A reception signal processing devices includes a converter which converts an analog signal amplified by an amplifying section to a digital signal, switches respectively provided in post-stages of variable gain amplifiers of the amplifying section, a bypass switch section which sets to open and close a path in which outputs of the variable gain amplifiers go around the variable gain amplifiers of the post-stages and are inputted to the converter, a switch controller which controls the switches and the bypass switch section and a DC offset controller which sets a correction value of a DC offset in accordance with a gain set to the variable gain amplifier as an object to be corrected.

As a digital device progresses to have high functions, since a capacity of contents handled by a user is increased, a high speed and large capacity communication is demanded. Further, as a CMOS process is developed to be very minute, a prospect is established that a transmission of Giga bit class using a milliwave may be realized. In this case, a high frequency IC which is compliant with a milliwave wireless communication is desirably inexpensive and has a low consumed power.
A down converting system using the high frequency IC has a Superheterodyne system and a direct conversion system. In the Superheterodyne system, a high frequency signal is temporarily down converted into an intermediate frequency, and after a down converting process, the signal is converted into a base band signal. On the other hand, in the down conversion system, the high frequency signal is not down converted into such intermediate frequency, but directly converted into a base band signal. Accordingly, the high frequency IC of the direct conversion system can have a circuit scale more reduced and is more suitable for a low cost and the low consumed power than that of the Superheterodyne system.
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure of an orthogonal modulation receiving circuit including QPSK using the direct conversion system. In the receiving circuit, since a frequency of input signals to mixers 12 and 13 is equal to a frequency of a local oscillation signal (RF Local), a local leak arises that the local oscillation signal is transferred to pre-stages of the mixers 12 and 13.
As a result, a self mixing is generated in the mixers 12 and 13 to generate DC offsets. Signals including the DC offsets are amplified in variable gain amplifiers (VGA) 14 and 15 to vary DC offset components due to the self mixing. Accordingly, proper signals are hardly amplified in the VGAs 14 and 15, thereby to lead to a degradation of a communication quality.
Accordingly, the receiving circuit of the direct conversion system needs to use DC offset correcting circuits which correct the DC offsets in the VGAs 14 and 15 at the same time.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique that provides offset correcting circuits (OFC) respectively for variable gain amplifiers (PGA) to correct DC offsets in order from a first stage PGA to post-stage PGAs.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a receiving circuit of a direct conversion system disclosed in Patent Literature 1. In the circuit shown in FIG. 12, in order to perform a correction of the DC offset under a non-input state, a power supply of an LNA is turned off. Then, in order to correct the DC offset to a PGA1, the DC offset is detected in an ADC1 in the offset correcting circuit 1 (OFC1).
A control circuit 240 determines a DC offset correction amount and applies a control voltage to the correcting circuit in the PGA1 through a DAC1 in the offset correcting circuit (the OFC1) to correct the DC offset.


The components (1L) of a composite software system communicate using "external" messages. They execute operations instigated by the reception of such messages and leading to the sending of other such messages. Each component comprises a plurality of communication ports which communicate separately with the environment external to the component to receive and send external messages and which also exchange internal messages with a kernel (1N) of the component to have the kernel carry out at least some or some parts of these operations. A specific application is to implementing the software of a telecommunication network central office.

The instructions of a system of this kind are written in a high-level language such as the language CHILL standardized by the CCITT. A system of this kind usually takes around 100 man-years to write. Once written, it is often necessary to modify it, for example to cater for new conditions. These changes can represent a significant fraction of the final total cost.
A known way of structuring software systems is to use a composite structure made up of software components. These components can be either "functional blocks" operating on external data or "objects" combining data and procedures using the data, for example. The CCITT SDL system and the ISO ESTELLE system are typical of systems using functional blocks. Each software component implements an assigned function. It may use another component to carry out some of the operations involved in that function. The components communicate with each other by means of messages.
In known systems writing and modification are difficult and costly because of the extent of interaction between the components, requiring a plurality of interfaces for each component.

Composite software system and method of writing it


Devices, coating compositions and methods for making such compositions are provided, wherein the coatings deliver chlorhexidine gluconate from a stable non-aqueous system.

