A slot array antenna includes a waveguide slot body and a dielectric slab. The waveguide body includes one or more walls that define a waveguide aperture, the waveguide aperture extending along a longitudinal axis of the waveguide slot body. The waveguide slot body includes a plurality of slots disposed on one or more walls of the waveguide slot body. The dielectric slab is disposed within the waveguide aperture and extends along the longitudinal axis of the waveguide slot body. The dielectric slab is rotatable about the longitudinal axis within the waveguide aperture.

The present invention relates to waveguide antennae, and more specifically to dielectrically-loaded waveguide antennae.
Base station antennae require control of the beam down-tilting for their system's radiation patterns in order to vary the coverage areas for those systems. This variability is necessary, as different beam down-tilt angles will be needed depending upon the location and altitude of the base station and desired coverage area. FIG. 1 illustrates a base station antenna system 110 having two different degrees of beam or radiation pattern down-tilt. A first coverage area 120 is provided at a first down-tilt angle 122, and a second coverage area 130 is provided at a second down-tilt angle 132. Some mechanism is needed to provide the correct amount of beam down-tilt for a base station antenna.
Conventionally, two different techniques are used to control the beam down-tilt. FIG. 2A shows a first conventional technique in which tilting of the radiation pattern is performed mechanically. In this technique, a system 220 includes a base station antenna 222 disposed on a mechanically-tilting platform 225. The system 220 is shown in an un-tilted orientation (solid line) and a tilted orientation (broken lines). The platform 225 is physically tilted to provide a beam down-tilt which covers the desired area. (e.g., areas 120 or 130 shown in FIG. 1). While relatively straightforward to implement, the system 220 produces distortion, i.e., non-uniformity in the antenna coverage area, which leads to unreliable or lost communication links which have been established via the system 220.
The mounter physically adjusts the orientation of the antenna to point downwards. FIG. 2B shows a second conventional technique in which beam down-tilting is performed electrically using a phased-array antenna. In this technique, a system 250 includes signal divider 252, a bank of phase shifters 2541-254n (collectively referred to as phase shifters 254) and a base station antenna 256. A signal is applied to the input port 252a of signal divider 252, and the signal is divided (e.g., equally) between n branches, where each of the divided signals is phase shifted by a corresponding phase shifter 254. The resulting phase-shifted signals are fed to corresponding antennae in the base station antenna array 256, and collectively the signals form a tilted radiation pattern, as shown in FIG. 1, above. The degree of the beam down-tilt is controlled by the amount of phase shifting applied to the signals. This electrically-based system 250 provides a relatively uniform antenna coverage area and thus avoids the distortion in the antenna coverage pattern produced by the mechanical system 220. However the electrical system 250 suffers from added cost and complexity due to the use of a power divider 252 and phase shifter 254 components. Further disadvantageously, the power handling capability of these components may limit the amount of power the system 250 can transmit.
What is therefore needed is an improved antenna array having controllable beam down-tilt.

Slot array antenna with dielectric slab for electrical control of beam down-tilt


A portable cosmetic mirror which includes a stand that may be adjusted to various heights for allowing a user to accurately position the mirror such that both hands may be utilized for cosmetic application, hairstyling, or the like. Alternate embodiments of the apparatus further include a hair dryer holding assembly for positioning a hair dryer for hands-free use with the mirror and a magnification assembly in which a magnifying lens is removably positioned upon the mirror.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mirrors and more particularly pertains to a portable cosmetic mirror apparatus including a stand that may be adjusted to various heights for allowing a user to accurately position the mirror such that both hands may be utilized for cosmetic application, hairstyling, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of mirrors is known in the prior art. More specifically, mirrors heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of personal grooming are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
For example, a height-adjustable rear view hairstyling mirror is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,382 which frees the user's hands and allows viewing the back of the head while using two hands for hairstyling purposes. The device includes a mirror attached to a frame having three legs connected by hinges which allows the frame to close flatly for storing against a wall. The mirror is vertically adjustable on the frame which has a number of spaced holes for hanging the mirror by means of bolt heads extending out from the mirror's frame.
A self-styling and utility mirror with four surfaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,790 including four planar surfaces connected along adjacent edges thereof such that the two outer surfaces are angularly movable with respect to the two inner surfaces. The self-styling mirror is secured upon a vertical pole and is vertically movable up and down the pole.
Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,612 which describes a back-of-the-head viewing system designed to function alongside an existing mirror to provide a back-of-the-head view thereof. The unit is comprised of a bracket having a vertical bar upon which is slidably and rotatably mounted an arm having on one end thereof a suspended mirror which may be positioned behind the head of a user.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a portable cosmetic mirror which may be adjusted to various heights for allowing a user to accurately position the mirror that includes a hair dryer holding assembly for positioning a hair dryer proximate the mirror and a magnification assembly in which a magnifying lens is removably positioned upon the mirror. In this respect, the portable cosmetic mirror apparatus according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of allowing a user to accurately position the mirror such that both hands may be utilized for cosmetic application, hairstyling, or the like.


A method for resetting a component of an off-card assembly in a redundant system, the redundant system having first and second control plane cards coupled to the off-card assembly by respective serial interfaces, each serial interface including a respective status line and a respective clock line, each status line for providing a respective activity indication and a respective reset instruction, each clock line for providing a respective clock signal, the method comprising: monitoring respective activity indications and clock signals from the first and second control plane cards by the off-card assembly to determine which of the first and second control plane cards is an active card; and, selecting the reset instruction from the active card to reset the component, thereby resolving any conflict between respective reset instructions.

In packet-switched networks, a router is a network device or, in some cases, software in a computer, that determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward its destination. The router is connected to at least two networks and decides which way to send each information packet based on its current understanding of the state of the networks it is connected to. A router is located at any gateway where one network meets another and is often included as part of a network switch.
Typically, packets are transported through a router by hardware and software operating in a data plane which is in turn controlled by hardware and software operating in a control plane. In general, the control plane includes the hardware and software that handles non-wire speed functions and data that are required to operate a network device or network. These functions include connection, setup, and tear down, operations, administration, and management. In general, the data plane includes the hardware and software that handles the classification, modification, scheduling, and transmission of wire-speed application data. The control and data planes maybe combined into a single processing plane.
To improve availability, a router may be equipped with redundant or two control, data, or processing planes. A first control plane, for example, is designated as the active control plane and a second control plane is designated as the inactive control plane. In the event that a device in the active control plane fails, the inactive control plane takes over to reduce down time and hence maintain availability of the router. In such a case, activity is said to switch from the active control plane to the inactive control plane, that is, the two planes exchange roles. Routers and other network devices having redundant systems (i.e., control or data plane devices) are often referred to as "high availability" systems. Thus, a typical high availability router may have two main processing cards that run the same software and perform the same operation. If one card fails in the field, the other card takes over in order to keep the router up and running. Such a router is highly available as the card redundancy ensures that the router is almost always operable or available.
Thus, in a redundant or high availability system, two redundant control planes or cards typically run the same software as mentioned above. Even if both control plane cards are running, the system is still one system and therefore only one control card can configure and operate the system. This one card is the active card. The other card remains in a standby mode monitoring what is going on within the system. It is the inactive card. If the active card fails, then the inactive card takes over and becomes the active card. This is an activity switch. An activity switch can occur due to a failure of the active card, but it is also possible to trigger an activity switch by removing the active card from the system to perform an upgrade, for example. An activity switch may also be generated by entering a software command but this is typically done only for internal debugging purposes. An activity switch may also be generated by entering a software command.
In addition to control and data plane cards, the router also includes various-external modules or "off-card" assemblies or cards that may be plugged into (or unplugged from) the system. They are physically separated from the control planes but connect to them once they are inserted into the system. Typically, an off-card assembly terminates the control path and the data path.
One problem with current control plane management schemes is that they cannot typically detect and respond quickly enough to changes on multiple off-card assemblies, particularly when an activity switch is required in a high availability system in order to maintain stringent customer service level agreements. This problem causes the following: loss of bandwidth resulting from control plane traffic timing out when the status from an off-card assembly changes (or has been removed) and cannot be responded to efficiently; and, loss of reliability resulting from unauthorized write accesses to the off-card assembly from the inactive control plane. In addition, off-card assemblies cannot quickly detect and react to an activity switch in order to optimize performance of the active control plane and hence maintain bandwidth.
Another problem with current control plane management schemes relates to reset mechanisms. Control plane cards and off-card assemblies are typically provided with reset mechanisms which may be based, for example, on the power provided to the card. Until a card is properly powered-up and its alimentation (i.e., support and maintenance) is stable, a reset line or pin is kept low hence keeping the card in a reset state. The use of such reset mechanisms in high availability systems can be problematic. First, in general, existing reset mechanisms cannot target resets to a subset of the logic on a control plane or on an off-card assembly. This prevents the core logic from staying in-service during an activity switch or a failure and can result in increased recovery time (which is contrary to the objective of a high availability system). Second, existing reset mechanisms cannot detect and respond to changes in conditions in a timely fashion, which is important for high availability systems (i.e., to maintain customer service level agreements). Third, existing reset mechanisms cannot properly handle independent reset instructions from redundant control planes, thereby preventing resolution of conflicts and leading to false resets. Fourth, existing reset mechanisms use many signals to distribute reset instructions to multiple off-card assemblies. This increases package pin count, which leads to increased system cost.
A need therefore exists for an improved method and system for control plane signaling in high availability network devices such as routers. Accordingly, a solution that addresses, at least in part, the above and other shortcomings is desired.

