The process comprises excavating pits at the first and second ends of a buried section of old water main pipe that is to be replaced with new pipe. The exposed segments of pipe are broken up to provide access to the bore of the old pipe. A pipe splitter and a cylinder-actuated pulling unit are installed in the first pit. A string of rods is extended through the old pipe bore from the first pit to the second pit. A tool assembly of sequentially connected components is attached to the second end of the rod string. The tool assembly may comprise: means for centralizing the second end of the rod string in the second end of the old pipe section; a pull plate for bearing against the annular second end face of the old pipe section; a cylindrical plug for expanding the passageway extending between the pits; a rod member for extending through the bore of the new pipe section to be installed; and a second pull plate for bearing against the annular second end face of the new pipe. The new pipe section is mounted on the rod member and the string of rods is tripped to the first pit. In the course of tripping or retracting the rod string, the following actions simultaneously occur: the old pipe is advanced out of the passageway by pulling on it with the first pull plate; the old pipe is split longitudinally as it is advanced into the first pit; the diameter of the passageway is expanded by the plug; and the new pipe is pulled into the expanded passageway to replace the old pipe with the new pipe.

It is known to remove and replace a section of buried old pipe, such as a cast iron water main, using a "trenchless" procedure involving:
Digging pits at each end of the pipe section, to expose the pipe at those points; PA1 Breaking up and removing the exposed segments of old pipe, to thereby clear the pits; PA1 Installing a skid-mounted, rod string-tripping machine in the first pit, which machine is adapted to feed and withdraw a string of rods horizontally. The machine typically has one or more double-acting cylinders mounted in a frame for extension and contraction in a horizontal plane, together with means for releasably clamping onto the rod string, so that the cylinder rods and rod string may move longitudinally as a unit in the course of a cylinder stroke; PA1 Forming a string of rods (which have threaded pin and box couplings at their ends) having a radially expandable toothed dog assembly at its end and feeding it part way through the pipe section; PA1 Expanding the dog assembly to engage it with the old pipe; PA1 Actuating the rod string-tripping machine to advance the engaged portion of the old pipe section into the first pit in short lengths. Each such length of old pipe extending into the pit is then severed radially. The severed length of old pipe is removed. This process, of tripping the rod string with dog assembly in and out, to engage and remove sequential, discrete parts of the old pipe section, is continued until the entire pipe section has been removed; PA1 Threading the rod string back through the now pipe-free passageway, from the first pit to the second pit; PA1 Attaching an expander (that is, a cylindrical plug) to the second end of the rod string and pulling it back through the passageway, to increase its diameter; PA1 Removing the expander at the first pit and again threading the rod string back through the expanded passageway to the second pit; and PA1 Pulling the section of new pipe into the expanded passageway from the second pit using the rod string, to complete the replacement. PA1 first and second pits are dug at each end of a buried section of old pipe which is to be replaced; PA1 a cylinder-type rod string-tripping machine is emplaced in the first pit; and PA1 the machine is used to extend and withdraw a string of rods horizontally, as required, to accomplish the steps of pulling the old pipe into the first pit for break-up and removal, expanding the old passageway and pulling new pipe into the expanded passageway from the second pit. PA1 A string-tripping machine positioned in the first pit, with at least part of the exposed old pipe having been broken out beforehand so that the machine has access to the bore of the buried section of pipe, so as to extend its rod string thereinto; PA1 A string of rods extending from the string-tripping machine through the bore of the old pipe to a second pit where at least part of the old pipe exposed at that pit has also been broken out; PA1 Means for mechanically breaking up the old pipe as the latter is expelled. Said means are located in the pit into which the old pipe is being advanced. More preferably, the means comprises a stationary, hollow, conical member having its small end positioned adjacent the outlet from the old pipe passageway, so that old pipe being advanced will move over the small end of the conical member and the pipe will be split longitudinally and broken up as it continues to pass along the length of the conical member, said conical member forming a central passage therethrough for accommodating the rod string; PA1 A tool assembly attached to the second end of the rod string at the second pit. The tool assembly comprises a unit of sequentially connected components. More particularly, it comprises: means for centralizing the axis of the terminal end of the rod string in the bore of the old pipe; means for bearing against the annular second end face of the old pipe, so as to drive the old pipe ahead of it when pulled on; means for expanding the passageway which originally contained the old pipe; and means for engaging the new pipe to pull it into the expanded passageway behind the old pipe as the latter is expelled. More preferably, the centralizing means comprises a guide member adapted to fit snugly in the old pipe and the second means comprises a circular pull plate attached thereto. The guide member functions to centralize the pull plate so that it will bear evenly against the full extent of the annular second end face of the old pipe. Attached to the pull plate is the third means, for expanding the passageway as it passes therethrough. More preferably, the third means comprises a short cylinder or plug having an outside diameter that is slightly larger than that of the passageway through which the old pipe extends. The fourth means, for engaging the new pipe, may preferably comprise means for attaching to the front end of the new pipe or a rod and pull plate assembly that extends through the bore of the new pipe and bears against the annular surface of its rear end; and PA1 as a final integer, the string of new pipe to be emplaced in the expanded passageway. PA1 excavating first and second pits at the first and second ends of the section of old pipe to be removed and replaced, to thereby expose the pipe at those points; PA1 breaking up the two segments of exposed pipe, to clear the pits; PA1 inserting, in the first pit, first means for horizontally tripping a rod string; PA1 inserting, in the first pit, means for longitudinally splitting old pipe being advanced thereover, said second means being adapted to enable a rod string to extend therethrough; PA1 tripping a string of rods through the bore of the old pipe section; PA1 attaching, to the second end of the rod string, a tool assembly comprising, in sequence, second means for bearing against the annular second end face of the old pipe section, third means, secured to the second means, for expanding the diameter of the passageway as said third means passes therethrough, and fourth means, secured to the third means, for engaging new pipe to pull it into the expanded passageway, said fourth means having a section of new pipe associated therewith; and PA1 pulling on the first end of the rod string with the first means and progressively disassembling the rods as they become available in the first pit, thereby advancing the old pipe into the first pit and over the splitter means, whereby the pipe is split longitudinally, while simultaneously pulling the tool assembly through the old passageway to expand it and bring the new pipe into the expanded passageway until the section of old pipe has been replaced with new pipe.
Such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,134, issued to Coumont.
The described system has some shortcomings. It involves repeated trips with the rod string through the old pipe bore and the passageway formed by the pipe in the soil. And it further involves fracturing the old pipe, that has been advanced into the first pit, along a vertical plane using a guillotine-type means, to yield a discrete short length of pipe, and then presumably manually breaking up and removing this length. This latter operation interrupts the continuity of the process and unites with the multiplicity of trips to stretch out the tim.RTM.needed to complete the replacement.
It is the objective of the present invention to provide an improved trenchless system whereby old pipe is replaced with new pipe in a single trip of the rod string.

Process for replacing a length of buried pipe


A portable sound box includes a main body and a clip. The main body includes a battery for supplying power to the portable sound box. Thus, the portable sound box can supply power on its own. The clip is fixed to the main body and configured for clipping to an external object. Thus, the portable sound box can attached to the external object instead of standing on a surface.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a portable sound box.
2. Description of Related Art
In use, sound boxes need to be placed on a horizontal supporting surface, such as the floor or a desktop, and connected to a local power source, and thus their portability is limited.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a sound box, which can overcome the above-mentioned limitations.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


The current system is a method for easily attaching firearm devices to the end of a firearm. The system is used to improve the relative alignment between firearm devices and the bore of the firearm. The system solves the problem of non-uniformity when attaching devices to a firearm, by providing a uniform mounting surface. The system includes three main parts: a muzzle extender, a device, and a clamping method. The extender includes a threaded female receptor for attaching to the firearm muzzle and a clamping surface to be used with a clamping method to attach the device. The system has multiple embodiments including, built in muzzle devices, different clamping methods, and multiple devices to attach to the system.

