A nanocarbon film that is produced in such a manner that, after a nanocarbon dispersion containing nanocarbon and a dispersant is used to form a film containing the nanocarbon and the dispersant, an external stimulus is applied to the film to at least partially decompose the dispersant contained in the film. Light irradiation is preferably applied as the external stimulus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nanocarbon film, an electrode using the same and a method of production thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, image displays typical in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma displays (PDPs) and electroluminescence (EL) devices have come to be widely used in various fields such as for televisions, computers and various kinds of mobile devices, which have recently become ubiquitous, and there have been remarkable developments therein. Furthermore, due to increased functionality of solar batteries, there have been demands for increased use thereof as way of reducing the use of fossil energy for environmental reasons.
An electroconductive film is used in display devices and solar batteries such as this. An electroconductive film that uses a metallic material including for instance ITO (indium tin oxide) electroconductive films is generally formed by depositing a metallic material on a glass substrate by use of a vapor phase method such as a vacuum deposition method or a sputtering method.
Furthermore, in display devices such as mobile phones and mobile devices, weight reduction by the gram is forwarded; accordingly, a substrate for a display device is demanded to shift from glass to plastics. When a plastic substrate is introduced, a weight of a display device may be reduced to one half or less of that of a device in which a glass substrate is used and the mechanical strength and impact resistance as well are remarkably improved.
However, when a plastic substrate is substituted for a glass substrate, in the case of forming an ITO electroconductive film thereon, the electroconductive film is liable to exfoliate since its adhesiveness is smaller. In addition to what was mentioned above, a film made of a metallic material such as ITO is usually formed by use of a vapor phase method such as a sputtering method; accordingly, a production unit costs much.
It has been proposed to use nanocarbon such as carbon nanotube as an electroconductive material in place of the metallic material. The nanocarbon is a material capable of forming a thin film having electroconductivity by application and has the likelihood of forming the film at low cost.
As a method of producing carbon nanotubes, various kinds of methods such as an arc discharge method, a laser ablation method and a CVD method are known. However, when these methods are used, carbon impurities such as graphite particles and amorphous carbon may become mixed therewith. As a refining method of the carbon nanotubes, for instance, a method in which UV rays are irradiated to remove carbon impurities has been disclosed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) 2004-345918).
When carbon nanotubes are used to form a thin film, the carbon nanotubes are difficult to disperse in a medium such as water. Accordingly, a method has been proposed in which a carbon nanotube dispersion is prepared by adding for instance a dispersant and the dispersion is coated on a substrate to form a thin film (WO2004/060798).

Nanocarbon film and producing method thereof


Systems and methods may provide for monitoring a current provided from a voltage regulator to a non-core region of a processor, and asserting a throttle signal to the non-core region of the processor if the current exceeds a supply capability threshold of the voltage regulator. In one example, a specified current supply capability of the non-core region is greater than a current supply capability of the voltage regulator, and the supply capability threshold is less than the specified current supply capability of the non-core region and an over current protection threshold of the non-core region.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments generally relate to power management in computing platforms. More particularly, embodiments relate to the selective throttling of non-core processor regions based on voltage regulator current levels.
2. Discussion
As computing platforms become smaller and more lightweight, a number of power management concerns may be encountered. For example, the ability to reduce platform size can be limited by the size of the voltage regulator (VR) components that provide power to the various processors and other circuits of the platform. Moreover, VR component size may be a function of a specified maximum amount of current (e.g., Iccmax) that VRs are expected to be capable of supplying. While computing platforms could be designed to have VRs with a current supplying capability that is less than the specified amount, such an approach may increase the risk of VR shutdown or lifetime degradation. Indeed, downsizing VRs that supply non-core processor regions of the platform may be particularly problematic given a traditional lack of protection mechanisms in those regions.

Voltage regulator supplying power exclusively to a non-core region of a processor having a supply capability threshold


