A low calorie, low fat peanut butter-like and fruit preserve product that exhibits rich peanut flavor characteristics, texture, and mouth feel approximating conventional peanut butter is made from defatted peanut flour, either unroasted or roasted, that is mixed with from about one to about three times its weight of water, milled either dry or in the presence of water until the maximum particle size of the flour is smaller than about 200 microns, and then cooked at temperatures between about 80 degrees C. and the boiling point until approximating the texture and flavor of conventional peanut butter. The resulting peanut butter-like component is compatible with either conventional preserves made with natural sugars or with low calorie preserves made with artificial non-nutritive sweeteners. Combining of the peanut butter-like component and a fruit preserve (either conventional or low calorie) in separate discrete phases at weight ratios of from about 2:1 to about 4:1 results in a flavor-stable, low calorie, low fat peanut butter-like and preserve product having an extensive shelf life either as a refrigerated or, with appropriate further processing, a shelf stable product.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to prepared peanut food products, and particularly to low calorie, low fat peanut products, such as peanut butter-like products, that are prepared and packaged either alone or in combination with jelly, jam, fruit spreads, conserves, marmalades and other similar preserves containing natural sugars or artificial sweeteners.
2. Related Art
Peanut butter is the eighth most popular food in the United States; it can be found in over 95 per cent of American homes. Its popularity is due to its unique mouth feel, the flavor of roast peanuts it delivers, and its excellent nutritional values.
The principal way that peanut butter is consumed is as a spread on bread or toast. Consumers often combine it with a preserve such as jelly, jam, fruit spread, conserve, marmalade, or similar high sugar-containing product. The flavor combination of roasted peanuts and fruit preserves is wonderful and is relished traditionally by children but also increasingly by adults.
There are a number of "peanut butter and jelly" type of products on the market, but their appeal is limited mainly to children. First of all, their flavor characteristic is primarily sweet, because the peanut flavor ranges from bland to almost nonexistent. Secondly, for weight-conscious adults, their high calorie, high fat content is a significant deterrent.
The flavor problem occurs because peanut butter is an oil-based system, commonly containing between 49% and 54% oil (natural peanut oil). It is well known in the peanut industry that water severely degrades the natural flavor elements of peanut butter, and peanut butter producers employ systems in their processes to insure the low moisture content of their products. Even the moisture absorbed over time in a partially consumed jar of peanut butter is enough to degrade the flavor, as every peanut butter lover is aware.
Preserves, such as jellies, jams, and fruit spreads, are all water-based products. When these products are blended with peanut butter, in time the water in the preserves will migrate into the peanut butter. Peanut protein exhibits a strong affinity for water. This property accounts for the familiar "sticky" mouth feel that consumers associate with peanut butter. The compounds that provide the roast peanut flavor in peanut butter are very sensitive to water, and the flavor will begin to change noticeably within hours after exposure to moisture. This condition intensifies with time; so that after only a few days of exposure, peanut butter that is in contact with water-based preserves has lost much of its roast peanut flavor notes and become bland.
While natural peanut butter is a generally healthful food, many nutritionists regard it as too rich in fats and calories. Peanut butter typically contains about 50% fat and has about 600 calories per 100 grams (or approximately 190 calories per 32 gram (two tbsps) serving). High fat content is an important factor in the rich taste and mouth feel of peanut butter, but it also renders normal peanut butter inadvisable for people who are calorie conscious, or who suffer from heart or artery disease.
Since preserves have little or no fat, combining peanut butter with a preserve can reduce the proportion of fat in the mixture. Although there is no critical range of proportions, consumers usually combine peanut butter with jelly, jam, or other fruit spreads in ratios ranging from about 2:1 to 4:1 (peanut butter to preserve) by weight. Even though the proportion of fat is reduced somewhat, this combination still constitutes a high calorie food.
Some work has been done to create low calorie, reduced fat whole peanut and peanut flour products. For example, the calorie content of whole peanuts has been reduced by partial removal of fats through a compression process, and low calorie, low fat peanut flours have been prepared by pressing and then milling either raw or roasted peanuts. As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,947,599 and 4,113,889, these reduced fat content peanut flours have lost their peanut flavor characteristics and are very bland, almost tasteless. These patents propose using such flour as a base protein material for various food products, such as baked goods or protein extenders, but they do not suggest their use for low calorie, low fat peanut butter type products. The peanut flours described in these patents, in addition to having a bland taste, are generally dry, having water contents of under 5%.
The Agricultural Experiment Station of Auburn University has conducted extensive research into ways to use defatted peanuts in food products. In Bulletin 431 dated April 1972, entitled "Development and Use of Defatted Peanut Flours, Meals, and Grits," the acceptability of various food products made with defatted peanut flours is reported. In addition to breads, cakes, crisps, puddings, and ice creams, several peanut-honey spread recipes were tested. In none of these recipes did the weight of peanut flour exceed the weight of honey, and best results were obtained when the ratio of peanut flour to honey was 1:2. The score for flavor tests, however, was only 7.1 on a scale of 1 to 10. In retrospect, this is not so surprising; the amount of peanut flour would be too low to impart any peanut flavor even if it had any. The Bulletin listed on attempts to use defatted peanut flours to produce a low fat peanut butter, and, in fact, regular peanut butter was used in some peanut flour ice cream recipes to improve the flavor and texture.
More recently, Australian Patent Application No. 74497/87, published on Oct. 6, 1988 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,868 issued to the present inventors on May 9, 1989), disclosed a low calorie peanut butter-like product and a process for making it from unroasted defatted peanut flour so that the resulting product has a desirable roast peanut flavor characteristic and a texture that nearly approximates that of generic peanut butter. There is no teaching in this document that a suitable peanut butter-like product could be made from roasted peanut flour or that a combination peanut butter-like and fruit preserve product could be provided that would maintain a desirable roast peanut flavor in the peanut component over a prolonged storage period.

Low calorie peanut butter-like and fruit preserve product and process


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for detecting a face image, electronic device, and computer readable medium. The method may include: performing facial keypoint detection on an image frame containing a face object; segmenting a center face area image and an entire face area image of a target face object from the image frame based on a facial keypoint detection result; performing head pose estimation respectively based on the center face area image and the entire face area image; and generating a detection result on whether the target face object contained in the image frame is a fake face object based on a difference between a piece of first head pose information estimated based on the center face area image and a piece of second head pose information estimated based on the entire face area image.

The face swap technology is a technology of replacing a human face in images or videos, and generally automatically replaces a face of a person in the images or videos with a face of another person using an artificial intelligence technology. The images or videos may not be accurately identified by human eyes. This technology, if being improperly used, will result in portraiture right violations, spread false news, and cause serious consequences, such as public events.

Method and apparatus for detecting face image

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.


Modular and/or demand-driven string analysis of a computer program is performed. Each method of the program is encoded into monadic second-order logic (M2L) to yield a set of predicate declarations and a set of constraints. The two sets for each method are composed to yield a union set of predicate declarations and a union set of constraints for the program. The union set of constraints includes a particular set of constraints corresponding to call relationships among the methods. An M2L formula including a free variable corresponding to a program variable is added to the union set of constraints. The two union sets are processed to verify a satisfiability of the constraints in relation to an illegal pattern. Where the constraints are satisfiable, the program can generate a string containing the illegal pattern. Where the constraints are not satisfiable, the program never generates a string containing the illegal pattern.

String analysis is a technique for statically analyzing computer programs to infer which strings of characters arise within the computer programs at run-time. For example, FIG. 1 shows a computer program 100 written in the Java programming language that replaces the character "<" with the character "X". Therefore, as such, strings returned by the method main of the computer program 100 never should contain "<". String analysis techniques can verify this outcome.

International Business Machines Corporation


A bearing arrangement for a shaft, particularly a driveshaft (1) in a transmission housing (5) of an automatic transmission with an actuating piston (6) of a shifting element arranged inside the shaft. At least one self-sealing bearing is provided at least on the side of the transmission housing (5) remote from the motor to support the shaft.

Bearing arrangements for shafts and driveshafts in automatic transmissions are known from automotive technology. Usually, for example when a torque converter is used, the driveshaft is mounted on the transmission input side by means of a radial bearing in a guide-wheel shaft. In known bearing arrangements, on the side remote from the motor or the torque converter a radial bearing is also provided, by means of which the driveshaft is supported in the transmission housing. In this type of mounting the driveshaft is secured in the axial direction by abutments in the form of steps on the shaft, these steps being in contact with axially fixed structural elements that run at least without any rotational speed difference.
Now, to incorporate in the automatic transmission a largely fitting-space-neutral shifting element, for example a claw shifting element, it is provided that an actuating piston for the shifting element is arranged centrally inside the driveshaft. The actuating piston is acted upon with pressure medium or oil, and can when necessary be moved axially against the force of a restoring spring. On the actuating piston are provided a plurality of drive-pins, which project radially through openings in the driveshaft and correspondingly actuate the shifting claw of the claw shifting elements.


