This invention relates to 2-(substituted)-N-hydroxy-N-alkylcinnamamides of the formula: ##STR1## where R.sup.1 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl;. n is 0 or 1; PA0 R.sup.2 is trifuloromethyl, C.sub.1 -C.sub.10 alkyl, phen(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4)alkylene or ##STR2## where m is 0, 1 or 2 and R.sup.3 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl; X is C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, phenyl, phen(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4)alkylene where the phenyl ring is unsubstituted or monosubstituted with --S(O).sub.m --R.sup.3 and m and R.sup.3 are as defined above, or ##STR3## where m is 0, 1 or 2 and R.sup.4 is C.sub.2 -C.sub.12 alkenyl, C.sub.2 -C.sub.12 alkynyl, or unsubstituted or monosubstituted C.sub.1 -C.sub.20 alkyl where the substituent is CF.sub.3, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl, or phenyl,. or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof; formulations containing those compounds and methods of using such compounds as 5-lipoxygenase inhibiting agents.

This invention relates to certain 2-substituted-N-hydroxy-N-alkylcinnamamides, compositions containing those compounds and methods of their use.
The enzyme 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) catalyzes the first step of a biochemical synthesis pathway by which arachidonic acid is converted into leukotrienes. Numerous and extremely potent biological activities have been associated with leukotrienes. Leukotrienes have been implicated as important mediators in a variety of disease states such as asthma, arthritis, psoriasis and allergy.
Considerable efforts have been directed toward the control of leukotrienes by means of leukotriene antagonists or by control of leukotriene biosynthesis. Generally, research efforts directed toward the control of leukotriene biosynthesis have been directed toward the discovery of inhibitors of the 5-LO pathway and, in particular, 5-LO specific inhibitors.
The principle focus of 5-LO inhibitor research efforts have been directed toward hydroxamic acid derivatives. Hydroxamic acid containing molecules rank among the most potent known in vitro inhibitors of 5-LO.
In U.K. Patent Application GB 2,196,629 certain ring substituted-N-hydroxy-N-substituted benzamide and cinnamamide compounds are disclosed as antileukotriene agents. The ring substituent may be a group having the Formula (Ra)(Rb) C.dbd.CH-- where (Ra)(Rb)C.dbd. is an unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbylene group containing 3 to 19 carbon atoms; a group having the Formula R.sub.3 --C.tbd.C-- where R.sub.3 is a hydrogen atom or a saturated or unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbyl group containing 1 to 18 carbon atoms; or a group having the Formula R.sub.4 --S-- where R.sub.4 is an aliphatic hydrocarbyl group containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms. The N-substituent may be a C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl group, a C.sub.3 -C.sub.7 cycloalkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group.
In European Patent Application 0196184 certain aryl compounds are disclosed which include, among many others, certain cinnamohydroxamic acid analogs.
Neither of the above two references contain any recognition of the importance of a 2-position substituent on a cinnamohydroxamic acid skeleton.
Unfortunately, many of the known compounds suffer from toxicity problems, lack of bioavailability or are short lived in vivo. The hydroxamic acid group is rapidly metabolized to the corresponding, and inactive, carboxylic acid, particularly after oral administration. It was surprisingly discovered that the compounds of the present invention, as defined herein, are particularly advantageous inhibitors of 5-LO and have useful medical prophylactic and therapeutic properties. The compounds of the present invention and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts possess surprisingly high potency.
The compounds of the present invention differ from known compounds primarily by the requirement for an alkenyl bridge between the phenyl ring and the hydroxamic acid group as well as the requirement for a 2-position substituent on the phenyl ring. The unexpected and surprising advantages of the compounds of the present invention are believed at least in part to be a consequence of the alkenyl bridge and/or the type and position of substituents on the phenyl ring.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide novel 2-substituted-N-hydroxy-N-alkyl cinnamamides which are potent selective 5-LO inhibitors and useful in the treatment of asthma and allergic diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, shock, adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and arthritis.
A further object of the present invention is to provide therapeutic compositions for treating said diseases and disorders.
Still another object is to provide methods for treating said diseases and disorders.
Other objects, features and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and claims.


An information output device includes: a first output unit that outputs acquired information acquired by a sensor; and a second output unit that converts personal information included in the acquired information into attribute information from which identification of an individual is impossible, and outputs the attribute information.

The spread of technologies related to IoT (Internet of Things) has led to various solutions being provided which utilize real-world data captured by cameras. As a representative example, security companies remotely monitor image data captured by security cameras and use it for security purposes such as helping crime prevention. Furthermore, a usage method can be considered where an observation camera is installed in a sales area to capture the purchasing behavior of customers, analyze the captured image data, and use it for marketing.
An image captured by a camera displays a face of an individual and the like, and the handling of the image data thereof presents a problem. Furthermore, although personal information (image information by which an individual can be identified) is necessary in a security-purpose system, in a marketing-purpose system it is sufficient if attribute information such as the age group and gender of the customer can be identified, and it is not necessary for an individual to be identified. Consequently, in general, a security-purpose surveillance camera and system, and a marketing-purpose observation camera and system are independently installed. As a result of such a configuration, a system for marketing is such that personal information (image information by which an individual can be identified) captured for security purposes is prevented from being leaked.
As a related technique, in Patent Document 1 is disclosed a system that, with respect to image data captured at a kindergarten and the like, protects the privacy of other kindergarten children in a case where a guardian of a certain kindergarten child wishes to browse that image data by distributing image data in which masking has been performed with respect to the faces of the kindergarten children other than the child of that guardian.

Information output device, camera, information output system, information output method, and program


A conveyor apparatus with a chassis having first and second chassis parts that pivot relative to one another to allow an intermediate section of the chassis to be raised or lowered. This allows the height of the conveyor apparatus to be reduced for transport. When the conveyor is out of its deployed state, the conveyor is foldable and movable with respect to the chassis in a longitudinal direction. This allows the length of the conveyor apparatus to be reduced for transport.

A radial conveyor is a type of material processing apparatus and comprises a conveyor mounted on a wheeled support structure, the wheels being configured to allow the conveyor to move in a radial, or arc-like, manner about a centre point. Like other material processing apparatus, it is common to transport radial conveyors in a container such as a shipping container. However, even though radial conveyors can usually reconfigured for stowage, they can still be too long and/or too high to fit into standard shipping containers and the like.
Another issue with radial conveyors is how to control its radial operating angle. A conventional approach is to place stops in the path of part of the machine and to halt radial movement of the conveyor when a stop is detected. However, if an operator forgets to place the stops, or places them in the wrong position, the conveyor will be incorrectly positioned.
It would be desirable therefore to provide an improved radial conveyor that mitigates the problems outlined above. It will be understood that aspects of the invention described herein may be used with other material processing apparatus.


An area set operation apparatus effecting a set operation of a plurality of n-dimensional areas positioned in a n-dimensional finite space, wherein n (n.gtoreq.2) is a natural number, includes functions of inputting a plurality of data defining a n-dimensional area positioned in a n-dimensional finite space; repeatedly processing sequential order division of the n-dimensional space to generate a plurality of divided spaces, division of the area to generate a plurality of divided areas corresponding to the divided spaces, and generation of data defining each divided area in each divided space from the data defining the area, until the data defining the area satisfy conditions of data determining areas each including an empty part as represented and a full part by a plurality of inequality expressions, wherein the expressions are related to each other, conditions of data representing empty areas and conditions of data representing full areas, and effecting a set operation of the plurality of divided areas by executing a set operation of the data defining the divided areas corresponding to the divided spaces.

This invention relates to an apparatus for executing an area set operation and, more particularly, to an apparatus for a set operation of three-dimensional object and its display, which is used in machine design, operational simulation of a numerically controlled machine, operational simulation of a robot, etc.
Further stated more specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus or a method wherein data for defining a three-dimensional object are inputted, set operation on an object is executed when it is needed and the object is displayed, with its face hidden from an observer's view being eliminated. Further, in case of the operational simulation of a numerically controlled machine, the apparatus inputs data of a shape of raw material to be machined and data of a cutter shape, executes a set operation of differentials between the data of the raw material shape and the data of the cutter shape, and displays a shape after the raw material is machined.
At present, various set operation methods and displaying methods are known. Almost all of them have problems on operation speed because a huge amount of operation is necessary for detection of mutual interference of faces and elimination of hidden faces, which are necessary to execute the set operation and the display. There is an application field in which there is no problem on the operation speed, however, in the field in which operational images such as in the operational simulation are required, processing at a higher speed is required.
Of high speed processing methods, there are Quadtree which treats with a two-dimensional area, and Octree which treats with a three-dimensional area. These methods employ mathematically the same principle.
Quadtree is invented by Warnock as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,702, and Octree is what Hunter G. M. applied Quadtree's concept to a three-dimensional area (a thesis "Computer application and data mechanism effective for graphics" submitted by Princeton College, electronics, computer science course). Further, D. Meagher proposed a method of inputting shape data practically, and displaying, based on Octree's concept, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open 60-237578.
Further, Geoff Wyvill proposes a model in which Octree is extended to reduce an amount cf necessary data (A functional model for constructive solid geometry, The Visual Computer (1985) 1; 3-14; Space Division for Ray Tracing in CSG, IEEE CG & A (1986) April: 28-34). Still further, Ingrid Carlbom proposes a model in which Octree is expanded by another method (An Algorithm for Geometric Set Operations Using Cellular Subdivision Techniques, IEEE CG & A (1987) May: 44-55).
Quadtree method and Octree method have the following problems:
(a) A huge amount of data is necessary and make it practically impossible to process objects of complicated shape.
(b) The Octree can execute, at a high speed, display of images from several specific directions dependent on the coordinate system, however, processing of generation of two-dimensional images viewed from arbitrary directions can not be executed at a high speed.
(c) It is necessary to set in advance dissolution of data representing an object. In case of partial extension being executed later so as to extend beyond the initially set dissolution, many processes are necessary to be carried out again.
(d) When it is used in computer aided design, it is necessary to identify the corresponding point of the face of a three-dimensional object, and the corresponding part in input data, from a point on an image projected to display on a picture frame. In the Octree method, however, it is very difficult.
Further, the Wyvill's method reduces a little an amount of the necessary data, however, the amount is still huge, and can not be treated with practically. The Carlbom's method can treat with only a shape composed of planes.


