An optical connector subassembly (1) includes a ferrule (2), a base member (4) and a locking element (6). The ferrule defines an axial passageway (22) for receiving a core of an optical cable and a plurality of holes (24) provided on an outer surface of the ferrule. The base member has a space (42) for receiving a lower portion of the ferrule, a bore (46) that is formed along a central axis of the base member and ends in a funnel (48) for guiding an optical fiber into the passageway, and a plurality of openings (44) formed on the upper portion of the base member and corresponding to the holes of the ferrule and communicating with the receiving space. The locking element has a plurality of free extension portions (62) that extend through the corresponding openings and into the corresponding holes to join the ferrule and the base member together.

The present invention relates to optical connectors, and particularly to an optical connector subassembly comprising a ferrule and a base member
Optical fiber connectors are an essential part of substantially any optical fiber communication system. Optical fiber connectors generally have two functions, one being the maintenance of two optical fiber ends such that the core of one of the fibers is axially aligned with the core of the other fiber to allow substantially all of the light from one fiber to be coupled into the other fiber. This is a particularly challenging task because the light-carrying region (core) of an optical fiber is very small. The other function of an optical connector is to provide mechanical stability and protection to the junction in its working environment. Achieving low insertion loss in the coupling of two fibers is generally a function of the alignment of the fiber ends, the width of the gap between the ends, and the optical surface condition of either or both ends. Stability and junction protection is generally a function of connector design, for example, minimization of the different thermal expansion and mechanical movement effects.
A variety of connector plugs are known in the art. For a discussion of optical fiber connectors, see, for example, Optical Fiber Telecommunication, S. E. Miller and A. G. Chynoweth, editors, Academic Press (1988), especially pp.301-325. One of the known connector plugs is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,785. The connector plug comprises a ferrule, a base member which holds the ferrule, a compression spring, and a cap that surrounds the ferrule and the spring. The ferrule is held rigidly in the base member by an adhesive. The ferrule and the base member each include an opening that extends lengthwise from one end to the other. For clarity, each opening will be referred to as a xe2x80x9cpassagewayxe2x80x9d when discussing the ferrule, and a xe2x80x9cborexe2x80x9d when discussing the base member. The central axis of the passageway and the bore need to be axially alignedxe2x80x94particularly in the region where the ferrule meets the base member so that an optical fiber can be threaded along their common axis. And while manufacturing tolerances may approach xe2x80x9czeroxe2x80x9d, practical considerations such as cost have dictated that axial alignment tolerance be relaxed while still assuring that an optical fiber can pass through the junction where the bore of the base member meets the passageway of the ferrule. Heretofore, this concern has been handled by designing a fiber entry funnel in the proximal end of the ferrule where the fiber is inserted. Such a funnel can be produced in a variety of different ways such as by grinding, etching, or fire polishing. However, this is a process that consumes time and resources and ultimately leads to a product having a higher final cost.
In addition, the method of joining the ferrule with the base member by an adhesive has the following drawbacks. First, the adhesive can frequently enter the funnel and then block the entry of the optical fiber during the adhesive process. Secondly, the ferrule will become separated from the base member if the adhesive loses effectiveness over time. Furthermore, the joining method is costly and time-consuming.
Therefore, an improved optical connector subassembly having a ferrule and a base member that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired.
A main object of the present invention is to provide an optical subassembly which has a ferrule and a base member which are joined firmly together and which have their central axes accurately axially aligned.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cheap optical subassembly which is manufactured easily and efficiently.
To achieve the above objects, an optical connector subassembly comprises a ferrule, a base member and a locking element. The ferrule defines an axial passageway for receiving a core of an optical cable, and a plurality of holes provided in an outer surface of the ferrule. The base member has a receiving space for receiving a lower portion of the ferrule, a bore that is formed along a central axis of the base member and ends in a funnel for guiding an optical fiber into the passageway, and a plurality of openings formed in an upper portion of the base member corresponding to the holes of the ferrule and communicating with the receiving space. The locking element has a plurality of free extension portions that extend through the corresponding openings in the base member and into the corresponding holes of the ferrule to join the ferrule and the base member together.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:


An electrical box assembly for concrete pours that includes an improved leveling ring and can be adapted to mount either high or low voltage components or a combination of high and low voltage components. The leveling ring for leveling an electrical component with respect to the concrete surface includes one or more legs extending outward of the ring's periphery for improving adhesion of the ring with the inner surface of the electrical box. The versatility of the electrical box is improved by a slide member that can be inserted within the enclosure of the electrical box in order to subdivide the enclosure into high and low voltage compartments. Leveling rings are provided in two embodiments for mounting conventional electrical box covers, one for mounting a flat electrical box cover and one for mounting a pop-up electrical box cover.

A common desire in the pouring of concrete floors for basements, patios, and the like, is the installation of one or more electrical outlets in the concrete floor in order to provide electrical service in a given floor area. In order to meet this need, electrical boxes have been proposed for concrete pours. These boxes are placed within the forms that will receive the concrete pour and the concrete is poured around the electrical box, and, after the concrete cures, an electrical component is mounted within the box.
One problem that commonly occurs when an electrical box is placed within the form area that will receive the concrete pour is the shifting of the orientation of the electrical box as a result of the heavy concrete mixture forcing the box out of the desired plumb vertical orientation. In other cases, the concrete surface is purposely sloped and the concrete pour forces the electrical box out of alignment with the concrete surface. In either case, an adjustment must be made in order to mount the electrical component, such as a duplex receptacle, level with the concrete surface.
Several electrical boxes have been proposed in order to compensate for the misalignment of an electrical box as a result of a concrete pour. Typically, these electrical boxes use a leveling ring that can be adjusted to align the electrical component with the level of the concrete. Two types of leveling rings have been proposed, including those attached by clips within the electrical box and those secured to the box by adhesive. In order to be able to level in any desired direction, the outer surface of the adhesive attached leveling rings is arcuate in shape. Although electrical boxes with leveling rings secured by adhesive have been proposed, as a result of the arcuate outer surface of the ring, the amount of surface available for adhesive contact of the ring with the inner wall of the electrical box is minimal. This minimal contact between the leveling ring and the inner wall of the electrical box has been known to cause loosening of the ring from the electrical box inner wall and thus causes loosening of the electrical component mounted therein.
What is needed therefore is an improved electrical box for concrete pours that enables secure mounting of an electrical device therein and also enables mounting of both flat and pop-up electrical covers. Furthermore, what is needed is an electrical box for concrete pours that provides the capability to mount both high and low voltage components in the same box.

Electrical box assembly for poured concrete floors


The invention relates to control of a wind turbine comprising a plurality of multi-axial accelerometers mounted at different positions in the nacelle and/or in a top portion of the tower. The position and orientation of each accelerometer as mounted is obtained, accelerations in at least two different directions by each accelerometer are measured during operation of the wind turbine. From a number of predetermined mode shapes for the movement of the wind turbine is then determined an absolute position of at least one of the accelerometers during operation of the wind turbine based on the measured accelerations, the mount position and orientation of each accelerometer and the pre-determined mode shapes. Hereby a more precise absolute position during operation is obtained which can be used in the controlling of the turbine.

Most modern wind turbines are controlled and regulated continuously with the purpose of ensuring maximum power extraction from the wind under the current wind and weather conditions, while at the same time ensuring that the loads on the different components of the wind turbine are at any time kept within acceptable limits.
During operation the wind turbine tower is seen to move and oscillate. Tower oscillations are caused primarily by variations in the thrust force and torque acting on the rotor. Such variations are typically caused by turbulence in the wind or by changes in the controlling of the wind turbine, for example changing pitch or yawing. For the control of the wind turbine and with the general purpose of optimizing the power production and reducing the loads of the turbine it is important to know or have a good estimate of the wind speed and the thrust force acting on the rotor. Likewise, the position and velocity of the nacelle or the tower top are important parameters to be able to take into account in the wind turbine control. Both the positions and the velocities in the fore-aft direction and in the side-side direction relative to the orientation of the wind turbine are of importance.
The tower oscillation may at least to some extent be determined by placing a number of accelerometers and/or strain gauges along the entire length of the tower in order to thereby estimate the mode shapes of the oscillating tower. In another approach, the top position may be estimated based on an accelerometer positioned to measure the fore-aft accelerations of the nacelle together with an estimate on the thrust force acting on the rotor. However, this approach takes only the fore-aft motion into account and the use of a thrust estimate in the estimation unavoidably decreases the accuracy of the method.
US 2008/118342 discloses placing accelerometers or strain gauges in the tower head and approximately halfway up the tower of an turbine corresponding to where the maximum deflections of the tower occur under its first and second natural frequencies. If the measurements exceed certain limits indicative of excessive oscillations, the turbine is operated in trundle mode to dampen the oscillations.
US 2004/108729 discloses a wind turbine with means for detecting and monitoring the oscillation of the wind turbine pylon. Two one-way accelerometers are placed at right angles in the nacelle and the measured accelerations are cumulated and used in determining the average deflection of the pylon from the rest position. However, the oscillation is only determined by this average over time which is far from fully describing the oscillation or the travel of the nacelle during operation.
WO2010060772 discloses to control an operational parameter of a wind turbine blade. The velocity of the wind turbine nacelle and a position of the wind turbine nacelle relative to a running mean are determined and from these the actual operating situation. This actual operating situation is compared to a predetermined space of acceptable operating situations determined from a set of normal operating situations, and a control strategy is chosen from a predetermined set of strategies.

