A high frequency amplifier. The amplifier includes two transistors for signal amplification, and input and output matching circuits. There are variable capacitors and resistors in the matching input and output circuits. A received signal strength indicator receives the band-pass filtered intermediate-frequency signal and generates an indication signal corresponding to the amplitude of the received signal. The variable capacitors and resistors are tuned by the indication signal from the received signal strength indicator. Thus, the gain of the high frequency amplifier is automatically controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high frequency amplifier and particularly to a high frequency amplifier with variable capacitors and resistors in its input and output matching circuits, wherein the gain and frequency response can be automatically tuned to avoid the impact of impedance variation of the lead frame or resulting from the manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wireless communication devices for different purposes, such as GSM or PHS mobile phones, use different transmission bands. Each of them includes a high frequency amplifier in its transmitter and receiver to amplify the signal in the transmission band used.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional high frequency amplifier. It includes two transistors M1 and M2, a LC tank composed of an inductor Ld and a capacitor Cd, inductors Ls and Lg, and capacitors Cg and CL. The drain of the transistor M1 is connected to the source of the transistor M2. The gate of the transistor M1 is connected to receive a voltage VDD. The gate of the transistor M2 is connected to the inductor Lg and capacitor Cg connected in series. A signal IN is input to one end of the capacitor Cg. The inductor Ls is connected to the source of the transistor M1. The LC tank is connected to the drain of the transistor M2. The drain of the transistor M2 is connected to the capacitor CL and outputs a signal OUT.
The impedances of the capacitor Cg, inductors Lg and Ls, and the parasitic gate-to-source capacitor (not shown) of the transistor M1 are selected for input impedance matching. Only the signal IN having a resonant frequency formed by the input impedance of the high frequency amplifier is amplified. The gain of the high frequency amplifier is determined by the inductor Ld and capacitor Cd. The inductor Ls with a proper inductance will enhance the linear performance of the amplifier.
However, in a conventional high frequency amplifier, the impedances of the resistors, inductors and capacitors are not tunable after they are determined. Thus, impedance variation of the lead frame or resulting from the manufacturing process has serious impact on the input and output impedance of the high frequency amplifier. It-is difficult to have a conventional high frequency amplifier with a desired precise input and output impedance match.
The object of the present invention is to provide a high frequency amplifier with variable capacitors and resistors in its input and output matching circuits, wherein the gain and frequency response can be automatically tuned to the avoid impact of impedance variation of the lead frame or resulting from the manufacturing process.
The present invention provides a high frequency amplifier comprising a first and second transistor, the first transistor having a drain connected to a source of the second transistor and the second transistor having a gate connected to receive a first voltage, a first, second and third inductor, the first inductor having a first end connected to a gate of the first transistor, the second inductor having a first and second end respectively connected to a source of the first transistor and to receive a second voltage, and the third inductor having a first and second end respectively connected to a drain of the second transistor and to receive the first voltage, a first, second, third, fourth and fifth capacitor, the first capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the first inductor and to receive an input signal, the second capacitor having a first end connected to receive the second voltage, the third capacitor having a first end connected to receive the second voltage, the fourth capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to the drain of the second transistor and to receive the first voltage, and the fifth capacitor having a first end connected to the drain of the second transistor, a first and second resistor, the first resistor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the second capacitor and to receive the second voltage, and the second resistor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the third capacitor and to receive the second voltage, a first and second variable capacitor, the first variable capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the second capacitor and a second end of the third capacitor, and the second variable capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the fifth capacitor and to output an output signal, a variable resistor having a first and second end respectively connected to the second end of the fifth capacitor and to receive the second voltage, and a received signal strength indicator receiving the output signal and generating an indication signal corresponding to an amplitude of the output signal, by which the first and second variable capacitor, and the variable resistor are tuned.
The present invention further provides a high frequency amplifier comprising a first and second transistor, the first transistor having a drain connected to a source of the second transistor and the second transistor having a gate connected to receive a first voltage, a first, second and third inductor, the first inductor having a first end connected to a gate of the first transistor, the second inductor having a first and second end respectively connected to a source of the first transistor and to receive a second voltage, and the third inductor having a first and second end respectively connected to a drain of the second transistor and to receive the first voltage, a first, second and third capacitor, the first capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the first inductor and to receive an input signal, the second capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to the drain of the second transistor and to receive the first voltage, the third capacitor having a first end connected to the drain of the second transistor, a first and second variable capacitor, the first variable capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the second capacitor and a second end of the third capacitor, and the second variable capacitor having a first and second end respectively connected to a second end of the third capacitor and to output an output signal, a variable resistor having a first and second end respectively connected to the second end of the third capacitor and to receive the second voltage, and a received signal strength indicator receiving the output signal and generating an indication signal corresponding to an amplitude of the output signal, by which the first and second variable capacitor, and the variable resistor are tuned.
Thus, in the invention, there are varactors and variable resistors in the matching input and output circuits. A received signal strength indicator receives the band-pass filtered intermediate-frequency signal and generates an indication signal corresponding to the amplitude of the received signal. The variable capacitors and resistors are tuned by the indication signal from the received signal strength indicator. Thus, the gain of the high frequency amplifier is automatically controlled.


A toy water gun includes a molded plastic handle having a hose coupling thread at one end and a bottle thread coupling at the other end. A trigger and a nozzle are formed in the handle with the trigger displacing a ball from its seat to form a water jet. A check valve includes a ball that is held against its seat in the hose thread coupling end of the handle by pressure in a water reservoir. A siphon tube is used in one version for reaching to the bottom of a plastic bottle reservoir that is screwed into the bottle thread coupling of the handle. An adapter may be screwed into the bottle thread coupling of the handle and coupled to one or more plastic bottle reservoirs that are carried in a backpack. The water gun is charged with pressurized water from a household water spigot by screwing it to the spigot and forcing water under pressure into the reservoir. A two piece handle version is also disclosed.

This invention relates in general to toy water guns and in particular to a pump-less toy water gun that utilizes a readily available reservoir that is easily fillable from a household source of pressurized water, such as a garden hose or a water spigot.
Water pistols (or squirt guns) have been popular toys for many years. Their drawbacks are well known and include the need to continually pump limited capacity and range, difficulty in refilling, etc. A common type of water gun has a trigger-operated pump mechanism for pressurizing and ejecting a relatively small, short duration jet of water. More recently, water guns that incorporate a large reservoir of water, that is pressurized by pumping have become popular. This latter type of water gun is capable of propelling a jet of water farther and for a duration that is controlled by the depression of the trigger mechanism (so long as there is pressure in the reservoir). The vast majority of such water guns include a manually-operated pump for developing a pressure head of air in the water reservoir. Operation of a trigger controls the water formation and duration of the water jet.
The so-called "single shot" water guns (with a non-pressurized water reservoir and a trigger pump) are limited in range and the length and duration of the water jet is a function of a user's skill in manipulating the trigger. These water guns are of relatively low cost construction and use the interior of a hollow plastic gun body as the (non-pressurized) water reservoir. Pressurized reservoir types of water guns require a great deal of manual pumping to produce a suitable pressure head in the reservoir. The reservoir (or reservoirs in the case of multiple reservoir guns) are often removable for refilling. Even so, refilling the removable reservoirs requires some dexterity on the user's part and is a slow and messy task. Also, the cost of such water guns is very high.
The water gun of the invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art devices and is characterized by no pumping, high capacity, ruggedness, long and accurate shooting, low cost and ease of filling and operation. The body of the inventive water gun comprises a handle that houses a trigger and a nozzle, and in the preferred embodiment, includes a hose thread coupling end for connection to a source of household pressurized water (such as a spigot or a garden hose) and a reservoir coupling end. The reservoir coupling end has a bottle thread that is adapted to engage the threaded end of an empty one- or a two-liter PET type plastic bottle, such as are commonly used for carbonated soft drinks and the like. In one version of the invention, the plastic bottle is affixed to the handle which also includes a weighted end flexible siphon tube that extends into the reservoir for permitting operation of the squirt gun with the reservoir higher or lower than the handle. In another version, a backpack is provided for holding one or more of the reservoir bottles which are coupled by an adapter to the handle via a manifold and a flexible tube. Refilling is accomplished through the hose coupling on the handle and is automatically stopped when the trapped air in the reservoir is pressurized to the pressure of the water source. The reservoir bottles need not be removed for refilling either in the attached mode or in the backpack mode. In a special feature of the invention, a special sealing end on the reservoir bottle thread coupling is provided to make a seal with a collar that is adjacent the threaded end of the reservoir bottle. This collar is only present in PET type plastic bottles and the arrangement precludes use of other containers with bottle cap threads, i.e. glass bottles. Still another version of the invention uses a separable two piece handle with a male hose thread on the upper portion fitting with a female hose thread coupling on the lower portion.


