I., ed. John Wiley and Sons, 1990, those disclosed by Englisch et al., Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 1991, 30, 613, and those disclosed by Sanghvi, Y. S., Chapter 15, Antisense Research and Applications, pages 289-302, Crooke, S. T. and Lebleu, B., ed., CRC Press, 1993. Certain of these nucleobases are particularly useful for increasing the binding affinity of the oligomeric compounds of the invention. These include 5-substituted pyrimidines, 6-azapyrimidines and N-2, N-6 and O-6 substituted purines, including 2-aminopropyladenine, 5-propynyluracil and 5-propynylcytosine. 5-methylcytosine substitutions have been shown to increase nucleic acid duplex stability by 0.6-1.2xc2x0 C. (Sanghvi, Y. S., Crooke, S. T. and Lebleu, B., eds., Antisense Research and Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1993, pp. 276-278) and are presently preferred base substitutions, even more particularly when combined with 2xe2x80x2-O-methoxyethyl sugar modifications. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of certain of the above noted modified nucleobases as well as other modified nucleobases include, but are not limited to, the above noted U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,808, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,845,205; 5,130,302; 5,134,066; 5,175,273; 5,367,066; 5,432,272; 5,457,187; 5,459,255; 5,484,908; 5,502,177; 5,525,711; 5,552,540; 5,587,469; 5,594,121, 5,596,091; 5,614,617; 5,645,985; 5,830,653; 5,763,588; 6,005,096; and 5,681,941, certain of which are commonly owned with the instant application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,692, which is commonly owned with the instant application and also herein incorporated by reference. Another modification of the oligonucleotides of the invention involves chemically linking to the oligonucleotide one or more moieties or conjugates which enhance the activity, cellular distribution or cellular uptake of the oligonucleotide. The compounds of the invention can include conjugate groups covalently bound to functional groups such as primary or secondary hydroxyl groups. Conjugate groups of the invention include intercalators, reporter molecules, polyamines, polyamides, polyethylene glycols, polyethers, groups that enhance the pharmacodynamic properties of oligomers, and groups that enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of oligomers. Typical conjugates groups include cholesterols, lipids, phospholipids, biotin, phenazine, folate, phenanthridine, anthraquinone, acridine, fluoresceins, rhodamines, coumarins, and dyes. Groups that enhance the pharmacodynamic properties, in the context of this invention, include groups that improve oligomer uptake, enhance oligomer resistance to degradation, and/or strengthen sequence-specific hybridization with RNA. Groups that enhance the pharmacokinetic properties, in the context of this invention, include groups that improve oligomer uptake, distribution, metabolism or excretion. Representative conjugate groups are disclosed in International Patent Application PCT/US92/09196, filed Oct. 23, 1992 the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Conjugate moieties include but are not limited to lipid moieties such as a cholesterol moiety (Letsinger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1989, 86, 6553-6556), cholic acid (Manoharan et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Let., 1994, 4, 1053-1060), a thioether, e.g., hexyl-S-tritylthiol (Manoharan et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1992, 660, 306-309; Manoharan et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Let., 1993, 3, 2765-2770), a thiocholesterol (Oberhauser et al., Nucl. Acids Res., 1992, 20, 533-538), an aliphatic chain, e.g., dodecandiol or undecyl residues (Saison-Behmoaras et al., EMBO J., 1991, 10, 1111-1118; Kabanov et al., FEBS Lett., 1990, 259, 327-330; Svinarchuk et al., Biochimie, 1993, 75, 49-54), a phospholipid, e.g., di-hexadecyl-rac-glycerol or triethyl-ammonium 1,2-di-O-hexadecyl-rac-glycero-3-H-phosphonate (Manoharan et al., Tetrahedron Lett., 1995, 36, 3651-3654; Shea et al., Nucl. Acids Res., 1990, 18, 3777-3783), a polyamine or a polyethylene glycol chain (Manoharan et al., Nucleosides and Nucleotides, 1995, 14, 969-973), or adamantane acetic acid (Manoharan et al., Tetrahedron Lett., 1995, 36, 3651-3654), a palmityl moiety (Mishra et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1995, 1264, 229-237), or an octadecylamine or hexylamino-carbonyl-oxycholesterol moiety (Crooke et al., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 1996, 277, 923-937. Oligonucleotides of the invention may also be conjugated to active drug substances, for example, aspirin, warfarin, phenylbutazone, ibuprofen, suprofen, fenbufen, ketoprofen, (S)-(+)-pranoprofen, carprofen, dansylsarcosine, 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid, flufenamic acid, folinic acid, a benzothiadiazide, chlorothiazide, a diazepine, indomethicin, a barbiturate, a cephalosporin, a sulfa drug, an antidiabetic, an antibacterial or an antibiotic. Oligonucleotide-drug conjugates and their preparation are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/334,130 (filed Jun. 15, 1999) which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such oligonucleotide conjugates include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,828,979; 4,948,882; 5,218,105; 5,525,465; 5,541,313; 5,545,730; 5,552,538; 5,578,717, 5,580,731; 5,580,731; 5,591,584; 5,109,124; 5,118,802; 5,138,045; 5,414,077; 5,486,603; 5,512,439; 5,578,718; 5,608,046; 4,587,044; 4,605,735; 4,667,025; 4,762,779; 4,789,737; 4,824,941; 4,835,263; 4,876,335; 4,904,582; 4,958,013; 5,082,830; 5,112,963; 5,214,136; 5,082,830; 5,112,963; 5,214,136; 5,245,022; 5,254,469; 5,258,506; 5,262,536; 5,272,250; 5,292,873; 5,317,098; 5,371,241, 5,391,723; 5,416,203, 5,451,463; 5,510,475; 5,512,667; 5,514,785; 5,565,552; 5,567,810; 5,574,142; 5,585,481; 5,587,371; 5,595,726; 5,597,696; 5,599,923; 5,599,928 and 5,688,941, certain of which are commonly owned with the instant application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference. It is not necessary for all positions in a given compound to be uniformly modified, and in fact more than one of the aforementioned modifications may be incorporated in a single compound or even at a single nucleoside within an oligonucleotide. The present invention also includes antisense compounds which are chimeric compounds. xe2x80x9cChimericxe2x80x9d antisense compounds or xe2x80x9cchimeras,xe2x80x9d in the context of this invention, are antisense compounds, particularly oligonucleotides, which contain two or more chemically distinct regions, each made up of at least one monomer unit, i.e., a nucleotide in the case of an oligonucleotide compound. These oligonucleotides typically contain at least one region wherein the oligonucleotide is modified so as to confer upon the oligonucleotide increased resistance to nuclease degradation, increased cellular uptake, and/or increased binding affinity for the target nucleic acid. An additional region of the oligonucleotide may serve as a substrate for enzymes capable of cleaving RNA:DNA or RNA:RNA hybrids. By way of example, RNase H is a cellular endonuclease which cleaves the RNA strand of an RNA:DNA duplex. Activation of RNase H, therefore, results in cleavage of the RNA target, thereby greatly enhancing the efficiency of oligonucleotide inhibition of gene expression. Consequently, comparable results can often be obtained with shorter oligonucleotides when chimeric oligonucleotides are used, compared to phosphorothioate deoxyoligonucleotides hybridizing to the same target region. Cleavage of the RNA target can be routinely detected by gel electrophoresis and, if necessary, associated nucleic acid hybridization techniques known in the art. Chimeric antisense compounds of the invention may be formed as composite structures of two or more oligonucleotides, modified oligonucleotides, oligonucleosides and/or oligonucleotide mimetics as described above. Such compounds have also been referred to in the art as hybrids or gapmers. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such hybrid structures include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,013,830; 5,149,797; 5,220,007; 5,256,775; 5,366,878; 5,403,711; 5,491,133; 5,565,350; 5,623,065; 5,652,355; 5,652,356; and 5,700,922, certain of which are commonly owned with the instant application, and each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The antisense compounds used in accordance with this invention may be conveniently and routinely made through the well-known technique of solid phase synthesis. Equipment for such synthesis is sold by several vendors including, for example, Applied Biosystems (Foster City, Calif.). Any other means for such synthesis known in the art may additionally or alternatively be employed. It is well known to use similar techniques to prepare oligonucleotides such as the phosphorothioates and alkylated derivatives. The antisense compounds of the invention are synthesized in vitro and do not include antisense compositions of biological origin, or genetic vector constructs designed to direct the in vivo synthesis of antisense molecules. The compounds of the invention may also be admixed, encapsulated, conjugated or otherwise associated with other molecules, molecule structures or mixtures of compounds, as for example, liposomes, receptor targeted molecules, oral, rectal, topical or other formulations, for assisting in uptake, distribution and/or absorption. Representative United States patents that teach the preparation of such uptake, distribution and/or absorption assisting formulations include, but are not limited to, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,108,921; 5,354,844; 5,416,016; 5,459,127; 5,521,291; 5,543,158; 5,547,932; 5,583,020; 5,591,721; 4,426,330; 4,534,899; 5,013,556; 5,108,921; 5,213,804; 5,227,170; 5,264,221; 5,356,633; 5,395,619; 5,416,016; 5,417,978; 5,462,854; 5,469,854; 5,512,295; 5,527,528; 5,534,259; 5,543,152; 5,556,948; 5,580,575; and 5,595,756, each of which is herein incorporated by reference. The antisense compounds of the invention encompass any pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters, or salts of such esters, or any other compound which, upon administration to an animal including a human, is capable of providing (directly or indirectly) the biologically active metabolite or residue thereof. Accordingly, for example, the disclosure is also drawn to prodrugs and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the compounds of the invention, pharmaceutically acceptable salts of such prodrugs, and other bioequivalents. The term xe2x80x9cprodrugxe2x80x9d indicates a therapeutic agent that is prepared in an inactive form that is converted to an active form (i.e., drug) within the body or cells thereof by the action of endogenous enzymes or other chemicals and/or conditions. In particular, prodrug versions of the oligonucleotides of the invention are prepared as SATE [(S-acetyl-2-thioethyl) phosphate] derivatives according to the methods disclosed in WO 93/24510 to Gosselin et al., published Dec. 9, 1993 or in WO 94/26764 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,713 to Imbach et al. The term xe2x80x9cpharmaceutically acceptable saltsxe2x80x9d refers to physiologically and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the compounds of the invention: i.e., salts that retain the desired biological activity of the parent compound and do not impart undesired toxicological effects thereto. Pharmaceutically acceptable base addition salts are formed with metals or amines, such as alkali and alkaline earth metals or organic amines. Examples of metals used as cations are sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and the like. Examples of suitable amines are N,Nxe2x80x2-dibenzylethylenediamine, chloroprocaine, choline, diethanolamine, dicyclohexylamine, ethylenediamine, N-methylglucamine, and procaine (see, for example, Berge et al., xe2x80x9cPharmaceutical Salts,xe2x80x9d J. of Pharma Sci., 1977, 66, 1-19). The base addition salts of said acidic compounds are prepared by contacting the free acid form with a sufficient amount of the desired base to produce the salt in the conventional manner. The free acid form may be regenerated by contacting the salt form with an acid and isolating the free acid in the conventional manner. The free acid forms differ from their respective salt forms somewhat in certain physical properties such as solubility in polar solvents, but otherwise the salts are equivalent to their respective free acid for purposes of the present invention. As used herein, a xe2x80x9cpharmaceutical addition saltxe2x80x9d includes a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of an acid form of one of the components of the compositions of the invention. These include organic or inorganic acid salts of the amines. Preferred acid salts are the hydrochlorides, acetates, salicylates, nitrates and phosphates. Other suitable pharmaceutically acceptable salts are well known to those skilled in the art and include basic salts of a variety of inorganic and organic acids, such as, for example, with inorganic acids, such as for example hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, sulfuric acid or phosphoric acid; with organic carboxylic, sulfonic, sulfo or phospho acids or N-substituted sulfamic acids, for example acetic acid, propionic acid, glycolic acid, succinic acid, maleic acid, hydroxymaleic acid, methylmaleic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, oxalic acid, gluconic acid, glucaric acid, glucuronic acid, citric acid, benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, mandelic acid, salicylic acid, 4-aminosalicylic acid, 2-phenoxybenzoic acid, 2-acetoxybenzoic acid, embonic acid, nicotinic acid or isonicotinic acid; and with amino acids, such as the 20 alpha-amino acids involved in the synthesis of proteins in nature, for example glutamic acid or aspartic acid, and also with phenylacetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, ethanesulfonic acid, 2-hydroxyethanesulfonic acid, ethane-1,2-disulfonic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, 4-methylbenzenesulfonic acid, naphthalene-2-sulfonic acid, naphthalene-1,5-disulfonic acid, 2- or 3-phosphoglycerate, glucose-6-phosphate, N-cyclohexylsulfamic acid (with the formation of cyclamates), or with other acid organic compounds, such as ascorbic acid. Pharmaceutically acceptable salts of compounds may also be prepared with a pharmaceutically acceptable cation. Suitable pharmaceutically acceptable cations are well known to those skilled in the art and include alkaline, alkaline earth, ammonium and quaternary ammonium cations. Carbonates or hydrogen carbonates are also possible. For oligonucleotides, preferred examples of pharmaceutically acceptable salts include but are not limited to (a) salts formed with cations such as sodium, potassium, ammonium, magnesium, calcium, polyamines such as spermine and spermidine, etc.; (b) acid addition salts formed with inorganic acids, for example hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, nitric acid and the like; (c) salts formed with organic acids such as, for example, acetic acid, oxalic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, gluconic acid, citric acid, malic acid, ascorbic acid, benzoic acid, tannic acid, palmitic acid, alginic acid, polyglutamic acid, naphthalenesulfonic acid, methanesulfonic acid, p-toluenesulfonic acid, naphthalenedisulfonic acid, polygalacturonic acid, and the like; and (d) salts formed from elemental anions such as chlorine, bromine, and iodine. The antisense compounds of the present invention can be utilized for diagnostics, therapeutics, prophylaxis and as research reagents and kits. For therapeutics, an animal, preferably a human, suspected of having a disease or disorder which can be treated by modulating the expression of RECQL4 is treated by administering antisense compounds in accordance with this invention. The compounds of the invention can be utilized in pharmaceutical compositions by adding an effective amount of an antisense compound to a suitable pharmaceutically acceptable diluent or carrier. Use of the antisense compounds and methods of the invention may also be useful prophylactically, e.g., to prevent or delay infection, inflammation or tumor formation, for example. The antisense compounds of the invention are useful for research and diagnostics, because these compounds hybridize to nucleic acids encoding RECQL4, enabling sandwich and other assays to easily be constructed to exploit this fact. Hybridization of the antisense oligonucleotides of the invention with a nucleic acid encoding RECQL4 can be detected by means known in the art. Such means may include conjugation of an enzyme to the oligonucleotide, radiolabelling of the oligonucleotide or any other suitable detection means. Kits using such detection means for detecting the level of RECQL4 in a sample may also be prepared. The present invention also includes pharmaceutical compositions and formulations which include the antisense compounds of the invention. The pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention may be administered in a number of ways depending upon whether local or systemic treatment is desired and upon the area to be treated. Administration may be topical (including ophthalmic and to mucous membranes including vaginal and rectal delivery), pulmonary, e.g., by inhalation or insufflation of powders or aerosols, including by nebulizer; intratracheal, intranasal, epidermal and transdermal), oral or parenteral. Parenteral administration includes intravenous, intraarterial, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal or intramuscular injection or infusion; or intracranial, e.g., intrathecal or intraventricular, administration. Oligonucleotides with at least one 2xe2x80x2-O-methoxyethyl modification are believed to be particularly useful for oral administration. Pharmaceutical compositions and formulations for topical administration may include transdermal patches, ointments, lotions, creams, gels, drops, suppositories, sprays, liquids and powders. Conventional pharmaceutical carriers, aqueous, powder or oily bases, thickeners and the like may be necessary or desirable. Coated condoms, gloves and the like may also be useful. Preferred topical formulations include those in which the oligonucleotides of the invention are in admixture with a topical delivery agent such as lipids, liposomes, fatty acids, fatty acid esters, steroids, chelating agents and surfactants. Preferred lipids and liposomes include neutral (e.g. dioleoylphosphatidyl DOPE ethanolamine, dimyristoylphosphatidyl choline DMPC, distearolyphosphatidyl choline) negative (e.g. dimyristoylphosphatidyl glycerol DMPG) and cationic (e.g. dioleoyltetramethylaminopropyl DOTAP and dioleoylphosphatidyl ethanolamine DOTMA). Oligonucleotides of the invention may be encapsulated within liposomes or may form complexes thereto, in particular to cationic liposomes. Alternatively, oligonucleotides may be complexed to lipids, in particular to cationic lipids. Preferred fatty acids and esters include but are not limited arachidonic acid, oleic acid, eicosanoic acid, lauric acid, caprylic acid, capric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, dicaprate, tricaprate, monoolein, dilaurin, glyceryl 1-monocaprate, 1-dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one, an acylcarnitine, an acylcholine, or a C1-10 alkyl ester (e.g. isopropylmyristate IPM), monoglyceride, diglyceride or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. Topical formulations are described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/315,298 filed on May 20, 1999 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Compositions and formulations for oral administration include powders or granules, microparticulates, nanoparticulates, suspensions or solutions in water or non-aqueous media, capsules, gel capsules, sachets, tablets or minitablets. Thickeners, flavoring agents, diluents, emulsifiers, dispersing aids or binders may be desirable. Preferred oral formulations are those in which oligonucleotides of the invention are administered in conjunction with one or more penetration enhancers surfactants and chelators. Preferred surfactants include fatty acids and/or esters or salts thereof, bile acids and/or salts thereof. Prefered bile acids/salts include chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and ursodeoxychenodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), cholic acid, dehydrocholic acid, deoxycholic acid, glucholic acid, glycholic acid, glycodeoxycholic acid, taurocholic acid, taurodeoxycholic acid, sodium tauro-24,25-dihydro-fusidate, sodium glycodihydrofusidate,. Prefered fatty acids include arachidonic acid, undecanoic acid, oleic acid, lauric acid, caprylic acid, capric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, dicaprate, tricaprate, monoolein, dilaurin, glyceryl 1-monocaprate, 1-dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one, an acylcarnitine, an acylcholine, or a monoglyceride, a diglyceride or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof (e.g. sodium). Also prefered are combinations of penetration enhancers, for example, fatty acids/salts in combination with bile acids/salts. A particularly prefered combination is the sodium salt of lauric acid, capric acid and UDCA. Further penetration enhancers include polyoxyethylene-9-lauryl ether, polyoxyethylene-20-cetyl ether. Oligonucleotides of the invention may be delivered orally in granular form including sprayed dried particles, or complexed to form micro or nanoparticles. Oligonucleotide complexing agents include poly-amino acids; polyimines; polyacrylates; polyalkylacrylates, polyoxethanes, polyalkylcyanoacrylates; cationized gelatins, albumins, starches, acrylates, polyethyleneglycols (PEG) and starches; polyalkylcyanoacrylates; DEAE-derivatized polyimines, pollulans, celluloses and starches. Particularly preferred complexing agents include chitosan, N-trimethylchitosan, poly-L-lysine, polyhistidine, polyornithine, polyspermines, protamine, polyvinylpyridine, polythiodiethylamino methylethylene P(TDAE), polyaminostyrene (e.g. p-amino), poly(methylcyanoacrylate), poly(ethylcyanoacrylate), poly(butylcyanoacrylate), poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate), poly(isohexylcynaoacrylate), DEAE-methacrylate, DEAE-hexylacrylate, DEAE-acrylamide, DEAE-albumin and DEAE-dextran, polymethylacrylate, polyhexylacrylate, poly(D,L-lactic acid), poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), alginate, and polyethyleneglycol (PEG). Oral formulations for oligonucleotides and their preparation are described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/886,829 (filed Jul. 1, 1997), Ser. No. 09/108,673 (filed Jul. 1, 1998), Ser. No. 09/256,515 (filed Feb. 23, 1999), Ser. No. 09/082,624 (filed May 21, 1998) and Ser. No. 09/315,298 (filed May 20, 1999) each of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Compositions and formulations for parenteral, intrathecal or intraventricular administration may include sterile aqueous solutions which may also contain buffers, diluents and other suitable additives such as, but not limited to, penetration enhancers, carrier compounds and other pharmaceutically acceptable carriers or excipients. Pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention include, but are not limited to, solutions, emulsions, and liposome-containing formulations. These compositions may be generated from a variety of components that include, but are not limited to, preformed liquids, self-emulsifying solids and self-emulsifying semisolids. The pharmaceutical formulations of the present invention, which may conveniently be presented in unit dosage form, may be prepared according to conventional techniques well known in the pharmaceutical industry. Such techniques include the step of bringing into association the active ingredients with the pharmaceutical carrier(s) or excipient(s). In general the formulations are prepared by uniformly and intimately bringing into association the active ingredients with liquid carriers or finely divided solid carriers or both, and then, if necessary, shaping the product. The compositions of the present invention may be formulated into any of many possible dosage forms such as, but not limited to, tablets, capsules, gel capsules, liquid syrups, soft gels, suppositories, and enemas. The compositions of the present invention may also be formulated as suspensions in aqueous, non-aqueous or mixed media. Aqueous suspensions may further contain substances which increase the viscosity of the suspension including, for example, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, sorbitol and/or dextran. The suspension may also contain stabilizers. In one embodiment of the present invention the pharmaceutical compositions may be formulated and used as foams. Pharmaceutical foams include formulations such as, but not limited to, emulsions, microemulsions, creams, jellies and liposomes. While basically similar in nature these formulations vary in the components and the consistency of the final product. The preparation of such compositions and formulations is generally known to those skilled in the pharmaceutical and formulation arts and may be applied to the formulation of the compositions of the present invention. The compositions of the present invention may be prepared and formulated as emulsions. Emulsions are typically heterogenous systems of one liquid dispersed in another in the form of droplets usually exceeding 0.1 xcexcm in diameter. (Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 199; Rosoff, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., Volume 1, p. 245; Block in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 2, p. 335; Higuchi et al., in Remington""s Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1985, p. 301). Emulsions are often biphasic systems comprising of two immiscible liquid phases intimately mixed and dispersed with each other. In general, emulsions may be either water-in-oil (w/o) or of the oil-in-water (o/w) variety. When an aqueous phase is finely divided into and dispersed as minute droplets into a bulk oily phase the resulting composition is called a water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion. Alternatively, when an oily phase is finely divided into and dispersed as minute droplets into a bulk aqueous phase the resulting composition is called an oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion. Emulsions may contain additional components in addition to the dispersed phases and the active drug which may be present as a solution in either the aqueous phase, oily phase or itself as a separate phase. Pharmaceutical excipients such as emulsifiers, stabilizers, dyes, and anti-oxidants may also be present in emulsions as needed. Pharmaceutical emulsions may also be multiple emulsions that are comprised of more than two phases such as, for example, in the case of oil-in-water-in-oil (o/w/o) and water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) emulsions. Such complex formulations often provide certain advantages that simple binary emulsions do not. Multiple emulsions in which individual oil droplets of an o/w emulsion enclose small water droplets constitute a w/o/w emulsion. Likewise a system of oil droplets enclosed in globules of water stabilized in an oily continuous provides an o/w/o emulsion. Emulsions are characterized by little or no thermodynamic stability. Often, the dispersed or discontinuous phase of the emulsion is well dispersed into the external or continuous phase and maintained in this form through the means of emulsifiers or the viscosity of the formulation. Either of the phases of the emulsion may be a semisolid or a solid, as is the case of emulsion-style ointment bases and creams. Other means of stabilizing emulsions entail the use of emulsifiers that may be incorporated into either phase of the emulsion. Emulsifiers may broadly be classified into four categories: synthetic surfactants, naturally occurring emulsifiers, absorption bases, and finely dispersed solids (Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 199). Synthetic surfactants, also known as surface active agents, have found wide applicability in the formulation of emulsions and have been reviewed in the literature (Rieger, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 285; Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1988, volume 1, p. 199). Surfactants are typically amphiphilic and comprise a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic portion. The ratio of the hydrophilic to the hydrophobic nature of the surfactant has been termed the hydrophile/lipophile balance (HLB) and is a valuable tool in categorizing and selecting surfactants in the preparation of formulations. Surfactants may be classified into different classes based on the nature of the hydrophilic group: nonionic, anionic, cationic and amphoteric (Rieger, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 285). Naturally occurring emulsifiers used in emulsion formulations include lanolin, beeswax, phosphatides, lecithin and acacia. Absorption bases possess hydrophilic properties such that they can soak up water to form w/o emulsions yet retain their semisolid consistencies, such as anhydrous lanolin and hydrophilic petrolatum. Finely divided solids have also been used as good emulsifiers especially in combination with surfactants and in viscous preparations. These include polar inorganic solids, such as heavy metal hydroxides, nonswelling clays such as bentonite, attapulgite, hectorite, kaolin, montmorillonite, colloidal aluminum silicate and colloidal magnesium aluminum silicate, pigments and nonpolar solids such as carbon or glyceryl tristearate. A large variety of non-emulsifying materials are also included in emulsion formulations and contribute to the properties of emulsions. These include fats, oils, waxes, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty esters, humectants, hydrophilic colloids, preservatives and antioxidants (Block, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 335; Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 199). Hydrophilic colloids or hydrocolloids include naturally occurring gums and synthetic polymers such as polysaccharides (for example, acacia, agar, alginic acid, carrageenan, guar gum, karaya gum, and tragacanth), cellulose derivatives (for example, carboxymethylcellulose and carboxypropylcellulose), and synthetic polymers (for example, carbomers, cellulose ethers, and carboxyvinyl polymers). These disperse or swell in water to form colloidal solutions that stabilize emulsions by forming strong interfacial films around the dispersed-phase droplets and by increasing the viscosity of the external phase. Since emulsions often contain a number of ingredients such as carbohydrates, proteins, sterols and phosphatides that may readily support the growth of microbes, these formulations often incorporate preservatives. Commonly used preservatives included in emulsion formulations include methyl paraben, propyl paraben, quaternary ammonium salts, benzalkonium chloride, esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and boric acid. Antioxidants are also commonly added to emulsion formulations to prevent deterioration of the formulation. Antioxidants used may be free radical scavengers such as tocopherols, alkyl gallates, butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, or reducing agents such as ascorbic acid and sodium metabisulfite, and antioxidant synergists such as citric acid, tartaric acid, and lecithin. The application of emulsion formulations via dermatological, oral and parenteral routes and methods for their manufacture have been reviewed in the literature (Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 199). Emulsion formulations for oral delivery have been very widely used because of reasons of ease of formulation, efficacy from an absorption and bioavailability standpoint. (Rosoff, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 245; Idson, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 199). Mineral-oil base laxatives, oil-soluble vitamins and high fat nutritive preparations are among the materials that have commonly been administered orally as o/w emulsions. In one embodiment of the present invention, the compositions of oligonucleotides and nucleic acids are formulated as microemulsions. A microemulsion may be defined as a system of water, oil and amphiphile which is a single optically isotropic and thermodynamically stable liquid solution (Rosoff, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 245). Typically microemulsions are systems that are prepared by first dispersing an oil in an aqueous surfactant solution and then adding a sufficient amount of a fourth component, generally an intermediate chain-length alcohol to form a transparent system. Therefore, microemulsions have also been described as thermodynamically stable, isotropically clear dispersions of two immiscible liquids that are stabilized by interfacial films of surface-active molecules (Leung and Shah, in: Controlled Release of Drugs: Polymers and Aggregate Systems, Rosoff, M., Ed., 1989, VCH Publishers, New York, pages 185-215). Microemulsions commonly are prepared via a combination of three to five components that include oil, water, surfactant, cosurfactant and electrolyte. Whether the microemulsion is of the water-in-oil (w/o) or an oil-in-water (o/w) type is dependent on the properties of the oil and surfactant used and on the structure and geometric packing of the polar heads and hydrocarbon tails of the surfactant molecules (Schott, in Remington""s Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1985, p. 271). The phenomenological approach utilizing phase diagrams has been extensively studied and has yielded a comprehensive knowledge, to one skilled in the art, of how to formulate microemulsions (Rosoff, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 245; Block, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 335). Compared to conventional emulsions, microemulsions offer the advantage of solubilizing water-insoluble drugs in a formulation of thermodynamically stable droplets that are formed spontaneously. Surfactants used in the preparation of microemulsions include, but are not limited to, ionic surfactants, non-ionic surfactants, Brij 96, polyoxyethylene oleyl ethers, polyglycerol fatty acid esters, tetraglycerol monolaurate (ML310), tetraglycerol monooleate (MO310), hexaglycerol monooleate (PO310), hexaglycerol pentaoleate (PO500), decaglycerol monocaprate (MCA750), decaglycerol monooleate (MO750), decaglycerol sequioleate (SO750), decaglycerol decaoleate (DAO750), alone or in combination with cosurfactants. The cosurfactant, usually a short-chain alcohol such as ethanol, 1-propanol, and 1-butanol, serves to increase the interfacial fluidity by penetrating into the surfactant film and consequently creating a disordered film because of the void space generated among surfactant molecules. Microemulsions may, however, be prepared without the use of cosurfactants and alcohol-free self-emulsifying microemulsion systems are known in the art. The aqueous phase may typically be, but is not limited to, water, an aqueous solution of the drug, glycerol, PEG300, PEG400, polyglycerols, propylene glycols, and derivatives of ethylene glycol. The oil phase may include, but is not limited to, materials such as Captex 300, Captex 355, Capmul MCM, fatty acid esters, medium chain (C8-C12) mono, di, and tri-glycerides, polyoxyethylated glyceryl fatty acid esters, fatty alcohols, polyglycolized glycerides, saturated polyglycolized C8-C10 glycerides, vegetable oils and silicone oil. Microemulsions are particularly of interest from the standpoint of drug solubilization and the enhanced absorption of drugs. Lipid based microemulsions (both o/w and w/o) have been proposed to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs, including peptides (Constantinides et al., Pharmaceutical Research, 1994, 11, 1385-1390; Ritschel, Meth. Find. Exp. Clin. Pharmacol., 1993, 13, 205). Microemulsions afford advantages of improved drug solubilization, protection of drug from enzymatic hydrolysis, possible enhancement of drug absorption due to surfactant-induced alterations in membrane fluidity and permeability, ease of preparation, ease of oral administration over solid dosage forms, improved clinical potency, and decreased toxicity (Constantinides et al., Pharmaceutical Research, 1994, 11, 1385; Ho et al., J. Pharm. Sci., 1996, 85, 138-143). Often microemulsions may form spontaneously when their components are brought together at ambient temperature. This may be particularly advantageous when formulating thermolabile drugs, peptides or oligonucleotides. Microemulsions have also been effective in the transdermal delivery of active components in both cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. It is expected that the microemulsion compositions and formulations of the present invention will facilitate the increased systemic absorption of oligonucleotides and nucleic acids from the gastrointestinal tract, as well as improve the local cellular uptake of oligonucleotides and nucleic acids within the gastrointestinal tract, vagina, buccal cavity and other areas of administration. Microemulsions of the present invention may also contain additional components and additives such as sorbitan monostearate (Grill 3), Labrasol, and penetration enhancers to improve the properties of the formulation and to enhance the absorption of the oligonucleotides and nucleic acids of the present invention. Penetration enhancers used in the microemulsions of the present invention may be classified as belonging to one of five broad categoriesxe2x80x94surfactants, fatty acids, bile salts, chelating agents, and non-chelating non-surfactants (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, p. 92). Each of these classes has been discussed above. There are many organized surfactant structures besides microemulsions that have been studied and used for the formulation of drugs. These include monolayers, micelles, bilayers and vesicles. Vesicles, such as liposomes, have attracted great interest because of their specificity and the duration of action they offer from the standpoint of drug delivery. As used in the present invention, the term xe2x80x9cliposomexe2x80x9d means a vesicle composed of amphiphilic lipids arranged in a spherical bilayer or bilayers. Liposomes are unilamellar or multilamellar vesicles which have a membrane formed from a lipophilic material and an aqueous interior. The aqueous portion contains the composition to be delivered. Cationic liposomes possess the advantage of being able to fuse to the cell wall. Non-cationic liposomes, although not able to fuse as efficiently with the cell wall, are taken up by macrophages in vivo. In order to cross intact mammalian skin, lipid vesicles must pass through a series of fine pores, each with a diameter less than 50 nm, under the influence of a suitable transdermal gradient. Therefore, it is desirable to use a liposome which is highly deformable and able to pass through such fine pores. Further advantages of liposomes include; liposomes obtained from natural phospholipids are biocompatible and biodegradable; liposomes can incorporate a wide range of water and lipid soluble drugs; liposomes can protect encapsulated drugs in their internal compartments from metabolism and degradation (Rosoff, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Lieberman, Rieger and Banker (Eds.), 1988, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., volume 1, p. 245). Important considerations in the preparation of liposome formulations are the lipid surface charge, vesicle size and the aqueous volume of the liposomes. Liposomes are useful for the transfer and delivery. of active ingredients to the site of action. Because the liposomal membrane is structurally similar to biological membranes, when liposomes are applied to a tissue, the liposomes start to merge with the cellular membranes. As the merging of the liposome and cell progresses, the liposomal contents are emptied into the cell where the active agent may act. Liposomal formulations have been the focus of extensive investigation as the mode of delivery for many drugs. There is growing evidence that for topical administration, liposomes present several advantages over other formulations. Such advantages include reduced side-effects related to high systemic absorption of the administered drug, increased accumulation of the administered drug at the desired target, and the ability to administer a wide variety of drugs, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic, into the skin. Several reports have detailed the ability of liposomes to deliver agents including high-molecular weight DNA into the skin. Compounds including analgesics, antibodies, hormones and high-molecular weight DNAs have been administered to the skin. The majority of applications resulted in the targeting of the upper epidermis. Liposomes fall into two broad classes. Cationic liposomes are positively charged liposomes which interact with the negatively charged DNA molecules to form a stable complex. The positively charged DNA/liposome complex binds to the negatively charged cell surface and is internalized in an endosome. Due to the acidic pH within the endosome, the liposomes are ruptured, releasing their contents into the cell cytoplasm (Wang et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Conmmun., 1987, 147, 980-985). Liposomes which are pH-sensitive or negatively-charged, entrap DNA rather than complex with it. Since both the DNA and the lipid are similarly charged, repulsion rather than complex formation occurs. Nevertheless, some DNA is entrapped within the aqueous interior of these liposomes. pH-sensitive liposomes have been used to deliver DNA encoding the thymidine kinase gene to cell monolayers in culture. Expression of the exogenous gene was detected in the target cells (Zhou et al., Journal of Controlled Release, 1992, 19, 269-274). One major type of liposomal composition includes phospholipids other than naturally-derived phosphatidylcholine. Neutral liposome compositions, for example, can be formed from dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) or dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC). Anionic liposome compositions generally are formed from dimyristoyl phosphatidylglycerol, while anionic fusogenic liposomes are formed primarily from dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). Another type of liposomal composition is formed from phosphatidylcholine (PC) such as, for example, soybean PC, and egg PC. Another type is formed from mixtures of phospholipid and/or phosphatidylcholine and/or cholesterol. Several studies have assessed the topical delivery of liposomal drug formulations to the skin. Application of liposomes containing interferon to guinea pig skin resulted in a reduction of skin herpes sores while delivery of interferon via other means (e.g. as a solution or as an emulsion) were ineffective (Weiner et al., Journal of Drug Targeting, 1992, 2, 405-410). Further, an additional study tested the efficacy of interferon administered as part of a liposomal formulation to the administration of interferon using an aqueous system, and concluded that the liposomal formulation was superior to aqueous administration (du Plessis et al., Antiviral Research, 1992, 18, 259-265). Non-ionic liposomal systems have also been examined to determine their utility in the delivery of drugs to the skin, in particular systems comprising non-ionic surfactant and cholesterol. Non-ionic liposomal formulations comprising Novasome(trademark) I (glyceryl dilaurate/cholesterol/polyoxyethylene-10-stearyl ether) and Novasome(trademark) II (glyceryl distearate/cholesterol/polyoxyethylene-10-stearyl ether) were used to deliver cyclosporin-A into the dermis of mouse skin. Results indicated that such non-ionic liposomal systems were effective in facilitating the deposition of cyclosporin-A into different layers of the skin (Hu et al. S.T.P.Pharma. Sci., 1994, 4, 6, 466). Liposomes also include xe2x80x9csterically stabilizedxe2x80x9d liposomes, a term which, as used herein, refers to liposomes comprising one or more specialized lipids that, when incorporated into liposomes, result in enhanced circulation lifetimes relative to liposomes lacking such specialized lipids. Examples of sterically stabilized liposomes are those in which part of the vesicle-forming lipid portion of the liposome (A) comprises one or more glycolipids, such as monosialoganglioside GM1, or (B) is derivatized with one or more hydrophilic polymers, such as a polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety. While not wishing to be bound by any particular theory, it is thought in the art that, at least for sterically stabilized liposomes containing gangliosides, sphingomyelin, or PEG-derivatized lipids, the enhanced circulation half-life of these sterically stabilized liposomes derives from a reduced uptake into cells of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) (Allen et al., FEBS Letters, 1987, 223, 42; Wu et al., Cancer Research, 1993, 53, 3765). Various liposomes comprising one or more glycolipids are known in the art. Papahadjopoulos et al. (Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1987, 507, 64) reported the ability of monosialoganglioside GM1, galactocerebroside sulfate and phosphatidylinositol to improve blood half-lives of liposomes. These findings were expounded upon by Gabizon et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 1988, 85, 6949). U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,028 and WO 88/04924, both to Allen et al., disclose liposomes comprising (1) sphingomyelin and (2) the ganglioside GM1. or a galactocerebroside sulfate ester. U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,152 (Webb et al.) discloses liposomes comprising sphingomyelin. Liposomes comprising 1,2-sn-dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine are disclosed in WO 97/13499 (Lim et al.). Many liposomes comprising lipids derivatized with one or more hydrophilic polymers, and methods of preparation thereof, are known in the art. Sunamoto et al. (Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 1980, 53, 2778) described liposomes comprising a nonionic detergent, 2C1215G, that contains a PEG moiety. Illum et al. (FEBS Lett., 1984, 167, 79) noted that hydrophilic coating of polystyrene particles with polymeric glycols results in significantly enhanced blood half-lives. Synthetic phospholipids modified by the attachment of carboxylic groups of polyalkylene glycols (e.g., PEG) are described by Sears (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,426,330 and 4,534,899). Klibanov et al. (FEBS Lett., 1990, 268, 235) described experiments demonstrating that liposomes comprising phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) derivatized with PEG or PEG stearate have significant increases in blood circulation half-lives. Blume et al. (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1990, 1029, 91) extended such observations to other PEG-derivatized phospholipids, e.g., DSPE-PEG, formed from the combination of distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DSPE) and PEG. Liposomes having covalently bound PEG moieties on their external surface are described in European Patent No. EP 0 445 131 B1 and WO 90/04384 to Fisher. Liposome compositions containing 1-20 mole percent of PE derivatized with PEG, and methods of use thereof, are described by Woodle et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,013,556 and 5,356,633) and Martin et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,804 and European Patent No. EP 0 496 813 B1). Liposomes comprising a number of other lipid-polymer conjugates are disclosed in WO 91/05545 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,212 (both to Martin et al.) and in WO 94/20073 (Zalipsky et al.) Liposomes comprising PEG-modified ceramide lipids are described in WO 96/10391 (Choi et al.). U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,540,935 (Miyazaki et al.) and 5,556,948 (Tagawa et al.) describe PEG-containing liposomes that can be further derivatized with functional moieties on their surfaces. A limited number of liposomes comprising nucleic acids are known in the art. WO 96/40062 to Thierry et al. discloses methods for encapsulating high molecular weight nucleic acids in liposomes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,221 to Tagawa et al. discloses protein-bonded liposomes and asserts that the contents of such liposomes may include an antisense RNA. U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,710 to Rahman et al. describes certain methods of encapsulating oligodeoxynucleotides in liposomes. WO 97/04787 to Love et al. discloses liposomes comprising antisense oligonucleotides targeted to the raf gene. Transfersomes are yet another type of liposomes, and are highly deformable lipid aggregates which are attractive candidates for drug delivery vehicles. Transfersomes may be described as lipid droplets which are so highly deformable that they are easily able to penetrate through pores which are smaller than the droplet. Transfersomes are adaptable to the environment in which they are used, e.g. they are self-optimizing (adaptive to the shape of pores in the skin), self-repairing, frequently reach their targets without fragmenting, and often self-loading. To make transfersomes it is possible to add surface edge-activators, usually surfactants, to a standard liposomal composition. Transfersomes have been used to deliver serum albumin to the skin. The transfersome-mediated delivery of serum albumin has been shown to be as effective as subcutaneous injection of a solution containing serum albumin. Surfactants find wide application in formulations such as emulsions (including microemulsions) and liposomes. The most common way of classifying and ranking the properties of the many different types of surfactants, both natural and synthetic, is by the use of the hydrophile/lipophile balance (HLB). The nature of the hydrophilic group (also known as the xe2x80x9cheadxe2x80x9d) provides the most useful means for categorizing the different surfactants used in formulations (Rieger, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1988, p. 285). If the surfactant molecule is not ionized, it is classified as a nonionic surfactant. Nonionic surfactants find wide application in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products and are usable over a wide range of pH values. In general their HLB values range from 2 to about 18 depending on their structure. Nonionic surfactants include nonionic esters such as ethylene glycol esters, propylene glycol esters, glyceryl esters, polyglyceryl esters, sorbitan esters, sucrose esters, and ethoxylated esters. Nonionic alkanolamides and ethers such as fatty alcohol ethoxylates, propoxylated alcohols, and ethoxylated/propoxylated block polymers are also included in this class. The polyoxyethylene surfactants are the most popular members of the nonionic surfactant class. If the surfactant molecule carries a negative charge when it is dissolved or dispersed in water, the surfactant is classified as anionic. Anionic surfactants include carboxylates such as soaps, acyl lactylates, acyl amides of amino acids, esters of sulfuric acid such as alkyl sulfates and ethoxylated alkyl sulfates, sulfonates such as alkyl benzene sulfonates, acyl isethionates, acyl taurates and sulfosuccinates, and phosphates. The most important members of the anionic surfactant class are the alkyl sulfates and the soaps. If the surfactant molecule carries a positive charge when it is dissolved or dispersed in water, the surfactant is classified as cationic. Cationic surfactants include quaternary ammonium salts and ethoxylated amines. The quaternary ammonium salts are the most used members of this class. If the surfactant molecule has the ability to carry either a positive or negative charge, the surfactant is classified as amphoteric. Amphoteric surfactants include acrylic acid derivatives, substituted alkylamides, N-alkylbetaines and phosphatides. The use of surfactants in drug products, formulations and in emulsions has been reviewed (Rieger, in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1988, p. 285). In one embodiment, the present invention employs various penetration enhancers to effect the efficient delivery of nucleic acids, particularly oligonucleotides, to the skin of animals. Most drugs are present in solution in both ionized and nonionized forms. However, usually only lipid soluble or lipophilic drugs readily cross cell membranes. It has been discovered that even non-lipophilic drugs may cross cell membranes if the membrane to be crossed is treated with a penetration enhancer. In addition to aiding the diffusion of non-lipophilic drugs across cell membranes, penetration enhancers also enhance the permeability of lipophilic drugs. Penetration enhancers may be classified as belonging to one of five broad categories, i.e., surfactants, fatty acids, bile salts, chelating agents, and non-chelating non-surfactants (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, p.92). Each of the above mentioned classes of penetration enhancers are described below in greater detail. Surfactants: In connection with the present invention, surfactants (or xe2x80x9csurface-active agentsxe2x80x9d) are chemical entities which, when dissolved in an aqueous solution, reduce the surface tension of the solution or the interfacial tension between the aqueous solution and another liquid, with the result that absorption of oligonucleotides through the mucosa is enhanced. In addition to bile salts and fatty acids, these penetration enhancers include, for example, sodium lauryl sulfate, polyoxyethylene-9-lauryl ether and polyoxyethylene-20-cetyl ether) (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, p.92); and perfluorochemical emulsions, such as FC-43. Takahashi et al., J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 1988, 40, 252). Fatty acids: Various fatty acids and their derivatives which act as penetration enhancers include, for example, oleic acid, lauric acid, capric acid (n-decanoic acid), myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, dicaprate, tricaprate, monoolein (1-monooleoyl-rac-glycerol), dilaurin, caprylic acid, arachidonic acid, glycerol 1-monocaprate, 1-dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one, acylcarnitines, acylcholines, C1-10 alkyl esters thereof (e.g., methyl, isopropyl and t-butyl), and mono- and di-glycerides thereof (i.e., oleate, laurate, caprate, myristate, palmitate, stearate, linoleate, etc.) (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, p.92; Muranishi, Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1990, 7, 1-33; El Hariri et al., J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 1992, 44, 651-654). Bile salts: The physiological role of bile includes the facilitation of dispersion and absorption of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins (Brunton, Chapter 38 in: Goodman and Gilman""s The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 9th Ed., Hardman et al. Eds., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996, pp. 934-935). Various natural bile salts, and their synthetic derivatives, act as penetration enhancers. Thus the term xe2x80x9cbile saltsxe2x80x9d includes any of the naturally occurring components of bile as well as any of their synthetic derivatives. The bile salts of the invention include, for example, cholic acid (or its pharmaceutically acceptable sodium salt, sodium cholate), dehydrocholic acid (sodium dehydrocholate), deoxycholic acid (sodium deoxycholate), glucholic acid (sodium glucholate), glycholic acid (sodium glycocholate), glycodeoxycholic acid (sodium glycodeoxycholate), taurocholic acid (sodium taurocholate), taurodeoxycholic acid (sodium taurodeoxycholate), chenodeoxycholic acid (sodium chenodeoxycholate), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), sodium tauro-24,25-dihydro-fusidate (STDHF), sodium glycodihydrofusidate and polyoxyethylene-9-lauryl ether (POE) (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, page 92; Swinyard, Chapter 39 In: Remington""s Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18th Ed., Gennaro, ed., Mack Publishing Co., Easton, Pa., 1990, pages 782-783; Muranishi, Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1990, 7, 1-33; Yamamoto et al., J. Pharm. Exp. Ther., 1992, 263, 25; Yamashita et al., J. Pharm. Sci., 1990, 79, 579-583). Chelating Agents: Chelating agents, as used in connection with the present invention, can be defined as compounds that remove metallic ions from solution by forming complexes therewith, with the result that absorption of oligonucleotides through the mucosa is enhanced. With regards to their use as penetration enhancers in the present invention, chelating agents have the added advantage of also serving as DNase inhibitors, as most characterized DNA nucleases require a divalent metal ion for catalysis and are thus inhibited by chelating agents (Jarrett, J. Chromatogr., 1993, 618, 315-339). Chelating agents of the invention include but are not limited to disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA), citric acid, salicylates (e.g., sodium salicylate, 5-methoxysalicylate and homovanilate), N-acyl derivatives of collagen, laureth-9 and N-amino acyl derivatives of beta-diketones (enamines)(Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, page 92; Muranishi, Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1990, 7, 1-33; Buur et al., J. Control Rel., 1990, 14, 43-51). Non-chelating non-surfactants: As used herein, non-chelating non-surfactant penetration enhancing compounds can be defined as compounds that demonstrate insignificant activity as chelating agents or as surfactants but that nonetheless enhance absorption of oligonucleotides through the alimentary mucosa (Muranishi, Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1990, 7, 1-33). This class of penetration enhancers include, for example, unsaturated cyclic ureas, 1-alkyl- and 1-alkenylazacyclo-alkanone derivatives (Lee et al., Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 1991, page 92); and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents such as diclofenac sodium, indomethacin and phenylbutazone (Yamashita et al., J. Pharm. Pharmacol., 1987, 39, 621-626). Agents that enhance uptake of oligonucleotides at the cellular level may also be added to the pharmaceutical and other compositions of the present invention. For example, cationic lipids, such as lipofectin (Junichi et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,188), cationic glycerol derivatives, and polycationic molecules, such as polylysine (Lollo et al., PCT Application WO 97/30731), are also known to enhance the cellular uptake of oligonucleotides. Other agents may be utilized to enhance the penetration of the administered nucleic acids, including glycols such as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, pyrrols such as 2-pyrrol, azones, and terpenes such as limonene and menthone. Certain compositions of the present invention also incorporate carrier compounds in the formulation. As used herein, xe2x80x9ccarrier compoundxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccarrierxe2x80x9d can refer to a nucleic acid, or analog thereof, which is inert (i.e., does not possess biological activity per se) but is recognized as a nucleic acid by in vivo processes that reduce the bioavailability of a nucleic acid having biological activity by, for example, degrading the biologically active nucleic acid or promoting its removal from circulation. The coadministration of a nucleic acid and a carrier compound, typically with an excess of the latter substance, can result in a substantial reduction of the amount of nucleic acid recovered in the liver, kidney or other extracirculatory reservoirs, presumably due to competition between the carrier compound and the nucleic acid for a common receptor. For example, the recovery of a partially phosphorothioate oligonucleotide in hepatic tissue can be reduced when it is coadministered with polyinosinic acid, dextran sulfate, polycytidic acid or 4-acetamido-4xe2x80x2 isothiocyano-stilbene-2,2xe2x80x2-disulfonic acid (Miyao et al., Antisense Res. Dev., 1995, 5, 115-121; Takakura et al., Antisense and Nucl. Acid Drug Dev., 1996, 6, 177-183). In contrast to a carrier compound, a xe2x80x9cpharmaceutical carrierxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cexcipientxe2x80x9d is a pharmaceutically acceptable solvent, suspending agent or any other pharmacologically inert vehicle for delivering one or more nucleic acids to an animal. The excipient may be liquid or solid and is selected, with the planned manner of administration in mind, so as to provide for the desired bulk, consistency, etc., when combined with a nucleic acid and the other components of a given pharmaceutical composition. Typical pharmaceutical carriers include, but are not limited to, binding agents (e.g., pregelatinized maize starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, etc.); fillers (e.g., lactose and other sugars, microcrystalline cellulose, pectin, gelatin, calcium sulfate, ethyl cellulose, polyacrylates or calcium hydrogen phosphate, etc.); lubricants (e.g., magnesium stearate, talc, silica, colloidal silicon dioxide, stearic acid, metallic stearates, hydrogenated vegetable oils, corn starch, polyethylene glycols, sodium benzoate, sodium acetate, etc.); disintegrants (e.g., starch, sodium starch glycolate, etc.); and wetting agents (e.g., sodium lauryl sulphate, etc.). Pharmaceutically acceptable organic or inorganic excipient suitable for non-parenteral administration which do not deleteriously react with nucleic acids can also be used to formulate the compositions of the present invention. Suitable pharmaceutically acceptable carriers include, but are not limited to, water, salt solutions, alcohols, polyethylene glycols, gelatin, lactose, amylose, magnesium stearate, talc, silicic acid, viscous paraffin, hydroxymethylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone and the like. Formulations for topical administration of nucleic acids may include sterile and non-sterile aqueous solutions, non-aqueous solutions in common solvents such as alcohols, or solutions of the nucleic acids in liquid or solid oil bases. The solutions may also contain buffers, diluents and other suitable additives. Pharmaceutically acceptable organic or inorganic excipients suitable for non-parenteral administration which do not deleteriously react with nucleic acids can be used. Suitable pharmaceutically acceptable excipients include, but are not limited to, water, salt solutions, alcohol, polyethylene glycols, gelatin, lactose, amylose, magnesium stearate, talc, silicic acid, viscous paraffin, ydroxymethylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone and the like. The compositions of the present invention may additionally contain other adjunct components conventionally found in pharmaceutical compositions, at their art-established usage levels. Thus, for example, the compositions may contain additional, compatible, pharmaceutically-active materials such as, for example, antipruritics, astringents, local anesthetics or anti-inflammatory agents, or may contain additional materials useful in physically formulating various dosage forms of the compositions of the present invention, such as dyes, flavoring agents, preservatives, antioxidants, opacifiers, thickening agents and stabilizers. However, such materials, when added, should not unduly interfere with the biological activities of the components of the compositions of the present invention. The formulations can be sterilized and, if desired, mixed with auxiliary agents, e.g., lubricants, preservatives, stabilizers, wetting agents, emulsifiers, salts for influencing osmotic pressure, buffers, colorings, flavorings and/or aromatic substances and the like which do not deleteriously interact with the nucleic acid(s) of the formulation. Aqueous suspensions may contain substances which increase the viscosity of the suspension including, for example, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, sorbitol and/or dextran. The suspension may also contain stabilizers. Certain embodiments of the invention provide pharmaceutical compositions containing (a) one or more antisense compounds and (b) one or more other chemotherapeutic agents which function by a non-antisense mechanism. Examples of such chemotherapeutic agents include but are not limited to daunorubicin, daunomycin, dactinomycin, doxorubicin, epirubicin, idarubicin, esorubicin, bleomycin, mafosfamide, ifosfamide, cytosine arabinoside, bis-chloroethylnitrosurea, busulfan, mitomycin C, actinomycin D, mithramycin, prednisone, hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone, tamoxifen, dacarbazine, procarbazine, hexamethylmelamine, pentamethylmelamine, mitoxantrone, amsacrine, chlorambucil, methylcyclohexylnitrosurea, nitrogen mustards, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, cytarabine, 5-azacytidine, hydroxyurea, deoxycoformycin, 4-hydroxyperoxycyclophosphoramide, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (5-FUdR), methotrexate (MTX), colchicine, taxol, vincristine, vinblastine, etoposide (VP-16), trimetrexate, irinotecan, topotecan, gemcitabine, teniposide, cisplatin and diethylstilbestrol (DES). See, generally, The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 15th Ed. 1987, pp. 1206-1228, Berkow et al., eds., Rahway, N.J. When used with the compounds of the invention, such chemotherapeutic agents may be used individually (e.g., 5-FU and oligonucleotide), sequentially (e.g., 5-FU and oligonucleotide for a period of time followed by MTX and oligonucleotide), or in combination with one or more other such chemotherapeutic agents (e.g., 5-FU, MTX and oligonucleotide, or 5-FU, radiotherapy and oligonucleotide). Anti-inflammatory drugs, including but not limited to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids, and antiviral drugs, including but not limited to ribivirin, vidarabine, acyclovir and ganciclovir, may also be combined in compositions of the invention. See, generally, The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 15th Ed., Berkow et al., eds., 1987, Rahway, N.J., pages 2499-2506 and 46-49, respectively). Other non-antisense chemotherapeutic agents are also within the scope of this invention. Two or more combined compounds may be used together or sequentially. In another related embodiment, compositions of the invention may contain one or more antisense compounds, particularly oligonucleotides, targeted to a first nucleic acid and one or more additional antisense compounds targeted to a second nucleic acid target. Numerous examples of antisense compounds are known in the art. Two or more combined compounds may be used together or sequentially. The formulation of therapeutic compositions and their subsequent administration is believed to be within the skill of those in the art. Dosing is dependent on severity and responsiveness of the disease state to be treated, with the course of treatment lasting from several days to several months, or until a cure is effected or a diminution of the disease state is achieved. Optimal dosing schedules can be calculated from measurements of drug accumulation in the body of the patient. Persons of ordinary skill can easily determine optimum dosages, dosing methodologies and repetition rates. Optimum dosages may vary depending on the relative potency of individual oligonucleotides, and can generally be estimated based on EC50s found to be effective in in vitro and in vivo animal models. In general, dosage is from 0.01 ug to 100 g per kg of body weight, and may be given once or more daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, or even once every 2 to 20 years. Persons of ordinary skill in the art can easily estimate repetition rates for dosing based on measured residence times and concentrations of the drug in bodily fluids or tissues. Following successful treatment, it may be desirable to have the patient undergo maintenance therapy to prevent the recurrence of the disease state, wherein the oligonucleotide is administered in maintenance doses, ranging from 0.01 ug to 100 g per kg of body weight, once or more daily, to once every 20 years. While the present invention has been described with specificity in accordance with certain of its preferred embodiments, the following examples serve only to illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the same.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an implantable battery-operated electrostimulation device, referred to in the following as an implant, having a telemetry unit for wireless data transmission from the implant to an external device and possibly vice versa. 2. Description of the Related Art Implants of this type allow telemetric remote monitoring of the implant by transmitting data from the implant via a service center to an attending physician, for example. The data may be physiological data, which the implant has recorded on the body of a patient, or technical data, which relates to the operation and control of the implant. Typical implants of this type are cardiac pacemakers or cardioverters/defibrillators. In known implants, telemetric data transmission is triggered either manually (i.e., the patient must activate the query of the implant with subsequent data remote transmission) or automatically. In battery-powered implants, the problem exists in principle that all functions of the implant are powered via a battery, which may run out. Therefore, the treatment functions of the implant, i.e., delivering stimulation pulses or defibrillation shocks, for example, are already tailored in such a way that they require as little energy as possible, without omitting a needed treatment. The mean current consumption of the implant is thus strongly a function of the need of the patient for treatment. The telemetry functions of the implant also take the limited battery capacity into consideration. Known manual systems do not trigger data transmission themselves, i.e., even when a specific operating state of the implant or an automatically recognized pathological state of the patient makes the intervention of a physician or technician obvious. Rather, the patient is to have the possibility, in case of feeling unwell, of informing a physician or service center by manually triggering a data transmission himself, in order to receive medical attention if necessary. If the patient has triggered the data transmission, data relating to the operating state of the implant, such as battery exhaustion or a recognized device error, is also transmitted telemetrically to the physician. Known automatic systems automatically transmit the physiological data to the physician after detecting a pathological state, for example. The implant turns itself off upon reaching battery exhaustion or in the event of a recognized device error in the course of a cyclic self-test.

