A system and method for automating the migration of configuration settings and data from computer systems running the LINUX operating system to computer systems running the WINDOWS operating system. The invention utilizes data from one or more sources to create the configuration of the target system, and translates between settings related to the LINUX systems and WINDOWS systems involved. As a result, it simplifies the otherwise complex and time-consuming task of migrating from one server to another, specifically when migrating between two operating systems that provide similar functionality but are configured in distinctly different ways.

It can be appreciated that a large number of server computers in operation today run a version of the LINUX family of operating systems, such as Red Hat Enterprise LINUX AS 3. These operating systems provide services to client computers, such as access to data stored in shared directories, access to printers connected to the server, user authentication services, networking services, directory services, etc.
It can also be appreciated that a large number of server computers run a member of the WINDOWS family of operating systems, such as WINDOWS 2000 Server Standard Edition and WINDOWS NT 4.0.
One skilled in the art will recognize that operating system services and applications are typically configured according to the user's needs, and that such configuration settings are stored through a persistent mechanism, such as an on-disk file, so that when the system is reset or restarted, the configuration settings can be read and the service or application can run with the stored settings; in this way the user does not have to reconfigure the settings from scratch.
WINDOWS and LINUX provide many similar functions, such as the ability for client computers to access data on a server and to display text and graphics on a computer screen. On WINDOWS, for example, file and print sharing via the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and user authentication via the NT LAN Manager protocol (NTLM) is provided by the operating system itself. Similar functionality is provided on LINUX, but requires additional modules to be installed. Advanced Server for UNIX, ported to LINUX, is one application that provides file, print, and authentication via the SMB and NTLM protocols. Samba is another application that provides such functionality. Syntax Totalnet Advanced Server is a third such product.
Although the functions provided are similar between the two operating systems, often they are provided or configured in different and incompatible ways. For example, configuration settings related to file shares are stored in a set of data files called the system registry on WINDOWS, while configuration settings related to file shares are stored in text based configuration files on LINUX, e.g. a format that is different from its counterpart on WINDOWS. Similarly, data related to directory services, which, as the name suggests, deals with information about the people and resources available on a given computer system or network, is stored in the Active Directory on WINDOWS, but is stored using OpenLDAP or other software on LINUX. Likewise, configuration settings for Internet Information Server (IIS), a web server that runs on WINDOWS, are stored in the WINDOWS registry, while configuration settings for Apache, a web server often deployed on LINUX, are stored in a text file named HTTPD.CONF.
While the LINUX operating system has existed for a number of years, it is only recently that it has reached a point of viability and stability that system administrators have begun deploying servers running LINUX where formerly they might have run WINDOWS. However, having deployed one or more servers running the LINUX operating system, system administrators often discover that a mixed environment, that is, one running WINDOWS and LINUX, is more difficult and expensive to manage and maintain than one in which server computers run only the WINDOWS operating system. For these reasons and others, they desire to migrate the services provided and data stored on servers running the LINUX operating system to WINDOWS.
Due to the incompatibility in the ways in which the two operating system families are configured and the ways in which they store configuration settings, however, this task is a difficult, time-consuming, and error-prone manual process. In particular, an administrator must understand the particular settings in question on WINDOWS, and the corresponding settings on LINUX. Often, administrators are hampered by their lack of experience on one or the other of the two operating systems, the difficulty of finding the appropriate settings on either system, the challenge of translating between the settings of the two systems, and the need to configure software on the WINDOWS system to have it provide the equivalent functions as the LINUX system.
The problem of migration is not a new one, as administrators have been confronted with the problem of moving from an old version of an operating system to a new version for years. Alternatively, administrators have been forced to move from one physical machine to another to take advantage of new hardware capabilities or because of a desire to move off an old piece of hardware. However, these migrations have been fairly simple given the relative compatibility in settings between the old and new operating system versions or between the two machines, which may even be running the same version of the operating system.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned problem by automating the migration process from LINUX to WINDOWS, as it relates both to configuration information and to data.

System and method for automated migration from Linux to Windows


An improved arc extinction apparatus that can be used in an improved DC switch apparatus includes a pair of magnetic field elements in the exemplary form of permanent magnets to apply Lorentz forces to the arcs. The magnetic fields are arranged in the vicinity of the air gaps that form between the ends of a pivoting conductor and a pair of contacts such that the system is optimized to extinguish an arc at one air gap when current is flowing through the conductor in a first direction and is further optimized to extinguish an arc at the other air gap when current is flowing in an opposite direction through the conductor. This is accomplished by providing a magnet at each air gap of the circuit, with the magnetic fields being oriented parallel with the pivot axis and having their north poles pointed in the same direction.

1. Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to an electrical switching apparatus and, more particularly, to an arc extinction apparatus for a DC switch apparatus.
2. Related Art
Numerous types of circuit interrupters are known for use in diverse applications. In certain applications, such as low power situations, the circuit interrupter can be as simple as a mechanical switch, of which many types are known.
One type of mechanical switch that is employed in somewhat higher voltage and current applications involves the use of a rotatable shaft upon which an elongated conductor is mounted. The ends of the conductor are electrically connected with a pair of contacts when the circuit interrupter is in an ON condition. When the circuit interrupter is moved toward its OFF condition, the shaft is rotated, which causes the elongated conductor to pivot about the pivot axis about the shaft, which causes air gaps to form between the ends of the elongated conductor and the pair of contacts. While such circuit interrupters have been generally effective for their intended purposes, they have not been without limitation.
Certain applications involve DC circuits, and it has become desirable in certain applications, such as photovoltaic applications, to increase the voltage and current flowing within a circuit, which consequently increases the difficulty of extinguishing arcs that form at the air gaps when switching a circuit interrupter from an ON condition to an OFF condition. For example, it has become desirable in photovoltaic applications to increase the number of solar arrays arranged in parallel and in series which increases current and voltage, respectively, which must be interrupted by a circuit interrupter. Moreover, depending upon the orientation of the contacts in relation to one another and in relation to the elongated conductor, it is possible that the arc created at the air gap can tend to move along the elongated conductor toward the pivot axis of the shaft. Movement of the arc toward the pivot axis of the shaft on which the elongated conductor is mounted tends to shorten the arc and to reinforce it, which is undesirable since any arc is preferably extinguished as soon as possible. While efforts have been made to employ magnets in extinguishing arcs in such circuit interrupters, the result has been a circuit interrupter that can only interrupt DC power in a given polarity. That is, such a circuit interrupter cannot interrupt DC current flowing in an opposite direction with reverse polarity through the circuit interrupter. It thus would be desirable to provide an improved circuit interrupter that provides improved performance.

Arc extinction apparatus and DC switch apparatus


An air dehydrating breather assembly and method provide dehumidifying air suitable to be supplied into oil expansion vessels used in electrical devices. The air dehydrating breather assembly includes first and second air demoisturizer units respectively associated with two corresponding oil expansion vessels. The first air demoisturizer unit includes a first tank housing moisture absorber and a second tank housing moisture absorber alternatively providing dehumidified air. The second air demoisturizer unit includes a third tank housing moisture absorber providing dehumidified air. Sensors are associated with the first, second and third tanks to detect the level of saturation of their moisture absorbers. An electronic processing unit is operatively associated with the sensors for routing dehumidified air to the associated oil-expansion vessels from the tanks whose moisture absorbers are not saturated.

It is known in the electrical field that air dehydrating breathers are used in connection with electrical devices having oil expansion vessels, such as power transformers, on load tap changers, chokes, etc.
These oil-expansion vessels, which are constituted, for example, by oil conservators in the case of power transformers, have the function of compensating for the unavoidable volume changes of insulating oil used in such electrical devices, which volume changes result from temperature fluctuations. To this end, oil expansion vessels are supplied with air previously treated in a suitable air breather, also indicated as dryer or demoisturizer or dehumidifier or similar terms, so as to eliminate or drastically reduce its humidity, in order to prevent a reduction of the breakdown voltage of the insulating oil.
According to known solutions, an air breather includes a tank inside which there is an air absorbing agent which removes humidity from the air entering into the tank. Then, the dehumidified air is routed into the oil expansion vessel of an associated power electrical device.
The humidity absorbing agents can be divided in general in two groups: those which cannot be regenerated and exhaust their absorbing capabilities after a certain working life, for examples zeolites, and hence must be replaced sooner or later; and those instead, such as silica gels, which can be regenerated at least for a certain number of times.
WO 2005/055255 discloses, for example, an air dehydrating assembly of a known type, in which a dehumidifying tank has an inlet for the air to be dehumidified, an outlet for dehumidified air, and moisture absorption means consisting of a plurality of granules or salts that can be thermally regenerated and are suitable to dehumidify air coming from outside.
Another example of an air demoisturizer for oil-insulated transformers, chokes, and tap changers with a heat-regenerable absorbent is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,709,496.
Although known air breathers perform their basic functions in a quite satisfying way, there is still a desire and room for further improvements, such as with regard to their flexibility of use, especially when there are more oil expansion vessels used in the same electrical device or power application.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure fulfil this desire by providing an air dehydrating breather assembly and a method for dehumidifying air suitable to be supplied into oil expansion vessels of power electrical devices as described hereinafter.

