Embodiments of the invention can include a system and method for managing a plurality of data feeds to be loaded into a database. The method includes obtaining a script which specifies a query. The method includes executing the query against a source to extract a result set and consulting the script to determine a format for the data feed. The method also includes converting the result set in accordance with the format to create the data feed and transporting the data feed to be loaded into the database.

Organizations such as financial institutions are responsible for maintaining a large number of data feeds. These data feeds are typically produced at certain times of the day and delivered in electronic form to various users. An example of a data feed is a spreadsheet file containing information obtained from a database. A typical recipient would be an employee in the organization such as a financial analyst.
Typically, a computer program must be written in a high-level language such as C++ or JAVA for each data feed which is desired. Thus, an end-user who wishes to have information obtained from a database would have a special program written by a programmer that defines the database to access along with the SQL commands to execute. The program would need to interact with various systems to have the information sent to the recipient in the proper format.
Unfortunately, the conventional approach has many drawbacks. Each request for information requires a programmer to code a separate program. Because of the expertise required for this task, it often takes a considerable amount of time to implement even a relatively simple request. Furthermore, this approach leads to a proliferation of programs written in a variety of different languages that can be difficult and expensive to maintain. Accordingly, improved methods and systems for managing a plurality of data feeds are needed.

Methods and systems for using script files to obtain, format and transport data


The present invention provides a new process to deposit well adhered ultra smooth diamond films on metals by adding nitrogen gas to the methane/hydrogen plasma created by a microwave discharge. Such diamond coating process is useful in tribological/wear resistant applications in bio-implants, machine tools, and magnetic recording industry.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of physics and chemistry. More specifically, the present invention relates to a new process which can deposit well adhered ultra smooth diamond films on metals with film roughness of 14 nanometers and hardness as high as 90% of that of a natural diamond crystal.
2. Description of the Related Art
The field of nanocrystalline diamond and tetrahedral amorphous carbon films has been the focus of intense experimental activity in the last few years for applications in field emission display devices, optical windows, and tribological coatings. Nanocrystalline chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond films have been synthesized from a variety of plasma feedgases including fullerenes or methane in argon (with and without hydrogen), as well as from methane/nitrogen plasmas.sup.1-3.
It is generally agreed that the diamond grain size in these materials ranges from 3 to 30 nm and that the deposited films are smooth with a typical surface roughness of around 40 nm. Another class of carbon-based films called tetrahedral amorphous carbon can be grown by pulsed laser deposition.sup.4, cathodic arc deposition.sup.5, and ion deposition methods.sup.6. The sp.sup.3 content in the tetrahedral amorphous carbon films can be as high as 85% and they can be made stress-free by thermal annealing.sup.4.
The choice of substrate used in the studies mentioned above has been silicon typically. For metals, however, the thermal expansion mismatch between the diamond film and substrate gives rise to thermal stress which often results in delamination of the film.sup.7. To avoid this problem in conventional chemical vapor deposited diamond, low substrate temperatures (<700.degree. C.) have been used, often with the incorporation of oxygen or carbon monoxide to the feedgas mixture.sup.8. Conventionally grown chemical vapor deposited diamond films are also rough and would require post-deposition polishing for most applications.
While nanocrystalline chemical vapor deposited diamond films have been well-characterized with respect to their structure and field-emission properties, surprisingly little information is published on the deposition of nano-structured diamond coatings on metals in which the issues of interfacial adhesion and film toughness are relevant for tribological applications.
The prior art lacks an effective means for deposition of well-adhered, smooth nano-structured diamond films on metals for various tribological applications. The present invention fulfills this long-standing need and desire in the art.

Process for ultra smooth diamond coating on metals and uses thereof


A battery-powered smoke detector in which the battery is inserted in a removable door that is then inserted into the detector to power the detector is rendered incapable of insertion into the smoke detector unless a battery is in place in the removable door. A spring-loaded door stop is moved by the spring into a position where it prevents the door from being inserted into the smoke detector. A pin in the female terminal of the door that engages the male terminal of the battery is forced away from the door stop by a spring. When the door stop is depressed manually and a battery is inserted into the terminals, the pin is forced by the male terminal of the battery into a latching position in the door stop, holding it in a position where it will not interfere with insertion of the door. The absence of a door provides warning to an observer that the battery-powered smoke detector is not operable for lack of a battery.

This invention is related to smoke detectors. In particular, it is a device to prevent the insertion of a battery door in a smoke detector unless the battery door is equipped with a battery.
Smoke detectors have become accepted as primary means of warning for people in living spaces that are threatened by fire. Battery-powered smoke detectors are of particular utility in providing protection for residential spaces, mobile homes, motor homes, and hotel and motel rooms. Electrical codes are increasingly being amended to require smoke detectors in such locations.
The warning offered by a battery-powered smoke detector, however, is illusory if the smoke detector lacks a battery. Perhaps the most likely reason for a smoke detector to lack a battery is removal of the battery to prevent the smoke detector from sounding its alarm in a location near a kitchen, where the smoke detector may be affected by smoke or other combustion products from cooking. Occasional smoke from a fireplace may trigger a smoke detector that is located near the fireplace. Sometimes a smoke detector may be triggered by high humidity. All too often the reaction of a householder to a smoke detector that sounds an alarm in response to one of the conditions described above is to remove the battery to silence the detector. If the detector is then put back into apparent operating condition without the battery, it is no longer capable of giving a warning in case of a real fire.
One solution to the problem of smoke detectors that provide alarm signals in response to burning toast or smoky fireplaces is given in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 892,668 and U.S. Pat. No. Design 297,316, both of which are incorporated by reference as if set forth fully here. The smoke detector in the '668 application includes a silence feature, which reduces the sensitivity of the detector for a period of a few minutes after the detector is activated so as to give the unwanted smoke time to clear. In the smoke detector of the '668 application, the smoke detector continues to be functional with a sensitivity that is reduced initially and that increases over a period of four to ten minutes until the original sensitivity is restored. If the smoke condition continues when the sensitivity of the detector returns to a level at which the detector will sound an alarm, the patience of the householder may be stretched to the point of causing battery removal to stop the noise once and for all.
Another reason for battery removal occurs when people see the smoke detector as a source of a battery that they need for another appliance. Such perceived needs have led to the removal of batteries from many smoke detectors, rendering them inoperative when they are needed.
The threat of battery removal has led to the issuance of a standard by Underwriters'Laboratories to provide either a warning or a preventive. The warning would display a flag or a sign so that an observer could tell that a battery had been removed from the detector. The preventive would interfere with closure or reassembly of the smoke detector if the battery had been removed.
Most battery-powered smoke detectors require some disassembly of the detector to get at the battery for changing. In contrast, the smoke detector of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 892,668 includes a removable battery door into which a battery is snapped. Contacts from the battery terminals are connected to terminals in the smoke detector to supply battery power to operate the detector. However, in the invention as disclosed in the '668 Application, there is no way to tell from the outside of the detector whether or not a battery is installed in the removable door.

Apparatus for detect missing battery in smoke detector


Provided is a communication processing system including a response time measuring unit, a routing unit, and a communication route setting unit. The response time measuring unit measures a response time on a communication route between one or more communication apparatuses. The routing unit controls a communication route between the one or more communication apparatuses, based on the first communication route information to which a communication route between communication apparatuses is set. The communication route setting unit sets, based on the measured response time, a first communication route on which communication data related to a certain communication between communication apparatuses is transferred, to the first communication route information. The communication route setting unit sets, a communication route being different from the first communication route, on which communication data related to a communication other than the certain communication is transferred, to the first communication route information.

In recent years, network systems are widely used in which a plurality of information processing apparatuses and the like are connected to be mutually communicable via the communication networks such as the Internet (hereinafter simply referred to as "network").
In such a network system, various types of data are transmitted and received between pluralities of information processing apparatuses. For this reason, processing load related to data communication may concentrate on such an information processing apparatus as a server providing a certain service. In addition, there may be cases in which communication data concentrates on a certain communication route on a network, and causes a delay on the communication route. In such cases, the communication qualities such as the communication responsiveness and real-time characteristics may be degraded.
So as to prevent degradation of communication qualities caused by the above-mentioned concentration of communication data, such countermeasures as selecting one of a plurality of communication routes which has not caused any delay, or multiplexing a certain communication route, can be considered.
The following patent literatures are examples of related technologies with regard to such communication quality problems.
PTL 1 discloses a technology related to a communication route selecting system and the like in which a transmitter of a communication packet can dynamically select a transfer route of the communication packet.
The technology disclosed in PTL 1 registers a plurality of communication routes to a same communication destination, on a routing table, and measures a packet round-trip time for each communication route. The technology disclosed in PTL 1 realizes load balancing to the network by selecting a communication route based on the measured round-trip time. In other words, the technology disclosed in PTL 1 can prevent concentration of load to a certain communication route by selecting a route on which the response time is short.
PTL 2 discloses a technology related to a packet transmitting system and the like that connects the packet transmitting and receiving apparatuses using a plurality of communication routes and transmits and receives a multiplexed packet via a plurality of communication routes.
The technology disclosed in PTL 2 divides data to be transmitted into packets of a certain length, assigns serial packet numbers to the packets, and copies each packet and transmits the copied packets in parallel from a plurality of communication routes. The technology disclosed in PTL 2 rearranges the packets so that only one copy of the same packet included in each copied transmission packet sequence exists on the same communication route, and that copies of the same packet are not transmitted concurrently from any communication route.
The technology disclosed in PTL 2 enables multiplexing of communication routes, as well as ensuring reliability of the communication routes by recovering the communication error in packet transfer.

