An all-solid secondary battery has first electrode layers, and second electrode layers laminated on both sides of the first electrode layer with solid electrolyte layers placed in between, wherein at least one first opening is provided which penetrates the first electrode layer and the solid electrolyte layers adjacent to the first electrode layer, and the second electrode layers present on both sides of the first electrode layer are in contact with each other on the inside of the first opening.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an all-solid secondary battery.
Related Art
An all-solid secondary battery, using an inorganic solid electrolyte and not using an organic substance even for an electrode is free of problems concerning leakage of organic electrolytic solution and generation of gas from the organic electrolytic solution, and is thus expected to be a safe battery. Further, the all-solid secondary battery is less likely to produce a side reaction other than battery reactions as compared to liquid batteries, and can thus be expected to have a long operating life as compared to liquid batteries.
As an example of the all-solid secondary battery, Patent Document 1 discloses one having a structure where negative electrode layers each formed by lamination of negative electrode active material layers on both sides of a negative electrode current collector layer and positive electrode layers each formed by lamination of positive electrode active material layers on both sides of a positive electrode current collector layer are alternately laminated via solid electrolyte layers, and active materials are carried on conductive materials in end electrodes connected to these positive electrode layers and negative electrode layers.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2011-198692


A spring terminal for connecting the bare end of a conductor with a bus bar, including an insulated housing containing a chamber defined by a pair of planar parallel spaced vertical side walls, and an orthogonally connected vertical end wall. Mounted in the chamber are a vertical bus bar adjacent the end wall, and a U-shaped clamping spring that biases toward clamped electrical engagement with the bus bar the bare end of a vertical conductor that is inserted downwardly into the chamber. The clamping spring includes a stationary lower leg portion fixed to the housing, a pivotable body portion, and an upper clamping leg portion that engages the conductor, a locking arrangement serving to lock the body portion to the housing when the spring is in the clamping condition.

1. Field of the Invention
A spring terminal is provided for clamping the bare end of a conductor with a bus bar, including a housing containing a chamber in which is mounted a bus bar, a spring mounted in the chamber for clamping the bare end of the conductor in parallel contiguous relation to the bus bar, and a locking arrangement for locking the spring in the clamping condition.
2. Description of Related Art
There are spring terminals where a conductor is cramped on a motionless current-conducting bus bar by means of a mobile terminal body. As a rule, to adjust the terminal body, one uses a screw by means of which the terminal body is adjusted into its cramping position.
Such a spring terminal is shown, for example, by European patent No. EP 0 836 242 B1, where an electrical conductor can be clamped firmly with a movably positioned thrust piece. When the thrust piece is in the firmly clamped state, the conductor contacts a bus bar. A spring is provided to reset the thrust piece.


An improved pipe clamp for supporting a length of pipe such that the pipe is secured in a stand-off position. The pipe clamp includes a pipe holding section, a spacer section, and a connection arrangement. The pipe holding section includes a cavity that is designed to encircle over 50% of an outer perimeter of the pipe. The spacer section includes at least one spacer flange that is connected between the pipe holding section and the connection arrangement and forms a space between the pipe holding section and the connection arrangement. The connection arrangement designed to be secured to a building structure.

As energy costs increase, many consumers look for ways to cut the energy costs associated with their home. In addition, various state and federal programs have been created to provide tax incentives for homeowners and businesses to reduce energy consumption. One of the larger energy consumption units in a home or business is the hot water heater. Many manufacturers have improved the efficiency of hot water heaters based on state and federal requirements and consumer demand. Although the efficiency of hot water heaters has increased, the pipes that are connected to the hot water heater and which supply hot water to various regions in a home or business are typically not insulated. As such, significant energy loss still occurs from the uninsulated pipes.
Pipes that convey cold water can also be insulated, especially in cold environments so as to inhibit or prevent the freezing of the water in the pipe. Pipes that convey cold water are also insulated to prevent condensation and moisture damage.
Pipe insulation for pipes is readily available, but such insulation is very difficult to insert about an installed pipe. Conventional pipe insulation for standard business and household pipes (e.g, 0.5-3 includes in diameter) typically is manufactured in axially sized portions for a particular diameter pipe. This insulation generally includes a longitudinal slit to enable an installer to fit the insulation about a pipe. One or both face surfaces of the slit can include an adhesive to secure together the faces of slit.
Typical pipe clamps that are used to secure a pipe in position either secure the pipe directly to a surface or hang the pipe from a surface. Clamps that secure the pipe directly to a surface are commonly referred to as "clevis hangers." The pipes are typically hung in a home or business prior to insulation being placed on the pipe. The use of the standard pipe clamps makes it difficult and time consuming to fit the pipe insulation about the pipe. Typically an installer has to notch the insulation around the building structure in contact with the pipe, leaving the underside of the pipe uninsulated. Furthermore, an installer typically has to cut out a portion of the insulation where the clamp is located, thereby allowing the insulation halves to be fitted about the pipe and over the clamps. In some situations, the installer must then "putty over" and/or otherwise seal the cut out holes to reduce heat loss from the pipe. These operations take a significant amount of time, thus significantly increasing the cost of installing the insulation. In addition to the increased installation costs, the sealant used about the pipe clamps may not adequately insulate the pipe as well as the insulation. In addition, the sealant over time can deteriorate, thus result in cracks and ultimately break away from the pipe and clamps. In regions where the pipe lays flat against the wall or beam, it is nearly impossible to fit the insulation about the pipe.
In view of the current state of the art of pipe clamps, there is a need for a pipe clamp that can easily and effectively hang pipes in a home or business and which allows for easy installation of pipe insulation after the pipe has been hung.


Methods, apparatus, and systems for low-flow sampling of a fluid source. One illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for manually sampling a fluid source in a well, including exerting a downward pressure on a sample tube, disposed within a well insert, to allow fluid to pass from the well through a portion of the well insert and into the sample tube to fill at least a portion of the sample tube with the fluid. Another illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for securing a well insert to an inner wall of a well, including arranging stabilizers on the well insert in a non-extended position, introducing the well insert into the well, arranging the stabilizers on the well insert in an extended position, and expanding a portion of a gasket on the well insert such that the portion of the gasket conforms to a circumference of the inner wall of the well.

The present invention relates to methods, apparatus, and systems for low-flow sampling of a fluid source.
The present invention relates to a well and groundwater sampling. Wells are used in the environmental and water supply industries, among other things, to collect samples of groundwater for chemical analysis. A typical well, shown in FIG. 1, is comprised of a slotted section of pipe 37 (the xe2x80x9cwell screenxe2x80x9d) located at the bottom of the well, a well point 39 which plugs the bottom of well screen 37 and sections of solid pipe 41 (the xe2x80x9criser pipexe2x80x9d) which thread onto well screen 37 and each other to bring the well to a ground surface 49. The slots in well screen 37 are narrow enough (e.g., on the order of hundredths of an inch) to keep out soil particles, but allow in groundwater. The water level within a well having a portion of well screen 37 above a water table 43 (e.g., water table well 45) is the same as the level of water table 43 since atmospheric pressure alone is acting equally on both. If the entire well screen is located beneath water table 43 (e.g., in deep well 47), additional pressures, such as the weight of the water above, act on the groundwater. The pressures acting on a unit measure of groundwater are referred to as xe2x80x9chead pressure.xe2x80x9d Groundwater will flow from areas of high head pressure to areas of low head pressure. Groundwater entering deep well 47 will usually flow upward into riser pipe 41 until it reaches equilibrium. The water level at equilibrium is sometimes referred to as the piezometric surface.
Since the water in a water table well is exposed to the atmosphere, it is not considered representative of groundwater outside the well screen. In a deep well, as a result of the water flowing into riser pipe 41 until equilibrium is reached, standing water may be present in the riser pipe between groundwater sampling events. This water may be present for weeks, months, or longer, and is also not considered representative of the groundwater outside of the well screen. In conventional systems, up to six volumes of standing water must be purged from the well. The purged water typically needs to be treated to remove contaminants before it can be discharged, which may require costly and time-intensive off-site treatment.
One illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for manually sampling a fluid source in a well, comprising an act of exerting a downward pressure on a sample tube, disposed within a well insert, to allow fluid to pass from the well through a portion of the well insert and into the sample tube to fill at least a portion of the sample tube with the fluid.
Another illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for securing a well insert to an inner wall of a well, comprising acts of arranging stabilizers on the well insert in a non-extended position; introducing the well insert into the well; arranging the stabilizers on the well insert in an extended position; and expanding a portion of a gasket on the well insert such that the portion of the gasket conforms to a circumference of the inner wall of the well.
A further illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus, comprising a well insert including a piston, the well insert being mounted to an inner surface of a well; and a sample tube, with means for activating the piston, disposed within the well insert.
Another illustrative embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus, comprising a well insert for insertion into a well; stabilizers mounted to the well insert, the stabilizers being movable from a non-extended position to an extended position such that when the stabilizers are in an extended position, the stabilizers extend to a location at or beyond a diameter of an inner wall of the well; and a gasket mounted to the well insert, the gasket being radially extendable from a non-extended position to an extended position such that when the gasket is in an extended position, the gasket conforms to a circumference of the inner wall of the well.