Systems exist for attaching accessories to threaded firearms barrels, such as found on the AR-15. However, the method in which accessories are attached is limited to three general solutions. One solution is to provide female threading on the accessory to attach to the threaded barrel, but this results in limited or no indexing, wherein indexing consists of rotating a device such as a sight around the barrel. When a state of the an female threaded device is attached to a male threaded bore, the rotational position of the device relative to the gun barrel is set wherever the threads align to provide a tightened fit. A second solution is to attach the accessory rearward on the barrel but this puts the front sight too close to the rear sight, which sacrifices accuracy. The standard AR-15 comes affixed with, a sight clamped to the barrel at the recoil gas port which does not provide a proper sight radius for maximum precision. As handguard development proceeded handguards became long enough to cover the gas port, which provided a third general solution. In the event of a handguard covering the gas port a front sight is attached to the handguard instead of the barrel. While the handguard is customizable and allows options for attaching the front sight, this solution also has problems. Attaching a front sight to an extended handguard allows for misalignment relative to the bore of the firearm when forces are applied to the handguard because the handguard moves relative to the bore of the firearm. Although this relative movement is minimal, the effects on aim can be compounded at long distances. To provide a truly accurate accessory, the accessory and the bore of the firearm must never move relative to each other. However, with AR-15s, the firearm bore comes in a wide variety of outside diameters, so that accessories are not available that fit around the barrel. This is an issue with sights, because it prevents continuous indexing. Silencers and other devices that attach to a bore do not provide a consistent attachment surface that properly provides the ability to attach a wide variety of accessory products, such as sights.
Current products do not allow accessories to be fixed to the barrel at any angle around the bore of the firearm, referred to herein as continuous indexing, which limits the user of the firearm to few angles for accessory mounting. Current methods of attachment involve threading a muzzle device to a gun barrel while sandwiching a crush washer. A shooter wanting to rotate the muzzle device to a different angle must loosen the muzzle device and remove the muzzle device and then replace the crush washer. Further, this method involves different torque on the muzzle device depending on the angle, not guaranteeing an appropriate torque can be achieved at the desired angle. This is because, when threading the muzzle device, the point of optimal tension created by the threading does not necessarily match up with the desired angle for the muzzle device. Further, if the muzzle device is to be realigned then a new crush washer must be used. Spacing washers can also be used to create a correct index angle for the accessory but must also be replaced if a new angle is desired. If an accessory needs to be indexed rapidly and efficiently neither crush washers or spacing washers provide the ability to do so.

Bore extender for accurate sighting and continuous indexing


Techniques are described to provide multipath mobility via Domain Name System-as-an-Authoritative Source (DNS-AS) techniques. In one example, a method includes obtaining, by a multipath policy decision element, a plurality of multipath policy recommendations for an application, wherein the plurality of multipath policy recommendations are obtained from one or more multipath policy recommendation elements; combining the plurality of multipath policy recommendations to generate a policy enforcement decision, wherein the policy enforcement decision identifies, at least in part, one or more network paths that are to be utilized for one or more packet flows associated with the application, wherein each of the one or more network paths is associated with an access type; and enforcing the policy enforcement decision for one or more packet flows associated with the application.

Networking architectures have grown increasingly complex in communications environments, particularly mobile networking environments. Mobile communication networks have grown substantially in subscriber base as end users become increasingly connected to mobile network environments. As the number of mobile subscribers increases, efficient management of communication resources becomes more critical. In particular, there are significant challenges in managing multipath policies that may be utilized within mobile networking environments.

Domain name system as an authoritative source for multipath mobility policy


A method for automatically updating access security on existing applications with multi-factor authentication, intelligent auto-login, single sign-on, proximity logout, pro-active loss prevention and real-time incident notification using a wrapping function.

Mobile tablets are growing significantly in the enterprise, and are presenting new security and usability challenges.
Multi-factor access authentication technologies are difficult to use with mobile devices due to frequent timeout. For example, a person would have to type RSA SecurID tokens 20 to 30 times a day. Also, smart cards require hooking a reader to the mobile terminal. Furthermore, finger print readers have a high failure rate and inconvenient.
It is also noted that traditional two-factor authentication technologies cannot protect the device from loss. Also, when a device is lost, the user session may stay open, and can be exploited by the person who finds the device.
This invention caters to a very sophisticated enterprise mobile security problem, and requires a sophisticated orchestration of common technologies in order to provide high security with high usability. Numerous large companies have tried to solve the mobile security problem, with no good success.
Previous patents by the current inventor taught authentication based on Bluetooth proximity as well as proximity logout, auto-login, multi-factor authentication, however, the prior art does not teach automatically injecting multi-factor capability and access control to applications. They do not teach converting access security on legacy applications, and providing single sign-on.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,045,961 by the current inventor, System for wireless authentication based on Bluetooth proximity, teaches a Bluetooth device that facilitates login using a Bluetooth device that stores the user credentials and that supplies them wirelessly over Bluetooth communication channel. It does not teach automatic login if the Bluetooth channel stayed above a threshold during a recent period of time, otherwise, asking for user credentials. It does not teach converting access security on legacy applications, and providing single sign-on.
US patent applications 20120210443 by Blaisdell et al Securing and managing apps on a device teaches wrapping an application with a security layer. It teaches adding a light security layer that can be used by administrators as well as parents such as geo-fencing (to set policies on app downloaded by children). It does not teach updating access security on an existing application or adding robust multi-factor authentication and single sign on to enterprise applications.
US patent applications 20120304310, 20120246731 and 20120246484 by Blaisdell et al, Secure execution of unsecured apps on a device, teach modifying security parameters of an application. It teaches adding a light security layer that can be used by administrators as well as parents (to set policies on app downloaded by children). It does not teach updating access security on an existing application or adding robust multi-factor authentication and single sign on to enterprise applications.
Injecting code into an existing application to change its behavior is known in the prior art and in the hacker community. Mocana for example offers a commercial service that wraps applications with geo-fencing and other data security functions. The current invention uses the wrapping concepts to automatically update access security in a uniform way on multiple applications. It ties an application to a second authentication device, injects passwords into an application and triggers login. The wrapping engine enables to insert these functions automatically, and to upgrade all the applications of an enterprise. Moreover, the wrapping engine enables to provide single sign-on across all applications. It is worth mentioning that the wrapping engine now enables a uniform way to control all application access using a configuration console: proximity logout enables to ensure that applications are automatically closed, proactive loss prevention ensures that company devices are protected, and real-time notification ensures that IT is alerted in real time when an incident occurs.
Previous patents and patent applications by the current inventor introduced multi-factor authentication and proximity logout, however they required developers to insert multi-factor authentication. This resulted in enterprises not being able to apply one single access security layer to all existing and future applications.
Most MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile Application Management) solutions on the market today (Good, Mobile Iron, AirWatch, Zenprise, Bitzer, Tangoe, Symantec . . . ) cannot provide adequate device security and application access security:
Usability: Users have to login to their email application and calendar on their mobile device every time they need something. They need to first enter the PIN code to unlock their device, and then enter the password for the email client such as Good. This is extremely annoying as the user has to enter password 20-30 times a day, twice every time. Intelligent auto-login is needed.
Device loss: MDM, MAM . . . are not aware when a device is left behind, and are incapable of securing the device. Proximity alarm is needed.
Session is left un-attended: Most MDM and MAM can secure the data, but cannot secure access. They are incapable of authenticating the user, or detecting that a user swap has occurred. If a user connects to an enterprise portal, and leaves the device on a table to go to restrooms, anybody that finds the device has un-restricted access the network. Proximity logout is needed.
Theft of a device after the user is logged in: High profile people using tablets are high targets for theft. The thief waits till the target logs in to the system, and then takes the tablet away. Most MDM and MAM solutions are incapable of addressing this problem as they cannot detect user swap. Proximity logout and proximity alarm are needed.
Remote wipe: While most MDM solutions provide remote wipe capability, they are ineffective in remote wiping the data. That is because when an employee looses a mobile device (iPad, Android . . . ); it generally takes him/her several hours to notice the loss. After that, the employee will take several hours/days to report the loss, and may never report it. When IT tries to remote wipe the device, the device is most probably out of reach, out of battery, or out of SIM card. A hacker would have found plenty of time to get the data off the device, or use the device for un-appropriate access. Real-time incident notification is needed.
The essence of the current invention is to modify the access security layer of any application automatically, using a wrapper engine in order to add: 1) multi-factor authentication 2) intelligent auto-login 3) proximity logout 4) pro-active loss prevention and 5) real-time incident notification and 5) single sign-on.
The essence is to modify access security in order to provide more access security with better usability. The essence is also to guarantee that security of the data and device is maintained under all conditions, including when the user of the device is not able to attend to the device.
Thus, a need exists for systems for automatically updating security of an application.

Method for automatically updating application access security


Display of a region for making a pointing operation valid or invalid is controlled in conjunction with a change to a display screen. A computer device (1) includes an application program execution processing section (31) configured to perform control such that at least one application window which accepts a pointing operation is displayed in a manner that allows the at least one application window to change in position or in size; and a region position control section (62) configured to generate an operation control region in such a manner that the operation control region is superimposed on the application window and is associated with the application window, the operation control region being a region for making a pointing operation valid or invalid, and to control a position of the operation control region such that the operation control region changes with a change to the associated application window.

Display screens such as windows provided by application programs or desktops (basic screens) provided by OSs have input regions which accept pointing operations. Pointing operations can be performed on these input regions by pointing the input regions with pointers indicated by input devices such as mice and touch panels.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses providing a touch invalid region around numeric keys on a screen. Such a touch invalid region is capable of preventing a cursor within a data setting region from being moved even if a touch accidentally falls outside the area of the numeric keys, provided that the touch falls within the touch invalid region.