Communication processing system, communication processing apparatus, communication processing method, and storage medium


A zeolite-containing cracking catalyst is passivated with compounds of (a) antimony and (b) zirconium and/or tungsten. The thus-passivated cracking catalyst is employed in a process for catalytically cracking a hydrocarbon-containing oil feed. In another embodiment, compounds of (a) antimony and (b) zirconium and/or tungsten are added to a hydrocarbon-containing oil feed which is catalytically cracked in the presence of a zeolite-containing cracking catalyst.

In one aspect, this invention relates to the treatment of catalytic cracking catalysts with antimony compound(s) and at least one transition metal compound (so as to alleviate detrimental effects of metal deposits on the catalysts). In another aspect, this invention relates to the use of thus-treated catalysts in a catalytic cracking processes. In a further aspect, this invention relates to a process for catalytically cracking metal-containing oils with a catalyst which has been treated with antimony compound(s) and at least one transition metal compound.
The treatment of metal-contaminated zeolite-containing cracking catalysts with antimony compounds (for enhancing or restoring the activity of these catalyst and/or to increase the gasoline yield and/or to reduce hydrogen generation when these catalysts are employed in catalytic oil cracking processes) is well known under the term of "metals passivation" and has been described in the patent literature (e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,711,422 and 4,025,458). Also described in the patent literature (e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,803) are processes for catalytically cracking heavy oils to which an antimony compound has been added as a passivating agent. In the present invention, the passivating effect of antimony compounds is enhanced by the use of at least one additional compound of a transition metal.

Passivated catalysts for cracking process


In general, one aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in a method that includes obtaining an image and a corresponding color profile including state information for the image in relation to the color profile, the state information selected from a group including a scene-referred state and an output-referred state; selecting, automatically in response to identification of the state information, a rendering intent for the image, based on the state information and a current task in an imaging workflow, from a group including relative colorimetric rendering intent, perceptual rendering intent and absolute colorimetric rendering intent; converting, automatically in response to the selecting, the image to a new color space based on the color profile and the selected rendering intent; and making the converted image available for processing and output.

The present disclosure relates to color conversion techniques and color management systems and software.
Devices that are capable of representing image data (e.g., monitors, printers, scanners, cameras) often have significant variations in color gamut, the range of colors producible by the device. To accommodate this range in device gamuts, a variety of color spaces, and color management systems and techniques have been developed. Color management enables different color space values to be mapped from one device's gamut to another's using color profiles, which define how color information is transformed into or out of a standard reference space called a profile connection space.
Using color management, a human's perception of color from one device representation to another can be kept close to constant, despite the variation in color capabilities of different devices. To assist in color management, the Commission Internationale de L′Eclairage (CIE) has defined various color spaces that are device-independent and encompass the full gamut of human vision, and can thus be used as profile connection spaces. Typical profile connection spaces in color management systems include CIEXYZ and CIELAB. LAB space is a color space having a luminance channel, L, and opponent color channels, A (greenred) and B (blueyellow).
A color profile defines how to transform color information from one color space to another, such as from a device-dependent color space into a profile connection space, or the reverse. Many color profiles also conform to a defined color profile architecture, which provides flexibility in their use. For example, the International Color Consortium (ICC) provides a defined color profile architecture commonly used in many color management systems. ICC profiles have been developed for many different color spaces.
In addition, some ICC members have recently proposed the inclusion of image state information in ICC profiles, which will allow the specification of the image state of a given image's data as being scene-referred or output-referred. Scene-referred image data is image data that represents estimates of the color-space coordinates of the elements of a scene. Output-referred image data is image data that represents the color-space coordinates of the elements of an image that has undergone color rendering appropriate for a specified real or virtual output device and viewing conditions.

Automatic selection of color conversion method using image state information


A ski conversion device for a stroller or a bicycle trailer including: wheel braces for attachment to first and second skis and for receiving the first and second wheels; connecting elements for fixing the wheels to wheel braces; orientation braces for attachment to skis; orientation elements for connecting the stroller or the bicycle trailer to the orientation braces and for fixing an orientation of the stroller or the bicycle trailer with respect to the skis; a rigger element for connecting to a ski and including a runner element; and yokes for connection to the skis, the yokes attachable to a source of energy for propelling the ski conversion device. In a first position, the runner element is locatable between the first and second skis. In a second position, the runner element is locatable beyond the first ski in a direction from the second ski toward the first ski.

The prior art teaches ski conversion kits that require complete removal of wheels and subsequent replacement of the wheels with a ski assembly. Also, the prior art teaches conversion kits that are only compatible with a single brand/model of ski trailer. Thus, the prior art teaches away from a ski conversion kit adaptable to different brands or models of ski trailers.

Universal ski conversion device for a stroller or bicycle trailer


A gate output control method is adapted into a flat display having a plurality of gate drive integrated circuits. The method comprises: providing a gate control signal; providing a oblique control signal to oblique modulate the gate control signal for generating a gate control signal with oblique; modulating the gate control signal with oblique to obtain a modulated gate control signal; and outputting the modulated gate control signal to the gate drive integrated circuits. A falling edge of the modulated gate control signal comprises a oblique-varying period and a vertical-varying period. In the oblique-varying period, the modulated gate control signal firstly changes to a predetermined voltage in a first slope, and then changes in a second slope until the vertical-varying period. In the vertical-varying period, the modulated gate control signal changes vertically or nearly vertically.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the display field, and more particularly to a gate output control method and a corresponding gate pulse modulator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat display (such as, liquid crystal display) has many advantages, such as high image quality, little size, light weight and wide application range, etc., thus it is widely applied into various consumption, such as mobile phone, notebook computer, desktop computer and television, etc. Therefore, the flat display has gradually substituted conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) display to be a main trend of the display.
Refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic view of a conventional flat display. As shown in FIG. 1, the flat display 100 includes a substrate 110, a printed circuit board (PCB) 120 and a plurality of fixable circuit boards (FCB) 130. The substrate 110 has a plurality of gate drive integrated circuits (IC) GD1 and GD2, a plurality of source drive integrated circuits (not shown), and display blocks 111 and 112. The gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2 are configured for controlling the display blocks 111 and 112 respectively and are coupled with each other in series through wire-on-array (WOA) technique. The printed circuit board 120 is electrically coupled to the substrate 110 through the flexible circuit boards 130, and has a timing controller 140 and a gate pulse modulator 150 disposed thereon. The timing controller 140 is configured for providing gate output enable signals YOE_Y1 and YOE_Y2 to the gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2 respectively, and providing a gate control signal VGH1 and an oblique control signal to the gate pulse modulator 150 such that the gate pulse modulator 150 outputs a modulated gate control signal VGH to the gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2. Then the modulated gate control signal VGH is cooperated with the gate output enable signals YOE_Y1 and YOE_Y2 to generate corresponding gate drive signals Gate Pulse_Y1 and Gate Pulse_Y2.
Refer to FIG. 2, which is a schematic view of a conventional gate pulse modulator. As shown in FIG. 2, the gate pulse modulator 150 is a pulse-width modulation integrated circuit, which includes a gate control signal terminal 151, an oblique control signal terminal 152, a discharge circuit 153 and an output terminal 154. The gate control signal terminal 151 is configured for receiving the gate control signal VGH1, the oblique control signal terminal 152 is configured for receiving the oblique control signal YV1C, and the gate pulse modulator 150 determines whether employing the discharge circuit 153 to discharge the gate control signal VGH1 for generating the modulated gate control signal VGH and employing the output terminal 154 to output the modulated gate control signal VGH to the gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2 according to the oblique control signal YV1C.
Refer to FIG. 3, which is a timing chart of the gate control signal VGH1, the oblique control signal YV1C and the modulated gate control signal VGH of the gate pulse modulator as shown in FIG. 2, and the gate output enable signals YOE_Y1 and YOE_Y2, the gate drive signals Gate Pulse_Y1 and Gate Pulse_Y2 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the modulated gate control signal VGH output from the gate pulse modulator 150 is a gate control signal with oblique, which falls to a certain voltage in a slope, and then changes in a vertical mode. In addition, since the resistance of the WOA is large, the modulated gate control signal VGH and the gate output enable signals YOE_Y1 and YOE_Y2 attenuate to generate wave-change in a process when they are transmitted to the gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2, such that oblique cutoff voltages V1 and V2 of the gate drive signals Gate Pulse_Y1 and Gate Pulse_Y2 configured for driving the gate drive integrated circuits GD1 and GD2 have a voltage difference ΔV0 therebetween. Therefore, luminance of the display blocks 111 and 112 are different to generate a horizontal slight boundary. That is, the luminance is non-uniform in the perpendicular direction.

