A skate wheel including a hard urethane hub formed with a drop center between radially projecting guide flanges, and including stand-off ribs disposed in equidistant spaced relation thereabout. Pairs of centering fins are spaced axially along a number of stand-off ribs thereby forming a central groove along the drop center. An annular bladder with an interior annular stand-off skirt is nested within the centering fins and concentric with the drop center. The wheel body is formed of a soft polyurethane and surrounds the drop center and encapsulates the annular tube, thereby forming a contoured surface. A method of manufacturing the wheel that includes selecting a welded seam annular tube, pre-pressurize it and then further pressurize it through the exothermic reaction by pouring liquid urethane in a mold to form the tire.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to in-line roller skate wheels and more particularly to a pre-pressurized pneumatic skate wheel of integral polyurethane construction having contour conforming tire support wall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Roller skates and roller skate wheels have been known in the art. Typically, roller skates have incorporated four wheels in each skate. Early wheels were constructed of either wood or metal depending on the intended use. Wood wheels were most often used for indoor roller rink skating while metal wheels were used for outdoor skating. Inflatable roller skate wheels, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 988,533 to Zverina, provided a simple, durable and economic roller skate wheel. Zverina includes an inflatable tube encased in a conventional tire.
In the past, many skate wheels were constructed of rubber. The availability of polyurethane in skate wheel construction has enhanced the enjoyment and popularity of outdoor skating. Typically roller skates have been constructed with four wheels in a box-like configuration. Such skates, while functional, do not allow for the freedom of movement experienced by ice skaters. It was thus proposed to mount the roller skate wheels in a line along the skate frame to achieve mobility which closely mimicked the movement of an ice skate. Since that time, "in-line roller skates" have become one of the most popular recreational and physical fitness activities in the United States, and elsewhere. In-line skating has also developed into a highly sophisticated and technologically advancing commercial market.
The recreational skater often travels a variety of terrains ranging from concrete and wood to more bumpy and uneven surfaces such as asphalt which may exhibit bumps, pits and even wide cracks with vegetation growing therein. The main concern experienced by the recreational skater is to obtain a comfortable ride while skating socially, participating in physical fitness or even just a way to reach a destination. This skater requires a resilient wheel which is light weight and shock resistant. More experienced skaters, such as competitive skaters, employ in-line skates for sporting purposes such as hockey or road racing. Dancers typically prefer relatively hard tire bodies since some slippage is an acceptable compromise for the performance required. On the other hand, a hockey player would prefer a softer tire having excellent surface gripping characteristics. In the past, these various performance characteristics have been attained only by expensive painstaking manufacturing processes.
Polyurethane in-line skate wheels proposed in the past have typically been constructed by injection molding to form a hub surrounded by a tire body of solid urethane. It is desirable that such wheels provide a durable and relatively smooth ride over many types of terrains. Solid polyurethane bodies have been proposed. Such tire bodies are necessarily restricted in that the performance characteristics cannot be easily and inexpensively adjusted during the manufacturing process to accommodate the many different support surfaces and loads emanated by a skate employed in a demanding sport such as, for instance, hockey. Unlike a traditional quad or box-style roller skate, in-line skates are designed to withstand a variety of different side loads due to the inclination of the skate along its horizontal axis when turning, as well as high intensity shock loads from quick stops, bumps and other road hazards. Thus the designers of in-line skate wheels have an intensely difficult task when faced with such diverse performance requirements. One attempt to solve the shock absorption and performance problems can be found in the injection molded tire shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,844 to Goniser. Goniser discloses a wheel incorporating a hard urethane hub and a softer, injection molded solid body polyether type polyurethane tire formed on the hub. Wheels of this type have not gained general acceptance in the in-line U.S. skate market. It is believed that the tire bodies in such wheels cannot be easily and inexpensively made to exhibit the characteristics demanded by users. The capital cost for each injection mold is considerable thus limiting the number of styles of tires that can be manufactured cost effectively with different operating characteristics.
Thus, there exists a need for a skate wheel which can be inexpensively casted from thermoset polyurethane by a method which allows for convenience adjustment of the tire body to exhibit different operating characteristics without the necessity of making entirely new molds or involving an expensive development procedure to develop new or different thermoplastic urethane. It has been discovered that soft polyurethane exhibits desirable characteristics for in-line skate wheels in that the outer peripheral tread surface tends to flex and compress in response to forces associated with rolling contact under load involving irregular support surfaces. However, solid thermoplastic polyurethane tire bodies suffer the shortcoming that they consume a substantial quantity of polyurethane and that the force absorption characteristics are not ideal. The performance factors with which an in-line skater is concerned for when skating over concrete, asphalt or a composition, are speed, grip, durability and shock absorption. While all four factors are important for active sports such as hockey, grip is critical to preventing slippage and minimizing abrasion and wear.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an in-line skate wheel which combines the resiliency and performance of a polyurethane wheel with the enhanced grip, durability and shock absorption properties associated with hollow body wheel construction and which can be casted from thermo setting polyurethane. A solution proposed in our U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/354,374 filed Dec. 12, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,891, assigned to the assignee of the instant application, sets forth an in-line skate wheel with an adjustable bladder encapsulated inside the polyurethane skate wheel. Pressure in the bladder is adjustable through the use of a valve system. Such a wheel allows the skater to adjust wheel performance to match his or her needs for the particular skating maneuver to be undertaken. Since the skater has multiple performance options available without purchasing multiple wheels and without having to manually change the skate wheels, such a wheel is versatile, cost effective and convenient. While having important commercial applications, it is recognized that such an adjustable pneumatic in-line skate wheel requires the skater to manipulate the wheel each time skate conditions change and the wheel itself is relatively costly to manufacture.
Another form of in-line skate wheel with similar urethane and pneumatic benefits can be found in our U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/595,844 filed Feb. 2, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,365, also assigned to the assignee of the instant application. In that application, we show a pre-pressurized pneumatic in-line skate wheel of integral construction and consisting of an annular bladder and a plurality of radially projecting bladder rods. Such an invention is relatively cost effective to manufacture but employs a relatively elaborate bladder and valve construction.
In other areas of the art, such as in the construction of variable pressure athletic shoes, it has been known to provide elastomeric bladders configured with multiple discrete chamber or open cell elastomeric foam having inlet and outlet valves. Devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,183,156 and 4,287,250 to Rudy and U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,708 to Pekar. However, such bladders have not been generally adapted to or employed in skate wheel construction.
Thus there exists a need for an inexpensive in-line skate wheel configured with a polyurethane weight bearing tire wall securely bonded to a rigid hub and configured with a hollow annular cavity to thus minimize the volume of polyurethane required for the tire body and enhance the conformance of the tire to the underlying support surface. It is important that such a wheel be inexpensive to manufacture in a number of different tire hardness and adapted for operation on a number of different surfaces and under different operating conditions.
As can be seen, there remains a need for an in-line skate wheel which combines the benefits of the shock absorptive properties found in pneumatics with the resiliency of polyurethane, but in a manner that is easier and more cost effective to manufacture.

Hollow core in-line skate wheel having contour conforming polyurethane wall


The invention concerns an accessory (112) for coupling to a portable electronic device (110). The accessory includes an interface (120) for coupling to the portable electronic device, an identifier (124) in which the identifier generates at least in part a parameter and at least one speaker (128). Only if the accessory contains more than one speaker, the parameter generated at least in part by the identifier causes an audio amplifier (148) that drives one of the speakers to be activated. In addition, the parameter generated at least in part by the identifier can cause the audio amplifier to be deactivated if the accessory contains only one speaker.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to portable electronic devices and their accessories and more particularly to methods of operating the accessories.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable electronic devices are ubiquitous in today's society. Many of these devices, such as cellular telephones, two-way radios or personal digital assistants, include connectors for receiving a wide variety of accessories. For example, many of these devices can receive a headset accessory that includes one or more speakers and a microphone. Many headsets now include two speakers, while a significant number of headsets only have one speaker. To accommodate both types of headsets, the portable electronic device to which a headset will be coupled may include two separate audio amplifiers because two-speaker headsets may require them to deliver stereo audio.
Such an arrangement works efficiently for two-speaker headsets, as both amplifiers are used to provide audio gain. If the headset only includes one speaker, however, only one of the amplifiers will be used to amplify audio; the remaining amplifier will simply cause a needless current drain, a disadvantage that simply cannot be afforded because of the limited amount of battery life in today's portable electronic devices. Additionally, the unused amplifier may be susceptible to damage because it may be grounded when the one-speaker headset is coupled to the portable electronic device.