For magneto-optic data recording, permanent magnets are used to produce a magnetic field with a variable field strength. The field strength is varied by controlled rotation of the magnets about their longitudinal axis, which also allows inversion of the direction of the magnetic field. The magnets are oriented such that their combined fields produce a resultant force continuously substantially perpendicular to the recording medium despite rotation of the magnets.

Although several magneto-optic recording schemes have been proposed, the scheme of most interest with respect to the present invention depends on the existence of a recording medium displaying two effects. The first is the Kerr magneto-optic effect. A material which displays the Kerr magneto-optic effect produces a change in the polarization of light which reflects from a magnetized area of the material. For example, polarized light which falls on a magnetized area will undergo rotation of the polarization plane upon reflectance from an area magnetized in a given polarity A rotation in the opposite direction is produced by an oppositely-magnetized area.
The second effect is the effect under which media have a high coercive force at low temperature and a low coercive force at high temperature; i.e., under the second effect the media are more easily magnetized at high temperatures than at low temperatures.
In a magneto-optic system, data can be recorded on the medium by using a heat source to heat an area of the medium above the temperature at which the medium is magnetizable and exposing the heated medium to a low global magnetic field Upon cooling, the area which was heated and exposed to the magnetic field will be magnetized. Initially, the medium is normally bulk polarized in one direction. Thereafter, it is possible to detect whether a given area of the medium is or is not magnetized in a desired magnetic polarity by reflecting polarized light from the area and detecting rotation of the light. In this way, areas of a medium can be designated as marks for representing binary digits or bits and the binary value of a mark can be assigned according to the presence or absence of predetermined direction and/or amount of rotation of polarized light, which will correspond to an upward or downward magnetization of the area of the medium. By reversing the polarity of the bias field and heating a written area the area will return to the original bulk-magnetized direction. In this way, one can erase old information. Magneto-optic systems generally of this type are described in Mark H. Kryder "Magneto-Optic Recording Technology", J. Appl. Bhys. Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 39113-3918 and Nobutake Imamura, "Research Applies Magnetic Thin Films and the Magneto-Optical Effect in Storage Devices", Journal of Electrical Engineering, March 1983, pp. 100-103.
A system of this type requires at least four parts: a medium displaying both of the above-described effects; a heat source for heating an area of the medium to the magnetization temperature; a magnetic field source; and apparatus for detecting whether a given area of the medium has been magnetized with a given polarity. Each of these four components can be provided in a number of forms and configurations.
Particularly preferred in connection with the present invention is a magnetic field source which includes a permanent magnet and a heat source which is a laser. A magneto-optical disk exerciser using a permanent magnet is briefly described in K. Ohta, et al. "Magneto-Optical Disk With Reflecting Layers", SPIE Vol. 382, pp. 252-259.
In a system in which it is desired that marks be not only writable to the medium but also erasable therefrom, the apparatus should be capable of producing a magnetic field in either of two polarities, e.g. substantially perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium and directed upward or substantially perpendicular to the plane of the recording medium and directed downward. In this way, it is possible to designate a convention by which one of the two magnetic polarities represents a mark and the other of the two magnetic polarities represents the absence of a mark. One method of providing a magnetic field in either of the polarities is to use an electromagnet. Although an electromagnet provides for easy control of magnetic polarity, it typically requires expenditure of high amounts of energy, particularly when it extends across the entire expanse of the recording medium (e.g. as is sometimes done to reduce weight of a movable carriage). Low energy consumption is particularly important in data storage devices used in connection with small computer installations such as personal computers.
An alternative to the use of electromagnets is the use of a permanent magnet device. Permanent magnet devices which have thus far been proposed, while they may be useful in reducing energy requirements, suffer from several disadvantages. One disadvantage relates to the fact that such devices do not provide for a variable field strength of the desired-orientation magnetic field. The magnetic field strength is defined by the nature of the magnet and, in previous devices, cannot be varied without also varying the orientation of the magnetic field. Thus, as a permanent magnet is moved or rotated from a position where it produces the first magnetic polarity, the field strength of the recording medium will change but also the orientation of the magnetic field at the recording medium will change. In previous permanent magnet devices, it has not been possible to produce a magnetic field at the recording medium which is both of a desired orientation, for example, always perpendicular to the recording medium, and of variable intensity. Having a magnetic field which is not of variable magnitude when in the desired orientation is disadvantageous because the magnetic characteristics of the recording medium may not be completely homogeneous across the entire recording medium surface, thus requiring either varying field intensities at various portions of the recording medium, or varying laser intensity.
A second shortcoming of previous permanent magnet devices relates to the control for moving or turning the magnet. The amount of time required to change from one magnetic polarity to another magnetic polarity, at least in part, affects the speed and efficiency with which data can be written and erased on the recording medium. To achieve flexibility and efficiency in recording and erasing data, it would be desirable to be able to achieve reversal of the magnetic field in a short time period, and in a time period which is independent of other movements or portions of the apparatus.
Yet another disadvantage of previous permanent magnet systems relates to the physical configuration or arrangement of such systems. When a system is arranged or configured such that apparatus (including permanent magnets, optical carriages or other apparatus) are disposed on both sides of a planar recording medium, the total height or space required to accommodate such an apparatus is greater than would otherwise be required. Such a configuration is provided in order to achieve the necessary field strength and orientation at the recording medium (while avoiding magnetic interference with other portions of the apparatus) by positioning the magnet close to the medium. Position of the magnet close to the medium provides reduced overall field strength requirements and/or provides for a lower-mass permanent magnet, while reducing energy requirements for turning the magnet. Reduction of height requirements is particularly important in recording systems used in conjunction with a computer system which is physically small. A typical personal computer system accommodates a disk-type recording apparatus in a space having a height of only about 3 inches (about 8 centimeters) or, in a "half-height" configuration, of about 11/2 inches (about 4 centimeters).
In view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide an erasable magneto-optic data recording device which achieves relatively low energy consumption, produces a variable field-strength magnetic field in a desired orientation, is capable of magnetic polarity reversal in a time period which is short and which is independent of the movement or properties of other portions of the device or system, and/or is configured to minimize or reduce the height or volume requirements for the data recording apparatus or system.

Magneto optic data recording system with variable field strength, actuator therefor and method of providing

Laser Magnetic Storage International Company


A nanopore device capable of single molecule detection is described. The nanopores are formed in thin, rigid membranes and modified by a sputtered metal that forms an overhang during application. The overhang causes the pore to be narrower in a certain region, allowing passage of only a single molecule through the pore at a time, or binding to a biomolecule on the pore to be detected by a change in ionic current flow through the nanopore. Embodiments include a silicon nitride membrane formed on a silicon substrate and having a nanopore drilled with a focused ion beam system, followed by gold sputtering onto the membrane. Devices are formed with one or more nanopores and chambers having electrodes on either side of the nanopore.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of biosensors for detecting molecular interactions and, further, to devices having nanopores to which are attached active biological molecules.
2. Related Art
As described in US PGPUB 2005/0186629, manipulating matter at the nanometer scale is important for many electronic, chemical and biological advances (See Li et al., "Ion beam sculpting at nanometer length scales," Nature, 2001, 412: 166-169). Such techniques as "ion beam sculpting" have shown promise in fabricating molecule scale holes and nanopores in thin insulating membranes. These pores have also been effective in localizing molecular-scale electrical junctions and switches.
Artificial nanopores have been fabricated by a variety of research groups with a number of materials. Generally, the approach is to fabricate these nanopores in a solid-state material or a thin freestanding diaphragm of material supported on a frame of thick silicon to form a nanopore chip. Some materials that have been used to date for the diaphragm material include silicon nitride and silicon dioxide.
The flow of materials through nanopores can also be externally regulated. What is believed to be the first artificial voltage-gated molecular nanosieve was fabricated (Matsuhiko Nishizawa, Vinod P. Menon, Charles R. Martin, "Metal nanotubule membranes with electrochemically switchable ion-transport selectivity," Science, 5 May 1995, 268:700-702) at Colorado State University in 1995. This membrane contained an array of cylindrical gold nanotubules with inside diameters as small as 1.6 nanometers. When the tubules are positively charged, positive ions are excluded and only negative ions are transported through the membrane. When the membrane receives a negative voltage, only positive ions can pass. Similar nanodevices may combine voltage gating with pore size, shape, and charge constraints to achieve precise control of ion transport with significant molecular specificity. A sensitive ion channel switch biosensor was built by an Australian research group (B. Cornell, V. Braach-Maksvytis, L. King, P. Osman, B. Raguse, L. Wieczorek, R. Pace, "A biosensor that uses ion-channel switches," Nature, 5 Jun. 1997, 387:580-583.) The scientists estimated that their sensor could detect a minute change in chemical concentration equivalent to one part in roughly 1018.
Experiments have been conducted using an electric field to drive a variety of RNA and DNA polymers through the central nanopore of an alpha-hemolysin protein channel mounted in a lipid bilayer similar to the outer membrane of a living cell (A. Meller, L. Nivon, E. Brandin, J. Golovchenko, D. Branton, "Rapid nanopore discrimination between single polynucleotide molecules," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 1 Feb. 2000, 97:1079-1084). Researchers have reported that the individual nucleotides comprising the polynucleotide strands must be passing single-file through the 2.6 nanometer-wide nanopore, and that changes in ionic current could be used to measure polymer length, and that the nanopore could be used to rapidly discriminate between pyrimidine and purine segments (the two types of nucleotide bases) along a single RNA molecule. Nanopore devices which can discriminate between purine and pyrimidine molecules have been reported (D. W. Deamer, M. Akeson, "Nanopores and nucleic acids: prospects for ultrarapid sequencing," Trends Biotechnol, April 2000, 18:147-15). Differences in ionic blockage current were measured. Because nanopores can rapidly discriminate and characterize DNA polymers at low copy number, future refinements of this experimental approach may eventually provide a low-cost high-throughput method for very rapid genome sequencing.
Although nanopore-based sensors have been explored for single nucleic acid molecule sequencing, they still cannot claim success. But they offer one of the most promising approaches for structural analysis of single molecules of few nanometers diameter.

