A display placard and method of installation of the same display placard within a conventional newspaper rack with three clear viewing sides. The placard has three panels, two outer, equally sized panels and a central, slightly wider panel. The two outer panels are hingedly connected to the central panel and can hinge about the central panel by approximately 360.degree.. The placard is either folded along its hinged connections, or rolled into a tube and then bent and inserted into the newspaper rack. The placard is flexible enough to be rolled into a tube, and is resilient enough to regain its generally flat, sheet-like shape after being rolled into a tube and bent into the newspaper rack.. The insertion of the placard into the newspaper rack includes overlapping the panels of the placard, inserting the placard into the rear of the newspaper rack and opening the overlapped panels. The panels of the placard are then aligned parallel to a corresponding side wall of the newspaper rack.

Modern newspaper racks are conventionally made of an aluminum frame, a transparent, three-sided, polycarbonate shell, reinforced aluminum top, steel door and armor head for holding coins and a coin-operated, mechanical device.
The polycarbonate shell is used because it has high toughness and strength and good formability. Its transparency permits the newspaper distributor to see the remaining supply of papers to determine whether the supply should be supplemented. The polycarbonate shell is usually painted at the rack factory with the newspaper's name and colors on its interior sides. The painted surfaces are viewed from the exterior of the rack through the polycarbonate shell.
If a newspaper company decides to change the paint scheme of its racks, the polycarbonate shell must be removed and either the paint stripped off and the shell repainted, or a new shell purchased and painted. In either case, a significant cost is incurred and significant time is spent repainting or replacing the shell. The end result of changing the paint scheme is high cost, money not earned and newspapers not dispensed.
Due to the high cost associated with changing the painting schemes on the shells of racks, newspaper companies are discouraged from changing their promotions, advertisements, and colors. It is desirable to change these in order to follow changing campaigns and changes in surrounding colors.
Newspaper racks must exist in harsh conditions due to human abuse, weather, and a corrosive environment, and a display must be protected from these elements so as to remain appealing to the viewer. The polycarbonate shells used in newspaper racks usually have a pair of holes in the back of the rack, near the top, through which a chain or cable is fed and fastened to a sturdy object to prevent theft. Rain and snow can easily pass through these holes, usually contacting the interior surface of the shell. Additionally, salty air near saltwater can also pass through not only the holes, but also any small crevices where dissimilar materials of which the rack is formed join, allowing an extremely corrosive environment to exist within the rack. Any display must survive all of these conditions and maintain its appearance in order to be considered suitable for a newspaper rack.
Gifford, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,452,873, discloses a garbage container having display cards inserted into opposing slots formed on the exterior of the container. Not only are the display cards located on the exterior of the machine where they can easily be removed by vandals, but they are each a single flat panel, each held in place by its own pair of opposing slots which would not be adaptable to use in a conventional newspaper rack without extensive modification to the rack. Additionally, the display cards are not described as having any weather resistance, making their placement on the exterior of the container unsuited to typical newspaper rack locations.
Williams, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,160, describes a display apparatus for attachment on the interior of a door of a newspaper machine. The display apparatus is for use within a newspaper machine, but has the disadvantage of requiring a person to purchase a newspaper in order for the person to view the display. Additionally, the display apparatus is substantially smaller than the displays conventionally painted on the interior surface of the newspaper racks.
Kay, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,756, discloses a garbage container having four doors, each of which opens outwardly of the container and has an interior display door into which a poster or other display item is inserted. While the garbage container is for use in the outdoor environment, and as such is described as weatherproof, the use of four separate doors to form a multi-sided display makes the display apparatus particularly unadaptable for a conventional newspaper rack, due to the construction of conventional newspaper racks.
There is a need for a means and method of exhibiting a display from a newspaper rack that is more easily, quickly and less expensively changed and which is readily able to be used in conventional racks without modification.

Changeable display newspaper vending machine


The present invention relates to a novel process of production of purified recombinant cholera toxin B (rCTB) which provides protection against diarrhea caused by various bacteria such as Vibrio cholerae and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). More particularly, the present invention relates to a process of production of rCTB with significantly higher yield and higher purity. The present invention also relates to a vaccine formulation having synergistic protection against Vibrio cholerae and cross protection against ETEC.

Diarrheal diseases are constant global threat to public health. Major causes of diarrhea include certain bacteria, viruses or parasites, food intolerances etc. One of the major causes of infant and adult diarrhea is Vibrio cholerae.
Vibrio cholerae is a gram negative bacterium which colonizes the small intestine without invading the epithelium and causes an acute intestinal cholera infection. Although, more than 200 serogroups of Vibrio cholerae have been identified, most cases of cholera are caused by two serogoups, O1 and 0139. The disease is caused when Vibrio cholerae bacteria are ingested through contaminated food or drinking water. Cholera, which affects only humans, is mediated by cholera toxin (CT), which is secreted by Vibrio Cholera in the intestine and acts upon the mucosal cells of the gut, causing a copious, painless, watery diarrhea that can lead to severe dehydration and shock. If it is left untreated, death can occur within hours. It is estimated that a mortality of 2,8,000 to 1,42,000 and a morbidity of 1.4 to 4.3 million annual cases can be attributed to Cholera. It occurs as an epidemic due to natural or man-made catastrophe, and is also endemic in many developing countries. In such disasters and in endemic countries, clean drinking water and proper sanitation is unavailable and therefore the intervention of vaccines becomes essential. In 2010, the WHO recommended the use of oral cholera vaccines along with other control measures, both in endemic countries and for cholera epidemics [Cholera-fact sheet N107. World Health Organization. 2012, pp. Cholera-fact sheet N107]
There are three WHO pre-qualified killed oral cholera vaccines currently available:                1. Dukoral® containing whole-cell components and recombinant cholera toxin B-subunit (rCTB); and        2. Shanchol®/Euvichol® which lacks rCTB but contains Vibrio cholerae strains of the O139 serogroup in addition to the O1 serogroup.
It is well known that killed whole cell vaccine containing rCTB provides better protection than the killed whole cell vaccine without rCTB. Due to the cross-reactivity of anti-CTB antibodies to heat labile enterotoxin (LTB), killed whole cell vaccine containing rCTB (Dukoral) is also effective against Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) [0 Lucas M. E, Deen J. L, Von Seidlein L, Wang X. Y, Ampuero J, Puri M, Ali M, Ansaruzzaman M, Amos J, Macuamule A, et al. 'Effectiveness of mass oral cholera vaccination in Beira, Mozambique.' N. Engl. J. Med. 2005, 352, 757-7671]. Shanchol lacks the rCTB component and therefore lacks the benefits such as short term ETEC cross protection, synergistic protective effect (anti-bacterial+anti toxic immunity), early and long term protection etc. Therefore, it is better to include rCTB in oral cholera vaccines.
The rCTB is acid-labile so the Dukoral vaccine has to be administered with 75-150 mL of bicarbonate buffer prior to the administration of vaccine which makes the administration logistically difficult for children below 5 years of age and even for adults. Also, in Dukoral the said buffer sachet has to be opened and the contents are to be dissolved in requisite amount of water following addition and mixing of the vaccine from the glass vial. This additional dose preparation steps makes the vaccine in convenient and cumbersome to use.
The addition of rCTB in the oral cholera vaccine can lead to an increase in the cost of the vaccine as is clearly evident from Dukoral/Shanchol comparison where Dukoral is priced at more than $45 per dose and Shanchol priced at $5 per dose. One of the ways in which the oral cholera vaccine comprising rCTB can be made cost effective is by developing such a process for rCTB fermentation and purification which gives high culture OD and high rCTB yield using an easy and efficient purification method.
There are number of patents and non-patents disclosures relating to the production and purification of rCTB. Non-patent disclosure in the article, 'Recombinant system for overexpression of cholera toxin B subunit in Vibrio cholerae as a basis for vaccine development', PNAS, 1989, Vol 86, Pg 481-485, discloses that the best yield obtained by using affinity chromatography columns was 75 ug/ml which is not at all cost effective from production point of view. Another non patent titled, 'Cholera Toxin B: One Subunit with Many Pharmaceutical Applications,' Toxins 2015, 7, 974-996, disclosed an exhaustive list of mode of expression systems used for rCTB production till date and the purification methods used. This data show that yield of more than 1 gm/Lt of rCTB has not been achieved till now.
In view of the above prior arts, a real contribution in this field would be to develop a process of production and purification for recombinant cholera toxin B which results into a significantly higher yield along with high purity. Also, there is a need to develop a formulation and a dosage form which is thermostable, eliminates the need for buffer administration and make the vaccine delivery easy.