Control of a wind turbine comprising multi-axial accelerometers


In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, an information handling system may include a processor and a memory system communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory system may include one or more persistent memory modules, each of the one or more persistent memory modules comprising a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory and one or more health registers accessible to a host system executing on the processor, the health registers storing health information indicating, for each of a plurality of ranks of the volatile memory, whether the memory system can reliably perform a save operation to a portion of non-volatile memory mapped to volatile memory of the rank.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are increasingly using persistent memory technologies such as Non-Volatile Dual In-line Memory Modules (NVDIMMs), including NVDIMM-N. An NVDIMM is a memory module that may retain data even when electrical power is removed either from an unexpected power loss, system crash or from a normal system shutdown. To enable such functionality, an NVDIMM may include a traditional dynamic random access memory (DRAM) which may store data during normal operation when electrical power is available from a power supply unit and a flash memory to back up data present in the DRAM when a loss of electrical power from the power supply unit occurs. A battery, capacitor, or other energy storage device either internal or external to the NVDIMM may supply electrical energy for a "save" operation to transfer data from the DRAM to the flash memory in response to a power loss event from the power supply unit.
In typical DRAM-only implementations of memory systems, no DRAM health is made visible to a host system, as DRAMs are assumed to have almost infinite endurance. However, on NVDIMM-N modules, where the non-volatile media (e.g., flash) operates in the background for guaranteeing persistence on a power loss and is unexposed to the host system, there is a single health bit that is used to warn the user on the media health on the whole. This bit informs the host memory controller (e.g., executing within a processor) that the media accessed has exceeded a given user-configurable percentage of the maximum accesses allowed (e.g., 70 percent). Such health bit represents the entire media of an DIMM (or NVDIMM) module as it assumes the entire volatile media (e.g., DRAM) storage space is mapped to non-volatile media (e.g., flash memory) in a save operation during a power loss. However, in actuality, there may exist specific portions of the non-volatile media (e.g., blocks or ranks) that can have different failure rates due to any number of factors, including shrinking process geometries, process variations, etc. Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide fine-grained media health visibility to a host system.

Systems and methods for granular non-volatile memory health visibility to a host


A classification apparatus is configured to perform a classification using a neural network with at least one hidden layer and an output layer, wherein the classification apparatus comprises a coarse training unit configured to train the neural network on a subset of neurons of a last hidden layer and a set of neurons of the output layer; and a fine training unit configured to train the neural network on a set of the last hidden layer and a subset of neurons of the output layer. By executing the classification apparatus, training of a classification model can be improved by reducing the computational burden of the classification, speeding up the training time of a classification model, and speeding up the inference time during application of the classification model.

Classification models deal with the problem of determining probabilities of objects belonging to certain classes. In this matter, one type of classification model dealing with classification problems are autoregressive models using chain rule decomposition of the joint probability of a sequence, in particular language models.
Language models may attempt to determine the probability of sequences of words, wherein a language model may learn a probability of what the next word in a specific sequence/text/sentence could be. In order to do so, the probability of each word in a vocabulary set being the next word in a sequence may be computed, wherein the vocabulary set may represent an entire dictionary, or a specific domain restricted sample of words.
One drawback of language models is that they are particularly complex due to a very large number of classes in which words with, for example, similar meanings, attributes, roots, etc. are sorted or divided for classification. In addition, the size of the vocabulary set is a bottleneck for training the classification model. To get a well-trained language model, a large number of words has to be included in the vocabulary set. For example, if a language model attempts to predict the next word in a sequence from a preselected vocabulary set, the vocabulary set can easily contain more than 1,000,000 words leading to an increased computational burden and low throughput.
The complexity problem of classification models, in particular of language models, has been heavily studied since the beginning of at least the early 2000s. In this matter, the prior art mostly concentrates on reducing the computational time of training classification models, like language models, by varying the dimensions of the input and output. For language models, for example, the prior art concentrates on limiting the vocabulary set in order to reduce the computational time of training language models. Reducing the vocabulary set, however, also leads to a reduced capacity of the language model. In the best-case scenario, the methods and apparatuses of the prior art improve the training time by order of 10 times.

Classification apparatus and method for optimizing throughput of classification models


A low cost assembly comprising only three major components: a circuit board assembly, a molded plastic housing and a molded plastic cover. The plastic parts are transparent polycarbonate (natural "Lexan") wherein the housing has an integrally molded optical quality lens. Mounting features are integrally molded on the housing and cover. The circuit board assembly uses a common board, trace pattern and terminals and can be either a source or detector by appropriate selection of electronic components mounted to the board. A plurality of rounded bosses on the housing and larger round recesses in edges of the circuit board provide a light interference fit between housing and board to firmly hold the board in place and provide correct orientation of the board relative to the housing. The board may be readily removed and replaced for field repair of the sensor.

This invention relates to photoelectric sensors and in particular to through beam photoelectric sensors. More particularly, the invention relates to a low cost photoelectric sensor assembly for a through beam photoelectric sensor which may readily be repaired in the field.
The use of sensors to monitor the presence or absence of an object, its position, or some other condition of the object in manufacturing and handling apparatus is steadily increasing, due largely to the availability of computers, microcomputers and the like which can quickly respond to the sensed conditions and make appropriate changes in the process. A piece of manufacturing or material handling apparatus may contain numerous sensors. Photoelectric sensing is a popular form of sensing for many applications. However, the cost of photoelectric sensors is a deterrent to using this form of sensor in the growing quantities conceivable for such manufacturing and material handling apparatus. Moreover, since most sensing applications are in manufacturing production lines, and since it is undesirable to shut down such production lines for repair of any element thereof, repair of most photoelectric sensors presently available comprises replacement of the sensor on the site.

Photoelectric sensor assembly with transparent housing an integrally molded lens


Methods and apparatuses described herein are configured to calculate the instantaneous bit rate of a network connection. According to certain aspects, conventional solutions measure average bit rate of a network, whereas the techniques described herein are configured to measure the instantaneous bit rate. According to further aspects, structurally, conventional solutions require external devices (hosts or servers) and a plurality of data packets for measurement, whereas the present invention is self-referenced and requires, in principle, only two network packets, of any type, for measuring the instantaneous bit rate. The instantaneous bit rate can then be used to adjust the transmission bit rate of network packets to optimize the network connection such that the bandwidth of the network connection is fully utilized and packet loss is avoided.