A method for entering an idle mode, which is used in a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access system, comprising: during the procedure of a terminal enter to idle mode from active mode, an paging agent of the terminal sending mobility restriction parameters of the terminal to a mobility restriction parameter storage network element; the mobility restriction parameter storage network element saving the mobility restriction parameters; the mobility restriction parameter storage network element being an anchor paging controller, or an anchor authenticator, or a function entity including a function of the anchor paging controller and a function of the anchor authenticator. to save the mobility restriction parameters of a terminal when the terminal enters an idle mode may be achieved by using the method of the present invention, so that a mobility restriction judgment is performed to the terminal in the subsequent process procedure, and the problem of erroneously allowing the terminal to quit from the idle mode and enter an active mode or to update its location when the terminal is in the non-authorized regions can be avoided.

At present an idle mode has been defined in WiMAX system. When a terminal enters the idle mode from an active mode, both the corresponding wireless connection thereof and the connection of an access network are released; meanwhile, the information of the terminal is saved in an anchor paging controller, thus the terminal occupies no wireless resource and the resource of the access network; the terminal which has entered into the idle mode receives downlink broadcast messages periodically, and does not need to register at a particular base station when traveling among a plurality of base stations, thus energy consumption can be saved.
No matter whether the procedure for entering the idle mode is initiated by the terminal or by the network, a paging agent will send terminal related information to the anchor paging controller of this terminal via an IM_Entry_State_Change_Request message which carries the information of this terminal required to be saved by the anchor paging controller (named as idle mode entering parameters hereinafter). The information comprises part or all of the following: an anchor paging controller identifier, an anchor authenticator identifier, an anchor gateway identifier, a current accessed base station identifier, a paging parameter, service flow information, an SBC (terminal basic capability) context, a REG (registration) context, a PKM (private key management) context, safety association description, and service flow information.
The anchor paging controller will also interact message(s) with the anchor authenticator of this terminal so as to make the anchor authenticator judge whether this terminal is allowed to enter the idle mode, upon receiving the IM_Entry_State_Change_Request message sent by the page proxy; the anchor authenticator will save the anchor paging controller identifier of this terminal only when it is determined that the terminal is allowed to enter the idle mode, further the anchor paging controller will save the above-mentioned idle mode entering parameters.
FIG. 1 is a schematic chart of the flow for a current WiMAX system terminal entering an idle mode, which comprises the following steps in particular:
101: the paging agent sends an IM_Entry_State_Change_Request message to the anchor paging controller (each anchor paging controller has one corresponding location register, and the location register records the information of the terminal in the idle mode); this message contains the parameters such as the current base station identifier, the paging parameters and idle mode reservation information; this message can arrive at the anchor paging controller via one or more relay paging controller.
102: the anchor paging controller sends the IM_Entry_State_Change_Request message to the anchor authenticator, and the anchor authenticator judges whether the terminal is allowed to enter the idle mode after receiving this message: if it is allowed, the anchor authenticator saves the anchor paging controller identifier.
103: the anchor authenticator sends an idle mode entering status change response message to the anchor paging controller; and this response message contains the judging result (result identifier) of the anchor authenticator; if the judging result indicates that the terminal is allowed to enter the idle mode, the anchor paging controller saves the above idle mode entering parameters of the terminal.
104: the anchor paging controller sends the idle mode entering status change response message to the paging agent; and this message may arrive at the anchor paging agent via one or more relay paging controllers.
In the above procedure for entering an idle mode in the current WiMAX system, no consideration is put to the mobility restriction characteristics of the terminal. The mobility restriction means that the user of a WiMAX system operator, without a mobility license, has to restrict its terminal in mobility; or that even the operator having a mobility license, the operator, in order to attract the low level users to use the WiMAX network, allows the low level users to use the WiMAX network with a low price by restricting the mobility of this type user terminal.
Therefore, by applying the current method for entering an idle mode, it is unable to judge the mobility restriction in the subsequent process procedures (for example, an idle mode exiting procedure, a location update procedure, and a procedure for re-distributing by the anchor paging controller or the anchor authenticator, etc.), which will result in the problems such as that the terminal will be erroneously allowed to exit an idle mode and enter an active mode or update its location in a non-authorized region.


Described is an inflatable multilayer bolster for a vehicle passenger compartment including a hollow body with back and front walls, an air chamber formed between them, and an inflator for injecting pressurized fluid to inflate the hollow body. Preferably, both the front and back walls have an inner layer made of a structural deformable material and an outer surfacing layer co-extruded with the inner layer. Also described is a method of manufacturing the multilayer bolster by co-extruding first and second polymers through a die to produce a parison, and then blow-molding the parison to form the hollow body. Thus the front wall and preferably the back wall as well have an inner layer made of the first polymer in a structural deformable condition and an outer surfacing layer made of the second polymer. This co-extruded multilayer constructed bolster allows efficient manufacturing, structural, inflation and aesthetic characteristics.

Bolsters and the like are known in the art. A conventional bolster is mounted within a passenger compartment and includes a hollow body and an inflator for injecting a pressurized fluid into the hollow body. In order to reduce the potential for injuries caused during an impact event or the like, the inflator is activated upon detection of such an event and the bolster is inflated.
For example, the impact event may be a front, rear or side impact, a rollover, or any other event which is likely to cause a rapid change in the vehicle's momentum and thereby cause the occupant to strike some portion of the vehicle's passenger compartment. The fluid released by the inflator into the hollow body serves to inflate the bolster, bringing its outer surface closer to an occupant. By decreasing the distance between the occupant and its outer surface, the bolster can absorb more of the occupant's momentum over a longer period of time, thereby lessening the force experienced.
Bolsters may be provided as part of an instrument panel, a door panel, roof panel, a head rest, or other interior portion of the vehicle.
Known in the art are the following patent and patent applications which disclose inflatable bolsters and the like: US 2007/0108747; U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,978; U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,057; U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,710; U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,103; U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,867; U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,689; U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,493; U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,715; U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,706; U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,852; and WO 2006/132990.
Since bolsters are integrated within the interior of a vehicle, the aesthetic appearance of the bolsters and of the overall interior is an important factor to consider. Bolsters must often present a seamless and consistent appearance once integrated within the vehicle.
Bolsters have been manufactured using various techniques and assembly methods. Many known bolsters are made by assembling independent front and back panels using a variety of fasteners such that the front panel can rapidly project forward when triggered. Producing separate main components to be assembled together can be time consuming and inefficient. In addition, each of the separate components must be designed and interconnected to provide an aesthetic integral whole which can be difficult.
At the same time, a bolster must have sufficient structure to be properly integrated into the vehicle and retain its form in a passive state. It is often difficult to reconcile structural capacity, efficient production and certain desired aesthetic characteristics.
There is currently a need for a technology that overcomes at least some of the drawbacks of what is known in the field.

Inflatable multilayer bolster and method of manufacture


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a random access control method and apparatus, a network device and a terminal. The method includes: sending, by a network device, a first system broadcast message, where the first system broadcast message includes a first indication information that is used for indicating whether a target cell of a terminal supports a 2-step random access process; and sending, by the network device, a second system broadcast message, where the second system broadcast message includes access control information corresponding to the 2-step random access process; the first indication information and the access control information are used by the terminal to determine whether the 2-step random access process is allowed to be performed.

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communication technology, and in particular to a random access control method and apparatus, network device, and terminal.
In order to shorten a time delay of the random access process and quickly enter the network to start service, a 2-step random access channel (referred to as 2-step RACH) is proposed. In the 2-step RACH, MSG3 resources are pre-configured. Since the pre-configured resources are limited, to avoid waste of resources, the 2-step RACH will not be open to all UEs and/or all services. The problem to be solved is how to control the UEs to adopt the 2-step RACH.

Random access control method and apparatus, network device, and terminal

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A system for detecting an electrostatic discharge event with respect to a device to be monitored includes a current measurement device configured to measure a current flowing via a power supply connection connecting the device to be monitored with the power supply to obtain a current measurement signal representing the current or a current component. Alternatively, a current flowing through a protective earth connection connecting the device to be monitored with the protective earth is measured to obtain the measurement signal. The system includes an electrostatic discharge event detector configured to detect an electrostatic discharge event in response to a pulse of the current measurement signal. The system may optionally include data processing of current measurement signals or values.