Air dehydrating breather assembly for providing dehumidified air to electrical devices, and related method


A computer device may include logic configured to provide a centralized library for descriptive programming and other types of object descriptions to a testing script engine. The descriptive programming library may store test object descriptions for test objects associated with an application under testing. The logic may be further configured to provide a unification layer over all the object description types and to provide inheritance among the objects at the unification layer. The logic may be further configured to store a test object description, associated with a test object, in the descriptive programming library; identify a reference to the test object in a descriptive programming statement associated with the testing script engine; access the stored test object description in the descriptive programming library based on the identified reference to the test object; and identify an application object, associated with the application under testing, based on the stored test object description.

A software development process may include a planning process to determine the requirements of a software application or system, a design process that includes developing functional units and writing source code, and a testing process to validate and verify that a particular functional unit, application, and/or software system is functioning properly. Software testing may be used to uncover defects (i.e., "software bugs") and/or to determine whether the software under testing satisfies particular requirements, such as testability, maintainability, usability, performance, and/or security requirements.

Unification of descriptive programming and object repository


Memory encryption engine (MEE) integration technologies are described. A MEE system may include a MEE interface and a MEE core. The MEE interface may receive a data from an arbiter, where the data is selected by the arbiter from data at memory link queues. The MEE interface may adjust a timing rate to send the data to match a timing of a MEE core. The MEE core may be coupled to the MEE interface and may receive the data from the MEE interface.

Computer systems, such as hardware systems and software systems, that run on computers often have undetected flaws that can be exploited by hardware attacks or software attacks, such as malicious computer programs that are received over the Internet or other communication networks. The attacks can include Trojans, viruses, worms, spyware, and other malware. Many existing computer security systems combat the attacks by attempting to prevent the attacks from compromising any part of a computer system.
Traditional computer security systems provide relatively low assurance protection of the entire software system. Some systems can provide cryptographic mechanisms for encryption, integrity, and replay protection. Memory encryption protects the confidentiality of memory-resident data. Integrity protection prevents an attacker from causing any hidden modifications to the ciphertext (i.e., encrypted data, as opposed to plaintext which is unencrypted data) in memory. Replay protection eliminates any undetected temporal substitution of the ciphertext. In the absence of encryption, integrity, and replay protections, an attacker with physical access to the system can record snapshots of data lines and replay the data lines at a later point in time to modify the data lines and attack the computer system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A conformable medical data acquisition pad and configurable imaging system. The conformable pad may comprise a carrier base having a plurality of transceivers in operative association with an interconnection network that communicates with a computer system. The data acquisition pad may be constructed with a flex circuit and at least one ultrasound data collection device to carry out a variety of medical procedures. Different types of signal transmitting and receiving elements can be selected to provide ultrasound systems, including scalable capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers arranged in a variety of configurations in combination with controlling electronics which interface with a translator board and software for signal processing. The resulting ultrasound data, such as a three-dimensional model, can be transmitted via an industry standard high speed bus to standard interfaces on various ultrasound systems.

Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems are in widespread use for performing ultrasonic imaging and measurements. For example, cardiologists, radiologists, and obstetricians use ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems to examine the heart, various abdominal organs, or a developing fetus, respectively. In general, imaging information is obtained by these systems by placing an ultrasonic probe against a transmission agent such as a liquid gel and the skin of a patient, and actuating an ultrasonic transducer located within the probe to transmit ultrasonic energy through the skin and into the body of the patient. In response to the transmission of ultrasonic energy into the body, ultrasonic echoes emanate from the interior structure of the body. The returning acoustic echoes are converted into electrical signals by the transducer in the probe, which are transferred to the diagnostic system by a cable coupling the diagnostic system to the probe.
Acoustic transducers commonly used in ultrasonic diagnostic probes are often comprised of an array of individual piezoelectric elements. These elements are usually formed from a piezoelectric material by the following a number of meticulous manufacturing steps. In one common method, a piezoelectric transducer array is formed by bonding a single block of piezoelectric material to a backing member that provides acoustic attenuation. The single block is then laterally subdivided by cutting or dicing the material to form the rectangular elements of the array. Electrical contact pads are formed on the individual elements using various metallization processes to permit electrical conductors to be coupled to the individual elements of the array. The electrical conductors are then coupled to the contact pads by a variety of electrical joining methods, including soldering, spot-welding, or by adhesively bonding the conductor to the contact pad.
Although current methods such as the foregoing are generally adequate to form acoustic transducer arrays having up to a few hundred elements, larger arrays of transducer elements having smaller element sizes are not as easily formed using these approaches. Consequently, various techniques used in the fabrication of silicon microelectronic devices have been adapted to form ultrasonic transducer elements, in part because these techniques generally permit the repetitive fabrication of small structures in intricate detail.
An example of a device that may be formed using semiconductor fabrication methods is a micro-machined or micro-fabricated ultrasonic transducer (MUT). The MUT has several significant advantages over conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers. For example, the structure of the MUT generally offers more flexibility in terms of optimization parameters than is typically available in conventional piezoelectric devices. Further, the MUT may be conveniently formed on a semiconductor substrate using various semiconductor fabrication methods, which advantageously permits the formation of relatively large numbers of transducers. The formation of numerous transducers may then be integrated into providing large transducer arrays. Additionally, interconnections between MUTs in arrays and the electronic devices external to the arrays may also be conveniently formed during the fabrication process. MUTs may be operated capacitively, and are commonly referred to as cMUTs, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,452, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Alternatively, piezoelectric materials may be used in fabrication of MUTs, which are commonly referred to as pMUTs, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,158, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Accordingly, MUTs have increasingly become an attractive alternative to conventional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers in ultrasound systems.
Furthermore, some ultrasound devices available today utilize multiple, individual transducer elements supported by quilt-like substrates. See U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2006/0241522, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Such materials in these devices may not provide adequate ultrasound transmission efficiency or satisfactory imaging resolution.
There is a need for instrumentation and procedures capable of obtaining ultrasound images and other types of medical data information using a coordinated interconnected network of micro-fabricated elements that can be manufactured efficiently and in a cost effective manner.

Methods and apparatus for conformable medical data acquisition pad and configurable imaging system


A method for measuring beam steering characteristics of a device under test using a measurement system comprising a probe array with at least two field probes. The field probes can be arranged at different angles with respect to the device under test. A reference unit for calibrating the probe array is provided. At least two calibration measurements with different main radiation directions of the reference unit are performed wherein a predefined number of field probes of the probe array is used for measuring the radiation pattern of the reference unit. A calibration dataset for at least each field probe of the predefined number of field probes and each radiation direction is generated and stored. The reference unit is replaced by a device under test such that the device under test is located at the same measurement position as the reference unit was during the calibration measurements. A measurement of the device under test is performed by using the predefined number of field probes of the probe array.

In the state of the art, the antenna characteristics of a device under test such as beam steering characteristics are typically measured by using a reference device under test as well as a measurement antenna that is located at a certain distance with respect to the reference device under test. Then, two different measurements are performed wherein the angularity between the reference device under test and the measurement antenna are varied such that at least two different angles are used for the measurements. Then, the measurement results, in particular the beam steering characteristics, are calculated based on the antenna characteristics of the reference device under test which were obtained during the at least two measurements.
However, this method and measurement system comprises some sources of error which might impair the determination of the antenna characteristics of the device under test.