The present invention relates to stable coatings for delivering chlorhexidine gluconate.
Chlorhexidine digluconate (commonly known as xe2x80x9cchlorhexidine gluconatexe2x80x9d) is an antimicrobial that is useful for various applications, particularly in the oral environment. Specifically, chlorhexidine gluconate in dental rinses has been clinically proven to reduce gingival inflammation and bleeding. The disadvantages to delivering chlorhexidine gluconate in a rinse are bad taste and staining. Chlorhexidine gluconate is known to decompose to form para-chloroaniline, which is highly toxic.
Hill (U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,711; WO 95/30404; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,165,913; 4,911,927) describes floss coating compositions with chlorhexidine gluconate. The compositions of Hill contain a surfactant and a coating substance that is insoluble in the surfactant. Optionally, the compositions may contain a humectant like glycerin or polyethylene glycol. In Hill""s examples, chlorhexidine gluconate is formed in situ by heating gluconic acid and chlorhexidine free base at high temperature.
Simionato et al (AU 9,464,534) describes putting chemotherapeutic agents in a floss coating composition that contains an emulsifiable wax.
Bowen (U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,921) describes dental floss coating compositions that contain chlorhexidine gluconate and a 2/1 ratio of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3350/PEG 1000, which are solids at room temperature.
Devices, coating compositions and methods for preparing coating compositions are provided whereby stable chlorhexidine gluconate may be delivered to the oral environment from an essentially non-aqueous system. The coating comprises chlorhexidine gluconate and a Solubilizing Glycol. The coating additionally comprises a modulus-enhancing component to give proper handling properties. The coating does not contain more than 200 ppm of para-chloroaniline after four weeks at 45xc2x0 C.
As noted above, it is desirable to deliver chlorhexidine gluconate (xe2x80x9cCHGxe2x80x9d) to the oral environment. To date, however, systems have not been adequate to deliver CHG in a format other than in an aqueous rinse in a manner that would also provide stability. CHG degrades to toxic byproducts in a non-aqueous environment, including para-chloroaniline (xe2x80x9cPCAxe2x80x9d) a suspected carcinogen. It is therefore surprising to find that a non-aqueous composition (i.e. having less than about 2% water by weight) may be formulated for stable delivery of CHG to the oral environment.
Non-aqueous coatings of the present invention provide significant advantages in the delivery of CHG. Because the coating does not contain water, it is more shelf-stable for longer term storage since there is no water loss or requirement for special packaging to retain water in the coating.
Coated CHG delivery devices of the present invention, as compared to aqueous rinses, are useful particularly for delivering chlorhexidine gluconate interproximally and subgingivally, where it is needed to treat gingivitis. Site specific delivery of chlorhexidine gluconate from a device, as in the present invention, minimizes the discomfort associated with the bad taste of chlorhexidine gluconate and reduces tooth staining by reducing contact of the chlorhexidine gluconate with the facial tooth surfaces.
The device of the present invention is any device suitable for physical delivery of CHG to the oral environment, and most preferably a device suitable for delivery to interproximal and subgingival surfaces of the oral environment. Such devices include dental floss, dental picks, and dental tape. Additionally, the device may be a dental packing material, such as a fiber. Other embodiments include periodontal membranes.
Dental floss coated with the compositions of the present invention is highly advantageous, because it slips easily between the teeth and yet is easy to hold in the user""s hands.
The coating of the present invention comprises chlorhexidine gluconate. CHG may be commercially obtained from many manufacturers, but typically only in an aqueous format. It is important to properly handle aqueous CHG, particularly as to exposure to high temperatures, to retain stability when formulating the non-aqueous compositions of the present invention, as will be described in more detail below.
Preferably, the coating of the present invention comprises between about 0.1% and 15% of CHG by weight. More preferably, the coating comprises 0.5-10%, and most preferably, the coating comprises 1-5% of CHG by weight.
For purposes of the present invention, a xe2x80x9cSolubilizing Glycolxe2x80x9d is a glycol that provides a clear solution when mixed with CHG in the glycol/CHG ratio to be used in the ultimate coating composition. This evaluation of solution clarity is made to a mixture containing only CHG, glycol and any residual water, after water has been removed to a level less than about 10% and the solution is at room temperature (about 21xc2x0 C.). It is understood that mechanical mixing under heat as high as 100xc2x0 C. may be employed to mix the CHG with the glycol, but that the evaluation will be made after the solution has cooled and allowed to stand for 60 minutes.
Examples of glycols capable of dissolving and stabilizing chlorhexidine gluconate are glycerin, sorbitol, polyethylene glycol (preferably of molecular weight between about 200 and 600), polyglycerols (e.g. triglycerol, hexaglycerol and decaglycerol), and propylene glycol. These glycols may be used separately or in combination. It will be recognized that while individual glycols may not provide the desired clear liquid, mixtures of glycols may be suitable to be collectively used as the Solubilizing Glycol.
Solubilizing Glycol is preferably present in the coating in an amount such that the ratio of Solubilizing Glycol to chlorhexidine gluconate by weight is 0.2-200. More preferably the ratio of Solubilizing Glycol to chlorhexidine gluconate by weight is 0.5-7, and most preferably, the ratio is 1-5.
The modulus-enhancing component is any material that provides the desired final modulus properties for the coating, such that it will have the proper tackiness and material delivery properties of a coating. Thus, the coefficient of dynamic friction (ASTM D3247) is preferably less than 2.0 and more preferably less than 1.0. The elastic modulus, Gxe2x80x2, should be greater than 10,000 and preferably greater than 100,000 dynes/cm2 at a frequency of 1 rad/sec and at room temperature. The ratio of the viscous modulus, Gxe2x80x3, to Gxe2x80x2 (or tan delta) should be less than 0.8 and preferably less than 0.5 at a frequency of 1 rad/sec and at room temperature.
Examples of modulus enhancing components include surfactants that contain both (a) hydrophilic group(s) capable of dispersing chlorhexidine gluconate and a glycol, and (b) an alkyl group(s). Preferably the alkyl group makes up 3 to 75% by weight of the modulus-enhancing component, and more preferably 5 to 60 wt. %. Examples of such preferred surfactants include polyglyceryl alkyl esters and ethers, ethoxylated polyhydric alcohol alkyl esters, and polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers or esters. These surfactants may act to bind individual fibers of a dental floss together, or may help in the formulation process to assist in making certain ingredients compatible in the overall coating formulation. Surfactants may be particularly beneficial in assisting wax to be compatible with the rest of the coating composition.
Alternative modulus enhancing components include waxes, poly-n-vinyl pyrrolidone, crystalline fatty alcohols, paraffins, polyethylene oxides having molecular weight greater than about 900, hydroxypropyl cellulose and cellulose derivatives. Preferably, these materials are soluble in or emulsifiable with glycerin.
Wax is particularly preferred in the tooth floss embodiment when it may be desirable to help bind the floss fibers together and to improve the floss handling characteristics. Examples of waxes are microcrystalline wax and beeswax. Alternatively, floss coatings may be formulated such that the fibers are not bound together.
Compositions of the present invention may additionally comprise appropriate adjuvants such as colorants, stabilizers, preservatives, flavorants, sweeteners, additional medicaments (such as fluoride and desensitizers), cleansers and the like.
Salts, acids, and bases that are not to be present in the compositions of the present invention are limited in amount such that they cannot interact with more than 50% of the CHG in the device. In other words, the coating has less than 0.50 molar equivalents of deleterious quantities of salts, acids, and bases that would react with chlorhexidine gluconate based on the amount of chlorhexidine gluconate in the composition. Preferably no more than 0.10 molar equivalents of salts, acids, or bases based on the amount of CHG are in the formulation. More preferably no more than 0.01 molar equivalents, and most preferably no more than 0.001 molar equivalents of salts, acids, or bases based on the amount of CHG are in the formulation.
Examples of salts, acids, and bases that are not to be present in the compositions of the present invention include water soluble or emulsifiable species of the following: carboxylic acids and polycarboxylic acids and their salts (with the exception of gluconic acid and its salts), sulfates, sulfonates, phosphates, phosphonates, acetates, sulfosuccinates, including anionic surfactants utilizing these as hydrophilic groups. Halides, nitrates, hydroxides, carbonates, oxalates, thiocyanates, sulfides, chromates, arsenates, cyanides, chlorates, and iodate salts are also a potential concern. As a general principle, it is desirable to avoid strong acids and strong bases and anionic surfactants, because each of these species tends to adversely react with chlorhexidine gluconate.
It is also desirable that the pH of the composition be maintained between 5 and 8 to provide a more stable system. Due to the anhydrous nature of the material of this invention a convenient method for assessing the relevant pH of the compositions is to dissolve or suspend the material at a 5 to 10% weight basis in pH neutral water and measure the resulting pH.
The stable coating composition of the present invention is made by first mixing aqueous chlorhexidine gluconate with a glycol and optionally with the modulus-enhancing component to form a mixture that is substantially free of deleterious quantities of salts, acids, and bases that would react with the chlorhexidine gluconate. Water is then removed at a temperature less than 100xc2x0 C., more preferably less than 80xc2x0 C. and most preferably less than 60xc2x0 C. Preferably, the water removal operation is conducted under vacuum. The composition is then ready for final formulation (if not all materials in the final formulation have not already been added) and coating on the device. Alternatively, the removal of water may be undertaken after coating a water-containing formulation on the device. While brief periods of exposure of the composition to temperatures above 100xc2x0 C. may be allowed, extended exposure to high temperature may be seriously deleterious to the stability of the coating composition. It has therefore been surprisingly found that temperature control of the water removal process is extremely important in the production of stable coatings of the present invention.
In an alternative preparation technique, the aqueous chlorhexidine gluconate may be freeze-dried, thereby removing substantially all water from chlorhexidine gluconate in a rapid manner. The thus freeze-dried chlorhexidine gluconate may then be mixed with glycol. The modulus-enhancing component and/or other desired ingredients of the final formulation may be mixed at the same time as the glycol, or as a subsequent formulation operation. The composition is then ready for final formulation (if necessary) and coating on the device.
It particularly desirable to conduct the water removal step under vacuum. This condition allows for use of lower temperatures than would otherwise be required, shorter times at elevated temperatures, and further may facilitate removal of undesirable volatile degradation products or impurities.
The compositions may be coated onto the intended device using appropriate coating techniques, such as dip, melt, extrusion or spray techniques. To facilitate this coating process, it is preferred to formulate the composition such that the melt point of the total composition is about 40-60xc2x0 C., and more preferably about 40-50xc2x0 C.
The following examples are provided for purposes of illustrating the present invention, and are not intended to limit to broadest concepts of the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, all parts and percentages are by weight, and molecular weights are number average.

Devices with coatings containing chlorhexidine gluconate, compositions and methods


A shield and clip assembly is provided for use with a joint that connects the ends of pipes conveying a fluid under pressure. The joint includes a primary retention feature for retaining the connected pipe ends. The shield and clip assembly includes a cover configured to encapsulate the joint and the ends of the pipes sufficiently to ensure that the connected ends will not fully disengage from the joint and to ensure that leakage or spray, if any, of the fluid being conveyed from a leaking joint will be attenuated or shielded. The joint may be an in-line quick connector joint.

A vehicle may include a joint that connects the ends of pipes conveying fluid under pressure. The joint may include a primary retention feature for retaining the pipe ends. For example, transmission fluid may be conveyed between a transmission and a transmission fluid cooler by pipes connected to each other with an in-line quick connector joint having a primary retention feature. Other examples include, but are not limited to, conveyance of engine oil and conveyance of rear differential fluid to and from respective coolers by pipes connected to each other with an in-line quick connector joint having a primary retention feature. It may be beneficial to provide a secondary retention device or clip to ensure that the ends of the pipes will not fully disengage from the joint if the primary retention feature does not function properly. It may also be beneficial to provide a shield or barrier to ensure that leakage or spray, if any, of the fluid from a leaking joint will be attenuated or blocked from contacting the surfaces of nearby components. This disclosure applies to any machine or manufacture which includes a joint that connects the ends of pipes conveying fluid under pressure.