Gate output control method and corresponding gate pulse modulator


An adhesive bandage having at least one soft, three-dimensional toy. In one form, a soft, three-dimensional toy figure, such as a stuffed character, animal or play object, is attached to the top surface of a flexible backing that is coated with adhesive on its skin-contacting, bottom surface and an absorbent pad is attached to the bottom surface and central portion of the flexible backing for application directly to a body wound. In another form, the toy could cover the wound directly, using either soft, three-dimensional appendages coated with adhesive or appendages made of flexible backing material coated with adhesive to attach the bandage to the skin. The bandage could also be designed so that the toy could be easily removed from the rest of the bandage components to allow for play with the toy away from the wound site.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to improvements in adhesive bandages or wound dressings and particularly to bandages having a toy component that would be attractive and entertaining for children.
2. Description of Prior Art
Adhesive bandages come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are used to cover and protect wounds such as cuts, abrasions, punctures, and other forms of wounds inflicted on human tissue such as the skin of the arms, legs, hands, and other parts of the human body. Typically, an adhesive bandage comprises a flexible backing with an adhesive surface for attaching the bandage to the skin. Most, but not all, of these bandages have a patch of gauze or absorbent material disposed at the center of the adhesive surface. Such adhesive bandages are well-known and staple items in a first-aid kit or medicine cabinet.
In recent years, several bandage manufacturers have attempted to make bandages more attractive and entertaining, particularly to children, by the addition of colorful designs and imprinted animals and cartoon characters. Other bandages have come in fun shapes such as hearts or kissing lips. All of these bandages, though, have remained two-dimensional. These flat representations do not engage a child""s imagination as readily as a three-dimensional toy representation of the character, animal, or object.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,338 to Lemelson (1981) describes a protective cover for a bandage and includes a raised rigid plastic shell. As one of its embodiments, the shell is a head. However, a hard cover for a bandage may not be suitable for children. Since it is hard and non-planar, it is also likely to catch on objects such as chairs and tables and prematurely fall off of the child.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,296 to Schaar (1980) describes a bandage with a raised protective member made of foam material. This bandage is designed only for protection and does not specify any playful figure shapes that would be entertaining for a child.
What is needed is a bandage suitable for children which includes a toy or other play shape that will capture a child""s attention and enable the child""s imagination to turn the distressing fact of an injury into a more positive experience.
It is well known that children can become quite engaged with soft or plush figure toys such as teddy bears or beanbag animals. Accordingly, several objects, features and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) To provide a more attractive and entertaining adhesive bandage for children by incorporating a soft, three-dimensional toy.
(b) To provide an adhesive bandage that children are more likely to want to place over their wounds and keep over their wounds so as to speed the healing process.
(c) To provide an adhesive bandage that will make children more aware of their bandage so as to keep it from getting wet or dirty.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a further reading of the following summary, description, drawings and claims.
The invention comprises an adhesive bandage that incorporates at least one soft, three-dimensional toy, such as an animal, cartoon character, or the like. As used herein the term xe2x80x9ctoyxe2x80x9d is intended to mean a play shape of the type that can capture a child""s attention and provide a positive play experience. Thus, the invention will be more than a medical patch to protect a wound. It will also have a distinct toy element intended for play and amusement.
The toy can be a figure or plurality of figures generally made of soft materials similar to those of stuffed or bean-bag animals, or may be made of other soft materials, without a shell-and-stuffing configuration, such as squeezeable foam, yarn, bunched-up material (e.g., felt, wool, socks, cheesecloth and the like), pom-poms, padding, cotton, etc. Upon application of the bandage, the toy is raised relative to the skin surface, thereby providing a three-dimensional effect.

Adhensive bandage with soft, three-dimensional toy


A chiller or cooler is disclosed, including a self-test mechanism to simulate a sampling of normal operations and to compare the operating parameters resulting from such sampling against factory operational parameters adjusted for differences in operating parameters so as to eliminate unnecessary servicing or maintenance events.

Chillers and Coolers have developed as a proven technology over several decades in a variety of end-user and OEM applications ranging from lasers and analytical equipment to reactors and manufacturing equipment. Specifically, such devices provide stable and reliable cooling for many common heat removal applications, including laser etching, AA furnaces, ICP, rotary evaporators, vacuum systems, reaction vessels, plasma etching, and condenser cooling, among others.
One challenge, however, is the expenses attendant with the use of such equipment, coupled with the lack of task specific expertise needed for the efficient maintenance of such equipment. That is, while the customers of various chillers and coolers may be exceptionally talented scientists, technicians and engineers related to their applications, the end users may not be experts in the diagnosis and service of such equipment. Also, end users and even service personnel may not be aware of the nominal factory level operation parameters of the chiller or cooler being serviced so as to properly diagnose whether the equipment does in fact require servicing. Indeed, anecdotal results from the applicant indicate that as much as 25% or more of service requests for chillers are "false positives," i.e., not events that require service or replacement of such equipment.
Currently, there exists conventional diagnostic and service technician equipment in the marketplace for testing the efficacy of a chiller, cooler or the like. Unfortunately, such equipment is not integrated with the chiller or cooler. Moreover, such equipment usually requires a service technician that needs to go to the end user's location, or alternatively receives the chiller or cooler at a site remote from the end user for service or repair. Unfortunately, as human nature is more reactive to the care of such equipment, such diagnosis will frequently occur only after the malfunction or degradation in performance of the chiller or cooler. As a result, any servicing requires can require either chiller redundancy, which may not be economically feasible, or downtime creating economic upheaval for the end user. Moreover, the inability to handle service requirements prior to malfunction or degraded performance may impact the effective lifespan of the chiller or cooler, with resulting increases in capital expenditures for the end user. As a result, the chillers and coolers may need a greater ability to test and service such equipment than can be had through human supervision and monitoring of such equipment.
To date, there are no chiller or cooler products which provide an integrated self-test system that can prompt a manufacturer and/or user and indicate that servicing is required in advance of potential malfunction or degradation.
What is needed is a chiller or a cooler with an integrated self-test mechanism that prompts an end user to initiate servicing prior to potential operational problems with such equipment. Moreover, such equipment can involve a self-test mechanism that can be used by any end user, regardless of sophistication.

Self-test system for qualifying refrigeration chiller system performance


The identity of a cantilevered end effector support member and its angular position on the platform member of a carriage movable along an arm which is rotatable in a plane parallel to a steam generator tubesheet, are supplied to a tubesheet servicing machine control system in the form of a discrete pattern of electrical signals which is used to determine the offset required in aligning the end effector with a particular point on the tubesheet. The discrete pattern of electrical signals is generated by at least two sensor elements mounted on one of the members, preferably at different radial distances from the pivot axis of the support member. At least two trigger elements are mounted on the other member in such a pattern as to trigger selected sensor elements to produce the discrete pattern of signals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus and a method of operating the same for servicing a steam generator and, more particularly, to determinining the identity and angular position of an end effector cantilevered from a servicing machine and to operating the machine to align the end effector with a selected portion of the steam generator tubesheet, taking into account the offset of the end effector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,940 discloses a machine for servicing the tubesheet of a steam generator in a pressurized water reactor nuclear powered electric generating system, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 952,431 filed Oct. 18, 1978 discloses a method of operating the machine. That servicing machine includes an arm pivoted to move in a plane parallel to and underneath the semicircular hole array in one-half of a steam generator tubesheet. A carriage mounted for reciprocal movement along the arm is provided with a platform which can be raised toward the tubesheet. In order to carry out selected operations on the tubesheet, various end effectors may be mounted on the platform. Due to the constraints imposed by the shape of the channel head below the tubesheet and the proximity of some of the holes in the array to the walls of the channel head, it is necessary that the end effectors be mounted on cantilevered arms and that the cantilevered arms be mounted at different angles on the platform in order to reach all of the holes in the array with the different end effectors. In some instances, cantilevered arms of more than one length are required for one type of end effectors in order that the desired operations can be performed at each of the holes in the array.
In order to change the end effectors or to adjust the angular position of the cantilevered arms on the platform of the servicing machine, the machine arm is pivoted out of the plane parallel to the tubesheet and is angularly aligned with a manway in the channel head where a technician can manually make the required changes. Since this process is time consuming and exposes the technician to radioactivity present in the channel head, an automatic slewing table was developed for use with some of the end effectors. This device, which permits the changes in angular position of the cantilevered arm to be made remotely, is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 896,530 filed Apr. 14, 1978 U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,424 and a method for operating it is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 974,159 filed Dec. 28, 1978.
In performing the various operations on the tubesheet, the offset of the end effector produced by the length of the cantilevered arm and its angular position on the platform must be taken into account. When the angular position of the arm is set manually by a technician, both this angle and the radial distant of the end effector from the pivot point on the platform must be manually supplied to the servicing machine control system. When the automatic slewing table is used, the angular position of the cantilevered end effector support is automatically supplied to the control system as an analog signal by a feedback sensor; however, it is still necessary to manually identify to the control system the radial offset of the end effector as mounted on the particular cantilevered arm. It is essential that the precise offset, both radially and angularly, of the end effector be supplied to the servicing machine control system to preclude damage to the machine or steam generator such as by interference between portions of the machine and the steam generator or by performing an operation, like drilling a hole, at the wrong location. It is also essential that the correct end effector be mounted on the platform for the operation to be performed by the machine.
It is a primary object of this invention to provide apparatus and a method for accurately identifying to a steam generator servicing machine the end effector carried by an arm cantilevered from the machine and the angular position of the cantilevered arm on the machine.
It is also an object of the invention to utilize this information to control the operation of the servicing machine.

