A method of moulding articles from layers of composite material being fibres impregnated with uncured resin, includes draping at least one layer of the composite material over a moulding tool, applying over the composite material layer or layers a membrane, and establishing an at least partial vacuum between the membrane and the moulding tool to consolidate the composite material, and wherein the membrane is made of a resilient material, and the method includes applying a force to the membrane to stretch the membrane over the moulding tool and maintaining the force whilst the at least partial vacuum is established.

This invention relates to a method of moulding and to a moulding apparatus. More particularly but not exclusively the invention relates to a method of moulding a large article where tolerances are critical, such as a helicopter rotor blade which is elongate, having a substantial axial extent, or a component therefore, such as a leading edge spar.
It is known to manufacture helicopter rotor blades by draping one or usually more than one, layer of composite material in or over a male moulding tool. The composite material may typically be fibres such as carbon, glass or Kevlar fibres impregnated with an uncured resin, usually a thermosetting resin.
A membrane is then placed over the composite layers and an at least partial vacuum established between the membrane and moulding tool, to consolidate the composite material.
The method may be repeated during laying up of the layers, to consolidate and remove any air trapped between layers of the composite material. Finally, with a membrane in place, and at least partial vacuum established, the moulding tool and draped composite material are subjected to heat and pressure, typically within an autoclave, to cause or promote curing of the resin, whilst the pressure ensures consolidation of the composite material on or in the male moulding tool.
The membranes used are made in bagging materials which have only limited stretch and are unable to form to complex shapes. To overcome this problem, the membrane material may be pleated, but this can cause a pinch into which composite material may deform, which spoils the shape of the finally moulded article, and in the case of a helicopter blade, this can result in the scrapping of the moulded article.
Also, it is known to use a so-called shape intensifier, which typically, where the moulding tool is a generally male shape, is a matching female shape. The male and female shapes are relatively closed together thus preventing any thickness variations in the composite material between the shapes thus providing a definitive shape for the composite. However, particularly where the article to be moulded is a large elongate article with a substantial axial extent, such as a helicopter blade, to make a matching pair of moulding tools for the whole article can be prohibitively expensive. Accordingly it is usual for one or more shape intensifiers to be provided which are of relatively small extent compared to the main moulding tool, and are used in particularly problematical areas of the article only.
Another problem with the known method described above of moulding using bagging materials, is that by the nature of the bagging materials, generally they are usable only once, and have to be disposed of after a single use. This is because the bagging material degrades and becomes brittle due to the heat experienced in curing of the composite material, thus becoming sub-standard and a risk to re-use.
In GB 1438184 there is disclosed a method of moulding in which a rubber band is used to hold layers of composite material on a moulding tool whilst the tool and composite material layers are introduced into an elastic bag.
The moulding tool, composite material layers and the elastic bag are then placed in an autoclave where compression of the material layers is achieved by applying a vacuum.
According to a first aspect of the invention we provide a method of moulding articles from layers of composite material being fibres impregnated with uncured resin, the method including dr aping at least one layer of the composite material over a moulding tool, applying over the composite material layer or layers, a membrane, and establishing an at least partial vacuum between the membrane and the moulding tool to consolidate the composite material, characterised in that the membrane is made of a resilient material, and the method includes applying a force to the membrane to stretch the membrane over the moulding tool and maintaining the force whilst the at least partial vacuum is established.
Thus in accordance with the present invention, the membrane will conform to the shape of the moulding tool by stretching so that no pleating or the like is required to accommodate complex moulding tool shapes prior to any compression of the material layer or layers in an autoclave or the like. Furthermore, by using suitable resilient membrane materials, such as elastomeric materials, the membrane may repeatedly be re-used. Moreover, it has been found that the stretched elastomeric material acts as a shape intensifier, thus avoiding the need to provide a shape intensifier made specifically to match areas of the moulding tool.
The invention may be applied for consolidating and de-baulking individual layers, or a plurality of individual layers prior to the resin being subjected to heat or otherwise cured. However the method of the invention may include applying heat to the composite material with the membrane in a stretched condition and with the at least partial vacuum established, causing or promote curing of the resin. Thus the resin preferably is a thermosetting resin. The invention may include placing the moulding tool, uncured composite material, and stretched membrane in an autoclave in which the composite material is subjected to heat and desirably, pressure too.
According to a second aspect of the invention we provide a moulding apparatus for moulding articles from layers of composite material being fibres impregnated with uncured resin, the moulding apparatus including a moulding tool and a frame affording an opening, the opening having therein a membrane of resilient material, there being means to move the frame from one position in which the membrane is spaced from the moulding tool, to another position in which the membrane is stretched over the moulding tool with at least one layer of composite material between the moulding tool and the membrane, with there being means to maintain the membrane in a stretched condition whilst an at least partial vacuum is established between the membrane and the moulding tool.
The apparatus may further include means to apply heat to the composite material whilst the membrane is in the stretched condition and the at least partial vacuum is applied to cure or promote curing of the resin of the composite material.
The apparatus may include a base on or in which the moulding tool is provided, with there being means to provide a substantially air-tight seal between the frame and the base when the frame is in its second condition to enable the at least partial vacuum to be established between the membrane and the moulding tool.


In a flexible disk drive for a flexible disk, a main frame defines a receiving portion for receiving the flexible disk. The main frame has a principal surface which faces the receiving portion and extends in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A carriage assembly is mounted on the main frame and has a magnetic head for accessing the flexible disk. The carriage assembly is movable to carry the magnetic head along the principal surface. An eject base is coupled to the main frame and has a main portion facing the principal surface and side plates opposite to each other in the first direction. Between the main frame and the eject base, an eject plate is placed movable in the second direction for ejecting the flexible disk from the receiving portion. The eject plate has side plates facing the side plates of the eject base in the first direction, respectively. A guiding mechanism is coupled to the side plates of the eject base and to the side plates of the eject plate and guides movement of the eject plate in the second direction.

This invention relates to a thin-profile flexible disk drive for use in writing and reading information into and from a flexible disk.
As well known, a flexible disk drive (hereinafter may be abbreviated to "FDD") is an apparatus for writing and reading (recording and reproducing) data into and from a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium of a flexible disk (hereinafter may be abbreviated to "FD") inserted therein. The flexible disk drive is adapted to be mounted to a portable electronic apparatus, such as a laptop personal computer, a notebook-type personal computer, or a notebook-type word processor.
The flexible disk drive of the type comprises a magnetic head for carrying out data reading and writing operations on the magnetic recording medium of the flexible disk, a carriage assembly for holding the magnetic head at its end so that the magnetic head is movable with respect to the flexible disk in a predetermined radial direction, a stepping motor for moving the carriage assembly in the predetermined radial direction, and a direct drive (DD) motor for rotating the magnetic recording medium while holding the flexible disk. As the DD motor, a spindle motor or the like is generally used.
In recent years, following the reduction in profile of the portable electronic apparatus, the flexible disk drive contained in or mounted to the portable electronic apparatus is also reduced in profile. In addition to the reduction in profile of the flexible disk drive, it is desired to reduce the size in a depth direction.
Proposal has already been made of a flexible disk drive achieving such reduction in size in the depth direction (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H8-203221). In the flexible disk drive disclosed in JP-A No. H8-203221, an assembly of a stepping motor and a feeding screw is arranged in an inner area of a main frame on a side opposite to an insertion slot of the flexible disk to be adjacent to one of left and right side edges of the main frame. The feeding screw extends in parallel to the one of the left and the right edges of the main frame. The carriage assembly extends in parallel to a principal surface of the main frame and in a direction perpendicular to the feeding screw.
As the above-mentioned flexible disk drive achieving the reduction in size in the depth direction, proposal has also been made of a flexible disk drive which does not require high accuracy in size of a pin formed on a disk holder and a guide groove formed on an eject plate to guide the pin (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication (JP-B) No. 3405374). In the flexible disk drive disclosed in JP-B No. 3405374, the disk holder has opposite side plates each of which is provided with upward-moving and downward-moving pins. The eject plate has opposite side plates each of which is provided with downward-movement and upward-movement guide grooves. Each of the downward-movement guide groove has a slant edge for moving the downward-moving pin downward only when a flexible disk is inserted. Each of the upward-movement guide groove has a slant edge for moving the upward-moving pin upward when the flexible disk is ejected. In detail, at least one of the opposite side plates of the disk holder is provided with two downward-moving pins and one upward-moving pin interposed therebetween. A corresponding one of the opposite side plates of the elect plate is provided with two downward-movement guide grooves corresponding to the two downward-moving pins and one upward-movement guide groove corresponding to the one upward-moving pin.
The existing thin-profile flexible disk drive has an eject base exclusively for an eject mechanism in order to be slidable the eject plate in forward and backward directions. Between the eject base and the eject plate, a pair of eject springs are bridged. In this connection, the eject base is provided with a pair of long holes having a size sufficient to accommodate the eject springs.
In order to slidably hold the eject plate with respect to the eject base, the eject base is provided with four side guides formed in the vicinity of the opposite side plates by cutting and bending. In order to form these slide guides, the eject base is provided with four openings. On the other hand, the eject base is provided with four openings for receiving the slide guides, respectively.
In order to close the long holes and the openings, the existing thin-profile flexible disk drive has an upper cover covering the eject base. The upper cover is designed to have a large size which is sufficient to cover a whole of the eject base. However, such a large cover raises a cost of materials.

