Datasets:

suolyer

/

pile_uspto

like 0

This invention relates to an aqueous alkaline cell with a cathode mixture comprising silver copper oxide AgCuO2 or Ag2Cu2O3 or mixtures thereof. Conventional alkaline electrochemical cells have an anode comprising zinc and a cathode comprising manganese dioxide. The cell is typically formed of a cylindrical casing. The casing is initially formed with an enlarged open end and opposing closed end. After the cell contents are supplied, an end cap with insulating plug is inserted into the open end. The cell is closed by crimping the casing edge over an edge of the insulating plug and radially compressing the casing around the insulating plug to provide a tight seal. A portion of the cell casing at the closed end forms the positive terminal. Primary alkaline electrochemical cells typically include a zinc anode active material, an alkaline electrolyte, a manganese dioxide cathode active material, and an electrolyte permeable separator film, typically of cellulose or cellulosic and polyvinylalcohol fibers. The anode active material can include for example, zinc particles admixed with conventional gelling agents, such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose or the sodium salt of an acrylic acid copolymer, and an electrolyte. The gelling agent serves to suspend the zinc particles and to maintain them in contact with one another. Typically, a conductive metal nail inserted into the anode active material serves as the anode current collector, which is electrically connected to the negative terminal end cap. The electrolyte can be an aqueous solution of an alkali metal hydroxide for example, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide or lithium hydroxide. The cathode typically includes particulate manganese dioxide as the electrochemically active material admixed with an electrically conductive additive, typically graphite material, to enhance electrical conductivity. Optionally, polymeric binders, and other additives, such as titanium-containing compounds can be added to the cathode. The manganese dioxide used in the cathode is preferably electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) which is made by direct electrolysis of a bath of manganese sulfate and sulfuric acid. The EMD is desirable since it has a high density and high purity. The resistivity of EMD is fairly low. An electrically conductive material is added to the cathode mixture to improve the electric conductivity between individual manganese dioxide particles. Such electrically conductive additive also improves electric conductivity between the manganese dioxide particles and the cell housing, which also serves as cathode current collector. Suitable electrically conductive additives can include, for example, conductive carbon powders, such as carbon blacks, including acetylene blacks, flaky crystalline natural graphite, flaky crystalline synthetic graphite, including expanded or exfoliated graphite. The resistivity of graphites such as flaky natural or expanded graphites can typically be between about 3xc3x9710xe2x88x923 ohm-cm and 4xc3x9710xe2x88x923 ohm-cm. It is desirable for a primary alkaline battery to have a high discharge capacity (i.e., long service life). Since commercial cell sizes have been fixed, it is known that the useful service life of a cell can be enhanced by packing greater amounts of the electrode active materials into the cell. However, such approach has practical limitations such as, for example, if the electrode active material is packed too densely in the cell, the rates of electrochemical reactions during cell discharge can be reduced, in turn reducing service life. Other deleterious effects such as cell polarization can occur as well. Polarization limits the mobility of ions within both the electrolyte and the electrodes, which in turn degrades cell performance and service life. Although the amount of active material included in the cathode typically can be increased by decreasing the amount of non-electrochemically active materials such as polymeric binder or conductive additive, a sufficient quantity of conductive additive must be maintained to ensure an adequate level of bulk conductivity in the cathode. Thus, the total active cathode material is effectively limited by the amount of conductive additive required to provide an adequate level of conductivity. It is desirable that the cell have high service life under normal drain rates, for example, between about 50 milliAmp and 500 milliAmp and also perform well in higher power application, at current rates between about 0.5 and 2.0 Amp, for example, between about 0.5 Amp and 1.5 Amp. Such high power application corresponds to a power output between about 0.5 and 1.5 Watt or even higher up to about 2.0 Watt. In conventional zinc/MnO2 cells the utilization of anode/cathode active materials falls off as the current drain or power output requirements move into the high power regime. Although such alkaline cells are in widespread commercial use there is a need to improve the cell or develop a new type of cell that exhibits reliable performance and longer service life for normal applications such as flashlight, radio, audio recorders and portable CD players and desirably also performs even better than conventional zinc/MnO2 cells in high power applications. The invention is directed to a primary (nonrechargeable) electrochemical alkaline cell having an anode comprising zinc and a cathode mixture comprising silver copper oxide selected from the compounds AgCuO2 or Ag2Cu2O3 or any mixture of AgCUO2 and Ag2Cu2O3. The term xe2x80x9csilver copper oxidexe2x80x9d as used herein, unless otherwise specified shall be understood to mean the compounds AgCuO2, Ag2Cu2O3 or mixtures thereof. The anode and cathode include an aqueous alkaline solution, preferably aqueous KOH solution. Such cell of the invention can be conveniently referenced herein as a Zn/Silver copper oxide alkaline cell. The silver copper oxide is preferably in the form of a powder having an average particle size between about 1 and 100 micron. The cathode mixture includes a conductive material such as flaky crystalline natural graphite or flaky crystalline synthetic graphite including expanded graphite and graphitic carbon nanofibers. The term graphitic carbon nanofibers as used herein shall mean graphitic carbon fibers having a mean average diameter less than 1000 nanometers (less than 1000xc3x9710xe2x88x929 meter) (The term xe2x80x9caveragexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmean averagexe2x80x9d as used herein shall mean the xe2x80x9carithmetic mean averagexe2x80x9d unless otherwise specified.) Preferably, the graphitic carbon nanofibers have a mean average diameter less than 500 nanometer, more preferably less than 300 nanometers. Desirably the graphitic carbon nanofibers have a mean average diameter between about 50 and 300 nanometers, typically between about 50 and 250 nanometers. The cathode mixture includes an aqueous KOH solution, desirably having a concentration of between about 30 and 40 percent by weight, preferably between 35 and 45 percent weight KOH in water. It has been determined that in the Zn/Silver copper oxide alkaline cell of the invention the anode can comprise conventional gelled zinc anode compositions as in commercial use in conventional zinc/MnO2 alkaline cells. By way of an example, not intended to be restrictive, the cathode can comprise the same composition as conventional cathode comprising MnO2 as used in commercial zinc/MnO2 alkaline cells, except that the MnO2 can be replaced in whole or in part by the AgCuO2 or Ag2Cu2O3 compounds, or any mixture of AgCuO2 and Ag2Cu2O3 compounds herein disclosed. The AgCuO2 has been determined to have advantages when used as a cathode in alkaline cells. The copper in AgCuO2 has a +3 valence and the silver a +1 valence. The Cu+3 and Ag+1 are available for reduction to copper metal and silver metal during discharge. As a result the AgCuO2 has a high theoretical specific capacity, namely, 526 milliAmp-hour/g. This is much higher than the theoretical specific capacity of MnO2, which is 308 milliAmp-hour/g and higher than the theoretical specific capacity of AgO, which is 436 milliAmp-hour/g or Ag2O, which is 117 milliAmp-hour/g. Additionally, the presence of silver (Ag+1) and (Cu+3) in the AgCuO2 compound causes an elevation in a Zn/AgCuO2 alkaline cell""s running voltage profile as compared to a Zn/MnO2 or Zn/CuO alkaline cell. Ag2Cu2O3 has copper at valence at +2 (Cu+2) which is lower than copper at valence +3 (Cu+3) in the AgCuO2 compound, and therefore, has a theoretical specific capacity of 412 milliAmp-hour/g, which is lower than the specific capacity of 526 milliamp-hour/g for the AgCuO2. The Zn/Silver copper oxide alkaline cell exhibits a higher running voltage profile and longer service life than Zn/MnO2 cells in normal applications, e.g. at drains rates between about 50 and 600 milliamp. It also exhibits a high rate capability for high power applications, for example, at current drains between about 0.5 and 1.5 Amp or power applications between about 0.5 and 1.5 Watt. For example, at a drain rate of about 1 Amp, between about 75 and 80 percent of the theoretical capacity of the AgCuO2 can be utilized in a Zn/AgCuO2 alkaline cell. The AgCuO2, which has a copper valence of +3 (or Ag2Cu2O3) is nevertheless sufficiently stable in water or aqueous KOH electrolyte solution. With respect to AgCuO2, this compound does not react in water or aqueous KOH electrolyte during normal cell storage at room temperature as well as ambient temperatures between about xe2x88x9229xc2x0 C. and 46xc2x0 C. (xe2x88x9220xc2x0 F. and 115xc2x0 F.) to cause any significant degradation of the Cu+3 valence. In a preferred embodiment, the silver copper oxide (AgCuO2, or Ag2Cu2O3 or mixtures thereof) comprises between about 82 and 90 percent by weight of the cathode mixture. In such embodiment the silver copper oxide can replace all of the manganese dioxide in the cathode. The performance of conventional Zn/MnO2 alkaline cells can also be improved if the silver copper oxide is used to replace a portion of the amount of MnO2 conventionally used in the alkaline cell cathode. In such case the silver copper oxide can be mixed into the cathode with MnO2. In either case, whether the AgCuO2 is used alone or in admixture with MnO2, the graphitic conductive material in the cathode, desirably comprises between about 2 and 10 percent by weight of the cathode, preferably between about 4 and 10 percent by weight of the cathode. The graphitic conductive material desirably comprises expanded graphite or natural graphite alone or in any mixtures thereof. In such case the graphitic conductive material comprises between about 3 and 10 percent by weight of the cathode, desirably between about 4 and 10 percent by weight of the cathode. The graphitic conductive material can contain only expanded graphite or only natural graphite or only graphitic carbon nanofibers, but can also contain natural graphite, expanded graphite and graphitic carbon nanofibers in any combination or mixture thereof. In such case the graphitic conductive material desirably comprises between about 4 and about 10 percent by weight of the cathode. The aqueous KOH solution desirably comprises between about 5 and 10 percent by weight of the cathode mixture. The aqueous KOH solution itself desirably comprises between about 30 and 40 percent by weight KOH, preferably between about 35 and 40 percent by weight KOH and about 2 percent by weight zinc oxide. In one aspect the alkaline cell of the invention has an anode comprising-zinc and a cathode mixture comprising silver copper oxide in the form AgCuO2. Such cell, for example, an AA size cell, exhibits high capacity (mAmp-hrs) and high energy output (mWatt-hours) under discharge rates between about 500 and 1000 mAmp when compared to same size conventional alkaline cell having an anode comprising zinc and cathode comprising manganese dioxide. This advantage would also apply to other size cylindrical cells, for example, AAAA, AAA, C and D size cells as well as AA cells. In another aspect the alkaline cell of the invention has an anode comprising zinc and a cathode mixture comprising silver copper oxide in the form of Ag2Cu2O3. Such cell, for example, an AA size cell, exhibits high capacity (mAmp-hrs) and high energy output (mWatt-hours) under discharge rates between about 500 and 1000 mAmp when compared to same size conventional alkaline cell having an anode comprising zinc and cathode comprising manganese dioxide. This advantage would also apply to other size cylindrical cells, for example, AAAA, AAA, C and D size cells as well as AA cells. Although the embodiments herein are directed to a nonrechargeble cell, it may nevertheless be possible to produce a rechargeable cell with modified cathodes comprising AgCuO2 designed to partially discharge to Ag2Cu2O3, which in turn could be recharged back to AgCuO2. Such cell, for example, could be an alkaline cell with a zinc anode discharging to zinc oxide, rechargeable back to zinc.

The present invention relates generally to methods for metering and pumping fluids. In particular, in some embodiments, the invention relates to medical infusion and fluid-handling methods. In particular, some embodiments of the invention involve methods for pulsed delivery of fluids from a pump chamber. A wide variety of applications in industrial and medical fields require fluid metering and pumping systems able to deliver precisely measured quantities of fluids at accurate flow rates to various destinations. In the medical field especially, precise and accurate fluid delivery is critical for many medical treatment protocols. Medical infusion and fluid-handling systems for use in the pumping or metering fluids to and/or from the body of a patient typically require a high degree of precision and accuracy in measuring and controlling fluid flow rates and volumes. For example, when pumping medicaments or other agents to the body of a patient, an infusion flow rate which is too low may prove ineffectual, while an infusion flow rate which is too high may prove detrimental or toxic to the patient. Pumping and fluid metering systems for use in medical applications, for example in pumping fluids to and/or from the body of a patient, are known in the art. Many of such prior art systems comprise peristaltic or similar type pumping systems. Such prior art systems typically deliver fluid by compressing and/or collapsing a flexible tube or other flexible component containing the fluid to be pumped. While such known systems are sometimes adequate for certain applications, precise and accurate flow rates in such systems can be difficult to measure and control due to factors such as distortion of the walls of collapsible tubing or components of the systems, changes in relative heights of the patient and fluid supply, changes in fluid supply line or delivery line resistance, and other factors. Another shortcoming of such prior art systems is that it is often difficult to determine and maintain accurate volumetric flow rates in real time during operation of the infusion system. Typically, many such prior art systems utilize volume and flow rate measurement techniques that, are difficult to implement and cannot be performed in real time as the system is operating. Some approaches which have been used in such prior art systems for measuring volumes and flow rates include optical drop counting, the weighing of chambers containing infusion liquids, and other approaches. Many such prior art infusion systems also employ valving systems which comprise clamps, or other pinching devices, which open and close a line by pinching or collapsing the walls of tubing. Such valving arrangements can have several shortcomings for applications involving medical infusion including difficulties in obtaining a fluid-tight seal and distortion of the walls of the tubing, which can lead to undesirable fluid leakage and/or irregular flow rates. In addition, many typical prior art infusion systems, such as those described above, are constrained to fairly simple fluid handling tasks, such as providing a single or, in some cases, several individual flow paths between one or more fluid sources and a patient. Such prior art systems are not well suited for performing complex, multi-functional fluid handling and pumping tasks and often do not have sufficient operating flexibility to be used for a wide variety of fluid handling applications, without significant rearranging or retooling of the components of the system. Also, for medical infusion applications involving the pumping or metering of fluids to the body of a patient, it is important to detect air present in a line pumping fluid to the body of a patient and to prevent such air from entering the body of the patient. Typically, prior art infusion systems employed for such applications detect the presence of air in the system by relying only on external air detection components, for example ultrasonic detectors, which are typically downstream of a pump and immediately upstream of the patient. Also, for such systems, once air has been detected in the line, purging the air from the line before it reaches the patient may require manual intervention and, in some cases, disconnection of lines within the system. For pumping and infusion systems utilized for pumping fluids to the body of a patient, it is also typically desirable to pass fluids through a filter or screen prior to their entering the body of the patient in order to remove any insoluble clumps, or aggregates of material therefrom that may be detrimental to the patient if infused into the body. Such filters are especially important when pumping blood or blood components to the body of a patient; in which case, the filters serve primarily as blood clot filters to remove clots or aggregated cells from the blood or blood components. Prior art infusion systems used for such applications can include blood clot/particulate filters outside the pumping component of the system, installed on the line providing infused fluid to the patient. Such assembly requires additional setup time and attention from an operator of the system and often results in another potential location of fluid leakage or site of contamination within the system. While the above mentioned and other prior art pumping and fluid handling systems represent, in some instances, useful tools in the art of fluid handling and pumping there remains a need in the art to: (a) provide pumping and fluid metering systems which have an improved ability to control and measure volumes and flow rates; (b) provide improved valving systems; (c) provide increased flexibility for multiple uses; and (d) include air detection capability and integrated fluid filtration. Certain embodiments of the present invention address one or more of the above needs. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a series of pumping systems, methods for operating the systems, and components of the systems. These embodiments include, in one aspect, a series of systems for measuring the volume of a volumetric chamber, detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber, and/or pumping a liquid with a pump chamber. Some embodiments of the present invention include a series of methods for pumping a liquid at a desired average flow rate with a pumping cartridge of a pumping system. Some embodiments of the present invention provide a series of pumping cartridges and pump chambers, and methods for operating such cartridges and chambers. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method and corresponding system for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed. The pump chamber may be an isolatable pump chamber. According to this embodiment, the method includes the steps of: isolating the pump chamber; determining a first measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber with at least a first force supplied to a surface of the pump chamber; determining a second measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber with at least a second force applied to the surface of the pump chamber; and then comparing the first measured parameter and the second measured parameter. In another embodiment, a method for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed, where the pump chamber is coupled to or contained within a control chamber. In this embodiment, the method comprises: supplying a measurement gas to the control chamber at a first measured pressure; changing the pressure of the measurement gas in the control chamber to a second measured pressure; supplying a measurement gas to the control chamber at a third measured pressure; changing the pressure of the measurement gas in the control chamber to a fourth measured pressure; and determining the presence of a gas in the pump chamber based at least in part on the measured pressures. In yet another embodiment, a method for detecting the presence of gas in a pump chamber is disclosed, where the pump chamber is coupled to or contained within a control chamber. The method comprises determining a first measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber and/or the control chamber with a fluid supplied to the control chamber at a first pressure, determining a second measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber and/or the control chamber with a fluid supplied to the control chamber at a second pressure, and comparing the first measured parameter and the second measured parameter. In yet another embodiment, a method for detecting the presence of gas in a pump chamber is disclosed, where the pump chamber is at least partially comprised of a movable surface. The method comprises determining a first measured parameter related to a volume of the pump chamber with at least a first force applied to the movable surface, where the first force creates a first level of stress in the movable surface. The method further comprises determining a second measured parameter related to a volume of the pump chamber with at least a second force applied to the movable surface, where the second force creates a second level of stress in the movable surface. The method further comprises comparing the first measured parameter and the second measured parameter. In another embodiment, a method for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed, where the pump chamber is at least partially comprised of a movable surface and is coupled to or contained within a control chamber. The method comprises: supplying a measurement gas to the control chamber at a first measured pressure, where the first measured pressure creates a first difference in pressure between the pump chamber and the control chamber; supplying a measurement gas to the control chamber at a second measured pressure, where the second measured pressure creates a second difference in pressure between the pump chamber and the control chamber; and determining the presence of a gas in the pump chamber based at least in part on the measured pressures. In another embodiment, a system for detecting the presence of a gas in an isolatable pump chamber is disclosed. In this embodiment, the system includes a force applicator that is constructed and arranged to apply a force to a surface of the pump chamber at at least a first level of force and a second level of force. The system further includes a comparer configured to determined the presence of a gas in the pump chamber based at least in part on a first measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber at a first condition, and a second measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber at a second condition. In another embodiment, a system for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed. The system in this embodiment includes a control chamber that is coupled to or contains the pump chamber, a flexible membrane comprising at least a portion of the pump chamber, and at least one pressure measuring component able to measure a pressure in the control chamber. The system further includes a fluid supply system in fluid communication with the control chamber that is able to supply a fluid to the control chamber at at least a first and a second predetermined pressure, where the fluid pressure in the control chamber is measured with the pressure measuring component. The system in this embodiment also includes a comparer configured to determine the presence of a gas in the pump chamber based on a first measured parameter related to a volume of the control chamber at at least the first pressure and a second measured parameter related to the volume of a control chamber at at least the second pressure. In yet another embodiment, a system for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed. The system in this embodiment includes a control chamber that is coupled to or contains the pump chamber, a pressure supply to pressurize the control chamber at at least a first pressure and a second pressure, and a comparer that is configured to determine the presence of gas in the pump chamber based at least in part on a first measured parameter related to a volume of the pump chamber and/or control chamber at a first condition, and a second measured parameter related to a volume of a pump chamber and/or control chamber at a second condition. In another embodiment, a system for detecting the presence of a gas in a pump chamber is disclosed. The system in this embodiment comprises force applicator means for supplying a force to the surface of the pump chamber at a first level of force and a second level of force, and processor means for determining the presence of a gas in the pump chamber based at least in part on a first measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber at a first condition and a second measured parameter related to the volume of the pump chamber at a second condition. In another embodiment, a pump chamber is disclosed. The pump chamber in this embodiment includes a wall and a movable surface comprising at least a portion of the wall. The pump chamber further includes at least one spacer positioned within the pump chamber to inhibit gas from being pumped through the pump chamber. In yet another embodiment, a pump chamber including a wall and a flexible membrane disposed over at least a portion of the wall is disclosed. The pump chamber in this embodiment further includes at least one spacer positioned within the pump chamber to assist air to rise in the pump chamber. In yet another embodiment, a pump chamber comprising a volumetric container is disclosed. The pump chamber in this embodiment includes a flexible membrane comprising at least a portion of a wall of the container, with at least one spacer positioned within the container to inhibit contact between internal surfaces of the container. In another embodiment, a pump chamber is disclosed. The pump chamber is this embodiment comprises a first movable wall of the pump chamber, a second wall of the pump chamber, and at least one elongate spacer attached to the second wall and projecting towards the first movable wall. In another embodiment, a method of pumping of fluid is disclosed. The method involves providing a pump chamber, which includes a flexible membrane, and preventing any gas contained within the pump chamber from being pumped from the pump chamber by providing at least one spacer element within the pump chamber. The spacer element in this embodiment prevents the flexible membrane from contacting an internal surface of the pump chamber during pumping. In another aspect, a series of pumping systems is disclosed. In one embodiment, the system is for pumping a liquid with a pump chamber. The system in this embodiment includes at least one fluid source, containing a fluid at a first pressure, where the source is able to be placed in fluid communication with a control chamber that is coupled to the pump chamber when the system is in operation. The system in this embodiment further includes a variable sized orifice valve able to be placed in fluid communication with the fluid source and the control chamber. The system may also include a processor which controls the variable sized orifice valve to selectively allow the control chamber to be pressurized with a fluid from the fluid source to a desired pressure. In this embodiment, the processor also controls the pressure within the control chamber during filling of the pump chamber with a liquid or during discharge of a liquid from the pump chamber by selectively changing the size of an orifice within the variable sized orifice valve. In another embodiment, a method for pumping a liquid using a pump chamber is disclosed. The method comprises: providing a first fluid source that supplies a fluid at a first pressure in fluid communication with an inlet of a variable sized orifice valve; providing a control chamber that is coupled to the pump chamber, where the control chamber is in fluid communication with an outlet of the variable sized orifice valve; selectively changing a size of an orifice within the variable sized orifice valve in order to pressurize the control chamber with the fluid to a desired pressure; and maintaining the desired pressure in the control chamber by selectively changing the size of the orifice. In another embodiment, a system for measuring the volume of a volumetric chamber is disclosed. The system includes a reference chamber, a first fluid source supplying fluid at a first pressure, and a second fluid source supplying fluid at a second pressure. The system in this embodiment also includes a switch valve having a first and second inlet and an outlet. The first inlet of the switch valve is connected in fluid communication with the first fluid source, and the second inlet of the switch valve is connected in fluid communication with the second fluid source. The outlet of the switch valve is connected in fluid communication with at least one line able to be placed in fluid communication with the reference chamber and the volumetric chamber. The switch valve has a first position that provides fluid communication between the first fluid source and the reference chamber and volumetric chamber, and has a second position that provides fluid communication between the second fluid source and the reference chamber and volumetric chamber. The system may also include a processor which controls the switch valve to selectively allow the reference chamber and/or the volumetric chamber to be pressurized to a selected pressure with a fluid from either the first fluid source or the second fluid source. The processor also determines a volume of the volumetric chamber based at least in part on the selected pressure. In another embodiment, a method for measuring a volume of a volumetric chamber is disclosed. The method comprises providing a first fluid source to supply fluid at a first pressure, a second fluid source to supply fluid at a second pressure, and a switch-valve having a first inlet, a second inlet, and an outlet, where the first inlet is connected in fluid communication with the first fluid source, the second inlet is connected in fluid communication with the second fluid source, and the outlet is connected in fluid communication with at least one line that is able to be placed in fluid communication with the volumetric chamber. The method further comprises positioning the switch valve to allow the volumetric chamber to be pressurized with the fluid from the first fluid source, determining a first pressure of the volumetric chamber, and determining a volume of the volumetric chamber based at least in part on the first pressure. In yet another embodiment, a system for pumping a liquid with a pump chamber is disclosed. The system in this embodiment includes a first fluid source supplying fluid at a first pressure, and a second fluid source supplying fluid at a second pressure. The system in this embodiment also includes a switch valve having a first and a second inlet and an outlet. The first inlet is connected in fluid communication with the first fluid source, and the second inlet is connected in fluid communication with the second fluid source. The outlet of the switch valve is connected in fluid communication with at least one line able to be placed in fluid communication with a control chamber that is coupled to the pump chamber when the system is in operation. The switch valve has a first position that provides fluid communication between the first fluid source and the control chamber, and has a second position that provides fluid communication between the second fluid source and the control chamber. In another embodiment, a method for pumping a liquid with a pump chamber is disclosed. The method comprises providing a first fluid source to supply fluid at a first pressure, a second fluid source to supply fluid at a second pressure, and a switch-valve having a first inlet, a second inlet, and an outlet, where the first inlet is connected in fluid communication with the first fluid source, the second inlet is connected in fluid communication with the second fluid source, and the outlet is connected in fluid communication with at least one line able to be placed in fluid communication with a control chamber to be coupled to a pump chamber when the system is in operation. The method further comprises positioning the switch-valve to provide fluid communication between the first fluid source and the control chamber so as to at least partially fill the pump chamber with a liquid, and positioning the switch-valve to provide fluid communication between the second fluid source and the control chamber for dispensing the liquid from the pump chamber. In yet another aspect, a series of methods and systems for pumping a liquid at a desired average flow rate with a pumping cartridge is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method involves pumping a liquid at a desired average flow rate with a pumping cartridge, where the cartridge includes at least one pump chamber, at least a portion of which pump chamber includes a movable surface. The method of this embodiment involves: at least partially filling the pump chamber with a liquid; isolating the pump chamber; applying a force to the movable surface and regulating the flow of liquid from the pump chamber while maintaining the force on the surface. In another embodiment, a method for pumping a liquid at a desired average flow rate with a pumping cartridge that includes at least one pump chamber, at least a portion of which pump chamber comprises a movable surface is disclosed. The method of this embodiment involves: closing a valve positioned on an outlet line of the pump chamber; at least partially filling the pump chamber with a liquid; closing a valve positioned on the inlet line of the pump chamber thereby isolating the pump chamber; and, while maintaining the inlet valve in a closed position, applying a force to the movable surface and opening the outlet valve for predetermined periods at predetermined intervals while maintaining the force on the movable surface. The predetermined time periods and intervals may be selected to yield a desired average flow rate. In yet another embodiment, a fluid metering system is disclosed. The system of this embodiment comprises a reusable component that is constructed and arranged for operative association with a removable pumping cartridge by coupling to the pumping cartridge. The pumping cartridge of this embodiment includes at least one pump chamber and has an outlet line having an outlet valve therein. The fluid metering system in this embodiment includes a processor that is configured to control pulsing of the outlet valve to achieve a desired flow rate. In yet another embodiment, a fluid metering system including a reusable component that is constructed and arranged for operative association with a removable pumping cartridge is disclosed. The pumping cartridge includes at least one pump chamber having an inlet line having a first valve therein and an outlet line having a second valve therein. The pump chamber is at least partially formed from a movable surface. The system further includes valve actuating means for operating the first valve and the second valve, and pump chamber actuating means for applying a force to the movable surface. The system further includes control means for controlling the valve actuating means and pump chamber actuating means to deliver fluid at a desired flow rate from the pump chamber by closing the first valve, applying a force to the movable surface, and pulsing the second valve. In another embodiment, a series of pumping cartridges is disclosed. In one embodiment, the pumping cartridge includes a first liquid flow path, a second liquid flow path, and a bypass valve in fluid communication with the first liquid flow path and the second liquid flow path. The bypass valve is constructed and arranged to selectively permit liquid flow through the first liquid flow path or the second liquid flow path, or to prevent liquid flow through both the first liquid flow path and the second liquid flow path. In another embodiment, a pumping cartridge including a first component and at least one membrane disposed on the first component is disclosed. The first component and the membrane define a bypass valving chamber. The bypass valving chamber in this embodiment includes three ports, two of which ports are occludable by the membrane. The pumping cartridge in this embodiment further includes a first fluid flow path entering the bypass valving chamber through a first port and exiting the bypass valving chamber through a third occludable port. The pumping cartridge in this embodiment further includes a second fluid flow path entering the bypass valving chamber through a second occludable port and exiting the bypass valving chamber through the first port. In yet another embodiment, a reusable system is disclosed that is constructed and arranged for operative association with a removable pumping cartridge, where the pumping cartridge provides at least two fluid flow paths therein and includes a bypass valving chamber in fluid communication with a first fluid flow path and a second fluid flow path. The system in this embodiment includes a pump housing component that is constructed and arranged to couple to the pumping cartridge, and a valve actuator to actuate the bypass valving chamber. The valve actuator in this embodiment is disposed within the pump housing adjacent to and in operative association with the bypass valving chamber, when the pumping cartridge is coupled to the pump housing In yet another embodiment, a reusable system is disclosed that is constructed and arranged for operative association with a removable pumping cartridge, where the pumping cartridge provides at least two liquid flow paths therein and includes a first component, with at least one membrane disposed on the first component. The first component and the membrane define a bypass valving chamber. The reusable system in this embodiment includes a pump housing component that is constructed and arranged for operative association with the pumping cartridge by coupling to the pumping cartridge. The reusable system in this embodiment also includes a valve actuator to actuate the bypass valving chamber, which actuator is disposed adjacent to and in operative association with the bypass valving chamber when the pumping cartridge is coupled to the pump housing. The system may further include a force applicator forming at least a part of the valve actuator, where the force applicator is constructed and arranged to alternatively: apply a force to at least a portion of the membrane to restrict liquid flow through a first liquid flow path through the bypass valving chamber; apply a force to at least a portion of the membrane to restrict liquid flow through a second liquid flow path through the bypass valving chamber; and apply a force to at least a portion of the membrane to restrict liquid flow through both the first and the second liquid flow paths. In another embodiment, a method for directing flow in a pumping cartridge is disclosed, where the pumping cartridge includes a bypass valving chamber having three ports therein and two liquid flow paths therethough. At least a portion of the bypass valving chamber in this embodiment is formed from a membrane. The method in this embodiment comprises occluding a first port disposed in the bypass valving chamber with the membrane to restrict the flow of liquid through the bypass valving chamber along a first flow path, or occluding a second port disposed in the bypass valving chamber with the membrane to restrict the flow of liquid through the bypass valving chamber along a second flow path, and/or occluding both the first and second ports disposed in the bypass valving chamber with the membrane to restrict the flow of liquid along both the first and second flow paths. In yet another aspect, pumping cartridges including filter elements and methods for filtering fluids are disclosed. In one embodiment, a removable pumping cartridge that is constructed and arranged for operative association with the reusable component is provided, the cartridge including at least one pump chamber, at least one valving chamber, and at least one fluid flow path constructed and positioned within the cartridge to provide fluid communication between the pump chamber and a body of a patient when pumping a fluid thereto. The cartridge in this embodiment further includes at least one filter element in fluid communication with the fluid flow path. In another embodiment, a method for filtering a liquid supplied to the vasculature of a patient is disclosed. The method in this embodiment includes supplying a liquid to a pump chamber disposed in a removable pumping cartridge, where the pumping cartridge is constructed and arranged for operative association with a reusable component. The method further involves pumping the liquid to the patient through a filter element disposed in the pumping cartridge. In yet another aspect, occluders for occluding collapsible tubing, and methods for occluding collapsible tubing using such occluders are disclosed. In one embodiment, an occluder for occluding at least one collapsible tube is disclosed. The occluder in this embodiment comprises an occluding member and a force actuator that is constructed and positioned to bend the occluding member. In another embodiment, a method for occluding at least one collapsible tube is disclosed. The method comprises applying a force to bend the occluding member in order to open the collapsible tube to enable fluid to flow therethrough, and releasing the force in order to relax the occluding member and occlude the collapsible tube. Each of the above disclosed inventions and embodiments may be useful and applied separately and independently, or may be applied in combination. Description of one aspect of the inventions are not intended to be limiting with respect to other aspects of the inventions.

1. Field Of The Invention The invention pertains to the field of buoyant objects and more particularly to a buoy with a variable buoyancy. 2. Background Of The Invention Submerged vehicles often have a need for above surface communications. Such a need, for example, exits when the submerged vehicle does not know its exact location and wishes to access the Global Positioning System satellite to obtain a position fix. To establish a communication link with the satellite it is necessary for the submerged vehicle to send an antenna to the surface with a link to the submerged vehicle. This is accomplished by placing the antenna in a buoy having sufficient buoyancy to ascend to the surface. These buoys are relatively large and, when stored in the cramped submerged vehicle, occupy much needed space. An alternative to storing the buoy in the vehicle is to tow the buoy at the end of a tether coiled within the vehicle. As the tether is uncoiled the buoy commences its ascent to the surface. The size of the buoy, however, generates appreciable drag on the vehicle, seriously effecting its maneuverability. It is an objective of the current invention to provide a buoy with variable buoyancy which is sufficiently compact at the submerged depth of the vehicle to permit convenient internal storage, or if towed to present little drag on the vehicle.

A nitride semiconductor has been practically developed as a material of highly luminous blue and pure green LED to fabricate light sources of a full color LED display, a traffic signal, and an image scanner. Those LED devices has a basic structure comprising a substrate of sapphire, a buffer layer made of GaN, n-contact layer made of GaN doped with Si, an active layer made of a single quantum well (SQW) structure of InGaN or made of a multiple quantum well (MQW) structure containing InGaN, a p-cladding layer made of AlGaN doped with Mg, and a p-contact layer made of GaN doped with Mg, subsequently formed thereon. Such LED device has an excellent characteristics that at the forward current of 20 mA, the light emission wavelength is 450 nm, the output is 5 mW, and the external quantum efficiency is 9.1% in case of the blue LED, and the light emission wavelength is 520 nm, the output is 3 mW, and the external quantum efficiency is 6.3% in case of the green LED. Such nitride semiconductor light emitting device adapts a double hetero-structure with an active layer of a single quantum well or a multiple quantum well structure having a well layer of InGaN. Also in such nitride semiconductor light emitting device, since the multiple quantum well structure has a plurality of mini-bands which emit light efficiently even with a small current, the device characteristics such as the output of the multiple quantum well structure is expected to be improved as compared with that of the single quantum well structure. A publication of, for example, the Japanese Laid Open patent publication of H10-135514 discloses a LED device comprising an active layer including a light emitting layer of the multiple quantum well structure with a barrier layer of undoped GaN and a well layer of undoped InGaN, and also including cladding layers with greater bandgap than that of the barrier layer of the active layer, in order to improve the light emission efficiency and the light emission output. However where the active layer is formed of the multiple quantum well structure, since the total thickness of such active layer is thicker than that of the single quantum well structure, the serial resistivity along the vertical direction becomes high, and in turn, in case of LED device, the Vf (the forward voltage) tends to increase. A publication of, for example, the Japanese Laid Open patent publication of H9-298341 discloses a technology to reduce the Vf, that is, a laser device comprising a p-side beam waveguide layer and a contact layer which are made of a superlattice structure having an InAlGaN layer over the active layer. This technology is based upon the idea that where, p-side nitride semiconductor layers containing In are formed of the superlattice structure, the carrier concentration of the p-region layers increases and the threshold current of the laser device decreases. However since a quaternary compound such as InAlGaN generally has a poor crystallinity, further it is difficult to make the nitride semiconductor containing In to be p-type, practically such LED device or LD device can be hardly fabricated. As described above, although the multiple quantum well structure has been expected favorable to increase the luminous output because the light emitting output can be expected to be highly improved, it has been difficult to realize such expected effect of the multiple quantum well structure the active layer of. It is to be noted that, as for the LD device, the present applicant has announced that a nitride semiconductor laser device with an active layer is successfully fabricated to achieve the continuous oscillation of ten thousands hours or more firstly in the world. (ICNS' 97 Subscript, Oct. 27-31, 1997, P444 to 446, and Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 36 (1997) pp. L1568 to 1571, Part 2, No. 12A, 1 Dec. 1997) However the LED devices used for the light source for illumination such as for the outside display exposed to direct sunshine require the lower Vf and the higher light emission efficiency than those of the conventional LED devices. Also the LD devices used for the light source such as for an optical pick-up require further improvement a lower threshold current to have a longer life. Recently an another publication of, for example, the Japanese Laid Open patent publication of H8-97468 suggests that in light emitting device made of the nitride semiconductor, instead of a conventional p-contact layer on which a GaN p-electrode is formed; a contact layer made of InGaN of bandgap less than the GaN is grown, so that a barrier between the p-contact layer and the p-electrode is reduced thereby obtaining a good ohmic contact therebetween. However it is difficult to grow the good crystalline layer of InGaN having less defects, thus the satisfactorily low ohmic contact can be hardly obtained as expected. Further there is an another problem that such contact resistivity of the grown InGaN layers is unstable because of the divergence of the crystallinity of the InGaN layer. Therefore the conventional nitride semiconductor device including a p-contact layer made of InGaN can hardly achieve the satisfactorily low and stable operating voltage and the high light emitting output. As the result, there is a problem, where the LED device comprises the contact layer made of InGaN, that the forward voltage at the forward current of 20 mA falls within a range of 3.4V through 3.8V which is not sufficiently low and also has a great divergence. In addition, since the device made up of the nitride semiconductor, in its structure, the device may be easily damaged by an electrostatic voltage of 100V which is much lower than that people can feel, a sufficient attention should be paid in handling the device. Therefore in order to enhance the reliability of the nitride semiconductor device, it has been desired to further improve its electrostatic withhold voltage.

Our invention relates to friction hinges used to position electronic displays for best viewing, and to cam mechanisms as applied to holding shut a cover or lid without a latch mechanism. Laptop and portable computers, herein referred to as laptops, have displays built into their lids, which usually are closed while the computers are being moved. The lids of prior art laptops are held shut with latch mechanisms. Extra hand movements are usually required to open latch mechanisms, and extra parts are required in the computer for the mechanisms are required in the computer for the mechanisms themselves. In addition, the latch mechanisms are somewhat prone to breakage. Therefore, it is advantageous to be able to hold laptop lids shut without the requirement for latch mechanisms. If a laptop that is to be held shut by some mechanism other than a latch, it must remain firmly shut when the laptop is carried. The lid must not open, even slightly, during normal movements of the laptop. On the other hand, when the laptop is being prepared for use, the lid should open as easily as possible, preferably without requiring the use of two hands, one to lift the lid, and the other to hold down the base of the laptop. There is a further requirement for controlling the position of the lid for a laptop. In use, the lid must remain in position. Laptop lids are positioned by the user. Desirably, this positioning should be done easily without the need for holding down the base while positioning the lid. Furthermore, once positioned for advantageous viewing, the lid should remain in position, without creeping or excessive bouncing. This requires the use of friction hinges for mounting the lid to the base. All present day laptops employ such hinges. All friction hinges exhibit some amount of spring back. When laptops having such hinges but no latch mechanism are closed, they spring open slightly due to the strain energy stored in the spring element that produces the hinge""s friction. Furthermore, the torque holding the lid in position is limited to the torque provided by the friction hinges. This torque is inadequate for keeping the lid firmly closed while carrying the laptop. Therefore, additional closing torque, beyond that provided by the friction hinge is needed to keep the lid tightly closed. A cam, which engages a spring-loaded follower as the lid is closed, can provide additional closing torque so that the latch can be eliminated. However, the closing torque produced by the cam device must be sufficiently great so as to overcome all of the torque of the friction hinge. That requirement demands that the hinge and its attachment to the lid and base be sufficiently robust. However, the additive nature of the cam and friction forces requires that the torque to open the lid overcome both the cam-induced lid closing force and the frictional torque. This fact makes it difficult to balance these torques so as to prevent lifting the base while lifting the lid. Thus, two hands are required, one to open the lid and the other to hold down the base. A hinge which eliminates this conflict between the cam and frictional torque is the goal of our invention. Our invention consists of a hinge with a cam mechanism to provide the torque needed to hold the lid closed and a band wrapped about a shaft to provide torsional friction to maintain the position of the lid when it is open. The cam mechanism consists of a cam and an engaging member. The engagement and disengagement of the engaging member by the cam results in an increase in closing effort followed by a decrease and finally a snapping closure of the lid. The friction band is so formed and aligned rotationally with features of the shaft that the there is a sudden and steep reduction of the frictional torque at the time of follower engagement so as to permit the cam mechanism to act with maximum effect. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an alternative hinge-closing mechanism for a laptop computer. It is also an object of our invention to provide a lid positioning and closing mechanism that is beneficially usable in other equipment. It is a further object of our invention to provide the means by which a laptop computer can be opened and their lids positioned with one hand. It is a still further object of our invention to provide a lid positioning and closing mechanism for laptop computers and other, similar equipment that allows the elimination of the latch mechanism for the lid. The inventive hinge-closing mechanism accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions described hereinafter, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

Azeotropic mixtures are liquid mixtures of two or more substances which mixtures behave like single substances in that the vapor produced by partial evaporation of the azeotropic liquid has the same composition as does the liquid. Azeotropic compositions exhibit either a maximum or minimum boiling point as compared with that of other but non-azeotropic mixtures of the same substances or components. Chlorofluorohydrocarbons have found usage for a variety of purposes. For some solvent purposes, however, the chlorofluorohydrocarbons in themselves have not exhibited adequate abilities. Particularly deficient have been the chlorofluorohydrocarbons in dissolving excess solder flux from printed circuits. Printed circuits are formed from a soft metal on a solid non-conducting surface such as a reinforced phenolic resin. During the manufacturing processes, the solid surface or support is coated with the soft metal. The particular desired portion or configuration of metal is coated with an acid-impervious protective coating, and the excess unprotected metal is removed by an acid etching process. The protective coating subsequently must be removed since solder joints must ultimately be made onto the printed circuit. After the impervious coating is removed, the circuits are coated with a rosin flux to permit the joints to be soldered, and after soldering the rosin flux itself must be removed. For removal of such coatings and fluxes, highly efficient uniform composition solvents are desirable.

This application claims the priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-322437, filed on Sep. 16, 2003, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-210876, filed on Jul. 20, 2004, which are hereby incorporated by reference. 1. Filed of the Invention The present invention relates to a device made of gallium nitride compound semiconductors. In particular, the invention relates to a device having electrodes best suited to gallium nitride compound semiconductors, and a method (device process) of manufacturing the device. 2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows a conventional gallium nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting device. This light-emitting device is shown with its electrode side downward since it is mounted on feeding electrodes (not-shown) in a flip chip fashion. This light-emitting device has an n-type gallium nitride compound semiconductor layer 92 (hereinafter, referred to as n-type GaN layer), an active layer 93, and a p-type gallium nitride compound semiconductor layer 94 (hereinafter, referred to as p-type GaN layer) which are formed on a sapphire substrate 91 in this order. The light-emitting device can emit a predetermined wavelength of light when an electric current is supplied to these layers through an electrode 95 for an n-type gallium nitride compound semiconductor (hereinafter, referred to as an n-type GaN electrode) and an electrode 96 for a p-type gallium nitride compound semiconductor (hereinafter, referred to as an p-type GaN electrode). While the substrate illustrated here is a sapphire substrate, it is not limited thereto. It is conventionally known that the substrate may be replaced with an SiC substrate or Si substrate. Thin films of gallium nitride compound semiconductors (AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N, 0≦x, y≦1) can be formed on this substrate by using conventionally-known techniques such as MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition). In general, the n-type GaN electrode 95 is made of metal thin films such as Ti/Al and V/Al. The p-type GaN electrode 96 is often made of Pt, or metal thin films such as Ni/Au. As employed in this specification, the expression “A/B layer” shall hereinafter mean that the material A on the left lies closer to a semiconductor layer and the material B on the right lies farther from the semiconductor layer. To improve light output efficiency in the case of flip-chip mounting, there have been known techniques of making the n-type GaN electrode 95 out of an Rh/Al layer having high reflectivity so that the light emitted from the device is reflected at the sapphire-substrate side, and making the p-type GaN electrode 96 out of Rh/Al, Ag, and the like similarly. Incidentally, the reference numerals 97 and 97′ in the diagram represent eutectic electrodes. Examples of these conventional gallium nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting devices and the methods of manufacturing the same include Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications Nos. Hei 5-211347, Hei 11-220168, 2003-110140, 2003-110138, Hei 5-291621, 2000-36619, and 2000-183400. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-211347 discloses an electrode having an Ni layer at the junction with an i layer of the gallium nitride compound semiconductor. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-220168 discloses a gallium nitride compound semiconductor device of flip chip type in which a thin-film metal layer is interposed between a p-type layer and a thick-film reflective electrode layer. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-110140 discloses a nitride semiconductor light-emitting device in which a predetermined area of an electrode is given high reflectivity for the sake of enhanced light output efficiency. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-110138 discloses a nitride semiconductor light-emitting diode in which the sheet resistance and light transmittance of a transparent p electrode are balanced for improved external quantum efficiency. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-291621 discloses the use of Au, Pt, Ag, and Ni as the material for making ohmic contact with a gallium nitride compound semiconductor doped with p-type impurities, and the use of Al, Cr, Ti and In as the material for making ohmic contact with a gallium nitride compound semiconductor doped with n-type impurities. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-36619 discloses a gallium nitride compound semiconductor device of flip chip type in which Ag, Rh, Ru, Pt, or Pd is used to give a high reflectivity to a thick-film electrode layer to be connected with a p-type layer. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-183400 also discloses a gallium nitride compound semiconductor device of flip chip type in which a thick-film electrode layer to be connected with a p-type layer is given a high reflectivity. The conventional GaN electrodes mentioned above, however, have included no disclosure on the finding that annealing is not actively performed for the sake of ohmic contact with the semiconductor layer(s). In any of the above cases, establishing ohmic contact with a gallium nitride compound semiconductor requires annealing at or above 400° C. This causes several problems as follows: (1) A first problem is evident in that surface contamination and oxidation are inevitable in the annealing furnace. In typical GaN device processes, a wafer is annealed by either: the successive steps i) of forming n-type GaN electrodes->annealing->forming p-type GaN electrodes->annealing (alternatively, the p-type GaN electrodes and the n-type GaN electrodes are formed by steps of inverted order); or the successive steps ii) of forming n-type GaN electrodes->forming p-type GaN electrodes->annealing (alternatively, the p-type GaN electrodes and the n-type GaN electrodes are formed by steps of inverted order). With the steps i), the n-type GaN electrodes are formed before annealing for establishing ohmic contact. At the time of annealing, the areas of the wafer surface for forming the p-type GaN electrodes are thus exposed directly to the furnace atmosphere. This inevitably contaminates the surface with impurities in the furnace and causes surface oxidation, so that the p-type GaN electrodes formed thereon become poor in electric characteristic. Even if the electrode-forming surface is cleaned to alleviate contamination and surface oxidation, the n-type GaN electrodes that are formed already preclude cleaning processes that can affect the material of the electrodes. This results in imperfect cleaning. In addition, the presence of the annealing even after the formation of the p-type GaN electrodes can give the n-type GaN electrodes an excessive heat history. The two annealing processes thus result in poorer electric characteristics. The same problems can also occur when the p-type GaN electrodes are formed first. The steps ii) will not cause the same problems as those of steps i) since the annealing is conducted only once unlike in the steps i). It is required, however, that more severe temperature, atmosphere, time, and other annealing conditions for the n-type GaN electrodes or the p-type GaN electrodes be applied as the conditions of the annealing process after the electrode formation. Consequently, the other electrodes which would exhibit optimum ohmic characteristics at milder conditions are inevitably deteriorated in characteristic. The n-type GaN electrodes and p-type GaN electrodes both can be evaporated and annealed at the same time if they were of the same material and the same conditions. Such a material, however, has not been adequately found so far. For example, when the n-type GaN electrode 95 requires annealing at around 400° C. and the p-type GaN electrode 96 requires annealing at around 700° C., the p-type GaN electrode 96 must be formed first. The reason is that if the n-type GaN electrode 95 is formed first, it must undergo the 700° C. annealing in order for the p-type GaN electrode 96 formed later on the same wafer to acquire ohmic characteristics. This applies excessive heat to the n-type GaN electrode 95 resulting in deterioration in electric characteristics. (2) A Second Problem lies in that the device process is limited. The eutectic electrodes 97 and 97′ shown in FIG. 1 have a metal laminate structure such as a Ti/Au/(Pt/Au)n layer and an Ni/Au/(Pt/Au)n layer. The outermost surface layer of the eutectic electrodes 97, 97′ is an eutectic material layer of Au, under which an eutectic limitation layer of Pt is formed. For flip chip connection, these layers are put downward and connected with Au/Sn eutectic parts which are laminated on the side of a submount or wiring. At the time of connection, the Au layers at the outermost surface of the eutectic electrodes 97, 97′ and the Au layer at the outermost surface of the eutectic parts of the submount are put together, to which a heat of around 300° C. is applied to create an Au/Sn eutectic state for junction. Thus, if the n-type GaN electrode 95 described above is formed and then the film forming step is continued to form the eutectic electrodes 97 and 97′ before annealing is conducted at or above 400° C. for the sake of ohmic connection of the electrode metal, the eutectic metal can melt during the annealing to preclude the function of the electrodes 97 and 97′. Hence, both the electrodes 95 and 96 for n-type GaN and p-type GaN must be formed and annealed before the eutectic electrodes 97 and 97′, which are formed in a separate step. Incidentally, as employed in this specification, the expression “(A/B)n layer” shall mean that the material A and the material B are laminated n times repeatedly. In general, when annealed at excessive temperatures, each of the n-type GaN electrodes and p-type GaN electrodes is coarsened at the surface of its metal layer on the semiconductor-layer side, with an unfavorable deterioration in reflectivity and ohmic characteristic. When Pt, Rh, Pd, and the like are used as a p-type GaN electrode for LED in particular, the heat treatment can increase the startup voltage (Vf) by 0.05 to 0.2 V. Needless annealing is thus better omitted. As described above, the sequence of the device process depends on order of temperatures of the annealing processes on the wafer. In addition, the annealing temperature cannot be optimized. This inevitably causes the problems that the device process cannot be designed freely, and device characteristics cannot be optimized.

It has been known that wholly aromatic polyamide fibers have various characteristics, such as excellent heat resistance and chemical resistance. Among them, a para-type wholly aromatic polyamide fibers are industrially used as a reinforcing material of various kinds of matrices and a rope owing to the excellent mechanical characteristics thereof, such as high strength and high elastic modulus. However, in the case where the wholly aromatic polyamide fibers are heated in a high temperature atmosphere or used in a high temperature atmosphere, there is a problem that single fibers are fused to each other when the temperature is too high. The wholly aromatic polyamide fibers are necessarily subjected to stretching at a high temperature and/or heat treatment for attaining high strength and high elastic modulus, but there is a problem that single fibers are fused to each other to fail to attain stable yarn-making or to reduce the mechanical characteristics of the resulting fibers. Furthermore, in the case where single fibers are partially fused to each other, the thread is lowered in flexibility to deteriorate the handleability thereof. In order to solve the problems, JP-A-53-147811 and the like disclose a method of coating inorganic fine powder on wholly aromatic polyamide fibers having thermal fusibility before subjecting the fibers to heat stretching and/or heat treatment, whereby the fibers are prevented from being fused and simultaneously are improved in yarn-making property. In the method, however, the inorganic fine powder coated on the fibers remain in a large amount after heat stretching and/or heat treatment, and thereby the method has a defect of causing such unfavorable effects in workability and adhesiveness that scums are liable to occur upon twisting the resulting fibers, and the adhesiveness to various matrices is liable to be lowered upon using as reinforcing fibers for rubber and resins. In order to solve the problems, JP-A-62-149934 proposes a method of using particular inorganic fine powder, and after stretching and heat treatment, the inorganic fine powder coated on fibers is removed by subjecting the fibers to treatment of applying water and treatment of spraying an air stream. However, only by using the treatment of applying water and the treatment of spraying an air stream, it is difficult to remove the inorganic fine powder to a level capable of improving the workability sufficiently. The remaining amount can be decreased by repeating the treatments in plural times, but another problem occurs that the productivity is deteriorated to increase the cost. Accordingly, it is the current situation that wholly aromatic polyamide fibers capable of providing such a high-performance product have not yet been proposed that is excellent in workability in various post-processes and is excellent in adhesiveness with various matrices.

