The invention relates to a rotating electrical flux-switching machine, comprising a rotatable tubular rotor (2), an inner first stator (3), and an outer second stator (4) that is concentric and spaced apart relative to the first stator (3), wherein the rotor (2) is arranged concentrically relative to the first and second stator (3, 4) and is arranged between the first and the second stator (3, 4) in such a way that a first air gap (10) is formed between the first stator (3) and the rotor (2), and a second air gap (11) is formed between the second stator (4) and the rotor (2). The invention also relates to an aircraft comprising a rotating electrical machine of this type.

For many technical applications, rotating electric machines with a high power-to-weight ratio (kW/kg) have a major advantage. Some applications could be made possible for the first time if rotating electric machines could be constructed with a high power-to-weight ratio. One example is the electrification of air travel using generators or electric motors. In this case, a power-to-weight ratio of at least 10 kW/kg is to be provided (e.g., Halbach arrays).
Configurations with a double rotor may be electromagnetically advantageous because such configurations permit both a very great magnetic flux density in the air gap and also optimally utilize the magnetic circuit, as a rotor is utilized for generation and flux guidance of the magnetic flux on both sides of the stator.
Using oriented magnets (e.g., Halbach arrays) on both sides, the magnetic flux density is configured so as to be radially highly homogeneous. As a result of this, it is possible to omit a flux-guiding material in the stator. This makes the stator lighter or provides that more copper may be used instead of iron. The rotating electric machine has greater efficiency owing to reduced copper and iron losses.
Although this configuration offers electromagnetic advantages, the structural and mechanical design is complex. For this reason, such rotating electric machines have hitherto not been widely used.
Radial double rotor configurations are commonly realized with a "bell rotor", as illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a U-shaped stator 1 with coils 6, and a rotor 2 that is arranged rotatably within the stator 1 and has magnets 5. The rotor 2 is situated on a shaft 17 that is arranged in the bearings 16. A first air gap 10 and a second air gap 11 are situated between the coils 6 of the stator 1 and the magnets 5 of the rotor 2. An electric machine of this type is described in detail in German Patent Application No. DE 10 2012 217 363 A1.
The major disadvantage of this construction is that, owing to the magnetic attraction forces, high bending moments arise, which are to be absorbed by a heavy mechanical structure. The advantages of the electromagnetic design are thus diminished.
The disadvantage of such machines is that rotors in such a design are commonly associated with problems in terms of rotor dynamics, which, specifically in the case of applications in the aerospace sector, where the shaft and the rotor are subjected to recurring gyroscopic moments that arise owing to flight maneuvers, may lead to unpredicted failures.

Rotating electrical machine and aircraft having said machine


There is disclosed a porous material. The porous material contains aggregates, and a bonding material which bonds the aggregates to one another in a state where pores are formed among the aggregates, the bonding material contains crystalline cordierite, the bonding material further contains a rare earth element or a zirconium element, and a ratio of a mass of the bonding material to a total mass of the aggregates and the bonding material is from 12 to 45 mass %. The bonding material preferably contains, in the whole bonding material, 8.0 to 15.0 mass % of MgO, 30.0 to 60.0 mass % of Al2O3, 30.0 to 55.0 mass % of SiO2, and 1.5 to 10.0 mass % of a rare earth oxide or zirconium oxide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a porous material, a manufacturing method of the porous material, and a honeycomb structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a porous material having excellent thermal resistance and thermal shock resistance and having a broad firing temperature range, a manufacturing method of the porous material, and a honeycomb structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, there has been reported a honeycomb structure having aggregates and "crystals containing one or more element selected from the group consisting of a rare earth, an alkaline earth, Al and Si" and having a structure in which the above aggregates are bonded to one another by these crystals (e.g., see Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, there has been reported a porous structure having aggregates and a bonding material to bond these aggregates to one another, wherein cordierite is used as the bonding material (e.g., see Patent Documents 2 to 4).
[Patent Document 1] JP 4464568
[Patent Document 2] WO 2009/69731
[Patent Document 3] JP 4082559
[Patent Document 4] JP 4227347

Porous material, manufacturing method of the same, and honeycomb structure


The present invention provides cathodes, methods of making cathodes, and electrochemical cells (e.g., batteries) that employ these cathodes having improved properties over traditional cathodes, methods, or electrochemical cells.

Rechargeable batteries are known in the art and commonly used, for example, in portable electronic devices. Although conventional rechargeable batteries are useful, the systems and methods used to recharge the batteries are nevertheless susceptible to improvements that may enhance or improve their service life, shelf life, and/or performance.
When a traditional battery is discharged, the anode supplies positive ions to an electrolyte and electrons to an external circuit. The cathode is typically an electronically conducting host into which positive ions are inserted reversibly from the electrolyte as a guest species and are charge-compensated by electrons from the external circuit. A secondary battery, or cell, uses a reaction that can be reversed when current is applied to the battery; thus, "recharging" the battery. The chemical reactions at the anode and cathode of a secondary battery must be reversible. On charge, the removal of electrons from the cathode by an external field releases positive ions back to the electrolyte to restore the parent host structure, and the addition of electrons to the anode by the external field attracts charge-compensating positive ions back into the anode to restore it to its original composition.
Traditional electrode material's such as cathode materials suffer a number of drawbacks. For instance, many traditional cathodes lose charge capacity over several charge cycles, they are Coulombically inefficient, or they possess an elevated impedance or internal resistance that negatively effects battery discharge. As many traditional batteries progress through charge cycles, these deleterious effects generally cause an increased hindrance on battery performance.
Thus, there is a need for electrode materials that have improved properties and can improve battery performance.


A digital signal processor operates in conjunction with a scheduler hardware module and a scheduler software module in executing a highest priority runnable event among a plurality of events. The scheduler hardware module communicates an interrupt request signal to the DSP that is indicative of any change in a highest priority runnable event. The scheduler software module is executed by the DSP in response to the interrupt request signal indicating a change in highest priority runnable event. An execution of the scheduler software module by the DSP implements one of a various modes of an interrupt request routine.

Currently, telecommunication companies are facing a big challenge in the design of multi-standard phones, and more specifically Software Definable Radios ("SDR"). In particular, the subscriber side of SDR is struggling with a huge and expansive fully hardware implemented modem integrated circuit ("IC") while the infrastructure side of SDR is trying to get rid of expansive multiple racks. The new trend is to move toward a flexible solution.
The interest in a software implementation for modem functions of SDR has grown in the last few years due to emerging re-configurable modem technologies and recent research advances in the design of application specific processors handling high data rate processing. One of the most efficient ways to design software for complex real-time systems is to decompose them in terms of tasks. The problems that remain to be solved are how to schedule these tasks and how to design a scheduler for this purpose.
The present invention advances the art by contributing a new and unique scheduler that can implement a range of known scheduling and synchronization algorithms to satisfy the need of present and future computer systems, particularly in the area of communications.

Programmable scheduler for digital signal processor


A horizontal printed circuit board (PCB) holder for connection to a first PCB and a second PCB may include a frame having one or more legs extending outwardly from the frame, each of the one or more legs having a passageway therein, and at least one conductive pin fixedly secured within the passageway of at least one of the one or more legs. The at least one conductive pin may convey electrical signals between the first PCB and the second PCB. A PCB holder assembly may include first and second PCBs connected to a PCB holder. A method of providing a PCB holder may include determining at least one characteristic of a first PCB and second PCB, configuring the PCB holder according to the determined characteristic(s), and connecting the first and second PCBs to the PCB holder.

The present invention relates generally to apparatuses and methods for horizontally connecting printed circuit boards. Conventional daughter boards are connected to a motherboard in a perpendicular (i.e., vertical) configuration. However, such a configuration limits the size, shape, expansion capabilities, power density, and overall attributes of the motherboard, the daughter board, and any corresponding structure or enclosure. For example, under a conventional configuration, it may be difficult or impossible to provide adequate shielding between the daughter board and motherboard, to provide a grounding layer, or to conform to physical space or power density requirements.
A need exists to provide a low cost method of forming an electrical connection between a printed circuit board and a second printed circuit board located in parallel to one another. A further need exists to provide a method for placing an electrical circuit on a printed circuit board horizontally (e.g., parallel to) above a second printed circuit board to increase the power density of the assembly. An additional need exists for providing a method for placing a shield or ground plane on a printed circuit board placed horizontally above a second printed circuit board. A need also exists for providing a method for placing lands and runs on a small printed circuit board placed horizontally above a second printed circuit board to be used as jumpers on the second printed circuit board.