Flexible disk drive having an eject base usable as a cover


An electronic device capable of reducing costs for equipment is shown. Of a plurality of housings each having an electromagnetic relay body incorporated therein, the adjacent housings are unified with a disconnectable connector provided on facing outer surfaces of the housings.

Examples of a conventional electronic device include an electromagnetic relay apparatus including a plurality of electromagnetic relays each having a couple of movable contacts that swing by the excitation current flow in a coil and a couple of fixed contacts faced to the movable contacts and set in directions of movement of the movable contacts with the movable contacts set between the fixed contacts. In the electromagnetic relays, one of the movable contacts and one of the fixed contacts form a normally-open contact which is closed when excitation current is applied to the coil, and the other movable contact and the other fixed contact form a normally-closed contact which is closed when current is not passed through the coil. The electromagnetic relays are disposed in line on a base so that the plural normally-open/normally-closed contacts of adjacent electromagnetic relays are faced to each other and located in opposed outer positions in substantially point symmetrical relation with the swing center side of the movable contacts being located outward (refer to Patent Literature 1).
The electromagnetic relay is a bipolar electromagnetic relay in which two sets of electromagnet blocks 1, 1 are incorporated in one housing including a base block 2 and a cover B mounted to the base block 2, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 of the Patent Literature 1.

Electronic device and manufacturing method therefor


Embodiments relate to a computer-implemented method for visualizing expressions for dynamic analytics. A graphical user interface control is generated for each of one or more variables of an expression. Each of the one or more variables is bound to the corresponding graphical interface control generated previously. Then, the generated graphical user interface control for each of the one or more variables of the expression is graphically output using a display device. A user may input an adjusted value of each of the one or more variables of the expression using the corresponding graphical user interface control.

1. Field
Embodiments relate generally to the field of analytics software applications, and particularly to applications for manipulating and viewing analytic data.
2. Background
The advancement of analytics software applications now allows users to quickly analyze large sets of data to discover and understand historical patterns in order to gauge the effectiveness of current business strategies and to appropriately adjust these strategies to improve business performance in the future. The use of analytic expressions (or simply "expressions") is the foundational technique for supporting analytics applications.
Expressions generally comprise a particular notation pattern that allows analytics application developers to describe and parse data within an analytic framework. Further, expressions allow application developers to conveniently construct analytic arithmetic formulas with rich semantic features. The technique of using expressions for analytics benefits end users by providing powerful analytic capabilities that are customized to the specific application domain of the end user. End users, in turn, are able to discover Key Performance Indicators (KPI) from large amounts of data.
Dynamic analytics allows end users to modify and execute expressions in real-time. The ability to modify and execute expressions in such a way not only extends the usefulness of the analytics applications, but also improves its flexibility. However, ease of use poses a significant challenge for users. Most users have difficulty understanding and using expression syntax. Thus, applications that simply expose expression syntax and leave it to end users to directly make modifications to expressions present usability problems for many users. In addition, users may introduce syntax and/or semantic errors if they are allowed to modify expressions directly.
Thus, users need a user-friendly capability to modify expressions for dynamic analytics without having to edit the actual syntax of the expressions. Further, analytics application developers need a capability to graphically present or visualize analytics expressions for users and enable such users to modify expression variables without exposing expression syntax.

Visualizing expressions for dynamic analytics


The present invention provides a microporous polyolefin membrane of high permeability and novel structure, and also provides a method of producing the same, wherein its average pore size is gradually decreases from at least one membrane surface towards its center. The method of producing the microporous polyolefin membrane comprises the steps of extruding the solution, composed of 10 to 50 weight % of (A) a polyolefin having a weight-average molecular weight of 5×105 or more or (B) a composition containing this polyolefin and 50 to 90 weight % of a solvent, into a gel-like formed article and removing the solvent therefrom, wherein a treatment step with a hot solvent is incorporated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a microporous membrane composed of an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyolefin, more particularly to a microporous polyolefin membrane of high permeability, and a method of producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Microporous membranes are widely used in various applications such as battery separators (in particular, lithium ion type primary and secondary batteries), large-sized battery separators or electrolytic capacitor separators for electric cars or the like, various types of separation membranes (e.g., for water treatment, ultrafiltration, microfiltration and reverse osmosis), various types of filters, moisture-permeable and waterproof clothes and the base materials thereof, etc. Microporous polyolefin membranes are produced, e.g., by an extraction process comprising the steps of mixing a polyolefin with an organic solvent and inorganic powder such as finely powdered silica, melting and molding the mixture, and extracting the organic solvent and inorganic powder. This method needs a process of extracting the inorganic powder, and permeability of the membrane produced depends largely on particle size of the inorganic powder used and is difficult to control.
Recently, various processes have been proposed to produce high-strength, microporous membranes which contain an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyolefin. For example,. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 60-242035, 61-195132, 61-195133, 63-39602, 63-273651, 3-64334, and 3-105851 disclose processes to produce microporous membranes by forming a gel-like sheet from a heated solution of a polyolefin composition containing an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyolefin dissolved in a solvent, stretching it while heating, and removing the solvent by extraction. These processes give the microporous polyolefin membranes characterized by a narrow pore size distribution and small pore size, which are used for battery separators or the like.
Recently, lithium ion type secondary batteries are required to have a property of high energy density, and microporous membranes of polyolefin having a shut-down function are widely used for the battery separators, to meet the increasing demands for the batteries. However, for the special battery purposes, e.g., those requiring high output at low temperature, a microporous polyolefin membrane of small pore size may cause problems, e.g., increased inner resistance of the battery. Therefore, the microporous polyolefin membranes high in safety and ion permeability are in demand. It is also necessary to easily control size of the pores, both for those in the vicinity of the membrane surface and its inside.

Microporous polyolefin membrane, and method of producing the same


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products are disclosed for the association of relevant images with text and presentation of image recommendations to users. In an aspect, text, image and user/usage information is processed in order to extract features therefrom and create three-component feature vectors called triplets. One or more reference databases store the triplets and a modeling component builds a model to learn and recommend images based on the triplets stored. A reference database may be initially populated with information from publically available image/text for use by the modeling component. Using the model, an Illustration Index is calculated for each image in a collection for a given text. Images are ranked by their Illustration Index and provided as recommendations for use with the text. User interactions with images provides the system with personalized feedback, adding new associations/triplets to the reference database to further refine the model.

In the internet age, large amount of textual content is created every minute—by writers, journalists, bloggers, tweeters, social network posters, content makers, or even automatized robots. However, readers prefer to bury themselves in content that is illustrated by an image rather than content comprising merely text.
Users who draft text for various purposes are aware of this psychological effect, so most try to find an appropriate image which fits the content by doing image search using search engines. Many search engines give good, relevant results when the users use appropriate keywords. These engines have built large databases with tagged to describe the content of images in digital archives. Tagging the images, is performed either automatically, or by using advanced image analysis and/or large amount of manual work. Technologies are also available to extract important keywords from text, however, simply combining keyword extraction and image searching does not solve a greater problem. Although this method may render a result for an image for a user to use to illustrate a given text, many issues still need to be solved.
First, a given text may bear more meaning than merely its words. So when it comes to an abstract, multi-layered meaning, keywords may be misleading. Second, the process of choosing an image to illustrate content is more than a simple mechanical process based on keywords. It is a complex process which involves personality, feelings, emotions, and mood. In addition, the same text may convey a multitude of emotional states. For example, the text may contain both sad and happy parts. Some people emphasize sad parts, others prefer to highlight happy parts, others visualize a hybrid mixture of the two emotional states. Because of this, different people oftentimes choose different images for illustrating the very same text.
There is a need for a solution which can learn and model human decision making with respect to the association of images to text and provide human-like, personalized image recommendations to correspond with a given text.