Method for measuring beam steering characteristics and measurement system


A measuring system for determining blood glucose includes a photometric measuring unit with a light source and a detector, and an analytical test element, to which a body fluid sample can be applied, and which can be placed in a beam path between the light source and the detector for optical detection of an analyte. For an improved multi-wavelength measurement, it is proposed that the light source includes a first emitter that can be actuated in a first wavelength range to emit pulsating alternating light and a second emitter that can be excited in a second wavelength range to emit fluorescent light.

In the practice of determining blood glucose, known photometric measuring systems are based on irreversibly reacting carrier-bound test elements in the form of test strips or test tapes. These are intended to enable also the layperson to measure blood glucose by means of processing in automated compact hand-held devices, outside of a laboratory environment, with sufficient precision as required in the medical treatment of diabetes. The measuring process provides that, after the application of a blood sample, the analyte concentration is determined by means of appropriately repeated photometric measurements. For this, it is important that changes in the boundary conditions of the measurement are detected independently of the actual detection of the analyte.

Measuring system and measuring method, in particular for determining blood glucose


Methods and systems of updating a zone profile comprising obtaining a plurality of radio signal parameter measurements and, if the plurality of radio signal parameter measurements contains at least one measurement corresponding to a dominant element of the zone profile and if the plurality of radio signal parameter measurements contains at least one measurement corresponding to a candidate element (e.g., statistically unlikely element) of the zone profile, updating the profile by either adjusting an existing parameter value or by adding a new element to the zone profile corresponding to the candidate element.

In mobile radio communications, service providers sometimes choose to modify the provision of one or more services based on geographic location. One example is a home zone service where a mobile phone user may receive a discounted tariff when making calls from the vicinity of his or her home. Various systems and methods for defining geographic zones and monitoring the location of mobile radio terminals with respect to these zones currently exist.
A common characteristic of these methods is that the definition of the zone was typically derived at service initiation. While additional methods may exist for making subsequent adjustments to the zone definition, these adjustments are generally in response to either a requirement to change the zone area or else to accommodate changes in the configuration of the radio network.
While these methods may enable zones to be defined and monitored in a variety of radio conditions, there are some radio conditions which can degrade the zone performance. In some of these instances, a common solution is to expand the zone definitions to accommodate these radio conditions. However, this expansion may result in a larger zone size which in many cases is undesirable.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for using radio measurements collected during the ongoing monitoring of the zone to refine the zone definition, thereby preserving an acceptable zone reliability with minimal compromise in increased zone size. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for using radio measurements collected to create and refine the zone definition on an ongoing basis. The limitations described in the previous paragraphs and other limitations can be overcome using systems, methods and devices in which radio measurements collected during the ongoing monitoring of the zone can be used to create and refine the zone definition on an ongoing basis. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a location based systems, methods and devices that can either define or refine the zone on an ongoing basis.

Methods and systems for zone creation and adaption


A ski includes a longitudinally extending body defining a longitudinal median plane and having a sole substantially perpendicular to said plane and adapted to slidably engage a surface, the sole having a central zone lying between front and rear contact zones. The body has opposite side exterior surfaces and comprises a core which extends substantially the entire length of the body, and a plurality of elements operatively associated with the core, the elements including mechanical reinforcing elements, viscoeleastic shock absorption elements, and filling elements connecting the reinforcing elements to the other elements. The shock absorption elements are continuous and extend substantially over the entire length of the body of the ski. The shock absorption elements are constructed and arranged so that the mechanical shock absorption property of the ski at a given location along the length of the ski is a function of the given location.

A ski generally comprises a lower sliding surface having an angle iron on each lateral side edge for engaging snow, two lateral side surfaces defining the width of the ski, and an upper surface having means, located in a central or binding zone, by which a user attaches his foot to the ski. The leading end of the ski is usually curved upwardly in the form of a spatula; and the ski is relatively narrow in width compared to its length which defines a longitudinal direction.
In conventional skis, the thickness of the body of a ski varies along the length of the ski in the longitudinal direction, having a maximum in the binding zone where the flexional moments are generally greatest during use of the ski. Because the thickness of the ski near its central zone is a maximum, and the thickness near each of the front and rear ends of the skis a minimum, a uniform load distribution is achieved as disclosed in French Patent No. 985,174 for example.
Furthermore, French Patent Application Nos. 86 07 849, 86 07 850, 86 07 851 and 86 07 852, disclose skis whose lateral surfaces or edges of the skis have variable inclinations that vary length-wise along the ski. The contact of these edges with the snow achieves desirable results, particularly during the execution of turns.
Conventional skis generally have a composite structure in which different materials are combined in a manner such that each of the materials operates in an optimal fashion taking into account the distribution of the mechanical stresses in the skis. The composite structure comprises resistance or reinforcing elements or layers formed from material having a high mechanical resistance to strain and a substantial rigidity so as to resist the flexional and torsional stresses produced in a ski during its use. The conventional structure further includes filler elements and absorption elements.
The two principle modern composite structures currently finding wide scale application in skis are the so-called casing structure and sandwich structure. In a typical casing structure, such as described in French Patent No. 985,174 and FIG. 3 of French patent No. 1,124,600, a ski comprises an internal core made of cellular material which may be partially hollow, and resistance elements surrounding the core in the form of layers that constitute a casing for the core.
In a typical sandwich structure, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,149, a ski comprises a central core formed from cellular material which can be partially hollow, and reinforcements on its upper and lower surfaces formed by resistance layers having resistance and rigidity properties greater than those of the core itself. Typically, discontinuous strips of stressed viscoelastic material are bonded to the core along two or three separate, longitudinally spaced zones. At least one of these zones is near the spatula of the ski, and another of the zones is located adjacent the binding zone.
Swiss Patent No. 525,012 discloses longitudinal strips formed of viscoelastic material bonded to the upper surface of the ski to form a sandwich structure.
In all known skis utilizing a sandwich construction in which viscoelastic strips are the shock absorption elements, the strips have a uniform width along their entire length. When the strips are positioned substantially over the entire length of a ski, it has been found that skiing comfort is increased, but that the gripping and holding power of the ski during turning maneuvers are reduced. In efforts to solve this problem, it has been proposed to limit the length of the shock absorber to the front half of a ski, i.e., to the zone located between the spatula and the binding zone. Such an expedient, however, appears to provide no advantage over a construction in which the shock absorber extends over the entire length of the ski. Finally, where the strip is segmented or divided into a plurality of separate segments, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,149, the shock absorption effect is reduced, and the influence of the segments becomes practically negligible at the vibration frequencies produced in a ski in normal use when a boot is attached to the ski by a binding.
Further, in conventional skis using a sandwich construction, the shock absorption element constitutes a supplemental element which complicates the manufacture of the ski and substantially increases its cost.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a new and improved ski which avoids the disadvantages of known ski structures and has improved shock absorption that increases the comfort of the user and improve technical performance. The most troublesome vibrations that appear when traditional skis are used are sufficiently reduced by the present structure so as to be imperceptible. Simultaneously, the absence of vibration in the same range of frequencies produces a substantial increase in the gripping effect of the ski in ice or snow, in its stability on bumps, in its stability in turning, and, finally, during sliding.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a ski having a sandwich or casing structure capable of conferring to the body of the ski, shock absorption properties at longitudinal locations along the length of the ski which are functionally related to the longitudinal locations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a ski that has shock absorption properties that vary longitudinally along the ski in order to provide a ski having a desired homogeneity of both structure and behavior, and a good distribution of reactions along the length of the ski, thereby providing a user with a desired comfort level and uniformity in reaction of the ski to stresses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a ski having both improved shock absorption properties and improved snow reaction properties.


A first proton-donating layer (20a) is a layer having a proton-donative functional group on the surface, for example, a silicon oxide layer. A second proton-donating layer (20b) is also a layer having a proton-donative functional group on the surface, for example, a silicon oxide layer. Negative surface charges are formed on the main surface section of a first base (10a) and the main surface section of a second base (10b), and these negative charges increased the proton conductivity in an aqueous solution fed to a nano channel. Although, in the aqueous solution, proton migration through hopping between water molecules contributes to its diffusion, the negative charges formed on the main surfaces of the bases (10a, 10b) attract protons in the aqueous solution, and the conduction of protons is efficiently achieved in “high-speed transfer regions” formed in the vicinity of the proton-donating layers (20a, 20b).