Method and system for operating accessory controls


Circuitry that performs floating-point operations on an integrated circuit is provided. The circuitry may execute a floating-point operation by decomposing the floating-point operation into multiple steps and decomposing the floating-point number on which to perform the floating-point operation into multiple portions. The circuitry may include storage circuits that store at least some results of the multiple steps, and memory access operations may be performed using some portions of the floating-point number. The circuitry may use arithmetic floating-point and arithmetic fixed-point circuits to implement Taylor series expansion circuits that may perform a subset of the multiple steps, thereby reducing the complexity of the subset of these steps.

This invention relates to integrated circuits and, more particularly, to circuitry that performs floating-point operations on an integrated circuit.
Floating-point numbers are commonplace for representing real numbers in scientific notation in integrated circuits thanks to a desirable balance between numeric range and precision. Floating-point numbers are typically represented in binary format in accordance with the IEEE754 standard, which defines a floating-point number as consisting of a sign, a mantissa, and an exponent.
Elementary operations such as the natural exponential function or the natural logarithmic function are frequently performed on floating-point numbers. The implementation of these operations in digital circuits often use polynomial approximation methods that combine small tables and branching with arithmetic floating-point operation such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
However, polynomial approximation methods of elementary operations often require a large amount of latency and use many device resources. Therefore, a more efficient support for elementary operations such as the natural exponential function and the natural logarithmic function and similarly resource intensive floating-point operations may be desirable.

Embedded floating-point operator circuitry


One aspect related to design of systems and methods for manufacturing products that include technology in skilled areas is configuring a production station for use by an operator without specialized skills. The present invention contemplates an approach to designing a station configurable to perform one or more of incoming inspection, assembly, testing, and branding. A preferred approach includes verifying data associated with units prior to accepting them for incorporation, preventing incorporation of an incorrect unit, and guiding an operator in possible remedial action. This approach includes storing data in a server and making such data substantially instantly accessible to production stations once written in the server. Such data preferably includes software to configure the production station such that the operator need not have specialized skills. A production station designed using this approach is particularly useful in the manufacture of an outdoor unit of a split-mount microwave radio system.

Manufacturing of products includes processing of subassemblies at multiple production stations with each station designated, for instance, to one or more of incoming inspection, assembly, testing, calibration, and branding. Many products to be manufactured include multiple subassemblies, one or more of which are capable of being configured in multiple ways. Prior to accepting a subassembly for incorporation into the product, the process ideally verifies data associated with the subassembly, such as part number and configuration revision, to avoid errors.
Such verification requires access to data associated with the bill of materials (BOM) of the product to be manufactured, data from manufacturing stages prior to the subassembly's arrival at the particular production station, correct and actual configuration revisions, etc. If the verification is not successful, the subassembly is not accepted for incorporation into the product.
Some products include technology in particularly skilled areas. Examples of skilled areas of technology include radio frequency and microwave technologies in products such as microwave radios, medical devices such as X-ray, CAT (computed axial tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines, or fiber optics systems. Such products often include one or more subassemblies capable of configuration. Errors in the manufacture of a product may result, alter shipping, in unacceptable performance, liability for failing to conform to regulations or standards, or other anticipated or unanticipated problems. In some skilled areas of technology, such as those involved in medical devices, errors may cause physical harm.
Therefore, there is a need to consider the foregoing in the design of manufacturing systems and methods and the benefit of verifying data associated with subassemblies prior to accepting them for incorporation into a product to be manufactured. One desired aspect of such design might be to substantially increase accessibility of data and software used for verification purposes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Intelligent production station and production method

Harris Stratex Networks Operating Corporation


There is disclosed a broadband HF antenna, which is fully integrated on a naval ship. This antenna enables to transmit and/or receive radio-frequency waves from a naval ship. The antenna comprises a radiating element and an exciting element. The exciting element excites the radiating element when fed with current. The radiating element is a structural element of the ship itself.

Existing shipboard High Frequency (HF) transmit antennas, i.e. antennas transmitting waves between 1 and 30 MHz, cause major problems for proper mechanical integration on the ship. These problems are mainly due to the large extension of the antennas, which result in mechanical obstruction of on-board sensors and/or weapon systems. The height of these antennas also increases the risk of lightning strike. These problems are also related to high electromagnetic field strengths in the neighbourhood of the antennas, thus increasing the risk of radiation hazards to people and electromagnetic interferences (EMI) to other equipments. Moreover, the transmission efficiency is not optimal in a large part of the HF band due to a too low or too high antenna impedance. In addition, these problems are also related to high maintenance costs.
A conventional solution for providing a shipboard HF transmit antenna, consists in using a whip antenna, which is the most common example of a monopole antenna. Unfortunately, a whip antenna has many disadvantages. First, a shipboard HF transmit whip antenna is long, typically 10 meters. Furthermore, for a given frequency channel in the band, a whip antenna requires a tuning unit for proper impedance matching between the antenna itself, the generator and to the coax feed cable. Consequently, only one communication line can be used per whip antenna. When more communication lines are required, several 10 meters long whip antennas have to be arranged on the ship. This considerably increases the risk of EMI and radiation hazards. This also result in blocking of other equipment, which often causes serious performance degradation of shipboard radars and other sensors. In addition, the efficiency of such monopole antennas is low in a large part of the HF band.
Another conventional solution for providing a shipboard HF transmit antenna, consists in using towel bar antennas. Towel bar antennas are commonly used for so-called 'Nearly Vertical Incident Skywave' (NVIS) communication, which requires a high antenna gain at high elevation angles. Unfortunately, towel bar antennas have many disadvantages. First, towel bar antennas are not suitable for omnidirectional transmission at low elevation. Just as for the whip antenna, a tuning unit is required for impedance matching. Consequently, only one communication line can be used per towel bar antenna. When more communication lines are required, several towel bar antennas have to be arranged on the ship, thus increasing the risk of EMI and radiation hazards. In addition, the efficiency is low in a large part of HF band.
Yet another conventional solution for providing a shipboard HF transmit antenna, consists in using fan wire antennas. Fan wire antennas are commonly used for broadband transmissions. Even if the efficiency remains low in a large part of HF band, it is generally better in the lower part of the HF band than with whip or towel bar antennas. Unfortunately, fan wire antennas have many disadvantages. First, a fan wire antenna has to be quite large to optimise its efficiency in the lower part of the HF band. As a consequence, it generally has an extension above a large part of the ship, hereby dramatically blocking other equipments or leading to high risks of EMI.
In an attempt to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, non-conventional concepts for HF antennas have been described, namely compact HF antennas and fractal antennas.
Compact HF antennas are antennas, of which length is less than a quarter the wavelength. For example, the spiral antenna, the magnetic loop antenna, the ExH antenna, the Crossed Field Antenna (CFA) or the Isotron antenna are compact HF antennas. Other examples are the helical whip antenna, the doublet antenna, as well as any small dipole or loaded dipole. Also for radio broadcast in the LF and MF bands, compact or so called 'shortened' antennas are used in some cases. Unfortunately, a compact HF antenna has also many disadvantages. In principle, the radiation efficiency of a compact HF antenna is extremely low, except for a very narrow frequency band. For this reason, compact HF antenna are often designed to be used in a fixed and quite narrow frequency band, even when it is labelled as a 'broadband' antenna. When a compact antenna is used for broadband transmission, it is accepted that the antenna efficiency is quite low.
Several types of compact antennas can be tuned, however the tuning of a compact HF antenna is critical, due to the extremely narrow bandwidth. The radiation efficiency remains still low, due to a bad matching of the real part of the impedance. Consequently, when more communication lines are required, several compact HF antennas have to be arranged on the ship, thus increasing the risks of EMI and radiation hazards.
Fractal antennas are a relatively compact type of antenna. Recently, it has been introduced a fractal antenna for naval HF communications. Unfortunately, a fractal antenna has also many disadvantages. Just as for the conventional and the compact HF antennas, the efficiency of fractal antennas is low in a large part of HF band due to a too low or too high real part of the impedance. Furthermore, just as for the monopole antenna, for a given frequency channel in the band, a tuning unit is required for proper impedance matching between the antenna itself, the generator and possibly to a coax feed cable. Consequently, only one communication line can be used per antenna. When more communication lines are required, several antennas have to be arranged on the ship, thus increasing the risk of EMI, radiation hazards and blocking of other equipment.
In an attempt to provide an HF antenna allowing easy mechanical integration on a naval ship, G. Marrocco and L. Mattioni recently described a naval structural HF antenna in their paper titled 'Naval Structural Antenna Systems for Broadband HF Communications' (IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, vol 54, NO. 4, April 2006). The antenna described in this paper consists basically in a set of long vertical metal rods or wires, the set being so called "subradiator", connected to the top of kind of an enlarged state-of-the-art mast or a large funnel. According to the authors, the principle of the structural antenna they describe is that of a folded monopole, where the subradiator is the radiating element and where the enlarged mast or the funnel acts only as a thick return wire. That is the reason why the subradiator must, in principle, be more than a quarter the wavelength to achieve reasonable efficiency. The performances of the described structural antenna are then optimised by forming an extra nested loop at the top of the subradiator and by arranging a set of impedance loads along the rods or wires. Unfortunatley, such an antenna still gives mediocre possibilities for integration. Indeed, a plurality of large subradiators are needed to achieve reasonable performances, since the described subradiators are typically 12 meters long. The large extension of the subradiators results in blocking or reflection of waves from and to other equipments, thus seriously degrading performances at a system level. The large extension of the subradiators also results in increasing the risk of EMI and radiation hazards. The use of subradiators peaking more than 12 meters high also increases the risks of lightning strike in the HF antenna. Moreover, even if the antenna offers the possibility for simultaneous transmissions, the number of frequency channels remains limited by the number of subradiators arranged around the enlarged mast or the funnel of the ship. Furthermore, each subradiator has to be connected to a separate power generator and tuning unit, which increase the amount of required equipment, the number of cables and thus also the complexity of the system integration.