Optimized control plane signalling for a high availability network device in a communications network


Technologies for virtual multipath access include a computing device configured to sequester a recovery partition from a host partition while allowing the recovery partition to access one or more resources of the host partition such as host memory or data storage. A remote computing device determines whether the host partition is responsive. The recovery partition receives a request for host state data of the host partition from the remote computing device in response to a determination that the host partition is not responsive. The recovery partition retrieves the requested host state data using a host state index maintained by the host partition and transmits the requested host state data to the remote computing device. The host state index may identify the location of the requested host state data. The remote computing device may perform a recovery operation based on the received host state data. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Many typical applications executing in computing clusters, including cloud computing clusters, require a high level of availability, redundancy, or other measures of robustness. In such applications, state data is typically propagated throughout the computing cluster to prevent introducing a single node as a point of failure. For example, business-critical applications such as sales and customer billing systems typically must be failsafe against a single point of failure. A node in a computing cluster may be brought down due to any combination of hardware failure, software failure, network failure, power failure, or other unplanned outage. However, software failures (including software bugs, software misconfigurations, crashes due to transient hardware errors, and all other software failures) are typically more common than any other failure source.
In some systems, application state may be propagated through a computing cluster through synchronous update messages sent between all of the nodes of the cluster. Additionally or alternatively, in some systems the application state may be logged synchronously to global storage such as a storage area network or network attached storage volume. In such applications, synchronization between nodes and/or global storage is a major source of communication overhead, equipment and facility costs, and complexity, and also reduces the flexibility of the system. Additionally, such systems fail to scale to large numbers of nodes, such as those needed for cloud computing applications.

Elastic virtual multipath resource access using sequestered partitions


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a processor having a plurality of cores each to execute instructions, a non-volatile storage to store maximum peak operating frequency values each a function of a given number of active cores, a configuration storage to store frequency limits each corresponding to one of the maximum peak operating frequency values or a configurable clip frequency value less than the maximum peak operating frequency value. In turn, a power controller is configured to limit operating frequency of the cores to a corresponding frequency limit obtained from the configuration storage. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Advances in semiconductor processing and logic design have permitted an increase in the amount of logic that may be present on integrated circuit devices. As a result, computer system configurations have evolved from a single or multiple integrated circuits in a system to multiple hardware threads, multiple cores, multiple devices, and/or complete systems on individual integrated circuits. Additionally, as the density of integrated circuits has grown, the power requirements for computing systems (from embedded systems to servers) have also escalated. Furthermore, software inefficiencies, and its requirements of hardware, have also caused an increase in computing device energy consumption. In fact, some studies indicate that computing devices consume a sizeable percentage of the entire electricity supply for a country, such as the United States of America. As a result, there is a vital need for energy efficiency and conservation associated with integrated circuits. These needs will increase as servers, desktop computers, notebooks, Ultrabooks™, tablets, mobile phones, processors, embedded systems, etc. become even more prevalent (from inclusion in the typical computer, automobiles, and televisions to biotechnology).
In some software applications, individual processor performance variability across nodes of a compute cluster can result in software failures. At the same time, the nature of modern processors is to take advantage of environmental capacity such as power or thermal constraints and increase processor clock frequency until one or more of these limits are reached. With die-to-die silicon variation, processor operation is generally non-deterministic. The solution for many users who seek to normalize performance across nodes is to disable altogether opportunistic turbo mode operation in which clock frequencies of a processor are increased. While this can more readily ensure determinism of operation across the nodes, a significant amount of performance is lost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Controlling configurable peak performance limits of a processor


A torque adjustable wrench includes an adjusting rod extending from an end of the shank of the wrench and a first toothed surface are longitudinally defined in an outer periphery thereof. A longitudinal positioning groove is defined in the adjusting rod to form a blank area of the first toothed surface. An end cap is connected to the grip which is rotatably connected to the shank and includes second toothed surface which is engaged with the first toothed surface. A positioning member is connected to the end cap and includes a positioning tongue which can be removably engaged with the longitudinal positioning groove. When the torque is set, the grip is pulled to remove the positioning tongue from the longitudinal positioning groove and the user may operate the wrench. The use can trace the original setting by inserting the positioning tongue into the longitudinal positioning groove.

A conventional torque adjustable wrench is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and generally includes a shank 8 with first scale markings 81 marked on an end opposite to the wrench head (not shown) and a grip 7 is rotatably connected to the shank 8. The grip 7 includes a torque setting mechanism (not shown) received therein which has an adjusting rod 72. An end cap is connected to a distal end of the grip 7 and includes a toothed passage with which a toothed section 721 on the adjusting rod 72 is removably engaged. As shown in FIG. 8, the torque setting is zero and the user may set the torque to be output to be 2 as shown in FIG. 9. After the setting the completed, the grip 7 together with the end cap are pulled away from the shank 8 to let the toothed section 721 be disengaged from the toothed passage as shown in FIG. 9 so that the adjusting rod 72 will not be rotated again. The user then operates the wrench to output torque. However, during operation of the wrench, the grip 7 might be rotated relative to the shank 8. In some situations, the user forgets the original setting and the relative rotation of the grip 7 to the shank 8 makes the user difficult to remind the original setting.
FIG. 10 shows another conventional torque adjustable wrench 9 wherein the grip 92 is rotatably mounted to the shank 91. The grip 92 can be pulled to increase the length of the arm of force during operating the wrench. The grip 92 is rotatable relative to the shank 91 when operating the wrench and the original setting is lost.
The present invention intends to provide a tracing mechanism for a torque adjustable wrench and the original setting can be easily tracked no matter the grip is rotated or not.

Tracing mechanism of torque adjustable wrenches


The disclosure concerns a mining roof support frame including at least one hydraulic lifting ram which is mounted on a bridging member connecting two base skids of the main frame, and which by way of a pressure-generated force can be extended downward against a walking bar of the walking unit of the mining roof support frame located between the base skids. In accordance with the disclosure, the base skids lifting device is connected with the bridging member such that it can pivot. With walking unit ram pivot pins withdrawn only on one side, the base skids lifting device can be pivoted out of the way about opposing pivot pins.

The disclosure relates to a mining roof support frame, in particular a shield roof support frame, comprising a main frame, two base skids, and a base skids lifting device including at least one hydraulic lifting ram. The lifting ram can be mounted on a bridging member connecting the two base skids of the main frame. A pressure-generated force can be extended downward against a walking bar of a walking unit of the mining roof support frame located between the base skids. The disclosure concerns also the base skids lifting device for mining support assemblies itself.
Shield support assemblies with base skids lifting devices are of known art in various embodiments (DE 40 35 252 A1, DE 42 05 940 A1). The use of a base skids lifting device is particularly recommended in circumstances where the roof support frame with its base skids presses into the soft floor so deeply when in use as a result of the suspended load, that the walking process is impeded. The floor conditions can vary from site to site, and also can be subject to variations within the same site. If the hydraulic lifting ram is connected to the bridging member that connects the two base skids of the roof support frame and bridges across the walking unit channel between the two base skids, and the lifting ram is located such that in the retracted state it lies with its lower support foot below the lower edge of the bridging member, then it can occur, particularly in the case of uneven and very soft floors, that the base skids dig so deeply into the floor as a result of the suspended load that the retracted lifting ram makes contact with the walking bar and is subject to high loadings. This results inevitably in the destruction of the lifting ram, or to a shearing off of the lifting ram from the bridging member.
The known state of the art technology furthermore attracts the disadvantage that during servicing or repair tasks on the walking bar or walking ram, time-intensive bolting tasks are required for the disassembly and assembly of the connecting parts receiving the lifting ram from the bridging member that rigidly connects the base skids. In addition, the bolted joints that are used are subject to shearing forces. Moreover, the lifting ram with the connecting parts must be removed from its position or fixed in position manually by a miner working underground under difficult conditions.

Mining roof support frame with base skids lifting device


Systems and methods to provide a remote haptic and vibratory feedback stimulus to the body of a participant that may be remote from an actuator for the generation of vortex rings.