The achievable service quality of an Internet access network is contingent on the network connection's available bit rate (i.e., bandwidth). Services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video streaming or videoconferencing, on-line gaming, or other "time-sensitive" applications, referred to as real-time applications, require bandwidth at a specific rate for acceptable performance. Conventional solutions to measuring bit rate only measure an average bit rate over time. But because available bandwidth is constantly varying in a network connection at any given point in time due to drastically changing network conditions, conventional methods that only measure the average bit rate over a period of time are inadequate. In addition, to perform the average bit rate measurement, conventional methods require external servers and multiple data packets.
Conventional methods of speed test measurements, generally known to the public, use servers located in the Internet. Network test packets, which are issued by the requestor, commonly must traverse a number of intermediate nodes before arriving at the speed test server. In such methods, the supposed speed measurement is, in practice, at best merely a measure of the slowest link speed, and not necessarily the actual speed of the requestor's direct connection. A major disadvantage of this conventional speed test approach is that it is not useful for specifying service levels for Quality of Service, which requires a guaranteed available bandwidth, since Internet packets are transmitted on a "best effort" basis and may traverse various nodes that have varying link speeds.
Known conventional methods for acquiring connection bit rate estimates include: (1) interrogating the Internet Service Provider ("ISP"), or (2) interrogating the access modem directly, or (3) manually entering the likely bandwidth at the user premises equipment, or (4) running bit rate estimation algorithms using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ("Pings") or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) echo requests with a server, or (5) running a rate estimation algorithm based on real-time traffic. The primary disadvantages of these methods, respectively, are: (1) bit rate information is, in practice, not available from an ISP, or (2) bit rate measurement and reporting is not a feature of today's Internet access modems, or (3) manual settings, even when updated periodically, cannot reflect rapidly changing conditions on the network, or (4) rate estimation algorithms provide time-averaged estimates (that is, non-instantaneous estimates.)
Conventional methods are also generally intrusive, require user invocation, and cannot provide the rapid speed measurements necessary to secure fast, error-free, network-efficient connections per session. Other methods include using timestamps in packets to determine network bandwidth, but these methods cannot account for the clock skew of each of the devices at the various hops on the network that a packet must traverse through. Methods using satellites have been tried to account for this clock skew problem, but these approximation methods encounter many additional problems.

Measuring instantaneous bit rate in a network connection


A receiving processor is configured with a normal (operational) path and a test path. The test path is configured in parallel with the normal path. The test path simulates and receives as input the same data as the normal path, but the test path has a separate voltage reference (Vref—test) which is applied to a test input buffer. The same data input to normal buffer is also input to the test buffer. The output of the test buffer is input to a test latch. A clocking signal supplied to the test latch is a variable clocking signal enabling the clock signal to be skewed selectively. The output of the test latch is compared with the output of the normal latch, and differences between the two output signals defines an error for a particular voltage/clock-skew combination.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to determining signal quality in a digital system and, more particularly, to determining signal quality of clocked signals applied to a chip receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
In processing systems (e.g., computers, handheld devices, etc.) the signal quality of synchronous signals must be in compliance with the specifications of the device. Such signals are commonly found in busses where the signals must arrive at their final destination point together and are sampled by a common clock. If the signal quality is not in compliance with the device specifications, the device will typically signal a parity error or other error type, and this typically causes a system reboot or requires the retransmission of data.
Measurement of high speed signals in the prior art utilize a voltage reference to determine when the receiver sees a high or low reference. Chip vendors will typically specify a minimum setup time and minimum hold time at which the vendor will guarantee that the device will operate properly. Oscilloscope images are visually compared to specifications to determine if there is sufficient set-up and hold time at the specified voltage levels.
It is typical to test the signal quality of a system before the system is made available to a consumer, and/or during system start-up when the system is actually in use. The set-up, hold, rise, and fall times of the signals are usually measured with an oscilloscope referenced to the receiving clock and the signal pad of the component being tested. This measuring process can take days or weeks to accomplish, especially when some chips have greater than 1,000 signals which must be measured.

Dynamic determination of signal quality in a digital system

International Business Machines Corporation


A vacuum cleaning system for a recreational vehicle having an internal compartment including a floor and a plurality of walls extending upwardly from the floor comprises a vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet, a vacuum hose having inlet and outlet ends and a vacuum line in or extending along one of the walls. The vacuum line is connected to the suction inlet of the vacuum cleaner and to the outlet end of the vacuum hose for cleaning the compartment. The vacuum cleaner can be portable and releasably connected to the vacuum line from outside the vehicle, or can be mounted inside the vehicle and permanently connected to the vacuum line.

This invention relates to the art of recreational vehicles and, more particularly, to a central vacuum cleaning system for such vehicles.
The popularity and use of recreational vehicles, such as motor homes and trailers, has increased dramatically over the past few years. Such vehicles vary in length from about 15 feet to over 40 feet in length, and the interiors thereof include many of the accommodations of a home such as, for example, a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living area. The floors of these vehicles are covered with wood, linoleum, tile, and/or carpeting, and the living areas generally include upholstered furniture such as couches and/or chairs. As is well known, recreational vehicles are used for a wide variety of recreational activities including vacations and weekend camping during which the vehicle is most often parked in a campground or camping area in a state or national park. In any event, the environment is generally one in which the ground is primarily dirt or gravel whereby, even with the utmost care, it is difficult to avoid tracking dirt and the like into the vehicle. Most vehicle owners store a broom in the vehicle for cleaning purposes, but a broom is generally inadequate for cleaning floor surfaces which are carpeted. Moreover, the use of a broom on carpet causes dust which accumulates on the upholstered furniture and/or other surfaces within the vehicle, thus adding to the problem of keeping the interior clean. Other vehicle owners carry a standard home vacuum cleaner, provided the vehicle is of a size which accommodates the storage thereof. Storage space in a recreational vehicle is always at a premium, and the space required to store a standard sized upright or canister-type vacuum cleaner, whether internal or external of the vehicle, takes away from the space available for other supplies and/or equipment which the owner would like to include for a given excursion. Moreover, the use of a standard vacuum cleaner in a recreational vehicle is both cumbersome and inefficient. In particular in this respect, the areas to be cleaned are often quite small and unable to accommodate movement of an upright-type vacuum cleaner thereacross and, where movement is possible, the pushing or pulling of an upright cleaner or the canister of the canister-type vacuum cleaner is cumbersome and promotes damage to walls and other surfaces extending up from the floor of the vehicle. Small, hand-held cleaners are inadequate in that they do not have enough cleaning power and, moreover, require the user to bend over or kneel down in order to vacuum floor areas.
An alternative to the foregoing use of portable vacuum cleaners is a built-in vacuum system including a vacuum cleaner which hangs on or is recessed into a wall in the recreational vehicle. A flexible hose is attachable to the vacuum cleaner and is stretchable up to 30 feet from the vacuum cleaner and is wrapped around the latter for storage. In addition to the disadvantage of the vacuum and hose projecting outwardly from the wall on which it is supported, there is a significant and progressively increasing loss in cleaning power as the flexible hose is stretched beyond the usual six foot to eight foot length of such hoses. Still further, if the hose is stretchable up to 30 feet it is either heavy and cumbersome to maneuver or, if lightweight for the latter purpose, is subject to damage such as through puncturing and abrasive wear from engagement with corners of walls, appliances or the like which would necessarily be encountered in connection with extending and retracting the hose throughout the interior of the vehicle. Still further, such engagement of the hose with corners and other surfaces in the vehicle subjects the latter to damage such as scratching, gouging and the like.
In accordance with the present invention, a recreational vehicle is provided with a central vacuum cleaning system which overcomes or avoids the foregoing and other disadvantages of vacuum cleaning systems heretofore available for use in recreational vehicles. More particularly in this respect, a central vacuum system in accordance with the invention comprises a small vacuum cleaner having a suction inlet connected to or connectable to a vacuum line in the internal compartment of a recreational vehicle, or in a wall thereof, and which vacuum line has at least one coupling for connecting the vacuum line to a vacuum hose for vacuum cleaning the compartment. The vacuum line can be inwardly adjacent a wall of the recreational vehicle extending upwardly from the floor thereof and, in this respect, enables the central vacuum system to be installed in existing recreational vehicles. Alternatively, the vacuum line can be within a wall of the vehicle between wall panels providing the wall and, accordingly, can be designed and built into a new recreational vehicle in connection with the construction thereof.
The vacuum cleaner itself can be a relatively small, canister-like cleaner which, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, is portable, storable in a relatively small space, and removably connected to the vacuum line during periods of use. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the vacuum cleaner can be stored internally or externally of the recreational vehicle and can be connected to the vacuum line either internally or externally of the vehicle. More particularly in this respect, a coupling in the vacuum line for connection to the suction inlet of the vacuum cleaner can be accessible within the vehicle or from a location outside the vehicle and, alternatively, couplings can be provided for selectively accessing the vacuum line from within or without the vehicle. If the vacuum cleaner is connected to the vacuum line at a location outside the vehicle, it will be appreciated that the only appliance necessary for vacuum cleaning the interior of the vehicle compartment is the vacuum hose and an appropriate tool attached thereto. Moreover, depending on the length of the vehicle compartment and/or the internal configuration thereof, more than one coupling can be provided in the vacuum line for connecting the vacuum hose thereto to facilitate cleaning different areas of the compartment with a relatively short vacuum hose, thus minimizing the storage space required for the hose.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a canister-type vacuum cleaner can be Amounted within the vehicle, such as in a closet area or in an under-the-counter area with the suction inlet thereof being coupled directly to the vacuum line whereby, again, the only appliance exposed in the vehicle compartment during cleaning thereof is the flexible hose and tool which are connectable to the vacuum line as described above. In any event, a central vacuuming system according to the invention advantageously minimizes the space occupied by cleaning appliances during vacuum cleaning of the interior of a recreational vehicle by either having the vacuum cleaner located outside the vehicle or within an enclosure within the vehicle. Moreover, the ability to selectively connect the vacuum cleaning hose to one or more couplings along the length of the vacuum line advantageously enables the use of a relatively short vacuum cleaning hose, thus minimizing the storage space required therefor.
It is accordingly an outstanding object of the present invention to provide an improved vacuum cleaning system for recreational vehicles.
Another object is the provision of the vacuum cleaning system for the foregoing purpose which minimizes the amount and size of vacuum cleaning equipment required within the compartment of a motor vehicle during a vacuum cleaning operation.
Yet another object is the provision of a vacuum cleaning system for the foregoing purpose which includes a vacuum line permanently installed relative to the interior compartment of a recreational vehicle and a portable vacuum hose for connection therewith to facilitate cleaning different areas within the compartment.
Still another object is the provision of a vacuum cleaning system of the foregoing character including a relatively small vacuum cleaner which can be permanently installed within a storage space of the vehicle so as to be unexposed within the vehicle compartment.
A further object is the provision of a vacuum cleaning system of the foregoing character in which the vacuum cleaner is portable and connectable to the vacuum line from inside or outside the vehicle.
Yet a further object is the provision of a vacuum cleaning system of the foregoing character which can be installed in an existing recreational vehicle or installed in a new vehicle in connection with the construction thereof.
Still a further object is the provision of a vacuum cleaning system of the foregoing character which requires a minimum amount of storage space, is readily rendered operable, which is more convenient to use than systems heretofore available, and which promotes protection for the vacuum hose of the system as well as for surfaces and components within the vehicle compartment exposed to engagement thereby.