Embodiments according to the invention relate to a system, a method and a computer program for detecting an electrostatic discharge event with respect to a device to be monitored.
Some embodiments according to the invention relate to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) monitor solution.
Electrostatic discharge is a serious reason for defects of modern electronic components. For example, modern integrated circuits comprising field effect transistors are often very sensitive to electrostatic discharge events, as the gate oxide thereof can easily be destroyed by excessive electrical field strength. Thus, the production, testing and handling of modern electronic components for semiconductor devices is an example out of many technical fields in which it is desirable to detect electrostatic discharge events.
In the following, some conventional concepts for detecting an electrostatic discharge will be discussed. In the technical literature, the following physical phenomena are listed to capture an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event: light/spark from electric arc of discharge; sound/crackling of discharge; current fields and transient fields; discharge current; and static field.
In the following, some disadvantages of detecting an ESD event on a semiconductor test system (for example a Verigy V93000 semiconductor test system) on the basis of the above-mentioned physical phenomena will be discussed. For further details, reference should be taken to the publication "One of the methods of observing ESD around electronic equipment" of Toshimitsu Takai et al. (Journal of Electrostatics 42 (1998) page 305-320) and to the book "Elektrostatische Entladungen (ESD) and ihre Störwirkung auf elektronische Systeme" of Stephan Frei (Shaker Verlag, ISBN 3-8265-6196-1).
Regarding the light/spark from an electric arc of discharge, it should be noted that this physical phenomenon could be caused by other sources. In other words, said phenomenon is not unique to electrostatic discharge events.
Regarding the sound/crackling of discharge, it should be noted that said phenomenon could be caused by other sources. In other words, said phenomenon is not unique to electrostatic discharge events.
Regarding current fields and transient fields, it should be noted that according to the publication of Stephan Frei: "There are only a few other sources of transient currents and fields and of large static fields. If only currents and fields exceeding certain limits are considered, only electrostatic discharge comes into question as a source in most cases". However, exploiting the physical phenomenon of current fields and transient fields, there is no discrimination of ESD and non-ESD events. Also, antennas need to be installed to detect current field and/or transient field. With the complex geometry of a semiconductor device-under-test (DUT) interface, electromagnetic waves are reflected, absorbed and shielded. Also, antennas can interact with a semiconductor test system and cause undesired effects. Antennas and sensors installed into a system occupy space and cause "packaging" issues.
With respect to the physical phenomenon of discharge current, the above-mentioned publication of Stephan Frei indicates: "As the current is the most critical effect of an ESD, it is desirable to know the exact temporal devolution of the discharge current for each discharge for the considered environment".
However, possible conventional solutions for detecting an ESD event on the basis of a discharge current would necessitate a huge effort. For example, all potential discharge locations (i.e. discharge paths) would need to be equipped with current sensors with sufficient bandwidth to detect potential ESD events. Monitoring a large area would necessitate the installation of numerous "current sensors" and would bring along a huge effort. In some cases, monitoring a large area would be impossible due to the high effort. An installation of numerous "current sensors" would cause an intervention into an environment. In some cases, this would mean a significant intervention into an environment. In some cases, the measurement could no longer reflect the reality and would therefore not be meaningful.
However, monitoring a discharge current provides important information on the electrostatic discharge event.
Regarding a detection of ESD events on the basis of a static field, it should be noted that a measurement of a static field is technically easy to implement and provides information on a charge generation. A rapid reduction of the static field strength measured can be interpreted as a discharge. A measurement of a static field can provide information on a frequency of ESD event occurrence. However, it is important to know that large static fields do not necessarily have to lead to an ESD event. Thus, the phenomenon "static field" is not unique to ESD events. Also, a measurement of a static field does not provide information on an intensity of discharge (confer Stephan Frei: "Elektrostatische Entladungen (ESD) and ihre Störwirkung auf elektronische Systeme", Shaker Verlag, Aachen, 1999, Page 28).
In view of the above discussion, there is a need for a concept for detecting an electrostatic discharge event which can be implemented in an efficient way.

System, method and computer program for detecting an electrostatic discharge event


Techniques of captioning for figures includes generating a caption unit for a figure by defining a finite set of caption types. From each caption type, additional input for that caption type, as well as figure image data and figure metadata, an automated system may generate a respective caption unit, each caption unit including a sequence of words. Further, the generated caption for a figure includes a combination of the generated caption units.

Scientific-style figures are media forms in formats such as HTML and PDF to present numerical information. Captions are pieces of text accompanied with figures that summarize their information. Accurate, natural language captions for figures may improve the accessibility of the figure and the web page. For example, accurate, natural language captions can scaffold alternative text for figures to increase accessibility for visually impaired users, and users with low network bandwidth for loading figures. Such captions may also help busy users quickly grasp the main ideas of a web page during skim reading. A detailed caption may also increase the retrievability of a web page by search engine crawlers.
Nevertheless, descriptions for figures on web pages are often trivial or non-informative or absent altogether. In contrast, an automated figure captioning system could provide much value being integrated into existing web publishing tools such as Adobe Acrobat.
To automatically generate captions for figures, an application may parse figure elements, reason over the relationships between elements, and describe the relationships in natural language. Recent advances in more general vision-language problems such as visual question answering and image captioning demonstrate an automated description about an image. Conventional approaches to captioning for figures include the question answering and figure element extraction used for generic images.
Nevertheless, in the conventional approaches to captioning for figures, it is unclear how the outputs of these conventional approaches provide accessibility to a user. For example, in performing figure question answering, one assumes that users generate questions about a figure, but visually impaired users, who may struggle to see the figure, may not be able to ask questions. Moreover, in performing figure element extraction, there was no study concerning how users may interpret parsed figure elements to understand the figure. Finally, the captions that do get generated are frequently inaccurate or, even if accurate, composed of unnatural language.

Generating accurate and natural captions for figures


In a method of corona discharge processing of resin formings surface, excellent corona discharge processing is possible, even if there is a distance between the resin formings and the discharge electrode, by generating a high voltage pulse having a pulse width of 1 .mu.s or more, an average electric field strength of 4 to 20 kv/cm denoted by applied voltage (wave height) versus interelectrode distance, and a pulse frequency of 10 pps or more. This processing is performed by the apparatus which comprises arranging a transfer conveyor to transfer the resin formings, a counter-electrode placed in a down side of the transfer conveyor, a dielectric to cover a surface of the counter-electrode, and a number of discharge electrodes which are arranged in a definite distance above the resin formings along the transfer route.