Organylhydrogensilanes are prepared by means of a comproportionation reaction according to the equationZ RaSiCl4−a+SiHbCl4−b→Z RaSiHCl3−a+SiHb−yCl4−b+y,in the presence of a catalyst which contains at least one completely organically substituted ammonium or phosphonium unit, where    R is an optionally halogen-substituted alkyl, aryl, or alkaryl radical,    a is 1, 2 or 3,    y and Z are 1, 2, 3 or 4 and    b is 2, 3 or 4.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for the preparation of organylhydrogensilanes via a comproportionation reaction.
2. Background Art
The demand for organylhydrogensilanes, in particular for methyldichlorosilane and dimethylchlorosilane, is substantially higher than the amount obtained as byproducts in the direct synthesis by the Müller-Rochow process.
Comproportionation reactions of organylchlorosilanes with hydrogenchlorosilanes to give organylhydrogenchlorosilanes using Lewis acids as catalysts are described in WO 99/31111. The process is not very selective, and many byproducts are formed. The preferred AlCl3 catalyst is volatile and sublimes. Since inhibitors are necessary as additives, these are added during distillation.
In DE 19520737 A, the comproportionation reaction to give organylhydrogenchlorosilanes is carried out using HCl-saturated catalysts based on Zr/Al oxide. High reaction temperatures are used. This leads to the use of a large amount of energy and, owing to the lower selectivity, to more waste products.
DE 2132335 A describes the reaction of methyltrichlorosilane and dichlorosilane to give methyldichlorosilane in the presence of hydrochlorides of tertiary amines as catalysts. The catalytic activity is low and the secondary reaction of the methyldichlorosilane product with the HCl present in the catalyst to give methyltrichlorosilane and hydrogen leads to low yields.
DE 1264442 A describes comproportionation reactions of silanes with quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts, but no specific process for the preparation of organylhydrogenchlorosilanes is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,543 A describes comproportionation reactions starting from methyldichlorosilane with quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts.
EP 776698 A describes a process in which, in a comproportionation reaction, the hydrogen is transferred to the compound whose silicon atom carries the larger number of organic substituents. The "hydrogenating agent" is methylsilane or methylchlorosilane, which is produced by disproportionation of methyldichlorosilane.

Process for the preparation of organylhydrogensilanes


An apparatus for pre-heating potable water in aircraft with waste heat includes an air to water heat exchanger having a heat exchanger housing with an inlet end that receives heat from one or more of a galley insert exhaust air inlet, a galley appliance exhaust air inlet and an air chiller exhaust air inlet. A potable water supply inlet supplies potable water to the air to water heat exchanger, which transfers heat to the potable water, and a potable water supply outlet supplies heated potable water, such as to a galley insert or galley appliance, for example. An exhaust air outlet vents cooled exhaust air from the air to water heat exchanger.

Commercial aircraft with in-flight catering services commonly have one or more galleys installed on the aircraft that have a supply of potable water supplied under pressure, as well as water drainage for waste water. The potable water may be used for making beverages, such as for tea and coffee, for example, and for cooking, such as in steam ovens, rice boilers, and the like.
It has previously been common practice to rely solely upon conventional galley insert or galley appliance water heating systems that typically draw electrical power from the aircraft to heat such potable water in a galley insert or galley appliance for making beverages or cooking. It also has previously been common practice to rely solely upon conventional aircraft cooling systems to cool air chiller exhaust air and galley insert or galley appliance exhaust air before such exhaust air is vented into the environmental control system of the aircraft or temperature sensitive areas of the aircraft.
It would be desirable to provide an air to water heat exchanger that reduces aircraft power consumption by using waste heat produced by one or more air chillers and galley inserts or galley appliances, such as a refrigerator, oven, water boiler, electronics, and the like, to raise the temperature of potable water supplied for use in the aircraft. It would also be desirable to provide an air to water heat exchanger that cools exhaust air from one or more air chillers and galley inserts or galley appliances, to benefit an aircraft environmental control system or temperature sensitive areas where such exhaust air may be vented. It would also be desirable to provide such an air to water heat exchanger that optionally can be implemented as fixture in the potable water supply system, and to supplement conventional galley insert or galley appliance water heating systems, that is independent of a galley faucet drinking water supply, and that can be filtered independently of a galley faucet drinking water supply. The present invention meets these and other needs.

Apparatus for pre-heating potable water in aircraft with waste heat


A learning device includes one or more processors. The processors generate a plurality of pieces of learning data to be used in a plurality of learning processes, respectively, to learn a parameter of a neural network using an objective function. The processors calculate a first partial gradient using a partial data and the parameter added with noise, with respect to at least a part of the learning data out of the plurality of pieces of learning data. The partial data is obtained by dividing the learning data. The first partial gradient is a gradient of the objective function relating to the parameter for the partial data. The noise is calculated based on a second partial gradient calculated for another piece of the learning data. The processors update the parameter using the first partial gradient.

In recent years, effective utilization of data by deep learning that is one of machine learning has been expected. In the deep learning, optimization by stochastic gradient descent (SGD) using a mini-batch is generally used. In addition, a technique for smoothing and optimizing an objective function by adding noise of a uniform random number to a parameter (such as a weight) to be optimized has been proposed.

Learning device, learning method, and computer program product


An adjustable pile height mechanism for producing a tufted floor covering comprising an adjustable bed plate, a cam shaft, and a plurality of eccentric cams mounted on the cam shaft so as to contact the bed plate. The cam shaft is adapted to be rotated so as to rotate the cams, and the rotational movement of the cams raises and lowers the bed plate so as to adjust the pile height of the floor covering. A method for adjusting the pile height of a floor covering further comprises the steps of loosening the presser foot bracket bolt, raising the presser foot assembly, tightening the presser foot bracket bolt, disengaging the clamp assembly, rotating the cam shaft so as to adjust the bed plate to the desired pile height, engaging the clamp assembly, loosening the presser foot bracket bolt, lowering the presser foot assembly, and tightening the presser foot bracket bolt.

It is known to employ a tufting machine to produce a tufted floor covering. It is also known to use an adjustable tufting machine for adjusting the pile height of a tufted floor covering. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,432 of Dodd, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,056 of Christman, Jr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,379 of Cobble, Sr. However, such conventional adjustable tufting machines suffer from several disadvantages. For example, conventional adjustable tufting machines are complex in construction. The adjustment of the pile height produced by conventional adjustable tufting machines is time consuming and labor intensive. In addition, conventional adjustable tufting machines do not permit the user to adjust the pile height of a tufted floor covering to any desired pile height within a range of pile heights.
It would be desirable, therefore, if a method and apparatus for an adjustable pile height mechanism could be provided that would be less complex in construction. It would also be desirable if such a method and apparatus could be provided that would permit less time consuming and less labor intensive adjustment of the pile height for a tufted floor covering. It would be further desirable if such a method and apparatus could be provided that would permit the user to adjust the pile height of a tufted floor covering to an infinite number of desired pile heights within a range of pile heights.