PCB holder having a leg with a passageway with a conductive pin therein to electrically connect two PCBs


A method and system for generating a value proposition for a company in an industry is provided. Specifically, under the present invention, operational metrics and possible solutions are identified for the industry. Then, the impacts of the solutions on the operational metrics are assessed. Once the impacts have been assessed, a current operational performance of the company is compared to an operational performance of one or more companies within the industry to expose performance gaps. Then, a value proposition is generated by identifying a solution based the impacts to address the exposed performance gaps.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for generating a value proposition for a company in an industry. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for improving a business value of the company by identifying an impact-assessed solution based upon the company's comparative operational performance.
2. Background Art
In business, a company's ability to maximize its operational performance in relation to the performance of its competitors is often the difference between success and failure. Accordingly, as the use of technology in business grows, companies are increasingly seeking high technology solutions to maximize their operational performance. Such solutions could include, for example, computer infrastructure, software, specialized labor, etc. It is often the case, however, that the health and viability of different industries are governed by different factors. Moreover, the true impact of solutions on a company is often not known prior to implementation. Accordingly, a set of solutions for industry "A" might not be appropriate for industry "B."
Heretofore, systems have been created to evaluate business requirements of a company and apply a solution to enhance the performance of the company. However, no such system first determines the key operational metrics that affect performance in the relevant industry prior to evaluating a particular company. Specifically, every industry has certain factors that determine the health and viability of a company therein. For example, in the grocery store industry, one operational metric could be the rate in which inventory is turned over. However, this metric might have no bearing in the accounting professional service industry. When operational metrics are accurately identified, gaps in performance of a particular company can be more accurately addressed. In addition, no existing system determines possible solutions for an industry prior to evaluating a company. Similar to operational metrics, solutions could vary depending on the particular industry. For example, in the accounting professional service industry, one possible solution could be to insert more trained accountants into the workforce. However, such a solution would yield little or no benefit for the grocery store industry.
Another drawback with existing systems is the failure to determine the impact that the solutions will have on the operational metrics. Without doing this, it is impossible to predict the effect a solution would have on a company's performance. For example, in the grocery store industry, a solution could be to implement computer infrastructure to track shipments coming into a store. However, using such infrastructure could delay the inventory turnover rate and, thus, adversely affect a company's performance.
In view of the forgoing, there exists a need for a method and system for generating a value proposition for a company in an industry. Specifically, there exists a need for a method and system that increases the business value of a company by identifying a solution based upon its impacts as well as any performance gaps. In addition, there exists a need for such a method and system to first identify operational metrics and possible solutions for the relevant industry, and then assess the impacts of the solutions on the metrics.

Method and system for generating a value proposition for a company in an industry

International Business Machines Corporation


An oscillating vane actuator for active control of fluid flow over a surface includes a pivoted vane surrounded by a wedge-shaped chamber, and first and second conduits with openings adjacent the surface. The actuator also includes a rotating shaft with a connecting rod to actuate the vane in a oscillatory manner. As the vane travels in one direction, fluid is forced out from the chamber through the first conduit and opening into the fluid stream adjacent the surface, while fluid is simultaneously drawn in through the second opening and conduit into the opposite side of the chamber. Similarly, when the vane travels in the opposite direction, fluid is forced out through the second conduit and opening into the fluid stream adjacent the surface, while fluid is simultaneously drawn in through the first opening and conduit.

Fluid flow separation can occur when a compressible or incompressible fluid flows over a surface, in particular a convex curved surface, such as an interior surface of a fluid conduit or an exterior surface of a body immersed in a fluid. Flow separation can occur under laminar or turbulent flow conditions, depending upon the boundary layer fluid flow characteristics and the geometry of the surface. It is often desirable to inhibit flow separation in order to reduce form drag or in order to increase aerodynamic lift. In general, the farther along a curved surface that a fluid travels before separation, the better the resulting form drag and aerodynamic lift.
In the case of aerodynamic surfaces, the aerodynamic performance or efficiency of a particular surface, for example an airfoil, such as an airplane wing, rotor blade, turbine or compressor blade, windmill, fan or propeller blade, is strongly dependent on the lift force generated by the airfoil. To this end, active flow control (AFC) techniques have been utilized to increase the lift of airfoils by inhibiting or delaying separation of the fluid flow over the aerodynamic surface.
Active flow control techniques include providing ports or openings in the surface of an airfoil, and providing steady air flow into or out from the ports or openings, or unsteady (e.g., alternating) fluid flow into and out from the ports and openings. Active flow control techniques have proven to be effective in increasing the lift coefficient of airfoils, decreasing the drag coefficient, or both, thereby increasing the aerodynamic performance or efficiency of the airfoil.
Active flow control techniques are particularly advantageous under conditions where large flow separation over an aerodynamic surface would otherwise exist. Such conditions are common at airfoil leading-edge slats and trailing-edge flaps during periods during which high lift is generated.
The high lift auxiliary surfaces, such as leading-edge slats or trailing-edge flaps, are required primarily during relatively slow-speed flight, or during take-off and landing. The potential lift performance generally is not reached and a drag penalty generally occurs during the deployment of leading-edge slats or trailing-edge flaps due to the creation of localized flow separation regions. The size of these flow separation regions depends on factors such as the free stream angle of attack, the relative flow velocity of the fluid stream with respect to the aerodynamic surface, the airfoil chord lines, geometry and the deflection angle of the leading-edge slats or the trailing-edge flaps.
By reducing or inhibiting flow separation, a corresponding increase in lift and reduction in drag can be achieved. Active flow control methods can reduce or inhibit flow separation, for example, by introducing relatively high-velocity fluid flow into the fluid stream immediately above the aerodynamic surface in order to increase the kinetic energy of the fluid stream boundary layer, thereby maintaining attachment of the boundary layer farther along the surface. Similarly, removing relatively low-velocity fluid from the flow stream adjacent the aerodynamic surface can result in a net increase of the kinetic energy of the flow stream boundary layer and help to reduce or inhibit flow separation. However, some existing active flow control methods and devices can be prohibitively fragile or heavy, and can have limited power capacity.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that provides active flow control and is robust against physical damage, lightweight, and has a relatively high power capacity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Oscillating vane actuator apparatus and method for active flow control


A boot having a shell base with an upper extending thereabove, the upper being pivotal in the front-to-rear and rear-to-front directions. The boot includes an immobilization device located on the upper which is adapted to cooperate with two abutment zones that are provided on the shell base. This device has a manoeuvering member equipped with a rotational cam and two mobile elements, each element being adapted to cooperate with one of the two abutment zones. The device enables the bending capacity of the upper to be modified in at least one direction, depending on the use envisioned for the boot at any given moment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a so-called "rigid shell" sports boot that includes a shell base overhung by an upper capable of pivoting in both directions, i.e. front-to-rear and rear-to-front, and is related to an immobilization device with respect to the shell base that is active in both the pivoting directions of the upper by means of a rotational manoeuvering member located on the latter, and is especially related to an adjustable immobilization device that is adapted to modify the bending capacity of the upper in at least one direction, depending on the type of use envisioned for the boot at a given moment.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
Sports boots of the above-mentioned type are known according to European Patent No. 0 521 282. According to this patent, the immobilization device of the upper with respect to the shell base is active in at least one of its pivoting directions via an abutment zone obtained on the shell base. To this end, the device is equipped with a rotational manoeuvering member including a rotational cam that acts on a mobile element which is adapted, for a given angular position of the cam, to cooperate with the abutment zone of the shell base, and for another given position of the cam, to become disengaged from the abutment zone. As has been disclosed, when the mobile element cooperates with the abutment zone of the shell base, the upper of the boot is systematically blocked towards the rear, i.e., it is forced to adopt an inclination, commonly known as the "angle of advance", and at the same time, it is stopped from any pivoting towards the front or it has a certain clearance before becoming blocked, the blocking being predetermined during construction and resulting from the adjustment between that portion of the mobile element that cooperates with the abutment zone and the upper. Inversely, when the mobile element does not cooperate with the abutment zone, the upper is unlatched, and thus free to pivot as much towards the front as towards the rear.
As is obvious, the immobilization device as described can thus modify the pivoting capacity of the upper between a skiing position, with or without any frontward bending capacity according to the predetermined construction, and a walking-relaxed position in which the upper is free to pivot. Such an immobilization device is satisfactory if all that the user requires is the frontward bending capacity of the upper which has been predetermined in advance. As a matter of fact, one only has one immobilization position in the rear-to-front direction from this immobilization position of the upper in the front-to-rear direction, thus providing only one bending capacity for the upper. However, it is a fact that according to the type of skiing being envisioned, for example, competitive skiing or leisure skiing, or according to the condition of the snow cover, i.e., deep, heavy, icy snow etc., the skier needs to increase or diminish this frontward bending capacity. The immobilization system disclosed thus proves to be ill-adapted because there is no provision, after construction, for modifying the adjustment obtained between its mobile element portion and the abutment zone of the shell base, and thus the bending possibilities of the upper, especially towards the front.

