The present invention relates to benzenesulfonyl or sulfonamide compounds of formulae IA and IB

The present invention relates to benzenesulfonyl or sulfonamide compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing them, and their use in therapy. The compounds possess valuable therapeutic properties and are particularly suitable for treating diseases that respond to modulation of the serotonin 5-HT6 receptor.
Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT), a monoamine neurotransmitter and local hormone, is formed by the hydroxylation and decarboxylation of tryptophan. The greatest concentration is found in the enterochromaffin cells of the gastrointestinal tract, the remainder being predominantly present in platelets and in the Central Nervous System (CNS). 5-HT is implicated in a vast array of physiological and pathophysiological pathways. In the periphery, it contracts a number of smooth muscles and induces endothelium-dependent vasodilation. In the CNS, it is believed to be involved in a wide range of functions, including the control of appetite, mood, anxiety, hallucinations, sleep, vomiting and pain perception.
Neurons that secrete 5-HT are termed serotonergic. The function of 5-HT is exerted upon its interaction with specific (serotonergic) neurons. Until now, seven types of 5-HT receptors have been identified: 5-HT1 (with subtypes 5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT1D, 5-HT1E and 5-HT1F), 5-HT2 (with subtypes 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B and 5-HT2C), 5-HT3, 5-HT4, 5-HT5 (with subtypes 5-HT5A and 5-HT5B), 5-HT6 and 5-HT7. Most of these receptors are coupled to G-proteins that affect the activities of either adenylate cyclase or phospholipase Cγ.
The human 5-HT6 receptors are positively coupled to adenylyl cyclase. They are distributed throughout the limbic, striatal and cortical regions of the brain and show a high affinity to antipsychotics.
The modulation of the 5-HT6 receptor by suitable substances is expected to improve certain disorders including cognitive dysfunctions, such as a deficit in memory, cognition and learning, in particular associated with Alzheimer's disease, age-related cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment, attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity syndrome, personality disorders, such as schizophrenia, in particular cognitive deficits related with schizophrenia, affective disorders such as depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders, motion or motor disorders such as Parkinson's disease and epilepsy, migraine, sleep disorders (including disturbances of the Circadian rhythm), feeding disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, certain gastrointestinal disorders such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, diseases associated with neurodegeneration, such as stroke, spinal or head trauma and head injuries, such as hydrocephalus, addiction diseases and obesity (see e.g. A. Meneses, Drug News Perspect 14(7) (2001) pp. 396-400 and literature cited therein; J. Pharmacol. Sci. Vol. 101 (Suppl. 1), 2006, p. 124. Modulators of the 5HT6-receptor such as PRX-07034 (Epix Pharmaceuticals) have been found in preclinical and clinical studies to be particular useful in the treatment of cognitive dysfunctions, in particular associated with Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia or in the treatment of obesity (see e.g. http://www.epixpharma.com/products/prx-07034.asp).
WO 98/027081, WO 99/02502, WO 00/12623, WO 00/12073, US 2003/0069233, WO 02/08179, WO 02/92585, WO 2006/010629, WO 2007/118899 and WO 2007/118900 describe certain benzenesulfonanilide compounds having 5HT6 receptor antagonist activity and suggest the use of these compounds for the treatment of medical disorders which are susceptible to the treatment with 5HT6 receptor antagonists such as certain CNS disorders, drug abuse, ADHD, obesity and type II diabetes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,825,202 and WO 03/014097 describe benzenesulfonyl compounds having 5HT6 receptor activity.
However, there is still an ongoing need for providing compounds having high affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor and which advantageously also show high selectivity to this receptor.
Besides the binding affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor, further properties may be advantageous for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of 5-HT6-dependent disorders, such as, for example:
1.) a selectivity for the 5-HT6 receptor compared with the 5-HT1A receptor, i.e. the quotient of the binding affinity for the 5-HT1A receptor (Ki(5-HT1A) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)") and the binding affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor (Ki(5-HT6)) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)"). A larger quotient Ki(5-HT1A)/Ki(5-HT6) means a greater 5-HT6 selectivity;2.) a selectivity for the 5-HT6 receptor compared with the 5-HT2A receptor, i.e. the quotient of the binding affinity for the 5-HT2A receptor (Ki(5-HT2A) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)") and the binding affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor (Ki(5-HT6)) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)"). A larger quotient Ki(5-HT2A)/Ki(5-HT6) means a greater 5-HT6 selectivity.3.) a selectivity for the 5-HT6 receptor compared with the 5-HT2B receptor, i.e. the quotient of the binding affinity for the 5-HT2B receptor (Ki(5-HT2B) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)") and the binding affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor (Ki(5-HT6)) (determined in the unit "nanomolar (nM)"). A larger quotient Ki(5-HT2B)/Ki(5-HT6) means a greater 5-HT6 selectivity.4.) a low affinity to adrenergic receptors, such as α1-adrenergic receptor, histamine receptors, such as H1-receptor, and dopaminergic receptors, such as D2-receptor, in order to avoid or reduce considerable side effects associated with modulation of these receptors, such as postural hypotension, reflex tachycardia, potentiation of the anti-hypertensive effect of prazosin, terazosin, doxazosin and labetalol or dizziness associated to the blockade of the α1-adrenergic receptor, weight gain, sedation, drowsiness or potentiation of central depressant drugs associated to the blockade of the H1-receptor, or extrapyramidal movement disorder, such as dystonia, parkinsonism, akathisia, tardive dyskinesia or rabbit syndrome, or endocrine effects, such as prolactin elevation (galactorrhea, gynecomastia, menstruyl changes, sexual dysfunction in males), associated to the blockade of the D2-receptor.5.) the metabolic stability, for example determined from the half-lives, measured in vitro, in liver microsomes from various species (e.g. rat or human);6.) no or only low inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes: cytochrome P450 (CYP) is the name for a superfamily of heme proteins having enzymatic activity (oxidase). They are also particularly important for the degradation (metabolism) of foreign substances such as drugs or xenobiotics in mammalian organisms. The principal representatives of the types and subtypes of CYP in the human body are: CYP 1A2, CYP 2C9, CYP 2D6 and CYP 3A4. If CYP 3A4 inhibitors (e.g. grapefruit juice, cimetidine, erythromycin) are used at the same time as medicinal substances which are degraded by this enzyme system and thus compete for the same binding site on the enzyme, the degradation thereof may be slowed down and thus effects and side effects of the administered medicinal substance may be undesirably enhanced;7.) a suitable solubility in water (in mg/ml);8.) suitable pharmacokinetics (time course of the concentration of the compound of the invention in plasma or in tissue, for example brain). The pharmacokinetics can be described by the following parameters: half-life (in h), volume of distribution (in l·kg−1), plasma clearance (in l·h−1·kg−1), AUC (area under the curve, area under the concentration-time curve, in ng·h·l−1), oral bioavailability (the dose-normalized ratio of AUC after oral administration and AUC after intravenous administration), the so-called brain-plasma ratio (the ratio of AUC in brain tissue and AUC in plasma);9.) no or only low blockade of the hERG channel: compounds which block the hERG channel may cause a prolongation of the QT interval and thus lead to serious disturbances of cardiac rhythm (for example so-called "torsade de pointes"). The potential of compounds to block the hERG channel can be determined by means of the displacement assay with radiolabelled dofetilide which is described in the literature (G. J. Diaz et al., Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods, 50 (2004), 187-199). A smaller IC50 in this dofetilide assay means a greater probability of potent hERG blockade. In addition, the blockade of the hERG channel can be measured by electrophysiological experiments on cells which have been transfected with the hERG channel, by so-called whole-cell patch clamping (G. J. Diaz et al., Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods, 50 (2004), 187-199).
It is one object of the present invention to provide compounds which have a high affinity for the 5-HT6 receptor. It is a further object of the present invention to provide compounds which selectively bind to the 5-HT6 receptor. In addition, the substance of the invention should have one or more of the aforementioned advantages 1.) to 9.).
In particular, it is the object of the present invention to provide compounds which have a high affinity and selectivity for the 5-HT6 receptor and which also show no or only low blockade of the hERG channel. The compounds should also have good pharmacological profile, e.g. a good bioavailability and/or a good metabolic stability.

Benzenesulfonyl or sulfonamide compounds suitable for treating disorders that respond to the modulation of the serotonin 5-HT

Abstract: wherein the variables have the meanings given in the claims and the description, pharmaceutical compositions containing them, and their use in therapy. The compounds possess valuable therapeutic properties and are particularly suitable for treating diseases that respond to modulation of the serotonin 5-HT6 receptor.