Fluid spray shield and secondary retention clip for a quick connector joint


A sensor and method for detecting biological and chemical agents comprising metal interdigitized electrodes coated with hybrid polymer-based conducting film and an instrument for applying electrical voltage to the electrodes and registering the change in voltage. The hybrid film also comprises indicator biomolecules encapsulated within the film or attached to it. When these indicator biomolecules come in a contact with a biological and chemical agent, morphological changes occur in the film and electrical current flowing through the electrodes is modulated. The change in current indicates the presence of a biological and chemical agent and is registered.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of sensors for detecting biological agents such as toxins, viruses, spores, bacteria and other pathogens, and to detect chemical agents as well. More particularly, it pertains to the use of a morphological change in the material of the sensor when a target pathogen or vapor interacts with the sensor. The sensor is inexpensive, sensitive, selective, robust, and covertly deployable.
2. Description of the Related Art
The need for detection of chemical and/or biological agents in a variety of applications is acute. A number of methods have been developed which allow such detection. However, none of the methods described in prior art is quite acceptable, as discussed below.
The present invention, as subsequently discussed, applies the concept of using indicator molecules for such detection as these indicator molecules are first ensconced on electroconductive polymer carriers.
The concept of immobilizing indicator biomolecules onto conductive polymer substrates as well as the development of chemical and biological sensor devices that are based on electroconductive polymers in general is an area that has attracted considerable recent attention. See, for instance:
(1) A. Guiseppi-Elie, U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,934;
(2) M. Umana and J. Waller, Anal. Chem. 1986, 58, 2979-2983;
(3) N. C. Foulds and C. R. J. Lowe, Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. 1 1986, 82, 1259-1264;
(4) C. Iwakura, Y. Kajiya and H. Yoneyama, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1988, 15, 1019;
(5) T. Matsue, et. al. J. Electroanal. Chem. Interfacial Electrochem. , 1991, 300, 111-117;
(6) M. Malmors, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,334,880 and 4,444,892;
(7) M. K. Malmors, J. Gulbinski, III, and W. B. Gibbs, Jr. Biosensors, 1987/88, 3, 71.
However, all of these electroactive biosensors are designed to operate in aqueous environments, not in air. The present invention, as subsequently discussed, also allows for the detection of the chemical or/and biological agents in aqueous environments, but it has the further advantage of detecting these agents in gaseous environments, such as air, as well.
In general, these devices are formed from thin films of electroconductive polymer fabricated on a pattern of microsensor electrodes, which are, in turn, formed on an insulating substrate. Sensor devices that exploit the transducer-active responses of electroactive polymers may be conductometric, as discussed, for example, in:
(8) A. J. Lawrence and G. R. Moores, Europ. J. Biochem. 1972, 24, 538-546;
(9) D. C. Cullen, R. S. Sethi and C. R. Lowe, Anal. Chim. Acta 1990, 231, 33-40.
A number of ways to cause the transducer-active conductometric response has been described. The prior art teaches the use of the large change in electrical impedance for that purpose. See, for example:
(10) A. Guiseppi-Elie and A. M. Wilson, Proceedings 64th Colloid. and Surf Sci. Symp., Jun. 18-20, 1990, Leigh University, Lehigh, Pa.;
(11) T. Matsue, et. al., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1991, 1029-1031;
(12) M. Nishizawa, T. Matsue and I. Uchida, Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 2642-2644;
(13) D. T. Hoa, et. al., Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 2645-2646;
(14) Guiseppi-Elie, A. U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,762;
A conductometric response that accompanies oxidation and or reduction of the polymer, the amperometric response, has also been described. See, for example:
(15) L. Gorton, et. al., Anal. Chim. Acta 1991, 249, 43-54.
The use of redox mediation and/or electrocatalysis to cause the transducer-active conductometric response has been also described. See, for example:
(16) M. Gholamian, et. al., Langmuir, 1987, 3; 741;
(17) Y. Kajiya, et. al., Anal. Chem. 1991, 63, 49;
(18) Z. Sun and H. Tachikawa, Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 1112-1117.
In particular, the potentiometric method, when the electrode potential change that accompanies changes in polymer redox composition is measured, was used. See, for example:
(19) S. Dong, Z. Sun, and Z. Lu, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1988, 993;
(20) S. Dong, Z. Sun , and Z. Lu, Analyst 1988, 113, 1525;
(21) Z. Lu, Z. Sun and S. Dong, Electroanalysis, 1989, 1, 271;
(22) A. E. Karagozler, et. al., Anal. Chim. Acta 1991, 248, 163-172;
(23) Y. L. Ma, et. al., Anal. Chim. Acta 1994 289 21-26.
As will be shown below, the detection of the chemical and/or biological agents in accordance with one aspect of the present invention measures transducer-active conductometric response as a result of a morphological change in a polymer film. None of the prior art mentioned above teaches or discloses the measurement of the response as a result of such change.
As subsequently discussed, another aspect of the present invention takes advantage of the encapsulation of indicator substances within sol-gel matrices. The encapsulation of indicator biomolecules within the pores of sol-gel matrices have been described and used for manufacturing of optical biosensors.
See, for example:
(24) Bakul C. Dave, et. al., Anal. Chem., 1994, 66, 1120A-1127A.
There are also several examples of conductive polymer composite films in sol-gel matrices. See,.for example:
(25) Y. Wei, et al., Chem. Mater., 1995, 7, 969.
Furthermore, conductive polymer based sensors have been developed for detecting volatile organic compounds in air, along with chemical weapon simulants. See, for example:
(26) F. G. Yamagishi, et al., Proc. of the SPE Annual-Technical Conference and Exhibits, ANTEC 98, XLIV, 1335 (1998).
Other sensor technologies include surface acoustic wave devices (which require complex frequency counting electronics), mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and gas chromatography, or some combination or combinations of these methods. These techniques are currently being developed but are primarily directed toward laboratory analysis rather than field application. All of the existing methods of analysis and detection of biological pathogens and chemical agents have serious disadvantages of having large size, long analysis times, complicated electronics support, lack of specificity and high cost.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a simple, inexpensive and accurate sensor for detection of biological pathogens and chemical agents. A sensor is needed which is also low power, compact, rugged, highly selective, and adaptable to field application for detection of vapor phase pathogens in real time without the need for involving xe2x80x9cwetxe2x80x9d chemistry. There is no known prior art which teaches a sensor satisfying all these requirements.
The present invention provides such a sensor by combining conductive polymer transducers and encapsulated sol-gel techniques. The combination of these approaches is not found in any other sensor device for the detection of biological or chemical materials.
The present invention provides a sensor that can detect biological pathogens and chemical agents with unsurpassed sensitivities in the sub-part-per-million range, and possibly into the sub-part-per-billion regimes with good selectivity (low false alarm rate) in the vapor state in real time.
The sensor of the present invention avoids the problems with selectivity and has further advantages by operating passively in an ambient atmosphere without the need for concentrators to detect pathogens in air. Furthermore, the sensor of this invention can be equipped with communication capability so that a multitude of sensors could be deployed and their position and response to the environment, as communicated to a central control site, would provide a mapping of any potential hazard.
In accordance with one aspect of this invention, the sensor comprises a dielectric substrate, on which metal interdigitated (comb-like) electrodes are deposited. The substrate having such electrodes is then further coated with a thin film derived from the coupling of a conductive polymer and a sol-gel-derived material. The conductive polymer acts as the tranducer and the sol-gel material encapsulates, or is attached to, an indicator biomolecule (e.g., enzyme, antibody, antigen, etc.) specific to interacting with the target pathogen.
The conductive polymer comprises linear, highly conjugated polymers, which have an ability to conduct electricity by generating (by being oxidized or reduced) unpaired electrons traveling along the n-electron cloud of such a highly conjugated system. The conductivity is anisotropic in nature and is greatest in the direction along the chain, although there is some cross-talk between the adjacent polymeric chains, especially in macroscopic cases.
When the conductive polymer is prepared as a thin film, the direction of its polymeric chains is random, thus making an overall morphology of such thin polymeric films essentially amorphous.
The interaction-of the indicator biomolecule and the pathogen causes a morphological alteration in the material of the sensor because of a redistribution of the chains,with respect to each other, even on a microscopic scale, resulting in changes in distances between the chains and in the degree of cross-talk. Any influence causing a morphological change in the conductive polymer leads to a modulation of the conductivity of such a polymer. This modulation is detected by applying a voltage and registering the change in current.
The interaction of the indicator of chemical substances and the chemical substance may likewise cause a morphological alteration in the conductive polymer material of the sensor. Thus, chemical substances having toxic or pathogenic effects to certain biological moieties can be detected through this technique of the morphological alteration followed by the registering the conductivity modulation. For instance, some organophosphorus molecules (i.e., fungicides, insecticides, nerve-paralytical gases) selectively interact with acetylcholineesterase so that the latter can be immobilized and used as an indicator molecule for these organophosphorus compounds. Other indicator molecules can detect, in the same fashion, mixtures of even relatively inert aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.