Vacuum cleaning system for recreational vehicles


A vehicle employing a method of detecting seatbelt status in a vehicle may include detecting occupants entering the vehicle and taking first seat images with a camera upon detecting the vehicle may begin travel imminently. The first seat images are analyzed to detect the occupants, with LEDs activated on seatbelt assemblies for seats with the occupants. Activation of the LEDs is changed for respective seats with the occupants upon detecting seatbelt engagement for the corresponding seat, and second seat images are taken upon detecting that the vehicle is shifted into gear. The first and second seat images are compared, and an alert is activated when the comparison of first and second seat images indicates improper seatbelt use for one of the seats with the occupants. Fault conditions may also be detected.

The present invention relates to a motor vehicle and more particularly to detecting a seatbelt status for an occupant of the vehicle.
Automotive vehicles today generally come equipped with airbags to protect vehicle occupants. An input to the systems that deploy the airbags may be whether the vehicle occupants are wearing seatbelts. One way to detect seatbelt usage is monitoring seat belt buckle switches to identify the latching status of the buckle. Some vehicle occupants have developed workarounds for such detection by buckling the seatbelt and sitting on it rather than wearing the seatbelt. Accordingly, it may be desirable to better detect seat belt usage for vehicle occupants.


A wiring sheet includes one or more carbon wires each of which is one of a signal line and a power supply line, and which are conductors including carbon as a main material and have flexibility; and an insulation sheet that encloses substantially an entirety of the one or more carbon wires, includes an electrical insulator as a main material, and has flexibility.

For bringing efficiency to maintenance operation of structures and prolonging cycles of repairing the structures, which have been conducted by human power at different sites, various ideas have been produced.
For example, in a concrete-made structure such as a tunnel, a crack may occur on a wall surface of concrete with lapse of time after its completion. In an environment where rainwater, groundwater, or the like enters this crack, the water may freeze in winter, further widening the crack. Such a crack can cause flaking off of the wall surface, posing danger. To prevent such danger, measures for preventing freezing by disposing conductive lines on a wall surface at a time of repairing a crack on the wall surface and energizing these conductive lines from a wiring for illumination to emit heat are proposed (see Patent Literature (PTL) 1).
In conventional practices, checking for an anomaly in a concrete-made structure such as a crack is performed by hammering diagnosis or the like conducted by human power at the site; however, there are technical proposes relating to a device and the like that replace such manual inspection operations. For example, a technique for inspecting a structure by analyzing captured images obtained by a camera fixed at a stationary point or mounted on a traveling vehicle is proposed.

Wiring sheet, sheet-shaped system, and structure operation support system


A method and a system for mapping a surroundings of at least one vehicle and for locating the at least one vehicle. Measurement data of the vehicle's surroundings are ascertained by at least one radar sensor of the at least one vehicle, the measurement data of the at least one radar sensor being aggregated. The aggregated measurement data are compared with already existing aggregated measurement data. The aggregated measurement data are optimized by reducing measurement errors based on the comparison between the aggregated measurement data and the already existing aggregated measurement data. A map is generated or updated on the basis of the optimized aggregated measurement data, and the at least one vehicle being located on the generated or updated map by comparing the ascertained measurement data with the generated map.

Current autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles are highly dependent on provided cartographic information. The cartographic information is used for planning routes and for ascertaining the position of the vehicles. The cartographic information or maps are normally available at different levels. A first level is used for example for planning a precise lane course and driving maneuvers. On the basis of these data, autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles are able to keep to a lane or adapt. Another level has detectable objects, which are detectable by sensors in the vehicle and identifiable by a comparison with the existing information of the information level. On the basis of the identified objects, the vehicles are able to ascertain their relative position with respect to the objects and thus on the map. At another information level of the map, dynamically changing information such as for example road conditions, weather conditions, parking space information or traffic volume may be stored.
To allow for autonomous or partially autonomous driving functions, this cartographic information must be highly up to date and spatially highly accurate.

Method and system for mapping and locating a vehicle based on radar measurements


A bolt-covering cap which is self-threading and gives little resistance when being threaded onto a bolt but greater resistance when being unthreaded, providing for easy installation, a tight and secure fit resistant to inadvertent loosening, and intentional removal when needed. The bolt-covering cap provides a cover shell and three angled blades which slightly deflect in one direction, requiring less turning force, and which resist deflection in the opposite direction, requiring more turning force and resisting inadvertent loosening.

