2-(3', 4'-difluorophenyl)-1,3-dioxane derivatives represented by the general formula: ##STR1## wherein R is a linear alkyl group having from 1 to 8 atoms, and having large positive dielectric constant anisotropy (.DELTA..epsilon.) and small refractive index anisotropy (.DELTA.n). The dioxane derivatives may be included in liquid crystal compositions for improved display devices having a low threshold voltage, a low driving voltage and a wide visual angle.

This invention relates to 2-(3',4'-difluorophenyl)-1,3-dioxane derivatives, and more particularly to novel liquid crystal compositions including 2-(3',4'-difluorophenyl)-1,3-dioxane derivatives suitable for use in electro-optical displays.
Liquid crystal display devices utilize electro-optical effects possessed by liquid crystals. The liquid crystal materials used in these devices have a nematic phase, a cholesteric phase and a smectic phase. The most widely used display mode uses liquid crystal materials in the nematic phase and includes the dynamic scattering type (DSM), guest-host type (G-H), twisted nematic type (TN), super-twisted nematic type (STN), super-twisted birefringence type (SBE) modes and the like. The driving systems used for these liquid crystal display devices include the static driving system, time-sharing driving system (simple matrix driving system), active matrix driving system, two frequency driving system and the like.
Liquid crystal display devices have several advantages, particularly liquid crystal display devices using liquid crystal materials in the twisted nematic or super twisted nematic modes or the like. The devices are small in size and can be made thin and the devices can be driven at low voltage with low power consumption. The liquid crystal material is a light receiving element so that when a liquid crystal display is viewed over a long time, eye strain does not occur.
In view of these benefits, liquid crystal display technology has been applied to watches, cameras, electronic counters, audio equipment, automobile dashboard indicators, telephone equipment, measuring devices and the like. More particularly, liquid crystal display devices have also been utilized recently in personal computers and word processor displays and in other devices including displays which require high resolution and many pixels, including televisions and the like. Thus, liquid crystal display devices continue to attract attention as potentially replacing cathode ray tubes. As a result, liquid crystal display devices are in a wide variety of areas, and it is likely that their use will be broadened further.
For practical use, liquid crystal compositions must possess the following characteristics:
1. The liquid crystal materials must be colorless and thermally, optically, electrically and chemically stable;
2. Have a wide nematic temperature range;
3. Have a low threshold voltage (V.sub.th);
4. The temperature dependency of threshold voltage be small;
5. A wide visual angle; and
6. Have a rapid electro-optical response speed.
Many liquid crystal materials possess one of the above-desired properties, however, no single compound satisfies at least two of the above-desired properties. Thus, liquid crystal compositions are formed of several different liquid crystal compounds or liquid crystal compositions are obtained by mixing liquid crystal compounds with pseudo liquid crystal compounds to obtain the desired properties. The pseudo liquid crystal compounds are compounds resembling liquid crystal compounds in their molecular formulas, but fail to manifest liquid crystal phases.
In particular, since the integrated circuit (IC) driving the liquid crystal display device has limited resistance to voltage, when a liquid crystal display device is operated with a power source or is a large scale time-sharing device, it is desirable to decrease the driving voltage of the liquid crystal display device. In order to decrease the driving voltage of a liquid crystal display device, it is necessary to decrease the threshold voltage (V.sub.th) as much as possible, since V.sub.th represents the driving voltage. Generally, V.sub.th is reduced by including a compound having a large positive dielectric constant anisotropy (.DELTA..epsilon.). These compound include, for example: ##STR2## wherein R is a linear alkyl or alkoxy group.
These conventional compounds, however, also have large refractive index anisotropy (.DELTA.n). The visual angle is dependent upon the pre-tilt of the liquid crystal molecule and the visual angle range widens as .DELTA.n decreases and narrows as .DELTA.n increases. Thus, these conventional compounds have a narrow visual angle and narrow the visual angle of a liquid crystal display device in which they are included and are not completely satisfactory.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved liquid crystal material for use in a nematic liquid crystal composition having a low threshold voltage and a small refractive index anisotropy.

1,3-dioxane derivatives and composition including same


The A/D conversion circuit according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a first sampling capacitor; a first sampling switch; a buffer circuit; a second sampling capacitor; a second sampling switch; a first converter; a first reset switch; and a second reset switch. The first and second sampling switches are turned on to track voltage to the first sampling capacitor and to sample buffer voltage to the second sampling capacitor through the buffer circuit. The first sampling switch is turned off to hold voltage. The second sampling switch is turned off so that the first converter reads the voltage from the second sampling capacitor to perform A/D conversion thereon. After that, the first and second reset switches reset the first and second sampling capacitors.

A track/hold circuit is used in the former stage of an analog/digital converter (hereinafter referred to as A/D converter) etc. to track and hold input analog voltage. Generally, such a track/hold circuit has a buffer circuit to drive an input capacitor of the A/D converter arranged in the latter stage. Particularly, this buffer circuit requires high bias current to secure sufficient track speed for high-speed operation, namely a sufficient band.
On the other hand, required is a high-speed track/hold circuit with low power consumption. It is known, as a structure of such a high-speed track/hold circuit with low power consumption, to provide a phase to reset the input terminal of the buffer before performing tracking process. By employing this structure, restrictions on the track speed depending on bias current can be removed.
However, in order to sufficiently reset output voltage in a limited reset phase period, bias current depending on the period is required in the above technique. That is, higher bias current is required as the period becomes shorter. Accordingly, there is a problem that power consumption cannot be reduced effectively.


The present invention provides an α-glucosidase inhibitor containing a novel epigallocatechin gallate trimer and an epigallocatechin gallate polymer. Decomposition of starch derived from a meal and sugar derived from a polysaccharide can be suppressed by α-glucosidase inhibitory action, thus suppressing absorption. A food and drink excellent in α-glucosidase inhibitory action for suppressing sugar absorption and further for preventing diabetes for a long time can be provided by adding the α-glucosidase inhibitor to a food and drink.

The α-glucosidase inhibitory substance inhibits α-glucosidase localized on the intestinal epithelium to suppress and delay decomposition/absorption of a saccharide. Thus, it has a suppressive action on elevation of blood sugar level. Therefore, the α-glucosidase inhibitory substance is useful for various diseases derived from chronic hyperglycemia, such as diabetes and adiposity. Since α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was found in a malt component in 1933, many α-glucosidase inhibitory substances derived from plants such as wheat and beans have been found.
In 1966, nojirimycin having α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was isolated from a microorganism metabolite and its structure was determined. An analogous compound thereof, 1-deoxynojirimycin, which was obtained from a mulberry-leaf extract, is known to have α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. A method for extracting it without reducing its activity is disclosed (Patent Literature 1).
Furthermore, it has been reported that a substance isolated from an extract of Kothalahimbutu's (Salacia reticulate) root and having a cyclitol structure of a 13-membered ring having a sulfoxide has high maltase inhibitory activity of 0.093 μM in terms of IC50 (Patent Literature 2).
Furthermore, as the anthocyanin compounds isolated from the roots of morning glory and violet sweet potato, namely, diacylated pelargonidin (IC50: 60-107 μM), cyanidin (IC50: 193 μM) and 3-sophoroside-5-glucoside (IC50: 200 μM) of peonidin, are reported to have maltase inhibitory activity (Non Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, substances such as theasinensin A (maltase inhibitory activity: 142 μM in terms of IC50) contained in tea leaves, a theaflavin derivative having a galloyl group and proanthocyanidin having an epiafzelechin gallate as a structural unit are confirmed to have maltase inhibitory activity(Patent Literature 3). However, a theaflavin derivative having a galloyl group has a maltase inhibitory activity of 10 to 136 μM in terms of IC50 but the content thereof in tea leaves is as extremely low as 0.1 to 0.2% (Non Patent Literature 2).
It has been reported that theaflavin of black tea and catechins of green tea have α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (Non Patent Literature 2). It is confirmed that (−)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (hereinafter, also referred to as "EGCG") and (−)-epicatechin-3-O-gallate having a galloyl group at position 3 among the catechins, and theaflavin-3-O-gallate and theaflavin-3,3′-di-O-gallate among the theaflavins have the activity. With respect to the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of black tea, the activities of its fractionated products and the like have been investigated. A fraction of a polymer whose polymerization degree is advanced by fermentation is also known to have the activity (Non Patent Literature 3).
Citation List
Patent Literature
PTL 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-60908
PTL 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-137925
PTL 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-231009
Non Patent Literature
NPL 1: J. Agric. Food Chem. 2001, 49, 1952-1956
NPL 2: J. Agric. Food. Chem., 55, 99-105, 2007
NPL 3: Chem. Pharm. Bull. 56(3), 266-272, 2008

Epigallocatechin gallate trimer and α-glucosidase inhibitor containing epigallocatechin gallate  polymer


The present disclosure disclose a vector flux weakening control system for a permanent magnet synchronous motor of an electric drive system, which includes a current closed-loop regulation module, a modulation index deviation calculation module, a current characteristic point setting module, a current compensation vector angle calculation module, a current compensation vector amplitude calculation module, a current compensation vector calculation module and a current instruction correction module. In the present disclosure, the three-phase short-circuit current of the motor is taken as the end point of flux weakening regulation, and when voltage saturation occurs, the motor control system can exit saturation; since an inverter supplies power through a power battery bus at the terminal of the motor, the terminal voltage thereof will not be as low as zero, and there is a large margin to deal with abnormal factors; by introducing a dq current and correcting it at the same time, the pressure of resisting voltage saturation can be distributed to the dq current, thus avoiding excessive deviation of an output torque caused by excessive uniaxial current regulation. According to the present disclosure, the influence of the flux weakening control process on the output torque of the drive system is reduced as much as possible while ensuring the safety of the drive system.