Sports boot equipped with an immobilization device during the pivoting of the upper


The present invention is directed to a hydroprocessing catalyst containing at least one catalyst support, one or more metals, optionally one or more molecular sieves, optionally one or more promoters, wherein deposition of at least one of the metals is achieved in the presence of a modifying agent.

Catalytic hydroprocessing refers to petroleum refining processes in which a carbonaceous feedstock is brought into contact with hydrogen and a catalyst, at a higher temperature and pressure, for the purpose of removing undesirable impurities and/or converting the feedstock to an improved product. Examples of hydroprocessing processes include hydrotreating, hydrodemetalization, hydrocracking and hydroisomerization processes.
A hydroprocessing catalyst typically consists of one or more metals deposited on a support or carrier consisting of an amorphous oxide and/or a crystalline microporous material (e.g. a zeolite). The selection of the support and metals depend upon the particular hydroprocessing process for which the catalyst is employed.
Petroleum refiners continue to seek out catalysts of improved activity, selectivity and/or stability. Increasing the activity of a catalyst increases the rate at which a chemical reaction proceeds under a given set of conditions, increasing the selectivity of the catalysts decreases unwanted by-products of the reaction, and increasing the stability of a catalyst increases its resistance to deactivation, that is, the useful life of the catalyst is extended. In general, as the activity of the catalyst is increased, the conditions required to produce a given end product, such as a hydrocarbon of a particular sulfur or nitrogen content, becomes more mild (e.g. decreased temperature). Milder conditions require less energy to achieve a desired product, and the catalyst's life is extended due to such factors as lower coke formation and the like.
It is well known in the art that modest or slight variations in compositional characteristics or methods of preparing hydroprocessing catalysts have been known to have highly unpredictable activity, selectivity and/or stability effects on hydroprocessing reactions (such as denitrogenation and/or desulfurization reactions). Accordingly, because of this unpredictability in the art, there continues to be new and surprising improvements in activity, selectivity and/or stability of hydroprocessing catalysts.

Hydroprocessing catalyst and method of making the same


A preprinted foldable sheet for displaying a photograph contains an aperture, behind which the photograph may be mounted, and a folding flap that overlies the aperture. Indicia are imprinted on the face of the sheet and corresponding indicia are imprinted on the flap in such a manner as to be in registration with the indicia on the face of the sheet when the flap is folded behind the aperture. In this manner, there is continuity of the indicia across the aperture so that a pleasing appearance is maintained even when a photograph is not placed behind the aperture.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of devices for displaying photographs and other memorabilia, and specifically to a preprinted folder having a photograph receiving aperture for use as a binder insert, portfolio cover or the like.
2. Prior Art
Albums for displaying photographs are available in a wide variety of styles. Almost without exception, the individual pages of photo albums are devoid of printed matter so as not to detract from the subject matter of the photographs displayed therein. Some photo album pages, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,152, have cutouts for framing the individual photographs.
Notebook covers and portfolios adapted for displaying photographs are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,767 discloses a portfolio with a photograph displaying cover in which a number of pockets are provided for the insertion of photographs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,962 discloses a notebook in which the pages have a window-like aperture so that a photograph inserted in a pocket of the notebook cover may be viewed even as the pages of the notebook are turned.

Device for mounting photographs and the like


The invention provides compound and salts of Formula I and II, disclosed herein, which includes compounds of Formula A and Formula B:

Antimicrobial compounds are compounds capable of destroying or suppressing the growth or reproduction of microorganisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, mycoplasma, yeast, and fungi. The mechanisms by which antimicrobial compounds act vary. However, they are generally believed to function in one or more of the following ways: by inhibiting cell wall synthesis or repair; by altering cell wall permeability; by inhibiting protein synthesis; or by inhibiting synthesis of nucleic acids. For example, beta-lactam antibacterials inhibit the essential penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) in bacteria, which are responsible for cell wall synthesis. Quinolones act, at least in part, by inhibiting synthesis of DNA, thus preventing the cell from replicating.
Many attempts to produce improved antimicrobials yield equivocal results. Indeed, few antimicrobials are produced that are truly clinically acceptable in terms of their spectrum of antimicrobial activity, avoidance of microbial resistance, and pharmacology. There is a continuing need for broad-spectrum antimicrobials, and a particular need for antimicrobials effective against resistant microbes.
Pathogenic bacteria are known to acquire resistance via several distinct mechanisms including inactivation of the antibiotic by bacterial enzymes (e.g., beta-lactamases that hydrolyze penicillin and cephalosporins); removal of the antibiotic using efflux pumps; modification of the target of the antibiotic via mutation and genetic recombination (e.g., penicillin-resistance in Neiserria gonorrhea); and acquisition of a readily transferable gene from an external source to create a resistant target (e.g., methicillin-resistance in Staphylococcus aureus). There are certain Gram-positive pathogens, such as vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, which are resistant to virtually all commercially available antibiotics.
Resistant organisms of particular note include methicillin-resistant and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli, cephalosporin-resistant aerobic gram-negative rods and imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These organisms are significant causes of nosocomial infections and are clearly associated with increasing morbidity and mortality. The increasing numbers of elderly and immunocompromised patients are particularly at risk for infection with these pathogens. Therefore, there is a large unmet medical need for the development of new antimicrobial agents. In recent years Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infections have become more common, particularly in institutional and hospital settings. Up to 60% of staphylococcus infections are attributable to methicillin resistant strains in some parts of the United States. Some MRSA strains are now resistant to both Vancomycin and Gentamicin, drugs once considered the last defense against staphylococcus infections. Thus, there is a particularly urgent need for drugs effective against MRSA strains.
The utility of isothiazoloquinolines as pharmaceutical agents has been discussed in the literature. For example, Pinol, et al discussed the use of isothiazoloquinolines as medical bactericides in U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,621, including

The Proctor & Gamble Company discussed antimicrobial quinolones including the following compound:
in published application no. US 2003008894.
The use of isothiazoloquinoline compounds as TNF production inhibitors has also been discussed, for example by Sankyo Co., Ltd. in JP1010149, which includes the following compound

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has discussed bicycle[3.3.0]oct-7-yl containing compounds useful for treating H. pylori infections in WO 98/26768, including isothiazoloquinolines, having the general structure shown below in which Y may be sulfur joined to the carboxamide group to form a 5-membered ring

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has discussed the use of isothiazoloquinolines as antibacterial agents in JP 01193275, including the following carbamate-containing compound

Abbott Laboratories has discussed the use of isothiazoloquinolines as anti-neoplastic agents in U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,848 and has discussed the use of tricyclic quinolones as antibacterial agents in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,762. The Abbott compounds have hydrogen, halogen, or lower alkyl as substituents at the 6- and 8-positions of the isothiazoloquinoline core.
The present invention fulfills the need for drugs effective against MRSA bacterial strains, and provides further related advantages that are disclosed herein.

8-methoxy-9H-isothiazolo[5,4-b]quinoline-3,4-diones and related compounds as anti-infective agents

Abstract: Such compounds possess useful antimicrobial activity. The variables R2, R3, R5, R6, R7, and R9 shown in Formula A and B are defined herein.

Abstract: Certain compounds of Formula I and Formula II disclosed herein are potent and/or selective inhibitors of bacterial DNA synthesis and bacterial replication. The invention also provides antimicrobial compositions, including pharmaceutical compositions, containing one or more compounds of Formula I or Formula II and one or more carriers, excipients, or diluents. Such compositions may contain a compound of Formula I or Formula II as the only active agent or may contain a combination of a compound of Formula I or Formula II and one or more other active agents. The invention also provides methods for treating microbial infections in animals.