In several communication fields such as, for example, the digital speech storage field, it is desirable to store a large number of complex waveforms in a digital format. Typically, waveforms of this nature are stored by storing the digitized amplitude values of successive samples of the waveform in accordance with well-known pulse code modulation (PCM) techniques. A disadvantage of this type of digital storage is that each sample usually requires a minimum of 8 bits of memory space. Inasmuch as the storage of a large number of waveforms thus consumes an appreciable amount of memory, it is highly desirable for microcomputer applications to reduce these memory requirements by some form of compaction of the sample information. Various methods for achieving this compaction, such as delta pulse code modulation (DPCM) have been proposed, but these methods save at best one or two bits per sample.

Adenosine receptors are involved in a vast number of peripheral and central regulatory mechanisms such as, for example, vasodilation, cardiac depression, inhibition of lipolysis, inhibition of insulin release and potentiation of glucagon release in the pancreas, and inhibition of neurotransmitter release from nerve endings. In general, adenosine receptors can be divided into two main classes, A1 receptors which can inhibit, and A2 receptors which can stimulate adenylate cyclase activity. One of the best known classes of adenosine receptor antagonists are the xanthines which include caffeine and theophylline. See e.g., Müller et al., J. Med. Chem. 33: 2822-2828 (1990). In general, many of these antagonists often suffer from poor water solubility, and low potency or lack of selectivity for adenosine receptors. Additionally, selective analogues of adenosine receptor antagonists have been developed through the “functionalized congener” approach. Analogues of adenosine receptor ligands bearing functionalized chains have been synthesized and attached covalently to various organic moieties such as amines and peptides. Attachment of the polar groups to xanthine congeners has been found to increase water solubility. Nonetheless, such developments have yet to fully address problems associated with potency and selectivity. More recently Jacobson et al. J. Med. Chem. 35: 408-422 (1992) has proposed various derivatives of adenosine and theophylline for use as receptor antagonists. The article discloses that hydrophobic substituents are able to potentially enhance affinity. However, it is also acknowledged that such substituents may result in a decrease in solubility thus rendering the antagonists less soluble in vivo. In confronting these problems, Jacobson et al. indicates that a dipropyl substitution at the 1 and 3 positions of theophylline allows desirable affinity at A1 receptors. It is also stated that substitutions at the 7-position are typically not favorable. Selective analogues of adenosine receptor antagonists have been developed through the “functionalized congener” approach. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,672 to Jacobson et al.; and Jacobson et al., Mol. Pharmacol. 29: 126-133 (1985). In terms of pharmacology, the compounds advantageously display increased affinity at A1 receptor sites relative to former A1 receptor antagonists while simultaneously exhibiting good water solubility. U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,360 to Neely describes A1 adenosine receptor antagonists. U.S. Pat. No. 6,489,332 to Neely describes A1 adenosine receptor antagonists. U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,279 to Kufner-Muhl et al. describes certain xanthine derivatives that have A1 adenosine receptor affinity. It is an object of the present invention to provide additional compounds useful as A1 adenosine receptor antagonists, preferably compounds with good water solubility.

The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium employed in an apparatus such as a magnetic disk apparatus; a process for producing the magnetic recording medium; a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising the magnetic recording medium; and a method for evaluating a profile in relation to inclination of crystal planes on a magnetic film surface. A conventional, widely employed magnetic recording medium is of a longitudinal recording type in which most of the easy-magnetization axes in the magnetic film are oriented horizontally with respect to the substrate. The term magnetic anisotropy is used to describe the dependence of internal energy on the direction of spontaneous magnetization, and the stable direction of spontaneous magnetization is called xe2x80x9ceasy-magnetization axisxe2x80x9d. In the case of longitudinal type, the term xe2x80x9cmostxe2x80x9d used herein describes the state of longitudinal orientation when the coercive force in the in-plane direction is higher than the coercive force of the vertical direction when the coercive force of the magnetic recording medium is measured. In such a longitudinal magnetic recording medium, when recording density is increased, per-bit volume becomes exceedingly small and reproduction characteristics may deteriorate due to thermal instability. In addition, when recording density is increased, the effect of a diamagnetic field at a recording bit boundary may cause an increase in medium noise. In contrast, in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium in which most of the easy-magnetization axes in the magnetic film are oriented vertically with respect to the substrate, the effect of a diamagnetic field at a recording bit boundary is minimal even when recording density is increased, and recording magnetic domains having clear boundaries are formed. In the case of perpendicular type, the term xe2x80x9cmostxe2x80x9d used herein describes the state of vertical orientation when the coercive force in the vertical direction is higher than the coercive force of the in-plane direction when the coercive force of the magnetic recording medium is measured. As a result, noise can be reduced. In addition, even when bit volume is relatively large, recording density can be increased, and thus resistance to thermal decay is high. Therefore, a perpendicular magnetic recording medium has recently become of interest, and magnetic recording medium structures suitable for perpendicular magnetic recording have been proposed. In recent years, there has been a demand for magnetic recording media of higher recording density, and in accordance with this trend, further improvements to noise characteristics have been required. In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic recording medium exhibiting excellent noise characteristics, and a process for producing the magnetic recording medium effectively. The present inventors have found that when a rocking curve in relation to a perpendicular magnetic film has a plurality of local maximum points, noise characteristics can be enhanced. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this finding. In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention provides a magnetic recording medium comprising a substrate; an undercoat film formed thereon; and a perpendicular magnetic film in which most of the easy-magnetization axes are oriented vertically with respect to the substrate, the magnetic film being formed on the undercoat film, wherein a rocking curve in relation to the magnetic film has a plurality of local maximum points, the curve being obtained through xcex8-2xcex8 scanning employing X-ray diffraction. When the magnetic recording medium is subjected to magnetization, the magnetization direction is not a specific direction and varies to some extent, since there are a plurality of local maximum points in the orientation direction of crystals in the perpendicular magnetic film. Therefore, at the boundary between two adjacent recording magnetic domains, the magnetization direction of one magnetic domain is not completely opposite that of the other magnetic domain, but slightly deviates from the opposite direction. Thus, compared with when the magnetization directions are completely opposite to each other, magnetic fluctuations, which would otherwise stem from magnetic interaction between the magnetic domains, may be absent in the vicinity of the magnetic domain wall. As a result, generation of noise attributed to magnetic fluctuations can be prevented, and noise characteristics can be enhanced. In order to enhance noise characteristics, the difference between an incident angle of an incident X-ray beam the incident X-ray beam being employed when the rocking curve is obtained corresponding to either of the local maximum points and an incident angle corresponding to the peak of a diffracted X-ray beam of a dominant crystal plane in the surface of perpendicular magnetic film, is preferably 3-10xc2x0 in the rocking curve. The half width of a peak portion of the rocking curve is preferably 10-30xc2x0. Preferably, the perpendicular magnetic film comprises any alloy selected from among a Co/Cr alloy, a Co/Cr/Pt alloy, a Co/Cr/Ta alloy, and a Co/Cr/Pt/X (X: one or more species of Ta, Zr, Cu, Re, Nb, Si, Ge, and B) alloy. The present invention also provides a process for producing a magnetic recording medium, which comprises forming an undercoat film on a substrate, and forming, on the undercoat film, a perpendicular magnetic film in which most of the easy-magnetization axes are oriented vertically with respect to the substrate, so that a rocking curve obtained through xcex8-2xcex8 scanning employing X-ray diffraction has a plurality of local maximum points. The present invention also provides a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising the aforementioned magnetic recording medium, and a magnetic head for recording data onto the medium and reproducing the data therefrom. The present invention also provides a method for evaluating a profile in relation to inclination of crystal planes in a magnetic film surface, which method comprises: (1) a peak determination step for determining the peak intensity of a diffracted X-ray beam through xcex8-2xcex8 scanning; (2) a step for determining a rocking curve; and (3) a step for determining the number of local maximum points in the resultant rocking curve. In the peak determination step, when a disk including a perpendicular magnetic film on the outermost surface of the disk is irradiated with an incident X-ray beam and the diffracted X-ray beam is detected by a diffracted-X-ray detector, the position of the detector is determined such that the angle of the diffracted X-ray beam with respect to the incident X-ray beam is twice the incident angle of the incident X-ray beam with respect to a disk plane, the incident angle of the incident X-ray beam is varied by varying the direction of the disk during irradiation of the incident X-ray beam, while, simultaneously, varying the position of the detector so that the angle of the diffracted X-ray beam with respect to the incident X-ray beam is maintained to be twice the incident angle of the incident X-ray beam. The intensity of the diffracted X-ray beam is measured by the detector through xcex8-2xcex8 scanning to determine the position of the detector so that the intensity of the diffracted X-ray beam reaches its maximum. Further, in the rocking curve determination step, the detector is fixed at the position determined in the peak determination step, and then the incident angle of the incident X-ray beam is varied by varying the direction of the disk to determine a rocking curve showing the relation between the incident angle and the intensity of the diffracted X-ray beam detected by the detector. In the step for determining the number of local maximum points, the number of local maximum points is counted on the basis of the shape of the rocking curve; and a profile in relation to inclination of crystal planes in the perpendicular magnetic film surface with respect to the disk plane is evaluated on the basis of the shape of the rocking curve and the number of the local maximum points, which are obtained through steps (1) through (3). When the rocking curve does not seem to have a plurality of local maximum points because of overlapping of local maximum portions of the curve, a profile in relation to inclination of crystal planes in the perpendicular magnetic film surface with respect to the disk plane may be evaluated through the following steps. After steps (1) to (3), the rocking curve is separated into two separation curves through (A), an initial peak value determination step for providing an initial peak value of a separation curve; (B), an initial half-width determination step for providing an initial half-width of a separation curve; and (C), a separation curve preparation step for preparing a separation curve through operation processing by use of the determined initial peak value and initial half-width. In the initial peak value determination step, an initial peak value of each separation curve is determined on the assumption that the difference between an incident angle corresponding to the peak of a first separation curve and an incident angle corresponding to the peak of the diffracted X-ray beam of a dominant crystal plane in the perpendicular magnetic film surface is equal to that between an incident angle corresponding to the peak of a second separation curve and the incident angle corresponding to the peak of the diffracted X-ray beam of the dominant crystal plane in the perpendicular magnetic film surface. In the initial half-width determination step, an initial half-width is determined from twice the difference between the incident angle corresponding to the peak of either separation curve and the incident angle corresponding to the position representing xc2xd of the intensity of an X-ray beam of the rocking curve at the initial peak value. A profile in relation to inclination of crystal planes in the perpendicular magnetic film surface with respect to the disk plane is evaluated on the basis of the shape of the separation curve obtained through steps (A) through (C).

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a heat exchanging unit with a hydrogen adsorption alloy mainly composed of metal hydride, and more particularly to a heat exchanging unit having a high heat exchange efficiency which is difficult to reduce in spite of repeated uses when the unit is incorporated into a heat exchanger. 2. Prior Art Heretofore, several arts have been developed in which hydrogen is adsorbed in a certain metal or alloy to be stored therein and transferred therefrom in the form of a metal hydride. These arts have been further applied to such practical use as purification of hydrogen, pressure rise, heat pump, air-conditioning system, etc. In such case, since an exothermic reaction or an endothermic reaction is necessarily taking place at the time the metal hydride adsorbs or discharges hydrogen, it is possible to take advantage of such a property for a heat exchanger, heat pump, etc. When it is a principal object to store or transfer hydrogen, delivery of hydrogen is not effectively performed without rapid delivery of heat between the metal hydride and the outside in view of the high thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger or efficient storage and transfer of hydrogen. However, a thermal conductivity of hydrogen adsorption alloy itself in the form of particles is not high, and therefore several attempts have been proposed aiming at efficient deliver of heat. According to one of the proposed attempts, in order to improve the hydrogen adsorption alloy itself, surfaces of the particles are plated with a dissimilar metal of high thermal conductivity as described later with reference to this invention. According to another attempt, the structure of a heat exchanging unit is improved so that a hydrogen adsorption alloy in the form of particles is brought into contact with a heat transfer element as close as possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 19, a heat exchanger manufactured by Solar Turbines Incorporated is disclosed, wherein a heat pump for temperature rise is provided with a tube and fins outside as a heat transfer element. Fourteen copper tubes 8A are disposed in fins 9A of large diameter being 0.02 inch in thickness, and spaces formed between the fins at an interval of 0.15 inch (3.8 mm) are filled with a metal hydride 6A. FIG. 20 shows another heat exchanger for prototype heat pump disclosed by the same company, having six radial fins 9B disposed in a copper tube 8B of 1 inch (25.4 mm) in inner diameter. Numeral 18 is a filter in FIG. 20. These two drawings are shown in pages 67 and 72 of Metal Hydride/Chemical Heatpump Development Product. Phase 1, Final Report, BNL-51539 published by Brookhaven National Laboratory. A further proposed attempt is one which utilizes compression molding. FIG. 21 shows a proposal already made by the applicant and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,038, wherein surfaces of particles of hydrogen adsorption alloy are coated with a dissimilar metal by plating and molded into a compact 6C. Apertures are then perforated through the compact to insert a heat exchanging pipe 8C therethrough, the ends of the pipe being respectively communicated with a supply port and an exhaust port for a heating or cooling medium. A modification of this proposal is also disclosed in the foregoing application, wherein particles of hydrogen adsorption alloy coated with a dissimilar metal by plating are infiltrated into a porous material of high thermal conductivity and this porous material is formed into a compact by compression molding. In effect, in order to improve thermal efficiency of a heat exchanger using a hydrogen adsorption alloy, there have been proposed means for improving the hydrogen adsorption alloy itself, means for increasing contact areas between the alloy particles and heat transfer surfaces as much as possible (by Solar Turbines Incorporated), and a method for improving a compact of hydrogen adsorption alloy formed by compression molding (i.e., porous metal matrix hydrides) proposed by Prof. Ron Technion and further improved by applicant. The foregoing proposals, however, have their respective problems to be solved. In the first attempt of improving a hydrogen adsorption alloy itself to elevate thermal conductivity, there is a limit in distance within which heat can be transferred from a heat transfer surface, since the thermal conductivity is essentially low when the alloy is in the form of particles. By the same reason, sufficient improvement of thermal conductivity is not attained, either, even when a lot of fins are densely fitted for rapid delivery of heat in the second attempt of increasing the contact area. In this connection, a filter is usually fitted for shielding the alloy from outside in order to prevent the alloy particles from floating and getting out, but since an apparent specific gravity of the alloy is small and there is no bonding strength among particles when the alloy is in the particle state, such shielding does not bring a stable holding of the alloy. That is, when the hydrogen adsorption alloy is repeatedly used, free particles are further micronized and collapsed by repetition of shrinkage and expansion leading eventually to the particles getting out and being scattered. In this way, when lots of fins are densely fitted to increase the heat transfer area, the thermal conductivity is declined rather than improved. In the third attempt of molding the particles into a compact, thermal conductivity is indeed considerably improved as compared with the form of particles or powder, but a problem exists in how to make close contact between a heat-transfer element and a hydrogen adsorption alloy compact without maintaining a heat insulating boundary. For example, in the case of arranging a heat exchanging unit by forming a compact of alloy (formed by compression molding) as shown in FIG. 21 and inserting several heat transfer pipes (copper pipes) through inside of the compact, it is necessary to provide through holes for insertion of the heat-transfer pipes. Such through holes can be made directly on the compact after molding it. It is also possible to arrange preliminarily a mold suitable for formation of such holes. But in any case, a spacing is required between the compact and the heat transfer pipe, because without such spacing it is impossible to build up a heat exchanging unit by the insertion of pipes. Thus, it is an essential requirement for the prior art to maintain a spacing, and this spacing negatively affects the heat transfer between the heat transfer element and the compact of hydrogen adsorption alloy.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to chiropractic treatment tables. Particularly, the present invention related to chiropractic treatment tables of the type for generally horizontally supporting a patient in a face-down position. 2. Description of the Prior Art The treatment of various maladies of the human body by means of the manipulation of the muscles and skeletal structure thereof, commonly referred to as “the practice of chiropractic”, has become a widely used and accepted art. One such treatment regimen is to manipulate the muscles, ligaments and the osseous skeletal structures of the spine. The intervertebral disc is the strongest ligament of the spine. The architecture of a lumbar vertebra and the mechanics of a lumbar joint and the toughness of even a damaged disc do not allow for a lot of movement between adjacent vertebrae. Injury and degredation of the disc causes a breakdown of the disc and thus the deterioration of the intervertebral joint, which adversely affects the nervous system. A vertebral misalignment, the so called “subluxation,” can only occur when the integrity of the disc has failed. Consequently, the optimal relationship between adjacent vertebrae gets interrupted and back pain, leg pain, muscle spasm and other signs and symptoms and abdominal problems appear. The same mechanisms apply and results manifest in the head, neck and upper torso, including shoulders, arms and hands, if there is injury to and deterioration of discs in the cervical spine and/or the thoracic spine. Various chiropractic tables have been developed to facilitate this type of chiropractic and manual treatment. The conventional commercial table typically includes an elongated, padded platform or table on which a patient reclines. The table is further provided with means for securing the patient's extremities, e.g., the patient's ankles and a support of the arms. The conventional table is typically made up of two sections. One section is called the cephalad section, which is fixed, immovable and supported by rigid legs or support columns that rest on the floor. The other section is called the caudal section, which supports the patient's lower body. On the conventional chiropractic table the fixed or immobile cephalad section supports the patient's head and trunk including the pelvis The patient's legs are supported by the mobile or flexible caudal section. The table provides means for tiltably raising and lowering (extension and flexion, respectively), laterally bending, rotating and extending the lower body with respect to the upper body or the fixed support section. Such treatment tables have proven to be valuable aids to the practitioner of chiropractic medicine. Various treatment methods for patients suffering from spinal and related nerve, muscle, and skeletal maladies have been devised using such tables. The mobile section is used to carry out flexiondistraction, also known as “decompression”. The term “decompression” means that the nerve roots and/or the spinal cord are being decompressed. The distraction acts on the intervertebral discs since the vertebrae, being bone, resist decompression. “Flexion” is the bending of the spine at the lumbar level. Flexion is to the anterior (i.e., towards the floor). This should be associated by the patient with a comfortable and pleasant sensation of “stretching.” Distraction is the separation of the cushions of the treatment table, and thus the spine, in the horizontal plane. In a few tables lateral bending is possible. This is also known as “lateral flexion.” This movement by itself should also feel as a comfortable stretching sensation; but happens only if not too much force is applied. Fewer tables still have the option of “axial rotation.” This means the mobile caudal section can swivel along the longitudinal axis of the table. In flexion, the whole disc is affected, though the emphasis is on the posterior part of the disc. In lateral bending the left side or the right side of the disc is being stretched. Stretching the disc has a stimulating and restorative effect on the disc. It helps the disc to regain its normal height and shape. In flexiondistraction treatments, the patient is prone on the treatment table. Unphysiologic movement appears when flexiondistraction, lateral bending and axial rotation are combined, with time, the fourth dimension, in one action. Therefore, what is needed is a device that facilitates the combined use of flexion and distraction, lateral bending and axial rotation so as not to introduce unphysiologic damaging forces into the lumbar spine during treatment.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a door-closing device for a domestic electrical appliance. Particularly, the present invention relates to a door-closing device comprising a frame with an aperture for the introduction of a keeper or the like, a closing unit which is arranged on the frame so as to be movable, relative to the latter, and which, in a closing position, holds the keeper fast for the purpose of keeping the door closed and, in an open position, releases the keeper for the purpose of opening the door, the closing unit, in the course of its transfer from the open position into the closing position, drawing the keeper along with it along part of the keeper's path of movement, relative to the frame, a closing spring arrangement which acts upon the closing unit and which supplies the force necessary for drawing the keeper along with the unit, and a blocking system by which the closing unit can be blocked from moving out of the open position and into the closing position, it being possible to set aside the blocking of the closing unit by relative movement of said blocking system and closing unit. 2. Description of the Prior Art A door-closing device of this kind with a pulling-shut function, that is to say spring-assisted pulling-shut of the door, is known, for example, from US 2005/0194795 A1. In this known solution, a blocking pin is provided which is arranged so as to be integral with the frame. The closing unit comprises a linearly movable carriage on which a rotary member is held so as to be movable about an axis of rotation. An arrangement of a number of helical compression springs is inserted between the carriage and a framework belonging to the door-closing device. The force of the helical compression springs pretensions the rotary member towards the blocking pin. The rotary member possesses a slot which is open in the radially outward direction and into which, when the closing unit is in the open position, the keeper moves on closure of the door. In the process, the keeper strikes against one of the flanks of the slot. This action of the keeper upon the rotary member leads to rotation of the latter about the axis of rotation, the outer peripheral face of said rotary member sliding along the blocking pin. Under these circumstances, considerable frictional forces can operate between the blocking pin and the rotary member, depending upon the firmness of the helical compression springs. While the keeper which has been introduced is rotating the rotary member, that part of said rotary member which adjoins the other flank of the slot engages in a clearance in the keeper. As soon as an edge at which the outer peripheral face of the rotary member bends away in the radially inward direction slips past the blocking pin, the helical compression springs are able to expand and thrust the carriage away. In the course of this displacement of the carriage, the keeper is drawn along with the rotary member by the latter, which now presses, with the other flank of its slot, against said keeper. Another door fastener with a pulling-shut function, which door fastener is not a generic one however, is known from EP 1 344 486 A2. In this door fastener, a rotary member, to which a helical compression spring which supplies the pulling-shut force is attached by one of its ends, serves as the closing unit. When the fastener is in an open state, the straight line of force extending between the points at which the helical compression spring is attached lies on one side of the axis of rotation of the rotary member and pretensions the latter in the direction of an open position. When the fastener is closed, the straight line of force of the helical compression spring moves away over the axis of rotation of the rotary member and comes to rest on the other side of said axis of rotation. The pretensioning action of the helical compression spring is then in the direction of the closing position of the rotary member. In order to close the door, it is therefore first necessary to operate against the force of the helical compression spring. This comes about through the fact that a keeper which has been introduced strikes against one of the flanks of a slot constructed in the rotary member and thereby moves the latter away over the dead centre at which the straight line of force of the helical compression spring passes precisely through the axis of rotation. As soon as the dead centre has been crossed, the spring expands and drives the rotary member into its closing position. In the process, the keeper which is now trapped in the slot in the rotary member is drawn along with it. What is problematic about the fastener according to EP 1 344 486 A2 is that, for a low initial force of resistance when the door is being closed, the straight line of force of the helical compression spring is supposed to be removed only a little way from the dead-centre position, but this at the same time entails an increased susceptibility to unwanted automatic closing of the catch if vibration or jolting occurs. German Laying-Open Specification DE 10 2006 037 494 A1, which was published subsequently, indicates a door-closing device with a pulling-shut function in which, on closure of the door, a closing body with a projecting nose plunges into a closing trough formed on the door and then snaps back under the action of an expanding closing spring, as a result of which the door is pulled shut. Said door first of all strikes against a control lever which is separated from the closing body and which is set in motion as a result. The rotating control lever in turn presses the closing body down against a blocking face formed by a base frame of the closing device. As soon as the closing body passes the blocking face, the closing spring is able to expand. German Laying-Open Specification DE 10 2007 025 295 A1, which was likewise published subsequently, indicates a door fastener having a closing member which is guided, via two spindles, so as to be movable within a guide groove in a fastener housing and which, on closure of the door, grasps a closing catch arranged on the door and then moves, under the action of an expanding closing spring, in such a way that the door catch is pulled into the fastener. The course of the guide groove exhibits an inflexion which has to be overcome by one of the spindles of the closing member so that the closing spring is able to expand for the purpose of deploying its pulling-shut action.

The present invention is related generally to gaming systems and more specifically to a gaming device system and method for awarding payouts and prizes. Conventional gaming devices for awarding payouts when a wager is taken at a casino for example, are well known. A gaming device uses a random selection process to determine the game outcome of each play of a game. When a gaming device correctly displays at least one randomly predetermined set of indicia, the player is awarded a predetermined payout that is displayed in a payout schedule. Conventional gaming devices have a top award called a jackpot that is limited by the probability of aligning a finite number of jackpot indicia. In order for a gaming device to remain profitable over time, the amount of awards multiplied by the probability of winning the awards is less than the average amount wagered in winning the awards. In order for a gaming device to payout a large predetermined jackpot, for example, $100,000, the odds of winning the jackpot must be extremely low in order for the machine to be profitable over time. Because of this, it normally takes long periods of time between large jackpot payouts. Even though players are still attracted to the opportunity of winning a $100,000 dollars, disadvantageously, because of the low frequency of winners and the extremely low probability of winning, players tend to lose interest in playing and tend to move on to games that have a higher frequency of winning a jackpot. Conventional progressive gaming systems have been used to produce progressive pools, ranging from thousands to millions of dollars by using a progressive gaming system in conjunction with a gaming device or devices. In most of these systems, a number of gaming devices and/or location are coupled to a central computer system. As wagers are placed in the gaming devices, a portion of each wager is contributed to at least one progressive pool. As contributions are made to the progressive pool, the size of the pool grows until it is awarded to a player. When the player properly aligns a predetermined set of indicia on the gaming device the entire pool is paid. These progressive amounts are displayed on the gaming device and/or showcased on a display above the individual gaming device or a group of gaming devices. While the above gaming devices and progressive gaming system with its added progressive pool have proved satisfactory in stimulating game play on the coupled gaming devices, disadvantageously, it has been observed that game play tends to decrease immediately after the total progressive pool has been won. Not until the displayed current pool value increases considerably above the initially reset base value does game play increase to its more usual levels. This fall-off in game play is a result of the players on the gaming devices being reluctant to institute game play when the displayed current pool value is close to the initial base value, since the players know that the value will likely increase to a more substantial level. Fall-off in game play at any time is undesirable and detracts from the benefits of the added progressive gaming system. It should be noted that increased payoffs are being demanded by the market to maintain and increase player appeal. Nevertheless, the probability of win and payout that allows for a reasonable business profit must be assured to casino owners. Generally the profit-hold objectives before taxes and operational costs that are deducted are in a range as low as 2.7% and generally up to 15%. Hence, the higher payoffs for a winning indicia combination is counterbalanced with less probability for the high win combination of indicia. Disadvantageously, the probability of hitting a large progressive award on a gaming device i.e., Mega Bucks/IGT “the worlds biggest slot Jackpot”™, is extremely low, thus causing long periods of time to pass by, between winners, of the large progressive award pools. Even though players are still attracted to the chance of winning over a million dollars, because of the low frequency of winners and the extremely low probability of winning, players tend to lose interest in playing and tend to move on to games that have higher odds frequency of winning jackpots. In addition, progressive pools increase as wagers are placed in the gaming devices, a portion of each wager is contributed to at least one progressive pool. As contributions are made to the progressive pool, the size of the pool grows until it is awarded to a player. Because a portion of the wager from each gaming device is the only way to contribute to the progressive pool, when game play (coin-in) decreases the progressive pool increments at a slower rate, causing less excitement and player appeal. Disadvantageously, because of this and fall-off, progressive pools can remain stagnant for long periods of time creating a loss in revenues for the Gambling Establishments.

For electronic circuit using switching devices, generally the drain voltage of the switching device is sensed to execute the line under voltage lockout (UVLO) or over voltage protection (OVP). Traditional technology uses a metal run to cross over the drift region to connect the drain pad and the resistor divider together to get the required sensed voltage. But for high voltage switching device applications, the high voltage drop across the metal run will greatly decrease the breakdown voltage of the switching device, and even break the switching device. Prior art have tried various ways to eliminate the above effect. One approach is to isolate metal's effect on the silicon surface's electrical field distribution by making two poly plate layers, which complicates the process and leads to switching device's low reliability. Another approach uses an extra drain pad outside of the switching device to connect to the resistor divider, and uses bonding wire to connect two drain pads to the lead frame. Such approach needs an extra pad, which increases cost.

This invention pertains to a forming mold for postforming of an shaped polymer cord that is extruded onto an object. It is known that vehicle windows are equipped with a frame or frame-shaped elements by extruding directly onto a glass a shaped cord that is made of an extrudable polymer in a corresponding manner. Likewise, other plate-like objects such as, for example, doors can be equipped with a frame-shaped sealing joint. Generally, however, the shaped cord extruded onto the object has to be postformed in certain places, for instance, in the transition zone between the beginning and end of a closed frame. Such postforming may also be necessary or advantageous in the area of the corners of a shaped frame, particularly in the case of sharp corners. Extrudable polymers that are used for the above-mentioned purposes include both reaction systems, for example, polyurethane systems that harden under the action of moisture, and thermoplastic systems. In the case of reaction systems, the postforming may be done right after the extrusion operation before the extruded polymer cord hardens. Such a postforming process and the appropriate compression molds for implementing it are described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,979 and German patent no. DE-G-U1 90 11 573. In the case of a reaction system, the postforming may also be done after the shaped cord hardens. A corresponding process and an appropriate mold for implementing it, comprising a forming mold, are the objects of documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,265. Devices that comprise a forming mold for the postforming of the transition zone of a thermoplastic polymer frame that is extruded onto a glass are described in documents WO 95/35193 and WO 96/19339. In all of the known devices for postforming, the forming surface of the forming mold is adapted over its entire length to the geometry of the extruded shaped cord. This means that, for example, in the case of an extruded frame on a flat glass, the shaped forming surface is rectilinear. When postforming is done with the aid of the known forming mold, it may happen that joint lines, which are caused by the edges at the end faces of the forming mold, are visible at the transition points between the postformed section length and the lengths of the initial extruded sections. Such visible joint lines show up in particular when the dimensions, in terms of height, of the shaped extruded cord or the shape and thickness of the objects vary slightly within the limits of the given tolerances.

A printing device, such as a printer, multifunction printer (MFP), or the like, may be utilized to print content on a physical medium such as paper. The printing device may receive an electronic representation of the content from a computing device, such as a desktop or laptop computer, mobile device, etc. Printing devices may also include support for additional services besides basic printing, scanning, and/or copying functions.

The use of focused ion-beam (FIB) microscopes has become common for the preparation of specimens for later analysis in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The structural artifacts, and even some structural layers, in the device region and interconnect stack of current integrated-circuit devices can be too small to be reliably detected with the secondary electron imaging in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), or FIB, which offers a bulk surface imaging resolution of approximately 3 nm. In comparison, TEM inspection offers much finer image resolution (<0.1 nm), but requires electron-transparent (<100 nm thick) sections of the sample mounted on 3 mm diameter grid disks. Techniques were later developed for cutting out and removing specimens for examination that required little or no preliminary mechanical preparation of the initial semiconductor die sample before preparation in the FIB. These lift-out techniques include an “ex-situ” method that is performed outside the FIB chamber, and “in-situ” methods performed inside the FIB. The process of in-situ lift-out can be simplified into three successive steps. The first is the excision of the sample using focused ion-beam milling and extraction of the sample from its trench. The second is the “holder-attach” step, during which the sample is translated on the probe-tip point to the TEM sample holder. Then it is attached to the TEM sample holder (typically with ion beam-induced metal deposition) and later detached from the probe-tip point. The third and final step is the thinning of the sample into an electron-transparent thin section using focused ion beam milling. A significant portion of the total time involved in completing a TEM sample with in-situ lift-out is spent during the holder-attach step. The relative amount of time involved depends on the amount of time required to mechanically isolate the lift-out sample from the initial bulk sample (ion beam milling rate), but will vary between 30% to 60% of the total time for TEM sample preparation. In order to eliminate the holder-attach step, it would be desirable to directly join the probe-tip point with the sample attached to the material that will form the TEM sample holder.

Conventionally, it has been very useful to use (meth)acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group independently or to use a curable composition comprising said acrylate as an optical material for optical lenses or the like, in order to achieve both optical characteristics such as reducing a refractive index and mechanical characteristics (strength) caused by a crosslinking reaction. Accordingly, many kinds of said (meth)acrylates, manufacturing methods thereof, and compositions comprising said (meth)acrylate have been proposed. The (meth)acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group is also useful as a surface-active agent, a surface-modifying agent and a raw material for the agents, which can achieve surface characteristics such as water repellent and/or oil repellent property, smoothing property, chemical resistance and stain guard property due to a high electronegativity, that is, low polarizability peculiar to a fluorine atom in the compound. For example, (meth)acrylate which is obtained by a condensation reaction between trimethylol propane, perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acid, and (meth)acrylic acid has been proposed as a polyfunctional (meth)acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group (for example, please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, 9-157326, pages 2 to 4. Hereinafter, the document is cited as patent document 1). However, this (meth)acrylate of patent document 1 is a compound wherein the perfluoroalkyl group is directly combined with a carbon atom of a carbonyl group in an ester bond. Accordingly, the electron density of said carbon atom tends to be decreased and hydrolysis affects the (meth)acrylate easily, and thus, an obtained cured product has problems in that performances such as the optical characteristics, mechanical characteristics and the like may not be maintained over a long period of time. Moreover, accumulative property of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acid (CnF2n+1COOH), which is a raw material or product produced after the hydrolysis, in a living body and in the environment is recognized as a problem particularly in U.S. and therefore perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acid is a compound which should be avoided from the viewpoint of safety. Furthermore, as polyfunctional urethane acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group, for example, a polycondensed reaction product of isophorone diisocyanate, mono- or di-alcohol having a fluorinated alkyl group, and polyfunctional acrylate monomer having a hydroxyl group has been proposed (for example, please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, 2002-145936, pages 3 to 5. Hereinafter, the document is cited as patent document 2). Since the compound proposed in patent document 2 is a compound wherein a perfluoroalkyl group is not combined directly with a carbon atom in a carbonyl group, deterioration of a cured product due to hydrolysis is not caused easily. However, the compound has a structure in which an acrylate portion (crosslinking point) bonds with a fluorinated alkyl group via isophorone diisocyanate. Accordingly, a molecular weight of the compound per molecule is large, and the functional group density of a (meth)acryloyl group is low and the mechanical characteristics of a cured product become insufficient. Furthermore, as a method for manufacturing a polyfunctional urethane acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group, methods are proposed in which said acrylate is produced by using diepoxide having a fluorinated alkyl group or diol having a fluorinated alkyl group as a raw material (for example, please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, 9-301925, pages 3 to 5, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, 2001-072646, pages 3 to 4.) Hereinafter, the documents are cited as patent documents 3 and 4). However, since there are acryloyl groups (crosslinking point) at both terminal ends of a fluorinated alkylene chain via the residues of a hydroxyl group or an epoxy group in both documents, a fluorinated alkylene chain is incorporated in a network structure of a cured product. Accordingly, the surface properties originated from a fluorine atom are not sufficient, since it is difficult for a fluorine atom to exist on the surface of the cured product effectively and —CF3, which can contribute to decrease surface tension, does not exist on the surface. Moreover, for example, a reactant which is obtained by reacting fluorine-containing acrylate, which has a hydroxyl group, and isocyanate having an acryloyl group has been proposed as fluorinated alkyl group containing (meth)acrylate which has two (meth)acryloyl groups (for example, please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, 2000-044650, pages 3 to 7. Hereinafter, this document is cited as patent document 5). The compound proposed by patent document 5 is excellent in surface characteristics as compared with the compounds proposed by patent documents 3 and 4, since a fluorinated alkyl group of patent document 5 is pendant from the three dimensional structure generated by the curing reaction. However, since the crosslinking points are bonded to each other by the chain structure wherein a flexible alkylene chain is a main structure, therefore, an obtained three dimensional network structure itself is also flexible, and mechanical characteristics of the cured product obtained become insufficient. In view of the aforementioned circumstances, problems to be solved by the present invention are to provide a fluorine-containing photocurable composition including (meth)acrylate having a fluorinated alkyl group, wherein the composition can be used suitably for an optical material, coating material and the like, and a cured product obtained from the composition having excellent surface characteristics, optical characteristics and mechanical characteristics, and also excellent long-term stability of such characteristics due to excellent hydrolysis resistance thereof.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc apparatus for reproducing, recording or erasing a magnetic disc or an optical disc represented, for example, by a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) (hereinafter simply referred to as a disc) and, more specifically, to a lock mechanism of a pick-up unit mounted on such a disc apparatus. 2. Description of the Background Art Generally, a disc apparatus includes, in its main body, a disc tray conveying a disc, and a drive unit movable in a direction approximately vertical to the direction of conveying the disc tray. The drive unit includes a pick-up unit having a pick-up for recording or reproduction of the disc, and a motor for moving the pick-up unit along radial direction of the disc. A transmitting portion including a plurality of gears is provided on the motor, for reducing and transmitting the driving force of the motor. When the transmitting portion meshes with a rack formed in the pick-up unit, the pick-up unit can be moved by the motor. Further, the transmitting portion can be meshed with an elevating mechanism arranged on the main body of the apparatus. The elevating mechanism is engaged with the drive unit by means of a cam, and movable in the direction of conveying the disc tray and the direction approximately orthogonal to the elevating (up/down) direction of the drive unit. Thus, the drive unit is moved upward/downward. Further, the transmitting portion can be meshed with a rack formed in the disc tray, and at a prescribed timing, the transmitting portion is coupled with the disc tray, so that the driving force of the motor is transmitted to the disc tray. When a disc is placed on the disc tray in the disc apparatus having the structure described above, the disc tray is conveyed into the disc apparatus by the motor drive. When the disc tray is positioned in place, coupling between the disc tray and the transmitting portion is released, while the elevating mechanism is coupled with the transmitting portion. The elevating mechanism moves in a direction vertical to the conveying direction of the disc tray, so that the drive unit is moved upward. Thus, the disc engages with a chuck portion provided in the drive unit. After the disc is chucked, coupling between the transmitting portion and the elevating mechanism is released, and the transmitting portion is coupled to the pick-up unit. This allows movement of the pick-up unit along the radial direction of the disc, and therefore, recording or reproduction at a prescribed position of the disc becomes possible. The disc can be taken out by an operation reverse to that described above. In the disc apparatus having the above-described structure, it becomes necessary to lock, by a lock mechanism, the pick-up unit to prevent movement thereof in a state where the disc tray is drawn forth. By locking the pick-up unit, the start position of the pick-up unit with respect to the motor can be determined. This prevents positional deviation of the pick-up unit by fluctuation of the disc apparatus and hence prevents any resulting malfunction. The pick-up unit locking mechanisms are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2003-085855, 2002-329361 and 2000-011511 as well as in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3095688. Among these, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-011511 discloses a lock mechanism in which a lever member to be meshed with the pick-up unit when the drive unit is lowered is urged by an elastic body to attain locking of the pick-up unit. In the disc apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-011511, however, a lever member and the elastic body are required for locking the pick-up unit, and therefore, the number of components is increased and the apparatus becomes larger. The disc apparatuses disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 2003-085855 and 2002-329361 and in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3095688 also have the problem that the structure of the apparatus becomes complicated or the number of components increases.

Conventionally, the phenolic novolak is generally produced by switching from a homogeneous reaction of a phenol and an aldehyde in the presence of an acid catalyst to a heterogeneous reaction starting from an emulsification phenomenon, further pursuing the reaction, checking the production of an initial condensate having a desired degree of condensation before terminating the condensation reaction, and conducting the reduction of low-molecular-weight components and dehydration in the initial condensate by vacuum concentration. And, the phenolic novolak has relatively favorable electric properties and also excels in heat resistance and flame retardance. Therefore, it is extensively used as a base resin for an epoxy resin which is used for, for example, electric and electronic materials, semiconductor sealers and the like required to have remarkable electric properties or a curing agent for epoxy resins, a base resin for a photoresist to be used for LCDs and semiconductors and also used as a binder for laminated plates, forming materials, mold materials, and the like. But, when the conventional phenolic novolak was used for the electric and electronic materials, semiconductor sealers or the like, the resin contained a monomeric phenol and a dimeric phenol in a large amount, so that there were various problems such as environmental pollution because of volatilization of the monomeric phenol involving an odor, a degradation in production efficiency because of falling of the dimeric phenol, which were sublimated to deposit on the side and ceiling of the apparatus when a photoresist coated on a substrate such as glass for liquid crystal display was baked, onto the substrate, and a degradation in crosslinking density of a cured resin substance affecting on the heat resistance, and the like. Because the molecular weight distribution was broad, there were also disadvantages that the molten resin had a high viscosity and poor moldability. Where the phenolic novolak is used as a binder for castings, it is demanded to decrease phenol monomer contained in the phenolic resin as low as possible because the phenol monomer applies to the PRTR law (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) and the phenol monomer contained in the binder becomes tar in a high-temperature atmosphere, resulting in defective casting such as a gas defect. In other words, as the phenolic resin for the casting binder, a phenolic novolak having properties that a content of monomeric phenol is decreased, a molecular weight is low and the molecular weight distribution is narrow is demanded. For example, as a method for reduction of the monomeric phenol and dimeric phenol contained in the above phenolic resin, there is proposed a method of removing low-molecular weight components by blowing in inert gas or vapor to condense a novolak-based condensate at 150° C. to 210° C. after the condensation reaction is completed (Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-91352). This method has a reliable effect of decreasing the monomeric phenol and dimeric phenol but has a disadvantage that their removal lowers the yield of the resin. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a process for production capable of producing a phenolic novolak with the contents of a monomeric phenol and a dimeric phenol and a degree of dispersion (Mw/Mn) controlled in high yield by reacting a phenol and an aldehyde in the presence of a phosphoric acid and a reaction cosolvent.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a vertical furnace for heat-treating a semiconductor, and more particularly to such a vertical furnace which is adapted to effectively and positively carry out the heat-treating of a semiconductor. 2. Description of the Prior Art A conventional furnace for heat-treating a semiconductor which is known as a diffusion furnace in the art is typically the horizontal type constructed in such a manner as shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the conventional heat-treating furnace is constructed to dispose a heater 20 on the inner wall of a furnace body 18 which is formed into a cylinder shape and laterally arranged. In the conventional furnace of such horizontal type, a material 52 to be heat-treated is put on a boat 14, which is driven by a driving means or motor 28 to be reciprocated in the directions indicated by arrows. However, the conventional heat-treating furnace of the horizontal type described above has many disadvantages of, for example, being inferior in heat efficiency, requiring a large area for the installation, being nonuniform in temperature profile in the furnace, being troublesome in handling of a material to be subjected to heat-treating, and the like. In order to effectively eliminate the above-described defects of the conventional horizontal type furnace, a vertical furnace for heat-treating a semiconductor has been proposed which is open at the upper end thereof. However, such a conventional vertical furnace of the top open type has a disadvantage that heat loss easily occurs because of the upper end being open. The vertical furnace has another problem that heat discharged from the furnace due to convection renders the operation of holding on a holder a material to be subjected to heat-treating in the upper portion of the furnace highly difficult. A further disadvantage of the furnace is that the falling of the holder due to, for example, misoperation often causes a silica tube to be damaged or broken. The furnace has still a further defect that it is highly difficult to remove from the furnace dust produced due to the above-described holding operation. Also, the conventional vertical furnace is constructed in a manner such that a boat driving mechanism for carrying out the introduction and removal of a boat with respect to a furnace section is substantially arranged in an operation space, resulting in semiconductor heat-treated or to be subjected to heat-treating being polluted by dust produced due to the operation of the boat driving mechanism, and more particularly the rotation of a driving motor, the engagement of a driving shaft with a connecting member and the like.

Metallic coating, pearl color coating, and other coating for use in car coating may appear to vary in color depending on an observer's angle due to a radiant material of the interior. For this reason, a multi-angle colorimeter that performs illumination or light receiving at multiple angles is used for coating evaluation (evaluation of coating color). In other words, in metallic coating and pearl color coating for use in car coating, coating films contain aluminum flakes and mica flakes referred to as radiant materials, which produce a so-called metallic effect and pearl effect. This is because the radiant material contributes to reflection characteristics differently depending on the directions of illumination and observation. A multi-angle colorimeter having a multi-angle geometry (optical arrangement) for illuminating a sample surface of an object to be measured from multiple directions and receiving the light from one direction (multidirectional illumination and unidirectional light receiving) or illuminating a sample surface of an object to be measured from one direction and receiving the lights from multiple directions (unidirectional illumination and multidirectional light receiving) is used in the evaluation (colorimetry) of metallic coating and pearl color coating. Unfortunately, in a case where an object to be measured is a sample having a curvature, such as a car bumper, an attitude error is highly likely to occur, where a sample normal does not coincide with a reference axis of a colorimeter in measurement. Among others, an angular orientation close to the specularly reflected light has large angle dependence in the reflection characteristics, and thus, an effect of this error is not negligible. In order to reduce the attitude error, for example, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-5830 proposes the technology in which an optical base unit containing a measurement optical system is held by an elastic body such as a spring against a housing, and the illumination and light receiving geometories are kept constant irrespective of the contact angle between the sample and the housing, to thereby reduce an attitude error. An example of another well-known technology is the technology in which multiple contact pins are arranged on a sample contact surface such that a measurement is triggered if those pins are pressed evenly, to thereby suppress an attitude error of a colorimeter. Meanwhile, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-315761 proposes the technique in which in a glossimeter that measures a gloss of a sample from the specularly reflected light, an optical system for correction is additionally arranged to be axisymmetric with the original illumination system and light receiving system about a sample normal for suppressing an attitude error of the glossimeter, to thereby average measured values of the both systems. Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-5830 Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-315761

Disclosed are intermediate transfer members, and more specifically, coated seamed intermediate transfer members useful in transferring a developed image in an electrostatographic, for example xerographic, including digital, image on image, and the like, printers, machines or apparatuses. In embodiments, there are selected, for example, seamed intermediate transfer members comprised of a conductive material like carbon black, a polyaniline, or mixtures thereof dispersed in a polymer solution, such as a polyamic acid solution illustrated in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/129,995, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/181,354, and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/181,409, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference; and thereafter, applying a crosslinked mixture of a glycoluril resin and a polyol resin onto the seam. Intermediate transfer belts can be generated in the form of seamed belts fabricated by fastening two ends of a web material together, such as by welding, sewing, wiring, stapling, or gluing. While seamless intermediate transfer belts are known, they may require manufacturing processes that render them more costly as compared to similar seamed intermediate transfer belts. Seamed belts can be fabricated from a sheet cut that originates from an imaging member web. The sheets are generally rectangular, or in the shape of a parallelogram where the seam does not form a right angle to the parallel sides of the sheet. All edges may be of the same length, or one pair of parallel edges may be longer than the other pair of parallel edges. The sheets are formed into a belt by joining overlapping opposite marginal end regions of the sheet. A seam is typically produced in the overlapping marginal end regions at the point of joining. Joining of the aforementioned areas may be effected by any suitable means, such as by welding like ultrasonic welding, gluing, taping, pressure heat fusing, and the like. Ultrasonic welding can be accomplished by retaining in a down position the overlapped ends of a flexible imaging member sheet with a vacuum against a flat anvil surface, and guiding the flat end of an ultrasonic vibrating horn transversely across the width of the sheet, over and along the length of the overlapped ends, to form a welded seam. Ultrasonically welding results in an overlap seam that has an irregular surface topology rendering it difficult for a cleaner blade to remove toner around the seam, and such welding can also cause damage to the cleaner blades by nicking the cleaning edge of the blade. In addition, toner trapping resulting from the poor cleaning and the blade damage causes streaking from the seam and creates an image quality problem. Many post fabrication seam smoothing techniques, which remove material from the seam, may also degrade seam strength. Also, when ultrasonically welded into a belt, the seam of a multilayered electrophotographic flexible imaging member belt may occasionally contain undesirable high protrusions such as peaks, ridges, spikes, and mounds. These seam protrusions present problems during image cycling of the belt because they interact with the cleaning blade causing blade wear and tear, which can affect cleaning blade efficiency and reduce service life. In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member or photoconductor, and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles and colorant. Generally, the electrostatic latent image is developed by a developer mixture comprised of carrier granules having toner particles adhering triboelectrically thereto, or a liquid developer material, which may include a liquid carrier having toner particles dispersed therein. The developer material is advanced into contact with the electrostatic latent image, and the toner particles are deposited thereon in image configuration. Subsequently, the developed image is transferred to a copy sheet. It is advantageous to transfer the developed image to a coated intermediate transfer web, belt or component, and subsequently transfer with very high transfer efficiency the developed image from the intermediate transfer member to a permanent substrate. The toner image is subsequently usually fixed or fused upon a support, which may be the photoconductor or other support such as plain paper. In electrostatographic printing machines wherein the toner image is electrostatically transferred by a potential difference between the imaging member and the intermediate transfer member, the transfer of the toner particles to the intermediate transfer member, and the retention thereof should be substantially complete so that the image ultimately transferred to the image receiving substrate will have a high resolution. Substantially about 100 percent toner transfer occurs when most or all of the toner particles comprising the image are transferred, and little residual toner remains on the surface from which the image was transferred. Intermediate transfer members allow for a number of advantages such as enabling high throughput at modest process speeds, improving registration of the final color toner image in color systems using synchronous development of one or more component colors using one or more transfer stations, and increasing the variety of final substrates that can be used. More specifically, a bump, surface irregularity, or other discontinuity in the seam of the belt may disturb the tuck of the cleaning blade as it makes intimate contact with the photoconductive member surface to effect residual toner and debris removal. The increased height differential may allow toner to pass under the cleaning blade, and not be cleaned. Furthermore, seams having differential heights may, when subjected to repeated striking by cleaning blades, cause photoconductive member cycling speed disturbance which adversely affects the crucial photoconductive belt motion quality. Moreover, seams with a bump or any morphological defects can cause the untransferred residual toner to be trapped in the sites of the seam surface irregularities. The seam of a photoreceptor belt, which is repeatedly subjected to the striking action by a cleaning blade under machine functioning conditions, can trigger the development of premature seam delamination failure. In addition, the discontinuity in belt thickness due to the presence of an excessive seam height yields variances of mechanical strength in the belt and reduces the fatigue flex life of the seam when cycling over belt module support rollers. As a result, both the cleaning life of the blade, and the overall service life of the photoreceptor belt can be diminished. Moreover, the protrusion high spots in the seam may also interfere with the operation of subsystems of copiers, printers and duplicators by damaging electrode wires used in development that position the wires parallel to and closely spaced from the outer imaging surface of belt photoreceptors. These closely spaced wires are employed to facilitate the formation of a toner powder cloud at a development zone adjacent to a toner donor roll, and the imaging surface of the belt imaging member. In operation, an intermediate transfer belt is contacted with a toner image bearing member such as a photoreceptor belt. In the contact zone, an electrostatic field generating device, such as a corotron, a bias transfer roller, a bias blade, or the like, creates electrostatic fields that transfer toner onto the intermediate transfer belt. Subsequently, the intermediate transfer belt is brought into contact with a receiver. An electrostatic field generating device then transfers toner from the intermediate transfer belt to the receiver. Depending on the system, a receiver can be another intermediate transfer member, or a substrate onto which the toner will eventually be fixed. Thus, there is a need for a seamed member, such as a belt, that avoids or eliminates a number of the disadvantages mentioned herein, and more specifically, there is a need for an ITB with an improved seam or double welded seam surface topology such that it can withstand dynamic fatigue conditions. For example, the coated seam as disclosed herein provides a smoother surface with substantially decreased or eliminated profile protrusions or irregularities thereby extending its service life. There is also a need for a substantially completely imageable seam, which avoids or minimizes the disadvantages indicated herein by overcoating the seam with a conducting polymer mixture layer, and which layer is mechanically robust and electrically matches the surface resistivity of the seamed intermediate transfer belt (ITB), or intermediate transfer member, which resistivity is, for example, from about 109 to about 1013 ohm/sq.

