Data entities in a client-server system are accessed. The client-server system comprises a set of clients, a server system, and a repository for storing a plurality of data entities. The server system comprises an inter-transactional cache, the inter-transactional cache being accessible for each client of the set of clients. A first client of the set of clients comprises a first intra-transactional cache. If a copy of a first data entity is in the inter-transactional cache, a version identifier of the original first data entity is read from the repository. If the copy of the first data entity is to be accessed with an exclusive lock, a copy of the copy of the first data entity is added to the first intra-transactional cache. The copy of the copy of the first data entity in the first intra-transactional cache is accessed for further processing of the first data entity by the first client.

In today's information age, the ability to access rapidly data that is held in databases is of utmost importance to companies and organizations whose business may rely on the data. The speed with which a client is able to access data on a database relies on two major factors. The first factor is the speed with which the database file server can read data typically from a co-located repository which can be regarded as a storage device or as a storage system. This factor relies on the speed of the central processing unit (CPU) and on the disc access speed of the file server. The second factor is the capacity, or the bandwidth, of the communications link between the client and the file server.
A third factor effecting database access speed, which is extremely significant to the performance of an overall system, is the load on the system. The load is typically proportional to the number of clients which require database access. Both, the number of operations performed by the CPU and the volume of data which needs to be transmitted across communications links increases as more clients require database access.
System performance can be improved by increasing the speed of the file server and the bandwidth of the communications links. However, the related costs cannot always be justified. Also, there is always a limit to the speed at which current technologies can operate.
Another way of achieving better system performance, by reducing the database CPU and communications link load, is by using cached copies of the data. The cached copies are typically located physically nearer to the clients, or even on the client systems themselves. Indeed, this technique has been widely adopted on the internet by using internet file servers containing cached copies of the data located at 'mirror sites'. For example, master data accessible from a master internet file server at a site in the USA might be copied or cached to a file server at a mirror site in the UK, from where a majority of European users might prefer to read the data. Thus, the data transfer overhead for transatlantic links and the demands placed on the master internet file server are reduced, and the overall perceived internet performance is improved. In particular, the European users would expect to obtain far better data access performance by using the UK mirror site.
The use of cached data does raise important issues concerning data consistency. It is sometimes difficult to know whether cached data is the same as the original, master data. The original data may change in some way after the cached copy is generated. In the case of the internet, for example, at present a lack of consistency between master data and cached data may not be of great significance and, if it is significant, it is usually possible to choose to retrieve the master data, albeit at a slower rate, from the master database.
Cache consistency, or coherency, is however extremely important in commercial environments where the data, whether cached or master, forms the basis for making business decisions. Inconsistent data, or data which takes too long to access, inevitably results in reduced revenue. A simple example of such an environment is one for making flight bookings, where, for example, the master flight data is held in a database in the UK and travel agencies around Europe book seats on flights on the basis of cached data. In this example, under most circumstances, it is essential that the cached data is consistent with the original data.
Similar considerations are important in a general multi-user system, for example based on client-server or distributed database, network environments, in which the user wherever possible rely on cached data to minimize CPU, data access, data transfer overheads imposed on master database file servers, and overall network traffic.
In, for example, a client-server environment having multiple clients accessing a single, master database file server, there is typically considerable opportunity to maintain with each client a large cache of recently read data. A cache may be used during an active transaction to avoid the need to re-read data from the master database. However, if data is cached on a client and the client needs to re-access that data at a later time, unless the data in the master database cannot change, it must be assumed that the data on the cache is inconsistent, because there is no way of knowing differently. Thus, further master database access is needed to at least compare the current state of data in the master database with the data in the cache database.
A decision whether or not to use data caching typically depends on the type of data to be accessed. WO 97/21177 mentions three common categories of data that are described below.
Static data, that is data which rarely changes, are prime candidates for holding in a client cache database. The data can always be assumed to be current. However, usually a task must be provided to ensure that changes to the static data are propagated to all client caches. This is typically done using an overnight batch process. For static data, there is no need for a real-time process to maintain consistency.
Highly dynamic data is difficult to maintain in a consistent state. The basic reason is that if the data changes very often, the network and processor impact, in a client-server environment, of up-dating many client caches can be considerable. In some cases, the cost in terms of processing overhead and network bandwidth of maintaining the caches might exceed the cost of each client accessing the master database directly each time data is required. Thus, this category of data would typically not be cached.
In between static and highly dynamic data is a type of data which is not static, but which changes relatively infrequently compared with highly dynamic data. Typically, in this case, data might only be cached onto a client cache database, for example at a travel agency, during the period of an aircraft flight enquiry and seat booking operation. Then, there would be a high degree of certainty that the data remains consistent during the operation. However, there would never be total certainty because, coincidentally, another client, or travel agency might book the only remaining seats on the respective flight between the times on which the first client started and completed its operation.
The simplest way to prevent data inconsistency, in for example the flight booking operation described above, would be to 'lock' any data on the master database which has been accessed by one client, thus making that data inaccessible, or at least only readable, to other clients for the whole period of the operation. This is called 'pessimistic locking'. Typically, a lock table, which holds the identities of locked data which cannot be accessed or written to, is generated by the master file server. Such a system requires that all access requests made by clients invoke a lock table search on the file server before data access or writing is allowed, or denied.
However, in an environment where the same data might need to be accessed or up-dated by several clients, for example for flight-booking purposes, pessimistic locking represents an unworkable solution with intolerable locking overheads.
Another way of dealing with possible inconsistency between cached and master data is discussed in the book 'Transaction Processing—Concepts and Techniques' by J. Gray and A. Reuter, published by Morgan Kaufmann in 1993, on pages 434-435. The method involves 'optimistic locking'.
Optimistic locking allows clients connected to a file server to use cached data at any time for reading purposes, but as soon as a transaction is initiated, for example making a flight seat booking, the cached data is compared with the master data to ensure data consistency and the master data is locked only for the period of the actual transaction. In this example, the transaction relates to the actual database access and to a write procedure. This prevents another client from changing the master data during the transaction. If, after the transaction has been initiated, the data in the cache database is found to be inconsistent with the corresponding data in the master database, the cache database is updated with the latest master data, and the client is notified and left to resolve any problems the inconsistency might have caused.
The advantage of optimistic locking is that the master data is only locked for a very short period of time, for maybe less than one second, to carry out the actual transaction. In contrast, pessimistic locking requires the data accessed to be locked for the whole period of an operation, for example for the whole period of an enquiry and a transaction, which might take many minutes.
Although optimistic locking may therefore require extra processing by both, a client and a file server, it can be seen that the technique is far better suited for dealing with relatively dynamic data which may need to be accessed by multiple clients.
When implementing optimistic locking, it is known sometimes to use time stamping to mark data rows in the master database with the time the data was last updated. In this way, if the time stamp for a particular row of data held in a cache is the same as the row in the master database, the file server accepts that the cached data is current and there is no need to re-send the data row in question across the network to the client. Thus, network bandwidth is conserved whenever a cached copy is found to be current.
WO 97/21177 provides a method for checking the consistency of an item of data in a cache database with a respective item of data in a master database by comparing a first key stored in association with the item of data in the cache database with a second key stored in association with an index entry for the respective item of data in the master database. The above mentioned document further provides a method for retrieving an item of data from one of a cache or a master database, the master database comprising a plurality of items of master data and an index containing entries corresponding to one or more of the items of master data, the cache database containing a cache copy of at least one item of the master data.
The method according to the above mentioned document is particularly disadvantageous as it requires the storing of the 'key' associated with the cached and master data in a separate data index in order to address, e.g., deleted data items. This increases the overhead of the file server and of the communications between the file server and the requesting clients.
There is a need for an improved method of accessing data in a client-server system.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Solid-state lighting devices and more particularly light-emitting devices for horticulture applications are disclosed. Light-emitting devices are disclosed with aggregate emissions that target chlorophyll absorption peaks while also providing certain broader spectrum emissions between the chlorophyll absorption peaks. The aggregate emissions may be provided by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit wavelengths that correspond with certain chlorophyll absorption peaks and lumiphoric materials that provide broader spectrum emissions. The aggregate emissions are configured to have reduced emissions from lumiphoric materials in ranges close to certain chlorophyll absorption peaks, such as above 600 nanometers (nm). In this regard, light-emitting devices according to the present disclosure provide the ability to efficiently target specific chlorophyll absorption peaks for plant growth while also providing suitable lighting for occupants in a horticulture environment.

Solid-state lighting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasingly used in both consumer and commercial applications. Advancements in LED technology have resulted in highly efficient and mechanically robust light sources with a long service life. Accordingly, modern LEDs have enabled a variety of new display applications and are being increasingly utilized for general illumination applications, often replacing incandescent and fluorescent light sources.
LEDs are solid-state devices that convert electrical energy to light and generally include one or more active layers of semiconductor material (or an active region) arranged between oppositely doped n-type and p-type layers. When a bias is applied across the doped layers, holes and electrons are injected into the one or more active layers where they recombine to generate emissions such as visible light or ultraviolet emissions.
LED technology is increasingly being developed for horticulture applications where emissions are provided to stimulate photosynthesis in growing plants. LED manufacturers for horticulture applications must balance multiple application tradeoffs of efficacy, longevity, spectral optimization, and optical distribution.
The art continues to seek improved LEDs and solid-state lighting devices having desirable illumination characteristics capable of overcoming challenges associated with conventional lighting devices.