The present invention relates to a corona discharge processing method and apparatus, and more particularly to an method and apparatus to perform surface processing by corona discharge for resin formings having various three-dimensional shapes, in order to improve properties such as coating performance, printing, adhesion and so forth.
It has been widely known that, by performing the corona discharge processing on the surface of a resin film made from polypropylene and the like, performance such as printing and adhesion on the surface of films can be improved, and this processing has been used for manufacturing various kinds of articles. The corona discharge processing is performed under ordinary pressure not only on the surface of a resin film but also on the surface of resin formings having stereoscopic unevenness, that means a three-dimensional shape, in order to improve coating performance and adhesion.
In the conventional corona discharge processing, a pair of electrodes consisting of a discharge electrode and a counter-electrode are used, an article to be processed is placed between the electrodes, corona discharge is generated by applying a high voltage between the electrodes under ordinary pressure, and thereby the corona discharge processing is performed on a surface of the article to be processed. In this performing, as a high voltage charged between the electrodes, there has been usually used an alternating-current high frequency voltage. The alternating-current high frequency voltage easily generates corona discharge, so that it is said to be superior in the effects of surface processing effect. According to the Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication No. showa 47-4890, it has been disclosed that the processing effects are improved by using a high voltage pulse having a pulse width of from about 100 to 200 .mu.s in the corona discharge processing of films.
In the case where an article to be processed is a resin forming which has a three-dimensional shape, there have been proposed various kinds of improved methods, because it is required to perform superior corona discharge processing on a surface having unevenness and because various limitation exists compared with the case of flat films and boards.
For example, in the Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication No. showa 57-119931, there has been disclosed a method comprising: arranging an article to be processed which is held on a counter-electrode, so that the tip of a discharge electrode always has a definite distance from the surface of the article to be processed; transferring a set of the counter-electrode and article to be processed while maintaining their relative arrangements to the discharge electrode unvariable; generating corona discharge by applying an alternating-current high frequency voltage between the counter-electrode and the discharge electrode; and accordingly, processing the surface of the article by the corona discharge processing. In the Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication No. showa 62-57431, there has been disclosed a method comprising: relatively transferring a discharge electrode, the discharging tip of which has a curved face shape, along the surface of an article to be processed; and applying an alternating-current high frequency output of 20 to 30 kHz to perform the corona discharge processing.
However, in these kinds of corona discharge processing for resin formings having a three-dimensional shape, spark discharge easily occurs, so that there is such a problem as that sufficient processing of an edge part existing in an outer periphery of the resin formings or existing in an inner circumference of opening parts is very difficult.
This is because, in the conventional methods, when the discharge electrode approaches an edge part of the resin forming, corona discharge effective on the surface processing can not be maintained in a stable condition and spark discharge occurs by breakdown of an air layer. To avoid the spark discharge, an applied voltage may be lowered, but if doing so, the corona discharge processing does not sufficiently display the effects.
To solve these kinds of problems, in the Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication No. showa 62-57431, there has been disclosed an art which comprises inserting a buffer board, made of a dielectric such as an epoxy resin and so forth, into an opening part of the resin forming in order to prevent a disorder of the corona discharge at the opening part. However, in this art, there needs to arrange a buffer board corresponding to a shape which an opening part of the resin forming has, and there is taken labor to fix the board at a specific position of the resin forming or counter-electrode, and therefore, there is a defect that working efficiency is very bad. Also, if there is a gap between an opening part and a buffer board, even if it is slight, breakdown occurs through this gap, which results in generation of spark discharge.
To solve the problems in prior arts as described above, the present inventors carried out intensive research on the waveform of a high voltage applied for the discharge electrode. As a result, they found that, if there is used a high voltage pulse having a very narrow pulse width, for example, such as having 10 to 100 kv in wave height, 1 .mu.s or less in pulse width and 10 to 1000 pps in pulse frequency, spark discharge is hard to occur and excellent corona discharge is generated. Accordingly, they have disclosed this type corona discharge processing, which comprises the use of a high voltage pulse, in the Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication No. heisei 4-328135.
However, in the case where a high voltage pulse having a very narrow pulse width as mentioned above is used, if the corona discharge processing is performed by applying a high voltage in order to enhance the effects, the energy efficiency becomes extremely bad and therefore, an interelectrode distance, that is a distance between the electrodes, can not be large. In the processing like this, an interelectrode distance with which corona discharge processing is practically possible is in a range of from 3 to less than 5 cm and, in the case where articles having a thickness thicker than the interelectrode distance and having various three-dimensional shapes are processed, there could not be obtained any satisfactory result.
If a high voltage pulse having a pulse width of 1 .mu.s or less as in the aforementioned prior arts is used, the generation of spark discharge is effectively prevented, however, in a case of using a high voltage pulse having a narrow pulse width like the aforementioned, if the interelectrode distance becomes large, for example, 5 cm or more, it is hard to form a corona streamer (an accelerated electron stream) which is necessary for corona discharge processing, and also, even if the corona streamer is formed, the energy of effective corona discharge becomes small and the surface-processing effect on a surface of the resin forming is small.
Because of this, to afford the effects of corona discharge processing sufficiently on a surface of the resin forming, it is necessary to take the processing time in an extremely long extent. If the processing takes a long time, productivity lowers, so that it is unsuitable for industrial operation. Also, because the interelectrode distance is 5 cm or less, that is small, in a case where the resin molding has a complex three-dimensional shape, the structure of a discharge electrode becomes complex and it takes very high cost. If the discharge electrode is remade at every case where the shape of resin formings is altered even slightly, it can not be adopted in the use where the shape alteration of resin formings frequently occurs. Also, in a case where resin formings having different shapes are processed by one line of corona discharge processing, the electrode must be exchanged in every case where the resin formings are changed, and it requires very troublesome operation.

Method and apparatus for corona discharge processing


An error detector for a pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS). A plurality of bits of a PRBS are received in a predictor circuit. A comparator compares two of the bits to predict a next bit in the sequence. The predicted next bit is compared with the actual next bit that is received to determine if there is an error in the actual next bit, and if so, the actual next bit is corrected accordingly. The erroneous actual next bit is replaced with the corrected actual next bit and is then used to predict a future actual next bit. A trigger circuit delays correction during initial operation until the predictor contains a bit sequence in which no errors have been detected.

In recent years, the performance of communication systems has reached a level where serial data is routinely sent at transmission rates in excess of 2.5 gigabits per second. To achieve these transmission rates, the signal-to-noise ratio of communication equipment is often lowered to a level where errors become significant.
Typically, communication equipment is designed to have a lower bit error rate than the maximum tolerated bit error rate of a communication system in which the communication equipment operates. For example, physical layer specifications for the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) protocol allow a maximum bit error rate of 10−10. Accordingly, the bit error rate of communication equipment is often measured both in production and in-situ to determine if the rates conform to system specifications.
Pseudo-Random Bit Sequences (PRBSs) are commonly used in Bit Error Rate (BER) measurements. Devices that perform BER measurements are often referred to as Bit Error Rate Testers (BERTs).
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic features of a communication system incorporating PRBS error measurement. The communication system 100 comprises a transmitter 110 coupled to an input of a communication channel such as a fiber optic cable 120 for transmitting a signal, and a receiver 130 coupled to an output of the communication channel 120 for receiving the signal transmitted over the communication channel 120.
PRBS error measurement is implemented in the communication system 100 using two main components: a PRBS generator 140 and a PRBS error detector 150. The PRBS generator 140 creates a signal containing PRBS data. This signal is provided to the transmitter 110, which transmits the signal over the communication channel 120. The receiver 130 receives the transmitted signal containing the PRBS data created by the PRBS generator 140, and passes the PRBS data to the PRBS error detector 150. The PRBS error detector 150 counts the number of bit errors in the PRBS data over time to determine a bit error rate.
In some systems, the signal from the PRBS generator is a baseband signal, and the transmitter 110 up-converts the baseband signal into a higher frequency transmission signal suitable for transmission over the communication channel 120. The receiver 130 then receives the transmission signal and down-converts the signal back to a baseband signal to recreate the PRBS data.
In other systems, the signal from the PRBS generator is provided at a frequency suitable for transmission over the communication channel 120. In such systems, there is no up-conversion of the signal at the transmitter, and no down-conversation of the signal at the receiver.
Reasons for using a PRBS include:                (1) the PRBS has the same statistical characteristics as a truly random bit sequence; that is, on average there are an equal number of zero value bits as one value bits. When testing communication equipment for bit errors, a truly random sequence is generally a good model for real data; and        (2) the PRBS is an algorithmically deterministic bit sequence, which means that the next bit in the sequence depends only on the state of the system generating the bit sequence; in other words, it is completely predictable. The PRBS error detector 150 uses this characteristic of the PRBS to predict the next bit in the received PRBS. Any discrepancy between the predicted next bit and the actual received next bit is detected as a bit sequence error in the PRBS error detector 150.        PRBS generators and PRBS error detectors are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,714 issued to Huscroft. As shown in FIG. 2, Huscroft discloses a PRBS generator 140 comprising a seven-stage shift register 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147 tapped at the outputs of the sixth and seventh stages 146 and 147 by an exclusive-OR gate 148. The PRBS generator 140 provides a cyclical PRBS of length 27−1 at the output 149 of the seventh stage 147.
As shown in FIG. 3, Huscroft also discloses a PRBS error detector 150 which comprises a complementary seven-stage shift register 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157 tapped at the output of the sixth and seventh stages 156 and 157 by a first exclusive-OR gate 158. A received PRBS is applied to the first stage 151 through an input 160. This input, and the output of the gate 158, are applied to a second exclusive-OR gate 159 to provide an error signal at an output 161.
In operation, the PRBS error detector 150 receives at the input 160 the transmitted PRBS from the PRBS generator 140. If seven sequential bits have been output by the PRBS generator 140, then the next bit output from the PRBS generator 140 will be the result of an XOR operation on the first two bits. Assuming that the seven sequential bits from the PRBS generator are then received via the input 160 of the PRBS error detector 150 without error, then the state of the seven-stage shift register in the PRBS error detector 150 will be identical to the state of the seven-stage shift register in the PRBS generator 140 just before the next bit is generated. To predict the next bit generated by the PRBS generator 140, the PRBS error detector 150 uses the gate 158 to perform an XOR operation on the first two received bits of the seven sequential bits from the PRBS generator 140. Because the PRBS error detector 150 taps the shift register at the same relative points as the PRBS generator 140, the XOR gate 158 outputs a predicted next bit, which is a prediction of the next bit that will be received from the PRBS generator 140. The XOR gate 159 performs a comparison between the predicted next bit output by the XOR gate 158, and the received next bit, which is the actual next bit received at the input 160 of the PRBS error detector 150.
If there is no error during the transmission of the actual next bit from the PRBS generator 140 then the predicted next bit will be the same value as the received actual next bit. In this case, the XOR gate 159 will generate a logical "0" output indicating no error. Conversely, if there is an error during the transmission of the actual next bit from the PRBS generator 140 then the received actual next bit will differ from the predicted next bit. In this case, the XOR gate 159 will detect the difference and will generate an output error signal, in this case a logical "1" output.
A drawback of the PRBS error detector 150 is that it assumes the portion of the PRBS stored in the seven-stage shift register contains no errors. If an error exists in any of the bits stored in the shift register then the PRBS error detector 150 will generate an erroneous predicted next bit when the erroneous bit reaches the sixth stage 156 and the seventh stage 157 of the shift register. The erroneous predicted next bit will cause the second XOR gate 159 to generate the error signal at the output of the second XOR gate 159 if the received actual next bit is correct, or to generate a no-error signal if the received actual next bit is erroneous.
If an erroneous bit is received in the PRBS error detector 150, the second XOR gate 159 will output the error signal as described above. Later, when the received erroneous bit propagates through the shift register, it will cause erroneous predictions of the predicted bit when the erroneous bit is tapped from the sixth and seventh stages 156 and 157. Assuming no further erroneous bits are received, the two erroneous predictions of the predicted bit will cause the second XOR gate 159 to generate two further error signals. Thus, for each erroneous bit received in isolation, the PRBS error detector will generate three error signals.
In the PRBS error detector 150, the bit error rate may be calculated by dividing the number of error signals received during an observation period by the length of the observation period, and then dividing that result by a factor of three to account for the three error signals generated for each received erroneous bit. However, this calculation assumes that the erroneous bits are received in isolation, that is, no more than one error bit is received every seven cycles. If erroneous bits are received more frequently than once every seven bits then there will not necessarily be three error signals produced for each received erroneous bit, and in general fewer than three error signals will be generated. For example, two consecutive erroneous bits received in the PRBS error detector 150 will produce only four error signals, two error signals fewer than if the erroneous bits had been received in isolation.
The problem of non-isolated erroneous bits in PRBS error detectors can be ignored as a statistically unlikely event. Or the problem can be solved using statistical analysis to determine the likely number of these non-isolated erroneous bits and then re-factoring the bit error rate based on the analysis. Both of these approaches assume a statistical model for distribution of error bits. Statistical models only provide estimates for the distribution of error bits, and it is therefore inevitable that the bit error rate measured using these approaches will not be completely accurate. For example, if the statistical model assumes a random distribution of error bits then error bits resulting from systematic errors in the communication channel will potentially be ignored. A further drawback with the statistical analysis approach is that it requires additional computation adding to the complexity, reliability and cost of a bit error rate tester.
From the foregoing it will be seen that there remains a need for a simple, fast, easily-realizable bit error detector that gives a correct error indication regardless of the statistical distribution of erroneous bits in a bit sequence such as a PRBS.