Process for production of purified recombinant cholera toxin B (rCTB) and formulation thereon

MSD WELLCOME TRUST HILLEMAN LABORATORIES PVT. LTD.


Doped semiconductor nanocrystals and methods of making the same are provided.

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots have generated significant interest for their promise in developing advanced optical materials. Size-dependent emission is attractive property of semiconductor nanocrystals allowing their use in a variety of wavelength dependent applications.
Biological labeling, for example, is expected to be a significant application of semiconductor nanocrystals. Particularly, photoluminescent (PL) quantum dots having emission in the near-infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum (700-1400 nm) are desirable as biological labels for in-vivo imaging because of their large absorption cross section and narrow emission bands. Moreover, semiconductor nanocrystals can also find significant application in display technologies, thermoelectrics, telecommunications and signaling, photonics and photovoltaic apparatus.
Nevertheless, the synthetic chemistry of semiconductor nanocrystals, including doped nanocrystals, is challenging and has inspired continuous efforts for developing high performance nanocrystals for use in various applications. Generally speaking, current limitations of these materials include low emission efficiency, low dopant emission characteristics, dopant ejection from nanocrystalline lattices, broad spectrum width, poor color control and/or poor stability.

Metal doped semiconductor nanocrystals and methods of making the same

Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas


Impregnated drilling tools include elongated structures that provide enhanced properties. The drilling tools contain a diamond-impregnated cutting section that contains elongated structures made from carbon, glass, ceramic, and the like. The elongated structures can comprise tubes, fibers, or rods. In one or more implementations the elongated structures are nano-sized. The elongated structures can control the tensile strength and/or the erosion rate of the drilling tools to optimize the cutting performance of the tools. Additionally, the elongated structures may also weaken the cutting section in one or more implementations; thereby, allowing higher strength binders to be used. Such higher modulus binders can cost less and allow for tailoring of the cutting section to retain the diamonds for the desired amount of time. As the cutting section erodes, the elongated structures may also increase the lubricity at the face of the cutting section.

1. The Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to drilling tools and their methods of manufacture and use. In particular, this application relates to diamond-impregnated drilling tools that may contain elongated structures.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
Drill bits and other earth-boring tools are often used to drill holes in rock and other hard formations for exploration or other purposes. One type of drill bit used for such operations is an impregnated drill bit. The part of these tools that performs the drilling action (or the cutting section of the tool) is generally formed of a matrix that contains a powdered hard particulate material, such as tungsten carbide. This material is typically infiltrated with a binder, such as a copper alloy. Finally, the cutting section of these tools is typically impregnated with an abrasive cutting media, such as for example, natural or synthetic diamonds.
During drilling operations using an impregnated drill bit, the abrasive cutting media is gradually exposed as the supporting matrix material is worn away. The continuous exposure of new abrasive cutting media by wear of the supporting matrix forming the cutting section is a fundamental functional principle of impregnated drilling tools. Impregnated drilling tools may continue to cut efficiently until the cutting section of the tool is completely consumed. At that point, the tool becomes dull and must be replaced with another one.
In some cases, impregnated drilling tools may be expensive and their replacement may be time consuming, costly, as well as dangerous. For example, the replacement of a drill bit requires removing (or tripping out) the entire drill string from a hole that has been drilled (the borehole). Each section of the drill rod must be sequentially removed from the borehole. Once the drill bit is replaced, the entire drill string must be assembled section by section, and then tripped back into the borehole. Depending on the depth of the hole and the characteristics of the materials being drilled, this process may need to be repeated multiple times for a single borehole. Thus, one will appreciate that the more times a drill bit needs to be replaced, the greater the time and cost required to perform a drilling operation.
Furthermore, conventional impregnated drilling tools often have several characteristics that can add to the consumption rate of the cutting section, and therefore, increase the operating costs associated with those drilling tools. First, the binder materials in the tools may be relatively soft in comparison to the cutting media. Accordingly, the cutting section may erode and allow diamonds or other abrasive cutting media to slough off prematurely. Second, the erosion rate of the cutting section can be increased by insufficient lubrication to and around the cutting face of the tool, or the interface between the cutting section of the tool and the material being cut. An increased erosion rate can be due at least in part to the large amounts of friction and heat created at the drilling surface from the pressure and rotational speed associated with drilling operations. Third, conventional impregnated drilling tools may also be too wear resistant to expose and renew layers of the cutting section.
Accordingly, there are a number of disadvantages in conventional impregnated drilling tools that can be addressed.

Impregnated drilling tools including elongated structures


An apparatus for the purpose of floatation and transportation on water comprises a pair of buoyant wing-shaped floats and foot wells in the floats designed to be under the center of buoyancy of each float. Accessories may be attached to one or more floats. Additional novel features and aspects of the invention are disclosed herein.

The present invention generally relates to the field of aquatic floatation and transportation systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a foot-wearable human floatation apparatus used primarily for water-walking or water-skating, and a propulsion mechanism therefor.
Walking on water, like flying, has been considered an interesting mode of transportation for centuries, if not millennia. Prior attempts at creating a foot-worn floatation/propulsion system have yet to produce a water-walking apparatus that enables a human to take near-normal walking steps with confidence.
The act of walking, on land or on water, can be broken down into a sequence of coordinated basic movement pairs (each pair comprising a left leg movement and a right leg movement). There are four basic movements: Forward, an actual forward movement of the first leg and foot; Backwards, the backwards push against the resistance of the ground during which the second foot does not actually move; Up, the lifting the first leg off the ground or un-weighting of the leg during skating; and Down, applying one's weight on the first leg. The act of walking naturally requires the smooth transition from one action to the next, and from one leg to the next. Any water-walking apparatus should allow for all four movements in the normal sequence and with the natural timing a human has learned when walking on land. A key consideration in walking on any medium is to emulate the assumed "100%" friction typically found when applying the Backwards movement on land. Humans slip and fall when friction is reduced during that portion of the walking cycle. In addition, a water-walking apparatus should allow a user to "step around" a turn as a way to change directions while providing the user a feeling of stability at least somewhat similar to the stability found on solid ground. Thus, a successful water-walking apparatus should limit pitch, roll, and side-to-side motions transmitted from the float to the user without constraining the natural walking up-down, front-back, and yawing motions transmitted from the user to the float.
Skating is different than walking in several ways. Skating is a series of movements optimized for low foot-to-support medium friction situations (ice, roller blades, water), where sliding a foot across the support medium will not completely halt forward progress. Because of the low friction, the Up movement doesn't necessarily imply lifting the foot—a simple easing of the pressure to reduce the (normal force generated) frictional resistance, as in Nordic skiing, is often adequate. Second, skating typically involves a gliding movement; weight is carried on the forward leg while the back leg "pushes off". The person using a skating apparatus lifts the foot that has just finished the Backwards, power movement and lets himself be carried forward by momentum, weight on the forward leg. Depending on the desired speed, the user either continues the one leg glide, brings the rearward foot parallel with the gliding foot and performs a two footed glide, or brings the rearward foot to the forward position in anticipation of the next pushing movement. Note that the skater can alternate the roles of the left and right legs (the normal skating action) or repeatedly use only one leg as the pushing leg (as in powering a scooter).
A typical prior water walking apparatus comprises two elongated floats and some sort of variable resistance propulsion mechanism, typically comprising a multitude of either small rotatable flaps or fixed, rearward facing cups, pouches, or scoops. The typical prior float is generally flat bottomed and straight sided and the typical prior propulsion mechanism does not provide maximum resistance against the water at the point in the walking cycle when it is needed; specifically, the maximum resistance is needed at the beginning of the Backwards (power) movement. Prior propulsion systems either require the user to wait to take each step or allow backwards slippage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,039 teaches an apparatus having a pair of symmetric floats, these floats being generally rectangular in cross-section and having a flat bottom over most of their length. Additionally, the '039 patent teaches the use of a series of rotatable flaps with vertical axes spaced along either side of a central keel. The flaps move into their high resistance position only by the rearward slippage at the beginning of each step. Further, each flap is "shadowed" by the flap next in line, greatly reducing their propulsive power. Another attempt to provide a propulsion system with rotatable flaps with vertical axes is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,069 and 4,117,562, both by Schaumann. In the '069 patent there are two flaps in series in a tunnel like chamber, completely obviating the functionality of the front flap for pushing backwards against the water. The overall float shape in both these patents is again generally an elongated rectangle. The '069 patent is notable in use of a resilient stop that both prevents the flap from opening beyond the desired point and provides a small push back toward the closed condition. However, the resilient stop only provides an initial push, the energy of which is quickly absorbed by the resistance of the water. Two examples of "horizontal" (viz., having a horizontal axis) flaps or pouches are provided by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,593,334 and 5,697,822. Again, the linear series of small pouches or flaps are too small to be effective and are self-obviating because of shadowing, and again the float shape is generally conducive to instability.
Some prior devices include a tethering mechanism to keep the floats from separating. Many of these mechanisms are overly constraining—that is, rather than just preventing excessive transverse separation, they instead prevent the user's feet from moving in at least some of the degrees of freedom possible on land. Typically, the tether mechanism, if present, either inhibits a full and natural stride (i.e., the length of a step), introduces friction into what is normally a frictionless forward leg movement, prevents the redirection of a forward stride (yaw) (as is needed for turning), or inhibits the required Up and Down leg movements. For example, the '069 patent includes an intertwined cable tether whose claimed function is explicitly to eliminate virtually all sideways motions, to limit the length of the stride, and to ensure the engagement of a tongue-and-groove mechanism for eliminating up-down motions. Another example of an overly constraining tethering mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,121,892 in which the two floats (actually "skis" in that each float is a thin, flat board similar to conventional water skis) are joined by what amounts to either a single or a double linear bearing that constrains the relative motion between the skis.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a water-walking apparatus in which the maximum resistance to the water is achieved at the beginning of, and maintained throughout, the Backward pushing movement. Other objectives can include providing an apparatus in which the user achieves a near land-like stability, which allows the user to transition from deep to shallow water and thence to solid surfaces (land, ice, etc.) while walking, and/or an apparatus with a foot attachment method that allows the user all normal walking motions while providing a quick release for safety. These and other objectives are met through the various embodiments discussed below.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Upright human floatation apparatus and propulsion mechanism therefor