End effector position and identification system for steam generator servicing machine


Disclosed is a device to measure the material level inside the container. The device includes a printed circuit board attached to the top of the cap of the container; a first sensor placed in between the printed circuit board and the cap for measuring the material level inside the container, further the first sensor generates sensing signal based on the material level; a battery placed on the printed circuit board; a battery holder for holding the battery on the printed circuit board; a controller connected to the printed circuit board for releasing reminding signals based on the analysis of the sensed signals, further the controller wirelessly communicates with the computing device; an output unit connected to the printed circuit board for releasing output signals on receiving reminding signals from the controller; and a housing unit connected to the cap of the container for housing the printed circuit board, the first sensor, the battery, the battery holder, the controller, and the output unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a measurement and reminder communication system attached with a material container, and more specifically relates to a measurement and reminder communication system attached with a material container to communicate data to a computing device of a user through a communication network.
2. Description of Related Art
Water or fluid is crucial to the human being. Every system in the body depends on water or fluid. The human body made up of between 55 and 75 percent water, is in need of timely water replenishment. Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when someone does not have enough water in his/her body to carry on normal functions. Even mild dehydration—as little as a 1 percent to 2 percent loss of the body weight—can exhaust the energy and make the person tired.
Dehydration poses a particular health risk for the very young and the very old. Signs and symptoms of dehydration includes but not limited to excessive thirst, fatigue, headache, dry mouth, little or no urination, muscle weakness, dizziness etc. People seem to carry bottled water everywhere they go. Health practitioners all over the world suggest drinking of eight glasses water a day.
There are plenty of other reasons to drink water. The major reasons for drinking water includes maintaining the balance of body materials, controlling calories, energizing muscles, maintaining skin quality, and helping kidneys. People of different ages, gender and weight may require drinking different amount of water per day according to various factors such as locale profile, country and climate profile.
Various apparatus are known for containing various materials such as liquid, powder, tablets etc. Such apparatus generally uses scale marks method to measure the material level. However, such methods are time consuming and do not accurately measures the material level. Further, such apparatus fails to provide reminding signals based on the material consumption.
Therefore, there is a need of a device for reminding and measuring material level inside a material container using sensors. Further, the device communicates the material used by a user to a computing device.

Device for reminding and measuring material level inside a material container


A system and method for remotely monitoring, communicating with, and reconfiguring power amplifier systems. A communications link is provided in field-deployed PA systems, for enabling remote communication with appropriate digital components such as microprocessors or other communications-capable portions of the power amplifier systems. The communications link permits operating parameters of the PA to be monitored and sent back to a remote terminal such as a web server or other computer mainframes via any suitable wired or wireless connection including internet, Ethernet, wireless, WiFi, WiMAX, cellular, local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Bluetooth, and so forth. The communication is bi-directional, so that the remote host can download to the PA updates, cMobile operators and/or other service providers can reduce significant operating and capital expenses related to their radio networks maintenance and PA replacement by practicing this invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wireless communication systems using complex modulation techniques. More specially, the present invention relates to single and multi-carrier power amplifier systems that contain a microprocessor or other similar digital components, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).
2. The Prior Art
A wideband mobile communication system using complex modulation techniques such as wideband code division access (WCDMA) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has a large peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and requires a high linearity of the base-station's power amplifiers (PA). The conventional feedforward linear power amplifier (FFLPA) has been widely utilized due to its excellent linearity performance in spite of poor power efficiency. In order to overcome this poor efficiency, digital baseband predistortion (PD) has been demonstrated due to the recent advances in digital signal processors. A Doherty power amplifier (DPA) has also been applied to these linearization systems to maximize the power efficiency. The variation of the linearity performance of the amplifier due to the environment changing such as temperature and the asymmetric distortion of the output signal of the amplifier resulting from memory effects also needs to be compensated.
Conventional high power amplifiers (HPA), FFLPA, and DPA are known to fail frequently with mean time between failures (MTBF) from a few months to a few years. Low power efficiency means most of the energy is dissipated in the form of heat. Since most electronic components are known to be vulnerable to thermal damage, this significant thermal heat generated by the conventional PA systems is generally perceived to be one of the main cause of PA failures.
A failed PA would ordinarily cause the related base-station, repeater, or other transmission systems to stop functioning. Since a typical mobile operator or service provider depends on its voice and/or data traffic for revenues, a failed PA could be costly to its mobile operator in terms of loss revenue and questionable radio network reliability. Currently, conventional PA systems have local alarm features such as lights, audio indicators, displays, and etc. that signal a system failure. Mobile operators often have to react to such failures by sending technicians to replace the failed PAs after the failures were discovered in their radio networks. In some cases, mobile operators would measure a radio network technician's career performance in terms of "seconds" of a base-station or network downtime. In such cases, those network technicians are typically incentivized with cash bonus compensation to replace failed PA systems as soon as the latter are discovered. In other cases, some mobile operators implement a pre-emptive policy of replacing all PA systems after well less than the expected product lifetime, even though the PA systems were functioning perfectly well. This policy, of course, can be wasteful and inefficient.
Aside from PA failures, rapid advancements in mobile communications have also induced rapid changes in mobile communication systems such as modulation scheme evolutions, communication equipment firmware updates, radio frequency front-end systems enhancements, and etc. Conventional digital baseband PD systems are usually tailored to a specific wireless modulation scheme, such as CDMA, CDMA2000 EVDO, UMB, OFDM, WCDMA, TDS-CDMA, GSM, EDGE, etc., with a specific set of specifications such as PAPR, error vector magnitude (EVM), adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR), operating radio frequency, bandwidth, and etc. Usually, any updates or changes in specifications require an update of digital baseband PD systems, or in some cases, a wholesale replacement of the entire PA system. The high cost and labor intensity of making such updates and changes have driven up significantly the cost of capital equipment upgrades, and in turn, reduced the mobile operators' desire to deploy most state-of-art wireless technology in their radio networks for the end users among the general public.
Hence, a need remains for remotely monitoring the power amplifier performance and providing an advance indication or prediction when a power amplifier will fail. A need also remains for enabling a power amplifier already deployed in radio networks to be upgraded or enhanced via software upgrades, especially those managed remotely. Such features would save mobile operators significant operating and capital expenses relating to radio networks maintenance and PA replacement. If such an arrangement existed, mobile operators could also deploy the latest wireless technology for the general end users while preserving their existing capital investments.