Sensor for chemical and biological materials


A foot liner comprising an insert positioned within the interior of a shoe, an exterior, a fastener and a bottom liner. The invention may also include deodorizer, talc and/or medicated athletes foot powder. The absorption and neutralization of odors, which may be associated with perspiration of the foot, are also achieved. The use of this product could reduce embarrassment associated with removing one""s shoes while also providing individuals with enhanced comfort. The foot liner would also allow individuals to various articles of footwear without the need for socks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foot liner for use in connection with eliminating foot odor. The foot liner has particular utility in connection with absorbent bottom layer that contains deodorizer, talc and/or medicated athletes"" foot powder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Foot liners are desirable as a means to keep feet and shoes odor free and dry.
The use of stocking devises is known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,182 B1 to Tasbas discloses a foot protector, which is comprised of at least about 80 weight percent of a fabric material. The fabric material is comprised of at least 50 weight percent of stretch fabric, it is made from a two sheets of fabric, and a space between the two sheets of fabric is adapted to receive volatilizable material. A hole extends through the first sheet of fabric, and the hole has a diameter of less than about 0.3 inches. A volatilizable material is disposed within the space disposed between the two sheets of fabric. However, the Tasbas ""182 patent does not have an absorbent bottom layer that contains deodorizer, talc and/or medicated athletes"" foot powder, and has further drawbacks of having two layers of fabric, while the present invention only has one layer making it far less cumbersome. U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,549 to Rispoli discloses a foot deodorizer comprising socks or stockings are woven of a synthetic resin yam in which activated charcoal is present in powder and small particle form in sufficient quantities to deodorize foot odors that may be present when the socks or stockings are worn.
However, the Rispoli ""549 patent does not have a mesh-like exterior that would be hidden by the shoe, and additionally does not have an absorbent bottom layer that contains deodorizer, talc and/or medicated athletes"" foot powder. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,660 to Yoshimi discloses a sock for use with footgear is provided comprising a core formed of copper or copper-containing metal, a top ply of air-permeable material overlying the upper surface of said core, and a bottom ply of air-permeable material underlying the lower surface of the core, at least said top ply and bottom ply being joined together around the periphery of said core. The socks according to this invention maintain user""s feet sanitary in his footgear for a period of time and keep his feet from giving off offensive odors.
However, the Yoshimi ""660 patent does not absorbent bottom layer that contains deodorizer, talc and/or medicated athletes"" foot powder. and can not cost-effectively be removed from the foot, discarded, and replaced after every use like the present invention.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved foot liner that can be used for keeping the feet and shoes dry and odor free. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the foot liner according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of keeping the feet and shoes dry and odor free.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of stocking devises now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved foot liner, and overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved foot liner which has all the advantages of the prior art mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a foot liner which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a foot liner comprising an insert positioned within the interior of a shoe, an exterior, a fastener and a bottom liner.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
The invention may also include deodorizer; talc and/or medicated athletes foot powder. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims attached.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved foot liner that has all of the advantages of the prior art stocking devices and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved foot liner that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved foot liner that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such foot liner economically available to the buying public.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new foot liner that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a foot liner for the absorption and neutralization of odors, which may be associated with perspiration of the foot. The use of this product could reduce embarrassment associated with removing one""s shoes while also providing individuals with enhanced comfort. The foot liner would also allow individuals to various articles of footwear without the need for socks.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.


Sensor calibration relative to common coordinates with depth, height and shift dimensions includes obtaining, via a mobile apparatus camera, an image of a calibration target. The calibration target includes first and second surfaces at first and second predefined depths, bearing first and second sets of indicia at heights encoded by the indicia and having predefined shifts. The method includes decoding the heights; generating first and second transforms between image coordinates and first and second planes at predefined common coordinate depths; applying the transforms to each of a plurality of calibration pixels to generate position pairs including calibration positions on each of the first and second planes; determining a common coordinate camera position from an intersection of calibration lines defined by the position pairs; and storing the camera position in association with a location of the mobile apparatus, for common coordinate mapping of subsequent images captured at subsequent mobile apparatus locations.

Environments in which objects are managed, such as retail facilities, may be complex and fluid. Tracking the status of objects within such environments may therefore be time-consuming and error-prone when performed by human staff. A mobile apparatus may be deployed to capture data for use in tracking status (e.g., identifying products that are out of stock, incorrectly located, and the like). Such an apparatus may be equipped with a camera to capture images of the environment. However, discovering which locations in the environment correspond to the images captured by the apparatus may require the performance of time-consuming calibration procedures.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.


A shoe polish applicator includes a hollow body having a plurality of internal walls defining a reservoir for shoe polish. The internal walls include a rearward internal sidewall having elliptical cross-sections about a rearward axis and a forward internal sidewall having circular cross-sections about a forward axis. The rearward and forward internal sidewalls are joined at a shoulder.

Paste shoe polish has long been applied to leather goods, such as shoes, by means of rags, brushes or fingertips dipped into an open can or container of paste wax. This prior art method of application is messy and requires that rags and brushes contaminated with polish be stored or otherwise disposed of. Staining of the hands is a problem where the polish is applied by hand, whereas a brush used to apply repeated coatings of polish becomes progressively more stiff as the polish dries, and no convenient means has yet been devised by which such a brush may be cleaned between uses. The conventional technique of polish application causes inefficient use and even wastage of polish, due to the evaporation of solvents from the wax during repeated openings of the wax container.


Rear vehicle structure for housing one or more electrical system unit(s) in the rear of a vehicle, in which side members are provided proximate to a rear suspension of the vehicle, at least one side member on either side of the vehicle. Extension parts extend rearwardly from respective rearward ends of the side members, a forward cross member is located substantially at a forward end of the side members and above the rear suspension members, and a rearward cross member is located substantially at a rearward end of the side members and above the rear suspension members. The electrical system unit is fixedly attached to the top of at least one of the forward cross member or the rearward cross member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rear vehicle structure; more specifically, to a structure for the rear portion of an electric automobile such as a fuel cell-powered automobile or like vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
The rear end of a conventional electric automobile includes a sub-frame having crush-deforming parts (for example, side members) and bend-deforming parts (for example, fuel cell support members attached to the ends of the side members) which support a fuel cell body, hydrogen tank, or like component. This structure allows the impact of a rear-end collision to be absorbed by the sub-frame, as disclosed at pages 2-4 and FIG. 5 of Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication 2003-127907.
The vehicle structure described in the 2003-127907 Japanese patent publication, however, is assembled from a plurality of frame members, thereby creating a complex structure requiring additional components that increase weight, add expense, and require multiple procedures to assemble.


Vibration damping apparatus (40) includes a body in the form of backup roll balance piston (42) positionable for sliding movement in an enclosure in the form of cavity (44) in the lower backup roll chock (30) of the mill stack (10). The body of the piston is a casing which performs the role of a conventional postion. A damping means is integral with the piston (42) for providing vibration damping of opposing backup roll chocks (24, 30). The damping means is a specially designed absorption system to provide tuned stiffness and damping elements which act in parallel and are located in compartment (46) at an uppermost end or cap of the piston (42). A second vibration absorbent compartment portion (56) of the piston (42) also includes vibration absorbing components. Portion (56) is an integral cap located at the end of the piston (42) in contact with the fluid (52).