System, method and apparatus for computer aided association of relevant images with text


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system which facilitates eliminating a restart penalty when reissuing deferred instructions in a processor that supports speculative-execution. During a normal execution mode, the system issues instructions for execution in program order, wherein issuing the instructions involves decoding the instructions. Upon encountering an unresolved data dependency during execution of an instruction, the processor performs a checkpointing operation and executes subsequent instructions in an execute-ahead mode, wherein instructions that cannot be executed because of the unresolved data dependency are deferred, and wherein other non-deferred instructions are executed in program order. When an unresolved data dependency is resolved during execute-ahead mode, the processor begins to execute the deferred instructions in a deferred mode. In doing so, the processor initially issues deferred instructions, which have already been decoded, from a deferred queue. Simultaneously, the processor feeds instructions from a deferred SRAM into the decode unit, and these instructions eventually pass into the deferred queue. In this way, at the start of deferred mode, deferred instructions can issue from the deferred queue without having to pass through the decode unit, thereby providing time for deferred instructions from the deferred SRAM to progress through a decode unit in order to read input values for the decoded instruction, but not to be re-decoded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for improving the performance of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for eliminating the restart penalty when reissuing deferred instructions.
2. Related Art
Advances in semiconductor fabrication technology have given rise to dramatic increases in microprocessor clock speeds. This increase in microprocessor clock speeds has not been matched by a corresponding increase in memory access speeds. Hence, the disparity between microprocessor clock speeds and memory access speeds continues to grow, and is beginning to create significant performance problems. Execution profiles for fast microprocessor systems show that a large fraction of execution time is spent not within the microprocessor core, but within memory structures outside of the microprocessor core. This means that the microprocessor systems spend a large fraction of time waiting for memory references to complete instead of performing computational operations.
Efficient caching schemes can help reduce the number of memory accesses that are performed. However, when a memory reference, such as a load operation generates a cache miss, the subsequent access to level-two cache or main memory can require dozens or hundreds of clock cycles to complete, during which time the processor is typically idle, performing no useful work.
A number of techniques are presently used (or have been proposed) to hide this cache-miss latency. Some processors support out-of-order execution, in which instructions are kept in an issue queue, and are issued "out-of-order" when operands become available. Unfortunately, existing out-of-order designs have a hardware complexity that grows quadratically with the size of the issue queue. Practically speaking, this constraint limits the number of entries in the issue queue to one or two hundred, which is not sufficient to hide memory latencies as processors continue to get faster. Moreover, constraints on the number of physical registers that are available for register renaming purposes during out-of-order execution also limits the effective size of the issue queue.
Some processor designers have proposed utilizing an execute-ahead mode to avoid cache-miss delays. During a normal-execution mode, the system issues instructions for execution in program order. Upon encountering an unresolved data dependency during execution of an instruction, the system generates a checkpoint that can subsequently be used to return execution of the program to the point of the instruction. Next, the system executes subsequent instructions in an execute-ahead mode, wherein instructions that cannot be executed because of an unresolved data dependency are deferred, and wherein other non-deferred instructions are executed in program order.
When the unresolved data dependency is resolved during execute-ahead mode, the system enters a deferred execution mode, wherein the system executes deferred instructions. If all deferred instructions are executed during this deferred execution mode, the system returns to normal-execution mode to resume normal program execution from the point where the execute-ahead mode left off.
By continuing to perform work while waiting for cache misses to return, the execute-ahead mode can significantly increase the amount of work that can be completed by a processor.
When the processor enters deferred mode from execute-ahead mode, there presently exists a restart penalty because deferred instructions must be introduced into the pipeline at a stage where they can read the Architectural Register File (ARF) to obtain source operands. Since the ARF is read during the decode stage of the in-order processor, the deferred instruction must enter the pipeline prior to the decode stage. Consequently, the execution of the first deferred instruction will be delayed by the number of cycles it takes to get the first deferred instruction through the decode stage.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for avoiding the restart penalty when entering deferred mode from execute-ahead mode.

Mechanism for eliminating the restart penalty when reissuing deferred instructions


A kit for performing exercises. The kit includes a back board, a standing board and a bench press bar. The kit also includes a plurality of bungee cords that are of different strengths and which can be attached to the various elements of the kit to establish a precise resistance to accommodate a particular user for a particular exercise.

Weight lifting exercise benches have been known in the art for a number of years. More recently, as physical fitness has gained greater public interest and awareness, a number of developments have occurred in the design and use of exercise benches.
The original exercise bench, which is still in use, comprises a flat raised horizontal platform supported by a frame upon which a user lies while performing various arm exercises, such as bench presses and pullovers (which develop the triceps and chest muscle groups.)
The use of this original bench has limitations, in that an assistant was generally required to hand the weights to and take the weights from the bench user. Moreover, a bench user, who performed exercises thereon without assistance, could be injured if he became exhausted and was unable to escape from under the weights.
To improve the above-described original bench design, vertical support members at one end of the bench were extended above the level of the platform and "J"-shaped hook members were added to the upper portions of the extended vertical support members, thereby allowing the barbell weights to be supported above the users head and shoulders. This improved exercise bench was therefore, more convenient and safer in that a user could install a barbell on the "J"-shaped hook without assistance, and could place the barbell thereon after completion of his exercise so that he could escape from under said barbell.
Thereafter, exercise benches were provided with a platform having means for slanting the head end thereof upward relative to the horizontal portion of the end of the platform supporting a user's trunk. Using the aforementioned configuration, a weight lifter, by bench pressing with his upper torso inclined upward from a horizontal position, is required to use certain muscle groups of the upper chest and shoulders, which muscle groups would not otherwise be exercised to the same extent.
Another improvement to exercise benches is the addition of a leg exercising means. These leg exercising means are of two types, although many contemporary benches comprise both types in a single embodiment. The first type of such leg exercise means enables the development of the front thigh muscles, and more specifically, the quadriceps femoris (rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus medials) vastus internua, sartorius, and patella tendon. In this exercise, the user sits or lies on his back on the platform with his legs hanging downward over one end thereof. The user's legs are tucked behind a padded member which is connected to the end of a vertical bar extending downward, the vertical bar being pivotally connected at its other end to the frame of the bench near the user's knees, such that the said vertical bar may be rotated about its pivot axis to a position approximately planar with the platform. Thus, when the user straightens his leg by flexing the quadriceps, he pivots his lower leg forward approximately 90° so that it is planar with the platform. A resistance may be added to the pivoting bar such as weights, an elastic or spring means, hydraulic pressure resistance or a pulley system.
This leg exercise means is deficient in at least two respects. Firstly, the lower leg which has a pivoting range at the knee of 135° or more, is not provided with its full range of motion, and therefore, the full potential benefit of the exercise is not achieved. Generally, the greater the range of angular movement of a joint during an exercise, the more benefit is derived from that exercise. Secondly, there is a tendency for some bench users performing this leg exercise to lift the whole leg from the hip rather than just using the quadriceps (e.g. to cheat on the exercise). Therefore, proper isolation of the select muscle groups for which this exercise is designed is not achieved using the prior art device. The present invention solves the foregoing problems.
The second type of leg exercise means associated with the use of an exercise bench enables the development of the back thigh and buttocks muscles, and more specifically, the hamstrings (biceps femoris, semimembranosus) and gluteus maximus. In this exercise, a user lies on the bench platform on his stomach with his leg tucked under a padded portion of a horizontal bar extending approximately planar with the platform, which bar is pivotally connected to the frame in a manner similar to the aforementioned leg extension exercise bar. Weights or other resistance means are applied to the bar as previously described. The user curls his lower legs upward and towards his buttocks.
This exercise bench is deficient in a number of respects in connection with the performance of the back leg and buttocks exercise described above. In performing this exercise on the prior art flat bench, as the horizontal bar is raised by the user's legs, the hips act as a fulcrum between the leg exercise bar pushing downward and backward on the leg, on the one hand, and the weight of the upper torso of the user, on the other hand. There is a tendency in this exercise to flex the back muscles to resist this fulcrum effect and to utilize the upper torso to rock or jerk the leg exercise bar upward. This rocking or jerking, in turn, can cause back muscle strain or more serious back injury. The present invention minimizes the risks of such strain or injury. The present invention also allows the user to isolate the muscle groups for which this exercise is intended, by making it difficult to utilize other muscles to cheat on the exercise.
To facilitate the performance of the leg extension exercise, there is a prior art exercise bench having a platform including head and foot sections divided by a hinge which is fixed in position at the horizontal plane of the platform, and a means for raising the end of the foot section of the platform. Using this bench, the above-noted deficiencies with regard to the leg extension exercise are avoided. However, this prior art bench cannot be used or adapted to aid in the performance of the leg curl exercise for which the hinge should be raised above the level of the platform.
Another bench is also available having a platform fixed in the shape of an upside down "V" to overcome the above-described deficiencies of a flat bench for performing the second type of leg exercise. However, this bench is only most conveniently usable for performing the leg curl. Moreover, none of the prior art exercise benches disclose the selective vertical translation of the pivoting means in the middle section of the platform.
Prior art exercise benches are also known in the art which combine the two types of leg exercise means into a single apparatus. In such benches, the horizontal bar is attached perpendicularly to a downward extending vertical bar to form a combination leg exercise means, which attaches to the frame of the bench near the intersection between said bars. The foregoing deficiencies of the two leg exercise means applies equally to this combination system.
There is a trend in the improvement of these exercise benches toward providing improved safety, increasing the number of different muscle groups which can be developed by its use, and enabling the selective isolation of various muscle groups for exercise. Thus, a weight lifter can specifically strengthen desired muscle groups. Similarly, body builders who, unlike weight lifters, exercise to develop the size and appearance of specific muscle groups, rather than strength, can also selectively isolate desired muscle groups.
Accordingly, the industry has continued to develop many forms of benches.
Benches of various sizes and configurations are now used by exercisers to assist in the performance of a variety of exercises. Different bench configurations permit an exerciser to perform different exercises thereon to exercise and isolate different sets of muscles.
For example, an inclined bench includes a seat and a backrest extending up from the seat inclined with respect to the floor so that the upper portion of the backrest is above the lower portion of the backrest. An exerciser may sit on the seat and recline in an at least partially upright position against the inclined backrest and can perform a variety of upper body exercises on the bench with weight or resistance training devices, such as dumbbells. The exercises which can be performed include chest press, lateral butterfly, and arm curl, each of which isolates and exercises a particular set of upper body muscles.
A flat bench provides a generally horizontal backrest upon which an exerciser may lie in a supine position. Again, the exerciser can perform chest presses and lateral butterflies, isolating a different set of upper body muscles then when the same exercises are performed on an incline bench. In addition, the exerciser can sit upright on the flat bench and perform a shoulder press exercise.
A slant board presents a declined backrest, i.e., a head portion of the backrest is disposed below a seat portion of the backrest. A slant board typically also includes foot holding structures. An exerciser can lie upon the slant board with his upper body disposed below his lower body and can perform chest presses, lateral butterflies, and a variety of abdominal exercises such as sit-ups and crunches. The exerciser can hold his feet stationary by engaging his feet with the foot holding structures. The user can also reverse positions on the slant board, so that the upper body is above the lower body, and perform inclined leg lift abdominal exercises.
Depending on the desired use, an individual may need a fixed horizontal bench or a bench capable of providing various back rest angles relative to the surface on which the bench is supported. Manufacturers have provided fixed horizontal benches, benches with an adjustable back rest, and benches with an adjustable back rest and separately adjustable bottom rest. Benches of these types have significant drawbacks. For example, a bench which remains horizontal relative to the bench supporting surface, such as a floor, limits the variety of exercises the user may perform. A bench having only an adjustable back rest does not provide a sound foundation for the user because the user tends to slide forward on the horizontal bottom rest while performing exercises. A bench with a separately adjustable back rest and bottom rest theoretically can provide appropriate back rest and corresponding bottom rest angles. However, this latter type of bench is inconvenient due to the multiple adjustment mechanisms needed to try to optimize the angle of the bottom rest relative to the back rest. Moreover, this type of bench requires the user to have knowledge of the appropriate settings to achieve proper angular adjustments. In addition, this type of prior art bench tends to have a common pivot axis on the frame for both the back rest and bottom rest. A common pivot for both the back rest and bottom rest is disadvantageous because the bottom rest should ideally be moved lower toward the bench supporting surface when the back rest is in more upright positions. The common pivot typically requires the leading edge of the bottom rest to be moved upward to tilt the bottom rest. This tends to force apart the legs of the user and tends to increase lower back hyperextension.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,510 discloses an exercise bench having a relatively complicated structure wherein adjustment of the angle of the back rest simultaneously provides limited adjustment of the angle of the bottom rest relative to the bench supporting surface. This patent discloses multiple back rest positions, yet the bottom rest only attains a horizontal position (relative to the floor) and two other angled positions. Thus, the appropriate bottom rest position is not attained for each respective back rest angle. Moreover, when the bottom rest is tilted toward the back rest, a significant portion of the bottom rest rises, moving further away from the bench supporting surface. Hence the user experiences the same disadvantages of the earlier prior art, such as forcing apart of the legs and tendency to increase lower back hyperextension.
Convertible exercise benches of various types are known in the prior art. Among these are benches which are convertible between a chair-like configuration for supporting a user in a seated position with a back support, and a bench-like configuration for supporting the user in a reclining position. These types of devices typically employ fairly complicated linkages and are difficult to reconfigure, often requiring the removal and repositioning of multiple pins which lock the various bench components in desired positions. These complex constructions and the complexity of use associated with them make these prior art bench construction somewhat difficult and time consuming to use. A need therefore exists for a multi-position exercise bench which is much simpler to use than prior art structures.
Multiple position exercise benches are commonly known in the field as FID benches (flat-incline-decline), referring to the different possible bench positions. The FID bench has been a staple in the fitness industry for many years. Some FID benches may be folded for storage purposes while others do not have the ability to fold. U.S. Pat. No. 6,645,130 of Webber describes an adjustable exercise bench which can be folded into an upright orientation for storage. Some foldable benches are still fairly bulky and difficult to carry when folded, and have parts which protrude in the folded position, requiring more storage space.
To take advantage of the variety of exercises which may be performed on the various bench configurations described above, one would conventionally need multiple benches of different configurations. The need for multiple benches can present space problems, especially for the home user, and also leads to the added expense of purchasing multiple different benches.
Therefore, there is a need for an exercise kit that can overcome the disadvantages associated with benches.
There is a further need for an exercise system that will provide the versatility required for a complete exercise routine, yet can be efficiently stored, as well as efficiently set up and configured for use.


