The present invention relates to the administration of compositions comprising an antiestrogen, preferably trans-clomiphene, for treating metabolic syndrome in a subject. The invention is also directed to methods for reducing fasting glucose levels in a subject by administering a composition comprising an antiestrogen, preferably trans-clomiphene.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors in one person including abdominal obesity, insulin resistance or glucose intolerance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, prothrombotic state, proinflammatory state and hypertension. The Adult Treatment Panel defines metabolic syndrome as present if a patient manifests at least three of the following symptoms: waist measuring at least 40 inches for men, 35 inches for women; serum triglyceride levels of at least 150 mg/dl; HDL cholesterol levels of less than 40 mg/dl in men, less than 50 mg/dl in women, blood pressure of at least 135/80 mm Hg and blood sugar (serum glucose) of at least 110 mg/dl. It has been estimated that up to 25% of the population in the United States are afflicted with metabolic syndrome.
An underlying cause of metabolic syndrome is believed to be insulin resistance wherein the ability of insulin to take in glucose from the blood is attenuated. This causes glucose levels to remain elevated after eating to which the pancreas responds by excreting insulin. If left untreated, metabolic syndrome significantly increases the risk of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls.
An inverse correlation between fasting insulin levels and serum testosterone in men has been demonstrated by several studies. Moreover, serum testosterone is significantly lower in men with metabolic syndrome and other insulin-resistant states such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus compared to controls. The mechanism underlying these observations, however, has not been elucidated.
One recent study has suggested that the relationship between testosterone and insulin may be mediated through changes in the body mass index (BMI) wherein low testosterone levels lead to obesity and dysregulation of fatty acid metabolism which in turn promotes insulin resistance. In contrast to testosterone, no significant relationship between estrogen levels and insulin sensitivity was found in that study.
Another recent study evaluated the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in men with a broad spectrum of insulin sensitivity. In this study, a positive relationship between insulin sensitivity and testosterone was observed, however, no relationship was observed between insulin sensitivity and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion parameters suggesting that low testosterone associated with insulin resistance does not result from a defect in the hypothalamus or pituitary, but rather from an alteration in Leydig cell function. In this regard, it well established that Leydig cell steroidogenesis, at least in vitro, is modulated not only by pulsatile secretion of LH but also by hormones, growth factors, cytokines and insulin.
Data on the impact of androgen supplementation on insulin sensitivity in men are conflicting. In one study, men with type 2 diabetes showed no improvement in glycemic control with testosterone replacement, whereas a larger study showed a significant reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin.
Testosterone is the primary male androgen, playing a vital role in overall male health. Testosterone is essential to the development and maintenance of specific reproductive tissues (testes, prostate, epididymis, seminal vesicle, and penis) and male secondary sex characteristics. It plays a key role in libido and erectile function and is necessary for the initiation and maintenance of spermatogenesis.
Testosterone secretion is the end product of a series of hormonal processes. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is secreted in the hypothalamus, controls the pulsatile secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), which is secreted by the anterior pituitary. LH, in turn, regulates the production and secretion of testosterone in the Leydig cells of the testes, while FSH assists in inducing spermatogenesis.
Testosterone deficiency can result from underlying disease or genetic disorders and is also frequently a complication of aging. For example, primary hypogonadism results from primary testicular failure. In this situation, testosterone levels are low and levels of pituitary gonadotropins (LH and FSH) are elevated. Secondary or hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism is due to inadequate secretion of the pituitary gonadotropins. In addition to a low testosterone level, LH and FSH levels are low or low-normal. Some of the sequelae of adult testosterone deficiency include a wide variety of symptoms including: loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, oligospermia or azoospermia, absence or regression of secondary sexual characteristics, progressive decrease in muscle mass, fatigue, depressed mood and increased risk of osteoporosis. Many of these disorders are generically referred to as male menopause.
Clomiphene (FIG. 2), which is an antiestrogen related to tamoxifen, has also been used to treat men with low testosterone levels. Clomiphene blocks the normal estrogen feedback on the hypothalamus and subsequent negative feedback on the pituitary. This leads to increases in luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). In men, these increased levels of gonadotropins stimulate the Leydig cells of the testes and result in the production of higher testosterone levels.
Tenover et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 64:1103, (1987) and Tenover et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 64:1118 (1987) found increased in FSH, LH in both young and old men after treatment with clomiphene. They also found increases in free and total testosterone in men with young men showing significant increases.
Ernst et al., J. Pharmaceut. Sci. 65:148 (1976), have shown that clomiphene is a mixture of two geometric isomers which they refer to as cis, -Z- , clomiphene (cis-clomiphene or zuclomiphene) and trans-, E-, clomiphene, (trans-clomiphene or enclomiphene). According to Ernst, et al. trans-clomiphene HCI has a melting point of 149° C.-150.5° C., while cis-clomiphene HCI has a melting point of 156.5° C.-158° C. Ernst et al. have also noted that (the trans-isomer) is antiestrogenic (AE) while the cis-isomer is the more potent and more estrogenic form and has also been reported to have anti-estrogenic activity. The authors attribute the effect of the drug on ovulatory activity to both forms stating that the mixture is more effective than trans-clomiphene alone. The trans-isomer aids ovulation at the level of the hypothalamus. The estrogenic isomer cis-clomiphene contributes to enhanced ovulation elsewhere in the physiologic pathway leading to ovulation. The isomers are also reported to have different in vivo half-life. Furthermore the cis form has been reported to leave residual blood levels for in excess of one month following a single dose.
Clomiphene is currently approved as a mixture of both cis- and trans-isomers, the cis-isomer being present as about 30% to 50% (Merck Manual) for fertility enhancement in the anovulatory patient. Clomiphene improves ovulation by initiating a series of endocrine events culminating in a preovulatory gonadotropin surge and subsequent follicular rupture. The drug is recommended to be administered for 5 days at a dose of up to 100 mg daily. Clomiphene has also been associated with numerous side effects including: blurred vision, abdominal discomfort, gynecomastia, testicular tumors, vasomotor flushes, nausea, and headaches. Furthermore, other studies suggest that clomiphene possesses both genotoxic and tumor enhancement effects. The net outcome of these observations is that clomiphene in its current format, having between 30% and 50% of the cis isomer, would be unacceptable for chronic therapy in men for the treatment of testosterone deficiency.


A device is provided for ascertaining the internal delay time of a CAN bus connection unit in a bus system including user stations exchanging messages via a bus, the transmission access to the bus for each message being assigned using an arbitration method according to CAN standard ISO 11898-1 to one user station which becomes the transmitter for this message. The device includes a unit for ascertaining the internal delay time using one of (i) a delay counter for ascertaining the delay time between a transmission signal and a reception signal, the delay counter being stopped if the reception signal has a dominant level and the counter content of the delay counter is greater than/equal to a predefined configuration value, or (ii) the maximum and minimum delay times of the bus connection unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a measuring method for ascertaining the internal delay time of a CAN bus connection unit or a CAN transceiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Published German patent application document DE 10 000 305 A1 describes the CAN (Controller Area Network) as well as an extension of the CAN referred to as TTCAN (Time-Triggered CAN). The media access control method used in the CAN is based on bitwise arbitration. In the CAN, the bitwise arbitration is carried out based on a leading identifier within the message to be transmitted via the bus.
As already described in published German patent application document DE 10 2012 200 997, multiple user stations may simultaneously transmit data via the bus system during the bitwise arbitration, without hereby interfering with the data transmission. When transmitting a bit via the bus (transmission signal), the user stations are able to ascertain the logical state (0 or 1) of the bus (reception signal) in parallel. For this purpose, the transmission signal transmitted on the transmission channel is continuously compared with the reception signal. If there is no match at a certain point in time, the sample point, the bus user terminates its transmitting operation, as it must be assumed that a different bus user is attempting to transmit a message having a higher priority or a lower-level identifier.
The reception signal constitutes a superimposition of the message bits of all bus users which are attempting to gain access to the bus during the arbitration. Because of the propagation times of the signals on the bus lines and because of intrinsic delay times in the bus connection units (transceivers), the result of the superimposition of these signals is present only late within the bit period, so that the sample point must be relatively far back within the bit period. Among other things, this fact limits the allowable bit lengths downward in the CAN. A shortening is not readily possible.
Published German patent application document DE 10 2012 200 997 describes how a secondary sample point (SSP) is used to detect bit errors on a CAN bus. In order to determine the position of the SSP, the internal delay time of a CAN bus connection unit or a CAN transceiver DELTA_T may be measured with the aid of a particular method which is described in published German patent application document DE 10 2012 200 997.
The laboratory evaluation of the method described in published German patent application document DE 10 2012 200 997 has demonstrated that in the case of heavily disturbed signals on the CAN bus, measuring errors may occur during the ascertainment of the internal delay time of a CAN bus connection unit or a CAN transceiver.