Adjustable pile height mechanism and method for adjusting the pile height of a tufted floor covering


The present invention is concerned with a quick-acting gate valve for installation on intake and exhaust openings of ventilation systems, in particular, of rapid railway vehicles, comprising a frame containing at least one passage slot provided with an adjustable closure element which relative to the passage slot can be placed into closed and open positions by a servo drive controlled in response to air pressure. In order to permit actuation of a quick-acting gate valve of this type substantially in a friction-free manner during opening and closing, the valve, in the practice of the invention, is so designed that the edges laterally confining the at least one passage slot relative to the in-flow direction are of a convex curvature. Behind the edges, the closure element is designed and arranged in the form of a similarly convex yet lesser curved leaf spring, the length of which corresponds at least to the length of the convex-curved edges of the passage slot. One end of the leaf spring is held on the frame while the other end thereof is displaceably guided on the frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is concerned with a quick-acting gate valve to be installed on intake and exhaust openings of a ventilating system, in particular of rapid railway vehicles. In rapid railway vehicles, when driving through tunnels or when meeting other trains, the relatively large intake and exhaust openings of the ventilating systems enable pressure waves to pass into the interior of the wagon causing inconvenience to passengers, which could be eliminated by a rapid closure of the openings upon occurrence of the pressure wave.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional quick-acting gate valves comprise a frame having at last one passage slot provided with an adjustable closure element which, relative to the passage slot, can be placed into closing and opening positions by a servo drive controlled in response to the air pressure. Pressure wave valves of the type published, for example, by German Patent No. 36 18 292 are of slot-slide configuration. They comprise two outer plates having opposite openings and a movable central plate equally provided with slots and being displaced by mechanical movement such that the slots are no longer mating. Due to the mechanical movement, friction and wear occur on the plates. Moreover, the servo drive has to withdraw the central plate and/or a restoring spring has to be provided in addition to the plate.
Swiss Patent No. 427 514 teaches a quick-acting gate device for installation on air exhaust openings of shelters by way of which external pressure or suction waves are intercepted. At least one air passage slot is defined by two frames which, relative to a strip-type closure member disposed therebetween, comprise concave seat faces for the closure member which in the event of a pressure wave gets into abutment with one of the pairs of seat faces and in the event of a suction wave gets into abutment with the other pair of seat faces, at the same time closing the air passage slot. Accordingly, this valve is a so-called knock valve which is not suitable for the present purposes, let alone that the valve does not permit pointed or controlled opening and closing operations. The same applies to a valve of a corresponding design intended for an automatic so-called blast control of the type as set out in the German periodical "Die Kalte- und Klimatechnik", November 1986, pp. 558-559.


This catch, which may be used either with rapid connections which can be uncoupled, and those which can not, is of the type which consists of an annular part (2), of spring steel, having teeth (4), directed radially inward, and of which the free edges (4a) are inscribed in a circle (5) of diameter (D.sub.1), greater than the outer diameter (D.sub.2) of the tube (6) for which the rapid connection equipped with this catch is intended. Each tooth (4) has a free edge (4a) in a circle arc of radius (R) less than that of the circle (5) in which this free edge (4a) is inscribed.

This invention relates to an annular catch for rapid connection of flexible or rigid tube, that is, of plastic material or of metal, such as aluminum, copper or steel, and which can be used both with connections which can be rapidly uncoupled and with those which can not.
In rapid connections, there is provided an annular catch, that is, an annular piece having teeth turned radially inward, of which the edges are inscribed in a circle of diameter slightly less than the outer diameter of the tube to be coupled with this connection.
Preferably, to obtain a better holding of the tube in connection, while facilitating its introduction, the teeth of the catch are inclined slightly toward the bottom of the connection.
If the catch is of rigid material, a good holding is generally obtained, but the coupling can not be demounted.
If the catch is of flexible and elastic material, such as steel, so as to be able to use a tubular pusher for uncoupling, the holding of the tube is insufficient, especially if the tube is of a hard material, such as steel.
Moreover, the connection of the tube with the catch by rotation is insufficient to oppose the loosening of the tube or even its unscrewing.
The present invention is intended to remedy these difficulties. For this purpose, in the catch it concerns and which is of the said type, of the spring steel, each tooth has a free edge in a circle arc of less radius than that of the circle in which the free edges of the teeth are inscribed, and which is itself less than the outer radius of the tube.
This form of the teeth creates lateral end point which anchor in the tube and give it a good holding, axial and in rotation.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the intervals between teeth or notches have a hollowed-out form in the direction of their bottom, which contributes to the formation, at the free ends of the edges of the teeth, of lateral end points, giving a better elastic flexibility to the teeth, which are more freely directed in their anchoring in the tube.
According to another characteristic of the invention, there is provided, on the periphery of the catch, a tubular collarette, which gives a better peripheral rigidity and, consequently, an excellent axial holding in the body of the connection.
At any rate, the invention will be better understood with the aid of the description which follows, with reference to the attached schematic drawing which shows, by way of example, nonlimiting, one form of execution of this annular catch for rapid connection:

Annular catch for rapid connection of flexible or rigid tube


A mobile device case apparatus and method are provided that include a frame, a stand, at least one magnet, and rubber coating over the at least one magnet. The frame and stand can be 3D-printed. The frame is configured to secure a mobile device into the frame. The frame includes at least one magnet. The bottom of the stand can have a rubber coating to prevent the case from slipping when the case adheres to a metal. The stand is configured to support the weight of the apparatus and prop the mobile device up for viewing. The stand can also be configured to be a receive a mechanical element of a vehicle such as a wheelchair.

It is desirable to stand up mobile devices on their own to view content or use the device. Often, phone cases which allow a device to stand on its own with a viewable display are bulky and do not allow for a variable adjustment of the viewing angle. Conventional cases can be difficult to snap onto a device and too bulky to operate such that the case must be immediately removed before the device can be used for anything besides viewing the display.
Traditionally, conventional phone cases that allow a device to stand on its own can only be used on a flat surface. Users need their devices to be secure and viewable without having to hold them in a variety of different locations such as the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, workplace, or any other location which does not have table or counter space available. Users who either have difficulty holding a device or simply do not wish to hold it cannot easily view their device. Users in wheelchairs or who otherwise have restricted movement are particularly affected by this inability to use their mobile devices hands-free.
What is needed is a case that can easily snap on and off a device, which allows for a flexible viewing angle and which allows for variety in the locations that the case can be used.


An expandable clothes hanger to hang, display, store, or transport an article of clothing with minimal creasing. The expandable clothes hanger has a hook extending upward from a bar element that supports an upper portion of an article of clothing draped thereon. Downward extending elements extend downward from the bar element and cross each other at at least a single point. Raising the crossing point along the downward extending elements causes the lower portion of the downward extending elements to extend outward, pulling taut the lower portion of draped article of clothing. Lowering the crossing point along the downward extending elements causes the lower portion of the downward extending elements to be pulled together, allowing for more compact storage of the expandable clothes hanger or for easier placement or removal of draped articles of clothing. The downward extending elements can also be configured as an attachment to a conventional hanger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes hanger configured for hanging, display, storage, and/or transport of clothing which reduces creasing. More specifically, embodiments relate to an expandable hanger that expands or widens to help prevent creasing in clothing.
2. Background of the Related Art
Conventional clothes hangers are typically formed of a wire, wood, or plastic piece and include a hook portion with two opposing arms that are used for hanging the clothes. Conventional hangers of this nature support only the top portion of the draped apparel while allowing the remaining portion of the apparel to hang freely. As a result of the lower portion being unsupported, the lower portion of the draped apparel is prone to becoming folded, creased, wrinkled, crumpled, or otherwise disordered, particularly during transport or when placed in close proximity to similarly-supported apparel on other hangers. This can occur in a number of situations, including when the hangers and their associated apparel are hung in closets; when the hangers and their associated apparel are hung on display in stores; or when the hangers and their associated apparel are hung, stored, or transported by dry cleaning businesses or their customers.


A laminated body having at least two or more different layers, wherein the laminate body is characterized by satisfying the following requirements (1) to (5): (1) the laminate body has a heat-sealing layer as at least one of the outermost layers, wherein the heat-sealing layer includes a polyester based component containing ethylene terephthalate as a main constituent component, and a sealing strength of 8 N/15 mm to 30 N/15 mm; (2) at least one layer other than the heat-sealing layer is an inorganic thin film layer; (3) a water vapor permeation rate of 0.1 g/m2·d to 6 g/m2·d; (4) an oxygen permeation rate of 5 ml/m2·d·MPa to 30 ml/m2·d·MPa; and (5) a heat shrinkage rate of −5% to 5%.