An optical fiber connector module for mating optical fiber connectors includes a covering which avoids particles, dust or debris from accumulating on the end face of a fiber connector installed in the module when the installed fiber connector is not mated to another fiber connector using an optical fiber adapter. The module also allows ease of cleaning of the end face of the fiber of the unmated, installed fiber connector without removal of the module from a panel of optical instrumentation equipment to which the module has been mounted. A locking flange on the module facilitates mounting of the module to the equipment.

Optical fiber interconnection links usually include a pair of optical fiber connectors that are mated by installation on an optical fiber adapter. For example, a fiber connector can be snapped or screwed into the adapter so that the connector mates with another connector which can also be snapped or screwed into the adapter. The adapter is constructed to mate respective connectors which are installed on the adapter in precise registered alignment, such that the end faces of the fibers of the respective connectors face each other, are coaxial and are in precisely spaced relationship, to ensure relatively lossless optical energy transfer between the fibers.
It is well known that the optical signal transmission level and quality between optical fibers of mated fiber connectors can become degraded if microscopic particles, dust or debris, which may be present in the air to which the connectors are exposed, accumulates on the end face of an optical fiber of one of the connectors and the end face is not cleaned before the connector holding such fiber is mated with the fiber connector holding the other optical fiber to form an optical fiber interconnection link. Therefore, it is common practice to clean the exposed end face of the fiber in each of the connectors to be mated before the connectors are installed on an adapter.
Currently known optical fiber adapters, however, do not protect the end face of the fiber of a connector which has been installed on the adapter from accumulating microscopic particles, dust or debris when only that connector is installed on the adapter. Oftentimes, a fiber connector which has been mated to another fiber connector using an optical adapter will be removed from the adapter and the connector that remains installed on the adapter will not be immediately mated with another fiber connector. The end face of the fiber of the connector remaining installed on the adapter in this circumstance is, therefore, unprotected. If particles, dust or debris which may be present in the air to which the remaining connector is exposed accumulates on the end face of the fiber, optical signal transmission between the fiber of the remaining connector and a fiber of another connector to which the remaining connector is subsequently mated can be adversely affected.
Although the end face of a fiber of a single connector that has been installed on an adapter, but is not mated to another connector, can be cleaned, for example, by inserting a thin swab into the area of the adapter which is unoccupied, because only the single connector is installed thereon, and by wiping the end face of the fiber with the swab, such a procedure can be time consuming, tedious, painstaking and ineffective. It has been found that the end face of the fiber of the single, unmated connector which has been installed on the adapter can become so dirty that cleaning by wiping the end face of the fiber with a swab or a wipe is ineffective. In such circumstances, the connector must be removed from the adapter, or the adapter including the connector must be removed from the front panel or backplane of optical instrumentation equipment to which the adapter typically has been mounted by screws and then further disassembled, to allow for proper cleaning of the end face of the fiber of the connector. It is well known, however, that after an optical adapter is mounted to the panel of optical instrumentation equipment, the adapter is not easily removed from the equipment because of the construction of the equipment or because obstructions near or surrounding the equipment can make removal of the adapter cumbersome, difficult and time consuming.
Therefore, there is a need for an optical fiber connector assembly which allows for ease of and adequate cleaning of the end face of an optical fiber of a connector which has been installed in the assembly without removing the assembly from equipment to which it has been mounted or without disassembling part of or the entire assembly or removing the connector from the assembly; which protects against the accumulation of particles, dust or debris on the end face of the fiber of a connector which has been installed in the assembly while the connector is not mated to another connector; and which can receive an optical adapter to provide for precise registered mating within the assembly between a connector installed in the assembly and another fiber connector, where each of the connectors can be selected from a plurality of fiber connector styles.