An illegal communication detector that is mounted in a communication path between external devices and a protection-targeted device to monitor contents of communications delivered to the protection-targeted device, the illegal communication detector including: a recording unit that records at least part of information transmitted from the external devices to the protection-targeted device; a determination unit that regards one of the external devices as a device of interest; and a communication control unit that detects, if the determination means conclude that at least part of the recorded information complies with the predetermined illegal communication standard rule, that the contents of communication are derived from an illegal communication, and performing a predetermined process concerning the communication with the device of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illegal communication detector that monitors contents of communications delivered to a server connected to an intra-organizational network or other similar protection-targeted devices, and detects any illegal communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the style of connection to the Internet is diversified. For example, corporate employees can access an intra-corporate server from a personal computer and the like device at their home via a network and perform jobs without actually going to the office or can access the intra-corporate server from the outside to retrieve e-mail.
In such a situation, the intra-corporate server generally performs personal authentication with a user name, password and the like for the purpose of allowing an employee to access the information retained within the server only when the employee is authenticated.
However, if a user name, a password, or other items of information leak out, an illegal action called "spoofing" (pretending to be someone else) can be performed to read information from the intra-corporate server. To avoid such a problem, the degree of stringency of authentication can be increased by use of a technique which uses the information about the employed computer communication card for personal authentication in addition to personal identification information.
However, personal authentication is based on the information existing on the user side as described above. If a malicious user gathers the information about an authorized user, the malicious user can theoretically perform "spoofing".
Further, illegal communications based on "spoofing" differ from attacks such as DoS and port scan so that it is generally difficult to differentiate "spoofing" from an authorized use.
The present invention is therefore made to address the foregoing problems and provide an illegal communication detector that is capable of detecting and handling an illegal communication such as "spoofing".

Illegal communication detector, illegal communication detector control method, and storage medium storing program for illegal communication detector control


A control system and method for a hybrid vehicle involve controlling a hybrid powertrain comprising an engine and a transmission having one or more electric motors and not comprising a decoupling mechanism therebetween, detecting an operating condition where the transmission is in neutral and the vehicle is moving at a speed less than a low speed threshold, and in response to detecting the operating condition: determining a desired propulsive torque of the powertrain, determining an actual propulsive torque at the driveline, calculating a torque difference between the actual and desired propulsive torques over a period, comparing the calculated torque difference to a first movement threshold, and when the calculated torque difference exceeds the first movement threshold, applying an electric parking brake (EPB) of the vehicle.

A hybrid vehicle powertrain typically includes a torque generating system comprising an engine and one or more electric motors that are each configured to generate torque for a driveline of the powertrain. Conventional transmissions include a disconnect or decoupling clutch disposed between a shaft of the driveline and a shaft of the torque generating system. This clutch is utilized, for example, to decouple the torque generating system from the driveline when the transmission is in neutral. Some transmissions, however, do not have this disconnect or decoupling clutch disposed between the driveline and torque generating system. Thus, in neutral, a control system controls the engine and the one or more electric motors to generate positive/negative torques that sum to zero torque at the driveline. In some cases, however, the torque output by the torque generating system to the driveline fluctuates from zero, which results in potential movement of the vehicle. Accordingly, while such transmissions and control systems work well for their intended purpose, there remains a need for improvement in the relevant art.

Techniques for detecting and monitoring unintended powertrain propulsive torque in hybrid vehicles


There is provided a personal fall detection system comprising a sensor module that is suitable for attachment to a user, the sensor module comprising an accelerometer for measuring accelerations acting on the sensor module; and a processor for analyzing the measured accelerations to determine if the sensor module has suffered an impact, and for estimating a vertical displacement of the sensor module during a time period immediately before the impact; wherein the processor estimates the vertical displacement of the sensor module by twice integrating the measurements from the accelerometer.

Three-dimensional accelerometers can be attached to objects, and can measure the acceleration of the object in three dimensions. As part of these measurements, the accelerometer measures accelerations on the object caused by gravity.
Generally, a personal fall detection system comprises a user worn sensor module that is arranged to wirelessly send out an alarm signal to the remaining part of the system in the event that an emergency situation is detected. Such a sensor module may comprise an alarm button that the user can press to have the module send out the alarm signal or a detector that detects if a user has fallen, whereby the sensor module automatically sends out an alarm signal.
Many existing automatic fall detection solutions are based on measuring acceleration of the daily activities and falls of the user with a fall detector attached to the body, usually at the waist. The basic principle of these fall detection solutions is to detect the large or significant impact caused by the body hitting the ground during a fall. Some solutions can also detect the change in orientation of the body caused by a fall, which improves the success rate in detecting falls.
However, the existing solutions still have an unacceptably high false alarm rate. This is because measuring the change in body orientation in conjunction with detecting the occurrence of a large impact is often not sufficient to distinguish all daily activities of a user from a fall.
The fall detection system can be provided with additional functionality to generate more information about the activities of the user, which can improve the performance. In particular, adding a displacement measurement sensor to the sensor module can improve the performance. This is because going from a standing position to falling onto the ground results in the height of the sensor module decreasing by about the height from the waist to the ground, if the sensor module is attached to the waist. This displacement information is useful for distinguishing some daily activities from falls and improves the fall detection performance.
Integrating a barometer into an accelerometer-based fall detection system that allows absolute height to be measured from air pressure, fulfills the above requirement. However, including this type of additional component in the sensor module leads to increased energy consumption and size for the system. In addition, measurements by barometers can be adversely affected by changes in the environment, such as a change in the ambient pressure or temperature.
Therefore, there is a need for an alternative methodology for measuring the displacement of a sensor module that includes an accelerometer.

Displacement measurement in a fall detection system


A lighting device capable of changing the light irradiation range includes a light emitting portion, and an optical member disposed in front of the light emitting portion. The optical member has a plurality of shapes such that two types of cylindrical concave surface having axial directions substantially perpendicular to each other are crossed each other. The plurality of shapes are formed in a central region of an entry surface through which light from the light emitting portion enters or a central region of an exit surface through which the light entering through the entry surface exits.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting devices capable of changing the light irradiation range.
Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there have been known lighting devices capable of changing the light irradiation range (the irradiation range of the lighting devices) (hereinafter also referred to as zoom strobe devices). Some of such zoom strobe devices use a method in which the irradiation range is changed by changing the distance between a light emitting portion including a light source and a reflection umbrella reflecting light emitted from the light source and an optical panel disposed in front of the light emitting portion and refracting light from the light emitting portion. When using this method, for example, the irradiation range is widened by reducing the distance between the optical panel and the light emitting portion when performing wide-angle photographing, in which the angle of view is widened, with a photographing device, and the irradiation range is narrowed by increasing the distance between the optical panel and the light emitting portion when performing telephoto photographing, in which the angle of view is narrowed, with the photographing device.
In such zoom strobe devices, it is necessary to obtain the irradiation range suitable for wide-angle photographing of the photographing device and the quantity of light suitable for telephoto photographing of the photographing device. So, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-129301 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-43688 propose a strobe device in which different optical systems are formed in the vicinity of the center of an optical panel used in wide-angle photographing and in the peripheral part of the optical panel used in telephoto photographing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-129301 discloses a strobe device that has, in the central part of an optical panel, a collecting optical system having the same area as the opening area of a light emitting portion and another collecting optical system in the peripheral part, and in which the collecting optical system in the central part is wide compared to the peripheral part.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-43688 discloses a strobe device having a plurality of optical panels having different surface shapes.
In the strobe device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-129301, the light distribution in a wide-angle state in which the irradiation range is maximized can be improved. However, the region of the optical panel that is used in the wide-angle state is also used in a telephoto state in which the irradiation range is minimized, and therefore the quantity of light decreases. In order to obtain the necessary quantity of light in the strobe device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-129301, there is no choice but to increase the travel distance of the light emitting portion. Doing so increases the size of the strobe device.
The strobe device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-43688 employs a plurality of optical panels and needs a complex configuration. In addition, since the number of components increases, the size and cost of the strobe device increase.


A control apparatus for a ventilator that ventilates a tunnel in response to visibility of the inside of the tunnel, including at least one picture image input device configured to take a picture of the inside of the tunnel, a visibility index determination device configured to determine a visibility index value on the basis of a picture image data of the picture taken by the picture image input device in light of a table representing a relationship between the picture image data and the visibility index value, a feedback controller configured to calculate an operation command for operating the ventilator on the basis of a feedback control value calculated by comparing the visibility index value with a target value of the visibility index value.