The invention relates to a process for the selective metallization of 3D structures, in particular for the selected gold-plating of 3D contact structures on wafers, such as contact bumps, which are electrically connected to a bond pad on the wafer via a three-dimensional, mechanically flexible structure in the form of a redistribution layer, for subsequent electrical connection to a carrier element, e.g., a printed circuit board. The increasing integration of semiconductor components and the constantly rising number of electrical connections which are required between semiconductor chips and carrier elements, and in particular the need to miniaturize the electronic modules which are to be produced has led to the use of direct contact-making with the semiconductor chips on the carrier element (flip-chip bonding). This has considerably simplified assembly technology, since metallic intermediate carriers and the production of wire bridging links for making electrical contact can be dispensed with. However, in order to allow direct contact to be made with semiconductor chips on carrier elements, such as a PCB (printed circuit board), it is necessary to produce 3D structures, known as solder bumps, on the semiconductor chip, these structures at their highest point in each case having a gold-plated contact surface, which is connected via a metal conductor track to a bonding pad of the semiconductor chip. These solder bumps may be three-dimensional, mechanically flexible structures, resulting in a certain degree of compensation for mechanical loads on the finished assembly, for example caused by different coefficients of thermal expansion of the individual components or during their handling. The metal conductor tracks comprise, for example, a Cu conductor track and a layer of Ni above it, which is used to protect the layer of Cu from corrosion. Beneath the metal conductor tracks (redistribution layer) and the solder bumps there is a dielectric, so that it is ensured that there is only an electrical connection between the gold-plated contact surface on the solder bump and the associated bond pad. To achieve solderability, the nickel layer has to be coated with gold at the corresponding locations, i.e., the tips of the 3D structures. In this context, it must at all costs be ensured that the gold coating takes place only at the tips of the 3D structures or that the redistribution layer which leads down from the 3D structures is absolutely free of gold, in order to ensure a solder stop during soldering of the semiconductor chip on a carrier element. Otherwise, the solder material would flow uncontrolled over the redistribution layer and adversely affect mechanical and electrical properties. In particular, the reliability of the finished electronic module would be adversely affected. In the methods which are currently in practical use, the need to pattern the layer of gold is realized by a generally known lithographic process. This is effected by the gold being deposited on the entire redistribution layer immediately after the Cu/Ni of the distribution layer has been deposited. Then, the gold layer is covered by a lithography mask, so that selective etching can take place and ultimately a layer of gold remains only directly at the tip of the 3D structure. According to the prior art, the production of the layer of gold and its patterning, in simplified form, involves the following process steps: Cu/Ni plating by layer electrodeposition Au plating of the entire redistribution layer by layer electrodeposition electrophoretic coating of the structure with photoresist exposure of the solder stop mask developing of the solder stop mask gold strip, i.e., removal of the uncovered gold layer using a cyanide-based solution Continuation with common process flow This process sequence requires considerable outlay and also involves the possibility of defects on account of the large number of process steps. The invention is based on the object of providing a process for the selective metallization of 3D structures, in particular for the selective gold-plating of 3D contact structures on semiconductor chips, using a simplified process sequence. Furthermore, it is an object to provide an arrangement for carrying out the method which is simple to realize.

The present invention relates to self-adhesive labels and to a method of producing self-adhesive labels. In particular, the present invention relates to self-adhesive labels of multilaminar construction in which the label incorporates a booklet or folded sheet so as to provide a large surface area for carrying printed information which is greater than the surface area of the footprint of the label. The labels of the present invention have particular application in the labelling of pharmaceutical products. A variety of so-called leaflet labels or booklet labels are known in the art and a typical label construction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,403 in the name of David J Instance. It is well known for the folded leaflet or booklet to be overlaminated with a self-adhesive transparent plastics layer. The overlaminate provides durability to the label against inadvertent damage or tearing and also improves the aesthetic appearance of the label. Furthermore, the overlaminate can provide a structural part of the label to enable the leaflet or booklet label to be opened from a closed configuration by pulling the overlaminate away from a surface of a product, such as a pharmaceutical container, which is labelled to enable the leaflet or booklet to be read by a user. In some labels, the overlaminate can be re-adhered to the product to return the label to its closed configuration. Typical plastics materials for use as the overlaminate include oriented polypropylene carrying a pressure-sensitive adhesive on its rear surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,229 discloses a self-adhesive label in which an adhesive strip is provided to retain a folded strip in its folded configuration by being adhered to a top panel and an underlying panel of the strip. When pharmaceutical products are labelled, it is often necessary for the label to be printed with specific information, such as a lot or batch code and an expiry date. Such printing is generally achieved by providing a generic printed label for a particular pharmaceutical product and then overprinting a series of the labels with the required batch or lot code and expiry date. A technical problem exists in the art in that there is a need to provide on overlaminated leaflet or booklet labels an overprint area and in particular an overprint area which is suitable for being printed with high quality alphanumeric printing devices suitable for printing batch codes, expiry dates and the like. There is also a need in the art for such overlaminated labels, particularly for pharmaceutical products, to be overprinted with bar codes which contain information relating to the overprinted batch codes, expiry dates, etc. and act as a security feature which can be scanned automatically to check that the required overprinting has been effected. The bar code needs to be small in area yet accurately printed in order to be machine readable at high speeds When information is overprinted onto paper, i.e. when a non-overlaminated leaflet or booklet label is being printed, ink is printed onto the paper surface of the label and then a laser is employed either to vaporise some of the ink so as to leave white lettering surrounded by the ink or to bum the lettering into the surface of the paper. The present inventor has attempted to replicate this laser printing process onto a plastics overlaminate, in particular an oriented polypropylene self-adhesive laminate. However, following laser treatment the appearance of the printing is poor because the laminate tends to have a bubble effect imparted thereto by the laser, which the present inventor believes results from vapours being emitted from the paper surface and thermal distortion of the plastics laminate. In addition, it is believed that the overlaminate absorbs some of the energy from the laser which may require the utilisation of a relatively powerful laser, or a longer burn time, which may in turn exacerbate the bubbling problem. The present inventor has also attempted to overprint onto a plastics overlaminate by using a thermal transfer printer. Such thermal transfer printers use a multi-element print head with a large number of tiny heating elements that can be turned on and off in a desired pattern or configuration under computer control so as to print selected alphanumeric characters. A ribbon is pressed between the print head and the substrate to be printed and when the print head elements are turned on so as to become heated, the elements soften the coating on the surface of the ribbon in contact with the substrate allowing the coating to stick to the substrate as a pattern of dots. The desired alphanumeric symbols to be printed are of course controlled by selectively activating the desired pattern of heating elements. The present inventor has discovered that the plastics overlaminate surface tends not to be receptive to some thermal transfer coatings. There is also a desire to overprint a plastics overlaminate by means of wet printing. In wet printing a liquid vehicle of a wet printing ink dries by absorption into the printed substrate. This is not possible with a plastics overlaminate because the vehicle cannot absorb thereinto, leading to smudging of the printed image. The present invention aims at least partially to solve these problems of the prior art. It is known to provide a two-component leaflet or booklet label in which a leaflet or booklet is overlaminated with a self-adhesive transparent plastics layer which is adhered on opposed sides of the leaflet or booklet to a backing of release material (or release liner), such as silicone-coated paper. A typical label having such a construction is disclosed in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,403. The opposed laminate portions on opposed sides of the booklet or leaflet constitute leading or trailing edges of the label in the direction of the length of the liner web of release backing material. The self-adhesive leaflet or booklet labels are automatically applied to products to be labelled by providing a reel of the labels carried in succession on the web of release backing material and the reel is unwound and the backing of release material is pulled back over a peel plate of the label applicator whereby the leading edge of the forwardly moving label is fed off from the release backing material onto the product. When the leading element of the label to be dispensed consists of a laminate flap, i.e. simply the overlaminate which is initially adhered to the backing of release material, the flexibility of the laminate and its inherent lack of stiffness tends to make it difficult to ensure that the leading edge of the label defined by the laminate breaks away from the liner of release backing material at the peel plate Accordingly, it is known in the art, in order to provide sufficient stiffness to the laminate to enable the leaflet or booklet label to be dispensed acceptably by the label applicator, for a relatively thick laminate to be employed, for example a laminate 0.002 inches (0.0508 mm) thick, which is greater than the thickness required both for protection of the label and to ensure that following die-cutting of the labels the laminate is sufficient strong to constitute a matrix web which pulls waste cut away portions of the labels away from the release material. It is a further object of the present invention at least partially to solve this problem of the prior art, and in particular to provide sufficient stiffness to the leading edge of a label to enable it to be dispensed by a label applicator without requiring an excessively thick self-adhesive transparent plastics laminate. It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an overlaminated label having sufficient thickness whereby no modifications to a standard label applicator are required. Known leaflet and booklet labels can suffer from the disadvantage that when several versions of the same label construction corresponding to slight variations in the product to be labelled are required, it is necessary to have an entirely-separate printed leaflet or booklet for each version of the label. For example, a pharmaceutical product may require two versions of substantially the same label, one version for each particular strength of the same pharmaceutical product and for agrochemicals, two versions of the same label may be required for different bottle sizes, e.g. 1 liter and 5 liters. The requirement to manufacture a number of substantially the same labels having slight variations relating to the differences in the products can be relatively inefficient to manufacture, particularly for short manufacturing runs for the labels, because this requires the folded leaflet or booklet parts to be manufactured to order or held in stock for each label version. It is a further object of the present invention to provide lower cost leaflet labels or booklet labels, particularly for short run multiple brand name versions of the same label.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to magnetic resonance pulse sequences, and more specifically, to techniques for ultra short TE (UTE) imaging. In general, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations are based on the interactions among a primary magnetic field, a radiofrequency (RF) excitation field, and time varying magnetic gradient fields with gyromagnetic material having nuclear spins within the subject of interest. Certain gyromagnetic materials, such as hydrogen nuclei in water molecules, have characteristic behaviors in response to external magnetic fields. The precession of spins of these nuclei can be influenced by manipulation of the fields to produce RF signals that can be detected, processed, and used to reconstruct a useful image. The magnetic fields used to generate images in MRI systems include a highly uniform, static magnetic field that is produced by a primary magnet. A series of gradient fields are produced by a set of gradient coils located around the subject. The gradient fields encode positions of individual plane or volume elements (pixels or voxels) in two or three dimensions. An RF coil is employed to produce an RF excitation field. This RF field perturbs the spins of some of the gyromagnetic nuclei from their equilibrium directions, causing the spins to precess around the axis of their equilibrium magnetization. During this precession and during relaxation, RF signals are emitted by the spinning, precessing nuclei and are detected by either the same transmitting RF coil, or by a separate coil. These signals are amplified, filtered, and digitized. The digitized signals are then processed using one or more algorithms to reconstruct a useful image. One advantage of MRI is that a user (e.g., a radiologist) has the ability to image certain slices of a patient, such as sections of the abdomen, chest, head, vertebrae, and so forth from any desired angle. To obtain these slices, a gradient is superimposed on the static magnetic field, which may be considered a slice selection gradient (GSS). A desired slice may be obtained from within a plane transverse to the applied gradient by exciting the gyromagnetic nuclei within the plane. When the GSS is present, the nuclei may be selectively excited using an RF excitation pulse. To selectively excite the nuclei, the RF excitation pulse may have a frequency spectrum encompassing their Larmor frequency, or the frequency of their precessing nuclear spins. In the medical imaging context, the nuclei selected for excitation within a desired slice may be contained within different tissues, and each tissue may have a characteristic spin relaxation parameter. For example, certain tissues within the selected slice may have differing T1 and T2 relaxation constants, which contribute to the contrast of the resultant image. In some configurations, the contrast of the image may be manipulated by the user by weighting the image in a relaxation parameter, for example either T1 or T2, which can provide valuable information for clinical diagnoses. Such manipulation may be performed by specially-designed pulse sequences that are configured to suppress or isolate a given relaxation parameter. However, the successful implementation of the pulse sequences that allow the selection of a desired slice and the generation of a weighted image may be highly sensitive to the relaxation time of the tissue (which can be on the order of the pulse sequence time) and the ability of the imaging equipment to rapidly and accurately produce the desired pulses. While pulse sequences may be manipulated to perform various functions, the imaging equipment which produces the sequences may be limited, such as in its ability to ramp up and ramp down (slew) a pulse amplitude in a given amount of time. Such constraints generally result in the gradient and RF pulses taking on a trapezoidal shape when graphed versus time, with a ramp up period, generally constant period, and a ramp down period. These equipment-related constraints are typically unavoidable, and current techniques to image certain tissues, such as tissues having small spin-spin relaxation times (relatively short T2) are often inadequate and/or suffer from undesirable out-of-slice signal contamination (image artifacts).

At present, most of terminal devices on the market are equipped with a voice function, so as to facilitate a user directly entering an anticipated interface by using the voice function, which is operationally convenient. Meanwhile, to better facilitate a user understanding a change in a volume value of a voice input by the user, a voice assistant in an existing terminal device that is equipped with a voice function can generally display, in the form of an image, a volume value of a voice input by a user. In the prior art, a pattern of concentric circles with different radiuses is generally used to indicate a change in the size of a volume value. Specifically, the voice assistant acquires in real time a voice input by a user, and adjusts, according to the size of a volume value of the acquired input voice, the radius of a concentric circle. In this display mode, a change in a volume value of a user's voice may be visually reflected in real time. If the volume value is greater, the radius of a concentric circle is greater and the corresponding concentric circle is larger. However, when there is a great change between two adjacent volume values of a voice input by a user, that is, a volume value of a voice input by a user is abruptly changed, the size of a concentric circle correspondingly displayed on a display screen of the terminal device is changed sharply, which causes a displayed pattern of a volume value to change surprisingly, leading to poor user experience.

When designing large computer systems it is desirable to establish connections between various printed circuit boards (PCBs) within the computer system. Historically, specialized connectors have been designed to accomplish the purpose of connecting various circuit boards together. Such connectors are generally designed to conform to the particular electrical and geometric requirements of a particular computer system layout. A problem with this approach is that considerable design time may be expended designing such connectors in such a way as to not disturb the signals being transmitted along high speed connections. Such connectors have been increasingly used for debugging operations for various functions, such as, for example, connecting a system under test to a logic analyzer for diagnostic purposes. However, since the connections in question are generally performed primarily during diagnostic operations, there is generally no space on the PCBs dedicated for such connections. This lack of space arises because the boards are designed with their ultimate operation in mind at which time diagnostic operations are usually not conducted. Moreover, connectors added for diagnostic purposes may degrade signal integrity by introducing inductances and capacitances into various signal paths. As a result, later prior art solutions used temporary connections between PCBs known as flex circuits. FIG. 1 depicts deployment of flex circuit 102 in order to establish connections to a circuit board 101 for diagnostic purposes. Signal transmission generally proceeds from PCB 101 through interposer 105, which generally includes an array of conductive or resistive contacts, to flex circuit 102 and presented at connector 103 for connection to other circuit boards in a computer system. Although flex circuit 102 appears as a line in the cutaway view of FIG. 1, flex circuit 102 generally has a planar shape substantially matching the two dimensional footprint of interposer 105 and its associated array of conductive elements. The two dimensional shape of flex circuit 102 would generally be visible when viewed from above. Flex circuit 102 is generally held in place with back plate 104 which is secured employing bolts 106. The portion of flex circuit 102 which extends beyond the back plate 104 is generally flexed upward to avoid contact with surface mount components 107 and generally terminates at connector 103 which may be employed to transmit signals originating in PCB 101 to other circuit boards in a computer system. A problem which generally arises with the use of flex circuits is that the flexibility of the circuit generally requires that the material be kept quite thin. The thinness of the material tends to limit the number of signal layers, and thus the number of signals which may be transmitted along the flex circuit and tends to compromise the resulting signal quality. Accordingly, it is a limitation of the use of flex circuits that the number of signals which may be transmitted from circuit board to other parts of a computer system is limited. Moreover, the construction of the flex circuit precludes the use of a sufficient amount of protective material on either side of the conductive material, thereby generally compromising the signal integrity of the flex circuit transmission. Flex circuits may be also be difficult to obtain due to their specialized designs and difficulty of manufacture. Another approach to the connection of printed circuit boards was to directly attach two circuits boards back to back employing an interposer disposed between the two boards. This was possible many years ago because the socket technologies were thicker than they are today, and the distance between the boards was therefore sufficient to avoid interference between surface mount components on the two boards. However, the thinness of socket technologies in use today makes such direct back to back PCB connection impractical. Therefore, it is a problem in the art that space is usually not provided on a printed circuit board for connectors dedicated to diagnostic operations. It is a further problem in the art that dedicated diagnostic connectors generally compromise signal integrity by introducing additional inductance and capacitance along the signal paths. It is a still further problem in the art that flex circuits generally do not provide enough signal density to transmit a sufficient number of signals from a modem printed circuit board. It is a still further problem in the art that flex circuits generally cause signal degradation because of a lack of sufficient shielding and dielectric of the conductive portion of the flex circuit structure. These and other objects, features and technical advantages are achieved by a system and method which disposes a pedestal between two PCBs to provide for secure mechanical attachment of, and robust electrical connection between, the two PCBs. The pedestal is preferably dimensioned so as to space the two boards sufficiently far apart that even the tallest surface mount components on each board which point toward the attached board will not contact one another. In a preferred embodiment, the pedestal has a generally rectangular cross section for convenience of manufacturing and is made of materials typically used for the production of PCBs themselves, such as, for instance, FR4, TEFLON(copyright), polyimide, Gore-Tex(copyright), epoxy impregnated expanded PTFE (TEFLON(copyright)), GETEK(copyright), RU-DUROID(copyright), and fiberglass-epoxy. Effectively, the pedestal may operate as a special purpose printed circuit board, which instead of supporting a variety of different surface mount components, is primarily dedicated toward providing a mechanically and electrically robust connection between two general purpose circuit boards. However, small parts, very fast parts (rapidly responsive parts), and passive components including passive resistors could be disposed either on, or within the pedestal and all such variations are included within the scope of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the pedestal is designed with sufficient thickness to allow for a far greater number of signal layer paths therein than was available with flex circuits or with connectors of the prior art. Moreover, the thickness of the pedestal enables ample protection of the conductive paths to be installed, thereby providing for much improved signal integrity over the flex circuits of the prior art. The pedestal may generally be manufactured separately from the other PCBs and then affixed to them at a convenient point in the production process. Connection between the general purpose PCBs and the pedestal may be made employing land grid arrays. Alternatively, the inventive mechanism could deploy ball grid arrays, or other form of conductive interposer or conductive interface. In a preferred embodiment, in view of the sturdiness, signal efficiency, and signal integrity of the inventive pedestal, the pedestal may be appropriate for both diagnostic purposes as well for permanent installation between the two circuit boards. In a preferred embodiment, additional benefit may be obtained from deployment of the inventive pedestal by disposing it on a general purpose PCB directly opposite an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) installed on the opposite side of the same general purpose PCB. Generally, general purpose circuit boards incorporate particularly high density signal routing in the vicinity of ASIC connections because of the number of signals traveling in both directions near an ASIC attachment. Substantial economy of design and resources may be obtained by disposing the inventive pedestal and an ASIC on opposite sides of the same region of high density signal routing. Since many signals with destinations outside a PCB originate from ASICs, the conductive path and signal integrity between an ASIC and its destination may be improved by locating the ASIC opposite a pedestal, which is in turn preferably disposed in close proximity to another printed circuit board. Furthermore, due to the improved quality of PCB to PCB signal connection provided by the inventive pedestal in comparison with the prior art, circuit connections which previously had to be entirely disposed on a single PCB may potentially be spread out between two or more PCBs when using the inventive pedestal, thereby providing greater flexibility in PCB circuit design. An alternative approach to providing appropriate spacing between circuit boards while providing sufficient signal transmission quality is to generate a three dimensional circuit board design which provides a protrusion on one or more surfaces of the circuit board through milling or other process which rises substantially above the rest of the circuit board surface which protrusion is used for attachment to another circuit board. The protrusion is preferably thick enough that surface mount components on the board do make contact with a board attached to the surface of the protrusion. A problem in providing the above protrusion is that the cost producing boards having such protrusions are generally prohibitive because of the low production yield. Another problem is that holes drilled for vias in the region of the board having the protrusion generally need to be wider in order to sustain an acceptable yield rate with a thicker board. Finally, the described milling process generally experiences a fairly low yield rate due to the difficulty of the process involved. Accordingly, it is an advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that a robust mechanical attachment between two circuit boards is provided by the inventive pedestal. It is a further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that the inventive pedestal provides greater signal density as well as greater signal integrity than the flex circuits and other approaches of the prior art. It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that the inventive pedestal may be suitable for permanent placement between two circuit boards as well as for diagnostic purposes. It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that economy of effort in PCB design may be obtained by placing the inventive pedestal opposite a location of installation of an ASIC attached to the same PCB. It is a still further advantage of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that the quality of signal transmission through the inventive pedestal preferably enables greater flexibility in the distribution of circuit components among a plurality of circuit boards. The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a nanomaterials and, more particularly, to flexible devices containing nanomaterials. 2. Description of Related Art Electronic devices are responsible for the majority of advancements in technology in the last century, and the complexity of these devices grows in proportion to the exponential advancements in the field. As electronic devices continue to expand into every facet of everyday life, the demand for more durable, robust, and flexible electronic devices becomes increasingly significant. Recent discoveries with respect to nanomaterials have opened new doors with respect to enabling durable, robust, and flexible electronic devices, but these new discoveries come with equally challenging obstacles. One of the significant challenges encountered with use of nanomaterials in electronic devices relates to a dichotomy between conductive and flexible materials. More specifically, a general dichotomy exists between materials with superior electrical, optoelectronic, semiconductor and/or structural characteristics and materials that are highly compatible with flexible, malleable, and durable composites. Typically materials that have excellent transport properties, regarding conductivity and carrier mobility, are difficult or impossible to directly process on or with materials that are flexible, malleable, and durable. Conversely, those materials that have poor electrical properties are more likely to be compatible with flexible, malleable, and durable materials. In accordance with this dichotomy, nanomaterial structures that have excellent transport or structural properties, such as carbon nanotubes or semiconductor nanowires, are difficult to process and fabricate with flexible, malleable, and durable materials such as polymer substrates. Therefore, it is highly desired to develop methods and systems which permit the incorporation of nanomaterial structures into flexible, malleable, and durable materials, such as polymer substrates. As nanomaterial structures, such as carbon nanotubes and semiconductor nanowires, are the product of recent discoveries, their applications and uses are widely undeveloped and undiscovered. The discovery of carbon nanotubes by Sumio Iijima, a Japanese physicist, in 1991 may ultimately prove to be one of the most significant discoveries of the twentieth century as it spurned the growth of research in the 1-D nanomaterials revolution. Prior to Dr. Iijima's discovery, solid state carbon was know to appear only in four basic structures: “diamond structures,” “graphite structures,” “non-crystalline structures,” and “fullerene molecules.” In 1991, Dr. Iijima discovered a tube-shaped material made up of carbon in a continuous hexagonal mesh and with a diameter measuring on the order of a nanometer, one-billionth of a meter. The far-reaching benefits of carbon nanotubes (“CNTs”) stem from their unique and novel electronic, thermal, and structural properties. A CNT is cylindrical in structure and may be around one nanometer in diameter and up to several micrometers in length. In other words, the length of a CNT may potentially be millions of times greater than their molecularized diameter. The small diameter of the CNT is due to the fact that its tubular body is typically only a few atoms in circumference. The CNTs are hollow and have a linear fullerene structure. Due to the carbon to carbon covalent bonding and the seamless hexagonal network, CNTs are quite possibly the strongest known molecular structure. For example, the strength to weight ratio is 500 times greater than that of aluminum. CNTs have a tensile strength of 63 gigapascals (“GPa”), compared to high carbon steel at 1.2 GPa. CNTs are light, flexible, stable and generally inert. CNTs can be formulated to exhibit varying degrees of conductivity, depending upon their chirality. The chirality, or “twist” of the nanotube structure can alter the density of the hexagonal lattice structure and thus effect the conductivity of the nanotube. Therefore, CNTs can be formulated to be either metallic or semiconductive. Metallic CNTs, exhibit electrical conductivity on the order of six times greater than that of copper. In addition to good conductance, CNTs exhibit a very high current carrying capacity. Significantly, with lengths of several microns and diameters of a few nanometers, CNTs form microtips with high aspect ratios, which are excellent field emitters. CNTs are generally good thermal conducts in the axial direction, along their tube axis, and insulative in the radial direction, along an axis lateral to the tube axis. Furthermore, CNTs are incredibly efficient conductors of heat, with a potential thermal conductivity of 3000 W/mK. CNTs can be of two main types of structures, Multiwalled Nanotbues (MWNTs) and Single Walled Nanotubes (SWNTs). A SWNT is simply one cylindrical hexagonal carbon structure that can be very long in length. MWNTs have multiple layers of encapsulated cylindrical hexagonal carbon structures. MWNTs can have multiple SWNTs concentric cyldinders inside a large SWNT or one SWNT inside a larger SWNT. Carbon nanotubes are generally produced by three main techniques, arc discharge, laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition. In arc discharge, a vapor is created by an arc discharge between two carbon electrodes with or without catalyst. Nanotubes self-assemble from the resulting carbon vapor. In the laser ablation technique, a high-power laser beam impinges on a volume of carbon-containing feedstock gas (methane or carbon monoxide). Laser ablation typically produces a small amount of clean nanotubes, whereas arc discharge methods generally produce large quantities of impure material. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis is achieved by putting a carbon source in the gas phase and using an energy source, such as a plasma or a resistively heated coil, to transfer energy to a gaseous carbon molecule. Commonly used gaseous carbon sources include methane, carbon monoxide and acetylene. The energy source is used to “crack” the molecule into reactive atomic carbon. Then, the carbon diffuses towards the substrate, which is heated and coated with a catalyst (usually a first row transition metal such as Ni, Fe, Mo or Co) where it will bind. Carbon nanotubes will be formed if the proper parameters are maintained through the vapor liquid solid growth mechanism. Excellent alignment, as well as positional control on nanometer scale, can be achieved by using CVD. Control over the diameter, as well as the growth rate of the nanotubes can also be maintained. The appropriate metal catalyst can preferentially grow single rather than multi-walled nanotubes. The current applications and potential applications for CNTs are amazingly varied and wide in range. The CNTs superior and unique properties afford an almost unending number of novel implementations and improvements to a variety of fields. CNTs are currently used or contemplated for use in nanoelectronics, biosensors, chemical sensors, optical sensors, solar cells, magnets, slick surfaces, combat jackets, transistors, oscillators, high strength composites, and superconductors. The unique properties of CNTs present novel possibilities with respect to nanoelectronics, biosensors, chemical sensors, optical sensors, and similar devices. For example, nanomaterials are ideal for chemical sensors because they have very large surface areas. This large surface area translates into large adsorption rates of gases and vapors. Similarly, every atom in CNT is on the surface, thus it is incredibly sensitive to the environment, and small changes in charge environment can drastically change the electrical properties of the CNT. Indeed, SWNT field effect transistors have been fabricated wherein a single SWNT or a film of multiple SWNTs forms the conducting channel. Therefore, the conductance of the channel will change upon exposure of SWNT to certain chemical gases. Chemical sensing can thus be executed by monitoring the conductance of the channel. A significant potential application for carbon nanotubes that has been the subject of much research and development is their potential use in flexible electronic devices. Conventionally, flexible electronic devices have relied upon advancements in semiconductor fabrication. In particular, the plasma-enhanced deposition of amorphous silicon onto polymer substrates has been utilized to create flexible semiconductor devices. Despite its advantages, the use of amorphous silicon in flexible electronic devices has significant drawbacks. For instance, in general, the processing temperature requirements for amorphous silicon limit its compatibility to a small number of polymers. Furthermore, the low transport mobility of amorphous silicon, on the order of 1 cm2/Vs, limits the applications in which the resulting flexible electronic device can be utilized. The use of carbon nanotubes has been contemplated to overcome the inherent problems of amorphous silicon in flexible electronic device applications. Carbon nanotubes have transport mobilities, which are several orders of magnitude greater than amorphous silicon. The performance of random CNT network devices has demonstrated electron mobility as high as 270 cm2/Vs and transistor on-off ratios as high as 10,000. Therefore, a significant desire exists to be able to incorporate CNTs into flexible electronic devices. Unfortunately, many problems exist in the compatibility of CNTs with flexible polymer substrates. More specifically, the synthesis of CNTs directly onto polymer substrates is not feasible due to the high temperatures or harsh chemical environments under which they are synthesized. Conventional methods have attempted to address the challenge of incorporating CNTs into flexible polymer substrates with solution-based transfers. Solution-based carbon nanotube transfer processes, such as spin casting, flow-directed alignment, electrophoretic trapping, chemical functionalization, or microcontact printing, involves suspending the CNTs in an “ink” solution. The solution may act as the vehicle to transport the CNTs to the surface of the polymer substrate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,221 to Chang, et al., filed Feb. 7, 2001, describes a solution-based method of transfer of carbon nanotubes to a substrate. In the disclosed method, a conductive pattern is coated on a substrate by screen-printing a conductive slurry containing silver through a patterned screen. Next, a CNT paste, consisting of an organic bonding agent, resin, silver powder, and CNTs, is screen-printed through a mesh pattern screen onto the substrate. Subsequently, the substrate is baked at a predetermined temperature to remove the solvent, then sintered to solidify the CNT to the conductive pattern. Finally an adhesive film, such as tape is closely attached on the cathode substrate and then is then removed so as to discard the badly bonded CNT portions and to vertically pull up a portion of the CNT which laid down during the sintering. U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0092207 to Yaniv, et al., published May 15, 2003, describes a solution-based CNT transfer process. Yaniv, et al. discloses a process involving obtaining carbon nanotube powder, grinding the powder into shorter length CNTs, and mixing the powder in a solution in an ultrasonic process to disperse the CNTs. After the mixture solution has been created it is spayed onto the substrate with an atomizer, then tape is used to remove a portion of the CNTs from the surface, thereby leaving a layer of CNTs on the surface of the substrate. U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0165155 to Blanchet-Fincher, published Jul. 28, 2005, describes a method of creating a composition comprising carbon nanotubes and conductive polyaniline. The method disclosed involves creating a mixture of carbon nanotubes and conductive polyaniline by dispersing carbon nanotubes in xylenes and then adding a solution of doped polyaniline to the dispersion. Subsequently, a solution of insulating polymer is added to the dispersion, the dispersion is deposited on a substrate, and the solvent is allowed to evaporate. The result is a polymer composition containing carbon nanotubes. Many problems exist with the solution-based CNT transfer methods, such as the methods disclosed in Chang, et al., Yaniv, et al. and Blanchet-Fincher, due to, among other things, the fact that the carbon nanotubes are fragile, vulnerable to separation, and randomly oriented in the solution. The random orientation in the solution results in a random orientation of the carbon nanotubes on the substrate. This random orientation of the CNTs can be detrimental to many applications, including creating non-optimized electrical field distribution and resulting in shielding effects between adjacently positioned CNTs. Additionally, the inks and solvents used to transfer the carbon nanotubes must be compatible with the polymer substrate. This significantly limits the choice of ink and solvents and the choice of polymers. Furthermore, the flexible electronic devices created by these solution-based transfer methods are very vulnerable, due to the fact that the CNTs simply reside on the surface of the substrate to which they applied. The development of solution-based CNT transfer inks require extensive fabrication time cycles. The create of the ink requires a significant amount of time to disperse the CNTs throughout the solution. Furthermore, the solution-based method involves many steps. Even after the solution has been applied to the substrate, the solution must be printed and the “solvent” evaporated (requiring more processing time). Additional steps must be taken if control over the arrangement and orientation is desired in solution based deposition techniques. Similar problems are encountered in the manufacture of flexible electronic devices that incorporate nanomaterial structures other than CNTs. For example, known methods for the incorporation of nanowires into flexible polymer substrates suffer from the same problems as the described conventional methods for CNT transfer. In transferring the nanowires to a polymer substrate, the integrity of the nanowire structure is often lost or degraded and the nanowires are only tenably attached to the polymer substrate. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an efficient method by which to create an effective flexible electronic device incorporating nanomaterials. Additionally, there is a need in the art for an efficient method to mass produce flexible electronic devices that incorporate nanomaterials with minimal processing steps. Additionally, there is a need in the art for an efficient method to mass produce flexible electronic devices that incorporate carbon nanotubes with minimal processing steps. Additionally, there is a need in the art for method to transfer carbon nanotubes to a flexible electronic device. Additionally, there is a need in the art for method to transfer nanowires to a flexible electronic device. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a method to transfer nanomaterials to a variety of polymer types. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a method to transfer carbon nanotubes to a variety of polymer types. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a flexible electronic device comprised of systematically arranged nanomaterials. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a flexible electronic device comprised of systematically arranged carbon nanotubes. Additionally, there is a need in the art for a flexible electronic device comprised of systematically arranged nanowires. Additionally, there is a need in the art for method to create a flexible electronic device comprised of systematically arranged carbon nanotubes. Additionally, there is a need in the art for method by which to integrate carbon nanotubes into a polymer substrate in a manner that enable control over the general orientation of a portion of the carbon nanotubes.

