An overhead cable is provided that comprises a tension-bearing core of twisted steel strands, a conductive layer of aluminum strands arranged at the outer circumference of the twisted steel strands, and an outermost layer arranged at the outer circumference of the aluminum strands. The outermost layer is formed by twisting together a plurality of adjoining segment strands. A spiral groove is provided in the longitudinal direction along the boundary portion of the outer circumferential surface of each adjoining segment strand. Along the contour of a cross-section of this outermost layer, each groove comprises an arc-shaped curve having a radius R centered around a vertex of a regular polygon. Each part between adjoining grooves comprises an arc-shaped curve which is concave with respect to a straight line connecting adjoining of a regular polygon, intersecting the arc-shaped curve with radius R.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an overhead cable of the related art, much use is made of a steel-reinforced aluminum cable (ACSR) comprised of aluminum strands twisted together along the longitudinal direction around a steel core. As such an overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load of the overhead cable, as shown in FIG. 1, a cable obtaining by twisting together aluminum strands 2 on a steel core 1, twisting together segment strands 3 along the longitudinal direction having a sector-form cross-section at the outermost layer, forming the corners of each segment strands 3 as arc surfaces, and preventing the tangent of the arc of the intersection of the adjoining abutting surfaces of the segment strands 3 and the arc of the corners from passing through the center of the cable by setting the radius of curvature of the corner arc surface to a specific value and thereby reduce the wind load is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 57-46166.
As another overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load, an overhead cable obtained by setting the height of projections of spiral strands wound over an envelope of the outermost layer strands and the center angles of the projections to specific values so as to reduce the wind load is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 5-6764.
As still another overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load, an overhead cable obtained by making the surface of the outermost layer a wavy shape so as to reduce the wind load is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 7-34328.
These overhead cables above mentioned can give effect of reducing the wind load.
Other type of overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-50814.
The overhead cable disclosed in the publication, as shown in FIG. 2, is an overhead cable obtained by twisting together aluminum strands 2 on a steel core 1 along the longitudinal direction, twisting together segment strands 3 having a sector-form cross-section at the outermost layer and providing arc-shaped grooves 4 at the front surface of the adjoining parts of the segment strands.
This overhead cable has a circular sectional shape as its basic shape. It is formed with arc-shaped grooves in its front surface. The swirl created inside the grooves causes the breakaway point of the flow to move to the downwind side of the overhead cable and thereby reduces a drag coefficient Cd.
The overhead cable disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-50814 gave the effect of reducing the wind load when the diameter of the overhead cable was relatively large, but had the disadvantage that when the diameter of the overhead cable became small, the Reynolds number Re fell and, due to the relation of this lowered Reynolds number Re and the drag coefficient Cd, the wind speed zone in which the drag coefficient Cd was lowered became remarkably high. For this reason, in an overhead cable having a small diameter, for example, a diameter of 25 mm or less, the design wind speed at which the drag coefficient Cd fell became 60 to 70 m/s, which was not practical.
An object of the present invention is to provide an overhead cable designed to reduce the wind load acting upon the overhead cable in a lower wind speed zone even in a cable having a relatively small diameter.
According to the present invention, there is provided an overhead cable comprising: an outermost layer constituted by twisting together a plurality of segment strands, and having a spiral groove along the longitudinal direction in the outer circumferential surface region of each boundary portion of adjoining segment strands, wherein in the contour of the cross-section of said outermost layer, each groove comprises an arc-shaped curve having a predetermined radius R centered about a vertex of a regular polygon and each part between adjoining grooves comprises a straight line or a curve which is concave with respect to said straight line.
In the overhead cable of the present invention, the fluctuation in pressure created at the cable surface depends upon the shape of the polygon and the fluctuations in pressure are made to occur at the vertexes of the polygon. As a result, the distribution of speed inside a laminar flow boundary layer collapsed to cause turbulence at an early stage and therefore increase the speed in the bottom of the boundary layer.
For this reason, the breakaway point of the flow moves to the back flow side, a back flow zone of the cable is reduced, a negative pressure area generated downwind of the cable is reduced, and therefore the drag becomes smaller.


Provided is a rechargeable battery including an electrode assembly comprising an electrode assembly body and an electrode tab protruding from the electrode assembly body, and a connecting member comprising a guiding plate and a first connecting plate connected to the guiding plate. The guiding plate extends in a width direction and the first connecting plate extends away from a plate surface of the guiding plate along the width direction or extends toward the plate surface of the guiding plate along the width direction. The electrode tab has a stacked multi-layer structure, the electrode tab protrudes from a portion of an end surface of the electrode assembly body in a longitudinal direction at a side of a split of the electrode assembly body perpendicular to the width direction, and the electrode tab is bent with respect to a longitudinal direction and is connected to the first connecting plate.

With the development of science and technology, the requirements on rechargeable batteries keep rising. As an example, the lithium-ion batteries, due to their high energy density, high power density, long cycle life and long storage time and the like, are widely used in portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, digital cameras and laptops and are also prospective in the application in the fields of electric vehicles, such as electric automobile, electric bicycles and others, and other large and medium-sized electric equipment such as energy storage facilities. Therefore, the lithium-ion batteries are becoming an important technical solution to global problems such as energy crisis and environmental pollution. The equipment using rechargeable batteries has higher and higher demands on the energy density and safety performance of the rechargeable batteries.
In the square rechargeable battery in the prior art, an electrode tab of the electrode assembly is connected to a connecting member. A first connecting plate of the connecting member connected to the electrode tab is generally parallel to the longitudinal direction of the electrode assembly. With the growing market demand of a large current battery, a sufficient welding area between the first connecting plate and the electrode tab should be ensured to meet the requirement against the temperature rise where the current flows. Therefore, the first connecting plate must have a sufficient dimension in the longitudinal direction of the electrode assembly, which will inevitably take up much more space, resulting in less space utilization of the electrode assembly and low energy density.

CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED


A frequency of each gradation in an image for the left eye histogram is compared with a frequency of each gradation in an image for the right eye histogram. An integration histogram is generated using at least a larger one of the frequency of each gradation in the image for the left eye histogram and the frequency of each gradation in the image for the right eye histogram. A gradation correction parameter is set based on the generated integration histogram. The gradations of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye are corrected using the gradation correction parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus capable of displaying an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye stereoscopically on a display unit, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 03-126377 discusses a technique for preferably correcting a gradation of a display image by setting a gradation correction parameter (γ curve) for each frame based on an amount of characteristics such as an average luminance level (APL) of a frame or a luminance histogram. The gradation correction processing is expressed as dynamic γ processing below.
Currently, a stereoscopic system has been known to stereoscopically display a three-dimensional (3D) video image including a left-eye video image and a right-eye video image using binocular parallax on a two-dimensional display screen. However, as a result of dynamic γ processing for each frame of a pair of an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye capable of stereoscopic display, if a large difference is generated between a gradation of the image for the left eye and a gradation of the image for the right eye, the stereoscopic display becomes difficult or a feeling of fatigue for the eyes increases.
Therefore, as a correction method for suppressing the increase in difference between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-159755 discusses a technique for setting a γ curve based on an image of a common region between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye and applying the γ curve to the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-151125 discusses a technique for correcting the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye based on an average value of characteristics such as the luminances of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye.
Since an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye in the 3D image are originally images in different viewpoints, even in the case of an image in the common region between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye, the image for the left eye is slightly different from the image for the right eye. However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-159755 does not specifically describe from which one of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye in the common region the γ curve is set, and how the γ curve is set by using the image in the common region between the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-151125 does not specifically describe what is the average value of characteristics such as the luminances of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye. The average value of the luminances of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye is calculated using the luminances of the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye, and the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye are corrected using the γ curve generated based on the gradation of the average value. In this case, a region with the luminance near the average value is properly corrected in the image for the left eye and the image for the right eye. However, a region with the luminance other than the average value cannot be properly corrected. When a specific region with a luminance value larger than the average value is included only in the image for the right eye, a large number of gradations are assigned to the gradation of the average value in the γ curve and a large number of gradations are not assigned to the gradation value of the luminance in the specific region, so that the correction cannot be properly performed.

Image processing apparatus for displaying image on display unit and control method thereof


A transport system is provided for a sample testing machine. The transport system includes a carrier holding a set of test sample devices and a drive subsystem for moving the carrier through the sample testing machine. The drive subsystem includes a reciprocating motor-driven block engaging the carrier and moving the carrier back and forth in a predetermined longitudinal path extending along a longitudinal axis from an entrance station to a plurality of processing stations in the sample testing machine. The processing stations are accessed as the carrier is moved along the path. The carrier includes features in the form of slots or voids that are detected by strategically placed optical interrupt sensors. As the carrier moves, the slots are detected by the sensors to thereby continuously track the position of the carrier and the test devices as they are moved through the instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of instruments and systems that test biological, microbiological, chemical or other types of samples. More particularly, the invention relates to a transport system for moving a carrier that holds test sample devices through an automated sample testing instrument.
2. Description of Related Art
Biological samples can be reacted and subjected to chemical or optical analysis using various techniques, including transmittance and/or fluorescence optical analysis. The purpose of the analysis may be to identify an unknown biological agent or target in the sample, to determine the concentration of a substance in the sample, or determine whether the biological agent is susceptible to certain antibiotics, as well as the concentration of antibiotics that would be effective in treating an infection caused by the agent.
In the mid-to late 1970's, engineers and scientists working with the applicants' assignee and its predecessor in interest developed a technique for conducting optical analysis of biological samples using a sealed test sample card containing a plurality of small sample wells. The technique, and related instruments and devices, came to be known in the industry as the "Vitek® System". The Vitek® System was (and continues to be) a commercial success.
The cards used in the Vitek System are known in the patent literature, see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,118,280, 3,963,355, 4,018,65; 4,116,775 and 4,038,151. More recent versions of the cards are described in U.S. Pat. Des. No. 382,647, Des. Nos. 414,272, 5,609,828, 5,746,980, 5,766,553, 5,843,380, 5,869,005, 5,916,812, 5,932,177, 5,951,952, and 6,045,758.
Cards were developed for both identification of unknown microorganisms that may be present in a sample and susceptibility of a known organism to precisely calibrated concentrations of antibiotics. During manufacture of the cards, the wells are filled with either various types of growth media for various biological agents, or else concentrations of different antibiotics, and covered with a transparent sealing tape.
The cards have an external transfer tube port as a mechanism for allowing a fluid sample to enter the card. The cards further include an internal fluid passageway structure for allowing fluid to enter the wells of the card from the transfer tube port. One end of straw-like transfer tube is inserted into the transfer tube port. The other end is inserted into an open receptacle (e.g., test tube) containing the fluid sample to be tested. In accordance with the teaching of the prior art Charles et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,280, the card with attached transfer tube and test tube are placed into a stand-alone vacuum and filling sealing machine, known as the Vitek® Filler Sealer. The filling and sealing machine generates a vacuum. When the vacuum is released, the fluid sample is drawn from the test tube into the transfer tube and through the internal channels of the card and into all of the sample wells. In the instrument of the prior art Charles et al. '280 patent, after the wells of the card are loaded with the sample, the cards are manually inserted into a slot in a sealer module in the machine, where the transfer tube is cut and melted, sealing the interior of the card.
The cards are then manually removed from the filler/sealer module and loaded into a reading and incubating machine, known as the VITEK® Reader, also described in the Charles et al. '280 patent. The reading and incubating machine incubates the cards at a desired temperature. An optical reader is provided for conducting transmittance testing of the wells of the card. Basically, the cards are stacked in columns in the reading machine, and an optical system moves up and down the column of cards, pulling the cards into the transmittance optics one at a time, reading the cards, and placing the cards back in the column of cards.
The arrangement of the early Vitek System (as described in the Charles et al. '280 patent) has several limitations, in that two machines, a filler/sealer and a reader, are required to process and analyze the cards. Furthermore, additional time and labor are required to conduct the complete analysis of the card. The applicants' assignee later developed and commercialized a fully automated instrument, referred to herein and known in the art as the "Vitek 2" instrument. The Vitek 2 instrument automates both the vacuum loading and sealing operations and combined them with incubation and reading in a single instrument.
Briefly, the "Vitek 2" system provides an automated sample testing machine that performs dilutions for susceptibility testing, fills the cards with the samples at a vacuum station, and seals the card by cutting the transfer tube, and conducts incubation and optical transmittance and fluorescence analysis of the cards, all automatically. The machine provides for novel pipetting and diluting stations, permitting fluids to be added to the test tubes or transferred from one test tube to another. The machine is capable of conducting simultaneous susceptibility and identification testing of a sample placed in a single test tube. The machine provides for rapid, automatic identification and susceptibility testing of the sample.
The instrument uses a sample tray or "boat" and a test sample positioning or transportation system that moves the "boat" in four separate paths around a rectangular base pan among the various stations. The user places a cassette loaded with cards and test tubes containing samples into the boat at a loading station. The design of the positioning system is such that it permits essentially a custom configuration of stations above the base pan. Expansion of the machine to include additional carousels and reading stations, or addition types in intermediate procession stations such as dilution stations or vacuum stations, can be readily accomplished.
The overall instrument is described in several patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,762,873 and 6,086,824. The test sample positioning system of the Vitek 2 instrument is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,736,102, 5,762,874, 5,798,182, 5,798,084, 5,853,667, and 5,897,835. The contents of these patents is incorporated by reference.
As was the case with the original Vitek System, the Vitek 2 system also has been a commercial success. The Vitek 2 system is particularly popular with larger clinics or testing laboratories that have a particular need for a high capacity and high throughput testing system. However, there are smaller labs and clinics that need that functionality and features of a state of the art diagnostic and sample-testing instrument, but do not necessarily require the high capacity and total automation as provided by the Vitek 2 system. The present inventive transport system for test samples that is ideally suited for systems that more compact, less-costly and less complex. However, the features of the transport system can be adapted to fully automated systems.
While this background discussion has set forth the context of the invention in relation to the closest known prior art, the various aspects and features of the inventive transport system are applicable to other types of sample testing and processing systems that are known in the art now or may later be developed. Thus, the inventors do not limit the scope of the invention to any particular sample testing device format, instrument or testing protocol. Moreover, the features of the present inventive system are applicable to other types of testing and other instrument architectures besides biological sample testing and the particular instrument described in this specification. All questions concerning the scope of the invention are to be answered by reference to the appended claims.