Broadband HF antenna fully integrated on a naval ship


An eyeglass temple assembly has a main body combined with a foam earplug at an outer end. A moving element connected to an inner end of the main body has one end being provided with an annual toothed portion having an engaging segment therein. A connecting element connected to an eyeglass frame has one end provided with an annual toothed plate with a through hole so as to correspondingly and pivotally connect to the moving element. Curved grooves are provided along a perimeter between the through hole and the annual toothed plate on the connecting element so as to provide flexibility for the engaging segment of the connecting element to pass through the through hole of the connecting element. Whereby the eyeglass temple assembly can be used in combination with eyeglasses with functional lenses, so as to facilitate position adjustment of the eyeglasses by moving the eyeglasses up and down.

A variety of eyewear assemblies adopted to protect eyes in the conventional art are usually configured to have respective temples connected at a frame combined with functional lenses, such as eye-protective sunglasses used for welding purpose. When being worn, the temples are placed upon the user's ears so as to provide safety to a user at work. However, after a period of working, the user usually needs to take off the eyewear from time to time. Then, the protective eyewear is put back again to allow the user to continue working, which is inconvenient for the user. On the other hand, for users working in a noisy environment, earplugs are usually plugged into ears for protection so as to prevent injury caused during long working hours.


The present invention relates to an injection noncatalyst denitrogen oxide process control system, in which a reducing agent (such as ammonia), carriers and additional gases are injected into the flue gas of a combustion device. The NO.sub.x in the flue gas will be reduced into nitrogen (N.sub.2) and water (H.sub.2 O). A pressure measurement device and a thermocouple device are installed in an injector for measuring the pressure difference and the temperature of the flue gas respectively, and then be converted into a voltage signal and a thermocouple signal respectively. Both of the signals will be transferred into a controller that is controlled by a computer. The controller can control the flow mass of the reducing agent, carriers and additional gases to the flue gas. Therefore, the reduction reaction of the NO.sub.x can be controlled, thereby maximizing the rate of denitrogen oxide (deNOx) and minimizing the discharge amount of the reducing agent.

The present invention relates to an injection type noncatalyst denitrogen oxide (deNO.sub.x) process control system, and in particular to control the amount of denitrogen oxide (deNO.sub.x) automatically according to the flue gas conditions of a combustion device.
Environmental preservation has become increasingly important. Nitrogen oxide has been discovered to be the major cause of acid rain. In fact, almost all nitrogen oxides come from burning fossil fuels. As a result, stringent regulations to reduce the allowable emissions of nitrogen oxides are being promulgated in many industrial areas of the world.
The combustion industry is faced with the necessity of having to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides from its existing units. However, conventional combustion technologies can't meet standards for low NO.sub.x emissions set by such stringent regulations. In order to meet such standards, methods for reducing nitrogen oxides in furnaces have been developed. These methods can be divided into two groups, i.e., the pre-treatment method and the post-treatment method. The pre-treatment method reduces the nitrogen oxides in the flue gas by use of the direct combustion method, i.e., by using the combustion technology of low nitrogen oxide. The post-treatment method reduces the nitrogen oxide to nitrogen by additional reducing agent (such as ammonia, urea) to the already generated flue gas. Examples of the post-treatment method include Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) and the Selective Non-Catalyst Reduction (SNCR). The present invention relates to the control system for the SNCR method of post-treatment.
The SNCR method was invented by the Exxon Research and Engineering Co. in 1973. The SNCR method involves injecting ammonia (NH.sub.3) into the high temperature flue gas within a temperature range of 870.degree. C. to 1200.degree. C. The NO.sub.x can be reduced to N.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O by selective reaction of NO.sub.x and NH.sub.3 during high temperature. The process of reducing NO.sub.x to N.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O requires lower capital investment than the SCR method, whereas the SCR method involves reaction by use of a catalyst at a temperature between 250.degree. C. and 400.degree. C.
The performance of the SNCR method depends on the ratio of NH.sub.3 to NO and the temperature during the reaction. The SNCR method consumes more reducing agent and is proved to be more serious ammonia slip than the SCR method, because the SNCR method has a higher ratio of NH.sub.3 to NO than the SCR method.
Besides NH.sub.3, the SNCR method can also use other reducing agents, such as urea, CH.sub.3 NH.sub.2 and (CHNO).sub.3. The SNCR method can be applied to gas and oil-fired steam boilers, utility boilers, municipal incinerators, oil field steam generators, glass melting furnaces and flue-coke furnaces.
Nowadays, almost all applications of SNCR method involve installing the injection grid within a flue gas at a proper flue gas temperature to inject reducing agent, such as NH.sub.3. The reaction occurs after mixing the reducing agent and the flue gas. Location of the injection grid is extremely important so as to achieve optimum performance of denitrogen oxide (deNOx). Unfortunately, the optimum location of adding the SNCR installation in an original system is always limited by its equipment space. In addition, the system may sometimes encounter insufficient reaction temperature during low load operation. Furthermore, rust, corrosive or heavy fouling of the injection grid can easily happen if it directly reacts with the flue gas.
The development of a new SNCR technique employs both an injection grid and a wall injector at the same time. FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of the prior art for utilizing both an injection grid and a wall injector in an oil-fired steam boiler 1, wherein 11 indicates an injection grid, 12 indicates a wall jet, 13 indicates a primary superheater, 14 indicates a secondary superheater, 15 indicates a reheat superheater, 16 indicates a burner, 17 indicates a flue gas outlet, 18 indicates an air inlet, 19 indicates flue gas flow. The new SNCR technique offers the advantages of high performance, better load following without hydrogen, grid-less injectors and lower capital investment.
However, the above mentioned new SNCR technique still has some disadvantages, i.e., the discharge amount of the reducing agent cannot auto-adjust itself in response to the reaction temperature and the amount of flue gas. The control technique for the SNCR method is substantially more important than that for the SCR method, since the denitrogen oxide (deNO.sub.x) rate and the discharge amount of NH.sub.3 are affected by the mixing of NH.sub.3 and the flue gas, the retention time of NH.sub.3, and the reaction temperature. Therefore, the highest rate of denitrogen oxide (deNO.sub.x) and the less discharge amount of NH.sub.3 can be achieved by controlling the optimum operation conditions.

Injection type non-catalyst denitrogen oxide process control system

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A method and associated apparatus for feeding electric power from a photovoltaic system via a grid connection point into an AC grid having a low short-circuit power is disclosed. The method includes connecting a DC voltage side of at least one first inverter of the photovoltaic system to a photovoltaic generator and an AC voltage side of the at least one first inverter to the grid connection point, wherein the at least one first inverter is operated as a current source, and connecting an AC voltage side of a second inverter of the photovoltaic system to the grid connection point, wherein the second inverter is operated as a voltage source based on measurement values of an AC voltage measured in the region of the photovoltaic system and a predefined characteristic curve. For a first total short-circuit power of all first inverters operated as a current source, and a second total short-circuit power of the AC grid and of the second inverter operated as a voltage source, a ratio of the second total short-circuit power to the first total short-circuit power is greater than or equal to 2.