In the control system of an interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) for vehicles, because the controlled object-IPMSM inevitably changes in the practical application scene, the pre-solidified control parameters in the control program fail, which leads to the voltage saturation caused by the lack of flux weakening in the high-speed operation of the motor, endangering the stability of the motor drive system.
The IPMSM has the characteristics of a high power density, a wide operating range and a high efficiency, so it is widely used in the drive motor of an electric vehicles, and its torque equation is:Te=1.5Pn(φfiq+(Ld−Lq)idiq  (1)
in which, Te is an electromagnetic torque of the motor; Pn is the number of poles of the motor; φf is the flux of a rotor permanent magnet; iq is a q-axis current and id is a d-axis current. Ld is a d-axis inductance; Lq is a q-axis inductance; in the normal driving process of the IPMSM, Te>0, iq>0, id>0, and Ld<Lq.
It can be seen from the above equation that the torque is positively correlated with the current, but different dq axis current combinations will correspond to different torques, and there will be a set of specific dq current combinations under each fixed current amplitude, so that the motor can output the maximum torque under this current. Due to the saturation of the magnetic field, the dq-axis inductances Ld and Lq change with the change of the current when the current is larger than a certain range, and the maximum range of the change can reach as much as 200%. The change of these parameters makes it very difficult or even impossible to solve the optimal dq current combination under each current on line. Therefore, in vehicle motor control, the optimal current combination corresponding to each torque is generally obtained through experimental test and calibration. The line connected by all such current combinations in the full torque range is called the maximum torque per ampere (MTPA) curve of the IPMSM.
In addition, the operation of the IPMSM for vehicles relies on the inverter to convert the bus of the power battery into a three-phase alternating current, which means that the terminal voltage of the motor is constrained by the DC bus; the voltage equation of the IPMSM is:
                                          V            d                    =                                                    i                d                                                          R                s                                      +                                          L                d                                                                            di                  d                                dt                                      -                          ω                                                                                L                q                                                          i                q                                                                                V            q                    =                                                    i                q                                                          R                s                                      +                                          L                q                                                                            di                  q                                dt                                      +                          ω                                            (                                                      φ                    f                                    +                                                            L                      d                                                                                i                      d                                                                      )                                                                        (        2        )
in which, Vd is a d-axis voltage of the motor and Vq is a q-axis voltage of the motor; Rs is a stator resistance and co is an electrical angular velocity of the motor; at a high-speed and steady state, the amplitude of the terminal voltage Vs of the motor is approximately as below:|Vs|=ω√{square root over ((Lqiq)2+(φf+Ldid)2)}  (3);
the terminal voltage of the motor rises as the speed of the motor rises; when the terminal voltage of the motor exceeds the AC voltage amplitude that can be provided by a bus voltage, it is necessary to carry out flux weakening control, and the maximum AC voltage that can be provided by the bus at present is the voltage limit Vs_lmt, the expression of which is generally as follows:Vs_lmt=Vdc·MImax/√{square root over (3)}
in which, Vdc is the bus voltage, and MImax is the maximum modulation index of the motor control system, and its value is generally around 1, with a maximum of 1.1027.
In order to obtain the current combination that can satisfy both the torque equation and the voltage limit, the dq current combination corresponding to each torque under different buses and rotating speeds is still calibrated and obtained by experimental means; afterwards, these data are filled into tables and stored in a digital control chip. When the motor runs in real time, the torque instructions at different speeds and bus voltages are converted into corresponding dq current instructions by looking up the tables.
The premise that the above process can work normally is that the current combination obtained by calibrating the prototype experiment can be applied to each motor of the same type; however, in practical applications, the following aspects will cause this assumption to become not tenable:
1. The processes and materials will inevitably lead to the inconsistency of motors in batch production;
2. The deviation of the rotational deformation offset of the motor will lead to the deviation of the magnetic field orientation in terms of control, which will lead to the inconsistency between an actual dq current in the motor and an expected current instruction, even if the current regulator works normally;
3. The change of the ambient temperature will affect the flux linkage of a permanent magnet. When the temperature decreases, φf will increase, leading to the result that the dq current instruction obtained by calibration does not satisfy the voltage limit any more.
Therefore, in order to enhance the robustness of the high-speed operation area of the electric drive control system, the flux weakening control process is usually added.
To solve the problem of flux weakening in motor control, the invention patent CN101855825B puts forward a representative solution, that is, according to the difference between a voltage output by the current regulator and a voltage limit, a voltage deviation is obtained, and Id current correction obtained from the deviation through a proportional-integral (PI) process is superimposed on a D-axis current; the upper limit of the correction is limited to 0, thus deepening the flux weakening and achieving the purpose of flux weakening control, as shown in FIG. 1. According to the equation (3), when (φf+Ldid)>0, increasing the id in the negative direction can reduce the output voltage, that is, this solution is effective. However, when (φf+Ldid)<0, continuing to increase the id in the negative direction will increase Vq in a reverse direction, which will cause voltage saturation to become more severe. Therefore, when using this method, (φf+Ldid)>0 must be guaranteed; however, in the control of a vehicle motor, if this restriction is added, the reluctance torque of the motor in the high-speed region will not be fully utilized, thus sacrificing the performance of the motor.
Adopting the method of reducing id when the voltage is saturated in the above solution can deepen the flux weakening and make the motor exit the voltage saturation state, but this method has a great influence on the output torque, because only by correcting id, a large id correction amount is needed, and dq current combination changes greatly, which has a great influence on the output torque. The literature (T. M. Jahns, "Flux Weakening Regime Operation of an Interior Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor Drive", IEEE Trans. on Ind. Appl., vol. IA-23, no. 4, pp. 55-63, 1987) put forward a method to reduce iq in the flux weakening; however, only adjusting a single current also faces the problem of exerting a great impact on the output torque as mentioned in 2; there still lacks good existing technologies that can not only effectively deal with the voltage saturation problem, but also affect the output torque as little as possible.

Vector flux weakening control system for permanent magnet synchronous motor of electric drive system


A temperature controlled electric shoe that includes a generator configured to convert the kinetic energy of ambulation into electrical energy by means of a compressible heel section moving between a compressed position and a decompressed position, wherein a crank gear rotationally engages a spindle gear to rotate a circular magnet about a copper coil, whereby electrical energy is storable by means of a battery, said electrical energy therefore usable to heat a toe cap disposed within the shoe and power extant electronic accoutrements interconnected to the shoe by means of a plug connect, and wherein the compressible heel section further forces airflow selectively into the shoe interior, as desired, and alternately vents said airflow exteriorly to the shoe when a switch-valve is moved between a first valve position and a second valve position and a person wearing the shoe perambulates.

Various types of shoes are known in the prior art. However, what is needed is a temperature controlled electric shoe that includes a generator configured to convert the kinetic energy of ambulation into electrical energy by means of a compressible heel section moving between a compressed position and a decompressed position, wherein a crank gear rotationally engages a spindle gear to rotate a circular magnet about a copper coil, whereby electrical energy is storable by means of a battery, said electrical energy therefore usable to heat a toe cap disposed within the shoe and power extant electronic accoutrements interconnected to the shoe by means of a plug connect, and wherein the compressible heel section further forces airflow selectively into the shoe interior, as desired, and alternately vents said airflow exteriorly to the shoe when a switch-valve is moved between a first valve position and a second valve position and a person wearing the shoe ambulates.