Device and measuring method for ascertaining the internal delay time of a can bus connection unit


A pre-audit system, apparatus, and method is provided to perform a pre-audit of form data. Form data is received from a supplier prior to the form data being delivered to one or more purchasers. The form data is compared with rules or conditions set by the one or more purchasers. A response message is transmitted to the supplier, where the response message includes one or more results and one or more descriptions related to the one or more results.

Within several industries, parties are often providing data to other parties across a network. Oftentimes, this data is sold from one party to another. Once the data is received, the receiving party (or purchaser) may perform various checks on the data, oftentimes with business rules associated with those checks. The checks may be performed in order to: (1) determine whether to accept the data being presented by the supplying party (or supplier); (2) determine how much the purchaser is willing to pay for the data; (3) derive or gain additional data or intelligence associated with the data presented by the supplier; and (4) determine the best way to route, and/or resource against, the data.
For example, within the online lead generation space, a seller of form data (or lead) sells data to a buyer of the form data that was collected in some manner by the seller of the form data. The buyer of the form data may take any of these actions upon receiving the data: (1) reject the data attempting to be sold based on various reasons; (2) determine how much the purchaser is willing to pay for the data; (3) append other data or intelligence associated with the presented data from the buyer's own databases and/or from a third party data or intelligence provider; and/or (4) expend resources differently based upon various rules, such as electing to place a phone call to an individual represented by the purchased data versus sending an email in order to optimize marketing for the optimal business result.
There are numerous problems with data being passed from a supplier to a purchaser, and following that, having the purchaser perform the checks and apply the rules on the data, before determining what the purchaser is going to do next with the data. The purchaser needs to see the data in order to perform its checks and rules; and if the purchaser rejects the data from the supplier, or similarly, if the purchases offers to pay a certain amount and the seller rejects the offer, after having already been exposed to that data, there is risk to the supplier that the purchaser has maintained a copy of the data and has rejected the data, or intentionally offered a lower amount, in order to not pay for it. Similarly, the purchaser may already have the data in existing databases, and reject the data presented by the supplier due to duplication. Such a scenario allows the purchaser to gain the knowledge from the data, which was represented by the supplier through an attempted sale, and allow the purchaser to act upon the existing database record, while not having utilized the actual data from the supplier to do so. This is possible because the intelligence was derived from the supplied data in order for the supplier to act upon the existing database. The purchaser can also look across its own databases for patterns of the data having been presented previously, thereby not being able to gain intelligence about where the data has existed elsewhere outside of the entity. Similarly, the supplier has the same restrictions, only having purview of its own databases, or databases exposed to the supplier, such as by the purchaser. Purchasers often have unique systems of running data checks and rules that require each purchaser to create and maintain these rules, as well as suppliers to integrate into these rules, which is much less efficient than if a third party utilized a standard methodology, whereby the purchaser would not need to create and maintain its own data checking methodologies, and suppliers would not need to integrate into multiple methodologies across their Purchaser networks.
To make the process of data transfer more efficient, some purchasers have developed systems whereby a supplier can perform a database query to the potential purchaser in order for the supplier to gain knowledge about whether the purchaser wants to accept the data and/or other information that the purchaser wants to deliver back to the supplier about the data being transferred or potentially transferred. This process allows the supplier to gain knowledge almost instantly about the purchaser's intentions, without having to necessarily transfer all the data to the purchaser, and without the purchaser being required to perform all of its checks and apply its business rules on their end, but rather the supplier can develop and maintain the systems to perform those checks and apply business rules. In certain industries, this methodology is referred to as a "pre-ping." However, the same problems as discussed above also exist with the "pre-ping" system.


A printing-fluid container includes a reservoir having an outer-face. A keying pocket is recessed from the outer-face of the reservoir and configured to mate with a complementary key post of a printing-fluid container bay.

Inkjet printing systems often utilize one or more replaceable ink containers that hold a finite volume of ink. An ink container can be replaced if the ink container is unable to deliver ink. For example, an ink container can be replaced if all of the ink in the ink container is used and the ink container is empty. Many known ink containers are unable to deliver all of the ink in the ink container and are considered to be effectively empty although some ink remains in the ink container. Such ink containers can be replaced when the ink container ceases to adequately deliver ink. Users generally prefer ink containers that do not have to be frequently replaced. Furthermore, users generally prefer ink containers that are relatively easy to replace when replacement is necessary.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method and system for creating low corrosion passivation layer on an anode in a metal-air cell comprise asserting high negative potential and low drawn current density on the cell after its operational parameters have stabilized after the cell has been powered-on. As a result the H2 evolution rate momentarily raises and then drops sharply, thereby causing the creation of a passivation layer on the face of the anode.

Several electrolytes have been employed for aluminum-air batteries: aqueous alkaline, aqueous saline, and various organic electrolytes based on ionic salts. Aqueous alkaline electrolytes (which are aqueous solutions of strong alkalis, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, at concentrations ranging 15-45% w/w) are best known for their ability to provide electrical power. This phenomenon stems from a very high rate of aluminum (Al) dissolution within the types of electrolytes mentioned.
Electrochemical dissolution of Al (or an Al alloy) anode in the electrolyte is the chemical driving force providing the production of electricity by the Al-air battery. The overall process for an electrochemical dissolution of an aluminum anode may be presented by the equation as follows:4Al+3O2+6H2O→4Al(OH)3+2.71V,  (equation 1)
In this process, electrons that are released during the dissolution of the aluminum metal, which creates a flow from the anode to the air cathode, where oxygen reduction occurs. Reaction electrons pass through the external circuit, thus forming the useful electric energy. The theoretical potential for this reaction is rather high (+2.71V), and the high dissolution rate of Al in the aqueous alkaline electrolyte allows high current density (two factors that define power density of the battery).
However, the high chemical potential of Al in aqueous alkaline electrolytes has a drawback. This drawback results in the direct aluminum dissolution of Al in the electrolyte without producing electric current in the external circuit. Opposite to the "useful" process of "electrochemical dissolution", depicted in equation (1), this "parasitic" process may be referred as "chemical dissolution", or "corrosion":2Al+6H2O→2Al(OH)3+3H2  (equation 2)
The process outlined in equation (2) results in waste of the Al "fuel", an undesired consumption of electrolyte, and hydrogen (H2) gas evolution. Ultimately, this is observed as a decrease in efficiency. During operation of the Al-air battery, processes (1) and (2) are in competition with each other. Since there is no other pathway of aluminum consumption in the alkaline Al-air battery besides processes (1) and (2), the competition between electricity production and corrosion can be described by a parameter denoted herein as "coulombic efficiency", which is the ratio of utilized electric current produced by the anode and the sum of utilized electric current and corrosion current. The coulombic efficiency may be also calculated as a ratio of the mass of aluminum dissolved by the electrochemical pathway (equation (1)) to the total mass of aluminum dissolved under the same operating conditions.C. Efficiency=Ielectricity/(Ielectricity+Icorrosion)=mAlelectricity/mAltotal  (equation 3)

System and method for initializing and operating metal-air cell


A 360 degree surveillance system for detecting an infrared IR signal coming rom a scene. The IR signal is reflected by the scanning mirror to an imaging lens. The scanning mirror rotates 360 degrees around a vertical axis. The imaging lens images the IR signal through a derotator onto a linear array of IR detectors. The derotator serves to keep the image of the IR scene in a proper orientation. The detectors sense the IR signal and produce a current proportional to its strength. Each detector is the beginning of a channel of information. Each channel has operational amplifiers to process the signal, control gain, restore dc, etc. The output of the amplifiers are fed to a linear array of LED's. The light output of the LED's passes through a rotator and is imaged by a projector lens, after reflection off a rotating mirror, onto a cylindrical screen. The purpose of the rotator is to keep the image of the LED's in the proper orientation on the screen. The purpose of the rotating projector mirror is to synchronously reflect the light from the LED's onto the screen so that there exists a constant relationship between the image produced on the screen to that seen by the detectors through the scanning mirror.