The present invention relates to a recombinant Bacillus host cell containing a recombinant vector including a nucleic acid segment having a coding region segment encoding enzymatically active hyaluronan synthase (HAS). The recombinant Bacillus host cell is utilized in a method for producing hyaluronic acid (HA).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nucleic acid segment having a coding region encoding enzymatically active hyaluronate synthase (HAS), and to the use of this nucleic acid segment in the preparation of recombinant cells which produce hyaluronate synthase and its hyaluronic acid product. Hyaluronate is also known as hyaluronic acid or hyaluronan.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The incidence of streptococcal infections is a major health and economic problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries. One reason for this is due to the ability of Streptococcal bacteria to grow undetected by the body's phagocytic cells, i.e., macrophages and polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs). These cells are responsible for recognizing and engulfing foreign microorganisms. One effective way the bacteria evades surveillance is by coating themselves with polysaccharide capsules, such as a hyaluronic acid (HA) capsule. The structure of HA is identical in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Since HA is generally nonimmunogenic, the encapsulated bacteria do not elicit an immune response and are therefore not targeted for destruction. Moreover, the capsule exerts an antiphagocytic effect on PMNs in vitro and prevents attachment of Streptococcus to macrophages. Precisely because of this, in Group A and Group C Streptococci, the HA capsules are major virulence factors in natural and experimental infections. Group A Streptococcus are responsible for numerous human diseases including pharyngitis, impetigo, deep tissue infections, rheumatic fever and a toxic shock-like syndrome. The Group C Streptococcus equisimilis is responsible for osteomyelitis, pharyngitis, brain abscesses, and pneumonia.
Structurally, HA is a high molecular weight linear polysaccharide of repeating disaccharide units consisting of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and glucuronic acid (GlcUA). The number of repeating disaccharides in an HA molecule can exceed 30,000, a Mr>107. HA is the only glycosaminogylcan synthesized by both mammalian and bacterial cells, particularly Groups A and C Streptococci and Type A Pasteurella multocida. These strains make HA which is secreted into the medium as well as HA capsules. The mechanism by which these bacteria synthesize HA is of broad interest medicinally since the production of the HA capsule is a very efficient and clever way that Streptococci use to evade surveillance by the immune system. Additionally, organic or inorganic molecules coated with HA have properties allowing them to escape detection and destruction by a host's immune system.
HA is synthesized by mammalian and bacterial cells by the enzyme hyaluronate synthase which has been localized to the plasma membrane. It is believed that the synthesis of HA in these organisms is a multi-step process. Initiation involves binding of an initial precursor, UDP-GlcNAc or UDP-GlcUA. This is followed by elongation which involves alternate addition of the two sugars to the growing oligosaccharide chain. The growing polymer is extruded across the plasma membrane region of the cell and into the extracellular space. Although the HA biosynthetic system was one of the first membrane heteropolysaccharide synthetic pathways studied, the mechanism of HA synthesis is still not well understood. This may be because in vitro systems developed to date are inadequate in that de novo biosynthesis of HA has not been accomplished.
The direction of HA polymer growth is still a matter of disagreement among those of ordinary skill in the art. Addition of the monosaccharides could be to the reducing or nonreducing end of the growing HA chain. Furthermore, questions remain concerning (i) whether nascent chains are linked covalently to a protein, to UDP or to a lipid intermediate, (ii) whether chains are initiated using a primer, and (iii) the mechanism by which the mature polymer is extruded through the plasma membrane of the Streptococcus. Understanding the mechanism of HA biosynthesis may allow development of alternative strategies to control Streptococcal and Pasteurella infections by interfering in the process.
HA has been identified in virtually every tissue in vertebrates and has achieved widespread use in various clinical applications, most notably and appropriately as an intra-articular matrix supplement and in eye surgery. The scientific literature has also shown a transition from the original perception that HA is primarily a passive structural component in the matrix of a few connective tissues and in the capsule of certain strains of bacteria to a recognition that this ubiquitous macromolecule is dynamically involved in many biological processes: from modulating cell migration and differentiation during embryogenesis to regulation of extracellular matrix organization and metabolism to important roles in the complex processes of metastasis, wound healing, and inflammation. Further, it is becoming clear that HA is highly metabolically active and that cells focus much attention on the processes of its synthesis and catabolism. For example, the half-life of HA in tissues ranges from 1 to 3 weeks in cartilage to <1 day in epidermis. HA is also used in numerous technical applications (e.g., lubricating compounds), cosmetics and neutraceuticals.
It is now clear that a single protein utilizes both sugar substrates to synthesize HA, i.e., that HA synthases are single enzymes that have dual catalytic properties. The abbreviation HAS, for HA synthase, has gained widespread support for designating this class of enzymes. Markovitz et al. successfully characterized the HAS activity from Streptococcus pyogenes and discovered the enzymes's membrane localization and its requirements for sugar nucleotide precursors and Mg2+. Prehm found that elongating HA, made by B6 cells, was digested by hyaluronidase added to the medium and proposed that HAS resides at the plasma membrane. Philipson and Schwartz also showed that HAS activity cofractionated with plasma membrane markers in mouse oligodendroglioma cells.