A display device with improved brightness and a method of controlling the display device are presented. The display device includes a driving transistor, a pixel electrode electrically connected to the driving transistor, a detecting transistor detecting a magnitude of an electric signal transferred from the driving transistor to the pixel electrode, and a controller. The controller regulates a data voltage applied to the pixel electrode based on a difference between the detected electric signal and a predetermined reference level. The display device achieves improved homogeneity of brightness by compensating for any deterioration of TFTs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and a method of controlling the display device, and more particularly to a display device and a control method that is capable of reducing the deterioration of a thin film transistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have become popular among flat panel displays. The popularity of OLEDs is at least partly due to characteristics such as low-voltage driving, light weight, slim shape, wide angle view and high-speed response. In the OLED substrate are formed a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) to drive the OLED, an anode electrode forming a pixel on the TFT, and a cathode electrode that generates a reference voltage. A Voltage is applied across both of the electrodes so that holes and electrons are coupled to generate excitons. Such excitons emit light while the excitons are transferred to a ground state. The light emission occurs in an emitting layer between the electrodes where the holes and the electrons combine. The OLED displays an image by adjusting the light emission.
In general, the plurality of TFTs are formed on the OLED substrate. Each pixel is provided with a switching transistor connected to a data line and a driving transistor connected to a driving voltage line.
The TFTs of the OLED progressively deteriorate with driving time. This deterioration can result in a serious problem of a predetermined voltage not being applied to the pixel electrode. Particularly, the higher the data voltage, the higher is the driving voltage. Thus, the voltage that is actually applied may be different from the "normal voltage" that should be applied to the pixel electrode. Also, the amount of a voltage or current applied to the pixel electrode may deviate from the normal range due to the deterioration of the light emitting layer made of organic materials. Due to these deteriorations of the TFTs and/or the light emitting layer, the brightness of a display device may be non-uniform and may decrease with time. It is desirable to prevent such adverse effects on the brightness of a display device.

Display device and control method thereof


Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for causing the storage of a color data value of a clear color to be deferred as rendered color data values are stored for samples. A device comprises a processor circuit and a storage to store instructions that cause the processor circuit to render a pixel from multiple samples taken of a three-dimensional model of an object, the pixel corresponding to a pixel sample data which comprises multiple color storage locations that are each identified by a numeric identifier, and which comprises multiple sample color indices that each correspond to a sample to point to at least one color storage location; and allocate color storage locations in an order selected to define a subset of possible combinations of binary index values among all of the sample color indices as invalid combinations. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

In efforts to reduce aliasing effects (e.g., jagged lines following boundaries between pixels) in rendering a two-dimensional (2D) image of three-dimensional (3D) object(s), various techniques of super-sampling anti-aliasing (SSAA) have been devised in which the 2D image is first created within a sampling data at a finer resolution than the final 2D image that is later created from that sampling data. Typically, in SSAA, a selected number of samples per pixel of the final 2D image is selected (often 2, 4, 8 or 16), and that number of samples is taken of the 3D object(s) for each pixel from the perspective of each of those pixels within the image plane of the final 2D image. Each sample specifies a color associated with the pixel to which that sample belongs, and the various colors of the samples of each pixel are employed to derive the colors given to each pixel in the final 2D image.
Unfortunately, SSAA is demanding of both memory and processor bandwidth since an entirely separate color data value is always stored for each sample, regardless of whether or not there are regions of one or more pixels in which all of the samples are the same color. In effect, at least in terms of the storage of color data values, the samples in super-sampling are essentially treated as if each were a miniature pixel. In applications where the rendering of 2D images must be done in real time at a rate high enough to support motion video (e.g., the imagery of scenery and characters in a video game), such treatment of samples requires all too costly amounts of processor and memory bandwidth.
In an effort to gain the benefits of sampling at a finer resolution without such high bandwidth requirements, various techniques of multi-sampling anti-aliasing (MSAA) were devised in which separate color data values can be stored for each sample within a pixel, but where it is also possible to store only one color data value for multiple samples in situations where more than one sample has the same color. In effect, this is a form of compression of the color data that takes advantage of situations where a pixel falls within a region of the final 2D image in which there is no transition in color (e.g., no edge) within that pixel such that all of its samples are the same color. In such situations, a single color value is stored only once for all of that pixel's samples. Only in situations where a pixel falls within a region in which there are one or more transitions of color (e.g., crossing an edge) within that pixel such that there are at least two different colors among its samples is the storage of more than one color data value necessary for that pixel's samples.
Unfortunately, despite these efficiencies in storage in MSAA, a common practice of always storing a color data value for a clear color each time a color value is stored for one or more samples of a pixel has limited the degree to which bandwidth requirements can be reduced. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the embodiments described herein are needed.

Techniques for improving MSAA rendering efficiency


Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for managing traces to capture data for memory regions in a memory. A trace includes a monitor parameter used by a trace procedure to monitor data in a memory device. A frequency is determined at which the trace procedure monitors the memory device. The trace procedure is invoked at the determined frequency to perform trace procedure operations comprising determining a region in the memory device according to the monitor parameter and copying data in the determined region to trace data in a data space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, and method for managing traces to capture data for memory regions in a memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Errors may occur in a computational environment when multiple applications are writing to a commonly used memory space. The common memory areas may be overlaid with data by different applications, causing data integrity problems, hangs, system outages and other problems. In the current art, to analyze such errors, the user may set a slip or trap so that if any process changes a storage region being monitored, the data in the monitored region after the change is captured with a dump. This allows the person debugging the problem to analyze the data in the area that was dumped and determine the application that wrote the data resulting in the dump. Any change to the monitored area, including changes that are not producing errors, may cause the data to be dumped and require the trap to reset. Further, in the current art, only one slip may be set at a time.
There is a need in the art for improved techniques to monitor memory to debug errors.

Managing traces to capture data for memory regions in a memory

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Paper machine clothing, such as a forming fabric formed by a large number of repeating units, wherein each repeat unit includes a paper-side woven structure having paper-side warp and weft threads and a machine-side woven structure having machine-side warp and weft threads, such that the paper side and the machine side woven structures are connected to each other by binding threads, and each repeat unit being formed by at least 26 warp threads and the paper machine clothing having a total thickness of 0.78 mm and less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to paper machine clothing having a paper-side and a machine-side woven structure. In particular, the binding threads are woven while forming covering binding points with the paper-side woven structure and forming supporting binding points with the machine-side woven structure.
2. Discussion of Background Information
The invention relates to paper machine clothing having a paper-side and a machine-side woven structure. In order to meet the substantial requirements on paper machine clothing for use in the forming section of paper machines, i.e., forming fabrics, three-layer forming fabrics have increasingly been developed in recent years, which allows for an increase dimensional stability, along with reduction in the tendency to marking. The three-layer forming fabrics have a paper-side woven structure which is connected by binding threads to a machine-side woven structure. In particular, this type of fabric has binding threads woven with the paper-side woven structure, forming covering binding points, and with the machine-side woven structure, forming supporting binding points.
In this case, the conventionally weft-bound, three-layer fabrics with a separate binding thread system can no longer satisfy the requirements with respect to monoplanarity of the surface, as well as the requirements on the marking behavior.
For this reason, the pure binding threads were given an additional task, in that they were used as part of the paper-side woven structure. In particular, the binding threads continued the woven structure formed by the warp and weft threads. Thus, a fiber-supporting action is also added to the binding action of the binding threads. Such that, the forming fabrics are designated SSB fabrics, i.e., sheet support binder. In this manner, the tendency to marking on the paper side can be reduced considerably.
Despite the improvements described, the known forming fabrics continue to exhibit a high tendency to marking. The high tendency to marking is caused, inter alia, by covering binding points and supporting binding points of the binding threads on the paper-side and the machine-side woven structure, since, at these points, the planarity and the permeability of the fabric, and thus, the dewatering behavior of the fibrous suspension, are changed.


A pole for a hand pallet truck includes a pole bar linked to a support for a steerable wheel at its lower end and connected to a loop-shaped handle at a remaining end. The handle is centrally grappable at its near end and includes an operating device therein attached to a holding extension projecting into the handle. The holding extension is connectable to a lifting apparatus of the hand pallet truck via a traction and/or pushing element with operating levers being disposed on either side thereof The operating levers are pivotally mounted on the holding extension in a plane defined by the handle, each operating lever acting on a common displacement element connected to the traction or pushing element wherein pulling the operation levers from a neutral position away from the pole bar causes a lowering operating and pushing the operating lever's out of the neutral position towards the pole bar allows a lifting operation of the lifting apparatus. Preferably, the operating levers are coupled such that the lowering operation and lifting operation can be effected by pulling one single lever or both levers simultaneously.