The present invention relates generally to infrared scanning systems and more specifically to panoramic surveillance systems for detecting heat producing bodies.
Surveillance systems have been of prime importance to the Navy in both detecting and recognizing enemy and friendly ships and aircraft. Numerous methods and devices have been developed to accomplish these ends. For example, complex monopulse radar systems have been developed that operate at X-band frequencies which can distinguish minute details of targets at great distances. However, these systems often require expensive computer processing equipment to process the high frequency signals for display. In addition, the monopulse hardware is extremely complex and expensive.
Infrared scanning systems have also been used to detect objects at sea. Basically two types have been known to the prior art. One type uses a linear array of detectors located along the elevation axis which are electronically scanned as they are mechanically rotated in the azimuthal plane. This electronic signal is then fed to a television monitor at a remote location for viewing in real time. The great advantage of the infrared scanners over radar apparatus giving similar results is that they are relatively inexpensive in comparison, while still giving detailed target information in nonvisible conditions, e.g., night, haze, etc., at moderate distances. The other type uses a linear array of detectors connected to light emitting diodes (LED's) which are subsequently scanned by a television camera which transmits the picture to a television monitor at a remote location. These systems however show only a narrow sector of the azimuthal plane at any given instant of time. It is desirable to display the entire 360.degree. azimuthal plane at once so that the viewer can search a much larger volume of space. To display the entire azimuthal plane simultaneously, a system with a much larger signal bandwidth is necessary to be compatible with the flicker-fusion rate of the human eye. The bandwidth of the prior art infrared systems would allow scanning rates of only about one per second where the flick-fusion rate requires at least 30 scans per second. Although it is possible to trick the eye through different techniques, flashing a non-refreshed frame twice before presenting a second frame, placing large amounts of memory into the display, etc., the possibility of rotating the scanner head at large angular rates has been explored instead.
One of the problem areas in driving a system at large angular rates is how to pick off the signals from each detector in the array. Normally a mechanically rotating system uses slip rings to accomplish this objective. However, the use of a large number of slip rings, one for each channel, in a rapidly rotating system would introduce noise and mechanical problems that are best avoided.
Additionally the use of slip rings resigns the designer to rotating not only the optics but all the electronic preamp circuits and the detector/cooler assembly at these high rates. It was decided therefore to seek another solution.
Another problem arising out of such a system is how to display, in real time, all the information gathered. A cursory examination of the bandwidth requirements will show, that the display must be capable of holding several hundred megahertz. Bandwidth considerations alone rule out the use of a conventional CRT display. A multigun CRT was considered. However, even a ten gun CRT is inadequate to handle the required bandwidth. A new type of display was needed.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


This disclosure provides methods, systems, and apparatuses, for a microphone. In particular, the microphone includes a housing having an external device interface with a plurality of contacts including a data contact. An electro-acoustic transducer is configured to generate an electrical signal in response to sound. An electrical circuit is coupled to contacts of the interface, the electrical circuit including an ADC having an input coupled to an output of the conditioning circuit and configured to convert the electrical signal to audio data after conditioning. A controller is configured to communicate data, other than the audio data, via the data contact of the external device interface during a start-up transition period of the microphone assembly, wherein the controller is configured to communicate the audio data via the data contact of the external device interface only after the start-up transition period is complete.

Several audio sensing applications include electronic microphones. Some such microphones include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, e.g., capacitive microphones, the capacitance of which changes as a function of incident changes in pressure. The microphones transform the change in capacitance into corresponding electrical signals indicative of acoustic activity sensed by the microphones.

Microphone device with communication interface


Storage controllers and related methods of operation are described. One method tracks storage access operations to a logical disk. The method persistently identifies storage blocks that have been accessed. Responsive to the identifying, the method selectively skips subsequent operations to storage blocks that have not been accessed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to redundant data storage, and, more particularly, to software, systems, controllers and methods for reorganizing data in a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) system to improve performance during rebuild, capacity expansion, and migration operations.
2. Relevant Background
Recent years have seen a proliferation of computers and storage subsystems. Early computer systems relied heavily on direct-attached storage (DAS) consisting of one or more disk drives coupled to a system bus. More recently, network attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) technology are used to provide storage with greater capacity, higher reliability, and higher availability.
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks) is an organization of data on a plurality of disks to achieve varying levels of availability and performance. The plurality of disks used to implement any particular RAID volume may be directly attached to a single computer, or implemented in network-connected drives that are accessible by one or more computers. In general, RAID uses combinations of multiple drives to obtain performance, capacity and reliability that exceeds that of a single large drive. The array of drives appear to the host computer as a single logical drive. Several levels of RAID architectures have been defined where each level provides a different level of fault tolerance, performance and data availability.
RAID storage systems can be implemented in hardware or software. In a hardware implementation the RAID algorithms are built into a controller that connects to the host computer's I/O bus. In a software implementation the RAID algorithms are incorporated into software that runs on the main processor of the host computer in conjunction with the operating system. In network systems, a controller is implemented within a storage network, or as a gateway to a storage network, and the RAID algorithms operate in the hardware/software of the network RAID controller so as to relieve the host computer of responsibility for the RAID implementation.
An important concept used by many RAID architectures is "striping" which spreads data across the disks in the array. A typical storage access request identifies a starting logical block address (LBA) and a count of the number of blocks involved in the access request. A block is the smallest unit of data that can be read or written to a disk. The data access requests are handled in segments referred to as "strips." A strip represents a quantity of data that can be accessed on a single disk. Usually a strip comprises a group of blocks, although a strip may be smaller than a single block in some systems. In other words, a strip is the unit of data interleaving for a RAID array. For example, in a four disk RAID-5 array the first strip is placed on the first disk, the second strip is placed on the second disk, the third strip is placed on the third disk, the fourth strip is placed on the fourth disk, the fifth strip is placed on the first disk and so on. This spreading of data increases performance because the multiple drives can work concurrently to service data access requests during heavy load operations.
RAID level 3 (RAID 3), RAID level 4 (RAID-4) and RAID level 5 (RAID-5) are organizations of data for an array of n+1 disks that provide enhanced performance through the use of striping and enhanced data availability through the use of parity. Each disk in the RAID array is referred to as a "member" of the array. A parity block/strip is associated with every n data blocks/strips. The data and parity information are distributed over the n+1 disks so that if a single disk fails, all of the data can be recovered. A "stripe" is the collection of parity blocks and all data blocks that contribute to it. RAID-3 and RAID-4 are systems in which data blocks are organized into strips which are interleaved among the disks and protected by parity and all of the parity, is written on a single disk. RAID-5 is a level of organization of data for a RAID array where data blocks are organized in strips which are interleaved among the disks and protected by parity and the parity information is distributed over all of the disks in the array. In general, RAID-5 provides a suitable mix of performance and protection for most applications.
The contents of each bit of the parity block is the Exclusive-OR ("XOR") of the corresponding bit in each of the n corresponding data blocks. When data blocks are written, the parity information is computed and stored in the corresponding parity block. Under normal conditions, subsequent reads can access the data blocks without any parity operations. Subsequent write operations that modify the stored data must recomputed the parity information and write to each disk that holds a block that has changed as well as the parity block.
At various times in the life of a RAID system the data and parity blocks must be moved and/or reconstructed. For example, in the event of a disk failure, the data blocks and parity blocks that were stored on the failed drive are rebuilt onto a replacement drive using the data and parity blocks on the surviving drives in a process that is referred to as re-striping the array across all drives. This is done, for example, by calculating the XOR of the contents of the parity and/or data blocks remaining on the surviving disks that contributed to the block on the failed drive. "Expansion" generally refers to adding a new member to an existing array, which requires re-striping of the data & parity. It is possible to create an entirely new array (i.e., a "RAID set") from any added members as controllers generally support multiple RAID sets. "Migration" refers to re-striping to affect a change in the fault-tolerance level or strip size, without adding any new disk members to the array.
When capacity is added to a RAID system by adding drives to an existing array, the data blocks and parity blocks must be re-striped across all drives in the array. Optionally, RAID migration to affect a change in fault-tolerance level may occur in parallel with the capacity expansion re-striping process. Migration may also be performed independently of capacity expansion to improve spindle usage in the array. Additional background information on capacity expansion and migration (collectively termed "reconfiguration") may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,489, entitled Online Disk Array Reconfiguration which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, invented by the inventors of the present application, and which is incorporated herein by reference.
These operations are typically time consuming. While it is possible to perform these operations while the RAID system remains operational, performance and/or data protection during the rebuild, expansion, and migration processes is often impacted. In instances where the storage system must remain in a fault-tolerant state, these operations often require that the storage system be taken off line until the operations are completed. In any case, it is desirable to reduce the time required to perform rebuild, expansion, and migration operations.
Conventional systems perform these operations on each block in a volume, irrespective of whether that block contains any data and/or parity information. While this was acceptable when physical drives were relatively small, the operations can take a significant amount of time with modern hard drives that implement gigabytes of capacity. However, RAID controllers have not, until now, been able to distinguish between used and unused portions of the storage capacity. Hence, a need exists for systems, methods, controllers, and software that intelligently manage rebuild, expansion, and migration operations to reduce the time required for these operations on large physical drives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for reorganizing data in a raid storage system


A patching panel (4) for housing multiple connections in an optical communication system. The panel is corrugated to define alternately disposed angled faces and apertures are provided on alternate faces (6) on each side of a central line parallel to the corrugations so that the ends of terminal connectors mounted in the patch panel are angled away from the center of the panel in a direction towards the nearest side of the panel. Preferably the angle progressively decreases towards the side. A flange extends from a frame supporting the patch panel on each side to prevent direct line of sight into a supported connector.