The present invention relates to contrast agents for diagnostic imaging. In particular, this invention relates to novel compounds which exhibit improved blood retention. The compounds comprise: a) an image-enhancing (or signal-generating) moiety (IEM); b) a plasma protein binding moiety (PPBM); and c) a blood half-life extending moiety (BHEM). This invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and to methods of using the compounds and compositions for blood half-life extension and contrast enhancement of diagnostic imaging. Diagnostic imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), x-ray, nuclear radiopharmaceutical imaging, ultraviolet/visible/infrared light, and ultrasound, have been used in medical diagnosis for a number of years. In some cases, the use of contrast media to improve the image quality or provide specific information has been ongoing for many years. In other cases, such as imaging with light or ultrasound, the introduction of contrast media is imminent. The contrast agent must interfere with the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation used in the imaging technique, alter the physical properties of tissue to yield an altered signal, or, as in the case of radiopharmaceuticals, provide the source of radiation itself. Commonly used materials include organic molecules, metal ions, salts or chelates, particles (particularly iron particles), or labeled peptides, proteins, polymers or liposomes. After administration, the agent may non-specifically diffuse throughout body compartments prior to being metabolized and/or excreted; these agents are generally known as non-specific agents. Alternatively, the agent may have a specific affinity for a particular body compartment, cell, organ, or tissue; these agents can be referred to as targeted agents. For agents which are injected or absorbed into the body and distributed by the blood, it is desirable to have an appropriate blood half-life. While extremely long half-lives (i.e., days or weeks) are unnecessary in clinical imaging situations and possibly dangerous (due to the increased chance for toxicity and metabolic breakdown into more toxic molecules), short half-lives are also not desirable. If the image enhancement lasts for too short of time, it is difficult to acquire a high-quality image of the patient. In addition, rapid clearance of a targeted agent will reduce the amount of the agent available to bind to the target site and thus reduce the xe2x80x9cbrightnessxe2x80x9d of the target site on the image. Increasing the blood half-life of an imaging agent involves interfering with one or more of the following clearance mechanisms: 1) Renal excretion. Molecules below 60,000 dalton molecular weight, particularly small molecules, can be removed from the blood by nonspecific glomerular filtration in the kidneys. If the molecules exhibit some degree of binding to plasma proteins or other constituents of blood, only the free fraction will be available for filtration and the rate of renal excretion will be reduced accordingly. (2) Hepatocellular uptake. If a molecule possesses hydrophobic character, some fraction of the complex is taken up by liver cells and excreted into the bile. In general, the greater degree of hydrophobicity a molecule possesses, the greater the hepatocyte uptake rate. Though hydrophobicity also leads to plasma protein binding and a reduction in the apparent free concentration of the molecule, the hepatocellular uptake rate can still be very high (D. Sorrentino et al., Prog. Liver Disease, pp. 203-24 (1990)), thus reducing the blood half-life. Reduction in blood half-life may or may not be accompanied by an increase in the total hepatobiliary excretion, i.e., the fraction of the administered dose which eventually appears in the feces. The latter quantity is determined by many factors other than the hepatocellular uptake rate, including the extent of cytosolic protein binding inside the hepatocyte, the affinity for canalicular (hepatocyte-to-bile) transport systems, effects on bile flow and enterohepatic recirculation. Extension of blood half-life must be shown by blood or plasma sampling, not simply by measuring decreases in the total hepatobiliary excretion. Similarly, simply obtaining and measuring significant plasma protein binding of a contemplated contrast agent is not sufficient to show that its blood half-life is longer due to lower renal excretion. 3) Reticuloendothelial (RE) or other systems. Large molecular weight substances, such as liposomes, polymers, proteins, and particles, can be rapidly cleared from the blood by recognition (e.g., opsonization, or coating with proteins prior to cellular uptake) and uptake into cells, particularly the RE cells of the liver (the Kupfer cells), spleen and bone marrow. Two general strategies have been reported to increase blood half-life for imaging agents. One way is to covalently attach the imaging agent via strong or metabolizable chemical bonds to a large molecular weight polymer, protein, liposome, or particle. For example, gadolinium diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) has been attached to human serum albumin (HSA), poly-L-lysine, or dextran (A. N. Oksendal et al., J. Magn. Reson. Imaging, 3, pp. 157-165 (1993); S. M. Rocklage, xe2x80x9cContrast Agents,xe2x80x9d Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mosby Year Book, pp. 372-437 (1992)). This is done to reduce the rate of glomerular filtration in the kidneys and retain the agent in the blood. However, this can lead to long-term retention of the agent. In addition, the firmly bound imaging agents can potentially release toxic by-products such as free metal ions in the metabolism sites for the macromolecule. Furthermore, large conjugates may be difficult to target to specific sites in the body. The second strategy has been applied to liposomes, polymers, proteins, and particles which are usually rapidly removed from the circulation by the RE system or by other means. The placement of long hydrophilic polymers, such as polyethyleneglycol (PEG), on the surface of the substance reduces uptake by the RE or other systems (C. Tilcock et al., Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 1148, pp. 77-84 (1993); A. A. Bogdanoy et al., Radiology, 187, pp. 701-706 (1993)). It is hypothesized that the large, strongly hydrated polymer groups interfere with the molecular process required for recognition and uptake of the substances. The disadvantages of this strategy include: a) high cost and cumbersome manufacturing processes; b) lack of targetability of the large conjugates; and c) applicability appears to be limited to large molecular weight substances. A particular challenge is for targeted small molecules which possess some lipophilic character. These can suffer from rapid hepatocellular uptake and blood clearance, possibly reducing the xe2x80x9cbrightnessxe2x80x9d at the target site. This is a particular problem where lipophilicity is required to achieve targeting to proteins or other biological targets. A special case of this problem is the development of small molecule blood pool agents. Current small molecule non-specific agents, such as Gd-DTPA for MRI, have relatively fast clearance from the blood and are thus not optimal for imaging blood vessels (i.e., MR angiography) or for monitoring the blood flow into the heart, brain, tumors, or other organs or lesions. Lipophilic agents that target plasma proteins are known in the art. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,880,008 and 5,250,285. While these agents bind to plasma protein, in particular to human serum albumin, they can also be subject to rapid hepatocellular uptake and reduced blood half-life. There remains a need for contrast agents that are retained by the blood for a prolonged period of time. The present invention provides diagnostic imaging contrast agents which exhibit improved blood retention. The novel compounds comprise: a) an image-enhancing (or signal-generating) moiety (IEM); b) a plasma protein binding moiety (PPBM); and c) a blood half-life extending moiety (BHEM). This invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds and to methods of using the compounds and compositions for blood half-life extension and contrast enhancement of diagnostic imaging. These contrast agents exhibit reduced rates of both renal and hepatocellular uptake and no apparent uptake by the RE system. The agents may be targeted to the blood pool or any other biological component. Since the agent is lost less rapidly from the bloodstream, lower doses can be used at a higher margin of safety. The approach is general to both large and small molecules. In order that the invention herein described may be more fully understood, the following detailed description is set forth. The term xe2x80x9cspecific affinityxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cmolecular affinityxe2x80x9d as used herein, refers to the capability of the contrast agent to be taken up by, retained by, or bound to a particular biological component to a substantially greater degree than other components. Contrast agents which have this property are said to be xe2x80x9ctargetedxe2x80x9d to the xe2x80x9ctargetxe2x80x9d component. The present invention relates to novel compounds which enhance the contrast in diagnostic imaging. These compounds comprise: a) an image-enhancing (or signal-generating) moiety (IEM); b) a plasma protein binding moiety (PPBM); and c) a blood half-life extending moiety (BHEM). Diagnostic imaging includes, but is not limited to, MRI, x-ray, nuclear radiopharmaceutical imaging, ultraviolet/visible/infrared light, and ultrasound. According to the present invention, the first domain, IEM, can be any chemical or substance which is used to provide the signal or contrast in imaging. The signal enhancing domain can be an organic molecule, metal ion, salt or chelate, particle (particularly iron particle), or labeled peptide, protein, polymer or liposome. A particularly useful IEM is a physiologically compatible metal chelate compound consisting of one or more cyclic or acyclic organic chelating agents complexed to one or more metal ions with atomic numbers 21-29, 42, 44, or 57-83. For x-ray imaging, the IEM may consist of iodinated organic molecules or chelates of heavy metal ions of atomic numbers 57 to 83. Examples of suitable compounds are described in M. Sovak, ed., xe2x80x9cRadiocontrast Agents,xe2x80x9d Springer-Verlag, pp.23-125 (1984) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,447. For ultrasound imaging, the IEM consists of gas-filled bubbles such as Albunex, Echovist, or Levovist, or particles or metal chelates where the metal ions have atomic numbers 21-29, 42, 44 or 57-83. Examples of suitable compounds are described in Tyler et al., Ultrasonic imaging, 3, pp. 323-29 (1981) and D. P. Swanson, xe2x80x9cEnhancement Agents for Ultrasound: Fundamentals,xe2x80x9d Pharmaceuticals in Medical Imaging, pp. 682-87 (1990). For nuclear radiopharmaceutical imaging or radiotherapy, the IEM consists of a radioactive molecule. More preferred are chelates of Tc, Re, Co, Cu, Au, Ag, Pb, Bi, In, and Ga. Even more preferred are chelates of Tc-99m. Examples of suitable compounds are described in Rayudu GVS, Radiotracers for Medical Applications, I, pp. 201 and D. P. Swanson et al., ed., Pharmaceuticals in Medical Imaging, pp. 279-644 (1990). For ultraviolet/visible/infrared light imaging, the IEM consists of any organic or inorganic dye or any metal chelate. For MRI, the IEM consists of a metal-ligand complex of a paramagnetic form of a metal ion with atomic numbers 21-29, 42, 44, or 57-83. In order to effectively enhance NMR imaging, the complex must be capable of enhancing the relaxation rates 1/T1 (longitudinal, or spin-lattice) and/or 1/T2 (transverse, or spin-spin) of water protons or other imaging or spectroscopic nuclei, including protons, P-31, C-13, Na-23, or F-19 on other biomolecules or injected biomarkers. Relaxivities R1 and R1 are defined as the ability to increase 1/T1 or 1/T2, respectively, per mM of metal ion; units are mMxe2x88x921Sxe2x88x921. For the most common form of clinical MRI, water proton MRI, relaxivity is optimal where the paramagnetic ion bound to the chelating ligand still has one or more open coordination sites for water exchange (R. B. Lauffer, Chemical Reviews, 87, pp. 901-927 (1987)). However, this must be balanced with the stability of the metal chelate (vide infra) which generally decreases with increasing numbers of open coordination sites. More preferably, therefore, the complex contains only one or two open coordination sites. In addition to increasing the 1/T1 or 1/T2 of tissue nuclei via dipole-dipole interactions, MRI agents can affect two other magnetic properties and thus be of use clinically: 1) an iron particle or metal chelate of high magnetic susceptibility, particularly chelates of Dy, Gd, or Ho, can alter the MRI signal intensity of tissue by creating microscopic magnetic susceptibility gradients (A. Villringer et al, Magn. Reson. Med. 6, pp. 164-174 (1988)). No open coordination sites on a chelate are required for this application. 2) an iron particle or metal chelate can also be used to shift the resonance frequency of water protons or other imaging or spectroscopic nuclei, including protons, P-31, C-13, Na-23, or F-19 on other biomolecules or injected biomarkers. Here, depending on the nucleus and strategy used, zero to three open coordination sites may be employed. The preferred paramagnetic metal is selected from the group consisting of Gd(III), Fe(III), Mn(II and III), Cr(III), Cu(II), Dy(III), Tb(III), Ho(III), Er(III) and Eu(III). The most preferred is Gd(III). Although the paramagnetic metal is used in a complexed form, toxic effects may still arise due to the dissociation of the metal ion from the complex. The organic chelating ligand should be physiologically compatible. The molecular size of the chelating ligand should be compatible with the size of the paramagnetic metal. Thus gadolinium (III), which has a crystal ionic radius of 0.938A, requires a larger chelating ligand than iron (III), which has a crystal ionic radius of 0.64A. In general, the degree of toxicity of a metal chelate is related to its degree of dissociation in vivo before excretion. Toxicity generally increases with the amount of free metal ion. For complexes in which kinetic stability is low, a high thermodynamic stability (a formation constant of at least 1015 Mxe2x88x921 and more preferably at least 1020 Mxe2x88x921) is desirable to minimize dissociation and its attendant toxicity. For complexes in which kinetic stability is comparatively higher, dissociation can be minimized with a lower formation constant, i.e., 1010 Mxe2x88x921 or higher. Toxicity is also a function of the number of open coordination sites in the complex. The fewer coordination sites, the less tendency there is, generally, for the chelating agent to release the paramagnetic substance. Preferably, therefore, the complex contains two, one or zero open coordination sites. The presence of more than two open sites in general will unacceptably increase toxicity by release of the metal ion in vivo. Many suitable chelating ligands for MRI agents are known in the art. These can also be used for metal chelates for other forms of biological imaging. For MRI imaging, the preferred IEMs include: According to the present invention, the second component of the contrast agents of this invention is a PPBM. This portion of the compound binds the contrast agent to plasma proteins and reduces the rate of renal excretion. Plasma proteins of interest include albumin, particularly human serum albumin (HSA), which binds molecules possessing some lipophilic portions and either negative charges at physiological pH or partial negatively charged oxygens or sulphurs or fluorines; alpha acid glycoprotein, which binds primarily positively charged molecules; globulins, which bind steroidal molecules; and lipoproteins, which bind lipophilic or fatty acid-type molecules. The PPBM therefore must be selected properly to achieve the binding to the appropriate protein. Since HSA is present at the highest concentration in serum and has high affinity and capacity for binding a wide range of molecules, it is the preferred plasma protein to be used to increase blood half-lives. HSA is also the preferred plasma protein target because it binds to negatively charged molecules which tend to be less, toxic than positively charged molecules. For binding to HSA, a wide range of hydrophobic or amphiphilic substances may be useful as the PPBM (U. Kragh-Hansen, Pharm. Rev., 33, pp. 17-53 (1981); X. M. He et al., Nature, 358, pp. 209-215 (1992); D. C. Carter, Adv. Protein Chem., 45, pp. 153-203 (1994)). These include but are not limited to aliphatic or aryl groups with 1 to 60 carbons as well as any number of nitrogens, oxygens, sulfurs, halogens, alkyl groups, amides, esters, and sulfonamides substituents. Alternatively, the PPBM may be a peptide containing hydrophobic amino acid residues and/or substituents with or without hydrophobic or hydrophilic termination groups. To obtain 10% binding in plasma, the preferred PPBM has at least 7 carbon atoms, more preferably 13, and most preferably 18 carbon atoms. As stated above, for binding to HSA, a wide range of hydrophobic substances may be useful as the PPBM. In general, binding affinity to HSA and possibly other proteins will increase with the hydrophobicity of the PPBM. Theoretical estimates of the hydrophobicity of a substituent such as a PPBM can be obtained by calculating the contribution to the log of the octanol-water (or octanol-buffer) partition coefficient (log P) for the PPBM itself using the Hansch xcfx80 constant for substituents. See A. Leo and C. Hansch, xe2x80x9cPartition Coefficients and their Uses,xe2x80x9d Chemical Reviews, 71, pp. 525-616 (1971); K. C. Chu, xe2x80x9cThe Quantitative Analysis of Structure-Activity Relationships,xe2x80x9d Burger""s Medicinal Chemistry, Part 1, pp. 393-418, (4th ed. 1980). Binding affinity will increase with increasing log P contributions. For example, for substituents on aliphatic groups, the following n constants can be used: For substituents on aryl groups, the following n constants can be used: Thus, the log P contribution for a p-methylbenzyl group attached to an IEM would be calculated as follows (using the value of the xcfx80-aliphatic for CH3 as an estimate for the xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 group): log P contribution=0.50+2.15+0.56=3.21 In binding to HSA, a minimum log P contribution of 2 (equivalent to 4 CH3 groups or one phenyl ring) is required to achieve significant binding. More preferred is a log P contribution of 3. Even more preferred is a log P contribution of 4. HSA binding can be assessed by equilibrium dialysis or ultrafiltration using 4.5% weight/volume HSA in a pH 7.4 buffer. Preferably at least 10%, and more preferably at least 50%, more preferably at least 80%, and most preferably at least 95% of the contrast agent is bound to HSA at a physiological relevant concentrations (0.01-10 mM in plasma for MRI, x-ray, light, and ultrasound; less than 1 uM for radiopharmaceuticals). In this application, the measurement of percent binding of the contrast agent to HSA has an error of approximately +/xe2x88x925%. Protein binding to other proteins or to serum can be assessed in a similar fashion. The addition of lipophilic groups into a contrast agent is likely to decrease the solubility of the agent. To retain efficient solubility of the contrast agent at clinically effective dosage levels or higher, it may be preferred to incorporate one or more hydrogen-bonding groups (oxygen, nitrogens, etc.) into the PPBM. While purely aliphatic groups can be used as PPBMs, these may not be as preferred as mixed aliphatic-aryl groups or purely aryl groups. Especially when a negative charge is attached to a purely aliphatic groups, particularly long and flexible ones, the contrast agent may interfere with the metabolism of endogenous molecules such as fatty acids or the interactions between membrane proteins and lipids. This may increase the toxicity of the agent. Thus it is preferred that the PPBM contain at least one aryl ring. In the case of HSA-bound MRI agents for blood pool, tumor, or tissue enhancement, it is especially preferable for the contrast agent to contain two or more distinct lipophilic groups to fully immobilize the agent when bound to the protein. These groups may be on one PPBM, or as two or more separate chemical groups attached to the contrast agent. Because of their bulky nature and rigidity, it is preferable that the two or more groups each consist of an aromatic ring, with the two or more rings in the entire molecule arranged in a rigid, non-planar orientation. The magnetic efficiency, or relaxivity, of a MRI agent is generally highest when the agent has a rotational correlation time approximately equal to HSA (R. B. Lauffer, Chemical Reviews, 87, pp. 901-927 (1987)). While a small molecule such as Gd-DTPA has a rotational correlation time of approximately 0.1 nanoseconds (nsec), HSA has a correlation time of greater than 5-10 nsec; if a chelate has this longer correlation time, the magnetic fluctuations between the paramagnetic ion and the water protons occur on the same time scale as the Larmor frequency, generating the most efficient longitudinal (T1) relaxation possible and thus the highest possible relaxivity. Any flexibility of the chelate when bound to the protein is expected to decrease the effective rotational correlation time and thus decrease relaxivity. Since one site of attachment to the protein may still yield flexibility in several directions, additional sites of attachment may be preferred. The degree to which an agent has been tuned for maximum relaxivity can be assessed by measuring the relaxivity-bound (R1-bound) in the presence of HSA. This requires measuring the relaxivity of the free chelate (R1-free) as well as the relaxivity (R1-observed) and per cent binding of the agent in 4.5% HSA. The R1-observed is a mole fraction weighted average of R1-free and R1-bound: R1-observed=(fraction-free*R1-free)+(fraction-bound*R1-bound) Thus: R 1 - bound = [ R 1 - observed - ( fraction - free * R 1 - free ) ] fraction - bound The benefit of having two or more aryl rings held in a rigid, non-planar fashion can be seen in the following table which shows relaxivity-bound values for MS-322 (56 mMxe2x88x921sxe2x88x921) and MS-325 (42 mMxe2x88x921sxe2x88x921) versus MS-317 (34 mMxe2x88x921sxe2x88x921). The biphenyl or diphenyl groups of MS-322 and MS-325 appear to be restricting the mobility of the HSA-bound contrast agent. In this application, the error associated with the measurement of relaxivity-bound values is approximately +/xe2x88x925%. As can be seen in the above table, compounds having two rings rigidly held in a non-planar orientation had higher relaxivity-bound values. As can be seen in the above equations, the actual R1-observed can be increased by increasing the fraction-bound, that is, increasing the binding affinity of the agent to HSA. This may also lead to lower renal excretion and longer blood half-lives and is thus synergistic. Nevertheless, in order to use the lowest dose and have the highest margin of safety, it is still important to maximize the potency of the agent by maximizing R1-bound. The third domain of the contrast agents of this invention, the BHEM, reduces the rate of hepatocyte uptake of the contrast agent. The balance of hydrophilicity and lipophilicity and the exact molecular structure of a molecule determine its hepatocyte uptake rate. In the contrast agents of this invention, the BHEMs of this invention reduce or eliminate hepatocyte uptake without unduly interfering with the efficacy of the PPBM. The BHEMs are extremely hydrophilic groups which can hydrogen-bond with water. The presence on a contrast agent of the hydrophilic BHEM reduces the hepatocyte uptake of the agent. Examples of chemical groups which would serve as a BHEM include carbon, phosphorous, tungsten, molybdenum, or sulfur atoms having attached charged or neutral heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur or halogens (especially fluorine) possessing two or more lone electron pairs (i.e., full or partial negative charge) or electropositive hydrogen atoms (i.e., protonated amine) for hydrogen bonding with water. These include groups such as sulfone, ether, urea, thio-urea, amine, sulfonamide, carbamate, peptide, ester, carbonate and acetals. Preferred groups include those which possess one or more partial or full negative charges in aqueous solution at physiological pH wherein the negatively charged atoms cannot be partially or fully neutralized by covalent or coordinate covalent bonding to the IEM. Examples of these preferred BHEMs include negatively charged groups such as phosphate mono-ester, phosphate diester, carboxylate, and sulphonate. More preferred are those which have phosphate groups or any ester forms thereof. Even more preferred are phosphate diesters, since: a) they are highly hydrophilic with four hydrogen-bonding oxygens; b) they are relatively readily synthesized using techniques shown below; c) they serve as excellent linkers between the IEM and the PPBM; and d) because phosphate compounds exist and are metabolized naturally in the body, phosphate diester-containing contrast agents are expected to be non-toxic. All of the above groups may in turn be attached to a linker moiety linking them to either the IEM, the PPBM, or both. A linker moiety is any physiologically compatible chemical group that does not interfere with the functions of the IEM, PPBM, or BHEM. Preferred linkers are synthetically easy to incorporate into the contrast agent. They are also not so unduly large as to manifest their own undesired biological function or targeting influence onto the contrast agent. Preferably, the length of the linker is between 1 and 50 angstroms, more preferably 1 and 10 angstroms. The incorporation into a contrast agent of this invention of a BHEM results in prolonged blood retention of the agent. Blood retention is preferably measured by calculating, in a rat plasma pharmacokinetic experiment, the area under the plasma concentration versus time curve (xe2x80x9cArea Under the Curvexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cAUC-conc.xe2x80x9d) for a specific length of time (e.g., 0-10 minutes, 0-30 min., 0-60 min., 0-120 min., or 0-infinity). Blood retention (as measured by AUC-conc) can be evaluated experimentally by administration of a contrast agent to rats, rabbits, or higher mammals. It has been observed that blood half-life extension is greater in rabbits and higher mammals than in rats. In this application, blood half-life data, as measured by AUC-conc., represents experimentation in rats. The error associated with this data is approximately +/xe2x88x9210%. The reason that a half-life measurement itself is not used is that the mathematical definition of this quantity is often not clear and the resulting estimates are variable depending on the pharmacokinetic model used and the length of time the blood samples were obtained. For example, the average plasma concentrations observed after tail vein injection of 0.1 mmol/kg of Gd153-labeled Gd-DTPA in two rats, using the Macintosh program KaleidaGraph, this AUC-conc. from 0 to 10 minutes was calculated as 3.5 mM min. The contrast agents of this invention exhibit an AUC-conc. increase of at least 20% when the BHEM is added to the IEM and PPBM. They preferably exhibit an AUC-conc. increase of at least 40%, more preferably at least 70% and even more preferably at least 100%. In general, the increase in AUC-conc. caused by a BHEM is greater when the binding in plasma is significant, e.g., 20%-50% or greater. The calculated percent increase in AUC-conc. may be different for AUC-conc.""s determined over different time periods. Generally, the percent increase in AUC-conc. caused by the BHEM is greater for AUC-conc.""s taken over longer periods, e.g, 0-30 min., rather than 0-10 min. Since the structure and physical characteristics of the entire contrast agent molecule will govern its binding in plasma, it is important to select IEMs and t BHEMs that are compatible with the desired binding. For example, to achieve binding to the positively charged binding sites on HSA, it is preferred to have IEMs and BHEMs of net neutral or net negative charge to reduce the possibility of repulsion and perhaps even increase binding affinity. For binding to alpha acid glycoprotein, at least some portion of the contrast agent should be positively charged. For binding to globulins, at least some portion of the contrast agent should be steroidal in nature. For binding to lipoproteins, at least some portion of the contrast agent should be lipophilic or fatty acid-like. The contrast agents of the present invention fall generally into three categories: 1) Blood pool agents. When the binding affinity to plasma proteins is high (i.e., greater than 50% bound, or preferably greater than 80% bound, or more preferably greater than 95% bound), the agents tend to act primarily as blood pool agents. While the agents can access the interstitial space (the extracellular space in between cells) outside blood capillaries, generally the concentration of relevant plasma proteins such as HSA are lower in that space compared to plasma. Thus, the plasma concentration of the agents is higher than the interstitial concentration, and therefore structures in the body such as blood vessels or tissues containing a large amount of blood vessels are enhanced more than structures with low blood content. The applications for this type of agent include angiography (imaging of blood vessels), perfusion (determining the rate of blood flow into a tissue or tumor using rapid imaging), and blood volume determinations (e.g., to distinguish malignant tumors with good blood supply from benign tumors with lower blood volume). 2) Tissue- or tumor-enhancement agents. In some cases it is desired to allow the contrast agent to rapidly access the interstitial space and bind to plasma proteins there. For example, in MRI it may be desired to get the greatest possible enhancement from a tissue or tumor as soon as possible after injection. Since protein-bound MRI agents yield greater enhancement than free agents, the best agent would be one which can enter the interstitial space and bind to proteins. However, if the agent is highly bound in plasma, say greater than 95% bound, its transfer rate across the capillaries (determined by the free concentration) is too slow, and very little of the agent gets into the interstitial space and produces signal enhancement of tissue. Likewise, if the binding is only 10%, then the agent is free to enter the interstitial space but has little signal-enhancing power. Thus, a proper balance of transfer rate and binding affinity is required. For these applications, the binding of the agents in plasma should be greater than 10% and less than 95%, or preferably greater than 50% and less than 95%. This approach is particularly useful in tumor imaging with MRI. Malignant tumors often have better blood flow than benign tumors, and thus rapid imaging of tumor (and interstitial) uptake can often distinguish these tumor types. However, for clinical application, one needs the greatest signal difference between the two tissues to allow clearer discrimination. The signal enhancement via protein binding will help in this regard. In addition, the new, rapidly growing capillaries of malignant tumors are leaky, leading to a higher concentration of plasma proteins in the interstitial space of these tumors. This may lead to greater signal enhancement in the malignant tumors compared to benign tumors with less leaky capillaries. 3) Targeted agents. When the agent is targeted to a specific tissue or lesion in the body, a similar logic as that described in the two paragraphs above applies. The relative affinities of the agent for plasma proteins and the target site needs to be balanced such that the agent has some access to bind to the target and at the same time has some binding to plasma proteins to increase blood half-life. For targeted applications, the binding of the agents in plasma should be greater than 10% and less than 95%, or preferably greater than 50% and less than 95%. The targeting moiety may be a lipophilic substance, receptor ligand, antibody, or other biomolecule that is known to concentrate in the specific biological component desired to be imaged. It is contemplated that the three moieties of the contrast agents of this invention can be arranged in a variety of positions with respect to each other. However, the position of the moieties may not be such that one moiety interferes with the intended function of the other. For example, in an HSA-binding contrast agent the placement of the BHEM should not block the ability of the PPBM to bind the agent to HSA. Since the major binding sites in HSA are sock-like (X. M. He et al., Nature, 358, pp. 209-215 (1992); D. C. Carter, Adv. Protein Chem., 45, pp. 153-203 (1994)), with hydrophobic interiors (especially near the xe2x80x9ctoexe2x80x9d region) and positively charged xe2x80x9canklexe2x80x9d regions, the binding affinity of a PPBM would decrease if the distal portion of the PPBM were made extremely hydrophilic. As an illustrative example, if the PPBM is a phenyl ring, the most preferred BHEM position on the ring is ortho, followed by meta. A hydrophilic group in the para position would reduce the PPBM""s binding affinity to HSA. For IEMs that consist of a metal chelate, it is preferred that the BHEMs and PPBMs not be attached to the IEM so as to significantly reduce the strength of the binding between the metal ion and chelating ligand. For example, where the chelating arm is acetate, the BHEM or PPBM is preferably not attached to the acetate oxygen. Another positional requirement is that the BHEM""s negatively charged atoms cannot be partially or fully neutralized by covalent or coordinate covalent bonding to the IEM; this ensures that in aqueous systems the very hydrophilic atoms of the BHEM will be highly solvated. For example, when the IEM is a metal chelate, it is important to position the negatively charged atoms of the BHEM so that they cannot become neutralized by the positively charged metal ion (Mn+) of the IEM through coordinate covalent bonding via the formation of 5- or 6-membered chelate rings, the most stable ring sizes. Since 5-membered chelate rings are the most stable for the metal ions of interest for IEMs (such as gadolinium), it is most important to prevent their formation. Thus, as shown in the drawing below, a phosphinate (xe2x80x94PO2xe2x80x94) or phosphonate (xe2x80x94PO3xe2x80x94) BHEM cannot be attached to the nitrogen atom of an aminocarboxylate chelating agent via a xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 linker since this will form a very stable 5-membered chelate ring. Similarly, a phosphodiester (xe2x80x94OPO3xe2x80x94) BHEM should not be attached to the nitrogen atom of an aminocarboxylate chelating agent via a xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 linker since this could form a 6-membered chelate ring. However, both of these BHEMs can be attached to other positions, such as the ethylene backbone of the ligand. In some cases, as shown, it may be preferred to increase the length of the linker group to make certain that 5- or 6-membered rings cannot form. It is contemplated that the moieties of this invention can be positioned in the contrast agent so that the following structures may result: IEMxe2x80x94[(L)mxe2x80x94{(BHEM)sxe2x80x94(PPBM)o}p]qxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1) wherein IEM an image-enhancing moiety, L is a linker moiety, BHEM is a blood half-life extending moiety, PPBM is a plasma protein binding moiety, m can be equal to 0-4, s, o, and p can be the same or different and equal to 1-4, and r and q are at least one. If the moieties of this invention are positioned in the contrast agent as in structure (1) above, the BHEM is preferably sulfone, urea, thio-urea, amine, sulfonamide, carbamate, peptide, ester, carbonate, acetals and more preferably where Z=P, W, Mo, or S Y1, Y2=O or S Y3, Y4=O, S or not present R2xe2x80x2=H, C1-6 alkyl or not present. Most preferably, the BHEM is a phosphate group. If the moieties of this invention are positioned in the contrast agent as in structure (2) above, the BHEM is preferably sulfone, urea, thio-urea, amine, sulfonamide, carbamate, peptide, ester, carbonate, acetals and more preferably the BHEM has the following formula: where Z=P, W, or Mo Y1, Y2=O or S Y3, Y4=O, S or not present R2xe2x80x2=H, C1-6 alkyl or not present. Most preferably, the BHEM is a phosphate group. If the moieties of this invention are positioned in the contrast agent as in structure (3) above, the BHEM is preferably SO3xe2x88x92 or ester forms, sulfone, urea, thio-urea, amine, sulfonamide, carbamate, peptide, ester, carbonate, acetal and more preferably where Z=P, W, Mo, or S Y1, Y2=O or S Y3, Y4=O, S or not present R2xe2x80x2=H, C1-6 alkyl or not present. Most preferably, the BHEM is a phosphate group. It is contemplated that if the moieties of this invention are positioned in the contrast agent as in structure (3) above, preferred contrast agents have the formulas: where M is a metal ion with an atomic number of 21-29, 42, 44 or 57-83, where R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, and R16 can be the same or different and selected from the group consisting of H, PPBM, BHEM and C1-6 alkyl, provided that at least one of these Rs is PPBM and at least another is BHEM, R12, R13 and R14 can be the same or different and selected from the group consisting of Oxe2x88x92 and N(H)R17, R15=H, CH2CH(OH)CH3, hydroxy alkyl or CH (R16) COR12 and R17=H or C1-6 alkyl. For contrast agents comprising the formulas shown above, the metal ion M is more preferably Gd(III), Fe(III), Mn(II), Mn(III), Cr(III), Cu(III), Dy(III), Tb(III), Ho(III), Er(III) or Eu(III), and most preferably Gd(III). The BHEM is preferably sulfone, ether, urea, thio-urea, amine, amide, sulfonamide, carbamate, peptide, ester, carbonate, acetal and more preferably COOxe2x88x92 or ester forms, SO3xe2x88x92 or ester forms and where Z=P, W, Mo, or S Y1, Y2=O or S Y3, Y4=O, S or not present R2xe2x80x2=H, C1-6 alkyl or not present. In the case of an HSA-binding contrast agent, the BHEM may be placed in between the IEM and the PPBM as shown above in structure (1) or on the IEM away from the PPBM as shown above in structure (3). In this manner the full binding potential of the hydrophobic PPBM group can be expressed without interference from the hydrophilic BHEM group. The following two pairs of examples serve to show the benefits of a phosphate BHEM inserted in between the IEM Gd-DTPA and two different PPBMs, an octyl C8 aliphatic group and a naphthylmethyl group. Rats were injected intravenously (tail vein) with 0.1 mmol/kg of the Gd153 radiolabeled complexes. Plasma concentrations were determined over 30 minutes and fit to a standard bi-exponential two-compartment model. Results for the elimination half-life are shown as well as the area under the plasma concentration versus time curve (AUC-conc.) for the first 10 minutes. In addition, the 1/T1s of the plasma samples were recorded (at 20 MHZ, 37 deg. C.) to assess the efficacy as MRI agents. These values were expressed as area under the 1/T1 versus time curve (AUC-1/T1) for the first 10 minutes. As shown in the above table, the addition of a phosphate BHEM to MS-301 and MS-310 (resulting in MS-315 and MS-321, respectively) increased the blood half-life of the contrast agent (as measured by AUC-conc.) by 26% and 78%, respectively. The IEM Gd-DTPA is relatively hydrophilic and exhibits little or no binding to HSA. Thus, its relaxivity in plasma is not optimized and its ability to alter the 1/T1 (and blood signal on MRI) over time is limited (see the relatively low AUC-1/T1 value). This is despite its relatively long blood half-life of 15 minutes. To improve the HSA binding and relaxivity, a C8 octyl group can be placed on the 1-position of the DTPA backbone. While this does impart HSA binding to the chelate and some improvement in blood signal, the lipophilic group alone leads to a much-shortened plasma half-life. The insertion of the phosphate-based BHEM actually enhances HSA binding and restores the plasma half-life to a value close to Gd-DTPA. As a result, the blood signal is considerably improved. The proper placement of the BHEM in these examples shows the importance of this aspect of the invention. The addition of strongly hydrophilic groups to MS-301 or MS-310 enhanced binding to some degree. The placement of the phosphate groups in MS-315 and MS-321 between the IEM and the PPBM may allow the full hydrophobic surface of the PPBMs to interact with the interior of the HSA sites and at the same time create new beneficial interactions (e.g., electrostatic or hydrogen-bonding) between the compound and the xe2x80x9canklexe2x80x9d region of the HSA sites. In particular, it is possible that the negatively-charged phosphate groups are positioned well to interact with the positively-charged residues that line the xe2x80x9canklexe2x80x9d region. As indicated above, the percentage increase in AUC-conc. can depend on the time for which measurements are made. For example, the addition of the phosphate BHEM onto MS-310 to make MS-321 increased the AUC-conc. for 0-10 min. from 1.8 to 3.2 mM min., a 78% increase. However, the AUC-conc. for 0-30 min. increased from 2.46 to 5.57 mM min., a 126% increase. The following contrast agents are made: In the above agents, n can be equal to 1-4. wherein R comprises an aliphatic group and/or at least one aryl ring, or comprises a peptide containing hydrophobic amino acid residues and/or substituents with or without hydrophobic or hydrophilic termination groups. The preferred contrast agents of this invention are: The more preferred contrast agents of this invention are MS-317, MS-322, MS-325 and MS-328. The most preferred is MS-325. Since different chiral forms of drugs or biomolecules can influence their performance in vivo, the same is likely to be true of the contrast agents of this invention. For every given chiral center, one form may have higher relaxivity, blood half-life, lower toxicity, fewer metabolites, or some other advantage or combination of these advantages. These chiral forms will be preferred. To facilitate administration and uptake, the contrast agents of the present invention should have good water solubility. Preferably, the contrast agents are soluble to a concentration of at least 1.0 mM, and preferably 10 mM, and more preferably 100 mM in water at room temperature. For injection, the formulated agents should have only moderate viscosity to allow for rapid, convenient injections. The viscosity should be less than 10 centipoise, or preferably less than 5 centipoise, or more preferably less than 2 centipoise. For injection, the formulated agents should also not have excessive osmolality, since this can increase toxicity. The osmolality should be less than 3000 milliosmoles/kg, or preferably less than 2500 milliosmoles/kg, or most preferably less than 900 milliosmoles/kg. It is also contemplated that the IEM may comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable salt. Pharmaceutically acceptable salts of this invention include those derived from inorganic or organic acids and bases. Included among such acid salts are the following: acetate, adipate, alginate, aspartate, benzoate, benzenesulfonate, bisulfate, butyrate, citrate, camphorate, camphorsulfonate, cyclopentane-propionate, digluconate, dodecylsulfate, ethanesulfonate, fumarate, glucoheptanoate, glycerophosphate, hemisulfate, heptanoate, hexanoate, hydrochloride, hydrobromide, hydroiodide, 2-hydroxy-ethanesulfonate, lactate, maleate, methanesulfonate, 2-naphthalenesulfonate, nicotinate, oxalate, pamoate, pectinate, persulfate, 3-phenyl-propionate, picrate, pivalate, propionate, succinate, tartrate, thiocyanate, tosylate and undecanoate. Base salts include ammonium salts, alkali metal salts, such as sodium and potassium salts, alkaline earth metal salts, such as calcium, magnesium and zinc salts, salts with organic bases, such as dicyclohexylamine salts, N-methyl-D-glucamine, and salts with amino acids such as arginine, lysine, and so forth. Also, the basic nitrogen-containing groups can be quaternized with such agents as lower alkyl halides, such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl chloride, bromides and iodides; dialkyl sulfates, such as dimethyl, diethyl, dibutyl and diamyl sulfates, long chain halides such as decyl, lauryl, myristyl and stearyl chlorides, bromides and iodides, aralkyl halides, such as benzyl and phenethyl bromides and others. Water or oil-soluble or dispersible products are thereby obtained. The preferred salts of this invention are the N-methyl-D-glucamine, calcium and sodium salts. The pharmaceutical compositions of this invention comprise any of the complexes of the present invention, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, together with any pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, adjuvant or vehicle. Pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, adjuvants and vehicles that may be used in the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention include, but are not limited to, ion exchangers, alumina, aluminum stearate, lecithin, serum proteins, such as human serum albumin, buffer substances such as phosphates, glycine, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, TRIS (tris(hydroxymethyl)amino-methane), partial glyceride mixtures of saturated vegetable fatty acids, water, salts or electrolytes, such as protamine sulfate, disodium hydrogen phosphate, potassium hydrogen phosphate, sodium chloride, zinc salts, colloidal silica, magnesium trisilicate, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, cellulose-based substances, polyethylene glycol, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, polyacrylates, waxes, polyethylene-polyoxypropylene-block polymers, polyethylene glycol and wool fat. According to this invention, the pharmaceutical compositions may be in the form of a sterile injectable preparation, for example a sterile injectable aqueous or oleaginous suspension. This suspension may be formulated according to techniques known in the art using suitable dispersing or wetting agents and suspending agents. The sterile injectable preparation may also be a sterile injectable solution or suspension in a non-toxic parenterally-acceptable diluent or solvent, for example as a solution in 1,3-butanediol. Among the acceptable vehicles and solvents that may be employed are water, Ringer""s solution and isotonic sodium chloride solution. In addition, sterile, fixed oils are conventionally employed as a solvent or suspending medium. For this purpose, any bland fixed oil may be employed including synthetic mono- or di-glycerides. Fatty acids, such as oleic acid and its glyceride derivatives are useful in the preparation of injectables, as are natural pharmaceutically-acceptable oils, such as olive oil or castor oil, especially in their polyoxyethylated versions. These oil solutions or suspensions may also contain a long-chain alcohol diluent or dispersant, such as Ph. Helv or similar alcohol. Since the contrast agents of this invention bind to plasma proteins, in some cases depending on the dose and rate of injection, the binding sites on plasma proteins may become saturated. This will lead to decreased binding of the agent and could compromise half-life or tolerability. Thus, it may be desirable to inject the agent pre-bound to a sterile albumin or plasma replacement solution. Alternatively, an apparatus/syringe can be used that contains the contrast agent and mixes it with blood drawn up into the syringe; this is then re-injected into the patient. The compounds and pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention may be administered orally, parenterally, by inhalation spray, topically, rectally, nasally, buccally, vaginally or via an implanted reservoirin dosage formulations containing conventional non-toxic pharmaceutically-acceptable carriers, adjuvants and vehicles. The term xe2x80x9cparenteralxe2x80x9d as used herein includes subcutaneous, intravenous, intramuscular, intra-articular, intra-synovial, intrasternal, intrathecal, intrahepatic, intralesional and intracranial injection or infusion techniques. When administered orally, the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention may be administered in any orally acceptable dosage form including, but not limited to, capsules, tablets, aqueous suspensions or solutions. In the case of tablets for oral use, carriers which are commonly used include lactose and corn starch. Lubricating agents, such as magnesium stearate, are also typically added. For oral administration in a capsule form, useful diluents include lactose and dried corn starch. When aqueous suspensions are required for oral use, the active ingredient is combined with emulsifying and suspending agents. If desired, certain sweetening, flavoring or coloring agents may also be added. Alternatively, when administered in the form of suppositories for rectal administration, the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention may be prepared by mixing the agent with a suitable non-irritating excipient which is solid at room temperature but liquid at rectal temperature and therefore will melt in the rectum to release the drug. Such materials include cocoa butter, beeswax and polyethylene glycols. As noted before, the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention may also be administered topically, especially when the target of treatment includes areas or organs readily accessible by topical application, including the eye, the skin, or the lower intestinal tract. Suitable topical formulations are readily prepared for each of these areas or organs. Topical application for the lower intestinal tract can be effected in a rectal suppository formulation (see above) or in a suitable enema formulation. Topically-transdermal patches may also be used. For topical applications, the pharmaceutical compositions may be formulated in a suitable ointment containing the active component suspended or dissolved in one or more carriers. Carriers for topical administration of the compounds of this invention include, but are not limited to, mineral oil, liquid petrolatum, white petrolatum, propylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, polyoxypropylene compound, emulsifying wax and water. Alternatively, the pharmaceutical compositions can be formulated in a suitable lotion or cream containing the active components suspended or dissolved in one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers. Suitable carriers include, but are not limited to, mineral oil, sorbitan monostearate, polysorbate 60, cetyl esters wax, cetearyl alcohol, 2-octyldodecanol, benzyl alcohol and water. For ophthalmic use, the pharmaceutical compositions may be formulated as micronized suspensions in isotonic, pH adjusted sterile saline, or, preferably, as solutions in isotonic, pH adjusted sterile saline, either with our without a preservative such as benzylalkonium chloride. Alternatively, for ophthalmic uses, the pharmaceutical compositions may be formulated in an ointment such as petrolatum. For administration by nasal aerosol or inhalation, the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention are prepared according to techniques well-known in the art of pharmaceutical formulation and may be prepared as solutions in saline, employing benzyl alcohol or other suitable preservatives, absorption promoters to enhance bioavailability, fluorocarbons, and/or other conventional solubilizing or dispersing agents. Dosage depends on the sensitivity of the diagnostic imaging instrumentation, as well as the composition of the contrast agent. For example, for MRI imaging, a contrast agent containing a highly paramagnetic substance, e.g., gadolinium (III), generally requires a lower dosage than a contrast agent containing a paramagnetic substance with a lower magnetic moment, e.g., iron (III). Preferably, dosage will be in the range of about 0.001 to 1 mmol/kg body weight per day of the active metal-ligand complex. More preferably, dosage will be in the range of about 0.005 and about 0.05 mmol/kg body weight per day. It should be understood, however, that a specific dosage regimen for any particular patient will also depend upon a variety of factors, including the age, body weight, general health, sex, diet, time of administration, rate of excretion, drug combination, and the judgment of the treating physician. If the application of this invention is MRI imaging, following administration of the appropriate dosage of the contrast agent, MRI imaging is carried out. The choice of pulse sequence (inversion recovery, IR; spin echo, SE, echo planar, EPI; time-of-flight, TOF; turbo-flash; gradient echo, GE) and the values of the imaging parameters (echo time, TE; inversion time, TI; repetition time, TR; flip angel, etc.) will be governed by the diagnostic information sought. In general, if one desires to obtain T1-weighted images, then TE should be less than 30 milliseconds (or the minimum value) to maximize T1-weighting. Conversely, if one desires to measure T2, then TE should be greater than 30 milliseconds to minimize competing T1 effects. TI and TR will remain approximately the same for both T1- and T2-weighted images; TI and TR are generally on the order of about 5-1000 and 2-1000 milliseconds, respectively. The MRI contrast agents of the present invention are useful for general imaging of tumors, blood-brain-barrier breakdown, and other lesions. In addition they are very useful for examining perfusion, i.e., the blood flow into and out of tissues (heart, brain, legs, lungs, kidneys, tumors, etc.), and blood vessels (MR angiography). In addition, the agents can be used to enhance the signal changes in the brain during cognitive events (functional MRI). It is contemplated that the contrast agents of the present invention may also be used to enhance diagnostic X-ray imaging as well as ultrasound and light imaging. In these cases, the doses of the agent will be approximately equal to that in MRI (0.001-10 mmol/kg). For nuclear imaging, however, the doses will be at tracer levels. For all of these techniques, the use and administration of contrast agents and the settings on the imaging machines is known in the art or uses commonly accepted principles.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the field of cryptographic systems. 2. Background Art A cryptographic system is a system for sending a message from a sender to a receiver over a medium so that the message is xe2x80x9csecurexe2x80x9d, that is, so that only the intended receiver can recover the message. A cryptographic system (or cryptosystem) converts a message, referred to as xe2x80x9cplaintextxe2x80x9d into an encrypted format, known as xe2x80x9cciphertext.xe2x80x9d The encryption is accomplished by manipulating or transforming the message using a xe2x80x9ccipher keyxe2x80x9d or keys. The receiver xe2x80x9cdecryptsxe2x80x9d the message, that is, converts it from ciphertext to plaintext, by reversing the manipulation or transformation process using the cipher key or keys. So long as only the sender and receiver have knowledge of the cipher key, such an encrypted transmission is secure. A xe2x80x9cclassicalxe2x80x9d cryptosystem is a cryptosystem in which the enciphering information can be used to determine the deciphering information. To provide security, a classical cryptosystem requires that the enciphering key be kept secret and provided to users of the system over secure channels. Secure channels, such as secret couriers, secure telephone transmission lines, or the like, are often impractical and expensive. A system that eliminates the difficulties of exchanging a secure enciphering key is known as xe2x80x9cpublic key encryption.xe2x80x9d By definition, a public key cryptosystem has the property that someone who knows only how to encipher a message cannot use the enciphering key to find the deciphering key without a prohibitively lengthy computation. An enciphering function is chosen so that once an enciphering key is known, the enciphering function is relatively easy to compute. However, the inverse of the encrypting transformation function is difficult, or computationally infeasible, to compute. Such a function is referred to as a xe2x80x9cone way functionxe2x80x9d or as a xe2x80x9ctrap door function.xe2x80x9d In a public key cryptosystem, certain information relating to the keys is public. This information can be, and often is, published or transmitted in a non-secure manner. Also, certain information relating to the keys is private. This information may be distributed over a secure channel to protect its privacy (or may be created by a local user to ensure privacy). In the prior art, the trap door functions have been based on the difficult problem of factoring integers. The factoring scheme is based on the fact that it is easy to generate two very large prime numbers and multiply them together, but it is much more difficult to factor the result, that is, to determine the very large prime numbers from their product. The product can therefore be made public as part of the enciphering key without compromising the prime numbers that effectively constitute the deciphering key. Another form of public key cryptosystem is referred to as an xe2x80x9celliptic curvexe2x80x9d cryptosystem. An elliptic curve cryptosystem is based on points on an elliptic curve E defined over a finite field F. Elliptic curve cryptosystems rely for security on the difficulty in solving the discrete logarithm problem. An advantage of an elliptic curve cryptosystem is there is more flexibility in choosing an elliptic curve than in choosing a finite field. Nevertheless, elliptic curve cryptosystems have not been widely used in computer-based public key exchange systems due to their computational intensiveness. Computer-based elliptic curve cryptosystems are slow compared to other computer public key exchange systems. Elliptic curve cryptosystems are described in xe2x80x9cA Course in Number Theory and Cryptographyxe2x80x9d (Koblitz, 1987, Springer-Verlag, New York). The invention is a cryptographic system using chaotic dynamics. A chaotic system is used to generate a public key and an adjustable back door from a private key. The public key is distributed and can be used in a public key encryption system. The invention can also be used for authentication purposes. The adjustable back door of the invention can be used in conjunction with the public key to derive the private key. The degree of difficulty involved in deriving the private key is dependent on the adjustable back door whose value can be adjusted to vary the difficulty involved in deriving the private key. In its application to a public key encryption system, the invention uses a chaotic system model to generate a public key from a private key. A set of initial conditions is generated from the private key and becomes input to the chaotic system. The chaotic system generates a set of final conditions from which the public key is derived. The public key is distributed to the public. The public key can be used to encrypt a message that is then decrypted using the private key. The invention can also be used for authentication. A chaotic system that implements a chaotic-dynamic model generates a public key from a private key. The public key is distributed to and stored at an authenticating site. During authentication, one wishing to authenticate oneself enters the private key that generated the public key into a chaotic system. The chaotic system implements the same chaotic-dynamic model that generated the public key from the private key. The output of the chaotic system is a public key. The authenticating system compares its stored public key with the new public key. If the two public keys are the same, authentication is successful. If the two public keys are not the same, authentication fails. Using this approach, it is not necessary to disclose sensitive information to an authenticating system, or authenticator. Therefore, there is no need to rely on the authenticator to secure the information so that it is not accessible by an unauthorized person. Further, since the sensitive information is not transmitting to an authenticator, there is no danger of it being intercepted by an unauthorized person. Instead, a key that is not considered to be sensitive, the public key, is distributed and stored at the authenticating site. If authentication is performed as a prelude to accessing an account at a bank, for example, it is not necessary to store a bank user""s pin number or other secret information. At the time of authentication, the bank user enters the private key used to generate the public key into the chaotic system. The public key that results is compared with the stored public key to authenticate the user. In one embodiment of the invention, the chaotic system is based on the xe2x80x9cN-bodyxe2x80x9d problem to provide cryptographic security. The general N-body problem is described by a Hamiltonian from classical physics. A Hamiltonian function describes all forces between all N bodies. One manifestation is the celebrated N-body scenario of Newtonian gravity. In this particular setting, one considers N (greater than 2) bodies acting under mutual gravitation. For example, the Newtonian gravity manifestation of the N-body problem can be described by considering a solar system with three or more planets in orbit. Given an initial condition and a set of rules or equations governing motion of the planets over time, and which are subject to chaotic variation, the future positions of the planets after a known fixed time period (e.g. after ten solar years) can be determined. However, given only the present conditions of the planets, it is extremely difficult to determine what the initial conditions were without knowing the elapsed time, all the rules governing the motion of the planets, and all the chaotic variations in motion that occurred. Thus, the N-body problem is a one way function. The N-body problem describes a xe2x80x9cchaotic systemxe2x80x9d. This is because slight perturbations to the initial conditions of one or more of the bodies will cause radical system changes in the future. Accordingly, an inexact estimate of such initial conditions will result in a faulty final state. If someone tried to guess the initial conditions and ran the system for 10 solar years, the resulting positions would be very different from the positions that would occur using the correct initial conditions. The invention uses mathematical representations of the N-body problem. The composition of the N-body system, and its initial conditions, rules of motion and time period are known only to the sender. A future state can be generated using the initial conditions and is used in the encryption process to generate a public key.

Much of the change of the appearance of skin due to aging such as age spots (irregularities in melanin distribution), telangectasia (abnormal, small blood vessels) and collagen degradation (characterized by yellow-brown discolouration) primarily arises from photo-damage caused by chronic sun exposure. Original research undertaken at the University of Birmingham, subsequently described in WO 98/122023 argued that the Kubelka-Munk theory is sufficient to model light transport within skin. If exact scattering and absorption coefficients can be specified, then the Kubelka-Munk theory can be applied at each wavelength in the visible range and corresponding remittance spectrum obtained. This predicted spectrum, which will determine the colour of the skin, will be dependent on the histological characteristics of the tissue. Three parameters capture most of the variation in remitted spectra from healthy skin. These three parameters are concentration of epidermal melanin, concentration of blood and thickness of the papillary dermal layer (collagen thickness). Using the RGB response curves for a digital camera together with a model of the scattering and absorption characteristics of the skin, it is possible to calculate the set of image values which would be measured by a digital camera when skin with a known remittance spectrum S(λ) is illuminated with light of known spectral characteristics I(λ). This is done by calculating the convolution integral for each channel, given as,ired=∫I(λ)S(λ)R(λ)dλ, igreen=∫I(λ)S(λ)G(λ)dλ, iblue=∫I(λ)S(λ)B(λ)dλwhere R(λ), G(λ) and B(λ) are the response curves for the red, green and blue channels and ired, iblue and igreen are the corresponding values recorded by the camera at a given pixel. By ranging through all potential combinations of melanin, blood and collagen, it is possible to generate all possible spectra and therefore all possible sets of image values which would be measured by a digital camera. Once this information has been obtained a link can be established between image values and histological parameter values. This link can be expressed as a mathematical function. Determining measurements of epidermal melanin, blood, collagen and dermal melanin directly from measurements of remitted light S(λ) requires that an area of skin is illuminated with light of known spectral characteristics. However, as is discussed in detail in Astron Clinica's prior patent application WO 04/010862 determining measurements from ratios of image values enables measurements of blood and melanin concentration to be obtained without the need for strict lighting control and calibration. Although obtaining measurements of blood and melanin concentrations provide a further means for classifying the appearance of skin, obtaining a reliable measure of the extent of photo-damage remains difficult as photo-damage causes a variety of different histological and physiological changes. Although clinical scoring systems exist, such existing scoring systems all require subjective user interpretation of pigmentary irregularities.

In the making of gas cells for optical measurements with optical measuring paths in the range of centimeters and longer, mechanical stability directly affects the stability of the sensor output and thus limits the accuracy of the sensor. Low cost gas cells are normally made through injection moulding with thermoplastic materials. Such gas cells normally deforms with changes in temperature and humidity, or when mechanical stress or forces reach the plastic. It is known to use high-performance thermoplastic materials that are possible to injection mould, such as liquid crystal polymer (LCP). It is also known to use metal if even better accuracy or stability is required. For instance highly sensitive leak detectors use metal optics and or metal mechanics, of course at a significantly higher production cost.

Grocery store display cases are generally used for the display of perishable items such as cut floral, meats and deli products, fruits or vegetables or other produce, or similar items typically requiring circulated air, typically circulated refrigerated air, to maintain the freshness and appearance of the displayed items for sale. The design of most grocery store display cases includes a lower drain trough that collects waste liquid runoff and debris. Air circulating fans and refrigeration coils are generally incorporated within this lower drain trough portion of the display case. The return intake airflow is generally located in front inner portion of the case. The circulated air is drawn down through this front inner portion of the case and flows directly over the drain trough by the air movement refrigeration fans which divert the air through the refrigeration coils. After passing through the refrigeration coils the air is then pushed up the back of the case and exits out the air vents and/or out the case canopy on top discharge models. The drain trough area is where bacteria, mold, yeast spores, and so forth tend to collect and grow. Documented studies have shown airborne bacteria to be at higher levels in display cases where the air flows directly over the drain trough. The contaminated air in these display cases is recirculated and released directly onto the perishable products (fresh produce, meats, seafood, deli, cut floral, and so forth) shortening the shelf life of the products. Furthermore, the bacteria contaminated air is dispersed outward over the dislayed product where there is likely to be contact with consumers and store employees. This creates conditions likely to promote the spread of harmful bacteria, viruses, and so on. Similar problems exist with frozen product display cases, refrigerated beverage cases, or any display case where circulated or recirculated air may become contaminated. The contaminated air may then contaminate the displayed product and such product contamination and dispersion of harmful bacteria and so forth can contribute to the spread of disease or other health issues. Another concern involves the ripening gas (ethylene) produced naturally from specific fruits and floral. The ripening gas produced from the products displayed in the display case is released into the air stream, captured in the refrigeration air stream and recirculated repeatedly over the product. As the gas is trapped in the air current, ethylene levels tend to increase which in turn speeds up the ripening process and thereby shortening the self life of the products displayed. Yet another problem involves the downtime associated with the cleaning and maintaining the display cases. In order to clean and sanitize the cases, all products must be removed from the display racks. Sales are lost during this process since the cleaning process takes a substantial amount of time and generally cannot be completed when the store is closed. The majority of grocery retail stores are open nearly 24 hours per day or from very early in the morning until very late in the evening. The cleaning process is very labor intensive and additional man-hours are required, effecting net profits. Consequently, the frequency of cleaning and maintaining the display cases is minimized, further contributing to the build up of harmful bacteria, microorganisms, and so forth within the display cases. Prior attempts to address the issue of case contamination include a device that automatically rinses the case's drip pans with water and a chemical solution. The dispensing plumbing pipe is mounted on the back panel of the internal case located directly under the product shelf racks. Spray nozzles are spaced evenly for the entire length of the case. The rinse system is cycled periodically during the day. This technology only addresses the drip pan surface and does not address several other issues including the contaminated surfaces found below the drip pans. Furthermore, the rinse system does not contemplate and integrate methods and apparatus for effectively addressing airborne contamination within the display case. The lower trough section of display cases typically includes refrigeration plumbing, refrigeration coils, various mounting and support brackets, and other mechanical obstructions. Because of the various obstructions and the general design of the drain trough, liquid runoff and debris from product are trapped from being rinsed down the waste drain. Consequently over a period of time the runoff solution combines with trapped debris and the debris begins to decay. Over a period of time the decaying debris creates an unpleasant odor not to mention unhealthy levels of harmful bacteria. What is needed, therefore, are systems and methods for controlling contaminants (bacteria, mold, yeast spores, microorganisms, and so forth) in refrigerated and non-refrigerated display cases typically found in grocery stores. What is needed are display cases with improved sanitation.

1. Technical Field This invention relates generally to instrumentation for mass measurement and more particularly to a suspension system for an oscillating element microbalance which effectively decouples the microbalance from its environment and improves the instrument's mass resolution. 2. Background Information An extremely sensitive microbalance employing an oscillating tapered element and capable of accurately measuring the mass of very fine particles and other matter, has previously been developed. This instrument employs a tapered elongate elastic element having a first end which is adapted to support a specimen and a second larger end which is anchored so that the first end and specimen carried thereby are free to oscillate. The elongate element is excited into oscillation at a resonant frequency. The resonant frequency of the oscillating element varies in accordance with the mass loading and accordingly can be monitored and measured to determine the mass of the specimen supported by the oscillating element. Details of construction and the operating principles of such an oscillating tapered element microbalance are described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,271, issued Dec. 16, 1975 to H. Patashnick. An improvement which facilitates use of the microbalance for the measurement of the mass of particulate or other forms of matter contained within a medium such as air or other fluids is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,338 issued on July 5, 1983 to H. Patashnick and G. Rupprecht. The contents of these two patents are incorporated by reference herein. In practice the oscillating tapered element microbalance has proven to be a highly accurate instrument which permits on-line, real-time direct measurement of particulate mass with great sensitivity and reliability. The instrument has been successfully employed in the evaluation of diesel exhaust, dust concentration and smoke measurement and is applicable to many other situations in which particles or other extremely fine forms of matter need to be detected and weighed. The tapered element in the above-described microbalance vibrates in a clamped/free mode. This means that at the clamped end, where the tapered element meets the housing, two problems have to be confronted. First the vibration of the tapered element causes a strain on the support system, with the result that energy flows out from the tapered element through the housing into the support system, lowering the mechanical quality factor, Q, of the tapered element. Secondly, mechanical perturbations from the environment enter through the support system and housing, changing the phase and amplitude of the tapered element vibration, and thereby degrading the accuracy of the frequency determination and the mass resolution of the instrument. These two problems are not entirely unrelated because a decrease in the Q also has the effect of allowing a broader spectrum of environmental mechanical noise to enter the microbalance. One approach for coping with these problems has been to attach the housing of the microbalance to a larger rigid distributed mass which is then decoupled by standard means such as a foam rubber cushion from the noisy environment. Although a three-dimensional decoupling of the tapered element from environmental noise can thus be achieved, this approach is rather cumbersome and not fit for certain applications. Further, the results are far from ideal, since it has been found that decoupling from environmental noise is not simultaneously achieved with a high Q and therefore compromises are necessary. A need thus exists for an arrangement that simultaneously solves the two problems described above, thereby allowing the full potential of the microbalance to be realized.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illumination apparatus for a display device used in a liquid crystal panel or the like, a display device including the same, and a television receiver apparatus including the display device. 2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-11728 (FIG. 1) describes a conventional device relating to a backlight apparatus for a liquid crystal display device. In that device, a plurality of optical sheets are laminated and disposed so as to face a light source housing portion, such that light emitted from the light source is uniformly radiated onto a display by the optical sheets. In some cases, optical sheets that have directionality with respect to the top and bottom surfaces are included among the plurality of optical sheets. If an optical sheet of this kind is mistakenly disposed with the top and bottom surfaces on the opposite sides, correct illumination cannot be performed for the display and a display device that uses that illumination apparatus will be unable to properly display an image. According to the prior art as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-11728, an ear portion is caused to protrude from one edge of each optical sheet, and the ear portions are formed at respectively different positions among the optical sheets. Therefore, since the positions of the ear portions will be irregular when any of the optical sheets are mistakenly disposed with their top and bottom surfaces inverted, it is possible to easily discover that the top and bottom surfaces are mistakenly disposed. However, according to the above described prior art, because the ear portions protrude from the optical sheets, the size of a housing that stores the optical sheets is increased by the size of the ear portions and the size of the overall illumination apparatus thus increases. In order to reduce the size of the apparatus, it is necessary to reduce the external shape of the optical sheets, but if the optical sheets are provided with the ear portions as they are, the active area of the optical sheets will be decreased.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention deals with the use of certain novel polyesters which are prepared by the reaction of castor oil with dimer acid and a mono functional fatty acid to provide a polyester. In addition, the present invention describes a process for providing gloss to the skin which comprises application of an effective glossing concentration of this polyester. By substituting the dimer acid for the succinic acid as used in the related application, a more viscous product with improved xe2x80x9cplay timexe2x80x9d results. 2. Description of the Art Practices There is a desire to develop an ester that gives gloss to the skin when applied from oils or applied from emulsions. An added aspect of the present invention is the fact that the compounds are polymeric. This has two very important implications on the use of the materials of the present invention. The polymeric nature means the compounds do not penetrate the skin. The fact that these molecules remain on the skin, increases gloss and provides a less irritation to the skin. They also provide a gloss that is more long lasting. U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,389 issued July 1998 to O""Lenick, incorporated herein by reference, describes the use of a guerbet ester of castor for gloss. The compounds are a simple ester made by the reaction of castor and a specific mono functional alcohol to produce an ester. The products of this patent are neither polymeric, nor do they involve reaction of the hydroxyl group in the castor molecule. We have discovered that higher gloss, lower irritation and better durability of gloss results when one makes the polymers of the present invention. Until the compounds of the present invention polyesters did not give a sufficient gloss when applied to the skin. None of the prior esters possess the critical combination of branching and the polymeric composition unique to castor. This invention relates to a series of polyester compounds derived from castor oil. Castor oil, a hydroxy containing oil, can be esterified with a fatty acid to produce an intermediate having both an ester and triglyceride functionality. By selecting the ratios of reactants, the castor can be a partially substituted with fatty acid leaving some unreacted hydroxyl groups. The number of remaining hydroxyl groups, and the type and concentration of diacid used to react with the unreacted hydroxyl groups, results in a controllable polyester. The control of molecular weight and degree of polymerization is critical to functionality of the product. The unique structure of castor oil coupled with the proper selection of the fatty acid and diacid chosen to make the polyester results in a product that has unique gloss when applied to skin. One of the unique aspects of the present invention is the fact that the reaction to make an ester is conducted on the castor hydroxyl group, not the triglyceride group. Another unique aspect of the present reaction is the selection of a proper mole ratio to leave unreacted hydroxyl groups present in each triglyceride to crosslink the product, providing a polyester. Specifically, the present invention discloses novel polyesters and a process for providing gloss to the skin which comprises application of an effective glossing concentration of an polyester conforming to the following structure: A-Rxe2x80x2-(B-Rxe2x80x2)x-A wherein A is: B is; xe2x80x83wherein; the linking group R between all of the Oxe2x80x94 are dimer groups conforming to the following structure; R is selected from alkyl and alkylene having 5 to 33 carbon atoms; x is an integer ranging from 1 to 50. In a simple case where x is 1 the following polymer results: By varying the ratio of fatty acid more of the hydroxyl group is left. In the case of the xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d unit, two of the three hydroxyl groups on the castor oil are reacted, leaving only one group left to react. In the case of the xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d units two hydroxyl groups are left to react. In making a one pot synthesis, the total number of acid groups is calculated any reacted in the first step with the castor oil, followed by the reaction of the remaining hydroxyl groups with diacid. In some instances it is desirable to leave some unreacted hydroxyl groups in the polymer. In a preferred embodiment x is an integer ranging from 3 to 5. In a preferred embodiment x is an integer ranging from 5 to 10. In a preferred embodiment R is alkylene having 11 to 21 carbon atoms. In a preferred embodiment R is alkyl having 7 to 10 carbon atoms. In a preferred embodiment R is alkylene having 17 carbon atoms.

One of the challenges in implementing a distributed system which supports a social network is how to efficiently compute a time ordered stream that is the combination of a time ordered substream for each person of interest. A related challenge is how to identify how many changes of interest have happened to a particular stream since it was last viewed. For example, a user may have a set of friends that they follow and each of those friends may, over time, upload posts, comments, pictures and the like. A challenge exists because individuals whom a user follows may have their respective information or streams distributed across a number of servers.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, and more particularly, to encoding processing for image signals. 2. Description of the Related Art Moving picture expert group (MPEG) techniques are known as encoding techniques for image signals and are described, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-199408 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-163379. In MPEG encoding techniques, an image signal is categorized into an I-frame, a P-frame, and a B-frame to be encoded. For I-frames, encoding is performed using an image signal only within the same frame. For P-frames, motion compensation predictive encoding is performed using an image signal of a previous I-frame or P-frame. For B-frames, motion compensation predictive encoding is performed using an image signal of a previous I-frame or P-frame and a subsequent I-frame or P-frame. For transmitting an MPEG-encoded image signal using a transmission path of a limited transmission rate or for recording an MPEG-encoded image signal in a recording medium, it is preferable that the amount of data (data rate) per unit of time be kept constant. A mode for keeping the data rate constant is called a constant bit rate (CBR) mode. In MPEG techniques, P-frames and B-frames use image signals of other frames to perform motion compensation predictive encoding. Thus, if there is a large change in a screen, for example, if a new object suddenly appears in a screen of a P-frame, a prediction error is increased. Also, since the data rate must be kept constant in the CBR mode, if a prediction error is increased due to such a large movement, the width of a quantization step must be increased in order to reduce the amount of data. Thus, the quality of an image in a portion including a large change is reduced, compared with other frames.

Cryptocurrencies are a relatively new market and are generally associated with high volatility, profit, and risk, as well as limited historical data. As with many nascent markets, many cryptocurrency investors rushed into the market without adequate knowledge and experience in either trading or cryptocurrencies. In fact, many of the cryptocurrency investors were trapped by short-term market movement and lost money quickly. Further, unlike many other markets, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7, thereby requiring traders to make decisions at all times throughout the day. As such, in order to make the most-informed decision possible, the traders are also required to monitor information from a variety of sources. For example, a cryptocurrency's market price may be influenced by reported news (e.g., regulatory news, news about exchanges, stock market performance news, etc.), rumors, discussions, influencer's opinions on social media (e.g., Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Telegram, etc.), and special events such as initial coin offerings (ICOs), airdrops, forks, hacks, rebranding, etc. Further, the informed investor would also need to know about the blockchain technology behind the coins or tokens as well as their intended use cases, roadmap, and progress. However, it would be impossible for human traders to track all of the above-mentioned cryptocurrency-related data and respond to that data in real time. Further, it would also be difficult to verify the credibility of the cryptocurrency-related information in real time. In particular, it is difficult to verify the credibility of speculation, rumors, opinions, and other information posted on social media and elsewhere. Accordingly, there is a need for a centralized platform that analyzes speculation, news, and other cryptocurrency-related information as well as provides a recommendation and/or implements the provided recommendation.

1. Technical Field This disclosure pertains in general to distributed computing and in particular to using a distributed computing system to propagate labels in a graph. 2. Background Information In graph processing, a computing problem is represented by a graph having a set of vertices connected by a set of edges. The graph can be used, for example, to model a real-world condition, and then the graph processing can act on the graph to analyze the modeled condition. For example, the World Wide Web can be represented as a graph where web pages are vertices and links among the pages are edges. In this example, graph processing can analyze the graph to provide information to a search engine process that ranks search results. Similarly, a social network can be represented as a graph, and graph processing can analyze the graph to learn about the relationships in the social network. Graphs can also be used to model transportation routes, paths of disease outbreaks, citation relationships among published works, and similarities among different documents. Additionally, graphs can be used for machine learning techniques that observe patterns in data in order to adjust future behaviors, such as for spam detection. Modeling real-world conditions such as those mentioned above involves representing a great deal of information within the graph, as well as updating the graph as processing is performed or new information is received. For graphs modeling complex conditions, representing and updating the information requires significant computing resources.

The present disclosure relates generally to lighting, particularly to low profile lighting, and more particularly to low profile downlighting for retrofit applications. Light fixtures come in many shapes and sizes, with some being configured for new work installations while others are configured for old work installations. New work installations are not limited to as many constraints as old work installations, which must take into account the type of electrical fixture/enclosure or junction box existing behind a ceiling or wall panel material. With recessed ceiling lighting, sheet metal can-type light fixtures are typically used, while surface-mounted ceiling and wall lighting typically use metal or plastic junction boxes of a variety of sizes and depths. With the advent of LED (light emitting diode) lighting, there is a great need to not only provide new work LED light fixtures, but to also provide LED light fixtures that are suitable for old work applications, thereby enabling retrofit installations. One way of providing old work LED lighting is to configure an LED luminaire in such a manner as to utilize the volume of space available within an existing fixture (can-type fixture or junction box). However, such configurations typically result in unique designs for each type and size of fixture. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an LED lighting apparatus that overcomes these drawbacks. This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.