The sense of touch forms an intrinsic part of our real world experience and is naturally associated with physical exploration and contact. In many virtual reality (VR) and computer gaming settings, touch provides physical contact and contributes to participant immersion. While most VR and computer gaming applications rely mostly on providing realistic visual imagery, it is well known that our perception and world model is shaped by an integration of visual, auditory and somatosensory stimuli, in an automatic process known as sensory integration. The body is particularly adept at using sensory combinations to "fill in the blanks" where "like" sensory information will direct and reinforce our percept. Additional information may also be obtained from olfaction (smell) and temperature perceptual information. Current state of the art VR and gaming platforms provide a realistic and vivid audio visual experience. However, very few systems are able to provide touch feedback (or for that matter, olfactory and temperature feedback), greatly diminishing the realism of the VR or gaming experience.
Touch is therefore a critical component in human-computer interface as it enables us to perceive the existence of objects and to handle them appropriately. For example, touch feedback during typing is naturally provided by the conventional keyboard mechanism but is absent on most current "solid" touch-screens, making typing more difficult on those devices. In general, this type of force feedback is known as haptics. Most haptics research has focused on force feedback to the hands, especially in tele-robotic (tele-presence) where technology enables interaction with remote objects. Tactile aspects of touch usually refer to vibratory stimuli (from 0 to about 400 Hz). The skin is particularly sensitive to vibrations, especially at frequencies above 150 Hz. Tactile feedback often uses a body-worn spatial array of vibrotactile actuators ("tactors") to provide the wearer with patterns of vibration at particular body (or skin) locations that are representative of information, for example, directional cueing (for navigation) or communication patterns.
The body's response to haptic and tactile stimuli is somewhat complex depending on stimulus characteristics, body location, transducer geometry and a large number of psychophysical factors (see for example, Bolanowski, S., Gescheider, G., Verrillo, R., & Checkosky, C. (1988). Four channels mediate the mechanical aspects of touch. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 84(5), 1680-1694). For example, tactile spatial acuity, defined to be the two-point discrimination threshold, depends on the skin classification (smooth—such as the hand—or hairy) and also varies over the body. Typically areas linked to exploration (such as the fingers) are much more sensitive than other areas such as the torso or back. Touch receptors in the skin are sensitive to shear, displacement, temperature, and vibration. Typically combinations of receptors are activated by stimuli and their responses combined to be centrally interpreted, classified and characterized, sometimes in non-obvious ways. For example, simultaneous cold and pressure stimuli can combine to produce the percept of wetness.
There are many situations where haptic and tactile feedback is needed to simulate the environment in VR and gaming systems. For example, haptic and tactile feedback may be useful to simulate virtual explosions for indoor virtual training systems; specifically, the force felt from debris strikes from an IED explosion and/or the force felt by a bullet strike would greatly enhance the realism or "presence" of the virtual training experience. In other gaming examples, multiple participants may interact within a virtual combat game and it is desirable to provide tactile feedback to a particular participant who is receiving strikes from bullets, objects and the like.
The theme-park and entertainment industry have a multitude of activities, simulators and rides where haptic and tactile feedback presented to participants would greatly enhance the effect and realism of said activities, thereby enhancing the guest experience.
Many of these applications ideally require that the haptic stimulus be administered remotely to a participant, without additional worn components. Therefore, there is an unmet need for the presentation of haptic and tactile feedback stimuli on one or more participants who are not in direct contact with any objects (such as actuators, force feedback devices and the like) and who are naturally interacting and potentially moving within an activity area. It is also known that haptic stimuli must be provided with precise temporal and spatial characteristics that mimic real haptic and tactile cues and events. Further, this must be done in a safe and effective manner.
Several prior-art actuator technologies have been suggested for use in remote haptic systems. These include air jets, fans, air cannons, wearable actuators (Lindeman, R, Yanagida, Y., Noma, H., Hosaka, K, Wearable Vibrotactile Systems for Virtual Contact and Information Display, Special Issue on Haptic Interfaces and Applications, Virtual Reality, 9(2-3), 2006, pp. 203-213 Vibrotactile Feedback for Handling Virtual Contact in Immersive Virtual Environments," Lindeman, R. W. and Templeman, J. N., Usability Evaluation and Interface Design: Cognitive Engineering, Intelligent Agents and Virtual Reality, Smith, M. J., Salvendy, G., Harris, D., and Koubek, R. J. (Eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J., 2001, pp. 21-25.) and ultrasonic radiation force. Air jets are simple but are limited in range due to inherent jet turbulence and aerodynamic drag. The use of ultrasonic radiation force in a haptic system is an intriguing technology that has been successfully demonstrated in remote tactile displays. Dalecki et al. (Dalecki D, Child S Z, Raeman C H, Carstensen E L. Tactile perception of ultrasound. J Acoust Soc Am. 1995; 97(5 Pt 1):3165-70) showed that radiation pressure (in liquids) can provide sufficient force to produce tactile sensory effects. Further research (Masafumi Takahashi, Hiroyuki Shinoda, Large Aperture Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display Using Distributed Array Units, SICE Annual Conference Taiwan, 2010) used a focused array in air to provide vibrotactile stimuli on the outstretched hand of a participant. However, the system produces extremely low actuation forces at the skin surface and is therefore limited in range and capability. Only 1.6×10−2N force has been reported (Takayuki Hoshi, Masafumi Takahashi, Takayuki Iwamoto, and Hiroyuki Shinoda, Noncontact Tactile Display Based on Radiation Pressure of Airborne Ultrasound, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HAPTICS, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2010). Therefore ultrasonic non-contact display systems modulate (Takayuki Hoshi, Daisu Abe, and Hiroyuki Shinoda, Adding Tactile Reaction to Hologram, The 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication Toyama, Japan, Sep. 27-Oct. 2, 2009) the applied force to produce a vibrotactile stimulus (at 200 Hz, the most sensitive frequency for human skin on the palm). The effective range of this device is limited to about 20 cm2 area and 40 cm height. Extending the range of this technology is technically challenging; safety concerns limit the energy density (at the skin) to less than 100 mW/cm2 which corresponds to a maximum acoustic radiation pressure of about 6.0×10−1N on the surface of the skin Ultrasonic arrays operating in air are also inefficient (absorption and coupling limit range) and costly. Further, previous systems have relied on focusing to achieve sufficient radiation pressures, which limits the effective sensory spatial area to a very narrow region. So, while theoretically possible, there are many practical barriers to the implementation of ultrasonic radiation technologies into a larger scale (and range) VR haptic system.
Therefore new approaches are needed for the generation of remote haptic and tactile stimuli.
The foregoing discussion reflects the current state of the art of which the present inventor is aware. Reference to, and discussion of, this information is intended to aid in discharging Applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be relevant to the examination of claims to the present invention. However, it is respectfully submitted that none of the above-indicated information discloses, teaches, suggests, shows, or otherwise renders obvious, either singly or when considered in combination, the invention described and claimed herein.

System and method for providing a remote haptic stimulus


A paint disposal or recovery system, which efficiently places the paint in layers and evaporates the water therefrom, permits efficient disposal or efficient recovery of the solid material or the formerly dispersed material. Layers of water-based paints are especially formed on vapor permeable surfaces in trays or on the Surface of a supported, vapor permeable pocket liner. The trays with the liner thereon or the supported pocket liner is then placed in dryer housing. Air or other drying agents are then forced through the dryer housing. The water evaporates and leaves the dispersed material from the water-based paint on the respective surface.

Proper disposal of paint is a critical feature for the environment. The contents of the paint cause many problems with the environment. In an effort to reduce the pollution from paint, water-based paints are known. Even with this improvement, disposal still is a problem.
Water-based paints generally contain polymers and pigments, which polymers and pigments are dispersed, in water. This dispersion is applied to a desired surface. As the water evaporates, the dispersed polymers and pigments are left on the surface and give appearance of a proper coating.
The water and other content of the paints can still cause environmental problems. Such paint cannot just be sent to land fills or poured down the sewer without causing major problems. To that end, a better disposal method is required, even for the water-based paint.
Recovery or reuse of at least part of the water-based paint is even better for the environment than the most efficient disposal method. The effective use of materials is very desirable and even more useful than the most efficient disposal method. Therefore, reusing or reprocessing paint materials offers great advantages. Yet no such system exists.