Transport system for test sample carrier


A system and method are provided for gauging multi-start threads on an oilfield tubular connection include a pin member 12 and a box member 42. One or more external starting threads are successively gauged with a single thread ring gauge 22, and the same threads are simultaneously gauged with a multi-thread ring gauge 32. Each of two or more internal starting threads are successively gauged with a single thread plug gauge 52, and the same threads are simultaneously gauged with a multi-thread plug gauge 62.

Oilfield tubular threads typically are tapered threads on a pin member and a box member. The threads themselves may have various configurations, including a generally V-shaped or truncated V-shaped thread profile. Threads are typically tapered with respect to a central axis of the respective pin member or box member, such that the diameter of a pin thread slowly increases from a starting thread to an end thread, and similarly the diameter of the box thread slowly increases from a starting thread to an end thread. When oilfield tubular threads become worn, the threads are periodically recut or reformed to substantially conform to the original thread profile, thereby shortening the joint.
Ring and plug gauges have long been used to verify the accuracy of the threads machined on the pin member and box member. The ring gauge may thus be threaded onto a pin member, and when the gauge is hand-tight, an axial stand-off between a shoulder on the pin member and the end of the ring gauge is measured to verify that it conforms to allowable tolerances. Similarly, a plug gauge is conventionally threaded on a box member, and when the plug gauge is hand tight a stand-in is measured between an end of the box member and an end surface of the plug gauge. If measurements are within selected limits, the thread is passed for use.
In recent years, increased emphasis has been placed upon oilfield tubular threads which are multi-start threads. A dual start thread thus has two threads which typically start at circumferentially opposing locations on the pin member and the box member, with one thread being axially spaced between the other thread. In cross-section, the double-start thread on a pin member thus closely resembles a conventional single-start thread on a pin member, although in practice the double-start thread would typically make up with half the number of revolutions, thereby saving considerable rig time. Threads with three or more starts on the pin member and the box member have also been proposed. Threads with two or more starting points are considered multi-start threads.
While multi-start threads on oilfield tubular goods have been proposed for years, conventional gauging techniques have not been able to reliably test such threads. Double-start threads have previously been tested with a double-start ring gauge and a double-start plug gauge, and these gauges will result in a stand-off or stand-in as discussed above which can be measured to determine if this dimension falls within accepted limits. A significant problem, however, is that a double-start gauge may result in an acceptable stand-in or stand-off using a double start thread, but one or both of the double-start threads may still be out of tolerance even though the double-start gauge results in an acceptable stand-off and stand-in.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,636 discloses a gauge for a tapered threaded box of an oilfield tubular connection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,783 discloses thread timing for a ring gauge and a plug gauge.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, and an improved method and system are hereinafter disclosed for gauging two or more external starting threads on a pin member and two or more internal starting threads on a box member.


A method and apparatus for monitoring and limiting the operational temperature of physical and technical equipment includes supplying a heating device with at least one test pulse of energy and the effect of the test pulse on the temperature course of the equipment is compared to a characteristic operating line that is to be monitored. The comparison dictates where further energy can be supplied to the device or whether the energy supply is to be switched off. Such monitoring and control can be carried out periodically, without interrupting the operation of the equipment. The invention can be used to monitor the degree to which a heater is filled with a heat transfer medium; and is also able to detect impermissible heat dissipation levels.

Heating elements are generally used for physical equipment, technical equipment, heating devices, process technology installations, etc. The operating temperature of these elements frequently increases in an impermissible manner when there is a change in the physical parameters, such as heat storage capacity, conductivity and/or cooling rate of the equipment.
Likewise, the ability of the equipment to function can be impaired, if the intended surface temperature of the heating device is not reached.
With heating apparatuses, particularly radiators, the danger of overheating exists, so that there is danger of fire if the heat-transfer medium, generally water, is present in an insufficient amount in the equipment.

Method and circuit arrangement for monitoring and limiting the operating temperature of electrically heated equipment, as well as the use of the method


The systems and methods described herein utilize a probabilistic modeling framework for reverse engineering an ensemble of causal models, from data and then forward simulating the ensemble of models to analyze and predict the behavior of the network. In certain embodiments, the systems and methods described herein include data-driven techniques for developing causal models for biological networks. Causal network models include computational representations of the causal relationships between independent variables such as a compound of interest and dependent variables such as measured DNA alterations, changes in mRNA, protein, and metabolites to phenotypic readouts of efficacy and toxicity.

Selection of drug candidates for clinical development is a particularly difficult problem because there is generally a poor understanding of the biochemical pathways that determine the drug mechanisms of efficacy and toxicity. These biochemical pathways include, among other things, a series of biomolecules that may be suitable targets for drug development. For example, biomolecules such as kinases play a role in normal homeostasis and disease progression, often becoming deregulated through genetic alterations that result in their aberrant activities and/or changes in their overall expression. Even though kinases are easy targets for drug development, very few kinases inhibiting drugs are being developed. This is because the known mechanisms of action of these few drugs were based on the existence of decades of research and knowledge that is difficult to replicate in a short period of time.
High-throughput measurements of mRNA, protein and metabolite levels in conjunction with traditional dose-dependent efficacy and toxicity assays, has emerged as a means for elucidating drug or compound mechanism of action. Scientists have attempted to combine information from these measurements with knowledge about pathways from literature to assemble relevant biochemical pathways. Researchers then use numerical and statistical techniques such as clustering and statistical mining to distill through large quantities of data to understand and describe mechanisms of action.
Most of these approaches typically calculate covariances between the measurements (e.g., gene expression levels) and thereby reveal underlying correlations. However, such correlations are not helpful in making formal predictions that can be tested experimentally. For example, it may be possible for a gene to have a high expression level when another gene also has a high expression level. However, the genes may not be part of the same biochemical pathway and may be simply correlated with one another, while not being causally connected to each other. It would then be impossible to predict a change in gene expression in one gene based on the level of expression of the other. Furthermore, the published literature has only a small percentage of the molecular circuitry mapped out and can therefore only provide limited assistance to the researcher. Moreover, current techniques are not equipped to handle simultaneously different types of data including gene expression, proteomic, metabalomic, and other phenotypic data.
Researchers have begun applying a number of computational approaches to overcome some of the drawbacks noted earlier. These computational approaches attempt to reverse engineer gene and protein networks from molecular profiling data. However, because of the mathematical complexity of managing and resolving networks from such large data sets, these techniques are focused on networks with very few components.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods for identifying and constructing models of compound mechanisms of action and extracting information from such models for selecting drugs for development. Generally, there is a need for systems and methods for inferring network models from large quantities of differing types of data and extracting information from such models.