Systems, methods, apparatus and software can be implemented to detect memory leaks with relatively high confidence. By analyzing memory blocks stored in a memory, implicit and/or explicit contingency chains can be obtained. Analysis of these contingency chains identifies potential memory leaks, and subsequent successive verification confirms whether the potential memory leaks are memory leaks.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to testing of hardware and software, and particularly to the detection and identification of memory leaks in software.
2. Description of the Background Art
In any computing system, including general purpose computer systems and embedded systems, resource management generally and memory management in particular are very important to proper system operation. In any computing system, memory management typically occurs at several levels, e.g., hardware memory management, operating system (OS) memory management, and application memory management. OS and application memory management rely on various software techniques for allocation and deallocation of memory used by the system. In the OS, memory is allocated to user programs, and reused by other programs when it is no longer required. Application memory management typically involves supplying the memory needed for a program's objects and data structures from the limited resources available, and recycling that memory for reuse when it is no longer required.
In general, as memory allocation techniques have become more sophisticated, the nature of memory allocation errors has become more complex. For example, with static allocation (used in many early systems and in languages such as Fortran) all data structure names are bound to storage locations at compile-time and the bindings do not change at run-time. Although static allocation imposes significant limits on program flexibility, it reduces the complexity associated with debugging memory allocation errors. Various forms of dynamic memory allocation, both for stack memory and heap memory are more commonly used today. However, to support dynamic allocation, OS's and application programs utilize additional code to handle their changing memory requirements because they cannot in general predict in advance how much memory they are going to require. For example, when a program requests a block of memory, a memory manager will allocate that block out of the larger blocks it has received from the operating system. This allocation is performed by some combination of OS or kernel level memory management software and memory management software associated with the application itself, e.g., allocation and deallocation functions such as the C functions malloc( ) and free( ).
One common form of memory allocation error is a memory leak, which can be a major resource issue leading to many system malfunctions and negative performance impacts. In general, a memory leak occurs when allocated memory is not freed after use, or when a needed reference to that allocated memory, e.g., a pointer to the memory allocation, is deleted thereby rendering the memory no longer reachable or "live" to the system. Memory leaks can take many forms, e.g. occurring in contiguous block or fragmentally, and can occur in a variety of different memory systems such as flattened memory architectures or those with virtual memory spaces. Reckless use of dynamic memory allocation can lead to memory management problems, which cause performance degradation, unpredictable execution or crashes.
Various tools currently exist to detect memory leaks. These tools typically work by replacing generic memory functions in the library, such as malloc( ) and free( ), and other memory calls with specialized functions designed to track and account for memory allocation. Each tool typically has code that intercepts calls to traditional memory functions during program execution and sets up logging information for each memory allocation/de-allocation request. Some tools can further implement memory protection fences to catch illegal memory accesses. In still other examples, the policing of memory allocation and de-allocation is performed by specialized programs generally referred to as garbage collectors.
Unfortunately, all of these techniques used to analyze software memory require source code instrumentation adding to the size and complexity of the source code. Moreover, such code instrumentation typically degrades program performance. In some cases, e.g., embedded systems, the impact may be so significant that it makes the program unusable in its planned environment. Further, the techniques used by leak detection programs to reduce false alarms may require that the target application have Virtual Memory (VM) hardware. The running of these programs relies on the presence of VM hardware, but many embedded and real time systems do not have these capabilities. Further, some techniques are based on Stop-and-Run/Incremental Garbage Collection to help debug normal application programs that run in an OS. However, the techniques require to pause the application programs. Many of the tools also present numerous "false positives," that is they identify circumstances as memory leaks which are not in fact memory leaks.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have memory leak detection and analysis tools and methods that are compact, are less intrusive, pose low performance impact, are efficient, and present a low rate of false-positive results.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for memory leak detection


An aerial still camera including: a video camera; a device for elevating the video camera relative ground level; structure for suspending the video camera from the elevating device; first self-levelling structure for levelling the video camera in a first direction; second self-levelling structure for levelling the video camera in a second direction; first drive structure for rotating the video camera to control the image scanned by the video camera along a first axis; second drive structure for rotating the video camera to control the image scanned by the video camera along a second axis; a tether attached at one end to the elevating device for holding the elevating device and the video camera in the elevated position, the tether including electrical conductors; and an electrical control device attached at another end of the tether for controlling the first and second drive structure so as to control the image scanned by the video camera, the control structure further including a video display so to display the image scanned by the video camera. The electrical device also includes a still camera shutter activating device for activating the still camera when the video display displays a desired view from the video camera.

Aerial photography basically relates to the art and science of photographing objects from an elevated position.
Aerial photography is a useful tool in photographing objects or terrain from an elevated position and has been used by engineers and scientists to map out particular regions as well as being used by artists to photograph objects such as homes or the like.
Furthermore aerial viewing devices such as video cameras, or television cameras have also been elevated in an effort to record action shots for television production services as well as being used for search missions in the event when a person has become lost in a forest, wilderness or the like.
Such aerial viewing devices or aerial cameras have been mounted or suspended from airplanes in order to accomplish the desired result. However, such airplanes travel at a relatively fast speed and are subject to the vibrational forces so that it becomes difficult to photograph a suitable picture or to display onto a video camera display unit a suitable image having high resolution qualities.
Various devices have been constructed, and various methods have been employed in order to improve the resolution of images displayed or photographs taken from aerial devices.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 359,902 discloses an aerial photographic apparatus suspended from a balloon.
Moreover U.S. Pat. No. 367,610 discloses apparatus for aerial photography from a high altitude without the necessity of the presence of an operator.
Yet other devices are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 510,759 relating to aerial cameras.
U.S. Pat. No. 578,980 shows the use of devices designed to be secured to a kite string to support one or more photographic cameras whereby negatives of the surroundings may be taken at a great altitude.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 1,528,933 relates to a kite adapted to support an aerial camera.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,502 illustrates a stabilized camera mount for compensating erratic movements of vehicles.
These and other prior art devices present relatively complicated structures and are difficult and expensive to use for viewing terrain from an elevated position as well as difficult and expensive to use to photograph terrain from an aerial camera.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved aerial viewing device and particularly to disclose an improved aerial camera for photographing the desired view or terrain.
The broadest aspect of this invention relates to an aerial viewing device including; a video camera; structure for elevating said video camera relative ground level; structure for suspending said video camera from said elevated device; first self-leveling structure for leveling said video camera in a first direction; second self-leveling structure for leveling said video camera in a second direction; first drive structure for rotating said video camera to control the image scanned by said video camera along a first axis; second drive structure for rotating said video camera to control the image scanned by said video camera along a second axis; a tether attached at one end to said elevating structure for holding said elevating structure and said video camera in said elevating position, said tether including an electrical conductor; and electrical control structure attached at another end of said tether for controlling said first and second drive structure so as to control the image scanned by said video camera, said control structure further including a video display so as to display said image scanned by said video camera.
It is another aspect of this invention to provide an aerial camera including; a helium balloon; a gimbal frame suspended from said balloon; a camera mounting structure suspended from said gimbal frame; a still camera carried by said camera mounting structure; a video camera carried by said camera mounting structure; said gimbal frame including, first self-leveling structure for leveling said camera mounting in a first horizontal position, second self-leveling structure for leveling said camera mounting structure in a second horizontal position; first drive structure carried by said gimbal frame for rotating said camera mounting structure and said still camera and for rotationally controlling the image scanned by said video camera along a vertical axis; second drive structure associated with said camera mounting structure for rotating said camera structure, said still camera, and for rotationally controlling the image scanned by said video camera along a horizontal axis; a tether attached at one end to said helium balloon for holding said helium balloon in said elevated position, said tether including electrical conductors; and electrical control structure attached at said other end of tether for controlling said first and second drive structure so as to control the image scanned by said video camera, said control structure including, a video display for displaying said image scanned by said video camera, and a shutter activating structure to activate said still camera when said video display displays a desired view from said video camera.
Yet another aspect of this invention relates to an aerial camera including; a helium balloon; a gimbal frame suspended from said balloon; a first pair of gimbal wires depending from said gimbal frame; a first motor housing presenting first apertures adapted to receive said first pair of gimbal wires for relative slidable movement therebetween, said first motor housing presenting first nylon slip bearings pivotally connected adjacent each set aperture for relative slidable movement therebetween so as to self-level said first motor housing in a first horizontal direction; a camera mounting structure; first drive structure carried by said first motor housing; structure for connecting said camera mounting structure to said first drive structure so as to rotate said camera mounting structure along a vertical axis when driven by said first drive structure; said connecting structure including a pair of second gimbal wires; second nylon slip bearings pivotally connected to said camera mounting structure and adapted to slidably receive said second pair of gimbal wires for relative slidable movement there between so as to self-level said camera mounting structure in a second horizontal position; a still camera connected to said camera mounting structure; a video camera mounted to said camera mounting structure; second drive housing associated with said camera mounting structure for rotating said still camera and said video camera along a horizontal axis; a tether attached at one end to said helium balloon for holding said helium balloon in an elevated position, said tether including electrical conductors; and electrical control structure attached at said other end of said tether for controlling said first and second drive structure so as to control the image scanned by said video camera, said control structure including, a video display for displaying said image scanned by said video camera, and a shutter activating structure to activate the still camera when said video display displays a desired view from said video camera.
Finally, it is another aspect of this invention to provide a self-leveling device for suspending an aerial camera including, a gimbal frame adapted to be attached to an elevating device; a first pair of gimbal wires depending from said gimbal frame; a first housing presenting first apertures adapted to receive said first pair of gimbal wires for relative slidable movement there between, first nylon slipped bearings to be connected adjacent each said apertures and adapted to receive said first pair of gimbal wires for relative slidable movement there between so as to self-level said first housing in a first horizontal direction; a camera mounting structure for mounting said aerial camera; a connector for connecting said camera mounting structure to said first housing; a second pair of gimbal wires depending from said connector; second nylon slipped bearings pivotally connected to said camera mounting structure and adapted to slidably receive second pair of gimbal wires for relative slidable movement therebetween so as to self-level said camera mounting structure in a second horizontal position.
These and other objects and features shall now be described in relation to the following drawings:


A speaker system, preferably for a large-screen TV includes: a horizontal member including a left speaker, a right speaker and a center speaker and functioning as an enclosure for the left speaker, the right speaker and the center speaker, wherein each of the speakers includes at least one speaker element, and centers of the speaker elements of the speakers are all aligned along a single horizontal line; and a leg for holding the horizontal member in a horizontal position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speaker system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a speaker system for large-screen TVs that is space-saving, can be set up with easy wire connections, and yet provides a high sound quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thin large-screen TVs, such as plasma TVs and LCD TVs, are recently gaining popularity at a considerable rate. Accordingly, it is believed that there is a rapidly-growing latent demand for household audio visual (AV) systems (so called "home theater systems") using thin large-screen TVs.
In fact, however, home theater systems have not yet been so widespread. Possible reasons for this include: (1) some houses may not have sufficient space for installing a speaker system for a home theater; (2) the connection between various units of the system may be complicated, and the wires are likely to be left showing in the room, which is aesthetically undesirable; and (3) some people do not want to install slender and tall speakers that are sold with large-screen TVs because they can fall down relatively easily.
Built-in speakers of large-screen TVs cannot provide a sound quality sufficient for images produced by a large screen. Therefore, movies, sports programs, etc., may not be enjoyed to the full extent.
In order to solve these problems, TV racks with built-in speakers have been proposed in the art (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model No. 3040883 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-48168). However, with the rack of Japanese Utility Model No. 3040883, various units accommodating an amplifier, speakers, etc., need to be assembled together, thus failing to solve the problem that the user needs to make complicated connections between units. Moreover, the rack fails to provide any improvements in the sound quality. The rack of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-48168 includes speakers attached to a support member of the rack, with the support member being used as an acoustic tube, but fails to provide a sufficient surround sound effect for home theater systems. Moreover, the speakers are attached to the support member and are thus showing, which is not aesthetically desirable.
Thus, there is a strong demand for a speaker system for large-screen TVs that is space-saving and aesthetic, can be set up with easy wire connections, and yet provides a high sound quality.