Conventionally, in a lot of circulating articles represented by food products, pharmaceuticals, and industrial products, laminated films that are obtained by heat sealing or lamination of sealant films are used as a wrapping material such as a packaging bag or a capping material. On the innermost surface of the wrapping material (a surface in contact with the contents), a sealant layer including a polyolefin-based resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, an ionomer, or a copolymer resin such as EMMA, which has high sealing strength, is disposed. It is known that these resins can provide a high adhesive strength by heat sealing.
However, a non-stretched sealant film including a polyolefin-based resin as described in Patent Document 1 has a high capability of adsorbing components including organic compounds such as oils and fats or a flavoring agent, and therefore has a drawback of having a tendency to alter the smell and taste of the contents. Thus, for the purpose of wrapping, for example, chemical products, pharmaceuticals, and food products, it is often inappropriate to use a sealant layer including a polyolefin-based resin as air innermost layer.
On the other hand, a sealant including an acrylonitrile-based resin as described in Patent Document 2 has a low capability of adsorbing organic compounds contained in, for example, chemical products, pharmaceuticals, and food products, and therefore is suitably used as the innermost layer of wrapping materials. However, the acrylonitrile-based film has a problem that heat-sealing strength is low at low temperatures (150° C. or less). In a bag making step, as heat-sealing temperature increases, more frequent maintenance is required, which is unfavorable from the viewpoint of productivity. In addition, the speed of a bag making line has been increased to improve the yield of bag making. For this requirement, a lower sealing temperature is also more preferred. However, the sealant formed from an acrylonitrile-based resin does not satisfy these requirements.
In view of these problems. Patent Document 3 discloses a polyester sealant that is incapable of adsorbing an organic compound and has a low-temperature sealing property. However, the sealant in Patent Document 3 has problems that, by the heat of heat sealing, the sealant not only experiences heat shrinkage but also is melted to create a hole. This is unfavorable, for example, for producing a packaging bag using the sealant, not only because if the sealant experiences heat shrinkage, the bag loses its shape, but also because if an opening is created, the bag cannot fulfil its storage function as a bag. As described above, in the sealant in Patent Document 3, there is a room for improvement in heat resistance.
Further, Patent Document 4 discloses a sealant having an improved heat resistance. The sealant in Patent Document 4 satisfies requirements of both a heat-sealing property and heat resistance by dividing layers into a layer having a heat-sealing property and other layers, and controlling raw material compositions of each of the layers independently. However, the sealant described in Patent Document 4 does not have a capability of blocking gases such as oxygen and water vapor (gas barrier property). Thus, there is a problem that the content has a short shelf life.
Conventionally, as a means for improving the gas barrier property of a film, a method of providing an inorganic thin film layer by vapor deposition is well known. For example. Patent Document 5 discloses a capping material in which, on a polyester film as a base material, a gas barrier layer including an inorganic oxide is formed by vapor deposition, and further a heat-sealing polymer film is laminated thereon. However, the material of the heat-sealing polymer film used in Patent Document 5 is polyethylene, and thus there is a problem with respect to incapability of adsorbing the content. On the other hand, Patent Document 6 discloses a laminate body having a sealant that includes a polyester material and is provided with an inorganic thin film layer to improve the gas barrier property. However, the present inventors have found that when a packaging hag is produced using the laminate body described in Patent Document 6 and the resulting packaging hag is subjected to heating treatment such as boiling treatment or retorting treatment, there are the following problems not only the packaging bag is deformed and the appearance is impaired by heat shrinkage of the sealant, but also cracks are formed in the inorganic thin film layer and the gas barrier property is decreased. That is, a film of a low adsorptive sealant having a gas barrier property and heat resistance cannot be produced by prior art.

Laminate body and packaging bag using the same


A drivetrain for a motor vehicle, which has a permanently driven rear axle and a front axle which is driven on demand. The drivetrain comprises a drive unit whose output is connected to an input member of a differential of the rear axle and to a clutch arrangement for driving the front axle. The clutch arrangement has a first and a second friction clutch which can be controlled substantially independently of one another. The input members of said friction clutches are connected to the output of the drive unit. The output members of said friction clutches being connected respectively to a left and to a right driveshaft of the front axle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drivetrain for a four-wheel drive motor vehicle, and to a method for controlling a drivetrain of said type.
In motor vehicles, four-wheel drive was originally used almost exclusively in off-road vehicles. In recent years, however, even vehicles designed predominantly for road-going use (such as for example passenger vehicles in the form of sedans, station wagons, SUVs) have frequently been equipped with four-wheel drive, specifically in order to increase driving safety, in particular when traction conditions are unfavorable.
In four-wheel drive vehicles, a distinction is generally made between differential-controlled systems and clutch-controlled systems. In differential-controlled systems, the drive torque from the drive unit is split between the front axle and the rear axle by means of a differential. In clutch-controlled systems, generally only one axle is driven, and the other axle is driven on demand. Here, in the simplest case, a hand-operated clutch can be provided, which is actuated from the passenger compartment. Modern four-wheel drive vehicles of said type, however, use automatically actuated clutches (for example Haldex clutches) which engage the second axle when a rotational speed difference between the axles builds up or has built up. Said systems are also referred to as "hang-on" systems.
As regards driving dynamics, the latter can be influenced in differential-controlled systems for example by means of a variable torque distribution. It is in this way possible to set up a generally oversteering or understeering driving behavior.
In differential-controlled systems, it is also known to lock the longitudinal differential by means of a clutch in the event of a lack of traction, so that torque is transmitted to the axle with the higher friction value.
In clutch-controlled systems, there are known systems with hang-on to the rear axle. These are generally front-wheel drive vehicles, with the rear axle being apportioned torque in the event of a lack of traction at the front axle. Conversely, systems are also known in which generally the rear axle is driven and the front axle is embodied as a hang-on axle.
In the present context, a drive unit is to be understood as a unit for providing drive torque. This can be a motor such as for example an internal combustion engine or an electric motor, either alone or in combination with a transmission.
The transmission can be a manual-shift multi-step transmission, an automatic converter assembly, a dual-clutch transmission, an automatic shift transmission, a continuously variable transmission, etc.
A drivetrain is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,677, in which drivetrain the rear wheels can be controlled individually, that is to say independently of one another, by means of respective clutches. The clutches are embodied as electromagnetic clutches whose engagement is controlled according to the rotational speeds of the wheels. When both clutches are open, drive torque is conducted only to the front axle. When the rear axle clutches are actuated, there is a split of power between the left and the right wheels, thereby providing a differential function.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drivetrain for a four-wheel drive vehicle is known from DE 39 00 638 C2, in which drivetrain the front axle is permanently driven, connected to the output of a drive unit either via a longitudinal differential or directly. The drive unit is also connected (via the longitudinal differential or a hang-on clutch) to a differential of the rear axle. In addition, each rear wheel is assigned an individually-controlled friction clutch, which is arranged in parallel, in order to be able to control the rotational speeds of the rear wheels differently. It is thereby possible, for example when cornering, to improve the cornering behavior by virtue of the rear wheel at the outside of the corner being apportioned a higher torque than the wheel at the inside of the corner.
A similar concept for controlling two friction clutches of a rear-wheel drive motor vehicle is known from DE-C 36 35 406.
In addition, a drivetrain concept of said type is known under the "Honda SH-AWD" name.
In said system, the drive torque is distributed between the front axle and the rear axle in the ratio 30:70 to 70:30, specifically by means of a planetary differential. The torque apportioned to the rear axle is supplied to two independently controllable electromagnetic clutches which are connected to the left and to the right rear driveshafts. The torque apportioned to the rear axle can therefore be distributed to the rear wheels in the ratio 0:100 to 100:0.
It is also possible to increase the rotational speed of the rear wheels over that of the front wheels when cornering. Said drivetrain concept is intended to influence driving dynamics, in particular the yaw moment.
Now, it is however the case that, in corners, the mean radius of the front axle is generally larger than the mean radius of the rear axle. The front axle must therefore rotate faster than the rear axle when cornering. This is generally compensated by the longitudinal differential.
In the cases of conventional differential-controlled systems and conventional clutch-controlled ("hang-on") systems, it is only possible even with the longitudinal clutch locked to provide a rotational speed synchronization between the front and rear axles. If, therefore, in the case of conventional systems of said type, the hang-on clutch is actuated when concerning, then a twisting moment is built up by means of the underlying surface between the front axle and the rear axle. Said twisting moment is superposed on the drive torque and leads to a reduction in the drive torque at the front axle and to an increase in the drive torque at the rear axle. This generally generates understeering driving behavior.
In the SH-system from Honda as stated above, the rotational speed of the rear axle is increased when cornering.
In order to increase the rotational speed at the rear axle, a highly complex planetary differential is required in the rear axle gearing. Overall, the construction of the SH-AWD system is comparatively complex.

Drivetrain and method for controlling a drivetrain


There is provided a substrate processing apparatus that includes: a polygonal transfer chamber; a process chamber connected to the polygonal transfer chamber via a transfer port through which a substrate is transferred; and a transfer mechanism provided in the polygonal transfer chamber and configured to transfer the substrate between the polygonal transfer chamber and the process chamber via the transfer port, wherein the polygonal transfer chamber and the process chamber have regions overlapping each other when viewed from the top.