This invention relates to communication systems and especially to patch panel arrays for optical communication systems.
A patch panel is a housing for the connections between lines of a communication system, such as a connection between a main trunk line and a susbscriber line. Currently optical communication patch panels have a vertical panel having a two dimensional array of apertures for receiving the terminations of one set of lines on to which connectors for the lines to be connected can be attached. These panels are housed in cabinets.
There are two problems associated with this current arrangement. Firstly there is a limit to the density of the array that can be fitted on to the vertical panel and to the number of panels that can be located in a given cabinet. In exchanges having many lines, and especially in major cities where floor space is at a premium, it is desirable to minimise the space occupied by patch panels, or in other words it is desirable to increase the packing density of the connectors. The second problem that can arise is that when the connectors are disconnected it is possible to view directly into a potentially active line since, for reasons of access, the lines that are directly supported by the patch panel have their terminations inserted through the panel from the rear and face forwardly ready to receive a connector from the front. In normal operating circumstances it is unlikely that laser light signals emanating from an exposed line end would be harmful to the human eye when simply viewed with the naked eye, but if the light were viewed through or in conjunction with optical apparatus there may be a risk of damage.

British Telecommunications public limited company


A chip card holding mechanism includes a support bracket, a tray, one or more resilient members and a latching assembly. The support bracket defines a receiving space with an opening. The resilient member is fixed in the support bracket. The tray defines a rectangular groove to receive a chip card. The tray is slidably mounted to the support bracket via the opening, received in the receiving space engageably by the latching assembly and resisting the resilient member.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to holding mechanisms, particularly to a chip card holding mechanism for a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic devices such as mobile phones typically have at least one chip card (e.g., SIM card) for storing usable information. It is necessary to provide a chip card holding mechanism for holding/securing the chip card within the portable electronic device. The chip card holding mechanism usually defines a receiving space, an elastic sheet fitted in the receiving space, and a holding member rotatably assembled on the housing of the portable electronic device. The chip card can be received and can be held in the receiving space by the holding member, with the chip card resisting the elastic sheet. When the chip card is to be released from the chip card holding mechanism, a user just needs to push it so it can rotate the holding member. However, the chip card holding mechanism, may not unlock if the pressure of the push is not strong enough to rotate the holding member, on the other hand, too much pressure on the cover may cause damage.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Chip card holding mechanism and portable electronic device using same

Fu Tai Hua Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


A rotary drill bit suitable for directional drilling. The bit includes a bit body from which extend legs carrying rotatable cutters. The body carries primary gage pads, above which secondary gage pads may be either longitudinally spaced or rotationally spaced, or both. Longitudinally leading edges of the gage pads may carry cutting structure for smoothing the sidewall of the borehole. Cutting structure may likewise be disposed on the trailing ends of the gage pads to provide an up-drill capability to facilitate removal of the bit from the borehole. The gage pads provide enhanced bit stability and reduced side cutting tendencies, as well as reducing lateral loading on the rotatable cutters and associated bearing structure and seals. The invention also has utility in bits not specifically designed for directional drilling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to rotary bits for drilling subterranean formations. More specifically, the invention relates not only to fixed cutter or so-called "drag" bits suitable for directional drilling, wherein tandem gage pads are employed to provide enhanced stability of the bit while drilling both linear and non-linear borehole segments, but also to rolling cutter or so-called "rock" bits employing a set of supplementary gage pads, or two sets in tandem. Leading surfaces of the gage pads and optionally trailing surfaces thereof are provided with discrete cutters or other cutting structures to remove ledging on the borehole sidewall and to provide a borehole conditioning gage and (in the case of trailing surface cutting structures) an up-drill capability.
2. State of the Art
It has long been known to design the path of a subterranean borehole to be other than linear in one or more segments, and so-called "directional" drilling has been practiced for many decades. Variations of directional drilling include drilling of a horizontal or highly deviated borehole from a primary, substantially vertical borehole and drilling of a borehole so as to extend along the plane of a hydrocarbon-producing formation for an extended interval, rather than merely transversely penetrating its relatively small width or depth. Directional drilling, that is to say, varying the path of a borehole from a first direction to a second, may be carried out along a relatively small radius of curvature as short as five to six meters, or over a radius of curvature of many hundreds of meters.
Perhaps the most sophisticated evolution of directional drilling is the practice of so-called navigational or steerable drilling, wherein a drill bit is literally steered to drill one or more linear and non-linear borehole segments as it progresses using the same bottomhole assembly and without tripping the drill string.
Positive displacement (Moineau) type motors as well as turbines have been employed in combination with deflection devices such as bent housings, bent subs, eccentric stabilizers, and combinations thereof to effect oriented, nonlinear drilling when the bit is rotated only by the motor drive shaft, and linear drilling when the bit is rotated by the superimposed rotation of the motor shaft and the drill string.
Other steerable bottomhole assemblies are known, including those wherein deflection or orientation of the drill string may be altered by selective lateral extension and retraction of one or more contact pads or members against the borehole wall. One such system is the AutoTrak.TM. drilling system, developed by the INTEQ operating unit of Baker Hughes Incorporated, assignee of the present invention. The bottomhole assembly of the AutoTrak.TM. drilling system employs a non-rotating sleeve through which a rotating drive shaft extends to drive a rotary bit, the sleeve thus being decoupled from drill string rotation. The sleeve carries individually controllable, expandable, circumferentially spaced steering ribs on its exterior, the lateral forces exerted by the ribs on the sleeve being controlled by pistons operated by hydraulic fluid contained within a reservoir located within the sleeve. Closed loop electronics measure the relative position of the sleeve and substantially continuously adjust the position of each steering rib so as to provide a steady side force at the bit in a desired direction.
In any case, those skilled in the art have designed rotary bits, and specifically rotary drag or fixed cutter bits, to facilitate and enhance "steerable" characteristics of bits, as opposed to conventional bit designs wherein departure from a straight, intended path, commonly termed "walk", is to be avoided. Examples of steerable bit designs are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,057 to Tibbitts, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Prevailing opinion for an extended period of time has been that bits employing relatively short gages, in some instances, even shorter than gage lengths for conventional bits not intended for steerable applications, facilitate directional drilling. The inventors herein have recently determined that such an approach is erroneous, and that short-gage bits also produce an increased amount of borehole irregularities, such as sidewall ledging, spiraling of the borehole, and rifling of the borehole sidewall. Excessive side cutting tendencies of a bit may lead to ledging of a severity such that downhole tools may actually become stuck when traveling through the borehole.
Elongated gage pads exhibiting little or no side cutting aggressiveness, or the tendency to engage and cut the formation, may be beneficial for directional or steerable bits, since they would tend to prevent sudden, large, lateral displacements of the bit, which displacements may result in the aforementioned so-called "ledging" of the borehole wall. However, a simplistic, elongated gage pad design approach exhibits shortcomings, as continuous, elongated gage pads extending down the side of the bit body may result in the trapping of formation cuttings in the elongated junk slots defined at the gage of the bit between adjacent gage pads, particularly if a given junk slot is provided with less than optimum hydraulic flow from its associated fluid passage on the face of the bit. Such clogging of only a single junk slot of a bit has been demonstrated to cause premature bit balling in soft, plastic formations. Moreover, providing lateral stabilization for the bit only at the circumferentially-spaced locations of gage pads comprising extensions of blades on the bit face may not be satisfactory in all circumstances. Finally, enhanced stabilization using elongated gage pads may not necessarily preclude all ledging of the borehole sidewall.
Moreover, it has been recognized by the inventors herein that so-called "rock" bits employing one or more rolling cutting structures, and those in particular employed in steerable applications, may also drill a borehole of substandard quality presenting ledges, steps and other undesirable borehole wall irregularities.
Thus, there is a need for both drag bits and rock bits which provide good directional stability as well as steerability, preclude lateral bit displacement, enhance formation cuttings removal from the bit, and maintain borehole quality.

Rotary drill bits for directional drilling employing movable cutters and tandem gage pad arrangement with active cutting elements and having up-drill capability


The present invention belongs to the field of genomics and nucleic acid sequencing. It involves a novel method of sequencing biological material and real-time probabilistic matching of short strings of sequencing information to identify all species present in said biological material. It is related to real-time probabilistic matching of sequence information, and more particular to comparing short strings of a plurality of sequences of single molecule nucleic acids, whether amplified or unamplied, whether chemically synthesized or physically interrogated, as fast as the sequence information is generated and in parallel with continuous sequence information generation or collection.