HAS assembles high Mr HA that is simultaneously extruded through the membrane into the extracellular space (or to make the cell capsule in the case of bacteria) as glycosaminoglycan synthesis proceeds. This mode of biosynthesis is unique among macromolecules since nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids are synthesized in the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi, cytoplasm, or mitochondria. The extrusion of the growing chain into the extracellular space also allows for unconstrained polymer growth, thereby achieving the exceptionally large size of HA, whereas confinement of synthesis within a Golgi or post-Golgi compartment limits the overall amount or length of the polymers formed. High concentrations of HA within a confined lumen may also create a high viscosity environment that might be deleterious for other organelle functions.
Several studies have attempted to solubilize, identify, and purify HAS from strains of Streptococci that make a capsular coat of HA as well as from eukaryotic cells. Although the streptococcal and murine oligodendroglioma enzymes were successfully detergent-solubilized and studied, efforts to purify an active HAS for further study or molecular cloning remained unsuccessful for decades. Prehm and Mausolf used periodate-oxidized UDP-GlcUA or UDP-GlcNAc to affinity label a protein of ˜52 kDa in streptococcal membranes that co-purified with HAS. This led to a report claiming that the Group C streptococcal HAS had been cloned, which was unfortunately erroneous. This study failed to demonstrate expression of an active synthase and may have actually cloned a peptide transporter. Triscoft and van de Rijn used digitonin to solubilize HAS from streptococcal membranes in an active form. Van de Rijn and Drake selectively radiolabeled three streptococcal membrane proteins of 42, 33, and 27 kDa with 5-azido-UDP-GlcUA and suggested that the 33-kDa protein was HAS. As shown later, however, HAS actually turned out to be the 42-kDa protein.
Despite these efforts, progress in understanding the regulation and mechanisms of HA synthesis was essentially stalled, since there were no molecular probes for HAS mRNA or HAS protein. A major breakthrough occurred in 1993 when DeAngelis et al. reported the molecular cloning and characterization of the Group A streptococcal gene encoding the protein HasA. This gene was known to be part of an operon required for bacterial HA synthesis, although the function of this protein, which is now designated as spHAS (the S. pyogenes HAS), was unknown. spHAS was subsequently proven to be responsible for HA elongation and was the first glycosaminoglycan synthase identified and cloned and then successfully expressed. The S. pyogenes HA synthesis operon encodes two other proteins. HasB is a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase, which is required to convert UDP-glucose to UDP-GlcUA, one of the substrates for HA synthesis. HasC is a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase, which is required to convert glucose 1-phosphate and UTP to UDP-glucose. Co-transfection of both hasA and hasB genes into either acapsular Streptococcus strains or Enteroccus faecalis conferred them with the ability to synthesize HA and form a capsule. This provided the first strong evidence that spHAS (hasA) was an HA synthase.
The elusive HA synthase gene was finally cloned by a transposon mutagenesis approach, in which an acapsular mutant Group A strain was created containing a transposon interruption of the HA synthesis operon. Known sequences of the transposon allowed the region of the junction with streptococcal DNA to be identified and then cloned from wild-type cells. The encoded spHAS was 5–10% identical to a family of yeast chitin synthases and 30% identical to the Xenopus laevis protein DG42 (developmentally expressed during gastrulation), whose function was unknown at the time. DeAngelis and Weigel expressed the active recombinant spHAS in Escherichia coli and showed that this single purified gene product synthesizes high Mr HA when incubated in vitro with UDP-GlcUA and UDP-GlcNAc, thereby showing that both glycosyltransferase activities required for HA synthesis are catalyzed by the same protein, as first proposed in 1959. Utilizing the knowledge that (i) spHAS was a dual action single enzyme, and (ii) the areas of sequence homology between the spHAS, chitin synthase, and DG42, the almost simultaneous identification of eukaryotic HAS cDNAs in 1996 by four laboratories, further strengthened the inventor's protein hypothesis that HAS is a multigene family encoding distinct isozymes. Two genes (HAS1 and HAS2) were quickly discovered in mammals, and a third gene HAS3 was later discovered. A second streptococcal seHAS or Streptococcus equisimilis hyaluronate synthase, was identified and is disclosed in detail in U.S. Ser. No. 09/469,200, filed Dec. 21, 1999, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. The seHAS protein has a high level of identity (approximately 70 percent) to the spHAS enzyme. This identity, however, is interesting because the seHAS gene does not cross-hybridize to the spHAS gene.
Membranes prepared from E. coli expressing recombinant seHAS synthesize HA when both substrates are provided. The results confirm that the earlier report of Lansing et al. claiming to have cloned the Group C HAS was wrong. Unfortunately, several studies have employed antibodies to this uncharacterized 52-kDa streptococcal protein to investigate what was believed to be eukaryotic HAS.
Itano and Kimata used expression cloning in a mutant mouse mammary carcinoma cell line, unable to synthesize HA, to clone the first putative mammalian HAS cDNA (mmHAS1). Subclones defective in HA synthesis fell into three separate classes that were complementary for HA synthesis in somatic cell fusion experiments, suggesting that at least three proteins are required. Two of these classes maintained some HA synthetic activity, whereas one showed none. The latter cell line was used in transient transfection experiments with cDNA prepared from the parental cells to identify a single protein that restored HA synthetic activity. Sequence analyses revealed a deduced primary structure for a protein of ˜65 kDa with a predicted membrane topology similar to that of spHAS. mmHAS1 is 30% identical to spHAS and 55% identical to DG42. The same month this report appeared, three other groups submitted papers describing cDNAs encoding what was initially thought to be the same mouse and human enzyme. However, through an extraordinary circumstance, each of the four laboratories had discovered a separate HAS isozyme in both species.