A conduction check apparatus including an inspection part (4) having a main body (22) having a surface (23a), inspection pins (21) protruded from the surface (23a), a guide pin (8) provided on the surface (23a); and a protection board 6 sliding along the guide pin (8) from a first position to a second position and having a plurality of holes (28). At the first position, the protection board (6) covers a tip of each of the inspection pins (21) and, at the second position, each of the inspection pins (21) jut out from the respective one of the holes (28). The conduction check apparatus includes a connector setting part (3) relatively moving toward the inspection part (4). The protection board (6) moves between the first and the second position during the relative movement.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example of a conventional conduction check apparatus.
This conduction check apparatus 61 includes an inspecting part 64 having a plurality of pins 63 for checking conduction of a connector 62, a connector setting part 65 for setting the connector 62 therein, a frame 66 for slidably arranging the inspecting part 64 and for fixedly arranging the setting part 65, and a lever 67, rotatably provided on the frame 66 so as to advance and retreat the inspecting part 64 to the setting part 65.
Further, an inspection pin adjusting plate 69 is disposed in a front-side opening 68 of the inspecting part 64 and is frontwardly urged by upper and lower coils 70. At a non-test time illustrated in FIG. 4A, a tip of each inspection pin 63 is disposed in an associated one of holes 71 of the adjusting plate 69. At a test time illustrated in FIG. 4B, each inspection pin 63 is passed through an associated one of the holes 71 and is contacted with an associated one of female terminals 72 in the connector 62 while the adjusting plate 69 is retreated by being pushed with a rear end surface 62a of the connector 62. The adjusting plate 69 serves also as a protection board that protects the inspection pin 63 from external interference.
Each inspection pin 63 is frontwardly urged by a coil spring 73 in the inspecting part 64. Each inspection pin 63 is connected to an electric wire (not shown) which is connected to an electrical conduction determination apparatus (not shown). Electric wires 74 led out of the connector 62 are similarly connected to the conduction determination apparatus. Thus, the qualities of the connection and electrical conduction between the terminals 72 and the electric wires 74 are checked.
The connector 62 is made of an insulating resin connector housing and each female terminal 62 with an electric wire housed in a terminal housing chamber of the connector housing. Each terminal 72 is locked by a flexible locking lance 75.
Such a conventional conduction check apparatus is described in JP-A-2004-37164 (FIGS. 2 and 3) for example.0
However, in the conventional conduction check apparatus 61, as the rear end 62a of the connector 62 abuts against the adjusting plate 69, an inclination of the adjusting plate 69 is tend to occur depending on the position of the connector 62 in the setting part 65 or the variation of the angle of rear end surface 62a. In this case, there are fears that the inspection pin 63 may interfere with the hole 71 of the adjusting plate 69, that the adjusting plate 69 cannot smoothly retreat, and that the inspection pin 63 may wear. These fears might be compounded by the fact that the compression coil springs 70 are respectively supported between the adjusting plate 69 and a back wall 76 of the inspecting part 64 by protrusions 77 that anteroposteriorly extend. Further, at the time of the shortening (i.e., compactification) of the inspecting part 64, due to variation in the entire length of the connector 62, there is a fear that the protrusions 77 may be in abutment contact with each other, so that a forced compressing force (bending force) may act upon the adjusting plate 69, when the adjusting plate 69 maximally compresses the coil spring 70, that is at the time of maximally retreating the adjusting plate 69 illustrated in FIG. 4B, i.e., at the conduction checking of the connector 62
In view of the aforementioned problems, an object of the invention is to provide an inspection pin protection structure of a conduction check apparatus that can smoothly advance and retreat the protection board without inclining the protection board when the adjusting plate is used as the protection board for the inspection pin. In addition, an object of the invention is to provide an inspection pin protection structure of a conduction check apparatus that performs a conduction inspection without causing a bending force to act upon the protection board at the conduction inspection of a connector.

Inspection pin protection structure of conduction check apparatus


A quantum efficiency test controller (QETC) and related techniques for measuring quantum efficiency are described. The QETC performs one or more test iterations to obtain test results regarding quantum efficiency of a multijunction photovoltaic device (MPD) having a number N of photovoltaic junctions (N>0), where the QETC is associated with N bias light sources. During a test iteration, the QETC activates a grating monochromator to emit a first test probe of monochromatic light at a first wavelength; and while the grating monochromator is emitting the first test probe, iterates through and activates each of the N bias light sources to emit a corresponding bias band of wavelengths of light. After performing the test iteration(s), the QETC generates an output that is based on the test results related to the quantum efficiency of the MPD.

Many photovoltaic devices, such as solar cells, have multiple junctions of semiconductor materials connected in series to produce electric current in response to receiving different wavelengths of light. Such photovoltaic devices are called multijunction photovoltaic devices (MPDs).
The use of multiple junctions can provide more efficient photovoltaic devices, but characterizing each junction's performance; e.g., determining an amount of current produced by each junction gives rise to additional challenges. One example method for characterizing performance multijunction photovoltaic devices is quantum efficiency (QE) spectroscopy. Quantum efficiency spectroscopy allows determination of a current for each junction of a multijunction photovoltaic device.

High speed quantum efficiency spectra of multijunction cells using monochromator-based hardware


There is provided an inhalation device suitable for dispensing medicament, particularly medicament for use in the treatment of respiratory disorders. The device comprises a body; a medicament carrier, locatable within said body; a mouthpiece, reversibly movable from a storage position wherein said mouthpiece is within the body to an in-use position wherein a portion of the mouthpiece protrudes from the body and wherein the mouthpiece is in communication with the medicament carrier to allow passage of medicament therebetween; and a mouthpiece actuator, movable relative to the body, and coupled to the mouthpiece such that movement of the mouthpiece actuator in a first direction moves the mouthpiece towards said storage position and movement of the mouthpiece actuator in an opposing direction moves the mouthpiece towards the in-use position. The device comprises no biassing means acting on the mouthpiece actuator.

The present invention relates to an inhalation device for use in the administration of medicament to a patient. The device has a mouthpiece, which is reversibly retractable from a storage position located inside the body of the device to a dispensing position in which the mouthpiece protrudes from the body of the device.
The use of inhalation devices in the administration of medicaments, for example in bronchodilation therapy, is well known. Such devices generally comprise a body or housing within which a medicament container is located. A mouthpiece (or nozzle) is typically provided, wherein xe2x80x98in usexe2x80x99 the mouthpiece communicates with the medicament container to allow passage of medicament from the source to the mouthpiece and thence, to the patient.
In a typical dispensing operation the body of the device is held by the patient and the mouthpiece (or nozzle) of the inhalation device is placed in the mouth (or nose) of the patient. The patient inhales, thereby causing transfer of medicament from the medicament container to the interior of the body of the patient.
When not in use it is desirable, from a hygiene standpoint, that the mouthpiece is provided with some kind of protective cover. The cover desirably acts both to prevent build-up of dirt on the mouthpiece and to prevent ingress of dirt into the body of the device through the mouthpiece, which might then be subject to inhalation by a patient.
It is known to provide the mouthpiece with a protective cap which acts as a protective cover. The cap may either be an entirely separate element or it may be joined to the body of the device in some way. DE-A-3,639,836, for example, describes a device in which the protective cap is mounted on an arm, which is pivotally mounted to the body of the device.
As an alternative to the use of a protective cap, one might envisage a device having a mouthpiece which is reversibly retractable from a storage position in which the mouthpiece is contained within the body of the device to a dispensing position in which the mouthpiece protrudes from the body of the device. In a device of this type the body of the device itself acts as the protective cover when the mouthpiece is in the storage position. The mouthpiece cover is thus an integral part of the inhalation device, avoiding contamination problems of prior art mouthpieces caused by loss of removable mouthpiece covers.
GB-A-2,074,454 describes an inhalation device comprising a tubular body adapted for detachable fitting to an aerosol container. A mouthpiece is provided, which is movable from a storage position to a dispensing position by means of a cap, rotatably mounted on the tubular body, which has biassed actuating means associated therewith. The cap and tubular body are provided with openings of similar dimensions. Manual rotation of the cap to bring the openings into register causes the biassed actuating means to urge the mouthpiece to the dispensing position in which the mouthpiece protrudes from the body of the device. Conversely, rotation of the cap by the user to bring the openings out of register causes the mouthpiece to be moved to the storage position in which the mouthpiece is contained within the body of the device.
The device described in GB-A-2,074,454 requires the use of biassed actuating means (e.g. resilient strip, elastic element), which urge the mouthpiece towards the dispensing position. A disadvantage associated with the use of such biassed actuating means is that they can be prone to mechanical failure (e.g. the overstretched spring or elastic band) or to becoming dislodged within the device (e.g. the xe2x80x98lost springxe2x80x99). Where the action of the device relies on the use of a biassed actuating means, such mechanical failure or dislodgement can lead to non-functioning of the device. In particular, the mouthpiece becomes irretrievable.
The Applicants have now found that a device having a mouthpiece which is reversibly retractable from a storage position to a dispensing position can be constructed without reliance on any biassed actuating means.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an inhalation device for dispensing medicament comprising
a body;
a medicament carrier;
a mouthpiece, reversibly movable from a storage position wherein said mouthpiece is within said body to an in-use position wherein a portion of the mouthpiece protrudes from the body and wherein the mouthpiece is in communication with said medicament carrier to allow passage of medicament therebetween; and
a mouthpiece actuator, movable relative to the body, and coupled to the mouthpiece such that movement of said mouthpiece actuator in a first direction moves the mouthpiece towards said storage position and movement of the mouthpiece actuator in a second direction moves the mouthpiece towards said in-use position
characterised in that the device comprises no biassing means acting on the mouthpiece actuator.
In particular, the device herein comprises no biassing means acting such as to bias the mouthpiece actuator towards either the in-use position or the storage position.
Herein the term xe2x80x98mouthpiecexe2x80x99 is used in a generic sense to mean an element shaped such as to be insertable into the mouth or nose of a patient for inhalation therethrough.
In one preferred aspect, the mouthpiece actuator and mouthpiece are coupled, for example, by a coupling mechanism. In one preferred aspect, the coupling mechanism comprises a rack and pinion mechanism. In another particularly preferred aspect, the coupling mechanism comprises a hinged lever mechanism.
In another preferred aspect, the mouthpiece actuator and mouthpiece are directly coupled. Preferably the mouthpiece actuator is a rotatable turning device directly coupled to the mouthpiece.
In one aspect, the medicament carrier is within the body. In another aspect, the medicament carrier is attachable to the exterior of the body.
Preferably, the mouthpiece is comprised of an elastic material.
Preferably, the mouthpiece is provided with a cover comprised of an elastic material.
Preferably, the inhalation device additionally comprises a curtain arrangement contactable by the mouthpiece on movement of the mouthpiece from the storage to the in-use position. More preferably, the curtain arrangement comprises a plurality of curtains comprised of an elastomeric material.
Preferably, the mouthpiece actuator is provided with a safety trigger mechanism to prevent accidental actuation thereof.
Preferably, at least a portion of the mouthpiece actuator is shaped for ease of grip by the user.
Preferably, at least a portion of the mouthpiece actuator has a friction-enhancing coating.
Preferably, the device is provided with a dose counter, which indicates the number of doses dispensed from or remaining in the container. More preferably, the dose counter comprises an indexing mechanism actuated by a predetermined movement of the medicament container relative to the body.
Preferably the mouthpiece is actuable by a sliding thumb motion.
Preferably, the medicament container is an aerosol or a dry-powder container.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided the use of an inhalation device provided herein for dispensing medicament.