Medical procedures, such as skin augmentation generally achieved by injecting substances such as fillers into a patient's body, for example in the face of a patient, may require multiple injections at distinct injection sites in the patient's face. Multiple needle entries may be painful and at times may result in bruising, the magnitude and likelihood of which increase with increasing injections. The advent of microcannulas reduces pain and bruising. However, microcannulas may be blunt and/or may be flexible, thereby possibly requiring creation of an entry point prior to every insertion.

This invention relates to a drag control mechanism for use in a fishing reel of the type wherein a drag mechanism is mounted on a handle shaft to apply a drag force against a master gear. In the prior drag control mechanism of this type, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,222,537 and 4,474,339, a star-shaped drag handle is arranged on the handle shaft near the handle mounting end and the drag handle is rotated to adjust the drag force, so that the operation of the drag handle is obstructed by a handle arm. Thus, it is difficult to smoothly and rapidly adjust a drag force in response to the bite of a fish, and further, the operator's fingers are clamped between the handle arm and the drag handle as the drag handle rotates together with the handle arm.

1. Field of Invention The present invention relates to an outer panel for a pillar of a vehicle, and an apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same. More particularly, it relates to an outer panel for a center pillar which can enhance energy absorption efficiency during collision, and a rolling apparatus and a rolling method for manufacturing the same. 2. Description of Related Art In general, a shape of a vehicle is formed by assembling pressed panels such that the pressed panels correspond to various parts of a vehicle body frame, and a center pillar of the vehicle also is formed by assembling a plurality of panels. A general center pillar is formed by assembling an outer panel and an inner panel, and a space between the outer panel and the inner panel has a closed cross-section. A reinforcing panel is installed in the space or a filling material for preventing introduction or transfer of noise is filled. FIGS. 1 and 2 are views showing an outer panel of a center pillar. FIG. 1 shows an outer panel 2 manufactured through a hot stamping method, and FIG. 2 shows an outer panel 2 manufactured by applying a TRB method. According to the related art, a center pillar outer panel 2 is manufactured through a hot stamping method to reduce weight while improving strength, and a reinforcing panel is installed inside the outer panel to reinforce strength. However, since a panel manufactured through a hot stamping method has too high a strength, a deformation of the pillar becomes excessive due to a fracture during a side collision. Thus, a technology of manufacturing a panel by applying a tailor rolled blank (TRB) method is known. The TRB is a rolling technology for producing materials with difference in thickness by changing a gap between rollers during rolling. Since the TRB allows a high strength and a light weight at a part of a product, reduces the number of production processes, and improves structural strength, it is widely used in producing vehicle body parts having different thicknesses. When the TRB technology is applied to manufacturing of a panel, a panel (outer panel) can be manufactured with a plurality of sections having different thicknesses along a lengthwise direction (a longitudinal direction, that is, a heightwise direction with respect to the vehicle body). When the variable longitudinal thickness shape is applied, a thickness of a portion requiring a high strength can be relatively large. Thus, an existing reinforcing panel can be deleted and light weight can be achieved as the reinforcing panel is deleted. A prior technical document applying the TRB technology in manufacturing a vehicle body panel includes Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2009-0024880 (published on Mar. 10, 2009). A technology of overlapping two steel plates between a work roll at an upper end of a rolling machine and a work roll at a lower end thereof is well known in the prior document, but one panel is generally TRB rolled to manufacture a panel having a variable thickness structure. International Publication No. WO 2012/126697 discloses a technology of manufacturing a panel for a center pillar having a thickness difference with respect to a longitudinal cross-sectional thereof by applying the TRB technology. FIG. 3 is a view showing a thickness change of a cross-section taken along line A-A of FIG. 2, and shows that the thickness of a panel 2 is varied (graded) according to locations of the panel 2 along a lengthwise direction thereof when the TRB method is applied. Referring to FIG. 3, a thickness of a vertically intermediate portion (portion ‘c’) of the panel 2 to which a door supporting force is applied is made large to locally reinforce the panel 2, and a thickness of a portion (portion ‘d’) where a reinforcing panel is located is made larger on the upper side of portion ‘c’. FIG. 4 is a view showing a rolling apparatus to which the TRB method is applied. In order to manufacture an outer panel having a variable thickness structure, a steel plate 1 that is a panel material passes between upper and lower rolling rollers 11 and 12 to perform TRB rolling to grade a thickness of the steel plate, and an outer panel having a desired shape is finished through a press process including drawing and trimming and a succeeding process such as hole processing. Here, the TRB rolling process, a thickness of the rolled steel plate 1 is varied by controlling vertical locations of the two upper and lower rolling rollers 11 and 12. However, since a panel manufactured through the TRB method has a thickness difference along a longitudinal direction (heightwise direction) of the panel, it may be fractured and may cope with absorption of collision energy only in a longitudinal direction thereof. As shown in FIG. 5, in the center pillar according to the related art, opposite side surfaces 2b of an outer panel 2 may be fractured or a welding point of a flange 2c may be fractured due to strong collision energy in a cross-section where the outer panel 2 and an inner panel 3 are bonded to each other during a side collision thereof. The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

The lateral access approach is frequently utilized to deliver interbody fusion cages to the lumbar spine. In comparison to conventional anterior or posterior approaches to the lumbar spine, the lateral approach is thought to minimize posterior and/or anterior tissue damage as well as reduce surgery time, associated blood loss, and infection risk. When multi-level access to the spine is provided through a single minimal access port, the insertion trajectory to the superior and inferior levels is not parallel to those levels. In addition, direct lateral access parallel to the L4/5 and L5/S1 levels is prevented by the presence of the iliac crest. Accordingly, the angled trajectory required for lateral access to these lower levels requires the cages to be implanted at a “malpositioned” angle that prevents balanced loading across the vertebral endplates and spine. See FIG. 1. This “malpositioned” access, associated endplate damage and device placement can initiate subsidence and spinal instability. Current spreader and shaver technology includes varying paddle shapes and cutting geometries with rigid drive shafts. US Patent Publication No. 2008-00445966 discloses a chisel cutting guide for excising a portion of a vertebral body. Conventional dilation systems used in intervertebral fusion procedures are typically rigid and non-steerable. Accordingly, they require a line of sight insertion towards the target disc. US Patent Publication No. US 2007-0225815 (Annulex) discloses a curved stylet for steering within a disc space Annulex does not disclose an assembly comprising a curved guide wire and a flexible dilator tube.

The functional vessels of human and animal bodies, such as blood vessels and ducts, occasionally weaken or even rupture. For example, the aortic wall can weaken, resulting in an aneurysm, or it may develop a tear in one of the layers of the aortic wall resulting in an aortic dissection. One common surgical intervention for weakened, aneurysmal or ruptured passageways or ducts involves the use of an endoluminal prosthesis to provide some or all of the functionality of the original, healthy passageway or duct and/or preserve any remaining vascular integrity by replacing a length of the existing passageway or duct wall that spans the site of failure or defect. Endoluminal prostheses may be of a unitary construction or may be comprised of multiple prosthetic modules. They also may be a single tubular device or a bifurcated branching device depending on the desired application. In many cases, however, the damaged or defected portion of the vasculature may include a branch vessel branching from the main vessel. For example, in the case of the abdominal aorta, there are at least three major branch vessels, including the celiac, mesenteric, and renal arteries, as well as other others, leading to various other body organs. Thus, when the damaged portion of the vessel includes one or more of these branch vessels, some accommodation must be made to ensure that the prosthesis does not block or hinder blood flow through the branch vessel. In many instances, there may in insufficient healthy tissue in the aorta near the branching vessels adequately seal a prosthesis without partially or completely blocking one or more of the branching vessels.

Field Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a methodology for detecting process performance in a processing chamber, more particularly, a methodology for detecting process performance in a processing chamber to chamber-to-chamber matching for semiconductor manufacturing and factory management. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of integrated circuits (IC), or chips, patterns representing different layers of the chip are created by a chip designer. A series of reusable masks, or photomasks, are created from these patterns in order to transfer the design of each chip layer onto a semiconductor substrate during the manufacturing process. Mask pattern generation systems use precision lasers or electron beams to image the design of each layer of the chip onto a respective mask. The masks are then used much like photographic negatives to transfer the circuit patterns for each layer onto a semiconductor substrate. These layers are built up using a sequence of processes and translate into the tiny transistors and electrical circuits that comprise each completed chip. Typically, devices on semiconductor substrates are manufactured by a sequence of lithographic processing steps in which the devices are formed from a plurality of overlying layers, each having an individual pattern. Generally, a set of 15 to 100 masks is used to construct a chip and can be used repeatedly. Between one layer and the next layer that overlays the previous one, the individual patterns of the one layer and the next layer must be aligned. A measurement of alignment marks may be obtained by a metrology tool which is then used by a lithography tool to align the subsequent layers during exposure and again after a lithography process to recheck a performance of the alignment. However, overlay errors (or pattern registration errors) between layers are inevitable, and error budgets are calculated by IC designers for which the manufacturing must meet. Overlay errors of the device structure may originate from different error sources, such as overlay errors from previous exposure tool/metrology tool, current exposure tool/metrology tool, underlying film layer property mismatch, a matching error among metrology tool or processing chambers that may result in deposited film property difference, or mismatched baseline setting of the processing chambers utilized to process different film layers formed on the substrate and the like. With the shrink of critical dimensions (CD), overlay error in the critical layers of the device structure must be minimal or eliminated in order to reliably produce devices with minimal feature sizes, such as a width of a control gate in a device. To eliminate the likelihood of overlay errors, a single processing chamber dedicated to manufacture certain film layers on the same substrate is often requested in an attempt to eliminate tool to tool manufacturing errors or mismatch. However, this approach often creates logistic problems and adversely increases manufacture cycle time. Furthermore, overlay specifications have become more challenging that the film property mismatch contributions (i.e., film refractive index or extinctive coefficient) to overlay errors may alone exceed the error budget. In semiconductor manufacturing, the production processing equipment used must be controlled with minimum mismatch such that its variables generated from each tool stay within certain operational limits. Failure to remain within operational limits in each processing chambers in the production line can easily cause the loss of, or damage to, the device and/or wafer being processed utilizing different processing chambers at different manufacturing stage. Therefore, there exists a need for improved methodology to correct and match baseline of the processing chambers in the production line with minimum process variable mismatch so as to improve device performance and maintain predicable product reliability, consistency and yield.

The present application relates generally to personal floatation devices and, more particularly, to personal floatation devices that are manually propelled in a body of water. It is well known that personal floatation devices, such as air-encapsulating inner tubes and the like, can be propelled by a user with simple hand and/or foot movement. It is also well known that such movement can be maximized and enhanced with the utilization of fin-like structures, typically coupled to a user""s foot, to maximize water resistance to cause the floatation device to travel in the desired direction. However, a limitation of such a design is that hand and leg movement are not synchronized and thus can be counterproductive. Further, when returning the fin-like structure to the origination point to begin another cycle, the fin-like structure generally increases water resistance in the return stroke, consequently degrading and hindering travel in the desired direction. It is also well known that simultaneous and synchronous hand and foot movement can be achieved via a ski-like machine on land, wherein an interconnecting structure, such as an elongated rod, is used to coordinate hand and leg movement. However, such a structure is not readily adaptable for water usage, let alone buoyancy. As such, there exists a need in personal floatation devices to incorporate the benefits of simultaneous and synchronous movement of the hands and legs. The present application discloses a manually propelled personal floatation apparatus. The apparatus comprises a central body portion capable of being buoyant in a body of water and a depending propulsion structure that is pivotally coupled to the body portion. The propulsion structure includes a fin member pivotally coupled to an elongated rod and is adapted to extend substantially perpendicular from the body portion, thereby acting as a sail, to propel the floatation apparatus forwardly and to lay substantially parallel to the body portion to encourage continued gliding of the floatation apparatus. The elongated rod is pivotal between forward and rearward positions relative to the body portion. As such, when the rod is pivoted from the forward to the rearward position, the fin member extends perpendicular from the body portion, consequently affecting forward movement of the floatation apparatus caused by water resistance acting upon the fin member. When the rod is pivoted from the rearward position to the forward position, the fin member lays parallel to the body portion where water resistance with the fin member is minimized, thus encouraging continued forward movement of the floatation apparatus in a gliding manner. A foot-holding structure, adapted to secure a user""s foot or leg to the elongated rod, may be coupled adjacent to the lowermost terminus of the elongated rod. In such an embodiment, the user""s foot or leg can assist the manual movement of the elongated rod from forward and rearward positions relative to the central body portion, and vice-versa, thereby assisting in forward propulsion. dr For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the subject matter sought to be protected, there are illustrated in the accompanying drawings embodiments thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, the subject matter sought to be protected, its construction and operation, and many of its advantages, should be readily understood and appreciated. FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a floatation apparatus in accordance with the present application; FIG. 2 is a reduced side view of the floatation apparatus of FIG. 1 depicted in use by a user with the foreground fin member disposed in the substantially parallel position; FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 with the foreground fin member disposed in the substantially perpendicular position; FIG. 4 is an enlarged, side elevation view of the floatation apparatus of FIG. 1 with the fin member disposed in the substantially parallel position; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional front view taken along line 5xe2x80x945 in FIG. 1 with a propulsion structure removed for clarity purposes; FIG. 6 is an enlarged, rear view of the pivoting structure of FIG. 1 with the vertical bore and bottom surface shown with hidden lines; and FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but with the vertical bore and the top surface shown with hidden lines.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photoelectric conversion device that converts optical energy to electric energy and has a multiterminal structure. 2. Description of the Related Art A photoelectric conversion device with the use of a semiconductor junction, such as a solar cell can be classified into a single junction type which has one semiconductor junction and a multi junction type which has a plurality of semiconductor junctions. A multi-junction photoelectric conversion device in which a plurality of semiconductor junctions whose band gaps are different from each other are arranged so as to overlap with each other in a direction of travel of light can convert sunlight including light with a wide wavelength range from ultraviolet rays to infrared rays into electrical energy with higher conversion efficiency without waste. Note that when a multi-junction photoelectric conversion device has a two-terminal structure where stacked photoelectric conversion elements are connected in series, current flowing through all of the photoelectric conversion elements is determined in accordance with the photoelectric conversion element with the lowest short-circuit current. Thus, in the case where the photoelectric conversion elements have voltage-current characteristics different from each other, it is difficult to drive all of the photoelectric conversion elements at the respective maximum output points, at which the maximum output voltages can be output. On the other hand, even in the case of using a multi-junction photoelectric conversion device, when the multi-junction photoelectric conversion device has a multiterminal structure in which electric power is taken out from each of the photoelectric conversion elements that are not connected in series, each of the photoelectric conversion elements can be driven at the maximum output points. Accordingly, the multiterminal structure can achieve high photoelectric conversion efficiency of the whole photoelectric conversion device in comparison with the two-terminal structure. Patent Document 1 discloses a power supply device in which a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements with different output characteristics from each other are stacked and the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are connected in parallel through respective voltage regulator circuits.

This invention relates to wireless data communications networks, and in particular to arrangements for communications between mobile data handling units and a central computer using such networks. The assignee of the present invention supplies a wireless data communications systems known as the Spectrum 24® System, which follows the communications protocol of IEEE Standard 802.11. In the system as implemented, mobile units are in data communication with a central computer through access points. The access points communicate with the computer over an Ethernet wired network. Each of the mobile units associates itself with one of the access points. In order to maintain order and reduce radio communications each access point must determine which of the communications received over the Ethernet link from the central computer is destined for a mobile unit associated with that particular access point. This requirement adds significant computational capacity to the access point, increasing the cost thereof. In addition, in applications that must support a high volume of data communications from multiple users, such as systems supporting a self-service shopping system, hospital systems, systems that include paging or voice data links to many users, or systems supporting communicating with electronic shelf labels, additional access points are required to support the data communications traffic, increasing the overall system cost. The cost of an operational access point is dependent not only on the complexity thereof and the requirement for high speed processing of data pockets for purposes of selecting those destined for mobile units associated with an access point, but the additional cost of the installation of electrical power to the location of the access point, and the cost of a power supply to convert AC electrical power to DC power for the circuits of the access point. Further cost may be involved in physically mounting the access point hardware and antenna. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved wireless data communications network with lower cost access points, to enable the economical provision of reliable wireless data communications with increased capacity and in complex installations at reasonable cost.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for exhausting fumes of a power motor boat, and more particularly concerns an apparatus and method for directing exhaust fumes of a power motor boat away from a person wake surfing behind the power motor boat to reduce exposure of the person to the exhaust fumes. 2. Description of Related Art Wake surfing behind power boats has become a popular sport, and in response, manufacturers of such power boats used for wake surfing have created new configurations of boats which enhance the size of the waves produced behind and to the port and starboard sides of the power boats to improve the sport and the opportunities for more spectacular surfing on lakes and rivers. As the sport has become more popular, certain limitations on existing boats used for the purpose have been identified. One such limitation is that most boats used for the purpose have exhaust systems which direct the exhaust out of the back of the boat either above or below the water line, thus causing the wake surfer behind the boat and to either the port or starboard side to be exposed to exhaust fumes and carbon monoxide contained in the exhaust, thus diminishing the enjoyment and safety of the sport. Ambient carbon monoxide concentrations as high as 27,000 parts per million (ppm) have been measured at the stern of power boats involved in boating fatalities attributed to carbon monoxide. The World Health Organization has recommended that the maximum exposure to carbon monoxide that a person should receive during a 15 minute interval is 87 ppm. The U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard have recently documented 17 fatalities and 37 non-fatal carbon monoxide poisonings resulting from exposure to engine exhaust from ski boats and cabin cruisers, most of which occurred while on or near a swim platform or seated in the stern of the boat. However, carbon monoxide blood concentrations of drowning victims are rarely measured, so that it is possible that the number of drownings and non-fatal incidents due to carbon monoxide poisonings from power boat exhaust may be much higher. The U.S. Coast Guard consequently issued a safety alert in 2001 advising boaters not to “engage in the dangerous and illegal practice of teak surfing,” in which a person holds on to a swim platform while a wake forms, and then trails behind the boat while holding on to the swim step. Although power boat exhaust valves are known that can be used to direct engine exhaust through the transom or stern of a boat, these are typically designed to prevent exhaust fumes from entering the deck area of a power boat, or for purposes of sound reduction, and none of these systems reduce the carbon monoxide exhausted behind the boat and to either the port or starboard side of a power boat where a person would wake surf. It would therefore be desirable to provide an apparatus for substantially reducing the presence of exhaust fumes behind and/or to one side of a power boat, and for substantially reducing the danger to a person behind and to one side of the power boat, such as a wake surfer trailing behind such a power boat, from exposure to exhaust fumes, and particularly carbon monoxide, from such a power boat. The present invention meets these and other needs.

Connecting devices for sealing connection between two pipe ends have previously been used which have an internal diameter fitting the outer diameter of one of the pipe ends and an external diameter fitting the inner diameter of the other pipe end. These seals must therefore be manufactured with tolerances in relation to the diameters of the pipes to be joined, which means that very many seals must be available in order to provide connections between pipe ends of varying diameters. It is also known through U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,928, for instance, to use one and the same connecting device to join a pipe of a specific diameter to another pipe of a specific diameter, where this second pipe can assume one of two possible diameters. In this case the connecting device is provided with a collar that can be peeled back over the device so that it assumes a larger outer diameter. This type of connecting device must also be manufactured with tolerances in relation to the pipes and many devices are required to cover many ratios between diameters. Also known through SE patent 9600828-9 (510 262) is a flexible nipple, a so-called combination nipple, by means of which a first pipe is connected to a second pipe, the first pipe assuming one of two possible diameters and the other pipe also assuming one of two possible diameters. However, this type of connecting device must also be manufactured with tolerances to enable connection to specific pipe diameters. One variant of said combination nipple is manufactured, for instance, under the designation 75-70/50-40 and another under the designation 64-58/50-40 signifying D1-D2/d1-d2 which means D1 or D2 connected to d1 or d2. Difficulties are thus encountered with these known connecting devices in joining a first pipe to a second pipe, using the same connecting device, where the diameter of one of the pipes is permitted to lie within an interval rather than having a specific value. It also is difficult to obtain a tight connection to a pipe end that is not entirely circular.

In network based positioning (“NBP”) systems, the locations of mobile stations (“MS”), which may be equipped with Wi-Fi and/or Satellite Positioning System (“SPS”) capabilities, can be computed based on a variety of metrics. SPS' such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) work well in outdoor environments. However, GPS is often less effective within a building, or in many urban environments due to signal losses. Thus, Radio Frequency (“RF”) communications capabilities of the MS are often used to determine MS locations in indoor environments. In NBP systems, various metrics related to an MS' RF communications capabilities may be measured and used to determine the location of the MS. For example, the metrics measured may include signal Round Trip Time (“RTT”), Received signal strength indicator (“RSSI”), etc. In traditional NBP systems, when RTT or other metrics are used to determine MS location, variability in the metric measurements may contribute to inaccuracies or inconsistencies in MS location estimation. Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods to maintain consistency in the quality of service, and enhance the accuracy and reliability of location estimations provided by NBP positioning systems.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to an ultrasonic inspection apparatus for nondestructively inspecting an object such as, for example, a railroad rail. The principles of the present invention may, nevertheless, be incorporated in any testing apparatus in which an object is probed with sequentially generated signals, be they ultrasonic or other types of energy, capable of indicating the presence of a flaw or defect in the test piece. In recent years, various developments have been made in apparatus and methods for automatically and rapidly inspecting a solid test piece such as a railroad rail. Such developments have been brought on by the need to provide fast, automatic, and reliable inspections that can be conducted economically, yet which permit appropriate maintenance to assure a high degree of safety in operation of rolling stock over such rail. The developments in ultrasonic and in other nondestructive testing may, of course, be used to inspect objects other than railroad rails with equal advantage. As further background, it should be noted that some flaws or defects (hereinafter also referred to as "abnormal conditions") are acceptable. For example, abnormal conditions smaller than a certain minimum size may be tolerated in the test piece. Furthermore, certain abnormal conditions result from intentional modification of the test piece and, therefore, are tolerable. For example, a bolt hole in a railroad rail is an abnormality but one that is expected and acceptable. It is desirable that test equipment reliably detect unacceptable abnormal conditions and, within this criterion, not signal a defect when a tolerable abnormal condition is indicated. 2. Description of the Prior Art Various apparatus have been proposed in the past for performing ultrasonic inspection of test pieces and for analyzing the data generated by the inspection. Such apparatus operate by electrically pulsing an ultrasonic transducer or plurality of transducers to direct a high frequency sound wave or waves into the test piece. Such sound waves are transmitted through the test piece and may be reflected back to the transducer either by an expected or abnormal condition. Upon receipt of the reflected sound wave the transducer is again energized to generate a response signal. Thus, a defect in the test piece may be indicated by receipt of reflected energy from an abnormal condition, that is, receipt of reflected energy at a time after initial propagation of the wave indicating the presence of a condition which should not exist, or by failure to receive reflected energy from an expected condition within an expected time period. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,174,636 (Pagano) and 4,165,648 (Pagano) each disclose a two wheel ultrasonic rail testing system. Each wheel carries a plurality of ultrasonic transducers for probing an object such as a railroad rail with energy propagated at ninety degrees to the surface of the rail and forwardly and rearwardly from the wheel. Further ultrasonic transducers are provided for probing opposing gage and field corners of the head of the railroad rail. Because of the multiplicity of the ultrasonic transducers placed in each wheel to propagate energy at various angles in the rail, a wide variety of defects may be detected. U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,110 (Cowan) discloses an ultrasonic inspection apparatus which includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers oriented to probe various areas of a rail and which includes apparatus for processing defect signals generated by such transducers to indicate the presence of an unacceptable abnormal condition. More particularly, this system includes circuitry coupled to each differently oriented transducer for pulsing it each time it is moved by a predetermined distance relative to the rail. The response signals or echoes returned to one transducer that indicate a defect are counted and if this count exceeds a predetermined number indicative of an unacceptable abnormal condition an alarm signal is generated. This first counter is coupled to and reset by a second counter coupled to another of the transducers. Accordingly, indication of an unacceptable abnormal condition is dependent upon particular responses from two transducers. It is claimed that the multiplicity of counters prevent the apparatus from generating an alarm from separate acceptable targets or conditions but nevertheless causes generation of an alarm from an unacceptable target or condition that is so shaped as not to reflect ultrasonic energy from all parts. The apparatus of the Cowan patent is, however, characterized by certain drawbacks. Because each transducer is pulsed at a frequency that is a function of its rate of movement relative to the test piece, non-uniform ultrasonic energy levels may be generated. Further, since the rate at which the ultrasonic transducers are pulsed varies with their speed over the test piece, it may be difficult to correlate pulsing of differently oriented transducers so as to minimize generation of unwanted ultrasonic noise. And, this system is relatively complicated in that responses from more than one transducer which are oriented differently are used to generate an alarm response. U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,455 (McKee et al) discloses an improved and much simplified flaw detecting apparatus for railroad rails and the like. In this system a speed related pulse generator generates pulses at a frequency that is a function of the speed of the test vehicle which, therefore, is directly related to the distance traveled by the vehicle. This speed related pulse generator is coupled to a counter which counts the speed related pulses. An ultrasonic transducer is pulsed by a free running pulse generator at a fixed rate independent of the speed of the vehicle or the distance traveled by the vehicle. The free running pulse generator operates completely independently of the speed related speed pulse generator. The free running pulse generator is also coupled through a delay to a NAND gate having a second input from the ultrasonic transducer. The delay introduced in the output pulses generated by the free running pulse generator is equal to the time expected from generation of an ultrasonic wave propagated into the rail to return of that wave from a known target such as the bottom of the rail from which the transducer generates an expected response signal. Accordingly, if an ultrasonic response signal is received by the transducer within the expected time, both inputs to the NAND gate are satisfied. The output from the NAND gate is also connected to the counter. The counter is continuously reset as long as expected response signals are received. However, in the absence of an expected response signal, the inputs to the NAND gate are not satisfied since the input from the delay will be received at a different time than that from the transducer circuitry. Failure of the NAND gate to be satisfied is an indication of a defect. Accordingly, as long as a defect indication is yielded, the counter is permitted to accumulate counts indicative of distance traveled. When the count accumulated by the counter exceeds a predetermined amount, indicative of length of an abnormal condition which is unacceptable, an alarm signal is generated. The McKee et al apparatus provides advantages over the Cowan apparatus since it is much simplified. Further, since the ultrasonic transducers are pulsed at a fixed rate independent of speed and distance traveled relative to the rail, the level of ultrasonic energy generated may be carefully and precisely controlled. The McKee et al, apparatus is, however, still characterized by certain drawbacks. More particularly, it is specifically designed to indicate defects by absence or untimely receipt of an expected response signal by the transducer. It does not contemplate detection of defects simply by receipt of unexpected response signals. Further, if a defect is unacceptably long yet fails to create loss of a rail bottom response signal during some portion thereof, the counter may be reset to prevent generation of an alarm signal when one otherwise should be generated. Therefore, as disclosed, it is possible that an alarm signal will fail to be generated even from an unacceptable abnormal condition. Still other ultrasonic inspection apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,736,193 (Van Valkenburg et al); 3,287,963 (Stanya et al); 3,354,700 (Schindler); 2,875,607 (Boxcer et al); 3,041,872 (Brown et al); 3,135,109 (Werner); 3,233,450 (Fry); 3,251,220 (Joy); 3,260,105 (McNulty); and 3,048,031 (Beaujard et al).

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a rapid and highly efficient method of labeling liposome encapsulated protein. In particular, the method relates to the radionuclide labeling of preformed liposomes containing a protein to which the radionuclide selectively binds. Table 1 is a list of abbreviations used. TABLE 1 ______________________________________ cpm counts per minute DTPA diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid GBq gigabequerels HMPAO hexamethylenepropylene amine oxime LEH liposome encapsulated hemoglobin PBS phosphate buffered saline PYP pyrophosphate Tc Technetium LUV large unilamellar vesicles ______________________________________ 2. Description of Related Art Liposomes are of considerable interest because of their value as carriers for diagnostic agents, particularly radiopharmaceuticals for tracer and imaging studies. Successful biodistribution studies, for example, require the entrapment of high specific activities of a radiolabel in the aqueous compartment of the liposome. Unfortunately, the entrapment of water soluble radionuclides within the liposome is relatively inefficient. Another major problem in using liposomes is their leakiness, resulting in limited usefulness for many applications (Hwang, K. J., in Liposomes from Biophysics to Therapeutics, M. J. Ostru, Ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987). Radioactive markers have been widely used as a non-invasive method for studying the distribution of drugs in vivo. The use of gamma emitting radioisotopes is particularly advantageous because, unlike beta-emitters, they can easily be counted in a scintillation well counter and do not require tissue homogenization prior to counting. In addition, gamma-emitters can be imaged with nuclear gamma cameras. With this type of imaging, the dynamic biodistribution can be followed non-invasively using consecutive one minute computer acquired scintigraphic images which are analyzed to calculate organ biodistribution curves. The most common radiolabel used in diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals today is .sup.99m Tc. This radionuclide is produced from the beta decay of molybdenum.sup.99 and has a half-life of 6 hours. It is widely available from a generator system at low cost and its relatively short half-life provides for safer and more convenient handling than other available radionuclides. Its gamma emission is in the range of 140 Kev which is an ideal range for producing high resolution images (Caride, V. J. and Sostman, H. D. in Liposome Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1984). Heptavalent .sup.99m TcO.sub.4.sup.- is produced from the generator and since it is relatively unreactive, must be reduced to a lower oxidation state before use as a radiopharmaceutical. Stannous chloride is the most commonly used reducing agent (Barratt, G. M., Tuzel, N. S. and Ryman, B. E. in Liposome Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1984). Radiolabeled complexes have been employed as a means for labeling liposomes. Isonitrile radionuclide complexes of Tc and other gamma-emitters appear to have use for labeling vesicles with lipid membranes, including red blood cells (U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,774, Jones et al., Jun. 5, 1984). Propyleneamine oxime complexes with .sup.99m Tc are stable neutral lipophilic complexes which have been approved for radioimaging in vivo as an adjunct in the detection of altered regional cerebral perfusion (Ceretec.TM.) These complexes which diffuse across cellular walls have been shown to localize in red blood cells, although radioactivity is readily washed from the cells. (U.S. Pat. No. 4 615 876 Troutner et al. Oct. 7, 1986) Furthermore, the usefulness of these complexes is limited because the complexes are not stable. Ceretec.TM., for example, has a useful life of approximately 30 minutes. A radionuclide of indium has found some use as an imaging agent. Multilamellar lipid vesicles labeled with .sup.111 In using 8-hydroxyquinoline showed a labeling efficiency of 30% (Caride, V. J. and Sostman, H. D. in Liposome Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, I984). Higher labeling efficiencies have been shown for loading .sup.111 In into the aqueous compartment of liposomes. Acetylacetone, a water soluble lipophilic chelator, can be complexed with .sup.111 In. This is then mixed with liposome encapsulated nitrilotriacetic acid with subsequent formation of labeled nitrilotriacetic acid. The resulting labeled liposomes are unstable unless excess acetylacetone is removed by an ion exchange process (Beaumier, P. L. and Hwang, K. J., J. Nucl. Med. 23, 810-815 (1982)). In general, labeling efficiency of 50-70% for .sup.99m Tc has been reported for multilamellar vesicles and 4-20% for small unilamellar vesicles when using stannous chloride to reduce the pertechnetate. A persistent problem in all these methods is the removal of excess reducing agent as well as elimination of free pertechnetate. Separation can be done by gel filtration or dialysis, but there is often formation of a .sup.99m Tc-tin chloride colloid which is not readily distinguishable or separable from the liposomes (Barratt, G. M., Tuzel, N. S. and Ryman, B. E. in Liposome Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1984). This confounds the results of biodistribution studies since interpretation may be subject to altered uptake influenced by the labeled colloidal tin. Attempts at labeling liposomes with imaging radiotracers have produced variable results (Barratt, G. M., Tuzel, N. S. and Ruman, B. E. in Liposome Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1984; Caride, V. J. and Sostman, H. D. in Lipid Technology, Vol. II, G. Gregoriadis, Ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1984; Caride, V. J., Nucl. Med. Biol. 17, 35-39 (1990); Hwang, K. J. in Liposomes from Biophysics to Therapeutics, M. J. Ostro, Ed., Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1987). Many radioisotope labels weakly bind to liposomes resulting in inaccurate biodistribution data. A more efficient imaging label procedure uses .sup.111 indium chloride (.sup.111 InCl) and nitrilotriacetic acid, a metal chelator (Beaumier, P. L. and Hwang, K. J., J. Nucl. Med. 23, 810-815 (1982); Turner, A. F., Prasent, C. A., Proffitt, R. T., Williams, L. E., Winsor, D. W., Werner, J. L., Radiology 166, 761-765 (1988); proffitt, R. T., Williams, L. E., Presant, C. A., Tin, G. W., Uliana, J. A., Gamble, R. C. and Baldeschwieler, J. D., J. Nucl. Med. 24, 45-5I (1983). The nitrilotriacetic acid is incorporated into the liposome during the manufacturing process. The preformed liposomes are then incubated for 30 minutes with .sup.111 InCl. Although the .sup.111 InCl nitrilotriacetic acid labeling method has proven to be effective and the label tightly attached to the liposome, a heating step (60.degree. C.) is required, which adds to the time and inconvenience involved in the preparation. In a clinical situation convenience and speed are important. A further consideration is the expense of the .sup.111 In radionuclide. The present cost of .sup.111 In is approximately $135/mCi while cost of .sup.99m Tc, a superior imaging agent, is $0.35/mCi. This difference is highly significant in determining cost of imaging procedures to the patient and in a decision by the health provider to offer such services. Other labeling carriers have been tried. Small amounts of octadecylamine-DTPA (diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid) in liposomes have been shown to rapidly label the liposomes with .sup.67 Ga or .sup.99m Tc by chelation with efficient labeling, but over 30% of the label is lost after a 2 hour incubation in plasma (Hnatowich, D. J., Friedman, B., Clancy, and Novak, M. J. Nucl. Med. 22, 810-814 (1981). The reasons for instability of .sup.99m Tc labeled liposomes are not well understood, although instability may be related to the liposome surface charge. Recent work has shown that the in vitro methods currently used to assess the stability of labeled liposomes do not predict isotope stability in vivo, and that the nature of the binding between the isotope and the liposome surface is important in regulating in vivo isotope stability (Love, W. G., Amos, N., Williams, B. D., and Kellaway, I. W., J. Microencapsulation 6, 103-113 (1989)). The result is that even when labeling methods appeared to be highly efficient, and little instability was demonstrated in plasma or serum, significant loss of label could occur when the labeled liposomes were introduced into an animal. Despite attempts to develop stable .sup.99m Tc-labeled liposomes, there has been little success. In a thoroughly detailed review of liposomal labeling with radioactive technetium, Barratt et al. noted that technetium labeling techniques vary widely in efficiency. Moreover, stability is generally recognized to be poor, especially in vivo. Most methods of labeling liposomes with .sup.99m Tc encapsulate the .sup.99m Tc during liposome manufacture. However, these encapsulation methods do not solve the problem of in vivo dissociation of .sup.99m Tc from the liposome. The dissociated .sup.99m Tc is usually visualized in the kidneys and bladder. These problems clearly illustrate that development of a reliable method to load high levels of .sup.99m Tc into liposomes without in vivo dissociation would be beneficial in view of the many clinical uses for radiolabeled liposomes (Hwang, K. J. in Liposomes from Biophysics to Therapeutics, M. J. Ostro, Ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 1987). There are numerous clinical applications for .sup.99m Tc-liposomes. Comparison studies of liposome scanning, bone scanning and radiography have been performed in inflammatory joint disease. Liposome scans have been shown to be positive only in clinically active inflammatory disease. The method has also been able to discriminate between different grades of joint tenderness, in contrast to bone scans (O'Sullivan, M. M., Powell, N., French, A. P., Williams, K. E., Morgan, J. R., and Williams, B. D., Ann. Rheum. Dis. 47, 485-491, 1988; Williams, B. D., O'Sullivan, M. M., Saggu, G. S., et al., Ann. Rheum. Dis. (UK), 46, 314-318 (1987)). Other studies include the localization of abscesses (Morgan, J. R., Williams, K. E., Davies, R. L., et al., J. Med. Microbiol. 14, 213-217 (1981); tumor scanning (Eisenhut, M., Therapiewoche (West Germany) 30, 3319-3325 (1980); lymph node imaging (Osborne, M. P., Richardson, V. J., Jeyasingh, K., Ryman, B. E., Int. J. Nucl. Med. Biol. (England) 6, 75-83 (1979; Yu, B., Chin. J. Oncol. (China) 10, 270-273 (1988); clearance in the human lung (Farr, S. J., Kellaway, I. W., Parry-Jones, D. R., Woolfrey, S. G., Int. J. Pharm. (Netherlands) 26, 303-316 (1985)); and infarction (Palmer, T. N. Caride, V. J., Caldecourt, M. A., Twickler, J., and Abdullah, V., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 797, 363-368 (1984)). Other potential uses of a liposome label include cardiac gated blood pool angiography and gastrointestinal bleeding detection. The most commonly used process known as the modified in vivo technique is fairly lengthy and requires 2-3 injections into the patient. For red blood cell labeling, the patient is injected with 1-2 mg of stannous PYP (Callahan, R. J., et al., J. Nuclear Medicine 23, 315-318 (1982)). Fifteen minutes later a blood sample is withdrawn and incubated with .sup.99m TcO.sub.4.sup.- (free pertechnetate). The patient is then reinjected with the radiolabeled blood, the whole procedure requiring up to i hour. The major disadvantage of this technique is that the label is often poor and free pertechnetate is taken up in the stomach, resulting in intestinal contamination and making the results difficult to interpret. A rapid labeling technique would very likely alleviate this major problem, allowing improved cardiac and gastrointestinal bleeding detection imaging. There is a distinct need for radiopharmaceutical materials that can be broadly applied to clinical applications and to biodistribution and bioimaging studies. .sup.99m Tc labeled liposomes would appear to be an ideal reagent but present methods of labeling liposomes with .sup.99m Tc are generally inefficient. A far greater problem is the lack of in vivo stability of .sup.99m Tc labeled liposomes, thereby creating uncertainty in interpretation of results and limiting use. The present invention provides clinicians with a highly stable .sup.99m Tc label captured within a liposome. The labeled liposome encapsulated protein is useful in a wide range of clinical applications related to biodistribution and imaging.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention discloses a method and composition for the treatment of bacterial infections by the use of a lysing enzyme blended with an appropriate carrier suitable for the treatment of the infection. 2. Description of the Prior Art In the past, antibiotics have been used to treat various infections. The work of Selman Waksman in the introduction and production of Streptomycetes and Dr. Fleming's discovery of penicillin, as well as the work of numerous others in the field of antibiotics, are well known. Over the years, there have been additions and chemical modifications to the “basic” antibiotics in attempts to make them more powerful, or to treat people allergic to these antibiotics. Others have found new uses for these antibiotics. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,292 (Robinson et al.) discloses a topical treatment of acne with aminopenicillins. The method and composition for topically treating acne and acneiform dermal disorders includes applying an amount of an antibiotic selected from the group consisting of ampicillin, amoxicillin, other aminopenicillins, and cephalosporins, and derivatives and analogs thereof, effective to treat the acne and acneiform dermal disorders. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,917 (Robinson et al.) discloses the topical treatment of acne with cephalosporins. However, as more antibiotics have been prescribed or used at an ever increasing rate for a variety of illnesses, increasing numbers of bacteria have developed a resistance to antibiotics. Larger doses of stronger antibiotics are now being used to treat ever more resistant strains of bacteria. Multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria have consequently developed. The use of more antibiotics and the number of bacteria showing resistance has led to increasing the amount of time that the antibiotics need to be used. Broad, non-specific antibiotics, some of which have detrimental effects on the patient, are now being used more frequently. Also, antibiotics do not easily penetrate mucus linings. Additionally, the number of people allergic to antibiotics appears to be increasing. Consequently, other efforts have been sought to first identify and then kill bacteria. Attempts have been made to treat bacterial diseases by the use of bacteriophages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,501 (Merril, et al.) discloses a method for treating an infectious disease caused by bacteria in an animal with lytic or non-lytic bacteriophages that are specific for particular bacteria. U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,686 (Norris) discloses a procedure of improved dental hygiene which comprises introducing into the mouth bacteriophages parasitic to bacteria which possess the property of readily adhering to the salivary pellicle. It is to be noted that the direct introduction of bacteriophages into an animal to prevent or fight diseases has certain drawbacks. Specifically, the bacteria must be in the right growth phase for the phage to attach. Both the bacteria and the phage have to be in the correct and synchronized growth cycles. Additionally, there must be the right number of phages to attach to the bacteria; if there are too many or too few phages, there will either be no attachment or no production of the lysing enzyme. The phage must also be active enough. The phages are also inhibited by many things including bacterial debris from the organism it is going to attack. Further complicating the direct use of bacteriophage to treat bacterial infections is the possibility of immunological reactions, rendering the phage non-functional. Consequently, others have explored the use of safer and more effective means to treat and prevent bacterial infections. U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,109 (Fischetti et al.) relates to the rapid detection of Group A Streptococci in clinical specimens, through the enzymatic digestion by a semi-purified Group C streptococcal phage associated lysin enzyme. The lytic enzyme of this patent is used in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,862 (Fischetti, et. al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,271, (Fischetti et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,528 (Fischetti et al.) which disclose the use of an oral delivery mode, such as a candy, chewing gum, lozenge, troche, tablet, a powder, an aerosol, a liquid or a liquid spray, containing a lysin enzyme produced by group C streptococcal bacteria infected with a C1 bacteriophage for the prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of Streptococcal A throat infections, commonly known as strep throat. U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,955 (Fischetti et al.) discloses the topical treatment of streptococcal infections.

1. Technical Field The disclosure relates to an imaging apparatus and a microscope system for imaging an object to acquire an image, and particularly, to an imaging apparatus and a microscope system for imaging a sliced specimen. 2. Related Art In recent years, an electronic imaging technique has progressed in the technical field of microscopic observation, and there has been proposed a system which displays a single image with a wide range and high definition by stitching a plurality of images obtained by imaging a plurality of regions within an object as an observation target. Such a system is also called a virtual slide system. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-191427 discloses a technique for dividing an observed region of a living tissue into small sections and connecting images acquired by imaging in each of the small sections in pathological diagnosis support. In such an imaging technique, the number of times of performing imaging increases corresponding to the number of small sections. Thus, there is a need to increase the speed of an imaging operation. The increase in the imaging speed involves how to increase the speed of autofocus when imaging the small sections. On the other hand, there has also been developed a technique for three-dimensionally displaying an object by extracting a confocal point from a plurality of images of the object observed with a microscope. However, in a confocal microscope, it takes a long time in the operation since an optical system such as an objective lens should be operated in the optical axis direction (Z direction) for changing a confocal plane. In view of such a situation, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-211439 discloses a technique of focus-free imaging by moving the stage with tiling a focal plane on an object with respect to a moving direction (e.g., X direction) of a stage and performing imaging with changing the surface position of the object in the Z-axis direction. This technique can detect an object included in the thickness corresponding to the tilt, and thus eliminate the necessity of scanning in the Z direction. In order to speed up the imaging operation in the virtual slide system, it would appear that a confocal imaging technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-211439 can be applied to the system disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-191427. With this combination, the autofocus may not be required with respect to the small sections, thereby speeding up the imaging of the whole observed region. However, a trade-off arises between a moving velocity on an object plane and a range of detectable thickness determined according to a tilt angle. With respect to an imaging apparatus capable of imaging an area of 200 μm wide at one time, for example, a case where a focal plane PFC is tilted by 10 μm in a thickness direction as shown in FIG. 17 is compared to a case where the focal plane PFC is tilted by 4 μm in the thickness direction as shown in FIG. 18. Each of imaging areas C1, C2, . . . shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 indicates an area on an object OB where image information can be acquired by a single imaging operation. In FIGS. 17 and 18, a scale size in a vertical direction is larger than that in a horizontal direction. In FIG. 17, image information of 10 μm in the thickness direction can be acquired in a single imaging operation. In other words, the focal plane in the object OB can be searched within a range of 10 μm. In FIG. 18, on the other hand, only the image information of 4 μm in the thickness direction can be acquired. However, in tilt and image formation per 1 μm, for example, the imaging is performed by moving the stage by about 20 μm at a time in the case shown in FIG. 17 while the imaging can be performed by moving the stage by 50 μm at a time in the case shown in FIG. 18. Therefore, in the latter case, it is possible to image the whole object OB with the smaller number of times of performing the imaging, i.e., in a short time. For this reason, a smaller amount of tilt of the object is desirable in order to shorten the time of imaging the whole observation target. To meet this condition, however, it is necessary for the observation target to be located within a range in the thickness gave from the focal plane tilting. Accordingly, in order to acquire, within a desirable imaging time, the image information on the object having a thickness, there is a need to appropriately set at least the tilt angle of the object and to appropriately move the stage according to the tilt angle.

Various prior art locks exist that can be opened in two ways. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,241,344; 5,148,691 and 6,012,310 describe locks that are capable of being opened either using a key or in a keyless manner. One keyless manner to open a lock is via the presentation of an electronic credential. For example, providing a lock that can be unlocked by entering an appropriate key code allows a door to be unlocked by individuals having knowledge of the key code without having to provide keys to all such individuals. Providing a lock that can be opened either using a key or upon the presentation of an appropriate electronic credential can be advantageous in that the lock may still be unlockable even in the event of a power failure.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing the skin from fish, particularly tuna fish, during the processing thereof prior to canning, further cooking, or the like. 2. Prior Art The process and apparatus of the present invention have been found very useful in that they represent an inexpensive and satisfactory system for skinning tuna fish. This is in sharp contrast to the many types of commercial fish skinner equipment and systems that have been used heretofore and which comprise various combinations of abrasive or cutting devices. For example, one system uses a frozen fish as thawed, and thereafter skinned, by water jets. Chemical peeling to disintegrate and loosen the skin has also been used to remove the skin. These methods are not only complicated and expensive, but many of them do not work satisfactorily on tuna fish.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to computer-aided manufacturing, and apparatus, systems, means, and methods for concurrent multi-user computer-aided manufacturing in particular. Computer-assisted manufacturing (CAM) systems have forced users into a strictly serial process that has limited the efficiency of the tool path planning systems. The CAM system user typically selects the machining environment, then analyzes and creates supporting geometries by defining the stock material size and shape, setting the machine coordinate system, specifying the machine to be used, and identifying the work piece. What follows is typically an iterative process in which the user defines a manufacturing operation by selecting an appropriate cutting pattern, tool, depth per cut, cut area, etc. The user may start with a roughing operation, then analyze the remaining material, choose the next operation (e.g., semi-roughing, finishing, or adding features such as slots, holes, or chamfers) and repeat until all the excess material has been addressed and the part manufacturing process has been fully defined. Besides the efficiency constraints created by the iterative nature of CAM process planning, additional limitations may arise due to a CAM system user's lack of knowledge or experience with a particular machine involved in the manufacturing process. The user may have to put process planning on hold while seeking additional information or assistance from a more experienced user. Given the foregoing, what is needed is additional and improved systems and methods for concurrent multi-user computer-aided manufacturing, in particular, systems and methods that facilitate multiple simultaneous users. The embodiments disclosed herein were developed in response to these issues.