There are a wide variety of life-threatening circumstances in which it would be useful to analyze, and sequence a DNA or RNA sample, for example, in response to an act of bioterrorism where a fatal pathogenic agent had been released into the environment. In the past, such results have required involvement of many people, which demand too much time. As a result, rapidity and accuracy may suffer.
In the event of a bioterrorist attack or of an emerging epidemic, it is important that first responders, i.e. physicians in the emergency room (their options or bed-side treatments), as well as for food manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and for public health personnel country wide to rapidly, accurately, and reliably identify the pathogenic agents and the diseases they cause. Pathogenic agents can be contained in sample sources such as food, air, soil, water, tissue and clinical presentation of pathogenic agents. Because the agents and/or potential diseases may be life-threatening and be highly contagious, this identification process should be done quickly. This is a significant weakness in current homeland security bioterrorism response.
A system and method are needed which can identify more than a single organism (multiplexing) and indicate if a species is present, based on the genome comparison of nucleic acids present in a sample.
Rapid advances in biological engineering have dramatically impacted the design and capabilities of DNA sequencing tools, i.e. high through-put sequencing, which is a method of determining the order of bases in DNA, yielding a map of genetic variation which can give clues to the genetic underpinning of human disease. This method is very useful for sequencing many different templates of DNA with any number of primers. Despite these important advances in biological engineering, little progress has been made in building devices to quickly identify the sequence [information] and transfer data more efficiently and effectively.
Traditionally DNA sequencing was accomplished by a dideoxy method, commonly referred to as the Sanger method [Sanger et al, 1977], that used chain terminating inhibitors to stop the extension of the DNA chain by DNA synthesis.
Novel methods for sequencing strategies continue to be developed. For example the advent of DNA microarrays makes it possible to build an array of sequences and hybridize complementary sequences in a process commonly referred to as Sequencing-by-hybridization. Another technique considered current state-of-the-art employs primer extension followed by cyclic addition of a single nucleotide with each cycle followed by detection of the incorporation event. The technique, commonly referred to as Sequencing-by-synthesis or pyrosequencing, including fluorescent in situ sequencing (FISSEQ), is reiterative in practice and involves a serial process of repeated cycles of primer extension while the target nucleotide sequence is sequenced.
Thus, a need exists for rapid genome identification methods and systems, including multidirectional electronic communications of nucleic acid sequence data, clinical data, therapeutic intervention, and tailored delivery of therapeutics to the proper population to streamline responses, conserve valuable medical supplies, and contain bioterrorism, inadvertent release, and emerging pathogenic epidemics.
The current system is designed to analyze any sample that contains biological material to determine the presence of species or genomes in the sample. This is achieved by obtaining the sequence information of the biological material and comparing the sequencing information against a data base(s). Sequence information that match will indicate the presence of a genome or species. Probabilistic matching will calculate the likelihood that species are present. The methods can be applied on massively parallel sequencing systems.

Method and system for genome identification


This invention describes a method by which the output power of a circuit or system at any point can be efficiently and cost effectively sampled in a simple and broadband fashion for processing in a closed loop system for applications such as power level control in very broadband circuits. A divider circuit consisting of a selection of passive lumped elements is used to create a very broadband means of sampling the RF power level at any point in a transmission line. Unlike prior art schemes of this nature, this circuit does not rely upon extremely accurate element values and minimization of parasitic reactances. Used in conjunction with a balanced detector-logarithmic or other amplifier combination this invention result in a very broadband low cost simplified realization of the traditional costly bandwidth limited directional coupler-detector combination.

In many RF and microwave systems used in defense, telecommunications, and instrumentation applications it is necessary that the power level of the signal at certain critical points in the system be monitored and carefully controlled. The signal level may affect the desired range of propagation of the signal in free space, or it might affect the nonlinear performance of elements that follow it, such as power amplifiers. Such systems are called leveling detector systems since the RF power or a part of is detected and converted to a proportional dc value and used in some kind of a feedback scheme, often called a Leveling Loop, to achieve the level desired.
To control the signal level in an RF system three basic requirements are often imposed. First, a small or negligible portion of the signal needs to be sampled. Second, the sampled signal is often desired to be sampled as closely as possible from the forward wave. This is called the directionality of sampling scheme. And third, in order to have good broadband performance, the proportionality of the detected dc voltage to the RF signal power level as a function of the RF frequency should be constant.
Any practical leveling detector system is typically a compromise between these three requirements. Most directional couplers are bandwidth limited so it is difficult achieve good multi-octave bandwidth directivity. Also, the detector element usually has a frequency dependent transfer function, due to chip, parasitic element, and balance issues. For these reasons directional detectors spanning multiple octaves or one or more decade of bandwidth are expensive.
The present invention achieves a practical compromise so that practical leveling accuracy and wide bandwidth performance are realized in such a way that the costs are minimized and performance maximized by a combination of hardware and software means.

Enhanced flexibility coupler for RF power detection and control


A control IC including a full-bridge circuit is disposed on a primary side and a secondary side. Bidirectional communication is performed between the primary side and the secondary side in a state in which they are isolated. A control signal output from the primary side or the secondary side earlier is preferentially processed. As a result, the authority to control a switching element can be freely given to a primary-side control IC or a secondary-side control IC, and any control processing can be performed with software.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an isolated switching power supply apparatus arranged to perform control processing in a plurality of modes including a soft start mode, a sleep mode, a hiccup mode, and a latch mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In isolated switching power supply apparatuses, in order to use different ground potentials in a primary circuit and a secondary circuit and to satisfy a safety standard, a primary side and a secondary side are isolated using a transformer. In order to control an output voltage and an output current of the secondary side, the output voltage and the output current of the secondary side are detected and are then fed back to the primary side and a switching circuit on the primary side is controlled based on the detected output voltage and the detected output current. At that time, a feedback circuit also needs to achieve the isolation between the primary side and the secondary side.
When a synchronous rectification circuit is used on the secondary side, in order to prevent a case in which a main switch and a commutation-side synchronous rectifier are turned on at the same time and a flow-through current flows, it is necessary to turn off the commutation-side synchronous rectifier in a secondary-side synchronous rectification circuit immediately before the main switch is turned on. Accordingly, a signal indicating a time immediately before the main switch is turned on must be transmitted from a primary side to the secondary side so as to control a time of switching performed by the secondary-side synchronous rectification circuit (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-272097). FIG. 1 illustrates a basic configuration of an isolated DC-DC converter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-272097.
Referring to FIG. 1, a main switch 2 is subjected to switching control in accordance with a control signal output from a primary-side control circuit 5. The primary-side control circuit 5 detects an output voltage Vo via an isolation circuit 10 and outputs a control signal C1 for controlling a duty ratio of the main switch 2 based on the output voltage Vo. The control signal C1 is also transmitted to a secondary side via driving circuits 7 and 8 and a transformer 9 and becomes a control signal C2. The control signal C2 is supplied to a secondary-side control circuit 21. The control signal C2 is transmitted from the secondary-side control circuit 21 to an input terminal of a driving circuit 13 and a gate electrode of a transistor 15. As a result, a rectification-side synchronous rectifier 3 is driven in phase with the main switch 2, and a commutation-side synchronous rectifier 4 is driven in opposite phase with the main switch 2.
A time difference between the control signals C1 and C2 that is caused by the driving circuits 7 and 8 and the transformer 9 and a delay time of turning off a MOSFET in the commutation-side synchronous rectifier are adjusted by a delay circuit 11 for delaying turning on of the main switch.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, when a synchronous rectification circuit is used on the secondary side, at least two units including a unit for feeding back an output voltage detection signal to the primary side are required to transmit a signal between the primary side and the secondary side while providing the isolation between the primary side and the secondary side. Therefore, a circuit configuration becomes complicated.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-272097, since a drive voltage Vcc is not supplied to a secondary-side control circuit at the time of activation (soft start) such as power-up, it is desirable that a method of causing a primary-side control circuit to determine a main switch turn-on time and a main switch turn-off time be used. In a sleep mode in which a switching frequency is reduced to reduce a fixed loss under light-load conditions, it is desirable that a method of causing one of the primary-side control circuit and the secondary-side control circuit including an output current detection element to determine the main switch turn-on time be used. Using this method, a switching frequency can be reduced depending on light-load conditions. In particular, when an output current is detected using a drop in voltage at a secondary-side synchronous rectifier or a secondary-side choke coil and a switching frequency is reduced in accordance with the detected output current, it is desirable that a method of causing the secondary-side control circuit to determine the main switch turn-on time be used. In addition, when an output voltage is directly detected and then the output voltage is stabilized by adjusting the duty ratio of a main switch, it is desirable that a method of causing the secondary-side control circuit to determine the main switch turn-off time be used. However, it is difficult to flexibly authorize the primary-side control circuit or the secondary-side control circuit to determine the main switch turn-on time and the main switch turn-off time.