Methods and an apparatus are disclosed for depositing tantalum metal films in next-generation solvent fluids on substrates and/or deposition surfaces useful, e.g., as metal seed layers. Deposition involves low valence oxidation state metal precursors soluble in liquid and/or compressible solvent fluids at liquid, near-critical, or supercritical conditions for the mixed precursor solutions. Metal film deposition is effected via thermal and/or photolytic activation of the metal precursors. The invention finds application in fabrication and processing of semiconductor, metal, polymer, ceramic, and like substrates or composites.

Semiconductor chips used in a multitude of electronic devices are composites fabricated from materials including semiconductors, dielectrics, metals, metal oxides, and patterned films. For example, semiconductor chip interconnects require deposition of metals in the feature patterns (e.g., vias) of the chip. Currently, deposition of tantalum films (e.g., tantalum metal, tantalum nitride, and the like) is of interest for preparation of, e.g., diffusion barriers and/or cap layers during semiconductor fabrication.
Various deposition methods are well known in the technical art including, e.g., Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) also known as Sputter Deposition, and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). Tantalum (Ta) precursors based upon the (+5) oxidation state of the tantalum metal have been reported for use in CVD. These organometallic tantalum precursors are selected from the common chemical classes of Ta (V) ethoxides or Ta (V) methoxides and derivatives; Ta (V) pentabromide or Ta (V) pentafluoride and derivatives; and most recently, Ta (V) pentakis dimethylamide compounds have been used. However, these precursors, including the Ta (V) ethoxides and methoxides, are incompatible with next generation solvents (e.g., carbon dioxide), reacting at room or higher temperatures forming undesirable precipitates and/or reaction products. Accordingly, new processes that provide for deposition of tantalum films compatible with next generation solvents are needed.

Methods and apparatus for depositing tantalum metal films to surfaces and substrates


An air-cooled charge air cooler for vehicles with a coolant-filled pre-cooler oriented in an air collection tank of the charge air cooler. The pre-cooler is sized to contact a majority of the charge air entering the charge air cooler. The pre-cooler has flow paths carrying coolant between manifolds of the pre-cooler and the flow paths define channels therethrough to direct charge air through the pre-cooler and into a cooling grate of the charge cooler. The channels have a depth that allows for a corresponding adjustment in the length of the cooling grate of the charge air cooler while maintaining the overall space requirement for the charge air cooler in a vehicle and meeting the increasing performance requirements for such charge air coolers.

This application claims priority to DE 101 36 861.5, a German patent application filed Jul. 27, 2001, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119(a)-(d).
This invention pertains to charge air coolers for vehicles and more particularly to such charge air coolers that include a pre-cooler arranged in a collection tank of the charge air cooler.
Charge air coolers that have opposing inlet and outlet collection tanks fluidly connected by tubes that direct the charge air from the inlet tank of the charge cooler to the outlet tank of the charge cooler are known to include a second heat exchanger.
One example of such a charge air cooler is shown in DE 32 00 688 A1 in which the second heat exchanger consists of inflow and outflow coolant-filled lines (22, 23) with flat tubes or channels branching off these lines. The coolant-filled lines branching off of the inflow and outflow lines (22, 23) do not provide pre-cooling. Rather, these branched tubes are in parallel arrangement to air-cooled tubes and form a stacked construction alternating with the air-cooled tubes. Cooling of the charge air takes place by heat exchange between the charge air and cooling air of the charge cooler and also by heat exchange between the charge air and the coolant of the engine. This cooling method can allow a compact cooling system and easy adjustment to the varying loads of charge air supplied by the internal combustion engine. However, heat transfer may not be as efficient as desired and such charge coolers can be costly to manufacture and therefore have not been of significant use in practice.
A two-stage charge cooler is shown in DE 29 23 852 A. The first stage is a charge cooler that is cooled by the coolant of an internal combustion engine with the second stage being a charge cooler that is cooled by air and mechanically connected directly to the first stage charge cooler.
At least some charge coolers have exhibited short life spans due, at least in part, to the solder connections used in their manufacture because of temperature differences between the charge air and the cooling air or cooling liquid that do not occur in other types of heat exchangers in the vehicle field.
It is also known to arrange water-cooled heat exchangers, such as oil coolers or condensers, in a coolant collecting tank of coolant/air radiators to cool another fluid of the vehicle, such as oil or refrigerant. Such arrangements seek to utilize the cooling capacity of the engine coolant to satisfy other cooling demands of the vehicle, such as oil cooling or refrigerant condensing. Examples of such arrangements are shown in DE 198 20 412 A1 and EP 0 678 661 B1.
Looking forward, the exhaust limits of vehicles, particularly those with diesel engines, will place larger demands on heat exchanger manufacturers. The temperatures of the charge air exiting the charge cooler must be reduced much farther than in prior applications even though the charge air entering the charge cooler will have much higher temperatures than in prior applications. These conditions must preferably be met without requiring significantly larger design space for the charge air cooler.
In one form, the invention provides an air-cooled charge air cooler for vehicles. The charge air cooler has a pre-cooler oriented in an air collection tank of the charge cooler. The pre-cooler contains flow paths for a coolant and channels located between the coolant flow. The pre-cooler is sized to contact a majority of charge air flow entering the charge air cooler. The channels have a depth that allows for corresponding adjustment in the length of the cooling grate of the charge air cooler while maintaining the overall space requirement for the charge air cooler in a vehicle and meeting the increasing performance requirements of such charge air coolers.
In one form, the charge air cooler has an inlet collection tank on the opposite end from an outlet collection tank. A row of tubes fluidly connects the inlet and outlet tanks to direct a charge air flow from the inlet tank to the outlet tank. Heat exchange elements are arranged between the tubes to form a cooling grate through which a cooling airflow is directed. A pre-cooler is in the inlet collection tank and extends over a cross-sectional area of the inlet collection tank such that a majority of the charge air must pass through the pre-cooler. The pre-cooler has flow paths to direct a coolant flow therethrough and channels between the flow paths for charge air flow. The channels have a depth that is substantially perpendicular to the cross-sectional area of the inlet tank that is occupied by the pre-cooler and the depth is in a range of about 25 mm to about 200 mm.
According to one form, the channels have a depth in the range of about 40 mm to about 120 mm.
In one form, the flow paths of the pre-cooler are flat tubes. According to one form, the flat tubes extend in a perpendicular orientation relative to the tubes of the cooling grate.
In yet another form of the invention, a series of heat exchangers are arranged in a box-like array and one of these heat exchangers is an air-cooled charge air cooler including an inlet collection tank on the opposite end from an outlet collection tank. A row of tubes fluidly connects the inlet and outlet tanks and directs charge air from the inlet tank to the outlet tank. Heat exchange elements are arranged between the tubes to form a cooling grate through which a cooling airflow is directed. A pre-cooler is in the inlet collection tank and extends across a cross-sectional area of the inlet collection tank such that a majority of the charge air flow must pass through the pre-cooler. The pre-cooler has flow paths to direct a coolant flow therethrough and channels between the flow paths for the charge air flow. Each of the collection tanks extends roughly parallel and adjacent to a collecting tank of another of the series of heat exchangers to form an edge of the box-like array.
Objects and advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein and in the associated figures and appended claims.

Vehicle charge air cooler with a pre-cooler


Systems, methods, and computer-program products store file segments by receiving a first file segment, and storing the first file segment in a first memory area having a highest ranking. The first memory area is reassigned as a memory area having a next highest ranking when a second file segment is received and the first memory area has reached a maximum capacity. The second file segment is stored in another memory that is reassigned as the memory area having the highest ranking.