Light-emitting devices for horticulture applications


A method of proportionally mixing two fluids is provided. The method includes introducing a first fluid stream, introducing a second fluid stream, wherein the flow rate of the second stream is modulated by a valve, thereby producing a modulated stream, combining the first fluid stream and the second fluid stream, thereby forming a compounded fluid stream, introducing said compounded fluid stream into a fluid containment region, wherein a vapor fraction and a liquid fraction are formed, determining the composition of the vapor fraction, comparing the composition of the vapor fraction with a predetermined composition to determine a composition error, and modulating the valve to reduce the composition error to a predetermined error.

There are certain industrial gas applications, such as specialized welding process or cryogenic food refrigeration, where it is advantageous to combine the primary liquid cryogen (for example liquid nitrogen or liquid argon) with a lesser proportion of liquid oxygen prior to delivery of the compounded liquid or prior to the point of use. However, accurate flows of cryogenic liquid are difficult to maintain due to pressure and temperature fluctuations in storage conditions at the supply tank, which impact line pressure and flow rate.
Hence, a need exists in the industry, for a means for proportionally mixing two cryogenic fluids.

Method for proportionally mixing two cryogenic fluids


A mass analyzer includes two rotating electric field (REF) units, sinusoidal signal generators and a means for separation of dispersed ions. The REF units include a plurality of elongated electrodes surrounding a central axis, and are lined in tandem at elongated direction. Sinusoidal signals are applied to the electrodes to rotate electric fields within each REF unit. The means for separation is placed adjacent the downstream end of the 2nd REF unit. Ions enter the 1st REF unit, diverge outwards and leave the 1st REF unit on off-axis positions. The ions successively enter the 2nd REF unit and converge inwards because of 180 degrees phase difference from the 1st REF unit. Specified mass ions return to and travel along the central axis. However, unspecified mass ions deviate from the central axis and travel apart from the central axis. The means for separation separates specified ions from unspecified ions.

Mass analysis has been a basic technology to quantify molecular and atomic composition of various materials. Quantitative information obtained by mass analysis of molecules or atoms reveals chemical and physical characteristics of the materials. Today, three types of mass analyzers are commonly used in the field of mass analysis.
Magnetic sector analyzers disperse ions by mass utilizing magnetic force. The advantage of this type of analyzer is that each selected ion preserves its structure and feature as an ion beam. Magnetic sector analyzers work mainly in the range of mass under 10,000 Da, but should be bulky and heavy to analyze ions in the range over 10,000 Da.
A quadrupole mass analyzer comprises 4 rods on which DC (direct current) voltage and high frequency signals are applied. Only the ions of mass that match the electrical condition oscillate stably within the space surrounded by the 4 rods, pass through the space and arrive at the detector. Quadrupole mass analyzers work also in the range of mass under 10,000 Da. Although the resolution is not as high as magnetic sector analyzers, quadrupole mass analyzers are commonly used in research and industrial fields because they are compact and fairly easy to handle.
Time of flight (TOF) mass analyzers measure the transit time of ions utilizing the principle that the velocities of accelerated ions vary according to their mass. It goes without saying that TOF mass analyzers are noted for their wide mass range. As the upper limit of mass range depends on the length of the measurement time, it can be set long enough. On the other hand, this feature is the crucial point for this type of analyzers to raise their time efficiency, because the analyzers have to wait for the arrival of the heaviest pulsed ion at the detector for every measurement.
There are some other types of analyzers using rotating electric fields or time dependent electric fields for mass analysis, although they are not used as commonly as the three types of analyzers said above.
One attempt is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,448, where 'an ion beam is accelerated into the cell and the rotating electric field disperses the incident ion beam according to the mass to charge ratio and velocity distribution present in the ion beam'. A resolution is shown as 'better than one part in 100 for a well defined beam'. Another 'unique design' is introduced in U.S. Pat. No. 6,794,647, where 'a non-rotating, oscillating electric field that oscillates principally in a single coordinate plane' select ions. Detailed description on mass resolution and mass range are not found, however. J. Kramer used 'two identical deflectors' and 'one electrostatic lens' located between the two deflectors to deflect ions. His instrument is described as 'a time of flight mass spectrograph using a continuous ion beam'. J. H. Clemmons employed 'a time-dependent electric field and a position-sensitive detector'. His instrument does not disperse ions, but determines the mass from detected particle position and detection time. K. Ohwaki's device 'consists of two sets of electrodes that supply same sinusoidal electric field with same frequency but different phases and utilizes the difference of cluster velocity for selection'. As to mass resolution, however, it is estimated to be around 3 read from FIG. 4 in his paper.
During the past two decades, a great amount of new information and knowledge has been accumulated due to improved technologies of mass analysis, especially in the field of biochemistry and bio-medical research, and the tendency of using mass analysis of organic materials will grow enormously if an analyzer that fulfills all the functions and features of said analyzers is developed. The present invention is an improved versatile mass analyzer comprising two rotating electric fields and has features as follows:
1. An ability to analyze ion beams continuously as Magnetic sector mass analyzers do;
2. An ability to separate ions in the form of an ion beam as Magnetic sector mass analyzers do;
3. A compact and light weight body as Quadrupole mass analyzers have; and
4. An ability to analyze in the range of mass over 10,000 Da as TOF mass analyzers do.
More precise explanation will be made in the following Summary of Invention and Description of Embodiments.

Two rotating electric fields mass analyzer


Disclosed herein is an electronic device that includes a peak detection circuit configured to receive a mirror sense signal from an oscillating mirror and to generate peak information for a mirror period as a function thereof. The electronic device includes a mirror control circuit that estimates an opening angle of the oscillating mirror as a function of the peak information, generates a control signal for the oscillating mirror as a function of the estimated opening angle, and resets the peak detection circuit at an end of the mirror period.

Certain devices such as wafer defect scanners, laser printers, document scanners, projectors and the like often employ a collimated laser beam that scans across a flat surface in a straight line path. These devices employ tilting mirrors to deflect the beam to perform the scanning. These tilting mirrors may be, or may include, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems ("MEMS") devices. The actuation of mirrors used in MEMS devices, referred to herein as MEMS mirrors, can be via the electromagnetic, electrostatic, piezoelectric, and thermoelectric effects, depending on application.
One type of common MEMS mirror includes a stator and a rotor, with the rotor or structures carried by the rotor being reflective. The stator and/or rotor are driven with a drive signal which results in the rotor oscillating with respect to the stator, thereby changing the angle of reflectance of an incident light beam on the rotor. By oscillating the rotor between two orientations, an opening angle of the mirror is defined, and scanning of the light beam across the flat surface is accomplished.
Precise control of the opening angle of the mirror is desirable for the precise application in which such mirrors are used. In order to precisely control the opening angle of the mirror, it is desirable to know the opening angle of the mirror. While conventional techniques for estimating the opening angle of the mirror are known, they are subject to various degrees of inaccuracy. Therefore, further development in this area is needed.

Envelope detection circuit for detection of opening angle of a movable MEMS mirror


A memory device includes; a first memory chip including a first on-die Termination (ODT) circuit comprising a first ODT resistor, a second memory chip including a second ODT circuit comprising a second ODT resistor, at least one chip enable signal pin that receives at least one chip enable signal, wherein the at least one chip enable signal selectively enables at least one of the first memory chip and the second memory chip, and an ODT pin commonly connected to the first memory chip and the second memory chip that receives an ODT signal, wherein the ODT signal defines an enable period for at least one of the first ODT circuit and the second ODT circuit, and in response to the ODT signal and the at least one chip enable signal, one of the first ODT resistor and the second ODT resistor is enabled to terminate a signal received by at least one of the first memory chip and the second memory chip.

The inventive concept relates to a memory device, and more particularly, to a memory device including an on-die-termination (ODT) circuit, a storage device including the memory device, and an operating method of the storage device.
A storage device may include a nonvolatile memory and a controller configured to control the nonvolatile memory. In conventional memory systems, signal communication between nonvolatile memory and a controller has often performed at relatively low operating frequencies, as compared with signal communication in memory systems including high speed memory, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or static random-access memory (SRAM). And historically, the integrity (or robustness) of signals communicated between nonvolatile memory and a controller has not been a critical factor in the overall performance of a storage device incorporating such memory systems. More recently, however, demand for high speed storage devices is rising, and signal integrity has become a very important factor in the design and operation of storage device(s) in computing systems and/or mobile communication systems.