When electric power produced on a renewable basis is fed into AC grids in a decentralized manner, problems arise, as is known, as a result of high grid impedances, such as are unavoidable with long connection lines. The high grid impedances have the consequence that the electric power fed in leads to a significant increase in the AC voltage present at the grid connection point. Moreover, fluctuations in the electric power fed in lead to fluctuations in the AC voltage present at the grid connection point. This results in difficulties in stably operating inverters which are used for feeding in the electric power and which are constantly synchronized with the AC voltage. Emergency shutdowns occur in practice, even though the AC grid would be able, in principle, to take up the electric power produced on a renewable basis.
In the case of a wind power system it is known to use so-called STATCOMs and capacitor banks and also synchronous capacitors in order to stabilize the AC voltage at a grid connection point. These are comparatively complex measures.
WO 2013/041534 A2 discloses a method for controlling a photovoltaic system having a photovoltaic generator and an inverter, said photovoltaic system being connected to an AC grid. In that case, electric power comprising positive and negative dynamic control power is transferred between the photovoltaic generator and the AC grid by the inverter depending on a received power control signal. The photovoltaic generator is connected via a DC/DC converter to an input-side DC link circuit of the inverter, to which a battery is furthermore connected via a bidirectional DC/DC converter. With the aid of the battery, positive control power for the AC grid can be provided via the inverter independently of the infeed of electric power from the photovoltaic generator. The battery is charged with electric power from the photovoltaic generator or the AC grid and kept charged until positive control power is required. The electric power buffer-stored in the battery is then fed into the AC grid via the battery inverter and the inverter.
DE 101 40 783 A1 discloses a device for equitable parallel operation of at least two inductively coupled inverters without an additional synchronization and/or communication unit. Each inverter is provided with a control loop intended for closed-loop control of its output voltage, a reference voltage being fed to said control loop as a setpoint voltage, the frequency of said reference voltage being derived from the active power taking account of a preselected frequency droop and the amplitude of said reference voltage being derived from the reactive power taking account of a preselected voltage droop. Active power oscillations between the inverters are avoided by means of a phase feedforward control.

Feeding electric power from a photovoltaic system into an AC system having a low short-circuit capacity


Embodiments of this disclosure relate to the communications field, and provide a repeated transmission method and an apparatus, to increase a probability of successful decoding of a user equipment. The method includes: performing, by a user equipment, first transmission of uplink data, and sending a first reference signal to a network device based on a first transmit power, where the first reference signal is used to demodulate the first transmission of the uplink data; and performing, by the user equipment, Nth transmission of the uplink data, and sending a second reference signal to the network device based on a second transmit power, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, the second reference signal is used to demodulate the Nth transmission of the uplink data, and the second transmit power is less than the first transmit power.

In a third generation (3-generation, 3G) mobile communication technology or a fourth generation (4-generation, 4G) mobile communication technology, a grant-based mode is usually used for uplink transmission, to be specific, a user equipment (UE) requests a transmission resource and a transmission parameter from a base station before the uplink transmission, and the base station determines the transmission resource and the transmission parameter based on the request, and delivers the transmission resource and the transmission parameter to the user equipment by using control signaling. In fifth generation (5-generation, 5G) mobile communication technology communication, the industry proposes a new transmission mode, namely, uplink transmission without dynamic scheduling, which is also referred to as uplink transmission without dynamic grant, or uplink transmission with configured grant, or grant-free uplink transmission. In the uplink transmission without dynamic scheduling mode, the user equipment does not need to request a scheduling resource from the base station before sending data, while directly sending service data by using a time-frequency resource pre-configured by the base station. In this way, signaling overheads may be greatly reduced, and an access delay may be shortened. In the uplink transmission without dynamic scheduling mode, to improve reliability, the user equipment sends uplink data in a repeated (repetition) transmission manner, to be specific, the user equipment may repeatedly send a same data packet for K times, where K is an integer greater than 0. Each time the user equipment sends the data packet, the user equipment also sends a pilot. The base station determines, by detecting the pilot, whether the user equipment transmits the data packet in a current subframe.
An existing communications protocol (for example, the 3GPP 38.214 protocol) specifies a transmission opportunity (TO) in which the user equipment can perform initial transmission in repeated transmission in a transmission periodicity P. For example, when a redundancy version (RV) sequence is {0, 0, 0, 0} or {0, 3, 0, 3}, the initial transmission in the repeated transmission may start from a TO in which an RV 0 in the transmission periodicity P is located. In the uplink transmission without dynamic scheduling mode, when time-frequency resources probably pre-configured by the base station for different UEs are the same or overlap, a collision may occur between initial transmission and retransmission of the different UEs. As shown in FIG. 1, an example in which the RV sequence configured by the base station is {0, 3, 0, 3} is used. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram in which initial transmission of a UE 2 collides with retransmission of a UE 1. A pilot that is sent by the UE 2 and that is used for the initial transmission is interfered by a pilot that is sent by the UE 1 and that is used for the retransmission, and this affects detection performed by the base station on the initial transmission of the UE 2.
Because decoding reliability of initial transmission of the UE is the highest, when initial transmission of one UE collides with retransmission of another UE, detection reliability of the initial transmission of the UE may be reduced. Consequently, a probability of successful decoding of the UE is reduced.

Repeated transmission method and apparatus


A new and distinct variety of Agarista populifolia plant which possesses a low compact growth habit, reddish-bronze undulate shaped immature foliage, and fragrant white flowers.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Agarista, botanically known as Agarista populifolia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Taylor""s Treasurexe2x80x99. This new Agarista variety was discovered by David W. Taylor in the summer of 1995 as an openly pollinated seedling in a group of unnamed, unpatented Agarista populifolia plants at Taylor""s Nursery in Semmes, Ala. The value of this new cultivar lies in its unique compact growth habit and attractive reddish-bronze undulate shaped immature foliage. xe2x80x98Taylor""s Treasurexe2x80x99 has retained many of the outstanding attributes of the parent species, in particular its tolerance of insects and disease which makes it adaptable to culture in the Sunbelt states.
Asexual propagation of the new plant by cuttings has been under Mr. Taylor""s direction at the same location. The new plant retains its distinctive characteristics and reproduces true to the type in successive generations. The plant cannot be reproduced true from seed.
The following are the most outstanding and distinguishing characteristics of this new cultivar when grown under normal horticultural practices in Semmes, Ala.
1. Low compact growth habit.
2. The reddish-bronze color and undulate margins of the immature foliage is unique and offers a novel and strikingly appealing contrast of new foliage to old foliage in plants of this market class.
3. Attractive bell-shaped, fragrant white flowers.
4. Numerous flowers per plant.
5. Attractive evergreen foliage.
6. Fast growth rate under normal fertilization and moisture conditions.
7. Easily propagated with semi-hardwood cuttings in late spring through the summer.
8. Tolerates full sun to shade.
9. Good specimen plant.
10. Desirable in planters.
11. Hardy to Zone 6.

Agarista populifolia plant named xe2x80x98Taylor""s Treasurexe2x80x99


A disposable absorbent article is disclosed that is partially defined by a pair of longitudinally extending side edges and a pair of end edges extending between the side edges, and includes a topsheet layer, a backsheet layer, and an absorbent core disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The disposable absorbent article also has a pair of side wall structures each having a pair of oppositely positioned end portions. A first side wall structure extends generally longitudinally between the core and one of the side edges and the other side wall structure extends generally longitudinal between the core and the other side edge. Further, an end strip constructed from an elastic material is positioned substantially adjacent each one of the end edges, and extends laterally between the side edges. Each of the end strips includes a fixed elastic end section disposed adjacent the end edge and secured to the topsheet, a fixed intermediate section positioned longitudinally inward of the fixed end section, and a movable, elastic inward section positioned longitudinally inward of the intermediate section.

The present invention relates generally to disposable absorbent articles such as a diaper, a training pant, or an incontinence pant.
Disposable absorbent articles are increasingly popular products. Use of disposable diapers and training pants now exceeds, by far, the use of cloth diapers. Further, advancements made in the design of disposable feminine hygiene product have produced products which offer improved comfort and utility and, thus, the use of these products have also increased. Advancements have also been made in the design of disposable adult incontinence products which are designed to control and absorb involuntarily bowel and bladder discharge associated with many medical conditions.
Disposable diapers are designed with structural features intended to enhance fit, comfort, and/or minimize leakage. In this regard, various structural designs have been developed and incorporated into diapers. For example, disposable diapers may have standing inner leg cuffs which are combined with elastic leg gatherers, such as the structures disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,116 to Enloe, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,278 to Lawson. In these structural designs, the leg cuffs and elastic leg gatherers are designed to work together so as to retain waste within a central core portion of the diaper. In another variation, a pair of "T"-shaped cuffs are disposed longitudinally on either side of the central core (see e.g., U.K. Patent Application No. 2,216,393).
These prior art designs have been effective to varying degrees in containing discharge from a wearer's body. The complexity in these structural designs also vary and may require multiple fabrication steps. For example, cuff/elastic gatherer combinations require the creation of both a cuff and an elastic gatherer which must be separately applied and which must be engineered to work together. "T"-shaped cuffs generally require additional engineering and manufacturing expense to place a "T"-shaped elasticized gasket upon a distal edge of a cuff. In an alternate design that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,243 to Klemp, a diaper is provided with elasticized unitary cuffs. Each unitary cuff includes multiple strands of elastic material and provides the sole elasticizing means for containing waste within the crotch region of the diaper.
Many of these diapers and other garments are also designed with an hourglass contoured shape which improves the fit and comfort of the diaper. A disadvantage of such contoured garments is that their design generally requires the use of complex high precision machinery to form necessary intricate shapes, thereby significantly increasing the production cost associated with the garment. Moreover, many of these garments are formed from rectangular absorbent articles, typically cut in assembly line fashion from moving webs. To form a garment from such a rectangular piece of absorbent material, material is typically cut away from the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article and discarded during formation of the leg holes. While such contoured garments generally provide a more comfortable fit, these garments may be prone to leakage along the edges of the contoured region.