The amusement ball for a user having an inner surface membrane filled with air, a thin puncturable unit covering the inner surface membrane and an outer membrane unit covering the thin puncturable unit. The thin puncturable unit includes one or more first chambers and a thin puncturable membrane attached to the one or more first chambers. The outer membrane unit includes one or more second chambers and a non-permeable outer membrane attached to the one or more second chambers. A user applies a pressure on a specific location of the inner surface membrane through the outer membrane unit resulting in the bursting of the thin puncturable membrane and release of the liquid from one or more first chambers to one or more second chambers. The liquid then appears on the inner surface of outer permeable membrane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an amusement ball, and more particularly relates to an amusement ball with an internal structure for releasing wall staining liquid.
2. Description of Related Art
Various balls are available to provide amusement to kids. These balls could be rugby balls, soccer balls, cricket balls and footballs etc. Children play with these balls for playing a particular sport. Generally, these balls are made with different colors as per the requirement of game. The colors on such balls are permanent and only fade away with the prolonged use of balls.
Now-a-days, children tend to lose interest in the outdoor games and mainly focus on computer games that engage the user with colorful graphics and mental challenge but no physical activity. Generally speaking, traditional sport products tend to not match the creativity of computer games. It is necessary for the children to play outdoor games and thus there is a need to bring changes in the sport balls to bring the interest of the children to play outdoor games. Therefore, the present invention provides an amusement ball with an internal structure for releasing wall staining liquid.

Amusement ball with internal structure for releasing wall staining liquid


An apparatus for carrying out an eye-related measurement on a person includes a device for generating a fixation target with a holographic element. To generate the fixation target, the holographic element is illuminated by a light source. As a result of the illumination, the fixation target arises as a virtual holographic object. The eye-related measurement is conducted on an eye or the eyes of the person fixating the fixation target. Information is conveyed to the person by switching between different fixation targets.

Eye-related measurements should be understood generally to mean measurements which determine properties of a person's eyes in isolation or measure some other object, in particular a spectacle lens, vis a vis a person's eyes. One example of an apparatus for measuring properties of the eyes themselves is a refractometer for objective refraction measurement, which determines the refraction of eyes at a position to be examined and outputs it usually in the form of sphere, cylinder and axis, as defined in DIN ISO 13666: 2012. Another example is a perimeter used to determine a person's field of view (cf. "Perimetry" in the Wikipedia Article "Visual field test," last accessed Jul. 31, 2018). A further example is an apparatus for generating sectional images of the anterior chamber or the retina of an eye, for example by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT); see Wikipedia article "Optical Coherence Tomography," last accessed Jul. 31, 2018. Further examples include apparatuses for biometry of the eye, which allow the selection of a patient-specific intraocular lens before a cataract operation, i.e., the selection of a lens to be inserted into the eye. An apparatus of this type is sold by the Carl Zeiss® Group under the designation IOL Master®. By means of such eye-related measurements that determine properties of the eye itself, measurement data (e.g., the refraction mentioned above) describing a state of the eye are thus obtained. On the basis of the measurement data, a physician or optician can then make a diagnosis by checking whether the measurement data indicate a syndrome. In the case of refraction, the diagnosis can then amount e.g., to short-sightedness or long-sightedness. This establishment of the diagnosis is thus a further procedure after the provision of the measurement data by the eye-related measurement.
One example of an apparatus that measures a spectacle lens relative to an eye for the purpose of positioning the spectacle lens is a so-called centring apparatus. Centring apparatuses are described in WO 2005/069063 A or in European Patent Applications Nos. EP 3 355 102 A1 and EP 3 355 100 A1. Centring apparatuses determine so-called centring parameters that are used by an optician for correct seating by grinding and adaptation of the spectacle lens, as explained in greater detail in these citations.
An overview of various apparatuses for refraction and centring measurement is also given by the web page www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en_us/products.html, last accessed Jul. 31, 2018. The related art discloses a wealth of further examples for the apparatuses mentioned above. Therefore, the latter will not be explained in any greater detail here.
In the case of such apparatuses, for measurement purposes it is often necessary for the person who is to be examined to adopt a specific viewing direction. By way of example, in centring measurements it is often assumed that the person has directed the gaze horizontally substantially into infinity.
To ensure that the person adopts a viewing direction required for the respective measurement, a fixation target is provided. In the context of the present application, a fixation target is understood to mean a real or virtual object or image at which the person is supposed to direct his/her gaze during the respective measurement. In this case, the object or image is virtual if it is not an actual image or object, but rather for example a spatially projected image or a mirror image.
Many apparatuses, e.g., the apparatus for 3D video measurement as shown at www.rodenstock.us/us/en/lenses/rodenstock-technologies/3d-video-measurement.html, last accessed Jul. 31, 2018, operate such that the person to be examined fixates an object, the mirror image of the person himself/herself, or a light-emitting diode fitted to the apparatus, from a relatively short distance, e.g., 1 m. A video camera then records images of the person while the latter views the fixation target thus formed. What is disadvantageous about that is that if the person takes up his/her gaze at the fixation target, the eyes adopt a so-called convergence position, i.e., are not directed into infinity. Instead, the viewing direction of both eyes extends towards the point of the fixation target, which is situated relatively close to the person (for example at the abovementioned distance of 1 m). The purely geometric convergence resulting from the position of the eyes and of the fixation target can be compensated for computationally in this case. As explained in U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2, however, this geometric convergence does not necessarily correspond to the actual convergence of the pair of eyes, that is to say that the actual position of the eyes when viewing the fixation target can deviate from the position determined from purely geometric considerations. This can in turn lead to inaccuracies during the measurement.
Therefore, U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2 proposes an apparatus for generating a fixation target, in which a speckle pattern projected into infinity is generated by means of a laser light source through a diffractive element. For this purpose, in the case of the apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2, the laser light is projected onto a screen via a diffraction element to form a speckle pattern on the screen, and the pattern is then projected into infinity by an optical system. By way of example, the optical system can realize a magnifying glass imaging by means of a lens or lens group. In this case, a diffractive element is an element that works on the basis of light diffraction, in contrast to refractive elements such as lenses, which work on the basis of light refraction. The speckle pattern can be superimposed with an additional pattern, for example a cruciform pattern, as likewise explained in U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2.
By virtue of the speckle pattern being projected into infinity, the person basically adopts a viewing direction for which the gaze is directed into infinity. Therefore, there is no need to carry out any compensation on account of a convergence of the eyes to a comparatively closely situated point.
Nevertheless, the fixation target in U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2 still has disadvantages. Firstly, there are persons who, on account of the subjective proximity of the apparatus, exhibit a type of residual convergence, that is to say that the eyes do not exactly adapt to the viewing direction of infinity.
In addition, in the case of the apparatus in accordance with the related art, the image is fixated by both eyes (binocular vision), wherein the typical distance between the eyes is approximately 64 mm. Therefore, the optical system that generates the fixation target on the basis of the laser light is used outside its optical axis. Here, in the case of a rotationally symmetrical optical system, the optical axis is the axis of symmetry of the system and passes in particular through centers of curvature of curved surfaces. Optical systems have imaging aberrations such as spherical aberration or distortion, which prove to be more severe the further away from the optical axis. The imaging aberrations can be reduced by various measures, for example by the use of aspherical lenses, but this increases the costs.
Moreover, the apparatus in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2 is relatively large. Since a traditional optical system comprising refractive elements, in particular lenses, is used within this apparatus, a specific distance is maintained between the refractive elements used and a screen onto which the laser light is projected as a speckle pattern. The distance corresponds approximately to the focal length of the lens. The shorter the focal length of the system, the greater the extent to which imaging aberrations become visible. On the other hand, larger focal lengths increase the structural space required.
Finally, the apparatus in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2 is comparatively expensive. In the case of the apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,144 B2 for generating the fixation target use is made of at least one laser, a diffractive element for generating a pattern to be projected (in particular a speckle pattern), a screen, and an imaging optical unit, typically consisting of one or more lenses. Each of these components contribute to the financial outlay.
US 2013/0201446 A1 discloses a hologram that encodes one or more holographic images. The holographic images can be used as eye charts or for eye training. In this case, the holographic images can be generated substantially at infinity or at a finite distance. Switching between the holographic images in the case of a plurality of holographic images is not explained in this case. Moreover, the use of such holographic images as a fixation target is mentioned.

Apparatuses and methods for carrying out eye-related measurements


A gas distribution system employing an array of parallel gas inlet pipes and a pair of transverse gas inlet pipes located below the first group of pipes to fluidize a particulate bed in a reaction vessel and to remove non-fluidizable particles that may be introduced into or form in the bed.