Memory device including on-die-termination circuit


A distributed power amplifier includes radio frequency (RF) input and output terminals. A first field effect transistor (FET) is coupled at a first gate terminal to the RF input terminal and at a first drain terminal to the RF output terminal. The first FET has a first periphery and a first source terminal electrically connected to ground potential. A second FET has a second periphery smaller than the first periphery. The second FET has a second gate terminal electrically coupled to the first gate terminal through a first inductor, a second drain terminal electrically coupled to the first drain terminal through a second inductor, and a second source terminal electrically connected to the ground potential. A drain voltage terminal, which excludes a resistive element, is electrically coupled to a drain bias network through which a drain bias voltage is applied to the first drain terminal and the second drain terminal.

A High Power Amplifier (HPA) can be a key component in radar systems and other systems that require amplification of radio frequency (RF) signals. Power added efficiency (PAE) can be a key attribute of the HPA and can be limited for wideband amplifier designs. Wideband communication and radar systems may have numerous benefits over narrow band systems; however, their electrical performance is typically less than that of narrow band systems because of reduced performance of their wideband components.
Output match and susceptibility to load pull may also be a key concern for wideband systems. Typically, isolators are used to electrically isolate an HPA from the antenna. However, over wide bandwidths, isolators may not be available, causing the HPA's performance to be pulled by the antennae's changing and often poor input impedance.
A wideband HPA that has PAE approaching that of a narrow band HPA would be extremely beneficial to wideband communication and radar systems.

Wideband distributed power amplifiers and systems and methods thereof


A flash memory device including a boot location select signal for selecting location of a boot region is generated by coding it in a CFI block, generated depending on the state of the OTP cell in the protection block, or generated by applying the power supply voltage or the ground voltage as a metal option. The bank select circuit needs not be modified even though location of the boot region is changed. It is thus possible to shorten development time, simplify a verification work and reduce the size of a chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flash memory device, and more particularly, a flash memory device where a bank select circuit needs not to be modified even though location of the boot region is changed after completion of a design.
2. Background of the Related Art
A flash memory device being a nonvolatile memory device has a memory cell array where a boot region and a user region are divided. At this time, the boot region is a region for storing system information, which is not allowed to be freely rewritten by a user. The user region is a region that could be freely rewritten by a user.
Data stored at the boot region could be executed by setting a given operating mode by a user. This boot region is located at the start portion or an end portion of the memory cell array, i.e., the top or bottom of the memory cell array. The location of the boot region may be changed depending on circumstances requested by an application. Thus, it is necessary for the developer and designer of the flash memory device to consider the two things. At a time point when development is about to be finished, the start portion or the end portion may be decided, or these portions may be developed as an individual product. For this reason, there is a load that the circuit has to be verified twice. Furthermore, the bank select circuit for controlling the operation of the bank must be modified by selecting the bank depending on the location of the boot region. Meanwhile, a flash memory device in which the boot region is not located only at one place of the top and bottom of the memory cell array but is located both at the top and bottom, has been developed. Therefore, a method of managing the boot region of the three modes is required and bank select circuit has to be modified accordingly. Due to this, there are problems that not only respective circuits must be individually discriminated in designing the flash memory but also time taken to verify the circuits is increased and size of the chip is increased.


Small molecule compounds and methods for stem cell differentiation are provided herein. An example of a class of compounds that may be used to practice the methods disclosed herein is represented by enantiomerically pure isomers of compounds of Formula I:

Stem cells are a type cells that could be a source for the replacement of damaged or diseased tissues, and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a type of stem cells attracting particular interest. It has been previously shown that embryonic stem cells have the capacity to differentiate into many different cell types including heart, bone, neurons, liver tissue, and the like, both in vitro and in vivo. The differentiation potential of these cells has created substantial interest, since embryonic stem cells can thus provide a resource for replacing diseased cells for regenerating purposes.
ESCs are pluripotent cells which are derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst. The unique characteristics of ESCs are their capacities to regenerate themselves and to be capable of developing into various cell types of all three embryonic germ layers, ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, under appropriate environments. Such differentiated cell types include, but are not limited to, muscle, nerve, heart, liver, bone and blood. The potential of ESCs, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), adult or tissue specific stem cells and the like to grow into specialized cells attracts interest for research and disease treatment using these cells. The clinical application of stem cells involves harvest of the cells and transplantation of cells into failing organs to restore the function of the organs with or without prior in vitro differentiation.
Adult cardiomyocytes retain little, if any, ability to replicate, thus, heart failure is principally a disease of cardiomyocyte loss. No stem cell therapies to date have yielded significant replacement. Rather, transplanted cells, if they persist, produce endothelial cells or fibroblasts, and their reported ameliorating effects on heart function are probably the consequence of improvements in contractility, perfusion or other impaired processes. Replacement strategies by transplantation or stimulation of endogenous regeneration have been hypothesized. Whether endogenous cardiomyocyte stem cells exist and can be mobilized remains controversial, although a few populations have been proposed. Cardiomyocytes have potential in restoring heart function after myocardial infarction or in heart failure. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are a potential source of transplantable cardiomyocytes but detailed comparison of hESC-derived cardiomyocytes with primary human cardiomyocytes is necessary before transplantation into patients becomes feasible.
While a clear alternative is to use hESCs, their cardiomyocyte yields are currently low. Generating sufficient new myocytes is a major obstacle when 25% of the ˜4 billion cardiomyocytes in the average left ventricle are lost in infarction-induced heart failure. Transplanted cell survival is currently about 5%, thus improving replication of committed precursors either pre- or post-implantation is essential. Interestingly, transplanted hESC-derived cardiomyocytes tend to retain some proliferative capacity, perhaps due to their relative immaturity; however, the number of engrafted cells remains small in all studies to date, thereby reinforcing the need for molecules that promote cell division.
The American Diabetes Association estimates that there are currently 5 million people in the United States with confirmed diabetes, and over 10 million at risk. The cost of this disease and its sequelae to the American economy is staggering. Care of diabetics consumes a total of $98 billion per year, accounting for one of every seven healthcare dollars spent in the U.S. There are 24,000 new cases of diabetes-caused blindness caused by diabetes each year. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, contributing about 40% of new dialysis patients. Diabetes is also the most frequent cause of lower limb amputation, with 56,000 limbs lost to diabetes each year. The per capita health care costs incurred per diabetic person is $10,071 annually, compared with $2,669 for non-diabetics.
Type I diabetes mellitus (also known as insulin-dependent diabetes) is a severe condition accounting for 5-10% all diabetics. The pathology arises because the patient's insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas have been eliminated by an autoimmune reaction. Under current practice, the condition is managed by regular injection of insulin, constant attention to diet, and continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels to adjust the insulin dosing. It is estimated that the market for recombinant insulin will reach $4 billion by 2005. Of course, the availability of insulin is life-saving for Type I diabetics. But there is no question that the daily regimen of administration and monitoring that diabetics must adhere to is troublesome to the end user, and not universally effective.
Developmental work has been done in several institutions to capitalize on the promise of pluripotent stem cells from the embryo to differentiate into other cell types. Cells bearing features of the islet cell lineage have reportedly been derived from embryonic cells of the mouse. Thus, it is necessary to develop new paradigms to differentiate human pluripotent cells into fully functional differentiated cell types.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: or a chirally pure stereoisomer, pharmaceutically acceptable salt, or solvate thereof, wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R5′, R6, R6′, R7, R7′ are as described herein.

Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute


A predictive method for scheduling of the operations is described. The predictive method utilizes data generated from computing an expected lifetime of the individual files or objects within the container. The expected lifetime of individual files or objects can be generated based on machine learning techniques. Operations such as garbage collection are scheduled at an epoch where computational efficiencies are realized for performing the operation.

There exist many storage systems for storing electronic data where objects, which are relatively smaller in size, are aggregated into larger collections of data. For example, some file systems may be configured to operate on a larger collection of data rather than the individual objects which make up the larger collection of data. Some examples of such file formats or file systems include archives such as ".zip" or ".rar" files.
In other cases, the physical format or medium of storing data causes objects or files, or operations to be performed on files, to be treated as a collection rather than individually. For example, in shingled magnetic recording (SMR) disks, information can be stored into "zones." Although such technology can increase the storage density onto a physical medium, when data needs to be altered—such as when an individual object or file is removed or altered—the entire zone must be entirely rewritten. Thus, individual files stored onto a zone of an SMR cannot be altered without the entire track being modified. This leads to certain operations performed on these mediums to be more financially and computationally expensive as compared to the same operations performed on other storage mediums.
Garbage collection is a process in which a "garbage collector" or a "collector" attempts to reclaim "garbage." A "collector" or "garbage collector" can be an operation or piece of software which can remove unwanted or unneeded files, data, or objects. "Garbage" can refer to files, data, or objects which are no longer needed and can be removed from a collection. Some garbage collectors may be able to delete individual files or data when needed. In other examples, garbage collectors, a garbage collection can read, write, or interact with a fraction of an entire collection. However, in some examples, when a collector is dealing with files and storage media such as those described above, the garbage collector would need to read, write, or interact with the entire collection of data within which a file which is to be collected is stored. Further, it may not be known which files, data, or objects from the collection of data need to be analyzed or deleted before performing the garbage collection. Doing so requires the entire collection of data to be read and processed, which is a relatively expensive operation. Further, even after such processing or analysis, only a few or relatively small percentage of files or amount of data stored in the collection may be garbage.
The file systems and storage medium described above are prevalent in commercial data centers. For example, the use of SMR disks is becoming more ubiquitous and the size of tracks on these disks is increasing. As the entire zone of an SMR disk must be operated upon to delete a file which is garbage, the computational and operational cost of performing garbage collection is higher. Thus, the overall costs associated with maintaining data are increasing as data centers switch to higher density mediums such as SMR disks.