A system and method are provided for prior-constrained mean shift analysis of a data array, the system including a processor, an input adapter in signal communication with the processor for receiving at least one data array, and a prior constraints unit in signal communication with the processor for performing a prior-constrained mean shift analysis on the at least one data array; and the method including receiving initialization data, selecting an initial point relative to the initialization data, Gaussian fitting with a prior-constrained mean shift responsive to the initial point to parse a structure, and setting the parsed structure as a prior constraint.

Mean shift is a popular optimization framework for analyzing the structure of kernel-smoothed function surfaces. The mean shift procedure is an adaptive gradient ascent algorithm with automatic step-size selection and is convergent to a mode of the kernel-smoothed estimate of the function surface. The mean shift framework provides an efficient solution to the general data-clustering problem. See K. Fukunaga, Introduction to Statistical Pattern Recognition, Academic Press, San Diego, 1990; Y. Cheng, Mean shift, mode seeking, and clustering, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell., 17(8):790-799, 1995; D. Comaniciu and P. Meer, Mean shift: A robust approach toward feature space analysis, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell., 24(5):603-619, 2002.
The mode-seeking property of the mean shift algorithm has been successfully applied to a wide range of vision problems such as tracking and segmentation. See D. Comaniciu, V. Ramesh, and P. Meer, Real-time tracking of non-rigid objects using mean shift, In IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pages 142-149, 2000; R. T. Collins, Mean-shift blob tracking through scale space, In IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pages 11:234-240, 2003; D. Comaniciu and P. Meer, Mean shift analysis and applications, In Int. Conf. Computer Vision, pages 1197-1203, 1999; K. Okada, D. Comaniciu, and A. Krishnan, Robust anisotropic Gaussian fitting for volumetric characterization of pulmonary nodules in multislice CT, IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, 24(3):409-423, 2005. Unfortunately, such formulations have difficulty with hard-to-discover weak modes in multimodal data, for example.


A machine and method for producing a material web, e.g., a paper or cardboard web. The machine includes a dryer group having a plurality of dryer cylinders and web guide rolls. A dryer (or guide) belt may guide the material web around the dryer cylinders and web guide rolls in a meandering or winding path. The dryer group may include a cooling device that cools the dryer belt by exerting an air current on the dryer belt after separation from the material web. The method may include drying the material web in a region of the dryer group in which the material web is held and guided between the dryer belt and each drying cylinder, and substantially preventing drying of the material web in a region of the dryer group in which the material web is transferred from one drying cylinder onto a subsequent one.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine for producing a material web, e.g., a paper or cardboard web, including a dryer group having a plurality of dryer cylinders and web guide rolls. A dryer or guide belt may guide the material web around the dryer cylinders and web guide rolls in a meandering or winding path. The dryer group may include a cooling device that cools the dryer belt by exerting an air current on the dryer belt after separation from the material web.
The present invention also relates to a process for producing a material web, e.g., a paper or cardboard web, in which the material web may be dried in a region of a dryer group in which the material web is held and guided between the dryer belt and each drying cylinder, and that drying of the material web may be substantially prevented in a region of the dryer group in which the material web is transferred from one drying cylinder onto a subsequent one.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Machines and processes of the type generally described above have been disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,430. A material web alternatingly runs around heated dryer cylinders and water-cooled web guide rolls. When the material web runs around a dryer cylinder, the web is clamped between the surface of the dryer cylinder and the dryer belt and when the material web runs around the cooled web guide roll, the web guided on the outside of a dryer belt, i.e., the dryer belt is positioned between the material web and the cooled web guide roll.
When the material web is held on the dryer cylinder by the dryer belt, the side of the web adjacent the dryer cylinder is heated and its opposite side is cooled by the dryer belt. The material web is dried by means of the temperature difference that occurs between the dryer cylinder and the dryer belt. To maintain the desired temperature difference inside the dryer group, the dryer (or guide) belt, which is heated continuously by the dryer cylinder through the material web, is cooled when the guide belt runs around the web guide rolls. The web guide roll is cooled on its interior by a cooling water current. However, this manner of cooling the guide belt has a correspondingly costly construction. As a result, the cost of the machine for producing the material web in the above-described manner is relatively high, as is its operating cost. Further, the specific drying rate of above-mentioned dryer groups may be improved.

Machine and method for producing a material web


A pedestrian and a driver of a running vehicle that are in the vicinity of a stopped vehicle are notified of a danger of collision with a vehicle, without requiring the pedestrian to carry a communication terminal. A vehicle danger notification control apparatus includes an outside recognition arrangement for recognizing a running vehicle and/or a pedestrian as a moving object(s), a danger determination arrangement for determining whether there is a danger of collision(s) between the running vehicle and the pedestrian and/or between the running vehicles, and a danger notification arrangement for notifying, in a case in which the danger determination means determines that there is a collision danger, a driver of the running vehicle and/or the pedestrian of the collision danger.

It is difficult to detect a pedestrian behind a stopped vehicle, which is in a blind area as seen from a driver of a running vehicle, using a radar or a camera for recognizing a front side of the running vehicle. There is proposed a vehicle warning system that can detect a target object such as a pedestrian that cannot be visually recognized by a driver as described above, and make the driver recognize a target object which may affect the running of the own vehicle (for example, refer to PTL 1 described below).
The vehicle warning system of PTL 1 requires a target object such as a pedestrian to carry a communication terminal. The communication terminal reports a position of the communication terminal itself to a vehicle warning apparatus mounted on a vehicle. The vehicle warning apparatus thereby identifies position information of the target object such as a pedestrian that carries the communication terminal. Then, based on position information of the own vehicle that has been detected by an own vehicle position detection means, and the size and position information of an object, such as a stopped vehicle positioned on the front side of the own vehicle in a travelling direction, which have been detected by an object detection means, the vehicle warning apparatus calculates a positional relationship between three, i.e., between the own vehicle, the object such as a stopped vehicle, and the target object such as a pedestrian. Then, if it is determined that the position of the target object such as a pedestrian that carries the communication terminal exists in a blind area behind the object such as a stopped vehicle positioned in the travelling direction of the own vehicle, the target object carrying the communication terminal is determined to be a warning target object. As a result, only the target object that cannot be visually recognized by the driver of the own vehicle is recognized as a warning target object, and a warning is issued to the driver.