The present invention relates to a cell-driving-type micro pump member based on the piezoelectric/electrostrictive effect, more specifically to a cell-driving-type micro pump member having a high response and providing a high pressurizing force, wherein the micro pump includes separate cells whose side walls are made of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, and each cell is used as a pressurizing chamber, so that a pressure can be produced in the pressurizing chamber by changing the volume of the cell with the aid of the displacement of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements. Recently, mechanisms providing a change of volume in a pressurizing chamber by deforming a part of the walls forming the pressurizing chamber with the aid of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive effect are known, where the mechanism increases the pressure in a small pressurizing chamber formed in a base part. Such a micro pump member is used, for instance, as an ink pump member or the like in a print head used in an ink jet printer, wherein the pressure in the pressurizing chamber, to which ink is supplied and then stored therein, is increased by the displacement of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, so that the ink particles (droplets) are ejected from nozzle holes connected to the pressurizing chamber, and thus the printing can be carried out. For instance, in JP-A-6-40030, an example of an ink jet print head as shown in FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 is described, wherein a micro pump member is used as an ink pump member. The ink jet print head 140 is formed by joining an ink nozzle element 142, an ink pump member 144 and a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element 178 to each other, to form a unified body. The ink, which is supplied to ink pressurizing chambers 146 (hereafter simply referred to as pressurizing chambers), is ejected through nozzle holes 154 in the ink nozzle member 142 by the bending deformation of a closing plate 166 (vibration plate) forming the pressurizing chamber 146 in accordance with the deformation of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive element 178, thus inducing a pressure in the pressurizing chamber 146. The ink pump member 144 is formed as a unified body, in detail, with such a construction that the closing plate 166 and a connecting plate 168, each of which has a planar shape, are superimposed each other sandwiching a spacer blade 170 therebetween. In the connecting plate 168, first connecting openings 172 and second connecting openings 174 are respectively formed at the positions corresponding to through-holes 156 and orifice holes 158 which are formed in an orifice plate 150 of the ink nozzle element 142. Moreover, a plurality of rectangle-shaped window parts 176 is formed in the spacer plate 170. The spacer plate 170 is superimposed on the connecting plate 168 in such a manner that each of the first connecting openings 172 and second connecting openings 174, which are disposed in the connecting plate 168 is opened to the corresponding window parts 176. In this spacer blade 170, moreover, the closing plate 166 is superimposed on the surface opposite that on which the connecting plate 168 is superimposed, so that the openings of the window parts 176 are closed at the closing plate 166. By so doing, the pressurizing chambers 146, which are connected to the outside via the first and second connecting openings 172, 174, are formed in the inside of the ink pump member 144. In such an ink jet print head 140, however, there are the following problems. In order to provide a greater displacement so as to be able to eject a greater number of droplets, it is effective to decrease the thickness of the closing plate 166 (vibrating plate) in the ink pump member 144. However, this induces a decrease in the rigidity and reduces the high responsiveness. On the other hand, a significant enhancement in the high responsiveness requires an increase in the rigidity. For this purpose, it would be effective to increase the thickness of the closing plate 166 (vibrating plate), but this treatment provides a reduced displacement, thereby making it impossible to eject the required number of droplets. That is, in the ink pump member, it is difficult to attain both a greater displacement and a higher response property by the bending deformation of the vibrating plate due to the displacement of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive element. This is the first problem. As for the second problem, it has been found that if one wants to make the adjacent ink pump members the same action, the displacement is reduced compared with the case where the piezoelectric/electrostrictive element is singly driven; this results in failure to display the intrinsic characteristics. That is, the vibrating plates of two adjacent ink pump members are bent simultaneously, so that a pulling force is applied to the walls between the ink pump members, thereby making it difficult to bend the vibrating plates. Although not shown in the drawings, it has been proposed in JP-A-6-350155 that the interference due to the mutual displacement of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements is suppressed by disposing a groove between a concave part (ink pressurizing chamber) and the adjacent concave part, that is, by disposing a groove between adjacent ink pump members. Moreover, as for a micro pump member based on the known piezoelectric/electrostrictive effect, for instance, a micro pump member, which is driven in shear mode and is similarly used in an ink jet head, is employed. This is a micro pump 271 having such a structure as shown in FIG. 7, wherein a plurality of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements as comb teeth 276, that is, driving parts 274, are arranged like teeth of a comb on a base plate 272, and cells 273 having substantially rectangular form are formed by a closing slit 275 between the comb teeth with a cover plate 277. The openings at the front end of the micro pump member 271 are closed by a nozzle plate 9 having nozzles 8, so that an ink jet head 270 is formed so as to use the cells 273 as pressurizing chambers. By applying a driving electric field in a direction vertical to the direction of polarizing field in the driving parts 274, that is, comb teeth 276, consisting of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive material, the comb teeth 276 are deformed and thus the volume of the cells 273 are changed, thereby enabling the ink stored in the cells 273 to be ejected. Furthermore, the method of driving where the displacement results from the driving electric field in the direction vertical to the direction of polarization in the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements is called the shear mode method. Such a micro pump member 271 is manufactured according to the steps shown in FIG. 8(a)-FIG. 8(e). Firstly, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material 86 is provided as shown in FIG. 8(a), and fired in FIG. 8(b). In FIG. 8(c), the polarization treatment is carried out and in FIG. 8(d), fine slits are formed with a dicing saw or the like, and driving parts 274 are arranged like the teeth of a comb in a regular form by interposing therebetween a plurality of slits 275 corresponding to respective spaces for storing the ink, and then electrodes are formed on the wall surfaces in the slits 275 in FIG. 8(e). After that, as shown in FIG. 7, the cover plate 277 comprising a glass plate or the like is mounted, and then the openings at the front end of the comb teeth are closed with the nozzle plate 9 having the nozzles 8, so that the cells 273 used as the pressurizing chambers are formed. In such a manufacturing method, however, there are the following problems due to machining rigid, fired piezoelectric/electrostrictive materials: The first problem is that it is time-consuming to machine the slits with the dicing saw or the like, and therefore it is unsuitable for mass production. Furthermore, the second problem is the cost increase. This is because sufficient cleaning is required after machining since the products are polluted with the free grinder particles for processing and the process liquid; this would require complex cleaning processes to clean them in a satisfactory manner due to the reduced strength after machining, with necessarily accompanying the process for drying, and facilities for both treating water for cleaning and exhausted water and the management thereof as well. The third problem is that the slits forming the cells used as pressurizing chambers are restricted by the thickness of the dicing blade used for machining, so that a width of approximately 60 xcexcm or less cannot be realized. Additionally, the thickness of the comb teeth, that is, the driving parts, also has a limitation regarding the depth of the slits so that the required grinding force for the dicing blade is obtained, and it is difficult to form cells or pressurizing chambers having a high aspect ratio of, for example, 10 or more, so that it is difficult to obtain a high power micro pump member having a high density or a high strength. Generally, the aspect ratio is denoted by the ratio of the diameter to the axial length, in the case of an aperture having a cylindrical form. If the aperture has a non-cylindrical form, such as that shown in FIG. 8(d), i.e., in the case of the slit 275, which is later closed and thus becomes a cell (pressurizing chamber), the aspect ratio is denoted by the ratio of the shortest spacing between two comb teeth forming the slit 275, the comb teeth facing each other, that is, the width of the slit 275 to the depth of the slit 275. A pressurizing chamber having a high aspect ratio implies a pressurizing chamber whose height is greater compared with the inside width. The fourth problem is that machining with a dicing blade only allows the production of straight and flat slits, so that a subsequent process for adhering parts is required if one wants the cells (the pressurizing chamber), to have a complex form. Moreover, since electric stress deformation rises up to the joint end of the slit plates when activated as a result of the straight machining, the durability of the joint surfaces is liable to be reduced therefrom. The fifth problem is that, since the slit is formed with the grinding process after firing, micro cracks and fractures inside the grains of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive particles often occur at the side surface of the comb-like driving parts 274, and the characteristics of the cells are liable to be deteriorated. FIG. 9(a) and FIG. 9(b) are drawings illustrating this fact: FIG. 9(a) is a side view from Q in FIG. 8(d) and FIG. 9(b) is a magnified section of part N in FIG. 9(a). In the case of the grinding process with the dicing saw, either micro cracks from the machining or particles fractured in the grains result, on the side surface of comb-like driving parts 274 (teeth 276 of a comb), the particles thus have deteriorating properties, so that when the cell is driven, the performance inherent in the material cannot be obtained, and the micro cracks propagate, thereby damaging the device itself. In the conventional micro pump member 271, moreover, problems occur as a result of the driving in the shear mode. The sixth problem is that after firing and carrying out the polarizing treatment, manufacturing processes involving heating to a temperature of the Curie temperature or higher caused the polarization in the piezoelectric/electrostrictive material and cannot be applied. As a result, in the case of fixing/wiring the micro pump members to a circuit board, the soldering process using the reflow-soldering method or adhesion under heating cannot be applied, due to the thermal restriction, and the throughput is reduced, thereby increasing the cost of manufacturing. Moreover, either laser machining or machining generating heat is also restricted. Moreover, as for the seventh problem, it is noted that since the driving electric field is generated in the direction vertical to the direction of polarization field, activation with a high field strength, which causes the change in the state of polarization, is not permitted, so that a greater amount of strain cannot be obtained. If, however, a high driving electric field is generated, the state of polarization gradually changes during the driving period, hence, similarly reducing the amount of strain. As a result, the basic performance of the micro pump member deteriorates. Moreover, in the conventional micro pump member 271, problems occur as a result of the structure in which the base plate, driving parts and cover plate are unified into one body, along with the problems which occur as a result of the above-mentioned manufacturing method, that is, the problem due to driving in the shear mode. The eighth problem is the difficulty in making the adjacent cells (pressurizing chambers) in the same action. FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing the states of deactivation and activation for the micro pump member 271 as an example. When the driving electric field is applied, that is, in the case of the OFF state, the driving parts 274 of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements are not deformed, whereas when the driving electric field is applied to a specified driving part 274, that is, in the case of the ON state, the driving part 274 is deformed. As can be seen in FIG. 15, the driving part 274 acts as the driving elements for two cells 273, so that when the volume of the one cell increases, the volume of the adjacent cells decreases. When, for instance, the micro pump member 271 is used as the ink jet head 270 shown in FIG. 7, ink cannot be simultaneously ejected from the adjacent cells, that is, the pressurizing chambers. As a result, at least two actions are required to spray ink to an article to be sprayed in the minimum spacing between the ink jet head and the article. This is undesirable in view of enhancing speed in the ink ejecting process. In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a micro pump member and a method for manufacturing the micro pump member, wherein a heating process at a higher temperature can be applied; mass production can be carried out at low cost; slit parts have cells having a shape inclusive of any shape other than shapes defined by straight lines; the slit parts have cells whose width is 60 xcexcm or less, and the cells have a high aspect ratio; an activation with a high field strength is feasible; furthermore, a greater displacement and a higher response can be attained with a smaller field strength. After studying micro pump members and the methods for manufacturing the member, it was found that the objects can be attained by the micro pump member and the manufacturing method described below. Namely, the present invention provides a cell-driving-type micro pump member wherein a plurality of cells formed in the inside of a base part is used as pressurizing chambers, the side walls forming the pressurizing chambers are constituted by the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, a pressure in the cells is produced by changing the volume of the pressurizing chambers due to the displacement of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, characterized in that the pressurizing chambers are formed independently of the adjacent pressurizing chambers. In the cell-driving-type micro pump member according to the invention, it is desirable that the base part comprises a spacer plate consisting of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements in which a plurality of slits A are formed, a cover plate covering slits A on one side of the spacer plates, and a connecting plate covering the slits A on the other side of the spacer plates, wherein slits B, which pass through the cover plates and spacer plates, are formed between a slit A and the adjacent slits A. Moreover, it is desirable that the polarizing field of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements and the driving electric field are aligned in the same direction. It is desirable that electrode layers are formed on both surfaces of side walls forming respective pressurizing chambers, and the side walls are expanded or constricted in the upward or downward direction by applying a voltage to the electrode layers. In the cell-driving-type micro pump member of the present invention, it is desirable that the transgranular fracture of crystal grains is 1% or less, and the degree of profile for the surfaces of the pressurizing chambers is approximately 8 xcexcm or less. Moreover, it is desirable that the ratio of the inside width to the height of the pressurizing chamber is approximately 1:2-1:40, and the ratio of the spacing between the pressurizing chamber and the adjacent chamber and the height of the pressurizing chamber is approximately 1:2-1:40. Moreover, it is desirable that the inside width of the pressurizing chamber is approximately 60 xcexcm or less, and that the spacing between the pressurizing chamber and the adjacent pressurizing chamber is approximately 50 xcexcm or less. It is desirable that the surface roughness Rt of side walls forming the pressurizing chamber is approximately 10 xcexcm or less. In the cell-driving-type micro pump member of the present invention, it is desirable that, in accordance with the application, there may exist at least two distances different from each with respect to the inside width of the pressurizing chambers or the spacing between the pressurizing chamber and the adjacent chamber. Moreover, it is desirable that the pressurizing chambers have a reservoir at least at one axial end of the cell. According to the present invention, a liquid discharging device is provided, including a cell-driving-type micro pump member used therein, wherein a liquid connecting opening is disposed on one surface of the pressurizing chambers and a liquid supplying opening is disposed at the other surface of the pressurizing chambers, and a liquid nozzle member having a plurality of nozzle holes for discharging the particles consisting of droplets is superimposed on one side of the cell-driving-type micro pump member in such a manner that the nozzle holes are connected to the pressurizing chambers. When a driving electric field is applied in the same direction as that of the polarizing field of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, the pressurizing chambers are deformed by expanding/contracting the side walls of the pressurizing chambers consisting of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements in the upward/downward direction, so that the liquid supplied to the pressurizing chambers can be discharged from the nozzle holes to one side. Moreover, a liquid discharging device is provided, including a cell-driving-type micro pump member used therein, wherein a liquid supplying opening and a liquid connecting opening are disposed on one surface of the pressurizing chambers. A liquid supplying channel is connected to the liquid supplying opening on one surface of the cell-driving-type micro pump member, and a liquid nozzle member having a plurality of nozzle holes for discharging the particles of droplets is superimposed on one surface in such a manner that the nozzle holes are connected to the pressurizing chambers. When a driving electric field is applied in the same direction as that of the polarizing field of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, and the pressurizing chambers are deformed by expanding/contracting the side walls of the pressurizing chambers consisting of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements in the upward/downward direction, the liquid supplied to the pressurizing chambers can be discharged from the nozzle holes to one side. In the liquid discharging device, it is desirable that one surface of the pressurizing chambers is the lower surface and the other surface of the pressurizing chambers is the upper surface, and the liquid supplied to the pressurizing chambers can be discharged from the nozzle holes in the direction toward the lower surface. Furthermore, two methods for manufacturing the cell-driving-type micro pump member according to the present invention are provided, as shown below. The first manufacturing method is a method for manufacturing the cell-driving-type micro pump member using a punch and a die, wherein the pressurizing chambers which are a plurality of cells formed in the inside of a base part, and whose side walls comprise piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, are formed to be independent of the adjacent pressurizing chambers. The first method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of; providing a plurality of green sheets made of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements; positioning and then laminating all the green sheets after slit apertures are machined in all the green sheets (denoted by the lamination after punching); and forming piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements in which a plurality of slits are formed. The second manufacturing method is a method for manufacturing the cell-driving-type micro pump member using a punch and a die, wherein the pressurizing chambers which are a plurality of cells formed in the inside of a base part, and whose side walls comprise piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements, are formed to be independent of the adjacent pressurizing chambers. The second method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of; providing a plurality of green sheets made of piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements; performing a first step for machining first slit apertures in the first green sheet with the punch, a second step for moving the first green sheets upwards into tight contact with a stripper in the state of the punch not being withdrawn from the first slit apertures, and a third step for moving the punch upwards in such a way that the front end of the punch is withdrawn slightly from the lowest part of the first green sheet moved upwards; performing a fourth step for machining second slit apertures in the second green sheet, a fifth step for moving the second green sheet upwards together with the first green sheet in the state of the punch not being withdrawn, and a sixth step for moving the punch upwards in such a way that the front end of the punch is slightly withdrawn from the lowest part of the second green sheet moved upwards; then, laminating the green sheets by repeating the fourth step to the sixth step (denoted by the simultaneous punch and lamination), and then forming piezoelectric/electrostrictive elements in which a plurality of slits is formed.

Digital processing circuitry and apparatus, including such circuitry, is pervasive in modern society. The use of digital processing circuitry is advantageous as repetitive functions can be carried out at rates dramatically more quickly than that which can be performed manually. And, because of the rapid speed at which the operations can be performed, activities previously impractical have been readily implemented. The use of digital processing circuitry advantageously permits the processing of large amounts of data. For instance, in a computer system, data is transferred between peripheral devices, and between peripheral devices and a CPU (central processing unit). In such processing of data, data is read from, or written to, data storage, and other locations in successive read and write operations. In order to carry out the read and write operations, the location of the data to be retrieved in a read operation and the destination to which the data is to be written must be identified. Such locations are sometimes identified by addresses which point to such locations. Such indications are referred to as address pointers. The addresses are sequences of binary bits. In some computer systems, the sequences are fairly lengthy, for example, of 48-bit, bit lengths. During operation of a computer system, or other system incorporating digital processing circuitry, successive, and non-sequential address locations might need to be accessed at high speeds. Providing the sequences forming the addresses needed to perform the data processing functions becomes unwieldy when the lengths of the address are of lengthy bit lengths. One conventional manner by which to generate the addresses is to utilize an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) of a bit-size corresponding to the bit lengths of the addresses to be generated. However, such conventional circuitry is of complex construction and requires multi-cycle paths for effectuation. Because of such complexity and the need for multi-cycle paths to effectuate the formation of the bit sequences, the costs of implementing such circuitry is relatively high. When such sequences are to be generated with, e.g., an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), the circuitry must be operated at a fixed frequency. Existing manners by which to form a lengthy sequence of bits based on combinations of smaller function mechanisms typically permit scaling of clock frequencies of circuitry to implement such functions. A manner by which better to provide for the formation of bit sequences, such as those used to form address or data pointers, utilizing less complex circuitry would therefore be advantageous. It is in light of this background information related to digital processing circuitry that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

Polymers vary widely in their resistance to burning. Some, such as the polyolefins, polystyrene, polyalkyl acrylates and methacrylates, and the like, burn readily. Polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylidene chloride and polyvinyl chloride, on the other hand, have a rather high resistance to burning. In any event, it obviously is highly desirable that, for certain applications, a polymer should have a high degree of flame retardance so that it will meet the requirements of various building codes or that it will meet safety standards imposed on toys, carpeting, drapery materials, automotive applications, etc. The treatment of these more flammable polymers to increase their resistance to burning is well known; such treatment generally has involved the incorporation in the polymer composition of substantial proportions of antimony oxide, halogenated hydrocarbons and low molecular weight phosphate esters. Ordinarily, though, the effective use of these and other additives has required their presence in such high concentrations as to adversely affect the desirable properties of the polymer. Thus, such desirable properties as hardness, clarity, strength, elasticity, etc., are diminished significantly by the presence of large amounts of a flame-retardant chemical. The formulator's goal, in preparing a flame-retardant polymer composition, is to add just enough of the flame retardant compound so as to provide the desired degree of flame retardance, but no more than this minimum amount, so as to preserve as much as possible the advantageous properties of the polymer. Frequently, it is not possible to select a flame-retardant which will meet these requirements satisfactorily. U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,655 (Shim) shows the use of phosphoramidate esters of dibromoneopentlyglycol as flame-retardant additives in a wide variety of polymer compositions. The phosphoramidate for which flame-retardant test data is shown is the N,N'-dimethylamide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,012 (Albright et al.) shows the use of acrylate esters of dihaloneopentylglycol phosphates as flame-retardant additives in acrylic polymer compositions. The esters are incorporated in polyacrylate compositions by copolymerization with methyl methacrylate, for example, although at column 7, lines 15-59, it is stated that they may be used in combination with known synergists in other types of polymers "such as polystyrene" (see line 37). The preparation of the calcium salt of pentaerythritoldiiodohydrin phosphoric acid is shown in "Iodine-Containing Aliphatic Phosphoric Acid Esters," Eidenbenz et al., Arch. Pharm. 280, 227-31 (1942).

Microcontroller units (or MCUs) can be used in wide variety of applications to control the operation of complex systems. For example, an MCU can be used in an automotive environment to control the operation of vehicle subsystems, such as an inflatable restraint system or a climate control system. When used in such environments, the MCU can be required to monitor the operation of system components by measuring (or sampling) signals used or produced by the components. Often these signals can be analog signals, which are generally defined as signals that are time-varying and continuous. The analog signals can be sampled and the samples converted to digital values (logical xe2x80x9conesxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9czeroesxe2x80x9d) using an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter. The A/D converter can be included on an integrated circuit (IC) chip along with the MCU, and the digital values produced by the A/D converter can be used by the MCU to monitor and control the operation of the components. The number of analog signals that can be required to be converted into digital values to monitor and control the operation of a complex system can be great. An MCU IC chip can include a large number of input pins (or terminals) to receive the analog signals. A single xe2x80x9con-chipxe2x80x9d A/D converter can be used to sample the analog signals presented at several of the input terminals. A control signal, often referred to as a xe2x80x9ctriggerxe2x80x9d, can be used to initiate a conversion. The A/D converter can be configured to operate in a particular manner (or mode) prior to the occurrence of a triggering event. For example, the A/D converter can be configured prior to the occurrence of multiple triggering events to sequentially convert the analog signals presented at several of the input terminals (referred to here as a xe2x80x9csweepxe2x80x9d mode). The A/D converter can also be configured to convert the analog signal presented at only one of the input terminals (referred to here as a xe2x80x9cone-shotxe2x80x9d mode), such that the later occurrence of multiple triggering events can result in the repeated conversion of the analog signal presented at the one input terminal. With such arrangements, software (or firmware) can be used prior to the occurrence of a triggering event to configure the A/D converter in either the sweep or one-shot mode and to define the corresponding several or one input terminals presenting the analog signal(s) for conversion. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,197 to Abe describes a one-chip data processor with built-in A/D converter for automatically repeating A/D conversions without instructions from a central processing unit (CPU). U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,952 to Campbell, Jr., et al. describes an A/D conversion module and method to minimize software involvement by providing a pause capacity. Techniques are disclosed for analog-to-digital signal conversion. According to an exemplary embodiment, a first request is associated with a changeable set of a plurality of input terminals, a second request is associated with a changeable one of the input terminals, and a third request is associated with a fixed one of the input terminals. One of the first, second, and third requests is received, and an analog signal presented at one of the input terminals is converted into a digital value based on the received one of the first, second, and third requests.

1. Field of the Invention This invention belongs to the field of synthetic organic chemistry, and provides a method of preparing certain substituted benzyl esters of phenylacetic acids, which process is carried out with the assistance of a phase transfer catalyst. 2. State of the Art Phase transfer catalysts are used to assist in a number of types of organic reactions, and are usually used to facilitate reaction between one reagent which is dissolved in an aqueous phase, and another reagent dissolved in an organic phase. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,677, of Beecham Group Limited, shows the synthesis of certain penicillin esters by esterification in systems such as dichloromethane/water, using phase transfer catalysts (ptc) such as tetrabutylammonium bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and the like. The use of ptc's has been taught by many commentators in the chemical literature. The compounds used as ptc's, in general, are either quaternary ammonium salts or crown ethers. The following references are typical. Starks, Chemtech, 110-17 (Feb. 1980); PA1 Jones, Aldrichimica Acta 9, 35-45 (1976 No. 3); PA1 Hennis et al., I. and E.C. Prod. Res. and Dev. 7, 96-101 (1968). PA1 one of R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 is hydrogen and the other is phenoxy or C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkoxy; PA1 X.sup.1 is chloro, bromo, iodo, toluenesulfonate or methanesulfonate; PA1 R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 are independently C.sub.1 -C.sub.16 alkyl, phenyl or benzyl; PA1 R.sup.6 and R.sup.7 are independently C.sub.1 -C.sub.16 alkyl; PA1 (a) R.sup.1 is hydroxy or protected hydroxy; PA1 (b) R.sup.1 is hydroxy; PA1 (c) R.sup.1 is hydrogen; PA1 (d) M is potassium; PA1 (e) One of R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 is hydrogen and the other is C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 alkoxy; PA1 (f) One of R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 is hydrogen and the other is methoxy; PA1 (g) R.sup.2 is methoxy and R.sup.3 is hydrogen; PA1 (h) X is chloro; PA1 (i) The amount of the alkali metal iodide is from about 0.15 mole to about 0.4 mole per mole of product to be produced; f PA1 (j) The alkali metal iodide is a sodium or potassium iodide; PA1 (k) The solvent is an ester, a ketone or a nitrile; PA1 (l) The solvent is a ketone; PA1 (m) The solvent is acetone; PA1 (n) The amount of the ptc is from about 0.001 mole to about 0.1 mole per mole of product to be produced; PA1 (o) The ptc is a tetraalkylammonium chloride or bromide; PA1 (p) The ptc is a tetra(C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl)ammonium chloride or bromide. PA1 (a) Phenylacetic acid, sodium salt, is reacted with 4-methoxybenzyl bromide to obtain 4-methoxybenzyl phenylacetate; PA1 (b) 3-Butylphenylacetic acid, potassium salt, is reacted with 4-isopropoxybenzyl chloride to obtain 4-isopropoxybenzyl 3-butylphenylacetate; PA1 (c) 4-Chlorophenylacetic acid, sodium salt, is reacted with 2-methoxybenzyl bromide to obtain 2-methoxybenzyl 4-chlorophenylacetate.

There are known apparatuses adapted to make a nonwoven fabric containing thermoplastic synthetic fibers or a film of thermoplastic synthetic resin run in the form of a fibrous web in a machine direction and to process such a web ultrasonically in the course of running. For example, the ultrasonic processing machine disclosed in JP 1983-39836U (PTL 1) includes a processing horn and a pressure roller adapted to cooperate with the processing horn. The processing horn and the pressure roller respectively rotate to apply ultrasonic waves to an object so that the object may be continuously sealed. The rotating seal system disclosed in JP 1998-513128 A (PTL 2) includes a drum rotating in the direction in which an object in the form of a fibrous web is being processed, a first heat energy input means attached to the peripheral surface of the drum so as to extend in the cross direction in which the drum rotates and a second heat energy input means attached to the drum so as to rotate together with the drum and simultaneously to move in the cross direction. The object being processed is located between the first heat energy input means and the second heat energy input means. The second heat energy input means moves in the cross direction in combination with the first heat energy input means to inject heat energy into the object being processed during rotation of the drum and, upon completion of heat energy input, the second heat energy input means moves away from the first heat energy input means to its initial position. One of the first and second heat energy input means is an ultrasonic vibrating horn and the other is an anvil.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio playback/recording apparatus, and more particularly to an audio playback/recording apparatus, which performs playback and recording of audio data, and which can record audio data into an external memory or transfer audio data via a general-purpose interface, and which also performs processing related to the protection of digital audio data. 2. Related Art In an apparatus capable of recording and playback of audio data (including music data), because of the ease of use of compact personal media such as memory cards, widespread growth is being seen in the usage of these media as an external storage medium for a personal computer or portable terminal or the like. In the field of digital audio as well, these media are gaining attention as the next generation of mechanism-free, vibration-immune recording medium. In comparison with such recording media as DAT (digital audio tape) and MD (MiniDisc), however, because these media are not superior in terms of cost performance, there is a need for a medium capable of achieving high quality and compressed recording. In the Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 9-73299, there is a disclosure of an MPEG audio playback/recording apparatus capable of playing back easy to hear audio, even with varying playback speed, for audio data subjected to compression and decompression according the MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) standard. This apparatus is a dedicated playback apparatus, and requires an external controller such as a microcomputer. In the Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 10-320000, there is a disclosure of a portable audio recording/playback apparatus that performs recording and playback, executing MPEG compression and decompression in real time under microcomputer control. In the Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 7-325600, there is a disclosure of a portable audio recording/playback apparatus having an IC memory card. The above-noted prior art, however, has the following problems. The first problem is that it is not possible to accommodate diverse audio data compression systems. The second problem is that it is not possible to accommodate encryption accompanying the shift to digital audio. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an audio playback/recording apparatus having a means capable of accommodating different types of compression and decompression of audio data, and a means capable of encryption and decryption of digital audio data, and also certification means.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to utilization of geothermal energy and more particularly to an improved system for maximizing the transfer of geothermal energy from a subsurface zone to the surface for utilization. 2. Description of the Prior Art There exists, essentially untapped, massive quantities of heat available from magma which has migrated to zones close to the surface. Such conditions exist in large regions of the United States and in other locations throughout the world such as in Italy, New Zealand and Japan. Frequently, tectonic activity has produced fault lines which have permitted deep, subsurface waters to come in contact with magmatic rocks and return to the surface along fault lines as heated water, or in a few cases as steam. Similarly, tectonic activity below ancient subsidence areas, more recently overlain, have resulted in migration of heat into brine pools of varying salinity which lodged in these sinks. There are some 1.8 million acres in the United States which are designated as KGRA (Known Geothermal Resource Areas) and most of these KGRA are situated in the Western states. The only operating geothermal plants in the United States are those operating at The Geysers, Sonoma, California, and others are formulating plants for geothermal power development in the Imperial Valley of California. The plants in operation in the United States and Italy rely on direct thermal fluid mining methods. Such methods have entailed serious problems due to the high salinity of the steam causing cavitation, abrasion, scalling and corrosion of the equipment over short intervals. Moreover, geological prospecting techniques are not very accurate and if a dry well results or a well with insufficient steam pressure the venture is a total loss. Drilling of adjacent thermal direct fluid recovery wells entails the risk of lowering the bottom hole pressure of the whole field. It is estimated that a brine pool exists in the Niland area of the Imperial Valley of California which occupies an area of 25 square miles. About a dozen geothermal wells have been drilled in the area, which produce as much as one million pounds per hour of brine per well for sustained periods. Flashing this brine would produce about 200,000 pounds per hour of steam which in turn could produce about 10,000 kW of electric power per well. However, because of the high salinity of the brines, all attempts to utilize these brines have been unsuccessful. Since the discovery of these wells, several companies have spent millions of dollars trying to extract chemicals and generate power from the brines. Neither operation has been commerically successful because of the high operating costs and associated material costs necessary to withstand the corrosive and erosive environment and to dispose of the salt and concentrated salt bitterns. Further to the South in Mexico, another brine pool exists of a size comparable to the Niland pool. The brine is lower in salinity in this pool. Exploratory investigation suggests the existence of seven or eight similar brine pools between Niland and the pool at Cerro Prieto in Mexico. In all, the power generating potential from geothermal energy in the Imperial Valley is estimated to be as high as 30,000 MW. Successful exploitation of this potential by conventional direct thermal mining methods would require either selective use of the lower salinity brine or disposal of vast amounts of salt and concentrated salt bitterns. Geothermal energy represents a clean, pollution free alternative to fossil fuel energey sources and does not entail the hazards or the environmentally unacceptable aspects of nuclear produced power. The problems inherent in the conventional direct thermal mining approaches are avoided by use of the downhole heat exchanger disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,943 since the geothermal brines remain in the pool and heat is extracted by in situ circulation of a clean, stable, secondary heat transfer fluid inside the downhole heat exchanger which is placed at the lower part of the casing within the geothermal zone. Thus, the downhole heat exchanger provides a means for utilizing the heat contained in the brine pools by extracting only the heat energy, leaving the brine recirculating in the underground pool. The advantages are many. No saline fluids are brought to the surface; hence there are no disposal problems and reinjection wells are not required. The reservoir inventory and pressure is undisturbed. Except for extraction of heat, which is readily replenishable, nothing has been changed in the reservoir. Subsidence therefore will be avoided by this method. Since the interior of the casing is contacted only by pure fluids, no corrosion or scaling will occur internally. The outside of the casing is in contact with the reservoir aquifer but the brine is at a pressure which does not allow the dissolved salts to precipitate. Hence, there is no abrasive action from the solids as in a flowing well. The convective currents within the aquifer are expected to be of insufficient velocity to result in abrasion. The low velocity should also promote the retention of a thin, passive coating of corrosion products which inhibit further corrosion. The downhole heat exchanger system represents a truly non-polluting source of energy in that no pollution products are permitted to reach the surface. However, the energy capacity of a single well is not sufficient to justify the installation and operation of a generation plant. Therefore, multiple wells are required to develop sufficient steam to operate the turbine generator. This requires the utilization of a greater area of the surface for drilling the multiple wells and a greater improvement cost to drill the well at each site. Furthermore, the separate location of the multiple wells requires water injection lines running to each well site and steam gathering lines running from each site to the generating plant. All of this involves capital investment and entails heat loss each time the steam or water is moved.

Model figures in the shape of a sports person have been made for many years. In some cases, a model figure has a mechanism so that an arm or a leg may move in association with a racquet, stick or club. Examples of such sports figures are hockey players, golfers, baseball players and the like. Findlay in U.S. Pat. No. 1,539,251 shows a device for playing table football wherein the player has a handle rigidly attached thereto and the handle has a mechanism which when activated allows the player to move a leg to provide a kicking action. Munro in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,513,198 and 2,616,700 shows a golf puppet ball projector wherein a golf figure has a handle rigidly attached and by activating a knob on the handle, the figure provides a golf swing. Gorman in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,657,388 and 1,926,980 also provides a golf figure which not only has a golf swing action, but also may be pivoted about a base. These figures provide at least one activity motion which may be operated remotely by a person holding a handle and, in the case of Gorman (U.S. Pat. No. 1,926,980), a pistol grip handle is disclosed. However, all these existing remote control mechanisms have a substantially fixed connection between the handle and the figure, thus a person operating the mechanism has to ensure that the handle from the figure is held at the correct angle, otherwise the activity motion occurs in the wrong plane. It is an aim of the present invention to provide a model figure wherein at least one of the figure's limbs can be made to move remotely from a pistol grip handle attached via a hinged linkage mechanism to the figures. Thus an operator can adjust the angle between the pistol grip handle and the figure so that it may be operated on a floor or table and does not have a fixed angle between the handle and the figure. As well as being able to operate a limb from the pistol grip handle, in another embodiment the figure is mounted on a base and provision is made that a special thumb wheel is provided on the pistol grip handle so that movement of the wheel on the exterior of the handle rotates the figure. Thus, in the case of a golfer or hockey player, the ball or puck can be addressed from any direction by rotating the player. By utilizing a finger and thumb action, one is able to provide action for the figure in two planes. It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a model figure with a pistol grip attached by a hinged linkage arm to the figure. The figure may be used either on its own or with others for playing a miniature sports game. Games may be designed to have several such figures for playing on either a floor, table or other surface. The pistol grip allows the model figure to be held in one hand and moved about a surface in different directions by simply moving the grip. An operator holding a pistol grip handle has controls for an activity movement such as the swing of a golf club or hockey stick, the kicking of a soccer ball and many other activities. The figure may also be rotated about its base. The figure may be moved around the floor and in some instances the base may be mounted on casters for easy movement. For example, a golfer may be moved about a simulated golf course or putting green. The golfer can swivel on a base thus allowing hitting the ball from any position and in any direction. Manipulating the controls together or separately produces a variety of actions. By pulling the trigger the activity motion occurs and by rotating a thumb wheel or thumb movement, the figure can be rotated on the base. The combined movement of thumb and forefinger provides activity for the figure in two planes. Furthermore, some of the figures may be interchangeable, for instance, a golf player may be replaced on a unitary base by a hockey figure which in turn may be replaced by a soccer player or a dancer, skater, butterfly catcher, and other different figures.

The present invention relates to a switching apparatus for selectively engaging and disengaging a mechanism. Chairs are known to have adjustment mechanisms for their various adjustable parts. For example, an angle a backrest makes with reference to a chair seat may be adjustable by an adjustment mechanism provided between the backrest and the seat. Similarly, the angle that the chair seat makes with reference to a seat support (and thus the floor) may be adjustable by an adjustment mechanism provided between the seat and the seat support. In order to control such adjustment mechanisms, a user operable switching apparatus may be provided. A switching apparatus may employ a cam rotatable about a pivot by means of a handle. An example of such a switching apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,200 to Stumpf et al. In certain designs, the cam must bear a significant amount of force and, over time, the cam face may wear down. Excessive wear on the cam face may result in loosening of parts and early breakdown of the switching apparatus. It is thus desirable to design a mechanism with reduced mechanical wear on its key parts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,425 to Pernicka and U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,550 to Liu attempt to address this issue with a bearing plate against which the cam bears. However, the problem of cam wear remains.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a blade for a rotor, and is particularly, although not exclusively, concerned with a blade such as a turbine blade for a rotor to be used in a gas turbine engine. 2. Description of the Related Art With reference to FIG. 1, a ducted fan gas turbine engine generally indicated at 110 has a principal and rotational axis X-X. The engine comprises, in axial flow series, an air intake 111, a propulsive fan 112, an intermediate pressure compressor 113, a high-pressure compressor 114, combustion equipment 115, a high-pressure turbine 116, and intermediate pressure turbine 117, a low-pressure turbine 118 and a core engine exhaust nozzle 119. A nacelle 121 generally surrounds the engine 110 and defines the intake 111, a bypass duct 122 and a bypass exhaust nozzle 123. The gas turbine engine 110 works in a conventional manner so that air entering the intake 111 is accelerated by the fan 112 to produce two air flows: a first air flow A into the intermediate pressure compressor 113 and a second air flow B which passes through the bypass duct 122 to provide propulsive thrust. The intermediate pressure compressor 113 compresses the air flow A directed into it before delivering that air to the high pressure compressor 114 where further compression takes place. The compressed air exhausted from the high-pressure compressor 114 is directed into the combustion equipment 115 where it is mixed with fuel and the mixture combusted. The resultant hot combustion products then expand through, and thereby drive the high, intermediate and low-pressure turbines 116, 117, 118 before being exhausted through the nozzle 119 to provide additional propulsive thrust. The high, intermediate and low-pressure turbines respectively drive the high and intermediate pressure compressors 114, 113 and the fan 112 by suitable interconnecting shafts. GB 2462131 discloses a turbine rotor blade for use in e.g. the high-pressure turbine of such an engine. The blade has, at its radially outer end, a cavity or passage defined by a peripheral wall which has an opening at the trailing edge of the blade. The function of the cavity is to trap gas which leaks past the peripheral wall on the pressure side of the blade. The trapped gas forms a vortex within the cavity, and flows from the cavity through the opening at the trailing edge. This configuration serves to reduce losses in efficiency caused by gas leakage over the turbine blade tips and also to reduce losses caused by flow disturbances set up by the leakage flow. Such configurations at the tip of a rotor blade are sometimes referred to as “squealer tips”. The blade from GB 2462131 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 has an aerofoil surface made up of a pressure side 2 and a suction side 4, both extending from a leading edge 6 to a trailing edge 8. The radial tip of the blade is formed as a squealer tip, comprising a partition 10 and a peripheral wall 14, which define a cavity 12. The cavity 12 is open at the radial tip of the blade, and, through an opening 16 at the trailing edge 8 of the blade. The peripheral wall 14 comprises a first region 18 which extends from the trailing edge 8 over the suction surface 4, round the leading edge 6 and part of the way along the pressure surface 2. This first region 18 extends generally radially, and its outer surface 20 is a smooth continuation of the profile of the aerofoil surface, both on the pressure side 2 and the suction side 4. The peripheral wall 14 also has a second region 22 which is in the form of a winglet extending generally over the rear (i.e. nearer the trailing edge 8) portion of the pressure side of the blade tip. This second region 22, as is clear from sections S4 and S5 in FIG. 3, inclines outwardly of the cavity 12 with respect to the radial direction. The outer surface of the winglet is thus also inclined to the pressure side of the aerofoil surface. Between the first region 18 and the second region or winglet 22, there is a transition region 26, shown in sections S2 and S3 in FIG. 3. In the transition region 26, the peripheral wall 14 has two portions, namely a first portion 28 which extends radially, like the first region 18, and a second portion 30, which is inclined, like the second region or winglet 22. Thus, as the transition region 26 extends away from the leading edge 6, the second portion 30 becomes larger, to merge with the second region 22, while the first portion 28 becomes smaller. Because the winglet 22 is inclined from the radial direction, it has the effect of widening the cavity 12 as it approaches the trailing edge 8. The result is that, in use of the blade, gas leaking over the peripheral wall 14 on the pressure side 2 will, over the full extent of the pressure side 2, encounter a region of the cavity 12 having a width which is sufficiently large to enable the overflowing air to reattach within the cavity 12 and so remain captured until it is discharged through the opening 16 at the trailing edge 8. As described in GB 2462131, such winglets may also be formed on the suction side of the blade tip.

Display systems, such as projection type devices, may include one or more optical modulators. The modulators may each include a plurality of reflective devices, such as movable micromirrors, wherein each micromirror may correspond to a pixel or a sub-pixel of the modulator. A display system may function by reflecting light from pixels or sub-pixels of the one or more modulators in accordance with the individual positions of the pixels or sub-pixels. The multiple modulators may be mechanically aligned with one another to converge the multiple modulated images into a single, final image. This mechanical alignment process may be time consuming and increase the cost of a multiple modulator system.

1. Introduction This invention relates to new multilayered circuit boards and to processes for manufacture of the same. More particularly, the invention relates to new multilayered circuit boards having capacity for increased chip and other component attachment and further characterized by increased circuit density. The multilayered circuit boards are formed by new sequential build procedures. 2. Description of the Prior Art Multilayer circuit boards (MLBs) permit formation of multiple circuits in a minimum volume or space. They typically comprise a stack of layers where layers of signal lines (conductors) are separated from each other by a layer of dielectric material. The signal lines are in electrical contact with each other by plated holes passing through the dielectric layers. The plated holes are often referred to as “vias”. Such stacks also typically contain power and ground planes. Known processes for fabricating MLBs are extensions of methods used for fabricating double-sided circuit boards. A typical method comprises fabrication of separate innerlayer circuits. The circuits are formed by coating a photosensitive layer or film over the copper of a copper clad innerlayer base material. The photosensitive coating is imaged, developed and etched to form conductor lines. After etching, the photosensitive film is stripped from the copper leaving the circuit pattern on the surface of the innerlayer base material. Following formation of individual innerlayer circuits, a multilayer stack is formed by preparing a lay-up of innerlayers, ground planes, power planes, etc., typically separated from each other by a dielectric pre-preg comprising a layer consisting of glass cloth impregnated with partially cured material, typically a B-stage epoxy resin. The top and bottom outer layers of the stack comprise copper clad, glass filled, epoxy planar boards with the copper cladding comprising exterior surfaces of the stack. The stack is laminated to form a monolithic structure using heat and pressure to fully cure the B-stage resin. The stack so formed has copper cladding on both of its exterior surfaces. Exterior circuit layers are formed in the copper cladding using procedures similar to the procedures used to form the innerlayer circuits, A photosensitive film is applied to the copper cladding. The coating is exposed to patterned activating radiation and developed. An etchant is then used to remove copper bared by the development of the photosensitive film. Finally, the remaining photosensitive film is removed to provide the exterior circuit layers. Vias or interconnects are used to electrically connect individual circuit layers within an MLB to each other and to the outer surfaces and typically pass through all or a portion of the stack. Vias are generally formed prior to the formation of circuits on the exterior surfaces by drilling holes through the stack at appropriate locations. Following several pretreatment steps, the walls of the vias are catalyzed by contact with a plating catalyst and metallized, typically by contact with an electroless copper plating solution to form conductive pathways between circuit layers. Following formation of the vias, exterior circuits, or outerlayers are formed using the procedure described above. To construct an electronic device using an MLB, chips and other electrical components are mounted at appropriate locations on the exterior circuit layers of the multilayer stack, typically using solder mount pads to bond the components to the MLB. The components are in electrical contact with the circuits within the MLB through the conductive vias. The pads are formed by coating an organic solder mask coating over the exterior circuit layers. The solder mask may be applied by screen coating a liquid solder mask coating material over the surface of the exterior circuit layers using a screen having openings defining areas where solder mount pads are to be formed. Alternatively, a photoimageable solder mask may be coated onto the board and exposed and developed to yield an array of openings defining the pads. The openings are then coated with solder using procedures known to the art such as wave soldering. The uses, advantages and fabrication techniques for the manufacture of multilayer boards are described by Coombs, Printed Circuits Handbook, McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 2nd Edition, pp. 20-3-23-19, 1979, incorporated herein by reference. MLBs have become increasingly complex. For example, boards for main frame computers may have as many as 36 layers of circuitry or more, with the complete stack having a thickness of about ¼ inch. These boards are typically designed with 4 or 5 mil wide signal lines and 12 mil diameter vias. For increased densification, the industry desires to reduce signal lines to a width of 2 mils or less and vias to a diameter of 2 to 5 mils or less. Known commercial procedures now used are incapable of economically forming the dimensions desired by the industry. In addition to decreasing line width and via diameter, the industry also desires to avoid manufacturing problems frequently associated with MLB manufacture. As described above, current procedures utilize innerlayer materials that are glass-reinforced resin layers having a thickness of from about 4 to 5 mils clad with copper on both surfaces. The glass reinforcing material is used to contribute strength and rigidity to the MLB stack. However, since lamination is at a temperature above 150° C., the resinous portion of the laminate shrinks during cooling to the extent permitted by the rigid copper cladding. If the copper is etched to form a discontinuous pattern, laminate shrinkage may not be restrained by the copper cladding. This problem is exacerbated as feature size decreases. Consequently, further shrinkage may occur. The shrinkage may have an adverse affect on dimensional stability and registration between board layers. As described above, to form the MLB, a first step involves lay-up of layers prior to lamination. Care must be exercised to avoid shifting of the innerlayers during lamination. Otherwise, the layers will not be aligned and electrical contact between layers will not be achieved. In addition, during lay-up, air is often trapped in spaces adjacent to signal lines because a solid pre-preg is laid over the signal lines that does not completely fill all recesses between signal lines. Care must be taken to evacuate entrapped air. Residual air pockets can cause defects and subsequent problems during use of the multilayer board. The use of glass reinforced inner and outerlayer materials creates additional problems. The glass fiber is needed for board strength. However, when holes are drilled to form vias, glass fibers extend into the holes and must be removed prior to metallization. Removal creates the need for additional pretreatment steps such as the use of glass etchants to remove glass fibrils extending into the holes. If the glass is not removed, a loss of continuity might occur in the metal deposit. In addition, the glass fibers add weight and thickness to the overall MLB. The attachment of chips and other electrical components to a finished MLB adds additional, costly processing steps to the overall fabrication of an electronic device. Solder mask must be applied and imaged after the MLB is completed. The solder mask is screened onto a board through a screen or applied as a coating and then imaged. Solder is then applied such as by floating the board on a bath of molten solder. The elevated temperatures cause differential expansion of layers within the board resulting in undesirable pressures within the MLB. An improvement in methods for manufacture of MLBs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,817 incorporated herein by reference, hereafter the “'817 patent”. In accordance with the procedures of the '817 patent, manufacture of the MLB comprises sequential formation of layers using photosensitive dielectric coatings and selective metal deposition procedures. In accordance with the process of the patent, the first layer of the board is formed over a temporary or permanent carrier that may become an integral part of the board. When the carrier is a circuit, the process comprises formation of a dielectric coating over the circuit with imaged openings defining the vias. The imaged openings may be obtained by exposure of a photosensitive dielectric coating to activating radiation through a mask in an imaged pattern followed by development to form the imaged openings. Alternatively, imaging may be by laser ablation in which case the dielectric material need not be photosensitive. Metal is deposited into the recesses within the dielectric coating to form vias. Thereafter, an additional layer of dielectric is coated onto the first dielectric layer, imaged in a pattern of circuit lines, and the recesses are then plated with metal. Alternatively, after imaging the first dielectric coating, it may be coated with a second dielectric coating and imaged and the recesses plated with metal to form the vias and circuit lines simultaneously. By either process, the walls of the imaged opening or recesses in the dielectric coating contain metal as it deposits during plating and assures a desired cross-sectional shape of the deposit. Plating desirably fills the entire recess within the imaged photosensitive coating. The process is repeated sequentially to form sequential layers of circuits and vias. The procedures disclosed in the '817 patent include alternative selective metal plating methods whereby metal is selectively deposited within the imaged openings to render the same conductive. The procedures disclosed in the patent involves selectively depositing metal in imaged openings without increase in the surface resistivity of an underlying substrate between conductor lines. Selective metal deposition may be performed by several new techniques disclosed in said patent to avoid increased conductivity between signal lines. The selective deposition procedures of the '817 patent typically involve multiple coating steps using sacrificial layers. The process of the '817 patent is an advance in the art. For example, to obtain imaged openings in a dielectric coating, the coating is exposed to activating radiation in an image pattern and developed or laser ablated in a pattern to yield a relief image. The resolution of the imaged openings is dependent upon the imaging process and materials used. Photosensitive dielectric coatings may be capable of development to yield high resolution relief images including openings that are smaller than the thickness of the coating. By use of such coatings, imaged openings for vias and conductors can be of a size equivalent to the resolution capability of the dielectric material and the method of imaging. Accordingly, the cross section or configuration of a feature may be in any desired shape with a dimension far smaller than obtainable using prior art procedures. In addition, the MLBs are made without use of glass reinforced epoxy innerlayer materials. Therefore, the final MLB is free of the glass reinforcement conventionally used in the fabrication of MLBs. This is an advantage as it eliminates many problems associated with conventional MLB manufacture. For example, problems and preparative steps associated with glass fibers extending into via openings during metallization are avoided. Without the glass reinforced innerlayer material, the overall thickness of the stack is reduced. Registration problems encountered during lay-up of the stack are eliminated. Shrinkage caused by thermal cure of the B stage epoxy resin in the conventional process is avoided because a thermal cure step is not required by the process of the '817 patent. Though the process of the '817 avoids many of the problems noted above, it would be desirable to further simplify the process, especially by avoidance of electroless metal deposition procedures to form circuit lines and vias, multiple coating steps to enable selective plating, and use of molten solder to form solder mount pads.

Processing aids are commonly used in both natural and synthetic rubber compositions. Such processing aids are used during the mixing, permitting incorporation of fillers and other ingredients rapidly with lower power consumption. In instances where the filler is silica, well-known sulfur containing organosilicon compounds are used to further assist in compatibilizing the silica in the rubber composition.

The present invention relates generally to the field of tissue repair and regeneration. More particularly the present invention relates to porous biocompatible bioabsorbable foams that have a gradient in composition and/or microstructure that serve as a template for tissue regeneration, repair or augmentation. Open cell porous biocompatible foams have been recognized to have significant potential for use in the repair and regeneration of tissue. Early efforts in tissue repair focused on the use of amorphous biocompatible foam as porous plugs to fill voids in bone. Brekke, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,448) described the use of porous mesh plugs composed of polyhydroxy acid polymers such as polylactide for healing bone voids. Several attempts have been made in the recent past to make TE scaffolds using different methods, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,895 (Mikos) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,378 (Mikos, et al.) using leachables; U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,792 (Brekke) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,755 (Brekke) using vacuum foaming techniques; U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,413 (Walter, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,474 (Athanasiou, et al.) using precipitated polymer gel masses; U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,091 (Leong, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No.5,677,355 (Shalaby, et al.) using polymer melts with fugitive compounds that sublimate at temperatures greater than room temperature; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,193 (Vacanti, et al.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,899 (Schwartz, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,960 (Shikinami) using textile-based fibrous scaffolds. Hinsch et al. (EPA 274,898) described a porous open cell foam of polyhydroxy acids with pore sizes from about 10 to about 200 xcexcm for the in-growth of blood vessels and cells. The foam described by Hincsh could also be reinforced with fibers, yarns, braids, knitted fabrics, scrims and the like. Hincsh""s work also described the use of a variety of polyhydroxy acid polymers and copolymers such as poly-L-lactide, poly-DL-lactide, polyglycolide, and polydioxanone. The Hincsh foams had the advantage of having regular pore sizes and shapes that could be controlled by the processing conditions, solvents selected, and the additives. However, the above techniques have limitations in producing a scaffold with a gradient structure. Most of the scaffolds are isotropic in form and function and lack the anisotropic features of natural tissues. Further, it is the limitation of prior art to make 3D scaffolds that have the ability to control the spatial distribution of various pore shapes. The process that is described to fabricate the microstructure controlled foams is a low temperature process that offers many advantages over other conventional techniques. For example the process allows the incorporation of thermally sensitive compounds like proteins, drugs and other additives with the thermally and hydrolytically unstable absorbable polymers. Athanasiou et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,474) have more recently proposed using a two layer foam device for repairing osteochondral defects at a location where two dissimilar types of tissue are present. The Athanasiou device is composed of a first and second layer, prepared in part separately, and joined together at a subsequent step. Each of the scaffold layers is designed to have stiffness and compressibility corresponding to the respective cartilage and bone tissue. Since cartilage and bone often form adjacent layers in the body this approach is an attempt to more clearly mimic the structure of the human body. However, the interface between the cartilage and bone in the human body is not a discrete junction of two dissimilar materials with an abrupt change in anatomical features and/or the mechanical properties. The cartilage cells have distinctly different cell morphology and orientation depending on the location of the cartilage cell in relation to the underlying bone structure. The difference in cartilage cell morphology and orientation provides a continuous transition from the outer surface of the cartilage to the underlying bone cartilage interface. Thus the two layer system of Athanasiou, although an incremental improvement, does not mimic the tissue interfaces present in the human body. Another approach to make three-dimensional laminated foams is proposed by Mikos et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,378). In this technique which is quite cumbersome, a porous membrane is first prepared by drying a polymer solution containing leachable salt crystals. A three-dimensional structure is then obtained by laminating several membranes together, which are cut to a contour drawing of the desired shape. One of the major weaknesses of the prior art regarding three-dimensional porous scaffolds used for the regeneration of biological tissue like cartilage is that their microstructure is random. These scaffolds, unlike natural tissue, do not vary in morphology or structure. Further, current scaffolds do not provide adequate nutrient and fluid transport for many applications. Finally, the laminated structures are not completely integrated and subjected to delamination under in vivo conditions. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a biocompatible, bioabsorbable foam that provides a continuous transitional gradient of morphological, structural and/or materials. Further, it is preferred that foams used in tissue engineering have a structure that provides organization at the microstructure level that provides a template that facilitates cellular invasion, proliferation and differentiation that will ultimately result in regeneration of functional tissue. The present invention provides a biocompatible gradient foam that has a substantially continuous transition in at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of composition, stiffness, flexibility, bioabsorption rate pore architecture and/or microstructure. This gradient foam can be made from a blend of absorbable polymers that form compositional gradient transitions from one polymeric material to a second polymeric material. In situations where a single chemical composition is sufficient for the application, the invention provides a biocompatible foam that may have microstructural variations in the structure across one or more dimensions that may mimic the anatomical features of the tissue (e.g. cartilage, skin, bone etc.). The present invention further provides biocompatible foam having interconnecting pores and channels to facilitate the transport of nutrients and/or invasion of cells into the scaffold. These biocompatible foams are especially well adapted for facilitating the ingrowth of tissue as is described in Example 7. In yet another embodiment of the present invention biocompatible foams having interconnecting pores formed from a composition containing in the range of from about 30 weight percent to about 99 weight xcex5-caprolactone repeating units are disclosed. These biocompatible foams are especially well adapted for facilitating the growth of osteoblasts as is described in Example 6. The present invention also provides a method for the repair or regeneration of tissue contacting a first tissue with a gradient foam at a location on the foam that has appropriate properties to facilitate the growth of said tissue. The concept of a continuous transition in physical properties, chemical composition and/or microstructural features in the porous scaffold (foam) can facilitate the growth or regeneration of tissue. These foam structures are particularly useful for the generation of tissue junctions between two or more different types of tissues. For a multi-cellular system in the simplest case, one cell type could be present on one side of the scaffold and a second cell type on the other side of the scaffold. Examples of such regeneration can be (a) skin: with fibroblasts on one side to regenerate dermis, and keratinocytes on the other to regenerate epidermis; (b) vascular grafts: with an endothelial layer on the inside of the graft and a smooth muscle cell layer on the outside.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for sorting image data in real time and an image synthesizing system using such a sorting processing system. 2. Description of the Related Art Such an image synthesizing system as shown in FIG. 18 has been used, for example, in pseudo 3-D video games, a flight simulator, or other driving simulators. The image synthesizing system has previously stored image data relating to a 3-D object 300. If the image synthesizing system is used in a driving game, the 3-D object is in the form of a racing car. The image synthesizing system also forms a variety of other 3-D objects which are roads, houses and other background images disposed in a 3-D space. When a player 302 operates a handle or other tool on a player's control panel 304 to rotate or translate the 3-D object or racing car 300, the image synthesizing system responds to operation signals to compute information of images after the rotation or translation of the 3-D object 300 in real time. The computed images are then projected onto a screen 306 in a perspective transformation manner. As a result, the player 302 can virtually simulate the pseudo 3-D space as he or she actually rotates or translates the 3-D object 300 in real time. One of such image synthesizing systems is shown in FIG. 19. Image data relating to the 3-D object 300 are represented as a polyhedron divided into 3-D polygons as shown by (1)-(6) in FIG. 18 (polygons (4)-(6) being not shown in this Figure). As shown in FIG. 19, the coordinates and associated data of vertex in each of the 3-D polygons have been stored in a 3-D data memory 314 in an image supply unit 308. The coordinates of vertices are read out by a 3-D computing unit 316. According to control signals from an operator's control unit 310 through a main CPU 312, the image synthesizing system performs the computations of rotation, translation or other motions relating to the coordinates of vertices and the transformations of coordinate such as perspective transformation or others. Thereafter, image data of polygons will be outputted through the image supply unit 308. An image display unit 360 then responds to the polygon image data or coordinates of vertices of polygon from the image supply unit 308 to paint all the dots in the polygons with corresponding color data or other data. If two polygons are overlapped on each other in such a painting operation, it is required that polygon parts farthest from the view point are not displayed (hidden surface removal) and that only polygon parts closest to the view point are displayed on the screen. One of such hidden surface removal techniques is known as Z-buffer technique which is described, for example, in "Jyoho-Shori (Information Processing)", Vol. 24, No. 4, issued by Information Processing Society of Japan on Apr. 15, 1983. In order to perform the hidden surface removal through the Z-buffer technique, the image synthesizing system of the prior art comprises a polygonizer 322 and a Z-buffer 324 which is disposed in the image display unit 360. The Z-buffer 324 is an image memory having a memory space which corresponds to all the dots in the displayed scene. The image memory stores Z-value (distance from the view point) of each of the dots in a corresponding polygon. FIGS. 20A and 20B show the concept of the Z-buffer technique. As shown in FIG. 20A, 3-D polygons X and Y in 3-D objects 300 and 301 are perspectively transformed onto a screen 306. According to such a procedure as shown in FIG. 20B, Z-values of the dots in the respective polygons are written in the Z-buffer 324. In other words, the maximum Z-value M (usually, infinite value) is written in the Z-buffer 324 as an initial value. If the polygon X is to be drawn, it is judged for each dot in that polygon whether or not the Z-value of the polygon X is smaller than the Z-value stored in the Z-buffer 324 at each dot. If it is judged that the Z-value of the polygon X is smaller than that of a dot in the Z-buffer 324, that dot is color-painted by the polygonizer 322. In addition, the Z-value stored in the Z-buffer 324 at the corresponding dot is also updated. More particularly, all the Z-values of the corresponding parts will be updated from M to X1-X12. If the polygon Y is to be drawn, the Z-buffer 324 is referred to for all the dots to be drawn. According to the same procedure as described above, the color painting will be carried out with the updating of the Z-buffer 324. More particularly, the Z-values X7, X8, X11 and X12 are updated respectively into Y1, Y2, Y5 and Y6 while the M-values in the parts of Z-buffer over which the polygon Y is drawn are updated into Y3, Y4, Y7, Y8-Y12. In other words, the Z-values at the parts of the polygon X overlapped by those of the polygon Y will be changed to the Z-values of the polygon Y since the polygon Y is located closer to the view point than the polygon X. In the image display unit 360, each of the polygons is color painted according to the above procedure. The painted color data is transformed into RGB data by a palette circuit 328 and displayed on a CRT 330 as images. Such image synthesizing systems are usually required to process images in real time. Image data for one scene (two scenes according to circumstances) must be updated for every field, for example, for every 1/60 seconds. Thus, the image synthesizing system is required to have an increased image processing speed. If the image processing speed is not increased, the quality of image will be reduced. The processing part of the image synthesizing system which is most used to increase the image processing speed is one for finally painting the dots with a given color. This is because the polygonizer 322 must perform the processing step for all the dots in the displayed scene, unlike the image supply unit 308 of FIG. 19 which is only required to process the 3-D polygon for each vertex. More particularly, if the image display is to be made on a CRT of 640.times.400 pixels, all the dots equal to 640.times.400=256,000 must have been completely painted within one field or for 1/60 seconds. It is therefore preferable that a computation used to perform such a color painting is as simple as possible, with the number of computations being as small as possible. In the Z-buffer technique, however, the color painting must be carried out by referring to the Z-buffer 324 to compare the Z-values at the respective dots with those stored in the Z-buffer, the comparison results being written in the Z-buffer. The computation used to make the color painting becomes a burden on the image synthesizing system. Therefore, the Z-buffer technique is unsuitable for use in performing the hidden surface removal in the image synthesizing system which should process high-quality images in real time.