In conventional hand pallet trucks, the pole is used to steer and move the vehicle, as well as to pump for lifting a load. To operate the lifting apparatus, especially to lower the load, an operating element is required which should be easily accessible, and allow switching between the functions of lifting and driving as well as sensitive lowering of the load.
Easy accessibility of the operating element is especially important for effective operation of the hand pallet truck when pulling the vehicle, i. e. when the pole is an inclined position in front of the vehicle. By contrast, actuating the functions with upright pole, i. e. when the vehicle is being pushed, is less important, because in most cases the vehicle is drawn out of the pallet, thereby returning the pole into the inclined position.
For pumping and moving the vehicle, it is of advantage if the pole handle is centrally grippable in order to avoid unnecessary steering as well as frictional forces. At the same time, the actuating forces at the operating element should be as small as possible in all situations requiring a longer actuating path, which might be realized by providing a longer distance between the circle point and the lever pivot point, for example.
It is known to use an extension of the pole bar traversing the handle as a mounting component for an operating lever extending to the sides. This known pole handle has the drawback that it cannot be gripped centrally. From DE 297 10 503 U1 it is further known to pivotally mount a control lever at the upper end of the portion of the bar extending into the handle. The lever must be pushed away from the operator to achieve a lowering of the load. Pulling the lever towards the operator will result in a switch to the lifting function. A drawback of this design is that the operator cannot actuate the functions well while pulling the vehicle because the control lever has to be pulled upwards to achieve a lowering action. Further, since the operating element is not familiar from other technical devices, it is less suitable for intuitive operation. The actuating forces are great due to the small distance between the circle point and the lever pivot point.
It is an object of the invention to provide a pole for a hand pallet truck which allows central gripping of the pole bar while keeping the actuating forces as low as possible, and which may be operated intuitively.


A medicine package conveying apparatus is provided with a conveyor (7) and a roller member (9) to convey a medicine package (100) with a plurality of bags in which medicine is packaged. The roller member (9) is made of elastic material and includes press portions (31) of cylindrical shape which rotate and press both side edges of the medicine package (100) on the conveyor (7) and an escape portion (32) which is positioned between the press portions (31) and is smaller in a diameter than the press portions (31). Thus, the medicine package conveying apparatus can smoothly convey the medicine package.

The present invention relates to a medicine package conveying apparatus for conveying a medicine package in which medicine is packed by a medicine packing apparatus.
Conventionally, a belt-like medicine package in which medicine is packed by a medicine packing apparatus is conveyed by, for example, a conveyance apparatus described below from a lower position to a higher position.
There is known a conveying apparatus in which a pair of fiat belts, which run on a plurality of rollers, is positioned to form a conveyance passage for the medicine package with a predetermined distance and a tension unit is provided so as to adjust the tension acting on the flat belts (for example, see Japanese patent No. 2538350).
There is also a known package discharging, guiding and conveying apparatus in which a package guided into an insert hole by package guiding and traveling means is sandwiched between conveyance belts and conveyed as the conveyance belts are maintained in a strained state by a press roller provided on a tension arm (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. H05-132008).
In the apparatuses described above, the medicine package is sandwiched between the belts having a constant gap and conveyed. When the medicine package contains a large amount of medicine it can bulk up, and cause the problems of clogging, tearing of the medicine package and so on.
In the case in which a medicine capsule is contained in a package as shown in FIG. 10, the capsule may be packed in a state standing in a direction of thickness of the medicine package so that the package bulks up. This causes a problem in that the medicine package cannot be smoothly conveyed.


A plurality of images stored in a storage medium are classified into image groups. The number of images stored in the storage medium is compared with a threshold value determined based on the number of classified image groups and the number of images included in each image group. An image group selection sheet or a print specification sheet is printed depending on a result of the comparison. Thus, it is possible to automatically determine an optimum type of sheet for use by a user to select images and print the determined type of sheet without printing a large number of sheets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus configured to print images stored in the form of image files in a storage medium on a sheet for use by a user to select images to be printed, and read the sheet to analyze which images were selected by the user whereby it becomes possible to print image files selected by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, instead of using a printer called an SFP (Single Function Printer) having only a printing function, it has become popular to use a printer called an MFP (Multi Function Printer) having many functions such as an image reading function in addition to the printing function.
More specifically, the MFP operates under the control of an external device such as a PC (Personal Computer) to provide a plurality of functions in addition to the printing function. Examples of functions provided in addition to the printing function include a "direct print function" that allows image data stored in a memory card or the like to be printed, a "scan function" that allows a document to be scanned under the control of an external device such as a PC, a "copy function" that allows image data captured by the scan function to be printed, etc.
US Patent Application Publication No. 20010040685 discloses a technique to add a further function to the direct print function to allow a user to specify images by using a sheet and print the specified images. In this technique, a sheet used to select images is printed by a printer. A user fills in one or more marks on the sheet to specify images the user wants to print or store. The sheet is then scanned by a scanner, and the images selected by the user are detected based on the information obtained via the scanning. The detected images are then printed or stored. This technique allows the user to easily select images to be subjected to a process such as printing, without having to perform a complicated operation.
However, in a case where a user selects images from a large number of images, it is necessary to print a large number of sheets, and thus a large number of sheets and a large amount of ink are consumed. To avoid the above problem, for example, US Patent Application Publication No. 2006116993 discloses a technique to more efficiently select images. More specifically, in this technique, search items such as file names by which to search for images are printed on a sheet. A user selects search items by filling in corresponding marks on the sheet. This sheet is then scanned, and the search items selected by the user are detected based on the information obtained via the scanning. Images are then searched for based on the detected search items. This technique allows the user to narrow down images using the sheet, and thus the user can more efficiently select images. In this technique, it is necessary to print a less number of sheets for use to select images.
In a technique disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2007019018, two types of sheets are printed. One is for selecting image groups to narrow down images. This type of sheet is referred to as an image group selection sheet. The other one is for specifying images to be printed. This type of sheet is referred to as a print specification sheet. In this technique, an image group selection sheet is first printed. A user selects image groups by filling in marks corresponding to image groups on the sheet. The image groups selected by the user are detected based on information obtained by scanning the image group selection sheet, and the detected image groups are printed on a print specification sheet. The user selects images the user wants to print from the images printed on the print specification sheet by filling in marks corresponding to the images thereby specifying the images to be printed. This sheet is then read to detect the images selected by the user, and the detected images are printed. This technique allows the user to specify images using a rather small number of sheets even in the case where there are a great number of images.
However, in a case where there are a rather small number of images, use of two types of sheets, i.e., the image group selection sheet and the print specification sheet does not always result in a reduction of the number of sheets printed. For example, when there are a small number of images all of which can be printed on a single print specification sheet, if an image group selection sheet is printed, a total of two sheets are printed although only one sheet is sufficient.
In the above-described operation flow, after a user selects image groups using an image group selection sheet, images to be printed are specified using a print specification sheet. In this operation flow, the sheet reading process is performed a greater number of times than in the case where only the print specification sheets is printed, and thus the user has to perform a more complicated procedure. Furthermore, when the user selects image groups by filling in corresponding marks on the image group selection sheet, there is a possibility that the selected image groups do not include images intended by the user. This means that, depending on the situation, it is more desirable to print not image group selection sheets but print only specification sheets even if this leads to an increase in the number of sheets printed.
That is, in some cases, it is more desirable for a user to directly get print specification sheets without getting image group selection sheets. However, before one of types of sheet is actually printed, it is difficult to determine which type of sheet is more desirable for the user. Thus, it is desirable to provide a technique to correctly determine which type of sheet should be printed, before the printing is actually performed.
Because the purpose of the use of sheets is to allow a user to easily select images to be printed, it is desirable that the above-described determination can be made easily without having the user to perform a complicated operation. That is, it is desirable to provide a technique to automatically select a proper sheet and print the selected sheet without requiring involvement by a user.

Image recording apparatus and method of control for printing group selection sheet when number of stored images in group exceeds threshold


The invention provides an image display apparatus that includes: a frame memory into which inputted image data is stored; a statistical computation section that performs statistical computation on a gradation value of each pixel on the basis of the image data for each frame image; a correction section that corrects the image data stored in the frame memory on a frame-by-frame basis by means of a statistical computation result calculated at the statistical computation section; an image display section that performs image display by means of the image data corrected at the correction section; a light source control section that calculates a control amount applied to the amount of light emitted from a light source on the basis of the corrected image data and then controls the amount of light emitted from the light source in accordance with the control amount; and a still picture judgment section that makes a judgment as to whether the frame image constitutes a still picture or not. In such a configuration of the image display apparatus according to an aspect of the invention, the statistical computation section suspends the statistical computation till the frame image is updated if the still picture judgment section judges that the frame image constitutes a still picture.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus that adjusts the brightness of image data and the amount of light emitted from a light source in accordance with inputted image data so as to perform an enhanced image display. The present invention further relates to an electronic apparatus that is provided with such an improved image display apparatus.
2. Related Art
When there is no power supplied from an external source, an image display apparatus known in the related art display images while controlling the amount of light that passes through a liquid crystal panel when a light source (e.g., cold-cathode tube) converts power that is supplied from a battery into light. An example of such a known image display apparatus is a notebook-sized personal computer that has a type of display device such as a liquid crystal panel or the like, which is not a self-luminous device. Generally speaking, the percentage of power consumed by a light source of an apparatus to total power consumed by entire components of the apparatus is large. It is a popular technique in the related art to decrease the amount of light that is emitted from a light source in order to reduce power consumption of an apparatus when the apparatus is driven by power supplied from a battery (hereafter, this well-known light-amount reduction technique is referred to as "dimming" where the context allows). As the amount of light emitted from a light source is decreased, so does the brightness of an image on the entire screen, which causes degradation in visibility. Therefore, a technical solution that achieves reduction in power consumption by decreasing the amount of light emitted from a light source without sacrificing visibility is desired in the art.
As a known example of technical solutions to cope with such a problem, JP-A-2004-246099 and JP-A-2004-54250 teach a technique for reducing power consumption without losing apparent luminosity, which is achieved by converting data that is originally represented in RGB into brightness color difference data so as to perform brightness enhancement and backlight amount reduction (dimming) processing.
Although it is possible to reduce power consumption by decreasing the amount of light that is emitted from a backlight to some degree as described above, further reduction in power consumption is desired in the art.