A shifting device including first and second shift control members, a takeup element, a holding member, and a release member. The takeup element configured for winding and unwinding a tensioned control cable. The first control member is rotatable about a handlebar and configured to rotate the takeup to at least pull or wind the control cable onto the takeup. The second control member is a return-to-neutral member for rotating the takeup to release the. The holding member is rotatable with the takeup and retains the takeup in select angular positions. The release member is operable for disengaging the holding member in response to the actuation or return stroke of the second control member for allowing the takeup to unwind the cable a sufficient amount to enable a single gear shift.

This invention relates to bicycle gear shifters and more particularly to a bicycle gear shifter having a shift control member for pulling a control cable and a separate shift control member for releasing the control cable.
It is known in the art to provide a gear shifter that has separate mechanisms for pulling and releasing a control cable connected to a gear-change mechanism. Such a shifter is shown in German Utility Model Publication DE G9212927 (Jedek). This shifter includes both a first shift control member rotatable about the handlebar to pull cable and a second shift control member, a finger-operated lever, operable to release or unwind the cable. The release lever disclosed is a two-stroke or return-to-neutral device having both an actuation stroke and a reversibly-sprung return stroke. Since the release lever is linked to a takeup element through a ratchet, the takeup element is released and unwinds under the lever actuation stroke, when the rider depresses the lever, and is prevented from further unwinding under the lever return stroke, when the rider releases the lever to reengage the takeup. Since the takeup element in this device may fully unwind under the lever actuation stroke alone, the rider must carefully time his release of the lever (i.e. the lever return stroke) in order to shift to the desired gear and prevent full unwinding of the takeup. In other words, two strokes, both the actuation and return strokes of the release lever are required in order to achieve a gear change corresponding to less than a full unwinding of the takeup element.
Another bicycle shifter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,923 (Hara). The Hara shifter also includes a first shift member rotatable about the handlebar for pulling a cable and a separate return-to-neutral lever for releasing the cable. The release lever disclosed in this patent is linked to a takeup element by a pair of toggling pawls forming an escapement mechanism. The toggling pawls sequentially engage the takeup element in response to operation of the release lever. Although the presence of a second pawl in the Hara shifter prevents the uncontrolled unwinding of the takeup element described above in the Jedek shifter, it introduces an undesirable two-step cable release operating sequence. Under the actuation stroke of the release lever, when the rider depresses the lever, the second pawl is toggled to engage the takeup element permitting partial unwinding of the takeup. Subsequently, under the return stroke of the lever, when the rider releases the lever, the second pawl is disengaged to permit sufficient unwinding of the takeup element to complete the desired shift. In other words, the desired full release shift occurs only through the staggered, two-stroke or two-step operation of the release lever, triggering two discrete start-stop motions of the derailleur to which the control cable is attached. The Hara shifter, therefore, embodies intermittent operation of the release lever leading to interrupted motion of the gear-change mechanism to which it is attached. Such a staggered cable release sequence is counterintuitive to the rider resulting in cumbersome and choppy shifting. Furthermore, the toggling pawls of the Hara device require greater precision to manufacture, including tighter manufacturing and assembly tolerances, resulting in higher manufacturing costs.
Another bicycle shifter having two shift control members is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,413 (Chang). This shifter includes both a grip rotatable about the handlebar for pulling a cable and a separate release ring also rotatable about the handlebar for releasing the control cable. The release ring of the Chang device, however, is operable to achieve multiple gear shifts for each actuation stroke or operating twist of the release ring, leading to possible inadvertent multiple release shifts when riding on rough terrain. Additionally, the release ring of this device does not return to a home or neutral position upon completion of each release shift operation. Although this type of device does permit the rider to select one or more release gear shifts per operation of the release ring, it does not permit the quick and predictable, single-gear, return-to-neutral release shifts of the present invention.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a bicycle shifter having separate cable pull and cable release control mechanisms, including a release control member permitting predetermined, single gear, return-to-neutral release shifts, where the entire cable release for the single gear shift occurs under a single strokexe2x80x94actuation or returnxe2x80x94of the release control member.
The present invention is directed to a shifting device that satisfies this need. One object is to provide a bicycle shifter that pulls cable by rotating a first shift control member about the handlebar and releases cable by actuating a separate second shift control member in such a way that the rider can predictably release a single gear using a single actuation or a single release stroke of the release lever even on very rough terrain.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shifting device having a cable release control member that is conveniently and ergonomically located for easy operation by the rider be it a lever, pushbutton, or rotatable ring design. The invention likewise includes an ergonomic first control member that may include a handgrip or a finger-actuated member.
A further object of the invention is to provide a shifting device having a cable release operation that precisely releases a single gear with a single actuation or single return stroke using fewer parts, permitting larger manufacturing and assembly tolerances, and permitting compact packaging of the shifter and production at reduced costs.
Accordingly, the shifting device includes first and second shift control members, a takeup element, a holding member, and a release member. The takeup element is configured for winding and unwinding a control cable. The first control member is rotatable about a handlebar and configured to rotate the takeup to at least pull or wind the control cable onto the takeup. The second control member is a return-to-neutral member for rotating the takeup to release or unwind the cable an amount corresponding to a single gear. The holding member is rotatable with the takeup and configured to retain the takeup in select or particular angular positions. The release member is operable for releasing the holding member in response to the actuation stroke or the return stroke of the second control member for allowing the takeup to unwind the cable a sufficient amount to complete one gear shift.
In the shifting device of the present invention a release transmission may be used to communicate the motion of the second control member to the release member. The release transmission may be configured to respond to the actuation stroke or the return stroke of the second control member.
In the shifting device of this invention, the takeup element may be rotatable with or separately from the first control member. In the embodiments where the takeup is separately rotatable from the first control member, a ratcheting driving member may be used to permit unwinding of the takeup separately from the first control member. In the case of a handgrip first control member, for example, the rider may effect a cable release shift without releasing his grip from the handgrip.
In further embodiments, a return-to-neutral spring may be used to operably connect the first control member to the handlebar. In the case of a first control member comprising a thumb lever, for example, the return-to-neutral operation would predictably return the thumb lever to the same home position after each shift operation.
In further embodiments, a spring operably connecting the release member and the takeup element permits the release member to load the spring just prior to releasing the takeup thereby boosting the unwinding operation of the takeup for more positive shifts. Such a spring is described as spring element 10 in U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,347 B1 (Blaschke), assigned to the applicant of this invention, and is fully incorporated herein by reference. In Blaschke, spring element 10 is shown as a coil spring loaded in compression during cable release, but may take on other forms.
In further embodiments, the first control member may be configured to both wind and unwind the takeup element, providing secondary or parallel means for releasing the cable in addition to actuation of the second control member.
In yet further embodiments, the first control member may be configured to rotate solely in the cable pull direction using a ratchet coupling the first control member to the handlebar.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of certain specific embodiments of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.

Bicycle gear shifter having separate shift control members for cable pull and release


A method of preventing clinically manifest Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in immunocompromised humans is provided wherein an aerosol of pentamidine is administered to the patient in a manner which delivers the aerosol to the patient's alveoli. Also provided is a method of treating Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in HIV seropositive individuals comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of pentamidine aerosol to the HIV positive individual through inhalation. In addition, a method is provided of administering pentamidine to a human comprising aerosolizing a pentamidine solution in a nebulizer system having a one-way valve disposed between the nebulizer and the mouthpiece of the nebulizer system.