Optimizing garbage collection based on survivor lifetime prediction


A decorative object to be decorative may include a first section having a first body member and a first neck member, a second section having a second body member and a second neck member being connected to the first section, a third section having a third body member and a third neck member being connected to the first section. The first section may be looped and the second section may be looped over the first section. The third section may be looped over the second section. The first section may include a hanging extending projection to hang the decorative object.

Decorative ornaments for use in gift wrapping packages are well known. Normally, such ornaments are constructed of a ribbon and are arranged in a plurality of loops that extend from a central core normally called a bow. The problem with bows at the present time is that such are all of the same type. It would be desirable to produce different types of decorative ornaments that have different appearances.


Apparatus and method for auto-self testing of a power converter and motor system wherein the power converter has three parallel legs, each including two series connected gate-turn-off thyristors (GTO) connected between a pair of DC power source buses. A microprocessor controls the test sequence in which each GTO is individually turned on in a predetermined order so as to create a transient snubber current through the motor and through each GTO when it is turned on. The snubber current and a voltage in each leg is measured and compared to a respective reference to detect wiring errors, and defects in the motor, the GTOs, and other system components. Error messages are generated in response to detection of abnormalities or defects.

This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for testing AC motor power systems and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for nondestructive in-circuit testing for short-circuit conditions in an inverter power circuit.
It is common in AC electric motor drive systems to employ power inverter systems to furnish electric power from a DC source to an AC motor. These inverter systems are of various types, but are often comprised of gate turn-off thyristors (GTO) in a bridge arrangement. The GTOs in the bridge are selectively gated to control the electrical power supplied to the motor by converting DC power from the DC source into AC power which drives the motor. Typically, two GTOs are connected in a series arrangement in what is commonly referred to as a "leg" between relatively positive and relatively negative busses of the DC source. A common converter of this type is a three-phase converter having three legs connected in mutual parallel between the positive and negative DC source busses. The GTOs of each of the legs are rendered conductive in a predetermined order or sequence in order to control the electrical power delivered from the DC busses to the AC motor.
The above described motor systems require regular maintenance to avoid or detect a variety of common failure modes. For example, if both GTOs of a leg were to become conductive simultaneously, there would exist a-short between the DC source busses which, if allowed to continue, could result in great damage to the motor, power source, and/or to the GTOs. In addition, failure of various components and segments of the system such as the feedback circuits, drive circuits, and the motor load itself can occur. In prior art, expensive and time consuming manual off-line testing has been necessary to detect many errors at an early enough stage to ensure proper operation. In order to enhance maintenance of such systems, it would accordingly be highly desirable to provide an auto self test capability and, in particular, to provide a test capability to identify short-circuit conditions prior to initiating operation of an inverter.
The above as well as other desirable features are achieved in accordance with the present invention by testing a power inverter prior to enabling inverter operation. In an illustrative form, the power inverter has a plurality of legs having first and second series connected controllable switching devices, such as GTOs, connected between positive and negative DC voltage busses. The testing method includes measuring the voltage intermediate the switching devices prior to enabling the devices into conduction. The measured voltage is then compared to the voltage at each of the voltage busses. If the measured voltage is substantially equal to either one of the bus voltages, one of the devices is short-circuited and the system is inhibited from initiating operation of the inverter.
In a preferred form, the voltage intermediate the switching devices is measured a preselected time period after power is-applied to the voltage busses, the time period being selected to be sufficiently long to allow the voltage to settle and sufficiently short to prevent the voltage from discharging through the load or the measuring device.


To detect a power failure in a volatile data memory containing useful data units and test data units associated with the useful data units, the associated test data unit is also read when the useful data unit is read-accessed, and a decision is made as to whether the useful data unit is corrupted based on the test data unit. A power failure is identified when at least two read useful data units within a predefined number of successive read accesses are found to be corrupted.

Modern control units of this type frequently operate via adaptive algorithms, whose parameters are individually adapted over time to the machine, for example the engine of a motor vehicle, to be controlled. For this purpose the control unit must be able to store the parameters for these algorithms which are optimized over time. EEPROMs or SRAMs in particular are used as memories for such data. SRAMs (statically buffered RAM) are primarily used due to the long write times required for EEPROMs.
In order to retain their data content, SRAMs require a continuously applied supply voltage. Following an outage of the supply voltage the contents of these memories may become corrupted, and control based on the corrupted parameters is no longer able to provide accurate results. It is therefore desirable to be able to reliably recognize a power failure in order to prevent the use of parameters whose accuracy can no longer be guaranteed.
Various methods have been provided for detecting a power failure. A first approach is the direct, continuous monitoring of the supply voltage by comparing it to a minimum voltage which is possibly dependent on the type of data memory used and if the voltage is less than this minimum voltage it may be assumed that a loss has occurred, or at least it may be assumed with a high degree of probability that the data are corrupt. However, such monitoring is possible only when the circuit itself, which is used for the monitoring, still reliably functions at the minimum voltage. For voltages of 1.5 V and less in modern controllers, this requirement cannot be easily met.
Further approaches for recognizing a power failure are based on indirect detection based on memory contents corrupted as the result of a power failure. Thus, for example, check sums of the memory contents computed at different points in time may be compared to one another in order to draw a conclusion, based on a deviation between the check sums, concerning a power failure between the two points in time. However, the check sum computation is time-intensive, which is particularly burdensome when the computation delays startup of the machine controlled by the control unit.
According to a further approach, predetermined test patterns are stored in a designated area of the memory, from time to time they are compared with the setpoint value, and in the event of a deviation from the setpoint value a power failure is identified. A disadvantage of this approach, however, is that the memory area used for the test patterns is not available for other purposes. In addition, there is the risk that various cells in the memory to be monitored may have different periods of tolerance for power failures. As long as there is a lack of certainty that the memory cells containing the test patterns are the ones most sensitive to a power failure, the integrity of the test pattern cannot be used to support a definitive conclusion that no power failure has occurred.
The trend toward miniaturization of the circuit structures of modern semiconductor memories has resulted in increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation. This radiation may be of cosmic origin in particular, but may also result from radioactive decay in the solder or the housing of the semiconductor circuit. The charge quantities which account for the difference between two different logical levels of a modern highly integrated circuit have become so small that a single quantum of ionizing radiation that is absorbed by a semiconductor structure may be sufficient to invert the logical state of the semiconductor. To enable detection of and response to such spontaneous state transitions, also referred to as "bit flip," a parity bit may be associated with a data word in such a memory, the parity bit being read together with the data word. A discrepancy between the parity of the read data word and the associated read parity bit indicates a bit flip.
As the resolution of semiconductor structures becomes increasingly finer, the higher is the probability that an observed parity error is radiation-induced, so that, based on the occurrence of such a parity error, it is not possible to definitively conclude that a power failure has occurred.

Method for recognizing a power failure in a data memory and recovering the data memory


A distributed cache system including a data storage portion, a data control portion, and a cache logic portion in communication with the data storage and data control portions. The data storage portion includes memory hosts, each having non-transitory memory and a network interface controller in communication with the memory for servicing remote direct memory access requests. The data control portion includes a curator in communication with the memory hosts. The curator manages striping of data across the memory hosts. The cache logic portion executes at least one memory access request to implement a cache operation. In response to each memory access request, the curator provides the cache logic portion a file descriptor mapping data stripes and data stripe replications of a file on the memory hosts for remote direct memory access of the file on the memory hosts through the corresponding network interface controllers.