The present invention relates to vibration damping and has been developed primarily, though not exclusively for the suppression or damping of vibration occurring during a metal rolling process. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention has broader suitability in other applications where it is necessary or desirable to damp or suppress vibration.
Typically strip or sheet metal is rolled to the required thickness by passing the strip between two adjacent rolls which provide the necessary amount of compressive work on both faces of the strip. Generally the principal work rolls are supported in a roll stack by a bearing support means or chocks. The backup roll chocks support backup rolls which contact the respective work rolls in use. A series of pistons are commonly used to apply forces to components of the roll stack, and are typically although not exclusively located in three places:
between the work roll chock and backup roll chock;
between the work roll chocks, and
between the backup roll chocks themselves, these usually being the biggest pistons in the roll stack.
Normally the entire roll stack is supported within a mill frame. Such an adjustable roll support system allows the gauge or thickness of the rolled product to be changed at will by adjusting the vertical position of the chocks and their associated rolls.
Advances in technology have allowed rolling mills to operate at relatively high speeds to increase productivity and efficiency, however the occurrence of mechanical vibrations, generally referred to as chatter in the rolling context, has consequently become more prevalent. Chatter involves roll vibration in a substantially vertical direction in generally large uncontrollable amplitudes of motion at a fundamental frequency. Chatter generally, causes periodic, transverse, bands of light and dark appearance across the rolled strip. In some cases, a matching thickness variation of the rolled strip is associated with the xe2x80x9cchatter bandsxe2x80x9d. Both the banded appearance and the thickness variation are highly undesirable. Not only must the affected product be rejected, but can also result in breakages of the strip during rolling, leading to damage of the mill equipment. Usually it has been found that as mill speeds are increased the vibrations become more severe. Thus, at present, the only reliable remedy for chatter is to reduce the operating speed of the rolling mill which in turn adversely affects mill productivity.
Generally, three distinct types of mill chatter have been identified, namely:
(i) Torsional chatter, which typically occurs in the 5-25 Hz range and causes significant chatter bands across the strip and small thickness fluctuations. This is often referred to as rumble or shudder, reflecting the low frequency range in relation to the audible range of frequencies. The small variations in thickness may cause fluctuations in surface reflectivity which are aesthetically unacceptable;
(ii) Third octave mode chatter, which typically lies in the 125-240 Hz range and produces large thickness variations and strip rupture. It is characterised by a sudden occurrence (usually  less than 5 seconds) and thus appears to be xe2x80x9cself-excitedxe2x80x9d as opposed to externally excited;
(iii) Fifth octave mode chatter, which typically occurs in the range 500-800 Hz and results in transverse banding of the backup and work rolls and matching transverse surface marking of the strip. To cure the problem, an unscheduled backup roll change is often required. There is experimental evidence to suggest that although there is negligible thickness variation, the strip is not flat and has a periodic corrugated waveform. These strip marks (or corrugations) are still visible after the strip has been temper rolled and painted.
Of the three types of chatter vibration, third octave mode chatter is the most destructive and has the most detrimental effects on mill productivity due to the lower rolling speeds required to avoid the phenomena. However fifth octave chatter seems to be more prevalent in rolling mills and is of increasing concern as customers are demanding better surface quality. For each of these types of chatter there is some form of vibration inherent in the roll stack which is associated with the strip chatter marks.
There have been previous attempts to suppress chatter without resorting to decreasing mill speed. Inflatable housing or frame liners have been proposed which increase friction between the chocks and the mill housing or frame in order to inhibit vertical vibrations of the chocks and their associated rolls in the event of chatter. This approach increases friction between the frame and the mill stack and hysteresis may in fact degrade thickness control performance on the mill.
Various other forms of physical vibration damping apparatus are known in the prior art. In SU488635, pairs of co-axial and opposing hydraulic plunger type cylinders are located between the work roll chocks to provide outward thrust to the work rolls in use, to thereby decrease roll overloads when metal strips enter/exit the stands. The end faces of the cylinders contact one another and only the fluid surrounding either cylinder provides any sort of crude shock absorbance. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,692 specifically designed rolls themselves function as vibration dampers due to the internal movement of pressurised liquids to absorb shock. In SU570421 pulsating fluid is fed along lines to induce forced vibrations of working rolls which at the correct amplitude and frequency can oppose and cushion the vibration of these rolls in use.
Physical damping units are also known for external positioning on the mill frame. In JP08247211 and in JP05104117 an amplitude sensor detects the vibration frequency of a rolling mill and a xe2x80x9cchatter absorberxe2x80x9d fitted externally to the mill frame itself is activated to counter this chatter.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,846 there is proposed a method whereby a low power vibration component that is non-synchronous is introduced into the mill frame which prevents the rolls from vertically oscillating in any generally large, uncontrollable manner. It is not made clear as to why this system would prevent chatter from occurring and the approach has not been widely used in practice.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,009 a method and apparatus is provided comprising an oscillation-inducing device which is coupled to the roller for inducing an axial oscillation in the roller being of substantially greater frequency than the frequency of rotation of the roller. This method pertains to reducing a specific form of chatter, xe2x80x9coptical chatterxe2x80x9d. Although evidence suggests that this form of chatter is associated with axial oscillations in a grinding mill, it has not yet been demonstrated to be relevant to rolling mills.
In a first aspect the present invention provides vibration damping apparatus for use in a rolling mill, the apparatus including:
a body positionable for sliding movement in an enclosure located at or near a roll chock of the mill; and
damping means integral with the body for providing vibration damping of roll chock(s) within the mill.
By having the damping means integral with the body, the apparatus can replace existing conventional apparatus used to apply forces to the roll stack of a rolling mill and yet still operate so that the occurrence of chatter vibration induces motion within the body which is resisted by damping means which act to dissipate the vibration energy.
Preferably the damping means is a compartment located at one end of the body, the compartment including one or more vibration absorbing components. Preferably the compartment is located at an end of the body outside of the enclosure to abut with one of the roll chocks. Whilst the damping means may be compartmentalised (or part of an enclosure), individual unenclosed damping elements can also be employed such as springs, pads etc mounted at the end of the body. The damping means may also be arranged intermediate the ends of the body.
Preferably an opposing end of the body is located within the enclosure and is in contact with a fluid therewithin, the fluid moveable into or from the enclosure via a passage (eg a tube) ultimately connected to a reservoir, in use to transmit force to the body in the enclosure.
Preferably a second vibration absorbent compartment portion of the body, including further vibration absorbing components, is located at the opposing end of the body and in contact with the fluid.
In an alternative or additional arrangement the second vibration absorbent compartment can solely or additionally define the damping means.
Preferably the enclosure is defined within one of the roll chocks or as part of separate apparatus positionable between opposing roll chocks.
Preferably the apparatus is mounted at a lower of the opposing chocks and an in use uppermost end of the body contacts the underside of an upper of the opposing roll chocks.
Preferably the body is a cylindrically shaped piston.
Preferably the compartment(s) of the body include one or more vibration absorbing components including spring(s) and/or vibration absorbing pad(s). In an alternative arrangement, the second vibration absorbent compartment of the body can include one or more vibration absorbing components including a spring, air etc.
In a further aspect the present invention provides vibration damping apparatus for use in a rolling mill, the apparatus including:
a body positionable for sliding movement in an enclosure located at or near a roll chock of the mill; and
damping means comprising a fluid located within the enclosure and in communication with the body, the fluid being moveable into or from the enclosure such that the fluid movement is responsive to detected vibration to provide for vibration damping of roll chock(s) within the mill.
In a further aspect the present invention provides a method for damping vibration in a rolling mill including the steps of:
(i) positioning a slidable body and associated damping means at or near a roll chock of the mill; and
(ii) regulating the damping means in a manner that provides a counteractive damping to vibration characteristics of the rolling mill.
Preferably the damping means includes springs and/or vibration absorbing pads positionable with respect to the body and step (ii) includes selecting spring and/or pad vibration absorbing characteristics which counteract the vibration characteristics of the rolling mill; or the damping means includes a fluid positionable with respect to the body and step (ii) includes selecting fluid characteristics that counteract the vibration characteristics of the rolling mill.
Preferably the characteristics of the spring and/or pad which are varied include geometry, elastic modulus and damping material constant, and in the case of a fluid, the viscosity and the elastic modulus of the fluid.


Systems and methods are disclosed for automatically configuring an information management system of a work machine. A configuration method for an information management system includes requesting configuration data associated with one or more control modules. The method also includes receiving the configuration data associated with the one or more control modules in response to the request. The method further includes updating an information management system based on the received configuration data, wherein the update defines one or more operating parameters associated with the information management system.