In a substrate processing apparatus that performs vacuum processes such as film formation and etching on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a "wafer"), a plurality of processing modules are provided in order to enhance productivity. The wafers are processed in each processing module under a vacuum.
A vacuum-side transfer module for transferring a substrate is connected to the plurality of processing modules. A plurality of load lock modules, each configured to switch the internal atmosphere between an atmospheric environment and a vacuum atmosphere, is provided between the vacuum-side transfer module and an atmospheric-side transfer module.
A transfer mechanism equipped with an articulated arm and a sliding mechanism are provided in the vacuum-side transfer module. The transfer mechanism slides in the vacuum-side transfer module using the sliding mechanism and transfers the wafers between the plurality of processing modules and the vacuum-side transfer module and between the vacuum-side transfer module and the load lock modules.
Incidentally, the sliding mechanism is coated with grease. When the wafer is transferred to the processing module by the articulated arm of the transfer mechanism, the grease may enter into the processing module. This may be a cause of contaminating a process chamber. In addition, in a case where the sliding mechanism is provided in the vacuum-side transfer module, the vacuum-side transfer module is increased in size, which increases the footprint of the entire substrate processing apparatus.
On the other hand, in order to transfer the wafers to a plurality of process chambers without having to use the sliding mechanism, the entire length of the articulated arm is required to be lengthened. This increases the size of the vacuum transfer module, thus increasing the footprint of the substrate processing apparatus. It is conceivable to increase the number of arms of the articulated arm and shorten the length of each arm. This complicates the operation of the articulated arm and increases connection locations between the arms and joints. Consequently, there may be a case where a fork cannot pass through a thinly-formed transfer port through which the wafer is transferred, making it impossible to transfer the wafer into the processing module.


Disclosed are methods and apparatus for determining the presence of one or more analytes in a sample, wherein the presence of a complex of an analyte and an analyte-specific binding moiety is detected at a location in an elongate pH gradient corresponding to a predetermined isoelectric point of the complex in the gradient. An electric field applied across the elongate pH gradient prior to the detection of the complex transports the complex to the location in the pH gradient corresponding to the predetermined isoelectric point. The analyte-specific binding moiety preferably is provided with a detectable label such as a fluorescent label. A parameter, e.g., fluorescence intensity, indicative of the amount of the complex at the location in the pH gradient corresponding to the predetermined isoelectric point may be determined to quantitate the analyte.

Isoelectric focusing is an electrophoretic technique wherein an electric field is applied to a molecule in a pH gradient to mobilize the molecule to a position in the pH gradient at which its net charge is zero, i.e., the isoelectric point of the molecule. It often is used to separate proteins in a mixture and as an aid in characterization of biomolecules of unknown composition. Commercially available gradients may be utilized in isoelectric focusing which consist of multicharged ampholytes, with closely spaced pI values and high conductivity, which partition into a pH gradient upon application of an electric field. The ampholytes are generally provided in a support matrix, such as a polyacrylamide gel. Molecules separated by isoelectric focusing may be visualized, e.g., by silver staining or Coomassie blue staining. Deutscher, Ed., Methods in Enzymology, Vol. 182, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, Calif., 1990, Chapter 35.
Capillaries have been used in various electrophoretic techniques including isoelectric focusing. Novotny et al., Electrophoresis, 11:735-749 (1990). U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,361 (1991) relates to a capillary electrophoresis system in which a nanoliter volume of sample is introduced into the capillary tube, and an electric field is imposed on the system to effect separation of the charged components. After migration along the length of the tube, the sample components are detected via ultra-violet absorbance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,150 (1992) relates to an electrokinetic separation in which the surface of moving charged colloidal particles is treated so as to interact selectively with the sample molecules to be separated. An electric field is imposed on a capillary tube containing the colloidal particles and the sample to achieve separation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,172 (1991) relates to a capillary electrophoresis apparatus in which electrodes are attached at each end of a capillary tube, and a detector is coupled to the tube. U.S. Pat.. No. 4,181,589 (1980) relates to a method for separating biological cells using an electric field.
A wide range of specific binding assays, such as immunoassays, have been described in the prior art (see Bolton et al., Handbook of Experimental Immunology, Weir, D. M., ed., Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1986, Vol. 1, Chapter 26, for a general discussion on immunoassays.) Antibody-antigen complexes have been resolved by isoelectric focusing in the prior art. Nielsen et al., J. Chromatography, 539:177-185 (1991). Japanese Patent Application No. 57026751 discloses the detection of an antigen-antibody complex using isoelectric focusing, wherein either the antigen or the antibody is chemically bound to a solid particle.


A portable device, such as a handheld device (10), laptop device or other suitable portable device, employs an antenna beam selection structure that is coupled to a plurality of built-in antennas (12 and 14) of the portable device that have different beam angles with respect to each other. The plurality of built-in antennas are coupled to a satellite network positioning signal processing circuit (18) so that device positioning signals from a satellite network can be received and processed by the device. The plurality of built in antennas may be stationary or movable with respect to each other. A control circuit (20) is operative to control switching between each of the plurality of built in antennas based on detected signal strength, signal quality measurements, the number of positioning satellites detected by a satellite network positioning signal processing circuit or other suitable criteria.

Portable devices are known which employ global positioning system (GPS) based position information such as handheld telephones, personal digital assistants, internet appliances, and other portable devices. Such devices typically employ multi-band wireless communication to allow the device not only to receive GPS information, but also communicate via one or more other wireless communication networks such as wireless cellular networks, short range wireless networks, and other networks. It has become increasingly important to be able to accurately locate the device for emergency purposes in the event the user of the device needs emergency assistance. However, satellite network based positioning signal systems are line-of-sight systems and therefore GPS antenna performance degradation can occur due to a user's physical interactions with the handheld device in such ways that can block or significantly degrade the GPS antenna performance (e.g. holding a device sideways).
Global positioning system receivers may be formed integrally with personal computers, portable telephones and other devices. Such devices include GPS signal processing circuits that decode received signals and carry out the arithmetic operation for calculating position information. Alternatively, a device may receive the GPS measurements and send them to an off-site element, such as a network element available in a wireless network which then carries out the arithmetic computations and sends back the latitude and longitude information to the device or other network element.
Some GPS reception systems have been proposed in which a device employs a built-in antenna and an external antenna and the receiving antenna is switched from the built-in antenna to an external antenna. Such an external antenna may be used when a sufficient reception level for positioning can not be obtained using only the built-in antenna. Such proposed devices typically require the use of an external removable antenna which require a user to carry an antenna with them and plug it into the housing when desired.
In addition, in order to choose the appropriate antenna, the system specifies a number of GPS satellites from which to take measurements and then from the extracted specified number of satellites, the antenna switching control unit designates the antenna with the high reception levels detected from the fixed number of satellites. However, such devices may not maximize the GPS position resolution capabilities of the device since the antenna with the strongest signals is typically chosen regardless of whether an antenna can be used to detect more satellites than the other antenna.

Portable device and method employing beam selection to obtain satellite network positioning signals


Monitoring integrity of a running computer system is based on creating a Test Model which includes predicates descriptive of invariant properties of security relevant objects and their attributes in the monitored structure known-to-be “healthy”, acquiring memory image of a portion of the running monitored structure, decomposing the acquired memory image to retrieve representation of the security relevant objects of interest, by implementing the attributes of the Test Model, and verifying, by implementing the predicates, whether the invariant properties defined in the Test Model remain unchanged for the running host system. If a discrepancy is detected, a signal indicative of a detected discrepancy is transmitted to a management entity for analysis and formulating a course of action.