Array-based bioactivated nanopore devices

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A composition for use in the topical treatment of skin disorders such as dermatitis or poison ivy, which comprises an effective amount of thymopentin and a suitable carrier is provided. A method for treating skin disorders and a method for making a topical composition are disclosed.

The pentapeptide thymopentin is the active site of the naturally-occurring polypeptide thymopoietin. Both thymopoietin and thymopentin induce biological changes in two human T cell lines, MOLT-4 and CEM, thereby indicating their roles in stimulating helper and suppressor activities of T cells. The naturally-occurring polypeptide thymopoietin has been detected in basal cells of skin, although its function is uncertain [See, e.g., A. C. Chu et al, J. Invest. Dermatol., 81:194 (1983)].
U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,646 discloses thymopentin as well as peptide compositions in which various groups are substituted onto the amino and/or carboxyl termini of this pentapeptide. See also, for example, G. Goldstein, Nature (London) 247: 11-14 (1974); R. S. Basch and G. Goldstein, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 71:1474-1478 (1974); M. P. Scheid et al., J. Exp. Med., 147:1727-1743 (1978); M. P. Scheid et al., Science, 190:1211-1213 (1975); G. E. Ranges et al., J. Exp. Med., 156:1057-1064 (1982); T. Audhya et al., Biochem. 20:6195-6200 (1981); K. Venkatasubramanian et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 83:3171-3174 (1986); M. G. Malaise et al., in "Immunoregulatory UCLA Symposium on Molecular and Cellular Biology", eds. G. Goldstein et al., (Liss, New York) (1986); G. G. Sunshine et al., J. Immunol., 120:1594-1599 (1978) and E. Rentz et al., Arch. Geschwulstforsch, 54(2):113-118 (1948). See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,886; 4,361,673; 4,420,424; and 4,629,723. Reference is made to the above-described patents, applications and articles for a discussion of other background material and the biological processes involved in the present invention.
Thymopentin has been developed for pharmaceutical administration as a parenteral drug, and has proved valuable in treating systemically certain chronic infections characterized by an immunosuppressed state of the host. Conditions for which thymopentin has been employed therapeutically include lepromatous leprosy and severe recurrent herpes virus infections. This pentapeptide has also been employed in the treatment of certain allergies. Thymopentin has additionally been studied for the systemic treatment of atopic dermatitis.
Thymopentin has proved to be an outstandingly safe therapeutic agent for systemic parenteral administration in both a wide range of animal studies and extensive clinical trials for these and other conditions. [See, e.g., E. Sundal et al., "Therapy with thymopentin: A clinical overview", in Immune Regulation by Characterized Peptides, eds: G. Goldstein et al., Alan R. Liss, Inc. N.Y., pp 121-136 (1987); A. Castells et al., Surv. Immunol. Res., 4:63-69, Suppl. 1 (1985); J. Demaubeuge et al, Surv. Immunol. Res., 4:30-36, Suppl. 1 (1985); co-owned, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 822,704; N. Friedmann, Surv. Immunol. Res., 4:139-154 Suppl. 1 (1985)].
Thymopentin has also been employed in experimental therapy with patients having acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, a disease predominantly caused by transmission of the retrovirus, HIV-1, and with a category of patients demonstrating symptoms of AIDS related complex, or ARC. [See, e.g., N. Clumeck et al., Int. J. Clin. Pharm. Res., 4:459-463 (1984); W. Barcellini et al., Clin. Exp. Immunol., 67:537-543 (1987)]
There has been no suggestion to date that thymopoietin or thymopentin are useful as other than systemically acting pharmaceutical agents for parenteral or intravenous administration.

Compositions containing thymopentin for topical treatment of skin disorders


An addition-curable type rubber composition comprising a vinyl-containing organopolysiloxane as a base polymer and, particularly, further comprising as a crosslinking agent an organohydrogenpolysiloxane which contains, in its molecule, at least one unit having the following formula: ##STR1## wherein J is an alkylene group of from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, Rf is a perfluoropolyether group, and a is an integer of from 0 to 2. The composition has excellent durability in repeated mold release, and a mold prepared from the composition is able to produce moldings of constant quality even when molding is repeated a large number of times.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an addition-curable type silicone rubber composition, and mole particularly to a silicone rubber composition having excellent durability in repeated mold release.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Silicone rubber compositions, due to their excellent mold release properties, chemical resistance, heat resistance and curability, are widely used as, for instance, materials for rubber mold for molding resins such as urethane, epoxy, polyester and vinyl chloride resins and so-called pattern-making silicone rubber mold materials. The silicone rubber compositions are used also as a rubber material for fixing rolls in dry-type copying machine.
In recent years, however, the requirements for durability in repeated mold release have grown to such a level that none of the conventional silicone rubber compositions can meet the requirements satisfactorily. Namely, when a silicone rubber mold according to the prior art is subjected to repeated molding and demolding, the mold surfaces are deteriorated as the repetition number increases; consequently, for example, the resin moldings obtained will have unsatisfactory surface gloss. Therefore, there is a request for a silicone rubber mold material which enables stable production of molded articles of constant quality even when the molding and demolding cycle is repeated a large number of times, that is, a silicone rubber mold material which has excellent durability in repeated mold release.
In order to improve the durability of silicone rubber mold materials in repeated mold release, the use of an organopolysiloxane having a fluorine atom in its molecule has been proposed. However, this is often accompanied by degradation of rubber properties such as water repellency, oil repellency, curability, heat resistance, etc., and no satisfactory improvement has been obtained.

Silicon rubber composition having excellent durability in repeated mold release


Techniques and methods for securing vehicle systems. For instance, an authorization system may store data representing frequencies at which destination locations are associated pick-up locations for a fleet of autonomous vehicles. The authorization system may then receive a request for an autonomous vehicle to pick up a passenger at a first location and drop off the passenger at a second location. Based on the first location and the second location, the authorization system may determine a frequency for the request. The authorization system may then determine whether a control system for the fleet of autonomous vehicles is compromised based on whether the frequency is less than or equal to a threshold frequency. If the authorization system determines that the control system is compromised, the authorization system may perform a remedial action, such as notifying a teleoperator.

An autonomous vehicle may navigate along designated routes or between waypoints according to a control system's response to receiving a request from a user device to pick up the user at a location and provide transport to a destination. However, in some circumstances, a nefarious actor may attempt to take control of an autonomous vehicle. For example, the nefarious actor may use a computing device to send instructions to the autonomous vehicle, which the autonomous vehicle may interpret as being sent from the control system, or otherwise spoof data on which the vehicle relies for determining a trajectory. As such, the autonomous vehicle may navigate along a route indicated by the nefarious actor. For another example, a nefarious actor may use a computing device to take control of the control system. The nefarious actor can then use the control system to control actions of an entire fleet of autonomous vehicles.

Techniques for authorizing vehicle control systems


A system and method include reception of a request to create a virtual machine associated with a requested number of resource units of each of a plurality of resource types, determination, for each of the plurality of resource types, of a pool of available resource units, random selection, for each of the plurality of resource types, of the requested number of resource units from the pool of available resource units of the resource type, and allocation of the selected resource units of each of the plurality of resource types to the virtual machine.

A conventional computer server includes physical resources for computation (e.g., one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs)), data storage (e.g., one or more Random Access Memory (RAM) modules and one or more disk drives), and other server functions. These physical resources, or physical devices, may be allocated to one or more logical servers, or virtual machines, as is known in the art. A virtual machine typically executes an operating system and applications using the physical resources allocated thereto, independent of other physical resources which may be present on the server.
A server executes a virtual machine monitor, or hypervisor, to manage any virtual machines executing therein. The hypervisor loads the operating systems of the virtual machines and allocates CPU resources, RAM, and disk storage space to each virtual machine. Each virtual machine then interacts with the hypervisor to utilize its allocated resources.
Physical resources are typically allocated to virtual machines according to a first-in, first-out protocol. Such a protocol may result in uneven usage of the physical resources of a given resource type. Moreover, conventional resource allocation does not efficiently account for degradation of individual physical resources over time. Improved systems for allocating physical resources to virtual machines are needed.