Work machines such as, for example, wheel loaders, motor graders, track-type tractors, dump trucks, and other types of machinery are used to perform a variety of tasks associated with an industry such as, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, or any other such industry. These work machines may include systems that collect operation data associated with one or more components of the work machine and distribute the collected data to an external system.
Typically, these systems are designed for use in a particular type of work machine and configured to monitor only those components associated with that type of machine. Thus, systems designed for use in one type of work machine may require extensive manual reconfiguration and/or redesign prior to deployment in a different work machine, which may result in increased manufacturing costs and decreased monitoring system flexibility.
One method that has been developed to provide a more flexible monitoring system is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0182033 ("the '033 publication") to Underdahl et al. The '033 publication describes a system for tracking the usage habits of a vehicle. The system of the '033 publication includes a communication port, a data storage medium, and a programmable processor configured to record usage data related to the use of the vehicle based on user-specified parameters. The system may also transmit the recorded data to a remote data device over the communication port in response to a query from the remote data device.
Although the system of the '033 publication may increase data monitoring flexibility by allowing users to specify the parameters that are recorded and transmitted, it may still suffer from the same flexibility problems as other conventional systems. For example, because the system is configured to record and transmit only usage data designated by a user, manual configuration of the system may still be required. Not only is such a practice cumbersome, but it may lead to the oversight of operational parameters by the user. Furthermore, because the system requires manual reconfiguration for each vehicle in which the system is installed, mass-deployment of the system of the '033 publication may be time consuming and inefficient.
Furthermore, the system of the '033 publication does not automatically update itself based on changes in a configuration of the vehicle. As a result, should a configuration of a vehicle component change, the system of the '033 publication may not appropriately respond to these changes. Thus, systems that rely on data collected from a particular component of the vehicle may become inaccurate and/or unreliable if not manually reconfigured by the user.
The disclosed information management system is directed towards overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Self-configurable information management system


The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for diagnosing a tank-venting system of a motor vehicle wherein a pregiven underpressure is adjusted in the tank-venting system in order to determine if the system is tight. Then, a check is made to determine at which gradient this underpressure decays when the tank-venting system is completely closed. The system is evaluated as being leaky when the underpressure decays more rapidly than corresponding to a pregiven threshold. To arrive at the pregiven underpressure, much more vapor must be pumped from the system for an empty tank than for a full tank. The pulse-duty factor for opening the tank-venting valve on the system is made to vary in dependence upon the fill level of the tank in order that pumping does not take place too rapidly or too intensely for a full tank and not too long for an almost-empty tank. The dependency on the fill level of the tank is varied in that the valve for a tank which is almost full is driven with a low pulse-duty factor in order to obtain only a small vapor throughput; whereas, for a tank which is almost full, a very large pulse-duty factor is selected.

In the following, the magnitude of an underpressure in the tank-venting system is discussed. Here, a "high" underpressure refers to an underpressure having a high absolute value. Correspondingly, a threshold underpressure is then exceeded by the actual underpressure when the absolute value of the actual underpressure is greater than the absolute value of the threshold underpressure.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/070,334, filed May 26, 1993, is incorporated herein by reference and discloses a method and an arrangement for diagnosing a tank-venting system wherein the decay gradient for the underpressure in the tank-venting system is used. The tank-venting system includes: a tank having a tank-pressure sensor; an adsorption filter which is connected to the tank via a tank-supply line and which has a venting line closeable by a shutoff valve; and, a tank-venting valve which is connected to the adsorption filter via a tank-venting line. The shutoff valve is closed to produce underpressure and the tank-venting valve is opened. The tank-venting valve is again closed as soon as a pregiven underpressure has developed. In this way, the underpressure decays and does so relatively slowly when the tank-venting system is tight. However, the underpressure decay gradient is not only dependent upon the tightness of the system, but also on the fill level in the tank. This influence can, however, be substantially eliminated when the underpressure build-up gradient is measured and the two gradients are set into relationship with each other. This is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/129,039, filed Oct. 4, 1993 and incorporated herein by reference.
For the build-up of underpressure, the tank-venting valve is opened in the methods known to date at a pregiven maximum pulse-duty factor. This pulse-duty factor is so selected that the desired underpressure is not reached before a desired minimum time span has elapsed even for a tank which is almost full. This time span is especially selected in dependence upon the time-dependent detection of other measured variables such as a lean-correction measured variable. If the tank is relatively empty, the time span for pumping out the tank-venting system to the desired underpressure is considerably lengthened because of the fixed pulse-duty factor. This lengthening operates directly on the time span which is necessary for the overall checking sequence. A lengthening of this time span is, however, critical because a tank-venting diagnosis with an evaluation of the underpressure decay gradient can only supply reliable results during specific operating conditions of a motor vehicle. Idle is especially preferred. Idle phases typically last only several 10 second increments. For this reason, the check time span cannot be too greatly increased by the time span required to reach the desired underpressure. It should here be noted that for a tank having a holding capacity of 60 liters and a pulse-duty factor of 10% at idle, a 2.5 liter four-cylinder spark-ignition engine requires approximately 40 seconds until an underpressure of 5 hPa is reached.

Method and arrangement for diagnosing a tank-venting system of a motor vehicle


An image processing system including: storage; image processing devices; and job divider dividing an unprocessed job into partial jobs and store them into storage. Each image processing device includes: a first judging part to judge whether partial job stored in the storage can be processed by own device; a transmitter to, if the judgment result is positive, transmit and store first information indicating condition for processing the partial job, to the storage; an obtaining part to obtain second information indicating condition with which another image processing device processes the partial job, from the storage; a second judging part to judge whether own device should process the partial job, in accordance with standard common to the image processing devices, referring to first and second information; and job processor to process the partial job if second judging part judges positively.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system including a plurality of image processing devices, an image processing device, a job processing method, and a recording medium.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Currently prevalent is image processing systems in which a plurality of client terminals, a plurality of image processing devices, and a job management server are connected with each other via a network such as a LAN, and each client terminal is able to cause each image processing device to execute a job via the job management server.
In some of such image processing systems, when the job management server receives a request for processing a job from a client terminal, the job management server accesses a plurality of copiers in sequence to obtain (a) information indicating image processing functions that can be executed by them and (b) information indicating the current status of the copiers, namely whether they are in wait, whether they are executing a job, the residual amount of paper and the like, and then selects the most suitable copier to execute the job, by referring to these information, and causes the selected copier to execute the job (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-34428).
The above-described image processing system requires a server having a function to select a copier that executes a job. In general, such a server is expensive, and imposes a burden of high cost to the user.
Also, in recent years, the user can specify a plurality of desired functions, for example, a function to copy a document image and a function to transmit the same document image by facsimile, by one operation.
When such a job specifying a plurality of functions is entered, the job management server selects a copier, among the system, that can execute the job. However, if the system has a few copiers that can execute all the specified functions, each time a job specifying the functions is entered, the server always selects any of the few copiers.
The selected copier takes a longer time to complete a job if the job specifies a larger number of functions. This may delay the start of the next job, and increase the job wait time.

Image processing system for judging whether a partial job should be processed by an own device or another device

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A power control device supplies electrolysis voltage and electrolysis current, based on input direct-current power, to an electrolytic cell for manufacturing electrolysis water by electrolysis on a raw material solution by means of electric current applied between an anode and a cathode. The power control device includes: a voltage-current control circuit that, in a constant current control mode, supplies the electrolysis current to the electrolytic cell while the voltage-current control circuit controls the electrolysis current not to exceed a current value of a reference current, the current value of the reference current being preliminarily set according to a rated current of unit cells constituting the electrolytic cell, the voltage-current control circuit, in a constant voltage control mode, supplying the electrolysis voltage to the electrolytic cell while the voltage-current control circuit controls the electrolysis voltage not to exceed a voltage value of a reference voltage, the voltage value of the reference voltage being preliminarily set according to a rated voltage and the number of the unit cells constituting the electrolytic cell. The voltage-current control circuit switches between the constant current control mode and the constant voltage control mode, according to a concentration of electrolyte solution within the electrolytic cell.