The hydrogen fuel cell has been attracting attention as a next-generation power source with low environmental load and high efficiency. The hydrogen fuel cell performance depends on a proton conductor, which transport the generated protons from the anode to the cathode side electrodes during its catalytic reaction.
Currently, polymer proton exchange membranes (PEM) are widely used as a proton conductor for fuel cells. However, PEM is not stable material in term of long-operation time at high temperature, which is required for faster proton mobility as result PEM is deteriorated and fuel crossover effect appears which latter leads to low device efficiency. There is fast-growing demand for hydrogen fuel cells as a next-generation power source, and the present invention has a great potential to replace PEM fuel cell in term of highly stable proton conductor that allows improving fuel cell performance. On the other hand, recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled to create functional devices, which are based on nanospace and provides an extraordinary high surface effect. With consideration of that, new ion-conduction devices are expected in the near future.
In view of such problems, Chinen et al. found that the proton diffusion coefficient of water increases by approximately one order of magnitude in a glass made nano channel (with its size of several hundred nanometers) and also demonstrated that glass made nano channel is mechanically/chemically stable and can be used as proton conductor with analogue to conventional PEM, but operated at ambient temperature condition (Non Patent Literature 1: Chinen et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2012).
Tsukahara et al. reported increasing of proton conductivity in nano channel (with its size of a few hundreds nanometers) where water molecules are confined in such space and 3 phase model where proposed and suggests that structured water in 50 nm in the vicinity of a glass wall surface of a nano channel contributes to the enhanced proton diffusion (Non Patent Literature 2: Tsukahara et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007).


A nickel electrode comprising a conductive support and a layer on said support comprising a conductive diluent and an active material including nickel hydroxide containing boron.

This invention relates to electrodes for use in alkaline storage batteries and more particularly to cathode or positive electrodes which contain nickel hydroxide as the active material.
Nickel electrodes of this type are commonly employed in batteries having anodes containing Cd, Zn, H.sub.2 and other electrodes also contain graphite as a conductive diluent to impart electronic conductivity to the active material. The conductive graphite diluent is used in place of the more conventional sintered nickel plaque structure and results in a lighter weight and less costly battery construction.
However, there is one significant drawback to using graphite diluent in nickel electrodes. The electrodes exhibit lower performance at high rates of discharge as compared with the more conventional electrodes using sintered nickel plaques. Lower performance at rates of discharge higher than, for example, the I-hour rate (i.e. 50 MA/cm.sup.2), are the result of the higher internal resistance exhibited by the electrodes. Higher internal resistance is caused, in part, by the poorer conductivity of the Ni(OH).sub.2 to graphite particle contact, especially after the electrode is more than 50% discharged. This poorer conductivity manifests itself by increasing electrode polarization and lowering active material utilization particularly during high rate discharges.
There have been attempts to improve the high rate performance of nickel electrodes employing graphite diluents. One attempt involved the admixing or coating of a conductive metallic powder (e.g. Ni, Ag, Mn, etc.) on the graphite particles to improve their overall electrode conductivity. However, it has been found that these metallic coatings form oxide layers which in time also result in a lower high rate discharge performance for the electrode.
Another attempt at improving these electrodes involved trying to improve the conductivity of the Ni(OH).sub.2 active material by doping the material with Li.sup.+, Al.sup.+3, Mg.sup.+2 or Mn.sup.+2 ions. This approach, however, also has resulted only in improvements of a transitory nature.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved nickel electrode which exhibits lower polarization and improved active material utilization at high rates of discharge.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a nickel electrode which contains a graphite diluent and which exhibits lower polarization and improved active material utilization for high rates of discharge.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a nickel electrode which exhibits the above properties after repeated charge-discharge cycling.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method for making active material for the aforementioned electrodes.


A silicon nitride abrasion resistant member is formed of silicon nitride sintered body containing 2% to 4% by mass of a rare earth element in terms of oxide thereof as a sintering aid, 2% to 6% by mass of an Al component in terms of oxide thereof, and 2% to 7% by mass of silicon carbide. The silicon nitride sintered body has a porosity of 1% or less, a three-point bending strength of 800 to 1000 MPa, and a fracture toughness of 5.7 to 6.5 MPa·m1/2. According to this structure, even when an inexpensive silicon nitride powder manufactured by metal nitriding method is used, there can be provided a silicon nitride abrasion resistant member having a mechanical strength, high abrasion resistance, and a rolling life, equal to or higher than those of conventional silicon nitride sintered bodies, and excellent workability, and a method for manufacturing the member can be provided.

Conventional sintered silicon nitride is known to have a composition, for example, of silicon nitride/rare-earth oxide/aluminum oxide, or silicon nitride/yttrium oxide/aluminum oxide/aluminum nitride/titanium. A sintering aid, including a rare-earth oxide such as yttrium oxide (Y2O3) in the composition described above, has widely been used to enhance sintering, thus increasing the density and the strength of a sintered body.
Conventional silicon nitride sintered body for use in a rolling bearing member, which requires high abrasion resistance (wear resistance), in particular excellent sliding characteristics, is commonly manufactured using as a raw powder a high-purity silicon nitride fine powder, for example, synthesized by thermal decomposition of an imide.
However, the conventional silicon nitride sintered body for use in a rolling bearing member is manufactured by using an expensive raw powder synthesized in accordance with a process of thermal decomposition of an imide. Furthermore, the conventional silicon nitride sintered body has so high a mechanical strength or a fracture toughness that the sintered body has poor workability. Thus, there has been posed a problem that a product formed of the abrasion resistant member involves higher manufacturing costs.
Although the silicon nitride sintered body manufactured by the conventional method has a higher bending strength, increased fracture toughness, and improved abrasion resistance, it is insufficient in rolling characteristics and durability particularly necessary to the bearing member. Thus, the silicon nitride sintered body needs further improvement.
In recent years, there has been an increase in demand for ceramic material as a member for a precision apparatus. In such an application, the advantages of ceramics of high hardness, light weight (lightness), and high abrasion resistance are utilized together with high corrosion resistance and low thermal expansion. In particular, the application of the ceramic material as an abrasion resistant member forming a slide portion, such as a bearing, grows rapidly owing to its high hardness and excellent abrasion resistance.
However, when a bearing rolling ball is made of a ceramic abrasion resistant member, the abrasion resistant member is insufficient in the rolling life. Repeated rolling of the rolling ball under high stress in contact with a casing may cause exfoliation or fracture (crack) within a short period of operation. The exfoliation or fracture develops vibration of an apparatus including the bearing or tends to cause trouble damaging the apparatus. In either case, there has been also posed a problem that the ceramic abrasion resistant member exhibits poor durability and low reliability as a component material for the apparatus.
Further, manufacture of an abrasion resistant member having a fine uniform sintered compact structure and excellent strength characteristics requires a high-purity ceramic raw material with less impurity content. This situation increases the raw material cost and thus greatly increases the manufacturing cost of the abrasion resistant member.
The present invention had been achieved to address the problems described above. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a silicon nitride abrasion resistant member suitable for a rolling bearing member and a method for manufacturing the member. The silicon nitride abrasion resistant member, even when prepared from inexpensive powdered silicon nitride manufactured by metal nitriding, has a mechanical strength, abrasion resistance, and a rolling life, equal to or higher than those of conventional sintered silicon nitride, and has particularly excellent workability.

Wear resistant member comprised of silicon nitride and process for producing the same


The present invention provides a method of providing a monetary incentive to a health care provider, typically a physician, responsible for treatment decisions of a patient with a condition during an episode of care. Once the patient identity and condition are obtained, a baseline value related to treatment of the condition can be associated. Thereafter, all the claims processed during the episode of care of the patient for the condition can be summed to obtain a total treatment cost. If the total treatment is less than the baseline value, then a monetary incentive can be provided to the provider based upon that episode of care. The healthcare provider may be a member of a managed care organization, such as an accountable care organization, and the monetary incentive may be modified based on time interval for the episode of care.