Remotely reconfigurable power amplifier system and method


The present invention relates to a method for suppressing infectivity of HIV which includes contacting the HIV or a cell targeted by HIV with an effective amount of a thrombospondin or a thrombospondin analog. Other aspects of the invention relate to contraceptives, pharmaceutical compositions, and non-contraceptive prophylactic devices that include a carrier and a thrombospondin or a thrombospondin analog. Methods of inhibiting HIV infection in a patient, blocking HIV binding to a cell, blocking chemokine binding to its receptor, and treating or preventing inflammatory states in a patient are also disclosed.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome ("AIDS") has been described as the first great pandemic of the second half of the twentieth century. Gallo, Sci. Am., 256:39 (1987). Human immunodeficiency virus ("HIV") is the etiological agent of AIDS. A complete sequencing of the HIV genome indicates that it contains the same overall gag-pol-env organization as other retroviruses. Ratner et al., "Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the AIDS virus, HTLV-III," Nature 313:277-84 (1985). HIV invades a host cell and uses the host cell's machinery to replicate itself.
HIV can be cultured from most tissues and body fluids of infected individuals. Saliva represents a significant exception. In an early report, HIV-1 was isolated from only one of 71 saliva samples of HIV+donors (Ho et al., "Infrequency of Isolation of HTLV-III Virus from Saliva in AIDS," New Engl. J. Med. 313:1606 (1985)). Recent work confirmed the paucity of infectious virus in saliva (Groopman et al., "HTLV-III in Saliva of People with AIDS-Related Complex and Healthy Homosexual Men at Risk for AIDS," Science, 226:447-449 (1994)), with a mean viral load in 25 samples of 162 genome equivalent/ml, at the limits of detection by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction ("RT-PCR") (Liuzzi et al., "Analysis of HIV-1 Load in Blood, Semen and Saliva: Evidence for Different Viral Compartments in a Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study," AIDS, 10:F10-F56 (1996)). Clinical support for the limited transmissibility of HIV by saliva includes: lack of infection following contamination of open wounds with saliva from HIV+individuals (CDC, "Update: Universal Precautions for Prevention of Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B Virus, and Other Blood-Borne Pathogens in Healthcare Settings," Morbid. Mortal. Wkly. Rep., 37:377-388 (1988)); low occupational risk for HIV infection among dentists in practices with large numbers of patients at risk for HIV infection (Klein et al., "Low Occupational Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Among Dental Professionals," New Engl. J. Med., 318:86-90 (1988)); and the inability to infect adult chimpanzees by direct application of HIV to intact oral mucosa (Fultz, "Components of Saliva Inactivate Human Immunodeficiency Virus," Lancet, ii: 1215 (1986)).
Such retarded transmission is not a general characteristic of viruses which can be shed orally. The annual attack rate for hepatitis B virus among unvaccinated dentists is 2.6% (Remis et al., "Hepatitis B Infection in a Day School for Mentally Retarded Students: Transmission from Students to Staff," Am. J. Public Health, 77:1183-1186 (1987)), human T cell lymphotrophic virus type I is found in saliva (Achiron et al., "Detection of Proviralpuman T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type I DNA in Mouthwash Samples of HAM/TSP Patients and HTLV-I Carriers," Arch. Virol., 141:147-153 (1996)), and the type D retrovirus etiologic in a simian immune-deficiency syndrome can be readily isolated from macaque saliva and spread by this fluid (Lercke et al., "Inapparent Carrier of Simian Acquired Immune Deficiency Type D Retrovirus and Disease Transmission with Saliva," J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 77:489-495 (1986)). The ability of saliva to suppress HIV-1 also is relatively specific. It does not alter the infectivity of Herpes simplex virus (Malamud et al., "Human Submandibular Saliva Aggregates HIV," AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 9:633-637 (1993)), and both cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus are readily shed in oral secretions of HIV seronegative (Fox et al., "Saliva Inhibits HIV-1 Infectivity," J. Am. Dent. Assoc., 116:635-637 (1988)) and seropositive persons (Alsip et al., "Increased Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Oropharygeal Secretions from Patients with AIDS, AIDS-Related Complex, or Asymptomatic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections," J. Infect. Dis., 157:1072-1076 (1988); Scholes et al., "Oral Shedding of CMV and HSV in Relation to HIV Disease," IXth Intl. Conf. AIDS, Berlin, June 6 -11:Abst. PO-B18-1801-(1993)).
In contrast, other body fluids from HIV+individuals contain HIV in relatively high titers, including tears (CDC, "Recommendations for Preventing Possible Transmission of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type III/Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus from Tears," Morbid. Mortal. Wkly. Rep., 34:533-534 (1986)), genital secretions (Mostad et al., "Shedding of HIV in the Genital Tract," AIDS, 10:1305-1315 (1996)), feces (Yolken et al., "Persistent Diarrhea and Fecal Shedding of Retroviral Nucleic Acids in Children Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus," J. Infect. Dis., 164:61-66 (1991)), and breast milk (VandePerre et al., "Infective and Anti-Infective Properties of Breast Milk from HIV-1 Infected Women," Lancet, 341:914-918 (1993)). Genital secretions, feces, and breast milk have all been implicated in HIV transmission.
Particulate and filterable oral secretions capable of inhibiting HIV infection represent potential explanations for the paucity of HIV in saliva. Reports from several different groups imply that two processes are involved (Fultz, "Components of Saliva Inactivate Human Immunodeficiency Virus," Lancet, ii: 1215 (1986); Malamud et al., "Human Submandibular Saliva Aggregates HIV," AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 9:633-637 (1993); Fox et al., "Saliva Inhibits HIV-1 Infectivity," J. Am. Dent. Assoc., 116:635-637 (1988); Fox et al., "Salivary Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity: Functional Properties and Distribution in Men, Women and Children," J. Am. Dent. Assoc., 118:709-711 (1989); Archibald et al., "In Vitro Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity by Human Salivas," AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 6:1425-1432 (1990); McNeely et al., "Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor: A Human Saliva Protein Exhibiting Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Activity In Vitro," J. Clin. Invest., 96:456-464 (1995); Malamud et al., "HIV in the Oral Cavity: Virus, Viral Inhibitory Activity, and Antibodies: A Review," Crit. Rev. Oral. Biol. Med., 4:461-466 (1993); Amory et al., "The Large Molecular Weight Glycoprotein MGI, a Component of Human Saliva, Inhibits HIV-1 Infectivity," Clin. Res., 40:51A (1992); Yeh et al., "Further Studies of Salivary Inhibition of HIV-I Infectivity," J. Acquired Immune Defic. Svndr., 5:898-903(1992); Bergey et al., "Interaction of HIV-1 and Human Salivary Mucins," J. Acquired Immune Defic. Svndr., 7:995-1002 (1994); Phillips et al., "Low Level of Cell-Free Virus Detected at High Frequency in Saliva from HIV-1 Infected Individuals," AIDS, 8:1011-1012 (1994)). Some studies found that whole saliva and submandibular secretions, but not parotid fluid, could sequester HIV virions (Malamud et al., "Human Submandibular Saliva Aggregates HIV," AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 9:633-637 (1993); Fox et al., "Saliva Inhibits HIV-1 Infectivity," J. Am. Dent. Assoc., 116:635-637 (1988); Fox et al., "Salivary Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity: Functional Properties and Distribution in Men, Women and Children," J. Am. Dent. Assoc., 118:709-711 (1989); Archibald et al., "In Vitro Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity by Human Salivas," AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses, 6:1425-1432 (1990); Bergey et al., "Interaction of HIV-1 and Human Salivary Mucins," J. Acquired Immune Defic. Svndr., 7:995-1002 (1994)), while others identified soluble inhibitory factors capable of direct inhibition in secretions from all salivary glands, but only at very high concentrations (Yeh et al., "Further Studies of Salivary Inhibition of HIV-1 Infectivity," J. Acquired Immune Defic. Syndr., 5:898-903 (1992); Phillips et al., "Low Level of Cell-Free Virus Detected at High Frequency in Saliva from HIV-1 Infected Individuals," AIDS, 8:1011-1012(1994)). Submandibular saliva contains sulfated polysaccharides of low (MG2) and high (MG1) molecular weights (Levine et al., "Structural Aspects of Salivary Glycoproteins," J. Dent. Res., 66:436-441 (1987)), with the latter forming an anionic charge barrier to binding of the high affinity HIV receptor, CD4, to the HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120 (Amory et al., "The Large Molecular Weight Glycoprotein MGI, a Component of Human Saliva, Inhibits HIV-1 Infectivity," Clin. Res., 40:51A (1992)). Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI), a 12 kDa protein found in whole saliva, has an effect independent of HIV binding to CD4 (McNeely et al., "Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor: A Human Saliva Protein Exhibiting Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus I Activity In Vitro," J. Clin. Invest., 96:456-464 (1995)), albeit its significance in vivo has been questioned (Bu et al., "Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor (SLPI) does not Effectively Inhibit HIV-1 Replication," 35th ICAAC, San Francisco, Calif., Sept. 17-20:Abst. 1142 (1995)). Fibronectin, a matrix adhesion molecule, binds directly to gp120, but was shown to inhibit infectivity only at high concentrations (Su et al., "Interaction of the Envelope Glycoprotein of Human Immunodeficiency Virus with Clq and Fibronectin Under Conditions Present in Saliva," Mol. Immunol., 28:811-817 (1991)).
None of the above-cited references has positively identified the factor in saliva which is capable of inhibiting HIV infectivity. The present invention is directed to overcoming this and other deficiencies in the art.

Methods and compositions for inhibiting HIV infectivity and blocking chemokine activity


Aspects of bundle administration and management are described. The use of bundles, as described herein, may be relied upon to assist users with the installation of applications associated with artifacts. In one embodiment, a bundle includes both a manifest and an artifact. A computing device may open the bundle and parse the manifest to identify an application for the artifact. The computing device may evaluate a status of a qualification to the application and if the status meets the qualification, then install the application. Thus, with the combination of the manifest and the artifact in the bundle, it is not necessary that a user search for and identify an application associated with the artifact (e.g., a data or content file), because the computing device may reference the manifest to ascertain the application and, based upon one or more qualifications, for example, install the application automatically for the user.

In computing devices, certain applications may be relied upon to open, view, and edit data files of various types and/or formats. As examples, a text editor application may he configured to open, view, and edit text files, while an image editor application may be configured to open, view, and edit image files. Generally, different types of data files may be distinguished by different file extensions. Similarly, a computing device may have several different programs installed to open the different types of data files, as directed by a user of the computing device.