A hydroentangling jet strip device is provided, wherein such a device comprises a plate member having opposing sides and defining at least one nozzle orifice extending between the opposing sides. Each of the at least one nozzle orifice includes an axially-extending capillary portion having an aspect ratio between a length of the capillary portion and a diameter of the capillary portion, wherein the aspect ratio is less than about 0.70 so as to be capable of providing a cavitation-free constricted waterjet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydroentangling process and, more particularly, to particular configurations of an orifice-type jet strip device used in a hydroentangling process.
2. Description of Related Art
Hydroentanglement or "spunlacing" is a process used for mechanically bonding a web of loose fibers to directly form a fabric. Such a class of fabric belongs to the "nonwoven" family of engineered fabrics. The underlying mechanism in hydroentanglement is the subjecting the fibers to a non-uniform pressure field created by a successive bank of high-velocity waterjets. The impact of the waterjets with the fibers, while the fibers are in contact with adjacent fibers, displaces and rotates the adjacent fibers, thereby causing entanglement of the fibers. During these relative displacements of the fibers, some of the fibers twist around others and/or inter-lock with other fibers to form a strong structure, due at least in part, to frictional forces between the interacting fibers. The resulting product is a highly compressed and uniform fabric formed from the entangled fibers. Such a hydroentangled fabric is often highly flexible, yet very strong, generally outperforming woven and knitted fabric counterparts in performance. The hydroentanglement process is thus a high-speed low-cost alternative to other methods of producing fabrics. Hydroentanglement machines can, for example, run (produce the fabric) as fast as about 700 meters of fabric or more per minute, wherein the fabric may be, for instance, between about 1 and about 6 meters wide. In operation, the hydroentanglement process depends on particular properties of coherent high-speed waterjets produced by directing pressurized water through special nozzles.
Axially-extending hydroentangling nozzles are traditionally made up of two sections or portions. A cylindrical section (capillary portion) typically comprises the fluid inlet to the nozzle and having a diameter, for example, of about 120 microns. The capillary portion is fluidly connected to a cone portion having, for instance, a cone angle of about 15 degrees, though the cone angle may vary considerably. In practice, hydroentangling waterjets are emitted through one or more relatively thin plate strips on the order of between about 1 meter and about 6 meters long, and having between about 1600 and about 2000 orifices or nozzles per meter (see, e.g., FIG. 1). Manufacturing thousands of such small orifices or nozzles in close proximity to each other results in many constraints on the design process for the device. Typically, a jet strip is in the form of a thin-plate strip having a thickness, for example, of about 1 millimeter. Such manufacturing limitations are in part, responsible for the cone-capillary geometry that has generally been used since the inception of hydroentangling process. While this jet strip geometry has worked well in the past thirty years, changes in process parameters have resulted in a need for an improved and more durable jet strip. For example, the operating pressures employed in the hydroentangling process for forcing the fluid through the orifices or nozzles in the plate strip have increased from about 100 bars to over 500 bars. Due to the forces, imparted to the jet strip by the increased pressure of the pressurized fluid, the jet strip (nozzles) tends to wear on an accelerated basis. Additionally, such higher fluid pressures may also lead to a different profile of the waterjet for the same nozzle geometry. Accordingly, process and conditions that worked well for nozzles at low fluid pressures need to be modified for high-pressure waterjets produced through the nozzles, thereby indicating that existing orifice (nozzle) geometries or other configurations are not optimal for high-pressure waterjets.
The geometry of the orifice (also referred to herein as "nozzle" or "nozzle orifice") generally has a significant impact on the coherence of the discharged waterjets (see, e.g., Lin S. P., Reitz R. D. (1998), Drop and spray formation from a liquid jet, Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., Vol. 30; Wu P.-K., Miranda R. F. and Faeth G. M. (1995) Effects of initial flow conditions on primary breakup of non-turbulent and turbulent round liquid jets, Atomization and sprays, Vol. 5, pp. 175-196; or Vahedi Tafreshi H. and B. Pourdeyhimi (2003) "Effects of Nozzle Geometry on Waterjet Breakup at High Reynolds Numbers", Experiments in Fluids, (35) 364-371). In the case of a sharp-edge waterjet orifice, a jet strip in the form of a plate separates a pressurized body of water (in a manifold or other suitable device) from the downstream air (the hydroentanglement process area), and the nozzles extend through the major surfaces of the plate, from the pressurized body of water to the downstream air, with a sharp transition between the major surface of the plate facing the body of water and the respective nozzle. The pressurized water thus enters the nozzle in a water flow, wherein the sharp edge causes the flow to detach from the nozzle wall at the fluid inlet (capillary portion) of the nozzle and form a vena contracta (necked configuration) upon entry into the capillary portion. Depending on the length of the capillary portion and the hydrodynamics or other parameters of the water flow, the water flow may or may not reattach to the wall after some distance (see, e.g., Lefebvre A. H. (1989) Atomization and Sprays" Hemisphere Publishing Corporation; or Bayvel, L., and Orzechowski Z. (1993) Liquid Atomization, Taylor & Francis).
Detached flows have certain characteristics that make such flows beneficial in some applications. In the case of detached flows, there is an air gap between the liquid and the capillary wall, generally following the fluid entrance or inlet into the capillary. This air may tend to envelop the liquid flow all the way through the capillary and thus may not allow any contact between liquid phase flow and the capillary wall. Accordingly, in such an instance, wall-induced friction and cavitation do not disturb the structure of this flow. A waterjet resulting from such a detached flow, also termed a constricted waterjet, has a higher stability and therefore, a longer breakup length (see, e.g., Hiroyasu H. (2000), Spray Breakup Mechanism from the Hole-type Nozzle and Its Applications, Atomization and Sprays, Vol. 10, pp. 511-521; or Vahedi Tafreshi and Pourdeyhimi 2003). The constricted waterjets may stay laminar even at relatively high Reynolds numbers, as opposed to non-constricted waterjets. FIG. 2 shows a graphical comparison between constricted and non-constricted waterjets issued at the same Reynolds number.
A constricted jet is formed when the water flow enters the capillary portion of a cone-capillary type nozzle shown, for example, in FIG. 1. A non-constricted jet is formed when water enters such a nozzle from the conical side. Such configurations are herein referred to as cone-down and cone-up type nozzles, respectively. The apparently unbroken portion of the constricted waterjet shown, for example, in FIG. 2a is not actually a continuous jet of water. Such a statement is evidenced in FIG. 3 where the image of FIG. 2 is juxtaposed with high-speed images taken at three different locations along the waterjet. As shown in FIG. 3, the constricted waterjet includes a continuous region (FIG. 3b), a discrete region (FIG. 3c), and a spray region (FIGS. 3d and 3e). In the discrete region, the waterjet is primarily broken (i.e., broken into large droplets). Following the discrete region, large droplets appear, possibly as a secondary breakup resulting from the primary breakup, and the result is a spray of very fine droplets. Such fine droplets are shown in the pictures of the waterjet in FIGS. 3d and 3e. FIG. 3d illustrates the "bag breakup" or secondary breakup of the large drops resulting from the primary breakup.
Generally, the discharge coefficient of a nozzle, defined as the ratio of the real (experimental) flow rate from a nozzle to the flow rate calculated by using the inviscid one-dimensional flow theory (Bernoulli equation), is about 0.62 and 0.92, depending on whether the flow is detached or not, respectively (see, e.g., Ohm, T. R., Senser, D. W., and Lefebvre, H. (1991) "Geometrical effects on discharge coefficients for plain-orifice atomizers", Atomization and Sprays, 1, pp. 137-153). With this in mind, A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code from Fluent Inc. was used to solve the unsteady state Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) in an axi-symmetric geometry. It was observed that, when water starts flowing into the capillary, initially filled with air, the water becomes detached from the capillary wall since the water, prior to the capillary inlet, gains momentum along the surface of the nozzle plate contacting the water source. The momentum of the water does not allow the water flow to perfectly follow the sudden 90-degree turn transition between the plate surface and the capillary wall. In this regard, FIG. 4 shows the frontline of a waterjet after entering a capillary portion of a nozzle, over a time sequence, for a Reynolds number of Re=21250, with detachment of the water flow from the capillary wall. More particularly, after about 1.2 microseconds, the frontline of the water jet enters the conical portion of the nozzle, but the water flow also reattaches to the capillary wall before completely progressing into the cone portion. Once the water flow reattaches to the nozzle wall, a re-circulating ring of air becomes entrapped inside the nozzle, between the detachment and reattachment points of the water jet. The air bubble will subsequently break up and the re-circulating air zone will become filled by water. The breakup of the air ring and dispersion thereof into the liquid phase, as shown in the latter stages of FIG. 4, causes a relatively large amount of disturbance and turbulence, which perturbs the integrity and collimation of the forming waterjet. Accordingly, once the reattachment of the water flow to the nozzle wall occurs, the waterjet will no longer be laminar and glassy through the nozzle.
The reattachment-induced breakup occurrence in a cone-capillary type nozzle, however, is typically not expected to occur in a conical type nozzle, as shown in FIG. 5a. The water flow progression shown in FIG. 5a is representative of a conical type nozzle having an inlet diameter of about 128 microns and 15-degree cone angle, operating with a Reynolds number of Re=21250. The air circulation inside the conical type nozzle is represented by the velocity vectors in FIG. 5b, after 1.6 microseconds of operation. The formed air gap thus envelops the waterjet and protects the water flow from nozzle wall-induced turbulence (see, e.g., Vahedi Tafreshi H. and B. Pourdeyhimi (2003) "Effects of Nozzle Geometry on Waterjet Breakup at High Reynolds Numbers", Experiments in Fluids, (35) 364-371).
A reduction in the pressure of the water flow generally occurs in the separated (detached), but liquid-filled, region formed after the water flow enters the sharp-edged nozzle. If, however, the water flow velocity is high enough to cause the pressure on the separated or detached region to drop down to the water vapor pressure, vaporization will occur and a cavitation pocket will form (see, e.g., Knapp R. T., Daily J. W., and Hammitt F. G (1970) Cavitation, McGraw-Hill Inc.). Such cavitation disturbs the flow pattern within the nozzle (see, e.g., Schmidt D. P., Rutland C. J., Corradini M. L., Roosen P., and Genge O. (1999), Cavitation in Two Dimensional Asymmetric Nozzles, SAE Technical Series 1999-01-0518; Badock C., Wirth R., Fath A., Leipertz A. (1999), "Investigation of cavitation in real size diesel injection nozzles" International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 20, 538-544; or Chaves, H., Knapp, M., Kubitzek, A., Obermeier, F., and Schneider T. (1995), Experimental Study of cavitation in the Nozzle Hole of Diesel Injectors Using Transparent Nozzles, SAE Papers, 1995-0290). With respect to the configuration shown in FIG. 4, when the water flow reattaches to the nozzle wall and the air ring becomes filled with water, cavitation starts in the initially air-filled recirculation zone. Cavitation bubbles can significantly disturb the steadiness of the nozzle water flow, and causes turbulence that accelerates the disintegration of the waterjet. If the rate of cavitation is so intense that cavitation cloud grows and reaches the nozzle outlet, the downstream air will flow up to the nozzle (against the water flow) and fill the low-pressure vapor/liquid filled re-circulation region (see, e.g., FIG. 6; Vahedi Tafreshi H. and Pourdeyhimi B. (2004a), Simulation of Cavitation and Hydraulic Flip inside Hydroentangling Nozzles, Textile Research Journal 74(4) 359-364; or Vahedi Tafreshi H. and Pourdeyhimi B. (2004b), Cavitation and Hydraulic Flip, FLUENT News, 13(1) 38). Once the reverse air flow occurs, the water flow will no longer be in contact with the capillary wall in the re-circulation zone. Therefore, cavitation ceases, a stable undisturbed stream of water flows through the nozzle, and a constricted waterjet forms. This phenomenon is otherwise referred to as "hydraulic-flip."
Generally, over a relatively long time ("steady state"), there is little or no difference between a waterjet formed by hydraulic flip and a waterjet formed in perfectly cavitation-free process (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5a). As such, if the nozzle causes cavitation (FIG. 4) for the first few microseconds (or maybe milliseconds if the operating Reynolds number is less than 21250) of operation, the waterjet will not be collimated. Therefore, in applications where a collimated jet is required, even at very beginning of jet ejection (e.g., in inkjets printers), a determination of whether or not reattachment occurs inside the nozzle may be very important. In addition, besides affecting the waterjet integrity, cavitation can erode metallic surfaces (if the nozzle is made from a metallic material) and therefore, damage the nozzle shape. The collapse of the cavitation bubbles close to the nozzle wall surface generates a strong pressure wave that results in a quick deterioration of the nozzle shape (see, e.g., Dumont N., Simonin O., and Habchi C. (2001), Numerical Simulation of Cavitating Flows in Diesel Injectors by a Homogenous Equilibrium Modeling Approach, CAV2001).
Regardless of the above factors appearing to favor conical type nozzles, pure conical nozzles are not always an option in practice because the sharp inlet edges may not last long under high operating pressures of the water flow. However, for "micro-nozzles," manufacturing an actual "sharp-edge" cone nozzle may not be economically justified in all applications. Therefore, a capillary portion may, in actuality, remain at the inlet due to, for example, high dimensional tolerances in the manufacturing process.
In practice, waterjet instability, and therefore the consequent fluctuations in the waterjet breakup length may arise because of the structural vibration and/or flow pulsation, if the nozzle inlet is sharp (see, e.g., Ramamurthi, K., Patnaik, S. R. (2002), Influence of periodic disturbances on inception of cavitation in sharp-edged orifices, Experiments in Fluids, 33, 720-727). Such disturbances can cause a detached flow to reattach to the nozzle wall and start cavitation. Conventional or otherwise prior art hydroentangling jet strips made of stainless steel tend to undergo severe erosion in a relatively short period of time due to such cavitation. At higher water pressures, the jet strip or nozzles defined thereby will further tend to erode more rapidly. This degradation due to cavitation typically represents a relatively large cost in the process for replacing the jet strips, and also causes an undesirable stoppage in the production line.
Thus, there exists a need for a hydroentangling jet strip device having one or more orifices, wherein orifice erosion and jet strip durability (service life) are improved over existing jet strip configurations.