Severe Pneumocystis carinii infections of immunocompromised individuals, such as premature infants, children with hypogammaglobulinemia or deficiencies of cell-mediated immunity, patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy, and patients suffering acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), leads to the development of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). By far the most common occurrence of PCP is in AIDS patients. More than 36,000 cases of AIDS have been reported since 1979, and 62% of these patients developed PCP ("Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Weekly Surveillance Report", CDC (Dec. 29, 1986)). With current standard treatments, mortality for the first episode of PCP in AIDS patients is approximately 20-30%. To date, over 42,000 cases of PCP have been reported in AIDS patients (including multiple episodes), with 100,000 cases predicted to occur in the United States by 1991.
The two conventional therapies for treating PCP consist of either trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) administered orally or parenterally, or pentamidine isethionate administered parenterally: Hughes et al, J Pediatr (1978) 92:285-291; Sattler et al, Am J Med (1981) 70:1215-1221; Navin et al, N Engl J Med (1984) 311:1701-1702. Unfortunately, approximately 50% of patients receiving either drug treatment develop severe toxicity, requiring discontinuation of the therapy: e.g., K. A. Western et al, Ann Int Med (1970) 73:695; M. Wharton et al, Ann Int Med (1985) 105:37-44; F. M. Gordin et al, Ann Intern Med (1984) 100:495-499. Many immediate and long term side effects have been associated with the parenteral administration of pentamidine. Pain, swelling and sterile abscesses are observed at the site of intramuscular injections, and thrombophlebitis and generalized or localized urticarial eruptions are associated with intravenous administration. Severe hypotension may also develop following a single intramuscular dose, or after rapid intravenous infusion: Navin et al, supra. Hypoglycemia has also been reported in patients: Walzer et al, supra; Pearson et al, Ann Inter N Med (1985) 103:782-786. In some patients with hypoglycemia, diabetes mellitus also develops: Osei et al, Am J Med (1984) 77:41-46. Impaired renal function occurs in about 25% of patients receiving pentamidine. Other common adverse reactions include elevation of liver enzymes, hematologic disturbances with neutropenia and thrombocytopenia, fever, hypocalcemia, and hallucinations. Less common adverse effects include cardiac arrhythmias and pancreatitis. See, e.g., Pearson et al, supra.
When a patient develops an adverse reaction requiring discontinuance of one of the above standard therapies, the usual recourse is to place the patient on the alternative standard therapy. A substantial number of patients, however, develop an adverse reaction to both TMP-SMX therapy and parenteral pentamidine. Thus, the art has actively pursued alternative therapies that obviate the serious side effects associated with the above standard therapies. For example, dapsone (diaminodiphenylsulfone) has been tried both alone and in combination with TMP, to treat PCP. Dapsone has been reported to be effective in a rat PCP model: Hughes et al, Antimicrobial Agents Chemother (1984) 26:436. Dapsone alone, however, has a failure rate for PCP of about 39%, while approximately 31% of the patients given trimethoprim-dapsone (TMP-DPS) experienced severe toxicity: G. S. Leoung et al, Ann Int Med (1986) 105:45-48; Mills et al, Int'l. Conf. on AIDS, poster 297 (Paris, France, 23-25 June 1986); Medina et al, Proceedings of the III Int'l. Conf. on AIDS, p. 208 (Washington, D.C. 1987).
Another alternative therapy is treatment with .alpha.-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO). Although DFMO was not efficacious in a rat model of PCP, recent clinical studies report some clinical response for this drug: J. A. Golden et al, West J Med (1984) 141:613; McLees et al, Am Rev Respir Dis (1987) 135:A167. Yet another potential therapy for PCP has been suggested using the drug trimetrexate. Adverse reactions have been reported, however, and the relapse rates within one month appear to be high: Allegra et al, N Engl J Med (1987) 317:978-985.
The aerosolization of pentamidine has been studied in rodent models: R. H. Waldman et al, Am Rev Respir Dis (1973) 108:1004-1006; R. J. Debs et al, Abstracts of the 1985 ICAAC, p. 192 , (Abstract No. 550); E. H. Bernard et al, Id. p. 193 (Abstract No. 552); R. J. Debs et al, Int'l. Conf. on AIDS, poster 294 (Paris, France 23-25 June 1986); E. H. Bernard et al, Id., poster 300.
AIDS patients suffering PCP are known to have higher rates of adverse reaction to certain therapies than other immunocompromised patients suffering PCP: Hughes et al, supra; Gordin et al, supra. Thus, the art is in need of a more effective therapy for PCP, particularly in AIDS patients, and none of the known or potential routes of therapy have demonstrated the ability to be both efficacious and free of adverse side effects.

Suppression of Pneumocystis carinii using aerosolized pentamidine treatment

The Regents of the University of California


A tire pressure monitoring system where the position and orientation of a receiver antenna associated with the tire pressure monitoring system is at a location that is proximate the tire pressure monitoring system. In one embodiment, the receiver antenna is positioned beneath a vehicle chassis. The location of the receiver antenna can be determined by system performance prediction tools that include mean-time-to-warning verses packet error rate curves for a desired packet error rate and packet error rate verses signal-to-noise ratio curves for various operational scenarios and different classes of vehicle that provides a necessary signal-to-noise ratio for a wireless link, and operational scenarios that established desired levels of performance and reliability.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a tire pressure monitoring system and, more particularly, to a tire pressure monitoring system that optimally positions the receiving antenna in the system to increase the performance and reduce the power required by the system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
All new vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States are required to have a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) that monitors the pressure and temperature of the tires on the vehicle. Typically, the TPMS is an active system that includes its own power source, such as a battery, and a processor for processing data. The TPMS includes a suitable pressure sensor that measures the pressure within the tire and a suitable temperature sensor that measures the temperature within the tire. Sensor signals from the pressure and temperature sensors are sent to the processor, which conditions and encodes the data and the encoded signals are then modulated onto a carrier wave to be transmitted by an antenna. The signals transmitted from the TPMS are received by a receiver at a suitable location within the vehicle, where the received data is demodulated, decoded and used to determine whether a warning signal should be given that the tire pressure is too high or too low, or the tire is too hot.
In the system described above, the TPMS does not actually know if the receiver is receiving the signals it transmits. Therefore, various schemes are performed to ensure that the receiver does receive the signal, including broadcasting the tire information in redundant frames of data and at a high enough signal strength. Because of this, the battery that powers the TPMS tends to be discharged at a rate that may be higher than is necessary. When the battery becomes discharged, and the receiver is not receiving the signals, then the receiver issues a warning signal that the battery may be dead. Because of the manufacturing complexities of placing the TPMS within the tire, it is typically more cost effective to replace the tire than replace the TPMS. Therefore, an added cost may be incurred when replacing tires that may not be worn out.
Further, the performance of a TPMS is highly statistical, and is affected by many uncontrolled factors, such as vehicle speed, road surface material, occupant and cargo loading, and electro-magnetic interference (EMI) from on-board and off-board sources. Integration factors include the size of the wheel, construction of the tire, location of the receiver antenna, data encoding used, RF modulation schemes employed, transmitter battery life and different types of EMI.
In known systems, validation of the TPMS signal allows for up to two or three data packets per frame to be dropped per transmission, which gives a 50% to 60% per frame reliability. Also, as the consumer fleet matures to saturation, the ambient noise floor will increase, further degrading the over-all fleet performance. In order to ensure a desired packet error rate (PER), it is necessary to provide a reliable communications link between the TPMS and the receiver, which may include increasing the transmit power. Alternatively, the number of frames in the packet can be increased so that the redundancy of the data in each packet is increased. Therefore, if part of the packet is lost, there is still a good chance that the information in the packet can be deciphered by the receiver. It is also possible to increase the number of packets that are transmitted to better ensure that the receiver receives the information. However, an increase in the number of packet transmissions also increases the power and consumption.
Further, the antenna associated with the receiver is typically part of the receiver unit and is located therewith. The receiver may be in the vehicle trunk or other locations where it is behind vehicle structures, including metal body structures that are part of the vehicle. Thus, signals from the TPMS may be attenuated or prevented from reaching the antenna of the receiver depending on its location.

Schemes and algorithms to reduce the energy and hardware costs of tire pressure monitoring systems