A distributed system generally includes many loosely coupled computers, each of which typically include a computing resource (e.g., processor(s)) and storage resources (e.g., memory, flash memory, and/or disks). A distributed storage system overlays a storage abstraction (e.g., key/value store or file system) on the storage resources of a distributed system. In the distributed storage system, a server process running on one computer can export that computer's storage resources to client processes running on other computers. Remote procedure calls (RPC) may transfer data from server processes to client processes.
A remote procedure call is a two-sided software operation initiated by client software executing on a first machine and serviced by server software executing on a second machine. Servicing storage system requests (e.g., read data) in software may require an available processor, which may place a significant limitation on a distributed storage system. In the case of a distributed storage system, this means a client process cannot access a remote computer's storage resources unless the remote computer has an available processor to service the client's request. Moreover, the demand for processor resources and storage resources in a distributed system often do not match. In particular, computing resource (i.e., processors) may have heavy and/or unpredictable usage patterns, while storage resources may have light and very predictable usage patterns.
Typical logic implementing a distributed cache system can be divided between client and server jobs. Server jobs placed on machines across a cluster respond to remote procedure calls (RPC) from clients instructing the server jobs to store or retrieve cache data on the corresponding machines on which the jobs reside. The server jobs may require access not only to low latency storage capacity but also to computation time of a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU time is required to process RPCs, compute cache placement policies (mappings from cache blocks to local storage addresses), manage cache eviction policies (in order to manage limited cache storage space), and provide concurrency control amongst many concurrent requests (server jobs are often multi-threaded in order to provide low latency and high throughput).
This coupling of storage and computation requirements for cache server jobs can cause low utilization and/or high latency in general-purpose computing clusters (where server jobs are co-located with other jobs on the cluster's nodes), which is counter to the very purpose of the distributed cache. For example, nodes in the cluster with unused random access memory (RAM) that could be used by cache servers may not have any spare CPU cycles with which to serve cache requests. In this case, the "stranded" RAM goes unused. On the other hand, nodes with spare CPU cycles can experience contention for those cycles, which leads to high latencies for the cache server's RPCs. In this case, the only remedy may be to accept the high latencies or run the nodes at lower CPU utilization.


A door driving unit includes a driving mechanism rotatable in a reciprocating manner within a predetermined operational angle range, a body portion fixed to a vehicle body, a first member driven by the driving mechanism, and a second member driven by the first member by being in contact with the first member. The first member and the second member are supported by a common shaft. The door driving unit further includes an engaging mechanism for engaging the first member and the second member with each other so that the first member and the second member rotate as a unit with each other within a first predetermined angle range when the first member drives to rotate the second member.

A known driving unit is employed for opening or closing a back door of a vehicle. Such driving unit is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-96913. According to the disclosed driving unit, an end portion of a back door is pivotally supported on a vehicle body via a supporting shaft. The back door can be then open or closed by means of the driving unit including an electric motor. This type of back door can be open or closed manually as required. The driving unit includes a driving pin rotatable in reciprocating manner by means of the electric motor and operates the back door in opening or closing direction thereof by contacting the driving pin with a driving arm connected to the back door. According to the aforementioned structure, the driving pin returns to a predetermined position whenever the opening or closing operation of the back door is completed so that the back door can be open or closed manually. Thus, the driving arm is rotatable without being restrained by the driving pin. The back door having the aforementioned structure is maintained at a fully open position thereof by means of a gas stay.
According to the disclosed driving unit, the driving pin is in contact with the driving arm so as to open or close the back door. Therefore, for example, the back door is closed by the operation of the driving unit within a range specified with a solid line shown in FIG. 9A during the closing operation. However, the back door is closed by the operation of the gas stay within a range specified with a dashed line in FIG. 9A. Even if an obstacle such as A in FIG. 9A is pinched between the back door and the vehicle body, the back door cannot be stopped by the operation of the driving unit. In the same way, the back door cannot be stopped within the range specified with the dashed line in FIG. 9B during the opening operation.
Thus, a need exists for a driving unit that can stop or reverse the back door by means of the operation of the driving unit during the opening or closing operation of the back door.


Provided herein are compositions which exhibit novel diagnostic capabilities and allow to rapidly add functionality to adoptive immunotherapy. The compositions include isolated nucleic acids encoding proteins including antibody regions capable of binding compounds including a peptidyl moiety (e.g., a meditope). The recombinant proteins provided herein are useful, inter alia, for a broad variety of therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. For example, the recombinant proteins provided herein including embodiments thereof may be used as non-invasive means to characterize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells before and/or during treatment of diseases (e.g., cancer).

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, killing more people than the next five causes combined including chronic respiratory disease, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. While extraordinary strides have been made in the detection, prevention and treatment of cancer, there remains an urgent need, especially in advanced cases, to produce therapies that not only halt tumor progression but effectively eliminate all tumor cells. One approach is adoptive T cell immunotherapy (5-7). This method requires the harvesting of the patient's T cells, engineering of these cells with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that recognizes a tumor antigen, and subsequent re-introduction of the modified cells to the patient. The re-programmed T cells then directly target antigen-expressing tumor cells, bypassing the requirement for MHC peptide, and elicit a powerful but localized immune response. This method of treatment (8) has produced some positive results in early clinical trials for a handful, but not for all patients. There is a need in the art to better understand CAR T cell therapy's success and failure. For example, there is a need in the art for the ability to characterize the density of the CARs on the transformed cells, to track administered CAR T cells at any point during therapy and correlate this distribution to therapeutic outcomes, to rapidly functionalize CAR T cells, monitoring the number, location and viability of the transplanted CAR T cells in situ and to selectively eliminate CAR T cells if necessary. Meaningful correlations would aid clinicians in determining the best treatment options and give researchers important clues to modify and improve this therapeutic approach. Provided herein are compositions and methods addressing these and other needs in the art.


Disclosed is a saddle-shaped coil winding which is formed onto an outer tube surface from a planar race track-type coil shape so as to be provided with axially extending winding sections on the longitudinal side and winding sections that extend therebetween, are located on the front side, and form winding overhangs. The individual windings of the coil winding are to be formed with at least one band-shaped superconductor which comprises especially high Tc superconductor material and whose narrow side faces the outer tube surface. In order to prevent unacceptable mechanical stresses of the conductor when forming the coil, the windings in the saddle shape have a circumferential length which is virtually unchanged from the length in the planar oil shape.

The invention relates to a saddle-shaped coil winding using superconductors on a tube outer surface with axially running straight winding sections and winding sections bent between them on opposite end faces, forming end windings. The invention also relates to a method for production of a coil winding such as this. A corresponding method for production of a coil winding such as this is disclosed in JP 06-196314 A.
In the field of superconduction technology, saddle-shaped coil windings have been provided for a long time in the field of high-power and particle physics, or electrical machines. In this case, the conductors that are used are generally composed of a traditional, metallic superconductor material with a low critical temperature Tc, so-called low-Tc superconductor material (abbreviation: LTS material). This is because appropriate conductors can be bent relatively easily, and without any reduction in their superconducting characteristics, to the saddle shape with axially running, straight winding sections and with winding sections which are bent between them on opposite end faces and form end windings. Alternatively, their superconducting characteristics are formed or set, using the so-called "Wind and React" technique, only after final shaping of the conductors in the winding.
As is known, attempts have been made using oxidic superconductor materials with a high critical temperature Tc, the so-called high-Tc superconductor material (abbreviation: HTS material) to produce corresponding windings with conductors composed of these materials, as well. JP 06-196314 A, which was cited initially, contains a proposal for this purpose. JP 2003-255032 A also mentions the option of using a conductor such as this for saddle-shaped coil windings. However, this results in the problem that, until now, it has been possible to produce conductors using materials such as these with an adequate current carrying capacity or critical current density Jc only in strip form, although completed strip conductors are highly sensitive to strain, and therefore can be bent only to a very minor extent without the risk of reductions in their current carrying capacity or critical current density Ic. To a major extent, saddle-shaped coil windings have therefore not been produced using HTS conductors in the form of strips such as these, and so-called "racetrack coils" have been planned instead of this.
Racetrack coils are flat windings in which the turns always lie within a winding plane. If racetrack coils such as these are stacked one on top of the other, the stack therefore has no opening (so-called "aperture") in the longitudinal direction. In rotating machines with a shaft running all the way through them, racetrack coils must therefore be fitted above and below a central area (see for example DE 199 43 783 A1). This therefore results in a free space, which is not occupied by the winding and leads to a corresponding reduction in the useful field strength, in the axially running straight winding sections of the coil winding. An aperture is created by the use of saddle coils, that is to say coil windings with end windings bent up at the ends. This is associated with more effective use of the superconducting windings, for example in rotating machines, provided that the superconductors can be deformed appropriately without any adverse effects on their superconducting characteristics.
Flat coil windings of the racetrack type for an HTS motor and the production of corresponding coil windings are also described, for example, in "IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.", Vol. 9, No. 2, June 1999, pages 1197 to 1200.
Conically shaped coil windings with HTS conductors in the form of strips have also been proposed (see WO 01/08173 A1). In the case of this coil geometry, the winding is admittedly curved; however, in this case as well, the conductors of the individual turns on the straight sections and in the end winding areas are each located within a common plane. The flat faces of the conductors in this case lie parallel to the axis, which emerges at right angles from the coil winding.
Attempts are also known to produce saddle-shaped coil windings using HTS conductors in the form of strips (see "IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.", Vol. 9, No. 2, June 1999, pages 293 to 296). The winding design described there allows only small apertures for a quadrupole magnet, however; however, apertures such as these are not sufficient for dipole windings, such as those which must be provided for two-pole rotor windings in machines.
A production method which is known for coil windings composed of strain-sensitive superconductors is based on the idea that the superconducting characteristics of the conductors of the coil winding are formed only after the winding process, in their final shape (so-called "Wind and React" technique; see for example EP 1 471 363 A1). However, this generally requires complex winding apparatuses, which are not very suitable for cost-effective production of coil windings for replacement in rotating machines.