Image display apparatus and electronic apparatus


A parallel transmission device for reflection means and scanning means of a scanner, comprises fixing stage, reflection means, scanning means, fixing module, belt wheel, idle wheel, belt, tight wire, and driving means, wherein the reflection means is driven by the belt and can drive the scanning means by the tight wire to ensure that the scanning means and reflection means has a parallel movement therebetween, and has a speed ratio 2:1, i.e. the reflection means moves only half of the distance of the scanning means, thus reducing the space reserved for the movement of the reflection means and saving the internal space of the scanner.

The present utility relates generally to a parallel transmission device for reflection means and scanning means of a scanner, more particularly, to a parallel transmission device which can ensure the ensure the absolutely parallel movement between reflection means and scanning means, and move the reflection means and scanning means with speed ratio 2:1 during and after the scanning procedure.
The conventional scanner include generally a light source, reflection mirrors, camera and CCD (charge coupled device) to control the optical path. More specifically, the light generated by light source is impinged upon the object to be scanned and the reflected by the object is reflected by a reflection mirror to the camera. The light focused by camera is sent to a CCD to transform the light into analog or digital signal.
However, in above-structured scanner, reflection means (reflection mirror) must move the same distance as that of scanning means, because light source, reflection mirrors, camera and CCD are arranged on the same module. Accordingly, the space reserved for the movement of reflection means is considerably large and influence the arrange of other devices.

Parallel transmission device for reflection means and scanning means in a scanner


Methods which are useful to aid in smoking cessation. The methods generally comprise applying an electrical current to the subject in the vicinity of two or more acupuncture points selected from acupuncture points in or on the arms and hands of the subject. Suitable points include the Hegu acupuncture point (LI-4), a point on the opposite side of the hand to the Hegu acupuncture point, the Wai guan acupuncture point (SJ-5), and the Nei guan acupuncture point (PC-6).

Acupuncture originated in ancient China approximately 4000 years ago. It is based upon metaphysical concepts of "ch'i" (Qi), a supposed body energy that runs through hypothesized channels called "meridians." On these "meridians" are 365 designated acupuncture points that can be used for stimulation to balance "yin and yang" by relieving blockages in the flow of "ch'i."
The physiological and anatomical basis of acupuncture points has been investigated. Acupuncture points have been found to be located in the vicinity of the small or large peripheral nerves and their bifurcations, motor points of neuromuscular attachments, blood vessels, ligaments and suture lines of the skull. A double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study reported that true acupuncture points have higher local temperature and lower electrical resistance, compared to non-acupuncture points.
The use of auricular (ear) acupuncture as a method to aid smokers to overcome their addiction and/or overcome nicotine dependency has been previously reported. Many conflicting results have been reported with a number of recent publications such as Kelly and McCrory (2003), Willemsen et al. (2003), White A. R et al. (2002), Linde et al. (2001), Haustein K. O (2000), White A. R (1999), White A. R et al. (1998), Borchgrevink C. F (1997), Clavel-Chapelon F et al. (1997), Lando H. A (1996), Law and Tang (1995) and Clavel-Chapelon F et al. (1992) reporting that acupuncture is not effective in helping promote smoking cessation or helping to overcome nicotine dependency. Alternatively other authors such as Ausfeld-Hafter B et al. (2004), Bier I. D et al. (2002), He D et al. (2001), Yiming C et al. (2000), Waite Clough (1998), Cottraux J et al. (1986) and Fuller J. A (1982) have reported that auricular acupuncture is a viable method for helping promote smoking cessation.
This inconsistency has been highlighted by researches such as Garrison M. M et al. (2003), Margolin A et al (2002) and Ernst E (1998), and the need for clarification has been stated.
Furthermore, the existence of specific anti-smoking acupuncture points has been questioned since some studies show little difference in cessation rates between "real" and "sham" acupuncture groups.
While non-ear acupuncture points have previously been used to examine the efficacy of acupuncture for promoting smoking cessation, their use has been part of a general combination treatment strategy. For example, He D et al. (1997) found that a combination of body acupuncture (Lieque and Kongzui), ear acupuncture (Shenmen, mouth, lung), as well as acupressure (Shenmen, mouth, lung, trachea, hunger, endocrine) is effective in promoting smoking cessation.
A number of devices that aid smokers to quit smoking have been described. Australian Patent AU611745 describes a combined sound-generating device and auricle electrical acupuncture device for assisting addiction treatment. The device is made of a clip electrode and buzzer that is attached to the ear to deliver a high voltage stimulus of low current and ultra-low frequency sound.
The use of a removable attachable wrist band to help an addicted cigarette smoker permanently quit smoking has been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,598. As described, the wrist band is placed on a user's wrist such that the acupressure stimulator is positioned proximal to the L-7 acupuncture point so that snapping of the band against the wrist stimulates the acupuncture point. The authors suggest that the wrist band has a dual function of both providing a non-aversive behavioural modification as well as stimulating the L-7 acupuncture point.
Chinese patent application CN1140062 describes the use of a plaster comprising ingredients such as clove, cinnamon bark, areca and ichthyol that is applied to the Lieque acupuncture point to assist people to give up smoking. The authors suggest that the plaster works by irritating the sense organ in the oral cavity, resulting in a tingling in the tip of tongue and causing the taste of tobacco to become bitter.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved or alternative method of aiding smoking cessation or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.
Other objects of the invention may become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only.


A drive gear includes a plurality of internal radial channels extending between the axial bore and the periphery of the gear, and an axial bore includes a lubricant distribution structure therein to provide lubrication where the teeth of the drive gear mesh with the teeth of a gear driven by the drive gear.

Some large gear drives are exposed to the environment and are not lubricated by circulating oil. Examples includes bull gears, girth gears, slew drive gears used for cranes, excavators, and other heavy equipment, gears used to rotate draw bridges, gears for ball mills, and also the final drive gear for steerable radar antennas on ships. Typically, a smaller pinion gear drives the large exposed gear.
Lubricating such gear drives with grease or another suitable lubricant is troublesome and messy. Sometimes, a brush is used to manually and periodically apply grease to the gear drive. Prior attempts at automatic grease applications resulted in waste and mess. When lubrication is ineffective, the result is wear of the gear drive. Moreover, even when the lubrication effort is effective, the result can be a waste of grease and/or grease contamination of adjacent equipment which, in the case of an antenna on board a ship, cannot be tolerated.