The health care industry provides medical treatment to the population at large. The insurance industry is in the business of sharing risk. Both of these industries are forced to work together when it comes to determining health care premiums for individual patients. Over the years, the health care industry has been able to provide better preventive care, as well as more sophisticated treatment, which all come at a cost and tends to increase health care premiums for individuals.
Kaiser Permanente is an example of merging a health care system and an insurance company into a single entity. Began in the 1940's, a premise of the merger of the health care system with the insurance company was that it would have an increased oversight capability, and thus be able to reduce cost. In order to do this, however, participants in the system were required to use physicians and services provided from within that system, thus reducing the choice that the consumer has to select his or her own physician.
At the other end of the spectrum is a system where the healthcare system and insurance company are entirely separate. The insurance company provides insurance to the customer, and the customer can then freely choose physicians, course of treatment and the like, and a fee for the service is paid by the insurance company to the provider. While such a system allows greater choice, it also results in greater costs.
Between the above two types of systems are health maintenance organizations (HMO's) and managed care organizations (MCO's) that have evolved. By allowing for member patients to choose from among a network of physicians, facilities, clinics and the like that make up the HMO or MCO, savings are incurred, which thereby lower the overall cost, with some of the savings being passed on to the member patients. In such systems, one of the manners of payment is based on "capitation," in which the insurance company is paid a monthly fee by the patient or his employer, and the physician for that patient is paid some small percentage of that monthly fee. If the patient never receives any treatment, then the physician obtains a windfall, but if the patient requires more treatment than that covered by the monthly fee, the physician takes an effective loss. The net result is that there is an incentive for the physician to keep their own costs as low as possible; many times, it has been argued, to the detriment of the health of the patient.
In large part as a result of the capitation, what is known as "utilization review" has evolved, in which a particular formula is established to determine what care to provide in a specific case. Thus, for instance, even if a physician believes that a surgery is needed, utilization review may determine that a specific test with a particular result is needed in order to qualify for that surgery. As a result there is a negative means to keep costs down.
Point of service (POS) plans have also been developed with the intent to allow a greater freedom of choice of physicians and free access to that physician than are available in a capitation system. Typically more expensive than an HMO, a POS plan is intended to allow the patient to choose the physician of choice, and the insurance company agrees to pay some percentage, such as 80% of fees incurred, after some deductible. In practice, these plans typically do not reimburse the full percentage that was "agreed" to, in large measure due to "usual and customary" fees that the insurance company uses to determine the fees for procedures performed, which are typically less than the fees charged by the physician the patient chose. The net effect, therefore, is to incentivize the patient to use in-network physicians, which physicians the insurance company can then exert more control over in terms of their fees and costs, or cause the patient to bear more of the costs directly out of the patient's own pocket.
The accountable care organization (ACO) has recently been developed as a type of payment and delivery model that seeks to tie provider reimbursements to quality metrics and reductions in the total cost of care for an assigned population of patients. The ACO model builds on the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). An ACO generally comprises a group of healthcare providers that jointly held accountable for achieving measured quality improvements and reductions in the rate of spending growth. ACO's may involve a variety of provider configurations, from integrated delivery systems and primary care medical groups to hospitals.
A great deal of debate is generated regarding which type of plan provides the optimum balance between patient care and controlling of costs. In the meantime, attempts to contain costs continue to increase and systems have been developed to assist in containing costs. While capitation fees are one form of reimbursement, organizations have also provided incentives to groups of doctors. In one more recent form of incentive, if, based on all of their patients, the total fees and costs that have been incurred by the group are below the projected amount an incentive is paid. While such a system provides an incentive for the group to keep fees and costs low, such a system does not, on an episode of care basis for a particular patient, correlate the total cost of the services provided to a particular incentive. Accordingly, there is no direct correlation between the incentive and the specific care provided to a particular patient. Further, given the systems as described above, with an emphasis on lower costs, abuses unfortunately occur. As a result the health care system has become perceived as providing less than effective treatment to patients, with ever increasing costs that are in more and more instances passed on to the patient.

Method and apparatus for providing incentives to physicians under an accountable care model


In one aspect, the invention is directed to a method for conducting a dynamic lottery game, and may include determining an opening entry for the player for the dynamic lottery game. The method may also include dispensing a dynamic lottery game ticket to the player, the dynamic lottery game ticket having indicia disposed thereon corresponding to the opening entry for the player for the dynamic lottery game, reading player selection indicia on the dynamic lottery game ticket, wherein the player selection indicia on the dynamic lottery game ticket corresponds to a dynamic lottery game selection for the player, and determining an outcome of the dynamic lottery game, the outcome being determined based on the player selection indicia. Still further, the method may include dispensing a continuation ticket to the player, the continuation ticket having indicia disposed thereon corresponding to the outcome of the dynamic lottery game for the player, reading the indicia corresponding to the outcome of the dynamic lottery game for the player, determining whether the outcome of the dynamic lottery game is a winning outcome based on the indicia corresponding to the outcome of the dynamic lottery game for the player, and dispensing value to the player in response to determining that the outcome of the dynamic lottery game for the player is a winning outcome.

This invention relates to lottery systems for conducting lottery games and, more particularly, to lottery systems incorporating dynamic lottery tickets used as playslips and providing dynamic lottery and betting games as stand-alone games and/or as extension games in addition to the standard lottery game.
Various lottery systems incorporating play slips for the lottery games have been previously described. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,026 to Melling et al. discloses a system and method for capturing hand-marked cells from a lottery selection slip. The lottery slip includes a conventional play region of cells (labeled sequentially from 1 to 49, for example) for receiving indicia to be captured, after receiving indicia the play region of cells includes a plurality of occupied cells defined by marked cells and a plurality of non-occupied cells defined by unmarked cells. The lottery slip also includes row-identifier bar codes located at opposite boundaries of the play region. The bar codes are electro-optically scannable and readable and are arranged in a plurality of ordered rows tiered along the transverse direction over the transverse distance of the play region. A scanner is used to generate scan lines that extend over the play region of cells occupied by the indicia and over each bar code and for decoding the row identifier data for each scan line as each line transverses the boundaries of the play region of cells, the occupied cells having different light reflectivity than the non-occupied cells. A decoder captures the identity and the location of the occupied cells and the non-occupied cells and stores the digitized signal. A ticket receipt is then issued representative of the numbers selected by the player. By using a bar code scanner to read both the row identifier codes and the actual hand-marked play region the need for precise positioning within traditional terminals was obviated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,397 to Valenza, Jr. discloses an apparatus for automated marking of bet slips for use in entering a customer wager into an independent lottery terminal includes a housing for receiving a bet slip. A selector actuatable by the customer is provided within the housing for permitting the customer to select a desired mode of operation from a plurality of alternative operational modes for marking the bet slip. A control within the housing communicates with the selector for identifying the mode selected by the customer and for generating electrical control signals in response to the selected mode. A printer within the housing communicates with the control for receiving the bet slip, for receiving the electrical control signals and for marking the bet slip in accordance with the received control signals.

Lottery and gaming systems with dynamic lottery tickets


A capsule used for preparing a smokeable product, the capsule comprising a bowl shaped body made from aluminum and having an open top and a rounded bottom creating a cavity configured to hold smokeable material therein, the rounded bottom having a closed, roughly cylindrical neck extending from a center of the rounded bottom, away from the open top; and a circular disc of aluminum foil configured to couple to the open top of the body of the capsule. A machine for preparing a smokeable product, the machine comprising a housing, a vibration plate, at least one vibration motor, a capsule receiving compartment, a support structure slidably coupled to a top surface of the housing, a tamper, a tamper motor, a rolling medium holder, and a waste chamber, the waste chamber located below the rolling medium holder and configured to receive waste.

Many people have the desire to smoke various smokeable materials, including Cannabis. Cannabis is typically sold in the form of a flower, and must be converted to a loose material that is then placed into rolling paper before it can be smoked. The process of converting the flower into the loose material is performed manually, which can be messy and is not always convenient to do in every location or circumstance. One way that users circumvent this problem is to break up or grind up the flowers in advance, but then the freshness and quality of the smokable material may be reduced.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a pre-packaged capsule configured to contain a smokeable material, and a machine for transferring the smokeable material from the capsule, into a rolling medium, and preparing a smokeable product.

System comprising a machine for preparing a smokable product from a portion capsule


A semi-hard magnetic element is formed of an amorphous soft iron-metalloid material containing at least 50 atomic percent iron and at least a part of the bulk of which has been crystallized to give the overall element semi-hard magnetic properties.