Memory management is an essential task of computing devices to enable efficient storage and deletion of content while also permitting fast retrieval of content. Caching schemes are typically used enable optimization of the storage and retrieval of content. For instance, a least recently used (LRU) caching scheme discards least recently used content items first. However, if a disk in which content is stored is large, such that many files may be stored, there is often not enough memory to permit a computing device to maintain a list of files on the disk including necessary LRU information such as "age bits".


In one aspect, a headset may include at least one processor, at least one transparent display accessible to the at least one processor, and storage accessible to the at least one processor. The storage may include instructions executable by the at least one processor to detect an indication accompanying audio video (AV) content, with the indication associated with augmented reality (AR) content. The AR content may be different from the AV content but associated with the AV content. The instructions may also be executable to transmit a request for the AR content, receive the AR content, and present the AR content on the at least one transparent display.

Presentation of video content on televisions, computers, smartphones etc. provides entertainment opportunities for users of those electronic devices. However, as recognized herein, those devices are technologically limited in the types and amount of content they can present. Additionally, content providers may sometimes wish to enhance the experience of consuming video content, which is also technologically limited by the content presentation device itself and often provides no personalization for individual users. There are currently no adequate solutions to the foregoing computer-related, technological problem.

Presentation of augmented reality content based on identification of trigger accompanying video content


A method and apparatus are provided for facilitating remote participance in a community. A method may include causing an anchor terminal located at a first location to use a proximity-based wireless communication technology to participate in an ad hoc community formed at least in part by the anchor terminal and one or more further terminals at the first location using the proximity-based wireless communication technology to communicate with each other. The method may further include causing the anchor terminal to maintain a connection to a structured network, thereby enabling a remote terminal to participate in the community. The method may additionally include, in an instance in which the remote terminal participates in the community, causing the anchor terminal to serve as a gateway between the terminals participating in the community at the first location and the remote terminal. A corresponding apparatus is also provided.

The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Computer networks, television networks, and telephony networks are experiencing an unprecedented technological expansion, fueled by consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer and providing convenience to users.
Concurrent with the expansion of networking technologies, an expansion in computing power has resulted in development of affordable computing devices capable of taking advantage of services made possible by modern networking technologies. This expansion in computing power has led to a reduction in the size of computing devices and given rise to a new generation of mobile devices that are capable of performing functionality that only a few years ago required processing power that could be provided only by the most advanced desktop computers. Consequently, mobile computing devices having a small form factor have become ubiquitous and are used to access network applications and services by consumers of all socioeconomic backgrounds. Consumers may accordingly use their mobile computing devices to access services and communicate with other devices over mobile networks at a variety of locations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for facilitating remote participance in a community


A new and distinct cultivar of Elaeocarpus plant named ‘TSF 001’, characterized by glossy red new growth and stems, vigorous growth, and ease of asexual propagation.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Elaeocarpus decipiens, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'TSF 001'.
The new Japanese blueberry tree 'TSF 001' was discovered in Glen Flora, Tex. in May 2014 growing among a group of 500 15 gallon seedlings of Elaeocarpus decipiens in a nursery production environment. The seedlings that the new Elaeocarpus decipiens was made from ranged in height from 3-4 feet with a spread of 1.5-3 feet in a nursery production environment. These seedlings were produced from seeds from open pollination trees of Elaeocarpus decipiens.

Japanese blueberry plant named ‘TSF 001’


A device for determining the position of a vehicle comprises a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver (6) which supplies vehicle position data at regular intervals on the basis of data received from satellites, a device (1) for dead-reckoning on the basis of the position data from the GPS receiver (6), a compass (2) and at least one wheel sensor (3), and a correction unit (4) which corrects the dead-reckoning values supplied at regular intervals by the dead-reckoning device (1) in dependence on comparison with road position coordinates read from a mass memory (5), notably with characteristic road position coordinates, and outputs the corrected values as vehicle position coordinates. For autonomous correction of the data from the GPS receiver the vehicle position coordinates supplied by the correction unit (4) are applied to the GPS receiver (6), the position data derived from the satellite reception in the GPS receiver (6) being corrected in conformity with the vehicle position coordinates supplied by the correction unit (4) and being applied in corrected form to the dead-reckoning device (1 ) as position data.

The invention relates to a device for determining the position of a vehicle, comprising a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver which supplies at regular intervals position data of the vehicle on the basis of data received from satellites, and also comprising a device for performing dead-reckoning on the basis of the position data from the GPS receiver, a compass and at least one wheel sensor, and a correction unit which corrects the dead-reckoning values, supplied at regular intervals by the dead-reckoning device, in dependence on comparisons with road or rail position coordinates read from a mass memory, notably with characteristic road or rail position coordinates, which correction unit outputs said corrected values as vehicle position coordinates.
In known devices of this kind, the current vehicle position is continuously determined by dead-reckoning, utilizing notably a compass and one or more wheel sensors. The errors then occurring can be corrected by comparison with road position coordinates read from a mass memory (map matching). Notably characteristic road position coordinates, for example curves in roads or intersections, can be readily recognized and the vehicle position determined by dead-reckoning can be corrected in conformity with the coordinates of the known, characteristic points.
This combination of dead-reckoning and correction by road position coordinates fails when the vehicle is started or, generally speaking, when the road position coordinates are unknown like after transport of the vehicle by rail or ship or the like. To this end, in known devices there is provided a GPS receiver which receives signals from GPS satellites and which is capable of calculating the position of the GPS receiver or the vehicle on the basis of the reception of said signals, notably on the basis of the phase shifts of these signals relative to one another. However, the accuracy of such position determination by means of a GPS receiver amounts to only a few hundred meters; this is inadequate, for example for accurate determination of the position of a vehicle in a city.
In known devices of this kind, the correction of the position data supplied by the GPS receiver is performed by means of a data channel. Via this data channel, the GPS receiver is informed from outside about the continuously varying magnitude and direction of the error, via an additional infrastructure to be provided.

Device for determining the position of a vehicle


A circuit may include a controller, at least one bridge circuit, and a plurality of switches. The plurality of switches may be connected parallel to each other, each may have a switch output connected to the bridge circuit. The bridge circuit, upon receiving a current from the plurality of switches, may generate an output based on a reference voltage. The controller may generate a plurality of control signals, based on a voltage transition range, to selectively turn on the plurality of the switches in more than one combination, to supply a current to the output.

In electronic device testing, a pin driver on a test system may provide a voltage pulse stimulus to a device under test (DUT) at a specific time and may measure a response from the DUT, to determine whether the DUT meets a range of parameters of its device specification. The quality of a test system may be determined by the waveform fidelity (ideality) and timing precision of the voltage pulse it provides. Spurious signals (switching transients) in the voltage pulses may be produced during voltage level transitions, and may impact both fidelity and timing accuracy.
An ideal voltage level transition may be defined as a linear voltage transition between two voltage levels. An actual voltage level transitioning may include deviations, such as overshoots, undershoots, pre-shoots, and slew nonlinearity, caused by spurious signals. These deviations negatively impact timing precision and need be minimized.
Spurious signals may be caused by parasitic capacitance in the voltage driver circuits of the test system. Dominant parasitic capacitance sources may include metal interconnect routing and device junction capacitances, which are both related to the physical switch/transistor size in the voltage driver circuits.
In order to test a variety of electronic devices, an automatic test system may need to drive a pin with voltage level transitions between different voltage extremes using different techniques. For example, memory devices may typically be tested using 'class A' techniques, which may require limited voltage swing ranges (swing of 25 mV to 500 mV for example) that also limits device power consumption in the memory devices. Other devices may be tested using 'class AB' techniques, which may require higher voltage transition speed and greater voltage swing ranges (>500 mV or >5V for example).
Some devices may have pins that need to be tested using both limited voltage swing ranges and greater voltage swing ranges, may thus require the test system, for example, to test the pins using both 'class A' techniques and 'class AB' techniques. This additional capability requirement poses a problem in test system design, that the test system need to be capable of driving large voltage swing ranges fast enough and driving small voltage swing ranges with high fidelity and few spurious signals.
Switch sizes of test systems may be designed based on the slew current requirements needed to meet the maximum transition speed requirement. In other words, in order to drive a pin with a relatively large voltage swing range in a small amount of time, the driver circuit may need to be able to produce relatively large amount of slew current, by having large switch size in the driver circuit.
Large switch size may correspond to large parasitic capacitance. The resultant spurious signals may be small, relative to the overall large voltage swing range. However, if the same driver circuit with large switch size is used to drive smaller voltage swing ranges, the same spurious signals may become relatively larger in proportion, and thus would significantly and negatively impact timing precision.
Thus, there is a need for an improved pin driver that can produce high swing fidelity when driving a variety of different voltage swing ranges.

Pin driver circuit with improved swing fidelity


A broadcast receiver suitable for receiving broadcast signals transferred by use of signal format of IBOC system. The broadcast receiver comprises a receiving means that holds information related to channels that can be acquired by a digital signal decoding process. If information related to a channel is to be used and is held by the information holding means, then it is used.