Systems and methods for modeling and analyzing networks


An electrolyte solution capable of constituting a secondary battery in which a volume change due to charge and discharge is small and cycle characteristics are excellent is provided. The present example embodiment relates to an electrolyte solution for a lithium ion secondary battery comprising a fluorinated ether and a cyclic dicarboxylic acid ester.

Lithium ion secondary batteries have advantages such as high energy density, low self-discharge, excellent long-term reliability and the like, and therefore they have been put into practical use in notebook-type personal computers, mobile phones and the like. Furthermore, in recent years, in addition to high functionality of electronic devices, by expansion of the market for motor-driven vehicles such as electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, and acceleration of development of home and industrial power storage systems, development of a high performance lithium ion secondary battery which is excellent in battery characteristics such as cycle characteristics and storage characteristics and further improved in capacity and energy density has been demanded.
In order to improve the battery characteristics of the lithium ion secondary battery, various studies about the composition of the electrolyte solution and the like have been made. For example, Patent Document 1 describes an electrolyte solution comprising a fluorine-containing ether. Patent Documents 2 to 4 respectively describe an electrolyte solution containing a cyclic dicarboxylic acid ester represented by a predetermined formula.
Silicon materials and the like have attracted attention as negative electrode active materials having high capacity. While these electrode active materials have high capacities, the expansion and contraction of the active materials during absorbing and desorbing lithium ions is large. Due to the change in volume, the negative electrode active material particles collapse during repeated charge and discharge, resulting in that the new active surface is exposed. This active surface has had a problem of decomposing the electrolyte solvent and deteriorating the cycle characteristics of the battery. In addition, when the expansion and contraction due to charge and discharge is large, it is necessary to provide an extra volume in the outer package of the lithium ion secondary battery in advance, which causes a problem that the volume energy density is lowered.

Electrolyte solution for lithium ion secondary battery and lithium ion secondary battery using same


A processing platform includes a plurality of processing devices each including a processor coupled to a memory, and is configured to communicate over at least one network with one or more data sources. The processing platform is further configured to receive input data from the one or more data sources, to identify an instance of a key performance indicator (KPI) management data model associated with the received input data, and to perform a particular KPI service on the received input data in accordance with the identified instance of the KPI management data model. Performing the particular KPI service illustratively includes: utilizing the identified instance of the KPI management data model to extract one or more metrics from the received input data and to compute one or more KPIs based at least in part on the one or more extracted metrics; and generating analytics output including the one or more computed KPIs for the received input data.

In many information processing systems, there is a need to perform data analytics on data obtained from various data sources. For example, it is often desirable to determine if real-time streaming data from deployed Internet of Things (IoT) sensors meets certain predetermined conditions. In these and other contexts, conventional analytics approaches can be problematic in that configuring a given system to perform particular types of data analytics on particular types of data is unduly complex and time-consuming for system users. For example, different types of streaming analytics systems, time-series databases and monitoring systems utilized in performing data analytics typically utilize distinct application programming interfaces (APIs) and present other distinct analytics features that must be separately mastered by system users in order to obtain the desired analytics output.

Model-based key performance indicator service for data analytics processing platforms


A feedback control loop having a filter response and a cut-off frequency comprises a system under control for generating an output signal being an output signal of the feedback control loop in response to a control difference signal, a loop filter for generating a feedback signal in response to the output signal and a subtraction device for generating the control difference signal by subtracting the feedback signal from an input signal fed to the feedback control loop. The loop filter is adjustable by means of a filter coefficient set having in each case at least one filter coefficient, each depending on a setting parameter, so that a filter coefficient set for adjusting the filter response of the feedback control loop can be selected and the cut-off frequency of the feedback control loop is adjustable externally in a manner dependent on the setting parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control loop filter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One or a plurality of control loops are provided in many technical apparatuses, in particular in signal receivers.
FIG. 1 shows a control loop according to the prior art. A device of the control loop subtracts a feedback signal, which is output by an internal loop filter, from an input signal present at an input E. This device is formed, in a carrier frequency controlled loop, for example, by a mixer that reduces the carrier frequency deviation of the input signal for the controlled system.
The control difference or control deviation generated by the mixer or subtractor passes via a controlled system to an output A of the control loop. The output signal of the controlled system, or the controlled variable, is filtered by the loop filter and output as feedback signal to the subtractor. The loop filter or the controller feeds the output signal of the control loop back to the input. The loop filter or the controller is chosen in a manner dependent on the controlled system to be controlled. The control loop according to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 1 contains a PID controller composed of a proportional (P) controller, an integral (I) controller, and a derivative (D) controller.
The feedback signal output by the PID controller or the loop filter is produced from the output signal as follows:
                                          x            R                                          (            t            )                          =                                            K              P                                                                  x                a                                                          (                t                )                                              +                                    K              I                                                  ∫                                                                    x                    a                                                                          (                    t                    )                                                                                ⅆ                  t                                                              +                                    K              D                                                                  ⅆ                                                      x                    a                                                                          (                    t                    )                                                                              ⅆ                t                                                                        (        1        )            where KP, KI, KD represent the transfer values or control parameters of the controller.
The transfer function of the loop filter reads as follows:
                                          H            R                                          (            s            )                          =                                            K              P                        +                                          K                I                            s                        +                                          K                D                                          s                                =                                                                      K                  D                                ·                                  s                  2                                            +                                                K                  P                                                S                            +                              K                1                                      s                                              (        2        )
FIG. 1 shows a control loop having a PID controller, in which a proportional controller, an integrator controller and a derivative controller are connected in parallel in a loop filter. A loop filter of this type can be extended by connecting in parallel further signal branches in which, by way of example, a plurality of integrators or differentiators are connected in series. The choice of the loop filter or controller depends on the controlled system to be controlled. Controlled systems having a delaying transfer response require an I or PI controller. Although controlled systems having an integration action managed with a P controller, certain additional improvements are possible with a PI controller. In many control tasks, a PID controller is advantageous with regard to realization complexity, handling and achievable effect.
The control loop according to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 1 may be constructed in digital or analogue form. Control loops are used in particular in the signal receivers. These control loops have to be set differently depending on different requirements. In the case of adjustment to an input signal, the control loop is firstly set, in a so-called acquisition mode, in such a way that it is as fast as possible, that is to say in such a way that it minimizes the control deviation as rapidly as possible. Afterwards, the controller of the control loop is set in such a way that it is sluggish or slow, in order to effect good suppression of disturbances of the control deviation. The controller or the loop filter is set with the aid of the control parameters KP, KI, KD.
In many applications, an integrated circuit contains a multiplicity of control loops. By way of example, it is customary to provide, on a digital receiver, a control loop for analogue gain setting, a further control loop for digital gain setting, a control loop for carrier frequency setting, a control loop for carrier phase setting and, finally, a further control loop for clock phase setting.
Moreover, further control loops are provided for channel estimation within a receiver.
Therefore, in many application circuits, in particular in receivers, it is necessary to set more than six control loops which, moreover, also mutually influence one another as well. If each of the more than six control loops has a PI controller or a PI loop filter, then more than 12 control parameters have to be set. If each control loop is provided with a PID controller, then more than 18 control parameters have to be set by the user. In the case of a PID squared controller, it is even necessary to set more than 24 control parameters. The setting of the control parameters brings about a change in the limiting frequency of the control loop and also a change in the filter response or the filter characteristic of the control loop, this change being difficult for the user to foresee.