1. Technical Field The following description relates to one or more communication systems with a printer being connected to a host device such as a personal computer and workstation. 2. Related Art When printing is performed based on printing data for printing images and texts transmitted to a printer from a host device such as a personal computer (PC), there is used a network printer system, which is configured to perform a printing operation with communication between the printer and host device in accordance with a protocol of a network via which the printer is connected with the host device (see Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 11-296325, hereinafter referred to as '325 Publication). Such a network printer system is advantageous in that one or more printers can easily be shared among a plurality of host devices. In '325 Publication, there is described a printer system with a printer being connected with host devices and a network server, which use the printer, via an internal network installed in an office or the like. In order for the host device to use the printer via the network, a printer driver for generating and sending printing data is required to be installed into the host device. In general, a printer driver is provided in a form stored in a printer driver disk such as a CD-ROM as a standard attachment at the time of purchase of a printer. In this case, a user has to install the printer driver of the printer to be used into a new host device from a CD-ROM drive provided to the new host device each time the new host device is connected to the network. In '325 Publication, there is disclosed a technique in which a network server connected with the same internal network is utilized as a providing source of the printer driver. In the above technique, a new printer driver, which has been found through periodical accesses to the network server by the printer, is automatically installed. Thereby, the user is freed from the operation of installing the printer driver, yet the network server has to be provided on the internal network. In '325 Publication, there is further disclosed a technique in which a printer driver is stored in a printer corresponding to the printer driver. In this case, when a new host device (PC) is connected to the network, the printer driver is downloaded from the printer and installed into the new host device via the internal network. According to the technique, since the printer serves as a network server, a new printer driver can be downloaded without any separate network server provided on the internal network. However, in '325 Publication, there is not any detailed description about how the printer driver stored in the network server (or the printer as the network sever) can be updated. Further, according to the technique disclosed in '325 Publication, when a plurality of host devices are connected with the internal network, there might be caused a problem that a printing operation of the printer cannot be performed due to a congested traffic of the internal network in the case where the plurality of host devices concurrently access the printer to download the printer driver.

Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling are techniques for achieving low power consumption in digital systems while maintaining just enough processing speed to ensure that processing tasks are timely satisfied. While these techniques are useful for reducing power consumption, dynamically changing clocking frequencies in conventional digital systems result in loss of synchronization between various system elements. As a result, communications and the exchange of data between various components are disrupted until a resynchronization occurs. What are needed are improved techniques for implementing dynamic voltage and frequency scaling that overcome the limitations noted above.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a meteorological observation system and, more particularly, to a meteorological observation system using vehicles. 2. Description of the Related Art As a vehicle has recently emerged as one of the essential goods of life as well as the industrial world, traffic accidents very frequently occur due to a sudden increase of the vehicles globally, Accordingly, the improvement of safety of the vehicle has emerged as an important issue. A passive type vehicle safety system using air bags and safety belts for minimizing damage attributable to traffic accidents is gradually changed to an active type vehicle safety system using an Automatic Braking System (ABS), a vehicle-to-vehicle distance alarm system, and side/rear surveillance radars capable of preventing an accident. The International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication sector (ITU-R) recommends several items related to Transport Information and Control Systems (TICS). TICS is a system in which computer, communication, location information and vehicle technologies integrated in order to improve the safety and efficiency of a ground traffic system and a method of operating the ground traffic system. An Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) that belongs to TICS and that relates to the direct driving of a vehicle has several points required to prevent a collision. A radar for a vehicle is one of technologies that may be applied to the safe driving of a vehicle through the assistance of a driver. A radar for a vehicle using a radar was commercialized in Japan in the early 1980s, but the radar was too sensitive to several weather conditions (e.g., vulnerable to contamination, such as soil and dust). Accordingly, a method using millimeter waves is widely used. Active researches is carried out on a radar for a vehicle using millimeter waves is characterized in that the radar has relatively small errors and may be easily used even in several weather conditions in terms of its application. Millimeter waves mean electromagnetic waves whose frequency wavelength is a millimeter unit of 30 to 300 GHz. A band of 24 GHz for the near/middle distance is partially used in a radar sensor for detecting the front using millimeter waves, but active researches is carried out on a radar sensor for detecting the front, which has a band of 77 GHz for the long distance (e.g., a maximum of about 200 m). In relation to standardization, ITU Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-2000) in Turkey on May, 2002 recommended bands of 60 GHz and 76 GHz for a radar for a vehicle. In Korea, in accordance with Article 9 of Radio Regulation Law on April, 2001, Notification No. 2001-21 of the Ministry of Information and Communication has distributed and announced a band of 76 to 77 GHz into frequencies for a vehicle radar for a specific small-output radio station. Today, a technical reference guideline for a radar for detecting the front in Korea has been provided. Furthermore, the frequencies of several bands, such as 47 GHz, 60 GHz, 77 GHz, 94 GHz, and 139 GHz, are being used by taking into consideration a small size for mounting on a vehicle, high resolution, and propagation interference with existing wireless systems. In common visibility communication, a loss characteristic according to the frequencies is present with respect to air and vapor. In weather conditions, such as rainfall or snow fall, a radio wave used in a radar for a vehicle generates considerable attenuation. The attenuation of a radio wave used in a radar for a vehicle that is generated in weather conditions, such as rainfall or snow fall, acts as an error in a radar sensor for preventing a collision, but may be used as a criterion for estimating the amount of rainfall because the attenuation is regularly increased or decreased depending on the amount of rainfall. Recently, researches is gradually carried out on the attenuation characteristic of a radio wave for a vehicle radar in the vehicle radar application technology field and the meteorological observation field.

1. Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a noise filter, and, more particularly to a noise filter for Bayer pattern image data. The invention also relates to a method of filtering noise in Bayer pattern image data. 2. Description of Related Art Digital cameras generate a datafile that represents an image acquired by the camera. Generally, the camera acquires the information from the light/color sensors in the camera in a CFA (camera filter array) format. A popular format for the CFA is a Bayer mosaic pattern layout, shown in FIG. 1. In a Bayer pattern, each pixel contains information that is relative to only one color component, for instance, Red, Green or Blue. Typically, the Bayer pattern includes a green pixel in every other space, and, in each row, either a blue or a red pixel occupies the remaining spaces. For instance, as seen in FIG. 1, row one alternates between green and red pixels, and row two alternates between green and blue pixels. The end result is a mosaic made of red, green and blue points, where there are twice as many green points as red or blue. This can accurately represent an image because the human eye is more sensitive to the green data than either the red or blue. A typical camera includes a charge coupled device (CCDs) or CMOS image sensor that is sensitive to light. These image sensors are sensitive only to the intensity of light falling on it and not to the light's frequency. Thus, an image sensor of this kind has no capability to differentiate the color of light falling on it. To obtain a color image from a typical camera sensor, a color filter is placed over the sensitive elements of the sensor. The filter can be patterned to be like the Bayer pattern discussed above. Then, the individual sensors are only receptive to a particular color of light, red, blue or green. The final color picture is obtained by using a color interpolation algorithm that joins together the information provided by the differently colored adjacent pixels. The images produced by digital still cameras, especially ones produced by CMOS technology, suffer from noise that is inherently present in the sensor when the image is captured. Thus, some modification of the datafile produced by the image sensor is needed. Oftentimes this modification comes as a filter or algorithm run on the image sensor data (the Bayer Pattern) to create a more realistic image. Processes are performed on it in an imaging process chain, for example, white balance, gamma correction, etc., as shown in FIG. 2. Finally, the corrected image is compressed and stored in memory as a color image. One problem with current image processing in current digital camera systems is that noise artifacts are difficult to differentiate from detail in the image itself. If noise artifacts are thought to be detail and left unfiltered, or details are thought to be artifacts and are filtered, image degradation occurs. Another problem exists in that current filtering methods operate on the image data as a whole and do not differentiate between the individual color channels making up the image. The technical problem solved by this invention is one of how to best filter a complex image file for noise, while at the same time preserving detail in the image.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radio frequency apparatus formed of electronic circuits including an inductance element. 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional radio frequency apparatus is described below while referring to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the conventional radio frequency apparatus. FIG. 6 is its top view, and FIG. 7 is a top view of a shield case thereof. In FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, an electronic component 2 is mounted on one side 1a of a printed circuit board 1, and the electronic component 2 is connected to the printed circuit board 1 by cream solder. A coil 3 is mounted on other side 1b of the printed circuit board 1. Leads 3a of the coil 3 are inserted into holes provided in the printed circuit board 1, and connected to the printed circuit board 1 by soldering. The printed circuit board 1 preliminarily mounting the electronic component 2 and coil 3 is fitted to a shield case 4, and the printed circuit board 1 and a frame body 4a forming the outer circumference of the shield case 4 are connected by soldering. The shield case 4 has partition boards 5 formed nearly in the overall width of the frame body 4a as shown in FIG. 7. The partition boards 5 are coupled with the frame body 4a by thin coupling members 6 provided at both ends. A slight gap 7 is formed between the partition boards 5 and frame body 4a for the ease of folding of the partition boards 5. The coil 3 side opening of the frame body is provided so as to be covered with a front cover 8. This front cover 8 has an elastic piece 10 raised and formed from the front cover 8, and this elastic piece 10 is formed at a position contacting with a contact piece 9 formed on the partition board 5. Above the coil 3, the front cover 8 has a hole 11 so as to adjust the coil 3. On the other hand, a back cover 12 is fitted to the opening at the side of the electronic component 2 of the shield case 4. This back cover 12 has an abutting portion formed at a position to abut against the leading end of the partition board 5, and this abutting portion is formed by projecting from the back cover 12 by drawing process or the like. A prior art relating to this application is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. H8-37474. In such conventional radio frequency apparatus, however, to prevent magnetic coupling of the coil 3 with the inductance element 3b formed in other circuit, the partition board 5 is formed in almost overall width of the frame body 4a, and any component cannot be mounted on the position of the partition board 5.