Hydroentangling jet strip device defining an orifice


Provided are mycobacteria deleted in at least a portion of a region 3 ESAT-6-like gene cluster. Also provided are mycobacteria comprising a mutation in an roc-1 gene. Additionally, vaccines comprising these mycobacteria are provided. Further provided are methods of making a recombinant mycobacterium, methods of inducing an immune response in a mammal, methods of inhibiting IL-12 production in a mammal, and methods of stimulating IL-12 production in a mammal. Vaccine adjuvants are also provided, as are methods of inducing immunity to a target antigen in a mammal.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to recombinant mycobacteria. More specifically, the invention is directed to mycobacteria that elicit IL-12 production in infected macrophages.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Tuberculosis (TB) is currently the second leading cause of death from a single infectious disease worldwide (Frieden et al., 2003; Onyebujoh and Rook, 2004). It is well established that Mycobacterium tuberculosis possesses a variety of mechanisms that promote enable evasion of innate immunity and permit latent infection in the presence of host adaptive immune responses (Flynn and Chan, 2003; Glickman and Jacobs, 2001; Flynn and Chan, 2001). This latent reservoir of M. tuberculosis can eventually develop into active disease when an individual's immune system is compromised due to aging, chemotherapy, or infection with HIV (Stead and Dutt, 1991; Kim et al., 2005; Ito et al., 2005; Campos et al., 2003). Currently, the attenuated M. bovis strain BCG is the only vaccine available for routine human immunization. It has had little if any impact on the increasing global prevalence of TB, in spite of having been administered to more than a billion people (Behr and Small, 1997). Thus, work on developing new and more immunogenic vaccine candidates is crucial and requires advances in our understanding of the host-pathogen interaction.
Cytokines play an important role in controlling intracellular infection, and the cytokine profile produced within the first days or weeks following infection can define the type of host immunity induced and, thereby, the outcome of the disease. A critical cytokine in the control of intracellular infections is interleukin-12 (IL-12), which is produced mainly by macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) (Manetti et al., 1993; Trinchieri, 2003). IL-12 activates both early nonspecific innate immune resistance and subsequent antigen-specific adaptive immune responses. IL-12 is a growth factor for activated NK cells and induces them to produce IFNγ, a potent activator of macrophage bactericidal activity, while also inducing their cytotoxic activity. IL-12 also stimulates naïve T-cells, a component of adaptive immunity, to differentiate into IFN-γ producing T helper type 1 (Th1) cells.
IL-12p70, a dimer of IL-12p35 and IL-12p40, was originally thought to be the only bioactive form of IL-12 that activates both NK and T-cells to produce IFN-γ. It is now clear that other forms of IL-12 also have important immunoregulatory functions. Dimerization of IL-12p40 with the p19 subunit forms IL-23, which has IFN-γ inducing activity. The IL-12p40 subunit can also homodimerize, and recent studies indicate that the IL-12p40 homodimer is required for initiating adaptive immunity before IL-12p70 or IL-23 are produced (Khader et al., 2006). Thus, full activation of Th1 immunity is regulated by multiple cytokines containing the IL-12p40 subunit. The expression of the IL-12p40 subunit is regulated in infected myeloid cells, such as macrophages (Trinchieri, 2003), and it is known that mice and humans with mutations in the IL-12p40 gene or its cognate receptor are highly susceptible to mycobacterial infection (Altare et al., 2001; Altare et al., 1998; Jouanguy et al., 1999; de Jong et al., 1998; Cooper et al., 2002; Cooper et al., 1997; Cooper et al., 1995). However, other IL-12p40-related cytokines, such as IL-23 and their receptors, may be dispensable, since the survival rate of mice lacking these cytokines is comparable to that in wildtype mice following M. tuberculosis infection (Khader et al., 2005).
In the mouse model of infection, M. tuberculosis persists in macrophages even though induction of Th1 immunity is observed around 4 weeks post-infection (Flynn, 2004). Although bacterial growth slows and bacterial load eventually reaches a stable plateau as a result of adaptive immunity, the pathogen is not eliminated. Moreover, bacterial burden remains 2 to 3 orders of magnitude above that of attenuated strains of M. tuberculosis, such as H37Ra (Jung et al., 2002). Among other complications, the high bacterial burden and progressive chronic inflammation associated with it contribute to the death of the animal. While an effective Th1-mediated immune response generally develops following infection with intracellular pathogens such as Salmonella or Toxoplasma gondii, M. tuberculosis appears to evade eradication, in part by preventing the development of an effective Th1 response (Jung et al., 2002; Mastroeni, 2002; Gazzinelli et al., 1994). Studies of the mechanisms of immune evasion by M. tuberculosis have revealed that one of the strategies used by the tubercle bacillus is to repress macrophage production of IL-12p40 (Hickman et al., 2002; Nau et al., 2002). This parallels the paradigm proposed for Leishmania infection, in which repression of IL-12 production has been established as a key immune evasion strategy of the parasite (Reiner et al., 1994; McDowell and Sacks, 1999). Taken together, these findings suggest that during M. tuberculosis infection the host mounts a limited Th1 immune response that is insufficient to completely eliminate the tubercle bacterium, because specific determinants produced by M. tuberculosis modulate the host immune response.
ESAT-6 gene clusters. The primary attenuating mutation of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) was found to be a deletion (namely RD1), which was shown to encode two secreted proteins and their specific secretion system. These secreted proteins, ESAT-6 and Cfp-10, were first identified in culture filtrates of M. tuberculosis and shown to be immunodominant antigens. More recently, these proteins have been demonstrated to mediate necrosis of an infected cell which leads to egress of M. tuberculosis from the infected cells. Interestingly, ESAT-6 and Cfp-10 are part of a family of related homologues within M. tuberculosis and related orthologues in mycobacterial species (Gey van Pittius et al. 2001). Moreover, this family of proteins are found in all gram-positive organisms and deletion in Staphylococcus causes attenuation.
Based on the above, it would be useful to identify mycobacterium genes that affect host IL-12 production and to further characterize ESAT-6 and ESAT-6-like gene clusters, particularly with regard to virulence. The present invention addresses that need.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University


An energy or water storage system can comprise a storage reservoir, a discharge reservoir, a pump for charging the storage reservoir, and a turbine or similar discharge device. The storage reservoir can comprise a flexible bag covered by overburden that creates pressure inside the bag. Energy is stored by raising the overburden. The bag can comprise a shaped internal filler piece to prevent formation of a crease at the bag edge. Solar panels can be mounted above any bag to make additional use of the land. Solar panels mounted on overburden can have tracking mechanisms and controls suitable to achieve desired orientation regardless of the slope of overburden. Elevation difference between the storage reservoir and discharge reservoir can be used, including an underground cavity. The bag can have internal tethers to influence bag shape.

There is a general need for energy storage technologies, such as to help balance supply and demand in the electric power grid. This need becomes more prominent with the increasing use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, because the pattern of energy generation from those sources tends to be irregular in time and not necessarily well matched to demand.
Currently, the energy storage technology that has by far the largest base of experience at significant size scales is pumped storage hydro. Conventional pumped storage hydro uses two reservoirs of water at different elevations. However, new sites for pumped storage hydro are often non-optimal for reasons of topographical location, environmental sensitivity or significant capital expenditure. It would be desirable to allow the use of pumped storage technology in more locations including at sites that are not mountainous.
A known effort of this type is published by Olsen as US patent application 20110113769, and WO2010003412A2, and also "A new principle for underground pumped hydroelectric storage," by Jan Olsen, Journal of Energy Storage 2 (2015) 54-63). In this system, hydraulic head is created by the weight of soil on top of a deformable bag. The soil has a density greater than the density of water. When the bag is filled with a fluid such as water so as to store energy, the soil on top of the bag is lifted upward. For recovery of energy, the fluid such as water is allowed to flow out of the bag as the soil on top of the bag settles to a lower elevation. Energy storage is accomplished using a pump, and energy recovery is accomplished with a turbine-generator. Similar technology is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,950,181 to Ivy et al. In general, it is desirable to provide further improvements in energy storage by pressurized water stored in bags, including improvements relating to bag design and placement.