Saddle-shaped coil winding using superconductors, and method for the production thereof


A method for mapping higher brain function comprises an fMRI mapping step S1 to map a brain function of the subject TP by fMRI, a head portion structural image acquisition step S3 to acquire a head portion structural image IMGs by an MRI system in a state that a headgear HC having a marker is mounted on the head portion of the subject TP, a three-dimensional image combining step S4 to create a three-dimensionally combined image IMGfs by combining the head portion structural image IMGs and the brain functional image IMGf obtained by the fMRI mapping step S1, an optical probe mounting step S5 to specify positions on the headgear HC where optical probes PR1, PR2 are mounted based on the three-dimensionally combined image IMGfs and to mount the optical probes PR1, PR2 at the specified positions and an NIRS measuring step S6 to conduct the NIRS by a NIRS method in a state that the headgear HC loaded with the optical probes PR1, PR2 is mounted on the head portion of the subject TP.

This invention relates to a method for mapping higher brain function to measure higher brain function with accuracy and to a headgear used in the method.
Recently a method for measuring brain activity in a noninvasive manner and for analyzing brain function has been conceived and various devices or systems for the method have been developed. For example, fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy) are representative examples of a method for mapping brain function. See, for example, Raichle, Marcus E., "A Brief History of Human Functional Brain Mapping" Brain Mapping, The Systems, Academic Press, 2000, p. 64–65.
The fMRI is primarily based on a BOLD effect that measures a change of signal intensity of MRI based on a fluctuation of deoxygenated hemoglobin (Deoxy-Hb) value of blood in a brain and images it so as to monitor a local brain activity. The fMRI specifies an activated portion from a brain functional image obtained with an extremely high space resolution such as a mm order. In the meantime, the NIRS is to irradiate near-infrared pulse light of a predetermined wavelength on a head portion of a subject through a probe for irradiation (optical fiber) and to detect the corresponding near-infrared light diffused from the brain with a high time resolution such as several tens of milliseconds through a probe for detection (optical fiber). More specifically, oxygenated hemoglobin concentration, deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration and a total hemoglobin concentration of blood in a brain are measured by transmitting near-infrared light through a probe connected to a holder mounted on the head portion of the subject by making use of the near-infrared light having a wavelength that penetrates a skin tissue or a bone tissue and that is absorbed by oxygenated hemoglobin or deoxygenated hemoglobin of the blood, and a brain activity of the subject while exercising or in a stationary state is measured or imaged with a high time resolution by means of a blood circulation kinetics change in the brain of the subject derived from a diachronic concentration change. See, for example. Japanese Patent Specification 2002-128107.
The fMRI is superior in a space resolution as mentioned above, but inferior in a time resolution since, at most only a piece of an image can be imaged in a few seconds. In addition, in order to conduct the fMRI a subject is encased in an almost blocked system and a brain activity of the subject is measured in the system, which makes it difficult to measure the brain activity of the subject, for example, during an exercise with moving his or her body. Further, nowadays the BOLD effect itself is the fundamental principle of the fMRI under review. On the other hand, the NIRS is, as mentioned above, superior in a time resolution and the subject can be monitored in either an unconstrained condition or a constrained condition, however, the monitoring depends on a position where a probe is mounted, thereby performing a low space resolution of a few cm order at most.
Based on the above-mentioned problem, it might be assumed mistakenly that merely combining the fMRI and the NIRS, in other words, just checking both results of the fMRI and the NIRS, covers each weak point and a result of measuring brain function is superior both in the time resolution and the space resolution. However, since it is unclear that results of the fMRI and the NIRS always correspond with each other, merely combining both of the fMRI and the NIRS does not produce an agreeable result.
In order to solve the above problems the present claimed invention mainly intends to provide a method for mapping higher brain function wherein advantages of the fMRI and the NIRS can be demonstrated and the results of both methods can be compliant with each other definitely and to provide a suitable headgear used for the method.

Method for mapping higher brain function and headgear for mapping higher brain function

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology


A driver seat airbag may include: a mounting plate seated on a wheel armature; a cover coupled to the mounting plate so as to be lifted and lowered; an elastic member installed between the mounting plate and the cover to apply an elastic force to the cover; an electrode unit installed in the mounting plate; and a connector installed on the cover and connected to the electrode unit when the cover is lowered.

The present invention relates to a driver seat airbag, and more particularly, to a driver seat airbag which can reduce the number of parts, and simplify an assembly process.
In general, a vehicle has a plurality of airbags installed therein. The steering wheel of the vehicle has a driver seat airbag installed therein. The driver seat airbag has a cover coupled to the top of a mounting plate. The mounting plate has an anode wire formed through insert-injection molding.
The cover has a horn guide installed thereon, the horn guide has a horn spring installed therein, and the horn spring has a horn rod installed therein. The mounting plate has a horn contact facing the horn rod. As the horn rod is connected to the anode wiring, the horn rod functions as an anode. Furthermore, the horn contact is grounded to a wheel armature and functions as a cathode.
When a driver presses the cover, the cover is slightly lowered, and the horn rod is electrically connected to the horn contact. As the horn rod is connected to the horn contact, the horn is operated.
In the conventional driver seat airbag, however, the number of parts is increased because the horn guide, the horn spring and the horn rod are installed in the cover. Therefore, assembly tolerance may occur, which makes it difficult to maintain the quality.
Furthermore, since the driver seat airbag requires a process of assembling the horn guide, the horn spring and the horn rod and pressing the horn contact when the cover is assembled, the assembly process of the cover may become complex, and the assembly time may be increased.
Furthermore, since the number of parts is increased and the assembly process becomes complex, the cost competitiveness may be degraded.


A hair-cutting system (1) is provided comprising a hair-cutting apparatus (2) having a toothed cutting device (17), and comprising a comb device (20) which can be mounted onto the hair-cutting apparatus (2) and comprises a stationary comb section (22) and an adjustable comb section (23), and comprising positioning means by which the adjustable comb section (23) can be positioned with respect to the stationary comb section (22), the stationary comb section (22) and the adjustable comb section (23) are loaded relative to one another by means of at least one spring (48), and the positioning means comprise an adjustment device (50) arranged on the hair-cutting apparatus (2), which adjustment device is adjustable to a number of settings by the hand in which the hair-cutting apparatus (2) is held during operation, and coupling means (51) are arranged between the adjustment device (50) and the adjustable comb section (23) for automatically coupling the adjustment device (50) and the adjustable comb section (23) when the comb device (20) is mounted onto the hair-cutting apparatus (2), and the adjustable comb section (23) is automatically movable into a desired operating position when the comb device (20) is mounted onto the hair-cutting apparatus (2).

Hair-cutting system including a hair-cutting apparatus and including a comb device which can be mounted onto the apparatus and which has two spring-loaded comb sections
The invention relates to a hair-cutting system comprising a hair-cutting apparatus for cutting hairs, which apparatus is held in one hand during operation and comprises a toothed cutting device, and comprising a comb device which can be mounted onto the hair-cutting apparatus at the location of the toothed cutting device thereof in a mounting direction and which can be removed from the hair-cutting apparatus in a direction opposite to the mounting direction, which comb device comprises a comb section which is stationarily mounted with respect to the hair-cutting apparatus when the comb device has been mounted on the hair-cutting apparatus, and a comb section which is adjustable with respect to the stationarily mounted comb section, and comprising positioning means by which the adjustable comb section can be positioned in at least two operating positions with respect to the stationarily mounted comb section.
Such a hair-cutting system of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example from the document JP 61-79.483 A1. In this known hair-cutting system the positioning means have been arranged exclusively on the comb device and are formed by a latching device which acts between the stationarily mounted comb section and the adjustable comb section. Owing to this construction the adjustable comb section of the comb device in the known hair-cutting system can only be adjusted with one hand while the hair-cutting apparatus is being held in the other hand, as a result of which the hair-cutting apparatus is comparatively difficult to handle. Moreover, as a result of the construction used in the known hair-cutting system it is not unlikely that when the comb device is placed onto the hair-cutting apparatus of this system the adjustable comb section is moved out of the desired preselected operating position defined by the latching device, so that a preselected desired hair-cutting length is altered in an undesirable manner.


In a frictional spot joining where plural metal members lapping over are jointed with a joining device comprising a rotating tool, a receiving tool disposed on a rotational axis of the rotating tool and a drive device to rotate and move the rotating tool in a pushing direction, a holding member is provided on a side of the receiving tool, which has a restriction portion to restrain a movement of the receiving tool in a direction perpendicular to the rotational axis, and the joining device is moved by a moving device such that the receiving tool is disposed at the restriction portion. Accordingly, the rotational runout of the rotating tool can be restrained effectively with a simple structure of a properly small-sized rotating tool and receiving tool.