Using a similar functional cloning approach to that of Itano and Kimata, Shyjan et al. identified the human homolog of HAS 1. A mesenteric lymph node cDNA library was used to transfect murine mucosal T lymphocytes that were then screened for their ability to adhere in a rosette assay. Adhesion of one transfectant was inhibited by antisera to CD44, a known cell surface HA-binding protein, and was abrogated directly by pretreatment with hyaluronidase. Thus, rosetting by this transfectant required synthesis of HA. Cloning and sequencing of the responsible cDNA identified hsHAS1. Itano and Kimata also reported a human HAS1 cDNA isolated from a fetal brain library. The hsHAS1 cDNAs reported by the two groups, however, differ in length; they encode a 578 or a 543 amino acid protein. HAS activity has only been demonstrated for the longer form.
Based on the molecular identification of spHAS as an authentic HA synthase and regions of near identity among DG42, spHAS, and NodC (a β-GlcNAc transferase nodulation factor in Rhizobium), Spicer et al. used a degenerate RT-PCR approach to clone a mouse embryo cDNA encoding a second distinct enzyme, which is designated mmHAS2. Transfection of mmHAS2 cDNA into COS cells directed de novo production of an HA cell coat detected by a particle exclusion assay, thereby providing strong evidence that the HAS2 protein can synthesize HA. Using a similar approach, Watanabe and Yamaguchi screened a human fetal brain cDNA library to identify hsHAS2. Fulop et al. independently used a similar strategy to identify mmHAS2 in RNA isolated from ovarian cumulus cells actively synthesizing HA, a critical process for normal cumulus oophorus expansion in the pre-ovulatory follicle. Cumulus cell-oocyte complexes were isolated from mice immediately after initiating an ovulatory cycle, before HA synthesis begins, and at later times when HA synthesis is just beginning (3 h) or already apparent (4 h). RT-PCR showed that HAS2 mRNA was absent initially but expressed at high levels 3–4 h later suggesting that transcription of HAS2 regulates HA synthesis in this process. Both hsHAS2 are 552 amino acids in length and are 98% identical. mmHAS1 is 583 amino acids long and 95% identical to hsHAS1, which is 578 amino acids long.
Most recently Spicer et al. used a PCR approach to identify a third HAS gene in mammals. The mmHAS3 protein is 554 amino acids long and 71, 56, and 28% identical, respectively, to mmHAS1, mmHAS2, DG42, and spHAS. Spicer et al. have also localized the three human and mouse genes to three different chromosomes (HAS1 to hsChr 19/mmChr 17; HAS2 to hsChr 8/mmChr 15; HAS3 to hsChr 16/mmChr 8). Localization of the three HAS genes on different chromosomes and the appearance of HA throughout the vertebrate class suggest that this gene family is ancient and that isozymes appeared by duplication early in the evolution of vertebrates. The high identity (˜30%) between the bacterial and eukaryotic HASs also suggests that the two had a common ancestral gene. Perhaps primitive bacteria usurped the HAS gene from an early vertebrate ancestor before the eukaryotic gene products became larger and more complex. Alternatively, the bacteria could have obtained a larger vertebrate HAS gene and deleted regulatory sequences nonessential for enzyme activity.
The discovery of X. laevis DG42 by Dawid and co-workers played a significant role in these recent developments, even though this protein was not known to be an HA synthase. Nonetheless, that DG42 and spHAS were 30% identical was critical for designing oligonucleotides that allowed identification of mammalian HAS2. Ironically, definitive evidence that DG42 is a bona fide HA synthase was reported only after the discoveries of the Mammalian isozymes, when DeAngelis and Achyuthan expressed the recombinant protein in yeast (an organism that cannot synthesize HA) and showed that it synthesizes HA when isolated membranes are provided with the two substrates. Meyer and Kreil also showed that lysates from cells transfected with cDNA for DG42 synthesize elevated levels of HA. Now that its function is known, DG42 can, therefore, be designated XIHAS.
There are common predicted structural features shared by all the HAS proteins, including a large central domain and clusters of 2–3 transmembrane or membrane-associated domains at both the amino and carboxyl ends of the protein. The central domain, which comprises up to ˜88% of the predicted intracellular HAS protein sequences, probably contains the catalytic regions of the enzyme. This predicted central domain is 264 amino acids long in spHAS (63% of the total protein) and 307–328 residues long in the eukaryotic HAS members (54–56% of the total protein). The exact number and orientation of membrane domains and the topological organization of extracellular and intracellular loops have not yet been experimentally determined for any HAS.
spHAS is a HAS family member that has been purified and partially characterized. Initial studies using spHAS/alkaline phosphatase fusion proteins indicate that the N terminus, C terminus, and the large central domain of spHAS are, in fact, inside the cell. spHAS has 6 cysteines, whereas HAS1, HAS2, and HAS3 have 13, 14 and 14 Cys residues, respectively. Two of the 6 Cys residues in spHAS are conserved and identical in HAS1 and HAS2. Only one conserved Cys residue is found at the same position (Cys-225 in spHAS) in all the HAS family members. This may be an essential Cys whose modification by sulfhydryl poisons partially inhibits enzyme activity. The possible presence of disulfide bonds or the identification of critical Cys residues needed for any of the multiple HAS functions noted below has not yet been elucidated for any members of the HAS family.
In addition to the proposed unique mode of synthesis at the plasma membrane, the HAS enzyme family is highly unusual in the large number of functions required for the overall polymerization of HA. At least six discrete activities are present within the HAS enzyme: binding sites for each of the two different sugar nucleotide precursors (UDP-GlcNAc and UDP-GlcUA), two different glycosyltransferase activities, one or more binding sites that anchor the growing HA polymer to the enzyme (perhaps related to a B-X7-B motif, and a ratchet-like transfer mechanism that moves the growing polymer one or two sugars at a time. This later activity is likely coincident with the stepwise advance of the polymer through the membrane. All of these functions, and perhaps others as yet unknown, are present in a relatively small protein ranging in size from 419 (spHAS) to 588 (xHAS) amino acids.