Disposable absorbent article with containment structure


Transient response generating circuit A has a first circuit 3 that generates transient response OUT1 in a first polarity direction, a second circuit 4 that generates transient response OUT2 in a second polarity direction opposite to the first polarity, and a transient response synthesizing circuit 6 that combines the transient response OUT1 in the first polarity direction and the transient response OUT2 in the second polarity direction to generate composite transient response OUTC.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional segment DAC. This segment DAC is comprised of any number of segments, and the same number of D-type flip-flops (DFF). Each of the segments included in the DAC receives a 1-bit signal from the Q output and Q* (* means inversion) output of a DFF from the digital part. According to that 1-bit signal, each segment outputs a signal of "+1" or "−1" in the form of a differential signal (positive output and negative output). The positive output and negative output that constitute each differential output obtained from these segments are added to each other by being connected to a positive output line and a negative output line, respectively. An analog output is obtained as a result.
FIG. 2 shows the output waveform of one segment in the segment DAC having the aforementioned configuration. The upper part in FIG. 2 shows the ideal waveform, while the lower part in FIG. 2 shows the actual output waveform. As shown in the upper part in FIG. 2, it is ideal for the output of the segment DAC that the value changes instantaneously without accompanying the transient response. In the actual circuit, however, it is difficult to realize that characteristic. As shown in the lower part in FIG. 2, in the DAC output, the output value varies in conjunction with the transient response. In the case of the actual circuit, if the rising transient response when the value changes from "−1" to "+1" and the falling transient response when the value changes from "+1" to "−1" are completely consistent with each other, the performance of the DAC will not be affected. In the actual circuit, however, the influence of the circuit configuration of each segment and mismatches of the circuit elements used causes differences to occur between the rising transient response characteristic and the falling transient response characteristic, and such differences will aggravate the distortion of the DAC. Consequently, when such a configuration is adopted, a proper circuit design is required in order to reduce the mismatching that causes the differences in the transient response of each segment.
In one of the conventional circuit design methods for reducing such mismatching, the areas of transistors, resistors, or other circuit elements included in each said segment are increased to reduce the dimensional error of each circuit element. When using this method, however, a very large circuit area is required to realize each segment. Also, the area of the IC chip used for the DAC will be increased.
Another circuit technology for reducing mismatching uses a correcting current source for example, Japanese Kokai Patent Application No. 2000-332610. In this method, a correcting current source is adopted in a current adding type D/A converter in order to reduce the secondary distortion caused by the difference between the rising and falling rates of the converter output voltage. The correcting current source supplies a correcting current temporarily in order to speed up the slow rising rate. A circuit used to detect the change point of the digital input value is also adopted in order to control supply of the correcting current from the correcting current source. Consequently, in this method, in order to generate a highly-accurate output, it is necessary to use accurate circuits such as the correcting current source and the change point detecting circuit in order to increase the accuracy. As a result, the circuit configuration becomes complicated, and the circuit area is increased.
The aforementioned transient response error also occurs in many other electrical circuits or circuit devices besides the DAC.

Method and apparatus for forming transient response characteristics


A device for preventing the undesired rotation of a key and cylinder within a sleeve of an automobile steering column ignition assembly. The device prevents rotation of a key from an off position to a lock position, and the consequent locking of the steering wheel, unless an adjacent button is depressed. Rotation is prevented by the interference of a blocking element on the button itself with an end face of a flange projecting from a cap covering the outer end of the cylinder.

The present invention relates to a safety device for anti-theft mechanisms for motor vehicles.
The prior art shows motor vehicle anti-theft devices intended to lock the steering mechanism of a vehicle when the ignition key is removed or turned to a non-operating position. This type of locking is desirable when the vehicle is at rest. Such anti-theft devices are typically disengaged by inserting a key with the correct "coding" into the ignition lock assembly and rotating the assembly to its start or run position. However, a potential problem with this type of steering lock device is that if a key in a cylinder were to be inadvertently rotated to a non-operating position while the vehicle was in motion the steering mechanism could lock up, thereby preventing a vehicle directional change and resulting in a potential accident. The key could be inadvertently rotated for any number of reasons by an operator or passenger. As a result, the locking of the steering mechanism when a vehicle is in motion should be prevented.
In order to prevent an inadvertent or undesired lock-up of the steering mechanism, devices are known that prevent key removal when the ignition is switched off until a motor vehicle operator performs a specific and independent supplemental operation to rotate the key from its off position to a steering mechanism locked position. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,633,394, 3,789,636 and 4,938,043 wherein an ignition key may be rotated to a lock position from its off position only upon depressing a button adjacent the key.


An adjustable assembly of a first structural part and a second structural part, in particular for automobiles having a flap and a pivotable arm for the flap, is such that the first structural part is displaceable along two orthogonal axis with respect to the second structural part and is fixed against movement along a third axis extending perpendicular to the first and second axis. A first adjusting element is moveably supported on the second structural part. Actuation of this first adjustable element moves the first structural part along the first axis. A second adjustable element is movably supported on the second structural part. Actuation of the second adjustable element moves the first structural part along the second axis. Devices are associated with the first and second adjustable elements for releasable fixation thereof in selected positions.

A fuel filler flap which is mounted in the body shell and hides the opening leading to the filler neck for the tank of the automobile mostly is pivotally hinged to an arm or is coupled to a pivotable arm which, in turn, is pivotally hinged to the body. The assembly of the pivotable arm and that of the flap to the pivotable arm naturally features tolerances. However, it has be ensured that the assembly is such as to seat the flap centrally in the opening in the body, i.e. for both functional and visual reasons. However, an adjustment of the assembly of the fuel filler flap and pivotable arm is time-consuming. Furthermore, the flap requires fresh adjustment after a disassembly.

Adjustable assembly of a first structural part to a second structural part, in particular for automobiles


A dual reactor solution process gives high density polyethylene compositions containing a first ethylene polymer and a second ethylene polymer which have a good balance of processability, toughness, and environmental stress crack resistance combined with good organoleptic properties. The polyethylene compositions are suitable for compression molding or injection molding applications and are particularly useful in the manufacture of caps and closures for bottles.

Polymer compositions useful for molding applications, specifically the manufacture of caps and closures for bottles are well known. Screw closures for example, are typically made from polypropylene (PP) in order to achieve the necessary cap strength, however, an inner liner composed of a soft polymer is required to provide necessary seal properties. The soft inner liner can be made from ethylene/vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), butyl rubber or other suitable material. The two-part cap is costly, and single part constructions are preferred to reduce cost.
Accordingly, one-piece closures, such as screw caps have more recently been made from polyethylene resins. The use of high density resin is required if the closures are to have sufficient stiffness, while broader molecular weight distributions are desirable to impart good flow properties and to improve environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR).
Polyethylene blends produced with conventional Ziegler-Natta or Phillips type catalysts systems can be made having suitably high density and ESCR properties, see for example, WO 00/71615 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,664. However, the use of conventional catalyst systems typically produces significant amounts of low molecular weight polymer chains having high comonomer contents, which results in resins having non-ideal organoleptic properties.
Examples of high density multimodal polyethylene blends made using conventional catalyst systems for the manufacture of caps or closures are taught in US 2005/0004315A1; US 2005/0267249A1; WO 2006/048254, WO 2006/048253 and WO 2007/060007.
In contrast to traditional catalysts, the use of so called single site catalysts (such as "metallocene" and "constrained geometry" catalysts) provides resin having lower catalyst residues and improved organoleptic properties as taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,806,338 and 7,022,770. The disclosed resins are suitable for use in molded articles.
Despite the progress made in the field, there remains a need for new polyethylene resins having an improved balance of toughness, ESCR, processability, and organoleptic properties for use in the manufacture of caps and closures. We have now found that use of a single site catalyst system in a dual reactor solution process, provides bimodal polyethylene compositions of specific molecular weight distributions having good and balanced rheological and mechanical properties. The polyethylene compositions provided also have good organoleptic properties and are especially well suited to the manufacture of closures for bottles.