Isolated switching power supply apparatus


A display device equipped with a touch panel may include a device chassis provided with an opening section, a display panel having a display surface disposed accessible through the opening section, a touch panel disposed on the display surface of the display panel and capable at least of selecting a function displayed on the display surface in response to a pressing operation on the touch panel, and a surface sheet for covering the touch panel on the opposite side to the display panel, and closing the opening section to form a substantially the same surface with the device chassis, wherein a reinforcing area for improving resistivity against pressing force applied from the outside may be provided in a predetermined range of the surface sheet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display device equipped with a touch panel, the display device allowing input operations using a display surface of a display panel by disposing a touch panel on the display surface of the display panel accessible through an opening section of a device housing.
2. Related Art
As a display device equipped with a touch panel of this kind in the related art, there is cited what is described in JP-A-10-73805 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1"), for example. Patent Document 1 describes what is related to a liquid crystal display device equipped with a liquid crystal panel integrated with a touch panel. The liquid crystal device described in Patent Document 1 is characterized in that "in the liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal display panel with a transparent touch panel stacked on the display surface side thereof housed in a case with a display window, the case is made support only the touch panel, and the back face of the liquid crystal display panel is made a predetermined length distant from the inside surface of the case."
According to the liquid crystal display device having such a configuration described in Patent Document 1, an advantage that "the pressing force can be prevented from acting on the liquid crystal display panel in the floating state, and accordingly, the variation in display caused by the pressing force can be prevented from appearing in the liquid crystal display panel (see paragraph [0010])" is expected.
The touch panel provided to the liquid crystal display device described in Patent Document 1 is a so-called resistive-film touch panel having a pair of film substrates each provided with a transparent electrode on the surface facing each other and a spacer intervening between the pair of film substrates. The resistive-film touch panel is arranged so that the transparent electrode of the film substrate touches the transparent electrode of the film substrate in response to the film substrate being pressed, thus the position of the pressed area is detected to perform an input operation. FIG. 7 shows an example of the display device of the related art equipped with such a resistive-film touch panel.
The display device 100 shown in FIG. 7 is composed of a device chassis 101 provided with an opening section 101a, a display panel 102 housed inside the device chassis 101 and having a display surface accessible through the opening section 101a, a touch panel 103 disposed in the display surface of the display panel, a seal member 104 intervening between the touch panel 103 and the device chassis 101, and so on. Further, the touch panel 103, which is of the resistive-film, is composed of an upper substrate 103a and a lower substrate 103b each provided with a transparent conductive film (corresponding to the transparent electrode of the touch panel according to Patent Document 1) on the surface thereof facing each other, bar-like cushion members 103c disposed between the peripheries of the upper substrate 103a and the lower substrate 103b, and so on.
In such a touch panel 103, a pressing operation performed on a peripheral area X of the cushion member 103c will cause strong force applied on the upper substrate 103a taking a corner of the cushion member 103c as the fulcrum. In this case, since the transparent conductive film provided to the upper substrate 103a is brittle in nature, if the distance from the point on which the pressing operation is performed to the corner of the cushion member 103c is short, the transparent conductive film might be broken. Therefore, in the display device 100 of the related art, by covering the area X with the rim of the opening section 101a of the device chassis 101, the pressing operation on the area X has been prevented.
However, in the display device having such a configuration, since the area X, which might be broken by the pressing operation thereon is covered with the rim of the opening section 101a of the device chassis 101, a step has been caused between the surface of the device main body 101 and the surface of the touch panel 103. Therefore, the display device easily gets dirty with foreign particles such as dust accumulated in the step section between the device chassis 101 and the touch panel 103, resulting in problems of a cumbersome work for removing the dirt and of a low visual quality of the appearance thereof, from the view point of design.

Display device equipped with a touch panel


A method for the control of the drive slip in a vehicle with rear wheel drive, particularly when traveling on difficult terrain or in deep snow, involves independent detection of wheel speeds of both the rear/drive wheels and the front/non-drive wheels. Dynamic values, such as wheel acceleration values, of the front wheels are used as a criterion for increasing the drive slip value of the ASR. The drive slip value of the rear wheels is increased if the difference between the dynamic values, e.g., acceleration values, determined for the front wheels exceeds a threshold value. The increased drive slip value of the drive wheels under the difficult travel conditions results in increased traction as well as increased available engine power.

The invention relates to an improved process for automatic drive slip control in a vehicle with rear wheel drive.
Most of today's vehicles are equipped with an anti-lock brake system (ABS), as well as an automatic drive slip control (often referred to as Anti-Spin Regulation or ASR). The ABS/ASR may be part of a conventional braking system or part of an electronic braking system (EBS).
ABS/ASR systems are used to prevent locking or slipping of the wheels during braking or starting of a vehicle by limiting the slip of the wheels to an optimal desired value. For example, in a vehicle equipped with an ASR system, the permissible slip of the drive wheels is limited to a value of approximately 10%. In order to accomplish this, the wheel speeds of the vehicle are detected by means of rotational speed sensors which produce signals representative of the wheel speeds. The signals are transmitted to an electronic system where the signals are processed by means of suitably programmed microprocessors. The electronic system then transmits output signals to solenoid valves which control the brakes in order to influence the wheels which are beginning to lock or slip.
In a vehicle with a known ASR system where only one of the drive wheels is slipping, only the drive wheel which is slipping is braked. As a result, torque is transmitted via a differential gear on the drive axle to the other wheel on the drive axle. However, if both drive wheels are slipping, the ASR additionally lowers the engine speed or engine power to prevent further slippage. A more detailed description of such a known ABS/ASR system is contained, for example, in the WABCO publication entitled: "Das integrierte Sicherheitssystem für Nutzfahrzeuge, Anti-Blockier-System ABS mit Antriebs-Schlupf-Regelung ASR" ("Anti-lock Brake System ABS With Integrated Drive Slip Control ASR For Commercial Vehicles"), March 1987, §§5-5.3, which is incorporated herein by reference.
It is especially difficult for the ASR system to operate properly during starting and continued travel in difficult terrain, e.g., in deep snow or slush. If both drive wheels slip and the engine power is lowered, this reduced engine power may no longer be sufficient to drive the vehicle. In this case, one could imagine to manually increase the normal ASR slip value of the drive wheels by an operator-actuated push-button ("ASR push-button").
A further method to adapt the ASR slip value automatically to different road conditions and frictional coefficient values of the road is disclosed, for example, in DE-A1 196 03 677. In this case, the ASR slip value is increased on roads with high coefficient of friction values so that the acceleration of the vehicle can thereby be increased.
In this known method, the ASR slip value is increased when excessive fluctuations in dynamic values, e.g., the wheel speeds, of the wheels on the drive axle occur. To accomplish this, a control system is provided which recognizes high-frequency, low amplitude oscillations in the wheels by evaluating the accelerations of the drive wheels. However, the method described in DE-A1 196 03 677 does not take into account the extreme road conditions noted above. With this known method, the ASR slip value can be varied by approximately between 5% and 20% where the higher slip values are used for more adherent road surfaces.
A disadvantage to this method is that the high-frequency oscillations of the drive wheels may occur independently so that the ASR slip value may be influenced thereby in an undesirable manner. This is especially true for vehicles with inserted axles.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for improved traction of a vehicle traveling in deep snow or other difficult types of terrain.

Process for automatic drive slip control (ASR)


A method for combusting wet waste wherein heat released by the combustion of combustibles from dry waste is recirculated by operation of high velocity oxidant in order to dry wet waste.

Wet material must be dried to some extent prior to combustion. In an incinerator, such as a rotary kiln, waste is passed through the length of the incinerator while undergoing incineration. If the waste contains a significant amount of water a burden is placed on the combustion process. This is because the wet waste first passes through a heat sink area of the incinerator wherein heat passes into the waste to dry it. Thereafter the dried waste is combusted releasing heat. Unfortunately this heat is downstream of the heat sink area. Accordingly heat must be provided to the heat sink area from a burner. This is disadvantageous not only due to the added capital and operating costs of this burner, but also more importantly because this mode of operation increases the potential for hot spots within the incinerator. Unless the incinerator temperature profile is very closely watched and maintained, there may be hot spots from overheating in the drying or heat sink area, and hot spots in the downstream area where the waste is combusted liberating heat. Maintenance of a proper temperature profile is difficult within an incinerator because the waste generally has a very highly variable water content and heating value. Hot spots, which may occur due to sudden changes in the heat demand within the heat sink area or the heat liberated from the combusting waste, are undesirable because they cause equipment damage or slag buildup and also because they kinetically favor the formation of nitrogen oxides which are considered deleterious pollutants.
In order to avoid these problems, wet waste is sometimes passed through a separate dryer prior to being passed through an incinerator. This complicates and adds to the capital costs of an incineration operation.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for combusting wet waste wherein the waste is dried within the incinerator without increasing the potential for hot spots within the combustion zone.