Although all the available evidence supports the conclusion that only the spHAS protein is required for HA biosynthesis in bacteria or in vitro, it is possible that the larger eukaryotic HAS family members are part of multicomponent complexes. Since the eukaryotic HAS proteins are ˜40% larger than spHAS, their additional protein domains could be involved in more elaborate functions, such as intracellular trafficking and localization, regulation of enzyme activity, and mediating interactions with other cellular components.
The unexpected finding that there are multiple vertebrate HAS genes encoding different synthases strongly supports the emerging consensus that HA is an important regulator of cell behavior and not simply a structural component in tissues. Thus, in less than six months, the field moved from one known, cloned HAS (spHAS) to recognition of a multigene family that promises rapid, numerous, and exciting future advances in our understanding of the synthesis and biology of HA.
For example, disclosed hereinafter are the sequences of HAS genes from Pasteurella multocida, Paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus (PBCV-1), Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus uberis, Sulfolobus solfataricus, Bacillus anthracis plasmid pXO1, and Ectocarpus siliculosus virus. The presence of hyaluronan synthase in these systems and the purification and use of the hyaluronan synthase from these different systems indicates an ability to purify and isolate nucleic acid sequences encoding enzymatically active hyaluronan synthase in many different prokaryotic and viral sources, indeed, from microbial sources in general.
Group C Streptococcus equisimilis strain D181 synthesizes and secretes hyaluronic acid (HA). Investigators have used this strain and Group A Streptococcus pyogenes strains, such as S43 and A111, to study the biosynthesis of HA and to characterize the HA-synthesizing activity in terms of its divalent cation requirement, precursor (UDP-GlcNAc and UDP-GlcUA) utilization, and optimum pH.
Traditionally, HA has been prepared commercially by isolation from either rooster combs or extracellular media from Streptococcal cultures. One method which has been developed for preparing HA is through the use of cultures of HA-producing Streptococcal bacteria. U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,295, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes such a procedure wherein HA-producing Streptococci are fermented under anaerobic conditions in a CO2-enriched growth medium. Under these conditions, HA is produced and can be extracted from the broth. It is generally felt that isolation of HA from rooster combs is laborious and difficult, since one starts with HA in a less pure state. The advantage of isolation from rooster combs is that the HA produced is of higher molecular weight. However, preparation of HA by bacterial fermentation is easier, since the HA is of higher purity to start with. Usually, however, the molecular weight of HA produced in this way is smaller than that from rooster combs. Additionally, HA prepared by Streptococcal fermentation oftentimes elicits immune responses as does HA obtained from rooster combs. Therefore, a technique that allows for the production of high molecular weight HA by bacterial fermentation is a distinct improvement over existing procedures.
As mentioned previously, high molecular weight HA has a wide variety of useful applications—ranging from cosmetics to eye surgery. Due to its potential for high viscosity and its high biocompatibility, HA finds particular application in eye surgery as a replacement for vitreous fluid. HA has also been used to treat racehorses for traumatic arthritis by intra-articular injections of HA, in shaving cream as a lubricant, and in a variety of cosmetic products due to its physiochemical properties of high viscosity and its ability to retain moisture for long periods of time. In fact, in August 1997 the U.S. Food and Drug Agency approved the use of high molecular weight HA in the treatment of severe arthritis through the injection of such high molecular weight HA directly into the affected joints. In general, the higher the molecular weight of HA that is employed the better. This is because HA solution viscosity increases with the average molecular weight of the individual HA polymer molecules in the solution. Unfortunately, very high molecular weight HA, such as that ranging up to 107, has been difficult to obtain by currently available isolation procedures. The recombinant methods of production disclosed herein, however, allow for the production of HA having a molecular weight of up to 107 and greater.
To address these or other difficulties, there is a need for new methods and constructs that can be used to produce HA having one or more improved properties such as greater purity or ease of preparation. In particular, there is a need to develop methodology for the production of larger amounts of relatively high molecular weight and relatively pure HA than is currently commercially available. There is yet another need to be able to develop methodology for the production of HA having a modified size distribution (HAΔsize) as well as HA having a modified structure (HAΔmod).
Industrial enzyme production is a $1.5 billion per year business, and seventy percent of these products are produced from Bacillus species. The advantage of using an expression system effective in Bacillus strains is that Bacillus is an effective secretor of proteins, and therefore substitution of Bacillus for E. coli or yeast in processes for the production of genetically-engineered proteins yields an enhanced secretion of the protein in question. Bacillus strains are also "Generally Recognized As Safe" or "GRAS" micro-organisms, as opposed to other commonly used bacterial strains, such as E. coli. Bacillus has long been used in the food and drink industry and in the production of antibiotics. One advantage of Bacillus is that it does not contain pyrogenic substances or produce toxins. There is extensive industrial experience in using Bacillus in fermentations, such as in the production of detergent proteases and alpha-amylase.
The present invention addresses one or more shortcomings in the art. Using recombinant DNA technology, methods of producing enzymatically active HAS in a Bacillus cell into which a purified nucleic acid segment having a coding region encoding enzymatically active HAS has been introduced is disclosed and claimed in conjunction with the preparation of recombinant Bacillus cells which produce HAS and its hyaluronic acid product.