A power supply for a negative voltage load has a switch-mode power unit, a monitoring unit, a first auxiliary power unit and a second auxiliary power unit. The switch-mode power unit has a rectifying circuit, a power factor correction circuit, a DC to DC power circuit. The first auxiliary power unit is connected to output terminals of the power factor correction circuit and converts DC power to a first DC power for driving the monitoring unit. The second auxiliary power unit is connected to the negative voltage load in parallel and converts negative power from the negative voltage load to a second DC power for driving the monitoring unit when AC power is interrupted. Since the first and the second auxiliary power unit do not work at the same time, the power supply can effectively enhances the conversion efficiency of the power supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply for a negative voltage load that has good performance on power factor correction and effectively enhances the conversion efficiency of the power supply no matter whether AC power is normally supplied or not.
2. Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG. 3, a conventional power supply for a negative voltage load (60) has a switch-mode power unit (50), a monitoring unit (54) and an auxiliary power circuit.
The switch-mode power unit (50) comprises a rectifying filtering circuit (51), a power factor correction circuit (52) and a DC to DC power circuit (53). The rectifying filtering circuit (51) is connected to an AC power through a switch circuit (511), converts AC power to DC power and outputs the DC power to the power factor correction circuit (52). The power factor correction circuit (52) adjusts current and voltage of the DC power to be in phase with each other. The DC to DC power circuit (53) then bucks the DC power and produces at least one stable DC voltage source to the negative voltage load (60).
The monitoring unit (54) is connected to a control terminal of the switch circuit (511) and an output terminal of the rectifying filtering circuit (51) to detect status of the AC power source and turn on or off the switch circuit (511) according to whether the AC power is stable.
The auxiliary power circuit has a first auxiliary power unit (55) and a second auxiliary power unit (56). The first auxiliary power unit (55) is connected to the output terminals of the rectifying filtering circuit (51) to convert DC power to a first DC operating power. The second auxiliary power unit (56) is connected to the first auxiliary power unit (55), receives and converts the first DC operating power and sends the converted first DC operating power to the monitoring unit (56). Furthermore, the second auxiliary power unit (56) is connected to output terminals of the DC to DC power circuit (53), connects to the negative voltage load (60) in parallel, converts the constant DC voltage source from the DC to DC power circuit (53) or a DC load voltage source from the negative voltage load to a second DC operating power and sends the second DC operating power to the monitoring unit (54).
The negative voltage load (60) is usually operated with −54 Volts and may be a battery pack or system bus. When the AC power source is normal and is supplied to the negative voltage source (60) after converting by the switch-mode power unit (50), the negative voltage load (60) will store negative power and the monitoring unit (54) in the mean time will detect whether the AC power source is maintained normal. If the AC power source is maintained normal, the negative voltage load (60) then continues to receive DC power. If the AC power source becomes abnormal, the monitoring unit (54) then turns the switch circuit (511) off to interrupt the AC power source.
When the switch-mode power unit (50) is supplied with regular AC power source, the operating power of the monitoring unit (54) is provided by the second auxiliary power unit (56), wherein the AC power source is converted to a second operating DC power source via the rectifying filtering circuit (51), the first auxiliary power unit (55) and the second auxiliary power unit (56) to be a suitable operating power for the monitoring unit (54). After the monitoring unit (54) controls the switch circuit (511) to be in a turn-off status, the first auxiliary power unit (55) no longer outputs the first DC operating power. In the meantime, the second auxiliary power unit (56) converts the negative power stored in the negative voltage load (60) to a second DC operating power to continue providing operating power to the monitoring unit (54) since the second auxiliary power unit (56) is connected to the negative voltage load in parallel. Therefore the monitoring unit (54) is maintained powered to continue detecting the status of the AC power source and is able to turn on the switch circuit (511) as soon as the AC power source normally supplies. The AC power source then is inputted to the switch-mode power unit (50) again to provide DC power to the negative voltage load (60).
However, foregoing power supply for a negative voltage load has disadvantages as follows:
1. When the AC power is normal, the operating power of the monitoring unit (54) is provided by both of the first and the second auxiliary power units (55,56), therefore the overall conversion efficiency of the power supply is low.
2. As for a negative voltage load with −54 volts and the monitoring unit (54) with +5 volts, the first and the second auxiliary power unit (55,56) need to be designed as isolation type power circuits and overall volume and complexity are increased.
3. Because the first auxiliary power unit (55) connected to the rectifying filtering circuit (51) receives DC power for conversion from the rectifying filtering circuit (51), the switch-mode power unit (50) must have a filtering capacitor connected between the rectifying filtering circuit (51) and the power factor correction circuit (52) to convert AC power to DC power. However, the filtering capacitor will deteriorates the power factor correction.
With further reference to FIG. 4, another conventional power supply for a negative voltage load similar to foregoing conventional power supply is disclosed for improving some of the aforementioned shortcomings. The difference is that the monitoring unit (54a) in FIG. 4 is connected to output terminals of the first auxiliary power unit (55a), the second auxiliary power unit (56a) is connected to the monitoring unit (55a) via the first auxiliary power unit (55a). Therefore, when the AC power is regular, the monitoring unit (54a) is powered only by the first auxiliary power unit (55a). When the AC power is irregular and is cut off by the monitoring unit (54a) via the switch circuit (511), the monitoring unit (54a) is powered by the second auxiliary power unit (56a) through the first auxiliary power unit (55a). Since AC power has much more time on providing regular power than being cut off, the power supply has better overall conversion efficiency than foregoing conventional one while the AC power is regular. However, when the AC power is cut off due to irregularity, the power supply still has bad conversion efficiency since the second auxiliary power unit (56a) has to go through the first auxiliary power unit (55a) to provide power to the monitoring unit (54a). Furthermore, the rectifying filtering circuit (51) still contains a filtering capacitor (CF) that causes negative effect on power factor correction of the power factor correction circuit (52).
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a power supply for a negative voltage load to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


There is described a power splitter for directing electromagnetic power comprising: an input port for receiving the electromagnetic power; at least one dielectric element placed inside the power splitter; at least two output ports for outputting the power according to a splitting ratio, the at least two output ports placed on a surface opposite to the input port; and at least one dielectric moving device for positioning the at least one dielectric element between the at least two output ports to dynamically direct the power into the at least two output ports according to the power splitting ratio.

1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to microwave-assisted heating, and more particularly, to systems for microwave processing of a plurality of laboratory samples.
2) Description of the Prior Art
Most chemical reactions either require or benefit from the application of heat. Developments have provided for the use of microwave heating instead of typical Bunsen burners or "hot plates". The use of microwave energy is known to be quite appropriate for many chemical reactions. Microwave heating represents the use of radiation energy at wavelengths residing in the electromagnetic spectrum, or between the far infrared and the radio frequency (from about one millimeter (mm) to about 30 centimeters (cm) wavelengths, or with corresponding frequencies in the range of about 1 to 300 gigahertz (GHz)). The exact upper and lower limits defining "microwave" radiations are somewhat arbitrary.
Microwave radiation is widely used in several fields like spectroscopy, communication, navigation, medicine, and heating. Substances that respond quite well by increasing their temperature levels when under microwave radiation usually have a high dielectric absorption. The use of microwave heating in laboratories is known to people skilled in the art and is often referred to as "microwave assisted" chemistry. A number of laboratory microwave heating devices are thus commercially available. These microwave heating devices typically use a magnetron as the microwave source, a waveguide (usually hollow circular or rectangular metal tube of uniform cross section) to guide the microwaves, and a resonator (sometimes also referred to as the "cavity") into which the microwaves are directed to heat a sample. The microwave source can also be a Klystron, traveling wave tubes, oscillators, and certain semiconductor devices. Most devices use magnetrons, however, as these are simple and economical. One disadvantage of magnetrons is that the control of radiation power directed towards a specific sample inserted inside a resonator is somewhat complex. One known method of controlling the radiation of the magnetron is to run it at its designated constant power while turning it on and off on a cyclical basis in order to have a certain temperature control of the sample(s) located inside separate containers or loads made of a microwave transparent material such as some types of glass, plastic or ceramic. Usually, for convenience, only one load is monitored within the group of loads each containing a sample, the remaining loads estimated to behave somewhat similarly. This leads to large amounts of uncertainty as to the evolution of reactions inside other loads, since even when a "stirring" device can produce quite uniform radiation inside the cavity of a microwave heater, several other factors, such as the presence of samples and sample containers in the microwave oven, can also change the interference pattern within the cavity and thus affect the energy distribution inside the cavity.
Accordingly, when multiple samples are to be treated under one microwave source, the treatment should be uniform and controllable. Hence, there is a need to provide for the ability to vary the radiation power levels sent to each sample using a limited number of microwave sources in order to maintain low costs and high efficiency. There is also a need to be able to precisely know and control the temperature or amount of radiation power sent to each individual sample.


Structure-based processing includes a method of diagnosing diseases that works by arranging diseases, symptoms, and questions into a set of related disease, symptom, and question structures, such as objects or lists, in such a way that the structures can be processed to generate a dialogue with a patient. A structure-based processing system organizes medical knowledge into formal structures and then executes those structures on a structure engine to automatically select the next question. Patient responses to the questions lead to more questions and ultimately to a diagnosis. An object-oriented embodiment includes software objects utilized as active, intelligent agents where each object performs its own tasks and calls upon other objects to perform their tasks at the appropriate time to arrive at a diagnosis. Alternative symptoms, synergies, encoding of patient responses, multiple diagnostic modes, disease profiles or timelines, and the reuse of diagnostic objects enhance the processing of the system and method.