This invention relates to magnetic elements and, in particular, to semi-hard magnetic elements and methods of making same.
As used herein, the term semi-hard magnetic element means a magnetic element having semi-hard magnetic properties which are defined herein as a coercivity in the range of about 10-500 Oersted (Oe) and a remanence, after removal of a DC magnetization field which magnetizes the element substantially to saturation, of about 6-9 kilogauss (kG). Semi-hard magnetic elements having these semi-hard magnetic properties have been used in a number of applications. In one particular application, the elements serve as control elements for the tags in a magnetic electronic article surveillance (EAS) system. A magnetic tag of this type is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,489.
In the tag of the '489 patent, a semi-hard magnetic element is placed adjacent to a magnetostrictive amorphous element. By magnetizing the semi-hard magnetic element substantially to saturation, the resultant remanence magnetic induction of the magnetic element arms or activates the magnetostrictive element so that it can mechanically resonate or vibrate at a predetermined frequency in response to an interrogating magnetic field.
This mechanical vibration results in the magnetostrictive element generating a magnetic field at the predetermined frequency. The generated field can then be sensed to detect the presence of the tag. By demagnetizing the semi-hard magnetic element, the magnetostrictive element is disarmed or deactivated so that it can no longer mechanically resonate at the predetermined frequency in response to the applied field.
The semi-hard magnetic elements presently used for the above tags are formed from materials commercially sold under the tradenames or trademarks Arnokrome-3, Crovac 10/130 and Vicalloy. These materials are crystalline and contain various amounts of iron, cobalt, chromium, vanadium and possibly other constituents. The materials also have certain disadvantages.
One disadvantage is that the materials are costly. Another disadvantage is that forming the materials involves complicated and lengthy processing which is a significant factor contributing to their high cost.
Generally, this processing involves many steps including multiple rolling, annealing and slitting procedures. Also, a large amount of mechanical work is required to reduce the material thickness into the 50 um range which is the typical range required for the magnetic elements.
The need for lengthy processing not only increases costs, but makes it more difficult to control the magnetic properties of the formed magnetic materials. This leads to magnetic elements and, therefore, tags which may be unstable and therefore subject to failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,862 discloses another magnetic tag in which magnetic elements are used as part of the tag to control activating and deactivating the tag. In the tag of the '862 patent, a soft amorphous ferromagnetic material is used as the signal generating element. In this case, the amorphous material causes perturbations at harmonics of an interrogating magnetic field. These perturbations are then detected to sense the presence of the tag.
The '862 patent mentions a number of soft amorphous ferromagnetic materials which can be used in the tag of the patent. These materials contain various constituents including, for example, Fe, Co, Si, B and P. Also some of these materials are iron rich, contain at least 50 atomic percent iron. The particular iron rich materials mentioned are Fe-B, Fe-Mo-B and Fe-C-Si-B.
In the tag of '862 patent, the magnetic elements are formed as surface portions of the amorphous ferromagnetic material with the bulk of the material remaining amorphous. By magnetizing these elements, the amorphous material becomes biased so that it can no longer perturb the interrogating signal, thereby deactivating the tag.
The '862 patent teaches forming the magnetic elements by crystallizing spaced surface portions of the amorphous ferromagnetic material as or after the material is formed into a strip or ribbon. Controllably processing the amorphous material to form these surface portions is not easily realizable. Thus, this technique does not offer an entirely satisfactory way of providing magnetic elements for a magnetic tag, nor is it usable for tags where it is desired that the magnetic control elements be separate elements from the signal generating elements.
It is also known from an article entitled "Magnetization Process in Devitrified Glassy Alloy" (R. C. O'Handley, et al., American Institute of Physics, 1965, pp. 3563-65), that magnetic material comprised of amorphous Co.sub.84 Nb.sub.10 B.sub.6 can be made semi-hard by annealing the material to crystallize its bulk. However, this cobalt rich material is relatively expensive.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a semi-hard magnetic element which is relatively easy to manufacture and less expensive than those presently in use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a semi-hard magnetic element which is stable.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of making a semi-hard magnetic element which meets the above objectives.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a magnetic tag and a magnetic EAS system utilizing a semi-hard magnetic element which meets the above objectives.

Semi-hard magnetic elements and method of making same


A hologram delamination tool is described in which a frame has a cutting blade fastened to one side thereof such that the blade is tautly disposed across a channel formed in the frame. A pressure plate is slidably inserted into the channel to hold the blade flat such that when the cutting tool is used to delaminate a hologram from a substrate, the pressure plate keeps the thin blade from buckling and is retracted during the cutting by the force of the edge of the delaminating hologram to allow the hologram to rest on the top surface of the blade so that the hologram can be lifted away from the substrate upon completion of the delamination.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tool for delaminating very thin layers and more particularly to a tool for delaminating holograms from substrates to which they are bonded.
2. Description of Related Art
The manufacture of holograms entails the use of materials which are sensitive to moisture and thus must be protected. Moreover, during exposure, the hologram must be held stationary to within a fraction of a wave length of the exposing light.
Thus, in practice, a material such as dichromated gelatine is laid down in a thin layer upon an ultra thin sheet of glass, typically 0.007 of an inch thick. This sheet of glass acts as a moisture shield for the finished hologram. The face of the glass opposite the gelatine layer is temporarily bonded to a relatively thick substrate with an adhesive such as UV curable photopolymers. With the hologram thus held stationary, it is exposed to a holographic beam to record a holographic image pattern in the gelatine. When the exposure is completed it is then necessary to remove the hologram comprising the layer of gelatine and the ultra thin layer of glass from the substrate. However, while the hologram is flexible, the glass tends to be very brittle and is easily cracked during such removal.
Heretofore the hologram has been manually removed by a skilled operator using a spatula-like blade of thin metal having a sharpened edge and a rounded corner. Typically this blade has been 0.002 of an inch thick. The operator thus worked the spatula into the bond line between the substrate and the glass to delaminate the hologram from the substrate by cracking the adhesive bond. This resulted in a chaotic cracking of the adhesive layer because of the non-uniform bonding strength of the adhesive. Moreover as the operator applied more pressure to the thin spatula blade, it tended to buckle thereby greatly increasing the chance that the thin glass would be cracked. Even skilled operators destroyed some of the holograms as a result of the cracking of the thin glass, especially during the initial debonding at the periphery of the hologram. On top of this, the delamination process was relatively slow, even for a skilled operator, which increased the probability that some moisture would be absorbed by the gelatine during this delamination step.
There has been an even greater probability of breaking the thin layer of glass when the gelatine has been etched back from the periphery of the micro glass as is the case when the gelatine is to be sealed from moisture when the hologram is installed in its ultimate end use such as a windshield. With the gelatine etched back from the periphery it no longer provides support for the thin glass during the initial debonding. Consequently even more of the holograms were destroyed, even by skilled operators, during the delamination step.
As a result, a hologram which was time consuming to produce was destroyed in one of the final processing steps.


The automatic transmission for motor vehicles, especially with transverse drive with six gear steps, has a main wheel train (2), a front-mounted wheel train (1) and five wet running clutches and brakes (A to E) and is connected to the output shaft of an internal combustion engine via a torsional-vibration damper; the front-mounted wheel train (1) located in force flow direction before the main wheel train (2) is spatially situated behind the main wheel train (2).