Method and apparatus for detecting an error in a bit sequence

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A ground terminal is provided for a vehicle. The ground terminal includes a hub having an opening extending therethrough. The opening is configured to receive a fastener for attaching the hub to the vehicle. A plurality of electrical contacts extend radially outward from the hub. Each electrical contact extends outwardly from the hub to a free end portion. The free end portions of the electrical contacts are arranged in an arcuate pattern.

The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to electrical ground terminals, and more particularly, to a ground terminal assembly for use with a vehicle.
Modern vehicles are equipped with a wide variety of electrical components. For example, automobiles include electrical components that facilitate operation of the automobile, such as headlights and fuel injection components, along with auxiliary electrical components such as radios and power windows. Such electrical components are electrically connected to an electrical power source of the vehicle, for example a battery, via electrical wiring. Electrical wiring also grounds each electrical component to the vehicle. Specifically, each electrical component is electrically connected to a ground terminal via one or more electrical wires. The ground terminal is mounted on a ground point of the vehicle such that electrical connection between the electrical wire(s) and the ground terminal grounds the electrical component to the vehicle. For example, some electrical components of automobiles are electrically connected to ground points located within the engine compartment of the automobile.
Currently, at least some known ground terminals are capable of connecting only a limited number of electrical wires to the corresponding ground point. Specifically, at least some known ground terminals only include two electrical contacts such that the ground terminal can only connect to two electrical wires. Accordingly, at least some known ground terminals are only capable of grounding a limited number of different electrical components to a common ground point. As the number of electrical components of modern vehicles increases, the number of ground points and ground terminals therefore also increases, which may increase a cost and/or a difficulty of assembling the vehicle.
There is a need for a ground terminal for a vehicle that is capable of grounding an increased number of electrical components to a common ground point of the vehicle as compared with at least some known ground terminals.


A scent shooter apparatus is disclosed. The scent shooter may include a projectile launcher. A vessel may be coupled to the projectile launcher and configured to hold a pellet and release the pellet during operation of the apparatus. The apparatus may include a piercer mounted on the vessel. The piercer may be disposed to pierce the pellet during operation of the apparatus.

The present invention generally relates to hunting equipment, and more particularly, to a scent shooter.
One technique employed by hunters is to draw game out by dousing an area with chemicals that attract wildlife. For example, game can be lured into a particular area by using pheromones or other natural scents such as animal urine that the game can detect.
Some current methods of covering an area with these chemicals include manually pouring or spraying, however, these techniques can mean that a hunter physically traverses the same area so that the hunter's motion scares potential game away or may leave behind his own scent that the game can detect. Some other techniques include using breakable pellets that contain attractive scent as a lure. The pellets can be shot or launched toward an area so that the hunter may be an undetectable distance away, for example, approximately 240 ft. However, some pellets do not break on impact and are wasted, lost in the brush.
As can be seen, there is a need for an apparatus that improves the release of scent from a pellet that can be discharged from a distance.


A semiconductor device with reduced device resistance is disclosed. The semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor chip in which the chip thickness at the center portion of the chip where the circuit elements are disposed is uniform and is different from the chip thickness near the chip sides distant from the circuit elements.

Semiconductor devices are trending towards thin chips. One reason is the thinning of the final products such as cell phones and flat panel TVs. Also, thin chips perform better in at least two aspects: better heat dissipation and lower power consumption from the reduction of device resistance as the chips get thinner. Semiconductor materials such as silicon have finite electrical resistivity. Electricity flows through it converts power into heat instead of work and is generally undesirable.
One way to reduce device resistance is to build the device with thinner chips. Integrated circuits (ICs) are built in semiconductor wafers of a certain thickness for the physical support of the circuit elements in the wafers. After the front-end processes are complete, the wafer moves to the back-end processes commonly include a back grind step to reduce the wafer thickness before the individual chips are severed from the wafer and packaged. Currently the most advanced wafer thinning technique is the TAIKO thinning process, which is a modified back grind process that grinds the middle portion of the wafer and leaves a 3 mm edge around the wafer. In a manufacturing setting, the taiko thinning process can thin a semiconductor wafer down to about 50 μm; experimental reports have reported to have achieved 40 μm. The drawbacks of taiko thinning are the high cost of the equipment and the difficulty to handle the individual thin and fragile chips after they were severed from the wafer.
Other proposed methods to reduce chip resistance including the creation of recesses, vias, pits, cavities, and grid patterns of concave and convex portions on the back side of the wafers to be later filled with metallic or other conductive materials. It is hoped that by the selective excavation of the semiconductor material from the back side to reduce the mass of the wafer and thus proportionally reduces the total resistance. So far, this model has not been borne out in real products.

Thinned semiconductor chip with edge support


Systems and methods for dynamically stable braking are disclosed. A first electromechanical brake actuator controller may be placed in communication with a second electromechanical brake actuator controller, wherein each of the first electromechanical brake actuator controller and second electromechanical brake actuator controller are in communication with electromechanical brake actuators that are associated with the same wheel. The first electromechanical brake actuator controller and second electromechanical brake actuator controllers may then communicate electromechanical brake actuator status information and take corrective measures in accordance with the status information.