A ballcock type flow-limiting valve for refilling a water tank and commode. A vertical riser has an internal inlet water passage connected to the valve base which has a recess surrounding the inlet seat forming a lower discharge chamber. A removable, dome shaped cap is secured to the valve base, overlaying the recessed area and forming an upper flow chamber. A vertical, free floating piston that controls inlet water flow and shut off is mounted slidingly through a central boss in the cap top and is actuated by an external pivoted arm. The piston and the lower discharge chamber incorporate features designed to limit water inlet flow to the discharge chambers and also to prevent accidental excessive movement of the piston. Provision is included to allow for possible valve blockages due to part swelling or water debris, and to ensure water flow access to the discharge passages for refill. The piston is accessible for servicing or removal by easy removal of the cap.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to water supply valves, and more particularly to tank ballcock valves that are used to re-supply water to reservoir tanks for domestic commodes.
2. Background
Ballcock valves for refilling water reservoir tanks for domestic commodes have been in use for many years and are well known to the people who install them or replace them. Typically, these valves utilize a plug that is forced down to shut the water inlet by a pivoted arm that is levered by a tank float. The plug and internal valve structure usually include various flexible washers that perform vital functions in controlling valve internal water flow.
Over the past decade that has seen the introduction of fluorides, chlorine and other chemicals into the public water supply, there has been a reported notable increase in valve blockages interfering with proper operation of these valves. Often, the blockage is due to swelling of valve washers caused by chloramines in the water over a time period, the swollen washers then blocking discharge apertures. The only available solution to date has been to replace the plug and thereby the washers. This is usually only a temporary Solution as the blockage will probably re-occur in time.
Valve blockages are also caused by particles that may be floating in the water and blocking small diameter valve apertures, often occurring after work is done nearby on the water mains and the water supply may be temporarily muddy. The valve must then be opened in order to clean out these particles, which may be a time consuming job.
Another occasional problem in ballcock valve operation may arise when water "hammer" occurs in the water supply line. If this should happen during refill when the valve plug or stem is up and the flow chamber is open to inlet water pressure, the valve plug may be forced upwards too high or even out of the valve chamber, resulting in flooding the tank as well as the bathroom area around the toilet. Thus, there remain several ongoing valve operating problems that afflict the typical plug type ballcock valve in use today, resulting in much unavoidable repair and replacement costs. The present invention incorporates a valve design that solves these problems while keeping the familiar attributes of the ballcock valve for acceptance in domestic use.


A method of manufacturing an electrochemical sensing system is provided. The method includes forming a sensor with a first sensing element disposed on a sensor, the first sensing element configured to detect a target gas, disposing a second sensing element on the sensor, the second sensing element configured to detect the target gas, and coupling a protective feature to the second sensing element, the protective feature configured to prevent non-target gases from contacting the second sensing element. The sensor is configured such that if the first sensing element generates a current exceeding a first threshold current value and the second sensing element does not exceed a second threshold current value it is determined that the first sensing element is contaminated and a restoration protocol is performed on the first sensing element.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to electrochemical sensors and, more particularly, to state of health monitoring and restoration of electrochemical sensors.
Electrochemical gas sensors are gas detectors that measure a concentration of a target gas by oxidizing or reducing the target gas at an electrode and measuring the current that is generated. Electrochemical gas sensors are normally designed to operate in a diffusion limited mode. This is normally achieved by using a capillary or membrane, which limits gas access in a well-defined and repeatable way. The sensor is designed such that the capillary or membrane provides the limiting factor. For example, the gas sensing electrode is designed to have sufficient activity reserve that the actual activity of the electrode can generally be ignored (since it is much greater than required to consume the available gas). Under certain conditions, however, sensors can deviate from the ideal diffusion limited behavior: for example, if the catalytic activity of the electrode degrades significantly, or if blocking or flooding occurs, then the sensor response may deviate from the predetermined relationship between concentrations of species to be detected and an analog output.
In addition to such faults which can result in a change in the level of gas response, certain faults can result in a reduction in the speed of response, even though the steady state response remains unchanged: for example, if the membrane electrode assembly becomes partially flooded or poisoned this may result in a slow response, and in some cases a reduction in steady state response. The same is true if the catalytic activity of the electrode is reduced, which can be a particular problem for sensors with low activity reserve.
An example of a gas that may be monitored, and related sensors which may be subject to faults, is low global warming potential (LGWP) refrigerants that may be used in HVAC systems. Various LGWP refrigerants are mildly flammable, and thus leak detection is desired. Electrochemical sensors have been successfully applied for toxic gas sensing. Passive fault mitigation methods such as adsorption by activated carbon have been used successfully to protect CO sensors from poisoning, i.e., electrode poisoning or saturation or coverage by an undesirable chemical. Such a method can be ineffective when the targeted species adsorbs on the adsorbent, resulting in substantial interference of the sensing process or completely defeat the detectability of the sensor. The electrochemical sensor failure mechanisms resulting from catalyst deactivation due to ambient volatile species can be extremely difficult to detect by the sensors, particularly when the sensors are deployed for leak detection expected to occur rarely. This is because during catalyst deactivation a sensor can generate a similar response as if a leak is detected and low cost electrochemical sensors may lack the ability to determine the identification of the species detected. However, it would be necessary to deploy a fail-safe operation of the sensors for safety monitoring, e.g., for leak detection of flammable refrigerants. Therefore, it is may be desirable to enable an electrochemical sensor to examine the state of health of the sensor pertaining to catalyst activity and restore the sensor's activity when the state of health is compromised due to exposure to active species.

State of health monitoring and restoration of electrochemical sensor


Systems and methods, by which a sender can deliver haptic messages to selected recipients within a larger group of recipients that are otherwise receiving a common message, are disclosed. The haptic messages can be individualized according to a recipient's profile, preference, and/or relationship with the sender. The haptic message can be created by the sender or selected from a pre-existing library of messages, and can be delivered automatically or assigned by the sender. The haptic messages can be dynamically changed in response to haptic feedback and supplemental data collected from the recipients that is used to update preferences and profiles of message recipients.

With group messaging and social media applications, a sender is able to define members who will receive a general message. However, when the sender wants to provide additional information with a general group message or general posting to social media, the options have been limited. Haptic effect messaging can provide additional information with the general message. Haptics is a tactile and force feedback technology that takes advantage of a user's sense of touch by applying haptic feedback effects (i.e., "haptic effects"), such as forces, vibrations, and motions, to the user. Thus, haptic technology has expanded the scope of information that can be delivered to a receiver.
In the effort to provide additional information, an outgoing message can comprise a general message and a signal to generate a haptic effect for a receiver. When a sender transmits a posting or group message, the message can be categorized by a predetermined or user defined grouping parameter such as family, friends, or colleagues. Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved system to manage, specify, and update haptic preferences for receivers of general postings and group messages.

Delivery of haptics to select recipients of a message


A memory-type control system for producing and storing a control signal which is used in an automatic adjustment system. A signal, having a parameter to be controlled, is provided; and a detecting circuit detects when the parameter is within a predetermined range. An UP/DOWN counter counts clock pulses and is responsive to the detecting circuit for counting in one direction when the detected parameter is greater than the predetermined range, for counting in a second direction when the detected parameter is less than the predetermined range and for ceasing its counting when the detected parameter is within the predetermined range. A parameter control circuit uses the count of the counting means as a control signal to adjust the parameter so as to bring said parameter within the predetermined range. A typical application of the automatic adjustment system is a white-balance control system for use with video camera apparatus.