This application claims benefit of priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 11-258887 filed Sep. 13, 1999, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a control apparatus for ventilating a tunnel that operates ventilators in a tunnel so as to keep visibility for drivers within a satisfactory range. The visibility, for example, represents air pollution density in the tunnel.
2. Discription of the Background
Concerning a road tunnel for automobiles, it is essential to control air pollution density to be within a satisfactory range and to keep visibility for drivers well from the point of view of guaranteeing drivers"" safety and comfortableness.
In general, a ventilator, that may include a blower, an exhauster, a jet fan, a dust chamber or the like, is set in a tunnel, and a control apparatus is provided for operating the ventilation system efficiently according to the air pollution density.
There are several kinds of control systems that operate the ventilator. FIG. 1 is one example of a conventional control system. FIG. 1(a) is a schematic view showing one example of the installation of ventilation equipment in a tunnel. FIG. 1(b) is a block diagram of a conventional control apparatus.
The ventilation equipment includes a TC(Traffic Counter) sensor 51 that measures speeds of automobiles traveling on a road and the number of automobiles, and distinguishes between small cars and large-sized cars, a VI(Visibility Index) sensor 52 that measures a VI value in the tunnel, a CO(Carbon monoxide) sensor 53 that measures carbon monoxide density in the tunnel, an AV(Wind velocity) sensor that measures a wind direction and a wind velocity in the tunnel, and a ventilator 55 having jet fans or the like. The VI value is an index that represents visibility in the tunnel. Where the VI value indicates 100%, the visibility is completely clear. Where the VI value indicates 0%, it means completely dark.
The control apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1(b), includes a traffic volume predictor 56 that predicts the volume of traffic in the tunnel in a fixed cycle on the basis of an output of measured traffic value from the TC sensor 51, a ventilation-planning setter 57 that calculates a working plan value representing the amount of work to be done by the ventilator 55 on the basis of the predicted traffic value, and a ventilation feedback controller 58.
To put it concretely, the TC sensor 51 counts the number of automobiles in a cycle of one hour. The traffic volume predictor 56 accumulates the number of automobiles output from the TC sensor 51 and makes out a one-day traffic pattern for small cars and a one-day traffic pattern for large-sized cars separately. The traffic patterns are classified into several classes, for example, a weekday, the day before holiday, a holiday, the day after holiday and the like, and then averaged in the respective classes, thereby making basic traffic patterns in the respective classes. In case of estimating the amount of traffic in this state, the predicted traffic value is determined by adjusting the basic traffic pattern that corresponds to the day to be estimated in light of a change of the traffic on that day.
The ventilation-planning setter 57 estimates the amount of pollutant and the ability to ventilate in the next cycle on the basis of the predicted traffic value that is obtained from the traffic volume predictor 56, and calculates the working plan value needed for controlling visibility and air pollution density to be within a satisfactory range in the next cycle. The working plan value becomes the basis for determining the amount of work to be done by the ventilator 55 in the next cycle.
The ventilation feedback controller 58 calculates a feedback control value, which is also needed for controlling visibility and air pollution density to be within a satisfactory range in the next cycle, on the basis of the VI value from the VI sensor 52, the carbon monoxide density from the CO sensor 53, the wind direction and the wind velocity from the AV sensor 54, and outputs the feedback control value to a plan/feedback cooperation controller 59.
The plan/feedback cooperation controller 59 cooperates between the working plan value from the ventilation-planning setter 57 and the feedback control value from the ventilation feedback controller 58, and determines an operation command for the ventilator 55. The ventilator 55 is controlled on the basis of the operation command.
There has been another control system for ventilating a tunnel that uses only a feedback control for middle-sized tunnels as shown in FIG. 2.
As described above, the control apparatus controls to keep the VI value and the carbon monoxide density within a satisfactory range by controlling the ventilator 55 in consideration of drivers"" safety and comfortableness.
Since it is generally known that the carbon monoxide density can be kept much lower than a permissible value by controlling the VI value to be within a satisfactory range, the VI value is the most important control index for ventilating tunnels.
The VI sensor 52 includes a light-projector and a light-interceptor, and the light-projector and the light-interceptor are disposed at intervals of 100 meters, thereby measuring an attenuation rate of a laser beam radiated from the light-projector at the time that the laser beam reaches to the light-interceptor.
In the conventional control apparatus, the attenuation rate measured by the VI sensor 52 is used as an index that represents visibility for drivers. However, there are some following problems.
(1) The VI sensor 52 is disposed near a wall of the tunnel, which does not match the actual situation. Because, a portion that visibility should be kept well for drivers is not by the wall, but a portion that is about one meter apart from a road on which drivers are traveling.
(2) An attenuation rate of a laser beam is used as an index that represents visibility for drivers. However, the attenuation rate does not directly correspond to visibility for drivers.
(3) A range that the VI sensor may measure a VI value is limited to an area at which the VI sensor is disposed. Accordingly, in order to measure the VI values throughout a tunnel, a large number of VI sensors are required. As a result, it is very difficult to realize such system due to an increase in installation costs.
(4) With regard to the TC sensor 51, there are several types of TC sensors as described below. But they have their own problems.
a. Ultrasonic waves type
An ultrasonic generating and receiving apparatus emits an ultrasonic wave toward around a road surface intermittently and receives the reflected wave from automobiles or the road surface. The ultrasonic apparatus detects the existence of automobiles by comparing the reflected waves from automobile and the road surface.
b. Optical type
An infrared light generating and receiving apparatus emits an infrared light toward around a road surface and receives the reflected light from automobiles or the road surface. The infrared light apparatus detects the existence of automobiles by comparing the reflected lights from the automobile and the road surface.
c. Loop coil type
A loop coil is laid under a road that automobiles are traveling. The existence of automobiles is detected by means of current flowing into the loop coil at the time that automobiles pass over the loop coil.
In these TC sensors, the existence of automobiles is detected by means of changes of ultrasonic waves, infrared lights or current of the loop coil, and the TC sensors also distinguish between small cars and large-sized cars at the same time.
However, there is a possibility that these TC sensors may detect as a large-sized car or count the number of automobiles erroneously, in case that two small cars travel continuously.
With regard to a tunnel in the mountains, since fog flows into the tunnel, visibility sometimes worsens. In this case, it is difficult for the conventional TC sensors to distinguish between exhaust gas and fog. That is, the TC sensors may not distinguish which of exhaust gas or fog makes the visibility worse. In general, visibility is improved by letting the outside air into the tunnel. Accordingly, in case that a deterioration of visibility results from the fog, the visibility may worsen.
Since the above-mentioned control apparatus may not fully grasp the actual condition of the tunnel, a ventilation control may delay, resulting in deterioration of visibility and air pollution density. On the other hand, the ventilator may be used more than is necessary, thereby increasing a waste of electricity.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a control apparatus for ventilating a tunnel that may grasp the actual condition of the tunnel and improve drivers"" safety and comfortableness.
Another object of this invention is to provide a control apparatus for ventilating a tunnel that may save in electricity for a ventilator.
The present invention provides a control apparatus for a ventilator that ventilates a tunnel in response to visibility of the inside of the tunnel, including at least one picture image input device configured to take a picture of the inside of the tunnel, a visibility index determination device configured to determine a visibility index value on the basis of a picture image data of the picture taken by the picture image input device in light of a table representing a relationship between the picture image data and the visibility index value, a feedback controller configured to calculate an operation command for operating the ventilator on the basis of a feedback control value calculated by comparing the visibility index value with a target value of the visibility index value.

Control apparatus for ventilating a tunnel


The present invention concerns a method of reducing polluting emissions from a circulating fluidized bed combustion installation including a furnace from which the dust is recovered at least in part by a cyclone, the partially dedusted gases output by the cyclone passing through a recovery boiler, and then into a dust filter, in which method a desulfurizing agent is inserted into the furnace. According to the invention, downstream from said recovery boiler, and upstream from said dust filter, the flue gases are desulfurized in semi-humid manner in a reaction enclosure provided with a water injection inlet. Downstream from said dust filter, the resulting desulfurization products are thermally oxidized.

It is well known that circulating fluidized bed combustion is performed under conditions that are relatively favorable to reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides (nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide) and emissions of sulfur oxides (sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide). Since the combustion temperature is about 850.degree. C. and the air intake is in stages, nitrogen oxides are produced in small quantities only, in general less than 200 mg/Nm.sup.3 relative to dry flue gases having a residual oxygen content of 6%.
Sulfur oxides are currently collected by inserting a solid desulfurizing agent such as a calcareous rock into the combustion furnace. It is possible to collect about 95% of the sulfur oxides because the solids are mixed thoroughly as a result of the internal and external re-circulation, and of the combustion temperature of about 850.degree. C.
However, any increase in desulfurizing performance levels by increasing the flow-rate of the desulfurizing agent would give rise to a substantial increase in nitrogen oxide emissions because of the catalytic effect of the desulfurizing agent on the conversion of nitrogen into nitrogen oxides. The known method is therefore not effective enough if its performance levels are to be improved, e.g. if the regulations become tighter.
Moreover, because of the low combustion temperature, the circulating fluidized bed gives rise to nitrous oxide (N.sub.2 O) emissions. Increasing the temperature so as to reduce nitrous oxide emissions gives rise to a detrimental reduction in desulfurization effectiveness.
Finally, if a surplus of desulfurizing agent is inserted into the furnace so as to obtain high desulfurization efficiency, then the circulating fluidized bed produces large quantities of solid residue.