Union Carbide Industrial Gases Technology Corporation


In a printing apparatus, control is performed such that, among buttons displayed by a display means, if while a first button for inputting a setting with respect to a job to be executed by the printing apparatus is in the touched state, a touch operation is furthermore performed on a second button for inputting another setting with respect to the job, the setting indicated by the second button is not performed, and if while the first button for inputting the setting with respect to the job to be executed by the printing apparatus is in the touched state, a touch operation is furthermore performed on a third button for interrupting a print job being executed by the printing apparatus, the print job that is being executed is interrupted based on the touch operation performed on the third button.

With conventional image forming apparatuses (printing apparatuses), buttons having a mechanical mechanism (hereinafter, referred to as "hardware buttons") are generally used as input operation units. However, in recent years there are known to be apparatuses that have a more graphic liquid crystal display unit and a touch panel (including a tablet apparatus) via which operations and input can be performed using a finger, touch pen, or the like on buttons formed by graphic images created on the liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as "software buttons").
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-211704 proposes an apparatus configured including an operation unit made up of only a touch panel that has almost no hardware buttons. Also, although touch panels have normally been single-touch panels that can accept user input at only one point at a time, in recent years there have also been multi-touch panels that can accept input at multiple points at the same time. When a multi-touch panel is used, it is possible to apply multiple simultaneous input for inputting an intuitive operation such as screen zooming. When buttons on a touch panel are operated, it is desirable to perform control such that unnecessary input is discarded and only one input is accepted at a time in order to improve the user interface, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-211704 as well.
However, conventional technology has problems such as the following. Although there has been an increase in the number of apparatuses that realize user input using a touch panel as mentioned above, hardware buttons that are independent of a touch panel have superiority in that they can always be pressed by the user in any situation. Specifically, it is desirable for buttons that are frequently pressed and buttons that have a critical function, such as a switch for urgent stopping, are provided as independent hardware buttons instead of being provided on the touch panel. For example, physical buttons are characteristic in that they can always be pressed, even if the user is performing an ongoing input operation on the touch panel, and even if the touch panel becomes stuck in the pressed state due to some sort of failure, and thus physical buttons can contribute to an improvement in usability.
However, if such hardware buttons can be eliminated, the apparatus can be given a more sleek visual appearance, and cost can be reduced. These hardware buttons can be eliminated by merely displaying physical buttons on the touch panel at a position that can always be pressed. However, since normal touch panels are created such that button input is performed using only one finger, it has not conventionally been possible to provide a physical button's characteristic ability to always be pressed.

Executing a print job in accordance with input image data


Various embodiments disclosed herein provide for reagents and methods for rapidly isolating viable microbial cells, including S. pneumoniae, from positive blood culture samples. The resulting microbial pellet can be used for both identification and growth-based methods such as antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The buffers described herein may contain a base solution, non-ionic detergents, thiols, and optionally, ammonium chloride. The disclosed methods provide a process for rapidly isolating and concentrating viable microorganism(s) from PBC samples using only one sample preparation tube and centrifugation while removing cellular debris from the mammalian blood cells that may interfere with identification methods.

Sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by an overwhelming response of the host immune system to infection. It can trigger widespread inflammation, which can give rise to impaired blood flow. As sepsis progresses, the body's organs can be starved for oxygen and nutrients, causing permanent damage and eventual failure. Left improperly diagnosed or otherwise untreated, the heart may weaken and septic shock can occur, leading to multiple organ failure and death. Blood cultures are required to detect the presence of bacteria or yeast in the blood of sepsis patients. If a microorganism is present, (positive blood culture ("PBC")) the microorganism(s) must be identified and antibiotic susceptibility determined in order to provide appropriate treatment. The PBC samples are used to isolate, identify and perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing ("AST"). The microorganism(s) are often identified by methods such as mass spectrometry, including MALDI-TOF/MS or phenotypic growth-based methods, such as Phoenix™ ID.
In order to identify the microorganism(s), perform phenotypic analysis on the microorganism, and perform AST testing, intact, viable microorganism(s) need(s) to be isolated from the blood cells and other material in the collected sample. For identification of the microorganism by mass spectrometry, the microbial sample needs to be sufficiently free from substances known to interfere with MALDI-TOF/MS identification, such as blood cell components, other cellular debris, and salts. In addition, the microbial sample needs to be of sufficient quantity in order to obtain a reliable identification. Phenotypic identification methods, such as Phoenix™ ID, require intact, viable microorganism free from substances that may interfere with the enzymatic substrates of the assay. For AST testing, such as Phoenix™ AST, the microbial sample needs to contain viable, unaltered microorganism capable of growth in the presence of antibiotic, if resistance mechanisms are present, during performance of the assay. It is important for all methods to be of sufficient quantity and purity as carryover of residual blood or media components will interfere either directly or by falsely increasing the concentration (turbidity) of microorganism.
Current techniques for isolating viable microorganism from a PBC sample include sub-culturing the microorganism(s), which can take up to 72 hours. This results in the delay of treatment or treatment with inappropriate antibiotics.
Certain strains of microorganisms are particularly difficult to isolate from a PBC sample while maintaining viability of the organism, such as, for example, Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae). Part of this difficulty is traced to the activation of autolysin by S. pneumoniae which causes the microbial cells to "self-destruct". See "Streptococcus pneumoniae Antigen Test Using Positive Blood Culture Bottles as an Alternative Method To Diagnose Pneumococcal Bacteremia", Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Vol. 43, No. 5, May 2005, p. 2510-2512. The current method for isolating microorganisms from septic patients, including, S. pneumoniae, includes inoculating blood culture bottles. Once a positive signal is achieved, a portion of the PBC sample is removed to perform a gram stain and another portion is used to sub-culture the microorganism. Microbial colonies from the sub-culture are used to perform downstream testing such as identification by MALDI-TOF/MS, phenotypic identification methods, and AST testing.
Additional techniques for isolating viable microorganism(s) from a PBC sample often utilize liquid separation methods containing lysis buffers with detergents that lyse the blood cells in the PBC sample. After lysis, the lysed blood cells can be removed while the microorganism(s) is/are retained. However, the use of these lysis buffers often result in compromised, damaged, or non-viable microorganism(s) which is/are insufficient for performing certain growth-based identification methods such as AST testing.
One such liquid separation method, the Bruker Sepsityper™ system, allows for direct testing of the microorganism from a PBC sample by MALDI-TOF/MS without the need for sub-culturing the microorganism. This method uses Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate ("SDS") and centrifugation to generate a pellet of microbes. While the Sepsityper™ method will generally support MALDI-TOF/MS testing of the microbial pellet, there is insufficient viability to support growth-based identification methods and AST methods, due to the interaction of the harsh detergents on the microbial cell wall.
Prod'hom et al., "Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry for Direct Bacterial Identification from Positive Blood Culture Pellets", Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Vol. 48, No. 4, p. 1481-1483 (Feb. 17, 2010) discloses a method for lysing erythrocytes in a PBC sample using ammonium chloride to prepare a bacterial pellet for MALDI-TOF/MS analysis. However, these methods are insufficient in obtaining reliable MALDI-TOF/MS data across a panel of microorganism, including S. pneumoniae. In addition, there is no indication that these methods will maintain sufficient viability of the microorganism for use in growth-based identification methods and AST testing.
Hansson et al., "Microfluidic Blood Sample Preparation for Rapid Sepsis Diagnostics", KTH Engineering Sciences, (2012) suggests the use of detergents for lysing blood cells and selectively lysing certain types of blood cells with ammonium chloride. However, this reference is silent with regard to specific formulations or methods that would allow for the isolation of viable microorganism from a PBC sample that is free from interfering substances and would allow for multiple downstream testing from one PBC sample, such as both MALDI-TOF/MS identification and AST testing.
Both M. Drancourt, "Detection of Microorganisms in Blood Specimens Using Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry: A Review, Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 16:1620-1625, (2010) and WO 2010/100612 to Nassif et al. describe methods for isolating microorganism from a PBC sample which include removing red blood cells from a PBC sample by adding saponin and/or ammonium chloride to a portion of the PBC sample, centrifuging the mixture, and washing the resulting pellet with water to remove residual blood proteins. However, these methods produce inconsistent identification of the microorganism at the species level across a panel of microorganisms and/or fail to identify S. pneumoniae. Furthermore, there is no indication that these methods result in a microbial pellet with sufficient viability to perform growth-based testing methods, such as AST.
Accordingly, it is desirable to develop reagents and methods that rapidly separate microorganism(s) from a PBC sample while maintaining the viability of the microorganism(s), so that analytical growth-based methods that require cell viability, such as AST testing, can be performed. Additionally, it is desirable that the reagents and methods can be used to isolate viable cells from all types of microorganism, including S. pneumoniae.