This invention relates to a memory-type automatic adjustment system, and more particularly, to such a system wherein a particular parameter of a signal, such as the gain of a signal, is automatically controlled. A preferred application of the present invention is in a white balance adjustment circuit for a video camera.
In some automatic adjustment systems, an input signal or signals is controlled in accordance with a predetermined or desired condition. For example, in an automatic gain control system, the gain of an input signal is controlled in accordance with a reference level such that if the input signal level or the reference level varies, a corresponding adjustment is made in the gain of the controlled signal. Often, the condition upon which an adjustment is made is not continuous. Rather, a determination of a proper control signal may be made during one time period and this determined control signal then may be stored for future time periods in order to effect an automatic adjustment operation.
The foregoing type of an automatic adjustment or control operation advantagesously utilizes a memory-type control device. One such use of the memory-type control device is in an automatic white balance adjustment system for a video camera. In a color television camera, a proper white balance is achieved when the individual color signals are of predetermined amplitudes, or levels, when a white object is viewed by the camera. However, even if the white balance of the camera is set or adjusted to be correct for one color temperature of an object, this white balance may be lost or otherwise degraded in the event that the color temperature of illumination for the object changes. A loss of the white balance condition also may arise when the operating temperature of the electrical apparatus included in the camera changes, or due to other changes in the electrical components over long periods of time. Accordingly, to account for these changes, it often is necessary to update the white balance of the color video signals, and then to use the updated, balanced signals to control the respective gains of the color signals.
In controlling the white balance of color video signals, a white object is viewed, for example, a white wall, board, or other reference object, and the gains, or levels, of the respective color signals which are produced in response to the viewed white object are adjusted until proper white balance is attained. The control signals which ultimately result in the proper white balance are stored and are used as gain control signals when the camera apparatus views other objects, such as a televised scene. When the white balance changes, or is expected to change, because of the above-mentioned conditions, the gain control signals are updated by performing again the aforementioned white balance operation.
One type of white balance control system which is effective in controlling the white balance of color video signals is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 28,774. In that system, color difference signals, such as the red (R-Y) and blue (B-Y) color difference signals are integrated and supplied to respective memory circuits for controlling the gains of the red and blue video signals which are produced by the color camera. When proper white balance is attained, the color difference signals R-Y and B-Y each are zero. This zero level establishes the proper gain of the respective red and blue gain control circuits. In the event that the white balance is lost, a corresponding color difference signal voltage is produced and is used to adjust the gains of the red and blue signals in a direction so as to restore the white balance. The signal levels which are used to establish the gains of the red and blue gain control circuits so as to provide proper white balance are stored. Hence, when the camera is used to televise a scene other than a reference white object, the televised scene likewise will have a proper white balance in accordance with the stored control signals. In another embodiment of the white balance control system disclosed in this patent, red-green (R-G) and blue-green (B-G) color difference signals are used to determine whether proper white balance of a viewed white reference object is achieved. That is, the R-G and B-G signals are used to adjust the respective gains of the red and blue signals such that the difference between the gain-controlled red and blue signals and the green signal result in correct white balance. The control signals which attain this proper balance are stored and used to establish the gains of the red and blue signals when the video camera apparatus is used to view a televised scene.
In yet another type of white balance control system, white balance is achieved by using the camera to view a white reference object and then to control the level of the luminance component Y in such a manner that the color difference signals R-Y ad B-Y, derived from the viewed white object, each are zero. The control signals which result in proper white balance then are stored and used to control the gain of the luminance component for further usage of the video camera.
In the white balance control systems of the type described above, the control signals, such as the gain control signals, which must be stored and used when the camera televises a normal scene generally are stored by a memory circuit constituted by a capacitor. However, as is known, a capacitor usually is accompanied by leakage, whereby the level of a signal stored thereacross is degraded, or reduced, over prolonged periods of time. Hence, although the control signal stored across the capacitor initially will be correct to achieve proper white balance, the leakage of this signal soon will result in a loss of white balance. This means that frequent readjustments in white balance are necessary.
Another type of memory-type white balance control system is described in NEC Research and Development Bulletin, No. 40, January 1976, wherein an UP/DOWN counter is used to derive and store a digital control signal which is converted to an analog gain control signal. However, this publication does not describe how the UP/DOWN counter is controlled other than by suggesting that red-green and blue-green difference signals are used.


The present invention features a method of using a computer program to simulate the process of randomly selecting sample packages from a large lot of a fluid comestible or pharmaceutical, and examining a portion of the package contents for microorganisms in order to assess the risk of bacterial contamination. The computer program is used to evaluate the theoretical effects on results, such as mean, standard deviation and detection or non-detection of bacteria for various sampling choices for a particular number of samples selected from a production lot. The sampling pattern can be varied, in order to provide results related to small or large numbers of packages, with small or large volumes sampled from each. The theoretical behavior of particular organisms can be simulated in the program by applying a growth, death or stasis factor. This factor can be chosen by the practitioner based on previous testing and analyses. After completing a number of simulations and assessing the results, these results can be compared to results from actual tests. The test methodology for the particular product can then be improved by incorporating the suggested sampling procedures obtained through this comparison. Future testing can then be performed to confirm the results; still further modifications can be made of the test procedure, based on these additional tests.

All vendors and manufacturers of comestibles and pharmaceuticals routinely conduct sample testing of their products to determine their purity and safeness for human consumption. A part of such studies entails the microbiological examination of a number of samples taken from a given production run or lot. The number of samples and the quantity of each sample withdrawn from a production lot vary, depending upon the type of fluid that is being examined, as well as the particular procedures used by a manufacturer.
The various food industries utilize different methods and techniques in performing sample testing. A great deal of scientific analysis goes into each particular test. The testing is expensive and time-consuming; very often, it does not even provide an accurate assessment of the risk of microbial contamination. Of the many sampling techniques, none is well understood or universally respected, despite all of the scientific data and all of the advances in mathematical and statistical analysis. It is not uncommon to find that many companies use more than one method of analysis, because any one given method simply cannot be relied upon to provide an accurate picture of contamination for all products. The necessity for multiple testing bears consequences relating to the marketability of the product, since these costs, too, must be factored into the final product price.
Part of the aforementioned problem lies in the constraints that each particular foodstuff or pharmaceutical places upon the sampling methodology. Fluids that usually provide good test results are those that can be filtered through a membrane with sufficiently fine pores (so as to retain microorganisms) and which allow for large-quantity sampling (100 ml or more). The membrane is then placed on a nutrient medium, which is then incubated to provide microbial colony counts.
Fluids that contain pulp (such as fruit juice) or emulsions (such as dairy products) or those that are viscous (such as syrups and concentrates) usually block membrane filters. Direct plating techniques are used for these types of fluids. The direct plating technique, however, is typically limited by the amount of liquid that the agar of the nutrient medium can absorb. This is usually about 5 ml. Small-volume sampling is particularly troublesome when the bacterial count is low. The smaller the amount of liquid that is tested, the greater the risk of making an improper assessment of microbial contamination.
It is typical for extremely small samples (one ml) of dairy products to be plated on the agar, which makes testing problematical. In addition, when plated, the pulp particles of fruit juices may in some cases be mistaken for microbial colonies, thus giving rise to false data and improper assessment of the microbial contamination.
For organisms that tend to form chains or clumps, techniques such as those based on ATP bioluminescence tend to produce different results than do the plating methods. Plating methods count such organisms as single colonies, while ATP bioluminescence renders results based on the total number of cells in a sample.
Obviously, the many different analyses make comparisons difficult. The non-uniformities in data and procedure make risk assessments confusing and enigmatic. This is particularly true when microbial contamination is low. As mentioned, small-quantity sampling of liquids having low microbial concentrations creates an extremely high risk of inaccurately assessing what could be a potential problem.
It is now routine practice to assume that microbes in fluids are randomly dispersed throughout. the total volume. A number of studies have recently found that the distribution pattern is either not significantly different from or very close to a Poisson distribution. It would, therefore, make sense to fashion a method that would utilize this distribution.
The present invention incorporates a computer program and follow-up technique for improving the microbial analysis of fluids.
The invention allows for the simulation of microbial sampling, based on a Poisson distribution, thereby improving the ability to make comparisons of various sampling strategies.
The current invention also allows the practitioner to explore the effects of organism growth, death or stasis. Current testing techniques rarely investigate these possibilities, due to the added costs and inconvenience of varying the conditions required to obtain this type of data.
The invention greatly reduces the complexity of the testing problem, leading to new insight into what procedures provide good sampling practices. For example, it has always been a standard statistical technique to increase the number of tests in order to provide greater accuracy. The present invention reflects the discovery, however, that, for low concentrations of bacterial contamination, it is preferable to analyze larger volumes of liquid, rather than a greater number of samples. In the industries utilizing this invention, an insight such as this will greatly improve future microbial assessments.

Method for assessing the risk of bacterial contamination in fluid foodstuffs, beverages and pharmaceuticals


A fire poker tool that may be utilized to lift and move a log. The fire poker tool of the invention includes talons and a hook that cooperate together to engage a log in a manner that minimizes required torque and gripping forces to lift a log. The tool is particularly useful as a campfire, fire place, or fire pit tool.

Over the years many apparatus have been devised to clamp or grip a burning log thereby allowing a user to move the log without direct contact with the embers. Typically, prior gripping and clamping tools require the use of two hands and a significant strength to apply a sufficient opposing gripping or clamping force against a log to allow a user to clamp, lift and carry the log an adequate distance. Also, although a simple shovel may be used instead to scoop under the log the shovel may also inadvertently scoop up ashes or the log may easily roll off the shovel. It is often a desire for those standing around a camp fire, fireplace or fire pit to rearrange the logs within the fire while minimizing the amount of ash disturbed and released into the air. Although pokers and tongs have been devised that may be utilized to push and pull logs, use of prior pokers and tongs typically stir up ashes and increase the amount of ash rising up in the thermal draft. Further, the tongs require a significant force from two hands to compress the tongs and apply a gripping force on the tong arms.
Additionally, although shovels and pokers have been used in the past to move burning logs, use of the shovel or poker requires an undesirable pushing motion to move the logs. Also, once the burning log is gripped with a tong or scooped with a shovel, both a lifting and balancing of the log is required. Further, the pushing and lifting may require an undesirable bending or back twisting motion by the user. There is accordingly a need for a fire pit tool that may be pulled towards the user to hook a log and then twisted to engage the log for lifting. A preferred tool may allow a user to lift and rearrange logs without significantly disturbing the remaining logs on the fire. There is a further need for a tool that is operable by the user in an up-right or standing position that also allows the user to both hook and lift a burning log.