A method for inserting a supplement into a multipage printed product having a back and composed of signatures and/or individual sheets, and being transported with the back oriented parallel to a conveying direction. The multipage printed product is supplied with a signature or an individual sheet projecting from the multipage printed product to define a predetermined separating location between the projecting signature or individual sheet and an adjacent signature or sheet. The multipage printed product is opened at the predetermined separating location and then the opening is expanded. The supplement is thereafter inserted into the expanded separating location.

The invention relates to a method for inserting at least one supplement into multipage printed products, respectively provided with a back and composed of signatures and/or individual sheets, and which are transported with the backs oriented parallel to a conveying direction. The invention also relates to an insertion device for inserting at least one supplement into multipage printed products composed of signatures and/or individual sheets, with a back oriented parallel to the conveying direction of the insertion device.
To increase the use value of printed products that are bound along the back, such as books, pamphlets, catalogs, magazines or similar products, it is standard practice to add loose supplements to these printed products. Supplements in this case are understood to be flat items, for example CDs/DVDs, individual sheets, signatures, thin booklets, response cards, flat bags or goods samples which are inserted loosely between two adjacent pages of the printed product.
European patent document EP 0577964 A1 discloses a method and a device for inserting supplements between the pages of printed products, wherein a gas flow is used to separate the pages. The dynamic pressure generated upon impact with the front surface is intended to fan out and separate the pages. Following this, a supplement can be inserted between the pages separated by the flow of air. However, a separation at a precise, predetermined page of the printed product is not possible with this method and thus the insertion cannot be made between precisely specified pages.
European patent document EP 1559573 A1 discloses a method for placing the supplements onto specified printed products, which are conveyed while positioned horizontally and are subsequently stacked to form a loose book block. The supplements can thus be supplied in a reproducible manner to precisely specified pages, but it may also result in an undesirable binding of the supplements along with the printed products during the subsequent binding operation. To prevent this, the supplements must be positioned and secured on the surface of the printed product so that they come to rest outside of the binding region for the product.
According to a different, known method for producing printed products, signatures and/or printed individual sheets are initially gathered in a gathering machine to form loose book blocks and these are subsequently bound along the back with the aid of adhesive binding, wire or thread stitching. The printed product is normally provided with a cover which is then connected to the book block. The book blocks, bound crudely in this manner, are then trimmed on the open side along the top and bottom. For the insertion of the supplements, the book blocks must be opened before or after the trimming or cutting operation. It is furthermore known to lift up the cover of the book block with the aid of suction elements or to open up the book block with a sword and to insert one or several supplements into the book block opened in this way. The disadvantage of this method is that the book block cannot be opened precisely to the desired page, meaning between two optionally specified pages, so that the supplements cannot be inserted between the precisely specified pages of the book block.
According to a different known method, one or more supplements are supplied to loose, non-bound book blocks following the gathering operation and prior to the binding operation, wherein the book blocks are again opened with the aid of a sword before the supplements are supplied. With this method it is also not possible to open the book blocks at the precisely specified pages and to purposely place the supplements between optionally pre-defined pages. The supplement must furthermore be positioned and secured on the surface of the book block so that it comes to rest outside of the binding region. Otherwise, there is danger that the supplement will be fixedly bound along with the book block.

Method and device for inserting supplements into multipage printed products


A system having queue control structures includes a conflict avoidance mechanism to prevent memory bank conflicts for queue descriptor access. In one embodiment, a queue descriptor bank table contains information including in which memory bank each queue descriptor is stored.

As is known in the art, DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) is significantly denser, e.g., more memory cells per unit area, than SRAM (Static Random Access Memory). Thus, using DRAM provides larger capacity per chip than SRAM implementations. DRAM is also significantly less expensive than SRAM at present. However, SRAM may be required when low latency access and/or deterministic access (no bank conflicts) are needed to meet system requirements. In real time applications having limited memory access time budgets, DRAM may not be an option due to successive accesses going to the same memory bank so as to increase the per reference access latency to unacceptable levels. Thus, designers typically prefer to use DRAM but select SRAM when DRAM does not meet one or more performance requirements, such as latency.
As is also known in the art, network processor units (NPUs) can use control structures to implement data queues and the like. Typical applications use DRAM to store data buffers of packets and SRAM for queue control data structures. SRAM is typically selected for queue control data structures due to potential DRAM bank conflicts and concomitant latency penalties since the queuing of packets or cells results in repeated references to queue descriptors and buffer descriptors stored in the same memory bank. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0140196 A1, for example, describes an exemplary queue control implementation. The NPU holds the most recently used queue descriptors in an on chip cache. For enqueue and dequeue operations, when a queue descriptor is needed that is not contained in the cache, the least recently used (LRU) entry of the cache is evicted, and is replaced by fetching the needed queue descriptor from SRAM. However, the use of SRAM increases the overall cost and required real estate for the NPU.

Method and apparatus providing efficient queue descriptor memory access


There is disclosed a process for producing sodium persulfate which comprises the step (1) of electrolyzing, at an anode, a solution containing ammonium sulfate, and the step (2) of producing sodium persulfate from the resultant liquid produced at the anode and sodium hydroxide and, as desired, the step of removing sodium sulfate, and further as desired, the step (3) of performing crystallization on the reaction liquid as produced in the step (2). According to the above process, it is made possible to efficiently produce sodium persulfate having a markedly high purity substantially free from nitrogen components at a high yield at a high current efficiency in electrolysis.