This invention provides a bolt-covering cap.
The installation of toilets is an instance where the use of bolts is necessary, but where the exposed ends of the bolts are dangerous and unsightly. The flange bolts used in installing toilets need to be long enough to accommodate thicker flooring materials, but leave excess exposed bolt when used with less thick flooring. The bolt caps or covers presently known are difficult to install, are vulnerable to being knocked or shaken loose during use and cleaning of the toilet, are hard to clean, and tend to provide places for dirt and grime to accumulate, especially when incorrectly installed or knocked out of position.
What is needed is a bolt-covering cap which is self-threading and gives little resistance when being threaded onto a bolt but greater resistance when being unthreaded, providing for easy installation, a tight and secure fit resistant to inadvertent loosening, and intentional removal when needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,551,834 for a "Protective Plastic Cap," issued on May 8, 1951 to assignee The Presstite Engineering Company, provides for a plastic cap for protecting vulnerable machine parts and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,631,666 for a "Plastic Expandable Bolt Thread Protector," issued on Apr. 25, 2017 to inventor Duane Colford, provides for a plastic expandable bolt thread protector that protects the threads of a bolt over which the thread protector is placed either just before shipping a bolt or just before a bolt is put to use. The thread protector is made of a rigid but flexible material having inwardly extending protrusions or pointed segments extending from the wall of the protector into a hollow interior of the protector and when the protector is axially placed over the bolt threads the protrusions or pointed segments create an interference fit with the bolt threads that holds the protector on the bolt threads, and when there is a greater interference fit the wall of the protector deforms and expands outwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,221 for a "Sleeve Device with Internal Fins for Holding a Piece Such as a Bolt in a Bore," issued on Apr. 18, 2006 to assignee Newfrey LLC, provides for a device for holding a piece in a bore, comprising a cylindrical sleeve constructed to be inserted into the bore and held therein by engagement of its outer surface with an inner surface of the bore, and a series of fins extending longitudinally of an inner surface of the sleeve and projecting inwardly from the inner surface of the sleeve, the fins being spaced from each other circumferentially of the sleeve with tips disposed to engage an outer surface of a piece inserted into the sleeve. The sleeve and the fins are integrally formed of resilient flexible plastic, and the fins are skewed in a same circumferential direction relative to radial planes of the sleeve. The flexibility of the fins is such that the fins can be readily deflected when engaged by an inserted piece.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,920,090 for a "Captive Securing Means for a Screw," issued on Dec. 30, 2014 to assignee Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, provides for a captive securing means for a screw has a shaft for holding the screw and a retaining means arranged in the shaft, the retaining means resting, in the inserted state of the screw, at a tangential point on the outer circumferential surface of the screw, the retaining means arranged on the inner circumferential surface of the shaft, and the retaining means extending from the inner circumferential surface of the shaft into the free region of the shaft such that at the tangential point, the angle between the direction of extent of the retaining means and the outer circumferential surface of the screw is <90 degrees. Consequently, the screw is axially moveable in the shaft without the quality of the captive securing means being impaired, and the screw is captively secured in the shaft by the retaining means resting on the outer circumferential surface of the screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,494 for a "Plastic Fastening Component," issued on Dec. 17, 1985 to assignee TRW United-Carr GmbH, provides for a plastic component having a cylindrical connecting portion with a contoured interior space designed for acceptance of a threaded or profiled bolt or stud. The interior space is designed with resilient gripping members which are attached at one end to the walls of the interior space and protrude obliquely into the interior space. The members are designed to firmly grip the stud or bolt without undergoing permanent deformation or deforming the cylindrical connecting portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,280 for a "Push-On Molded Plastic Cap-Fastener," issued on Jan. 9, 1968 to assignee Russell, Burdsall, & Ward Bolt and Nut Company, provides for a push-on molded plastic cap fastener for pushing over the end of a protruding stud, such as a nail, having a cylindrical hollow socket chamber closed at its outer end and open at its inner end and an annular flange extending outwardly from the open inner end of the socket chamber; the socket chamber having inwardly extending wings which grip the shank of the protruding stud when it is inserted into the socket chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,242 for a "Plastic Fastener for Threaded Stud," issued on Mar. 24, 1992 to assignee Emhart, Inc., provides for a plastic hex shaped tubular fastener which is to be secured to a threaded stud. A plurality of spaced flexible tongues which project radially inwardly near the bottom of the body locate within the screw of the stud when pushed on the stud and when so located projecting cams carried on vertical ribs spaced from the tongues locate within the screw thread so that the fastener can then be screwed tight.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,427 for a "Bolt Cap Unit," issued on Mar. 22, 1966 to assignee Borg-Warner Corporation, provides for a bolt cap unit and more particularly to a unit having a cap covering a bolt utilized in securing toilet fixtures.


An apparatus for hyperpolarizing atomic nuclei through optical pumping has a cylindrical optical pumping cell having an inlet and an outlet spaced therefrom. A supply of a mixture of optically pumpable species and hyperpolarizable nuclei is connected to the inlet of the cell. A nozzle at an inlet of the optical pumping cell forms and injects a jet flow of the mixture into the optical pumping cell. It is then drawn out through the outlet such that the mixture touches the inner walls of the optical pumping cell only adjacent the outlet.