A read-out information signal processing circuit having a switching device for relaying the read-out information signal read-out from a recording medium in an optical recording and reproducing system. The read-out information signal relayed by the switching device is supplied to an A/D converting circuit through DC interrupt means. The switching device is turned off during the recording period. Thus, the variations of DC level supplied to the A/D converting circuit at the transient time from a recording mode to a reproducing mode can be prevented and the dynamic range of A/D converting circuit can be effectively used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a read-out information signal processing circuit, and more particularly to a read-out information signal processing circuit incorporated in an optical recording and reproducing system.
2. Description of the Background Information
In an optical recording and reproducing system using an optical recording medium such as an optical disc and so on, the tracking servo signal may be recorded on the recording medium under the so-called continuous servo format or sampled servo format. The continuous servo format is formed as continuous grooves or lands along the respective tracks. In the sampled servo format, two wobbled pits for tracking and one clock pit for synchronization are formed in each servo area of each track. The wobbled pits and the clock pits are previously formed and are usually referred to as emboss pits or prepits.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a read-out information signal processing circuit in an optical recording and reproducing system for the continuous servo format. In FIG. 1, a read-out information signal (referred to as an RF signal hereinbelow) from a pickup (not shown) is supplied to a head amplifier 1. The RF signal is supplied to a signal processing circuit 3 through a coupling condenser 2 after being amplified by the head amplifier 1. The signal processing circuit 3 performs such a signal processing that equalizes the RF signal to generate a binary signal by slicing the resultant signal at a predetermined level. The output signal of the signal processing circuit 3 is supplied to a decoder 4 for decoding the binary signal. An address and so on including an ID (identifier) signal previously formed as prepits are read out from the output signal of the decoder 4.
In the continuous servo format, data blocks are successively recorded on the recording medium and the RF signal (a) which is read out by the pickup from the recording medium and supplied to the head amplifier 1 has such a waveform as shown in FIG. 2(A). When the recording and reproducing system reads out the ID signal from an ID area of a certain block and irradiates a recording light beam onto a data area succeeding to the particular ID area while the recording light beam is controlled in accordance with a data signal to be recorded. The reflected light from the irradiated position on the disc is received by the pickup, and the RF signal corresponding to the data signal is read out by the signal processing circuit 3. When the recording mode is changed to the reproducing mode, the ID signal and the data signal are read out from the ID area and the data area of a block, respectively. The read-out RF signal during the recording period has a relatively high intensity because the recording light beam is relatively strong. On the other hand, the read-out RF signal during the reproducing mode has relatively low intensity. As a result, the mean level of the RF signal varies stepwise when the operation changes from the recording mode to the reproducing mode. In this instance, it is to be understood that the time constant of the condenser 2 becomes small enough (a cut-off frequency becomes higher than 30 KHz, for example) and it is possible to fully exclude the DC component so that an output signal (b) passed from the condenser 2 has such a waveform as shown in FIG. 2(B). The output signal is compared with the ground level (GND) to produce a binary signal which is then decoded to reproduce the ID signal and the data signal.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a read-out information signal processing circuit in an optical recording and reproducing system adapted for the sampled servo system. An RF signal (c) read out by the pickup has such a waveform as shown in FIG. 4(A). In this case, the read RF signal corresponds to a block without any recorded data, another block with recorded data, and an ID block arranged in sequence along a track. The readout RF signal is supplied through a condesner 11 to an amplifier 12 which amplifies the RF signal. An output signal (d) from the amplifier 12 is supplied to an A/D (Analog to Digital) converting circuit 13. Since the data under the sampled servo format is, for example, 4-15 modulated and the A/D conversion is necessary.
It is necessary that the cut-off frequency by the coupling condenser 11 is determined less than about one tenth of a data sampling frequency (for example, 41.3 KHz) inherent to the sampled servo format so as to accurately reproduce the signal wave. This means that the coupling time constant of the condenser 11 must be relatively large. When, as a result, the read-out RF signal passes through the condenser 11, the DC component of the RF signal cannot be completely eliminated. Thus, the output signal (d) from the amplifier 12 has such a waveform as shown in FIG. 4(B). Namely, a reference level of the read-out RF signal largely deviates from the ground level at the time of the reproducing mode immediately after the end of the recording mode as seen from FIG. 4(B). It is therefore necessary that the A/D converting circuit 13 should have an input dynamic range converting a possible amplitude variation range of the signal which is deviated in the negative direction from the ground level so as to effectively perform the A/D conversion. If, to the contrary, the input dynamic range is relatively narrow, the resolution decreases due to such deviation of the DC level of the amplified RF signal.

Read-out information signal processing circuit in an optical recording and reproducing system


The systems and methods disclosed herein are configured to determine if a trailer backup assist system is needed to assist a driver with a procedure to backup a trailer that is connected to a vehicle. The estimation of need for assistance may be determined by an assistance model. If assistance is needed, the systems and methods provide an input to initiate a process to enable the trailer backup assist system.

Operating a vehicle with a trailer in tow is very challenging for many drivers. This is particularly true for drivers that are unskilled at backing up vehicles with attached trailers. Such drivers may include those that drive with a trailer on an infrequent basis (e.g., drivers that rent a trailer). For example, when manually reversing a trailer, the direction of the steering wheel input may be counterintuitive to the resulting trailer direction.
In addition, a driver may not know if a trailer backup assist feature is needed or wanted at the time of purchasing a vehicle. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Trailer backup assist systems and methods


The present disclosure provides conjugates of polypeptides comprising GLP-1, polypeptide linker and FGF21. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same and methods of treating diseases are also provided.

Major biologically active fragment of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a 30 or 31 amino acid peptide fragment (amino acid 7-36 or 7-37 of GLP-1) deriving from the posttranslational processing of the proglucagon peptide. The initial GLP-1 product GLP-1 stimulates insulin synthesis and secretion and has been shown to prevent hyperglycemia in diabetics, especially type 2 diabetes. However, endogenous GLP-1 only has a half-life of approximately 2 minutes, which results in fasting plasma levels of GLP-1 of only 0-15 pmol/L.
Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF 21), a member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family, is a hormone synthesized in several metabolically active organs and regulates glucose and lipid homeostasis. The biology of FGF21 is intrinsically complicated owing to its diverse metabolic functions in multiple target organs. FGF21 has been reported to function in organs such as liver, adipocytes, pancreas, hypothalamus and muscles tissues (Fisher FM, Annu Rev Physiol, 2016, 78:223).
Metabolic disorders are commonly associated with insulin resistance, visceral adiposity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, etc., which pose major and escalating public health and clinical challenge worldwide. However, existing treatment for metabolic diseases faces problems such as short half-life and/or low efficacy.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved therapeutic solution for treating metabolic diseases.

Conjugates of fusion proteins of GLP-1 and FGF21


The present invention relates to a network device that supports software defined networking (SDN) and a packet processing method in the network device. The network device in accordance with the present invention includes: a flow table configured to store a processing action for each flow; and a packet processing module configured to search the flow table for a flow entry matched with a packet being received to determine a list of processing actions for the packet. Here, the packet processing module is configured to use inheritance relationship information between flows defined in the flow table to generate an action list that includes one or more actions for the packet in order to determine the processing actions for the packet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a network device and a packet processing method in the network device, more specifically to processing a packet in a network device that implements the software-defined networking (SDN).
2. Background Art
The SDN technology, which has received much attention recently, has a simple architecture which decouples the control plane from the data plane. The control plane (e.g., a SDN controller) has most of intelligences and the data plane (or a network device such as a switch or a router) processes packets according to flow process actions provided from the control plane through a standardized protocol such as OpenFlow.
The network device registers the flow process actions provided by the control plane in a flow table, which basically stores the match rule, actions and statistical counters for each flow as a single entry.
Nevertheless, since the conventional flow table does not support relationship between flow entries, it has been difficult to manage related flow entries efficiently.

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A watch case is made of gold with a caseband-bezel (11) hollowed-out in order to diminish the weight of gold as much as possible. To avoid dents in the caseband-bezel the hollow (26) is filled with metal, for example brass, which also serves as a casing ring (10) to secure the movement (13) to the case. The installation of such casing ring in the caseband hollow is possible only if the ring is made in at least four segments (1, 2, 3, 4 ) which are placed side-by-side and which are held in place by means guided in a groove (6) formed in the ring.

Watch cases are known formed preferably of precious metal (gold or platinum) the caseband of which is hollowed out on the interior in order to achieve a substantial economy of precious material and thus to allow a lower selling price than could be permitted if such caseband were solid.
Patent document CH-A-664 251 describes a watch case of gold in which the movement is fixed to the caseband-bezel which is hollowed out on the interior. Such fastening is obtained through a fitting piece which is centered by the interior. To this end an axial projection from the fitting piece is loosely fitted around a corresponding projection which is fixed to the case and which is constituted by a portion of a flange another part of which is squeezed between an internal lip of the caseband bezel and the crystal. The axial securing of the fitting piece is assured by a latching bolt which bears against the shoulder of the caseband and maintains the fitting piece supported under the lip.
Patent document EO-A-0 379 974 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,708) also describes a watch case including a hollowed-out caseband in vault form. Such caseband includes first and second cylindrical support surfaces cooperating respectively with a crystal and a back cover. Three studs fixed to the caseband are arranged within the space defined by the vault-formed hollow. Each of the studs bears a projection extending towards the movement and borne by the case, said projection bearing an upper snap on which rests a flange against which the crystal is supported, and a lower snap on which rests a casing ring against which the back cover bears.
The hollowed-out casebands described in the documents cited hereinabove are fragile in the sense that they are sensitive to lateral shocks applied to the watch, the extreme thinness of the wall of the caseband explaining why this latter may be dented by the slightest blow thereagainst.
Resistance to shock has been improved by arranging ribs within the caseband as within the interior of the back cover as such is seen in patent document EP-A-O 378 125 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,023). If improvements have been brought about in respect of the deforming of the caseband due to traction by the bracelet, such improvements are however minimum as to shock resistance, such caseband being easily dented because of its very small thickness (on the order of 0.15 mm).
It is noted in other respects that cases obtained according to the patents cited hereinabove give such an impression of lightness that one can be placed in doubt as to whether they are formed of gold. As it is not authorized to add weight which would be present only with the sole purpose of inducing belief in the presence of solid gold with neither function nor real utility for the constitution or the operation of the watch, the present invention imagines filling almost entirely the hollow of the caseband made of gold by a circle, preferably made of brass, such circle fulfilling two functions: that of a casing ring support for the movement and coupling of this latter with the caseband and that of reinforcement of the caseband for rendering it resistant to shocks, since behind the caseband made of thin gold is found said ring which renders the caseband subject to denting only with difficulty. It will be understood that additionally such ring makes the watch heavier.