Because of the increasing cost of electrical energy, the substitution of initially costlier but more energy efficient lamp types in place of incandescent lamps has become practical. A prime candidate for this substitution is the fluorescent lamp, primarily because of its high luminous efficacy. Compact fluorescent lamps are known in which the envelope includes at least two longitudinally extending leg members joined together by a transversely extending envelope portion. One example of such a lamp which is commercially available is the "Twin-Tube" fluorescent lamp manufactured by GTE Sylvania, Danvers, Massachusetts. Other examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,340, which issued to Bouwknegt et al on Feb. 15, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,602, which issued to Mollet et al on Jan. 17, 1984; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,442, which issued to Albrecht et al on Nov. 6, 1984. In lamps of the above type, in which a plurality of spaced-apart leg members are employed, the light output resulting from the lamp is generally non-uniform (i.e., the silhouette of the individual leg members is clearly distinguishable) and may be aesthetically displeasing in particular lighting applications in which the lamp envelope is exposed.

The desire to realize smaller and thinner modules mounted with semiconductor ICs has prompted numerous proposals regarding how to mount a bare semiconductor IC chip on a printed circuit board. A semiconductor IC in the bare-chip state has a very much narrower electrode pitch than a packaged semiconductor IC. When it is mounted on a printed circuit board, therefore, a need arises to address the important issue of how to bond the electrode pads of the semiconductor IC (sometimes called the “land electrodes” in the following description) with the wiring of the printed circuit board (sometimes called the “board wiring pattern”). One known method of bonding the land electrodes and board wiring pattern is wire bonding. Although this method enables relatively easy mounting of a bare-chip semiconductor IC, a problem arises in that the mounting area becomes large owing to the need to establish the region for mounting the semiconductor IC and the region for connecting the bonding wires on different surfaces of the printed circuit board. Another method of connecting the land electrodes and board wiring pattern is that of mounting the bare-chip semiconductor IC by the flip-chip method. While this method reduces the mounting area, it involves complicated processing, such as applying multiple layers of under barrier metal (UBM) on the land electrodes in order to ensure adequate mechanical bonding strength between the land electrodes and board wiring pattern. Moreover, both of these methods result in the semiconductor IC being mounted on the surface of the printed circuit board. The methods therefore have the common disadvantage of making it difficult to reduce the overall thickness of the module. Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 9-321408 ('408) teaches a method of fabricating a module with embedded semiconductor IC by forming a cavity in the printed circuit board and embedding a bare-chip semiconductor IC in the cavity. When the method of '408 is adopted, however, the thickness of the printed circuit board needs to be increased to some degree so as to reinforce the strength of the region where the cavity is formed. This runs counter to the desire to make the module thinner. In addition, the size of the cavity in the planar direction has to be made somewhat larger than the size of the semiconductor IC in the planar direction. The resulting shift in the positional relationship between the land electrodes and board wiring pattern makes it very difficult to use a semiconductor IC having an electrode pitch of 100 μm or smaller. Thus with the conventional module with embedded semiconductor IC, it is difficult to achieve sufficient thickness reduction and, further, very difficult to use a semiconductor IC having a narrow electrode pitch. In the method taught by '408, most of the semiconductor IC is covered by the resin layer for filling the cavity. When a material excellent in physical properties is selected for the resin layer, the electrical properties are inadequate, and when a material excellent in electrical properties is selected, the physical properties are inadequate. In the conventional module with embedded semiconductor IC, it has therefore been hard to achieve both good semiconductor IC physical protection and excellent electrical properties at the same time.

The present invention relates generally to middleware, and relates more particularly to the assembly of a middleware system from discrete middleware components. Specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for dynamic assembly and adaptation of middleware components. Systems software that functions as an intermediary between different components (e.g., applications and services) is generally referred to in the computer industry as middleware. Middleware is a mechanism used to simplify the development of software systems by adding one layer of indirection between the operating system and the application. It is often employed to integrate and coordinate the interoperation of distributed, heterogeneous applications over a network. For example, middleware may allow a program written for access to a particular database to access other databases as well. Middleware is also used by applications to coordinate updates to multiple databases. In yet another example, middleware may also allow a program written in one programming language to interoperate with a (seemingly incompatible) program written in a different programming language. In all cases, the role of middleware is to functionally mediate between (software, hardware and networking) infrastructure and applications; middleware is specialized software that enables other software (e.g., applications and services) to interoperate. Traditional middleware models, while configurable, are static; that is, specific middleware components with specific sets of features and functions are typically selected prior to application development, deployment and execution. The middleware components are installed on a specific client at which an application executes, and execution of application programs by the client is limited to the installed middleware technology. When middleware is deployed within a service-oriented architecture, such a static model may not be optimal. In such architectures, applications will tend to dynamically find and interact with each other. Thus, the required or desired features and functions to be provided by the middleware may not be known until runtime (e.g., for services only discovered at runtime), may depend on changing system conditions (e.g., network load or global security policies), or may change over time as new versions of middleware features and functions become available. Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for dynamic middleware assembly.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device functioning as a telephone machine (telephone), and particularly to a portable information terminal. The present invention relates in particular to a portable information terminal having EL elements in a display portion. Note that, in this specification, a portable information terminal denotes a communication device capable of being carried by a user and which possesses both a function of being able to exchange data with another individual while in motion, and a function as a telephone. 2. Description of the Related Art Technology relating to flat panel displays has been developing rapidly in recent years under the background of increasing needs for lighter, thinner, and smaller displays. Flat panel displays are capable of displaying an image which is high quality, full color, and has high resolution. One type of flat panel display, liquid crystal display devices, are used in display portions of portable information terminals (such as a mobile computer, a portable telephone, a portable type game machine, and an electronic book). FIG. 25 shows a portable telephone, which is one type of portable information terminal having a liquid crystal display device. The portable telephone shown in FIG. 25 includes a main body 2801, an audio output portion 2802, an audio input portion 2803, a display portion 2804, operation keys 2805, and an antenna 2806. The portable telephone shown in FIG. 25 has a function as a telephone, namely it converts audio input to the audio input portion 2803 into electric waves and then outputs the electric waves, and it takes in electric waves having audio information to convert it to audio, then plays the audio in the audio output portion. A liquid crystal display device is used in the display portion 2804, and is capable of displaying necessary information. With the conventional portable information terminal shown in FIG. 25, images such as characters, numerals, or symbols are listed on or displayed on the operation keys so that the operator can recognize what type of information is input to the portable information terminal when which operation key is pressed. However, the direction of the characters, numerals, or symbols displayed on the operation keys is always fixed with a conventional portable information terminal. The operator therefore must use the portable information terminal by always aligning with the direction of the characters, numerals, or symbols displayed on the operation key, and the portable information terminal itself is not user friendly.

In recent years, fuel cell for generating electricity by an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen has been focused on as an energy source. The fuel cell is configured with a hydrogen electrode and an oxygen electrode sandwiching an electrolyte. When hydrogen-rich fuel gas is supplied to the hydrogen electrode and oxidizing gas such as air is supplied to the oxygen electrode, the hydrogen and oxygen in these gases react to form water while generating electricity. This reaction mainly occurs at the oxygen electrode. When a large amount of water is formed by the reaction, there is a case to be impossible to discharge the formed water and the formed water causes clogging of oxidizing gas piping depending on the fuel cell operating condition. This phenomenon called flooding causes interference of oxidizing gas supply to the oxygen electrode. By the interference, the performance of the electricity generation becomes lower and an adverse effect such as shortening of the fuel cell lifetime may occur. The flooding occurs easily when the operating condition for which the oxidizing gas flow rate is relatively small, such a condition as generating electricity at a low current density. JP63-110558A discloses a technique for suppressing flooding by increasing the flow rate of oxidizing gas intermittently. To increase the flow rate of oxidizing gas, it is necessary to increase the pump power of a pump for supplying the oxidizing gas. Increase of the pump power may cause a decrease in energy efficiency of fuel cells. Also the increase in the flow rate may be delay after the increase of the pump power, so there is the problem that the responsiveness is not enough for suppression of flooding by increasing the flow rate of the oxidizing gas. Due to this kind of low responsiveness, with the conventional art, it is necessary to increase the oxidizing gas before the flooding occurred, and there is also the problem of decreasing the energy efficiency. The present invention is created considering these problems, and its purpose is to provide a technology capable of avoiding flooding while suppressing a decrease in energy efficiency.

Data centers are increasingly used by enterprises for effective collaboration, data storage, and resource management. A typical data center network contains myriad network elements including servers, load balancers, routers, switches, etc. The network connecting the network elements provides secure user access to data center services and an infrastructure for deployment, interconnection, and aggregation of shared resources. Improving operational efficiency and optimizing utilization of resources in data centers are some of the challenges facing data center managers. Data center managers seek a resilient infrastructure that consistently supports diverse applications and services. A properly planned data center network provides application and data integrity and, further, optimizes application availability and performance.

1.1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the fields of protein chemistry and hematology. More particularly, the invention discloses novel compositions comprising solid-phase, i.e., bound, forms of immunologically-active Rh antigen. Also disclosed are diagnostic kits and devices for the detection and quantitation of Rh antibodies in clinical and non-clinical samples. In another aspect, the invention relates to devices, compositions and methods for the isolation, identification, quantitation, and purification of anti-Rh antibodies from solution. 1.2 Description of the Related Art 1.2.1 Rh Antigens The Rh blood group system is one of the most complex polymorphisms in humans. Human red blood cells (RBCs) may be subdivided into Rh+ and Rhxe2x88x92 groups according to the presence or absence of the major Rh blood group antigen, Rhesus D (Rho D) (Cartron and Agre, 1993). Several genes have been implicated as encoding the major Rh antigen epitopes, D, C, c, E, and e, while a host of others are speculated to be involved in the determinants of a host of rare alleles. Rh antigens, including Rho D, are carried on an integral membrane protein which has a molecular weight of approximately 30 kDa (Moore et al. 1982; Gahmberg, 1982; 1983). This protein has been implicated in the molecular adhesion of the submembranous cytoskeleton to the erythrocyte cell membrane (Ridgwell et al., 1984), and persons lacking the proteins exhibit Rh Deficiency Syndrome, accompanied by varying degrees of hemolytic anemia (Marsh, 1983). Paradis et al. (1986) demonstrated that the presence of the cytoskeleton in isolated Rho D antigen preparations served as a protective effect on the immunologic activity of the Rh antigen. 1.2.2 Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn (HDN) The RBC antigen system in humans is the basis for the disease called Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus/Newborn. This disorder is manifested when an Rhxe2x88x92 woman becomes pregnant by an Rh+ man. The fetus is statistically likely to be Rh+ and during gestation or at birth, Rh+ fetal RBC can enter the maternal circulation and the woman then has a high probability of developing an anti-Rh antibody response against the transferred RBC. In subsequent pregnancies, the IgG form of the antibody crosses the placenta and enters the fetal circulation where it binds to fetal Rh+ RBC and thereby causes them to be rapidly removed from circulation in liver and spleen. The first child is rarely affected since the mother has not yet developed the antibodies, but all subsequent fetuses are at risk for disease if the mother is not appropriately treated. The current treatment for this condition is strictly preventive. The strategy is to attempt to keep the woman from initially developing anti-Rh antibodies. This is done by administering 300 xcexcg of an immunoglobulin (Ig) preparation that contains anti-Rh antibodies at 28 weeks of gestation and again within 72 hr of birth. This is highly effective in preventing the disease when the patient comes in early for prenatal care. Unfortunately, large numbers of women do not obtain proper prenatal care for various reasons and go on to develop strong anti-Rh immune responses. For these women, in utero transfusion of the fetus under ultrasound guidance is the only current treatment available for high-risk cases when the woman has previously developed a strong immune response against the Rh antigen. Because eighty-five percent of the Caucasian population is Rh+, a considerable number of women and their offspring are potentially at risk for contracting the disease. 1.2.3 Attempts to Isolate Active Solid-Phase Rh Antigen have Failed Unfortunately, attempts to isolate active Rh antigen have been disappointing, and no successful attempts at preparing bound forms of the antigen have been reported. Indeed, a definitive review (Agre and Cartron, 1991) reported that Rh antigenic activity was lost after membranes are solubilized or transferred onto immunoblot membranes, and most biochemical methods therefore actually kill the antigenic activity that identifies and defines the Rh antigen. Moore et al. (1982) and Plapp et al. (1979) each reported isolation of small amounts of Rh antigen after affinity chromatography of deoxycholate solubilized RBC. Plapp et al. (1979) solubilized the cells in deoxycholate, added the mixture to an affinity column made of immobilized anti-Rh antibodies and eluted the bound fraction. The resulting eluate was active in inhibition of a reaction between Rh+ RBC and antibody. Disappointingly, however, extracts from both Rh+ and Rhxe2x88x92 cells inhibited the reaction, with the authors postulating that Rh antigen was merely xe2x80x9chiddenxe2x80x9d in Rhxe2x88x92 cells. That conclusion, however, was disproved when modem molecular biology methods conclusively showed that Rho(D) antigen is not present in Rhxe2x88x92 cells (Agre and Cartron, 1991), and that the Rh antigen polypeptides had molecular weights of between 28 and 32 kDa (Agre and Cartron, 1991). Clearly the 7 kDa polypeptide reported by Plapp and coworkers could not be the Rh antigen polypeptide. Moore et al. (1982) surface-labeled RBC with 125I, reacted the labeled cells with anti-Rh antibodies, washed the cells and dissolved them in deoxycholate. This was passed over a protein A-Sepharose column and complexes were isolated after elution. Although they were successful in detecting Rh antigen in acrylamide gel separations of eluted complexes by autoradiography, the amount of Rh protein isolated by their method was too low to provide definitive analysis of Rh protein. In fact, the quantities were so small, that no inhibition assays could be performed to ascertain the activity and integrity of the isolated protein. A report in 1986 suggested that minor amounts of Rh antigen could be isolated in soluble form (Paradis et al., 1986), but unfortunately, this method, too, provided a limited quantity of Rh antigen, and the preparation was contaminated with cytoskeleton components. Attempts by workers in the field to repeat the method for isolation of large-quantities of active Rh antigen were unsuccessful, as were attempts to couple the soluble form of the antigen to various solid-phase supports and maintain antigenicity of the preparation when adsorbed to solid-phase matrices such as ELISA plates, nitrocellulose, plastic beads, Sepharose, etc. using standard methodologies. 1.2.4 Unavailability of Solid-Phase Rh Antigen has Limited Hematology The unavailability of solid-phase (or bound) Rh antigen compositions, and the lack of ability of using contemporary immunoassay methodologies such as ELISA and solid-phase antigen assays have confounded the field of hematology for many decades. Because of these limitations, and because no assays for anti-Rh antibodies exist except for time-consuming, cumbersome, non-quantitative RBC agglutination assays, the fields of hematology, obstetrics and neonatology are severely lacking in this important regard. The shortcomings of the present methodologies in the area are many. First, the results are reported as a titer (i.e. the highest dilution of the serum in question that gives a standard degree of agglutination). It is commonly understood in the field that titer results are highly subjective depending on who reads the result. Variations of xc2x11 tube are accepted variations due to this subjectivity. Further, it is commonly known that a given serum can be given to two different individuals or two different laboratories and the reported titers can be dramatically different. Even if reporting of titers was absolute, the doubling dilutions used would mean that reported results potentially have almost 100% error inherent. For example, suppose that 5 xcexcg/ml antibody would yield an agglutination titer of 1:32. This would mean that the patient would need to have 10 xcexcg/ml to yield a titer of 1:64. Thus, an amount of antibody of 9.5 xcexcg/ml would be reported as a 1:32 titer because only 2-fold dilutions are made. The higher the antibody concentration, the greater the discrepancy becomes, i.e., if the titers were reading 200 versus 400 xcexcg/ml, a concentration of 390 that is interpreted as 200 is greatly under reported by titering. 1.3 Deficiencies in the Prior Art The isolation of active Rh antigen polypeptides, and in particular, the Rho D antigen-bearing polypeptide, in large quantity has eluded scientists for more than half a century. That it has not been possible to isolate, store, and immobilize antigenically- (or serologically-) active blood group antigens, and in particular Rh antigen, represents a significant limitation in the medical arts. Because of the unavailability of large amounts of antigenically-active blood group antigen proteins, it has been impossible to develop improved assays and methods for identifying, isolating and purifying specific antibodies which recognize these antigens. Likewise, the unavailability of bound forms of serologically-active blood group antigens has prevented the development of affinity matrices comprising blood group antigens such as Rh antigens, ELISA methodologies specific for these antigens, and devices for the inline purification and removal of anti-blood group antibodies from solution. Because of the impossibility of isolating antigenically-active Rh antigens in quantity using conventional methods, development of such methods and compositions have never been available. Moreover, because no method currently exists for the isolation of antigenically-active Rh antigens, and in particular D antigen, all current analytical procedures in hematology must rely on the availability of intact RBCs. Standard blood bank practice relies on doing agglutination assays using defined RBC and patient serum. During clinical management of previously alloimmunized patients, critical treatment decisions often depend on a combination of symptoms and laboratory results. Knowledgne of the level of anti-D antibody can be crucially important in determining the management strategy for such patients. Unfortunately, there is a wide variation in the results of the doubling dilution titers reported by laboratories. A recent surbey of laboratories was done by the College of American Pathologists to determine the uniformity of results reported for a single standard anti-D serum (College of American Pathologists, 1996). In the survey, 1641 participants were given the same anti-D serum and were asked to report titers. Titer scores varied widely with results ranging between titers of 1:2 and 1:2048. Titers of 1:32 or 1:64 were reported by 59.5% of participants and a titer range of 1:16 to 1:128 was reported by 86% of participants. Thus, 14% of laboratories reported titers below 1:16 or above 1:128 for the identical sample. Such results dramatically illustrate the well-known variability of the doubling dilution agglutination titer method of anti-Rh antibody measurement currently in use in the medical community and underline the urgent need for development of a quantitative assay method for Rh blood group antigens, and D antigen in particular. Therefore, what is lacking in the prior art is the availability of antigenically-active blood group antigens, and in particular Rh antigens such as the D antigen. Also lacking are methods for the isolation and maintenance of such antigens in serologically-active forms both soluble and bound. What is needed is the availability of quantitative analyses and methods for the determination of Rh antigens in solution, identification and quantitation of anti-Rh antibodies, and methods and diagnostic kits for the ready determination of both antigen and antibodies specific for blood group antigens such as Rh antigens, and in particular D antigen. Such methods and compositions would provide a revolutionary advance in the medical arts, particularly in the areas of hematology, blood banking, transfusion medicine, obstetrics, and neonatology, and would permit fabrication of devices and apparatus useful for the isolation and purification of anti-Rh antibodies from solution. Such apparatus would be particularly useful in treatment of disorders such as hemolytic disease of the newborn. The present invention overcomes these and other deficiencies in the prior art by providing novel methods and compositions comprising serologically- (antigenically-) active blood group antigens, and in particular, Rh antigens including the D antigen, which may be adsorbed to a variety of solid supports including ELISA microtiter plates, plastic and glass beads, coverslips, sepharose, agarose, and other solid-phase antigen-presenting supports. Methods are disclosed for the preparation, storage, and assay of antigenically-active blood group antigens such as the Rh antigens in both soluble and bound forms. The invention also provides compositions and methods comprising anti-blood group antibodies, and in particular, anti-Rh antibodies, such as anti-D antibodies, as well as methods for isolation, identification, and quantitation of these antibodies. Other aspects of the invention are apparatus and devices for the isolation of anti-Rh antibodies from solution, and in particular, methods and compositions for the isolation and removal of anti-D antibodies from a mammal such as a human. Such methods and devices find particular utility in the removal of anti-Rh antibodies from the blood of a pregnant female, and in the treatment and prevention of HDN and other related fetal disorders. 2.1 Methods for Stabilizing Antigenically-Active Forms of Blood Group Antigens The inventors have demonstrated that the serologic integrity of Rh antigen extracts can be protected from the detrimental effects of salt buffers by incorporating amphoteric buffers in the isolation protocol. Suitable amphoteric buffers which may be used to successfully store and manipulate active Rh antigen include, but are not limited to, those solutions which have amphoteric properties. Such buffers are well-known in the art, and include, among others, WRA, glycine, HEPES, MOPS, Bis-Tris, Alanine, and Acetate. The buffers described by Good and Izawa (1972) are also contemplated to be useful in the practice of the invention. In an illustrative embodiment, the inventors have utilized the amphoteric buffer WRA to isolate, store, and manipulate active Rh antigen. The buffers are useful in pH ranges of 1 to 6, and are most preferred in the range of from about pH 2 to about pH 7, although higher and lower pH ranges may be contemplated to be useful for certain applications. Concentrations of from about 0.1% to about 5% for WRA, glycine, HEPES, MOPS, Bis-Tris, and alanine are most preferred, as are concentrations of from about 0.01 M to about 1.0 M for acetate. The bound (or solid-phase) antigen is very stable in amphoteric buffers and retains serologic activity for extended periods of time. Using the ampholyte/glycine buffer, ELISA assays have now been done successfully with both the human and the rabbit forms of the Rh antigen. Preferred buffers include ampholytes as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,736, incorporated herein by reference, although any such amphoteric buffer is contemplated to be useful in the preparation, storage and adsorption of the antigens disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the amphoteric composition WRA, a novel buffer formulated by the inventors, has been shown to be useful in the practice of the methods disclosed herein. The formulation of WRA buffer is disclosed in Example 1. Alternatively, the ampholyte buffers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,736 (incorporated herein by reference) are equally useful in the practice of the present invention. 2.2 Compositions Comprising Solid-Phase Blood Group Antigens In a preferred embodiment the present invention provides serologically-active blood group antigens immobilized onto a solid support or substrate. One such family of preferred antigens is the Rh antigens, and a most preferred Rh antigen is the Rh D antigen. The solid support or substrate may be, but is not limited to, matrices, columns, chromatographic media, glass or plastic surfaces, acrylic beads, beaded agarose, Sepharose, coverslips, microscope slides, test tubes, vials, bottles, ELISA supports, and the like. When desired, the antigenic polypeptides may be adsorbed onto such media either by hydrophobic interaction, or by active crosslinking of the protein antigen(s) to the solid support or substrate by cyanogen bromide, oxirane, p-nitrophenyl chloroformate activation or by any other suitable means known to those of skill in the art. The solid support may be in the form of an apparatus or device which comprises a chamber, one or more inlet ports, one or more outlet ports, and a matrix within the chamber to which the antigenically-active form of the protein or peptide is adsorbed or chemically crosslinked. In an illustrative embodiment, the inventors adsorbed Rh D antigen to t-butyl HIC beads (Bio-Rad), passed a solution containing anti-D antibodies over the column, and removed such antibodies from solution via the binding of the anti-D antibody to the D antigen adsorbed to the column. Methods are also provided for washing such a column, device or apparatus to remove contaminating materials, and then subsequently eluting the bound antibody from the antigen matrix using eluants such as chaotropic reagents. 2.3 Novel Methods for Low-pH Adsorption of Antigens to Solid Matrices The inventors have devised a methodology incorporating two non-obvious steps that permit the efficient adsorption of Rh antigens to a solid support or substrate. The invention provides novel compositions comprising such solid-phase active Rh antigens, and provides methods and devices for solid-phase active Rh antigens, and in particular, the adsorption of Rh antigen to glass and plastic beads and to ELISA plates, microtiter dishes, slides, and other substrata. The first requirement for preservation of Rh antigenicity when Rh polypeptides are adsorbed to solid supports is to do all manipulations involving the antigen in salt-free organic buffers (particularly organic amphoteric buffers). The second requirement is that the antigen adsorption be performed at low pH (a condition that normally denatures most protein antigens). In a surprising finding, the inventors have demonstrated that adsorption of the antigen under conditions where the pH was 1 to 6 was preferred, with a pH range of 2 to 5 being more preferred, and a pH of 2.4 to 4.5 being most preferred for adsorption of the antigenically-active protein to a solid support. 2.4 Methods for Isolation of Anti-Rh Antibodies Methods are disclosed and claimed for isolating antibodies specific to blood group antigens from solution using the compositions, devices, and apparatus disclosed herein. In particular, these methods are applicable to the isolation of Rh-specific antibodies from solution. In a preferred embodiment, methods for isolating anti-D antibodies from solution is provided. Preferably the solution is a biological solution, such as blood, serum, plasma, monoclone culture supernatant, tissue culture supernatant, bacterial culture supernatant, cell fluid, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, or any other biological sample where the presence of one or more blood group antibodies are suspected. In preferred embodiments, the solution is a biological solution from a mammal, and in particular a human or a rabbit, although the inventors contemplate that other animals such as bovines, equines, porcines, goats, and the like may also provide a source for the particular solution to be used in practice of the invention. Preferably the animal is human, and more preferably, the animal is a pregnant female. By contacting the blood of the mammal with a solid-phase Rh antigen composition of the invention, anti-Rh antibodies may be removed from the solution by adsorption to the antigenically-active bound Rh antigen. In a most preferred embodiment, anti-D antibodies are removed from solution such as human blood, plasma, or serum using a device, composition, or apparatus comprising an antigenically-active form of the D antigen. To facilitate adsorption of the antibody to the antigen, the solid-phase antigen composition may be incubated in the presence of a solution containing anti-Rh antibodies with agitation for an appropriate time period to permit adsorption of the antibody to the antigen-matrix. In an alternate embodiment, the contact can be made in the form of a column connected to one or more pumping devices, such as a peristaltic pump, for example, to enhance the flow rate of the antibody-containing solution past the solid-phase support comprising the antigen. The contact step may be repeated two, three, four or even more than four times with further depletion of antibodies from the solution at each step. In a most preferred embodiment, an in-line affinity matrix column apparatus is contemplated for the isolation and removal of anti-Rh antibodies from the circulatory system of a human. 2.5 Devices and Apparatus for Isolation of Antibodies from Solution The invention discloses and claims apparatus and devices which comprise the novel antigenically-active protein antigens of the present invention. These apparatus and devices are provided for the isolation of antibodies specific for the bound antigens from solution. In particular, devices are provided for the removal of Rh antibodies from the circulatory system of an animal. Most preferably, the animal is a pregnant human female whose circulatory system contains anti-D antibodies. The availability of a serologically-active solid-phase antigen also provides a means for specific antibody purification so that dramatically smaller doses of anti-Rh antibodies could be used for therapies which currently rely on the whole globulin fraction of pooled high-titered anti-Rh sera. Polyclonal antibodies are known to be much more active in diagnostic assays than the available monoclones. The devices and apparatus of the present invention represent novel and useful means for removing specific antibodies from solution, and in particular for lowering the titer of anti-Rh antibodies in the circulatory system of an animal, and in particular, a woman with a high anti-Rh titer. In conjunction with the preceding method, the inventors also contemplate the formulation of apparatus and devices for the in-line removal of anti-(blood group antigen) antibodies from solution, and particularly from the bloodstream of a pregnant human female. In preferred embodiments, such antibodies are anti-Rh antibodies, with anti-D antibodies being most preferred. In a general sense the devices comprise a chamber having inlet and outlet ports, and contained within such a chamber, a composition comprising an immunologically-active immobilized blood group antigen. The device is then used to adsorb the anti-(blood group antigen) antibodies from solution passed through the device and over the matrix. Such devices may optionally comprise one or more pumps to facilitate the passage of solution over the matrix. Single or multiple inlet and outlet ports may be fitted onto the chamber depending upon the particular application. Such ports may optionally have fittings such as Leur-Lok collars for attachment of tubes, hoses, or syringes fitted with a Leur-Lok connection. The manufacture of in-line devices for the purification of components from whole blood, serum, plasma, lymph, synovial fluid, etc. is well-known in the art. Such devices are useful in applications relating to plasmapheresis. In this process, plasma is separated from blood cell components and passed through a filtration mechanism. Absorbed antibody matrices such as Sepharose, cellulose, nylon, glass, acrylic, or other plastic, or inert resins, beads, fibers, etc. are all contemplated to be within the scope of this application when employed for the removal of antibodies from solution using the novel Rh antigen compositions disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the use of t-butyl HIC beads coated with Rh antigen in an inline immunoadsorbant filter under conditions of room temperature, pH 7.2 to 7.4 for a period of from about 2 to about 4 hr is contemplated to be useful for the removal of anti-Rh antibodies from a biological fluid such as plasma. The inventors contemplate that any such device which comprises an antigen-bound to a matrix could be used in an in-line format with a plasmapheresis machine to remove antibodies from plasma of women with high levels of anti-Rh antibodies. The plasma would circulate through the device, anti-Rh antibodies would bind to the antigen-matrix, and the plasma eluate would then be reinfused into the patient. This would be particularly useful in quickly lowering the anti-Rh titer of a pregnant patient if the fetus is in danger from the presence of such circulating antibodies. The inventors anticipate that the in-line removal of antibodies from maternal circulation could be used to deplete anti-Rh antibodies making in utero transfusion unnecessary. In a general sense, an apparatus of the present invention comprises a chamber with an inlet port and an outlet port, and an immobilized antigenically-active blood group antigen composition contained within the chamber. The chamber may be of any shape, although cylindrical chambers are preferred. The antigens which may be bound to the solid support include one or more blood group antigens such as a D antigen, a c antigen, a C antigen, an e antigen, an E antigen, an A antigen, a B antigen, or an F antigen, or any other of the blood group antigens disclosed herein or known to those of skill in the art. Optionally, the apparatus can further comprise one or more pumps. As described herein, the solid support may be of any suitable material to which one or more antigenically-active blood group antigens may be adsorbed. Preferred matrices include, but are not limited to, glass, plastic, acrylate, methylmethacrylate, Sepharose, agarose, nylon, fiber, or glass wool supports. In a preferred embodiment, the protein or peptide is immobilized under conditions of low pH, with a pH range of about pH 6 to about pH 1 being preferred and a pH range of from about pH 2.4 to about pH 4.5 being most preferred. The proteins or peptides may be immobilized in the presence of an amphoteric or zwitterionic buffer such as EDTA, WRA, MOPS, HEPES, glycine, alanine, Bis-Propane or Bis-Tris. Typically, the concentration of buffer will be on the order of from about 0.01% to about 5%, or more preferably, from about 1% to about 4%. One such device contemplated by the inventors to be useful in the practice of the invention is a column such as the FDA-approved device for inline absorption of total IgG antibodies known as a Prosorba(copyright) column (IMRE Corp., Seattle, Wash.). This column is approximately 3xe2x80x3 Dxc3x974xe2x80x3 H and is filled with a matrix of Silica to which is coupled staphylococcal Protein A. This column is used to absorb all IgG from plasma, regardless of specificity. Although it is currently approved only for use in patients with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP, an autoimmune disease in which antibodies to platelets or antibodies to foreign antigens that are adhered to platelets destroy the platelets), modification of this column using the novel blood group antigens disclosed herein would provide a device for the specific removal of particular blood group antigens from solution. The inventors propose a modification of such a column for specific removal of anti-blood group antibodies, and in particular anti-Rh antibodies using the novel antigens of the present invention. While the capacity of such a blood group antigen-specific column may differ from a native Prosorba(copyright) column, one of skill in the art would be able to modify the column and formulate a blood group antigen-specific column in a similar fashion. Such a column could contain a single blood group antigen, or a combination of two or more blood group antigens. An example of this column and the general schematic for its use in isolating antibodies from the circulatory system of an animal is illustrated in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19. In an illustrative embodiment of this aspect of the invention, the inventors created an apparatus which consisted of a 50 ml column containing beads coated with the rabbit homolog of the human Rh D antigen (RhRABBIT F). From this device, the inventors isolated 90.2 mg of purified anti-F antibody. When the size of the column was increased to 60 ml of RhRABBIT F-coated beads, the inventors isolated 145.4 mg of purified anti-F anti-body from a solution passed over the column. The inventors contemplate that a variety of solid phase supports comprising adsorbed or covalently crosslinked antigenically-active forms of blood group antigens such as the Rh antigens, and in particular the D antigen could be fashioned in devices similar to these illustrated in FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B to provide the specific removal of Rh antigen-specific antibodies from solution, and particularly, as an inline means of removing antibodies from the circulatory system of an animal. One such inline means is illustrated schematically in FIG. 18 which depicts a varation of plasmapheresis, a method well-known to those of skill in the art for separating plasma from the circulatory system of an animal. Incorporation of a device or apparatus of the present invention into such a method would facilitate an ex vivo isolation and removal of antibodies directly from the bloodstream of an animal using one or more serologically-active protein antigens coupled to a matrix contained within a device such as that illustrated in FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B. 2.6 Compositions and Methods for Quantitative Assay of Blood Group Antigens and Antibodies The invention provides active Rh antigen for use in ELISAs and related quantitative methodologies. The availability of active solid-phase Rh antigen now permits the development of quantitative diagnostic protocols and kits comprising the compositions disclosed herein. By utilizing the Rh antigen to coat ELISA plates, prequantified specifically purified antibodies may be used to create a standard curve for quantitation of Rh antigens which may now be prepared in large quantity through conventional or recombinant methods that are well-known to those of skill in the art. Patient sera may then be diluted as in conventional agglutination assays, with the results being quantitated using a standard curve in conventional units (typically xcexcg/ml, e.g.). Such methods are well-known in the art, and are routinely performed for antigens such a growth hormones, etc. using ELISA, RIA, or related techniques which are also known to those of skill in the art. In an important aspect of the invention, the availability of the active Rh antigen compositions disclosed herein, now extends the use of ELISA and RIA methodologies for use in detection and quantitation of anti-Rh antibodies. Prior to the present invention, no such tests had been available to clinicians and hematologists. One aspect of the invention is a composition comprising an isolated and purified antigenically-active blood group antigen protein or peptide. Such an antigen is preferably a mammalian antigen such as that derived from a human or rabbit. In preferred embodiments, the antigen is an Rh antigen or a rabbit homolog of a human Rh antigen such as a D antigen, a c antigen, a C antigen, an e antigen, an E antigen, an A antigen, a B antigen, or an F antigen. In an important aspect of the invention, the protein or peptide is antigenically-active under conditions of low pH such as in the range of from about pH 6 to about pH 1. More preferably, the pH is from about pH 2.4 to about pH 4.5. In sharp contrast to the prior art in which antigenically-active Rh antigens were stable in solution for only short periods of time, the antigen compositions of the present invention are stable for significantly longer periods of time, such as e.g., for periods of time from at least 4 hours to as much as 192 hours or more. The compositions of the invention may further comprise an amphoteric or zwitterionic buffer such as EDTA, WRA, MOPS, HEPES, glycine, alanine, Bis-Propane or Bis-Tris, and the like. Typically, the buffer is present at a concentration of from about 0.01% to about 5%. The peptide antigen compositions may be soluble, or alternatively they may be immobilized onto a solid support such as a glass, plastic, acrylate, methylmethacrylate, Sepharose, agarose, nylon, fiber, or glass wool substrate or the like. Immobilized peptide antigen compositions are particularly contemplated to be useful in the formulation of petri dishes, test tubes, vials, microscope slides, ELISA plates, microtiter dishes, culture plates and the like to which it is desirable to adsorb or chemically crosslink the novel peptide antigens. Such immobilized antigen compositions are particularly preferred for the formulation of immunoaffinity columns and similar matrices. Once immobilized, the peptide antigens may be maintained in solution, or alternatively, may be dried and stored in dry form for extended periods of time. In preferred embodiments, the inventors have shown the antigen compositions to be stable for at least 192 hrs without loss of antigenic activity. Such compositions find particular utility in the fomulation of immunodetection reagents, diagnostic kits, and blood group antigen/antibody assays. 2.7 Diagnostic Kits, Immunodetection Reagents, and Assays The present invention provides methods, compositions and kits for screening samples suspected of containing Rh antigen polypeptides or Rh antigen-related polypeptides, or cells producing such polypeptides. Said kit can contain a nucleic acid segment encoding an Rh antigen polypeptide, or an anti-Rh antibody. The kit can contain reagents for detecting an interaction between a sample and a nucleic acid or antibody of the present invention. The provided reagent can be radio-, fluorescently- or enzymatically-labeled. The kit can contain a known radiolabeled agent capable of binding or interacting with a nucleic acid or antibody of the present invention. The reagent of the kit can be provided as a liquid solution, attached to a solid support or as a dried powder. Preferably, when the reagent is provided in a liquid solution, the liquid solution is an aqueous solution. Preferably, when the reagent provided is attached to a solid support, the solid support can be chromatography media, a test plate having a plurality of wells, or a microscope slide. When the reagent provided is a dry powder, the powder can be reconstituted by the addition of a suitable solvent, that may be provided. In still further embodiments, the present invention concerns immunodetection methods and associated kits. It is proposed that the Rh antigen peptides of the present invention may be employed to detect antibodies having reactivity therewith, or, alternatively, antibodies prepared in accordance with the present invention, may be employed to detect Rh antigen or Rh antigen-related epitope-containing peptides. In general, these methods will include first obtaining a sample suspected of containing such a protein, peptide or antibody, contacting the sample with an antibody or peptide in accordance with the present invention, as the case may be, under conditions effective to allow the formation of an immunocomplex, and then detecting the presence of the immunocomplex. In general, the detection of immunocomplex formation is quite well known in the art and may be achieved through the application of numerous approaches. For example, the present invention contemplates the application of ELISA, RIA, immunoblot (e.g., dot blot), indirect immunofluorescence techniques and the like. Generally, immunocomplex formation will be detected through the use of a label, such as a radiolabel or an enzyme tag (such as alkaline phosphatase, horseradish peroxidase, or the like). Of course, one may find additional advantages through the use of a secondary binding ligand such as a second antibody or a biotin/avidin ligand binding arrangement, as is known in the art. For assaying purposes, it is proposed that virtually any sample suspected of comprising either an Rh antigen peptide or an Rh antigen-related peptide or antibody sought to be detected, as the case may be, may be employed. It is contemplated that such embodiments may have application in the titering of antigen or antibody samples, in the selection of hybridomas, and the like. In related embodiments, the present invention contemplates the preparation of kits that may be employed to detect the presence of Rh antigen or Rh antigen-related proteins or peptides and/or antibodies in a sample. Samples may include cells, cell supernatants, cell suspensions, cell extracts, enzyme fractions, protein extracts, or other cell-free compositions suspected of containing Rh antigen peptides. Generally speaking, kits in accordance with the present invention will include a suitable Rh antigen peptide or an antibody directed against such a protein or peptide, together with an immunodetection reagent and a means for containing the antibody or antigen and reagent. The immunodetection reagent will typically comprise a label associated with the antibody or antigen, or associated with a secondary binding ligand. Exemplary ligands might include a secondary antibody directed against the first antibody or antigen or a biotin or avidin (or streptavidin) ligand having an associated label. Of course, as noted above, a number of exemplary labels are known in the art and all such labels may be employed in connection with the present invention. The container will generally include a vial into which the antibody, antigen or detection reagent may be placed, and preferably suitably aliquotted. The kits of the present invention will also typically include a means for containing the antibody, antigen, and reagent containers in close confinement for commercial sale. Such containers may include injection or blow-molded plastic containers into which the desired vials are retained. 2.8 ELISAs and Immunoprecipitation Methods ELISAs may be used in conjunction with the invention. In an ELISA assay, proteins or peptides incorporating Rh antigenic sequences are immobilized onto a selected surface, preferably a surface exhibiting a protein affinity such as the wells of a polystyrene microtiter plate. After washing to remove incompletely adsorbed material, it is desirable to bind or coat the assay plate wells with a nonspecific protein that is known to be antigenically neutral with regard to the test antisera such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), casein or solutions of milk powder. This allows for blocking of nonspecific adsorption sites on the immobilizing surface and thus reduces the background caused by nonspecific binding of antisera onto the surface. The antibodies of the present invention are particularly useful for the isolation of antigens by immunoprecipitation. Immunoprecipitation involves the separation of the target antigen component from a complex mixture, and is used to discriminate or isolate minute amounts of protein. For the isolation of membrane proteins, cells must be solubilized into detergent micelles. Nonionic salts are preferred, since other agents such as bile salts, precipitate at acid pH or in the presence of divalent cations. In an alternative embodiment the antibodies of the present invention are useful for the close juxtaposition of two antigens. This is particularly useful for increasing the localized concentration of antigens, e.g. enzyme-substrate pairs. The generic protocol is to coat the wells with a sufficient amount of Rh antigen (e.g., about 50 to about 75 ill or more Rh antigen) for a sufficient period of time (e.g., from about 4 to about 16 hr), at a suitable incubation temperature (e.g., from about 4xc2x0 C. to about 37xc2x0 C., with room temperature being most preferred). The plates are then washed and may be blocked at this point by adding from about 50 to about 200 xcexcl of blocking agent and incubating for periods of a few minutes to about 4 hr at a temperature of from about 4xc2x0 C. to about 37xc2x0 C. The plates may then be washed again one or more times, and the sample containing the antibody is applied. If a radiolabeled antibody or antigen is used, then the sample may be washed and then counted directly using a protocol such as in a RIA. Alternatively, in the case of ELISAs, the assay procedure typically involves the addition of an appropriate substrate at a suitable concentration for detection either with or without added peroxide (e.g., when using HAP) and subsequent incubation period (usually from a few minutes to about 4 hr at a temperature ranging from about 4 to about 37xc2x0 C.), depending upon the particular protocol used. Reagents are added to stop the enzymatic reaction (i.e., 100 xcexcl of 2 M H2SO4). The plates are then read on an ELISA reader at a wavelength appropriate for the enzyme-substrate system being used. Such protocols are well-known to those of skill in the art, and may be modified as necessary to include the novel antigen composition of the present invention. This same assay can be used to determine serum levels of each of the four subclasses of IgG. There are some recent papers that suggest that severity of symptoms of HDN may be due to differences in the quantitative levels of IgG subclasses (Iyer et al., 1992; Garner et al., 1995). For such an assay, specific conjugates would be used that are each specific for one of the subclasses. There are murine Mab available specific for each of the four human IgG subclasses. These would be used for such assays after conjugation to appropriate enzyme. This same assay is used for creation of a standard curve. For this, a preparation of specifically purified anti-Rh antibody is used that has been precisely quantitated using spectrophotometry or other method. Aliquots of this preparation that have been accurately diluted are put into the ELISA protocol and a standard curve is generated by plotting antibody concentration in xcexcg/ml versus OD. The particular wavelength used for optical density measurements will depend upon the particular substrate being assayed. Once the standard curve has been generated for a given batch of Rh antigen, patient samples are read on the linear part of the curve and extrapolated to xcexcg/ml of antibody contained in whole serum. 2.9 Compositions for Western Blots and Related Immunoblot Methods The antigen compositions of the present invention will find great use in immunoblot or Western blot analysis. The novel Rh antigens may be used directly as standards (e.g., as a positive control) in Western analyses wherein one desires to determine the presence of Rh antigens in a test sample. Alternatively, the novel Rh antigens may be used to isolate, quantitate, purify, and concentrate anti-Rh antibodies which may also be used in Western analyses as a high-affinity primary antibody reagent for the identification of Rh proteins immobilized onto a solid support matrix, such as nitrocellulose, nylon or combinations thereof. In conjunction with immunoprecipitation, followed by gel electrophoresis, these may be used as a single step reagent for use in detecting antigens against which secondary reagents used in the detection of the antigen cause an adverse background. This is especially useful when the antigens studied are immunoglobulins (precluding the use of immunoglobulins binding bacterial cell wall components), the antigens studied cross-react with the detecting agent, or they migrate at the same relative molecular weight as a cross-reacting signal. Immunologically-based detection methods for use in conjunction with Western blotting include enzymatically-, radiolabel-, or fluorescently-tagged secondary antibodies directed against the anti-blood group antibody are considered to be of particular use in this regard. 2.10 Compositions for Determining Blood Group Antigen Epitopic Core Sequences In one aspect, the present invention provides for the first time the ability to isolate and purify substantial amounts of Rh protein, and to store and manipulate this protein without significant loss of antigenic activity. Prior to the discovery by the inventors that significant long-term storage and stabilization of the blood group antigens such as the D antigen could be facilitated by using amphoteric buffers such as WRA, glycine, and the like, it was not possible to isolate or maintain either in solution or in bound form significant quantities of antigenically-active blood group antigens. Likewise, prior to the surprising finding by the inventors that conditions of low pH could be used to bind antigenically-active forms of Rh antigen to solid supports, it was not possible to prepare such compositions. Thus it was not previously possible to obtain significant quantities of these antigens to characterize antigenic domains, to determine epitopic core sequences, or to prepare mutated, truncated, or otherwise altered amino acid sequences defining a whole or a portion of an Rh antigen protein. However, in light of the teaching of the instant specification, it is now possible to isolate such proteins and to characterize antigenic domains and epitope sequences therefrom. Thus, the invention discloses and claims Rh proteins, Rh protein derivatives, and Rh-derived peptide compositions, free from total cells and other peptides, which comprise a whole or a portion of a purified Rh antigen protein or peptide which incorporates an epitope that is immunologically cross-reactive with one or more anti-Rh antibodies. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cincorporating an epitope(s) that is immunologically cross-reactive with one or more anti-Rh antibodiesxe2x80x9d is intended to refer to a peptide or protein antigen which includes a primary, secondary or tertiary structure similar to an epitope located within an Rh antigen polypeptide. The level of similarity will generally be to such a degree that monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies directed against the Rh antigen polypeptide will also bind to, react with, or otherwise recognize, the cross-reactive peptide or protein antigen. Various immunoassay methods may be employed in conjunction with such antibodies, such as, for example, Western blotting, ELISA, RIA, and the like, all of which are known to those of skill in the art. The identification of Rh antigen immunodominant epitopes, and/or their functional equivalents, is a relatively straightforward matter. For example, one may employ the methods of Hopp, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101, incorporated herein by reference, which teaches the identification and preparation of epitopes from amino acid sequences on the basis of hydrophilicity. The methods described in several other papers, and software programs based thereon, can also be used to identify epitopic core sequences (see, e.g., Jameson and Wolf, 1988; Wolf et al., 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101). The amino acid sequence of these xe2x80x9cepitopic core sequencesxe2x80x9d may then be readily incorporated into peptides, either through the application of peptide synthesis or recombinant technology. Preferred peptides for use in accordance with the present invention will generally be on the order of 8 to 20 amino acids in length, and more preferably about 8 to about 15 amino acids in length. It is proposed that shorter antigenic Rh antigen-derived peptides will provide advantages in certain circumstances, for example, in the preparation of vaccines or in immunologic detection assays. Exemplary advantages include the ease of preparation and purification, the relatively low cost and improved reproducibility of production, and advantageous biodistribution. Previously, it was not possible to isolate significant amounts of Rh protein, to maintain such protein in solution for extended periods of time, to prepare peptide fragments derived from Rh antigen, or to identify or characterize the epitope(s) present on the protein. The availability of Rh antigen protein in quantity provides an opportunity to prepare immunogenic Rh compositions which maintain their serologic integrity for extended periods of time. It is proposed that particular advantages of the present invention may be realized through the preparation of synthetic peptides which include modified and/or extended epitopic/immunogenic core sequences which result in a xe2x80x9cuniversalxe2x80x9d epitopic peptide directed to Rh antigen and Rh antigen-related sequences. These epitopic core sequences are identified herein in particular aspects as hydrophilic regions of the Rh antigen polypeptide antigen. It is proposed that these regions represent those which are most likely to promote T-cell or B-cell stimulation, and, hence, elicit specific antibody production. An epitopic core sequence, as used herein, is a relatively short stretch of amino acids that is xe2x80x9ccomplementaryxe2x80x9d to, and therefore will bind an antigen binding site. Additionally or alternatively, an epitopic core sequence is one that will elicit antibodies that are cross-reactive with antibodies directed against the peptide compositions of the present invention. It will be understood that in the context of the present disclosure, the term xe2x80x9ccomplementaryxe2x80x9d refers to amino acids or peptides that exhibit an attractive force towards each other. Thus, certain epitope core sequences of the present invention may be operationally defined in terms of their ability to compete with or perhaps displace the binding of the desired protein antigen with the corresponding protein-directed antisera. In general, the size of the polypeptide antigen is not believed to be particularly crucial, so long as it is at least large enough to carry the identified core sequence or sequences. The smallest useful core sequence anticipated by the present disclosure would generally be on the order of about 8 amino acids in length, with sequences on the order of 10 to 20 being more preferred. Thus, this size will generally correspond to the smallest peptide antigens prepared in accordance with the invention. However, the size of the antigen may be larger where desired, so long as it contains a basic epitopic core sequence. The identification of epitopic core sequences is known to those of skill in the art, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101, incorporated herein by reference, which teaches the identification and preparation of epitopes from amino acid sequences on the basis of hydrophilicity. Moreover, numerous computer programs are available for use in predicting antigenic portions of proteins (see e.g., Jameson and Wolf, 1988; Wolf et al., 1988). Computerized peptide sequence analysis programs (e.g., DNAStar(copyright) software, DNAStar, Inc., Madison, Wis.) may also be useful in designing synthetic peptides in accordance with the present disclosure. Syntheses of epitopic sequences, or peptides which include an antigenic epitope within their sequence, are readily achieved using conventional synthetic techniques such as the solid phase method (e.g., through the use of commercially available peptide synthesizer such as an Applied Biosystems Model 430A Peptide Synthesizer). Peptide antigens synthesized in this manner may then be aliquotted in predetermined amounts and stored in conventional manners, such as in aqueous solutions or, even more preferably, in a powder or lyophilized state pending use. In general, due to the relative stability of the Rh peptide in the amphoteric buffers disclosed herein, the Rh peptide compositions may be readily stored in an amphoteric buffer such as WRA, glycine, Bis-Tris, MOPS, HEPES, Tris, etc. for fairly long periods of time if desired, e.g., up to six months or more, without appreciable degradation or loss of antigenic activity. Where extended aqueous storage is contemplated it will generally be desirable to include agents which will inhibit microbial growth, such as sodium azide or Merthiolate. For extended storage in an aqueous state it will be desirable to store the solutions at 4xc2x0 C., or more preferably, frozen. Of course, where the peptides are stored in a lyophilized or powdered state, they may be stored virtually indefinitely, e.g., in metered aliquots that may be rehydrated with a predetermined amount of water (preferably distilled) or buffer prior to use. The Rh antigen may be stored in a lyophilized state either by itself, or alternatively, may be bound to a solid support prior to drying. The inventors contemplate that the antigen may be stored in a dry form either bound to beads, matrices, or prepared onto an ELISA plate or other suitable support depending upon the particular application for which it will be used for periods of time extending from weeks to months. 2.11 Biological Functional Equivalents Modification and changes may be made in the structure of the peptides of the present invention and DNA segments which encode them and still obtain a functional molecule that encodes a protein or peptide with desirable characteristics. The following is a discussion based upon changing the amino acids of a protein to create an equivalent, or even an improved, second-generation molecule. The amino acid changes may be achieved by changing the codons of the DNA sequence, according to the codons listed in Table 1. For example, certain amino acids may be substituted for other amino acids in a protein structure without appreciable loss of interactive binding capacity with structures such as, for example, antigen-binding regions of antibodies or binding sites on substrate molecules. Since it is the interactive capacity and nature of a protein that defines that protein""s biological functional activity, certain amino acid sequence substitutions can be made in a protein sequence, and, of course, its underlying DNA coding sequence, and nevertheless obtain a protein with like properties. It is thus contemplated by the inventors that various changes may be made in the peptide sequences of the disclosed compositions, or corresponding DNA sequences which encode said peptides without appreciable loss of their biological utility or activity. In making such changes, the hydropathic index of amino acids may be considered. The importance of the hydropathic amino acid index in conferring interactive biologic function on a protein is generally understood in the art (Kyte and Doolittle, 1982, incorporated herein by reference). It is accepted that the relative hydropathic character of the amino acid contributes to the secondary structure of the resultant protein, which in turn defines the interaction of the protein with other molecules, for example, enzymes, substrates, receptors, DNA, antibodies, antigens, and the like. Each amino acid has been assigned a hydropathic index on the basis of their hydrophobicity and charge characteristics (Kyte and Doolittle, 1982), these are: isoleucine (+4.5); valine (+4.2); leucine (+3.8); phenylalanine (+2.8); cysteine/cystine (+2.5); methionine (+1.9); alanine (+1.8); glycine (xe2x88x920.4); threonine (4.7); serine (xe2x88x924.8); tryptophan (xe2x88x924.9); tyrosine (xe2x88x921.3); proline (xe2x88x921.6); histidine (xe2x88x923.2); glutamate (xe2x88x923.5); glutamine (xe2x88x923.5); aspartate (xe2x88x923.5); asparagine (xe2x88x923.5); lysine (xe2x88x923.9); and arginine (xe2x88x924.5). It is known in the art that certain amino acids may be substituted by other amino acids having a similar hydropathic index or score and still result in a protein with similar biological activity, i.e., still obtain a biological functionally equivalent protein. In making such changes, the substitution of amino acids whose hydropathic indices are within xc2x12 is preferred, those which are within xc2x11 are particularly preferred, and those within xc2x10.5 are even more particularly preferred. It is also understood in the art that the substitution of like amino acids can be made effectively on the basis of hydrophilicity. U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101, incorporated herein by reference, states that the greatest local average hydrophilicity of a protein, as governed by the hydrophilicity of its adjacent amino acids, correlates with a biological property of the protein. As detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,101, the following hydrophilicity values have been assigned to amino acid residues: arginine (+3.0); lysine (+3.0); aspartate (+3.0xc2x11); glutamate (+3.0xc2x11); serine (+0.3); asparagine (+0.2); glutamine (+0.2); glycine (0); threonine (xe2x88x924); proline (xe2x88x920.5xc2x11); alanine (xe2x88x920.5); histidine (xe2x88x920.5); cysteine (xe2x88x921.0); methionine (xe2x88x921.3); valine (xe2x88x921.5); leucine (xe2x88x921.8); isoleucine (xe2x88x921.8); tyrosine (xe2x88x922.3); phenylalanine (xe2x88x922.5); tryptophan (xe2x88x923.4). It is understood that an amino acid can be substituted for another having a similar hydrophilicity value and still obtain a biologically equivalent, and in particular, an immunologically equivalent protein. In such changes, the substitution of amino acids whose hydrophilicity values are within xc2x12 is preferred, those which are within xc2x11 are particularly preferred, and those within xc2x10.5 are even more particularly preferred. As outlined above, amino acid substitutions are generally therefore based on the relative similarity of the amino acid side-chain substituents, for example, their hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, charge, size, and the like. Exemplary substitutions which take various of the foregoing characteristics into consideration are well known to those of skill in the art and include: arginine and lysine; glutamate and aspartate; serine and threonine; glutamine and asparagine; and valine, leucine and isoleucine. 2.12 Methods for Producing Anti-Blood Group Antigen Antibodies An important aspect of the invention relates to the generation of antibodies which are reactive against either a whole or portion of an Rh antigen peptide isolated as described herein. Means for preparing and characterizing antibodies are well known in the art (See, e.g., Harlow and Lane, 1988; incorporated herein by reference). The methods for generating monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) generally begin along the same lines as those for preparing polyclonal antibodies. Briefly, a polyclonal antibody is prepared by immunizing an animal with an immunogenic composition in accordance with the present invention and collecting antiserum from that immunized animal. A wide range of animal species can be used for the production of antiserum. Typically the animal used for production of antiserum is a rabbit, a mouse, a rat, a hamster, a guinea pig or a goat. Because of the relatively large blood volume of rabbits, a rabbit is a preferred choice for production of polyclonal antibodies. Alternatively, antiserum may be obtained from a human subject. As is well known in the art, a given composition may vary in its immunogenicity. It is often necessary therefore to boost the host immune system, as may be achieved by coupling a peptide or polypeptide immunogen to a carrier. Exemplary and preferred carriers are keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Other albumins such as ovalbumin, mouse serum albumin or rabbit serum albumin can also be used as carriers. Means for conjugating a polypeptide to a carrier protein are well known in the art and include glutaraldehyde, m-maleimidobencoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester, carbodiimide and bis-biazotized benzidine. As is also well known in the art, the immunogenicity of a particular immunogen composition can be enhanced by the use of non-specific stimulators of the immune response, known as adjuvants. Exemplary and preferred adjuvants include complete Freund""s adjuvant (a non-specific stimulator of the immune response containing killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis), incomplete Freund""s adjuvants and aluminum hydroxide adjuvant. The amount of immunogen composition used in the production of polyclonal antibodies varies upon the nature of the immunogen as well as the animal used for immunization. A variety of routes can be used to administer the immunogen (subcutaneous, intramuscular, intradermal, intravenous and intraperitoneal). The production of polyclonal antibodies may be monitored by sampling blood of the immunized animal at various points following immunization. A second, booster, injection may also be given. The process of boosting and titering is repeated until a suitable titer is achieved. When a desired level of antibody is obtained, the immunized animal can be bled and the serum isolated and stored, and/or the animal can be used to generate mAbs. mAbs may be readily prepared through use of well-known techniques, such as those exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,265, incorporated herein by reference. Typically, this technique involves immunizing a suitable animal with a selected immunogen composition, e.g., a purified or partially purified Rh antigen protein, polypeptide or peptide. The immunizing composition is administered in a manner effective to stimulate antibody producing cells. Rodents such as mice and rats are preferred animals, however, the use of rabbit, sheep, or frog cells is also possible. The use of rats may provide certain advantages (Goding, 1986, pp. 60-61), but mice are preferred, with the BALB/c mouse being most preferred as this is most routinely used and generally gives a higher percentage of stable fusions. Following immunization, somatic cells with the potential for producing antibodies, specifically B lymphocytes (B-cells), are selected for use in the mAb generating protocol. These cells may be obtained from biopsied spleens, tonsils or lymph nodes, or from a peripheral blood sample. Spleen cells and peripheral blood cells are preferred, the former because they are a rich source of antibody-producing cells that are in the dividing plasmablast stage, and the latter because peripheral blood is easily accessible. Often, a panel of animals will have been immunized and the spleen of the animal with the highest antibody titer will be removed and the spleen lymphocytes obtained by homogenizing the spleen with a syringe. Typically, a spleen from an immunized mouse contains approximately 5xc3x97107 to 2xc3x97108 lymphocytes. The antibody-producing B lymphocytes from the immunized animal are then fused with cells of an immortal myeloma cell, generally one of the same species as the animal that was immunized. Myeloma cell lines suited for use in hybridoma-producing fusion procedures preferably are non-antibody-producing, have high fusion efficiency, and enzyme deficiencies that render then incapable of growing in certain selective media which support the growth of only the desired fused cells (hybridomas). Any one of a number of myeloma cells may be used for fusion, as are known to those of skill in the art (Goding, pp. 65-66, 1986; Campbell, pp. 75-83, 1984). For example, where the immunized animal is a mouse, one may use P3-X63/Ag8, X63-Ag8.653, NS1/1.Ag 4 1, Sp210Ag14, FO, NSO/U, MPC-11, MPC11-X45GTG 1.7 and S194/5XX0 Bul; for rats, one may use R210.RCY3, Y3-Ag 1.2.3, IR983F and 4B210; and U-266, GM1500GRG2, LICR-LON-HMy2 and UC7296 are all useful in connection with human cell fusions. One preferred murine myeloma cell is the NS-1 myeloma cell line (also termed P3-NS-1-Ag4-1), which is readily available from the NIGMS Human Genetic Mutant Cell Repository by requesting cell line repository number GM3573. Another mouse myeloma cell line that may be used is the 8-azaguanine-resistant mouse murine myeloma SP2/0 non-producer cell line. Methods for generating hybrids of antibody-producing spleen or lymph node cells and myeloma cells usually comprise mixing somatic cells with myeloma cells in a 2:1 ratio, though the ratio may vary from about 20:1 to about 1:1, respectively, in the presence of an agent or agents (chemical or electrical) that promote the fusion of cell membranes. Fusion methods using Sendai virus have been described (Kohler and Milstein, 1975; 1976), and those using polyethylene glycol (PEG), such as 37% (v/v) PEG, (Gefter et al., 1977). The use of electrically induced fusion methods is also appropriate (Goding, 1986, pp. 71-74). Fusion procedures usually produce viable hybrids at low frequencies, about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x926 to 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928. However, this does not pose a problem, as the viable, fused hybrids are differentiated from the parental, unfused cells (particularly the unfused myeloma cells that would normally continue to divide indefinitely) by culturing in a selective medium. The selective medium is generally one that contains an agent that blocks the de novo synthesis of nucleotides in the tissue culture media. Exemplary and preferred agents are aminopterin, methotrexate, and azaserine. Aminopterin and methotrexate block de novo synthesis of both purines and pyrimidines, whereas azaserine blocks only purine synthesis. Where aminopterin or methotrexate is used, the media is supplemented with hypoxanthine and thymidine as a source of nucleotides (HAT medium). Where azaserine is used, the media is supplemented with hypoxanthine. The preferred selection medium is HAT. Only cells capable of operating nucleotide salvage pathways are able to survive in HAT medium. The myeloma cells are defective in key enzymes of the salvage pathway, e.g., hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT), and they cannot survive. The B-cells can operate this pathway, but they have a limited life span in culture and generally die within about two weeks. Therefore, the only cells that can survive in the selective media are those hybrids formed from myeloma and B-cells. This culturing provides a population of hybridomas from which specific hybridomas are selected. Typically, selection of hybridomas is performed by culturing the cells by single-clone dilution in microtiter plates, followed by testing the individual clonal supernatants-(after about two to three weeks) for the desired reactivity. The assay should be sensitive, simple and rapid, such as radioimmunoassays, enzyme immunoassays, cytotoxicity assays, plaque assays, dot immunobinding assays, and the like. The selected hybridomas would then be serially diluted, cloned, and propagated indefinitely to provide mAbs. The cell lines may be exploited for mAb production in two basic ways. Hybridoma cells can be injected (often into the peritoneal cavity) into a histocompatible animal of the type that was used to provide the somatic and myeloma cells for the original fusion. The injected animal develops tumors secreting the specific monoclonal antibody produced by the fused cell hybrid. The body fluids of the animal, such as serum or ascites fluid, can then be tapped to provide mAbs in high concentration. The individual cell lines could also be cultured in vitro, where the mAbs are naturally secreted into the culture medium from which they can be readily obtained in high concentrations. mAbs produced by either means may be further purified, if desired, using filtration, centrifugation and various chromatographic methods such as HPLC or affinity chromatography. 2.12 Means for the Removal of Anti-Rh Antibodies from Solution Another aspect of the present invention concerns methods for removing anti-Rh antibodies from solution. In a general sense, the method involves the immobilization of a serologically-active blood group antigen, such as an Rh antigen, as disclosed herein, and passing a solution containing antibodies reactive thereto over the immobilized antigen under conditions which permit the binding of specific antibodies to the bound antigen. Such a process may comprise a solid-phase matrix onto which one or more antigenically-active blood group antigen proteins have been fixed. In an illustrative embodiment, the matrix comprises plastic beads (10 to 100 xcexcm in diameter) such as Bio-Rad MacroPrep hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) beads, and in particular t-butyl HIC beads, although the inventors contemplate a variety of similar beads or matrices may be used to immobilize the active antigen. In practice, any suitable matrix to which the antigen may be adsorbed, fixed upon, or crosslinked to is desirable, as long as the serologic integrity and antigenic property of the Rh antigen is maintained. The method for removing antibodies from solution in a general sense comprises passing a solution suspected of containing Rh antibodies over the matrix under conditions which allow the formation of antigen-antibody (immune) complexes. The efficiency of the process may be monitored by comparing the titer of Rh antibodies in solution before and after the solution is passed over the matrix, or alternatively, the antibodies which were bound to the matrix may be eluted from the column or matrix and collected. The solution from which antibodies may be removed include, but are not limited to, physiological fluids, such as blood, lymph, serum, synovial fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, culture supernatant, tissue culture supernatant, monoclone culture supernatant, etc. or any other biological fluid in which the presence of Rh antibodies is suspected. Preferably the solution is blood, and more preferably, mammalian blood. In a preferred embodiment, the inventors contemplate the method to be useful in the in-line removal of anti-Rh antibodies from the bloodstream of a human female which is suspected of containing Rh antibodies. In general, the offspring of a female with an anti-Rh titer in excess of 1:2 who is pregnant by an Rh+ male are considered to be at risk for HDN if the offspring are also Rh+. The first child from such a pregnancy may be at risk for HDN if there was significant transplacental bleeding early in pregnancy, and if the mother developed anti-D antibodies as a result of the first pregnancy. Subsequent offspring from such a pregnancy are also at risk for HDN. This is critical, because such fetuses may suffer severe clinical problems due to the maternal antibodies attacking and destroying fetal RBCs. In fact, such conditions may lead to severe anemia in the fetus, and in some cases fetal intrauterine death due to a depletion of fetal RBCs. In a preferred embodiment, a method of purifying an Rh antibody is disclosed. The method generally comprises contacting a sample suspected of containing an antibody with an immobilized antigen under conditions effective to bind the antibody and subsequently eluting the antibody from the immobilized antigen. A method of removing an Rh antibody from a biological fluid is also disclosed and claimed in the invention. The method generally comprises contacting such a fluid with an immobilized Rh antigen under conditions effective to bind the antibody to the antigen. 2.13 Definitions The current literature uses two nomenclatures to express genetic and seologic information on the human red blood cell Rh blood group antigen system. The Rh-Hr terminology derives from the work of Wiener (1943) who believed that the immediate gene product is a single entity called an agglutinogen. According to Wiener""s concept, each agglutinogen was characterized by numerous individual serologic specificities called factors, each of which was recognized by its own specific antibody. The CDE terminology was introduced by British workers Fisher and Race (1948) and it reflected the concept that individual genes determined each antigen. The same letter designation was used for both the gene and the gene product in the Fisher-Race system, except that, by convention, the symbols for genes were always listed in italics. Both nomenclatures have remained in use today, although recent molecular biology advances have shown that each major antigenic specificity in the Fisher-Race nomenclature system in encoded by a distinct gene, and that five genes, D, C, c, E, and e encode five phylogenetically-related, but distinct, peptide antigens which are termed D, C, c, E, and e. Thus, as used throughout this specification, a blood group antigen is intended to mean any protein or peptide antigen present on the surface of a red blood cell. For example, an Rh blood group antigen is intended to mean a D antigen, a C antigen, a c antigen, an E antigen, an e antigen, or any other related Rh antigen. A blood group antigen is also intended to mean a Rho, rhxe2x80x2 hrxe2x80x2, hrxe2x80x3 or rhxe2x80x3 antigen according to the earlier nomenclature of Wiener. A blood group protein is intended to mean any protein or peptide present on the surface of a red blood cell that contains within its sequence one or more antigenic regions to which anti-blood group antigen antibodies will bind. An Rh protein or peptide is intended to mean a D protein or peptide, a C protein or peptide, a c protein or peptide, an E protein or peptide, an e protein or peptide, or any other related Rh blood group protein or peptide. A blood group protein is also intended to mean an Rho, rhxe2x80x2 hrxe2x80x2, hrxe2x80x3 or rhxe2x80x3 protein or peptide according to the earlier nomenclature of Wiener. A blood group antigen is also intended to mean an amino acid sequence which defines a portion or a whole of a gene product derived from a D gene, a C gene, a c gene, an E gene, or an e gene. Moreover, a blood group protein is also intended to mean any mammalian-derived antigen which is homologous to any of these human antigens. Such antigenic proteins include, but are not limited to, the rabbit A, D, and F antigens. Likewise, an anti-(blood group antigen) antibody is intended to mean an antibody which specifically recognizes and binds to an antigen present on the surface of a red blood cell. An anti-Rh antibody is intended to mean an antibody such as an anti-D antibody, an anti-C antibody, an anti-c antibody, an anti-E antibody, an anti-e antibody, or any other related Rh antibody. An anti-(blood group antigen) antibody is also intended to mean an antibody which specifically recognizes and binds to an antigen present on the surface of a red blood cell such as an anti-Rho antibody, an anti-rhxe2x80x2 antibody, an anti-rhxe2x80x3 antibody, an anti-hrxe2x80x2 antibody, or an anti-hrxe2x80x3 antibody following the nomenclature of Wiener. Similarly, an anti-(blood group protein) is also intended to mean any mammalian-derived antibody which is specific for any protein or peptide antigen which is homologous to a human blood group antigen. Such antibodies include, but are not limited to, the rabbit anti-A, anti-D, and anti-F antibodies. In addition to the two major blood group systems (ABO and Rh) the following blood group antigen systems are known, and are also considered to be within the scope of the present invention: MNSsU, P1, Lutheran, Kell, Lewis, Duffy, Kidd, Diego, Cartwright, Dombrock, Colton, Scianna, Xga, I/i, Augustine, Cromer, Ena, Gerbich, Gregory, Holley, jacobs, Joseph, Lngereis, Oka, Vel, Chido, Rodgers, Cost-Stirling, York, Knops-Helgeson, McCoy, John Milton Hagen, Ahonen, Batty, Biles, Bishop, Box, Chra, Dantu, Froese, Good, Griffiths, Heibel, Hey, Hov, Hunt, Jensen, Jna, Lewis II, Livesey, Mitchell, Moen, Orriss, Peters, Radin, Redelberger, Reid, Rosennlund, Swann, Torkiidsen, Traversu, Webb, Wright, Wulfsberg, and Bg. Each of these systems may have several antigens and phenotypes, but all have at least one known antigen (e.g., Lewis has two antigens and 3 phenotypes).