Many network providers implement a “data cap”, which limits the amount of data a user may consume, penalty free, over a period of time (for example, a month). If the user consumes more data than the cap allows, the provider may cut them off entirely from data, throttle their data to a very slow level, or impose exorbitant charges for overages. Existing technology lets users use data as fast as they want until they are suddenly cut off, throttled, or hit with an exorbitant charge. Adaptive video bitrate (ABR) algorithms exacerbate this problem by balancing the bitrate (or quality of the video) with the current network conditions, with the goal of having the highest bitrate video possible.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,415, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a rolling operation for forming splines in thin-wall sleeves of power transmitting members. This rolling operation is performed by mounting the thin-wall sleeve on a toothed mandrel that is located between a pair of toothed dies. Movement of the pair of dies in opposite directions as each other meshes the die and mandrel teeth with the sleeve therebetween to form the splines at diametrically opposite locations while the mandrel rotates in coordination with the die movement. Vehicle automatic transmissions conventionally incorporate the type of splined sleeve that can be formed by this thin-wall spline rolling operation much more economically than impact splining that was previously utilized to perform the splining. U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,922, which is also assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses dies which have a particular toothed forming face construction for performing thin-wall sleeve splining in accordance with the process discussed above. These dies are disclosed as either being of the straight gear rack type or of a rotary type such as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,988 which is also assigned to the assignee of the present application. U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,237, which is likewise assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a thin-wall sleeve splining machine of the type discussed above with an automatic loader used to mount and remove the sleeve from the mandrel. Loading and unloading members of the machine loader cooperate with each other to move the sleeve onto the mandrel for the splining operation and to thereafter remove the splined sleeve in preparation for the next cycle.

Field of the Invention The invention relates to a novel method for producing [4S-(4alpha,12aalpha)]-4-(dimethylamino)-7-(substituted)-9-[[(substituted amino)substituted]amino]-1,4,4a,5,5a,6,11,12a-octahydro-3,10,12,12a-tetrah ydroxy-1,11-dioxo-2-naphthacenecarboxamides, herein after called 7-(substituted)-9-[(substituted glycyl)amido]-6-demethyl-6-deoxytetracyclines, which are useful as antibiotic agents. The invention also relates to making novel, straight or branched 9-[(haloacyl)amido]-7-(substituted)-6-demethyl-6-deoxytetracycline intermediates, which are useful for making the novel compounds of the present invention.

Digital communication over noisy channels (e.g., over power lines and wireless mediums) poses a challenge to reliable, error-free data transfer between a transmitter and receiver. Portions of the transmitted data may be corrupted by noise, resulting in errors at a receiver. Some methods for communicating data symbols over noisy channels request retransmission of any data symbols received in error. These methods rely on the probability that the retransmission will occur during less-noisy channel conditions and the data will be received error-free. However, if the channel is still excessively noisy, there will likely be errors in the retransmitted symbols, and nothing would be gained by the retransmission.