Embodiments relate analytic solution integration. According to an aspect, a method for analytic solution integration includes establishing an engine abstraction layer configured to interface with a plurality of analytic engines associated with a plurality of models. A services layer is interfaced with the engine abstraction layer to provide a communication interface to invoke the analytic engines associated with the models. A user interface is provided to the services layer. The user interface is configured to define an analytic solution as an executable sequence of one or more of the models.

The present invention relates generally to computerized analytics, and more specifically, to integrating, deploying, and monitoring of analytics solutions.
In attempting to model complex systems and perform predicting, planning and budgeting for municipal development, a number of factors must be considered. In order to develop scenarios to seek optimized solutions for various constraints, such as time, location, and funding, various analytic tools can be used. Asset optimization at a city-level can also improve cost-to-performance ratios of large asset bases like water systems, grid systems, and transportation infrastructures such as rail and bus lines. To better leverage existing and planned infrastructure, planners need robust models and access to a variety of analytics.
Existing analytical tools that perform complex mathematical modeling, statistical modeling, simulation or physical modeling are typically developed and tailored towards particular industries and customers. This can create challenges when attempting to integrate multiple analytical tools and models within a common enterprise environment. Once analytic models are built, it takes considerable time and resources to integrate the models into an enterprise environment. An analytic model expert is generally not skilled in integration, while an enterprise information technology (IT) developer seldom has expertise in the application programming interface (API) to the analytical tools. This results in a skill deficiency and hence becomes a barrier-of-entry for enterprise applications seeking to leverage predictive and prescriptive capabilities within an enterprise environment.

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method is provided to enable traders to price improve on an item at an amount less than a predetermined pricing increment. Traders can improve on the price of the item using different price improvement levels (e.g., four different levels). Dynamic price improvement enables a dynamic order to maintain a predetermined position in a trading stack relative to other orders in the stack. The dynamic order may maintain its position in the trading stack by adjusting (e.g., increasing or decreasing) its price improvement level depending on market conditions. For example, a dynamic order may increases its price improvement level such that it stays at least one level ahead of the next best order in the trading stack. If the level cannot be further increased, the dynamic order may use its timestamp to maintain its position in the stack.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/826,779, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,019,672, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/463,835, filed Apr. 16, 2003, both incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing electronic trading systems, and more particularly to trading systems that allow traders to improve prices for a particular item.
Electronic trading systems provide a platform for which traders can trade items such as financial instruments (e.g., stocks, bonds, securities, futures, contracts, currency, etc.) or household goods (e.g., old records, antiques, sports cards, etc.). In many of these trading systems, bid/offer-hit/lift processes are used to negotiate a sale of a given item. In connection with such processes, traders may submit bids (i.e., prices they are willing to purchase an item) and/or offers (i.e., prices they are willing to sell an item). A trader may respond to bids or offers by submitting sell (or hit) or buy (or lift or take) commands to the trading system. A trade is executed when a trader issues a hit or lift (or take) command in response to a bid or offer, respectively.
The prices at which bids and offers can be submitted usually conform to some sort of fixed interval or increment, where the interval is set by the trading system or dictated by the type of item being traded. For example, if a trader is trading United States Treasuries in a brokerage trading system, that trader can submit bid or offer prices that vary by ¼ of 1/32nd of a point in Treasuries up to a maturity of under 10 years, and ½ of 1/32nd of a point for maturities over 10 years and over. If traders desire to submit bids or offers that are more competitively priced than other prices, they are limited to submitting bids or offers at the predetermined pricing intervals.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide systems and methods for enabling traders to improve on the price of a particular item, within the predetermined pricing increments.


A system and method for displaying thumbnail images of the video output of one or more software applications in a window or similar graphical interface to allow the user of a computer system to conveniently and quickly monitor the overall status and progress of several software applications that are running simultaneously. The thumbnail images are generated from the VRAM associated with the software application and are preferably displayed with information corresponding to the associated software application. The thumbnail images may be static or generated at regular intervals according to user preference and the status of the software application.

Computers include general purpose central processing units (CPUs) that are designed to execute a specific set of system instructions. A group of processors that have similar architecture or design specifications may be considered to be members of the same processor family. Examples of current processor families include the Motorola 680×0 processor family, manufactured by Motorola, Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz.; the Intel 80×86 processor family, manufactured by Intel Corporation of Sunnyvale, Calif.; and the PowerPC processor family, which is manufactured by Motorola, Inc. and used in computers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Although a group of processors may be in the same family because of their similar architecture and design considerations, processors may vary widely within a family according to their clock speed and other performance parameters.
Each family of microprocessors executes instructions that are unique to the processor family. The collective set of instructions that a processor or family of processors can execute is known as the processor's instruction set. As an example, the instruction set used by the Intel 80X86 processor family is incompatible with the instruction set used by the PowerPC processor family. The Intel 80X86 instruction set is based on the Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) format. The Motorola PowerPC instruction set is based on the Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) format. CISC processors use a large number of instructions, some of which can perform rather complicated functions, but which require generally many clock cycles to execute. RISC processors use a smaller number of available instructions to perform a simpler set of functions that are executed at a much higher rate.
The uniqueness of the processor family among computer systems also typically results in incompatibility among the other elements of hardware architecture of the computer systems. A computer system manufactured with a processor from the Intel 80X86 processor family will have a hardware architecture that is different from the hardware architecture of a computer system manufactured with a processor from the PowerPC processor family. Because of the uniqueness of the processor instruction set and a computer system's hardware architecture, application software programs are typically written to run on a particular computer system running a particular operating system.
A computer manufacturer will want to maximize its market share by having more rather than fewer applications run on the microprocessor family associated with the computer manufacturer's product line. To expand the number of operating systems and application programs that can run on a computer system, a field of technology has developed in which a given computer having one type of CPU, called a host, will include an emulator program that allows the host computer to emulate the instructions of an unrelated type of CPU, called a guest. Thus, the host computer will execute an application that will cause one or more host instructions to be called in response to a given guest instruction. Thus, the host computer can both run software design for its own hardware architecture and software written for computers having an unrelated hardware architecture. As a more specific example, a computer system manufactured by Apple Computer, for example, may run operating systems and program written for PC-based computer systems. It may also be possible to use an emulator program to operate concurrently on a single CPU multiple incompatible operating systems. In this arrangement, although each operating system is incompatible with the other, an emulator program can host one of the two operating systems, allowing the otherwise incompatible operating systems to run concurrently on the same computer system.
When a guest computer system is emulated on a host computer system, the guest computer system is said to be a virtual machine, as the host computer system exists only as a software representation of the operation of the hardware architecture of the guest computer system. The terms emulator and virtual machine are sometimes used interchangeably to denote the ability to mimic or emulate the hardware architecture of an entire computer system. As an example, the Virtual PC software created by Connectix Corporation of San Mateo, Calif. emulates an entire computer that includes an Intel 80X86 Pentium processor and various motherboard components and cards. The operation of these components is emulated in the virtual machine that is being run on the host machine. An emulator program executing on the operating system software and hardware architecture of the host computer, such as a computer system having a PowerPC processor, mimics the operation of the entire guest computer system. The emulator program acts as the interchange between the hardware architecture of the host machine and the instructions transmitted by the software running within the emulated environment.
Over the years, the number of operating systems able to execute on a given processor family has increased markedly. For example, at present, the Windows operating system alone has several versions, such as Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Windows Millennium. Thus, a user of a computer system having an Intel 80X86 processor architecture may choose among several operating systems. Similarly, if the hardware architecture of a computer system running an Intel 80X86 architecture is being emulated in a host computer system, it may be desirable to run several virtual machines simultaneously, with each virtual machine operating according to a different operating system. As an example, it may be desirable to emulate on a Macintosh computer system several guest computers systems, each running a separate version of Windows. By doing so, the Macintosh user can take advantage of the wide variety of software applications designed to run on PC computer systems.
As the user increases the number of software applications and operating systems that is running on a computer system, it becomes more difficult for the user to manage the various tasks performed on the computer system. Accordingly, as the user increases the number of virtual machines running on the computer system, it becomes more difficult for the user to keep track of both the virtual machines and the respective applications running on the computer system's native operating system and the various virtual machines. For example, in operating systems that use windowing environments, such as Windows, the Macintosh operating system, and OS/2, for example, users may resize or move windows that correspond to various applications. Windows that are minimized or suspended are typically moved to a task bar, application bar or application list where they can be later accessed. Unfortunately, these application bars or lists generally do not present the user with enough information about the particular applications contained therein to allow the user to quickly find the particular application the user is interested in resuming. This problem is exacerbated as the number of applications and corresponding windows increases.