In modern aircraft, braking is achieved when electromechanical actuators exert force (pressure) on a brake stack. Typically, the electromechanical actuators are spaced about a circumference of a brake stack. The electromechanical actuators may be controlled via one or more electromechanical actuator controllers. In certain circumstances, the electromechanical actuators may exert uneven force upon the brake stack, with each electromechanical actuator varying its force output over time. For example, an electromechanical actuator may apply an amount of force different from that commanded by an electromechanical actuator controller. In such cases, uneven force distribution may deform or deflect a portion of the brake stack, interfering with braking stability and degrading braking performance. The electromechanical actuator controllers may sense this force imbalance and attempt to correct it by commanding increased or decreased force from the same or other electromechanical brake actuators in an attempt to end the period of instability. However, other electromechanical actuator controllers may also recognize the imbalance and seek to correct the imbalance by taking corrective measures. This could result in a continuous cycle of over/under-correction by one electromechanical actuator controller responsive to the over/under-correction by another electromechanical actuator controller. Thus, braking becomes unstable over a period of time, and accordingly, there is a need for alternate methods and systems for dynamically stable braking, especially in aircraft braking.

System and methods for dynamically stable braking


A new and distinct Sutera cultivar named ‘SBABB10-0’ is disclosed, characterized a trailing plant habit, flexible stems, early flowering and distinctive violet-blue flowers. The new variety is an Sutera, typically produced as a garden or container plant.

The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program. The new variety originated from a cross pollination of the seed parent, an unnamed, unpatented proprietary selection of Sutera cordata with the pollen parent a different unnamed, unpatented Sutera cordata. The crossing was made during November of 2005, at a commercial greenhouse in New South Wales Australia. 'SBABB10-0' was discovered by the inventor, Graham Brown, a citizen of Australia, in New South Wales, at a commercial greenhouse during November of 2007.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'SBABB10-0' was first performed in New South Wales, Australia, at a commercial greenhouse by vegetative cuttings in November 2007. 'SBABB10-0' has since produced several generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


A protective football helmet is provided having a one-piece molded shell with an impact attenuation system. This system includes an impact attenuation member formed in an extent of the front shell portion by removing material from the front portion. The impact attenuation member changes how a portion of the shell having the impact attenuation member responds to an impact force having a component applied substantially normal to the impact attenuation member as compared to how the left and right side portions respond to the impact force.

Helmets and other protective headgear are commonly utilized to protect a wearer's head from injury. Typically, helmets are designed specifically for the particular sport or activity. Numerous sports, such as American football, hockey, and lacrosse, require players to wear helmets.
American football helmets have evolved since the inception of football. In the early years of football, football players did not wear helmets or protective headgear. As the number of football player head injuries increased, helmets became a required item of equipment. The football helmet used prior to World War II was primarily a leather cap with ear flaps. Subsequent to World War II, a football helmet was introduced having a hard outer shell made of plastic with a web support mounted in the shell to space it from the player's head. The web support was subsequently replaced with a type of shock absorbing liner or padding.
In addition to the outer shell with interior padding, the conventional football helmet includes a face guard, having either upper or lower side mounts, and a chin protector or strap, that fits snugly about the chin of the player, in order to secure the helmet to the player's head.
In contact sports such as football, helmets provide players a substantial degree of protection against injury to their heads due to impact forces that may be sustained; however, a large number of head injuries, particularly g-force injuries, continue to occur. Rapid acceleration or deceleration of the head (g-forces) has been deemed to be the cause of many sports-related injuries and is the subject of growing concern. When contact is made with the conventional helmet, the rigid outer shell moves as a unit, compressing the padding between the head and the shell on the contact side of the helmet. After some initial compression, the padding begins to move the head. As the entire helmet and head move away from contact, the padding begins to rebound and places increasing force on the head. This process of compressing padding while gradually imparting an increasing load to the head is the method conventional helmets use to address g-force impacts.
It is desirable to have an improved protective helmet which provides increased protection from impact forces sustained by the wearer. It is further desirable to have a protective helmet that provides a reduction of g-forces. It is also desirable to provide an improved sports helmet for contact sports.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Impact attenuation system for a protective helmet


A sleeve is disclosed for adornment and decoration of a baked good, including reshaping, to produce an appearance other than that of the original baked good. The sleeve may be constructed of a mineral-based substrate including a graphic on an outer surface.

Adornment and decorating of baked goods is an art practiced by many a baker; not just at home, but also in the baking industry. Adornment and decoration includes the use of icing and other coverings, colorings, forming baked goods into specific shapes. However, these types of adornment and decoration consume resources, for example, resources consumed by additional preparation steps, resources consumed by the use of additional material, as well as resources consumed by additional costs incurred. A method for adorning and decorating baked goods that reduces resource consumption would therefore be of value to those skilled in the art of baking goods.

Device and method for adorning and decorating baked goods


A vehicle lamp is provided having a heat sink having a first end mounted to a lamp housing and having a free distal end extending into a light chamber adjacent a central optical axis of the lamp. A light emitting diode (LED) is mounted adjacent the distal end of the heat sink to have a central light emitting axis opposite the optical axis of the lamp. A parabolic reflector is positioned rearward of the heat sink, a parabolic reflective surface extending at an upper and lower solid angle relative to the LED, wherein the upper and lower combined solid angle is greater than a half-paraboloid.

According to one embodiment, a vehicle lamp is provided having a heat sink. The heat sink has a first end mounted to a lamp housing and having a free distal end extending into a light chamber adjacent a central optical axis of the lamp. A light emitting diode (LED) is mounted adjacent the distal end of the heat sink to have a central light emitting axis opposite the optical axis of the lamp. A parabolic reflector is positioned rearward of the heat sink, a parabolic reflective surface extending at an upper and lower solid angle relative to the LED, wherein the upper and lower combined solid angle is greater than a half-paraboloid.


In general, techniques are described for implementing a virtual snooping bridge in computer networks. The techniques may be implemented by a ring network comprised of a plurality of ring network devices arranged in a ring topology. In one aspect, a ring network device coupled to an adjacent device that provides access to multicast content implements the techniques. This ring network device comprises one or more ports and a control unit. The ports receive ring messages from one or more of the other ring network devices in accordance with a group management ring protocol (GMRP). The ring messages indicate operations requested by one or more host devices with respect to delivery of content of the multicast group. The control unit then presents the received operations to the adjacent network device such that, from the perspective of the adjacent network device, the ring network appears as a single layer two network device.

A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share resources. Often, in highly populated areas, the computer network is configured in a ring topology, where certain devices, referred to as "nodes," are interconnected via network links in the shape of a ring. A node may represent a switch or any other type of layer 2 (L2) network device. That is, each node couples via a separate network link to two adjacent node, one clockwise and the other counter-clockwise around the ring. When shaped in a ring, the network is referred to as a "ring network."
Generally, the nodes provide access to the ring network. The computing devices couple to the nodes to gain access to the ring network and thereby interconnect with other computing devices coupled to the ring network. The computing devices generate data, video and voice traffic and exchange this traffic with other computing devices via the interconnection provided by the ring network. The nodes forward the data traffic typically in a determined direction, e.g., clockwise or counter-clockwise, around the ring to facilitate the exchange. The ring network may provide generous geographical coverage due to its shape, which allows the ring network to reach computing devices dispersed over wide geographical areas. The ring network may be resilient in that it can forward data in both the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions to avoid a faulted link.
While providing generous geographical coverage and reasonable resilience, the ring network may suffer from traffic loops. For certain types of data that do not include a specific destination, such as multicast or broadcast data, for example, each of the nodes may simply forward this data around the ring to ensure each node forwards the ring to every computing device. If none of the nodes identifies that this data is looping the ring network, each node may continue to forward the traffic endlessly, thereby establishing a traffic loop, which may substantially impact the performance of the ring network by needlessly consuming network resources, such as node processing time and memory as well as link bandwidth.
To correct for traffic loops, some ring networks implement network management techniques. One such network management technique, for example, may designate one of the devices of the ring network as a master or control node, where the control node includes a primary port and a secondary port. The control node forwards traffic via the primary port and blocks traffic via the secondary port. Typically, the master device blocks the secondary port logically. In other words, the master device may actively filter traffic arriving via the secondary port, discarding or dropping certain traffic, such as data traffic, but allowing other traffic, such as control traffic used by the master device to monitor or otherwise control the ring network. In this way, the control node effectively prevents traffic from endlessly looping around the ring network. In some instances, such as when a fault occurs in the network, the control node needs to unblock the secondary port and redirects traffic around the ring to avoid the fault.
To detect the fault, the ring network generally implements a ring management protocol. In accordance with the ring management protocol, the transport nodes may, in some instances, detect a fault in a link adjacent to the nodes and send a message that conforms to a format specified by the ring management protocol to the control node. The message indicates that a fault has been detected. In other instances, the control node periodically generates and forwards a fault detection message, which is a type of control message, around the ring via the primary port in accordance with the ring management protocol. If the control node does not receive the fault detection message via the secondary port, receives the message indicating that a fault has been detected or detects a fault itself in a link adjacent to the control node, the control node determines that a fault has occurred and unblocks the secondary port. The control node then begins forwarding traffic via both the primary and secondary ports as the detected fault provides a break in the traffic loop. The remaining nodes of the ring network, commonly referred to as transport nodes, learn of the unblocked port by virtue of receiving the traffic forwarded from the secondary port of the control node and reconfigure the way in which they forward traffic to account for the fault and the unblocked port. While the ring network may effectively reconfigure itself in this manner to overcome network faults, often the reconfiguration disrupts delivery of the multicast and broadcast traffic, requiring those computing devices already joined to and receiving multicast traffic from a multicast group (which are generally referred to by convention as "host devices" or "multicast host devices") to re-request the multicast content via multicast control protocols.