The disposal of streams of waste material is often accomplished in fluidized bed reactors by injecting a waste stream into a fluidized bed of inert particulate material, e.g., beach sand or the like, and burning or incinerating the waste material. Beds made up of such materials provide an enormous surface area for the efficient transfer of heat from the bed particles to the waste material which coats the particles, thereby facilitating the incineration of the waste material. The fluidized bed particles may be kept at the operating temperature for the incineration process by the heat released solely from the combustion reaction between the oxygen in the bed fluidizing gas and the combustible matter in the waste stream. This may be augmented by a gaseous or liquid fuel separately introduced into the bed. The technology for such incineration of waste material is well known and has been practiced in the process industries for many years. For example, it has been utilized for the incineration of waste uranyl nitrate solutions, the disposal of black liquor from paper mills, miscellaneous sludges from petroleum refineries, pharmaceutical plants, and sewage concentrators.
In all of the various forms os such fluidized bed combustors it is imperative that the fluidizing gas be uniformly distributed across the bed area, that the bed material be of such small size that it is fluidized at all times, and that bed particles that become enlarged over time by accretion of non-combustibles in the waste stream be periodically or continuously removed from the bed without requiring that the combustor be shut down.
The precise composition of a waste stream is frequently unknown. This is particularly the case in sewer sludges in which the non-combustible constituents thereof can result in the formation of sticky eutectic mixtures when subjected to the combustion temperatures. Such sticky mixtures can, by adhesion to the bed particles, cause them to grow in size by accumulating layer upon layer of accretions. When such enlarged solids, or agglomerates of the sticky mixtures, reach such a size that they can no longer be sustained in the fluidized state by the fluidizing gas, they sink to the bottom of the bed and lay there as an immobile fixed bed. This then distorts the uniform distribution of the fluidizing gas across the bed area and thereby progressively decreases the efficiency of the combustor. If allowed to progress unchecked, the combustor becomes totally inoperative. Tramp materials in the feed to the bed also result in this undesirable effect. It is therefore of the greatest importance that such oversize components be effectively removed from the bed as expeditiously as possible.
Similar situations arise in fluid beds burning many other materials. For example, many installations burning coal or biomass materials experience operating problems caused by stones in the feed.
In the past, the removal of oversize components from the bottom of a fluidized bed has been accomplished by gently sloping an air distribution grid in a downward direction towards a discharge port in the grid or towards a discharge chute in the wall of the reactor or combustor. With such an arrangement of the grid the mobility of particles within the fluidized bed permits coarser or heavier particles on the grid to migrate towards the discharge port or chute under the grid. Such mobility is primarily dependent on the shape and weight of the solid particles or agglomerates desired to be removed, the superficial velocity of the fluidizing gas, and the slope or grade of the grid in the direction of the discharge port. U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,824 discloses a dual cone distributor grid for removing tramp material together with admixed bed particles from a fluidized bed reactor.
Another means for removing foreign objects, tramp material, oversized inert or otherwise non-combustible material from a fluidized bed is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,124. In this patent, the distributor grid supporting the bed particles is configured to provide a lateral vector of fluidizing gas that urges any oversize objects that have descended to the bottom of the fluidized bed towards a discharge port in the side of the reactor, thereby obviating the need for a sloping distributor grid. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,421,023 and 4,196,676 also show distributor grids that give the fluidizing gas a lateral vector which tends to move oversize particles at the bottom of the fluidized bed towards a discharge port.
Many of these designs are of a complicated mechanical construction which on heat up or cool down become stressed and eventually fail due to differential thermal expansion of the components.

Gas distribution system for fluidized bed reactors


Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, a computer program product, and a computer system for predicting drug and disease interactions. A computer identifies one or more drug similarity measures between one or more drugs and one or more disease similarity measures between one or more diseases. In addition, the computer identifies one or more interactions between the one or more drugs and the one or more diseases, then calculates one or more drug-disease feature vectors based on the one or more interactions, the one or more drug similarity measures, and the one or more disease similarity measures. Furthermore, the computer calculates a first probability indicating whether a first drug of the one or more drugs will interact with a first disease of the one or more diseases based on a model, wherein the model is trained based on the one or more drug-disease feature vectors.

The present invention relates generally to data analytics, and more particularly to predicting interactions between drugs and diseases.
Drug-disease interactions occur when an ingested drug worsens or exacerbates an existing medical condition or disease. For example, patients having high blood pressure who ingest nicotine may experience an increased heart rate, while asthmatic patients taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) may experience air way obstruction. Moreover, particular diseases such as diabetes, high/low blood pressure, ulcers, glaucoma, enlarged prostate, poor bladder control, and insomnia are disease known to be more likely to cause a drug-disease interaction. The relationships, and more specifically interactions between drugs and diseases, are gaining increasing recognition in healthcare and medical fields as a concern that need be addressed. Moreover, identifying such interactions beforehand can reduce and possibly prevent the future occurrences of unexpected drug-disease interactions.

Predicting interactions between drugs and diseases

International Business Machines Corporation


A method includes initiating a power on sequence of a computer equipment including a plurality of sensors at a serviceable location within a component of the computer equipment, the plurality of sensors communicating with a sensor monitor coupled with an interlock mechanism, and a service console capable of communicating with the sensor monitor, receiving feedback data from the plurality of sensors during the power on sequence, each of the plurality of sensors is detecting a physical condition at the serviceable location, determining whether the feedback data exceeds a predefined threshold value, the feedback data exceeding the predefined threshold value is associated with a fault at a serviceable location, in response to the feedback data exceeding the predefined threshold value, logging the fault at the serviceable location, aborting the power on sequence of the equipment, and prompting an equipment servicer of the fault at the serviceable location.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor package reliability monitoring, and more particularly, to a method, system and computer program product for detecting damage to a semiconductor package.
Computer equipment such as main frame computers or server boxes generally house multiple semiconductor packages in many shapes and forms. A semiconductor package generally includes a metal, plastic, glass or ceramic casing containing one or more semiconductor electronic components. The package protects the electronic components against impact and corrosion, holds contact pins or leads which are used to connect from external circuits, and dissipates internal heat.


An enclosure (10) includes a base member (13), a body portion (12) and a cover (11) pivotally attached to the base portion (12) by a hinge assembly (25). The body portion (12) is attached to the base member (13) by a magnet assembly (35). The magnet assembly (35) includes magnets (36) positioned in pockets (20) formed in a wall (15) of the base member (13), and a metallic strip (37) held in a wall (28) of the body portion (12) by a plate (38). The body portion (12) is also provided with lugs (34) to be received in openings (19) in the base member (13).

Enclosures for electric food processors or blenders are known in the art. One such enclosure is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 427,016. Such is utilized to house a conventional electric blender so that when the blender is in operation, the noise emanating therefrom will be muffled. Such is particularly desirable when the blender is being operated in a commercial environment, such as a restaurant or cocktail lounge, so that the customers are not annoyed by the sound of the blender which is processing a beverage.
Most typical enclosures are formed of two components, that is, a main body and a cover. Usually the cover is hingedly attached to the main body, and the main body is attached to the base of the blender by a plurality of fasteners. As such, when the container of the blender is positioned on the base, it may be accessed by pivoting the cover relative to the main body.
Because it is associated with food products, the enclosure must be frequently cleaned. To do so, some enclosures, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,238, allow the cover to be totally removed from the main body by means of an easy disconnection of the hinge. However, the main body still needs to be disconnected from the blender base which normally requires the manual manipulation of several fasteners which not only is time consuming, but which also, after frequent manipulations, causes wearing of the parts such that a sturdy connection can no longer be maintained.
Thus, the need exists for an enclosure which can easily and quickly be disassembled and yet, when assembled, provide a consistently sturdy connection.


A high performance dynamic memory array architecture is disclosed in several embodiments, along with various embodiments of associated supporting circuitry. In an exemplary embodiment during an internal write operation, write circuitry supplies a small differential voltage to the selected bit line sense amplifiers, which "swallows" the normal read signal, before bit line sensing. The bit line sense amplifiers then "write" the level into the memory cell during normal latching. This provides for internal write operations which proceed, for many embodiments, at the same speed as internal read operations by letting a selected bit line sense amplifier restore the voltage levels onto the selected bit lines in accordance with the data to be written, rather than in accordance with the data previously stored in a selected memory cell. A write cycle may be designed to take the same very short time as a read cycle, rather than the longer time typically required to first sense old data, then modify it with the data to be written. The address and data for a write cycle are preferably queued to eliminate dead cycles on the data bus, and the actual write operation to physically store the write data into the selected memory cells postponed at least until the next external write cycle is received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor memories, and particularly to architecture and organization of a dynamic random-access memory array and associated supporting circuitry for its high-speed writing.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor random-access memory devices or sub-systems using arrays of dynamic memory cells (e.g., 1-transistor/1-capacitor (IT/1C) cells) have consistently provided greater density and lower cost per bit than those using static memory cells (e.g., 6-transistor (6T) cells, or 4-transistor/2-resistor (4T/2R) cells). However, such dynamic random-access memory arrays have historically also been lower in performance when compared to static random-access memory arrays. Consequently, system designers have typically chosen dynamic memory arrays (e.g., commercially available dynamic random access memories, or DRAMs) when high density and low cost are required, such as for CPU main memory applications. Conversely, designers have typically chosen static memory arrays when the highest possible performance is required, such as for cache memory and high speed buffer applications. Examples of static memory array devices or sub-systems include commercially available static random access memories (SRAMs) and CPU-resident on-board cache memory sub-systems.
The reasons often cited for the lower performance of dynamic memory arrays include the destructive sensing of all memory cells common to the addressed word line (encountered in virtually all dynamic memory arrays) and the consequential need to restore data back into each sensed memory cell during the active cycle, the need to equilibrate bit lines and various other differential nodes and to precharge various circuit nodes between active cycles, and the requirement for periodic refreshing of all dynamic memory cells.
The need for ever-increasing memory performance at reasonable cost continues unabated. It is being driven by numerous advances toward higher frequency and higher speed applications. For example, the increasing bandwidth demands of computer networking and the internet, the increasing speeds of commercially available processors, and the proliferation of high-frequency wireless communication systems are all driving the need for higher performance memory sub-systems.
In spite of the performance gains of the last 20 years, there is an unfilled need for higher performance dynamic memory arrays which leverages the lower cost-per-bit usually associated with dynamic memory arrays into the performance realm and ease of use usually associated with static memory arrays.