The invention relates to an automatic transmission.
Multi-gear automatic transmissions have been known for a long time. They usually consists of planetary trains which are shifted by means of clutches and brakes and are connected via a hydrodynamic torque converter with the power train of the vehicle, especially of an internal combustion engine.
Earlier multi-gear automatic transmissions were designed as three-gear transmissions having one double planetary train and four or five clutches. There have also been produced more complex four-gear transmissions which have been constructed on the basis of the classical three-gear transmissions adding to them one simple planetary train with two reduction ratios and two clutches and brakes so that the systems have altogether one double planetary train, one simple planetary train, six or seven clutches and brakes, the same as the torque converter and a lock-up clutch.
In the meantime, five-gear and six-gear transmissions have also been developed which, in addition, have one planetary train with two reduction ratios and two clutches and brakes. This leads to multi-gear automatic transmissions with altogether one double planetary train, one simple planetary train, seven or eight clutches and brakes in addition. To the torque converter with the lock-up clutch which also require considerable space.
In the Applicant""s DE 44 15 664, a multi-gear automatic transmission with wet-running clutches and brakes in disk design has been described. Each clutch or brake consists of a first cylinder with outer disks, a second cylinder with inner disks, a piston and a recoil element, both cylinders being provided in the area of the disks with axially extending grooves so that the disks can be axially moved by the piston. The cylinder/disk torque transmission is form locking with the clutch closing while the piston presses the disks against an end stop. The force for adjusting the piston is applied by the oil contained in the transmission. The clutch opens while the action of force of the oil is broken down. By the recoil element the piston is pushed back to its original position whereby the frictional engagement of the inner and outer disks is released.
The problem on which this invention is based is to provide an automatic transmission having at least six gear steps and large spreading effect, which has a compact construction and is easily situated in vehicles having front wheel drive and transversely lying engine.
It is proposed, therefore, according to the invention, that by adequate selection and coupling of the gears of the wheel train one of the clutches of the main transmission is both the starting clutch for the motor vehicle and the gear clutch for the first gear and for the reverse gear.
The use of one clutch of the main transmission as a wet starting clutch makes the elimination of the formerly customary separate starting element possible, such as a hydrodynamic torque converter. The starting clutch assumes several functions in the transmission, in addition to its primary function as gear clutch in the change of gear, it assumes the function of starting.
The adequate selection of the wheel train so that only one and the same starting clutch can be produced, the positive engagement both for the first gear and for the reverse gear offers the advantage that only this starting clutch has to be thermally and automatically controlled in such a manner that the starting is made possible both in forward direction and in reverse direction.
The thermal and automatic control design of the inventive starting clutch is to be selected so that it bears the thermal load when starting without problem and also makes a sensitive starting possible. This ensures a great driving comfort when starting at less expense than in the conventional multi-gear automatic transmission where a hydrodynamic torque converter, for example, takes over the starting function. Rolling out shifts to the first gear require a sensitive application of the clutch torque.
As a specially advantageous inventive design of the starting clutch, it is proposed to design the clutch with two pistons so that during pressurization the second piston presses only one part of the friction disk of the starting clutch thus increasing the pressure to torque ratio. To this end, both pistons can be pressurized simultaneously or independently of each other.
An advantageous design and arrangement of the starting clutch as brake, such as described in DE-A-196 25 355, makes an easy supply of the cooling oil possible, since the oil supply does not proceed through rotating parts with the attendant expensive sealing due to rectangular rings, for example.
Since a large amount of cooling oil is needed only during the starting operation, the cooling oil supplied is advantageously controlled specifically by control of the oil amount equal in time to the real onset of heat. The latter is determined by electronic evaluation of torque and differential rotational speed of the starting clutch so that the oil supply can be designed according to requirement which results in minimizing the transmission losses. In particular, the cooling of the latter outside the slip phase of the starting clutch can be minimal, even zero. The spared cooling oil can be used for the remaining clutches and for cooling the wheel trains.


A fuse and relay block assembly (10) for an automotive vehicle includes a lower cover (12) and an upper cover (60) mounted in substantially opposed relationship to one another. A relay block (70) is mounted between the lower cover (12) and the upper cover (60) and can receive electrical devices (R, F) mounted along a mounting direction (MD). A relay module assembly (80) is mounted between the lower cover (12) and the upper cover (60) and can receive electrical devices (R, F) mounted along a transverse direction (TD) substantially perpendicular to the mounting direction (MD). Thus, a greater density of electrical devices (R, F) can be mounted within a smaller footprint.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuse and relay block assembly for an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuse and relay block for an automotive vehicle includes a housing, a relay/fuse module mounted in the housing and a cover removably mounted to the housing for covering and protecting the relay/fuse module. Relay connectors and fuse connectors are mounted on the relay/fuse module and are connected by wires to electrically powered components of the vehicle, such as the windshield wipers, the fuel pump, the water pump, cooling fans, an air conditioner compressor, power windows, power doors, door locks, power seats, the sound system, the navigation system and various lighting groups, the horn. Relays and fuses are mounted removably in the relay and fuse connectors of the relay/fuse module.
Fuses protect certain of the electrically powered components of the vehicle from damage due to a current overload that could occur. Fuses typically are parts of circuits associated with components of the vehicle that draw low current levels, such as indicator lights, dashboard lights, the sound system, and the navigation system.
Relays are electrically powered switches. More particularly, a relay will use a small amount of current in one circuit to control a much larger current in another circuit. Relays typically are associated with circuits that draw larger current levels than the circuits with which the fuses are associated. For example, relays may be used with the circuits that control cooling fans, power windows, power seats, the rear window defogger and the heater. One or more fuses may be associated with certain of the relays, for example, to control the low current circuit that controls the switch of the relay.
Fuses and relays may require replacement, and hence must be accessible. The typical fuse and relay block has a closely spaced array of relays and fuses disposed substantially in a common plane and positioned in a housing. The relays and fuses face outward from the common plane and are accessible by removing the cover from the housing.
Automotive vehicles continue to have more electrically powered components and hence a larger number of circuits. The additional components that require low current levels will be parts of circuits protected by fuses. The additional components that require high current levels will be parts of circuits that are controlled by relays, and at least certain of those relays are protected by fuses. Thus, an increasing number of fuses and relays must be incorporated into a fuse and relay block and must be accessible for replacement as needed. A larger fuse and relay block could accommodate a larger planar array of fuses and relays. However, the space available in a vehicle is at a premium and the fuse and relay block must compete with other necessary parts of the vehicle for the limited space. Often the footprint available in the vehicle for the fuse and relay block is fixed even though the number of circuits increases.
JP 2003-079027 discloses a junction box with optional modular arrays of fuses and relays to accommodate the particular needs in a vehicle. The specific modular arrays will be selected and accommodated into a housing to meet the needs of the electrically powered components in the particular vehicle. The teaching of JP 2003-079027 leads to manufacturing and design efficiencies, but does not address the problems caused by an increased number of electrically powered components in the vehicle and the corresponding need to accommodate a larger number of easily accessible fuses and relays in a limited available space.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a fuse and relay box that can accommodate a larger number fuses and relays within a limited available space.
A further object of the invention is to provide a fuse and relay box that assures efficient and convenient access at least to those fuses and relays that are likely to require service and/or replacement

Automotive fuse and relay block assembly


To provide an image-capturing system capable of maintaining high analysis accuracy while reducing the amount of data related to image acquisition with a simple method. In order to achieve the object, the image-capturing system includes an image-capturing device configured to acquire image data of a subject, and an image-capturing control device configured to control image acquisition by the image-capturing device. The image-capturing control device includes a difference extraction means configured to extract difference data on the basis of any two image data items acquired by the image-capturing device, a change amount extraction means configured to extract change amount data on the basis of any two difference data items extracted by the difference extraction means, and a condition change means configured to change an image acquisition condition in the image-capturing device on the basis of the change amount data extracted by the change amount extraction means.

Surveillance cameras have been conventionally used as means for monitoring any areas. Typically, image data acquired by an image-capturing device, such as a surveillance camera, is transmitted to a control center or the like via communication means. An image captured by a surveillance camera of late has a large number of pixels and high resolution, and thus has a problem of low communication speed due to an increase in the amount of data. Thus, in order to transmit and receive image data while maintaining high communication speed, it is necessary to acquire image data while giving priority to a case where an object to be monitored has moved.
A conventional method for detecting the movement of an object to be monitored acquires an image every time a certain period elapses, and extracts desired data from the image to detect the movement. In this case, detection of the movement of the object to be monitored using only a change at a monitoring point may erroneously determine that there is a change in spite of the fact that there is actually no change in the object to be monitored due to a change in the solar radiation condition or the presence or absence of illumination. Thus, in order to prevent a reduction in the accuracy of the movement detection caused by the erroneous determination, for example, a movement detection device described in Patent Literature 1 has been developed.
In the movement detection device of Patent Literature 1, a monitoring screen is provided with a first monitoring point where the movement of an object to be monitored is detected, and a second monitoring point which is not affected by the movement of the object to be monitored. When there is a change at the first monitoring point and there is no change at the second monitoring point, it is determined that there is a change in the object to be monitored.

Image-capturing system capable of reducing an amount of data related to image acquisition


This invention provides an auxiliary heating and cooling circuit for an automobile interior compartment. The auxiliary circuit uses a circulated liquid heat transfer fluid such as the same liquid used for the vehicle engine system. In a cooling mode, the liquid is circulated through a heat exchanger within the vehicles air-conditioning circuit. The cooled fluid flows to an auxiliary heat exchanger where cooled air is made available. In a heating mode, the auxiliary system is connected directly with the engines cooling system where the hot engine coolant flows through the auxiliary heat exchanger for interior compartment heating.