The present invention relates to a process for producing sodium persulfate, which is widely employed in industrial fields at the present time as a polymerization initiator for polyvinyl chloride and polyacrylonitrile and as a treatment agent for a printed wiring board.
As a general process for producing sodium persulfate, there is known a production process by the reaction of ammonium persulfate and sodium hydroxide in an aqueous solution. It is necessary in the above-mentioned process that in the first place ammonium persulfate as a starting raw material be produced by an electrolysis method, and the resultant ammonium persulfate be concentrated and separated by vacuum crystallization, centrifugal filtration or the like and then taken out as a crystal. At this time, the solution containing the crystal (usually referred to as "mother liquor") is mixed with the liquid produced at a cathode and is used as a starting raw material for an anolyte.
The ammonium persulfate thus obtained is re-dissolved in the next step, and is transferred to the step of reaction with sodium hydroxide. In the aforesaid reaction step, a solution containing sodium persulfate is produced, then is concentrated and separated by vacuum crystallization, centrifugal filtration or the like and is subsequently taken out as a crystal. As mentioned hereinbefore, the process for producing sodium persulfate by the reaction of ammonium persulfate and sodium hydroxide necessitates quite long production steps and a number of steps, and, moreover, lowers the yield of the objective sodium persulfate based on the ammonium persulfate, thereby making itself far from economically advantageous.
Under such circumstances, several attempts have been made to produce sodium persulfate by direct electrolysis without passing through ammonium persulfate. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56395/1975 (Sho-50) describes a process for producing sodium persulfate by the use of sodium hydrogensulfate as a starting raw material, which process, however, is impractical because of an extremely low current efficiency in the electrolysis.
In addition, Japanese Patent Publication No. 31190/1980 (Sho-55) describes a process for producing sodium persulfate by means of electrolysis through the use of a neutral starting raw material for an anolyte in the presence of ammonium ions, which process, however can not be said to be economical because of a low current efficiency being about 70 to 80% in the electrolysis. Further, the above-mentioned process suffers such disadvantages that the ammonium ions being contained in the objective crystal increase the content of nitrogen components in the objective sodium persulfate, and that the process necessitates a minute and attentive cleaning step in order to satisfy the ordinary requirement for the quality of sodium persulfate as the finished product, namely a purity of at least 99% and the content of nitrogen components of at most 0.1%. In spite of a number of efforts and endeavors having heretofore been directed towards the improvement of the production process, it is the real situation that an economical process for producing sodium persulfate has not yet been developed.


In one embodiment, the invention provides a method of treating a subject suffering from a Mycobacterium infection by administering to the subject a therapeutically-effective amount of a degradative autophagy agonist or a secretory autophagy antagonist. In another embodiment, the invention provides a method of treating a subject suffering from one or more diseases selected from the group consisting of a Mycobacterium infection, an inflammatory disorder, an immune disorder, a cancer and a neurodegenerative disorder by administering to the subject a therapeutically-effective amount of a TBK-1 antagonist (e.g. BX795 or amlexanox). Related pharmaceutical compositions, diagnostic and screening assays and kits are also provided.

Autophagy is a fundamental cell biological process (1) with impact on aging, development, cancer, neurodegeneration, myodegeneration, and metabolic disorders (2), idiopathic inflammatory diseases and infection and immunity (3). Much of the physiological effects of autophagy are the result of degradative activities of autophagy (1), although biogenesis and secretory roles (4-6) of autophagy are beginning to be recognized (7). The execution of autophagy depends on factors collectively termed Atg such as Atg5 (1) and Beclin 1 (Atg6) (8) whereas regulation of autophagy responds to various inputs via mTOR, including presence of microbes (9), TAB2/3-TAK1-IKK signaling axis (10), and processes downstream of pattern recognition receptors and immune cytokine activation (3, 11-13).
In the context of its immunological functions, autophagy acts in four principal ways (14): (i) Autophagy cooperates with conventional PRRs, such as TLRs, RLRs, and NLRs, and it plays the role of both a regulator (11, 12, 15, 16) and an effector of PRR signaling (17-19). (ii) Autophagy affects presentation of cytosolic antigens in the context of MHC II molecules (20) in T cell development, differentiation, polarization and homeostasis (21, 22). (iii) Most recently, autophagy has been shown to contribute to both the negative (6, 7, 23-25) and positive regulation (6, 7) of unconventional secretion of the leaderless cytosolic proteins known as alarmins such as IL-1β and HMGB1. (iv) Autophagy can capture and eliminate intracellular microbes including M. tuberculosis (17, 26-29) as one of the first two bacterial species (26, 30) to be recognized as targets for autophagic removal. This has been recently shown to depend on a recognition and capture by adaptors that represent a specialized subset of pattern recognition receptors (PRR) termed sequestosome-like receptors (SLRs) (31).
M. tuberculosis is one of the first microbes recognized as being subject to elimination by immunological autophagy in ex vivo systems in murine and human macrophages (17, 22, 26, 27, 29). Although it has been shown that macrophages from Atg5fl/fl r LysM-Cre+ mice defective for autophagy in myeloid lineage fail to control M. tuberculosis H37Rv (32) the in vivo role of autophagy in control of M. tuberculosis has not been reported. Given the compelling reasons for testing whether autophagy matters in control of M. tuberculosis in vivo, here we used a mouse model of tuberculosis and employed transgenic mice deficient in Atg5 in the myeloid lineage including macrophages, a cell type parasitized by M. tuberculosis (33). We demonstrate that autophagy controls tuberculosis infection in vivo and uncover a parallel role of autophagy in preventing excessive inflammatory reactions in the host.
The notion of autophagy as a purely degradative pathway was recently challenged by the emergence of reports of the secretory function of autophagy by three independent groups on the secretion of Acb1 in yeast (25A,26A,32A) and IL-1β secretion in mammalian cells (17A,27A). These new developments assign to autophagy a non-degradative function manifested as unconventional protein secretion (FIG. 3A). Furthermore, it has become apparent that autophagy even more broadly intersects with protein trafficking to include effects on the constitutive biosynthetic pathway (23A), regulated exocytosis (19A), and alternative sorting of integral membrane proteins to the plasma membrane (28A).

Treatment of autophagy-based disorders and related pharmaceutical compositions, diagnostic and screening assays and kits


The capacity and realized data rate of a data storage medium is increased by storing multiple bits per symbol using digital modulation techniques. Both phase and amplitude modulation techniques can be applied so that each symbol includes two or more bits that are represented by in-phase and quadrature phase portions of the signal corresponding to the data on the medium.