Vehicle danger notification control apparatus


A charging station for an electric vehicle having a charging blade may include a charge head configured to electrically connect with a charging blade of a vehicle to charge the vehicle, the charge head extending from a front end to a rear end along a longitudinal axis that extends along a direction of travel of the vehicle. The charge head may include a first housing and a second housing, wherein the first and second housings are (a) symmetrically positioned about the longitudinal axis and (b) separated by a channel that extends from the front end to the rear end of the charge head, the channel being dimensioned to position the charging blade therein. The charge head may further include one or more charging brushes located in each of the first housing and the second housing, wherein each of the one or more charging brushes in each housing is configured to extend into the channel towards the other housing to contact the charging blade positioned in the channel. The charge head may also include one or more sensors located in at least one of the first housing or the second housing, wherein the one or more sensors is configured to detect a presence of the charging blade in the channel.

Electric vehicles, such as transit buses, are charged at a charging station. When a vehicle is positioned proximate to a charging station, a charging arm of the charging station automatically engages with a charging interface of the vehicle to charge the vehicle. For proper engagement of the charging arm and the charging interface, the vehicle should be correctly positioned at the charging station. In some applications, the driver of the vehicle manually aligns and positions the vehicle at the charging station by sight. Improper positioning of the vehicle at the charging station may cause misalignment of the charging interface with respect to the charging arm that could damage the charging arm or charging interface and/or could cause a delay in charging.
Embodiments of the current disclosure may alleviate the problems discussed above and/or other problems in the art. The scope of the current disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.

Positioning system for electric charging


Hardware Verification Languages (HVLs) permit the convenient modeling of the environment for a device under test (DUT). HVLs permit the DUT to be tested by stimulating certain inputs of the DUT and monitoring the resulting states of the DUT. The present invention relates to an HVL, referred to as Vera, for the verification of any form of digital circuit design. Vera is preferably used for testing a DUT modeled in a high-level hardware description language (HLHDL) such as Verilog HDL. More specifically, the present invention relates to an HVL capability, know as an xe2x80x9cexpect,xe2x80x9d for monitoring the values at certain nodes of the DUT at certain times and for determining whether those values are in accordance with the DUT""s expected performance. In particular, upon the first occurrence of a transition on one of the DUT""s nodes, since beginning a window period of monitoring, the expect will either generate an error if the DUT""s output is unexpected, or proceed with modeling the DUT""s environment if the output is expected. A delay may be specified, which will delay the expect""s initiation of the window monitoring period.

This patent includes a Microfiche Appendix which consists of a total of 5 microfiche that contain a total of 442 frames.
The present invention relates generally to verification languages, and more particularly to language statements which verify whether a system under test has responded to a stimulus with certain expected values.
To tackle the increasing complexity of integrated digital electronic circuits, designers need faster and more accurate methods for verifying the functionality and timing of such circuits, particularly in light of the need for ever-shrinking product development times.
The complexity of designing such circuits is often handled by expressing the design in a high-level hardware description language (HLHDL). The HLHDL description is then converted into an actual circuit through a process, well known to those of ordinary skill in the art as xe2x80x9csynthesis,xe2x80x9d involving translation and optimization. Typical examples of an HLHDL are IEEE Standard 1076-1993 VHDL and IEEE Standard 1364-1995 Verilog HDL, both of which are herein incorporated by reference.
An HLHDL description can be verified by simulating the HLHDL description itself, without translating the HLHDL to a lower-level description. This simulation is subjected to certain test data and the simulation""s responses are recorded or analyzed.
Verification of the HLHDL description is important since detecting a circuit problem early prevents the expenditure of valuable designer time on achieving an efficient circuit implementation for a design which, at a higher level, will not achieve its intended purpose. In addition, simulation of the design under test (DUT) can be accomplished much more quickly in an HLHDL than after the DUT has been translated into a lower-level, more circuit oriented, description.
The verification of HLHDL descriptions has been aided through the development of Hardware Verification Languages (or HVLs). Among other goals, HVLs are intended to provide programming constructs and capabilities which are more closely matched to the task of modeling the environment of an HLHDL design than are, for example, the HLHDL itself or software-oriented programming languages (such as C or C++). HVLs permit a DUT, particularly those DUTs expressed in an HLHDL, to be tested by stimulating certain inputs of the DUT and monitoring the resulting states of the DUT.
The present invention relates to an HVL, referred to as Vera, for the verification of any form of digital circuit design. Vera is preferably used for testing a DUT modeled in a high-level hardware description language (HLHDL) such as Verilog HDL.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an HVL capability, known as an xe2x80x9cexpect,xe2x80x9d for monitoring the values at certain nodes of the DUT at certain times and for determining whether those values are in accordance with the DUT""s expected performance.
In particular, the present invention relates to a form of expect referred to as xe2x80x9crestricted.xe2x80x9d When a restricted expect is first executed as part of a Vera language program, an initial check is made to determine whether the DUT""s nodes monitored by the expect have the anticipated values. If these nodes do, then the restricted expect is considered to have been satisfied, and processing of the Vera language program continues with the next statements in its flow of control. If the expect is not satisfied immediately, it will then check whether a window of time has been specified during which it may still be satisfied. If no window of time is specified, then the expect is not satisfied and a xe2x80x9csimulation errorxe2x80x9d is generated. If a window of time is specified, then during that time period the expect will monitor for the first transition on any of the nodes whose value it is programmed to check. At the time of this first transition, if the DUT""s nodes do correspond to the expected values, then the expect is satisfied. If the DUT""s nodes do not correspond to the expected values, then the expect is not satisfied and a simulation error is generated. If, upon the conclusion of the window period, no transition has occurred on any of the nodes monitored by the expect, then the expect is also not satisfied and a simulation error is generated. An offset xe2x80x9cdelayxe2x80x9d may also be specified, which will delay any monitoring by the expect, as well as any action which the expect might take as a result of that monitoring, for a specified time period.
Advantages of the invention will be set forth, in part, in the description that follows and, in part, will be understood by those skilled in the art from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims and equivalents.

Method and apparatus for determining expected values during circuit design verification


A method for blending and windrowing hot plant mix asphalt which has been deposited onto a roadway in preparation for paving the roadway utilizes a V-shaped plow formed by a first plowing member extending in a first direction, and a second plowing member extending in a second direction, with rearward ends of each of the first and second plowing member being connected at a vertex and the opposite forward ends being spaced apart to form the open side of the V-shaped plow. The V-shaped plow further comprises an opening in the vertex and a movable gate for adjusting the size of the opening in the vertex. The V-shaped plow is further provided with an attachment device for attaching the V-shaped plow to an earth moving implement, such as a front end loader. Movement of the V-shaped plow along the roadway causes the hot asphalt to be thoroughly blended and deposited from the opening into a perfect windrow having the desired amount of asphalt for paving the roadway at issue.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an a method for blending and windrowing hot plant mix asphalt used in paving and resurfacing roadways.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Hot plant mix asphalt is a material commonly used throughout the country to pave and resurface roadways. Advancements in asphalt technology, both in the manufacturing of equipment and in the construction process, have enabled road builders to improve the construction and performance of modern highways, particularly in respect to smoothness and uniformity of the road surface. Smoothness of the surface directly affects both noise levels from vehicles traveling on the road and longevity of the surface. In fact, most roadways are now constructed in accordance with strict performance parameters concerning, among other items, smoothness, uniformity, and longevity. Moreover, many specifying agencies have adopted bonus plans for contractors who meet or exceed such performance parameters to earn extra pay, or in contrast, penalties for those who do not.
The processes for producing asphalt and paving roadways include mining and crushing aggregate material, grading and blending the material, transporting and charging feeders of an asphalt plant, reblending and mixing the material with hot asphalt liquid, dumping the hot asphalt into storage systems and dump trucks, hauling the material to the construction site, further dumping and transferring the material into a paver, and finally properly placing the material onto the road surface. Care must be taken at every step of the process to ensure that the material is thoroughly mixed in order to lay down a sufficiently smooth surface. From the standpoint of the road building contractor, special care must be given to the last two steps--transferring material to the construction site and the final paving process--otherwise quality is lost. Problems encountered by road building contractors which adversely affect smoothness include segregation of material, truck bumps, logistical difficulties in transporting material, and cold joints.
Hot plant mix asphalt is composed of liquid asphaltic cement mixed with different sizes of aggregate. In order for asphalt pavement to be of maximum quality, smooth and long-lasting, it must be uniformly blended, without any segregation of material. As with any type of material, hot plant mix asphalt tends to segregate with handling. Even though the material may have been thoroughly mixed and blended at the plant, the asphalt will nonetheless tend to segregate by the time it has been transported to and laid down on the road surface.
Conventional paving operations often require that a dump truck back up to a paver in order to deposit the material into the paver. Some contractors use the paver to propel both the paver and dump truck during the paving process. Occasionally the dump truck may bump into the paver, causing a momentary disruption in the paving process. The disruption results in a small bump in the road referred to in the industry as "truck bumps."
Because conventional paving operations require a dump truck to deposit asphalt directly to the paver, delivery of multiple loads of asphalt must be precisely timed so that a new, fully loaded truck arrives just as the previous truck has been emptied in order to maintain the pace of the paving operation. Disruptions in the delivery of asphalt can cause cold joints and other irregularities in the pavement.
Conventional techniques to address such problems have typically involved development of various sophisticated pieces of equipment which are extremely expensive and often add a host of other operating problems to the process. Some of those methods incorporate the use of equipment which have a large capacity for holding asphalt material. Such devices are useful in reducing the number of times that material must be transferred from a dump truck to paver, thereby reducing the number of "truck bumps" and cold joints, but not eliminating the problem altogether. Numerous other ideas have been tried with less-than-satisfying results.