The subject matter of U.S. patent applications: application Ser. No. 09/785,047, filed Feb. 14, 2001 and entitled xe2x80x9cAUTOMATED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING ALTERNATIVE SYMPTOMSxe2x80x9d; application Ser. No. 09/785,045, filed Feb. 14, 2001 and entitled xe2x80x9cAUTOMATED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING ENCODING PATIENT DATAxe2x80x9d; application Ser. No. 09/785,043, filed Feb. 14, 2001 and entitled xe2x80x9cAUTOMATED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING MULTIPLE DIAGNOSTIC MODESxe2x80x9d; application Ser. No. 09/785,046, filed Feb. 14, 2001 and entitled xe2x80x9cAUTOMATED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING DISEASE TIMELINExe2x80x9d; and application Ser. No. 09/785,044, filed Feb. 14, 2001 and entitled xe2x80x9cAUTOMATED DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING REUSE OF DIAGNOSTIC OBJECTSxe2x80x9d are related to this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to computerized medical diagnostic systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a computerized system for time-based diagnosis of a patient""s medical complaint by use of dynamic data structures.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Health care costs currently represent a significant portion of the United States Gross National Product and are generally rising faster than any other component of the Consumer Price Index. Moreover, usually because of an inability to pay for medical services, many people are deprived of access to even the most basic medical care and information.
Many people delay in obtaining, or are prevented from seeking, medical attention because of cost, time constraints, or inconvenience. If the public had universal, unrestricted, and easy access to medical information, many diseases could be prevented. Likewise, the early detection and treatment of numerous diseases could keep many patients from reaching the advanced stages of illness, the treatment of which is a significant part of the financial burden attributed to our nation""s health care system. It is clear that the United States is facing health-related issues of enormous proportions and that present solutions are not robust.
Previous attempts at tackling the healthcare problem have involved various forms of automation. Some of these attempts have been in the form of a dial-in library of answers to medical questions. Other attempts have targeted providing doctors with computerized aids for use during a patient examination. These methods involve static procedures or algorithms. What is desired is an automated way of providing to a patient medical advice and diagnosis that is quick, efficient and accurate. Such a medical advice system should be modular to allow expansion for new types of medical problems or methods of detection.
Structure-based processing is a method of diagnosing diseases that works by arranging diseases, symptoms, and questions into a set of related disease, symptom, and question structures, such as objects or lists, in such a way that the structures can be processed to generate a dialogue with a patient. Each question to the patient generates one of a set of defined responses, and each response generates one of a set of defined questions. This establishes a dialogue that elicits symptoms from the patient. The symptoms are processed and weighted to rule diseases in or out. The set of ruled-in diseases establishes the diagnosis. A structure-based processing system organizes medical knowledge into formal structures and then executes those structures on a structure engine, such as a list-based engine, to automatically select the next question. The responses to the questions lead to more questions and ultimately to a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic system, comprising means for repetitively asking questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, wherein the responses establish time varying symptoms, and each established symptom contributes a weight to a disease; means for determining one or more synergistic weights based on the symptoms established over time; means for accumulating established symptom weights and determined synergistic weights as a cumulative weight for the disease; and means for determining whether the cumulative weight for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic system, comprising a computerized device; a data structure, stored on the computerized device, configured to store values corresponding to time varying symptoms at different times; and a diagnosis program executing on the computerized device, the program being configured to automatically ask questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, the responses establishing time varying symptoms, each established symptom contributing a weight to a disease, store values corresponding to the established time varying symptoms in the data structure, determine one or more synergistic weights based on the stored values corresponding to the symptoms established over time, accumulate established symptom weights and determined synergistic weights as a cumulative weight for the disease, and determine whether the cumulative weight for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic method, comprising a) repetitively asking questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, the responses establishing a time varying symptom, the established symptom contributing a weight to at least one disease; b) determining one or more synergistic weights based on the symptom established over time; c) adding the established symptom weight and the synergistic weight(s) to a total score for each applicable disease, wherein the adding is performed in unison for the applicable diseases; and d) determining whether the total score for a particular disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic method, comprising repetitively asking questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, the responses establishing overlapping symptoms which occur over a time period, each established symptom contributing a weight to a disease; determining one or more synergistic weights based on the overlapping symptoms established over time; accumulating established symptom weights and determined synergistic weights as a cumulative weight for the disease; and determining whether the cumulative weight for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic method, comprising repetitively asking questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, the responses establishing symptom values over a time period, each established symptom contributing a weight to a disease; computing a total symptom value over the time period for a selected established symptom; determining a synergistic weight based on the total symptom value over the time period; accumulating established symptom weights and the determined synergistic weight as a cumulative weight for the disease; and determining whether the cumulative weight for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
An additional aspect of the invention includes a method of computerized medical diagnosis, comprising repetitively asking questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, wherein the responses establish a symptom, and the established symptom contributes a weight to a disease; determining if the established symptom is the first significant symptom for the disease; providing a synergistic weight based on the determining; adjusting a disease score for the disease based on the established symptom weight and the synergistic weight; and calculating whether the disease score for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.
Another aspect of the invention includes a computerized medical diagnostic system, comprising a computerized device; a data structure, stored on the computerized device, configured to store synergistic weights; and a diagnosis program executing on the computerized device, the program being configured to automatically ask questions over time to elicit responses from a patient, wherein the responses establish a symptom, and the established symptom contributes a weight to a disease selected from a plurality of diseases, determine if the established symptom is the first significant symptom for the disease, provide a one of the synergistic weights based on the determination, adjust a disease score for the disease based on the established symptom weight and the synergistic weight, and calculate whether the disease score for the disease reaches or passes a threshold so as to declare a diagnosis.

Automated diagnostic system and method including synergies


A mobile device chip is provided. The mobile device chip includes a main processor, a multimedia processor, and a direct memory access (DMA) circuit. The multimedia processor is electrically coupled to the main processor. The DMA circuit accesses storage, and the DMA circuit is electrically coupled to the multimedia processor. When the mobile device chip operates in a normal mode, the main processor provides file accessing information of at least part of an audio file stored in the storage to the multimedia processor. When the mobile device chip operates in a power-saving mode, the multimedia processor obtains the data of the at least part of the audio file stored in the storage through the DMA circuit according to the file accessing information provided by the main processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to the device chip and device controlling method, and more particularly to a mobile device chip and mobile device controlling method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile phones play an important role in people's daily life. For current and next generation of mobile phones, there is a strong demand for reducing the power consumption and making the mobile phones more energy-efficient to maximize operating lifetime under a limited battery power supply.
To reduce the power used in audio playback is one way to reduce the power consumption of the mobile phones. For this purpose, some mobile phones are implemented to have an additional multimedia chip in addition to the mobile device chip, and some mobile phones try to improve their power management without additional multimedia processor.
In regard to the first way, although adding another multimedia chip would reduce the power consumption, the cost of the mobile phone is highly increased. In the second way, system loading, running tasks and running process will be detected to manage clock signals and turn on/off relative hardware. However, the reduced power consumption is very small in the second way and the power wastage is still very considerable because of the basic power overhead. Therefore, how to find an efficient way to reduce the power consumption is an important issue to the mobile phones.

Mobile device chip and mobile device controlling method therefor


Some methods are provided that comprise: providing a treatment fluid comprising an aqueous fluid, and a stimuli-degradable gel formed by a reaction comprising a gelling agent, and a stimuli-degradable cross linking agent that includes at least one degradable group and two unsaturated terminal groups; placing the treatment fluid into a subterranean formation; and allowing the stimuli-degradable gel to degrade.