Resource allocation for virtual machines


A moving picture/still picture processing system includes a server and communication terminal communicating by network with the server. The communication terminal sends the server a request causing the server to decorate the picture according to a designated decoration method. When the server receives the request, the server generates request identification information (RII) identifying the request, stores the decoration method designated in the request and correlated with the RII, and transmits the RII to the communication terminal. When the communication terminal receives the RII, the communication terminal adds the RII to the picture and transmits it to the server. When the server receives the picture from the communication terminal, the server decorates the picture according to the decoration method corresponding to the RII that added to the picture, stores the decorated picture, and delivers the decorated picture that corresponds to a delivery request.

Many devices and services that serve to decorate moving pictures or still pictures have been provided. End users often use such devices and so forth when they exchange decorated moving pictures or the like so as to share their feelings between them. For example, a print seal device can take pictures with a camera, decorates taken pictures with frames or stamps, and prints the decorated pictures.
JP2003-92706A Publication (hereinafter referred to as Patent Literature 1) discloses a personal broadcasting system that is similar to a TV or radio broadcasting system. This system also decorates user's moving pictures or still pictures. The end user sets a broadcasting time for the system. At the broadcasting time that the end user has set for the system, a streaming delivery server decorates a moving picture or still picture transmitted from a user's terminal and delivers the decorated moving picture or still picture to client terminals live.

Moving picture/still picture processing system, server, moving picture/still picture processing method, and program


An exemplary control key assembly for an electronic device includes a housing and a control key. The housing forms a receiving portion. The receiving portion includes a resisting portion and a hole. The control key is positioned in the receiving portion. The control key includes an operating element and an elastic element. The operating element is received in the hole, and the elastic element includes a bent arm engaging with the resisting portion to limit the movement of the control key.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to control key assemblies, particularly to a control key assembly used in a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Many portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, have a housing defining an interior compartment for receiving a printed circuit board (PCB). The devices often include a control key assembly on one side of the housing, allowing one-handed operation of the device.
Typically, the control key assembly is loosely located in a space defined in an outer shell of the portable electronic device, with a slight gap defined between the control key assembly and the outer shell. Each control key moves easily in a corresponding opening of the outer shell. However, if excessive force is applied, the control key may physically separate from the rest of the control key assembly.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Control key assembly for electronic device

Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry Co., Ltd.


A method and system for rapidly detecting Candida on the skin of a host, such as an infant with diaper rash, is provided. The method includes contacting a dermal sample with a colorant that exhibits a certain spectral response (e.g., color change) in the presence of Candida. For example, the colorant may change from a first color to a second color, from colorless to a color, or from a color to colorless. The colorant is typically capable of differentiating between Candida (e.g., Candida albicans) and other microorganisms commonly associated with diaper rash, such as S. aureus and E. coli. Thus, when a dermal sample is placed into contact with the colorant, the color change may simply be observed to determine whether the infection is caused by Candida. If the color change occurs to a certain extent (e.g., from yellow to bright red), it may be determined that the test sample contains Candida. Likewise, if a color change occurs to a lesser extent (e.g., from yellow to faint orange) or not at all, it may be determined that the dermal sample contains other microorganisms (e.g., S. aureus or E. coli), no infection is present, or that the infection is simply due to other causes. Regardless, it will become readily apparent whether or not treatment for Candida is needed.

"Diaper rash" (also referred to as diaper dermatitis or incontinent dermatitis) is a common form of irritation and inflammation affecting both infants and incontinent adults within the skin regions normally covered by a diaper (e.g., rectal and genital areas). Diaper rash may develop when skin is exposed to prolonged contact with urine or feces, which increases skirt pH and contributes to the breakdown of the stratum corneum. Although diaper rash is usually resolved in a short time period, the skin still becomes susceptible to more serious secondary infections once the stratum corneum is damaged. One of the more problematic secondary infections associated with diaper rash is "yeast infection", which is typically caused by Candida albicans. Under the conditions that result in diaper rash, for instance, the normally unicellular yeast-like form of Candida albicans can convert into an invasive, multicellular filamentous form. Candida infection may result in painful swelling and become difficult to resolve. In severely immune compromised patients, Candida albicans infection may even spread throughout the body and cause systemic infections. It is believed that some of the symptoms of Candida infections may be minimized or eliminated with early treatment. Currently, however, no convenient system exists for rapidly alerting a caregiver or user of a secondary Candida infection on the skin.
As such, a need currently exists for a technique of rapidly and simply detecting the presence of Candida infection on skin.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A specialized spinnaker pole shell fitting consisting of two half shell units which are assembled around an ordinary spinnaker pole of constant cross section to be attached to the mast of a sailboat. The shell is provided with roller bearings to permit the spinnaker pole to be facilely moved perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the sailboat over the complete length of the pole. Control fines are provided to control the longitudinal movement of the pole, to have the end furthest from the mast raised or lowered, and to have the end furthest from the mast moved forward or aft. In an optional configuration, with a stowage bracket is provided to permit the spinnaker pole to be stowed in a vertical orientation parallel to and next to the mast. All these features are accomplished by lines led to the cockpit of the sailboat so that the complete operation of gybing the spinnaker may be accomplished without sending a crewman to the foredeck.

In practice, wind powered boats rarely sail directly down wind. Most often, sailboats travel in directions oblique to the direction of the wind. The limitations of waterway boundaries and other obstacles often require sailboats to travel in a zig-zag pattern centered on the direction of desired travel. Each change of direction in this maneuver which causes the sailboat to present its opposite side to the wind, with the wind crossing over the rear or stem end of the sailboat, is known as a "gybe." (When the wind comes over the front or bow of the sailboat, the maneuver is called a "tack.")
In order to gybe, a set of procedures must be executed by the crew which range from simple to complex depending on which sails the sailboat has set. In general, in order to gybe the direction of the boat must be changed relative to the direction of the wind so that the wind comes over the opposite side of the sailboat. In addition, the sails must be reconFigured so that they billow out towards the opposite side of the sailboat. When engaged in competitive sailing, this operation must be carried out with speed and efficiency. Further, when sailing singlehandedly, it is preferable for all operations to be executable from the cockpit so that control of the sailboat may be maintained.
Sailboats may be fitted with a variety of different sails depending on the wind conditions and the direction of sail. Sails are chosen for a particular set of conditions and then any sail may be adjusted in terms of its shape and set to maximize the force derived from the wind. When sailing downwind, a spinnaker is often used. FIG. 1 is an illustration of the prior art. A spinnaker is a large triangular sail, the uppermost corner of which or "head" 101 is attached to the top of the mast by a halyard 109. The lower corner of the spinnaker 102 which lies downwind is attached to a control line, called a spinnaker sheet 104, the free end of which is led to the cockpit, by means of which the shape and tension (set of the sail may be controlled. The lower corner of the spinnaker which lies upwind 103 is attached to another spinnaker sheet 105 which is led to the outboard end 106 of the spinnaker pole 110, and thence to the cockpit. The inboard end 107 of the spinnaker pole is attached to the mast 22. The spinnaker pole is supported by a control line 111, called a topping lift. The topping lift 111, together with the downhaul 112 control height of the outboard end of the spinnaker pole 106. The spinnaker pole holds the upwind portion of the spinnaker into the wind and the position of the spinnaker pole in relation to the rest of the sailboat is a factor in determining the shape and set of the spinnaker, and thus the efficiency of the spinnaker's operation.
When a gybe is executed while using the spinnaker, the spinnaker presents its opposite side to the wind. For the sail to operate properly, the spinnaker pole must now hold the opposite corner of the spinnaker into the wind. When a spinnaker is gybed in the conventional manner, one of two procedures is followed:
1. End for End Gybe.
On an end for end gybe, the spinnaker sheet 105 holding the upwind corner of the spinnaker to the pole is released from the outboard end 106 of the spinnaker pole. Then the pole 110 is disconnected from the mast and the inboard end 107 of the spinnaker pole is swung outboard. While it is being swung outboard, the other spinnaker sheet 104, which is attached to the opposite corner of the spinnaker 102, is attached to the end of the pole going outboard 107. Finally, the new inboard end 106, is reattached to the mast 22. This type of gybe does not require the vertical height of the pole to be adjusted during the evolution of the maneuver.
2. Dip Pole Gybe.
On a dip pole gybe, the sheet 105 holding the upwind corner of the spinnaker 103 is released from the outboard end 106 of the spinnaker pole. The pole is then swung through the foretriangle to the other side of the boat, as shown in FIG. 2, according to prior art. The foretriangle is the triangular area of the sailboat formed by the mast 22, the forestay 120 and the foredeck. Because the spinnaker pole would hit the forestay 120 if it were merely swung through the foretriangle while held in a horizontal position by the topping lift 111, the vertical position of the spinnaker pole must be reduced by easing out the topping lift 111 to allow the outboard end of the pole 106 to dip down to near deck level so it can fit inside the forestay. (On some sailboat configurations, the geometry of the foretriangle is such that the inboard end 107 of the spinnaker pole must be raised as well by sliding the attachment ring 108 up the mast along its track 23 to allow sufficient angle to swing the spinnaker pole through the foretriangle. The attachment ring 108 must then be slid down the track 23 to its original location.) After the pole is swung through to the opposite side, the sheet 104 attached to the opposite corner 102 of the spinnaker is attached to the outboard end of the pole 106. This type of gybe does not require the pole to be detached from the mast.
Both methods of gybing require one or more crewmembers to be on the foredeck to handle the pole. In addition, the dip pole gybe requires another crewmember to adjust the topping lift while the pole is being swung through the foretriangle to the other side of the vessel. The complexity of this maneuver provides many opportunities for mistakes which can cost speed in racing situations, and in rough seas, operations performed on a pitching foredeck can be quite dangerous. Disconnecting and reconnecting the pole to the mast is cumbersome and time consuming. Many injuries to crew members occur during this operation as the pressure to conserve time in racing situations lead to accidents. Further, the need to manually handle the spinnaker pole prevents a lone sailor from performing this maneuver in most cases. For a lone sailor to perform a spinnaker gybe, he must leave the cockpit and climb up to the foredeck, leaving no one to steer the boat through the gybing maneuver.