Method of reducing polluting emissions from circulating fluidized bed combustion intallations


A billiards rack assembly tightly organizes billiard balls on a table. The rack assembly comprises a rigid frame defining a ball containment area. An elongated pivoted racking bar is located at one end of the rigid frame. A handle is attached to the pivoted racking bar, and is adapted for being grasped by a user to move the racking bar between a downwardly pivoted ball-engaging position and an upwardly pivoted frame-removing position. In the ball-engaging position, the pivoted racking bar forces the billiard balls tightly together within the ball containment area towards an opposite end of the rigid frame, thereby reducing gaps between adjacent balls. In the frame-removing position, the pivoted racking bar is moved away from the billiard balls and the handle located to facilitate lifting and removal of the rack assembly from the table.

This invention relates broadly and generally to a billiard rack assembly and method of racking billiard balls. A conventional rack (or "triangle") is used to organize billiard balls on a table at the beginning of a billiards game. Generally, the balls are first placed within the area defined by the rack, tightened against the front apex of the rack by pressure with the fingers or thumbs against a back row of balls, and properly located on the table playing surface—e.g., at the foot spot. At that point, the rack is generally moved forward slightly to permit disengagement with the tightly organized balls and then lifted carefully from the table without touching or loosening the balls.

Billiard rack assembly and method of racking billiard balls


A louver assembly, which acts as a water-removing inertial separator, is located in the air intake of an enclosure maintained at negative pressure. The louver includes a number of spaced vanes, each formed without discontinuities by simple bending into a stair-step-like configuration when viewed end-on. Air enters the enclosure by passing between adjacent vanes, experiencing changes of direction of between 70 degrees and 90 degrees at the vane's surfaces to separate water therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a louver assembly, and, more particularly to an improved louver assembly for an enclosure which houses HVAC equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
HVAC equipment may be contained in an enclosure to protect the equipment from the environment and to prevent personnel from contacting rotating, heated or other hazardous parts. When heating facilities are within the enclosure, the intake of a blower or fan applies a negative pressure to the volume or space surrounded by the enclosure to draw air into the enclosure. After a burner heats the air which is drawn in, the blower expels the air into an area to be heated through an outlet formed in the enclosure. Thus, the enclosure serves protective functions and acts as a vital part of the air transmission path.
It is disadvantageous to draw air which contains moisture or water into the enclosure, whether such moisture is in the form of rain, fog, mist or water vapor. First, the specific heat of air which contains water is higher than that of dry air. Accordingly, more energy is required, and ultimately more fuel at greater expense, to heat moist air. Second, water-laden air can damage the HVAC equipment. Over a period of time, moisture drawn into the enclosure can cause corrosion or other damage to metal and other parts of the equipment. Moreover, a sudden inflow of a large quantity of water, in the form of wind-driven rain, for example, can short-circuit electrical devices, extinguish the burner and cause belts to lose traction on their pulleys.
Devices for removing water as well as particulate matter entrained in air are known. Such devices, termed inertial separators, are well known for use in the air intakes of large turbine engines, such as those present on ships and in air craft. Inertial separators are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,312,645 to Mavros et al; 4,698,078 to Mavros; 3,498,205 to Kautz et al; and 3,348,466 to Lane et al. Filters used in the same environments to remove particulates are known, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,411,272 to Carmon, but filters are generally ineffective for removing water from an air stream. Rainproof louvers for enclosures are also known. See the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,452,024 to Sterriker et al; 4,310,993 to White; 4,064,670 to Lichtenwald; and 1,972,991 to Hinkle.
Inertial separators of the type used on ships and air craft comprise a plurality of closely spaced chevrons or V-shaped vanes held in a frame. Air flows at very high velocity through the separator. As it so flows, the air must turn or bend several times to follow the tortuous path between the vanes. Entrained particles, such as salt, sand or other particulate matter contained in air, generally have a higher mass and density than the "particles" of air in which the are entrained. As a consequence, as the entrained particles bend and turn, they are thrown outwardly against the surfaces of the vanes due to centrifugal forces thereon. Stated differently, the less massive air "particles" are capable of negotiating the bends and turns, while the particles of the more massive and more dense particulate matter are not, and these impact against the vanes. The vanes in inertial separators typically contain stops, ducts or projections which ensure that the impacted matter is not re-entrained in the high velocity air flowing therepast and conduct the impacted matter downwardly (due to gravity) to a collection area.
Inertial separators for turbine intakes are expensive to fabricate. The shapes of the vanes thereof are rather complex, and forming them is one factor contributing to the high cost. Further, the projections on the vanes represent discontinuities, adding to the complexity of the formation thereof. It is difficult, if not impossible, to form the vanes of naval and aero inertial separators by simple bending techniques.
Naval and aero inertial separators must be very efficient to protect the massive, powerful turbines and other engines thereof. This need for efficiency results in the vanes being spaced closely together. Although the close spacing increases fictional resistance to air flow, such is easily overcome by the high negative-pressure-creating power of ship-board or plane-board turbines. The close spacing, of course, contributes to the high efficiencies of the separators.
Typical rainproof louvers heretofore used contain vanes or blades which are complexly shaped and are often formed of multiple, attached pieces. Where not formed of attached pieces, the vanes or blades, in cross-section, have sinuous, multi-run configuration with varying angles between the respective runs thereof, and often include projections or protrusions which are extruded, if they do not constitute separate attached pieces.


Decorated sheets of laminated safety glass, particularly for use in the field of building construction and vehicles for transportation, are manufactured using a process which makes it possible to obtain a product which can be defined as laminated safety glass. The process consists in reproducing the decoration on a support formed by paper and polyethylene layers and transferring said decoration onto the interposed plastic film, using the adhesive bond differential between decoration and polyethylene and decoration and plastic film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to a process for the manufacture of decorated-sheets of laminated safety glass which can be used to advantage in the field of building construction and manufacturing.
Present conventional decorated sheets of glass are products having a wide range of colours, as well as the possibility of reproducing complicated decorations, for example with the use of shading.
On the other hand, the more and more widespread use of this glass and the ever greater variety of fields in which the glass is used mean that, as well as requirements of an aesthetic nature, the glass also has to meet safety requirements, in particular in the case of their use as windows for vehicles and/or for building construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
From the state of the art is known, and described in French utility certificate FR-2639631-B3, a safety product in glass for building, formed by two sheets of glass and by a layer of plastic inserted therebetween, said plastic layer being preferably polyvinylbutyral (PVB), in which a design or decoration is applied on the layer of PVB, by means of transfer techniques.
The definition of laminated safety glass is given to a product, made up of two or more layers of glass, held together by a plastic material capable of resisting the impact of a soft body.
UNI standard 7142 states that the impact must be that of a sack weighing 45 Kg dropped from a height of 45 cm or from a height of 120 cm.
If the laminate resists said impact, it can be defined a safety product, belonging to class A if the weight fell from 45 cm, to class B if it fell from 120 cm.
Another standard commonly used to define a laminated safety product is the boiling test described by ANSI standard 297.1.1975, which requires that a sample of laminated glass be boiled in water for two hours, showing, at the end of said period, no bubbles or other defects at a distance greater than half an inch from the outer edge or from any break which may have occurred during the test itself.
The decorated sheets of laminated glass manufactured using the process according to the present invention are also sheets of safety glass, as they pass both the tests described above.
The process is furthermore aimed at reducing to a minimum the working phases, so as to perform a reduction of production costs.
The prior art teaches how to print a decoration on a substrate. In the present description a decoration is defined as a drawing of whatever form, colour, size and complexity, having the function of an ornament or having a utility function.
A known printing process consists, for example, in first reproducing the decoration to be transferred on paper, and then in pressing said paper, under suitable temperature and pressure conditions, onto the substrate to be decorated, by means of a calender.
To allow the decoration to be transferred easily from the paper to the substrate, the temperature is generally between 160.degree. and 220.degree. C., so as to permit the dyes to penetrate into the substrate by sublimation.
The two continuous sheets of paper and substrate, once the calendering and transfer have been carried out, divide and are each rolled up separately.
From the state of the art is also known the process for lamination of two sheets of glass.
Said process consists in forming an assembly made up of two sheets of glass between which is inserted a film of plastic material, preferably polyvinylbutyral (PVB). This assembly then undergoes a number of pressing cycles at suitable temperatures and pressures, so as to finally seal the two sheets of glass. It is known that, in the manufacture of laminated sheets of glass, one of the hardest technical problems to solve is that of air bubbles, which are trapped inside the assembly during pressing and which are the cause of rejection or unsticking as the product ages.
This problem was solved in the prior art by roughening the surfaces of the interposed plastic (polyvinylbutyral), thus permitting the air bubbles to escape during the first of the pressing cycles, so that the adhesiveness between the interposed layer and the sheets of glass is not reduced and the product passes the boiling and shattering tests described above.
In the case of decorations of varying kinds being applied by transfer onto the surface of the PVB surface, the temperatures and pressures used, described in the known printing processes, destroy the roughness found on the surface, thus preventing an efficient removal of air bubbles from the laminate during its manufacture.
It has thus been necessary to find particular types of ink and particular types of support on which to place the decorations so that, at the moment of transfer, the alteration in the surface of the PVB is avoided.