The compound dimethyl 2-formyl-2-methylglutarate is an important intermediate for producing amines or diols or triols. Whether the former or latter is produced depends whether the intermediate dimethyl 2-formyl-2-methylglutarate is subsequently subjected to reductive amination or reduction, respectively. The diesters, amines and diols or triols are important in polymer applications, such as polyesters. However, nothing in the prior art teaches or suggests a convenient method for synthesizing these intermediate compounds. Nowhere is there described a catalyst system such as in the instant process for producing these intermediates from acrylates and synthesis gas by a novel reaction. Murata et al. have reported on the relative activity of various complexes formed in situ from dicobalt octacarbonyl and various di(tertiary phosphines) as ligands for the hydroformylation of methyl acrylate. The complexes are more active than Co.sub.2 (CO).sub.8 alone and the most active of the catalyst complexes was active even at low pressures where decomposition of Co.sub.2 (CO).sub.8 occurs. See Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 53, 214-218 (1980). A study reported by Jardine in Polyhedron, No. 7-8, 569-605, 1982 provides further insight into a comparison of carbonylhydrido tris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I) RhH(CO)(PPh.sub.3).sub.3 as a hydroformylation catalyst and concludes that though RhH(CO)(PPh.sub.3).sub.3 is the best hydroformylation catalyst, that it is disappointing in other reactions, that chlorotris(triphenylphosphine)rhodium(I) is probably a more generally useful hydrogenation catalyst and dichloro tris(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium(II) is probably a more effective isotope exchange catalyst. In J. Mol. Cat. 16 (1982) 195-207, Mitsuo et al. describe experiments wherein phosphine complexes are used in conjunction with rhodium-catalyzed low pressure hydroformylation of typical terminal olefins at pressures substantially lower than will normally work. In J. Falbe, "New Syntheses With Carbon Monoxide", Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1980, Chapter 1 discusses the hydroformylation of methyl acrylate by using rhodium and cobalt catalysts (page 119 and 120). Under similar reaction conditions, a cobalt catalyst is used to hydroformylate methyl acrylate to produce methyl .beta.-formylpropionate as the predominant product. In contrast, rhodium produced .alpha.-formylpropionate as the major product. Furthermore, the selectivity was affected by the addition of triphenylphosphine. Generally in the prior art what is taught or suggested is the rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of, for example, olefins. Nothing in the art teaches the novel reaction of the instant invention wherein diesters are formed via the hydroformylation/Michael addition of alkyl acrylates. This appears to be a new reaction. It would be desirable to invent a process for such a reaction, especially if the conversion and selectivity for the desired diesters were high. These diesters can be used as intermediates for producing amines, diols and triols.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an interior panel unit for permitting an arrangement of cables and devices on a room floor, the panel being used in an office or computer room to arrange an office-automation system. 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional interior panel unit is available to realize an office-automation system by arranging power cables, signal cables, and various types of equipment on a room floor in an office or computer room, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,499 and 4,631,879. More specifically, a given unit has blocks having shapes to be engaged with each other at a peripheral portion of a rectangular floor base installed on a foundation floor surface of a room, and blocks on each floor base are engaged with and coupled to each other to form each floor base on the foundation floor surface. In another unit, a plurality of columnar members are mounted on a lower floor base installed on a foundation floor surface, and an upper floor base is supported by the columnar members with a gap corresponding to the height of each columnar member from the foundation floor surface. However, in the former unit, an operation for coupling the blocks of the adjacent floor bases is required. This operation is cumbersome and time consuming. Therefore, much labor is required to install the floor bases on the entire surface of the foundation floor base of the room. In addition, when each block is designed each that it fits tight into another, thereby to form a strong unit. Much labor is also required to form such a unit. Consequently, it takes much time to assemble and install the interior panel unit. When the blocks are loosely coupled to each other, the installation can be facilitated. However, the upper floor consisting of floor bases does not have a sufficiently flat surface or adequate stability. The latter unit has a structure wherein the lower floor base is installed on the foundation floor surface of the room and the upper floor base is supported and fixed through the plurality of columnar members. The adjacent lower floor bases are not coupled to each other. For this reason, the lower floor bases are not integrally coupled. Therefore, when the upper floor base is supported and fixed, stability and flatness of the upper floor surface consisting of the upper floor bases are degraded.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a fiber optic cable test system, and specifically a connection assembly for a test system. 2. Description of the Related Art Large-scale fiber optic networks may consist of hundreds or thousands of fiber optic lines which connect central office units of a network provider to remote terminals or remote offices. It is generally necessary to ensure the integrity of the fiber optic cables themselves by checking the transmission over a given distance through automated means. Currently, fiber optic testing is performed using optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) test equipment which typically are stand-alone units or provided in rack-mounted hardware. Such units may provide connection for a few fiberoptic cables, but are not suitable for large-scale remote terminal applications wherein a number of cables may be input to a single test unit. In addition, the size of the unit relative to the number of cables for which they are able to support testing is quite large. In a typical remote office or remote cabinet, a rack space is provided which allows for the easy mounting of many different types of test equipment in a standard format. Typical dimensions of such rack units are about 19" wide by 12" deep. Although the rack unit has a height of several feet, the height of the test equipment mounted in the rack is a consideration in whether to provide the test equipment in the rack space. To date, a high-density switch network and OTDR unit have not been combined in a confined space suitable for use in rack-mount environments of remote terminals or remote offices. One particular problem with such a configuration is providing the facility to connect a large number of optical fibers within a confined space, and still provide room for modular test electronics to be added to the system. One problem with providing such a high-density connector configuration is the radius of curvature of optical fiber cable. Typically, such radius is approximately 21/2", thereby providing a minimum space requirement for all optical fiber connections. It would be highly desirable to provide a number of connections and test interface electronics in a confined environment.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retardation optical element for use in a liquid crystal display or the like, especially a retardation optical element that includes a retardation layer having a cholesteric-regular molecular structure and can compensate for the state of polarization of light that slantingly emerges from a liquid crystal cell in the direction deviating from its normal, to a method of producing the retardation optical element, and to a polarization element and a liquid crystal display, each including the retardation optical element. 2. Description of Related Art FIG. 13 is a diagrammatic exploded perspective view of a conventional, general liquid crystal display. As shown in FIG. 13, the conventional liquid crystal display 100 includes a polarizer 102A on the incident side, a polarizer 102B on the emergent side, and a liquid crystal cell 104. Of these component parts, the polarizers 102A and 102B are so constructed that they selectively transmit only linearly polarized light having the plane of vibration in a predetermined direction, and are arranged in the cross nicol disposition so that the direction of vibration of the linearly polarized light transmitted by the polarizer 102A is perpendicular to that of vibration of the linearly polarized light transmitted by the polarizer 102B. The liquid crystal cell 104 include a large number of cells corresponding to pixels, and is placed between the polarizers 102A and 102B. A case where the liquid crystal cell 104 in the above-described liquid crystal display 100 is of VA (Vertical Alignment) mode, which a nematic liquid crystal having negative dielectric anisotropy is sealed in a liquid crystal cell, is now taken as an example. Linearly polarized light that has passed through the polarizer 102A on the incident side passes, without undergoing phase shift, through those cells in the liquid crystal cell 104 that are in the non-driven state, and is blocked by the polarizer 102B on the emergent side. On the contrary, the linearly polarized light undergoes phase shift when it passes through those cells in the liquid crystal cell 104 that are in the driven state, and the light in an amount corresponding to the amount of this phase shift passes through and emerges from the polarizer 102B on the emergent side. It is therefore possible to display the desired image on the polarizer 102B side (i.e., on the emergent side.) by properly controlling the driving voltage that is applied to each cell in the liquid crystal cell 104. The liquid crystal display 100 is not limited to the above embodiment in which light is transmitted and blocked in the above-described manner, and there is also a liquid crystal display so constructed that light emerging from those cells in the liquid crystal cell 104 that are in the non-driven state passes through and emerges from the polarizer 102B on the emergent side, and that light emerging from those cells that are in the driven state is blocked by the polarizer 102B on the emergent side. Discussion is now made on a case where linearly polarized light passes through the non-driven-state cells in the above-described liquid crystal cell 104 of VA mode. The liquid crystal cell 104 is birefringent, and its refractive index in the direction of thickness and that in the direction of plane are different from each other. Therefore, of the linearly polarized light that has passed through the polarizer 102A on the incident side, the light that has entered the liquid crystal cell 104 along its normal passes through the liquid crystal cell 104 without undergoing phase shift, but the light that has slantingly entered the liquid crystal cell 104 in the direction deviating from its normal undergoes phase shift while it passes through the liquid crystal cell 104, and becomes elliptically polarized light. The cause of this phenomenon is that those liquid crystalline molecules that are vertically aligned in the liquid crystal cell 104 when the cells in the liquid crystal cell 104 of VA mode are in the non-driven state function as a positive C plate. It is noted that the amount of phase shift that occurs for light passing through the liquid crystal cell 104 (transmitted light) is affected also by the birefringence of the liquid crystalline molecules sealed in the liquid crystal cell 104, the thickness of the liquid crystal cell 104, the wavelength of the transmitted light, and so on. Owing to the above-described phenomenon, even when the cells in the liquid crystal cell 104 are in the non-driven state and linearly polarized light is supposed to be transmitted through the liquid crystal cell 104 as it is and blocked by the polarizer 102B on the emergent side, a part of the light that emerges slantingly from the liquid crystal cell 104 in the direction deviating from its normal is to leak from the polarizer 102B on the emergent side. For this reason, the above-described conventional liquid crystal display 100 has the problem (so-called viewing angle dependency problem) that the display quality at the time when an image is viewed slantingly from a position not on the normal of the liquid crystal cell 104 is lower than that at the time when the image is viewed from the front of the display. To eliminate the viewing angle dependency problem of the aforementioned conventional liquid crystal display 100, there have been developed a variety of techniques up to now. One of them is the liquid crystal display described, for example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 67219/1991). This liquid crystal display uses a retardation optical element including a retardation layer having a cholesteric-regular molecular structure (a retardation layer having double refractivity), where the retardation optical element is placed between a liquid crystal cell and a polarizer in order to provide optical compensation. In the retardation optical element having a cholesteric-regular molecular structure, the selective reflection wavelength given by the equation λ=nav·p (p: the helical pitch in the helical structure consisting of liquid crystalline molecules, nav: the mean refractive index of a plane perpendicular to the helical axis), is so adjusted that it is either shorter or longer than the wavelength of transmitted light, as described in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 322223/1992), for example. In the aforementioned retardation optical element, linearly polarized light that has slantingly entered the retardation layer in the direction deviating from its normal undergoes phase shift, while passing through the retardation layer, to become elliptically polarized light, like in the case of the above-described liquid crystal cell. The cause of this phenomenon is that the cholesteric-regular molecular structure functions as a negative C plate. The amount of phase shift that occurs for light passing through the retardation layer (transmitted light) is affected also by the birefringence of the liquid crystalline molecules in the retardation layer, the thickness of the retardation layer, the wavelength of the transmitted light, and so on. Therefore, the viewing angle dependency problem of conventional liquid crystal displays can successfully be solved by the use of the above-described retardation optical element if the retardation layer contained in the retardation optical element is properly designed so that the phase shift that occurs in a liquid crystal cell of VA mode, which functions as a positive C plate, and the phase shift that occurs in the retardation layer contained in the retardation optical element, which functions as a negative C plate, are canceled each other. However, it has been found that the viewing angle dependency problem can be solved if the above-described retardation optical element (a retardation layer having a cholesteric-regular molecular structure) is placed between a liquid crystal cell and a polarizer, but that, when the retardation optical element is so provided, bright and dark fringes could appear on a displayed image to drastically lower the display quality. The inventor has made earnest studies to find the causes of this phenomenon by conducting experiments and computer-aided simulations, and, as a result, finally found that one of the causes is the directions of the directors of liquid crystalline molecules on the surfaces of the retardation layer contained in the retardation optical element.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lithium secondary battery comprising a cathode made by sintering a hthium-transition metal oxide and having a high battery capacity and excellent charge/discharge cycle characteristic, and a method of producing the same. 2. Description of Related Art With the popularization of cellular phones and notebook computer, the lithium secondary batteries that are capable to provide a high-energy battery density have attracted much attention. The lithium secondary battery comprises a cathode and an anode both including an active material capable of incorporating and releasing lithium ions, and a lithium ion conductive electrolytic solution or solid electrolyte. However, there is such a problem that the electrode includes such materials as a binder and an electrically conductive material that do not contribute to the battery capacity, thus resulting in a limitation to the capacity per volume of the battery. As means for increasing the capacity per volume of the battery, an attempt to make the electrode from a sintered material, which is substantially made of an active material. When the electrode is constituted from a sintered material made of an active material, no binder is included and the addition of an electrically conductive material can be elimated or reduced, thus making it possible to increase the active material filling density and increase the capacity per volume. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.8-180904 discloses a cathode made of a sintered lithium-transition metal oxide. According to this disclosure, powder of a lithium-transition metal oxide or raw material powder thereof is pressed to form a molded material by using a die, with the mold material being fired at a predetermined temperature in the presence of oxygen, thereby to obtain a sintered material. However, an electrical conductivity of the sintered material is not sufficient for the cathode, and therefore it is necessary to improve the performance further. For making the lithium secondary battery thinner, it is effective to reduce the thickness of the cathode and the anode that make up most of the thickness of the battery. In order to reduce the thickness of the cathode made of a sintered material, it is necessary to increase the surface area of the sintered material for securing a predetermined battery capacity. When the sintered material is made by the press molding, however, increasing the area of the die for the purpose of increasing the surface area of the sintered material makes it difficult to fill the cavity of the die uniformly with the powder of lithium-transition metal oxide or raw material powder thereof, resulting in unevenness of the thickness and a density of the molded material in a planer direction. As a result, sintering reaction does not proceed uniformly in the molded material, thus resulting in unevenness in the density of the sintered material in the planer direction. When such a sintered material is used as the electrode in a battery, there have been problems of a decrease in the battery capacity and poor charge/discharge cycle characteristic. In case there is a portion where sintering reaction has not progressed enough, on the other hand, bonding strength between primary particles that constitute the sintered material decreases in the portion, resulting in lower mechanical strength of the sintered material This leads to such problems, as the electrode is likely to disintegrate during charging or discharging, and a decrease in the battery capacity and poor charge/discharge cycle characteristic. In case a current collector is pressed to the sintered material of lithium-transition metal oxide to form a laminate, there is a significant contact resistance between the current collector and the sintered material, leading to a filure in improving the battery capacity and the charge/discharge cycle characteristic. To counter this problem, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.8-180904 described above discloses a method of decreasing the contact resistance by sintering the powder of a lithium-transition metal oxide or raw material powder of a lithium-transition metal oxide and, at the same time, integrating the sintered material with a current collector of aluminum. However, since sintering and integration with the current collector are carried out simultaneously, the firing temperature cannot be made sufficiently high. As a result, the sintering process tends to be insufficient thus leading to lower strength and/or lower electrical conductivity of the sintered material, resulting in insufficient improvement in the charge/discharge cycle characteristic. Also when producing a battery wherein at least the cathode is made of a sintered material, the electrode cannot be wound as in the case of the conventional coated electrode because the sintered material has a low bending strength. When an electrode unit consisting of one sintered cathode and one sintered anode is to be assembled, for example, both electrodes can be easily aligned with each other simply by stacking the cathode and the anode to oppose each other while interposing a separator therebetween. However, when a battery having an electrode unit consisting of a number of pairs of cathode and anode is to be assembled for the purpose of achieving a large battery capacity, a plurality of cathodes and anodes must be accurately aligned to oppose each other via separators. This leads to a longer period of time for stacking the electrodes and the electrode unit, or requires it to use a high precision apparatus for alignment. Also there has been such a problem that, when moving a stacking electrode unit or housing the stacking electrode unit in a battery casing after the stacking process, the electrodes are shifted from the predetermined positions, thus leading to a decrease in the area over which the mating electrodes face each other, and resulting in a decrease in the battery capacity of the completed battery. Moreover, there has been such a problem that a current collecting lead wire is required for each electrode to ensure conduction to the plurality of cathodes and the anodes, thus giving rise to the difficulty of disposing the lead wires. An object of the present invention is to provide a lithium secondary battery that, by providing a cathode of larger surface area and higher mechanical strength, has a large battery capacity and excellent charge/discharge cycle characteristic. Another object of the present invention is to provide a lithium secondary battery that, with a current collector being integrated with a sintered material of a lithium-transition metal oxide without lowering the mechanical strength and electrical conductivity thereof, has a large battery capacity and excellent charge/discharge cycle characteristic. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a lithium battery that comprises the electrode made of a plurality of sintered materials, where the cathodes and the anodes will not be shifted from the predetermined positions and high reliability is ensured. The present inventors completed the present invention by finding out that the electrical conductivity can be used as an index of the bonding strength between primary particles that constitute a sintered material when forming the sintered material of a lithium-transition metal oxide, and that sufficient mechanical strength can be obtained by using a sintered material having a high electrical conductivity. The lithium secondary battery of the present invention includes a cathode and an anode, each electrode containing an active material capable of storing and releasing lithium ions, wherein the cathode is a porous sintered material made of a lithium-transition metal oxide that has a porosity in a range from 15 to 60% and an electrical conductivity of more than 0.1 mS/cm. According to the present invention, since the porosity of the sintered material that constitutes the cathode is in a range from 15 to 60%, an electrolytic solution infiltrates sufficiently into the sintered material under such a condition that filling density of the active material is maintained at a high level. With this constitution, the internal electrical resistance can be decreased without decreasing the battery capacity. Also by sintering enough to achieve electrical conductivity of more than 0.1 mS/cm, high bonding strength between primary particles of the sintered material can be achieved so that the primary particles do not come off and the electrode does not disintegrate even when the sintered material expands and shrinks during charging and discharging cycles of the battery. High mechanical strength also makes it possible to form the cathode of larger surface area. Thus the cathode having the porosity in a range from 15 to 60% and the electrical conductivity of more than 0.1 mS/cm provides the battery with a large battery capacity and excellent charge/discharge cycle characteristic. A method of producing a lithium secondary battery including a cathode and an anode, each containing an active material capable of incorporating and releasing lithium ions according to the present invention, cathode being made by sintering the lithium-transition metal oxide at a temperature higher than the melting point of the current collector, the method includes the steps of pressing the sintered material to the current collector, and heating at a temperature lower than the melting point of the current collector so as to join the sintered material to the current collector, thereby integrating the sintered material and the current collector. Since sintering is carried out at a temperature higher than the melting point of the current collector, sintering reaction can be accelerated and therefore the strength and electrical conductivity are increased. Further, since the sintered material and the current collector are integrated at a temperature lower than the melting point of the current collector, so that the current collector is not damaged by thermal deformation, and the contact resistance can be decreased. Consequently, strength and electrical conductivity of the sintered material are improved, and the cathode having lower contact resistance improves the charge/discharge cycle characteristic. In the method of producing the lithium secondary battery according to the present invention, the step of forming the sintered material includes a) adding a binder and a solvent to a cathode material consisting of the powder of a lithium-transition metal oxide, thereby to prepare a coating solution; b) applying the coating solution to a base material and removing the solvent to form the coating film; and c) firing the coating film in the presence of oxygen to sinter the cathode material, thereby to form the sintered material. Since the coating film containing the cathode material consisting of the powder of a lithium-transition metal oxide is fired to form the sintered material, the cathode having a larger surface area and an uniformity in thickness and density can be obtained. The cathode can improve the battery capacity and cycle characteristic. The method of producing the lithium secondary battery according to the present invention is capable of forming the sintered material with a uniform thickness and pressing the sintered material to the current collector. The sintered material with uniform thickness makes it possible to press the current collector uniformly over the entire surface of the sintered material. As a result, adhesion between the sintered material and the current collector can be improved and the electrical contact resistance can be decreased without causing the sintered material to deform and crack when pressing. The lithium battery of the present invention is a battery comprising a stacked electrode formed of a multilayered electrode unit which includes cathodes and anodes piled via a separator and has strip-shaped current collector, wherein at least the cathodes are sintered materials which are aligned on and joined to one of the current collectors and spaced from one another at bending portions defined by desirable intervals on the current collector, and the cathodes and the anodes are disposed in the stacked electrode, with each anode opposed to the respective cathode. The cathodes and the anodes are accurately aligned so that the electrodes will not be shifted from the predetermined positions, and a current collection can be easily made since providing only one lead wire for each of the cathodes and the anodes suffices, and therefore a lithium secondary battery of high reiability can be achieved. The battery including the stacked electrode described above is produced by a method, which includes the step of forming at least a cathode electrode sheet, on at least one side of the strip-shaped current collector, having a plurality of sintered material electrodes aligned on and joined thereto and spaced from one another at bending portions defined by desirable intervals on the current collector; the step of bending the stack which includes the cathode electrode sheet and an anode electrode sheet piled via a separator so that each cathode oppose the respective anode; and the step of housing the stack in a battery casing.

This invention relates generally to arrowheads, and more particularly to aerodynamically favorable arrowheads such as pivotal blade arrowheads and blade-opening arrowheads that have a sharp cutting edge located upon their arrowhead bodies at a location forward of a corresponding main cutting blade cutting edge when in a penetrating configuration such that each arrowhead cuts target material in front of a corresponding main cutting blade when penetrating a target so as to eliminate the frictional drag that the otherwise dull arrowhead bodies would generate with the target before the main cutting blades began cutting target material thereinfront.

The present disclosure relates to the generation of queries used to obtain results from databases. Systems and databases can handle requests for data, such as database queries. For example, a query that is entered by a user, or a query that is formulated based on user inputs or based on other inputs, can be generated and run against a relational database, such as using a relational database management system (RDBMS). In some cases, queries can be formulated at runtime. Depending on the inputs on which the queries are based, the queries can be very complex. For example, a complex query can result from information associated with end user input such as large objects (LOBs). In some cases, queries can contain, for example, complex combinations of unions and joins of multiple database tables or stacked combinations of modeled data sources that potentially make a query complex. Regardless of the complexity of a query, an end user may expect a result and a prompt response from an associated system that handles the query.

The present invention pertains to archery bows, and more particularly relates to apparatus mounted to the bow for stabilizing the arrow and improving the range, accuracy, and speed of the arrow during the shooting process. Modern archery has become a highly skilled and specialized activity irrespective of whether one engages in the sport for pleasure or competition. Numerous refinements in the design and construction of archery bows, as well as accessories for attachment thereto, have been developed in order to enhance the range, accuracy, and speed of shot arrows. Among the devices developed for improving archery shooting are various types of arrow support devices which are mounted at the mid-point of the bow, and are used to maintain and support the arrow's horizontal orientation during the process of loading the arrow onto or within the arrow support device, drawing the bowstring back, and then releasing the arrow at the target. The factors that must be considered in archery shooting include the type and poundage of the archery bow, the distance and position of the target, and the length and weight (measured in grains) of the particular arrow being used. The prior art discloses a number of devices for utilization in archery shooting. Among these devices are U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,311 (Phares), which discloses an apparatus for holding a drawn arrow and then releasing the arrow after the bow is pulled back slightly beyond the position in which it is held. The Phares device includes a support secured to the bow which carries a movable arrow-holding bar. The bar includes a point-receiving indentation for receiving the arrow point. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,773 (Hintze, et al.) discloses an arrow rest mounted behind the bow handle and which includes a yoke mounted to the rear portion of the arrow rest. The yoke is pivotally and adjustably mounted thereto and defines an opening in which the arrow is mounted. A pair of pedestals are mounted to the yoke and extend into the opening for supporting the arrow. A resilient retaining member extends into the opening opposite the pedestals and is positioned to limit lateral movement of the arrow during rest and flight. U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,450 (Jacobson) discloses an apparatus for supporting an arrow on an archery bow. The Jacobson patent includes three adjustable resilient finger members circumferentially adjustable on an annular frame member for supporting the arrow. Although the above devices display ingenuity in helping the archer achieve maximum shooting proficiency, there remains a need for an arrow support device which is readily adaptable and adjustable to arrows of various lengths and weights, which facilitates accurate, long-range arrow shooting, and which is adaptable to various types of archery bows.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of executing an installed application program. 2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-156862 discusses a digital multifunction peripheral including a degeneration unit configured to invalidate, when some of its functions cannot be used due to a failure or the like, the functions, to operate the other functions that can be used. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-249814 discusses constructing another execution environment directed toward a built-in system, e.g., an execution environment such as Java (registered trademark) on a real-time operating system (OS) in an image processing apparatus or the like, and downloading an application program from outside and executing the downloaded application program. The application programs to be downloaded and executed, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-249814, include one having a function relating to security such as user authentication and one having an account function for counting use statuses of the image processing apparatus. When a secondary storage function (e.g., a hard disk drive) in the image processing apparatus cannot be used, the downtime of the image processing apparatus is lengthened in a configuration in which an error screen is unconditionally displayed to call a service engineer, i.e., a configuration in which a user cannot use the image processing apparatus. On the other hand, when the image processing apparatus continues to be used by invalidating the secondary storage function, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-156862, functions of the downloaded application program cannot be used. If the application program provides a function relating to security such as a user authentication function, for example, it is not desirable for security reasons that the image processing apparatus can be used in a situation where the function is not validated. If the application program provides the account function for counting use statuses of the image processing apparatus, for example, the image processing apparatus can be used in a situation where the function is not validated. Thus, the use statuses of the image processing apparatus cannot be correctly counted. When a function required to manage the image processing apparatus cannot be provided by performing a degeneration operation, therefore, the image processing apparatus may not correctly operate.

In manufacturing an electronic device such as, for example, a semiconductor device, a plasma processing (e.g., a plasma etching) may be performed on a workpiece. The plasma processing is performed using a plasma processing apparatus. In plasma processing apparatus, a gas is supplied into a chamber provided by a chamber body, and the gas is excited by a plasma source. Thus, plasma is generated in the chamber, and the workpiece supported by a sample table is processed by ions and/or radicals in the plasma. As one type of such a plasma processing apparatus, there is a type having a rotation drive device that rotates the sample table about a plasma lead-out direction as an axis and a tilt drive device that tilts the sample table with respect to the plasma lead-out direction. Such a plasma processing apparatus is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In the plasma processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the sample table is attached to a rotating body, and the rotating body extends to the inside of a hermetically sealed container. The rotation drive device is provided inside the container.