Method for blending and windrowing asphalt


A new mipmap level estimation method that is based on the inverse of homogeneous coordinate only. This method is more efficient and more robust than the traditional approaches. In most common cases, this method handles texture anisotropy well and eliminates the need for complicated anisotropy processing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to features that improve the efficiency of rendering images of three-dimensional objects, and more particularly to a graphics mechanism and apparatus for mipmap level estimation for anisotropic texture mapping, wherein the mipmap estimation technique uses inverse homogenous coordinates only.
2. Description of the Related Art
Aliasing artifacts that arise due to texture mapping are well-known and have been studied by many researchers (see, e.g., [1] A. Watt, "3D Computer Graphics," 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1993 and [2] G. Wolberg, "Digital Image Warping," IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, Calif., 1990). Various filtering schemes can be used to deal with this problem (see, e.g., [3] F. Crow, "Summed Area Tables for Texture Mapping", Computer Graphics, 18(3), pp. 207-212, 1984 and [4] N. Greene and P. Heckbert, "Creating Raster Omnimax Images Using the Elliptically Weighted Average Filter," Computer Graphics and Applications, pp. 21-27, June 1986). However, by far the most popular filtering scheme is mipmapping ([5] L. Williams, "Pyramidal Parametrics," Computer Graphics, 17(3), pp. 1-11, 1983). In this method, the original texture is averaged down to successively lower resolutions, each image in the mipmap sequence being one half of the resolution of the previous image. Then, instead of always using the original texture map, an appropriately scaled image is used.
Mipmapping as a technique has several disadvantages. The first inevitable disadvantage is an increase of memory requirements space by 33% [5]. Second, it is necessary to choose an appropriate level of pyramid each time texture mapping is applied ([6] P. Heckbert, "Texture Mapping Polygons in Perspective," Tech. Memo No. 13, NYIT Computer Graphics Lab, April 1983 and [5]). Good selection of mipmap level is key to proper filtering and therefore is very important for image quality, as discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/971,972, entitled "Texture Mapping With Improved Technique for Selecting an Appropriate Level in Filtered Representations of the Texture," filed Nov. 17, 1997. Finally, the third disadvantage is due to the possible anisotropy artifact, because, by original construction, mipmapping cannot adequately handle situations where the ratio of either texture or screen dimensions of a surface is significantly different from one.
Various texture mapping techniques have been proposed. For the most part, these techniques do not compute mipmap levels and/or do not address the issue of anisotropy. One such technique is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,208. This technique is embodied in a method and apparatus for calculating the gradients of texture map parameters in perspective space. The technique provides a way to calculate a texture gradient in the direction of viewing. This gradient is then used to calculate a pre-filtered textured value. This approach is dependent on viewpoint distance but has a relatively complicated implementation scheme and also does not address texture anisotropy.

Graphics mechanism and apparatus for mipmap level estimation for anisotropic texture mapping


A clamp-type terminal including a connection portion for a mating terminal, a conductor clamping portion for clamping a conductor of a wire, a sheath clamping portion for clamping a sheath of the wire, and a base portion integrally connecting the connection portion, the conductor clamping portion and the sheath clamping portion together. A bending portion is bendably formed on the connection portion, and is bent at least toward a front end portion of the conductor, clamped by the conductor clamping portion, so as to prevent the front end portion of the conductor from being deflected upwardly. Further, notches are provided adjacent to the bending portion so as to make it possible to confirm the clamping of the conductor by the conductor clamping portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a clamp-type terminal to be clamped to an end of a wire used, for example, in an electric system of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
When clamping a clamp-type terminal to a wire, it is necessary that an end of the wire should be extended outwardly from a conductor clamping portion of the clamp-type terminal so that the sufficient contact of the wire conductor with the conductor clamping portion can be confirmed. However, the conductor end, extending outwardly from the clamping portion, is liable to be curved outwardly to be deflected upwardly.
FIGS. 5 to 7 show a conventional clamp-type terminal 1, disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 55-7235, in which the upward deflection of a conductor end is prevented. FIG. 8 shows a conventional clamp-type terminal 3 in which the upward deflection of a conductor end is prevented, and also the contact of the conductor with the terminal can be confirmed.
As shown in FIG. 5, the clamp-type terminal 1 includes a connection portion 5 for a mating terminal, a conductor clamping portion 11 for clamping a conductor 9 of a wire 7, a sheath clamping portion 15 for clamping a sheath 13 of the wire 7, and a base portion integrally connecting these portions together.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a front end portion 17 of the conductor clamping portion 11, disposed at a front end of the conductor 9, is crushed to be sealed, and with this construction, the front end portion of the conductor 9 is isolated from the ambient atmosphere, and also this front end portion is prevented from being deflected upwardly.
However, when the front end portion 17 of the conductor clamping portion 11 is thus crushed, the front end of the conductor 9 is not extended to an area 19 shown in FIG. 5, and therefore it is impossible to confirm whether the front end of the conductor 9 is held in sufficient contact with the conductor clamping portion 11 as shown in FIG. 6 or is held in insufficient contact with the conductor clamping portion 11 such that a gap 21 is formed between the front end of the conductor 9 and the conductor clamping portion 11 as shown in FIG. 7.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the clamp-type terminal 3 includes a connection portion 23 for a mating terminal, a deflection prevention portion 25 for preventing upward deflection of a conductor of a wire, a conductor clamping portion 27 for clamping the conductor, a sheath clamping portion 29 for clamping a sheath of the wire, notches 31 for enabling the confirmation of a clamped condition of the conductor, and a base portion integrally connecting these portions together.
For clamping the wire to the clamp-type terminal 3, a front end portion of the wire is inserted into the deflection prevention portion 25, and the conductor of the wire is clamped by the conductor clamping portion 27 while the sheath of the wire is clamped by the sheath clamping portion 29.
In the clamp-type terminal 3, the upward deflection of the conductor is prevented by the deflection prevention portion 25, and also the clamped condition of the conductor can be confirmed through the notches 31.
In the clamp-type terminal 3, however, the deflection prevention portion 25 is formed into a narrow tube so as to prevent the upward deflection of the conductor, and it is quite difficult to insert the conductor of the wire into the deflection prevention portion 25 regardless of whether the clamping operation of the clamp-type terminal 3 is effected automatically or manually.
Therefore, the manual operation requires much time, and this increases the cost. In the automatic operation, there is a possibility that the conductor end fails to be inserted into the deflection prevention portion 25, or part of the conductor end is not inserted into the deflection prevention portion 25, but is laid thereon, and in this condition the clamping operation is effected. Thus, frequently, the upward deflection of the conductor can not be prevented, or the clamping operation is effected in such a manner that the clamp-type terminal 3 is inclined relative to the wire.