The present invention relates to a frictional spot joining method and apparatus in which a plurality of metal members are provided to lap over and these metal members are joined with a frictional heat by a rotating tool.
Recently, aluminum alloy or the like have been widely used as material to be applied to a vehicle body of an automotive vehicle for the purpose of a weight reduction. Accordingly, for example, joining of members made of aluminum alloy or joining of an aluminum-alloy member and a member made of iron or steel have been used. Herein, since joining with welding may be difficult for these members, joining with rivet has been generally used for these members. However, the rivet joining is generally expensive.
Meanwhile, a frictional spot joining is known as an appropriate joining method that can be applied with reasonably low costs. In this joining method, a plurality of metal members are provided to lap over, a rotating tool is pushed against the metal members such that the metal member is softened and made in a plastic flow state by a frictional heat, whereby the metal members can be joined in a solid state (joining in a slid state without melting) with a temperature lower than a melting point of a work to be joined (metal members).
For example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0035180 A1 discloses a frictional spot joining method and apparatus for a zinc-plating steel plate and an aluminum plate. This apparatus comprises a joining device that integrally has a rotating tool, a receiving tool that is disposed to face the rotating tool on a rotational axis of the rotating tool, and a drive device operative to rotate and move the rotating tool in a pushing direction.
Meanwhile, a rotational runout of the rotating tool tends to occur when a tip (shoulder portion) of the rotating tool contacts a work in this frictional spot joining. Namely, a continuous movement of the receiving tool in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the rotational axis of the rotating tool tends to occur due to a rapid increase of the contact resistance. It is generally known that a projection (pin) with a smaller diameter is formed at the shoulder portion in order to restrain the above-described rotational runout. Namely, the pin contacts first with a small contact resistance at the joining, thereby providing a proper centering (anchor function). The rotational runout can be restrained by this anchor function.
However, it may be difficult to prevent the rotational runout perfectly by this anchor function, so the rotational runout would exist to some extent. However, this rotational runout would cause an adhesion (sticking) of part of the work to the shoulder portion. This adhesion would deteriorate the above-described anchor function and promote the rotational runout. As a result, the rotational runout would occur more badly. This would deteriorate the joining quality or cause damages to the rotating tool, its drive mechanism or other tools.
In order to avoid the above-described situation, it would be effective to restrain the rotational runout (movement) of the rotating tool further, so an initial occurrence of the adhesion to the shoulder portion could be prevented. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-205374 discloses a frictional spot joining device equipped with a fixing device having a spring and a pressing member that are provided around the rotating tool, which is operative to restrain the rotational runout (corresponding to a lateral runout in this publication).
The pressing member of this fixing device is a substantially cylindrical member that is provided coaxially outside the rotating tool, which restrains via a bearing a movement of the rotating member in a direction that is perpendicular to the rotational axis of the rotating member. And, when the joining is executed, this member contacts the work first, prior to the rotating member contacting the work, and is pressed against the work by the spring. Thus, the work and pressing member are integrated temporarily, so the movement of the rotating tool in the direction perpendicular to the rotational axis relative to the work is restrained via the bearing. Namely, the rotational runout can be restrained.
However, the fixing device shown in the above-described latter publication comprises the spring, bearing and so on, therefore its structure would be rather complicated. Also, its size would be relatively large so as to enclose the rotating tool, so that the joining in a narrow space would be difficult. In fact, the rotating tool is required to go through a narrow gap space between clamping tools fixing the work and approach to the work, so a large-sized device would be inappropriate.

Frictional spot joining method and frictional spot joining apparatus


A structure of base of column and a construction method for base of column formed by installing a lower end of column steel frame on a foundation formed under the ground. Plural column main reinforcing-bars, which have bottom bent portions and are incorporated in a foundation concrete at specified positions corresponding to a sectional shape of column, are protruded upward out of a top face of the foundation concrete and a lower end base plate of the column steel frame is combined to upper protruding portions of the column main reinforcing-bars. As combining measures, there are such measures that a tightening nuts are screwed onto male threaded portions provided on the protruding portions of the column main reinforcing-bars, or caulked portions are formed on the protruding portions of the column main reinforcing-bars. By these measures, a number of parts for combining the base of column and a construction cost can be reduced, a support strength of the column steel frame can be improved, and a number of construction work processes of the base of column can be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of base of column and a construction method for base of column, in which a lower end of column steel frame is installed on a foundation of building.
2. Description of Prior Art
FIG. 3 is a general schematic view of a foundation constructed in the ground, in which a large number of foundations 1 are constructed along an external shape of building with intervals put between them and underground beams 2 connecting these foundations 1 are constructed.
Each foundation 1 is formed into a convex shape by a lower base concrete 4 and a column-shaped foundation concrete 5 placed on it. A column steel frame for each column is placed on top of the foundation concrete 5 to compose the base of column. As the structure of base of column and construction method for base of column, there are a fixed-type base of column system in which the column steel frame is fixed rigidly on the foundation 1 and a pin-type base of column system in which the column steel frame is connected through the pin rotatably to some extent.
In the later pin-type system, the foundation can be made small in its size because a load of building is carried mainly by beams between columns, however, the beams themselves become large so that weights of beam steel frame etc. on the ground increase and the ground work becomes troublesome.
In the former system, the beam between columns can be made small in its weight and size because the load of building is carried mainly by the columns. FIG. 10 shows a conventional example of the fixed beam of column.
Plural anchor bolts 8 together with plural column main reinforcing-bars 6 are incorporated in the concrete 5 of the foundation 1. The column main reinforcing-bars 6 have lower-end bent portions 6a, are arranged into a rectangular shape viewing from above and bound by hoop reinforcing-bars 7, and the entire column main reinforcing-bars 6 are buried in the foundation concrete 5 up to their upper edges. The anchor bolts 8 are disposed at eight places, for example, and supported by a support frame 9. Their upper ends protrude upward from a top face 11 of the foundation concrete 5 so as to be combined with a base plate 14 of the column steel frame 12 by nuts 13. The frame 9 holds the anchor bolts 8 with specified spaces put between them and functions effectively against an upward tension.

Structure of base of column and construction method for base of column


An apparatus for the detection of the icing-up of an aircraft rotor. The apparatus has a sensor (10) for the tractive force and a sensor (11) for torque; for measuring respectively the axial force and the torque exerted on the shaft of the rotor. A device (12) calculates the ratio between these two quantities. A determination is also made, as a function of the flying conditions, of what should be the nominal value of this ratio in the absence of icing-up. Finally a device (12) compares the calculated ratio with the nominal ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting the icing-up of the blades of an aircraft rotor.
The icing-up of the blades of a rotor of an aircraft such as a helicopter is a serious phenomenon, able to destabilise it causing loss of control. It is thus important to detect the icing-up sufficiently early in order to be able to put the de-icing apparatus into operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The detection of the icing-up of the blades may be effected by means of specific sensors installed directly on these blades. However, this direct method has the drawback that the sensors are exposed to a severe environment and that it is difficult to transmit the information to the fixed parts of the system.
The document GB-A-2 046 690 has also proposed using the torque transmitted to the rotor, in order to detect the icing-up of the blades. However, this method necessitates quite a high number of calculations, even in cases where the accuracy required is relatively low.

Apparatus for the detection of the icing-up of the blades of an aircraft rotor


An electronic product identifier system is provided for use with a product storage area adapted to store more than one type of product. The electronic product identifier system has a display adapted to present product information for more than one product along a length of the storage area. Each product has an electronic product identifier. An electromagnetic sensing circuit is provided having at least one transmitter for transmitting polling electromagnetic fields so that the electronic product identifier associated with each product can generate a response. The electromagnetic sensing circuit further has at least one receiver for receiving each responsive electromagnetic signal at two separated sensing locations. A location circuit determines a location of each responsive electronic product identifier using the electromagnetic signals received; a data interface determines product information for each product type; and a display controller causes product information to be presented proximate to products of that type.