Recently, it has become popular to process and manage the sound and video in a digital format in appliances such as acoustic appliances and video appliances. Such trends in digital encoding of sound and video in appliances such as acoustic appliances are extending to the field of radio broadcasting. For example, in the United States, a digital radio broadcast system called IBOC (In Band On Channel) is proposed and made available by iBiquity Digital Corp.
Meanwhile, conventional analog radio broadcast broadcasts via carrier (Hereinafter, "analog carrier".) that has frequency distribution inside the frequency band (Hereinafter, "channel" or "frequency channel".) assigned to individual broadcast stations. Actually, in order to avoid the interference between-analog carriers of adjacent channels, only the center portion of the assigned band is used for the transmission of the analog carrier, and other portions are not used. It is noted that "digital radio broadcast" in this application means "IBOC digital radio broadcast".
IBOC is a type of a digital radio broadcast that uses frequency channel assigned to the conventional analog radio broadcast. In IBOC standard, a plurality of signal formats are defined, such as a hybrid format in which the digital radio broadcast signal is multiplexed onto the conventional analog radio broadcast signal, and an all digital format consisted of only digital signals, and it is designed to gradually transfer from conventional analog radio broadcast to all digital radio broadcast that has many functions and is high in quality. In the IBOC, digital broadcast signals are transmitted with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) that uses many carriers (subcarriers).
Also, in the IBOC standard, a signal format called a hybrid format is defined, which is used in the transition period from analog broadcast to all digital broadcast. In the hybrid format, it allocates the subcarriers of digital broadcast in the frequency portion that is adjacent to the center portion of the channel band which the analog carrier uses and that was not conventionally used. (Hereinafter, "sideband".) In other words, in accordance with the hybrid format of the IBOC, the band allocated as the frequency channel for the conventional analog radio broadcast is utilized effectively, and the analog radio broadcast and the digital radio broadcast are simultaneously transmitted using a same channel.
For example, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. JP2004-349805 A1 (Hereinafter, "the Reference Document".) discloses an IBOC broadcast receiver that is capable of receiving such IBOC digital radio broadcast. First, the IBOC broadcast receiver disclosed in the Reference Document filters the received signal to pass a broad frequency band that includes a center portion in which the analog carrier of the selected frequency channel is located and the portion (sideband) in which the adjacent subcarriers are located, and the subcarrier as well as the analog carrier is decoded. Then, if an IBOC signal (an identification information showing that it is a digital radio broadcast) is acquired as a result of the decoding, since the digital radio broadcast is transmitted in the selected frequency channel, the setting of the filtering is maintained to pass a broad range of band.
On the other hand, if an IBOC signal was not acquired, then only an analog radio broadcast is transmitted in the selected frequency channel, and no valid information is included in the sideband. In addition, not only the sideband does not include a valid information, it easily suffers from disturbances due to the adjacent band (It is the noise due to the adjacent frequency channel band. Hereinafter, it is called "adjacent disturbance".), and it becomes the cause of the lowering of the carrier to noise ratio (CN ratio) of the selected frequency channel. Therefore, in case the IBOC signal was not acquired, then the signal of the selected frequency channel is filtered to pass the bandwidth of the analog carrier. Thereby, the sideband that is unneeded and easily affected by the adjacent disturbance is cut off, and the CN ratio for the analog radio broadcast is improved.
That is, the IBOC broadcast receiver disclosed in the above Reference Document is arranged to improve the CN ratio of the analog radio broadcast so that the band to pass the filter is enabled to be switched according to the existence of the IBOC signal, and the sideband is cut off to improve the CN ratio only if it is determined that the selected channel includes only an analog radio broadcast.
In the above Reference Document, in order to set the band used in the filtering process, as described above, it performs a decoding process to the selected frequency channel, and determines whether a digital radio broadcast is carried out or not in the frequency channel based on the result of the decoding process. However, the decoding process to decode the digital radio broadcast is a process that requires time. Therefore, in such an IBOC broadcast receiver, there is a problem in requiring time to set a filtering band.


To prevent an operator from being hurt by a hot outside panel of an electronic device when he touches the outside panel with his hand or a portion of his body, the outside panel is improved and an electronic device safe for the operator is provided. There are provided spaces for heat insulation in an outside panel and, by the action of the spaces, the apparent temperature of the outside panel is decreased. Also, ducts are provided in the outside panel, and the temperature of the outside panel itself is decreased by the action of the ducts. Further, a large number of protrusions are provided on the surface of the outside panel, and a heat insulating section is formed at the forward end of each protrusion, so that the apparent temperature is decreased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of an outside panel of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art In the field of electronic devices, especially in the field of portable type electronic information devices (for example, notebook type personal computers), the sizes of the electronic devices have been reduced, the functions have been highly enhanced, and the processing speeds have been greatly increased. Accordingly, a large number of parts, which generate large quantities of heat, are mounted in the electronic devices and the temperatures in the electronic devices are generally very high.
In order to effectively emit the heat generated in the devices to the outside, various investigations and a large number of suggestions have been made.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-153924 discloses a structure in which protrusions and recesses are formed on the overall surface of a casing, so that heat can be emitted from the surface of the casing.
However, when the structure disclosed in the above patent publication is adopted, it is estimated that the temperature on the surface (heat radiating surface) of the casing will become very high.
In this case, when an operator touches the surface of the casing with his hand or with a portion of his body, there is a possibility that the operator may be hurt.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 8-270245, from the present applicant, the heat emitting section, the a temperature of which might become high, is arranged in a hinge portion of a notebook type personal computer. That is, the heat emitting section is located at a position in the personal computer which cannot be touched or is difficult for an operator to touch. However, when a position at which the heat emitting section is arranged is restricted, it becomes difficult to emit heat effectively when the heating amount is increased.


Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a method and a system for scheduling the transmission of messages to a subscriber in a communications network based on communications events determined to have occurred from communications events generated by the communications network. The method includes identifying a communications event as one of a plurality of predetermined types of communications events on the basis of at least one said identified current or previous communications session, and, responsive to the identified communications event triggering a scheduling process for scheduling transmission of a message to the subscriber, in which the scheduling process is dependent on the type of communications event. Thus in embodiments of the invention, the transmission of messages is determined on the basis of communications events associated with the subscriber; typical communications events include making calls, sending messages, switching off, switching on, roaming, cell to cell handover, answering calls, and trends.

The transmission of messages to mobile devices is a widely used and popular service, and the major messaging types in the GSM network (Global System for Mobile Communications) are the Short Message Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Message Service (MMS). The messages are typically sent from and received by a user terminal such as mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Mobile communication networks can also be used to send and receive other type of messages including electronic mail messages, voice messages, video messages, and picture messages.
Mobile marketing is widely considered by advertisers to be a significant channel for providing access to a consumer due to the fact that a mobile terminal is personal, it is "always on", and, by virtue of collaborative communications, is implicitly a member of one or more groups. These characteristics, when combined with the social networks-based marketing approach of the Internet, are seen as having the potential to form a very powerful marketing base.
Today's mobile marketing is largely based on push campaigns that are designed to opt-in a consumer, or pull campaigns that acquire mobile phone numbers from consumers. The most typical example of the pull campaign is the "text-to-win" campaign, where e.g., a soft drink bottle contains a short code and a number, and the mobile user sends the code via a text message to the number. In return, the consumer receives a notification if they have won; irrespective of the winning status, the consumer also receives selected marketing messages or a series of messages that are broadcast to the mobile terminal. Another popular method is direct advertisement, which is typically performed using text and picture messaging.
A problem with these approaches is that they do not take account of the user's activities at the time of sending the promotional message. As a result a message can be sent at a time that is inconvenient for the user, causing the recipient to ignore and delete this and any subsequently received such messages; as a result the marketing efforts are completely wasted. U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,054 describes providing a user with the means for explicitly specifying times at which they are willing to receive promotional messages, this then being used to compile an advertisement schedule for pushing advertisements to the user. However, a problem with this approach is that it is relatively burdensome on the user, since, if the schedule is to capture appropriate times to send messages based on the user's activities, the schedule requires detailed input from the user.


A crosswind kite system adapted to operate in an alternate mode in high winds. The system may operate at reduced efficiency in high winds in order to moderate loading on the system during those high winds. The system may use multi-element airfoils which are actuated to reduce the coefficient of lift of the airfoils in order to moderate loading in high wind conditions. Other flight aspects may be controlled, including flying the crosswind kite in side slip to induce drag which may lower loading on the system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method of flying tethered vehicles in high wind speeds.
2. Description of Related Art
Crosswind kite systems comprising tethered wings (kites) can extract useful power from the wind for purposes such as, for example, generating electricity, lifting or towing objects or vehicles, etc. To provide or use consistent power, it may be desired to fly the kite in repeating trajectories (i.e., a limit cycle). It may also be desired to maintain the kite aloft and flying consistent trajectories during a large range of environmental conditions such as high wind speeds, large gusts, turbulent air, or variable wind conditions. However, with the typical crosswind kite system mode of operation, the inertial speed of the kite, the tension on the tether, the aerodynamic loads on the kite structure and the system power output increase as the wind speed increases. So, for example, a problem arises in times of high winds, when tether tension or kite structural load exceeds a safety limit. Therefore, an alternative mode of operation is desired so that a crosswind kite system can maintain bounded loads and bounded power generation while flying in limit cycles in high and changing winds.