Power MOS transistors are the most commonly used power electronic elements in power conversion devices. In order to reduce the power transistor switching loss of the power conversion device, a faster power transistor is proposed. In order to achieve better conversion efficiency, generally, the driving resistance of the power transistor may be adjusted, the resistance value of the driving resistor may be lowered, and the driving current may be increased, so as to achieve smaller switching loss, and elevate the efficiency of the conversion device. However, the negative effect of increasing the power transistor conduction time and elevating the power transistor conducting speed is that the surge of the secondary side power element of the conversion device may increase at the time of cutoff, and the surge voltage may increase significantly with the increase of the input voltage of the conversion device, even exceeding the rated voltage of the power transistor itself, in addition, the surge voltage may cause the electromagnetic interference which reduces the efficiency of the power conversion device. Therefore, how to control the driving capability of the power transistor effectively, elevate the efficiency of the power conversion device, and lower the electromagnetic interference, are problems to be improved in the field.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Referring now to FIG. 1, an amplifier 10 includes a first module 12 that can be characterized by a first transfer function z=f1(x), where x is an independent variable such as frequency, current, voltage, and the like, and z is an output signal. The amplifier 10 includes a second module 14 that can be characterized by a second transfer function y=f2(z), where y is a dependent variable such as frequency, current, voltage, and the like. At least one of the first function f1 and the second function f2 may be non-linear and/or dependent on a third independent variable, such as time, temperature, and the like. Therefore, it can be challenging to calibrate or otherwise predict an overall total transfer function y=f(x) of amplifier 10 as the third variable changes. Referring now to FIG. 2A, a programmable gain amplifier 20 is shown that behaves in accordance with generic amplifier 10 of FIG. 1. A programmable current source 22 corresponds to first module 12 and generates a programming current Igm based on an input signal Vcontrol. A differential amplifier 24 corresponds to second module 14 and has a gain A=vout/vin that is based on the programming current Igm. FIG. 2B shows a functional block diagram of programmable gain amplifier 20. Referring now to FIG. 2C, a first plot 30 shows an unscaled characteristic curve of programmable current source 22 and a second plot 32 shows an unscaled characteristic curve of differential amplifier 24. First plot 30 shows that if all other variables are held constant, then the programming current Igm is more sensitive to temperature changes at higher temperatures T than at lower temperatures T. Second plot 32 shows that if all other variables are held constant, then the gain A is more sensitive to temperature changes at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. The opposite characteristics of these temperature sensitivities can make it challenging to control the gain of amplifier 20 as its temperature varies.

The present invention relates to bubble level based tiltmeters, and has particular relation to apparatus for compensating for the effects of temperature variations in the fluid containing the sensed bubble. In the tiltmeter, just as in a carpenter's level, the position of a bubble against a curved upper surface is used either as part of a feedback loop to level the apparatus, or as a measurement device to determine how far from level the apparatus is. Whereas in a carpenter's level, the position of the bubble is measured by comparing it against marks in the glass container, in the tiltmeter, platinum electrodes and an electrically conductive fluid are used (typical composition is a potassium iodide electrolyte in an ethyl alcohol solution). An electrode is placed at the bottom center of the tiltmeter with other electrodes placed on the top surface. When the tiltmeter is tilted all the way to the left, the bubble will completely cover an electrode located across the right top surface, and no current can get through to it from the bottom electrode. If the tiltmeter is tilted all the way to the right, a left top surface electrode will be similarly isolated. When the tiltmeter is level, the bubble will lie between the top electrodes, and both will be in electrical contact with the central electrode. If the top electrodes are made sufficiently large, the bubble will cover more or less of each of these electrodes as the tiltmeter tilts, and this variation in bubble position will result in a corresponding variation in the conductance between the bottom electrode and each of the top electrodes. This conductance can be measured with very high precision, allowing correspondingly high precision in the measurement of how far from horizontal the tiltmeter has tilted. However, bubble level based tiltmeters are temperature sensitive, showing different amounts of indicated tilt for the same actual tilt measured at different temperatures. There are two sources of this temperature sensitivity. First, the conductivity of the fluid changes with temperature. This affects the output of the tiltmeter directly. Second, and less directly, the viscosity of the fluid changes with temperature. This has less importance in a semi-static situation, where only the long term tilt is of interest (for example, on an earthquake fault or on the side of a volcano which is subject to eruption). However, when short term tilt is of interest (to obtain a measure of the magnitude of the ongoing event), the term being short enough to be considered a low frequency (or even high frequency) oscillation, the amplitude of the bubble's oscillation is viscosity dependent: a bubble in a high viscosity fluid, and in a container subjected to an oscillation, will have a greater excursion from vertical, and thus a lesser excursion from the center point of the tiltmeter than will a bubble in a low viscosity fluid.

1. Field of the Invention The field of the present invention relates to a disposable dispensing cartridge of the type adapted to be releasably received in an applicator having a movable plunger. More particularly, the field of the present invention is directed to a disposable dispensing cartridge that is especially suitable for dispensing liquid compositions having a relatively low viscosity. 2. Description of the Related Art A number of dispensing devices are available for dispensing various types of materials. In many instances, the dispensing device is an assembly that includes a reusable dispenser or applicator and a disposable cartridge. The cartridge contains a quantity of a composition or material to be dispensed and is releasably received in a receptacle of the applicator. In some dispensing assemblies that include an applicator and a cartridge, the applicator has a plunger that is advanced by the user during a dispensing operation. Often, the plunger is received in an open end of the cartridge and bears against a piston within the cartridge. As the plunger is advanced to move the piston, the piston expels a quantity of material through a front outlet opening of the cartridge. Dispensing devices that include a reusable applicator and a disposable cartridge are favored in many instances, especially in instances where the applicator is relatively expensive in comparison to the cost of the cartridge. For example, many applicators have a movable lever or arm for facilitating advancement of the plunger. Some applicators have a ratchet mechanism associated with the lever for enhancing control over movement of the plunger. Obviously, it is desirable to reuse such applicators in order to reduce costs and avoid disposal issues. Dispensing devices with disposable cartridges are often used in the field of dentistry for dispensing dental compositions such as restoratives, adhesives, cements, etching gels, sealants and the like. In some instances, the cartridge and the front portion of the applicator receiving the cartridge are relatively small so that the cartridge can be readily maneuvered in the oral cavity during a dispensing operation. In that manner, the dental material contained in the cartridge may be conveniently dispensed directly onto the tooth structure as needed. Examples of hand-held applicators (also called dispensers or ejector-type guns) that have been used in dentistry are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,198,756, 4,391,590 and 4,472,141. Examples of cartridges (also known as capsules) useful with those applicators are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,391,590, 4,767,326, 5,100,320 and 5,624,260. In the field of dentistry, dispensing cartridges are often relatively small and adapted to be used with a single patient. The cartridge is disposed of after the procedure has been accomplished and the applicator is disinfected before use with another cartridge for a subsequent patient. In this manner, the risk of transferring an infectious disease from one patient to another is substantially reduced. Many of the dental applicators and disposable cartridges that are presently commercially available are used to dispense relatively thick, semi-liquid compositions having a medium or mid-range viscosity ranging from, for example, the viscosity of mayonnaise to a stiff putty. The dental hand-held applicators described in the patents mentioned above include a movable lever that provides a substantial mechanical advantage over movement of the plunger which, in turn, is sufficient to advance the piston in the cartridge and force the composition in the cartridge through a relatively small outlet opening. The substantial mechanical advantage provided by the lever of the applicator is an advantage in those circumstances, because it enables the dental practitioner to dispense the composition directly to a precise location in the oral cavity without undue effort and by use of only one hand. Unfortunately, the dental applicators and disposable cartridges mentioned in the preceding paragraph are not satisfactory for use in dispensing liquid compositions having a relatively low viscosity such as a viscosity similar to the viscosity of water or milk. In dispensing compositions having relatively low viscosities, the mechanical advantage provided by the applicators mentioned above greatly hinders precise control over the amount of material discharged from the cartridge, since a slight movement of the piston may result in squirting of the composition out of the cartridge. As can be appreciated, such lack of control in dental procedures represents a significant disadvantage that is best avoided. As a result, it has become common practice for dental practitioners to select some other type of applicator and dispensing method for dispensing dental compositions having a relatively low viscosity. Often, such compositions are dispensed into a mixing well from a squeezable vial, from a syringe or from another type of applicator, such as the applicator shown in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,437. In those instances, it is common practice for the practitioner to use a small brush, swab or other similar device to transfer the composition from the mixing well to the patient's dental structures (i.e., the patient's teeth and/or gingiva). However, the use of the mixing well and brush or swab device as described in the previous paragraph is not entirely satisfactory, in that the steps of dispensing the composition into the well and then transferring the composition from the well to the patient's dental structure is more time-consuming than the act of simply dispensing the liquid composition from a container directly onto the patient's dental structure. Also, there is a risk that the composition may drop off of the brush or swab during convenyance between the well and the dental structure. In addition, the brush or swab device and often the mixing well are intended for use with only a single patient, presenting an issue of disposal. Furthermore, there is a slight risk that the composition may be contaminated and/or contacted by the practitioner while sitting in the open well. As a consequence, there is a need in the art for a new system that is especially adapted for dispensing precise quantities of compositions having a relatively low viscosity. Preferably, such a system would be useful in the dental arts so that liquid compositions may be dispensed directly onto the teeth and/or gingiva of a dental patient if desired. Moreover, it would be beneficial for such systems to be usable with conventional, well-known applicators so that the operator may dispense the composition and use the applicator with familiar techniques.

Until fairly recently, the preferred, indeed the only means by which to display information in the electronic medium was to use a video monitor comprising a cathode ray tube ("CRT"). CRT technology has been well known for over 50 years, and has gained widespread commercial acceptance in applications ranging from desktop computer modules to home televisions and industrial applications. CRTs are essentially large vacuum tubes having one substantially planar surface upon which information is displayed. Coated on the inside surface of the CRT is a layer of phosphorous which respond by emitting light when struck by electrons emitted from the electron gun of the CRT. The electron gun is disposed in an elongated portion which extends away from the inside surface of the display surface of the CRT. While CRTs are widely used in numerous applications, there are several inherent limitations to the application of CRT technology. For example, CRTs are relatively large and consume a great deal of energy. Moreover, as there are fabricated of glass, the larger they get the heavier they get. Given the need for the electron gun to be spacedly disposed from the phosphorous surface of the display surface, CRTs have a substantial depth dimension and width dimensions thereof. Accordingly, CRTs are absolutely of no value for a small and portable applications, such as Walkmen, laptop computers, and other increasingly portable electronic applications which require the use of displays. To answer the needs of the marketplace for smaller, more portable display devices, manufacturers have created numerous types of flat panel display devices. Examples of flat panel display devices include active matrix liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, and electroluminescent displays. Each of these types of displays has use for a particular market application, though each are accompanied by various limitations which make them less than ideal for certain applications. Principal limitations inherent in devices such as AMLCDs relate to the fact that they are fabricated predominantly of inorganic semiconductor materials by semiconductor fabrication processes. These materials and processes are extremely expensive, and due to the complexity of the manufacturing process, cannot be reliably manufactured in high yields. Accordingly, the costs of these devices are very high with no promise of immediate cost reduction. One preferred type of device which is currently receiving substantial research effort is the organic electroluminescent devices. Organic electroluminescent devices ("OED") are generally composed of a plurality of layers of organic molecules sandwiched between transparent, conductive and/or metallic conductive electrodes. There are typically three organic layers which include an electron transporting layer, an emissive layer, and a hole transporting layer. Charge carriers, i.e., electron and holes, inject from either the electron or hole transporting layers, and combine in the emissive layer. Electrons are negatively charged atomic particles and holes are the positively charged counterparts. There are several variations in OED structures, depending upon where the emissive layer is positioned. Tsutsui, et al proposed three OED cell structures: SH-A, SH-B, and DH. (T. Tsutsui, et al, Photochem. Processes Organ. Mol. Syst., Proc. Meml. Conf. Late Professor Shigeo Tazuke, 437-50 (1991)). SH-A cells are successively composed of a plurality of layers including Mg-Ag as a cathode electrode, an electron transporting layer (ETL), a hole transporting layer (HTL), and indium tin oxide or ITO as the anode electrode. The region of the ETL close to the HTL is doped with an efficient, thermally stable fluorescent dye to act as the emitter region or layer. An SH-B type cell likewise comprises a Mg--Ag as a cathode electrode, an ETL, an HTL, and ITO as the anode electrode. However, unlike the SH-A, the region of the HTL close to the ETL is doped with an efficient, thermally stable fluorescent dye to act as the emitter region or layer. Finally, the DH type of display again comprises Mg--Ag as a cathode electrode, an ETL, a HTL, and ITO as the anode electrode. The emitter region or layer in a DH cell is a discrete layer of an emitter material operatively disposed between the ETL and the HTL. U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 to VanSlyke, et al, is among the first to disclose an SH-A type display with a hole injecting and luminescent zone. Subsequent patents to VanSlyke and others have disclosed devices and materials which are adapted to provide OEDs which lumenese in the blue to blue-green portions of the spectrum. In this regard, reference is made to, among others, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,150,006, 5,141,671, 5,151,629, and 5,153,073. Commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/660,014, filed Jun. 6, 1996, and entitled "ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENCE DEVICE WITH EMISSION FROM HOLE TRANSPORTING LAYER", discloses an efficient SH-B type of OED, where, with proper selection of the ETL and HTL materials, efficient light emission is obtained from the HTL. To realize the disclosed structure, an efficient emissive hole transporting material, which can fluoresce well in the blue to green region of the spectrum, i.e., 450-550 nanometers (nm), is required. Accordingly, there exists a need for emissive hole transporting materials for use as the hole transporting layer in OEDs. The material should be relatively inexpensive and easy to fabricate as well as being conducive to manufacturing in the current OED manufacturing process. The device should have good thermal stability, and be capable of operating at voltages which are within the range of those generally accepted for OEDs, and fluoresce will in the blue to blue-green region of the spectrum.