Process for the manufacture of decorated sheets of laminated safety glass


A system that includes an implanted medical device such as an auditory prosthesis having a capacity to conduct communications on two channels to establish an association for communication with another electronic device. One of the channels is preferably a short range or near field channel, and the other channel is a broadcast channel. A method of asynchronous communication using both channels for establishing the association is also described.

Examples of the present invention will be described in the context of pairing or associating a sound processor of a cochlear implant system with a remote electronic device, such as an external controller. However, the present invention should not be considered as being limited to this exemplary field of use.
Auditory prostheses include any acoustic or electrical auditory prosthesis, such as hearing aids, middle ear implants, cochlear implants, brain stem implants, auditory mid-brain implant, and other devices which provide electrical and/or acoustic stimulation to a recipient to assist with hearing. Such prostheses require an input in the form of an electrical signal that corresponds to a sound signal for processing by the prosthesis. The input is typically obtained from a microphone that receives a sound signal. For example, a conventional cochlear implant consists of an external part containing a microphone, sound processor, and a headpiece coil, and an implanted part, which contains an implant coil and a stimulator device coupled to an electrode array.
Sound is received at the microphone, which generates an electrical signal that is delivered to the sound processor as an input. The sound processor processes the input signal and generates control signals, according to a pre-defined sound processing strategy, for controlling the stimulation of the electrode array of the stimulator device. The control signals are transferred over a transcutaneous link by the headpiece coil via the implant coil to the stimulator device, which sends corresponding stimuli to appropriate electrodes of the electrode array that stimulate the recipient's auditory nerve to give a perception of hearing.
Bilateral auditory prosthesis systems exist. For example, a prosthesis may be fitted to both the right ear and left ear of a recipient to form a bilateral system. Each device in a bilateral system may operate independently of the other, or they may communicate by either a wireless or a wired connection in delivering joint assistance to the recipient.
From time to time it may be desirable to connect a component of such a system (e.g. the sound processor) to a remote electronic device, such as a remote control, computer, or other sound processor, to enable communication between them (e.g. to perform diagnostic tests on the processor, adjust settings, etc.). For example, the Cochlear™ Nucleus® CP810 Sound Processor can be wirelessly associated with a Nucleus® CR110 Remote Assistant (both manufactured by Cochlear Limited) to enable a recipient or other person using the Remote Assistant to easily monitor, control, and manage the operation of the sound processor and the cochlear implant generally.
The process for establishing communication between a sound processor and a remote electronic device is typically initiated by a user navigating a menu on the device and pressing the required control button. This process requires users to learn how to correctly initiate the pairing of the devices, which some people may find complicated.
Enabling one device to establish data communications with another device without the user initiating the pairing can run the risk that devices pair in unintended ways. In some cases of use, formation of unintended pairs is merely an inconvenience, but in others it may be a critical problem because the incorrect external device may obtain control of the auditory prosthesis.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method of pairing a component of an auditory prosthesis and a remote electronic device that provides ease of use and maintains security, or at least provides an alternative mechanism to existing techniques.

Pairing or associating electronic devices


A method and apparatus are presented to facilitate simulation of complex systems on multiple computing devices. Model authors can specify state-related information to be exported for viewing or access by other applications and models. Subsystem models may be written to enable connection with other subsystem models via controlled interfaces, such as by defining state-related information for export and providing for a particular use of data imported from other models to which a subsystem model is connected. In some embodiments, a consistent distributed simulation API enables cross-platform, multi-device simulation of complex systems, wherein the proprietor of each subsystem simulation can keep its implementation secret but accessible to others.

The present invention relates to computer programs that simulate systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to simulation systems using a distributed computer network, wherein subsystems can be simulated independently, the subsystem simulations communicating the values of input/output variables to simulate subsystem interaction. Present methods of simulating complex systems suffer from limitations in security, interoperability, cross-platform communication, and other functional areas. Many simulation platforms fail to enable distributed simulation at all, limiting the complexity of systems that can be modeled as a function of the computing and storage capacity of a single device. Simulation of complex systems (those of a tank or aircraft, for example) in a reasonable time is extremely difficult, if not impossible, using widely available computing systems.
Furthermore, where multiple vendors are responsible for the various subsystems of a larger system, security and proprietary concerns may inhibit or prevent formation of cooperative simulation systems comprising simulation models of each subsystem provided by each vendor. In some contractual and/or regulatory scenarios, vendors may be forced against their preferences to disclose their simulation models to other vendors or authorities, so that simulations may be conducted of the whole system.
There is thus a need for further contributions and improvements to distributed simulation technology.


The invention provides a curable electrodepositable coating composition that has improved durability in the presence of metal ions. The coating composition includes one or more ungelled, active hydrogen-containing ionic salt group-containing resins which are electrodepositable on an electrode, one or more curing agents, and one or more metal deactivators.

Electrodeposition as a coating application method involves deposition of a film-forming composition onto a conductive substrate under the influence of an applied electrical potential. Electrodeposition has become increasingly important in the coatings industry because, by comparison with non-electrophoretic coating means, electrodeposition offers increased paint utilization, improved corrosion protection and low environmental contamination.
Initially, electrodeposition was conducted with the workpiece to be coated serving as the anode. This was familiarly referred to as anionic electrodeposition. However, in 1972 cationic electrodeposition was introduced commercially and has continued to gain in popularity. Today, cationic electrodeposition is by far the prevalent method of electrodeposition. For example, a cationic primer coating is applied by electrodeposition to more that 80 percent of all motor vehicles produced throughout the world.
Many industrial applications utilize electrodepositable acrylic coatings, crosslinked with aliphatic isocyanates. Acrylic coatings are typically more stable to ultraviolet radiation-induced degradation than their epoxy-based counterparts. Such coatings are frequently used in one-coat applications, or in conjunction with a clear topcoat. Electrodepositable primer coating compositions, particularly those used in the automotive industry, typically are corrosion-resistant epoxy-based compositions crosslinked with aromatic isocyanates. If exposed to ultraviolet energy, such as sunlight, these compositions can undergo photodegradation. In most applications, a primer-surfacer is spray-applied directly to the cured electrodeposited coating prior to application of one or more topcoats. The primer-surfacer can provide a variety of properties to the coating system, including protection of the electrodeposited coating from photodegradation. Alternatively, one or more topcoats can be applied directly to the cured electrodeposited coating and in such instances, these topcoats typically are formulated such that the topcoat(s) provide sufficient protection to prevent photodegradation of the electrodeposited primer coating. If the topcoat(s) do not provide sufficient protection, photodegradation of the electrodeposited primer coating can result in delamination of the subsequently applied topcoats from the cured electrodeposited primer coatings producing catastrophic failure of the cured coating system.
The presence of metal salts, in particular iron salts, in an electrodeposition bath is known to have a detrimental effect on the durability of an electrodeposited coating. Iron ions are commonly found in electrodeposition baths that are in contact with ferrous materials. Common sources of iron contamination include fallen metal substrate in the tank, weld splatter, metal flakes and dust from grinding of the metal part prior to electrodeposition, pretreatment chemical carryover, pump housings, and pipes, among other sources.
Attempts to reduce or eliminate metal ions, particularly iron, in an electrodeposition bath have been reported in the art. One method involves addition of an iron chelator to an affected electrodeposition bath. The chelator is chosen such that it forms water-soluble complexes with iron ions or heavy metal ions in general, which are then physically removed from the bath by ultrafiltration. One difficulty with this approach is that many chelators that form soluble complexes are also agressive toward dissolution of the substrate being coated, thus requiring very strict control of the level of chelator present as well as timely removal of resultant complexes from the electrodeposition bath.
Also known in the art is an electrodepositable coating composition comprising an iron ionization-inhibitor, which may assist in the maintenance of an acceptable level of iron by reducing the rate of dissolution of metallic iron. Compounds can be included in an electrodepositable bath composition which either inhibit dissolution or passivate the surface of the metallic substrate.
The aforementioned prior art addresses methods to remove metal ions from, or reduce the amount of metal ions introduced into an electrodeposition paint bath. The described methods require careful monitoring and control of additives intended to remove the metal ions. There remains a need in the coatings industry for a method to control the deleterious effect of metal ions with minimal maintenance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrodepositable coating compositions and methods related thereto