An apparatus for a ball bearing or needle bearing enclosure having an outside hardened raceway that accommodates two separate compliments of ball bearings located at each end of the raceway to engage with and support a central pin that protrudes cone shape out of the bearing enclosure at the front end to engage in contact with a screw thread. The total bearing and pin assembly is secure in a pocket in the worm wheel having a slip fit mating that allows the total bearing enclosure to move forward and back for a controlled distance against a spring washer of calculated pressure to accept the pressure generated from the cone shaped pin and screw thrust. The central pin is cored out to accept a spiral shaped object for the purpose of pre-spinning the central pin with a jet of pressurized air prior to engaging with the screw thread to eliminate any skidding action between the two surfaces. The jet of air is atomized with a lubricant to insure a spray mist of air and lubricant during the pre-spinning and pin and screw thread engagement activity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pre-spinning and lubricating system for worm drive power transmissions and a new bearing assembly and components thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional worm gear sets employ a worm screw and fixed tooth or roller tooth gear wheel. Although such worm gear sets are successful drive mechanisms at low speeds, their efficiencies are limited due to the rubbing or skidding contact between the teeth of the gear wheel and the screw thread of the worm screw.
Although the roller pin design is significantly more efficient than the solid tooth arrangement, further improvement in efficiency can be realized by a spray mist, pre-spin, lubricating system in place of the conventional method of an oil reservoir dip system. Submerging the roller pins in a lubricant at the bottom of the gear wheel cycle stops any spinning rotation of the roller pins that was gained from exiting the screw path causing a skidding action when re-entering the screw thread path. The Brackett U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,423 shows a solid roller pin design.
The Brackett patents employ separate bearing races supporting the front and the back bearings of the roller pins. The design has a limited capacity to withstand torque loads between the roller pins and the screw thread contact.

Pre-spinning and lubricating system for worm drive power transmissions and bearing assembly components


A mobile payment system and method are described that facilitates the secure and real time user authentication and activation of a mobile payment account for a user portable electronic device over a communications network.

Mobile payment account systems are generally known, in which portable electronic devices are configured to provide payment from an electronic wallet. Typically, these portable electronic devices are configured to enable a contactless communication with a merchant Point Of Sale (POS) terminal to carry out a payment transaction, for example using near field communication (NFC) technology.
Such conventional mobile payment systems typically involve a complicated process for provisioning a mobile payment account on the portable electronic device. Customers expect a certain degree of security and peace of mind that their sensitive identification and account details are protected from theft, and therefore known account provisioning systems involve a time consuming activation process which often requires the customer to, for example, post in a copy of documents to verify their identity, telephone the account issuer to provide verbal confirmation of their identity, or login to a website to complete a lengthy authentication process. This results in significant delays between a customer requesting a new mobile payment account and the time when the mobile account is actually provisioned and ready for use to carry out payment transactions.
What is desired is a more efficient account provisioning system and method which enables substantially real time activation of a new mobile payment account and which facilitates expedient security measures to prevent fraudulent use and identity theft.


A system for print job accounting in a computer system is disclosed. The system includes a computing device and a printer in electronic communication with the computing device. Executable instructions are disposed in an electronic communication path between the printer and the computing device and are configured to add to a print job a new address as a destination for a status message. A pre-print analysis of the print job is performed. The instructions determine if the print job should be sent to a printer based on the pre-print analysis. The print job is sent to the printer. The status message is received that includes actual performance information relating to the print job. The actual performance information is communicated to an accounting system. In addition, the status message is sent to a monitor program.

Computer and communication technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. Indeed, computer and communication technologies are involved in many aspects of a person's day. For example, many devices being used today by consumers have a small computer incorporated within the device. These small computers come in varying sizes and degrees of sophistication. These small computers may vary in sophistication from one microcontroller to a fully-functional complete computer system. For example, small computers may be a one-chip computer, such as a microcontroller, a one-board type of computer, such as a controller, a typical desktop computer, such as an IBM-PC compatible, etc.
Printers are used with computers to print various kinds of items including letters, documents, pictures, etc. Many different kinds of printers are commercially available. Ink jet printers and laser printers are fairly common among computer users. Ink jet printers propel droplets of ink directly onto the paper. Laser printers use a laser beam to print.
Different kinds of computer software facilitate the printing of materials through use of a printer and/or a computer network. The computer or computing device that will be used to print the materials typically has one or more pieces of software running on the computer that enable it to send the necessary information to the printer to enable printing of the materials. If the computer or computing device is on a computer network there may be one or more pieces of software running on one or more computers on the computer network that facilitate printing.
In certain computing environments, it is desirable to track information that relates to each print job. The information that is tracked may be used for a variety of reasons. Tracking information relating to each print job may be referred to herein as print job accounting. Benefits may be realized by providing increased functionality to the software used in printing and print job counting.

Systems and methods for print job accounting


An actuator apparatus (10) includes a transverse support structure (14) for guiding a transverse carriage (16) therealong, with the carriage being powered by a remotely located rotational actuator (20) through an endless belt (80) secured to the carriage (16). A second carriage (26) moves along a longitudinal support structure (24) cantilevered transversely from carriage (16). The second carriage is powered by a remotely located second rotational actuator (28) acting through a second endless belt (150). A working tool (30) is mounted on the second carriage (26) for high speed bi-directional movement.

Various work tools have been used to carry out operations on workpieces that travel along conveyors. Commonly the work tool may be supported for movement relative to the workpiece, transversely and/or longitudinally relative to the direction of movement of the conveyor. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,243,886 and 5,365,816 disclose nozzles that emit very high-speed water jets to cut foods and other objects that are carried by an underlying conveyor belt. The nozzles are mounted on carriages that ride along tracks disposed transversely to the moving conveyor. By timing the transverse movement of the carriages, it is possible to make cuts in the workpiece that are diagonal to the direction of movement of the conveyor and also it is possible to make curved cuts in the workpiece.
However, it is desirable to be able to move the nozzle in the direction longitudinally of the conveyor so as to achieve higher cutting speeds and/or more complicated cutting patterns while maintaining high precision. To date, this effort has been hampered by the inability to move and change the direction of movement of the nozzle as quickly as desirable, due at least in part to the relatively high mass of the carriage and related apparatus employed to mount and move the working tool. For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,448 and 4,882,961 disclose gantry systems for water jet cutters employing a support structure that spans transversely across an underlying conveyor. The transverse support structure rides on longitudinal tracks extending along the sides of the conveyor. A work tool-supporting carriage is carried and guided by the transverse structure. The transverse structure also carries a drive system for moving the carriage along the support structure, back and forth across the path of the conveyor. These structures for carrying and moving the water jet nozzle comprise considerable mass that limits the speed at which the water jet cutter nozzles may be moved, particularly in the direction parallel to the direction of movement of the conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,691 discloses a gantry apparatus similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,448 and 4,882,961, but not adapted to be used with workpieces that move on an underlying conveyor. The '691 patent utilizes a typical "H" support structure having a pair of spaced apart, parallel members that span across the workpiece. A longitudinally disposed "Y" support member extends transversely to the parallel members of the "H" support structure. A tool mounting structure moves along the length of the "Y" member under the operation of a drive system, including a drive motor, carried by the Y member, thus adding significantly to the total mass that must be moved when moving the work tool.
The present invention addresses the foregoing and other drawbacks of prior art apparatuses for high-speed bi-directional movement of water jet nozzles and other work tools.

Bi-directional actuator for working tool


A grinding method includes the steps of: enabling an image-capturing device to capture a set of consecutive images containing a workpiece being ground by a grinding device; enabling an image-processing device to identify the workpiece from the images, to detect a top edge of the identified workpiece from a latest one of the images, to locate a set of image pixels that lie on the top edge of the workpiece, and to determine relative heights of the image pixels; and enabling a controlling device to control grinding operation of the grinding device with reference to the relative heights of the image pixels. A system that performs the grinding method is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a grinding method and system, more particularly to a grinding method and system that detects thickness of and that grinds a workpiece in real time without direct physical contact with the workpiece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Grinding of workpieces, such as a watch casing, is typically performed manually by a laborer, which is very inefficient in terms of quality and productivity. Furthermore, dust produced during grinding of the workpiece poses threat to the health of the laborer.

Grinding method and system with non-contact real-time detection of workpiece thinkness


A composition for pattern formation includes a block copolymer and a solvent. The block copolymer is capable of forming a phase separation structure through directed self-assembly. The block copolymer includes a first block and a second block. The first block includes a first repeating unit which includes at least two silicon atoms. The second block includes a second repeating unit which does not include a silicon atom. A sum of the atomic weight of atoms constituting the first repeating unit is no greater than 700.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composition for pattern formation, and a pattern-forming method.
Discussion of the Background
In these days, miniaturization of various types of electronic device structures such as semiconductor devices and liquid crystal devices has been accompanied by demands for miniaturization of patterns in lithography processes. Specifically, although fine patterns having a line width of about 50 nm can be formed using, for example, an ArF excimer laser beam, further finer pattern formation has been required.
To meet the demands described above, some pattern-forming methods which utilize a phase separation structure through the directed self-assembly, as generally referred to, that spontaneously forms an ordered pattern have been proposed. For example, an ultrafine pattern-forming method by directed self-assembly has been known in which a block copolymer obtained by copolymerizing a monomer compound having one property with a monomer compound having a property that is distinct from the one property is involved (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2008-149447, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Translation of PCT Application), Publication No. 2002-519728 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2003-218383). According to this method, annealing of a film formed from a composition containing the block copolymer results in a tendency of clustering of polymer structures having the same property, and thus a pattern can be formed in a self-aligning manner.
However, patterns obtained by the abovementioned method are not deemed to be yet sufficiently fine, and therefore the structure and the like of the block copolymer have been variously investigated. In connection with a technology proposed to meet the demands, a copolymer has been known in which a silicon atom is introduced into a part of a plurality of blocks of the block copolymer (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application (Translation of PCT Application), Publication No. 2013-528664, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2013-166932 and ACS Macro Lett., 1, 1279 (2012)).