Recent developments in magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) with polarized noble gases anticipate applications in medicine, physics and materials science. Polarization of noble gas nuclei may be achieved through optical pumping using alkali atoms, as described in the publication Happer, et al., Phys. Rev. A, 29, 3092 (1984).
The notion of optical pumping comprises the method developed by Kastler of significantly increasing by incident light radiation in material the occupation numbers of certain energy states relative to the state of equilibrium. By using optical pumping, the relative occupation numbers of the energy levels in atoms, ions, molecules and solid substances may be changed and ordering states induced. The occupation density of the optically pumped state differs noticeably from its thermal occupation probability according to the Boltzmann distribution. Through optical pumping of Zeeman levels, e.g parallel positioning of the magnetic moments of atoms and atomic nuclei may be obtained.
Typically, rubidium (an alkali atom) is used in practical operation in the presence of a noble gas and nitrogen making it possible to obtain a nuclear spin polarization of e.g 129Xe of about 20 percent. Such a nuclear spin polarization is about 100,000 greater than the equilibrium polarization in clinical magnet resonance tomographs at 1 T and 300 K. The drastic increase of the signal-to-noise ratio explains why new application areas in medicine, science and technology can be expected in the future.
Polarization refers to the degree of orientation (ordering) of the spins of atomic nuclei or electrons. For instance, 100 percent polarization means that all nuclei or electrons are oriented likewise. Polarization of nuclei or electrons is tied to a magnetic moment.
Polarized xenon is, for instance, inhaled by or injected in a human being. 10 to 15 seconds later, the polarized xenon accumulates in the brain. The distribution of the noble gas in the brain is determined by using magnetic resonance tomography. The result is used for further analyses.
The choice of an noble gas depends in each case on its actual application. 129Xe exhibits great chemical shift. If, for instance, xenon is adsorbed on a surface, its resonance frequency changes significantly. Moreover, xenon is soluble in lipophilic liquids. When such properties are desired, xenon is applied.
The noble gas helium is hardly soluble in liquids. The isotope 3He is therefore regularly used when cavities are concerned. The human lung is an example of such a cavity.
Some noble gases have useful properties other that those mentioned above. For instance, the isotope 83Kr, 21Ne and 131Xe have a quadrupole moment, of interest, e.g for experiments in basic research or in surface physics. However, these noble gases are very expensive, which makes them unsuitable for applications, in which greater amounts are used.
From the publication Driehuys, et al (Appl. Phys. Lett. (1996) 69, 1668) it is known how to polarize noble gases in a polarizer in the following way.
Based on a gas supply, a gas flow consisting of a mixture of 129Xe, 4He and N2 is enriched in a Rb container with Rb vapor and conducted through a pump cell. Using a laser, circular polarized light is produced, i.e., light in which the spin momentum or the spin of the photons exhibits the same direction. In the pump cell, the Rb atoms are optically pumped as an optically pumpable species with the laser beam (λ˜795 nm, Rb Dl line) longitudinally to a magnetic field, thereby polarizing the electron spins of the Rb atoms. The spin momentum of the photons is thus transferred to free electrons of alkali atoms. The spins of the electrons of the alkali atoms thus vary greatly from thermal equilibrium, i.e., the alkali atoms are polarized. Through the collision of an alkali atom with an noble gas atom, the polarization of the electron spins is transferred to the noble gas atom, whereby polarized noble gas forms. The polarization of the electron spins of the alkali atoms created by optical pumping of alkali atoms is thus transferred through spin exchange of the alkali electron to the nuclear spin of the noble gases, as was first shown by Bouchiat with an Rb/3He system.
From Appelt et al (S. Appelt, A. Ben-Amar Baranga, C. J. Erickson, M. V. Romalis, A. R. Young, and W. Happer, Phys. Rev. A (1998), 58, 1412) regarding the theory of two-body collisions, it is known how to produce spin exchange between a pair of alkali-metal atoms.
From WO 99/08766 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,092), it is known how to apply, besides an initial optically pumpable alkali metal, an auxiliary alkali metal as a non-optically pumpable species. The optically pumpable species thereby transfers the electron-spin polarization to the non-optically pumpable species, whereby effectively an increase of the polarization degree of the noble gas occurs.
Alkali atoms are used, since they possess a large optical moment of dipole, which interacts with light. Furthermore, each alkali atom exhibits a free electron, so that unfavorable interactions between two or more electrons per atom cannot occur.
Cesium would also be a well-suitable alkali atom, which is superior when compared to rubidium for obtaining the above-mentioned effect. However, there are no lasers currently available with a sufficiently high capacity, as is needed for the polarization of xenon by using cesium.
To use a maximum possible amount of photons, when employing broad-band high-performance semiconductor lasers, optical pumping of noble gases is done at pressures of several atmospheres. Optical pumping of alkali-metal atoms thereby differs according to the type of noble gas to be polarized.
In order to polarize 129Xe, a gas mixture under a pressure of about 7 to 10 Bar is guided through a cylindrical glass cell continuously or semi-continuously. The gas mixture consists to 94 percent of 4He, to 5 percent of nitrogen and to 1 percent of xenon. The typical flow rate of the gas mixture is 1 cm per second.
In case of polarization of 3He, the required pressure in the polarizer is created by 3He itself, since the electron-spin relaxation rate of Rb-3He collisions is low. For Rb—129Xe spin exchange pumps, this is not the case, which is why the pressure is created by an additional buffer gas such as 4He. The various relaxation and spin-exchange rates cause various requirements of the polarizers.
For 3He, the nuclear-spin polarization formation times are thus on the magnitude of hours. Since, however, the rubidium-spin destruction rate for rubidium 3He collisions is relatively low, operation at high 3He pressures (>5 bar) is possible.
In contrast, for 129Xe, the nuclear-spin polarization formation times based on the greater spin-exchange effective cross section are situated between 20 and 40 seconds. Based on the very large rubidium-electron spin-relaxation rate for rubidium-xenon collisions, the xenon partial pressure should only be less than 100 mbar for optical-spin-exchange pumps in order for a sufficiently high rubidium polarization to be maintained. That is why in such polarizers 4He is employed as buffer gas in order to achieve line broadening.
The polarizers may be designed as flow polarizers, e.g for polarizing 129Xe or as polarizers with a sealed optical pumping cell, e.g for 3He.
In a flow-through flow polarizer, the gas mixture initially flows through a vessel, referred to in the following as a "supply vessel," containing a certain amount of Rb. The supply vessel with the rubidium contained therein is heated together with the adjacent glass cell to about 100 to 150 degrees Celsius. By providing these temperatures, the rubidium vaporizes. The concentration of the vaporized rubidium atoms in the gas phase is determined by the temperature in the supply vessel. The gas flow carries the vaporized rubidium atoms from the supply vessel, e.g into a cylindrical optical pumping cell. A high-performance laser in continuous operation delivering circular polarized light with a capacity of about 100 Watt penetrates by radiation the optical pumping cell axially, i.e., in the direction of flow and optically pumps the rubidium atoms in a high-polarized state. The wavelength of the laser should thereby be adjusted to the optical absorption line of the rubidium atom (Dl line).
In other words, in order to optimally transfer the polarization of light to an alkali atom, the frequency of the light must match the resonance frequency of the optical transition.
The optical pumping cell is located in a static magnetic field BD of about 10 Gauss created by coils, especially a so-called Helmholtz coil pair. The direction of the magnetic field runs parallel to the cylinder axis of the optical pumping cell or parallel to the direction of the laser beam, the magnetic field serving to guide the polarized atom. The rubidium atoms being optically highly polarized due to the light of the laser collide in the glass cell with the xenon atoms, among others, and release their polarization to the xenon-atoms.
At the exit of the optical pumping cell, rubidium deposits on the wall due to the high melting point compared to the melting points of the other gases. The polarized xenon or the residual gas mixture is passed along from the optical pumping cell and into a freezing unit consisting of a glass flask, whose end is submerged in liquid nitrogen. The glass flask is furthermore located in a magnetic field with a strength exceeding 1000 gauss. The highly polarized xenon gas deposits on the inner glass wall of the freezing unit as ice.
At the outlet of the cooling unit, the remaining gas (4He and N2) is generally guided via a needle valve and finally released. The flow rate of the whole device may be controlled via the needle valve and a with measuring device.
If the flow rate increases too much, then there is no time for transferring the polarization from the rubidium atoms to the xenon atoms. Thus only minor polarization is obtained. If the flow rate is too low, then too much time will lapse before the desired amount of highly polarized xenon is frozen. Due to relaxation in the Xe ice, the polarization of the xenon atoms hence decreases. The relaxation of the xenon atoms is greatly delayed due the freezing, and also a strong magnetic field, which the cooling unit is exposed to. That is why it is necessary, following polarization, to freeze the noble gas xenon as quickly as possible and without loss. Relaxation through freezing cannot be entirely avoided,
However, at 77 K, one to two hours remain before the xenon polarization has decreased enough so that further application of the initially highly polarized gas no longer is possible.
A polarizer of the above-mentioned type always exhibits junctions. Junctions occur where at least two lines, through which polarized gas is guided, are connected with one another, whereby the lines usually consist of glass. The connection is established by a connecting element, such as flanges.
To polarize a single free alkali atom requires a certain energy. The required energy equals the resonance frequency for increasing the free electron of the alkali atom from a ground state to an excited state. In order to transfer the energy from a laser to the alkali atom in an optimal fashion, the frequency of the laser light should be adjusted to the resonance frequency of the alkali atom. Some lasers emit their light within a certain frequency spectrum. We are therefore not concerned with a single frequency, but a distribution of frequencies. The available laser spectrum is characterized by the so-called line width. In order to polarize alkali atoms commercially, broad-band semiconductor lasers are provided, whose frequency and line width are adjusted to the resonance frequency or the optical line width of the alkali atom.
In order to better transfer the energy from a laser to alkali atoms, collision partners for the alkali atoms are provided during polarization. As collision partners serve especially the 4He atoms. Due to the interaction or collisions with the helium atoms, the optical line width of an alkali atoms expands. Increasing the width of this atomic spectrum makes it possible to use spectrally wide and therefore economical lasers.
The number of collisions between an alkali atom and a collision partner such as *He increases with increasing pressure. For 4He, for example, the expansion of the optical line width of the alkali atom is proportional to the pressure of the helium gas. In addition, *He has the value characteristic of only affecting slightly the polarization of the alkali atoms. For the polarization of 129Xe, a gas mixture consisting to 94 Percent of 4He and with a pressure of about 10 bar is usually employed.
The laser known from prior art with a power of 100 Watt for the hyperpolarization of the Rb electrons concerns a glass-fiber-coupled diode laser with a typical spectral width of 2 to 4 nanometers. With a gas pressure of 10 bar, the line width of the optical transition of rubidium atoms is expanded to about 0.3 nanometers. In the present rubidium-xenon polarizers, in which high-performance diode lasers with a typically 2-nanometer line width are applied for optical pumping, only a fraction of the laser light is therefore utilized.
The partial pressures of 4He are up to 10 bar in the gas mixture. This is very high compared with the other partial pressures (xenon or nitrogen), and is to ensure that polarized alkali metal or noble-gas atoms rarely reach the inner wall of the glass cell and lose their polarization there, e.g through interaction with paramagnetic centers. With increasing partial pressure of 4He, the probability that the polarized atoms collide disadvantageously with the inner wall of the cell decreases.
A polarized alkali atom, such as rubidium, is able to produce fluorescence radiation. If such radiation is captured by a further polarized alkali atom, depolarization of the alkali atom occurs. The nitrogen applied for the polarization of noble gases in the gas mixture serves to capture the fluorescence radiation in order to reduce the above-mentioned undesired depolarization. The nitrogen element in the gas mixture exhibits only a small partial pressure, as does similarly xenon. This partial pressure is typically about 0.1 bar.
The heavy noble-gas atoms, e.g xenon atoms, cause strong relaxation of the polarization of the alkali atoms when colliding with the alkali atoms. In order to maintain the polarization of the alkali atoms as high as possible during optical pumping, the partial pressure of the xenon gas in the gas mixture must be correspondingly small. Even with a xenon partial pressure in the gas mixture of 0.1 bar, laser capacities of around 100 Watt are required in order to obtain a polarization of the alkali atoms of about 70 percent in the whole test volume.
In prior art, optical pumping cells of glass blown from one piece are employed. This means that the windows, through which the laser light enters and exits, is always curved or rounded. During entry and exit of the laser light, undesirable and disadvantageous lens effects occur. The laser light is focused or widened, whereby the degree of polarization deteriorates considerably. The effective cross section of the optical pumping cell is therefore not uniformly illuminated by the laser light.
A gas volume with suitable composition is compressed according to prior art by a cylindrical optical pumping cell. The laser light producing the polarization is absorbed in the optical pumping cell. The pump beam thereby radiates through the optical pumping cell in the direction of flow of the mixture comprising the optically pumpable species and the atomic nucleus to be hyperpolarized parallel to the magnetic field.
U.S. patent 2002/0,107,439 A1 discloses how laser light is radiated into a optical pumping cell against the current of a flowing mixture.
As a disadvantage, all previously known prior-art methods and devices for hyperpolarization provide only a comparatively low degree of polarization of the nuclear spins, at a maximum about 40%. The reason for this is interactions in the form of collisions of the alkali metal or noble gas against the inner walls of the optical pumping cell.