An architecture for a synthesizer of music or other sounds which comprises an input device which supplies real time input signals indicating selected voices, a voice program memory which stores voice programs for respective voices, and a sound processing module including an array of digital signal processors, which is coupled to the input device and the voice program memory, and responsive to real time input signals to execute a group of voice programs in the voice program memory to generate selective voices in real time. Resources coupled to the input device and the voice program memory dynamically assign voice programs for selected voices to the group of voice programs in response to the real time input signals. Further, resources are available for replacing a particular voice program in the group with a voice program for a selected voice in response to the real time input signals. The voice program memory includes a first memory which stores a plurality of voice programs, and a second memory which is coupled to the sound processing module and the first memory, which stores the group of voice programs for execution by the sound processing module. The resources for dynamically assigning a voice program to the group includes a system for transferring a selected voice program from the first memory to the second memory in real time. An audio output device, including a speaker, is coupled to the digital signal processor for producing sound in response to the sound data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to audio signal processors; and more particularly to synthesizers based on digital signal processing in response to sound generating programs, called herein voice programs.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a number of music synthesizer architectures in common use. These include subtractive synthesis, wave table synthesis, F/M synthesis, and additive synthesis. A brief discussion of these common synthesis formats is provided in Walker, Korg Wavestation, Peter L. Alexander Publishing Inc., Newbury Park, Calif., 1990, pages 9 through 22. All of these four common synthesis types rely on playing back packaged waveforms, which may be manipulated in real time by the user to generate voices of the synthesizer. The packaged waveforms may consist of simple sine waves, as in the subtractive and FM synthesis formats, or on tables of actual recorded music from real instruments. The tables are typically stored in a compressed format known as Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) on memory chips in the synthesizer circuitry.
The prior art synthesizers based on playback techniques have somewhat limited range of voices that may be created by the instrument. To change the voices available on a given instrument, new sampling hardware must be added, in the form of new PCM tables, or the like.
There is a growing trend in the music synthesizer industry to synthesize sounds using sound generating programs executed by digital signal processors (DSPs). Since programming can be conducted by individual programmers who may not have access to the hardware resources necessary to update a sampling based synthesizer, users of the DSP synthesizers have much greater flexibility in the voices that may be played by their instrument.
These sound generating programs, called voice programs, are based on computational models of musical instruments, the human voice or other sound source. Thus the developer of a sound generating program typically first defines a computational model of the sound source he or she desires to create, and then writes a computer program to execute the model. Prior art examples of such sound generating programs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,276, invented by Julius O. Smith, entitled "DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING USING WAVEGUIDE NETWORKS."
Dynamic voice allocation in an electronic musical instrument implies the ability to activate an arbitrary sound using whatever sound generation resources (e.g. memory, processors, bus cycles, etc.) are required, regardless of whether or not the resources are currently available. This means if resources are available, they are used immediately, and if resources are not available, they must be "stolen" from whatever voice is currently using them and reallocated to the new voice.
In typical playback based synthesizers, dynamic voice allocation is made possible by restricting the variation of the voice resource requirements to a very limited set that can be changed within a small time interval. Typically this is accomplished by making every voice use the same algorithm (which is usually built into dedicated hardware), share the same PCM data, use the same amounts of memory, and connect to the output using a fixed configuration audio bus. In this scenario, the only differences between voices are a few data values that can be initialized and changed quickly. If resources are not available, they can be made available using "voice stealing" that shuts down an active voice to allow resources allocated to it to be used by a new voice. One prior art system, known as the DPM-3, manufactured by Peavy, uses a DSP engine to execute a voice program. To dynamically change the voice, coefficients used by the single voice program are changed in real time. However, the instructions of the voice program itself cannot be changed in real time, which limits the flexibility of the system.
More recently, variable algorithm DSP systems have been added to some of these playback synthesizers that allow different audio effects processing to be applied to the signals generated by the fixed architecture voice system. However, the effects processing cannot be changed in real time because of the time it takes to make all the necessary changes in the DSP system to ready it for the new algorithm(s).
Synthesizers designed to execute voice programs utilize powerful digital signal processors to execute in real time. The real time systems have been limited in the number of voices that may be executed in real time, by the resources of the digital signal processor. All the real time voices have to be preloaded in the digital signal processor instruction space. If a voice that was not preloaded needed to be played in real time, an audible interruption of the executing program would occur so that the time consuming process of clearing delay lines, updating tables, initializing coefficients, and supplying the program itself could be carried out. Further, this process was required to displace a voice program already loaded in the instruction space of the DSP, which could cause further audible interruptions or clicks in the output of the machine.
Therefore, prior art DSP based systems have been unable to provide for dynamic voice allocation to the output channels of the synthesizer, as available in sampling or playback based systems.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide for dynamic voice allocation in digital signal processing based music synthesizer systems.

Open architecture music synthesizer with dynamic voice allocation


The present invention relates to compounds having formula:

Protein kinases constitute a large family of structurally related enzymes that are responsible for the control of a variety of signal transduction processes within the cell (see Hardie, G. and Hanks, S. The Protein Kinase Facts Book, I and II, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif.: 1995).
In general, protein kinases mediate intracellular signaling by effecting a phosphoryl transfer from a nucleoside triphosphate to a protein acceptor that is involved in a signaling pathway. These phosphorylation events act as molecular on/off switches that can modulate or regulate the target protein biological function. These phosphorylation events are ultimately triggered in response to a variety of extracellular and other stimuli. Examples of such stimuli include environmental and chemical stress signals (e.g. shock, heat shock, ultraviolet radiation, bacterial endotoxin, and H2O2), cytokines (e.g. interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and growth factors (e.g. granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)). An extracellular stimulus may affect one or more cellular responses related to cell growth, migration, differentiation, secretion of hormones, activation of transcription factors, muscle contraction, glucose metabolism, control of protein synthesis, survival and regulation of the cell cycle.
Kinases may be categorized into families by the substrates they phosphorylate (e.g. protein-tyrosine, protein-serine/threonine, lipids etc). Sequence motifs have been identified that generally correspond to each of these kinase families (See, for example, Hanks, S. K., Hunter, T., FASEB J. 1995, 9, 576-596; Knighton et al., Science 1991, 253, 407-414; Hiles et al, Cell 1992, 70, 419-429; Kunz et al, Cell 1993, 73, 585-596; Garcia-Bustos et al, EMBO J 1994, 13, 2352-2361).
A serine/threonine kinase, protein kinase C-theta (PKC-theta), is a member of the novel, calcium independent PKC subfamily that is selectively expressed in T cells and skeletal muscle. Several lines of evidence indicate that PKC-theta has an essential role in T cell activation. Upon antigen stimulation of T cells, PKC-theta, but not other PKC isoforms, rapidly translocates from the cytoplasm to the site of cell contact between the T cell and antigen-presenting cell (APC), where it localizes with the T cell receptor (TCR) in a region termed the central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC) (Monks et al., 1997, Nature, 385: 83-86; Monks et al., 1998, Nature, 395: 82-86).
It has been reported that PKC-theta selectively activates the transcription factors AP-1 and NF-κB and integrates TCR and CD28 co-stimulatory signals leading to the activation of the CD28 response element (CD28RE) in the IL-2 promotor (Baier-Bitterlich et al., 1996, Mol. Cell. Biol., 16: 1842-1850; Coudronniere et al., 2000, PNAS, 97: 3394-3399). The specific role for PKC-theta in CD3/CD28 co-stimulation of T cells is highlighted in a study where expression of a kinase-dead PKC-theta mutant, or anti-sense PKC-theta dose-dependently inhibited CD3/CD28 co-stimulated NF-κB activation, but not TNF-alpha-stimulated NF-κB activation. This was not seen with other PKC isoforms (Lin et al., 2000, Mol. Cell. Biol., 20: 2933-2940). Recruitment of PKC-theta to the SMAC is reported to be mediated by its N-terminal regulatory domain and is necessary for T cell activation, as an over-expressed PKC-theta catalytic fragment did not translocate and was unable to activate NF-κB, whereas a PKC-theta catalytic domain-Lck membrane-binding domain chimera was able to reconstitute signaling (Bi et al., 2001, Nat. Immunol., 2:556-563).
Translocation of PKC-theta to the SMAC appears to be mediated by a largely PLC-gamma/DAG-independent mechanism, involving Vav and PI3-kinase (Villalba et al., 2002, JCB 157: 253-263), whilst activation of PKC-theta requires input from several signaling components including Lck, ZAP-70, SLP-76, PLC-gamma, Vav and PI3-kinase (Liu et al., 2000, JBC, 275: 3606-3609; Herndon et al., 2001, J. Immunol., 166: 5654-5664; Dienz et al., 2002, J. Immunol., 169: 365-372; Bauer et al., 2001 JBC., 276: 31627-31634). These biochemical studies in human T cells have gained credence from studies in PKC-theta knockout mice, which have confirmed a crucial role for this enzyme in T cell function. PKC-theta−/− mice are healthy and fertile, have a normally developed immune system, but exhibit profound defects in mature T cell activation (Sun et al., 200, Nature, 404:402-407). Proliferative responses to TCR and TCR/CD28 co-stimulation were inhibited (>90%) as were in vivo responses to antigen. In agreement with studies on human T cells, activation of the transcription factors AP-1 and NF-κB was abrogated, resulting in a severe deficit in IL-2 production and IL-2 R upregulation (Baier-Bitterlich et al., 1996, MBC, 16, 1842; Lin et al., 2000, MCB, 20, 2933; Courdonniere, 2000, 97, 3394). More recently, studies in PKC-theta-deficient mice have indicated a role for PKC-theta in the development of mouse models of autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and irritable bowel disease (IBD) (Salek-Ardakani et al., 2006; Tan et al., 2006; Healy et al., 2006; Anderson et al., 2006). In these models, PKC-theta-deficient mice exhibited a marked reduction in disease severity that was associated with a profound defect in the development and effector function of autoreactive T cells.
In addition to its role in T cell activation, PKC-theta is reported to mediate the phorbol ester-triggered survival signal that protects T cells from Fas- and UV-induced apoptosis (Villalba et al., 2001, J. Immunol. 166: 5955-5963; Berttolotto et al., 2000, 275: 37246-37250). This pro-survival role is of interest because the human PKC-theta gene has been mapped to chromosome 10 (10p15), a region associated with mutations leading to T cell leukaemias and lymphomas (Erdel et al., 1995, Genomics 25: 295-297; Verma et al., 1987, J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol., 113: 192-196).
Another serine/threonine protein kinase, Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3), is a comprised of α and β isoforms that are each encoded by distinct genes [Coghlan et al., Chemistry & Biology 2000, 7, 793-803; and Kim and Kimmel, Curr. Opinion Genetics Dev., 2000 10, 508-514]. GSK-3 has been implicated in various diseases, disorders, and conditions including diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, CNS diseases such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, cerebral stroke, Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases, leukocytopenia and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy [PCT Application Nos.: WO 99/65897 and WO 00/38675; and Haq et al., J. Cell Biol. 2000, 151, 117-130]. These diseases, disorders, and conditions are associated with the abnormal operation of certain cell signaling pathways in which GSK-3 plays a role. GSK-3 has been found to phosphorylate and modulate the activity of a number of regulatory proteins. These proteins include glycogen synthase, which is the rate limiting enzyme necessary for glycogen synthesis, the microtubule associated protein Tau, the gene transcription factor β-catenin, the translation initiation factor e1F2B, as well as ATP citrate lyase, axin, heat shock factor-1, c-Jun, c-myc, c-myb, CREB, and CEPBα. These diverse protein targets implicate GSK-3 in many aspects of cellular metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and development.
In a GSK-3 mediated pathway that is relevant for the treatment of type II diabetes, insulin-induced signaling leads to cellular glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis. Along this pathway, GSK-3 is a negative regulator of the insulin-induced signal. Normally, the presence of insulin causes inhibition of GSK-3 mediated phosphorylation and deactivation of glycogen synthase. The inhibition of GSK-3 leads to increased glycogen synthesis and glucose uptake [Klein et al., PNAS 1996, 93, 8455-8459; Cross et al., Biochem. J. 1994, 303, 21-26); Cohen, Biochem. Soc. Trans. 1993, 21, 555-567; and Massillon et al., Biochem J. 1994, 299, 123-128]. However, in a diabetic patient, where the insulin response is impaired, glycogen synthesis and glucose uptake fail to increase despite the presence of relatively high blood levels of insulin. This leads to abnormally high blood levels of glucose with acute and long-term effects that may ultimately result in cardiovascular disease, renal failure and blindness. In such patients, the normal insulin-induced inhibition of GSK-3 fails to occur. It has also been reported that in patients with type II diabetes, GSK-3 is overexpressed [see, PCT Application: WO 00/38675]. Therapeutic inhibitors of GSK-3 are therefore potentially useful for treating diabetic patients suffering from an impaired response to insulin.
GSK-3 activity is associated with Alzheimer's disease. The hallmarks of this disease are the extracellular plaques formed by aggregated $3 amyloid peptides and the formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles via the tau protein.
It has been shown that GSK-3 inhibition reduces amyloid-β peptides in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. See pages 435, 438. Phiel et. al., Nature 423, 435-439 (2003). Mice over-expressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) treated with lithium (a GSK-3α inhibitor) over a three-week period showed over a 50% decrease in amyloid-β peptide tissue levels.
The neurofibrillary tangles contain hyperphosphorylated Tau protein, in which Tau is phosphorylated on abnormal sites. GSK-3 is known to phosphorylate these abnormal sites in cell and animal models. Conditional transgenic mice that over-express GSK-3 develop aspects of AD including tau hyperphosphorylation, neuronal apoptosis and spatial learning deficit. Turning off GSK-3 in these mice restores normal behavior, reduces Tau hyperphosphorylation and neuronal apoptosis. (Engel T et al., J Neuro Sci, 2006, 26, 5083-5090 and Lucas et al, EMBO J, 2001, 20, 27-39) Inhibitors of GSK-3 have also been shown to prevent hyperphosphorylation of Tau in cells [Lovestone et al., Current Biology 1994, 4, 1077-86; and Brownlees et al., Neuroreport 1997, 8, 3251-55].
GSK-3 as a target for psychosis and mood disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disease, respectively, have been reported in the literature. AKT haplotype deficiency was identified in a subset of schizophrenic patients which correlated with increased GSK-3 activity. A single allele knockout of GSK-3β resulted in attenuated hyperactivity in response to amphetamine in a behavior model of mania.
Several antipsychotic drugs and mood stabilizers used to treat both schizophrenic and bipolar patients have been shown to inhibit GSK-3 (Emamian et al, Nat Genet, 2004, 36, 131-137; Obrien et al, J Neurosci, 2004, 24, 6791-6798; Beaulieu et al, PNAS, 2004, 101, 5099-5104; Li et al Int J Neuropsychopharmacol, 2006, pp 1-13; Gould T D, Expert Opin Ther Targets, 2006, 10, 377-392). Furthermore, a recent patent, US 2004/0039007 describes GSK 3 inhibitors that show anti-schizophrenic and anxiolytic effects in relevant mouse behavior models.
GSK-3 activity is associated with stroke. Wang et al. showed that IGF-1 (insulin growth factor-1), a known GSK 3 inhibitor, reduced infarct size in rat brains after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), a model for stroke in rats. [Wang et al., Brain Res 2000, 859, 381-5; Sasaki et al., Neurol Res 2001, 23, 588-92; Hashimoto et al., J. Biol. Chem. 2002, 277, 32985-32991]. US 2004/0039007 describes the effect of GSK 3 inhibitors in MCAO, a stroke model in rats. These GSK 3 inhibitors significantly reduced striatal ischemic damage and reduce edema formation in rats. Additionally, the rats "demonstrated marked improvement in neurological function over the time course of the experiment."
Accordingly, there is a great need to develop compounds useful as inhibitors of protein kinases. In particular, it would be desirable to develop compounds that are useful as inhibitors of GSK-3 and PKC-theta, particularly given the inadequate treatments currently available for the majority of the disorders implicated in their activation.

Abstract: which are useful as inhibitors of protein kinase. The invention also provides pharmaceutically acceptable compositions comprising said compounds and methods of using the compositions in the treatment of various disease, conditions, or disorders. The invention also provides processes for preparing compounds of the inventions.


A bowstring suppressor for an archery bow including a suppressor assembly and/or a bowstring attachment element. The assembly can include a housing within which resilient elastomeric elements are located. A push rod can be telescopically joined with the housing and located near the resilient elements. An engagement element can be joined with the push rod and can be engaged by a bowstring when an arrow is shot from the bow. The push rod can move toward the resilient elements and compress them when the bowstring engages the engagement element. Compression of the resilient elements provides energy absorption, vibration absorption and/or dampening in relation to energy generated by the bow. A string attachment element can be joined with the bowstring and can engage the suppressor assembly, with the attachment element seating in and optionally deforming the engagement element, which in turn, restrains lateral and vertical movement of the bowstring.

The present invention relates to archery equipment, and more particularly to a suppressor and/or limiter for bowstrings of archery bows.
Conventional archery bows, such as compound archery bows, include a riser and a pair of opposing limbs. Between the limbs, a bowstring and one or more cables, usually an up cable and a down cable are strung. The cables generally transfer energy from the limbs and respective cams or pulleys, to the bowstring, and thus to an arrow shot from the bow. A compound bow, by design, creates a significant amount of energy to rapidly propel an arrow to its target. Even after the arrow is released, however, a portion of that energy remains in the bow, primarily in the bowstring, usually leaving the bowstring in a state of movement. That energy typically translates to movement and noise, with the movement in the form of string oscillation. This oscillation can cause undesirable vibration and hand shock to an archer shooting the bow.
One approach to addressing oscillation uses devices attached to the bowstring. These devices are generally made of a resilient material, such as rubber, and are intended to absorb string vibrations. The devices are "tuned" to maximize their vibration dampening effect by moving them up and down the string until an optimum location is achieved.
Another approach to addressing undesired bowstring oscillation implements a rigid rod, having one end that attaches to the riser of the bow, and an opposite end which faces the bowstring. The opposite end typically includes a resilient material. Upon release of the bowstring, the bowstring moves forward and contacts the resilient material. In turn, the resilient material restricts forward movement of the bowstring toward the riser and shortens the period of vibration.
More recent modifications of the above construction include a hollow tube that attaches at one end to the riser of the bow. A solid cylindrical rod interfits telescopingly in the hollow tube, and projects from the other end of the tube. The solid rod includes a resilient cap on an end that is adapted to engage the bowstring in the manner noted in the construction above. The cylindrical rod can be adjusted so that the rod and tube collectively form a desired length to properly engage the bowstring. After the desired length is achieved, the rod is held in place relative to the tube with screws projecting through the sidewalls of the tube to engage the rod so that the rod remains stationary when the bowstring strikes the cap.
Another modification of the above construction implements a resilient closed cell foam cylinder that generally forms a hollow tube. Encapsulated inside the foam cylinder is a plunger that adds rigidity to the foam. The plunger is positioned in a hollow tube, which is attached to the bow riser. When the bowstring is released, it contacts an end of the foam cylinder. As the foam cylinder collapses, it is restricted in its forward movement by the foam cell compressing and the plunger sliding in the shaft.
Another approach to the constructions above includes a hollow tube that is attached at one end to a bow riser. A push rod is mounted in the hollow tube, and projects from the other end of the tube. The rod includes a resilient cap on an end that is adapted to engage the bowstring in the manner noted in the construction above. Inside the hollow tube a 302 stainless steel coil spring is located. Upon release of the bowstring, the bowstring moves forward and contacts the resilient material. In turn, the push rod engages the steel coil spring.
Although the above designs suppress string vibration and/or limit bowstring movement to some degree, there remains room for improvement with regard to such archery equipment.