Composition for pattern formation, and pattern-forming method


A magnetic thin film element is provided with a magnetoresistive film including a first magnetic layer composed of a perpendicular magnetization film, a second magnetic layer composed of a perpendicular magnetization film having a higher coercive force than that of the first magnetic layer, and a nonmagnetic layer interposed between the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer. The resistance of the magnetoresistive film varies depending on whether or not the magnetic spins of the first magnetic layer and the second magnetic layer are in the same direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic thin film element making use of a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect, a memory element using the magnetic thin film element, and a method for recording and reproducing using the memory element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although a magnetic thin film memory is a solid-state memory with no active part as is the case of a semiconductor memory, in the magnetic thin film memory, information is not lost even if a power supply is cut off, writing is enabled repeatedly up to an unlimited number of times, and there is no danger that the memory content may vanish with exposure to radiation, which are advantages in comparison with the semiconductor memory. In particular, recently, a thin film magnetic memory using the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) effect is receiving attention because of a larger output in comparison with a conventional thin film magnetic memory using an anisotropic magnetoresistive effect.
For example, in the Journal of the Japan Society of Applied Magnetics (Vol. 20, P.22, 1996), a solid-state memory is disclosed, in which a memory element is fabricated by depositing a plurality of times a structure including a hard magnetic layer (HM), a nonmagnetic layer (NM), a soft magnetic layer (SM), and a nonmagnetic layer (NM).
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a structure of such a solid-state memory. In the drawing, numeral 1 represents a hard magnetic layer, numeral 2 represents a nonmagnetic layer, and numeral 3 represents a soft magnetic layer. In this solid-state memory, a sense line 4 is provided on both sides of the magnetic film, and a word line 5 is provided, and is isolated from the sense line 4 by an insulating layer 6. An electric current is applied to the word line 5 and the sense line 4, and information is written means of the magnetic field generated as a result.
Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2A through 2D, by applying an electric current to the word line 5, a magnetic field is generated in a different direction in response to the direction of electric current represented by numeral 7. The magnetization of the hard magnetic layer 1 is reversed by the magnetic field to record a memory in a state of "0" or "1". In FIGS. 2A and 2C, the horizontal axis represents time T and the vertical axis represents electric current I. In FIGS. 2B and 2D, the same members as those in FIG. 1 are represented by the same numeral as in FIG. 1, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.
For example, by applying a positive current, as shown in FIG. 2A, to produce a rightward magnetic field, a memory state of "1" is recorded as shown in FIG. 2B. Also, by applying a negative current, as shown in FIG. 2C, to produce a leftward magnetic field, a memory state of "0" is recorded as shown in FIG. 2D.
In order to read information, as shown in FIGS. 3A through 3E, an electric current 7 that is smaller than the recording current is applied to the word line 5 to reverse the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer 3 only, and a resulting change in resistance is detected.
In FIG. 3A, the horizontal axis represents time T and the vertical axis represents electric current I. Also, in FIGS. 3B through 3E, the same members as those in FIG. 1 are represented by the same numeral as in FIG. 1, and detailed descriptions will be omitted.
When the giant magnetoresistive effect is used, resistance varies depending on whether the magnetizations of the soft magnetic layer SM and the hard magnetic layer HM are parallel or antiparallel. Thus, a memory in a state of "1" can be discriminated from a memory in a state of "0" in response to the change in resistance. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when a current is applied as a positive pulse and then a negative pulse, the magnetization of the soft magnetic layer 3 changes from rightward to leftward, and with respect to the memory in a state of "1", a small resistance as shown in FIG. 3B changes is replaced by a large resistance as shown in FIG. 3C. On the other hand, with respect to the memory in a state of "0", a large resistance as shown in FIG. 3D changes is replaced by a small resistance as shown in FIG. 3E. By detecting the change in resistance as described above, information recorded in the hard magnetic layer HM can be read regardless of the magnetization condition of the soft magnetic layer SM after recording.
In the conventional magnetic thin-film memory having the structure described above, however, as the area of the memory cell decreases, a demagnetizing field (self-demagnetizing field) generated in the magnetic layer increases so as to not be negligible, and the magnetization direction of the magnetic layer that stores records is no longer fixed in one direction, resulting in instability. Therefore, in the conventional magnetic thin-film memory, the refinement (reduction in size ) of a one-bit cell and the stable storage of information are incompatible, and high integration is impossible.

Magnetic thin film element, memory element using the same, and method for recording and reproducing using the memory element


A system and method for treating a patient suffering from chronic hypertension. Electrical therapeutic energy is delivered to a nerve branch of a renal artery of the patient, thereby treating the chronic hypertension. Another system and method for treating a medical condition of a patient. Electrical stimulation energy is delivered to a stimulation site on the wall of a blood vessel, thereby evoking a compound action potential in a nerve branch associated with the blood vessel, sensing the evoked compound action potential at a sensing site on the wall of the blood vessel, identifying a circumferential location of the nerve branch as being adjacent the stimulation site or sensing site based on the sensed compound action potential(s), and delivering therapeutic energy to a therapeutic site on the wall of the blood vessel adjacent the circumferential location of the nerve branch, thereby modulating the nerve branch and treating the medical condition.

Hypertension is a health problem affecting millions of people, requiring considerable expenditure of medical resources as well as imposing significant burdens on those who suffer from this condition. Hypertension generally involves resistance to the free flow of blood within a patient's vasculature, often caused by reduced volume stemming from plaque, lesions, and the like. Because blood vessels do not permit easy flow, the patient's heart must pump at higher pressure. In addition, reduced cross-sectional area results in higher flow velocity. In consequence, a patient's blood pressure may enter into the range of hypertension, i.e. greater than 140 mm Hg systolic/90 mm Hg diastolic. For a chronic disease, such as hypertension, where the negative outcomes such as stroke come as a result of a lifetime of exposure to elevated blood pressure. Oftentimes, such elevated blood pressure can persist for up to a year until the patient is seen in a clinic for an annual check-up, after which the patient's elevated blood pressure can be corrected using conventional means.
It has been recognized that the kidneys play a key role in blood pressure regulation, and a number of hypertension treatment approaches have focused on the kidneys, providing a number of pharmaceutical compounds aimed at promoting blood to flow through these organs. One treatment option has been to destroy some or all of the nerves innervating the kidneys through ablation, a process in which an therapeutic electrode, carried in an instrument such as an endoscope, is introduced into a patient's vasculature and navigated to a position within the renal artery. Electrical energy, operating at radio frequencies sufficient to ablate nerve tissue, is delivered to the electrode, resulting in destruction of the renal nerves.
This process, of course, is irreversible and carries the possibility of undesirable side effects. For example, it is known that renal nerve ablation can lead to neuroma formation and neuropathic pain at the site of the ablative lesion. Because the ablation of renal nerves causes permanent physiological alterations to the patient, it is often very difficult, if not impossible, to re-adjust the patient's blood pressure when needed (e.g., when the patient experience severe loss of blood).
Thus, a need remains to dynamically ameliorate hypertension without permanently affecting the renal nervous system.

Neuromodulation of renal nerve for treatment of hypertension

Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation


A transmitter module for a broadband data transmission system for radio communications, comprising at least one transmitter filter bank and a shaping module is described. The at least one transmitter filter bank is established as a synthesis polyphase FFT filter bank, wherein the transmitter module is configured to generate a transmission signal, wherein the transmitter module is configured to forward the transmission signal to the shaping module, wherein the shaping module is connected to the at least one transmitter filter bank downstream of the at least one synthesis polyphase FFT filter bank, and wherein the shaping module is configured to reduce a crest factor of the transmission signal. Moreover, a data transmission system and a data transmission method are described.