The present invention is in the field of semiconductor manufacturing and more specifically relates to improvements in apparatus for handling semiconductor wafers as they are carried through a planarizing machine. As supplied to the planarizing machine, the surface of a wafer may exhibit departures from flatness. Typically, 25 wafers are loaded into a cassette which is hand carried to a complex machine called a planarizer. The purpose of the planarizer is to render the front surface of the wafer flat to within a fraction of a micron. After each wafer has been rendered flat, the planarizer inserts it into a cassette. When the cassette is full, it may be removed from the planarizer and transported to any of a number of other processing machines. The present invention cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of the operation of the planarizer. Once the cassette containing typically 25 pre-processed wafers has been inserted into the planarizer, the operation of the planarizer in processing the wafers is completely autonomous. The operations are carried out under control of a computer that controls the application of power to various actuators in response to sensed inputs in a time-coordinated manner. In order for its lengthy program of operations to be carried out without mishap, it is important that means be provided to interrupt the accumulation of positional errors. It can also be appreciated that the wafers must be handled carefully to avoid scratching the processed surfaces which are so fragile that they are never again touched by human hands. The present invention can best be understood by following a typical wafer as it is moved through the planarizer. The wafer is extracted from the cassette by a portion of the planarizer called a robot. The robot carries the wafer to a fixed location known as the load station. After the robot has deposited the wafer at the load station and has moved out of the way, a different part (called a spindle carrier) moves into position above the wafer and acquires it. The spindle carrier transports the wafer to a rotating polishing platen and rotates the wafer while holding it in contact with the rotating polishing platen until the wafer has been rendered flat. Thereafter, the spindle lifts the wafer from the polishing platen and transports it back to the load station where the wafer is rinsed. After the spindle carrier has deposited the wafer at the load station and has moved out of the way, the robot picks up the polished wafer and carries it to a cassette and deposits the wafer in the cassette. Throughout these operations, the wafer is maintained in a horizontal position with the side that is to be polished facing downward. That downward facing side of the wafer is also referred to as the front side of the wafer. The path of an individual wafer through the planarizer will be depicted in greater detail below. Upon reflection it will be seen that the main purpose of the load station is to accurately center the wafer into the carrier notwithstanding the errors in their relative positions as they enter the load station. In addition to centering the wafer with respect to the carrier, the load station performs a number of useful ancillary functions. The load station includes provision for sensing the presence of the wafer at the load station, for rinsing the wafer, for lifting the wafer into the carrier, and for supporting the processed wafer on cushions of water to avoid direct contact. Thus, the load station serves several other functions in addition to centering the wafer with respect to the carrier. A wafer that has been deposited at the load station reposes in a horizontal attitude on cushions of purified water that are produced by three upwardly-directed nozzles affixed to a load ring, which is free to slide laterally on a horizontal base. Initially, the wafer is not centered within the load ring and the load ring is not centered with respect to the vertical axis of the spindle carrier. One objective of the present invention is to eliminate these centering errors. In accordance with the present invention this is accomplished through the provision of a load ring assembly that is driven by the spindle carrier as it descends from an initial position above the load ring assembly. The load ring assembly includes, in addition to the load ring, at least three centering tabs spaced around the periphery of the load ring and hinged to the load ring by hinges having axes that are horizontal and tangential to the load ring. These centering tabs are yieldingly biased to an open position in which certain inwardly-facing surfaces of the centering tabs diverge upwardly. As the spindle carrier descends, it pushes downwardly on an upper surface of the load ring, overcoming the biasing force to cause the centering tabs to pivot in such a way that the aforementioned inwardly-facing surfaces converge to a vertical attitude. As the inwardly-facing surfaces converge, they contact the periphery of the spindle carrier, centering the load ring with respect to it, and they also contact the edge of the hovering wafer, centering the wafer with respect to the load ring. Because the wafer is centered with respect to the load ring and the load ring is centered with respect to the spindle carrier, it follows that the wafer is centered with respect to the spindle carrier. In accordance with the present invention, the upwardly-directed nozzles that form the liquid cushions on which the wafer reposes are affixed to the load ring, so as not to disturb the cushions as the load ring is pushed downward by the descending spindle carrier. The presence of the wafer on the liquid cushions produced by the upwardly-directed nozzles slightly impedes the flow of the purified water from the nozzles, causing an increase in the pressure in the conduits that feed the nozzles. In accordance with the present invention, this pressure increase is sensed by a pressure sensor and serves to indicate the presence of a wafer. When the wafer is absent, a lower pressure prevails, and the sensed lower pressure serves to indicate the absence of a wafer from the load station. After the above-described centering procedure has been completed, the wafer must be acquired by the spindle carrier and rinsed. In accordance with the present invention, this is accomplished by the provision of a unique upwardly-directed nozzle located below the wafer and centered with respect to it. A spool-like portion of this nozzle discharges purified water against the underside of the wafer, rinsing it from the center outwardly, and lifting the wafer on a cushion of purified water. The spool-like portion then rises, carrying the wafer upward on the liquid cushion until the wafer comes into contact with a vacuum pad located on the underside of the spindle carrier, where the wafer is acquired by the suction of the vacuum pad, which holds the wafer to the spindle carrier. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

1. Field of Invention This invention relates generally to work transfer systems and more particularly to an automated system in which a robot running on a rail along the front side of a work bench having an assembly of processing tanks at various positions thereon, acts to convey a work basket in a programmed sequence to each of the tanks, the robot acting to properly orient the work basket with respect to each tank before the basket is immersed therein. 2. Prior Art By using diffusion techniques it is now possible to fabricate transistors and diodes as well as resistors and capacitors within a single wafer of silicon to create integrated circuits. The manufacture of microelectronic devices entails sequences of photolithography, etching and critical cleaning processes. For the most part, these have heretofore been carried out manually at wet chemistry work benches. In the usual manufacturing procedure, batches of substrates or silicon wafers are carried in "boats" and transferred from one chemical tank to another by a human operator who adjusts the conditions prevailing in each tank and also determines the periods during which the boat dwells in the respective tanks for treatment therein. While automated transfer operations are now commonplace in many industrial processes including electroplating, there are a number of practical factors which have heretofore militated against the introduction of automation in the processing of microelectronic devices. A major factor is that the value of the microelectronic devices is high relative to the cost of labor involved in making these parts. Thus the introduction of automated work transfer mechanisms to reduce labor costs may not be economically justified, particularly when one takes into account the capital investment dictated by automated equipment. But other factors now come into play which have little to do with the cost effectiveness of replacing manual operations with automated work transfer mechanisms. As microelectronic devices become increasingly complex and sophisticated, the associated wet chemistry procedures are rendered even more critical. As a consequence, the variables and human errors incidental to manual operation can no longer be tolerated, for repeatability and consistency are now the primary desiderata. Hence, these considerations may override the cost effectiveness factor. Though efforts have been made to automate work transfer operations in wet chemistry processing of microelectronic devices, they have had limited success, largely because of certain environmental problems. Many of the chemical processing tanks used in micro device and wafer processing act to discharge corrosive vapors into the work area in the region immediately above the process tanks. Since the hoist is for the most part required to operate within this corrosive environment, the freely moving, unanchored hoist type of work transfer mechanism such as are employed in the printed circuit board plating industry have not been readily adaptable to this very different and specialized type of use. Instead, fixed-sequence transfer mechanisms have been quite widely used. These enjoy the advantage of lesser vulnerability to the corrosive environment by reason of the reduced complexity of that part of the mechanism which is exposed to the environment. However, they suffer from the limitation that work transfer takes place only between two immediately adjacent tanks. In general, a single, common processing cycle time must be used. As a consequence, the corrosive nature of the environment associated with many of the wet chemistry processes in microelectronic device and wafer fabrication has hitherto tended to discourage the use of an unanchored, horizontally-free tracking hoist or robot in this industry. In my above-identified copending application whose entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, a work transfer system is disclosed in which a robot is provided having a hand adapted to grasp the handle of the basket and to manipulate the basket in accordance with programmed instructions, whereby the basket may be made to carry work in any desired sequence along a row of processing tanks disposed on a work bench. In that system, the entire transfer mechanism, but for the robot and hand its supporting arms, lies outside of the corrosive environment and need not, therefore, be protected against corrosion. In my prior transfer system, a rail is disposed adjacent the front side of the work bench in parallel relation to the uniform row of tanks thereon. Riding on this rail is a robot having a pair of vertical shafts extending upwardly therefrom, the shafts being supported on an elevator platform disposed within this robot. A pair of arms are cantilevered from the upper ends of these shafts, the arms extending over the work bench. The extremities of these arms are pivotally connected to a cross piece from whose center depends a rod terminating in a hand adapted to engage the handle of the work basket. In operation, when the robot is instructed to carry the work basket to a selected tank, the robot is caused to travel on the rail to a position at which the hand and the basket borne thereby are in general alignment with this tank. At this point, the shafts are rotated to angle the cross piece and thereby turn the rod carrying the hand to orient the work basket so that it is properly oriented with respect to the selected tank therebelow. And by then operating the robot elevator, one may lower the work basket into the tank for processing, and later lift the basket from the tank, so that the basket can then be transferred to another processing tank on the work bench. There are, however, some work bench tank set-ups for which my prior system is unsuited. Thus, where instead of a single uniform row of tanks as in my copending application, there is more than one row of such tanks on the bench; or where instead of a uniform row, the tanks are randomly dispersed or are not oriented in the same direction, the complex motions then required of the work transfer system to properly orient the basket with respect to a given tank cannot be executed. In my prior system, the length of the cantilever arms cannot be automatically adjusted to effect a fore and aft movement of the work basket toward or away from either long side of the work bench. Thus if one tank is close to the robot which runs on a rail parallel to the front side of the bench and another tank is more distant from the robot, my prior system is incapable of transferring the basket from the first to the second tank.

The active domain of many proteins may in some cases be mimicked at least in part through the use of short peptide sequences derived from the active site of the protein (Massia and Hubbell, 1991, Yamada, 1991). Through this method, the activity of a specific protein can be conferred to an otherwise nonactive surface or matrix. This method allows a much higher concentration of active sequences to be immobilized onto a surface than is found naturally. While many peptides have been shown to have a monotonic correlation between density and cellular activity, other peptides are known to reach a maximum activity at a moderate level of peptide density. The best example is migration of cells on a surface coated with RGD (SEQ ID NO:2). If the concentration of RGD (SEQ ID NO:2) is too high, the surface binds too strongly to the cells, inhibiting cellular migration. However, if the RGD (SEQ ID NO:2) density is too low, then there is not enough traction for these cells to effectively migrate across the surface, leading to a maximal migration rate at a moderate surface concentration of peptide. (DiMilla, et al., 1991) Unfortunately, there is not very much research of the concentration dependent effect of these peptides in a three dimensional matrix. It is not possible to predict which peptides will show saturating behavior and it is not possible to predict at what peptide concentration maximal benefits will be observed. While individual peptides can partially mimic the effect of the whole protein, the magnitude of this effect is typically lower. This is due to several reasons, including possible changes in conformation, peptide accessibility and changes in solubility between the peptide and the protein. One additional difference is that the interaction between cells and individual proteins or entire extracellular matrix involve simultaneously binding to multiple peptide sequences. (Martin, 1987, Kleinman, et al., 1993) Sometimes these sequences are on the same protein, but often they are on different proteins. In general it is not possible to predict which combinations might interact negatively, which might interact additively and which might interact synergistically. Reports in the literature relate to findings that heparin-binding domains of proteins as well as receptor-mediated binding domains promote neuron adhesion and neurite extension. Many heparin binding domains have been identified (Table 1) and furthermore, haparin binding regions of several proteins such as neural cell adhesion molecule, fibronectin, laminin, midkine, and anti-thrombin III have been reported to promote neurite extension on two-dimensional surfaces. (Edgar, et al., 1984, Borrajo, et al., 1997, Kallapur and Akeson, 1992, Kaneda, et al., 1996, Rogers, et al., 1985) These heparin-binding domains have been reported by indirect evidence to interact with cell-surface proteoglycans by a number of methods including inhibition by soluble heparin, enzymatic removal of cell surface proteoglycans, and biochemical inhibition of proteoglycan synthesis (Kallapur and Akeson, 1992). These peptides have only been studies in 2-dimensional systems.

The present disclosure relates generally to inductors of the type having multiple planar windings composed of a layer of ultra-thick metal (UTM) with an aluminum (AL) layer stacked thereon. More particularly, the present disclosure concerns an inductor of this type which has an optimize quality factor (Q), preferably a higher Q. The present disclosure also concerns a method for making such an inductor.

Current solutions for managing electronic forms of media (e.g., music files, video files, text files, etc.) include software programs that can enable a user to browse, purchase, and/or download electronic forms of media. While such computer programs can be helpful in obtaining and managing electronic media, such computer programs can also suffer from various deficiencies. For instance, some media management programs require a significant number of image files to operate properly, which can require a significant time to install, can increase the risk that some images files will not be installed or upgraded properly, and can increase the risk that some images will be displayed improperly if, for example, a user intentionally, or unintentionally, changes one or more images.

Proper nutrition is a key element to maintaining animal health and to increasing the overall productivity of animals. This is especially true for farm animals such as cattle (beef cattle, dairy cattle, etc.), swine, sheep, and the like. An important element of a nutritionally balanced diet are minerals and other components such as a suitable nitrogen source. Although some minerals may be inherently included in bulk animal feed (e.g., alfalfa, grain material, etc.), it is often desirable to supplement the bulk feed with additional minerals and other nutrients to provide optimum animal performance and health. In the past, the mineral and/or nitrogen content of animal feed has been supplemented by adding minerals to the animal feed at the time of feeding in the form of a granule added to the feed. This was traditionally done by spreading the minerals over the top of the animal feed in the feeding area. The minerals were often much smaller than the bulk feed and thus tended to migrate to the bottom of the feeder before the animal could eat it. Also, the animals often eat the feed in a way that scatters the minerals around the area, which further reduces the amount of minerals the animals intake. Because of these and other factors, the amount of minerals that the animal received varied widely from one feeding to the next. The health and/or performance of the animals suffered as a result. One way to make the mineral supplement more suitable for the animal to eat is to pellet the mineral supplement. Unfortunately, a mineral pellet is difficult to produce using conventional pelleting equipment because, during pelleting, the minerals tend to score the surface of the die and may even plug the die. This is especially true for mineral pellets having a high mineral content. Also, pellets having a high mineral content were often crumbly and generally considered low quality—so much so that they were of little use as an animal feed. It would be desirable to provide a mineral supplement having a high concentration of a mineral source and/or nitrogen source. A mineral supplement of this nature requires less material to be processed to provide the same nutritional value as other lower mineral concentration supplements. Thus, the processing of the mineral supplement is made more efficient. In addition, mineral supplements with higher mineral concentrations can be transported and sold in bulk while reducing capacity requirements of storage facilities and shipping containers. A mineral supplement is described herein which typically has an elevated mineral source and/or nitrogen source concentration that is capable of being processed in a conventional pellet mill.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the measurement of ultrasonic waves and, more particularly, to an improved interferometric technique for providing sensitive, stable and accurate measurements of ultrasonic wave intensity. 2. Description of the Prior Art Reference is made to copending United States patent application Ser. No. 558,468, filed Mar. 14, 1975 by Mezrich et al. (which issued July 13, 1976 as U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,578), and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and to U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,826, issued Feb. 13, 1973 to Green. These references disclose interferometric systems for visually displaying the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the intensity of ultrasonic wave energy passing through a predetermined area of a liquid ultrasonic wave propagation medium. The interferometers employed by these systems incorporate a displaceable signal mirror and a rigid reference mirror. The displaceable signal mirror, which is situated at the predetermined area of the propagating medium, is insonified by the two-dimensional spatial distribution of ultrasonic wave energy passing through the predetermined area. The displacement of the signal mirror at any point thereof is a measure of the intensity of the ultrasonic wave insonifying that point. Thus, the spatial distribution of the displacement amplitude from point to point over the area of the surface of the signal mirror is an analog of the spatial distribution of the ultrasonic wave energy itself over the area covered thereby. The displacement amplitudes to be measured are extremely small. For instance, the displacement amplitude of a 1.5 MHz acoustic wave of 5 nanowatts/cm.sup.2 power density is less than one picometer. Such tiny signal displacement amplitudes are many times smaller than random drift displacement due to such uncontrollable factors as air currents, thermal expansion and contraction of optical elements, etc., as well as variations from optical flatness in optical elements. As is known, the sensitivity of an interferometer varies in a sinusoidal manner from substantially zero, when the phase difference between the two interfering output waves is either zero or .pi., to a maximum, when the phase difference between the two interfering ouput waves is either .pi./2 or 3.pi./2. Therefore, random drift displacement, discussed above, creates a problem of relatively large random change in sensitivity, which, if not solved, prevents the measurement of the relatively tiny signal displacement amplitudes. The aforesaid U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 558,469 solves this problem by (1) wiggling the round-trip optical path length from the interferometer reference beam by more than one-half wavelength of the interferometer coherent light at a relatively low (25 kHz) frequency compared to the ultrasonic wave frequency (1.5 MHz), and (2) peak detecting only the high frequency (ultrasonic wave frequency) component of the interferometer output over a time interval which is at least equal to one-half of a wiggling cycle. This provides a constant sensitivity for each successive wiggling half-period, despite any random drift that might have occurred during that half-period, so long as the ultrasonic wave energy persists for at least the duration of that wiggling half-period. Since the sensitivity is constant, the peak detected output signal always remains substantially proportional to the relatively tiny ultrasonic wave displacement amplitude. The acoustic to optical image converter disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,826 also wiggles the round-trip optical pathlength of an interferometer reference beam. However, in this case, the high frequency component is not peak detected (which always occurs at a point of maximum sensitivity regardless of just when during a wiggling cycle a point of maximum sensitivity occurs), but, instead, is demodulated to provide a detected output proportional to the average (rather than peak) sensitivity during the wiggling cycle. Unless the dynamic random drift which occurs during a wiggling cycle is negligible, the average sensitivity is not constant, but varies from one wiggling cycle to the next. In order to reduce this variation in sensitivity, the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,826 suggests employing a synchronous demodulator in which the phase of the reference beam is caused to differ by 90.degree. between each of two successive image scans of superposed fields. The display of the sum of the intensities of such successive image scans is stated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,826 to be a faithful analog of the acoustic field at the signal mirror.