The present invention relates to a method for synthesizing amonoalcohols (e.g., aminoalcohols that contain an amine group that is either unsubstituted, mono-substituted, or di-substituted) and to the products formed therefrom. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for synthesizing aminoalcohols from a corresponding aminoaldehyde and to the products formed therefrom. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method for synthesizing aminoalcohols from a corresponding aminoaldehyde via a hydrogenation process using a suitable catalyst (e.g., Raney® Nickel) and to the products formed therefrom. In still another embodiment, the present invention relates to aminoalcohols formed via direct hydrogenation from a corresponding aminoaldehyde without the intervening step of converting the aminoaldehyde starting material to a salt.

Various methods are used to synthesize aminoalcohols. However, they all suffer from the various drawbacks detailed below. The discussion of the various methods that are currently utilized to synthesize an aminoalcohol will utilize 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-1-propanol (DMADMPOL) as an exemplary situation.
The first route known in the art is to reduce an ester or amide as is shown in the exemplary synthesis route shown below:
where LDA is lithium diisopropylamide [(CH3)2CH]2NLi. This synthesis route is not practical due to the low yield and high cost of lithium reagent used in the system (see, e.g., Madder et al., J. Chem. Sci., Perkin Trans. 1997, 2, p. 2787).
The second route known in the art is to reduce a corresponding aldehyde as is shown in the exemplary synthesis routes shown below:

The above routes involve the reduction of 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-propanal with a reducing agent such as Na[Hg] (see, e.g., Mannich et al., Ber., 1932, 65, p, 378) or NaBH4 (see, e.g., Traynelis et al., J. J. Org. Chem., 1961, 26, pp. 686 to 691). These routes although possible, still require a large quantity of reducing agent in order to produce the desired aminoalcohol. Additionally, the yield on the first reduction route is too low to be practical.
A third route, which has been attempted, is to subject a corresponding aldehyde to hydrogenation with a catalyst as is shown in the exemplary synthesis route shown below:

However, various difficulties have been reported relating to the hydrogenation of this aldehyde shown above (see, e.g., W. Wenner, J. Org. Chem., 1950, 15, 2, pp. 301 to 304). As reported therein, the hydrogenation of DMADMPAL did not stop at the desired alcohol stage (see, e.g., W. Wenner, J. Org. Chem., 1950, 15, 2, pp. 301 to 304; Mannich et al., Ber., 1922, 55, pp. 356 to 365; and Mannich et al., Ber., 1932, 65, pp. 385 to 390).
It has also been reported that when hydrochloride salt of 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-1-propanal (DMADMPAL) is hydrogenated with noble metal catalysts, only poor yields of the desired product 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-1-propanol (DMADMPOL) are obtained. Part of the reason for such poor yields is that hydrogenolysis of the amine functional group is observed. Hydrogenation of the free amine gave even a worse result even though noble metal and nickel catalysts were tested (see, e.g., W. Wenner, J. Org. Chem., 1950, 15, 2, pp. 301 to 304). The hydrogenation of 3-dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-1-propanal (DMADMPAL) was finally achieved when the hydrochloride salt was employed in conjunction with Raney® Nickel as a catalyst (see, e.g., W. Wenner, J. Org. Chem., 1950, 15, 2, pp. 301 to 304 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,842). This process is also not cost efficient since protonation and deprotonation of the amine moiety of the aminoaldehyde added significant processing cost to the final product.
Regarding U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,842, this patent utilizes a method to convert an aminoaldehyde to an aminoalcohol that requires the use of an acid compound to convert the aminoaldehyde into a salt in order to achieve sufficient protonation of the amino group to permit the desired conversion. As would be apparent to those of skill in the art, the process of U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,842 is pH dependent and requires the use of a base compound at a later point to permit the reconversion of the salt compound to the desired aminoalcohol. Additional drawbacks of the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,842 are: (i) the need to use at least stoichiometric amount (or even in excess of a stoichiometric amount) of acid to ensure complete protonation of the aminoaldehyde starting material to the necessary aminoaldehyde salt; and (ii) the need to use a stoichiometric amount (or even in excess of a stoichiometric amount) of base to neutralize the acid utilized in the reaction process and to permit the reconversion of the salt compound to the desired aminoalcohol.
Given the above, there is a need for a synthesis route for producing aminoalcohols from a suitable starting component (e.g., a free aminoaldehyde) that is both practical and permits the realization of suitably high yield without the need for the intermediate steps of protonating the amine moiety of the aminoaldehyde starting material and the subsequent deprotonation of the amine moiety of the aminoalcohol reaction product to recover the free aminoalcohol.


A method for applying a bonding layer that is comprised of a basic layer and a protective layer on a substrate with the following method steps: application of an oxidizable basic material as a basic layer on a bonding side of the substrate, at least partial covering of the basic layer with a protective material that is at least partially dissolvable in the basic material as a protective layer. In addition, the invention relates to a corresponding substrate.

In the state of the art, countless methods to connect various materials to one another exist. In the semiconductor industry, in recent years, primarily the bonding technology to connect two substrates temporarily or permanently to one another has gained acceptance. Very often, the bonding process takes place between semiconductor(s) and/or metal structures on the substrate. The best-known metal bonding technology of recent times is copper bonding. Substrates are the carriers for functional assemblies such as microchips, memory chips, or MEMS assemblies. In recent years, increasingly attempts were made to produce a connection between assemblies arranged on various substrates in order to avoid a wire-bonding process between the assemblies that is labor-intensive, costly, and susceptible to flaws. In addition, the direct bonding variant has the enormous advantage of elevated assembly density. The assemblies must no longer be positioned beside one another and connected via wires, but rather are stacked on one another and connected vertically to one another by various technologies. In most cases, the vertical connections are produced by contact points. The contact points of different substrates must be identical to one another and are oriented to one another before the actual bonding process.
Another little-used process is aluminum bonding. In this process, aluminized points on the surface of a substrate are to be bonded with a material lying on a second substrate. In this case, this can be aluminum or a suitable, different material. One drawback of aluminum is its extreme oxygen affinity. Even with copper, the oxygen affinity is high, so that copper oxides must be regularly removed before a bonding process. With aluminum, the oxygen affinity is higher by a multiple. Aluminum still forms relatively thick, passivating aluminum oxide layers, which are difficult to remove. In contrast to copper, aluminum is therefore little used for bonding connections, since at this time, because of the very stable oxide layers, no reliable bonding result can be achieved at a reasonable cost. Nevertheless, aluminum is widely used in the semiconductor area to produce metal connections on the chip surface in the lateral direction. Here, aluminum is distinguished in that it has significantly slower diffusion behavior in silicon than, for example, copper or gold. Metal diffused into silicon would impair the characteristics of transistors or make the latter completely unfunctional. Based on this advantageous diffusion behavior, paired with low costs and relatively good electrical conductivity, aluminum has been established over many years as the material that is mainly used for producing electrical connections laterally on the semiconductor chips. Recently, in chips of the newest generation, aluminum is increasingly being replaced by copper because of its better electrical conductivity; however, aluminum still enjoys great importance, primarily in the production of chips on 200 mm substrates with somewhat older production technology. It is specifically these production surrounding areas/plants that in recent times have found enhanced use for the production of MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) components. The production of these MEMS components in turn frequently requires bonding processes, so that the need for a reliable aluminum bonding process increases. Outside of the semiconductor industry, aluminum is also a structural material that is in demand, since it is light, inexpensive, and primarily hardenable. In the semiconductor industry, based on the above-mentioned reasons, it has been attempted for some time to develop processes that make aluminum usable as structural material and in particular material for bonding connections.
The greatest problem when using oxygen-affine materials such as copper and aluminum is the avoidance of oxidation on bonding surfaces and/or the complete removal of oxide from bonding surfaces before a bonding process. Extremely oxygen-affine materials such as aluminum produce, moreover, oxides that are strong and difficult to reduce. Plants for oxide removal are expensive, labor-intensive and under certain circumstances dangerous (toxic substances).