Methods and systems are provided for a low temperature NOx adsorber (LTNA). In one example, a method includes initiating a desulfation of an LTNA responsive to an estimated sulfur exposure exceeding a threshold, the desulfation including heating the LTNA to a first threshold temperature while maintaining an exhaust oxygen level above a threshold level throughout the entire desulfation.

Diesel engines may operate with high mechanical efficiency and leaner than stoichiometric air/fuel ratios (AFRs) of combustion. Exhaust temperatures in diesel engines, therefore, tend to be significantly lower than those of stoichiometric gasoline engines. Due to the lower exhaust temperatures, during an engine cold-start, a significant period of time (e.g., on the order of 1 to 3 minutes) may be required for exhaust catalysts to warm up and become functional (i.e., reach a "light-off" temperature). This may result in higher hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxide (NOx) content in cold-start exhaust emissions of a diesel engine.
Various strategies have been developed to reduce engine cold-start exhaust emissions. For example, multiple catalysts and traps may be arranged in different configurations in an exhaust passage to selectively treat the various emissions. The catalysts and/or traps may be arranged in a configuration so that the product of one catalyst may be used as a reactant by another catalyst and/or so that each catalyst may act upon different components of the exhaust gas. For example, the catalysts and/or traps may include a lean NOx trap which stores NOx emissions during lean exhaust conditions and reduces said emissions during a rich regeneration, where hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas react with the stored NOx to produce water and nitrogen. Additionally, a particulate filter may be positioned in the exhaust system, either upstream or downstream of the lean NOx trap, in order to trap particulate matter. Once the particulate filter has trapped a threshold amount of particulate matter, the particulate filter may be regenerated via heating of the particulate filter, such as by supplying fuel to an exotherm catalyst.
The inventors herein have identified potential issues with such exhaust gas treatment systems. As one example, the lean NOx trap may become poisoned with sulfur, requiring a high heat excursion during rich exhaust conditions to release the stored sulfur. As regeneration of the particulate filter and desulfation of the lean NOx trap both require high heat and/or additional fuel, which may increase overall vehicle fuel consumption, it may be desirable to coordinate lean NOx trap desulfation and particulate filter regeneration in an effort to save fuel and limit component exposure to high temperatures. However, during a particulate filter regeneration, the exhaust gas supplied to the particulate filter must have sufficient oxygen to sustain combustion of the soot in the particulate filter, which is at odds with the requirement for rich exhaust gas in order to desulfate the lean NOx trap.
Accordingly, the inventors herein have provided methods and systems to at least partly address the above issues. One example method includes initiating a desulfation of a low temperature NOx adsorber (LTNA) responsive to an estimated sulfur exposure exceeding a threshold, the desulfation including heating the LTNA to a first threshold temperature while maintaining an exhaust oxygen level above a threshold level throughout the entire desulfation.
In this way, by utilizing a low temperature NOx adsorber that is configured to be heated (e.g., via an upstream heating mechanism) rather than a lean NOx trap, the LTNA may undergo a desulfation during lean exhaust conditions. As a result, a rich excursion to remove sulfur from the LTNA may be avoided, which may lower fuel consumption. Further, a particulate filter regeneration may carried out at the same time, if indicated or desired, as the exhaust gas reaching the particulate filter may have sufficient oxygen to sustain regeneration.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Methods and systems for exhaust emission control


To control congestion in packet switching networks, control of the traffic sent by a given station to each of the downstream nodes to which it is directly connected is effected by control of the traffic that the upstream nodes to which it is directly connected are permitted to send to it. In this regard, a predictive model is used to predict the cross traffic, one round trip delay in advance that the given station can expect. The parameters for the predictive model are obtained by measurements in real time and by the use of moving averages. Using the predicted cross traffic, the amount of controlled traffic that the proximate downstream nodes can accommodate from the given node, and the correct state of the given node, the state of the given node one round trip delay into the future is predicted. This prediction is used to schedule the amount of traffic to be sent by each of its proximate upstream nodes.

Advances in high-speed packet switching and fiber optic technology have opened the possibility of providing switching and transmission capacity from several 100 Mbits/second to several Gbits/second in a packet switched environment. However, the processing power and the ability to provide large amount of high speed buffers may not keep pace with the advances in transmission speeds. As a consequence, the dominant source of packet or cell loss in such networks would be due to buffer overflow. In low speed networks, flow and congestion control have been based on reactive mechanisms. These include the logical link controls, and end-to-end flow controls based on windows or credits. Such reactive or feedback controls essentially throttle the upstream node or the source, as the case may be, when the network experiences congestion. Such controls have been effective because the queueing delays in low speed networks have been much larger than the propagation delays. As a result, the sources were able to react to overloads before the state of the system changed significantly. In contrast, in high speed networks, where propagation delay dominates, reactive feedback controls tend to be too slow to be effective. The speed with which congestion sets in or dissipates is proportional to the speed of the link. Because the state of individual nodes can change rapidly, feedback information will be out of date if the time to propagate the information is longer than the node time constants.
A common flow or congestion control scheme in low speed networks has been the use of end-to-end flow control based on windows. For example, for each connection or virtual circuit (VC), the maximum number of unacknowledged packets is limited to a window of W packets. In order to ensure very low packet loss due to too many VCs becoming active at the same time, one has to allocate a window's worth of buffer for every VC at every node on the VC's path. In high speed wide area networks, the number of VCs can be very large, and the required window to obtain high throughput is also large because of the large bandwidth delay product, and this can translate to an unrealistic number of buffers in the network. Further, a combination of large number of VCs, each with a large window, can lead to severe congestion when too many VCs become active at the same time. An alternative is to use an adaptive end-to-end control, where the window size is modulated based on the state of the nodes on the VC's path. However, the effectiveness of such a scheme diminishes as the bandwidth delay product increases.
Unlike reactive controls that allow congestion to develop in the first place and then react to it, congestion avoidance strategies try to avoid congestion in the first place, through conservative admission policies. Such admission controls result in admission delays which are of the order of queueing delays (which is low at high speeds) and can be easily tolerated by many applications, if a low cell loss can be guaranteed. Cell loss on the other hand leads to retransmission, and the resulting delay can be of the order of propagation delay. Such congestion avoidance strategies are generally based on controlling the rate at which cells are admitted into the network. In most static rate control schemes, an estimate of the average available bandwidth (for the class of traffic being controlled) is made. For example, if the average bandwidth usage by higher priority services, such as voice and video, is .lambda..sub.X (this is known from the call admission control), and if the link bandwidth is .lambda..sub.L, then the average available excess capacity .lambda..sub.C =.lambda..sub.L -.lambda..sub.X. The static rate controls ensure that the combined arrival rate of the rate controlled low priority class is limited to some value r.lambda..sub.C (0<r<1). The problem with this approach is that in the short run, the excess capacity can momentarily reduce to zero and can remain at that level for a time that is much larger than the amount of buffers available at the congested node. This would lead to large cell losses, especially if the factor r is large. For the cell loss rate to be low, r has to be much smaller than 1, leading to under-utilization of the link. Several end-to-end schemes have been proposed which attempt to detect congestion and regulate the sources accordingly. End-to-end adaptive schemes however can be effective only when the round trip propagation delays are small compared to the queue time constants. It can be shown that the adaptive end-to-end rate control scheme can at best perform only as well as an optimum static rate control scheme. The disadvantage of the static rate control scheme is that if low cell loss is required, then the scheme results in low utilization. Any attempt to increase the utilization results in an increase in cell loss. However, end-to-end control schemes may be effective in high speed networks with small round trip delays such MANs and LANs.
Feedback flow control can be classified as static or adaptive, and it can be based on an end-to-end window mechanism or can be rate based. In the static window mechanism, the number of unacknowledged messages in the network is limited by the window size. In adaptive window control schemes, the congested nodes send congestion signals to the source and the source in turn responds by modifying its window size. In one known system, the optimum end-to-end window is measured by the round trip response time of packets and the window is adjusted dynamically. In another known system, a feed forward rate control at the access node operates under an end-to-end window control that stabilizes the open loop rate control. In the event of congestion, the end-to-end window control can be reduced by the congested nodes which in turn quenches the source. The source responds by reducing its rate. In another system, a packet pair probing technique in conjunction with round robin scheduling by virtual circuits at each node is used to determine the level of congestion in the network, and an appropriate control algorithm is used to control the source rate.
In another study, the performance of a threshold based feedback control policy in a high-speed network with significant propagation delay has been investigated. The principal difficulty with high-speed wire area networks is the long round trip delay, which makes end-to-end controls ineffective. A knowledge of the state of the nodes on the VC's path cannot be exploited because of the large round trip propagation delays. Since the timeliness of the state information is determined by the propagation delay and the rate at which the state of the queues are changing, myopic controls are more meaningful. For example, feedback controls between adjacent nodes that are not separated by large delays will be more effective than feedback between edge nodes.