System and method for displaying images of virtual machine environments


The present invention relates to a mobile lift or jack for elevating an object, especially an autombile, entirely from the floor. The lift is adapted engage the object from its side. It includes a base which comprises a power section and a floor stand. The floor stand is horizontally disposed and the power section includes a pair of upstanding braces. One end of the brace is attached to and extends upwardly from the base. The lift further includes a carriage with central support beams for holding the object. A main structural arm is disposed between the brace and the central support beams. One end of the main structural arm is pivotably attached to the central support beam at about the middle thereof and the other end of the connector arm is pivotably attached to the brace. Support arms are disposed between the central support beams and the brace. One end of the support arm is pivotably attached at a location distant from the middle of the central support beam and the other end is pivotably attached to the brace, whereby rotation of the carriage around the pivot between the brace and the central support beam is limited and the central support beam can be maintained on a horizontal plane. A hydraulic power supply disposed in the power section is used to lift the carriage by urging a piston rod against the main structural arm so that upon actuation of the power supply, the carriage can be elevated. The parallel beams are secured together by adjustable lateral support beams.

The present invention relates to mechanical jacks or lifts for automobiles and the like and especially for hydraulically powered lifts or jacks that are arranged to enter engagement with an object to be lifted from a location normal to the object's longitudinal axis, that is from its side rather than from its front or rear. The lift or jack of the present, invention is designed so that when it elevates the object, the object can be lifted entirely from the ground whereby it can be moved to the front, the rear, sideways, etc. on the lift thereby enabling easy movement of the object anywhere on the floor. Side access and movability are extremely important and when an automobile is disposed on the lift of the present invention, all four wheels can be removed from the ground at the same time to enable such movement in a small shop or to provide for sideways movement from bays that are side by side within a small shop.


A PCB includes a substrate having a connector surface with a PCB connector footprint defined along a longitudinal axis and a lateral axis and subdivided into PCB column grouping footprints extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis. The PCB includes signal vias arranged in pairs along a signal pair axis with a plurality of pairs of signal vias in each PCB column grouping footprint. The signal pair axis is non-parallel to the longitudinal axis, non-parallel to the lateral axis and intersects the longitudinal axis at a lesser angle than the signal pair axis intersects the lateral axis. The PCB includes ground vias at least partially through the substrate. The ground vias are arranged around each of the pairs of signal vias to provide electrical shielding around each of the pairs of signal vias.

The subject matter herein relates generally to PCB connector footprints for electrical connectors.
Some electrical systems utilize electrical connectors, such as header assemblies and receptacle assemblies, to interconnect two circuit boards, such as a motherboard and daughtercard. Some known electrical connectors include a front housing holding a plurality of contact modules arranged in a contact module stack. The electrical connectors provide electrical shielding for the signal conductors of the contact modules. For example, ground shields may be provided on one or both sides of each contact module. The signal conductors include mounting portions terminated to the circuit board and the ground shields includes mounting portions terminated to the circuit board. The circuit board includes signal vias and ground vias to receive the mounting portions. For example, the mounting portions are compliant pins and the vias in the circuit board are plated vias.
Circuit board layout and design is complicated, particularly for high density electrical connectors and on circuit boards having multiple components mounted thereto. It is desirable to reduce the number of layers in a circuit board to reduce costs of the circuit board. Routing of the traces is difficult in some circuit boards. Additionally, as the connectors become smaller, the footprints of the connectors are smaller providing less space on the circuit board for providing the vias and routing the traces.
A need remains for a PCB connector footprint and circuit layout for terminating high speed, high density electrical connectors.


A plug connector (100) mating with a complementary connector includes a housing (1) having a base (11) defining a first slot and a second slot (1111), a latching mechanism (40) having a pusher (3) and a latch (2). The pusher includes a resilient beam (31) disposed in the first slot and facing toward the second slot, and a resisting portion (340). The latch has a latching portion (22) and an inclined connecting portion (23) engageable with the resisting portion. The resilient beam of the pusher is downwardly deformable in the second slot from an initial position to a final position to move the resisting portion relative to the connecting portion, to thereby move the latching portion from a latching position to an unlatching position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cable end connector, and more particularly to a plug connector used for high-speed signal transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
A committee called SFF is an ad hoc group formed to address storage industry needs in a prompt manner. When formed in 1990, the original goals were limited to define de facto mechanical envelopes within disk drives can be developed to fit compact computer and other small products.
Specification SFF-8088 defines matable Compact Multilane Shielded connectors adopted for being used in laptop portable computer to connect small-size disk drives to a circuit board. The connectors comprise a plug connector connecting with the small-size drive and a header mounted on the circuit board. The plug connector defined in the specification comprises a pair of engagable metal housings together defining a receiving space therebetween, a circuit board received in the receiving space, a cable comprising a plurality of conductors electrically connecting with the circuit board, and a latching mechanism assembled to a top surface of the upper metal housing. The latching mechanism comprises an elongated T-shape latch member for latching with the header mentioned above and an actuating member cooperating with the latch member for actuating the latch member to separate from the header. The latch member is assembled to a rear portion of a base of the upper housing with latch portion exposed beyond a front portion of the base of the upper housing to locate above a tongue portion of the upper housing.
However, such elongated latch member is hard to be actuated by the actuating member, otherwise the latch member must have enough thickness or made by high-quality material having enough rigidity to achieve the goal of latching reliably and unlatching easily.
Hence, an improved plug connector is provided in the present invention to address the problems mentioned above and meet the current trend.

Plug connector having a latching mechanism


A method is provided for verification of a logic design for a processor execution unit which includes an instruction pipeline with one or more pipeline stages. The method includes: creating a design under test using at least a first and a second instance of the logic design; initializing the instruction pipeline using the first instance of the design under test with the same value in each instruction pipeline stage and the second instance with random values in its pipeline stages; selecting an instruction of the processor execution unit out of a plurality of instructions and simultaneously issuing the instruction to each instance of the design under test; providing a comparison between the outputs of the instruction pipeline executing the instruction for each instance; and if the instruction is verifiable by formal model checking, approving the correctness of the logic design if the comparison result is true.

Formal methods for verification of logic designs as sequential equivalence checking (SEC) technologies, capable of demonstrating the behavioral equivalence of two logic designs, have grown in capacity over the past decades. The ability to efficiently identify and leverage internal equivalence points to reduce the domain of the overall SEC problem is central to SEC scalability. However, conditionally equivalent logic designs—within which internal equivalence may not exist under sequential "observability don't care" conditions—are difficult for automated SEC tools.
Equivalence checking refers to the process of demonstrating the behavioral input-to-output equivalence of two logic designs. Numerous equivalence checking paradigms exist in practice. SEC is a generalization of a combinational equivalence checking (CEC) wherein the designs being equivalence checked may not have a 1:1 state element correlation. Due to its generality, SEC generally requires analysis of the sequential behavior of the logic designs being equivalence checked—and thus comes with substantially greater computational expense.
In J. Baumgartner, H. Mony, M. Case, J. Sawada, K. Yorav, "Scalable Conditional Equivalence Checking: An Automated Invariant-Generation Based Approach" presented at "Formal Methods in Computer-Aided Design, 2009. FMCAD 2009" an attempt is constituted to advance the scalability of SEC for conditionally equivalent designs through automated invariant generation, which enables an inductive solution to an otherwise highly noninductive problem. This technique has been demonstrated capable of yielding orders of magnitude speedup on difficult industrial conditional SEC problems.
In the paper of Baumgartner et al. a generalization of SEC is addressed: conditional sequential equivalence checking (CSEC). Unlike the above-mentioned SEC paradigm, wherein equivalence is checked at all points in time and across all execution sequences, CSEC allows designs to depart from equivalent behavior under specific time-frames. This applies, for example, to a design which pipelines its data computation across three clock periods. When a given pipeline stage is not required to produce a valid result, its clock may be disabled to reduce power consumption: a low-power technique called clock gating.
In the cited paper it is shown that a formal verification of a logic design with clock gating disabled (because it does not contribute to the essential functionality of the logic design) may produce equivalent results to a version with clock gating enabled, when the formal verification is performed by equivalence checking with itself.
In other approaches, random input sequences are used for guiding the simulation of highly optimized pipelines. However, random input sequences fail to effectively provide coverage of unique window and corner conditions. Subsequent quasi-random, biased approaches utilize optimization criteria that increase coverage only linearly and are not exhaustive.
Formal approaches require extensive assertion coding for state-space exploration and are limited in scope to smaller circuits. Thus, it is desirable to verify all sequences for complete coverage, while also avoiding the cost and size limitations of other formal approaches.