The ability of intruders to hide their presence in a compromised system has surpassed the ability of the current generation of integrity monitors to detect them. Once in control of a system, intruders modify the state of constantly-changing dynamic kernel data structures to hide their privileges.
The foundation of the Trusted Computing Base (TCB) (National Computer Security Center, Department of Defense Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, December 1985) used on most currently deployed computer systems is an Operating System that is large, complex, and difficult to protect. Upon penetrating a system, sophisticated intruders often tamper with the Operating System's programs and data to hide their presence from legitimate administrators and provide backdoors for easy re-entry. The Operating System kernel itself is a favored target, since a kernel modified to serve the attacker renders user-mode security programs ineffective. Many so-called "rootkits" are now available to automate this tampering. Rootkits are collections of programs that enable attackers who have gained administrative control of a host to modify the host's software, usually causing it to hide their presence.
Recent advances in defensive technologies, such as external kernel integrity monitors (D. Hollingworth and T. Redmond, Enhancing operating system resistance to information warfare. In MIL-COM 2000. 21st Century Military Communications Conference Proceedings, volume 2, pages 1037-1041, Los Angeles, Calif., USA, October 2000; X. Zhang, L. van Doorn, T. Jaeger, R. Perez, and R. Sailer, Secure Coprocessor-based Intrusion Detection. In Proceedings of the Tenth ACM SIGOPS European Workshop, Saint-Emilion, France, September 2002; N. L. Petroni, T. Fraser, J. Molina, and W. A. Arbaugh, Copilot—a Coprocessor-based Kernel Runtime Integrity Monitor. In 13th USENIX Security Symposium, San Diego, Calif., August 2004) and code attestation/execution verification architectures (R. Kennell and L. H. Jamieson, Establishing the Genuinity of remote Computer Systems. In Proceedings of the 12th USENIX Security Symposium, pages 295, 310, Washington, D.C., August 2003; A. Seshadri, A. Perrig, L. van Doorn, and P. Khosla; SWATT: SoftWare-based ATTestation for Embedded Devices. In IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, Oakland, Va., May 2004; A. Seshadri, M. Luk, E. Shi, A. Perrig, L. van Doorn, and P. Khosla, Pioneer: Verifying Code Integrity and Enforcing Untampered Code Execution on Legacy Systems. In Proceedings of the 20th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP), Brighton, United Kingdom, October 2005), have demonstrated their ability to detect the kinds of tampering historically performed by rootkits. However, rootkit technology has moved to a more sophisticated level. While these defensive technologies have focused on the relatively straightforward task of detecting tempering in static and unchanging regions of kernel text and data structures—typical targets of the previous generation of rootkits—the new rootkit generation has evolved to more sophisticated tampering behavior that targets dynamic parts of the kernel.
Seeking to avoid detection and subsequent removal from the system, intruders can hide their processes from legitimate administrators by modifying links in the Linux and Windows XP/2000 kernels' process tables. Due to the fact that the state of the process table changes continuously during kernel runtime, identifying these modified links is difficult for the current generation of kernel integrity monitoring tools that focus only on static data. Although this targeting of dynamic data was not entirely unanticipated by researchers (X. Zhang, L. van Doorn, T. Jaeger, R. Perez, and R. Sailer, Secure Coprocessor-based Intrusion Detection. In Proceedings of the Tenth ACM SIGOPS European Workshop, Saint-Emilion, France, September 2002), there has yet to be a general approach for dealing with this threat. In order to be effective against the latest rootkit technology, defensive mechanisms must consider both static and dynamic kernel data since changes in either can lead to the compromise of the whole.
The current monitoring tools disadvantageously rely upon the correctness of the monitored kernel in order to detect an intrusion, which often is an invalid assumption. After gaining full administrative control of a system, such intruders may modify some of the kernel's dynamic data structures to their advantage. For example, in a GNU/Linux system, an intruder may remove tasks from the Linux kernel's all-tasks list in order to hide them from the system's legitimate administrators.
Alternatively an intruder may modify an entry in the Linux kernel's SELinux access vector cache to temporarily elevate their privileges and disable auditing without making visible changes to the SELinux policy configuration. Neither of these techniques expose flaws in the Linux kernel or its SELinux security module. These examples represent the potential acts of an intruder who has already gained full control of the system—perhaps by exploiting the trust or carelessness of the system's human operators in a manner entirely outside the scope of the system's technological safeguards.
Rootkits have evolved beyond the historical methods of hiding processes which included modifying the text of the ps program to mislead legitimate administrators or causing the kernel itself to "lie" by replacing the normally-static values of kernel text or function pointers. This is exemplified by system call vector or jump tables in the /proc filesystem with addresses of malicious functions. Even the most sophisticated threats became easy to detect by monitors that could compare the modified values against a known-proper value. In a "healthy" system, these values should never change.
However, attackers do not need to modify kernel code to hide processes within a running kernel. In fact, they do not have to rely on manipulating the control flow of the kernel in any way. Instead, adversaries have found techniques to hide their processes even from correct, unmodified kernel code. By directly manipulating the underlying data structures used for process accounting, an attacker can quickly and effectively remove any desired process from the view of standard, unmodified administrator tools. While the process remains hidden for accounting purposes, it continues to execute as normal and will remain unaffected from the perspective of the scheduler. To understand how this state is achieved, a brief overview of Linux 2.6 process management is provided in the following paragraphs.
The primary data structure for process management in the Linux kernel is the task_struct structure (R. Love, Linux Kernel Development. Novell Press, Second edition, 2005). All threads are represented by a task_struct instance within the kernel. A single-threaded process will therefore be represented internally by exactly one task_struct. Since scheduling occurs on a per-thread basis, a multi-threaded process is simply a set of task_struct objects that share certain resources such as memory regions and open files, as well as a few other properties including a common process identifier (PID), which is a unique number given to each running process on the system.
In a correctly-running system, all task_struct objects are connected in a complex set of linked lists that represent various groupings relevant to that task at a particular time. For accounting purposes, all tasks are members of a single doubly-linked list, identified by the task_struct.tasks member. This list, which is referred to as the all-tasks list, insures that any kernel function needing access to all tasks can easily traverse the list and be sure to encounter each task exactly once. The head of the task list is the swapper process (PID 0), identified by the static symbol init_task. In order to support efficient lookup based on PID, the kernel also maintains a hash table that is keyed by PID and whose members are hash-list nodes located in the task_struct.pid structure. Only one thread per matching hash of the PID is a member of the hash table; the rest are linked in a list as part of task_struct.pid member. Other list memberships include "parent/child" and "sibling" relationships and a set of scheduler-related lists.
Scheduling in the Linux kernel is also governed by a set of lists. Each task exists in exactly one state. For example, a task may be actively running on the processor, waiting to be run on the processor, waiting for some other event to occur (such as I/O), or waiting to be cleaned up by a "parent" process. Depending on the state of a task, that task will be a member of at least one scheduling list somewhere in the kernel. At any given time, a typical active task will either be a member of one of the many wait queues spread throughout the kernel or a member of a per-processor run queue. Tasks cannot be on both a wait queue and a run queue at the same time.
Primed with this knowledge of the internals of Linux process management, a trivial technique by which an attacker can gain the ultimate stealth for a running process is described in the following paragraphs.
FIG. 1 depicts the primary step of the attack: removing the process from the doubly-linked all-tasks list (indicated by the solid line 10 between tasks). Since this list is used for all process accounting functions, such as the readdir( ) call in the /proc filesystem, removal from this list provides all of the stealth needed by an adversary. For an attacker who has already gained access to kernel memory, making this modification is as simple as modifying two pointers per hidden process. As a secondary step to the attack, adversaries might also choose to remove their processes from the PID hash table (not shown) in order to prevent the receipt of unwanted signals.
As shown in FIG. 1, a task not present in the all-tasks list can continue to function because the set of lists used for scheduling is disjoint from the set used for accounting. The dashed line 12 shows the relationship between objects relevant to a particular processor's run queue, including tasks that are waiting to be run (or are currently running) on that processor. Even though the second depicted task is no longer present in the all-tasks list, it continues to be scheduled by the kernel. Two simple changes to dynamic data therefore result in perfect stealth for the attacker without the necessity of modification to static data or kernel text.
When most actions occur in the kernel, some form of a capability is used to identify whether or not a principal should be given (or already has been given) access to a resource. These capabilities therefore represent a prime target for attackers wishing to elevate privilege. Changing process users identifiers (UIDs) has long been a favorite technique of attackers. Other examples include file descriptors and sockets (both implemented in the same abstraction in the kernel).
The SELinux access vector cache (AVC) provides a good example of this kind of capability and represents a potential target for an adversary seeking privilege escalation.
SELinux (P. A. Loscocco and S. D. Smalley, Integrating Flexible Support for Security Policies into the Linux Operating System. In Proceedings of the FREENIX Track: 2001 USENIX Annual Technical conference, Boston, Mass., June 2001) is a security module for Linux kernels that implements a combination of type Enforcement (W. E. Boebert and R. Y. Kain, A Practical Alternative to Hierarchical Integrity Policies. In Proceedings of the 8th National Computer Security Conference, pages 18-27, Gaithersburg, Md., September 1985) and Role-based (D. Ferraiolo and R. Kuhn, Role-Based Access Controls. In Proceedings of the 15th National Computer Security Conference, pages 554-563, Baltimore, Md., October 1992) mandatory access control, now included in some popular GNU/Linux distributions. During runtime, SELinux is responsible for enforcing numerous rules governing the behavior of processes. For example, one rule might state that the DHCP (R. Droms, Dynamic host configuration protocol. Technical report RFC 2131, Bucknell University, March 1997) client daemon can only write to those system configuration files needed to configure the network and the Domain Name Service, but no others. By enforcing this rule, SELinux can limit the damage that a misbehaving DHCP client daemon might cause to the system's configuration files should it be compromised by an adversary (perhaps due to a buffer overflow or other flaw).
To enforce its rules, SELinux must make numerous decisions during runtime such as "Does the SELinux configuration permit this process to write this file?" or "Does it permit process A to execute program B?" Answering these questions involves some overhead. Thus SELinux includes a component called the access vector cache (AVC) to save these answers. Whenever possible, SELinux rapidly retrieves answers from the AVC, resorting to the slower method of consulting the policy configuration only on AVC misses.
SELinux divides all resources on a system (such as processes and files) into distinct classes and gives each class a numeric Security Identifier or "SID." It expresses its mandatory access rules in terms of what processes, with a particular SID, may and may not do to resources with another SID. Consequently, at a somewhat simplified abstract level, AVD entries take the form to tuples:
<ssid, tsid, class, allowed, decided, audit-allow,audit-deny>The ssid field is the SID of the process taking action, the tsid field is the SID of the resource the process wishes to act upon, and the class field indicates the kind of resource (file, socket, etc.). The allowed field is a bit vector indicating which actions (read, write, etc.) should be allowed and which should be denied. Only some of the allowed field bits may be valid. As an example, if the previous questions answered by SELinux have involved only the lowest-order bit, then that may be the only bit that contains a meaningful 0 or 1. SELinux may or may not fill in the other allowed field bits until a question concerning those bits is provided. To distinguish a 0 bit indicating "deny" from a 0 bit indicating "invalid," the decided field contains a bit vector with 1 bits for all valid positions in the allowed field. The audit-allow and audit-deny fields are also bit vectors; they contain 1 bits for operations that should be logged to the system logger when respectively allowed or denied.
It is conceivable that adversaries who have already gained administrative control over a system might wish to modify the SELinux configuration to give their processes elevated privileges. They could accomplish this most directly by modifying the SELinux configuration files, but such modifications would be easily detected by filesystem integrity monitors like Tripwire (G. H. Kim and E. H. Spafford, The Design and Implementation of Tripwire: a File system Integrity Checker. In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, pages 18-29, Fairfax, Va., November 1994).
Alternately, they might modify the in-kernel data structures representing the SELinux configuration which is the same data structures SELinux consults to service an AVC miss. However, these data structures change infrequently, when administrators decide to modify their SELinux configuration during runtime. Consequently, any tampering may be discovered by a traditional kernel integrity monitor that performs hashing or makes comparisons with correct, known-good values.
The state of the AVC, on the other hand, is dynamic and difficult to predict at system configuration time. Entries come and go with the changing behavior of processes. An adversary might insert a new AVC entry or modify an old one to effectively add a new rule to the SELinux configuration. Such an entry might add extra allowed and decided field bits to grant additional privileges, or remove existing audit-allow and audit-deny field bits to run off troublesome logging. Such an entry would override the proper in-memory and on-disk SELinux configuration for as long as it remained in the cache.
Current monitoring tools are limited to detecting changes in nominally static kernel data and text and cannot distinguish a valid state change from tampering in these dynamic data structures. The methods, which can be characterized by calculating hashes of static kernel data and text and comparing the result to known-good values, are not applicable to the continuously changing dynamic data structures now being targeted by rootkits.
It is therefore a growing need in the information security area to for an advanced defensive mechanism capable of detection of integrity violations of both static and dynamic kernel data and which is independent of the correctness of a monitored host system.