Direct grease injection for large open gearing


A tracking control apparatus comprises an signal processing section, a lens characteristic measuring section and an optimum lens position searching section. The lens characteristic measuring section acquires a first address and second address of an optical disk. The lens characteristic measuring section successively generates offset set values so that the position of a converging lens is moved by an actuator at predetermined spatial intervals and counts the number of times both the first address and the second address are acquired. The optimum lens position searching section searches for a maximum value of the acquisition count and moves the converging lens using the actuator based on the offset set value when the acquisition count reaches a maximum value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording/reproduction apparatus that optically records information on an information storage medium using a light source such as a laser and converts the information recorded on the information storage medium to a signal and reproduces it, or to an optical disk apparatus such as an optical reproduction apparatus that converts information pre-recorded on an information storage medium to a signal and reproduces it, and more particularly, to a control apparatus and an optical disk apparatus for performing control so that optical beam spots scan tracks correctly.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of a tracking control apparatus of a conventional optical disk apparatus, one that corrects lens shift so that an offset of a phase difference tracking error signal becomes zero is known.
FIG. 28 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a conventional optical disk apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-315327. In the optical disk apparatus shown in FIG. 28, an optical pickup 20 is provided with a laser light-emitting element (not shown), a converging lens 22 and an actuator 23, and converges and irradiates an optical beam 21 onto an optical disk 10. The optical pickup 20 is further provided with an optical detector 24 which is divided into four detection sections A to D and the optical detector 24 detects a reflected beam 21′ reflected by an information recording plane of the optical disk 10. The outputs of the detection sections A to D of the optical detector 24 are input to a signal generation circuit 30.
The signal generation circuit 30 is provided with a phase difference adjusting circuits 31a and 31b and adjusts a phase difference (referred to as a "tangential phase difference") in the circumferential (tangential) direction of the disk with respect to the output signals of the detection sections A and B input from the optical detector 24. This makes it possible to remove an offset caused by a phase difference produced between the outputs of the detection, sections A to D. Addition circuits 32a and 32b generate an addition signal (A+D) and an addition signal (B+C) resulting from adding up the outputs of the detection sections positioned at opposite angles of the optical detector 24 and a phase difference detection circuit 33 detects these phase differences. The output of the phase difference detection circuit 33 which is output through an LPF 34 becomes a phase difference tracking error signal (referred to as "DPDTE").
A digital signal processor (referred to as "DSP") 50 includes an offset adjusting section 52, a tracking control section 53, an offset measuring section 61, a lens shift correction section 62, an A/D converter 51 and a D/A converter 54.
The A/D converter 51 converts the DPDTE to a digital signal. The offset adjusting section 52 adds an offset for tracking control to a digital signal of the DPDTE. Furthermore, the tracking control section 53 generates a tracking drive value by carrying out a filter calculation for phase compensation and low-frequency compensation on the DPDTE digital signal. The tracking drive value generated is converted to an analog signal by the D/A converter 54 again and output to a drive circuit 91 as a tracking drive signal. The drive circuit 91 carries out current amplification on the tracking drive signal, drives an actuator 23 with a built-in optical pickup and carries out tracking control.
Then, a method of correcting lens shifts according to a conventional technology will be explained. With the optical pickup 20, the center of the converging lens 22 may shift from a set position due to mounting errors of optical parts including the converging lens 22 and optical detector 24, drooping of the converging lens caused by holding the apparatus in a vertical position or deviation of optical axis of a beam emitted from a laser. In this case, the reflected beam forms an image deviated from the center of the optical detector 24. In the following explanation, this state is referred to as a "lens shift." This lens shift is a shift of the position of the converging lens 22 or optical axis from the center of the optical detector 24 generated inside the optical pickup.
FIG. 29A to 29C show phase difference tracking error signals output from the optical pickup in various lens shift conditions when no tracking control is performed. A tangential phase difference caused by a lens shift is observed in the signals shown in FIG. 29A and 29C. More specifically, the signals shown in FIG. 29A and 29C are generated when the converging lens shifts from the center of a track toward the inner radius side and the outer radius side of the disk by about 300 μm. On the other hand, the signal shown in FIG. 29B is obtained when there is no shift in the converging lens.
When there is a tangential phase difference due to a lens shift as shown in FIG. 29A and 29C, if the converging lens is shifted through tracking control, the symmetry of a phase difference tracking error signal deteriorates and an offset is generated. A relationship between this DPDTE offset and lens shift is shown in FIG. 30. In FIG. 30, the horizontal axis shows the position of the converging lens and the vertical axis shows an offset value of the DPDTE.
As shown in FIG. 30, the position of the converging lens and offset value of the DPDTE show a linear relationship near an optimum lens position. By detecting this DPDTE offset and applying an offset to the tracking drive value so that the DPDTE offset becomes 0, it is possible to shift the position of the converging lens 22 and correct the lens shift.
Then, with reference to FIG. 28, a procedure for correcting a lens shift will be explained. The adjustments of the phase difference adjusting circuits 31a and 31b of the signal generation circuit 30 are shifted to create a condition in which a tangential phase difference has occurred. If a lens shift has occurred, a DPDTE offset occurs, and therefore the DPDTE offset is measured using the offset measuring section 61.
The lens shift correction section 62 adds this offset to the output value of the tracking control section. The drive circuit 91 moves the converging lens 22 based on the output value of the tracking control section to which this offset is applied. Here, moving the converging lens 22 using the linear relationship shown in FIG. 30 so that the DPDTE offset detected by the offset measuring section 61 becomes zero makes it possible to reduce the lens shift to zero.
For example, as in the case of a DVD-RAM disk, when addresses shifted toward the inner radius and outer radius by ½ track each with respect to a track are reproduced, if a lens shift occurs due to eccentricity or deviation of the optical axis, etc., balances of RF signals at the address section are lost. This prevents a gate signal for detecting and separating the address section from being generated or reduces the amplitude of the RF signal at the address section, deteriorates a signal to noise (S/N) ratio and thereby produces a problem of failing to reproduce address information correctly.
Solving this problem using the lens shift correction method in the above-described conventional optical disk apparatus requires a mechanism (detector) and an adjusting circuit for adjusting the tangential phase difference as shown in the signal generation circuit in FIG. 28. For this reason, there are problems that it is difficult to reduce the cost of the optical disk apparatus or reduce the size of the optical pickup.
The present invention has been implemented in view of the above-described problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a tracking control apparatus and optical disk apparatus capable of reducing a lens shift to zero even for an apparatus which uses no phase difference tracking error signal and includes no phase difference adjusting circuit or an optical pickup simply divided into optical detectors.

Control apparatus and optical disk apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An object of the invention is to realize high-accuracy analysis of a flue gas in terms of a trace amount of ammonia so as to control the level of ammonia gas to be added to a flue gas NOx removal apparatus. Since the ammonia gas to be determined is a highly absorbable, the gas component is considerably adsorbed on a surface of the flue gas sampling tube during sampling of flue gas. When a conventional sampling method including heating a gas sampling tube is employed, the amount of sampled gas is reduced through adsorption during gas sampling, failing to obtain concentration values at high accuracy. Thus, a high-accuracy gas sampling method replacing a conventional, heating-based method includes completely washing out, with an absorption liquid therefor serving as a washing liquid, a target ammonia gas deposited on the inner wall of a flue gas sampling tube (2), whereby the gas component is thoroughly collected. Through analysis of the thus-obtained washing liquid, high-accuracy analysis can be attained.

Conventionally, gas component analysis of flue gas has been generally carried out through wet-format analysis including in situ sampling of analytes from the flue gas or through gas monitoring. In the flue gas analysis, gas components such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides can be sampled in a sampling step without particular technical problems, and can be readily determined at a target accuracy.
The gas components to be determined in the invention, such as ammonia gas, are highly absorbable. These gas components are considerably adsorbed on the inner wall of a flue gas sampling tube during sampling of flue gas. Thus, when a conventional sampling method is employed, a portion of the sampled gas is adsorbed on the inner wall of the tube and remains in the tube, failing to obtain measurements of high accuracy.
In order to solve the above problem, hitherto, such problematic adsorption has been generally mitigated through heating a gas sampling tube. In addition, JIS K0099 stipulates a flue gas ammonia analysis method, in which measures against gas adsorption, such as heating a flue gas introduction tube, are taken. The method stipulated by JIS K0099 is a standard method employed, through manual operations, in an ordinary-scale facility at which flue gas is sampled.
In the case where automatic, continuous gas monitoring is performed in a flue gas sampling site such as a comparatively large-scale flue of a boiler placed in a power plant, the present inventors previously employed a gas sampling method in which a flue gas sampling tube equipped with a large-scale heating mechanism is employed, and a large amount of flue gas is introduced through suction to an auto-analyzer. The method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Nos. 3229088 and 3322420.
However, when the above method is employed, problematic adsorption of gas components occurs due to insufficient heating of a gas sampling tube or an insufficiently heated zone of the tube. Therefore, the method is unsatisfactory when applied to a micro-analysis for determining a concentration of about 100 to about 1 ppm at high accuracy. The adsorption causes loss of the gas component(s) to be analyzed.
Specifically, in the above method, a flue gas is introduced, through suction, into an absorption liquid which absorbs ammonia contained in the flue gas, and the amount of ammonia trapped in the absorption liquid is determined, thereby obtaining the ammonia content of the flue gas. In this step, a portion of ammonia gasp is adsorbed on a surface of the gas sampling tube or other relevant sections. Thus, the adsorbed gas component(s) cannot be trapped in the absorption bottle.
When the above phenomena occur, the obtained analytical values become smaller than expected. Under such circumstances, the present invention is directed to an improvement of the flue gas sampling tube section disclosed in Japanese Patent Nos. 3229088 and 3322420.
Ammonia is a highly water-soluble component and is readily adsorbed on a gas sampling tube. Therefore, upon sampling of ammonia, a sampling tube is generally heated in order to suppress dew formation of water and adsorption of ammonia. In this case, the entirety of the gas sampling tube must be sufficiently heated so as to completely heat insufficiently heated sections. Thus, in order to attain sufficient heating effect particularly in connection portions and a similar portion of the sampling tube, know-how and skills therefor are needed.
The aforementioned conventional methods are unsatisfactory for the micro-component analysis of flue gas. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a more reliable gas sampling method, through collecting a gas component deposited on a surface of a flue gas sampling tube, thereby enhancing analysis accuracy.