Heretofore, electrolysis water, which can be obtained by conducting electrolysis of a raw material solution containing chlorine ions, by means of an electrolysis water making device, is known to have an advantageous characteristic in that it has a high level of sterilizing effect while having a low level of chlorine concentration, and it also has a high level of safety for humans. For this reason, electrolysis water is widely used in the food-related field for sterilizing food products or instruments that process food products. Particularly, in recent years, since the level of public awareness on food product hygiene management or hygiene management of food product handlers is increasing, development of an electrolysis water making device that can be used and maintained easily for general household purposes as well as commercial purposes is to be expected.
As a configuration of this electrolysis water making device, there may be considered a configuration such that a power control device is arranged between a direct-current power supply and an electrolytic cell, a desired electric current is applied to the electrolytic cell by the power control device based on the direct-current power supplied from the direct-current power supply, and electrolysis is applied to the raw material solution by means of the applied electric current in the electrolytic cell. For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a constant current control circuit 42 that supplies desired constant electric current to an electrolytic cell 1, based on direct-current power of a direct-current power supply 41, in order to perform electrolysis on seawater that circulates within the main body of the electrolytic cell 1 (refer to paragraphs [0032] to [0033], [0049] to [0051], and FIG. 2).

Power control device and control method for power control device


A solderless, feedthrough radio frequency filter has plates with individual openings for a plurality of physically parallel, elongated conductors. To provide capacitance, the plates are constructed of electrically conductive material and the conductors covered with dielectric material where they pass through the openings. To provide inductance, the conductors are circumscribed by sets of ferrite beads adjacent to the plates. The filter may be tuned capacitively by selecting the plate thickness and tuned inductively by selecting the configuration of the beads. More complex filters may be constructed by using a plurality of plates, including nonconductive plates, and a plurality of bead sets spaced along the conductors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of frequency domain filters of the feedthrough type.
2. Description of the Related Art
Feedthrough connectors providing electrical continuity for a plurality of physically parallel conductors through bulkheads and the like are well-known. Also well-known are integrally constructed filter devices providing inductance and capacitance and having a generally cylindrical and elongated configuration with axially oppositely extending leads for insertion of such a device in-line, as by soldering, in a single conductor such as a conventional circular wire. Such a filter device is commonly used to attenuate predetermined frequencies propagated through the device.
Typically, prior art feedthrough filters for a plurality of such parallel conductors are constructed by inserting such a filter device in each conductor adjacent to such a connector. These prior art plural feedthrough filters are relatively bulky transversely of the conductors since the filter devices are substantially larger in diameter than the conductors together with any insulation layers thereon. These prior art filters are also expensive to make and subject to defects because each of the filter devices requires a solder connection to each lead and to a ground plane. It is apparent that, in such a prior art feedthrough filter, convenience and effectiveness in soldering and reduction in size are conflicting requirements.

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


A power electronics assembly is provided. The assembly includes a housing defining at least one cavity and having a fluid passageway extending therethrough, the fluid passageway having first and second portions on respective first and second opposing sides of the at least one cavity, and a plurality of inductors housed within the at least one cavity of the housing such that the first and second portions of the fluid passageway are on first and second opposing sides of each of the plurality of inductors.

In recent years, advances in technology, as well as ever-evolving tastes in style, have led to substantial changes in the design of automobiles. One of the changes involves the complexity of the electrical systems within automobiles, particularly alternative fuel (or propulsion) vehicles that utilize voltage supplies, such as hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Such alternative fuel vehicles typically use one or more electric motors, often powered by batteries, perhaps in combination with another actuator, to drive the wheels.
Such vehicles often use two separate voltage sources, such as a battery and a fuel cell, to power the electric motors that drive the wheels. Power electronics (or power electronics systems), such as direct current-to-direct current (DC/DC) converters, are typically used to manage and transfer the power from the two voltage sources. Also, due to the fact that alternative fuel automobiles typically include only direct current (DC) power supplies, direct current-to-alternating current (DC/AC) inverters (or power inverters) are also provided to convert the DC power to alternating current (AC) power, which is generally required by the motors.
As the power demands on the electrical systems in alternative fuel vehicles continue to increase, there is an ever-increasing need to maximize the electrical efficiency of such systems. There is also a constant desire to reduce the size of the components within the electrical systems in order to minimize the overall cost and weight of the vehicles. Such demands extend not only to the electrical components themselves, but to the components and systems used to regulate the temperature (e.g., cooling) of the electrical components.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a power electronics assembly with an improved system and/or method for temperature regulation. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Power electronics assembly with multi-sided inductor cooling


A method, apparatus, and system for regulating resource usage of a backup application is disclosed. The operations comprise: continuously monitoring and obtaining system resource usage, process states, and backup policy parameters; generating a normalized band value based on the system resource usage, the process states, and the backup policy parameters; generating a straight line plot based on the band value, a total CPU value, and a deviation value; calculating a slope of the straight line plot, wherein the slope is utilized to generate a deviation value based further on a first value and a second value received from a user, and wherein the deviation value is fed back to the generation of the straight line plot to normalize the slope; generating control values based on the slope; and adjusting performance of the backup application based on the control values to regulate system resource usage of the backup application.

In the traditional enterprise data protection scenario, the backup window (e.g., the time to perform a backup) is decided by the backup administrator based on peak usage trends on the production environment. With an enterprise level data as the backup interest, protection of such critical data becomes the priority. Meanwhile, the peak load balance on the production environment is required as well. Consequently, the backup administrator would need to monitor the resource usage continuously and adjust the backup window to mitigate the peak load on the production server. Also, during the backup phase, the cumulative load from both backup application and native production applications consume important system resources causing performance bottleneck.
With the increase in the scale of production, of native applications and in the number of production servers, the system resource monitoring could become significant overhead to the backup/system administrator. Also, such human decisions could be prone to inaccuracies, and may not always lead to the optimal utilization of system resources.

Synchronous monitoring and feedback system to dynamically optimize the resource usage of backup service


A ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with a central blade wheel comprises a ducted fan stator, which stator includes an outer ring having the central air intake guide ring, an inner ring; stator guide blades connecting the outer ring and the inner ring and a fixing support, a propeller, which includes main blades, a retaining ring, the later has central conical blades, between which guide openings are formed, and an engine and a fuel tank etc. When they are mounted together, the inner ring opening of the stator can be communicated with the guide openings, thereby the air flow volume is increased and air stream can be also guided to be exhausted towards the rear by these openings, at the same time the crankcase of the engine can be effectively cooled and the power and propulsion of engine can be increased.