A method of continuously recovering (meth)acrylic acid is provided. The method of continuously recovering (meth)acrylic acid according to the present disclosure enables use of a natural circulation type of reboiler which does not require an operating part in a destructive distillation process of recovering (meth)acrylic acid from a (meth)acrylic acid waste liquid, and therefore, stable operation of the continuous process may be achieved while simplifying equipment configuration.

(Meth)acrylic acid which is a main raw material of a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) is generally obtained by gas-phase oxidation reaction of propylene, etc.
For example, a raw material compound, such as propane, propylene, (meth)acrolein, etc., is subjected to gas-phase oxidation reaction in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a (meth)acrylic acid-containing mixed gas, which is then condensed or absorbed into an absorption solvent and collected as a (meth)acrylic acid-containing solution. From this (meth)acrylic acid-containing solution, low-boiling-point components such as the absorption solvent, (meth)acrylic acid dimers, (meth)acrylic acid oligomers, and high-boiling-point by-products such as maleic acid are separated by a series of purification processes to obtain crude (meth)acrylic acid.
A waste liquid obtained as a waste material in the process of separating the high-boiling-point by-products includes part of unrecovered (meth)acrylic acid, (meth)acrylic acid dimers, and high-boiling-point by-products such as maleic acid which are generated during the purification process.
In particular, it is known that a large amount of the (meth)acrylic acid dimers included in the waste liquid (hereinafter referred to as '(meth)acrylic acid waste liquid') may be recovered as (meth)acrylic acid through a high-temperature or catalytic reaction.
Therefore, disposal of the (meth)acrylic acid waste liquid leads to a loss of (meth) acrylic acid, which is economically disadvantageous. For this reason, a variety of methods of stably recovering (meth)acrylic acid from the (meth)acrylic acid waste liquid have been suggested.
However, there are limitations in that most of the methods require complicated equipment and high energy consumption, and stability of the process operation is still low.

Method of continuously recovering (meth)acrylic acid


A light radiated from a light source is focused to provide a light spot on an optical disc. A central portion of the radiated light is shielded, and a peripheral portion of the radiated light is modulated to have an intensity decreasing in an outer periphery direction, respectively, by a light intensity modulator. Consequently, a diameter of the light spot is reduced, and side-lobes are suppressed. In place of the light intensity modulator, a light source filter and a second filter are used. A secondary light source is formed by focusing the radiated light. At a point of the secondary light source, the light source filter having a central portion of 0% and a peripheral portion of 100%, respectively, in light transmission intensity is provided. On an output side of a collimator lens, the second filter having central portion of 100% and a peripheral portion of 0%, respectively, in light transmission intensity is provided.

A first conventional optical head comprises an optical system in which a light spot is formed on an optical disc, and a light reflected from the optical disc is splitted to two lights, the first one of which is supplied to a first photodetector, and the second one of which is supplied via a cylindrical lens to a second photodetector, so that a tracking error is detected in the first photodetector by push-pull method, and a focusing error is detected in the second photodetector by astigmatism generated by the cylindrical lens.
In the first conventional optical head, the light spot is required to be small for high density recordation and reproduction of information. For this reason, a wavelength of a light radiated from a semiconductor laser is made small, and a numerical aperture NA of an objective lens for forming a light spot on the optical disc is made large.
In this first conventional optical head, however, there is a limitation to make a diameter of the light spot small. Especially, it is difficult for the light spot to be smaller than a diffraction limitation.
In order to make the diameter of the light spot smaller than the diffraction limitation, a second conventional optical head comprising a light shielding plate for shielding a central portion of a light beam radiated from a semiconductor laser as explained in the Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 2-12623 and 2-12624.
In the second conventional optical head, however, there is a disadvantage in that side-lobes are generated to detect signals from adjacent pits, thereby generating noise to make it impossible in the worst case that high density recordation of information into and reproduction thereof from an optical disc is practically carried out.


A circuit generating an output phase signal with an optionally variable phase shift relative to a reference phase. It includes an oscillator (10) outputting phase signals at n outputs, each of which differs in phase by φ=360°/n. These phase signals are applied selectively via multiplexers to a phase interpolator, at the output of which the signal changed in phase relative to a reference phase. The output phase signal is generated in a charging circuit in which a capacitor can be varied by signaling current sources ON/OFF with the aid of phase switches in accordance with the phasing to be produced for the output signal. To avoid jitter in the transition from one phase to another separating switches are inserted in the connection between the current sources and the charging circuit, these separating switches being controlled so that they are never open at the same time.

In the field of telecommunications and data processing there are applications in which it is necessary to synchronize a first sequence of signals with a second such sequence. For example, it may be required to bring a locally generated signal sequence into alignment with a received signal sequence both in frequency and phase. To achieve this alignment the locally generated signal sequence needs to be continually locked to the phase of the received signal sequence. For this purpose circuit assemblies, termed phase aligners are put to use. An example of one such phase synchronizer reads from IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 32, No. 11, November 1997 in "A Semidigital Dual Delay-Locked Loop". This known phase synchronizer is in principle a circuit assembly for generating an output phase signal with an optionally variable phase shift relative to a reference phase, it including an oscillator outputting phase signals at n outputs each of which is shifted in phase by φ=360°/n from one output to the next and is correspondingly staggered in time relative to each other by Δt, a first multiplexer, the inputs of which are connected to the even-number outputs of the oscillator and which passes on to its output a phase signal output by an output x of the oscillator as a function of a phase selection signal determined by the phase output signal to be generated, a second multiplexer the inputs of which are connected to the odd-number outputs of the oscillator and which passes on to its output a phase signal output by an output x+1 of the oscillator as a function of a phase selection signal determined by the phase output signal to be generated, a phase interpolator receiving the phase signals output by the multiplexers and controlling with these the periodic opening and closing of phase switches in the time spacing of Δt, the phase interpolator containing a charging circuit in which a charging voltage of a capacitor is varied by switching current sources assigned to the phase switches on or off in accordance with the closing or opening of the phase switches, whereby a number of current sources is provided corresponding to the number of interphase shift values to be generated between the phase shifts of the phase signals determined by the phase select signal, to each of which at least two phase switches are assigned, of which the one in each case is controlled by the phase signal output by the first multiplexer and the other by the phase signal output by the second multiplexer, a first separating switch being inserted in the connection between each of the phase switches and the assigned current source.
This circuit assembly makes it possible by periodic opening and closing of the phase switches to generate output phase signals, the phasing of which continually varies relative to the reference phase so that the object of phase synchronization is achievable by another signal. Actual practice has shown, however, that on opening and closing the phase switches and in thereby varying the phase as wanted from one value to the next no smooth transition is attained, instead phase fluctuations, also termed jitter, materializing. These phase fluctuations are undesirable and need to be eliminated as best possible to achieve a quasi-continuous phase shift.

Circuit for generating an output phase signal with a variable phase shift relative to a reference phase


A pump unit includes two main variable displacement axial piston pumps with coaxial input drive members. A power input shaft to the pump unit is mounted for rotation in the housing along an axis perpendicular to the common axis of the main pump drive members. A first bevel gear mounted within the housing on the power input shaft meshes with a second bevel gear which is rotatable about the common axis of the main pump drive members and drivingly connected with at least one of the pump drive members. The housing has at least one flange defining a surface on which an auxiliary pump may be mounted. The auxiliary pump has an input shaft which extends through an opening in the housing defined by the flange. A third bevel gear is mounted on the auxiliary pump input shaft from inside the housing and meshes with the second bevel gear. The pitch diameter of the second bevel gear is greater than the pitch diameters of the first and third bevel gears so that the tips of the teeth of the third bevel gear clear the tips of the teeth of the first bevel gear. It is contemplated that the housing could be provided with three flanges each lieing in a plane parallel to the common axis of the main pump drive members. Two of the flanges are also parallel to the axis of the input drive member and the third is perpendicular to the axis of the input drive member.

The present invention relates to a pump unit having two main axial displacement piston pumps and one or more auxiliary pumps connected with the pump unit. In particular, the present invention relates to a unique drive arrangement which simplifies the mounting of auxiliary pumps in such a pump unit.
It is a known practice to construct a pump unit in which two axial displacement piston pumps are mounted coaxially on a common drive shaft with a power input shaft perpendicular to the common drive shaft. The power input shaft and the common drive shaft are provided with bevel gears in meshing engagement to transmit power from the input shaft to the common drive shaft. This is illustrated the above-mentioned U.S. Patent Application, Ser. No. 845,908.
It is also known to modify such a pump unit to permit an auxiliary pump to be mounted as part of the same unit. This has required that the power input shaft be offset from the common drive shaft of the main pumps and that complicated gearing be used to connect the power input shaft with the common drive shaft. These gears are more difficult and expensive to manufacture than bevel gears.