Electronic shelf labels in retail store environments are well known in the art. One major disadvantage of prior systems is that they need some form of manual intervention to ensure that the electronic shelf labels are positioned at the appropriate places on the shelves. Thus, when the items on the shelf are moved for one of several reasons, e.g. store resets, promotional placement, the addition or removal of items, or seasonal changes, then there becomes a need to reconfigure the arrangement of electronic shelf labels on the shelf to exchange the electronic shelf labels to represent the required information. Furthermore, most systems that use electronic shelf labels need to affix some form of printed information over the electronic label to display the non changeable information relating to the item, such as bar code, UPC, stock location, dept, size and description.
Another limitation of existing electronic shelf labels systems is that the display systems used in electronic shelf labels have very limited functionality. In general, they are usually only capable of displaying rudimentary information, such as price and stock quantity and sometimes they are capable of presenting a limited number of specific alphabetic characters to denote words such as "sale". Further, most display systems used in electronic shelf labels are based on glass cells, which means that they are fragile and have severe limitations for size and ability to withstand the environment of a retail store.
In some retail operations that employ a retail accounting system, there is a requirement to manually count the inventory whenever a price change is executed. Thus, it is a relatively simple matter to adjust labels as a part of this manual counting process. Accordingly, the value of an automatic price update capability is severely limited. What is needed in the art therefore, is a shelf labeling system that is easily adapted to reflect changes in product configuration or in prices and that can also assist in the process of counting products when a price change is executed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0109593 A1 (Swartzel et al) describes a product information display system that includes an electronic display tag mounted on a product shelf. The display tag includes a display screen having a display width of at least two feet. The display tag is operable to simultaneously display via the display screen at least both a first product and price message for a first product and a second product and price message for a second product which is different than the first product, the first and second product and price messages being displayed in a spaced apart manner. The product information display system can have a controller operable for communication with the tag. A database of stored plan-o-gram information including product facing set up information is provided. The tag and controller are operable in a facing set up mode in which the controller retrieves from the plan-o-gram database product facing set up information, communicates the retrieved information to the tag, and the tag displays facing set up margins on the display screen and product information between the set up margins for communicating shelf facing set up information to a user configuring or checking the product shelf. Thus, the '593 application publication allows remote programming of display tags in accordance with assigned products.
The display tag of the '593 application publication includes an electronic display tag mounted on a product shelf, the display tag including a radio frequency (RF) transceiver means, and a controller operable for communication with the transceiver means. The controller and transceiver means are operable in a product stock check mode in which the transceiver means transmits a localized RF signal for detecting a radio frequency signal generated by a radio frequency transponder associated with a given product. The radio frequency transponder is adapted to generate an identifying signal upon receipt of the localized RF signal. Transponders of this type are well known and commonly referred to as RFID tags. The transceiver means is further operable to communicate to the controller whether or not at least one RFID tag associated with the given product was identified, the controller operable to initiate a restock check signal in the event that no RFID tag associated with the given product is identified by the tag. In certain applications, this restock check signal could be a system-generated message to an on-site or off-site person or persons via a personal pager, wireless telephone text message or email. The controller can be operable to initiate a restock check signal in the event that the number of detected RFID tags associated with the given product falls below a set threshold.
The '593 application publication also describes a product information display system that includes an electronic display tag mounted on a product shelf, the display tag having an RF transceiver means. A controller is operable for communication with the RF transceiver means. The controller and RF transceiver means are operable in a targeted merchandising mode in which the controller causes the RF transceiver to transmit a localized RF signal for detecting a consumer RFID tag in an area proximate to the display tag, the tag operable to communicate detected consumer RFID tag information to the controller. The controller is operable to retrieve a targeted consumer message from a database based upon the received consumer RFID tag information and to communicate the targeted consumer message to the tag, the tag operable to display the targeted consumer message received from the controller.
The major deficiency of the '593 application publication is that it relies upon the store operations personnel being familiar with the desired stock locations and stocking the shelves appropriately. Using the plan-o-gram feature described in the '593 application publication, the system only has the ability to download price information to a predetermined location. However in reality, the operation of the store is such that it is not always possible or desirable to dictate the location of items from a central office. In cases where items are out of stock, it becomes difficult to place substitute items because price information would be incorrect. Also, as frequently happens, items can be moved to alternative locations for cross merchandising purposes, and it may be necessary to deviate from the plan-o-gram so that an appropriate price and other additional information is available.
There is a need for a new display and method for automatically updating product information presented by a shelf display so that the display accurately reflects the actual product that is placed on a shelf.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The present invention provides a phosphorescent compound of one of following formulas:

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a red phosphorescent compound and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) device and more particularly to a soluble red phosphorescent compound having excellent color purity and high brightness and emitting efficiency and an OLED device using the same.
Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, the requirements for flat panel display devices, such as a liquid crystal display device and a plasma display panel, have increased. However, these flat panel display devices have relatively slow response time and narrow viewing angle in comparison to the cathode ray tube (CRT).
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) device is one of next-generation flat panel display devices being capable of resolving the above problems while occupying a small area.
Elements of the OLED device can be formed on a flexible substrate such as a plastic substrate. In addition, the OLED device has advantages in the viewing angle, the driving voltage, the power consumption and the color purity. Moreover, the OLED device is adequate to produce full-color images.
Generally, the emitting diode of the OLED device includes the anode, the hole injecting layer (HIL), the hole transporting layer (HTL), the emitting material layer (EML), the electron transporting layer (ETL), the electron injecting layer (EIL) and the cathode.
The OLED device emits light by injecting electrons from a cathode as an electron injection electrode and holes from an anode as a hole injection electrode into an emission compound layer, combining the electrons with the holes, generating an exciton, and transiting the exciton from an excited state to a ground state.
The emitting principle may be classified into fluorescent emission and phosphorescent emission. In the fluorescent emission, the organic molecule in the singlet exited state is transited to the ground state such that light is emitted. On the other hand, in the phosphorescent emission, the organic molecule in the triplet exited state is transited to the ground state such that light is emitted.
When the emitting material layer emits light corresponding to an energy band gap, the singlet exciton having 0 spin and the triplet exciton having 1 spin are generated with a ratio of 1:3. The ground state of the organic material is the singlet state such that the singlet exciton can be transited to the ground state with emitting light. However, since the triplet exciton can not be transited with emitting light, the internal quantum efficiency of the OLED device using the fluorescent material is limited within 25%.
On the other hand, if the spin-orbital coupling momentum is high, the singlet state and the triplet state are mixed such that an inter-system crossing is generated between the singlet state and the triplet state and the triplet exciton also can be transited to the ground state with emitting light. The phosphorescent material can use the triplet exciton as well as the singlet exciton such that the OLED device using the phosphorescent material may have 100% internal quantum efficiency.
Recently, iridium complex, e.g., bis(2-phenylquinoline)(acetylacetonate)iridium(III)(Ir(2-phq)2(acac)), bis(2-benzo[b]thiophene-2-yl-pyridine)(acetylacetonate)iridium(III)(Ir(btp)2(acac)) and tris(2-phenylquinoline)iridium(III)(Ir(2-phq)3), as a dopant has been introduced.
To obtain high current emitting efficiency (Cd/A) with the phosphorescent material, excellent internal quantum efficiency, high color purity and long life-time are required. Particularly, referring to FIG. 1, as the color purity becomes higher, i.e., higher CIE(X), the color sensitivity becomes bad. As a result, with the high internal quantum efficiency, it is very difficult to obtain emitting efficiency. Accordingly, new red phosphorescent compound having excellent color purity (CIE(X)≧0.65) and high emitting efficiency is required.
On the other hand, in addition to the above iridium complex, another complex, for example 4,4-N,N-dicarbazole-biphenyl (CBP), is used as the red phosphorescent compound. However, these compounds do not have desirable solubility in solvent such that it is impossible to form an emitting layer by a solution process. Since the emitting layer should be formed by a deposition process, a fabricating process is very complex and a process efficiency is very low. In addition, wasted material is very much in the deposition process such that production costs are increased.

Red phosphorescent compound and organic light emitting diode device using the same


A movable protection and/or rewrapping device for a balloon catheter may include a tubular member with a bore extending along a length thereof. The tubular member may have at least one rib disposed on an inner surface of the bore. The tubular member may be flared away from the bore at one end and inwardly tapered at the other end. The rewrapping device may include an actuator configured to open a longitudinal slit in the tubular member.

Certain treatments require temporary or permanent interruption or modification of select nerve function. One example treatment is renal nerve ablation, which is sometimes used to treat conditions related to congestive heart failure. Some of the known renal denervation systems use a catheter shaft having a balloon coupled to its distal end for ablation. Renal denervation procedures involve contra-lateral application of therapy targeting both right and left renal artery. In some scenarios, same balloon may be used to provide treatment to both the right and left renal artery.
Typically balloons usually have flex circuits with one or more pairs of electrodes and temperature sensors disposed on the balloon, to deliver RF energy to a target nerve. Once unwrapped and used it becomes difficult to rewrap the balloon to its original profile for re-use at a new treatment site. Also, the balloon does not have enough column strength to reinsert the balloon through a hemostasis valve without damaging the balloon.
Drug coated balloons are packaged with a protection device over the balloon, however the protection device must be removed prior to loading the balloon catheter onto a guide wire or into a guide catheter. Handling the balloon may result in disruption of the drug coating. Additionally, the balloon may not have enough column strength to insert the balloon through a hemostasis valve without damaging the balloon and disrupting the drug coating.
Hence, there exists a need of for a device to protect a balloon during use and to aid insertion and/or rewrapping and re-insertion of the balloon through a hemostasis valve.

Balloon protection and rewrapping devices and related methods of use