Method for sampling flue gas for analysis containing gas component having high susceptibility to adsorption


A system and method for determining compliance for one or more information technology services may generate on the spot compliance reports based on real-time data. Compliance data may be retrieved or received from a variety of sources including incident diagnostic utilities, manual data entry and third-party software or applications. A compliance system and method may monitor the data being generated from each of the various sources in a real-time fashion, generating compliance information based thereon.

In today's world, providing information technology services plays an important part in all aspects of business and personal life. Having a robust information technology infrastructure allows businesses to run seamlessly without significant manual intervention or involvement. In view of the importance and ubiquity of information technology, compliance standards have been set in place to insure data integrity and security. Currently, many businesses and organizations try to insure compliance by requesting audits on a periodic basis. However, oftentimes, such compliance is based on out of date information and thus, might not provide an accurate depiction of the compliance of information technology services and systems. Additionally, audits typically require weeks if not months of time, rendering on the spot compliance reports virtually impossible.
For the foregoing reasons, a system and method for determining compliance of information technology services is needed.


Inter-area connectors are optimally placed on peripheries of bounded areas within an integrated circuit. Once circuit components are placed upon the integrated circuit, global optimum paths for connector lines between signal connectors within all the circuit components are calculated. This may be performed by calculating a global optimum rectilinear spanning tree for each net of signal connectors. Once the global optimum paths are calculated, inter-area connectors are placed at each location on a periphery of any of the circuit components where a global optimum path crosses the periphery. Finally, connector lines may be placed along the global optimum paths. For signal connectors and inter-area connectors within each circuit component, internal connector lines are routed between signal connectors along the global optimum paths within the circuit component. Also, between the circuit components, inter-area connector lines are routed between inter-area connectors along the global optimum paths.

The present invention concerns optimal placement of inter-area connectors on the periphery of bounded areas on an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit is generally divided into bounded areas. All the circuitry within each bounded area may be generally referred to as a circuit component. Signal connectors within a circuit component are connected to other signal connectors in the same circuit component through internal connector lines. Signal connectors are connected to signal connectors in other circuit components by first being connected through internal connector lines to inter-area connectors located on the periphery of the circuit components. The inter-area connectors are connected together through inter-area connector lines. A group of all signal connectors and inter-area connectors which are to be routed together is called a connector net. All connector lines, whether internal or inter-area, have a measurable width and take up space on the integrated circuit which is directly proportional to their length.
When selecting locations on the integrated circuit in which to place the circuit components, it is desirable to select locations so that the area on the integrated circuit is optimally utilized. Optimal placement of circuit components occurs when the dead space, that is area between circuit components which is not utilized by circuit components, is minimized, and when the estimated total length of connector lines is minimized.
Once circuit components are placed on an integrated circuit, a router is used to route connector lines between the signal connectors. In the prior art, typically, a router program is used to first route all signal connectors internally within each circuit component. In doing this internal routing, inter-area connectors are first placed on the periphery of each circuit component to account for routing of nets of signal connectors which span more than one circuit component. The process of internal routing may include an internal router going though multiple stages of congestion estimation, initial routing, and rip-up and re-route in order to ensure that the number of tracks required in each internal channel does not exceed the channel capacity. Once the internal routing is complete, an inter-area router connects all the inter-area connectors.
In the prior art, when selecting a location on a periphery of a circuit component for the placement of an inter-area connector, the prime objective has been to align the inter-area connector with other inter-area or internal connectors which belong to the same connector net. However, this often results in non-optimal routing of connector lines within circuit components. There has been little or no work done on the problem of selecting the location of inter-area connectors to simultaneously optimize inter-area and internal routing of connector lines. For examples of prior art routing schemes, see for example, Charles Ng, Sunil Ashtaputre, Elizabeth Chambers, Kieu-huong Do, Siu-tong Hui, Rajiv Mody, and Dale Wong; A Hierarchical Floor-Planning, Placement, and Routing Tool for Sea-of-Gates Designs, IEEE 1989 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, pp. 3.3.1-3.3.4; and see David Hsu, Leslie Grate, Charles Ng, Mark Hartoog and Denis Bohm, The ChipCompiler, An Automated Standard Cell/Macrocell Physical Design Tool, IEEE 1987 Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, p 488-491.

Method for placement of connectors used interconnecting circuit components in an integrated circuit


The method comprises the steps of inputting a first set of data into both a physical system and into an SVR model. The method includes collecting a second set of system data from the physical system and stacking a plurality of SVR models to form an output prediction without feeding back the model output. Another aspect of the invention includes a method of hybrid modeling having delayed output measurement. This method includes the steps of inputting a first set of data into both a physical system and into an SVR model and collecting a second set of system data from the physical system. A modeling error is injected into both the second set of system data from the physical system and a third set of system data from the SVR model wherein the modeling error thereby leads to substantially improved model output.

Models of dynamic systems are of great importance in almost all fields of science and engineering and specifically in control, signal processing, and information science. Most systems encountered in the real world are nonlinear and in many practical applications nonlinear models are required to achieve an adequate modeling accuracy. A model is always only an approximation of a real phenomenon so that having an approximation theory which allows for analysis of model quality is a substantial concern.
A support vector regression (SVR) model was developed for accurate modeling of nonlinear systems. While the SVR capability for representing static nonlinearity has been proven to be powerful in several case studies, its application for nonlinear dynamic system modeling has met several challenges. Particularly, difficulty in implementing the SVR model in parallel configuration for dynamic systems has been identified as one of the key hurdles in this application. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to provide an SVR model having a parallel or parallel-like configuration for dynamic systems.
The SVR model is optimized and implemented in a series-parallel configuration. FIG. 1A illustrates the series-parallel configuration. The series-parallel configuration takes the measured inputs and outputs to predict the future output of a dynamic system. The model and physical system are running in parallel, but the output of the physical system is fed into the SVR model. For other applications, particularly for cases where outputs are not measured, a model having a parallel configuration, such as shown in FIG. 1B, is required. The parallel model does not rely on output from the physical system to predict the future output. Therefore, it can be run in parallel with the physical system.
While the derivation of the SVR models for the series-parallel implementation can be formulated as a linear programming or quadratic programming optimization problem, the direct optimization of the SVR model for the parallel implementation is computationally prohibitive. Consequently, the derivation of the parallel model is often done as a post-processing step after the series-parallel model as shown in FIG. 1A is derived. It is common for one to derive the series-parallel model using linear programming or quadratic programming and then rewrite the resulting SVR model as shown in FIG. 1A into a parallel implementation as shown in FIG. 1B.
The parallel and series-parallel models are different in structure in that the parallel model requires internal feedback while the series-parallel model does not. The parallel model directly translated from the series-parallel model cannot be guaranteed to have the desired properties, such as stability and model accuracy.

SVR dynamic system modeling with delayed output measurements

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A slip hitch connection to a drive vehicle for a snow plow comprises an elongated flat planar member that can be hooked on to a connecting lug of the drive vehicle, the flat planar member being mounted on the snow plow frame for reciprocal movement in each of a pair of spaced apart coupling assemblies secured to the snow plow frame for connecting the snow plow to the drive vehicle. Each of the elongated flat planar members have an upper and lower elongated guide slot in which guide bolts that move up and down as the snow plow itself is moved up and down are received to enable the guide bolts and snow plow to which they are connected make limited reciprocal movement up and down while hooked up to the drive vehicle and being pushed forward during a snow plowing operation. This enables the snow plow to move rearwardly and upwardly enough to clear an object hit by the leading edge of the snow plow on the ground and then to reciprocate forwardly and downwardly to its original position after passing over the obstacle.

The typical prior art hitches or coupling assemblies for snow plows that connect them to a drive vehicle have a rigid non-release mechanism. When a blocking object is encountered on the ground, the only way for such prior art connections of a snow plow to a drive vehicle to get over the obstacle is for the operator to manually operate the lifting and lowering mechanism of the coupling assembly to raise the snow plow that way, then drive past the obstacle and then manually operate the lifting and lowering mechanism to lower the snow plow back on to the ground.