Kite configuration and flight strategy for flight in high wind speeds


An article of footwear with a suspended stud assembly attached to a sole is disclosed. The suspended stud assembly includes a base portion attached to the sole of a shoe. A set of suspension arms connect a plurality of studs to the base portion. This arrangement allows the studs to move independently of the sole and of each other to provide greater traction capabilities to the article of footwear.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article of footwear, and in particular to a sports shoe with a suspended stud assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Stud assemblies have been previously proposed. Ungari (U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,826) teaches a sole structure with a pivoting cleat assembly. Ungari teaches a pivoting cleat assembly for an article of footwear such that the medial and lateral portion of the cleat assembly can move upwardly and downwardly with respect to the sole. Ungari teaches a plurality of recesses formed in a lower surface of a sole. Each recess is configured to receive at least a portion of a cleat assembly. When a user's leg is angled toward the medial side of the footwear, a medial portion of the base member pivots upwardly into a recess, while the sole is angled toward the medial side. Furthermore, even though the leg and the sole are angled inwardly toward the medial side, both cleats of the cleat assembly remain fully engaged and in contact with the ground, enhancing traction for the user.

Article of footwear with suspended stud assembly


A head-up instrument display for a vehicle including a light emitting image source for producing imaging illumination and a combiner including a spherical beam-splitter coating for partially reflecting the imaging illumination to produce a virtual image viewable by the vehicle operator without diverting attention from the outside scene. In one embodiment, the head-up instrument display is self-contained with the combiner being rotatable into a stowed position when not in use.

The disclosed invention is generally directed to a head-up virtual image display for aircraft avionic instrumentation, and is directed more particularly to an aircraft instrument display that includes a combiner that is separate from the windshield.
Instrument displays for the primary aircraft avionic instruments are commonly located on an instrument panel located in front of the pilot and co-pilot seats and below the windshield. Secondary instrument displays and annunciators are sometimes located in an overhead panel above the windshield.
Depending on flying conditions, an aircraft pilot can be continually alternating between scanning the outside scene and scanning the aircraft avionic instrument displays, which requires the pilot to divert his or her eyes from the outside to the instruments and back to the outside. Each diversion also requires refocusing of the eyes.
In recognition of the desirability of head-up viewing of avionics instrumentation displays, head-up displays have been utilized in military aircraft to (1) provide the pilot with target information from radar, (2) provide flight instrumentation information such as an artificial horizon or glideslope indicators, and/or (3) produce synthetic land maps for flight in low visibility weather conditions or flight at low altitude above ground level. However, military head-up displays are complex and expensive, typically achieving their intended functions with large fields of view, complex optics, and cathode ray tubes. Moreover, aircraft for commercial and general aviation do not require the capabilities of military head-up displays, which would be particularly expensive for smaller general aviation aircraft.
Head-up displays have also been implemented for automobiles. However, such head-up displays generally utilize the windshield or apparatus attached to the windshield as the combiner element. The use of the windshield as part of the combiner element presents difficulties in the use of coatings for improving the reflected image and preventing ghost images.


Disclosed are compounds of the formula: ##STR1##. R represents hydrogen or is a C-3 to C-6 cycloalkyl or C-4 to C-10 straight or branched carbon chain alkyl-cycloalkyl or a group --B--D, where B is C-2 to C-10 straight or branched carbon chain alkyl and D is hydroxy or alkyloxy or 2,3-dihydroxypropyl or 2,3-dialkyloxypropyl or 2,2-dialkyl-1,3-dioxolane-5-methyl, where alkyl is C-1 to C-10 straight or branched carbon chain;. W represents CH(CH.sub.3)CH.sub.2 --, C(CH.sub.3).sub.2 CH.sub.2 --;. Z represents hydrogen, --NHCOR.sub.2, --NHCONR.sub.2 R.sub.3 or --NHSO.sub.2 R.sub.2 or --NHSO.sub.2 NR.sub.2 R.sub.3 or --NHCOOR.sub.4 wherein R.sub.4 is alkyl of from 1 to about 6 carbon atoms, alkoxyalkyl wherein the alkyl groups may be the same or different and contain from 1 to about 6 carbon atoms, alkoxyaryl, cycloalkyl of from 3 to about 8 carbon atoms. R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 may be the same or different and represent hydrogen, alkyl of from 1 to about 6 carbon atoms, alkoxyalkyl wherein the alkyl groups may be the same or different and contain from 1 to about 6 carbon atoms, alkoxyaryl, cycloalkyl of from 3 to about 8 carbon atoms, a phenyl group substituted or unsubstituted, heteroaryl, furanyl, thiophenyl, imidazolyl, oxazolyl or indolyl or tetrahydrofuranyl, tetrahydropyranyl, dioxanyl, 2,2-dimethyl dioxolane-5-methyl, pyrrolidinyl, piperazinyl and tetrahydrooxazolyl, aralkyl except that R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are not hydrogen when Z is --NHSO2R.sub.2, or R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 may together with N form a 5 to 7 membered heterocyclic group; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; and all stereoisomeric forms, as well as racemic mixtures. The compounds in the present invention relates to compounds, methods, formulation and pharmaceutical compositions for the general treatment or prophylaxis of diseases states which are responsive to attenuation of sympathetic nervous system activity or beta adrenergic blockade namely: coronary artery disease including myocardial ischemic disorders, angina and myocardial infarction; arrhythmia; hypertension; anxiety including panic attack; migraine or glaucoma by the intravenous or sublingual or oral or topical ocular administration.

Various scientific articles and publications are referred to throughout the specification. These are incorporated by reference herein to describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
Sympathetic nervous system activation can result in increases in heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac contractility. Activities causing such a result can be physical exertion such as climbing, exercise, running or sexual intercourse. Likewise, symptoms such as sweating, tremor and palpitations can result from short-term stressful conditions which might be caused, for example, by "stage fright" because of public speaking, vocal or musical performance or phobias or panic attack. Control of heart rate, blood pressure and cardiac contractility during activities is particularly important for patients at risk due to coronary artery disease such as myocardial ischemic disorders. Severe attacks of chest pain, angina pectoris, occur when cardiac work and myocardial oxygen demand exceed the ability of the coronary arterial system to supply oxygen. The major determinants of myocardial oxygen consumption are heart rate, systolic tension (arterial pressure) and cardiac contractility. Any increase in any of these determinants in the presence of reduced coronary blood flow may induce angina. The higher the blood pressure and the faster the heart rate, the greater the unmet myocardial oxygen need. Rapid control of heart rate or blood pressure during such short term activities is particularly important for patients at risk due to coronary artery disease such as myocardial ischemic disorders. While long acting chronic, orally administrable beta blockers are available, the treatment of the conditions described often require drugs with fast onset of action and a relatively short duration of action which allows discontinuation of therapy in the event of severe side-effects. Such compounds and methods are described in the present invention.
Beta adrenergic blocking agents containing carboxylic ester groups are reported in the technical and patent literature. However, their corresponding carboxylic acids are generally taught to be inactive or only weakly active as beta blockers. Thus, a large group of ester containing compounds are reported as short-acting beta blocking agents when administered intravenously (J Med Chem. 1983, 1109-12; J Med Chem. 1982,1408; J Med Chem. 1982,1402; Life Sci. 1982,899; Pharm Res. 1995, 329; U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,103 issued on Jun. 7, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,119, 1986 issued on Jun. 3, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,446 issued on Sep. 8, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,347 issued on Apr. 13, 1993) or topically as eye-drops for glaucoma (U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,317 issued on Jun. 19, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,154 issued on Jun. 12, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,403 issued on Mar. 25, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,347 issued on Apr. 13, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,086 issued on May 9, 1989), or by sublingual, buccal and intranasal administration (U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,749,1996). The basis for the short duration of action of these compounds was the rapid metabolism of the active esters to inactive or very weakly active carboxylic acids. (An "inactive beta blocker" is defined as a compound which is impractical to dose). The only examples of carboxylic acids with beta blocking activity are a compound with a carboxylic acid directly attached to an aromatic ring and one with a carboxylic acid conjugated with an aromatic ring (U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,071 issued on Jun. 1, 1976; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,993 issued on Jun. 10, 1975). No examples of ortho substituted phenyl aliphatic carboxylic acid beta blockers such as phenylpropionic acid containing compounds are known.
The drug esmolol (Physicians Desk Reference), shown below, is an intravenously infused beta blocking agent based on the "inactive metabolite" approach. It is marketed for acute treatment of cardiac disorders. This ester is rapidly metabolized in vivo to the corresponding carboxylic acid, which is reported to have an elimination half-life of 3.7 hours in man. During intravenous infusions, the acid metabolite accumulates to high concentrations in blood, but does not exhibit beta blocking activity. (Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 34: 427-434, 1984). ##STR2##
The ethyl ester ACC-9369, shown above, was also reported to be rapidly converted in vivo to a metabolite, with little or no beta-blocking activity in dogs (J. E. Shaffer et al, Drug Development Research, 1: 221-232, 1986).
Glaucoma is a condition of the eye characterized by an increase in intraocular pressure. Untreated, the condition can eventually lead to irreversible retinal damage and blindness. Beta blockers have been the first line of therapy to reduce the IOP. After topical application of an eye drop, conjunctival and systemic absorption of drugs is typically an order of magnitude greater than their ocular absorption. In addition substantial systemic absorption of ophthalmic drugs takes place via the nasal mucosa. Systemic absorption of beta blocking agents may cause life threatening side-effects in patients with certain cardiac and pulmonary conditions. The ideal drug will only penetrate into the inner eye in order to reduce the intraocular pressure but will not produce any effects in the systemic circulation. A method for treating glaucoma with decreased systemic side effects, by topical administration of selectively metabolized potent beta-blocking agents has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,974 issued on Sep. 6, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,317 issued on Jun. 19, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,403 issued on Mar. 25, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,154 issued on Jun. 12, 1984. When these compounds are absorbed systemically, the compounds are metabolized rapidly so that systemic beta blocking effects are relatively short acting. However, the drugs may cause an initial strong beta blocking effect until metabolism occurs.