Methods for identifying agents that can increase or decrease the isopeptidase activity of a COP9 signalsome (CSN) are provided, as are agent identified using such screening assays. In addition, methods of ameliorating a pathologic condition such as a cancer or an autoimmune disease in a subject by modulating the CSN isopeptidase activity are provided, as are medicaments useful for treating a subject having such a condition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the protein degradation pathways, and more specifically to compositions and methods for modulating the isopeptidase activity of the COP9 signalsome and, therefore, ubiquitin dependent protein degradation.
2. Background Information
The function of a protein is regulated via various means in a cell. One way to regulate protein function is via conjugation and deconjugation of a modifier protein to a target protein, e.g., neddylation and deneddylation or ubiquitination and deubiquitination.
The major route for protein degradation in the nucleus and cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells is via the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway. The 26S proteasome comprises two major subparticles: the 20S proteasome and the 19S regulatory particle. The 20S proteasome is a cylindrical structure with an internal cavity that contains the peptidase active sites. Substrates of the proteasome are inserted into the cylinder, where they are susceptible to digestion by the peptidase active sites of the 20S proteasome. Entry into the 20S proteasome cylinder is governed by the 19S regulatory particle, which caps the ends of the 20S cylinder.
The 19S regulatory particle binds ubiquitinated substrates and translocates them into the inner cavity of the 20S cylinder, where they are degraded. The 19S regulatory particle can be further subdivided into two multiprotein complexes: the base and the lid. The base comprises a set of six ATPases that are thought to unfold substrates and translocate them into the 20S proteasome. The lid is comprised of a set of eight proteins of unknown function. Biochemical data indicate that the presence of the lid renders the proteasome selective for degrading ubiquitinated proteins, but the basis for this selectivity is not known.
The lid subcomplex of the 26S proteasome is evolutionarily related to the COP9-signalsome (CSN) complex, but the significance of this similarity has remained unknown. There are reports that 26S proteasome preparations contain a variety of associated ubiquitin isopeptidase activities (Eytan et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:4668-74, 1993; Verma et al., Mol. Biol. Cell 11:3425, 2000), but it has not been demonstrated that an ubiquitinated substrate can be completely deubiquitinated by purified 26S proteasome to yield unmodified substrate. The failure to detect such a reaction product may be due to a tight coupling between the deubiquitination of a substrate and its subsequent degradation within the internal cavity of the 20S proteasome.
Proteins that are destined for degradation by the ubiquitin/26S pathway are marked by the attachment of a polyubiquitin chain to the side chains of lysine residues on the target protein. The ubiquitinated protein is recognized by the 26S proteasome by a mechanism that remains poorly understood. Subsequently the ubiquitinated protein is disengaged from any tightly bound partners, unfolded, and translocated into the central cavity of the 20S complex, where it is exhaustively degraded by the proteolytic active sites that are present in this inner cavity.
Despite many years of intensive study of this system, it remains unclear what happens to the substrate-bound polyubiquitin chains that target the substrate for degradation. It appears that ubiquitin is not degraded by the proteasome but, in fact, is recycled. However it remains unclear if the ubiquitin chains enter the inner cavity of the proteasome and emerge unscathed, or are cleaved from the substrate protein prior to or during its translocation into the inner cavity of the 20S. In prior work (Eytan et al., supra, 1993), it was demonstrated that there is an isopeptidase activity or activities associated with the intact 26S proteasome that is able to release free ubiquitin monomers from ubiquitinated substrates that are degraded by the 26S proteasome. It was demonstrated that this activity is sensitive to the metal ion chelator 1,10-phenanthroline, but the identity of a polypeptide that harbors this activity was not established, nor was it established that this activity is intrinsic to the 26S proteasome as opposed to being intrinsic to a protein that binds transiently to the 26S proteasome. This prior work also failed to disclose whether the ubiquitin isopeptidase activity is critical to the protein-degrading function of the 26S proteasome.
Nedd8 is an ubiquitin-like protein that is covalently linked via an isopeptide bond between its carboxy terminus and the epsilon amino group of lysine residues in target proteins (referred to as neddylation). The attachment of Nedd8 to target proteins requires the combined action of a Nedd8-activating enzyme composed of Ula1 and Uba3 subunits (analogous to ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E1), and Ubc12, which is homologous to the ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2). There is no known requirement for an activity equivalent to the ubiquitin ligase (E3) component of ubiquitination pathways. The Nedd8 modification, like ubiquitination, is likely dynamic, although little is known about the nature of the enzymes that would cleave Nedd8 from its targets (i.e., deneddylate, also referred to as deneddylation or deneddylating activity).
A ubiquitin isopeptidase (USP21) can deneddylate Cul1-Nedd8 conjugates, and a second enzyme UCH-L3, can cleave Nedd8-containing fusion proteins at the C-terminus of Nedd8 to release mature Nedd8; Nedd8, like ubiquitin, is made as a precursor with additional C-terminal residues that must be removed before it can be conjugated to proteins. Despite the fact that both USP21 and UCH-L3 can metabolize Nedd8-based substrates, they also act on ubiquitin-based substrates, and it remains unclear whether their biochemical activity towards Nedd8 is relevant in the context of a cell.
In contrast to ubiquitin, the attachment of Nedd8 to proteins does not mark them for degradation. Rather, it appears that neddylation acts to modify protein function, much like phosphorylation. The cullins are the only proteins that have been found to be conjugated with Nedd8. The cullins are a family of six related proteins that bind a RING-H2 domain protein to form the catalytic core of multisubunit ubiquitin ligases. All cullins examined are modified by attachment of Nedd8, and neddylation of Cul1 potentiates the ubiquitin ligase of the SCF complex within which Cul1 resides. Thus, for Cul1-based ubiquitin ligases, neddylation serves as a positive regulator of activity. However, for other cullin-based ubiquitin ligases, the role, if any, of neddylation remains uncertain.
The COP9/signalsome ("CSN") was originally identified as a regulator of photomorphogenetic development in plants. In seedlings grown in the dark, CSN enables a putative ubiquitin ligase, COP1, to mediate rapid turnover of the transcriptional regulatory protein HY5 in the nucleus. In seedlings that have been exposed to light or in CSN mutants, COP1 redistributes from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, thereby stabilizing HY5 and allowing it to accumulate in the nucleus. HY5, in turn, activates the transcription of a broad palette of genes that mediate photomorphogenetic development. Although the general physiological role of CSN in photomorphogenesis has been defined, little is known about other potential physiological functions for CSN, and the biochemical function of CSN remains elusive. Based on the observation that the eight subunits of CSN share homology to subunits of the lid subcomplex of the 19S regulator of the 26S proteasome, it has been suggested that CSN may play a role in ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. However, a similar pattern of homology is shared with subunits of the eukaryotic initiation factor-3 (eIF3) complex. Besides plants, CSN complexes have been discovered in human cells, Drosophila, and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Surprisingly, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not contain an apparent CSN complex, although it contains a gene homologous to the CSN5/JAB1 subunit of CSN complex, thus implicating CSN5 as a critical component of CSN.
Given the role of protein degradation in maintaining normal cell function, and the disruption of this pathway in association with various disorders such as cancer, an understanding of the components involved in regulating ubiquitination and protein degradation would allow the development of drugs that can modify protein degradation. Thus, a need exists to identify the active domain and site of peptidase activity, particularly isopeptidase activity of a protein involved in deconjugation of a modifier protein from a target protein, e.g., deneddylation or deubiquitination such that screening assays can be developed to identify drugs that can selectively modulate protein modification and degradation. The present invention satisfies this need and provides additional advantages.

Modulation of COP9 signalsome isopeptidase activity


An information-processing apparatus stores in advance a photographing application program. Further, the information-processing apparatus comprises photographing processing means which has a function different from that of the photographing application program. In a launch acceptance state, the information-processing apparatus accepts a first launch operation for selectively launching a plurality of application programs, and a photographing enabling operation for setting a state of the information-processing apparatus to a photographing enabled state. In the photographing enabled state, the information-processing apparatus executes photographing processing by the photographing processing means, and accepts a second launch operation for launching the photographing application program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus and a launch program executed by the information-processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an information-processing apparatus which is capable of selectively executing a plurality of application programs and a launch program executed by the information-processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there is an information-processing apparatus which is capable of executing various application programs such as a game application, and the like and which is capable of functioning as an imaging apparatus by mounting a camera thereto (refer to "Chotto Shot Camera Instruction Manual" (Document 1) published by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on Nov. 2, 2006). An information-processing apparatus described in the Document 1 is capable of executing an application program stored in a detachable storage medium. By mounting thereto a storage medium storing an application program (referred to as a first program) described in the Document 1, it is possible to perform photographing using a camera mounted to the information-processing apparatus, and to view and edit a photographed image. In addition, it is possible for the information-processing apparatus to perform photographing by executing a second program for executing photographing program which is stored in a detachable storage medium (memory card) which is different from the storage medium (optical disc) storing the first program. Thus, in the information-processing apparatus, it is possible to perform photographing by the two different application programs for photographing.
The first and second application programs which are executable by the information-processing apparatus described in the Document 1 have different functions (although having common functions). Thus, a case where a user desires (or needs) to use a function which only the other application program has in a state where the user performs photographing by executing one of the application programs is assumed. In this case, in order to use the desired function, the user has to perform a troublesome operation, namely, the user has to terminate the execution of the one of the application programs, and then, to select the other application program in a menu screen, and the like, further to launch the other application program.