The present invention is related to data storage, and more particularly to a data storage method and apparatus incorporating phase and amplitude modulation techniques to increase data storage capacity.
Increasing storage capabilities of a data storage medium while reducing the medium""s size has been an ongoing challenge in the industry. The industry has addressed these issues by increasing the data densities of existing storage media.
The theoretical storage capacity limits for existing disk drives depends on how closely the disk can reliably store adjacent symbols. If too many symbols are stored in a limited space, they will start to interact and exhibit intersymbol interference, making it impossible to recover the data corresponding to the interfering symbols. Existing research has focused on finding media that inhibit intersymbol interference or allow bits to be packed more closely together before the effects of intersymbol interference cause the data to be unrecoverable.
Conventional data storage methods divide the medium into individual cells that represent one bit each and either reverse or maintain the magnetization direction of each cell. In double-frequency modulation, for example, a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is represented by a reversal of magnetization in a cell and a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is represented by the absence of a reversal. Viewed another way, the signal from the medium can be analyzed such that a phase shift of 180 degrees represents a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and the absence of a phase shift represents a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d.
Because each data symbol is represented only by one bit, the amount of data that can be stored on the hard drive is limited.
There is a need for a data storage method and system that increases the storage capacity of a magnetic based data storage system while inhibiting intersymbol interference caused by storing symbols too closely together.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an apparatus for writing data to a medium that can store a plurality of symbols, comprising: a data encoder that receives serial data as an input and converts the serial data to parallel data, a modulator that receives the parallel data from the data encoder, and a write head responsive to the modulator for writing at least two bits per symbol on the medium based on the parallel data.
The present invention is also directed to an apparatus for reading data from a medium having a plurality of symbols, wherein at least one of the symbols contains at least two bits per symbol, comprising: a read head that reads the symbols from the medium, a demodulator that converts the symbols into parallel data, and a data decoder that receives the parallel data as an input and converts the parallel data to serial data.
The invention is further directed to a method for writing data to a medium, comprising the acts of: converting serial data to parallel data and writing at least two bits per symbol on the medium based on the parallel data.
Additionally, the invention is directed to a method for reading data from a medium having a plurality of symbols, wherein at least a portion of the symbols contain at least two bits per symbol, comprising the acts of: reading the symbols from the medium, converting the symbols into parallel and converting the parallel data to serial data.

Method and apparatus for increasing data storage capacity via phase and amplitude modulation


An orthotic insole usable in an article for footwear for aligning a foot with its lower leg to provide balance and support having a support base, an expandable rail section moveable between a receiving position and a grabbed position around an outer edge of the foot, and an expandable rail section moveable from the receiving position to the grabbed position when the foot is placed in the article of footwear.

The present invention relates to an orthotic insole usable in an article for footwear, and more particularly to such an orthotic insole used in shoes for aligning a foot with its lower leg to provide balance and support.
Insoles have generally been provided for shoes and other articles for footwear to reduce the shock force created when impact between the heel of the human body and a ground surface result in a reaction force when walking, running or doing like activities. Furthermore, insoles have been provided to add comfort and support when the body stands motionless by containing a variety of flexible or inflexible materials capable of being contoured to the shape of the underside of an individual's foot. Many insoles can be shortened by its length or width to be placed into an article for footwear according to the desired specifications of a user. Transferable insoles are preferred so that costs are minimized by negating the need to buy multiple insoles for each pair of shoes or articles for footwear a user might have.
However, current insoles lack a functional means of providing the above mentioned benefits and provide the ability to assist in correcting a musculoskeletal imbalance that occurs as people get older or injuries occur in various parts of the body. Bones in the arch of the foot are held in alignment by the plantar fascia tendons. Although these tendons are very strong, over time and/or stress, the plantar fascia tendons in the feet loose their elasticity in allowing the bones of the longitudinal arch of the foot to settle. When this condition takes place, the longitudinal arch begins to collapse forcing the entire foot and leg to rotate inward. This condition creates a body weight shift from the heel and the bones on the outside of the foot forward to the metatarsal bones (ball of the foot). The result is an unstable foundation and malalignment of the bones in the feet, ankles, knees and back. An unstable ankle joint is created, further stretching the tendons and producing greater instability. The unstable condition often is responsible for many ankle injuries and accidental falls.
The muscle connections from the lumbar spine to the upper thigh bone cause an increased forward pelvic tilt when the foot and leg rotate inwardly, which causes the body weight to shift forward greatly. It is this forward pelvic tilt that produces an increase in the lumbar curve of the spine. Furthermore, the upper thoracic vertebrae are also forced to increase its curve concurrently to compensate for changes in the low lumbar. The forward shift causes increase pressure on the forefoot, and more specifically, on an area where the metatarsal bones are located. These changes in the overall musculoskeletal system cause imbalance and wear on the joints, which can result in pressure on nerves causing pain.
Current insoles that are available lack a means of correcting musculoskeletal imbalances cheaply because such insoles require expensive molding techniques. Transferable insoles also lack a means of stabilizing the ankle and depend greatly on the shoe alone to give inadequate support the ankle requires. Moreover, insoles that do provide support under the plantar fascia tendons are generally fixated in an article of footwear and are not easily transferable.
Thus, there is a need for an orthotic insole usable in an article for footwear that corrects musculoskeletal imbalances beginning with the feet and continuing upward to the cervical vertebrae. A means of providing support to the ankle joint by such an othotic insole with a more secure fitting to the foot and shoe is also needed. Furthermore, there is a need for such an orthotic insole that absorbs shock while being easily inserted and transferable into various articles for footwear and adjustable for size to meet the preference of the user.

Postural corrective ankle stabilizing insole


A water-permeable and fire-resistant product and the preparing method thereof is disclosed. The waterpermeable and fire-resistant product is made of a fabric layer and a purous film adhered thereon. The porous film of this invention comprises polyurethane resin; a first fire-resistant agent; a second fire-resistant agent, an inorganic fire-resistant agent and an additive agent. The first fire-resistant agent used is selected from the group consisting of paraffine chlorinated, decabromodiphenyl oxide, hexachloro benzene, hexabromo benzene, pentabromo ethyl benzene, pentabromo diphenyl oxide and octabromo diphenyl ether. The second fire-resistant agent used is selected from the group consisting of Sb2O3 and Sb2O5. The surface of the product produced is smooth.

Polyurethanes are widely known as cushions, pillows, sofa, suitcase, soundproof material. Since polyurethanes do not provide heat-resistant property, the users mix polyurethanes with halogen-included compound, phosphoric compound, organic compound or inorganic compound to increase the fire-resistant effect thereof. However, all of fire-resistant agents used are water soluble and will dissolve in water. Therefore, the product produced lacks the fire-resistant property.

Water-permeable and fire-resistant product and a preparing method thereof


An electrode configuration for reducing contact density in matrix-addressed display panels includes a first set of electrodes having termination points for connection to external driving electronics situated near the edge of a supporting substrate, and a second set of electrodes alternately interleaved among said first set having termination points spaced inwardly from the substrate's edge. An insulating film covers the termination points of the second plurality of electrodes and bond pads placed atop the insulating film are connected to the electrodes by leads. This insulates the second plurality of electrodes from a possible short circuit caused by random or one-on-one interconnects that bridge areas in the gaps between the electrodes.