Predictive congestion control of high-speed wide area networks


Provided is a rubber wear resistance evaluation method including compressing and bonding a test sample of rubber with additional force to a circular circumferential surface of a rotation body rotated by a drive motor at a predetermined fixed position, holding the test sample in a state where movement of the test sample in a direction opposite to the addition force is always allowed, performing a wear test in which the test sample is worn, and using, at the time of evaluating wear resistance, an index based on at least one item out of two items including power required for driving and rotating the drive motor and a temperature of the test sample during the wear test, in addition to an amount of wear of the test sample.

As a tester for evaluating rubber wear resistance, a DIN (German Institute for Standardization) abrasion tester and a Williams abrasion tester have been known in the related art. These abrasion testers basically evaluate wear resistance based on an amount of wear of rubber in tests.
As another method of evaluating rubber wear resistance, for example, there has been proposed a method of causing a rubber test piece to be worn by pressing a circumferential surface of a rotating rubber test piece against a circumferential surface of a rotating grindstone to evaluate the tread rubber of a tire (see Japan Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-185475). In this proposed method, tests can be carried out under conditions approximate to actual tires by changing torque, which causes the test piece to rotate, in a desired pattern, or the like.
However, the evaluation method in the related art focuses only one evaluation item such as the amount of wear to evaluate the wear resistance, and therefore in some cases, rubber wear resistance cannot be sufficiently evaluated only by the single evaluation item. Accordingly, there is room for improvement to perform evaluation with higher reliability.

Rubber wear resistance evaluation method


A method of managing a DSL connection by a DSL server modem, including receiving signals from a DSL client modem at a first rate, determining, by the DSL server modem, a data content of the received signals, and initiating, by the DSL server modem, negotiation of a change in the rate of the DSL connection, responsive to the determination of the data content, so as to receive signals at a second rate different from the first rate.

Most homes in the developed part of the world are connected to a public telephone network through copper wires which lead from the homes to neighboring switching and access equipment, located in a telephone service central office or in a digital loop carrier (DLC) referred to hereinbelow as switching boxes. At the switching boxes, the signals passed on the copper wires are passed onto larger wires (referred to as trunks) which connect to a public telephone network. The usable bandwidth of the copper wires is relatively large (of the order of several MHz), however, regular telephone calls (POTS) utilize only a small portion of the bandwidth.
Standard Voice-band (V series) modems use the bandwidth conventionally used for telephone calls to exchange data packets with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). In most cases clients connect to the ISP immediately before they need to connect to the Internet and disconnect immediately thereafter, generally because the costs of telephone calls are a function of their duration. Establishing the modem connection requires between about 0.5–1 minutes during which the client cannot use the connection. Clients who pay for telephone calls according to their duration must pay also for the time in which the modem connection is being established.
Digital subscriber line (DSL) connections provide continuous communication with the ISP at a flat rate, such that there is no need to establish a connection each time access to the Internet is sought. In addition, DSL connections provide larger bandwidth connections as they utilize nearly the entire usable bandwidth of the copper wires. In forming a DSL connection, a pair of DSL modems are located on the opposite ends of the copper wires, in the user's home and in a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) in (or near) the central office or DLC. One or more links, usually separate from the telephone trunks, connect the DSLAM to a data network. In many cases the bandwidth of the link connecting the DSLAM to the data network is smaller than required to handle data from all the client modems connected to the DSLAM. The size of the link is chosen based on statistical measurements and the use of the link is distributed between the client DSL modems based on quality of service (QoS) and other criterions.
When there is interference on the copper wires, for example when the copper wires are used concurrently with the DSL connection for a telephone call, the data rate of the DSL connection is reduced to allow proper detection of the signals despite the interference. The DSL modems may adjust to the lower transmission rate using a procedure referred to as fast retraining or retrain, for example, as described in the G.992.1 and G.992.2 ITU recommendations.
The number of DSL modems positioned in a DSLAM is limited by various physical constrains, such as the space required for the DSL modems, their power consumption, and their heat dissipation capabilities (referred to as maximum heat density).
One method used to reduce the maximum heat density is using single-chip modem pools which serve a plurality of client DSL modems in parallel. These DSL modem pools have sufficient processing power to serve the connections to all the client modems they serve at the maximal usable bandwidth of the twin pair copper wires. One such modem pool is the TNETD4000C ADSL central office chip-set of Texas Instruments, Inc.


In a portable telephone, a display device, a telephone receiver, a ten-numeral entry key, a telephone transmitter, and the like are mounted on surface sides of a first housing (1) and a second housing (2), which are located on inner sides thereof when the first housing and the second housing are closed, both the first housing and the second housing being hinged to each other via a hinge portion in a freely openable/closable manner; and a speaker for producing at least a telephone call-receiving sound is provided on the surface side of any one of the first housing, the second housing, and the hinge portion. Also, a sound projection portion (12) for projecting the telephone call-receiving sound produced from the speaker is formed in a side of the portion where the speaker is provided even under such a condition that the first housing and the second housing are closed. As a result, the speaker sounds can be projected forwardly in sufficiently high levels even under such a condition that the first and second housings are opened, and furthermore, the telephone call-receiving sound can also be heard in sufficiently high levels even under such a condition that the first and second housings are closed.

In general, foldable portable telephones are being utilized by a large number of users. Since these portable telephones are foldable during portable conditions and thus can be made compact, and furthermore, various sorts of keys are located on the inner sides and are not operated in careless manners under such a condition that these portable telephones are folded, these portable telephones are very convenient as to portabilities thereof.
On the other hand, in any of these sorts of foldable portable telephones, while telephone transmitters and telephone receivers are mounted on portions positioned far from hinge portions of housings, speakers for producing telephone call-receiving sounds are mounted on the side of rear surfaces of the housings, which have display devices. As a consequence, even when the housings are closed and these portable telephones are transported, if telephone calls are received, then telephone call-receiving sounds are projected from the rear surfaces of the housings to be heard in satisfactable sound levels. Thus, while the housings are opened and then both the telephone transmitters and the telephone receivers are moved close to mouths and ears of the users, these portable telephones can be readily used by the user, resulting in very convenience.
Very recently, not only these using methods of the portable telephones are required, but also such a need is made. That is, time signals, weather forecast, and voice sent from other telephone communication counter parties may be outputted from the speakers, and furthermore, voice sent from a telephone communication counter party may be directly outputted from these speakers, namely the speakers may be used as speakers for hand-free telephone operation. However, the above-explained constructions of these foldable portable telephones could not sufficiently meet this requirement. In other words, since the speakers are mounted on the rear surfaces of the housings, the voice reproduced from the speakers is projected along the backward directions far from the users under such a condition that the housings are opened, so that the voice of these speakers cannot be propagated to the users in satisfactory sound levels. Otherwise, even when the voice of the speakers is propagated to the users, since this voice is propagated while detouring outer peripheral portions of the housings, there is a serious problem that sound qualities are considerably deteriorated and the user can hardly hear the detoured voice.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method for removing a selected contaminant from a liquid food product is disclosed. A special application of the method is for removing an antibiotic from milk. The method comprises the steps of contacting the milk with a matrix-antibody composition, wherein the antibody has a specific affinity for the selected contaminant, for a time and at a temperature sufficient for the contaminant to bind to the antibody to form a complex, and separating the complex from the food product. The matrix-antibody composition is regenerable by treating the complex with high ionic strength solution to release bound contaminants from the antibodies.