Dynamic memory array having write data applied to selected bit line sense amplifiers before sensing to write associated selected memory cells


A resonator is provided which is produced by a defect formed in a three-dimensional photonic crystal. The three-dimensional photonic crystal can include layers containing a plurality of columnar structures with discrete structures in sublayers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resonator using a three-dimensional photonic crystal, more particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to a resonator formed from a defect in a photonic crystal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Yablonovitch has proposed an idea of controlling the transmission and reflection characteristics of electromagnetic waves by structures smaller than or equal to a wavelength in Physical Review Letters, Vol. 58, p. 2059, 1987. This document has taught that the transmission and reflection characteristics of electromagnetic waves can be controlled by periodically arranging structures smaller than or equal to a wavelength. A photonic crystal can be such a unit of periodically arranged structures, and suggests that a reflection mirror exhibiting no optical loss, namely, a reflectance of about 100%, can be achieved in a specific wavelength region. This region is referred to as a photonic band gap, likened to an energy gap of a semiconductor. In particular, a three-dimensional microscopic periodic structure can produce a photonic band gap for all the light entering from any direction (hereinafter referred to as complete photonic band gap). The complete photonic band gap can have various applications (e.g., light emitting devices, control of spontaneous emission).
Woodpile structures in which columnar structures are periodically stacked in a layered manner have been discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,240 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-6567. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-6567 has also discussed a resonator using a woodpile structure having a defect inside. The defect is formed in a rectangular solid shape with the same thickness as that of the columnar structure, and is present among the columnar structures. In general, a resonator produced by a defect formed in a photonic crystal has plural resonance modes. Resonators used in light emitting devices or wavelength selection filters have designed confinement effects and satisfy resonance requirements for a designed resonant wavelength. In addition, in order to avoid the influence of other resonance modes having a wavelength close to the designed wavelength, for example, to reduce the effect of mode hopping in a laser, one can provide a large difference between the designed resonant wavelength and the wavelengths of the resonant in the other resonance modes.
The periodicity around the defect of the periodic structure can be increased to increase the reflectance. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-6567 has also discussed another approach in which the difference in resonant wavelength between adjacent resonance modes is controlled by varying the lengths of two sides other than the thickness of rectangular solid defect, and by shifting the position of the defect with respect to the columnar structures. Unfortunately, the shift of the position of the defect makes the periodic structure asymmetrical, so that the energy distribution of the electromagnetic field in the resonator is also made asymmetrical. If the resonator is used in a laser, such asymmetry causes a large deflection of the orientation of the emitted light and may result in a critical problem. In addition, the maximum of the shift in the position of the defect is ¼ of the period of columnar structure arrangement, making the choices of designed resonant wavelength limited.

Resonator, light emitting device, and wavelength conversion device


The present application relates to systems and methods for non-invasively determining at least one of left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) or pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) in a subject's heart, comprising: receiving, by a computer, a plurality of signals from a plurality of non-invasive sensors that measure a plurality of physiological effects that are correlated with functioning of said subject's heart, said plurality of physiological effects including at least one signal correlated with left ventricular blood pressure and at least one signal correlated with timing of heartbeat cycles of said subject's heart; training a machine learning model on said computer using said plurality of signals for periods of time in which said plurality of signals were being generated during a heart failure event of said subject's heart; determining said LVEDP or PCWP using said machine learning model at a time subsequent to said training and subsequent to said heart failure event.

1. Technical Field
The field of the currently claimed embodiments of this invention relates to methods and systems for non-invasively determining left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and/or pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP).
2. Discussion of Related Art
Successful heart failure management, both in and out of the hospital, depends on intimate knowledge and tracking of cardiac pressures that inform the fluid status of patients. The most important of these pressures is left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP). Both physicians and surgeons rely heavily on the cardiac chamber pressures, especially that in the left ventricle, to assess the fluid volume status of patients and heart function pre and post procedures in the in-hospital setting, outpatient clinics or when patients are at their home.
However, current methodologies of assessing left ventricular end diastolic pressure are either invasive in nature with associated complications or non-suitability for specific patient types, or they allow only measurement of surrogate parameters in lieu of LVEDP. Examples of invasive methods include invasive catheterization procedures that are inaccessible for regular use or are contraindicated for a large subset of the heart failure population. Other non-invasive methods of quantifying LVEDP do so by obtaining surrogate pressures. Thus there is a compelling need for a means of measuring LVEDP accurately, safely and noninvasively.

Device and method for non-invasive left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) measurement


A compressor system with a continuously variable oil injection orifice is structured to regulate a flow of oil from an oil reservoir into a compressor. The orifice includes a first valve member moveable in response to oil pressure toward a second valve member to define a continuously variable flow area. A biasing member urges the first valve member away from the second valve member.

Compressor systems, such as oil lubricated compressor systems, remain an area of interest. Some existing systems have various shortcomings, drawbacks, and disadvantages relative to certain applications. For example, in some oil flooded compressors, the oil injection orifice may not suitably inject oil at all operating regimes. Accordingly, there remains a need for further contributions in this area of technology.

Compressor system with variable lubricant injection orifice


Echinacea dietary supplements are useful adjuvants for live anticoccidial vaccines. Feed supplementation with Echinacea preparations enhances the immune response to such vaccines. Echinacea purpurea in amounts of about 0.1% to 0.5% administered for about two weeks to day-old chicks has been found effective for providing significant weight gain compared to vaccination alone.

1. Field of the Invention
Anticoccidial drugs have been used for the prevention of coccidiosis in poultry for many years. Although these programs have generally been considered effective, the development of resistance by avian coccidia to the drugs in current use has resulted in continued losses by the poultry industry to the disease. There is thus a strong incentive to develop more effective anticoccidia products and processes that will provide better protection against challenge by virulent field strains. This invention relates to preparations of the plant Echinacea purpurea which serve as novel dietary supplements for enhancing the effectiveness of vaccines against coccidia species and to methods utilizing these preparations in vaccination protocols.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coccidiosis in poultry is a disease resulting from infection by avian coccidia. These microorganisms are parasitic protozoa, and those belonging to the genus Eimeria are economically the most important and include E. acervulina, E. mivati, E. mitis, E. praecox, E. hagani, E. necatrix, E. maxima, E. brunetti and E. tenella. Eimeria tenella is the most pathogenic of the group and has thus received the most attention.
Although coccidiosis occurs in both invertebrates and vertebrates, including man, the poultry industry has been particularly affected by the disease, with coccidiosis being the most economically important parasitic disease of chickens. Problems associated with the disease are varied and range from poor feed conversion and reduced weight gain and egg production in light infections to morbidity and mortality in heavier infections. The parasite has an asexual/sexual life cycle which occurs in the intestinal tract of an infected bird. Infection occurs when birds ingest sporulated oocysts which are generally associated with fecal material. During the digestive process, the oocysts rupture, releasing asexual sporozoites into the digestive tract. Sporozoites subsequently invade epithelial cells of the intestinal tract where they eventually mature and release merozoites back into the digestive tract. Merozoites differentiate into gametocytes, thus initiating the sexual stage of the coccidia life cycle. The gametocytes fuse to produce the fertilization product, oocysts, which are released into the feces, or droppings, of infected birds. The formation of oocysts completes the life cycle of the parasite. Sporulation within the oocyst may then occur followed by transmission of the disease through ingestion by a new host. Characteristic digestive tract lesions are produced by the developing asexual and sexual stages.
Prevention or treatment of the disease by administration of anticoccidial agents such as ionophore drugs has generally been successful in the past, however, the development of drug-resistant strains has presented new challenges. A number of vaccines have been developed, including both live (virulent and attenuated), antigenic components and various recombinants. Schaap et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,801, Mar. 20, 2001) disclosed a 25-kd Eimeria polypeptide which may be used as an immunogen. Danforth, H. D. (1998. J. Parasitol. vol. 28, pp. 1099-1109) disclosed live oocyst vaccines using a virulent field strain isolate of E. maxima, while Danforth et al. (1997. Parasitol. Res. vol. 83, pp. 445-451) described evaluations of a four-species (E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. necatrix and E. tenella) virulent oocyst vaccine. Anderson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,862, Jan. 20, 1998) disclosed recombinant antigenic peptides containing a determinant or determinants for use as vaccines.
Echinacea purpurea has been known for more than a century as a medicinal herb, and extracts from the plant have been implicated in immune-type responses. Purified polysaccharide fractions from Echinacea were reported to activate macrophages (Stimpel et al. 1984. Infect. Immun. vol. 46, pp. 845-849), to mediate action of the phagocyte system (Roesler et al. 1991. Int. J. Immunopharmac. vol. 13, pp. 27-37 and 931-941) and to protect against systemic infections in immunosuppressed mice (Steinmxc3xcller et al. 1993. Int. J. Immunopharmac. vol. 15, pp. 605-614). These studies were all carried out in mammalian (either human or mouse) systems, however, and there are no reports of effects on avian systems.
Although vaccine development represents significant progress in controlling coccidiosis, the disease continues to present problems for the poultry industry and results in considerable economic loss. There is thus a need to provide products and processes which are capable of improving resistance to the disease.
We have discovered that ingestion of preparations of Echinacea along with immunization provides significant advantage over immunization alone. In accordance with this discovery, it is an object of the invention to provide a method of treating birds to provide resistance to coccidiosis by the administration of both Echinacea and a vaccine to the birds.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a composition comprising Echinacea in amounts effective for providing resistance to coccidiosis when ingested in combination with immunization.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description.