The present invention relates to methods and compositions useful in subterranean applications, and, more specifically, to stimuli-degradable gels.
Viscosified treatment fluids that are used in subterranean operations generally are often aqueous-based fluids that comprise gelling agents. Viscosified treatment fluids are often referred to in the oilfield industry as "gels." The term "gel" as used herein refers to a semi-solid, jelly-like state assumed by some colloidal dispersions. The term "colloidal dispersion" as used herein refers to a system in which finely divided particles are dispersed within a continuous medium. The gelling agents used to form gels often comprise macromolecules such as biopolymers or synthetic polymers. Common gelling agents include, e.g., galactomannan gums, cellulosic polymers, and other polysaccharides. As used herein, the term "treatment fluid" refers to any fluid that may be used in a subterranean application in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The term "treatment fluid" does not imply any particular action by the fluid or any component thereof.
Most viscosified treatment fluids include cross-linked gelling agents that are cross-linked through a cross linking reaction between gelling agent molecules and a suitable cross linking agent. These cross linking agents may comprise a metal, a metal complex, or a metalloid, collectively referred to herein as "metal(s)." Examples include compounds containing boron, aluminum, antimony, zirconium, magnesium, or titanium. Generally, the metal of a cross linking agent interacts with at least two gelling agent molecules to form a crosslink between them, thereby forming a cross-linked gelling agent. The term "cross-linked gelling agent" as used herein refers to a gelling agent that contains, on average, at least one crosslink per molecule. This may be indicated when G′>G″ at certain frequencies. The elastic modulus (or G′) of a gel is an accepted standard measure of a gel's elasticity.
Pills are often used in subterranean applications. The term "pill" as used herein refers to a relatively small volume of specially prepared fluid placed or circulated in the well bore. Fluid pills are commonly prepared for a variety of special functions, such as a sweep pill prepared at high viscosity to circulate around the well bore and pick up debris or well bore fill. In counteracting lost-circulation problems, a lost-circulation pill prepared with flaked or fibrous material is designed to plug the perforations or formation interval losing the fluid. A "fluid-loss control pill" is a gelled fluid that is designed or used to provide some degree of fluid-loss control. Through a combination of viscosity, solids bridging, and cake buildup on the porous rock, these pills oftentimes are thought to seal off portions of the formation from fluid loss. They may also generally enhance filter-cake buildup on the face of the formation to inhibit fluid flow into the formation from the well bore. Pills often may involve a relatively small quantity (less than 200 bbl) of a special blend of a drilling fluid to accomplish a specific task that a regular drilling fluid cannot perform. Examples include high-viscosity pills to help lift cuttings out of a vertical well bore; freshwater pills to dissolve encroaching salt formations; pipe-freeing pills to destroy filter cake and relieve differential sticking forces; and lost circulation material pills to plug a thief zone.
Typically, pills comprise an aqueous base fluid and a high concentration of a gelling agent polymer, and, sometimes, bridging particles, like graded sand, potassium salts, or sized calcium carbonate particles. An example of a commonly used pill contains high concentrations (100 to 150 lbs/1000 gal) of a modified hydroxyethylcellulose ("HEC"). Some other gelling agent polymers that have been used include guar, guar derivatives, carboxymethylhydroxyethylcellulose ("CMHEC"), and even starch.
As an alternative to linear polymeric gels for pills, cross-linked gels often are used. Cross linking the gelling agent polymer is thought to create a gel structure that is better able to support solids and possibly, e.g., provide fluid-loss control. Further, cross-linked pills are thought to invade the formation face to a lesser extent to be desirably effective. To crosslink these gelling agents, a suitable cross linking agent that comprises polyvalent metal ions is often used. Complexes of aluminum, titanium, boron, and zirconium are common examples.
A disadvantage associated with conventional cross-linked gelling agents is that the resultant gel residue is often difficult to remove from the subterranean formation once the treatment has been completed. For example, in fracturing treatments, the cross-linked gels used are thought to be difficult to completely clean up with conventional breakers, such as oxidizers or enzymes. Similarly, the gel residue can be difficult and time-consuming to remove from the subterranean formation. The gel residue, at some point in the completion operation, usually should be removed to restore the formation's permeability, preferably to at least its original level. If the formation permeability is not restored to its original level, production levels can be significantly reduced. This gel residue often requires long cleanup periods. Moreover, an effective cleanup usually requires fluid circulation to provide high driving force, which is thought to allow diffusion to take place to help dissolve the concentrated buildup of the gel residue. Such fluid circulation, however, may not be feasible. Additionally, in lower temperature wells (i.e., those below about 80° F.), it is often difficult to find an internal breaker for the viscosified treatment fluids that will break the gel residue effectively. The term "break" (and its derivatives) as used herein refers to a reduction in the viscosity of the viscosified treatment fluid, e.g., by the breaking or reversing of the crosslinks between polymer molecules or some reduction of the size of the gelling agent polymers. No particular mechanism is implied by the term. Another conventional method of cleaning up gel residue is to add a spot of a strong acid (e.g., 10% to 15% hydrochloric acid) with coiled tubing, which is expensive and can result in hazardous conditions.
New developments in cleaning and removing filter cakes left by fluid loss control additives and pills include materials that degrade under acidic conditions such as calcite. While such techniques can be effective, they require good contact between the acid generating compound and the acid soluble compound, which is not always easily achieved.
Another problem presented by today's cross-linked gelling agent systems with respect to cleanup is that the high temperature of the formations (e.g., bottom hole temperatures of about 200° F. or greater) often require cross linking agents that are more permanent, and thus harder to break. Examples include transition metal cross linking agents. These more permanent cross linking agents can make cleanup of the resulting gel residue more difficult.


An instrument employs a projector which projects a moving pattern of heat onto a test object. An exemplary pattern is formed of bars or lines of infrared radiation separated by unheated areas, or areas of shadow. An infrared camera which is not sensitive to the wave-length of the projected light is used to detect the heat emitted by the test object. The projected bands of thermal radiation heat the surface of the test object. Some of the energy in the form of heat sinks into the structure, while some of the heat energy flows laterally from the heated band to the unheated bands between the projected bands. The lateral flow of heat between bands is resisted by cracks in the surface. This resistance causes heat energy to build up on one side of each crack. The downward flow of heat energy is resisted by less conductive material such as a debonding between layers which traps the heat, causing it to build up laterally. Thus, flaws caused by cracks normal to the surface and delaminations or cracks parallel to the surface may be detected by the same device.

Engineering science and design methods are generally based on the assumption that engineering materials are homogeneous, or in the case of composites, have properties which vary with the orientation of the material in a known and uniform manner. A second useful and widely applied assumption is that engineering materials are sufficiently ductile that small local inhomogeneities can be ignored. However, in many real world structures, particularly those which are highly engineered to meet demanding design criteria or which employ advanced materials, local inhomogeneities, such as cracks and de-laminations, determine the large-scale structural performance.
Another type of highly-engineered structure in which it is necessary to determine local material properties is typified by turbine blades for use in the hot section of modern jet engines, which are among the most highly engineered of modern structures. Such pass must withstand high stresses and high temperatures in an abrasive and chemically hostile environment.
To meet these design demands, blades grown of single crystals of metal are given multiple coatings, for example, to resist heating, abrasion, and corrosion. The reliability of these blades is dependant on the ability to detect any flaw in a bonding between the various layers and the underlying metal or the blade. Many methods have been devised and put to use. X-ray examination has been found useful for detecting in-depth density variations; yet x-ray examination requires access to both sides of a specimen. Further, x-rays can involve the use of hazardous materials, and are not always successful in detecting cracks or de-laminations which do not produce density variations.
Dye-penetrant, ultrasound, and eddy-currents have been used to detect weld flaws, de-lamination in structural composites, and other undesirable structure attributes. These methods, however, can be labor intensive, require physical contact with the test object, and often require special preparation of the material's surface.
A belief that thermal imaging (thermography) would lead to more cost-effective material flaw detection has led to a number of techniques employing thermal radiation and the test specimen's reaction to the thermal radiation to detect material flaws.
One such technique employs a high-power, pulsed thermal wave, which propagates into the material as a planar wave of thermal energy. When the thermal wave reaches a defect within the depth of the object being tested, that portion of the wave which encounters the defect is reflected with the amount of the reflected energy dependant on the nature of the discontinuity. The reflected wave is detectable at the surface by thermal imaging. This method, while being useful in some circumstances, requires high-power flash lamps and does not detect flaws which are normal to the surface of the object being tested.
Another thermal imaging process for detecting material defects, particularly stress cracks, employs a laser which performs a raster scan of a test object while the test object is being thermally imaged. This method requires a laser of relatively high power and detects surface cracks by their greater absorption of energy. This method can be somewhat sensitive to the angle of incidence. Further, the decay of the transient thermal response of the crack must be carefully analyzed to distinguish surface blemishes from cracks having significant depth. This method also requires a relatively clean surface, free of surface film and paint.
Another known technique, sometimes referred to as the "mirage effect," employs a heating laser which generates an output which is intensity modulated to provide a periodic optical signal used to periodically heat a point on the surface of an object. The optical beam from a probe laser passes parallel to the surface of the object through the heated zone. This probe beam is deflected from a normal path due to density variations in the air above the surface of the sample caused by the heating of the surface by the probe laser. The deflection of the probe laser from its nominal path indicates the presence of surface or sub-surface cracks, flaws or voids in the object being tested. This type of apparatus requires a scan head located relatively close to the surface of the object being tested to recover the output of the probe beam.
One method for detecting flaws in welds involves heating the weld with an infrared source and observing the heated weld with an infrared camera to detect the thermal response of the weld, which may be indicative of weld flaws.
In principle, thermographic testing involves exposure of the analyzed surface to even heating. Variations in the thermoconductivity of the features below the surface then allow heat to flow away from the surface more rapidly in some places than other, establishing temperature gradients along the surface that provide an indication of the sub-surface features in an object.
One type of apparatus which employs the thermographic technique has a linear heat source which is passed in spaced relation over the surface in front of a row of detectors. The heat source establishes a temperature gradient on the surface being tested. The sensors monitor the temperature gradient for variations which indicate surface defects. This process suffers from requiring the heat source and the detector to be moved closely over the surface of the object to be tested.
One variation on this process of using lateral heat flow to detect sub-surface flaws involves using a linear heating source, such as a laser projected through a cylindrical lens and an infrared scanner which views a line of material spaced from, and off-set from, the linear heat source. Variations in the temperature gradient between the heat source and the infrared scanned line indicate the presence of cracks and material defects in the tested sample. This system is experimental in nature and requires a relatively intense heat source, with a change of temperature gradients in the material which can amount to several degrees or more.
What is needed is an apparatus which is able to detect sub-surface cracks and flaws and which can image entire test objects from a distance while utilizing low levels of thermal stimulation.

Forced-diffusion thermal imaging apparatus and method