This invention relates generally to food products that have been adulterated with antibiotics or other contaminants. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for reconditioning dairy products, especially milk, that have been adulterated with antibiotics or other contaminants.
Antibiotics have greatly improved the quality and duration of life because they kill or inhibit growth of primarily prokaryotic microorganisms, many of which are disease-causing agents. In addition to their use in human medicine, antibiotics are also administered to livestock at therapeutic, prophylactic, or sub-therapeutic levels. S. Levy, 50 J. Food Prot. 616 (1987). Therapeutic administration is for disease treatment, prophylactic administration is to prevent disease, and sub-therapeutic administration is for increasing feed efficiency and promoting growth. In 1983, nearly one-half of the 35 million pounds of antibiotics manufactured in the U.S. was fed to animals. W. Tindall, 40 Animal Nutrition and Health 18 (1985). The cattle, swine, and poultry industries are the largest users of antibiotics, particularly penicillins and tetracyclines. C. Burbee et al., Am. J. Agr. Econ. 966 (1985). The administration of antibiotics to animals has become so widespread that nearly 80% of poultry, 75% of swine, 60% of feed lot cattle, and 75% of dairy calves are fed antibiotics. D. Franco et al., 53 J. Food Prot. 178 (1990).
Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics, and this resistance can occur in a short period of time after therapeutic or sub-therapeutic exposure. Therapeutic oral intake of tetracycline in humans can lead to emergence of a predominantly tetracycline-resistant coliform gastrointestinal flora within 48 hours. L. Hartley & M. Richmond, 4 Brit. J. Med. 71 (1975). Sub-therapeutic levels of tylosin fed to piglets led to 100% macrolide-resistant fecal streptococci within a few days. G. Dunny et al., Effects of Antibiotics in Animal Feed on the Antibiotic Resistance of the Gram Positive Flora of Animals and Man (New York Public Health Inst. 1978).
Antibiotic resistance in microorganisms can be transferred to other organisms, generally on plasmids. These plasmids often carry multiple drug resistance genes, thus administration of antibiotics develops resistance not only to the antibiotic being administered but to other antibiotics as well. Humans may become infected with antibiotic-resistant microorganisms by consuming meat, milk, or other animal products from animals in which the microorganisms have developed. S. Holmberg et al., 311 N. Engl. J. Med. 617 (1984); C. Ryan et al., 258 J. Am. Med. Ass'n 3269 (1987). Ironically, the humans at greatest risk may be those taking antibiotics for treatment of other conditions. S. Holmberg et al., 311 N. Engl. J. Med. 617 (1984). The Center for Disease Control estimates that 25% of the Salmonella isolated from human infections are resistant to antibiotics.
After reviewing data on drug resistance-plasmid transfer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began regulating use of antibiotics in animals destined for human consumption. As of July, 1991, 23 antimicrobial agents were FDA-approved for one or more uses in livestock and poultry feeds. 33 Food Chem. News 51 (1991). The FDA requires specific withdrawal times after treatment with antibiotics for livestock prior to lactation or slaughter. For example, FDA regulations require that milk from treated cows be discarded for 96 hours following the last administration of the antibiotic. E. Seymour et al., 71 J. Dairy Sci. 2792 (1988). Further, the FDA establishes tolerance limits, the maximum legally allowable levels or concentrations of a drug or chemical in a food product at the time the milk is marketed or the animal is slaughtered. "Safe levels" are also used by the FDA as guides for deciding whether or not to prosecute. They are not binding, do not dictate any result, do not limit the FDA's discretion in any way, and do not protect milk producers from court enforcement action. For some antimicrobials, no tolerance or safe level is allowed. 21 C.F.R. .sctn. 556 (1993).
In 1991, the FDA began the National Drug Residue Milk Monitoring Program to test for various drug residues in milk. A requirement under the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) for industry screening of all bulk milk pickup containers for .beta.-lactam antibiotic residues went into effect Jan. 1, 1992. Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, Appendix N. Further, tankers are randomly tested for the presence of other drug residues in milk, and all test results are reported to the appropriate state regulatory agency. Upon a first violation of the regulation, Grade A permits (for fluid milk) are revoked for 2 days. Upon a second violation, Grade A permits are revoked for 4 days, and upon a third violation the permit may be suspended. Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, Appendix N.
In 1993, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) instituted a drug residue monitoring program for manufacturing grade milk. This program requires that all USDA-approved dairy plants sample and test all raw milk shipments individually for .beta.-lactam drugs prior to processing. Further, each violative producer will be reported to the appropriate state regulatory agency by the plant and will be suspended from shipment until milk from subsequent milkings tests negative for drug residues. Besides nonacceptance of milk containing drug residues, additional penalties are provided for producers who ship milk testing positive for drug residues.
A survey conducted by the Milk Industry Foundation, representing 78% of the total volume of fluid Grade A milk in 1992, revealed that 1,770 tankers of milk, or about 0.09% of the total, tested positive for drug residues. Of that total, about 90% were .beta.-lactams, 4% were tetracyclines, 4% were sulfamethazine, 2% were erythromycin, and 0.2% were gentamicin. While the percentage of contaminated tankers was relatively low, individual producers may suffer significant economic effects from having antibiotics detected in their milk. The reasons for occurrence of drug residues in milk is mainly associated with errors due to hired help, insufficient knowledge about withdrawal periods, poor animal identification techniques and documentation of treated animals, and the use of medicated feeds. J. Kaneene & A. Ahl, 70 J. Dairy Sci. 2176 (1987). The PMO provides that antibiotic-adulterated milk may be reconditioned by removal of the offending antibiotics from the milk, Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, Appendix N, however there is currently no economically viable commercial method to accomplish it.
Other types of contaminants can also adulterate milk and other liquid food products, and it is desirable to remove such contaminants therefrom. Such contaminants can include bacterial cells, bacterial spores, viruses, proteins, and enzymes. Commercial methods to remove such contaminants without altering the natural composition of the milk or other liquid food product are unknown in the art.
R. Brown et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,312, disclose a method akin to radioimmunoassay (RIA) for detecting the presence of penicillin in milk. Anti-penicillin antibodies are bound to a solid support. Then, a milk sample is mixed with a known quantity of horseradish peroxidase-labeled penicillin and exposed to the support. Alternatively, the support is exposed to the milk sample and the labeled penicillin consecutively. The support is rinsed and then the amount of labeled penicillin bound to the support is determined with a calorimetric substrate. Penicillin in the milk sample and the labeled penicillin compete for attachment to bound antibodies, thus the amount of penicillin in the milk sample can be determined by comparison to a standard curve. This method is effective for quantifying an antibiotic in a small, static volume of milk, but is ineffective for quantitative removal of contaminants on an industrial scale wherein an immobilized antibody is exposed to the high shear forces associated with the high flow rates of an industrial process. Also, the solid support and associated antibodies are discarded after one use, thus making the method expensive. Further, the immobilized antibody is nonspecifically oriented on the solid support such that only one antigen binding site per antibody is available for binding an antigen in milk.
Charm, U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,521, discloses a method of removing penicillin from penicillin-contaminated milk comprising the steps of contacting the penicillin-contaminated milk with a bed of activated charcoal, recycling the milk through the bed of charcoal for a sufficient period to remove the penicillin from the contaminated milk to provide a penicillin-free milk, removing particulate activated charcoal acquired during the contacting step by filtration and centrifugation, and recovering the penicillin-free milk. This method is a crude, shotgun approach and provides no specificity for removing any particular constituent of the penicillin-contaminated milk. Indeed, normal components of milk are removed by contacting the milk with activated charcoal. Further, charcoal particles contaminate the milk after being contacted by the activated charcoal, and steps must be taken to remove such particles from the penicillin-free milk. Moreover, the method is relatively slow, and the capacity for removing antibiotics is relatively low, which are disadvantages compared to the presently disclosed invention.
R. Geyer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,565, discloses a method of treating milk to remove antibiotics comprising heating the antibiotic-contaminated milk to a temperature sufficient to solubilize fats, contacting the heated milk with an ion exchange or adsorbent resin to produce an antibiotic-depleted milk, and collecting the antibiotic-depleted milk. This method is also relatively crude and non-specific as shown by altered mineral profiles, removal of proteins such as riboflavin, and altered pH of the antibiotic-depleted milk. These changes are also disadvantages as compared to the presently disclosed invention.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a method for specifically removing a selected contaminant, such as an antibiotic, bacterial cell, bacterial spore, virus, enzyme, or protein, from milk or other liquid food product without altering the natural composition of the milk or other liquid food product would be a significant advancement in the art.

Reconditioning antibiotic-adulterated milk products


A vehicle control device includes: a travel section determination unit configured to determine a forward travel section that is a travel section having a different road gradient from a current travel section in which a vehicle is currently traveling and that is ahead in a travel direction of the vehicle; a forward gear stage selection unit configured to select a forward gear stage which is a gear stage of the vehicle in the forward travel section; and a shift control unit configured to, in a case where the selected forward gear stage is lower by two or more stages than the current gear stage which is a gear stage of the vehicle in the current travel section and when the vehicle is positioned within a predetermined range from a start position of the forward travel section, perform downshift from the current gear stage to the forward gear stage.

Related art discloses controlling a gear stage of a vehicle depending on a state of a current travel road on which the vehicle is currently travelling. For example, in a case where the current travel road on which the vehicle is currently travelling is an uphill section, the gear stage is automatically downshifted to a gear stage which is lower than a current gear stage of the vehicle (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).


An apparatus comprising a processor and memory including computer program code, the memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, enable the apparatus at least to: identify a target object, from a plurality of objects, which is within a field of view of a first user based on a determined location and orientation of the first user relative to respective predefined locations of the plurality of objects; and generate a command signal configured to trigger a corresponding action associated with the target object.

Research is currently being done to develop the internet of things (IoT), which allows a plurality of connected objects to be sensed or controlled remotely across an existing network infrastructure.
The listing or discussion of a prior-published document or any background in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document or background is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.

Apparatus, method and system for identifying a target object from a plurality of objects