Method and system for monitoring integrity of running computer system


A toilet sealing ring provides a connection and seal for a toilet and its associated drain pipe utilizing a self-aligning annular elastomeric gasket with a cylindrical upper wall which slides inside an inner ring and a lower beveled surface which mates an outer ring inner beveled surface, and, when compressed between the inner ring and the outer ring, forms a moisture tight seal between the toilet, the toilet sealing ring, and the drain pipe.

This invention relates to toilet plumbing fixtures and, more particularly, to an improved means to provide a leak-proof seal when connecting a toilet to a drain pipe using toilet rings.
Toilet or water closet rings to secure toilets to their associated drain pipes have been in use for many years and there are many constructions known in prior art defining different means of securing and sealing toilets and their drain pipes. Prior to the use of plastic or PVC pipe in drain systems, cast iron drain pipes and toilet rings were mainly used and the accepted procedure of sealing consisted of filling the toilet ring-drain pipe joint with a compound and heating it until it reached a liquid state and formed a seal.
With the subsequent use of plastic pipe, new sealing means were utilized including the use of a neoprene or rubber gasket as a seal between the drain pipe and the toilet ring. Such sealing arrangements are shown in Cuscheva U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,267 and Cuscheva U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,340 where an annular, resilient sealing gasket, tapered at top and bottom, is compressed between the upper and lower rings, and the drain pipe. Brown U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,166 also teaches the compressing of a resilient sealing gasket where the gasket is grooved to enhance the sealing capabilities of the toilet ring. Various sealing rings and pipe joint assemblies are shown in Durgan U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,214, Kennedy U.S. Pat. No. 2,075,947, and Hawkins British Patent No. 1,041,441. A seal for a rotating shaft is disclosed in Baumle U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,155.
Problems occur when the sealing gasket is either misaligned upon installation or for some reason, the gasket bends or slips out of position thus breaking the moisture seal and allowing the waste to escape the drain system.
The present invention incorporates both an inner and an outer ring section along with an annular, resilient gasket to connect, secure, and seal the toilet to its associated drain pipe and the floor. This invention is distinguished from the prior art in that it provides an improved gasket means for a leak-proof connection between the toilet and its drain pipe in an easy-to-install configuration.
The toilet sealing ring of the present invention includes a outer ring section with an inwardly directed beveled lip at its base. The sealing gasket also has a beveled surface at its base to mate with the outer ring lip. This angular mating forces the gasket upward and inward with corresponding downward pressure from the inner ring section. The sealing gasket has a cylindrical or tapered upper wall with an outer radius such that it slides inside the inner ring section when the toilet sealing ring is assembled. Once the drain pipe is positioned in the assembled toilet sealing ring, a tightening means is used to compress the gasket between the inner ring section, the outer ring section and the drain pipe forming a moisture tight seal between the said toilet seal and said pipe. This seal is created with low risk of misalignment or gasket slippage upon installation.
This combination of useful features for the securing and sealing of a toilet to its associated drain pipe is not believed to be disclosed or suggested by any of the prior art patents and, in view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toilet ring assembly which, when used with its sealing gasket, will secure and seal a toilet to its drain pipe with little or no risk of misalignment or gasket slippage.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable sealing means including a first ring portion having a beveled lip supporting a sealing gasket having a mating beveled surface, which when compressed by a second ring portion configured to slide inside said first portion will form a seal with an inserted drain pipe structure.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-piece toilet sealing ring with a sealing gasket which self-aligns with the upper and lower ring sections and, when compressed, forms a moisture-proof seal.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:


The CAN based vehicle immobilizer is a vehicle immobilizer which utilizing the CAN bus of the engine (powertrain) CAN connection on the OBDII/J1962 port or the vehicle CAN system, will completely immobilize a vehicle, preventing use of said vehicle and the starting of said vehicle engine. The vehicle immobilizer system can be installed by a 3rd party on an aftermarket basis and used to immobilize a vehicle despite an immobilization system being already present on said vehicle is not accessible by said 3rd party. The vehicle immobilizer system enables a user to immobilize the vehicle engine efficiently without shorting the CAN network bus lines, and with a minimum of modifications to the vehicle. The vehicle immobilizer system enables a user to immobilize a vehicle from starting the engine and from being driven with minimal modifications to vehicle wiring and with limited to no changes to the vehicle electrical system.

Vehicle immobilizers generally have worked via alterations to the vehicle wiring harness and, or electrical system during diagnostic checks performed by OEM's and various suppliers, while others require a separate control unit with transmitter to be wired into the vehicle electrical system. None, as of yet, utilize the CAN bus in a non-intrusive manner to the vehicle electrical and wiring systems.                U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,538 (Harnack et al.) discloses a method and control module for enabling or disabling control of an engine includes a check module receiving signals through a wiring harness and comparing the check signals to a threshold. The control module also includes an engine control module disabling the engine when the check signals correspond to an unauthorized use.        European Publication No. EP1065112B1 (Coultate et al.) discloses an engine immobilizer operative with an electronically controlled engine, and more specifically to detection of actual engine running conditions in order to re-arm the immobilizer. Use of automotive vehicle security systems employing RF-interrogated transponders has become widespread. Transponders may typically be embedded in the head of a key with a shank for operating a standard mechanical lock on a steering column, for example. Each transponder has a unique digital security code which is transmitted to a vehicle security module and then compared to authorized codes stored within the vehicle security module. The security module may be a stand-alone module or may be more typically incorporated into an electronic engine control module which performs the engine control functions and executes an appropriate engine control strategy.        U.S. Pat. No. 6,853,956 (Ballard, Jr., et al.) discloses a sobriety interlock system having an alcohol detection device electrically connected to a computing device is provided. An electronic circuit is electrically connected between the computing device and an OBD-II port on a machine for receiving data related to operation of the machine. A breath sample is provided by an operator of the machine and the alcohol detection device determines the alcohol concentration of the breath sample. The computing device determines a blood alcohol concentration for the operator based on the breath alcohol concentration, and the computing device prevents or enables operation of the machine based on the level of the blood alcohol concentration. A memory device stores machine operation data received through the OBD-II port.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,490 (Bachuber) discloses an immobilizer for a motor vehicle and a method for operating the immobilizer include a test unit, control devices connected through a data line to the test unit, and at least one ignition key having a transponder. When the ignition key is actuated, the test unit transmits a request signal through the data line to all of the control devices, which respond thereto by transmitting back identification codes which are compared with desired codes. The test unit prevents starting of the motor if fewer than a prescribed number of control devices reply with their identification code. The test unit enables all of the control devices if at least the prescribed number of control devices reply with their identification code word, in the event of interrogation.        European Publication No. EP0525979B1 (Pucci et al.) discloses systems which are most frequently operated by a remote controlled transmitter which transmits a code, when activated by the user, to a receiver in the vehicle. The receiver interprets the code and authorizes it if correct, and enables or disables the immobilizing mechanism fitted to the vehicle. Some systems operate automatically with the immobilizer being enabled within a certain time after the ignition has been switched off, or the key completely removed.        U.S. Publication No. US20120280805 (Magner et al.) discloses a control module which provides for immobilization of a vehicle. The control module includes an intelligent control disposed within a housing of the control module, a plurality of discrete inputs and a plurality of discrete outputs operatively connected to the intelligent control, at least one network interface operatively connected to the intelligent control, at least one user interface operatively connected to the intelligent control, and software stored for execution by the intelligent control, the software providing instructions to control functions of a vehicle associated with the control module, the functions including vehicle immobilization functions.        U.S. Publication No. US20130226795 (Hopper et al.) discloses a vehicle immobilizing device which includes a lock, a user interface, memory configured to store an unlock code, and a processor. The lock has a latch mechanism and the processor controls movement of the latch mechanism from a locked position to an unlocked position so that the immobilizing device can be removed from a vehicle. A person installing the immobilizing device on a vehicle utilizes the user interface to enter and store an unlock code and an identification code in the device memory at the time of installation. Upon payment of an outstanding fine, a vehicle owner is provided with an unlock code. To remove the device from the vehicle the owner utilizes the user interface to enter an unlock code and the processor causes the latch mechanism to move to the unlocked position upon determining that the unlock code input via the user interface matches an unlock code stored in the memory.
Many of these systems are intended to be used by an OEM and are factory installed.
What is needed is a vehicle immobilizer system which can be installed by a 3rd party on an aftermarket basis that will be used to immobilize a vehicle despite an immobilization system being already present on the vehicle that, however, is not accessible by said 3rd party.
What is needed is a vehicle immobilizer system which will enable the user to immobilize the vehicle engine efficiently without shorting the CAN network bus lines, with a minimum of modifications to the vehicle, via the CAN bus on the standard OBDII/J1962 connector or directly on the CAN vehicle network.
What is needed is a vehicle immobilizer system which will enable the user to immobilize a vehicle from starting the engine and being driven with minimal modifications to vehicle wiring and with limited to no changes to the vehicle electrical system.
This invention performs its immobilization on the logical side of the CAN transceiver, where other methods may manipulate the physical CAN high and low bus lines.