An apparatus for generating autogenic energy includes a base, a first magnetic device, a second magnetic device and a transmission member. The transmission member is mounted movably on the base. The second magnetic device is connected to the transmission member and is movable together with the transmission member in a predetermined rotational direction by the interaction force of the first and second magnetic devices. The second magnetic device is capable of being disposed adjacent to the first magnetic device in an interaction position and is receives a positive force such that the second magnetic device is rotatable away from the first magnetic device in a first rotational direction to produce an angular momentum. The second magnetic device and the transmission member respond to the inertial force and the positive force to be moved past a counterbalance position without being stopped by a negative force and to continue moving in the first direction back to the interaction position. In this way, the transmission member is movable by means of intermittent exertion of the positive force on the second magnetic device continuously in the predetermined direction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an energy conversion mechanism, and more particularly to an apparatus that uses magnets to sustain rotation of a transmission member or flywheel after an initial external power input, the rotation sustaining energy generated by the magnets to sustain rotation of the transmission member of flywheel after the initial energy input hereinafter being referred to as xe2x80x9cautogenic energy.xe2x80x9d The mechanism produces long-sustained energy without causing environmental concerns.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that energy to provide heat, lighting and power can be obtained from several sources. Most energy used today is obtained from fossil fuels, such as crude petroleum, natural gas, and coal. These fossil fuels are used, for example, by an engine to run a car or by a turbine to drive a generator for the production of electricity. However, this process of burning fossil fuels unavoidably results in air pollution problems. In addition, the total amount of the fossil fuels in the earth""s crust is decreasing rapidly due to the high rate of consumption of the earth""s increasing population. Therefore, the energy obtainable from these fossil fuels is limited and may be exhausted sometime in the near future.
More recently, nuclear fuels have become an important source of energy. For example, nuclear fuels have become widely used, primarily to produce electricity with nuclear power plants. Although a virtually unlimited amount of nuclear fuel can be obtained, the normal process of nuclear fission by which it is converted to usable energy in the nuclear power plant, has raised serious safety concerns. Concerns also have been raised regarding the safety of known methods of disposal of nuclear waste.
In some instances, solar, wind, and tidal energy may be used to generate electricity. However, sources of solar, wind, and tidal energy are limited, and the overall quantities of energy obtained from such sources cannot at this time even begin to match the energy demands of our society.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for utilizing long-sustained autogenic energy. Another object of the invention is to provide a mode of energy exploitation that will not harm the environment.
According to the invention, an apparatus for producing autogenic energy includes a base, a first magnetic device, a second magnetic device and a transmission member. The first magnetic device is mounted on the base and has a first magnetic field. The transmission member is mounted movably on the base. The second magnetic device is connected to the transmission member and has a second magnetic field. The second magnetic device is movable together with the transmission member in a first rotational direction (such as clockwise) to pass by the first magnetic device periodically adjacent to what is herein referred to as an xe2x80x9cinteractive positionxe2x80x9d). The first and second magnetic fields interact with one another when the second magnetic device passes by the first magnetic device to exert alternately positive and negative forces on the first and second magnetic devices. Both forces are repulsive since in the present (preferred) arrangement, like poles are always closer than opposite poles. The positive force urges the second magnetic device to move relative to the first magnetic device in the first rotational direction (such as in a clockwise direction). The negative force urges the second magnetic device to move relative to the first magnetic device in a second rotational direction (such as the counter-clockwise direction) that is opposite to the first rotational direction. The second magnetic device is arranged to move toward and away from the first magnetic device, that is, from an interaction position adjacent to the first magnetic device where the positive force is exerted such that the second magnetic device moves away from the first magnetic device in the first rotational direction to produce an inertial force (angular momentum). The second magnetic device together the transmission member is caused by the inertial force (angular momentum), primarily of a flywheel on the transmission member, and the positive force to move through a portion of its path where the magnetic force is negative. That path portion begins at a position, hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9ccounterbalance position,xe2x80x9d where the magnets are distant from each other and the force changes from positive to negative. The inertial force (angular momentum) during this movement, again primarily maintained by a flywheel, is sufficient that the second magnetic device returns in the first direction to and past the interactive position, where the positive force is again exerted so that such movement of the second magnetic device continues repeatedly. That is, the second magnetic device thereby can move periodically from the interaction position through the counterbalance position, and back to the interaction position, by means of the movement of the transmission member in order to maintain an exertion of the positive force on the second magnetic device by virtue of the interaction of the first and second magnetic fields and the inertial force (angular momentum), resulting in continuous movement of the transmission member in the first rotational direction.

Apparatus for generating autogenic energy


A system and method are provided for tracking race participants via a Global Positioning System, providing feedback in substantially real time to the race participant, and optionally to other remote individuals via web publication at the user's preference. The feedback includes graphical and tabular presentation of such information as geographic position, race route, current race performance metrics, projection of future milestone and final race performance, projected position at a given time, projected time to a given position, relative performance to historical participants, to personal historical performance and to other members of the current race that are being tracked in aggregate or by demographic or otherwise subdivided.

The present invention relates generally to the realm of racing over a broad geographical area (relative to the resolution of Wireless Positioning Technology) such as cross country or marathon running, sailing races or regattas, biking, road rallies and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for obtaining information in substantially real time from a race participant and generating and providing feedback associated with the obtained information.
There exists an unmet opportunity to provide the race participant with valuable feedback through the interpretation of data collected by for example wireless positioning technology and ancillary data that is readily available prior to and during the race. Such ancillary data might include information such as biometric data, local equipment data, the race route, positions of other participants of the race, etc. Other useful ancillary data might include historical performance of the participant or other participants potentially of notoriety who have raced the same course. Such data could be utilized either individually or in aggregate.
As is typical of racing enthusiasts, technology is being utilized in increasing innovative manners to monitor personal information and performance during a race and training. Typically however this has been limited to locally collected and communicated data such as heart rate, pedometer-derived pace and strides, and the local presentation of GPS data. The opportunity to capture and provide a more expansive and useful set of data and information based on the interpretation of this data will be appreciated by race participants.
Systems and methods as presently known in the art generally fail to provide feedback to the participant of the race or directly to observers of the race which may be used to determine the position of the user along a race route in substantially real time and remotely accessible. Where positions or locations are currently generated, these are generally obtained through triangulation of a number of devices or in relation to at least one fixed ground-based wireless network structure having a known geographic location. It would be desirable to obtain positioning information associated with a race participant and track the race participant with respect to a predetermined route, and optionally with respect to other actual or virtual participants.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for race participant tracking and reporting of associated data


To realize a semiconductor memory device whose capacitance value per unit area in a memory cell is increased without increase in the area of the memory cell. The memory cell includes a transistor, a memory element, a first capacitor, and a second capacitor. The first capacitor includes a semiconductor film, a gate insulating film, and a gate electrode which are included in the transistor and is formed at the same time as the transistor. The second capacitor includes an electrode which is included in the memory element and an insulating film and an electrode which are formed over the electrode. Further, the second capacitor is formed over the first capacitor. In this manner, the first capacitor and the second capacitor which are connected in parallel with the memory element are formed.

In recent years, semiconductor memory devices have been used for a variety of electronic devices. Semiconductor memory devices are classified into volatile memories in which stored data is lost when the power is turned off and nonvolatile memories in which stored data is held even when the power is turned off. These memories are used separately depending on the kind and usage of data.
Among the memories, memories each having a plurality of memory cells which are writable only once, which are one kind of nonvolatile memories, are preferable from a security viewpoint because tampering with data is not easily performed. Note that the memories are referred to as one time programmable memories (hereinafter referred to as OTP memories) or the like.
As one kind of OTP memories, an anti-fuse memory has been proposed in which one of electrodes is formed using metal and an anti-fuse is brought into conduction by reacting amorphous silicon with the metal so as to be silicide (for example, see Reference 1).
In addition, a circuit has been proposed in which a capacitor for compensating electric power in writing (hereinafter referred to as an assist capacitor) is provided in parallel with an OTP memory element (for example, see Reference 2). In particular, in an OTP memory in which silicide reaction occurs in writing, high yield can be realized by providing an assist capacitor.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.