Phenylpropionic acids and esters: compounds and methods for inducing beta-blockade for the treatment of cardiac disorders


There are provided a sensor substrate and a sensor device which have high detection accuracy. A sensor substrate includes an insulating substrate; sensing electrodes disposed in the insulating substrate, the sensing electrodes being columnar and being composed of at least one pair of positive and negative sensing electrodes, in the at least one pair of positive and negative sensing electrodes, part of a positive electrode and part of a negative electrode being each exposed from one surface of the insulating substrate; and innerlayer wiring lines embedded within the insulating substrate, the innerlayer wiring lines corresponding to the positive electrode and the negative electrode, respectively, in the at least one pair of positive and negative sensing electrodes.

A DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter), etc. is installed for trapping particular matter (PM) composed predominantly of soot contained in exhaust gas from automobiles, etc., and as a PM detection sensor for detecting failure of the DPF, etc., for example, as described in Patent Literature 1, there is disclosed a particulate matter detecting device comprising an insulating substrate formed of a ceramic sintered body such as an aluminum oxide sintered body, a sensing electrode formed on a surface of the insulating substrate by a thick-film printing technique (screen printing method), and so forth. This device detects particulate matter based on variation in electrical characteristics resulting from accumulation of detection targets, such as PM, contained in exhaust gas in between a pair of sensing electrodes.
Meanwhile, for example, as described in Patent Literature 2, there is disclosed a method of manufacturing a PM detection sensor having a pair of electrodes, the method of forming a pair of sensing electrodes, etc. by other technique than the thick-film printing technique (more specifically, the method comprising forming a laminate structure by laminating sensing electrodes, etc. one after another in a width direction thereof, and slicing the laminate structure in a predetermined thickness by means of dicing saw or otherwise).
Moreover, for example, as described in Patent Literature 3 or Patent Literature 4, as a sensor substrate which is used for an exhaust gas sensor or the like, there is used a sensor substrate comprising an insulating substrate formed of a ceramic sintered body such as an aluminum oxide sintered body, and a pair of sensing electrodes disposed on a surface of the insulating substrate.
For example, on the basis of variation in resistance value or current value caused by accumulation of detection targets contained in exhaust gas in between a pair of the sensing electrodes, the content, etc. of the detection targets in the exhaust gas can be detected.
The capability of detecting detection targets contained in exhaust gas with high accuracy is demanded in the above-described sensor substrate and sensor device.

Sensor substrate arrangement for a particulate sensor device


To provide a semiconductor device with low power consumption, in a semiconductor device including a differential amplifier to which an input potential and a reference potential are input, a gain stage, and an output stage from which an output potential is output, a potential supplied from the gain stage can be held constant by providing the output stage with a transistor with low leakage current in an off state. As the transistor with low leakage current in an off state, a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer and a channel formation region included in the oxide semiconductor layer is used.

A voltage follower is a semiconductor device which outputs a potential that is equivalent to an input potential. In a semiconductor integrated circuit which is an example of a semiconductor device, the voltage follower can be used as a buffer of a potential generating circuit.
In addition, with the use of two voltage followers, an input potential signal can be held (Patent Document 1).
Meanwhile, in recent years, metal oxides having semiconductor characteristics (hereinafter referred to as oxide semiconductors) have attracted attention. Oxide semiconductors may be applied to transistors (see Patent Documents 2 and 3).

Semiconductor device having transistors each of which includes an oxide semiconductor

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for selecting a text span from an input electronic document that answers an input question. One of the methods includes obtaining a respective first numeric representations of text spans in the input document; for each of the text spans: determining, for a segment that contains the text span, a question-aware segment vector, determining, for the question, a segment-aware question vector, and processing the first numeric representation of the text span, the question-aware segment vector, and the segment-aware question vector using a second feedforward neural network to generate a second numeric representation of the text span; for each unique text span in the plurality of text spans: determining an aggregate representation for the unique text span, and determining, from the aggregate representation, a final score for the unique text span; and selecting a unique text span.

This specification relates to processing electronic documents using machine learning models, e.g., neural networks.
Electronic documents can be any of a variety of documents that are maintained in electronic form and can be viewed by a user on a computer, e.g., web pages, word processing documents, text documents, spreadsheets, and so on.
Neural networks are machine learning models that employ one or more layers of nonlinear units to predict an output for a received input. Some neural networks include one or more hidden layers in addition to an output layer. The output of each hidden layer is used as input to the next layer in the network, i.e., the next hidden layer or the output layer. Each layer of the network generates an output from a received input in accordance with current values of a respective set of parameters.
Some neural networks are recurrent neural networks. A recurrent neural network is a neural network that receives an input sequence and generates an output sequence from the input sequence. In particular, a recurrent neural network can use some or all of the internal state of the network from a previous time step in computing an output at a current time step.

Selecting answer spans from electronic documents using neural networks


A device includes memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store a transaction identifier corresponding to merchant identification information, customer identification information, and transaction information for a transaction. The processor is communicatively coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to receive, from a merchant computing device, a transaction request that includes the customer identification information and the transaction information. The transaction request does not include payment information. The processor is also configured to generate the transaction identifier. The transaction identifier is unique to the merchant identification information, the customer identification information, and the transaction information. The processor is further configured to transmit to a customer computing device an authorization request comprising the transaction identifier and merchant identification information. The processor is also configured to receive, from the customer computing device, a transaction authorization that includes the payment information and to process the transaction using the payment information.

Payment processing heretofore requires the disclosure of card or account information from a buyer to a seller. For example, a buyer may be required to hand over the credit card or bank account information to the seller, enter the information on a website, or provide the information over the phone to an agent. The seller then can initiate a transaction that is processed through a network of service providers that includes, banks, payment processors, merchant account agents, shopping cart providers, and credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.
Once the seller is in possession of the account information, the consumer is no longer in control of the privacy or security of their account information. For as long as there has been a system of processing transactions in this manner, there has been fraud and theft targeted at points of weakness in the handling and storage of the account information.
When a successful unauthorized fraudulent transaction takes place, everyone loses except the perpetrator of the theft. There have been several attempts at implemented technology and procedures to stop such fraudulent transactions. None of these attempts have been able to slow down the hackers attempting to get access to account information.
The Payment Card Industry (PCI) has standards and certification requirements for merchants, banks and processors, and other service providers to ensure the security of consumers' account information. There is Tokenization technology, ApplePay, AndroidPay, SamsungPay, Visa Checkout, Google Wallet technology, EMV, and Smart cards. In such systems, account information is exposed in too many places because of a lack of control or knowledge, creating a huge network of weak points that allows hackers to get access using smart electronic tools.

System and method for securely processing payment transactions


A network device includes a receiver component that generates flow control information. The network device also includes a transmitter component that receives a packet for forwarding to the receiver component, receives flow control data for the packet from the receiver component, and provides the packet and the flow control data for the packet to a fabric component. The fabric component performs a congestion management operation for the packet, and forwards the packet to the receiver component based on the flow control data and results of the congestion management operation.

There are a number of packet stream-based chip-to-chip interconnect protocols in the network industry. Some protocols are defined on fixed bandwidth point-to-point connections between chips (e.g., of a network device, such as a router). However, if a network device includes a chip (e.g., a packet processing chip, such as a packet forwarding engine (PFE)) with a single interface, and more than one interface device (e.g., input/output cards (IOCs)) needs to communicate with the packet processing chip, an interposer device (e.g., that acts as a switch) may be provided between the packet processing chip and the interface devices. If the interface devices produce more bandwidth than the packet processing chip can handle, current protocols do not prevent the interface devices from oversubscribing the packet processing chip.

Oversubscribed packet stream-based interconnect protocol


Systems and methods are provided for converting a two dimensional (2D) image for three dimensional (3D) display. In one embodiment, a minimum depth for the 3D image is set to pixels in a bottom portion of the received 2D image. If the 2D image includes an object limiting the maximum image depth, then the maximum depth of the 3D image is set based on a location of the object in the 2D image. If the 2D image does not include an object limiting the maximum image depth, then the maximum depth of the 3D image is set to pixels in a top portion of the 2D image. A continuous depth function is generated from the minimum depth to the maximum depth and is used to generate a stereoscopic image from the 2D image.

With the continuing advancement of three dimensional (3D) display technology, 3D display devices, such as 3D televisions and 3D mobile devices, are becoming more readily available. However, because of the expense of 3D video production and the limited number of 3D cameras, among other reasons, there is still very little 3D content available on the market in comparison to the availability of 2D video and image products. An efficient way of converting existing 2D content to 3D is therefore highly desirable in the 3D market.