The invention is an exercise device comprising (i) a frame, (ii) first and second foot supports operably associated with the frame for traveling in a forward and backward direction along a closed loop path relative to a transverse axis defined by the frame, (iii) a means effective for sensing the direction of travel of the foot supports along the closed loop path as between the forward and the backward directions, and (iv) a means for automatically adjusting the stride length and/or stride height of the closed loop path traveled by the foot supports based upon the sensed direction of travel of the foot supports.

One type of stationary cardiovascular exercise equipment which has become extremely popular based predominantly upon its low-impact and natural motion is the elliptical exercise machine. A wide variety of elliptical exercise machines have been developed. Briefly, elliptical exercise machines include foot supports supported upon foot links with the foot links pivotally connected at a first end through a linkage system to a drive shaft for travel along a defined closed loop path (e.g., circular, elliptical, oval, etc.) and connected at the other end for reciprocating motion along a defined path as the first end travels along the closed loop path. This combination of looping and reciprocating paths of travel at opposite ends of the foot links impart an "elliptical" type motion to the foot supports attached to the foot links.
Some elliptical exercise machines permit a user to exercise in both a forward and a backward motion. While this feature enhances the value of the machine by permitting a user to employ a completely different motion which emphasizes different muscle and muscle groups, the machines do not alter the path of travel of the foot supports to accommodate the inherent difference in stride between a forward walking/running motion and a backward walking/running motion.
Accordingly, a need exists for elliptical exercise machines which permit a user to exercise in both a forward and a backward motion and alters the path of travel of the foot supports dependant upon whether the user is moving in a forward and backward direction in order to accommodate the inherent difference in stride between a forward walking/running motion and a backward walking/running motion.

Exercise equipment with automatic adjustment of stride length and/or stride height based upon direction of foot support rotation


The present invention relates to a method for producing tetrahydrofuran comprising: feeding raw material 1,4-butanediol containing gamma butyrolactone to a reaction tank, and performing a dehydration cyclization reaction in the presence of a homogeneous acid catalyst having a pKa of 4 or less and being dissolvable in 1,4-butanediol to produce tetrahydrofuran, wherein a gas containing tetrahydrofuran, gamma butyrolactone and water in the reaction tank is introduced into a heat exchanger and when obtaining a condensate from the outlet of the heat exchanger, the ratio of the concentration of gamma butyrolactone in the condensate based on the concentration of gamma butyrolactone in the raw material 1,4-butanediol is from 20 to 100%.

Tetrahydrofuran (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as "THF") is used as a solvent for various organic compounds and is known to be a compound useful also as a raw material of a polyether polyol such as polytetramethylene ether glycol.
As the industrial production method of a cyclic ether such as tetrahydrofuran, a variety of production methods have been conventionally known, but among others, the cyclic ether is produced in many cases by dehydration cyclization of a dihydroxy compound such as 1,4-butanediol (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as "1,4BG"). As the catalyst for the dehydration cyclization reaction of a dihydroxy compound, an acid catalyst is known to be effective in view of high conversion ratio and selectivity, and, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a method where an alkanediol such as 1,4-butanediol is dehydrogenated and dehydrated in the presence of a cobalt-containing catalyst, an organic sulfonic acid and a high-boiling-point amine to produce an α,β-cyclic unsaturated ether such as dihydrofuran. Also, Patent Document 2 describes a method for continuously producing THF by a reaction of a 2-(4-hydroxybutoxy)tetrahydrofuran-containing 1,4BG reaction mixture on a heteropolyacid catalyst.
The raw material 1,4-butanediol used for THF production can be obtained by conventionally known various production methods of 1,4BG, and with respect to the product 1,4BG obtained, a byproduct occurring in the production process may be slightly mixed as an impurity into the product 1,4BG. The kind or amount of the impurity varies depending on the production method of 1,4BG, and Patent Document 2 discloses that when 1,4BG containing 2-(4-hydroxybutoxy)tetrahydrofuran which is one of impurities is used as a raw material to produce THF, a high-boiling-point component occurs as a byproduct in the reactor for THF production. Also, Patent Document 3 discloses that a water-containing crude product obtained by hydrogenating 1,4-butynediol contains gamma butyrolactone other than 1,4BG, and it is stated that the gamma butyrolactone is separated from the crude product by using a distillation column.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Systems and methods for generating and storing measurements in point and vector format for a plurality of formations of reservoirs. In one embodiment, the methods comprise generating a set of measurements corresponding to a plurality of formations, reservoirs, or wellbores; determining physical locations for the set of measurements, wherein the physical locations are represented in a point and vector representation; associating the vector representations with the determined physical locations, wherein the vector representations comprise at least a magnitude and a direction derived from the measurement; wherein the magnitude and direction tracks the physical location in space and time; manipulating the set of measurements such that a change in physical location is updated in the vector representation; generating a repository of vector representations accessible to determine an optimal completion design for a set of parameters for a subterranean formation.

The present disclosure relates generally to wellbore and completion design operations and, more particularly, to data storage and modeling for well planning, drilling and completion operations.
Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, are produced from subterranean reservoir formations that may be located onshore or offshore. The processes involved in recovering hydrocarbons from a reservoir are becoming increasingly complex. Subterranean production is a highly expensive and extensive endeavor and the industry generally relies heavily upon educated predictions of reservoir conditions to characterize the reservoir prior to making substantial investments to optimize well placement within the reservoir, optimize production of hydrocarbons, and performing the necessary steps to produce, process and transport the hydrocarbons from the reservoir.
Planning for and performing the production steps generally requires the manipulation of large amount of information and generation of design and uncertainty modeling tasks. Simulators that predict the manner for developing a design or modeling of reservoirs are separately maintained such that no information is traditionally shared between individual simulations associated with a particular reservoir analysis. For example, planning for a drilling operation may include retrieving information from a relational database and generating relational models that represent the characteristics of the subterranean formation to use to base the wellbore and completion design. These simulations can provide an output with an uncertainty for various manners of design and can be utilized by reservoir engineers to make a number of observations and predictions about, for example, the multi-phase flow of oil, gas, and water in a subterranean reservoir. Engineers can further simulate various wellbore and completion designs based on the various uncertainty models to determine one or more improved or optimal location and design of the wellbore to optimize the recoveries of such resources. These are not the only types of parameters taken into account in building a completion design.
Typical relational databases and models are complex and difficult to tie together to cover multiple reservoirs. For instance, the data within the relational database is generally tied to gridded reservoir volumes within the formation in which the data was generated. The relational models are generated from this data, making it difficult to generalize the data outside of the formation in which it was generated. Additionally, different measurements for the same formation may be stored in different databases, so that different databases must be queried to extract properties of the formation.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.