Information-processing apparatus having photography applications


A dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus and method is applied to powdery and particulate samples that are conventionally known as having a dispersion limit of 1 xcexcm and are dispersed to a state of fine particles or a submicron particle size, and which therefore can be accurately measured. The sample is subjected to primary dispersion by a primary dispersion flow that reaches a critical pressure and a subsonic speed, and the sample is then subjected to a secondary dispersion by a secondary dispersion flow that is different in direction from the primary dispersion flow and that reaches a critical pressure and a subsonic speed. The dispersed primary size powdery and particulate sample is supplied to a flow cell in which air flows, the flow cell 2 is irradiated with a laser beam 6, and the particle-size distribution of the sample is measured on the basis of a detection output of scattered light and/or diffracted light caused by the sample.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus in which so-called powdery and particulate members such as powdery members, particulate members, or a mixture of the members are used as a sample, and which measures the particle-size distribution of the sample while flowing the sample by a carrier gas such as air, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of dispersing the particulate members into a primary particle status prior to submission to a flow cell.
1. Description of Related Art
Dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus are widely used for measuring the particle-size distribution of powdery and particulate members which are easily soluble in a liquid, such as granules of a medicine, dehydrated food such as seasoning packets for precooked noodles, dried coating compositions, or coating particles.
Such powdery and particulate members are sometimes aggregated by an electrostatic force, a Van der Waals force, a magnetic force, or the like which acts among the powdery and particulate members even in a dry state, so that the powdery and particulate members are not formed as so-called primary particles in which powdery and particulate members are completely separated from each other, but rather are formed as secondary particles (in each of which several primary particles are aggregated) or tertiary particles (in each of which several secondary particles are aggregated). When such powdery and particulate members including not only primary particles but also secondary and tertiary particles are supplied to a flow cell as a sample and measurement is then conducted while irradiating the sample with light, it is impossible to obtain a true particle-size distribution of the powdery and particulate members.
Therefore, conventional dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatuses have been configured in the following manner to address this problem. When powdery and particulate members to be used as a sample are downwardly supplied from a charging port into a flow cell, compressed air may be injected in the outer periphery of the sample charging port, whereby the sample is dispersed so that secondary and tertiary particles in the sample are dispersed to try and change them to primary particles as far as possible.
In a sample dispersion method in the conventional dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus, however, it is difficult to completely disperse aggregated or bonded powdery and particulate members to primary particles because dispersion is performed only one time. When a sample of high density is charged, or when so-called submicron powdery and particulate members in which the particle size is smaller than 1 xcexcm are charged as a sample, particularly, there arises a disadvantage that only dispersion up to 1 xcexcm which corresponds to the secondary particle state is usually performed.
Thus, there is a need in the prior art to provide an efficient and economical fluidic dispersion unit to disperse particles into substantially their primary particle state.
The present invention has been designed to resolve the above-mentioned problems.
It is an object of the invention to provide a dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus in which a powdery and particulate sample that is conventionally known in the field of aerial dispersion to have a dispersion limit of 1 xcexcm can be dispersed to a state of fine primary particles of a submicron particle size, and which therefore can accurately perform a desired particle-size distribution measurement.
In order to attain this objective, in a dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus in which a powdery and particulate sample is supplied to a flow cell in which air flows, the flow cell is irradiated with a laser beam, and a particle-size distribution of the sample is measured on the basis of a detection output of scattered light and/or diffracted light caused by the sample, the sample which has not yet been supplied to the flow cell is subjected to a primary dispersion by a primary dispersion flow that reaches a critical pressure and a subsonic speed, and the sample is then subjected to secondary dispersion by a secondary dispersion flow that is different in direction from the primary dispersion flow, and that also reaches a critical pressure and a subsonic speed.
In the dry particle-size distribution measuring apparatus, even when the powdery and particulate members are not completely changed into the primary particle state which is the goal of the dispersion by the primary dispersion performed by the primary dispersion flow, the members are also subjected to a secondary dispersion by the secondary dispersion flow that is different in direction from the primary dispersion flow, whereby the entire powdery and particulate members are changed into the primary particle state.
The secondary dispersion flow may be positioned to have a forward angle with respect to a flow axis along the dropping direction of the sample, or may be perpendicular to a dropping direction axis of the sample. Furthermore, a sheath flow may be formed with respect to a flow of the sample after it has been subjected to the secondary dispersion as it is introduced into a measurement sample cell.
The present invention provides a fluidic dispersion unit having a first conduit or flow path for introducing the particulate or powdery sample along a flow axis towards a sample cell. A second conduit or flow path introduces a first peripheral flowing gas to generate first converging force vectors at an angle to the sample flow axis wherein the contact of the first peripheral flowing gas with the particulate or powdery sample generates a first turbulent zone for dispersing the particulate sample to enable a primary particle status. A third conduit or flow path, positioned downstream of the second conduit or flow path, introduces a second flowing gas to generate second force vectors at an angle to the sample flow axis wherein the contact of the second flowing gas with the particulate or powdery sample generates a second turbulent zone for further dispersing the particulate or powdery sample to enhance the ability to provide a primary particle status.
Finally, a fourth conduit can aspirate air as a sheath flow about the sample as it enters the sample measurement cell to insure a repetitive and reproducible flow condition.
The method of the present invention comprises the steps of introducing a particulate or powdery sample along a flow axis towards a sample cell. A first peripheral flowing gas is directed at a first converging angle to the flow axis to contact the sample and create a first turbulent zone to disperse the sample. A second flowing gas is directed downstream of the first flowing gas to contact the sample and create a second turbulent zone for further dispersing the sample to enhance the creation of a primary particle status prior to entering a flow sample cell. A sheath gas flow can be created about the sample to stabilize the measurement condition of the sample in the sample cell.

Dry particle distribution measuring apparatus and method


Real-time forensic instrumentation comprising: a monitoring hook into the notification interface of an operating system; a forensic artifact filter to evaluate events received via the real-time monitoring hook to determine if an event represents a change to a forensic artifact; and a forensic interpreter subsystem to: based on the forensic artifact filter output, collect forensic metadata associated with the forensic artifact and apply a forensic analysis to the forensic artifact to generate a result; generate a forensically interpreted activity for the event, the forensically interpreted activity comprising the forensic metadata, the result of the forensic analysis and a description of a first activity by a user with respect to the forensic artifact; and store the forensically interpreted activity in a digital forensics store.

Computer investigation has become increasingly important as the use of computers has extended to virtually all areas of everyday life. Computer investigation includes computer forensics, which is the collection, preservation and analysis of computer-related evidence, typically for possible use as evidence in a legal proceeding. The field of computer forensics maintains established practices for the collection, preservation, and analysis of data stored on computer systems. These practices are rooted in legal requirements and decades of court precedence. The application of these practices when conducting an investigation on a target computer has historically required considerable time and effort from an experienced investigator.
Computer forensics typically involves the systematic inspection of a computer system and the collection, preservation and analysis of "forensic artifacts" found on the computer system. Forensic artifacts include items, objects or areas that hold information of forensic interest, particularly information relevant to the activities performed on a computer. Forensic artifacts can include evidentiary residue that operating systems leave behind incidentally based on actions of users and applications. Examples of forensic artifacts include, but are not limited to: undocumented system files; meta-storage such as a Windows® registry and MacOS® plists (Windows is registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, MacOS is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc., all trademarks, service marks, certification marks, or collective marks used herein are property of their respective owners); kernel data structures in memory; data stored in file system metadata and headers; and log files. The computer forensics community continually identifies, reverse-engineers and publishes previously undocumented forensic artifacts.
As will be appreciated, there may be multiple forensic artifacts of various types and locations in an operating system environment. By way of example, but not limitation, an operating system environment may include USBSTOR registry keys related to USB activity, ShellBags that track views, sizes and positions of a folder window, log files and registry keys that relate to authentication activity, cache folders for opened email attachments, .Ink files for open files, files related to run command activities, process memory that relates to run command activities, and other forensic artifacts. Forensic investigators may analyze such forensic artifacts to determine USB activity, folder browsing activity, authentication activity, clicking on attachments activity, clicking on files activity, website browsing activity, run command activity and other activities that occurred on a target computer.
Computer forensics systems focus on point-in-time batch processing of all forensic artifacts on a target computer. Forensically sound collection of forensic artifacts typically involves an I/O intensive process of reading data in memory in a large batch, without modifying the data. The collected data is analyzed to identify forensic artifacts. Computer forensics systems favor interpreting file system metadata, rather than trusting the operating system, to locate the artifacts. The parsing and interpretation of forensic artifacts to determine conclusionary forensic metadata and the storage of the conclusionary forensic metadata is performed at the end of a long batch processing job, run at a specific points-in-time.
The reliance of computer forensic systems on batch collection and processing of forensic artifacts has limitations. As one such shortcoming, batch collection suffers from an artifact overwrite problem. A point-in-time batch collection of artifacts collects artifacts as they are at the time the batch is collected but may miss states of the artifacts that have been overwritten prior to the batch being collected. Furthermore, a number of forensic artifacts are temporal in-memory artifacts that batch collection will fail to collect if they are not in-memory when the batch is created. Batch collection also results in a high I/O load, slowing the target computer.