Systems and methods for converting a 2D image to a 3D image


A control system for controlling an operation of an elevator arranged to service different floors of a building, is disclosed. The control system comprises an input interface configured to receive a measurement of a distance metric to an object located at a service floor in a line-of-sight of a sensor; an output interface configured to cause a display device to display a floor value indicating a destination floor; and a processor configured to compare the received distance metric with a referenced distance metric to estimate a sign of the comparison and a value of the comparison; repeatedly update, until a termination condition is met, the floor value displayed on the display device in a direction of the elevator service indicated by the sign and with a frequency of the update indicated by the value; and cause the elevator to perform the service operation from the service floor to the destination floor.

Nowadays, elevators are commonly used in offices and residential buildings. Typically, an elevator is controlled through physical contact, such as touching or pressing control buttons to operate the elevator. The control buttons may correspond to the desired direction of travel or directly the desired destination floor. Such physical contact on the control buttons by several users may leave millions of micro-organisms on the surface of the control buttons. In some cases, the micro-organisms may include bacteria or viruses that may cause spreading of contagious diseases. To overcome such problems, contactless inputs are introduced in many systems to control the elevators. The contactless inputs include gesture-based inputs, voice command-based inputs, and the like.
However, processing the voice command-based inputs or gesture-based inputs needed to control the elevators is complex. Such input methods require significant computational and communication infrastructure, with associated costs and installation time. Further, the voice command based inputs fail in case a user is unaware of the language accepted by a system to recognize the voice command based inputs. Also, the voice command based inputs may not be correctly recognized by the system due to different accents of users, which may result in inefficient operation of the elevators. Further, in case of gesture based inputs, the user is required to be aware of the gestures acceptable by the system to control the elevators. Due to such limitations, the current systems are rendered inefficient which leads to inconvenience of the users of the elevators.
Accordingly, there is a need of a system for operating the elevator with contactless inputs of the elevators in an efficient and feasible manner.

Method and system for touchless elevator control

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


The invention is directed to a computer-implemented method and system for duplicating an object using a touch-sensitive display. The method comprises: (i) displaying a selected first object on the touch-sensitive display; (ii) detecting a first user interaction and a second user interaction on the selected first object; (iii) detecting a movement of the first user interaction outside the selected first object; (iv) displaying a second object which tracks the movement of the first user interaction on the touch-sensitive display, the second object being a duplication of the first object; and (v) positioning the second object according to a last detected location of the first user interaction on the touch-sensitive display.

In the field of computers, the graphical user interface (GUI) plays an important role as regards the efficiency of the interactions between a user and a device such as for example personal computer, laptop, music player, cell phone, personal digital assistants. These devices execute various applications and programs which perform functions.
Usually, the user interacts with the applications and programs through menus, toolbar, icons, and other graphics which are displayed on the GUI. For instance, in the field of computer-aided techniques, a number of systems and programs are offered on the market for the design of objects (or parts) or assemblies of objects, forming a product, such as the one provided by Dassault Systèmes under the trademark CATIA. These CAD systems allow a user to construct and manipulate complex three dimensional (3D) models of objects or assemblies of objects through the GUI.
Traditionally, operations are graphically performed by a cursor operated by the user. The cursor is displayed on the GUI of the device, and operated via a pointing device such as a mouse, a trackball, a graphic tablet, and the like. It is also possible to perform the operations via an input peripheral device such as physical buttons (e.g. push button) or a keyboard. More recently, touch-sensitive displays have been developed. They provide a new kind of interactions between the user and the device. The touch-sensitive display can detect the presence and the location of an interaction on the display area; for instance a contact of the user's finger on the display. The touch-sensitive display thus provides an input interface which replaces the traditional pointing device. Furthermore, it also provides an output interface.
A touch-sensitive display comprises a touch-sensitive surface which is able to detect any interaction of the user with this surface. Several types of touch-sensitive display technologies have been developed, including but not limited to, resistive, surface acoustic wave, infrared, and capacitive technologies. An interaction may be provided for instance via an object (e.g. a stylus) and/or an appendice (e.g. a finger of a hand of the user). Direct interactions with what is displayed are therefore possible.
In general, a device comprising a touch-sensitive display does not comprise anymore a pointing device and/or input peripheral device. However, this can prevent the user from performing some operations which are traditionally made with a pointing device and/or input peripheral device. For instance, some operations are performed with combinations of a set of alphanumeric keys of a keyboard which inputs information to the device, and such combinations are difficult to be reproduced with a touch-sensitive display.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0079700 A1 describes a one-touch rotation method for use within a graphical user interface. The one-touch rotation method allows a user to rotate, and sometimes move, a virtual object within a virtual workspace. Rotation of the virtual object can be achieved using a one-touch user input, such as a one-finger gesture. The one-touch rotation method includes recognizing and tracking a one-touch user input, and rotating the virtual object responsive to the tracked movement of the one-touch user input.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0184939 A1 describes a method for manipulating position, size and/or orientation of one or more graphical objects displayed on a touch-sensitive screen by directly interacting with the touch-sensitive screen using two or more user interactions. The relative location of the user interactions with respect to the graphical object being manipulated is maintained throughout the manipulation. The manipulation does not require analyzing trajectories and/or characterizing a movement path of the user interactions and thereby the manipulation can be performed at relatively low processing costs.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0153492 A1 describes a touch-sensitive display surface configured to display a geographic map and receive a gesture input generated by a user on the touch-sensitive display surface while the geographic map is displayed, the gesture input defining a selected geographic area on the geographic map. A finger-pinch made with the thumb and the index finger of a user produces a finger-pinch drawn boundary box gesture input that includes a rectangular shaped geographic boundary in a space between the thumb and the index finger that defines a selected geographic area.
The copy and paste command (also referred to as duplication command) is a very common function. It may be for example performed with the key-combinations Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V of the keyboard. Nevertheless, such key-combinations are not feasible on a touch-sensitive display or at least difficult to achieve. In order to bypass the above mentioned limitation, graphical copy/paste commands have been developed.
A first method consists in performing the copy/paste command by selecting with a pointing device the object to copy, then performing an action (e.g. right click with the right button of a mouse) on the object the user wants to copy and selecting the 'Copy' menu which appeared consecutively to the right click. Next, the user performs another action (e.g. a right click) at the location he/she wants to copy the object, and selects the 'Paste' menu (e.g. a left click). However, this method requires a pointing device with at least two buttons which is not always available on a touch-sensitive device.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0228842 A1 describes a copy Tool which allows the user to copy selected items by a distance and direction defined by two picked points on a window. After the user selects the copy Tool, the user can enter two points defining the distance and direction corresponding to the position of the copied item. When performing a copy command, the first selected point acts as the base reference point for copying the objects, while the second selected point defines the distance and direction for the copied items.
Another known method consists in performing a double tap on the object to select, then pressing and holding the finger to make a selection. Then the user selects the menu 'Copy' which appeared nearby the selected object thanks to the former gestures. Next, the user taps twice on the position he/she wants to copy. Finally, the user clicks on the menu 'Paste' which appeared nearby the selected position.
This method suffers the drawback that a copy Tool is selected, which may be a cumbersome task and time consuming when the user needs to make several copy/paste operations. For that reason, methods based on gestures have been proposed.
A known method consists in selecting the object to copy, and then to do a copy gesture on the selection. For instance, the gesture may be tapping concomitantly the thumb and the middle finger on the touch-sensitive surface. The paste gesture is carried out on the place where the user wants to paste the object.
These various methods for performing a copy/paste operation suffer several drawbacks. For instance, the achievement of these methods is time consuming. For instance, the menu 'Copy' needs to be called in order to trigger the copy/paste function, which involves performing a specific gesture for calling the menu. Moreover, the gestures required to trigger the copy/paste are not natural and ergonomical for the user. In addition, it is pretty hard for the user to position the duplicated object at a precise position; notably, this is the consequence of the non ergonomical gestures.
Thus, according to the limitations of the existing solutions shortly discussed above, there is a need for an improved method for duplicating an object in a touch-sensitive display. Preferably, the method should improve the precision of the gesture, which should be intuitive for the user.

Method and system for duplicating an object using a touch-sensitive display


A medical gown (701) includes a layer of material (100) with a seam (401) disposed across the layer of material. The material can include a weave (110) of untwisted, continuous filament polyester. The material can also include a carbon filament (109). The seam is sealed by applying a tape (200) across the seam and applying heat to cause the tape to attach to the weave.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to fabrics, and more particularly to gowns.
Background Art
Medical professionals frequently interact with patients who have communicable diseases. When treating such patients, the medical professional must take care not become infected or ill due to the microorganisms or pathogens related to the disease. This is frequently accomplished by donning a medical gown. These medical gowns are sometimes referred to as an "isolation gown."
One problem associated with prior art medical gowns involves their construction. When multiple parts of the gown are sewn together, the resulting seam can act as a pathway for pathogens and other infections substances to pass through the medical gown. Such pathways put the medical services provider at risk of becoming ill. It would be advantageous to have a gown that overcomes some of the issues associated with prior art medical gowns.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.

Surgeon gown with sealed sleeves and methods of manufacturing the same