Method for the hyperpolarisation of atomic nuclei and device for implementing the method


A method of reducing localized tensile stresses in shaped glass sheets formed by sag bending. An unperforated thermal insulating member is mounted throughout the area within a shaping rail and spaced below a heat softened glass sheet shaped on the shaping rail to thermally insulate the glass from heat reradiated from the shaping rail and reduce air circulation beneath the sheet so as to support structure during the cooling of the shaped glass sheet and provide more uniform cooling of the entire glass sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to shaping glass sheets and in particular to reducing the residual stresses in glass sheets formed on shaping rails by sag bending.
2a. Technical Considerations
Bent glass sheets are commonly used as glazing closures in vehicles such as automobiles and the like. For such applications, the glass sheets must be bent to precisely defined curvatures dictated by the configuration and outline of the openings in the vehicles in which the bent sheets are to be installed as well as the overall vehicle styling. At the same time it is important that the bent sheets meet stringent optical and strength requirements.
It is common practice to shape a glass sheet on a bending mold having contoured shaping rails that support an initially flat glass sheet and convey it through a heating lehr. As the temperature of the supported glass approaches its heat softening temperature, it begins to sag under the force of gravity and conform to the contours of the shaping rails on the mold. If required, the bending mold may include hinged end sections to help facilitate bending portions of the glass sheet to sharp curvatures that could not normally be obtained through normal sag bending techniques. Where windshield glass is being shaped, two overlaying glass sheets, or doublets, may be conveyed through the lehr on the bending mold and shaped simultaneously.
After shaping, the glass sheet is cooled. When the glass is to be annealed, i.e. cooled slowly through its annealing range, as would be the case if the glass is to be used to fabricate a laminated windshield, it is common practice to cool the glass while it remains on the bending mold. It has been found that selected components of the bending mold, and in particular the mold shaping rails, support framing, ballast and/or heat shields function as heat sinks during the heating and sag bending operation and reradiate absorbed heat during the cooling operation. As a result, portions of the glass closer to these components of the mold cool more slowly than the surrounding portions of the glass. The non-uniform cooling produces localized high tensile stresses in those portions of the glass that cool at a slower rate which in turn makes these highly stressed areas more susceptible to breakage from impact. This effect is particularly noticeable about the perimeter of the glass where peripheral portions of the glass are in direct contact with the shaping rail.
It would be advantageous to be able to reduce the localized high stresses resulting from the non-uniform cooling to the glass.
2b. Patents of Interest
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,264,082 to Golightly and 4,687,501 to Reese disclose the use of ballast and lightweight bending iron shields for glass sheet bending molds.
U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,976,462 to Sitara and 4,375,978 to Reese et al. disclose bending iron molds used in sag bending operations. Each includes contoured shaping rails supported by posts on a main support frame that is conveyed through a heating lehr. Flat glass sheets are positioned on the shaping rail of the bending mold and sag into contact with the rails as the glass sheets are heated in the lehr.

Glass shaping ring having a thermal insulating member and method of shaping glass sheets using same


A method, system and computer program product for translating a type of service field of one protocol into multiple protocols. An ingress router in a DIFFerentiated SERVices network (Diffserv over MPLS network) may determine a type of quality of service, e.g., forward IP packet using best effort. A value referred to as a Per Hope Behavior (PHB) value may be generated based on the identified type of quality of service. The PHB value may be used to index into a table comprising a row of entries with different quality of service values, e.g., DSCP value, EXP value, corresponding to a particular PHB value. Consequently, the PHB value may be used to perform a single memory access to determine the quality of service values for a plurality of protocols where the quality of service values corresponds to the identified type of quality of service.

The development of computerized distribution information systems, such as the Internet, allows users to link with servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information that was previously unavailable using conventional electronic media.
The Internet is based upon a suite of communication protocols known as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) transmission protocol. A network that uses TCP/IP may be referred to as an Internet Protocol (IP) network. In TCP/IP, the standard describes how an Internet-connected computer should break data down into packets for transmission across the network, and how those packets should be addressed so that they arrive at their destination. IP is the connectionless part of the TCP/IP protocol. The TCP specifies how two Internet computers can establish a reliable data link by means of handshaking.
A major drawback of the Internet is the fact that the data transfer rate, commonly referred to as the "quality of service," cannot be assured. That is, IP-based networks cannot assure that packets of data, e.g., real-time data, will arrive at the same time. For example, data such as real-time voice and video, as well as time-sensitive data communications, may be delayed because transmissions are broken into packets that can travel different routes and arrive at different times. Thus, quality of service may refer to the ability to provide different traffic streams with different levels of service, e.g., real-time data with a higher priority of service than non-real-time data. A means of modifying the IP-based data networks to provide different traffic streams with different levels of service in terms of metrics such as available bandwidth, delay and packet loss, may be achieved by implementing the following protocols.
A high-level standard or protocol for adding quality of service to IP networks may be referred to as DIFFerentiated SERVices (Diffserv). In a network implementing the Diffserv protocol, different traffic streams requiring different quality of service, i.e., different levels of service, may be classified at the edge of the network by a network device, e.g., router, using what is commonly referred to as a Diffserv Code Point (DSCP) field located in the type of service field in the header of the received IP packet. Typically, the DSCP field may comprise different values where each value may correspond to different types of treatment, e.g., forward IP packet using best effort, forward IP packet using assured forwarding, forward IP packet using expedited forwarding.
Another protocol for adding quality of service to IP networks may be referred to as Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). MPLS may refer to an underlying protocol that may be used in conjunction with a high-level protocol such as Diffserv. MPLS may use fixed-length values that are commonly called labels or tags. The labels may contain forwarding information which may be attached to IP packets by a router that sits at the edge of the network known as a Label Edge Router (LER). The attached forwarding information may commonly be referred to as an MPLS shim header. Typically, the MPLS shim header is prepended to the IP packet header. The MPLS shim header may comprise a type of service field commonly referred to as the "EXP" field which may store the quality of service, i.e., the type of service, to be performed on the received IP packet. The routers within the core of the network, known as Label Switch Routers (LSR's), examine the label more quickly than if they had to look up destination addresses in a routing table.
By a network implementing Diffserv in conjunction with MPLS (commonly referred to as "Diffserv over MPLS"), end-to-end quality of service may be achieved. That is, by a network implementing Diffserv over MPLS, real-time data such as real-time voice and video, may be assured of leaving the source and arriving at the destination in a continuous manner. Typically, in a network implementing Diffserv over MPLS, part of the network may simply support Diffserv while another part of the network may simply support MPLS. That is, a portion of the Diffserv over MPLS network may comprise connections between routers that simply support Diffserv (referred to as "Diffserv connections") as well as connections between routers that simply support MPLS (referred to as "MPLS connections").
A network implementing Diffserv over MPLS may have to perform multiple memory accesses on a received IP packet. For example, a router at the edge of the network may receive an IP packet from an external network. The router may perform a memory access on its ingress side by performing a table look-up to determine the type of quality of service. Different networks may use different definitions for the same quality of service despite the fact that the networks use the same protocol, e.g., Diffserv. For example, an IP packet from a Diffserv network may define forwarding using best efforts with a value of 000001 in the DSCP field. Another Diffserv network may define forwarding using best efforts with a value of 000111 in the DSCP field. In another example, an IP packet from a MPLS network may define forwarding using best efforts with a value of 001 in the EXP field. Another MPLS network may define forwarding using best efforts with a value of 111 in the EXP field. Hence, a translation may occur at the ingress side of the edge router to determine the type of quality of service to be performed on the received IP packet.
In the Diffserv over MPLS network, the edge router may be coupled to another router using either a connection that supports MPLS or a connection that supports Diffserv. Hence, depending on whether the IP packet is to be routed to a router, e.g., LSR, router at the other edge of the Diffserv over MPLS network, over a Diffserv connection or an MPLS connection, a different memory mapping must be performed. That is, a separate mapping table for mapping the quality of service to the appropriate DSCP value for the Diffserv connection or to the appropriate EXP value for the MPLS connection must be maintained. For example, a value in the DSCP field may have to be mapped to a different DSCP value for the same quality of service. A value in the DSCP field may have to be mapped to a corresponding EXP value if the IP packet is being transmitted from a network that simply supports Diffserv to an MPLS connection in the Diffserv over MPLS network. A value in the EXP field may have to be mapped to a different EXP value for the same quality of service. A value in the EXP field may have to be mapped to a corresponding DSCP value if the IP packet is being transmitted from a network that simply supports MPLS to a Diffserv connection in the Diffserv over MPLS network.
If a single memory table may be used for mapping the quality of service to the appropriate DSCP value for the Diffserv connection or to the appropriate EXP value for the MPLS connection, then the number of memory accesses may be reduced. By reducing memory accesses, packet forwarding performance may be improved.
It would therefore be desirable to provide DSCP remapping and EXP remapping using a single memory table thereby being able to reduce the number of memory accesses and consequently improve forwarding performance.