Hyaluronan synthase genes and expression thereof in


The invention concerns a steering valve with a closed center for supplying an actuator with hydraulic pressure, the steering valve comprising an input shaft, and output shaft, a torsionally resilient element which is connected at one end to the input shaft and at the other end to the output shaft, a control pressure switching arrangement and a torque/axial force conversion unit. A spring loaded seat valve is located in a bore of the input shaft, and closes a fluid passage passing through the torsion tube. The torque/axial force convertor opens the seat valve when relative twisting of the input shaft with respect to the valve casing occurs. According to the invention, in order to improve the response dynamics of such a steering valve, the valve comprises at least one axial bore for supplying hydraulic pressure. At one end this bore is closed by a valve which is loaded by the torque/axial force conversion unit against the hydraulic pressure.

The invention pertains to a steering valve with a closed center for supplying a control element with hydraulic pressure, consisting of an input shaft, an output shaft, a torsionally elastic element that is connected at one end to the input shaft and at the other to the output shaft, a control pressure switching device and a torque/axial force converter unit.
Steering valves of this class are utilized in particular in power steering systems. The structure of such power steering systems is conventional. An input shaft connected to a steering linkage is connected to an output shaft equipped with a pinion. In a familiar manner, it is possible to insert a torsionally elastic element, a torsion rod, for instance, between the two shafts. The pinion acts on the toothed rack of a steering unit. The use of steering valves for such steering systems is familiar. For this purpose, a control pressure switching unit is provided, which may, for instance, be a valve casing engaged with the output shaft and surrounding the input shaft. Hydraulic fluid is pumped through the system with a pump. In case of a twisting of the input shaft relative the valve casing, hydraulic pressure is fed to a hydraulic motor, which assists the rack motion in one of the two possible directions.
Steering valves employed in power steering systems can be divided roughly into two groups. One type of steering valve employed in power steering systems is the steering valve with a so-called open center. In the neutral position of the steering valve with open center, hydraulic fluid at low pressure is pumped through the open valve into a reservoir by a pump. A twisting of the input shaft relative to the valve casing causes an elevation of the pressure, which is then fed to the servomotor. The disadvantage of steering valves with open centers is that a steady hydraulic flow must be maintained even in the neutral position. Thus, wasted power must be produced by the drive motor, derived primarily from the pressure accumulation and the volume flow.
Such a steering valve, which has all the features of this class, apart from the open center, is disclosed in DE 43 17 818 C1. A reaction piston with an electrohydraulic converter EHW is employed as a torque/axial force converter unit.
A power steering unit for passenger vehicles with a steering valve having an open center is known from DE 24 26 201 A1, wherein a hydraulic-bearing line is formed in the torsion element for purposes of minimizing the size of the unit, but not with regard to wear and tear on the seals.
Finally, DE 27 58 321 A1 discloses a steering valve with open center, in which an axial hole is drilled through the input shaft.
Another type of steering valve used in power steering systems is the steering valve with a so-called closed center. The hydraulic flow to the two cylinder sides is interrupted in the neutral position of the valve by the closed center position. Thus, there is no hydraulic flow in the neutral position. An operating pressure, which, upon opening of the valve only must be held within prescribed limits by the pump then going into action is applied to the practically closed valve by the pump. Because of the wasted power appearing for steering valves with open center even when the steering is not being operated, the steering valves with closed center are superior in the neutral position when considering power. They have the disadvantage, however, that practically no direct correlation exists between input torque and working pressure in the cylinder. In the prior art, therefore, additional measures were taken in order to provide the operator with a relationship between the steering force to be input and the resulting hydraulic pressure. Conventional seat valve arrangements are not without problems, since the seat valves undergo a certain wear and require considerable manufacturing and assembly effort. Moreover, they confront the operator with a threshold torque.
A steering valve of the generic class with a closed center is known from DE 28 34 421 A1. It has a torque/axial force converter unit and an axial borehole closed off by a seat valve for conducting hydraulic pressure. This additional seat valve not only increases the expense of manufacturing and assembly, it is also delicate and causes noise.
The special problem of steering valves with closed center with respect to the lack of a correlation between input torque and working pressure in the cylinder is expressed in steering initiation behavior, which is generally considered critical. Due to the fact that the hydraulic fluid is permanently present under maximum pressure at the control pressure switching device, a very high dynamism in the operation of the control pressure switching device results, since abrupt effects on system pressure occur.
Starting from this situation, the problem of the present invention is to improve a steering valve with closed center of the generic type such that its response dynamics are considerably improved, such that it can be made compact and reliable in its operation, and so that the steering valve can be simply and economically manufactured.