Virtual snooping bridge in computer networks


An apparatus is provided for bicycles to make them more utilitarian and functional. The attachment is easily attached, and potentially attached without damage or significant modification to the bicycle. The apparatus includes a frame member attached to the bottom bracket portion of the existing bicycle, and a gimbal attached to the fork of the existing bicycle in place of the original front tire. The apparatus is steerable using the handle bars and fork on the existing bicycle frame, and is configured for stability when cornering. The apparatus includes a cargo carrier located in front of the cycler where it is easy to see, while maintaining a stable center of gravity and also an ability to lean into corners for cornering stability. Variations include one or two front wheels, and one or two steering drive links. Also, the apparatus is a flexible design providing multiple potential utilitarian uses.

The present invention relates to self-propelled bicycles and tricycles, and more particularly relates to a kit for converting a bicycle to a tricycle, where the kit further includes adaptations for specialized use such as for transporting cargo. The present invention also relates to a kit for converting a traditional bicycle into a cargo bicycle with elongated frame.
Many different manually propelled bicycles and tricycles exist. Further, some are adapted with baskets or other carriers to allow safe and secure carriage of items. However, known manually-propelled bicycles and tricycles are often cumbersome, heavy, and/or expensive. Some devices have also been constructed to combine two bicycles into a four-wheeled device that can be manually pedaled. However, further improvements are desired in terms of lower cost, greater simplicity in structure (including ease of assembly), and greater functionality for specialized function while maintaining optimal aesthetics. Also, it is desired to have a tricycle adapted to lean into corners to improve overall stability and the operator's sense of stability while cornering. Also, it is desired to have a conversion kit which would take advantage of existing bicycle frames and components while incorporating new structures that are robust and well-designed for good rideability.

Bicycle conversion kit and tricycle apparatus


A power supply apparatus for a door glass for a vehicle that includes the door glass installed on a door of the vehicle and configured to be movable in an upward and downward direction is provided, wherein an operation module is installed on the door glass to use power, and a power source part is installed on the door. The power supply apparatus includes a rail installed on the door and provided with a rail terminal to electrically conduct with the power source part, and a slider provided with a contactor slidably contacting the rail terminal and electrically conduct with the operation module, while moving in the upward and downward direction integrally with the door glass, wherein the contactor and the rail terminal maintain an electrically conductible state at all times regardless of a change in a position of the door glass.

A door of a vehicle is mounted with a door glass for lighting and ventilation.
Since the door glass is transparent, a tinting film is attached to the door glass for protecting privacy, reducing solar radiation quantity, blocking UV rays, and the like.
Meanwhile, in recent years, various technologies for freely adjusting the concentration of the tinting film have been tried. Further, a technology has been tried to use the door glass to display information like a display, or allow the passenger's touch to be input like a touch panel.
To perform such a technology, the power required for operating the door glass should be provided.
However, since the door glass is installed to be moved upward and downward by a regulator installed on the door for ventilation, the power is not easily supplied. As a proposal of supplying power to the door glass which moves upward and downward, a wireless power transmission system may be adopted, but the cost is excessively increased. Further, as the location of the door glass is changed by the moving upward and downward of the door glass, the power may not be transmitted when the locations of a transmission module and a reception module are changed. Further, there is a problem in that it is difficult to apply the wireless power transmission system to the actual vehicle because the assembling is not easy due to the size of the wireless power transmission system and the regulations related to electromagnetic waves are not satisfied.
The contents described in this section are to help the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and may include what is not previously known to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

Power supply apparatus for door glass for vehicle


Provided herein are methods to generate and screen peptides that exhibit drug like stabilities in vitro and in vivo. By selecting for enzyme resistance, Applicants are able to derive peptides that are not only stable to a broad spectrum of proteases, but also stable to other drug processing enzymes such as cytochrome P450s. This approach provides a general method to the rapid development of highly stable peptides for therapeutic development and diagnosis. The peptides are further modified for oral bioavailability. The methods can be applied to similar peptides for the making of therapeutic compositions.

Improved understanding of cellular function as well as disease pathology provides many possible targets for developing new therapeutic and diagnostic reagents. A general problem with turning this cellular knowledge into treatments is that many potential targets are functionally undruggable. Hopkins et al. (2002) Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 1:727. Therefore, it is not possible to develop small molecules that can modulate many of the protein-protein interactions that control cellular function.
Monoclonal antibodies provide an important route to target protein surfaces and represent both a large and growing portion of approved therapeutics. Nelson et al. (2009) Nat. Biotech. 27:331. However, antibodies are expensive to produce and dose, difficult to administer and control quality, can produce neutralizing immune responses, and cannot be used to target intracellular proteins. Cho et al. (1996) Trends in Biotech. 14:153. The fact that such cumbersome molecules dominate therapeutic protein-binding reagents demonstrates both the importance of these reagents and our desperation at finding viable replacements.
Peptides provide an attractive alternative route to developing this type of ligand. Non-ribosomal proteins such as cyclosporine are peptidic compounds that incorporate amino acids beyond the 20 common residues coded for by DNA. These molecules are capable of modulating intracellular protein-protein interactions (PPI), and exhibit oral bioavailability. However, there have been a limited number of therapeutic molecules derived by searching natural products. Ho, S. et al. (1996) Clin. Immunol. And Immunopathol. 80:S40; Baumann et al. (1994) Protein Sci. 3:750; and De La Cruz et al. (1996) Biochem. 35:14054.
Selection methods such as mRNA display and phage display have been shown to be capable to generating peptidic ligands able to bind to and modulate PPI for a very large variety of protein interactions. Ja et al. (2004) Biochemistry 43:9265; Ja et al. (2006) ACS Chem. Biol. 1:570; and Millward et al. (2007) ACS Chem. Biol. 2:625. However, these peptides suffer from poor bioavailability due in large part to proteolysis.
A more traditional approach to peptide medication and drug development requires the generation of a lead molecule followed by extensive medicinal experimentation. Present current strategies include helix stapling, peptoid synthesis, beta-peptide generation, and N-methyl incorporation. Fiacco, S. V. and Roberts, R. W. (2008) ChemBio Chem 9:2200; Walensky et al. (2004) Science 305:1466; Miller et al. (1994) Bioorganic & Medicinal Chem. Letters 4:2657; and Nguyen, J. T. et al. (1998) Science 282:2088. However these techniques are very labor intensive, often taking years, with no guarantee of success. Many times the resulting product will exhibit a loss in function, specificity, or both.
Previous attempts to stabilize and enhance protease stability of a peptide include chemically scanning each of the 9 positions with an N-methyl analog. Four (4) of the 9 positions enhanced protease resistance indicating that a single N-methyl provided a window of protection around the scissile bond. The resulting protease resistance was dramatic, ranging from 70 fold to over 1000 fold at the site of cleavage. Unfortunately only one of the 9 substitutions retained the same binding specificity as the parent molecule; 4 of the sequences lost function while 4 had altered specificity now binding the related protein Gα12 instead of the original target, gαi1. Interestingly combining the two best Gα12 binding modifications resulted in a total loss of function (Fiacco et al. (2008), supra).
Another approach involved making covalent cyclic mRNA display libraries that had the unnatural amino acid N-methyl phenylalanine (NMF). That work showed that cyclic peptides could have antibody like affinity and that cyclization improved stability. However, the increase in protease resistance was modest (2.6 fold) and the resulting molecules lacked the unnatural amino acid (Millward et al. (2007) supra; Frankel et al. (2003) Chemistry & Biology 10:1043 and Gilmore et al., In Implementation and Redesign of Catalytic Function in Biopolymers; Springer Berlin/Heidelberg (1999) 202:77). Additionally Phe is a large residue and may be compatible in only a few of the positions.
Thus, a need exists to devise a scheme that retains the binding function of a natural peptide while dramatically improving its stability both in vitro and in vivo, that can be applied to any target of interest, thereby overcoming the limitation of the helix stapling methods described by Walensky et al. (2004), supra., which can only be applied to some helical structures.
A need also exists for new approaches to target unmet medical needs. Diabetes is an example. Diabetes can be divided into two categories. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by individuals with the inability to create insulin. This form of diabetes is a progressive disease characterized by significant loss in pancreatic β-cell mass leading to impaired insulin secretion. Impaired insulin secretion results in hyperglycemia which can lead to serious health problems such as ketoacidolysis if left untreated. Iyer, H., et al. (2010) Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 12:179. Type 2 is characterized by the inability to properly utilize insulin. Long term misregulation of blood sugar leads to an increased risk of heart failure, kidney disease, strokes, and limb amputation. Ford, E. S. Journal of Diabetes Ford, E. S. (Jul. 8, 2011). In the United States, more than 90% of individuals with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. WebMd 2011, available at the web address: diabetes.webmd.com/guide/type. Currently, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Center for Disease Control 2011, available at the web address: www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/estimates11.html.
According to the World Health Organization as of 2011, approximately 220 million people, or 3.2% of the world population, have diabetes. This number is expected to increase to 4.4% of the overall world population by 2030. Goldberg, M., et al. (2003) Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2:289. Diabetes becomes more prevalent with age, effecting 18.3% (8.6 million) of Americans over 60 years old (Center for Disease Control 2011, available at the web address: www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/estimates 11.html).
There is a significant precedent for the development of peptides that are capable of binding protein surfaces with high affinity and specificity for the purpose of controlling protein-protein interactions in vitro. Ja, W. et al. (2006) ACS Chem. Biol. 1:570; Karatan, E. et al. (2004) Chemistry & Biology 11:835; Fuh, G. et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275:21486; and Stoop, A. A. and Craik, C. S. (2003) Nat Biotech 21:1063. However, their development into orally bioavailable therapeutics or therapeutics able to reach intracellular targets remains a tremendous challenge. This is due in part to the intrinsic difficulties these types of ligands face in crossing lipid bilayers. Morris, M. C. et al. (23001) Nat Biotech 19:1173; Goldberg, M. and Gomez-Orellana, I. (2003) Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2:289. There are examples pharmacologically relevant peptidic ligands that are thought to passively diffuse across cell membranes such as cyclosporine, amanitin, and phalloidin. Ho, S. et al. (1996) Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology 80:S40; Baumann, K. et al. (1994) Protein Sci. 3:750.; and De La Cruz, E. M. and Pollard, T. D. (1996) Biochemistry 35:14054.
Current biological treatments for diabetics typically center around the injection of various insulin products. Sales of insulin and insulin analogs resulted in over $15 billion in revenue in 2010. Currently, there is no FDA approved oral formulation for insulin. Developing an oral route to insulin administration would be a tremendous benefit to those affected by the diabetes, not only because of convenience, but also due to potential health benefits of this route of administration. After secretion from the pancreas, insulin travels to the liver before dispersion to the rest of the body. Orally absorbed drugs follow this same route; however drugs administered by injection do not. It is postulated that an oral treatment would alleviate adverse side effects of insulin administration such as weight gain and hypoglycemia. Funnell, M. M. (2006) Clinical Diabetes 24:154.
Effective treatment of diabetes also is hindered by low patient compliance. Today, insulin is administered by self-injection. An orally bioavailable drug would enhance patient compliance. However, orally administered drugs, such as peptidic ligands, are hindered by the facts that peptidic ligands must reach their targets to be effective diagnostically or therapeutically. Additionally, intracellular proteins must cross the plasma membrane and bioavailable peptides must traverse the intestinal mucosa to reach their targets. This invention addresses the limitations of the current state of the art.