Different techniques for a broadband transmission of data via radio frequency are known from the state of the art. Examples for such techniques are direct sequence hopping, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and shaped orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.
For certain applications like police radio or military radio, it may be desirable to reduce the crest factor of a signal that is to be transmitted in order to reduce the conspicuousness of the transmitted signal.
One technique known in the art is direct polar clipping, where portions of the signal exceeding a certain amplitude are simply cut off. However, this technique creates noise artifacts, so-called intermodulation products.

Transmitter module, data transmission system and data transmission method


A method and system for extending the load range of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) in an internal combustion engine includes detecting a current state of the engine, detecting a load demand placed on the engine, determining if the load demand is beyond a power generating capacity of a four-stroke engine cycle based on the current state of the engine and the load demand, and switching from the four-stroke engine cycle mode to a two-stroke engine cycle mode when it is determined that the load demand is beyond the capacity of the four-stroke engine cycle.

HCCI is a hybrid of two standard internal combustion processes: a spark-ignition (SI) process and a Diesel process. In an HCCI combustion process, typically the same fuel (gasoline) is used as in an SI process, but in contrast to standard SI, a spark plug is not used for ignition of the fuel. With respect to ignition, HCCI is more similar to a Diesel process in that the charge (fuel/air mixture) is compression ignited (i.e., auto-ignited).
Like Diesel fuel, gasoline is also auto-ignitable when heated to a sufficient high temperature. The typical auto-ignition temperature of gasoline is higher than for Diesel fuel, and is also higher than the typical temperature achieved in a cylinder at the end of the compression stroke in a typical four-stroke SI engine.
As discussed, for example, in the article "Use of Dynamic Valving to Achieve Residual-Affected Combustion", by N. B. Kaahaaina et al., published as SAE Technical Paper Series No. 2001-01-0529 (2001), the HCCI engine operates in a four-stroke cycle, like the SI engine. The auto-ignition of the gasoline/air mixture at the end of the compression stroke is achieved by providing an elevated starting temperature at the beginning of the stroke in the HCCI engine in comparison to the temperature used in an SI engine. This elevated starting temperature is primarily achieved by either or both of two processes: a pre-heating of the air/fuel charge, or a reintroduction of some of the hot exhaust gasses from the previous cycle into the current cycle. In terms of efficiency, the latter method is typically superior.
After auto-ignition and during the combustion process, the typical HCCI engine achieves a higher average temperature in the cylinder, but a lower peak temperature as compared to SI. Furthermore, combustion sites are distributed throughout the cylinder, and there is generally no coherent flame front in the cylinder as occurs in SI engines. These attributes of HCCI combustion combine to yield a higher efficiency and a dramatic decrease in the amounts of certain types of pollutants.
However, the HCCI method of combustion also introduces certain disadvantages. A primary disadvantage is that HCCI is generally more suitable to low and medium load regimes than for higher load regimes. This stems primarily from the fact that HCCI uses a diluted charge, and hence cannot achieve the high peak power attributes capable when more concentrated charges are applied.
Two-stroke HCCI engines have been used, but these engines have been restricted to small, low-power applications which are not suitable, due to the typical drawbacks of the purely two-stroke cycle, for use in commercial vehicles. A first significant disadvantage of using a purely two-stroke engine in a commercial vehicle is that lubrication of two-stroke engines is a difficult problem. Lubrication oil often needs to be mixed in with the gasoline fuel, and therefore partially combusts in the cylinder directly introducing a large number of pollutants. A second significant disadvantage of purely two-stroke engines is that during the exhaust/intake cycle, there is a period of time when both the intake and exhaust ports are open, which allows a portion of the uncombusted fuel/oil mixture to flow out into the environment.
However, in a two-stroke cycle, the work-producing cycle happens twice as fast in comparison to a four-stroke cycle.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a system and method that achieves the advantages of the standard HCCI process while overcoming the inherent disadvantages and shortcomings of both purely four-stroke and purely two-stroke HCCI engines.

Method for extending HCCI load range using a two-stroke cycle and variable valve actuation


Gas cylinders are filled with mixtures of gases comprising a minor component, which is to be present in the mixture at a concentration of 10% or less of the total volume of the cylinder, and a major component, which is to be present at a concentration greater than about 10% of the total volume, by charging the lighter component into a chamber of given volume to a pressure and at a temperature such that the volume provides the desired fraction of minor component in the gas mixture, and then flushing the minor component into the cylinder using major component gas as the flushing agent. The pressure at which the minor component volume is to be measured is preferably at or near the final pressure of the filled gas cylinder.

Gases that are to be shipped to various locations are generally packaged in portable vessels of various shapes and sizes which are capable of withstanding high pressures and which can be conveniently shipped. Typical of such vessels are the cylindrical containers commonly known as gas cylinders or bottles. These vessels are generally filled with gases by charging the gas into the vessel until the desired pressure is reached. The procedure is relatively simple and problem-free when the gas cylinder is to contain a single gas, or a mixture of gases of similar molecular weight where the concentration of each gas in the mixture is fairly high and not critical. However, when a gas container is to be filled to high pressure with a gas mixture comprising a large concentration of one component, for example concentrations of 75 volume % or more, and small quantities of one or more other components, for example concentrations of 10 volume % or less of each minor component, it is much more difficult to precisely measure the quantities of the low concentration gases.
A conventional procedure for filling gas cylinders with gas mixtures comprising a minor component and a major component is to first introduce the minor component into the cylinder using a low pressure gauge, and then introduce the major component into the cylinder to the desired end pressure using a high pressure gauge. Since precision pressure gauge readings are usually accurate to within about 0.1% of full scale, the error will be small when this procedure is used. Disadvantages of this method are that different gauges are required for measuring the components of the gas mixture and measurements of gas volumes based on pressures is not highly accurate due to the non-ideal nature of gas mixtures, particularly at high pressures. A further disadvantage arises if the minor compound is heavier than the major component. In this case, the first-filled minor component remains separated at the bottom of the gas cylinder for a prolonged period of time.
Methods and systems for accurately filling vessels with gas mixtures have been considerably investigated. U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,414 discloses a system and method for charging a thermostat with a mixture of a condensable medium and a noncondensable gas. The noncondensable gas is first introduced into the sensor of the thermostat to a predetermined pressure, measured by a first pressure gauge. A quantity of the condensable medium, measured by difference in pressure using a second pressure gauge, is then introduced into the sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,134, discloses a gas measuring method in which two gases are charged into separate chambers using separate pressure regulators that are interconnected in such a manner that the pressures of the gases are in a predetermined ratio. The apparatus and method disclosed in this patent is complex and difficult to apply, particularly when it is desired to produce mixtures of three or more gases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,038 discloses a gas mixing device for mixing a plurality of gases wherein each gas flows through a line that has a pressure regulator. In one embodiment of the disclosed invention the individual gases are stored in batteries of containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,946 discloses a method of mixing a liquid organic compound and a liquid propellant involving filling a metering cylinder with the liquid organic compound and then forcing the liquid organic compound, together with a predetermined volume of liquid propellant, into a mixing vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,160 discloses apparatus for mixing two fluids for use in hemodialysis. Syringe type piston pumps are used to measure and force one or more of the components of the mixture into a mixing vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,848 discloses procedure for accurately metering the components of a gas mixture into a gas cylinder while avoiding gas stratification, by introducing the gases into the cylinder in the order of their molecular weights using a differential pressure gauge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,160 discloses a method of charging an oxidant gas and a flammable gas into a storage vessel wherein separate measuring chambers are used for each gas. The residual gas in the system lines is vented from the system.
Various efforts have been undertaken to effect a more rapid mixing of gas mixtures in cylinders. One technique is to introduce the lighter gas component into the bottom part of the cylinder by means of a mixing tube. This will force the lighter gas to migrate upwardly through the heavier gas, thereby causing the gases to mix. Another technique is to roll the cylinders until the contents are uniformly mixed. Each of these procedures requires considerable handling of the cylinders, which increases the cost of filling the cylinders with gas mixtures. A third method, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,848, mentioned above, is to introduce first the lighter component and then the heavier component into the cylinder. In the last method mixing of the gases is accelerated due to the upward mobility of the lighter component and the downward mobility of the heavier component of the gas mixture.
Because of the importance of providing containerized gas mixtures in which the components of the mixtures are in precise composition, and the need to attain almost immediate homogeneity of vessel-contained gas mixtures, improved gas vessel filling methods are continuously sought. The present invention provides method and system which accomplishes these objectives.

Method and apparatus for filling containers with gas mixtures