System and method for real-time forensic instrumentation


In a capstanless tape transport, practice of the invention provides substantially constant tape tension when tape is spooled from a supply reel to a take up reel over the tape's entire length, for either direction of tape travel. The tape velocity is maintained constant by a closed loop velocity servo controlling the current applied to one of the reeling motors, and the tape tension is maintained substantially uniform by applying a current derived in an open loop manner to the other motor, such that the sum of the currents to the two reeling motors equals a constant.. The invention may be implemented either utilizing analog control or digital control of the reeling apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic tape transport, and in particular, to control of the tape velocity and tension in a capstanless magnetic tape transport.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
It is well known in the magnetic recording art that tape velocity and tape tension are important parameters in the design of a magnetic tape transport. Constant tape velocity is essential in preservation of timing relations and frequency content in the recorded data. The importance of tension control arises from two conflicting considerations in transporting a magnetic tape across a magnetic record or playback head. First, a high enough tension must be maintained to insure intimate contact between the tape recording surface and the magnetic head to prevent the loss of signal due to spacing between the magnetic surface of the tape and the head. This spacing loss becomes increasingly severe with decrease in recorded wavelength, so the modern trend towards shorter and shorter recorded wavelengths requires extremely intimate head to tape contact. This may be accomplished by an adequate tape tension having a component forcing the tape into contact with the surface of the head. On the other hand, magnetic tape is invariably abrasive, and a high value of tape tension may result in unacceptable head wear as the tape is repeatedly shuttled over the head. The tape tension, therefore, must be established and maintained at a compromise value which satisfies both requirements. Unlike the requirement for constant tape velocity, there is latitude in one direction or the other in setting the tension to effect this compromise, and a variation of 10 to 15 percent from an optimal tension value is generally acceptable.
In the prior art transport utilizing a capstan for tape speed control, a variety of methods have been employed to provide the required tape tension. One means employs vacuum columns for the tape entering and leaving the capstan region. Each vacuum column is maintained at a reduced pressure such that the atmospheric pressure on the tape travelling through the column results in a force on the tape which sets the tension at a predetermined value. Another method employed in transports of the prior art uses rotatable spring loaded arms over which the tape passes. The arms are servo controlled to maintain a position such that the tension in the tape tending to rotate an arm in one direction is just balanced by the force exerted by the spring for rotation in the opposite direction.
The capstanless transport has also been disclosed in the prior art, where the velocity and the tension of the tape are set by control of the currents in the supply and take up motors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,996 issued in the names of Brooks et al discloses such a capstanless transport using an approximate calculated speed reference for controlling the tape velocity, and utilizing the specific torque-speed characteristics of the supply motor for control of the tension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,745 in the name of Shu utilizes an algorithm that the tape tension in a velocity controlled capstanless transport may be maintained at a substantially uniform value by keeping the sum of the currents of the take up motor and the supply motor equal to a constant. If, for example, an increase in bearing friction in one of the reeling motors causes a decrease in tape velocity, the velocity servo will demand increased torque from the velocity servo controlled motor to restore the tape velocity. This in turn, requires an increase in the velocity servo motor current. As the tape accelerates, if the hold back torque, i.e. the current in the supply motor, is not correspondingly reduced, the tape tension will increase. This interaction of the motor currents acts to keep the tape tension constant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,745 implements this algorithm by incorporating two closed loop servos in a capstanless tape transport. One closed loop maintains the velocity of the tape equal to a preset value, and the second closed loop maintains the sum of the currents in the two motors equal to a pre-set constant current value. It will be noted that these two closed feedback loops are tightly coupled through the tape under tension, complicating the stabilization of the loops as the tape pack radius decreases on one reel while it is increasing on the other reel.

Apparatus and method for tape velocity and tension control in a capstanless magnetic tape transport


What is presented is an innovative design of a chemical reactor for catalytic breakdown of halogenated hydrocarbons, the body of which acts as a specialized electromagnet capable of immobilizing and retaining very large quantities of non-magnetized ferro-dia- or para-magnetic material-containing nano, micro-, or milli-particles within it's reactor volume despite high-velocity flow of any liquid through said reactor. This is accomplished without any pre-treatment to the nanoparticles, without the use of adhesive of any sort, electroplating, electrolytic action, nano-structured nanocages, membrane or other impregnation, or any other mechanical or chemical means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to chemical reactors and more particularly to devices for immobilizing particles in a reactant fluid flow.
2. Description of Related Art
Metallic nanoparticles (MNPs), which have at least one compositional constituent which is ferromagnetic, diamagnetic, or paramagnetic, have several extremely interesting and useful properties: their size, their structure, and in the case of bi- or multi-metallic nanoparticles, their junction voltage(s). Because they range from approximately 10 nanometers to 3 millimeters in characteristic dimension, usually mean effective diameter, regardless of their exact nanostructure or shape, the resulting ratio of the surface area to the mass of these particles is very high: one kilogram of 10 mm diameter catalytic particles has a surface area of approximately 600 cm2, while the same mass of 10-nm diameter nanoparticles will have a surface area of approximately 600 million cm2, a six-order of magnitude ratio. In catalysis, the reactants must each physically contact the surface of the catalyst in order to react, and the actual catalysis takes place on the surface of the catalytic species. Hence, this million-fold increase in surface area means that the potential rate of chemical reaction is one million times as great. Moreover, in the case of bi- or even multi-metallic MNPs, the rate of conversion attainable is also a function of the amount of bimetallic interface exposed to the reactant stream, and nanocatalysts have been developed which maximize this interfacial area on each nanoparticle, compounding the already huge catalytic advantage of nanocatalysis.
Now, by definition, a catalyst is different than a reactant. A catalyst facilitates a reaction but is neither created nor consumed by it. When one mole of reactant has reacted, the catalyst remains in it's original form, ready to facilitate another reaction, and so on ad infinitum.
Hence, besides size and structure, and often junction voltage, there is one further attribute which a good catalyst must have: It must stay in place in the reactor as the reactants move through and over its particles' surfaces, and not leave the discharge end reactor with the products. Now most often, standard catalyst particles are from 0.5 cm up to 5 cm in diameter, and are immobilized using one of two techniques: (1) the particles are attached—epoxied, glued, embedded, tack welded, or otherwise—to the surface of a stationary 'plate' of some sort, creating a 'fixed bed' over which the reactants then flow; or (2) the loose particles are simply packed between two screens in the reactor column and held in place by the screens themselves, creating a 'packed bed', over which the reactants then flow. In this latter configuration, it is the screens themselves which hold the particles from being entrained in the fluid flow, and hence the screens must be (a) strong, (b) resistant to corrosion/erosion by the reactants, products and conditions in the reactor, (c) must have a high percentage of open area to minimize the degree to which they impede flow through the reactor, and (d) must have openings which are significantly smaller than the catalytic particles themselves. Unfortunately, the minuscule size of nanoparticles, though having the advantages discussed above, also comes with an inherent disadvantage: it renders both of these immobilization technique types useless: Technique type (1) cannot fit enough nanoparticles in a small enough space to take advantage of the nanocatalysts' high surface area and always covers up a significant portion of the nanocatalyst particles' surfaces technique, further reducing its efficacy, while type (2) is impractical for any particles below about 1 mm, let alone nano-sized particles, especially considering requirements a, b, c, & d above.

Immobilization of nano- and micro-sized particles for use in chemical catalysis


An animal food and water container assembly includes a first housing and a second housing each including a bottom wall and a peripheral wall. Each of the peripheral walls has an upper edge defining an opening into the first and second housings. A hinge is attached to an outer surface of each of the peripheral walls and hingedly couples together the first and second housings. The top edges of the first and second housings are positionable in a first position abutting each other or in a second position spaced from each other. A locking member is attached to the first and second housings and is configured to selectively secure the first and second housing in the first position. A first cover is removably positionable over the opening in the first housing and a second cover is removably positionable over the opening in the second housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to animal food and water holding devices and more particularly pertains to a new animal food and water holding device for simultaneously holding and transporting both animal food, such as dog food, and water for an animal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of animal food and water holding devices is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,464 describes a device having a pair of hinged containers which may be used for holding food and water for a pet animal. Another type of animal food and water holding device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,580 including a housing having two compartments therein wherein one of the compartments may be used for holding pet food and the other may be used for holing water. A multiple compartment housing for holding food during traveling is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,839.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that compactly as possible holds pet food and water so that the pet food and water may be easily transported. The device should be configured to allow a pet to drink and eat directly from the device to remove the need of additional bowls for serving the water and food to a pet.