The present utility model relates to a ducted fan power plant unit of a model airplane, and more particularly to a ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with central blade wheel.
At present, most ducted fan power plant units of model airplanes adopt a design of a straight duct, i.e. the duct fan and the duct stator outer ring are of a straight line design. Therefore, the diameter or area of the air intake port of the duct fan is equal to that of the air exhaust port of the duct stator outer ring. When the air drawn in by the duct fan is exhausted rearwards after it passes through the duct stator outer ring to the air exhaust port, the acceleration of the air exhaust flow is only proportional to the rotating speed of the engine of the duct fan.
In addition, in the prior art, due to the fact that the diameter of the spinner and the central shaft is relatively large, the area of the air intake port of the fan is reduced, and the model airplane is driven only by the blades of the propeller. When high speed flying is needed, the amount of air admission for combustion of the engine is not enough so that air and fuel in the engine can not be mixed adequately, resulting in a reduced work efficiency. Furthermore, in the structure of the duct stator having an outer ring and an inner ring, an air stream passes through only the space between the outer ring and the inner ring of the duct stator. The air, after passing through the stator guide blades arranged between the outer ring and the inner ring, is exhausted rearwards. In this case, no air flow occurs in the stator inner ring. This region (where no air passes through), is right next and most close to the central region where the engine is located. The result is a disordered air flow will occur in this region, and the air flow speed will be adversely influenced, which leads to a reduction of a propulsive force of the model airplane. At the same time, the surrounding region of the central portion of the engine suffers from poor cooling because no air flows through there, and enough air cannot be supplied for the combustion of the fuel. Thereby the engine cannot achieve good working efficiency and due high rotating speed. Accordingly, the rated power of engine cannot be fully brought into play or properly used.
The drawback of the straight duct design and the insufficiency of cooling capability of the prior art ducted fan power plant unit leads to a significantly reduced ratio of actual power to the rated power of the power plant unit. At the same time, the propulsion of the model airplane in the sky decreases with the decreasing power.
On the other hand, the existing ducted fan system of the model airplane suffers from a relatively complicated structure, and a greater number of components. For example, such unit is generally composed of separated blades of propeller and its retaining ring, stator guide blades of the duct stator and its fixing ring, as well as a hundreds of connectors and fasteners of different types and models, which not only leads to an increase of the weight of the ducted fan power plant unit, but also to an increase number of mounting procedures and to the requirement for a high operation technique. The result is, for most model airplane amateurs and beginners, due to the non-ideal effect in use, many problems will occur in operation and assembly of the model airplane, therefore an improvement is urgently needed indeed.
The purpose of the present utility model is to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks and to provide a ducted fan power plant unit having a propeller with a central blade wheel, the unit has a central blade wheel which can draw air flow at the central portion, and the air drawn-in by the central blade wheel can synchronously function with the air flow of the main blades of the propeller to improve and enhance the quality and the amount or volume of the air blowing.
The technical scheme for realizing the object of the present utility model is: a kind of ducted fan power plant unit with propeller having central blade wheel, it comprises a ducted fan stator, which includes an outer ring, an inner ring, several blade shaped connecting bars which connect the outer ring and the inner ring and which can act as stator guide blades, and a fixing support arranged on one side of the inner ring, in the front portion of the outer ring of the ducted fan stator, a conical air intake guide ring is provided for increasing the intake of air flow, the inner diameter of which is larger outside than inside,
an air exhaust duct, which is connected to the rear portion of the ducted fan stator, the air exhaust duct and the ducted fan stator have a common central axis,
an internal combustion engine having an fuel intake port and a fuel tank having an fuel supplying port, they are mounted one after other on the fixing support and are situated in the air exhaust duct, in addition, the fuel supplying port of the fuel tank is communicated with the fuel intake port of the internal combustion engine through the fuel pipe,
a propeller, which includes several main blades, a conical retaining ring, the conical retaining ring has a central shaft hole and several central conical blades as the blade wheel arranged in the retaining ring, on the periphery of the retaining ring are provided the main blades, the said propeller can be mounted on the power shaft of the engine through the central shaft hole of the retaining ring,
a cap, which is conical and mounted on the end portion of the power shaft and is situated in the center portion of the retaining ring of the propeller so that the central conical blades can be exposed to the outside of the cap, and the spaced guide between two adjacent central conical blades can be communicated with the inner ring opening of the inner ring of the ducted fan stator.
As the above mentioned ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with central blade wheel, wherein on the inner surface of ducted fan stator inner ring are provided several radial uniformly distributed blade-shaped inner ring guide blades.
As the above mentioned ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with central blade wheel, wherein the power plant unit further includes a tail cap of the fuel tank, which is mounted on the rear end of the fuel tank.
As the above mentioned ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with central blade wheel, wherein the outer diameter of the end portion of the main blades is gradually reduced from the front to the rear, and the end portion has approximately the same inclination angle as that of the peripheral surface of the central air intake guide ring.
It can be seen from the above that the propeller of the ducted fan integrated power plant unit having a propeller with central blade wheel according to the present utility model has several main blades and several central conical blades of the blade wheel which operate or rotate synchronously with the main blades to generate a main air stream M and a central suction air stream T respectively, the ducted fan stator has inner ring guide blades, stator guide blades and conically tapered air intake guide ring, hence the amount of air supply can be increased and air flow can be guided to be exhausted rearwards in a straight line manner to prevent from the occurrence of disordered air flow. At the same time, the air flows drawn by the central conical blades can cool the mixed gas in the crankcase of the engine and the density of the mixed gas can be increased, thereby the compression ratio can be increased, and the successful start rate and the propulsive force can be improved or raised. The engine of the ducted fan integrated power plant unit can use conventional two-stroke engine of the model airplane, the engine makes the propeller of the ducted fan power plant unit rotate to draw in air at the front end, and after the air enters the stator through the cone tapered air intake guide ring and passes through the stator guide blades of the fan duct stator, it is exhausted rearwards, so as to join with the central suction or drawn-in air flow of the inner ring of the stator guide blades, then passing through the outlet of the ducted fan stator and the fuel tank in the central position, exhausting rearward air with large volume and at high speed to generate strong propulsive force. The present utility model features also the simple and integrated structure, high efficiency and lightweight.

Ducted fan integrated power plant unit having propeller with central blade wheel


For a pair of goggles with a frame and temples made of relatively hard plastic material or of metal comprising at least one pad element made of relatively soft plastic material at the ends of the temples and/or at the nose piece it is provided for the purpose of increasing the wearing comfort of the goggles and for attaining a stable fit, as is necessary in particular with protective goggles for workers and sports goggles, that the pad element is formed as a relatively thin-walled convexity which is moulded of plastic material.

It is true that flames of goggles made of relatively hard plastic material or of metal show on the one hand a high stability and correspondingly enable elegant and simple designs, but on the other hand bruises may occur above all in the vicinity of the bridge of the nose and behind the ears, in particular if the person wearing the goggles moves its head often or while strongly changing direction, as it is the case when flames of goggles of this type are used with protective goggles for workers or with sports goggles.
In order to avoid these problems in this case, it is known to use pad elements made of softer plastic material or cushions made of softer plastic material with inclusion of fluid or air. Cushions of the generic type are for example known from CH 656 234 A5 in connection with protective goggles for workers.
Most of the cushion-like pad elements of this type are secured to the goggles by adhesion or by locking into recesses, i.e. these are elements manufactured separately, which have to be assembled thereafter and which can naturally be inadvertently released from the flames of the goggles.
Other known solutions provide e.g. injection moulding of the entire end of the temple with a softer plastic material, in order to avoid bruises. On the other hand this leads to the fact that the stability of the fit is impaired, what is in turn particularly disadvantageous with protective goggles for workers and sports goggles.
Finally it is also known to mould a softer plastic material onto the relevant places in the vicinity of the nose piece and of the ends of the temples in order to attain a padding effect. In fact by means of this the risk of pressure is slightly reduced, but a really good padding is not attained.

Pair of goggles with pad elements at the ends of the temples or at the nose piece


A determination of an angle of arrival of radiofrequency (RF) radiation can be made using compressive sensing techniques to inform a receiver portion of a radar system using fewer measurements and samples of the received signal. A method for compressive sensing at an array antenna includes forming a plurality subarrays of array elements from the array antenna such that each subarray includes two or more array elements, capturing data at the plurality of subarrays of array elements, modulating phase properties of the data captured at each of the subarrays, combining the modulated data from each of the plurality of subarrays to form a measurement having phase and magnitude measurements corresponding to the combined modulated data and determining angle of arrival information for the data using the measurement matrix.

As is known in the art, direction finding (DF) may be described as a determination of a direction from which a received radio frequency (RF) signal was transmitted. To make such a determination, a DF system receives RF signals at each element in an array antenna. However, to increase the accuracy of some estimations, the size and number of elements in an array antenna can be increased. The increase in the number of array elements results in a larger set number of measurements and data to be analyzed, thus requiring a larger system architecture to process the data and increase a computation time to determine a direction from which a received radio frequency (RF) signal was transmitted.

Systems and methods for direction finding using compressive sensing


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a first layer on a substrate; forming a first contact hole in the first layer; burying a sacrificial film in the first contact hole; forming a second layer on the first layer and the first contact hole after burying; forming a second contact hole reaching the sacrificial film in the second layer; removing the sacrificial film from the first contact hole via the second contact hole; and providing a contact electrode in the first contact hole and the second contact hole.

A technology for three-dimensionally arranging memory cells is proposed in, for instance, JP-A 2007-266143. In this technology, a plurality of conductive layers functioning as control gates in a memory device are stacked alternately with insulating layers to form a stacked body. Memory holes are formed therein, and a charge storage layer is formed on the inner wall of the memory hole. Then, silicon is provided in the memory hole. This technology provides a configuration in which the conductive layers cover the columnar silicon at prescribed intervals and a memory cell is formed at the intersection of each of the conductive layers and the silicon pillar. Stacking a large number of conductive layers enables a large memory capacity.
In the case where the number of stacked layers of the stacked body increases, the aspect ratio of a contact hole that pierces the stacked body to reach the substrate increases. It causes an increase in the difficulty level of the processing for the contact hole formation.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device and apparatus for manufacturing same