A motor control circuit for a switched reluctance motor which includes a rotor and a plurality of stator coils, and a driver circuit for energizing the coils in sequence, includes a current sensing resistor for detecting a signal proportional to the current in the coils and a slope detector for detecting the rate of change of the current signal with respect to time over predetermined time intervals during which the voltage in the coils is dominated by a term representing back EMF. A variable oscillator is responsive to an integrated output of the slope detector for generating a timing signal for the driver circuit. When the voltage across the coils is dominated by the back EMF term, the current should be substantially constant, but when the rotor is out of phase with the driver circuit, the current signal during this time has a substantially linear slope which is either positive or negative depending upon whether the rotor is leading or lagging the driver circuit.

The following invention relates to a sensorless control circuit for use with a switched reluctance electric motor.
Switched reluctance stepping motors employ an iron core rotor having a plurality of poles and pairs of stator coils aligned on opposite sides of the rotor so as to create a magnetic circuit when the poles of the rotor are aligned with the oppositely placed coils. The reluctance of the magnetic circuit is lowest when a pole pair is aligned directly between a pair of opposed coils. By sequentially energizing pairs of coils, the rotor is caused to rotate in order to find the position of lowest reluctance.
Control circuits for such motors typically include an external sensor which is connected to the rotor to sense rotor position. This signal is used to maintain alignment between the coil switching sequence and the rotor position. Hall effect sensors have long been employed for this purpose. A mechanical sensor is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,678, to Abraham, et al. In the Abraham patent, a mechanical emitter coupled to the shaft of the rotor provides position information for a reader head which in turn generates a feedback signal to a control loop which controls motor speed. Sensors, however, take up space, are costly, and typically cannot withstand the harsh environments for which switched reluctance motors are rated.
Various types of sensorless control circuits exist for DC brushless motors which employ permanent magnet rotors. Permanent magnet rotors generate back EMF in stator coils which various sinusoidally. Thus, determining the phase of the back EMF signal gives an indication of rotor position. An example of this type of control circuit is shown in Plunkett, U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,043 entitled BACK EMF SAMPLING CIRCUIT FOR A PHASE-LOCKED LOOP MOTOR CONTROL which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The Plunkett invention discloses a sensing network for sensing the back EMF on an unenergized motor winding. This signal represents a phase error when compared with an optimum value and drives a voltage controlled oscillator which in turn generates timing signals for an inverter. However, because switched reluctance motors do not employ permanent magnets, there is no back EMF induced in an unenergized coil as a direct result of rotor rotation.
The inductance in the coils does vary as a function of rotor position. When a pair of rotor poles become aligned with a pair of stator coils, the inductance reaches a maximum. In the past, motor designers have attempted to build control loops utilizing some value of sensed inductance. However, this requires complex bridge circuitry which tends to have a high level of noise associated with it. Saturation and hysterysis effects also compromise inductance sensing techniques.

Control circuit for switched reluctance motor


A new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant named ‘RENSAM’ is disclosed, characterized by abundant pyramidal inflorescences on compact plants. Flowers begin white and turn deep pink with maturity. The new variety is a Hydrangea, normally produced as an ornamental plant for containers or gardens.

The new Hydrangea cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Jean Renault in Gorron, France. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Hydrangea paniculata varieties for garden use. The cross pollination resulting in this new variety was made during 2004.
The seed parent is an unnamed, unpatented proprietary variety of Hydrangea paniculata. The pollen parent is a different unnamed, unpatented proprietary variety of Hydrangea paniculata. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection June of 2007, at a commercial nursery in Gorron, France.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'RENSAM' by softwood cuttings was first performed in July of 2007, at commercial greenhouse in Gorron, France. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in multiple successive generations.


The invention relates to immunogenic compositions and vaccines containing a coronavirus (e.g., Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV; also referred to as SARS-CoV-2)) protein or a polynucleotide encoding a coronavirus (e.g., Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV; SARS-CoV-2)) protein and uses thereof. The invention also provides methods of treating and/or preventing a coronavirus (e.g., Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV; SARS-CoV-2)) infection by administering an immunogenic composition or vaccine to a subject (e.g., a human). The invention also provides methods of detecting and/or monitoring a protective anti-coronavirus (e.g., Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV; SARS-CoV-2)) antibody response (e.g., anti-coronavirus antibody response, e.g., anti-2019-nCoV antibody response, e.g., anti-Spike antibody response, e.g., anti-Spike neutralizing antibody response). The present invention relates to isolated nucleic and/or recombinant nucleic acid encoding a coronavirus S protein, in particular a SARS-CoV-2 S protein, and to the coronavirus S proteins, as well as to the use of the nucleic acids and/or proteins thereof in vaccines.

SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that was first discovered late 2019 in the Wuhan region in China. SARS-CoV-2 is a beta-coronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, all of which have their origin in bats. There are currently several sequences available from several patients from the U.S., China and other countries, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir. The name of this disease caused by the virus is coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. Symptoms of COVID-19 range from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed COVID-19 cases.
As indicated above, SARS-CoV-2 has strong genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses, from which it likely originated, although an intermediate reservoir host such as a pangolin is thought to be involved. From a taxonomic perspective SARS-CoV-2 is classified as a strain of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronavirus species.
Coronaviruses are enveloped RNA viruses. The major surface protein is the large, trimeric spike glycoprotein (S) that mediates binding to host cell receptors as well as fusion of viral and host cell membranes. The S protein is composed of an N-terminal S1 subunit and a C-terminal S2 subunit, responsible for receptor binding and membrane fusion, respectively. Recent cryo-EM reconstructions of the CoV trimeric S structures of alpha-, beta-, and deltacoronaviruses revealed that the S1 subunit comprises two distinct domains: an N-terminal domain (S1 NTD) and a receptor-binding domain (S1 RBD). SARS-CoV-2 makes use of its S1 RBD to bind to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).
The rapid expansion of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine a global health priority. Since the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus was first observed in humans in late 2019, over 8 million people have been infected and hundreds of thousands have died as a result of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2, and coronaviruses more generally, lack effective treatment, leading to a large unmet medical need. In addition, there is currently no vaccine available to prevent coronavirus induced disease (COVID-19). The best way to prevent illness currently is to avoid being exposed to this virus. Since emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 present a major threat to public health there is an urgent need for novel vaccines that can be used to prevent coronavirus induced respiratory disease.
Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV; also referred to as SARS-CoV-2) is a coronavirus that is responsible for an unprecedented current epidemic in China. 2019-nCoV is known to cause respiratory symptoms and fever, which may result in death.
The World Health Organization declared the 2019-nCoV outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Jan. 30, 2020 and has confirmed over 11,000 cases in 16 countries. While the rapid development of a safe and effective 2019-nCoV vaccine is a global health priority, very little is currently known about 2019-nCoV immunology and mechanisms of immune protection.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need in the field for 2019-nCoV therapies.

Compositions and methods for preventing and treating coronavirus infection—SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc.


A pixel unit includes a first sub-pixel circuit and a second sub-pixel circuit. The first sub-pixel circuit includes a first sub-pixel driving circuit and a first light-emitting element, and the second sub-pixel circuit includes a second sub-pixel driving circuit and a second light-emitting element. The first sub-pixel driving circuit and the second sub-pixel driving circuit are connected to a first data line, and the first sub-pixel driving circuit is connected to a first gate line, the second sub-pixel driving circuit is connected to the second gate line. The first sub-pixel driving circuit is configured to drive the first light-emitting element by a data voltage on the first data line under the control of the first gate line. The second sub-pixel driving circuit is configured to drive the second light-emitting element by the data voltage on the first data line under the control of the second gate line.