Animal food and water container assembly


A home appliance monitoring system includes: a plurality of home systems respectively including a central managing device configured to collect monitoring information from a home appliance; and a center server connected to the central managing device of each home system. The center server calculates the current load amount, and sends an activating instruction signal or a deactivating instruction signal to each central managing device on the basis of the current load amount. The central managing device sets its communication status to an activated status in response to receiving the activating instruction signal, and sets its communication status to a deactivated status in response to receiving the deactivating instruction signal. The home system stores the monitoring information while the communication status is the deactivated status. The home system sends the stored monitoring information to the center server when the communication status is switched from the deactivated status to the activated status. The home system sends the monitoring information to the center server while the communication status is the activated status. The center server stores the monitoring information received from the home system.

In the past, there have been various remote device monitoring systems (home appliance monitoring systems) (cf. JP 2004-320260 A).
Particularly, in the home appliance monitoring system used for remote monitoring, each central managing device collects monitoring information (detection result) from home appliances such as a thermo-hygrometer, a wattmeter, a sensor measuring lighting period of a lighting fixture, and a human sensor. In addition, a center server obtains the monitoring information of the home appliance under each central managing device, and stores the obtained information.
With respect to the aforementioned home appliance monitoring system where the center server obtains the monitoring information from each central managing device, loads on the center server will increase as a system size is increased with an increase of the number of the central managing devices. To reduce the loads on the center server requires an increase of the number of the center servers and improvement of the performance of the center server, for example. However, there is a problem that such a method against the expansion of the system scale needs high cost.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


An air induction system for an engine to remove contaminants from intake air prior to delivery to the engine. The system includes a filtering unit having barrier filter panels attachable to a mounting frame. The filter panels are interchangeably usable. A juncture between first and second filter panels and the mounting frame is located at a region of relatively lower quantity of intake air flow. The juncture includes lugs on the filter panels which facilitate interchangeability. An opening above the filtering unit permits easy installation and removal of filter panels.

This invention relates generally to air intakes for engines, and in particular to a system for readily installing and mounting barrier filters across an intake passage to protect an aircraft engine.
An engine for aircraft propulsion requires intake air that is free from contaminants to provide for efficient combustion and avoid internal damage. The compressor and turbine are designed with small tolerances between moving parts which maximize efficiency, but which also increase vulnerability to damage from small foreign particles. Contamination of intake air, even in a small amount, causes premature wear on engine components, increases maintenance costs, and degrades operational reliability. Unfortunately, aircraft are exposed to contaminants when operating at low altitudes where air is frequently contaminated with material from the ground, such as sand and dust. That problem is aggravated for helicopters due to rotor downwash and prolonged low-altitude operation.
Systems which remove foreign particles from intake flow have been developed to protect the engine from damage. These systems include a contaminant separator positioned in advance of the engine. Unfortunately, it is frequently difficult to access the contaminant separator for periodic maintenance tasks. Typically, the intake passage and adjacent area have tightly limited space constraints which restrict accessibility. The separator may have a relatively large size extending across an entire width of the passage so as to receive all intake air. Removal or replacement of the separator requires substantial disassembly and subsequent re-assembly of surrounding parts. These steps are inefficient and degrade operational readiness. Further, some systems fail to provide an auxiliary or bypass flow path enabling continued operation of the engine with an adequate quantity of air should the separator become plugged with contaminants.

Engine intake system with accessible, interchangeable air filters


A chair, including a flat seat bottom, having a surface area for accommodating a user; a base member having at least one protrusion, the protrusion being designed for traversing a perforation on the seat bottom, thereby joining the base member to the bottom of the seat bottom, and the base member being designed for supporting the weight of the seat bottom and the user; and a back support member, designed for being joined to the section of the protrusion located above the seat bottom, and for being leaned upon by the user. The base member is made of a single sheet, and is designed for being set into a predefined weight bearing configuration suitable for supporting the weight of the user. The base member is designed for being unfolded into a single layer sheet or folded into a multi layer sheet, following a disassembling of the chair. The chair is repeatedly assemblable and disassemblable.

Many persons attend events for which it would be desirable to have a portable chair. Such events include visits to the beach or sporting events. Many people consider it too cumbersome to carry a portable chair from their home to these events. Thus, there is a need for a chair which is sufficiently lightweight and portable that people would take it to such events.
Even if a lightweight and portable chair exists, many people do not wish to be bothered by the extra effort to carry the chair away after the event terminates. Thus, there is a need to provide a foldable chair so constructed that its manufacture and cost is sufficiently low that it can be discarded or otherwise disposed of after one or a few uses.
There are a number of portable stools or seats available on the market, but few chairs. The portable seats typically lack back rests. There is thus a need for a portable chair having a back rest.
A number of collapsible chairs are available in the prior art, but the assembling these chairs requires many steps, a deviation from which may cause the chair to be assembled in a wrong or unwanted fashion. There is therefore a need for an easily assemblable chair.
Furthermore, many assemblable chairs which may be used again are not disassemblable. These chairs, in their assembled configuration, occupy much space, and may not be comfortably carried or stored, after having been assembled. There is therefore a need for an assemblable chair designed to be disassembled and set into a space saving configuration.

Repeatedly assembleable and disassembleable chair


Pulsating flow generating apparatus that changes the volume of a fluid chamber and injects fluid from a fluid injection opening in a pulsed manner, includes: an inlet flow channel for supplying fluid from a fluid supplying unit to the fluid chamber; a volume changing unit that changes the volume of the fluid chamber; an outlet flow channel that delivers the fluid from the fluid chamber to the fluid injection opening; a discharge flow channel that discharges the fluid from the fluid chamber; and an opening and closing valve that opens and closes the discharge flow channel, wherein the synthetic inertance of the discharge flow channel is set smaller than the synthetic inertance of the outlet flow channel, an operation of the volume changing unit is started while closing the opening and closing valve, and the operation of the volume changing unit is stopped while opening the opening and closing valve.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a pulsating flow generating apparatus configured to inject fluid in a pulsed manner, and a method of controlling the pulsating flow generating apparatus.
2. Related art
In the related art, a technology for cutting or ablating an object by injecting fluid in a pulsed manner is known. For example, in a medical field, as a fluid injecting apparatus to be used as a surgical instrument for cutting or ablating anatomy, the one having a fluid chamber whose volume is changed by an operation of a volume changing unit and a nozzle communicated with the fluid chamber, and being configured to supply the fluid into the fluid chamber and operate the volume changing unit, thereby converting the fluid into a pulsating flow and injecting the fluid at a highspeed in a pulsed manner from a nozzle is proposed (see JP-A-2008-082202, for example).
JP-A-2008-082202 is an example of the related art.
According to JP-A-2008-082202, the fluid is supplied to the fluid chamber by a pump as a fluid supplying unit. However, there is a case where the fluid supplied to the fluid chamber flows out from the nozzle before reaching a flow rate or a pressure required for incising or ablating the anatomy. If the fluid flows out from the nozzle before reaching the flow rate or the pressure required for incising or ablating the anatomy, the visibility of a field of operation at a portion to be incised or ablated is exacerbated by such the fluid, which causes lowering of the efficiency and safety of the operation.

Pulsating flow generating apparatus and method of controlling pulsating flow generating apparatus


A system comprises a power generator for generating electrical power and a switched capacitor converter for down-converting the output voltage of the power generator. The switched capacitor converter comprises a bank of capacitors and a switch arrangement. A controller is used for controlling the switches, based on a feedback signal from the power generator. This provides automatic control of the switched capacitor converter, thereby simplifying the overall control circuitry and improving efficiency.