Use of echinacea as a feed additive to enhance protection against coccidiosis

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


The object of the invention is to provide a connector assembly having enough waterproof performance, without needing high insertion force during the assembly process. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a connector assembly 1 comprising a plug assembly 7; a header assembly 5 configured to be mated with the plug assembly 7 while forming an opening between the plug assembly 7 and the inside of the header assembly 5; holder assemblies 18d and 18e configured to apply pressure on the plug assembly in the direction of insertion of the plug assembly 7 into the header assembly 5; and a sealing member 4 configured to be pushed out toward the opening in response to the pressure applied by the holder assemblies 18d and 18e after insertion of the plug assembly 7 into the header assembly 5, in order to plug and seal the opening.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly. In particular, the present invention relates to a connector assembly having enhanced sealing performance between a plug assembly and a header assembly.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Various electronic components are mounted on an automobile, which is provided with a wiring harness for transmitting electric power or control signals to the electronic devices. The afore-mentioned wiring harness includes one or more electrical wires and connector assemblies. Conventionally, the electrical wire comprises an electrically conductive core wire and an electrically insulating outer layer.
As the connector as described above, for example, a connector assembly disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-294336 can be used. Such a connector assembly includes a connector housing and a sealing member. The connector housing in turn includes a tubular outer case and a plurality of plate-like housings, which are provided with a terminal receiving groove for receiving a terminal fitting attached to an electrical wire.
The sealing member includes a plurality of sheet-like sealing pieces, each made of resilient materials such as rubber. The sheet-like sealing piece is attached to the plate-like housing so as to provide a seal for moisture around the electrical wire which is attached to the terminal fitting received in the terminal receiving groove of the plate-like housing.
The connector as described above can be assembled as follows. First, the terminal fitting attached to the electrical wire is received in the terminal receiving groove of the plate-like housing, and the sheet-like sealing pieces are attached to the plate-like housing. Thereafter, the plate-like housings are engaged with each other and then the same plate-like housings are received in an outer case. Finally, the resulting connector as mentioned above is coupled to a mating connector. During the connector as mentioned above, the sheet-like sealing pieces protect the electrical wire against moisture so as to prevent moisture and the like from entering the terminal receiving groove via the electrical wire.
During the above referenced connector, while the sheet-like sealing pieces, each made of rubber and the like having restitution property, are used in order to ensure that moisture does not pass into both the outer case and the housing, a drawback of the connector is that more force is needed to insert the housing into the outer case. In other word, difficulty of insertion operation as mentioned above is problematic. One proposed method of overcoming the high insertion force was to control restitution property of the sealing piece. Unfortunately, in such a case, it was found to be impossible to provide a connector assembly with enough waterproof performance.
Thus, a need exists for an improved electrical connector assembly, which has enough waterproof performance, as well as, does not need high insertion force when the housing is mated into the outer case.


A pressure reducing valve includes a opening/closing valve between primary and secondary pressure chambers, a diaphragm body, a valve hole through which the secondary pressure chamber is communicatively connected with the atmosphere, a relief valve which opens/closes the valve hole, and a linkage member which links the opening/closing valve with the relief valve so as to open/close in association with each other. The linkage member includes a valve guide having a valve passage through which the primary and secondary pressure chambers are communicatively connected, and a pintle inserted into a pintle hole and guided thereby. The opening/closing valve and the relief valve are provided on lower and upper ends of the pintle, respectively. The valve hole has a common axis with those of the valve passage and the pintle hole. One and the other of the valve guide and the pintle are made of resin and metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure reducing valve and in particular to a pressure reducing valve with a grease-free (lubricant-free) guide mechanism for guiding an opening/closing valve.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional pressure reducing valves, a guide mechanism is often used to improve the sealing performance in a main valve and in a relief valve (air release valve) thereof. Although conventional seal-packing-type pressure reducing valves are equipped with a guide mechanism for the relief valve, the resistance imposed on movements of the relief valve due to a seal packing is great because a guiding component of the guide mechanism needs to be equipped with a sealing mechanism. Conventional diaphragm-type pressure reducing valves are higher in sensitivity than seal-packing-type pressure reducing valves. In a diaphragm-type pressure reducing valve with no guide mechanism for the relief valve, the resistance caused upon actuation of the pressure reducing valve is small, however the relief valve becomes freely movable so that sealing repeatability is poor upon a return of the relief valve after it is opened, and accordingly, and hence the sealing performance is poor. In addition, the sealing performance deteriorates by a positional deviation of a diaphragm assembly upon installation thereof, which is a fairly common occurring problem.
A pressure reducing valve in which a valve shaft is formed as a separate element from a valve body so that a valve port can be securely sealed by the valve body even if the valve shaft tilts or is decentered is also known in the art (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. H05-113828, H05-257540 and H11-119837
However, this conventional type pressure reducing valve needs to be lubricated with lubricating oil such as grease because a sliding portion, in which metals are in sliding contact with each other, exists in the guide mechanism of the valve body and also in the valve shaft. Therefore, in the case where the pressure reducing valve is used in an environment such as a clean room which does not tolerate impurities, the lubricating oil may get scattered.


A method, computer program product, and system for defining custodianship of content in an electronic discovery management system, and maintaining custodianship definitions in an external content archive, the custodianship specifying at least one parameter of a first custodian to associate the content with the first custodian. Responsive to receiving a request to perform an operation on the content associated with the first custodian, the request is modified with the at least one parameter of the first custodian and at least one property of the content in the content archive, the at least one parameter and at the least one property being consumable by the content archive. The modified request is sent to the content archive, which is configured to, responsive to receiving the modified request, perform the operation on the content associated with the first custodian.

Disclosed herein are techniques to define custodianship of content in an electronic discovery management system and enforce the custodianship of the content in a content archive.
An electronic discovery management system (EMS) is generally used to manage all aspects of the electronic discovery (eDiscovery) process by providing a system to store and track information related to legal matters within an organization. For example, an EMS may, for many different legal matters, identify selection criteria for electronic documents subject to a hold in the legal matter, and identify custodians associated with the electronic documents (e.g. authors or recipients of an email). The EMS may then manage workflows surrounding the legal matters in order to preserve and collect evidence.
Custodianship may generally be defined as what content belongs to (or is associated with) which person. Attempts to define custodianship at the content archive result in complex and unusable solutions due to the fact that legal staff needs to interact with information technology (IT) staff in order to create a definition of custodianship inside a content archive before a collection plan can be executed. It may be impossible to predefine custodianship rules which fit all eDiscovery scenarios.
On the other extreme, attempts to fully delegate the management of per-custodian preservation requests to EMS applications or integration infrastructure external to the content archive leads to lack of custodian visibility inside review tools working on top of the content archive and lack in granularity in audit trail information (how many content items were put on hold for a particular custodian within a particular preservation plan). These tools may not know which data belongs to which custodian because this knowledge is owned by the EMS. Furthermore, this solution leads to unclear audit trails and unnecessary performance hits during hold or release stages in the content archive.

Propagating per-custodian preservation and collection requests between ediscovery management applications and content archives