In the current display field, high-resolution 8K AMOLED (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display products are relatively rare, mainly due to the difficulty of the process, limited pixel layout space and high production cost.
The number of data lines and external compensation lines in the pixel structure adopted by an existing display panel is large, which is disadvantageous for reducing the pixel layout space and achieving high resolution. Moreover, since the number of data lines used in the existing display panel is large, the number of source drivers is also large, resulting in high manufacturing cost.

Pixel unit, display panel, driving method thereof and compensation control method thereof

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An attachment mechanism that can be used to attach a portable or wearable electronic device to a user. The attachment mechanism may include a band strap having multiple links that are configured to wrap around a user's wrist. The links of the band may be spring biased and allow the band to be secured to a wrist or other object as it transitions from an open to a closed position. The amount of spring bias may be adjusted or specially configured to attach the device comfortably yet securely.

Advances in portable computing and electronics have led to increased use and portability of electronic devices. Portable devices such as watches, smart watches, smart phones, and the like have become more popular in recent years and there is an increased desire to carry these devices at all times. Users may carry these devices while moving in various environments during their daily activities. Users may carry the devices using a pocket in an article of clothing, a handbag, a briefcase, or other similar carrying technique.
For devices that are sufficiently small and lightweight, it may be advantageous to carry the device directly on the body of the user. For example, a wrist band, arm band, or lanyard may be used to attach a device to a user. Some traditional attachment techniques include the use of a flexible strap (e.g., leather) that wraps around the body part of the user and is attached to the device or a mating strap using a clasp or buckle. While traditional attachment techniques may adequately secure the device, they may lack sufficient adjustability, comfort, and/or visual appeal.

Attachment mechanism for a wearable device


A method for identifying a pattern in a message and generating an action in a communication terminal, and a communication terminal adapted to identify a pattern in a message and generating an action, aiming at providing actions associated with a received message to enable a user to use a multitude of applications in a communication terminal in a user-friendly way. The communication terminal includes a pattern table including one or more patterns, a parse adapted to parse a message for one or more patterns in the pattern table and adapted to generate a pattern list, an action generator adapted to generate an action including an application all for the application, and a controller adapted to execute the action.

The number of transmissions of messages in a computer or telecommunication network has in the recent years increased significantly. The short message service (SMS) and more recently the multimedia message service (MMS) have become important tools for handling business and common daily routines. Similarly, use of e-mails has accelerated communication between parties as well as expanded the geographical potential of communication between parties separated by great distances.
Lately, communication terminals have evolved to perform, in addition to voice communication, generation and transmission of text messages such as SMS messages as well as MMS messages comprising a video, picture or audio sequence. Furthermore, the communication terminals have evolved to include personal office assistant features such as calendar, address book, or e-mail functions.
Due to the fact that the telecommunication message services and the e-mail services have increased, and that the number of applications to administrate, execute, edit and handle has evolved, the user is required specific knowledge as to how to use them all, especially in combination.
European patent publication no. EP 0 458 563 discloses a radio telephone apparatus which is capable of receiving alphanumeric text messages. The apparatus comprises an internal application capable of processing the text message in such a manner that a telephone number or telephone numbers can be picked out from the rest of the message. Further, the telephone number can be corrected, supplemented, and stored in a memory in the telephone apparatus. It is also possible to place a call to the telephone number picked out from the message.
This feature is well known today and used daily by all mobile phone users. However, it does not fulfil the demands of the great varieties of services that are possible within today's telecommunication networks.
International publication no. WO 01/22680 discloses a method of operating a mobile terminal, wherein it is determined whether a received text message includes text that represents a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). The mobile terminal comprises launch control logic for identifying an URI in the text, and when the launch control logic identifies an URI, the URI is made selectable, and if the user selects it, an application associated with the URI is invoked. The application can be provided by an external service such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) or telnet scheme for interactive service via the TELNET Protocol.
These features are similar to the features disclosed in EP 0 458 563. However, the International application is generally directed to Internet-type (Wireless Application Protocol) communication instead of ordinary telephone calls.
Present technology provides a user with many features, but also requires the user to have or accumulate knowledge regarding all features of a communication terminal, and know-how to access or utilise these features. Since many users do not know all available applications in their communication terminal, these applications do not provide the user with sufficient added value to their communication.

Method and device for identifying patterns in a message and generating an action


Disclosed is a system and a method to provide event notification. The method operates an event server (20) with a subscriber unit (12). The method includes formulating a query; sending a subscription request message to the event server, the subscription request message comprising the query; responsive to a receipt of the subscription request message, parsing the query; and accepting the subscription request if the query is successfully parsed and understood, and if appropriate resource data is available to the event server to determine a result of the query.

The infrastructure of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is defined in IETF RFC3261 (Rosenberg et al., June 2002). In general, the SIP is an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying and terminating sessions with one or more participants. The sessions can include Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution and multimedia conferences. SIP invitations used to create sessions carry session descriptions that allow participants to agree on a set of compatible media types. SIP makes use of elements called proxy servers to help route requests to the user's current location, authenticate and authorize users for services, implement provider call-routing policies and provide features to users. SIP also provides a registration function that allows users to upload their current locations for use by proxy servers. SIP runs on top of several different transport protocols.
In "SIP-Specific Event Notification", A. Roach, RFC 3265, July 2002 (referred to hereafter simply as RFC 3265), there is described a SIP event framework to enable event-based information provisioning to any node in the Internet. This procedure is expected to become a key element within the SIP infrastructure. Examples of this kind of information are presence, location information, content/service availability, or access-controlled SIP events, as described in several of the above-referenced related patent applications.
As is discussed in RFC 3265, the general concept is that entities in the network can subscribe to resource or call state for various resources or calls in the network, and those entities (or entities acting on their behalf) can send notifications when those states change. A typical flow of messages would be:
SubscriberNotifier|-----SUBSCRIBE---->|Request state subscription|<-------200--------------|Acknowledge subscription|<------NOTIFY---------|Return current state information|--------200------------->|Acknowledge|<------NOTIFY--------|Return current state information|--------200------------->|Acknowledge
Subscriptions are expired and must be refreshed by subsequent SUBSCRIBE messages.
Several useful definitions include the following:
Event Package: An event package is an additional specification which defines a set of state information to be reported by a notifier to a subscriber. Event packages also define further syntax and semantics based on the framework defined by RFC 3265 that are required to convey such state information.
Event Template-Package: An event template-package is a special kind of event package which defines a set of states which may be applied to all possible event packages, including itself.
Notification: Notification is the act of a notifier sending a NOTIFY message to a subscriber to inform the subscriber of the state of a resource.
Notifier: A notifier is a user agent which generates NOTIFY requests for the purpose of notifying subscribers of the state of a resource. Notifiers typically also accept SUBSCRIBE requests to create subscriptions.
State Agent: A state agent is a notifier which publishes state information on behalf of a resource; in order to do so, it may need to gather such state information from multiple sources. State agents always have complete state information for the resource for which they are creating notifications.
Subscriber: A subscriber is a user agent which receives NOTIFY requests from notifiers; these NOTIFY requests contain information about the state of a resource in which the subscriber is interested. Subscribers typically also generate SUBSCRIBE requests and send them to notifiers to create subscriptions.
Subscription: A subscription is a set of application state associated with a dialog. This application state includes a pointer to the associated dialog, the event package name, and possibly an identification token. Event packages will define additional subscription state information. By definition, subscriptions exist in both a subscriber and a notifier.
Subscription Migration: Subscription migration is the act of moving a subscription from one notifier to another notifier.
The SUBSCRIBE method is used to request current state and state updates from a remote node.
J. Rosenberg has defined in "A Watcher Information Event Template-Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", draft-ietf-simple-winfo-package-05.txt, Jan. 31, 2003, a watcher information template-package for the SIP event framework. Watcher information in this context refers to a set of users that are subscribed to a particular resource within a particular event package. Watcher information changes dynamically as users subscribe, unsubscribe, are approved, or are rejected. A user can subscribe to this information, and therefore can learn of changes to this information. This particular event package is referred to as a template-package, as it can be applied to any event package, including itself.
The SIP event framework as presented in RFC 3265, is a technique to provide context information in general. For example, the SIP presence provides a particular piece of context information, using a particular SIP event package. However, current subscription solutions for SIP events, such as for SIP presence, watcherinfo, and even call-state information, only allow for subscription to state information that is associated with a particular resource, where the particular resource is addressed as a SIP URI. For example, a subscription to a presence event is bound to a so-called presentity, representing the user to which the presence information is associated. Hence, when subscribing to state information, the subscriber subscribe to state information of a particular, a priori known resource (addressed through the SIP URI). At present, it is not possible to subscribe to state information that has been derived from a set of state information associated to certain URIs.
Based on the foregoing, it may be appreciated that with the current subscription model of SIP questions (queries) such as:
"Which persons (resources) are in a meeting, the meeting being in a particular location?" and
"Which persons (resources) are at work right now, with work location Boston, and are not busy?"
can only be answered by subscribing to all available and relevant resources at a particular SIP event server, and upon reception of notifications that are related to the required state information, by executing an appropriate application logic at the subscriber in order to determine the set of resources that would fulfil the given constraints. This is necessary since as currently defined SIP event subscriptions are bound to particular resources, e.g., a subscription to a SIP presence event is bound to the presentity.
It can be readily seen that such a solution is not scalable if one were to assume, by example, a fairly large domain such as a mobile operator, since such a solution could easily overburden the subscriber with respect to maintaining the subscriptions and handling incoming notifications, as well as the SIP event server with respect to creating such large numbers of subscriptions. Such a solution could also easily fail, for example by leaving out certain domains that are hosted at the particular SIP event server but that are unknown to the subscriber.
That is, the subscriber might "miss" certain resources by simply not knowing or not being aware of the relevance of the particular resource for the answer to the query. For example, a particular SIP event server may host event information for resources in two different domains, "domain1.com" and "domain2.com". Assume in this case that the subscriber is aware of the hosting of the first domain but not of the second domain. Hence, the subscriber would not subscribe to the relevant resources of the second domain and could therefore potentially "miss" important information.
Assuming the hosting of particular state information at a SIP event server for a multiplicity of resources at a certain time, it would be desirable to have a way to formulate the exemplary SIP queries given above within a single subscription, with the queries operating on an available set of information within the SIP event server. For example, since usually there exists presence information for a large set of presentities at a SIP presence server, it would be desirable to perform queries such as those above on the set of presentities within a single subscription. Prior to this invention, these needs were unfulfilled.