One example of such a system, whereby mechanical energy may be converted into electrical energy, is a triboelectric energy generation system. The triboelectric effect (also known as triboelectric charging) is a contact-induced electrification in which a material becomes electrically charged after it is contacted with a different material through friction. Triboelectric generation is based on converting mechanical energy into electrical energy through methods which couple the triboelectric effect with electrostatic induction. It has been proposed to make use of triboelectric generation to power mobile wearable devices such as sensors and smartphones by capturing the otherwise wasted mechanical energy from such sources as walking, random body motions, the wind blowing, vibration or ocean waves. See, for example: Wang, Sihong, Long Lin, and Zhong Lin Wang, Triboelectric nanogenerators as self-powered active sensors, Nano Energy 11 (2015): 436-462).
The triboelectric effect is based on a series that ranks various materials according to their tendency to gain electrons (become negatively charged) or lose electrons (become positively charged). This series is for example disclosed in A. F. Diaz and R. M. Felix-Navarro, A semi-quantitative tribo-electric series for polymeric materials: the influence of chemical structure and properties, Journal of Electrostatics 62 (2004) 277-290. The best combinations of materials to create static electricity are one from the positive charge list and one from the negative charge list (e.g. PTFE against copper, or FEP against aluminium). Rubbing glass with fur, or a comb through the hair are well-known examples from everyday life of triboelectricity.
In its simplest form, a triboelectric generator thus uses two sheets of dissimilar materials, one an electron donor, the other an electron acceptor. One or more of the materials can be an insulator. Other possible materials might include semiconductor materials, for example silicon comprising a native oxide layer. When the materials are brought into contact, electrons are exchanged from one material to the other. This is simply the triboelectric effect. If the sheets are then separated, each sheet holds an electrical charge (of differing polarity), isolated by the gap between them, and an electric potential is built up. If an electrical load is connected between electrodes deposited/placed at the backside of the two material surfaces, any further displacement of the sheets, either laterally or perpendicularly, will induce in response a current flow between the two electrodes. This is simply an example of electrostatic induction. As the distance between the respective charge centers of the two plates is increased, so the attractive electric field between the two, across the gap, weakens, resulting in an increased potential difference between the two outer electrodes, as electrical attraction of charge via the load begins to overcome the electrostatic attractive force across the gap.
In this way, triboelectric generators convert mechanical energy into electrical energy through a coupling between two main physical mechanisms: contact electrification (tribo-charging) and electrostatic induction.
By cyclically increasing and decreasing the mutual separation between the charge centers of the plates, so current can be induced to flow back and forth between the plates in response, thereby generating an alternating current across the load. Triboelectric generator devices thus can be considered as charge pumps.
The power output can be increased by applying micron-scale patterns to the polymer sheets. The patterning effectively increases the contact area and thereby increases the effectiveness of the charge transfer.
Recently, an emerging material technology for power generation (energy harvesting) and power conversion has been developed which makes use of this effect, as disclosed in Wang, Z. L., "Triboelectric nanogenerators as new energy technology for self-powered systems and as active mechanical and chemical sensors." ACS nano 7.11 (2013): 9533-9557. Based on this effect several device configurations have been developed of so-called triboelectric generators ("TEG").
Since their first reporting in 2012, the output power density of TEGs has been greatly improved. The volume power density may reach more than 400 kilowatts per cubic meter, and an efficiency of ˜60% has been demonstrated (ibid.). In addition to high output performance, TEG technology carries numerous other advantages, such as low production cost, high reliability and robustness, and low environmental impact.
The TEG may be used as an electrical power generator, i.e. energy harvesting from, for example, vibration, wind, water or random body motions or even conversion of mechanically available power into electricity. The generated voltage is a power signal.
TEGs may broadly be divided into four main operational classes.
A first mode of operation is a vertical contact-separation mode, in which two or more plates are cyclically brought into or out of contact by an applied force. This may be used in shoes, for example, where the pressure exerted by a user as they step is utilized to bring the plates into contact. One example of such a device has been described in the article "Integrated Multilayered Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Biomechanical Energy from Human Motions" of Peng Bai et. al. in ACS Nano 2013 7(4), pp. 3713-3719. Here, the device comprises a multiple layer structure formed on a zigzag shaped substrate. The device operates based on surface charge transfer due to contact electrification. When a pressure is applied to the structure, the zigzag shape is compressed to create contact between the different layers, and the contact is released when the pressure is released. The energy harvested might for example be used for charging of mobile portable devices.
A second mode of operation is a linear sliding mode, wherein plates are induced to slide laterally with respect to one another in order to change the area of overlap between them. A potential difference is induced across the plates, having an instantaneous magnitude in proportion to the rate of change of the total overlapping area. By repeatedly bringing plates into and out of mutual overlap with one another, an alternating current may be established across a load connected between the plates.
A design which enables energy to be harvested from sliding motions is disclosed in the article "Freestanding Triboelectric-Layer-Based Nanogenerators for Harvesting Energy from a Moving Object of Human Motion in Contact and Non-Contact Modes" in Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 2818-2824. A freestanding movable layer slides between a pair of static electrodes. The movable layer may be arranged not to make contact with the static electrodes (i.e. at small spacing above the static electrodes) or it may make sliding contact.
A third mode of operation is a single electrode mode in which one surface is for example grounded—for example, a floor road—and a load is connected between this first surface and ground (see for example Yang, Ya, et al. "Single-electrode-based sliding triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered displacement vector sensor system," ACS nano 7.8 (2013): 7342-7351.). The second surface—not electrically connected to the first—is brought into contact with the first surface and tribocharges it. As the second surface is then moved away from the first, the excess charge in the first surface is driven to ground, providing a current across the load. Hence only a single electrode (on a single layer) is used in this mode of operation to provide an output current.
A fourth mode of operation is a freestanding tribo electric layer mode, which is designed for harvesting energy from an arbitrary moving object to which no electrical connections are made. This object may be a passing car, passing train, or a shoe, for example (Again, see "Triboelectric nanogenerators as new energy technology for self-powered systems and as active mechanical and chemical sensors", ACS nano 7.11 (2013): 9533-9557).
One particular subset of linear sliding mode TEGs which have been developed are rotational disc TEGs which can be operated in both a contact (i.e. continuous tribocharging and electrostatic induction) or a non-contact mode (i.e. only electrostatic induction after initial contact electrification). Rotational disc TEGs typically consist of at least one rotor and one stator each formed as a set of spaced circle sectors (segments). The sectors overlap and then separate as the two discs rotate relative to each other. As described above, a current may be induced between two laterally sliding—oppositely charged—layers, with a magnitude in proportion to the rate of change of the area of overlap. As each consecutively spaced sector of the rotor comes into and then out of overlap with a given stator sector, so a current is induced between the two sector plates, initially in a first direction, as the plates increase in overlap, and then in the opposite direction as the plates decrease in overlap.
The limitations of early versions of segmentally structured disc TEGs (Long Lin et al., Segmentally Structured disc Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Rotational Mechanical Energy, Nano Lett., 2013, 13 (6), pp. 2916-2923) were that the rotational and stationary triboelectric layers require deposition of metal electrodes and connection with electrical leads, leading to inconvenient operation of the rotational part. Furthermore intimate contact is mandatory to achieve efficient electricity generation, which results in possible material wear, wear particles, instability of output, and generally limited lifetime of the TEG.
A disc TEG with both groups of patterned electrodes attached onto a stationary disc, together with a freestanding triboelectric layer on a rotational disc can resolve these issues, as disclosed in Long Lin et al., Noncontact Free-Rotating disc Triboelectric Nanogenerator as a Sustainable Energy Harvester and Self-Powered Mechanical Sensor. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2014, 6 (4), pp. 3031-3038.
With such a structure, there is no necessity for electrode deposition or electrical connection for the rotational part, which dramatically improves the operating facility of the energy harvester.
Although the TEG shows promise, it has challenges when the output power of the TEG needs to be converted to voltage and current levels for practical applications that include electronics such as micro controllers. At such low power levels produced by TEG, it is key to have an efficient power conversion stage.
A power conversion stage is required to convert the TEG voltage in the range of a few hundreds of volts to a low voltage such as below 10V. Converting such low power levels by means of a switched-mode power supply (SMPS) is not really practical as a high inductance value is required. Moreover, the supply current required for the controller is usually in the same range as is generated by the TEG. In this case, an external power supply would typically be needed in order to power the SMPS converter. This situation is, as expected, not desirable since the power consumption of the converter would be of the same order of magnitude as the power generated by the TEG, which would lead to a low power conversion efficiency of the system.
Another disadvantage of using SMPS converters in TEG applications is the difficulty in generating the driving signals of these converters. The driving signals of a SMPS converter should for example be synchronized to the generated output signal of its TEG. Since TEGs can generate fast varying signals over time, this synchronization is not straightforward.
Switched capacitor converters can for example be implemented as power converters. Although such converters do not require any inductance, their driving signals still need to be correctly synchronized with the signal generated by the TEGs. Such synchronization—which is also of importance for other aspects such as feedback for controlling of power output or for sensing functionality—is not straightforward.


Apparatus, methods, and other embodiments associated with obtaining schedule information to support snoop ranging are described. According to one embodiment, a method is performed by a station device on a computer network and includes establishing a network association with a network device of the computer network. The method also includes receiving schedule information from the network device without having to previously transmit to the network device to initiate acquisition of the schedule information. The schedule information is negotiated between other network devices communicating in the computer network, or between the network device and at least one of the other network devices. The schedule information is communicated to the network device and specifies timing associated with a ranging exchange between the other network devices, or between the network device and at least one of the other network devices, and may be used by the station device for snooping.

A client device (e.g., a mobile wireless device) may be configured to passively listen to (snoop) transmit/receive exchanges (constituting a ranging exchange) between two access points on a computer network. The purpose of a ranging exchange is to measure or record times associated with transmitting and receiving messages between the two access points. The times can be used to determine a range (a distance) between the client device and the two access points. The client device may use the information obtained (e.g., timing information) from the ranging exchange between the two access points, along with other information the client device similarly obtains by listening to other ranging exchanges between other pairs of access points, to determine a location of the client device. Determining the location of a client device in this manner may be desirable, for example, when the client device is indoors without access to global positioning system (GPS) signals.

System and method for providing schedule information used to snoop ranging exchanges between wireless devices