There are many types of window treatments such as shades, coverings, blinds, shutters, and draperies in use in homes and offices. Window treatments are generally made specifically for the window on which they are intended for use. This means treatments are often costly and require a substantial amount of time to measure, manufacture and install. Blinds and shades are typically mounted on the interior of a window casing or frame. For this reason, shades, shutters and blinds must be first measured and then created specifically for the particular window application. Often, individuals do not need costly window treatments but would rather have a flexible, less costly window treatment option available to them

In an electrical characteristic inspection of a semiconductor integrated circuit, such as one in an integrated circuit (IC) chip, a conductive contact unit is used to hold a plurality of conductive contacts at predetermined positions that correspond to a pattern of electrodes for external connections on the semiconductor integrated circuit. Such a conductive contact unit includes a conductive contact holder including a substrate made of a conductive material and holes for inserting the conductive contacts. To implement high-speed processing, a recent semiconductor integrated circuit operates with a high frequency electrical signal (a high frequency signal) at a frequency of about several hundred mega hertz (MHz) to several hundred gigahertz (GHz). To form a conductive contact unit that can support such a high frequency signal, it is preferable to make the external diameter of the conductive contact as small as possible. As a technology for supporting a high frequency signal, a conductive contact holder is known that includes a metal holder substrate having openings in which insulating members, each having a hollow, are embedded. The conductive contacts are inserted in the hollows to be held therein (for example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3). Such a conductive contact holder is manufactured by inserting the insulating member having a hollow created in advance through hole machining into the holder substrate, or after embedding the insulating member into the opening of the holder substrate, a hollow is formed in the insulating member through hole machining. [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-259648 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent No. 3500105 [Patent Document 3] International Publication No. 03/087852

This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-247112 filed Sep. 1, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated hereinto by reference. 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a piston for a swash plate type compressor, and more particularly to techniques for reducing the weight of the piston. 2. Discussion of the Related Art As a piston used in a swash plate type compressor, there are known a single-headed piston and a double-headed piston. The single-headed piston includes a head portion which is slidably fitted in a cylinder bore formed in a cylinder block of the compressor and an engaging portion formed integrally with the head portion for engaging a swash plate. The double-headed piston includes two head portions on the opposite sides of a single engaging portion. Since the piston is reciprocated within the cylinder bore, it is desirable to reduce the weight of the piston. It is generally required to reduce the weight of the single- or double- headed piston used in a swash plate type compressor of fixed capacity type wherein the angle of inclination of the swash plate with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the drive shaft of the compressor is fixed. The single-headed piston is usually used in a swash plate type compressor of variable capacity type wherein the angle of inclination of the swash plate is variable to change the discharge capacity of the compressor. When the single-headed piston is used in the variable capacity type swash plate compressor, it is particularly required to reduce its weight in order to achieve a stable operation of the compressor and reduce the noise of the compressor during its operation. JP-A-10-159725 discloses a technique of reducing the weight of the piston. Described in detail, this publication discloses a method of producing a single-headed piston with a hollow head portion, by closing an open end of a cylindrical body portion of the piston with a closure member. The piston produced according to this method has a considerably reduced weight. However, the weight of the piston cannot be reduced to a satisfactory extent which permits the piston to be used in the swash plate type compressor of variable capacity type wherein the drive shaft is required to be rotated at a relatively high speed to achieve high operating performance of the compressor. The present invention was made in the light of the background art described above. It is a first object of the present invention to provide a piston for a swash plate type compressor having a significantly reduced weight. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a blank used for manufacturing the piston of the invention. The first object indicated above may be achieved according to any one of the following forms or modes of the present invention, each of which is numbered like the appended claims and depend from the other form or forms, where appropriate, to indicate and clarify possible combinations of technical features of the present invention, for easier understanding of the invention. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the technical features and their combinations described below. It is also to be understood that any technical feature described below in combination with other technical features may be a subject matter of the present invention, independently of those other technical features. (1) A piston for a swash plate type compressor including a head portion which includes a cylindrical body portion whose open end is closed by a closure member, and an engaging portion which is formed integrally with the head portion on the side remote from the open end and which engages a swash plate of the compressor, wherein: the body portion includes a hollow cylindrical section whose inner circumferential surface is provided with a plurality of axially extending reinforcing projections, each of which protrudes from the inner circumferential surface in a radially inward direction of the hollow cylindrical section and which extends in a direction parallel to a centerline of the hollow cylindrical section over a substantially entire axial length thereof, the closure member being fixed to the body portion such that the closure member is held in abutting contact with an end face of each of the reinforcing projections on the side of the open end of the body portion. The piston used in the compressor receives a pressure of a compressed gas at its end face which partially defines a pressurizing chamber in the compressor. In the piston constructed according to the present invention, the end face of the piston is provided by one of opposite major surfaces of the closure member (outer end face), on which a considerably high pressure of the gas acts in a direction in which the closure member is pushed into the hollow cylindrical section during manufacture, of the piston. In view of this, it is preferable that the closure member be fixed to the hollow cylindrical section such that the closure member is received and supported by the hollow cylindrical section at the other major surface (inner end face) opposite to the above-indicated outer end face. If the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section is reduced to a value in a range of 1xcx9c2 mm for reducing the weight of the piston, the closure member cannot be received and supported by the hollow cylindrical section with high stability. For fixing the closure member to the hollow cylindrical section with their axes being aligned with each other, at least an axial portion of the closure member needs to be fitted in the hollow cylindrical section. For the following reasons, the reduction of the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section, however, makes it difficult that the closure member is fitted in the hollow cylindrical section with its inner end face being securely received and held in abutting contact with the hollow cylindrical section. When the hollow cylindrical section includes a large-diameter axial end portion formed on the side of its open end, which large-diameter axial end portion has an inside diameter larger than that of the other axial portion of the hollow cylindrical section, the closure member is fixed to the hollow cylindrical section such that the closure member is fitted in the large-diameter end portion such that a shoulder formed between the large-diameter end portion and the adjacent axial portion is held in abutting contact with the closure member. According to this arrangement, the closure member is held in position by the shoulder of the hollow cylindrical section while the axes of the hollow cylindrical section and the closure member are aligned with each other. When the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section is relatively small, the maximum inside diameter of the axial end portion is limited, so that the radial dimension of the shoulder is inevitably small. Where the large-diameter axial end portion has a low degree of concentricity with the hollow cylindrical section, the radial dimension of the shoulder is considerably small at a local circumferential portion thereof. In this case, the closure member fitted in the hollow cylindrical section cannot be sufficiently supported by the shoulder at the local circumferential portion. Accordingly, the closure member may undesirably be pushed into inner axial portion of the hollow cylindrical section by the pressure of the compressed gas acting thereon. In the piston constructed according to the present invention wherein the hollow cylindrical section is provided with a plurality of axially extending reinforcing projections formed on its inner circumferential surface, the weight of the piston can be sufficiently reduced by reducing the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section at its circumferential parts in which the reinforcing projections are not formed, while permitting the closure member to be fixedly supported by the reinforcing projections. Accordingly, the present arrangement is effective to not only reduce the weight of the piston by reducing the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section, but also prevent the closure member from being pushed into the hollow cylindrical section upon exposure to the pressure of the compressed gas. By suitably determining the cross sectional shape, location, and number of the reinforcing projections, the rigidity and mechanical strength of the hollow cylindrical section can be significantly increased, as compared with those of the hollow cylindrical section which has a constant wall thickness. This is based on a fact that the rigidity and mechanical strength of a relatively thin-walled structure can be increased when the structure is provided with reinforcing ribs. In this respect, the present arrangement is effective to improve the mechanical strength of the head portion of the piston while reducing its weight. The head portion of the piston whose hollow cylindrical section is provided with the axially extending reinforcing projections as described above can be easily produced by die-casting. When the head portion of the piston whose hollow cylindrical section having a constant small wall thickness is produced by die-casting, the cast thin-walled structure has a relatively large circumferential surface area. It is, however, difficult to die-cast such a thin-walled structure since a molten metal does not easily flow through a mold cavity which has a relatively small radial dimension corresponding to the small wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section and which has a relatively large diameter, whereby the mold cavity may not be uniformly and entirely filled with the molten metal. Accordingly, there is a limit to reduce the weight of the head portion of the piston by reducing the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section, due to the above-mentioned difficulty in the process of die-casting. In contrast, when the head portion of the piston whose hollow cylindrical section has the reinforcing projections is formed by die-casting, the molten metal comparatively easily flow through circumferential portions of the mold cavity, which portions have a relatively large radial dimension corresponding to the radial dimension of the reinforcing projections, so that the mold cavity can be uniformly and entirely filled with the molten metal, resulting in easy die-casting of the head portion of the piston. Accordingly, the lightweight piston can be produced efficiently by providing the reinforcing projections (thick-walled circumferential portions) on the inner circumferential surface of the hollow cylindrical section, rather than by reducing the wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section to a constant small value. (2) A piston according to the above mode (1), wherein the plurality of reinforcing projections are equally spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction of the hollow cylindrical section (3) A piston according to the above mode (1) or (2), wherein each of the reinforcing projections protrudes from the inner circumferential surface in the radially inward direction of the hollow cylindrical portion by an amount which is not greater than 300% of a wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section, and each of the reinforcing projections has a circumferential dimension as measured in the circumferential direction of the hollow cylindrical section, which is larger than the amount of protrusion from the inner circumferential surface, each of the reinforcing projections providing a thick-walled circumferential portion having a wall thickness larger than a nominal wall thickness of the hollow cylindrical section. (4) A piston according to the above form (1) or (2), wherein each of the reinforcing projections is in the form of a rib which protrudes from the inner circumferential surface in the radially inward direction of the hollow cylindrical section by an amount which is larger than a circumferential dimension of the rib as measured in the circumferential direction of the hollow cylindrical section. The hollow cylindrical section may have both of the projections according to the mode (3) and the ribs according to the above mode (4). (5) A piston according to any one of the modes (1)-(4), wherein the closure member has a plurality of fitting protrusions formed on its inner end face, for engagement with the body portion so as to prevent relative rotation of the closure member and the body portion. In the piston according to the above mode (5) of the present invention, the relative rotation of the closure member and the body portion is prevented by the engagement of the fitting protrusions of the closure member with the body portion, facilitating the machining operation which is effected during manufacture of the piston from a blank. For instance, a closing member which gives the closure member may have a holding portion formed on its outer end face remote from the fitting protrusions, so that the blank is held by a suitable chuck at the holding portion of the closing member. When the blank held by the chuck is rotated to perform the machining operation thereon, the closing member and the body portion are effectively prevented from being rotated relative to each other by the engagement of the fitting protrusions of the closing member with the body portion. The holding portion may be cut away from the closing member after the holding portion has achieved its function. (6) A piston for a swash plate type compressor, including a hollow cylindrical head portion and an engaging portion which is formed integrally with the head portion and which engages a swash plate of the compressor, wherein the piston includes a plurality of axially extending reinforcing projections which are formed on an inner circumferential surface of the hollow cylindrical head portion, so as to extend in a direction parallel to a centerline of the hollow cylindrical head portion over a substantially entire axial length thereof. The piston according to the above mode (6) is substantially the same as the piston according to the above mode (1), except that the piston according to the mode (6) does not include the feature that the end faces of the reinforcing projections are held in abutting contact with the inner end face of the closure member. This mode (6) aims to improve the rigidity and mechanical strength of the hollow cylindrical section itself. It is noted that the piston according to this mode (6) may employ the technical feature according to any one of the above modes (1) through (5). The second object indicated above may be achieved according to the following mode (7) of the invention. (7) A method of producing a blank used for manufacturing a piston for a swash plate type compressor, as defined in any one of the modes (1)-(6), comprising the steps of: preparing a casting mold consisting of two mold halves which define a parting plane at which the two mold halves are spaced apart from each other and butted together and which have respective molding surfaces; inserting, into the casting mold, a pair of slide cores which are slidably movable in a direction perpendicular to the parting plane, each of the slide cores having an outer circumferential surface whose configuration follows that of an inner circumferential surface of the hollow cylindrical section of the piston, the outer circumferential surface of each of the slide cores cooperating with the molding surfaces of the mold halves to define a mold cavity therebetween; injecting a molten metal into the mold cavity to form the blank for the piston; retracting the slide cores out of the casting mold; and moving the mold halves apart from each other at the parting plane to remove the blank formed in the mold cavity. This mode (7) of the present invention permits easy production of the blank for manufacturing the piston defined in any one of the above modes (1) through (6).

For power devices, for example, a vertical Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) having a trench gate structure has been widely used. For example, in the N-channel type, when a positive bias is applied to a gate electrode, an N channel is formed in a vicinity of an interface with a gate insulating film in a P-type base layer, and electrons flow from a source layer into a drain electrode via the N channel, an N-type base layer and a drain layer, to form an on state. In this configuration, by reducing a trench interval, a channel density increases, which makes it possible to reduce an on-resistance. However, when the trench interval is reduced, an area of the P-type base layer in contact with the source electrode between the trenches becomes smaller. This causes an increase in discharge resistance of holes at Avalanche breakdown, i.e., lower breakdown tolerance.

This invention relates to alkali metal carbonate supported alkali metal catalysts. It is known in the art to employ alkali metal carbonate supported elemental alkali metal catalysts for such conversions as propylene dimerization. Several methods of preparing these types of catalysts are known in the art. The resultant catalyst usually contains some exposed elemental alkali metal. However, elemental alkali metals are unstable at standard temperature, pressure, and atmosphere conditions. Thus, these catalysts usually must be stored under a dry, inert atmosphere. Furthermore, known processes to prepare these types of catalysts can result in uneven distribution of the elemental alkali metal on the catalyst support. Additionally, known processes to prepare these types of catalysts can produce a congealed catalyst mass that can be difficult to handle.

Aserosol dispensers have been provided heretofore in a wide variety of configurations for distributing or concentrating a fine mist of a liquid, such as a medicament which can be used in the treatment of illnesses responding to inhalation administration of medicaments. In the treatment of asthma, for example, there are many liquid medicaments which are administered by inhalation techniques and are intended to be taken in by mouth or nasal inhalation to penetrate the lugs and bronchial system of the patient. In very early technology of this type, the aerosol dispenser was usually a glass flask to which a bulb was affixed to drive a stream of air through an outlet, the medicament being drawn by, for example, venturi action into this stream, for atomization and distribution in finely divided form to produce the aerosol or mist. In more modern inhalation therapy, spray packages have been provided of small size so that they can readily be held in the hand of the user, the liquid medicament being combined in the package with a propellant usually a freon, which is retained under pressure until a button-operated valve is depressed to discharge a predetermined quantity of the aerosol or a continuous stream thereof. While these systems have proved to be effective in carrying the medicament to the far reaches of the respiratory system, they have certain disadvantages which limited their applicability. The inhaled propellant tends to remain as a residual gas in the lungs. It has been found, for example, that during the inhalation phase, this propellant mixes with ambient air and is drawn through the respiratory tract to the alveolae and, because of the greater density of the propellant, a portion of the propellant tends to remain when the air is exhaled during the next phase of the respiration cycle. The accumulation of the heavier propellant in the lungs of the patient has been found to be disadvantageous because it can cause damage to the lungs which, in many cases, is a defective organ in the patients who require treatment by inhalation threapy, such as asthmatics. Modern inhalators and aerosol medicament dispensers have also been provided with spraying pumps which are actuated by the hand of the user and generally are of the plunger type. In such systems, when the patient depresses the actuating knob or button, he operates the pump to drive a portion of the liquid through an atomizing passage. A disadvantage of the latter system is that the actuation of the device no longer is as simple as those using a readily operated valve. Furthermore, the operation of the device requires not only significant skill but also considerable effort which frequently cannot be exerted by a seriously ill patient or one in the throes of a significant asthma attack. When the device is improperly operated or operated with insufficient pressure, and frequently when the device is properly operated, the particle size of the liquid in the mist or aerosol is insufficiently fine to permit entrainment to the far reaches of the respiratory tract. Attempts have been made to improve upon both types of systems, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,950, by connecting the aerosol valve with a guide tube or mouthpiece intended to carry the aerosol into the mouth of the user. However, when the aerosol utilizes a propellant, the disadvantages noted above result and when the aerosol generator is of the pump type, the problems of these systems are multiplied by the provision of the additional tube since the larger aerosol particles in part collect on the wall of the tube.

Capacitors are useful to, among other things, store electrical charge within circuits.

This invention relates to vanes of the type positioned in a moving fluid stream and used to turn and spread or contract the moving fluid. The fluid may be liquid or gaseous. The concept disclosed in this application has particular reference, for illustrative purposes, to the turning and/or spreading of a moving stream of air laden with particulate matter in order to introduce the moving stream into a filter. The vanes are constructed and positioned in the moving stream of air so that entrained particulate matter does not catch on the upstream surface of the vane. Fluid flowing in a straight line tends to resist deflection from the path of flow. When the fluid is forceably deflected, as by passing it through a right angle turn in a duct or other enclosed structure, turbulence results. Turbulence causes noise, vibration and increased energy consumption. Therefore, it is well known in the prior art to position turning vanes in fluid ducts at a point of deflection in order to decrease turbulence. Vanes can also be used to decrease turbulence and to improve flow distribution when passing the moving fluid from a relatively small duct into a relatively large one, or vice versa. Both of these procedures are often necessary during the process of filtering particulate matter from a moving fluid stream. For example, air filtration often takes place through a drum-type filter. A rotatable drum is covered with a fluid permeable filter medium and is positioned for rotation within a housing. Filtration takes place by passing air laden with particulate matter from the upstream to the downstream side of the drum through the filter medium. The particulate matter is trapped on the upstream side of the filter medium and forms an overlying porous layer of particulate matter which is often referred to as a "mat" or "cake". The mat then serves as an additional filter medium of enhanced filtering capacity. Recent developments have improved the efficiency of certain types of filters to the point where the underlying filter medium now serves primarily as a filter support. In order to filter large quantities of air during a given period, drum filters are many axial feet in length. However, the fluid is conveyed to the filter in ducts which may have interior dimensions only a fraction of the length of the filter drum itself. Furthermore, in order to save space, ducts often approach the filter closely adjacent the filter housing and in axial alignment with the drum. This requires that the moving air stream be turned 90.degree. within a relatively short distance while at the same time being spread so that it enters the filter at substantially right angles along the entire length of the drum. Both of these procedures are particularly important in building a mat which is to serve as a primary filter medium, as described above. The flow of air through the filter medium must be free of turbulence which can tear sections of the mat away from the drum. Bare sections cause further unevenness in filtration and also permit particulate matter to pass through the clean filter medium which would otherwise be trapped in the overlying mat. Futhermore, in order for the mat to filter at maximum efficiency, it must be formed evenly across the entire axial length of the drum. Accomplishing all of these tasks has been a particular problem in the past since known vanes present an upstream face which is perpendicular to the air flow and typically extend from one side of the duct to the other. Fibers and clumps of particulate matter snag on the vanes and are held there. This increases drag within the moving air stream requiring additional horsepower to move the air at its desired velocity. Other material in the air stream is trapped by the projecting clumps causing a decrease in velocity and an increase in fluid turbulence. If the clump eventually breaks loose it can enter the filter and impact the mat with such force that a portion of the mat is torn away, thereby causing an immediate decrease in filter efficiency. If the clump does not tear loose it can eventually cause a choke by blocking all or part of the duct. This can require a shutdown of the equipment while the choke is removed. Therefore, a vane has been developed which, when positioned in a stream of moving fluid, can be used to turn and contract or spread the fluid without turbulence and without the accumulation of particulate matter on the vane.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaner apparatus, and more particularly, to a cleaner apparatus which has a short connection channel between a cleaner body and a suction nozzle. 2. Description of the Related Art In general, a vacuum cleaner uses a suction motor to generate a suction force to draw in air, including dust or dirt (hereinafter, referred to as ‘dirt’). The suction motor of the vacuum cleaner is generally distally located from a dust collecting apparatus which separates and collects dirt from the drawn-in air. Accordingly, the dirt drawn in by the suction force of the suction motor is filtered from the air when passing through the dust collecting apparatus, and the filtered air passes through the suction motor and is discharged out of the vacuum cleaner. Most commonly, a vacuum cleaner has an elongated channel between a suction nozzle, adjacent to the surface to be cleaned (referred to herein as “cleaning surface”) and a suction motor located distal from the dust collecting apparatus. Therefore, the suction force of the suction motor does not act on the dirt on the cleaning surface directly. Considering this drawback of a general vacuum cleaner, a power head type cleaner has been developed. However, such power head type cleaners have a suction nozzle fixed to a cleaner body, thereby requiring the cleaner to be rotated when cleaning hard-to-reach places, which is inconvenient for users. Also, rotating such a cleaner in a narrow space is difficult and thus, that space is often not satisfactorily cleaned.

Known high-voltage transformers or high-voltage inductors, for example, having a rated voltage on the high-voltage side of 220 kV or 380 kV and a rated power of >100 MVA, for insulation and cooling purposes, can be arranged in an oil-filled transformer tank. A so-called transformer bushing has a useful function in a transformer of this type. A high-voltage potential is led through the bushing from an air side to a winding in the transformer tank. In the case of pure air insulation, the distance between components at high-voltage potential and the earthed transformer tank—depending on the voltage level—can be up to 4 m or more. By an oil-impregnated paper or cellulose, which can withstand a higher field stress than air, the distance can be decreased. If a high-voltage connection is led into the tank concentrically through a round opening, then a distance between an internal conductor and a tank of 20 cm, for example, can suffice. Known spherical caps are used for this purpose in the region of the outgoing lines. These are rotationally symmetrical hollow bodies composed of a metal which have a hemisphere-like termination with a usually angled pipe attachment for a conductor connection or a conductor bushing at one axial end and a tapering diameter at their other axial end. For improved insulation, these electrically conductive hollow bodies can be surrounded with a double-walled barrier system composed of an insulation material, which is likewise arranged within the oil-filled transformer tank. CH 695 968 A5 describes a spherical cap of this type, but has a disadvantage that the insulation barriers can be laborious to manufacture, and has an insulation capability that is able to be improved. For example, the insulation barriers are spaced apart by insulation rings into which spacer blocks are latched. This is laborious to manufacture and also not optimal in terms of insulation technology because components having sharp edges at points are used within a region that exhibits a voltage gradient and is to be electrically insulated. The use of spacer blocks can be disadvantageous particularly in the hemisphere-like regions of the barriers because there is a particularly high risk of the insulation barrier that is to be spaced apart bearing merely on corner points of the spacer blocks. The possibility of electrical connection of the spherical cap to a screening pipe can prove to be disadvantageous. This is because high-voltage outgoing lines can be individually manufactured items which are subject both to their own manufacturing tolerances and to the manufacturing tolerances of an oil transformer upon installation into the latter. Compensation of such tolerances is either possible by a mechanically particularly pliable connection between the screening pipe and the spherical cap, which can be undesirable for stability reasons, or relatively high forces are applied permanently via the spherical cap, in order to fix the components in the desired position, which can likewise be undesirable.

The present invention relates to dental imaging technology. More specifically, the present invention relates to reconstructing a three-dimensional image of a patient's teeth using both x-ray and surface scanning technology. X-ray technology can be used to generate a three-dimensional, digital representation of a subject using computed tomography (CT). However, metal and other objects can reflect x-rays that would otherwise penetrate through human tissue and be detected by the x-ray detector. This reflection can cause unwanted artifacts to appear in the captured data set. This effect is particularly prevalent in dental imaging where foreign substances such as metal fillings or braces are often installed in the patient's mouth. There are some prior systems in which artifacts are removed from x-ray data by, simply stated, “combining” x-ray and non-x-ray data. However, as best known by the inventors, in addition to removing or reducing artifacts, such systems also remove significant amounts of desired image data. U.S. Publication No. 2010/0124367 has suggested that artifacts can be removed from x-ray data by the “fusion of the x-ray data set with an optical image of the jaw, which is completely free of metal artifacts . . . .” However, details regarding how the artifacts would be removed are not provided and the “fusion” disclosed in the '367 publication uses a pre-positioning technique that requires identifying registration points on a screen or other manual means prior to combining the data. While this pre-positioning makes the task of combining the two data sets substantially easier than a completely automatic method, the method requires manual intervention. That is, the x-ray technician, dentist, or other dental professional must manually manipulate the images on a screen. U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,529 describes a method of creating a composite skull model by combining three-dimensional CT data and laser surface scans of a patient's teeth. In the '529 patent, the teeth are completely removed from the CT model and replaced with only the surface scan data of the patient's teeth. U.S. Pat. No. 7,574,025 describes a method of removing artifacts from a three-dimensional model (such as CT or MRI) by a negative impression template of the patient's teeth. In the '025 patent, a negative impression template is cast of the patient's teeth. A first model is generated while the negative impression template is placed in the patient's mouth. A second model is generated of only the negative impression template using the same imaging technology as the first. Voxels from the first digital image are substituted for corresponding voxels from the second digital image to create a model of the patient's teeth without artifacts.

Hybrid or pressurized inflation devices, commonly referred to as inflators, have been used to inflate airbags for years. These devices can be combined with gas generant to form a hybrid inflator that releases pressurized gas and simultaneously burns propellant to generate additional inflation gas. Alternatively, no propellant or generant can be used in the inflation device and only the pressurized gas stored will be used. In both these style inflators, an igniter or squib receives an electrical signal from a crash sensor and the igniter fires to rupture a seal to release the gas and optionally to ignite generant in the hybrid inflators. To improve reliability, mechanical devices can be used to break a seal as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,607; U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,307 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,505; all using a mechanical piston. These pistons will reliably break a seal during impact, but can cause an erratic release of gases when the piston is moved into an opening blocking arrangement with the diffuser passages. This can cause an obstruction in one or more openings which can result in a problem with uniform gas flow and create thrust effects not anticipated in a normally thrust neutral diffuser. To avoid this, the diffuser has been positioned on a side or even at a far end. However, this makes the inflator bulky or longer than otherwise needed. The present invention overcomes these short comings in a simpler and more efficient manner, that not only avoids any chance of an obstruction of flow openings, it also allows the inflator to use higher pressures and less expensive gases.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g., including part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. In lithographic processes, it is desirable frequently to make measurements of the structures created, e.g., for process control and verification. Various tools for making such measurements are known, including scanning electron microscopes, which are often used to measure critical dimension (CD), and specialized tools to measure overlay, a measure of the accuracy of alignment of two layers in a device. Overlay may be described in terms of the degree of misalignment between the two layers, for example reference to a measured overlay of 1 nm may describe a situation where two layers are misaligned by 1 nm. Various forms of metrology apparatuses, such as scatterometers, have been developed for use in the lithographic field. For example, certain metrology apparatuses direct a beam of radiation onto a target and measure one or more properties of the scattered radiation—e.g., intensity at a single angle of reflection, or over a range of angles of reflection, as a function of wavelength; intensity at one or more wavelengths as a function of reflected angle; or polarization as a function of reflected angle—to obtain a “spectrum” from which a property of interest of the target can be determined. Determination of the property of interest may be performed by various techniques: e.g., reconstruction of the target by iterative approaches implemented using rigorous coupled wave analysis or finite element methods; library searches; and/or principal component analysis. Targets may be measured using dark field scatterometry in which the zeroth order of diffraction (corresponding to a specular reflection) is blocked, and only higher orders processed. Examples of dark field metrology can be found in PCT patent application publication nos. WO 2009/078708 and WO 2009/106279, which documents are hereby incorporated in their entireties by reference. Intensity asymmetry between different diffraction orders (e.g. between −1st and the +1st diffraction orders) for a given overlay target provides a measurement of target asymmetry; that is, asymmetry in the target. This asymmetry in the overlay target can be used as an indicator of overlay (undesired misalignment of two layers).

1. Field of the Description The present invention relates, in general, to walk-around, costumed characters and control over audio output (e.g., a character may sing or talk) and onboard robotics (e.g., the character may move their mouth and blink/move their eyes) on such walk-around characters, and, more particularly, to a control assembly for a walk-around character that is configured to sense an actor's chin and/or mouth movement and to respond by triggering audio playback and/or character animation. 2. Relevant Background Walk-around or costumed characters are used to entertain and interact with visitors of many facilities including theme or amusement parks. A walk-around character is provided by an operator or performer wearing a costume including a head that covers the performer's face. The costume head is mounted to or supported on a headband that is worn by the performer. In the head and/or costume, equipment including sound equipment and robotics is provided so that a walk-around character can speak with visitors to provide a meetable character that can be animated to move their eyes and mouth while they talk and interact with the visitors. In many applications, the walk-around character is representing a character from a movie, a video game, a cartoon, or the like. The visitors expect that character to have a particular or a single voice, e.g., the voice used in the movie. As a result, the performer cannot simply use their own voice when they meet and talk with visitors, and, instead, scripted lines typically are recorded for each of the walk-around characters to provide the expected voices. The onboard audio or sound equipment is then controlled or triggered to playback these lines at appropriate times. The character's head may simultaneously be animated by operating robotics to provide mouth movement and eye blinks that are synchronized to the audio playback. To allow each walk-around character to speak to visitors, there has to be an effective way to trigger the animation and/or audio that cannot be detected by the often nearby visitor. For example, the triggering mechanism should not be audible to the visitor. One implementation is to use a backstage operator who has control over the audio and animation by selectively sending wireless control signals to the costume's sound and robotic systems. However, it is not practical in many cases to provide a backstage operator for each walk-around character. In other implementations, control is provided to the performer within the costume using finger paddles that the performer can operate to lip sync the character mouth to the pre-recorded audio track presently being played back to the visitor. Use of finger paddles, though, is typically visible to the visitors, which can ruin the illusion or desired effect. There remains a need for effective ways to trigger control over walk-around character equipment such as to trigger an audio playback or to trigger animation of the character's mouth. Preferably, such new ways would not be audible and would not be detectable by an observer of the character. In some cases, it may be useful to continue to use finger paddle controls but to provide an additional triggering device. Further, it may be desirable that the trigger be easy for the performer to initiate or operate while also providing relatively few false triggers as interaction with a walk-around character can be ineffective if the character speaks at improper moments or an incorrect scripted line is triggered.