Formulations and process for isolating viable microorganisms from positive blood cultures


Retention assemblies and retention assembly cooling methods are provided. An exemplary retention assembly comprises an annular baffle, an annular attachment bracket comprising a gas turbine engine component, and first and second cooling passages defined by the baffle and attachment bracket. The first cooling passage is configured to receive a first airflow and the second cooling passage is configured to receive a second airflow. The first airflow has a lower pressure than the second airflow. An exemplary method comprises flowing a first airflow to a first cooling passage defined by a baffle and an attachment bracket of a retention assembly, and flowing a second airflow to a second cooling passage defined by the baffle and the attachment bracket. The second cooling passage is separate from the first cooling passage. The first airflow cools radially outward structures of the retention assembly, and the attachment bracket comprises a CMC component.

More commonly, non-traditional high temperature composite materials, such as ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, are being used in applications such as gas turbine engines. Components fabricated from CMC materials have a higher temperature capability compared with typical components, e.g., metal components, which may allow improved component performance and/or increased system temperatures. Generally, gas turbine engines include combustion sections in which compressed air is mixed with a fuel and ignited to generate high pressure, high temperature combustion gases that then flow downstream and expand to drive a turbine section coupled to a compressor section, a fan section, and/or a load device. Components within the gas flow must be adequately restrained to ensure the components remain in their proper location within the flowpath. However, typical attachment methods and assemblies often expose the structure for supporting and securing the flowpath components to relatively high temperatures, e.g., from relatively high pressure purge flow and the combustion gases. Often, the support structure comprises metallic components, which are less capable of withstanding high temperatures than CMC components and that have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) than CMC components. Therefore, exposing the metallic support structure to the relatively high flowpath and purge flow temperatures risks overheating the metallic support structure and losing clamp load between the metallic support structure and CMC attachment assembly hardware, as well as other detrimental effects from the CTE mismatch between the metallic and CMC attachment hardware.
Accordingly, improved retention assemblies and cooling methods that protect the metallic support structure from relatively high purge flow and flowpath temperatures would be desirable. As an example, a retention assembly for securing CMC components to one or more metallic supporting components that utilizes a lower temperature cooling airflow passage and a separate higher temperature purge or cooling airflow passage would be beneficial.

Assemblies and methods for cooling flowpath support structure and flowpath components


A motor is configured to operate in one of at least two modes in response to determining that a power provided by a power supply for the motor crosses certain thresholds. For example, first and second windings apply a rotating force to a rotating armature of a single motor. The first and second windings are electrically coupled to first and second commutators, respectively, which transmit power to the first and second windings from a first and second power source, respectively. In other aspects, different power sources power the motor, and the motor operates at different speeds depending on the power source applied. For example, the change in power sources is effected in response to detecting a change in applied power past a threshold, thus effecting the motor's operation in a second, different speed. So configured, a single motor can reduce deployment of bulky and expensive add-on equipment.

Various types of motors can be used to move barriers or for other purposes. In one example, electric motors are used to move barriers such as garage doors, gates, or sliding doors. In another example, such motors are used in sump pump applications. Typically, the motor is connected to an AC power source and the AC voltage from this source is converted to a DC voltage to actually drive the motor. Sometimes, a battery backup is used when power from the mains power supply fails or is otherwise insufficient to operate the motor. In a sump pump application, water level is tracked to determine when to switch to a separate backup motor.
Different approaches have been used through the years that utilize two power sources to operate a DC motor. In one approach, a high voltage motor is selected and this motor is powered directly with the rectified mains AC voltage when the system is not in battery backup mode. When in battery backup mode, a large voltage is needed to power the high voltage motor. To generate the high voltage needed, a large number of batteries (in order to create the high-voltage) may be used. Alternatively, a small, low voltage battery and a switched-mode power supply may be used to convert the low voltage battery into a high-voltage power supply and thereby operate the motor. In either of these approaches, the cost of the system becomes high due to the requirement of large numbers of batteries or the addition of a switched mode power supply, and also the system becomes heavy and bulky with the addition of such components.
Another approach for using two power supplies with a motor utilizes a low voltage DC motor. In this case, a transformer or switched mode power supply is used to create a low voltage from the mains power source to operate the low voltage motor. In battery backup mode, the motor's operating voltage is set to match the battery voltage. However, due to the use of the transformer or switched mode power supply and the additional circuitry required, this approach is also expensive and physically heavy to implement.
Still another previous approach uses two separate motors (in two separate housing units) to move the barrier. One motor is powered directly by the rectified mains voltage source and the other motor is powered by the battery backup. However, using two motors has the disadvantage of the added expense and weight of the second motor.

Multi-mode motor for switching among motor power supplies


An apparatus for separating, by pressing, liquid and solid fractions intimately associated in a heterogeneous mixture, such as for example juices, pulps, stones, pits, pips, stalks and vegetable elements of fruits such as wine grapes is characterized in that a vessel (14) is provided having perforate side walls (15, 16) and bounded on its open upstream end by a piston-like member (10, 11) and on its open downstream end by a conical outlet member (50) defining an annular outlet passage, the vessel being filled with the heterogeneous mixture in an upstream-downstream direction thereof, and the vessel then being moved (30, 31) in the opposite, downstream-upstream direction so that the heterogeneous mixture is compressed between the piston-like member (10, 11) and the conical member (50), the pressing force being regulated and modulated for preventing deleterious over-pressing.

1. Field of the Invention
Presses particularly suitable for the extraction of fruit juices and comprising a vessel which has perforated walls, and into which the material to be pressed is introduced for compression by means of a worm, have been known for a very long time. There are numerous variants of this general principle, particularly in respect of the form of the central shaft worm and the shape of the compression vessel itself. Whatever these variants, all presses of this type have the major disadvantage that the material to be pressed is triturated between the periphery of the central worm and the perforated walls of the vessel, because friction unavoidably occurs against the turns (i.e. vanes) of the worm and against the perforated walls, which act like a grater.
These disadvantages are very serious, as they entail the fragmentation of solid material and the crushing of pips or herbaceous pieces, thus giving rise to the release of oil producing a bitter taste and giving the extracted juice an astringency incompatible with good quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
French patent application FR-A-74/09591 (published under No. 2,263,884) describes a juicing press having a compression vessel (i.e. a so-called "pressing vessel") whose walls are perforated and which has a cylindrical shape, and also having a central helicoidal screw which itself is cylindrical but whose central shaft has a plurality of parts of different conicities.
French patent application FR-A-82/03408 (published under No. 2,522,585) describes a press having a first cylindrical part, a second frustoconical part, and an axial helicoidal screw whose turns are themselves cylindrical on a likewise cylindrical hub.
French patent application FR-A-83/05068 (published under No. 2,543,487) describes a press having a compression vessel comprising a first cylindrical part, a second frustoconical part connected to the first part, and a third, likewise cylindrical part connected to the frustoconical part, while the helicoidal screw again has a cylindrical contour.
It will be seen that in all cases the pressure exerted on the material is generated by the rotating helicoidal screw, which is the source of the disadvantages described above, the seriousness of which is such that the use of presses of this type for producing grape juice intended for making cognac has been banned.
The idea was then conceived of eliminating trituration by making harmless the helicoidal conveyor screw turning in the axis of the compression vessel. For this purpose the helicoidal screw is mounted for axial movement as well as for rotation in the direction applying a thrust (i.e. imparting pressing) to the material. When this screw encounters a predetermined resistance, it retracts to a starting position and then, on cessation of the rotation, the screw is pushed, without turning, against the material already pressed, while fresh material to be pressed is introduced and the screw is retracted while turning it in the opposite direction to the thrust, so that it is "unscrewed" in the fresh material, whereupon the cycle is repeated.
This arrangement provides an improvement over previous presses, but still has a considerable disadvantage, because the pressure is exerted in the same direction as the introduction of the material, that is to say in a so-called "upstream-downstream" direction, while in addition this pressure is predominant in the center of the vessel, the necessary back pressure being obtained by means of a gate disposed across the end of the vessel opposite to that where the material to be pressed enters.
For the record, mention may be made of the press which has a compression vessel containing two helicoidal screws having inverse pitches, on each of which is fixed a plate having the same section as the vessel and serving as a nut when the vessel is turned with the screws held fixed, because the plates move towards one another to press the material placed between them, or move apart to free the material, depending on the direction in which the compression vessel is driven.
A press of this kind, which has been known for many years, also has a very poor output because the time required for a pressing operation is three and one-half hours and this period of time gives rise to the oxidation of the tannin and of all oxidizable substances, including those imparting aroma, the whole operation resulting in a flat, tasteless and odorless juice when the material pressed consists of wine grapes.
In this connection, it has consequently been found that pressing a heterogenous mixture is a difficult operation if it is desired to obtain a good yield, that is to say the extraction of at least eighty per cent of liquid fraction with twenty per cent of solid fraction, while obtaining a good quality at an economic price.

Device for pressing heterogeneous mixtures with regulated pressing force for separating liquid and solid fractions thereof, in particular fruit juices