The following invention relates to a flat panel matrix-addressed display of the type that utilizes orthogonally disposed sets of electrodes sandwiching an electroluminescent medium and provides an electrode configuration for minimizing the effective contact density of the electrodes at the edges of the panel. This allows a higher resolution flat panel display to be served by a lower effective density of interconnects.
Matrix addressed luminescent displays such as thin-film electroluminescent (TFEL) displays include sets of parallel elongate electrodes deposited on a substrate which sandwich a laminate, which includes an electroluminescent phosphor layer, between two dielectric layers. The electrodes include a front transparent set of electrodes deposited on a substrate and a rear set of electrodes oriented perpendicular to the front set. This is a matrix addressable display where the matrix consists of pixel points located at the field-of-view intersections of the front and rear electrode sets. In order to create the electric fields necessary to cause luminescence at these pixel points, the electrodes are connected to driving electronics at contact points along the periphery of the panel.
High resolution panels having a large number of pixel points require a correspondingly large number of electrodes. This in turn leads to very high contact densities along the sides of the display for interconnection to the driving electronics. For example a conventional electrode configuration for flat panel display is shown in FIG. 1, where each matrix display line (for either row or column electrodes) is extended outwardly to the periphery of the panel for electrical connection. This single row of contact pads may be too crowded to accommodate the tolerances available in connectors which are designed to connect these contact pads to the driving electronics.
An alternative type of electrode configuration which has been used in the past is shown in FIG. 2. In this configuration, an interdigitated layout is used. Adjacent lines have contacts at opposite sides of the display in an alternating fashion, which effectively reduces the contact density to half of that of FIG. 1. This may not be practical, however, for some drive schemes, particularly those used with TFEL panels, because the driving electronics may need to connect to all lines at one end of the panel. In these cases one possible solution, which is shown in FIG. 3, is to fan out the ends of the electrodes toward the edge of the panel in order to provide more room between termination points. This, however, requires a larger border area which may be inconsistent with design goals regarding the size of the panel and the area needed for the visual display.
In some cases it may be possible to reduce the contact density by arranging the contacts for adjacent display lines to be staggered into N rows. This type of layout is shown in FIG. 4. For example if N=2 the contact pads in the outer row connect to every other display line, and pads in the inner row connect to the remaining alternate display lines. The conducting leads routed to the outer row of contact pads pass in between the pads of the inner row of contacts. If these leads are narrower than the inner row pad separations, the inner and outer row pads may have a pitch (center to center distance) that is twice that of the display lines without fanning. This may result in a net reduction in connection difficulty for some connectors, particularly matched one-on-one types. However, the inner row will still have as many conductors as there are display lines, so there is no real reduction in number density. In high resolution panels which require a large number of lines per unit area, this may limit the acceptable tolerances for connectors to driving electronics.
The means used for connecting the contact pads to the driving electronics must do so without forming short-circuits between adjacent contact pads. When conductors occupy the space between adjacent pads, the tolerance for misalignment is substantially reduced. This is a potential problem with the staggered row approach shown in FIG. 4 using conventional conductor-on-elastomer unaligned or random interconnects. These are conductor-on-elastomer connectors which have a higher resolution than the pads being interconnected so that only the two mating sets of pads being interconnected require alignment. The connectors in between are not aligned to either set. However, for high contact densities, the chances for forming a short-circuit are substantial with the staggered geometry of FIG. 4. Even with a one-on-one type of connector there must be careful alignment or an overhanging portion may short to any conductors routed near the pads.

Electrode configuration for reducing contact density in matrix-addressed display panels


Electrostatic accelerator includes an accelerating column (20), a high voltage terminal (18) located at one end of said accelerating column and electric charge transport means, said transport means incorporating a high frequency accelerator such as a high frequency electron accelerator (54) able to supply an electron beam and means (56) for supplying the electron beam to the high voltage terminal, said electric charges being constituted by the electrons supplied by said high frequency accelerator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic accelerator incorporating an accelerating column, a high voltage terminal at one end of said accelerating column and electric charge transport means.
2. Discussion of the Background
Such electrostatic accelerators of the Van de Graaf type are already known and have been used for accelerating ions in various nuclear physics research projects. Electrostatic accelerators also have other applications, particularly in the field of free electron lasers.
Electrostatic accelerators have numerous advantages in the latter field. They supply pulses, whose durations are very long compared with those of the pulses supplied by pulse-type or high frequency accelerators. The spectral width of the line emitted by a free electron laser associated with an electrostatic accelerator is very small. The quality of the electron beam accelerated by an electrostatic accelerator is excellent and well adapted to the requirements of free electron lasers. Such an accelerator makes it possible to recover with high efficiency the energy of the electron beam, following the passage of said beam through the cavity of said free electron laser associated with said accelerator. Due to the possibility of recovering the energy of the electron beam, the overall efficiency of the free electron laser is very high.
However, a Van de Graaf-type electrostatic accelerator still suffers from a disadvantage. The electric charge transport means incorporated in such an accelerator are in the form of a belt or some other mechanical transport device, such as e.g. a Pelletron or Laddertron. Therefore, in such an accelerator, the value of the charging current (current corresponding to said electric charges) is low.

Electrostatic accelerator and free electron beam laser using the accelerator


Temperature controlling means for a thermostat for use in viscosity measurement including: a first thermometer detecting the temperature of a fluid sample which is immersed in a thermostat and whose viscosity is measured; a first controller obtaining the difference between a desired set point and the detected value of the sample temperature, momently calculating a set point of temperature of the thermostat according to an operation formula expresed as a function of the above temperature difference and making a controlled signal corresponding to the calculated set point; a second thermometer detecting the temperature of the thermostat; a heating and cooling device for heating and cooling a medium bath of the thermostat; and a second controller making a controlled signal for operating the heating and cooling device under a PID control formed on the basis of the difference between the calculated set point and the detected value of the thermostat temperature and inputting the PID controlled signal into the heating and cooling device.

In measuring the viscosity of a fluid sample, the temperature of the fluid sample is generally controlled by using a thermostat. Water, oil or the like are used as a liquid for heating and cooling the fluid sample, and the temperature of the fluid sample is indirectly controlled through regulation of the temperature of liquid. Therefore, it requires a lot of time to adjust the fluid sample temperature to a desired set point. In addition, when the viscosity of the fluid sample is sequentially measured over a wide temperature range, it may be difficult to estimate the actual temperature of the sample varying with time after changing the set point of the fluid sample temperature.
For example, as described in Kawata, Michio; Viscosity, Revised Edition; Corona Publishing Co., Ltd., Japan; 1983; page 41, in a capillary viscometer, the viscometer is immersed in a liquid bath of a thermostat, and the temperature of the liquid bath is regarded as the temperature of a fluid sample within the viscometer. However, because the temperature of the sample cannot be directly measured in addition to the fact that the heat conductivity of the sample differs with the kind of sample, it takes a long time to correctly determine a relationship between viscosity and temperature of the sample.
Also, as described on pages 109 to 110 of the above technical book, in a rotation viscometer, a sample container is surrounded by a water jacket, and water is forcedly circulated between the jacket and a water bath of a thermostat installed outside the jacket to control the temperature of the sample. In this case, temperature controlling is carried out with respect to the water in the thermostat without feedback of the temperature of the sample to the temperature controlling of the thermostat. It is, therefore, not easy to adjust the sample temperature to a desired set point.

Temperature controlling means for a thermostat for use in measuring viscosity