Method, system and computer program to enable querying of resources in a certain context by definition of SIP even package


A semiconductor laser screen in a cathode-ray tube with a sealed casing. The laser screen has a screen structure which is formed by a semiconductor member, a reflecting mirror and a partly transparent mirror on opposite sides of the semiconductor member. The screen structure is connected to a transparent support by means of a connecting layer which is formed by glass having a softening point of at least 675K. The materials of the semiconductor member, the transparent support, the connecting layer and the casing are made of materials with similarly low coefficients of expansion to prevent damage to the screen as it cools down from the manufacturing process.

A prior art cathode-ray tube comprises a casing accommodating an electron optic system, a built-in getter pump and a laser screen having a semiconductor member which has mirror layers of both sides and a transparent heat removing support. The laser screen is mounted in the casing by means of an iron, cobalt and nickel alloy ring (Ulasyuk, V. N. Kvantoskopy [Laser Screen Cathode-Ray Tubes] (in Russian). Moscow. "Radio i Svyaz" Publishing House. 1988. p. 105). This is a sealed-off tube in which the laser screen has a cementing layer connecting the semiconductor member to the heat removing support. The cementing layer is formed when the semiconductor member is cemented to the support by means of an adhesive composition. Adhesive compositions which are generally used for this purpose cannot be heated above 150.degree. C. Heat treatment and evacuation of the tube are carried out with cooling of the laser screen. The iron, cobalt and nickel alloy ring is designed for a thermal decoupling of the evacuated casing and laser screen when they are coupled together and during the heat treatment and evacuation.
The iron, cobalt and nickel alloy ring also ensures mechanical strength of the cathode-ray tube in case of a difference between temperatures of the casing and laser screen. The getter pump is used for evacuating gases released during storage and operation of the cathode-ray tube. These gases are released from the laser screen which cannot be subjected to a complete heat treatment in vacuum at a temperature above 400.degree. C. because the cementing layer is decomposed at a temperature in excess of 150.degree. C. The use of the getter pump and iron, cobalt and nickel alloy ring complicate manufacture of the cathode-ray tube. It is difficult to install the laser screen in the casing because the heat removing support, which is made of sapphire, should be metal plated and welded to the iron, cobalt and nickel alloy ring before installation. It should be noted that the getter pump cannot ensure complete removal of gases released during storage and operation of the cathode-ray tube because this pump is not highly efficient in pumping off aromatic hydrocarbons released by the cementing layer. The gases remaining in the casing substantially shorten life of porous metal cathodes generally used in such cathode-ray tubes. Low heat conductance and mechanical strength of the cementing layer also limit service life of the laser screen subjected to high temperature strains induced by electron beams in operation of the cathode-ray tube.

Laser screen cathode-ray tube with increased life span


A steering system (100) includes: a variable transmission ratio mechanism (19); a limiting mechanism (20) and control means (30). The variable transmission ratio mechanism (19) varies a transmission ratio between a steering angle and a steered angle. The limiting mechanism (20) suppresses a variation in the transmission ratio of the variable transmission ratio mechanism (19). The control means (30) controls the variable transmission ratio mechanism (19). For example, the variable transmission ratio mechanism (19) uses a motor (40) to vary the transmission ratio, and the control means (30) controls a magnitude of current supplied to the motor to control the variable transmission ratio mechanism (19). The control means decreases a rate of contribution of I operation in feedback control over the variable transmission ratio mechanism (19) when the limiting mechanism (20) is operated as compared with a rate of contribution of I operation when the limiting mechanism (20) is not operated.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a steering system that includes a variable transmission ratio mechanism that is able to vary a transmission ratio between a steering angle and a steered angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique of this type is described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-301507 (JP-A-11-301507). JP-A-11-301507 describes a vehicle steering limiting device. The vehicle steering limiting device includes a limiting mechanism that limits operation of a variable transmission ratio mechanism on the basis of a steering angle and a steered angle.
Incidentally, the variable transmission ratio mechanism, for example, includes a reduction mechanism, such as a planetary gear mechanism, and a motor coupled to a gear of the reduction mechanism, and controls the magnitude of current supplied to the motor to control the transmission ratio. Here, it is conceivable that feedback (FB) control is executed in order to increase the accuracy of control over the variable transmission ratio mechanism. However, when feedback control, such as PID control in which the rate of contribution of I operation is relatively large, is executed, redundant current is supplied to the motor during operation of the limiting mechanism, and there is a possibility that it is difficult to efficiently control the variable transmission ratio mechanism.


The present invention discloses a power factor correction circuit, a control circuit therefor and a method for driving a power factor correction circuit. The power factor correction circuit receives rectified power obtained by rectifying AC power, and corrects the power factor thereof. The power factor correction circuit includes an inductor, and it generates a reference signal as a limit for the inductor current. The reference signal is proportional to Comp/Vin, wherein Comp is a signal relating to a feedback signal, and Vin is a voltage signal relating to the AC power or the rectified power.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power factor correction circuit, a control circuit for a power factor correction circuit, and a method for driving a load circuit through power factor correction; in particular, the present invention relates to such circuits and method that can keep an output current under an upper limit by a chop control method.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows an LED (light emitting diode) driver circuit disclosed in US 2011/0037414, which supplies power with corrected power factor to an LED circuit. The driver circuit includes a flyback power factor correction (PFC) converter 301, a harmonic filter 303 and a control circuit 305. The flyback PFC converter 301 operates according to a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal, and it converts AC power to a pulse current. The harmonic filter 303 is coupled to the flyback PFC converter 301 and the LED circuit to receive the pulse current and filter its high frequency part. The control circuit 305 is coupled to the flyback PFC converter 301 and the harmonic filter 303, for generating a PWM signal according to the AC power and the pulse current, and reducing a peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of the pulse current. Because this arrangement reduces the current PAR, it does not require using an electrolytic capacitor with high capacitance, thus reducing cost and extending the life time of LEDs. However, this prior art has a drawback that it requires complicated control.
FIG. 2A shows prior art waveforms of an inductor current 71, a current peak envelope 72, and an average current 73 at a primary side of a prior art PFC converter. The voltage waveform (not shown) is in phase with the current peak. Because the current PAR is large, an electrolytic capacitor with very large capacitance is required.
FIG. 2B shows a PFC converter disclosed in US 2010/0014326. It has a harmonic regulation unit which can generate an inductor current containing third harmonic. As the third harmonic is added, the waveforms of the inductor current 74, a current peak envelope 75 and an average current average 76 are as shown in the figure, wherein the current PAR is reduced so it does not require using an electrolytic capacitor with large capacitance. However, this prior art has a drawback that the voltage peak deviates from the current peak, so it has a poor power factor.
To overcome the drawbacks of the above prior art, the present invention proposes a power factor correction circuit, a control circuit for a power factor correction circuit, and a method for driving a load circuit through power factor correction, which can reduce output voltage ripples and extend the life time of LEDs, with simple circuitry.

Power factor correction circuit, control circuit therefor and method for driving load circuit through power factor correction