The invention relates to systems for providing desired temperature throughout the interior of an automobile.
The invention allows for cooling and heating passengers in the rear seats in a motor vehicle without requiring an auxiliary evaporator. In most vehicles today, passengers in the back seat are cooled by: a) air from the front registers; or b) air from the front end evaporator ducted to the back seat; or c) an auxiliary evaporator with dedicated thermal expansion valves and blower.
In this invention, the above three systems are improved, through the use of a liquid anti-freeze such as glycol flowing in a pipe line (hard or bendable) which is cooled by a refrigerant stream or heated by the engine block and routed to the rear seat area. Small heat exchangers with dedicated fans will allow each rear seat passenger to control the comfort level in the immediate environment.
The following prior art patents relate to this field but do not teach the improvement achieved by this invention: 3,753,462; 3,999,598; 4,724,898; 5,048,299; and 5,904,052.
The system of this invention uses a heat transfer fluid, preferably the same fluid as used in the engine coolant, namely, a mixture of water and glycol anti-freeze. The stream of the heat transfer fluid can be either hot because it comes from the engine or cooled by an air conditioning heat exchanger before being routed to the rear of the vehicle. Rear seat passengers will then have control of the thermal comfort in their zone.
Anti-freeze, namely a mixture of ethylene glycol and water (referred to in this specification as xe2x80x9canti-freezexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cglycolxe2x80x9d), can be used in small tubing which is much more compact than the ducts used currently for air flow. The tubing carrying the liquid anti-freeze is in interface with heat exchangers that are packaged in a variety of locations. Thus, cooling is provided without bulky air flow ducts to the rear of the vehicle and without requiring expensive high pressure refrigerant circuit tubing plumbed into the rear compartment area of the vehicle.
Cooling of the glycol may take place in the refrigerant line after the air conditioning system evaporator or within the evaporator (in terms of refrigerant flow). This packaging arrangement reduces the potential for thermal stratification in the evaporator due to the super heat region. In the rear of the vehicle, the glycol tubing can be delivered to one or more heat exchangers. For a simple multi-zone system, only one rear heat exchanger is required. However, there is the option to add as many heat exchangers as feasible to reach optimum passenger comfort.
Other general and more specific aspects of this invention will be set forth in the ensuing description and claims.

System for air conditioning of the interior of an automobile


An exterior accessory panel that connects to a vehicle includes a vehicle panel connecting structure including a boss structure including a fastener receiving member having a fastener receiving opening extending therethrough that aligns with a fastener receiving opening of an exterior body panel of the vehicle and an anti-rotation flange that extends outward from the fastener receiving member toward the exterior body panel adjacent to a stop member of the exterior body vehicle panel that inhibits rotation of the anti-rotation flange and boss structure during a torqueing operation on a fastener extending through the fastener receiving openings.

Many vehicles include a number of vehicle body panels. It is often the case that components of the vehicles are formed by two or more vehicle body panels that are connected together. Fasteners may be used to connect adjacent vehicle body panels. The fasteners may need to be tightened in order to firmly secure the vehicle body panels together. In the process of tightening the fasteners, the torque applied to the fasteners during the tightening process can be transferred to the vehicle body panels being connected together causing the vehicle body panels to twist or otherwise deform.
Accordingly, a need exists for vehicle panel connecting structures that include anti-rotation members.

Vehicle panel connecting structures including anti-rotation members

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) information processing method, an access control method, and the corresponding system and devices are disclosed herein. The CSG information processing method includes: obtaining modified CSG information of User Equipment (UE); and sending a message that carries the CSG information to the UE. The method and the corresponding system and devices enable the UE to know the change of the stored CSG information. The access control method includes: obtaining modified CSG information; and detaching a UE from an accessed CSG area when discovering that the UE is not allowed to access the accessed CSG area any longer according to the modified CSG information. The access control method and the corresponding system and devices implement access control under a CSG mechanism.

Currently, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization organization and non-3GPP standardization organizations are developing a new access mode which is known as Home Access (HA). User Equipment (UE) uses authorized spectrum and a generic Internet Protocol (IP) access network such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and Cable Broadband (CB) to get connected to the mobile network of the operator through a home Wireless Access Point (WAP).
A CSG mechanism is introduced in order to restrict the UE from accessing a specific home WAP or a specific WAP. The CSG identifies UEs (or users) authorized to access one or more cells of a operator, but restricts other UEs from accessing such cells. A CSG area includes one or more cells, which are identified by a CSG identifier (ID). A CSG area is accessible to a group of UEs, but not accessible to other UEs than this group. The CSG IDs of all CSG areas accessible to a UE form an allowed CSG list, which is also known as a CSG white list. The allowed CSG list is stored in the UE, and is obtained after the UE gets registered onto the network.
In the process of practicing the prior art, the inventor of the present application finds that after the UE gets registered onto the network, the CSG information (such as allowed CSG list) of the UE may change but the UE is unaware of the change, which makes the user unable to access the allowed CSG area correctly.
Meanwhile, after the CSG information of the UE changes, the accessed CSG area by the UE is no longer accessible to the UE. The prior art provides no solution to detaching the UE from the accessed CSG area.

Closed subscriber group information processing method, access control method, system, and device


Aqueous paper coating compositions containing at least one of a clay, a starch, casein, a resin, and a wax; and wherein the composition contains from about 0.001% to about 5% by weight of at least one base-catalyzed branched reaction product comprising the following reactants:

This invention relates to compositions for coating paper, hardboard, fiberboard, paperboard, and molded-pulp products.
The present invention relates to compositions for coating paper and related pulp-based products. The compositions of the invention are aqueous compositions, usually in the form of suspensions comprising at least one of the following: a clay, a starch, casein, a resin, and a wax, and containing one or more of a branched reaction product comprising the following reactants:
A) at least one compound of formula I
R1(X)3xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(I)
xe2x80x83wherein each X group is a halogen atom or one X group is a halogen atom and two X groups represent an epoxy oxygen atom, which is attached to two adjacent carbon atoms in the R1 group to form an epoxy group, and R1 is an alkanetriyl group containing from 3 to 10 carbon atoms; and
B) at least one compound having the formula II
R2X(AO)nYxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(II)
xe2x80x83wherein R2 is a substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated, organic group having from 1 to 36 carbon atoms; X is xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94Sxe2x80x94, or xe2x80x94NR3xe2x80x94 where R3 is hydrogen or a C1-C18 alkyl group; each AO group is independently an ethyleneoxy, 1,2-propyleneoxy, or 1,2-butyleneoxy group, n is a number of from 0 to 200, preferably from 1 to 100, more preferably from 2 to 20; and Y is hydrogen, or Y can be a mercapto group or an amino group (amino or C1-C6 alkylamino group) in place of a terminal xe2x80x94OH group, provided that when Y is mercapto or an amino group or a C1-C6 alkylamino group, n is at least 1;
wherein the mole ratio of the linking compound A) to B) is from 0.1:1 to 5:1, preferably from 0.6:1 to 2:1, more preferably from 0.8:1 to 2:1 and most preferably from 0.8:1 to 1.5:1.
Paper coating compositions containing one or more of the above reaction products results in the minimization or elimination of fisheyes, excellent flow and leveling properties, and marked reduction or elimination of foam. In addition, coating open time is extended without affecting either wet strength of the paper or its gloss when dry.

Abstract: A) at least one compound of formula I

Abstract: xe2x80x83wherein R2 is a substituted or unsubstituted, saturated or unsaturated, organic group having from 1 to 36 carbon atoms; X is xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94, xe2x80x94Sxe2x80x94, or xe2x80x94NR3xe2x80x94 where R3 is hydrogen or a C1-C18 alkyl group; each AO group is independently an ethyleneoxy, 1,2-propyleneoxy, or 1,2-butyleneoxy group, n is a number from 0 to 200; and Y is hydrogen, or Y can be a mercapto group or an amino group (amino or C1-C6 alkylamino group) in place of a terminal xe2x80x94OH group, provided that when Y is mercapto or an amino group, n is at least 1;

Abstract: wherein the mole ratio of the linking compound A) to B) is from 0.1:1 to 5:1.