Methods for preparing high throughput peptidomimetics, orally bioavailable drugs and compositions containing same


A sample of lard or fat is taken from a carcass of a pig or part thereof and heated until the fat is liquid, whereupon the sample is extracted by a polar solvent, and the contents of the indole compounds associated with boar taint in the extract are determined. A sample container useable when carrying out the method includes a container divided into an open first chamber and a closed second chamber, where the two chambers are separated from each other by a partition wall breakable by a slight physical load. A closing device associated with the open container includes a third chamber provided at the top with an area penetrable by an injection needle and at the bottom includes a filter which may be lowered into the container. The method is simple and economically advantageous, especially for use in relatively small slaughterhouses.

Cut out pieces from uncastrated boars may develop a bad smell, the so-called boar taint, when heated. In castrated boars, on the other hand, such obnoxious smells rarely appear. Male pigs are therefore usually castrated at a young age in order to prevent the meat therefrom from displaying the unpleasant boar taint when prepared later in the household. In other connections, the castration of male pigs has an unfavourable effect on the animals, as their utilization of the feeding stuff declines, their sickness rate increases and the meat percentage of the carcasses simultaneously falls.
The presence of certain indole compounds in the pork produces this very unpleasant boar taint when heated. Especially the compounds skatole and indole play a very important role. A good correlation has thus been found between the contents in the pork of skatole and indole, respectively, and the development of the boar taint. So far it has not been possible to determine these compounds specifically by a method which can be used in slaughter-houses in an economically acceptable manner.
WO 83/00928 (Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut) discloses a method for the detection of boar taint by preparing an extract of a meat and/or fat sample, reacting said extract with a color reagent, for which the color intensity developed at certain wavelengths exhibit a statistical relationship with boar taint, determining the transmittance or absorbance of the reacted extract at one or more such wavelengths, and inserting the recorded values in the said statistical relationship.
DK patent No. 154,667 (Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut) discloses a method for the determination of the degree of boar taint, whereby a sample of meat is extracted with a polar organic solvent, whereupon, optionally following a purification, the extract is analyzed by spectrophotometry or flourometry to determine one or more parameters which are statistically correlated with the development of boar taint. In one embodiment, (also disclosed in WO 83/00928) the degree of boar taint in pork is determined by homogenizing a weighed sample of lard and extracting said sample with tris-(hydroxymethyl)-amino-methane and acetone. A color reagent is added to the extract and the absorbance is measured spectrophotometricly in a wavelength range from 400 to 800 nm. The method is suitable for use in large slaughter-houses, where 1200-1400 samples are analyzed daily. In small slaughterhouses, where for instance less than about 500 samples are to be analyzed daily, the individual analysis will be too costly, as the analytical apparatus is expensive. By the method skatole and indole are not specifically determined, but rather the total contents of skatole equivalents of the sample.
The method disclosed in DK patent No. 154,667 is to a large extent used in Danish slaughterhouses and by means of a standardized spectrophotometric method a limit for the rejection of pigs has been set at the maximum amount of 0.25 ppm skatole equivalents.
The inventor of the present invention has carried out a regression analysis of the test results which are stated in DK patent No. 154,667 in Table I page 15 and Table II, page 17. The correlation factors thereby found are stated below.
When measuring meat extracts fluorometrically, a correlation factor to an organoleptic evaluation of the smell of 0.72 was obtained, while for lard extracts a correlation factor to an organoleptic evaluation of the smell of 0.24 was obtained. When comparing samples of lard analyzed by flourometry and by spectrophotometry, respectively, a correlation factor between the two analytical methods of 0.13 was obtained, and the correlation factor between the spectrophotometric measurement and the subjective estimate of the smell was 0.70. Calculations have been made on the basis of the results in Table II of the above DK patent of the fluorometric and spectrophotometric measurements both with and without the 8 young sows stated in page 17, lines 28-30 of the patent. Whether the calculations have been carried out with or without the 8 young sows, does, however, not change the importance of the results. A correlation factor of 1.00 corresponds to a correlation of 100%.
It may thus be concluded that the method disclosed in DK patent No. 154,667 is unsuitable for determining the degree of boar taint by spectrofluorometry on samples of lard.
It is thus the object of the present invention to provide a method for determining the degree of boar taint in pork whereby the compounds which, when heated, cause the unpleasant smell may be determined more specifically. It is thereby possible with greater certainty to point out those carcasses which, when prepared, will produce the boar taint which is unacceptable to the consumer, and thereby to prevent an unnecessary rejection of pork.
It is also the object of the present invention to provide a simple and relatively inexpensive method for the determination of the degree of boar taint, said method being especially suitable for use in small slaughterhouses which cannot bear the cost of investing in complicated and expensive analytical equipment.
Further, it is an object of the invention to provide a practical sample container for selecting a sample of fat where a prepared sample may be taken directly from the sample container, said sample being ready for injection into an analytical apparatus, for instance a HPLC apparatus.

Method for determining indole compounds associated with boar taint in pork as well as a sample container to be used in the method