A supply charging device includes a supply power connector having a housing with a mating end and a flange configured to be mounted to a panel. The housing includes power contact channels extending through a base receiving power contacts. The housing includes a guide member engaging a guide feature of a mobile device to locate a receiver power connector relative to the supply power connector. The supply charging device includes a retaining plate securing the housing to the panel. The supply charging device includes a mounting spring extending from the housing and received in the panel cutout. The mounting spring engages the panel to allow the supply power connector to float relative to the panel within the panel cutout for aligning the mating end of the supply power connector with the receiver power connector.

The subject matter herein relates generally to charging systems for mobile devices.
Mobile devices, such as autonomous mobile robots, are movable within an environment to perform a task. However, the mobile devices need to be recharged from time to time. The mobile devices are returned to a charging device to supply power to the mobile device and recharge the batteries of the mobile device. As the mobile device returns to the charging station, the charging connector of the mobile device needs to be aligned with the charging connector of the charging station. However, when the mobile device is misaligned with the charging station, the mobile device is unable to recharge.
A need remains for a charging system capable of aligning the charging connector of a mobile device with the charging connector of a charging station.


A method for channel sounding by an access point includes transmitting a sounding frame to a plurality of mobile stations (STAs). The sounding frame includes training symbols to be measured by each of the plurality of STAs. A sounding response frame is received from each of the plurality of STAs. The sounding response frame received from a first STA of the plurality of STAs is received at a short interframe spacing interval delay after completion of the sounding request frame transmission.

A wireless local area network (WLAN) in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode has an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP typically has access or interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired or wireless network that carries traffic in and out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS arrives through the AP and is delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS is sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destinations.
Traffic between STAs within the BSS may also be sent through the AP where the source STA sends traffic to the AP and the AP delivers the traffic to the destination STA. Such traffic between STAs within a BSS is really peer-to-peer traffic. Such peer-to-peer traffic may also be sent directly between the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS) using an IEEE 802.11e DLS or an IEEE 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN in independent BSS mode has no AP, and the STAs communicate directly with each other.
A network allocation vector (NAV) protection mechanism is used at the medium access control (MAC) layer to protect packet transmissions on the wireless medium. The NAV is an indicator maintained by each device (i.e., the STA or the AP) of time periods when transmission onto the wireless medium will not be initiated by the device. Each frame transmitted in the BSS contains a duration field that is set to a time period corresponding to the transmission of the frame and any subsequent frames, along with interframe spaces as required by the frame exchange sequences defined in the MAC layer protocol. A device that receives a valid frame not addressed to it updates its NAV using the information in the duration field of the received frame if the update results in a new NAV value that is greater than the current NAV value.
In a BSS, packet collisions may result because of hidden node problems. To mitigate this problem, a ready to send (RTS) and clear to send (CTS) frame exchange may be used to set the NAV. To reserve the medium, a device sends an RTS frame addressed to a recipient device as the first frame of a frame exchange sequence. The recipient device responds with a CTS frame addressed to the device that transmitted the RTS frame. In this way, the NAV is set for all other STAs in the neighborhoods of both devices to support the frame exchange sequence.
Another protection mechanism that involves less overhead, but is not as robust, is transmission of a "CTS-to-self" frame before a transmission requiring protection. With this protection mechanism, a device first transmits a CTS frame addressed to itself with a duration value that protects the subsequent transmission.
Devices may be assigned to groups with a group identifier (referred to hereinafter as group ID) using management frames for radio resource management functions. The group ID and associated group information is indicated in the physical (PHY) or MAC portion of a frame. Methods are known for assigning a group ID with associated group parameters to devices using management frames.
WLANs with very high throughput (VHT) of greater than 100 Mbps on top of the MAC layer are being designed. To enhance system performance, VHT WLANs may include features such as: power saving, MU-MIMO, or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). These features may use group transmissions or group frame exchanges, in which more than two devices are involved.
In a MU-MIMO or OFDMA scenario, a given device communicates with more than one STA simultaneously, resulting in multiple simultaneous communication links. With MU-MIMO, the simultaneous communications occur on the same frequency or frequencies. With OFDMA, the simultaneous communications occur on different allocated sub-carrier frequencies. In the uplink (UL) direction (to the device), there is more than one transmitting device and one receiving device. In the downlink (DL) direction (from the device), there is one transmitting device and more than one receiving device.
Because more than two devices are involved in group transmissions or group frame exchanges, the existing protection mechanisms of RTS and CTS frame exchanges (which are designed for only two devices) will not work properly. Similarly, frame response mechanisms such as acknowledgement (ACK) frames and block ACK frames (which are designed for only two devices) will not work properly for group transmissions or group frame exchanges.
For group transmissions or group frame exchanges, the group ID concept described above may be used to provide a signaling protection mechanism, a frame response mechanism, and a sounding mechanism.