Minimizing memory accesses for a network implementing differential services over multi-protocol label switching


One embodiment relates to seed and plants of inbred pepper line PPL1511. Another embodiment relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of inbred pepper line PPL1511, and to methods for producing a pepper plant produced by crossing such plants with themselves, with another pepper plant, such as a plant of another genotype, or with vegetatively propagating said plant. Another embodiment further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. Further embodiments relate to parts of such plants, including the fruit and gametes of such plants. Further embodiments relate to hybrid produced by using inbred pepper line PPL1511 as a parent, said hybrids including XPP2617, XPP2618, SPP2622, SPP2628, XP2657, XPP2658, XPP2659, XPP2660, and XPP2663.

The embodiments recited herein relates to a novel and distinct inbred pepper (Capsicum annuum) line designated PPL1511, and to the seeds, plant parts, and tissue culture produced by that inbred pepper line. The embodiments further relate to food products produced from inbred pepper line PPL1511, such as, but not limited to, fruit, powders, sauces, and salsas. All publications cited in this application are herein incorporated by reference.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification.


A system for recapturing energy from a ship moving through the water utilizes a hydraulic turbine positioned within the ship's hull. Water pushed up from the bow of the ship is fed into a water conducting tube and used to drive the turbine. The turbine may produce electricity for powering on-board systems or may be used to augment the main propulsion system, thereby reducing energy costs for ship operations.

A well-known phenomenon associated with watercraft of all sizes is that the movement of the hull of the craft through the water results in resistance and drag, since the water must be pushed aside as the boat moves forward. The effect is to increase the energy necessary to push the craft forward through the water, the effect becoming greater as the ship increases in size. The "wetted area" of a ship (the portion of the hull that is below the water line) is a factor in the drag caused by the ship, and thus ships having a larger wetted area produce more drag. Furthermore, traditional hull designs with a pointed bow cause a wave to form immediately adjacent the bow as the ship moves through the water, which also increases resistance since the ship must proceed through the wave it has created. This effect is also increased with larger ships. All of these factors together cause a significant decrease in the efficiency of a ship's engines, as resistance and drag must be overcome in order to push the ship forward, the loss of efficiency being greatest with the largest ships.
One well-known approach to reduce the resistance of a large ship passing through the water is the "bulbous bow" hull design. This design incorporates a protruding bulb at the bow of the ship, typically just below the waterline. The bulb forces water to flow up over the bulb as the ship moves through the water. The bulbous bow is designed so that the trough of water flowing off the bulb partially cancels out the bow wave caused by the ship, thereby reducing the ship's wake, and thus reducing the ship hull's resistance as it moves through the water. Although producing this additional wave causes an energy loss, the energy loss is more than compensated for by the reduction in drag caused by damping the wave formed by the bow as it passes through the water. The bulbous bow design is of most benefit to the largest ships traveling at high speeds, since these ships experience the most drag due to the presence of the bow wave. Smaller ships may not benefit, since the increase in wetted area—and thus increased resistance—may be greater than the reduction in drag caused by the reduction of the bow wave.
It may be seen that even when a bulbous bow is employed there remains a large loss of energy as a ship moves through the water, due to the effects described above. The inventor hereof has recognized that it would be desirable to recapture some of this energy in order to provide power to a ship, whether to provide on-board electricity, to augment propulsion, or both. One attempt to capture this lost energy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,354 to Packard. This patent teaches a marine vessel with a submerged front rotor/turbine that purportedly shields the vessel hull from some of the resistance force of the water, while extracting hydrodynamic energy from displaced water that results from the vessel's motion through the water. It is the inventor's belief, however, that this apparatus would be impractical, since the rotor/turbine extends forward of the bow of the ship, where it would be easily damaged by ice, tugboats, docks, or other solid objects that the ship may contact during normal operation. Repair and maintenance for this device would require underwater work or, more likely, dry docking for the ship, which is very expensive. In light of these clear disadvantages, a practical system that effectively captures some of the energy lost due to a ship's movement through the water to either power electrical devices on the ship or augment propulsion, or both, would be highly desirable. A system such as this that is particularly suited for use with a bulbous bow would be of particular desirability, since ships with a bulbous bow tend to be among the largest, fastest ships and are often used for trans-ocean voyages, and thus such ships would reap the greatest gain by capturing a part of this energy loss.
References mentioned in this background section are not admitted to be prior art with respect to the present invention.


An organic light-emitting display panel and a display device are provided. The light-emitting display panel includes a first electrode layer including a reflective electrode, and a second electrode layer arranged opposite to the first electrode layer and including a semi-reflective electrode. The light-emitting display panel also includes a light-emitting material layer between the two electrode layers. The second electrode layer has a first side facing the light-emitting material layer and an opposing second side. Further, the light-emitting display panel includes a light-coupling layer group disposed on the opposing second side of the second electrode layer. The light-coupling layer group includes at least one light-coupling stacked layer including a first light-coupling layer arranged close to the second electrode layer and a second light-coupling layer arranged far away from the second electrode layer. A refractive index of the first light-coupling layer is larger than a refractive index of the second light-coupling layer.

When an electric current is passed through a light-emitting diode using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) as a semiconductor material, holes generated from an anode and electrons generated from the cathode recombine in a light-emitting layer with the release of photons. By adjusting the energy released by electron-hole pair recombination in the OLED device, photons with different energies corresponding to different colors of light may be emitted. An organic light-emitting display panel using an OLED device as a display material has many advantages, such as self-luminous, wide viewing angle and high contrast, etc., and has been widely used in smart products, such as a mobile phone, a digital video camera, and a laptop computer, etc. Because of its light weight, thin thickness, and flexibilities, the organic light-emitting display panel becomes a research focus.
The organic light-emitting device often has a sandwich structure with electrodes on both sides and an organic functional layer sandwiched there between. Light is emitted from a transparent or a translucent electrode. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is often used as an anode for the OLED device due to its high light transmittance in the visible range, desired conductivity and holes injection capability. For the material of the organic functional layer, film is generally formed by vacuum deposition and spin-coating processes. A cathode of the OLED device is often formed by deposition or sputtering using materials with low work function, such as aluminum, zinc, lead or calcium, etc.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a basic structure of an existing OLED device. Referring to FIG. 1, the OLED device includes an anode 011′, a hole transport layer 012′, a light-emitting layer 013′, an electron transport layer 014′ and a cathode 015′ from bottom to top. Based on the above structure of the OLED device 01′, due to the introduction of the hole transport layer 012′, the electron transport layer 014′ and other various organic functional layers, the thickness of the OLED device 01′ is equal to the value of the light wavelength. Meanwhile, a semi-reflective electrode (i.e., one of the anode 011′ and the cathode 015′) can be regarded as a semi-reflective film, and the reflective electrode (i.e. the other of the cathode 015′ and the anode 011′) can be regarded as a full-reflective film. Therefore, the OLED device 01′ with such structure has a micro-cavity effect to some extent. Due to the high quality factor of the micro-cavity structure, a high-intensity and long-life light field may be formed inside the micro-cavity.
Due to the angle-dependent characteristics of the micro-cavity structure of the OLED, the brightness and the light-emitting color of the organic light-emitting display panel fabricated using the above OLED device vary with the viewing angle. To solve such technical issue, a film layer with high refractive index and low absorption rate as a light-coupling layer is deposited outside of a light-emitting side electrode (the semi-reflective electrode) of the organic light-emitting display panel, thereby improving the light transmittance of the organic light emitting display panel and the light-emission efficiency of the device without affecting the electrical performance of the device.
However, the improvement of the light-emission efficiency by using one light-coupling layer is rather limited. Therefore, how to provide an organic light-emitting display panel and a display device capable of further improving the light-emission efficiency is an urgent issue to be solved. The disclosed organic light-emitting display panel and device are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.

Organic light-emitting display panel and display device thereof

WUHAN TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.