Group transmissions in wireless local area networks


A circuit breaker module includes a breaker circuit connected to a first electrical lead and a second electrical lead, a housing surrounding the breaker circuit, wherein said first and second electrical leads extend through the housing, and wherein the housing is at least partially constructed of a thermally conductive polymer, and a heat dissipation feature contacting the housing, wherein the heat dissipation feature is operable to dissipate heat from the breaker circuit.

Existing power distribution systems, such as those utilized in commercial aircraft, include multiple circuit breaker modules designed to prevent over currents in the power distribution system. As current travels through the circuit breaker module, the breaker circuitry incurs a voltage drop and generates heat. This heat builds up over time, and can damage electronics within the circuit breaker module if the heat is not dissipated.
Current style circuit breaker modules are housed within plastic housings. The plastic housings are not thermally conductive, and heat generated by the breaker circuitry builds up within the housing. To prevent excess heat buildup from damaging the circuitry, the heat generated by the breaker circuitry is shunted from the circuit breaker module to a heat dissipation component. In existing systems, the heat is shunted out of the circuit breaker module over electric leads that connect the breaker circuitry to a circuit board, and heat dissipation elements connected to the circuit board are utilized to dissipate the heat.
The heat dissipation elements are constructed large enough to facilitate the additional heat dissipation of dissipating heat from both the circuit board and the circuit breaker modules. The additional size and material requirements of the heat dissipation elements due to the additional heat dissipation significantly increases the weight of the circuit board and of the power distribution system.


Images are colorized, recolorized, or otherwise manipulated by adding scribbles of a blending medium (such as chrominance) to a measurement medium (such as luminance) of the image. The blending medium propagates from the scribbles according to an intrinsic or geodesic distance that is a function of the measurement medium. Intrinsic distances may be weighted. An effect scribble may produce an effect, such as result data, in the blending medium according to a predefined function. A preprocessing scribble may be converted to one or more effect scribbles which are then propagated. A measurement scribble may propagate so as to alter the intrinsic distances of other scribbles.

Colorization is the art of adding color to a monochrome image or movie. The idea of coloring photos and films is not new. Hand coloring of photographs is as old as photography itself. There exists such examples from 1842 and possibly earlier. It was practiced in motion pictures in the early 1900s by the French Company Pathé, where many films were colored by hand. It was widely practiced also for filmstrips into the 1930s. A computer-assisted process was introduced in 1970 for adding colors to black and white movies.
Various early computer-based colorization techniques include straightforward approaches such as luminance keying. This method uses a user-defined look-up table which transforms gray-scale into color. Others extended this idea by matching luminance and texture rather than just the gray-scale values.
Manual segmentation has been employed to divide a gray-scale image into a set of layers and then to estimate an alpha channel using Bayesian image matting. The final image is constructed using alpha-blending. More recently, a segmentation method has been optimized for colorization of black-and-white cartoons.
Other approaches assume that homogeneity in the gray-scale image indicates homogeneity in the color. In other words, the geometry of the image is provided by the geometry of the gray-scale information. Often, in addition to the gray-scale data, color hints are provided by the user via scribbles in these methods. Probabilistic relaxation methods have been employed. Another researcher has solved an optimization problem that minimizes a quadratic cost function of the color difference between a pixel and its weighted average neighborhood colors. Another has proposed "inpainting" colors constrained by the gray-scale gradients and color scribbles that serve as boundary conditions. This method involves solving linear or non-linear Poisson equations.
The main shortcoming of these previous approaches is the intensive computational cost needed to obtain good-quality results. Some have addressed this issue with a faster algorithm that propagates colored seed pixels in all directions, where the coloring is done by choosing from a preselected list of color candidates. However, this method produces visible artifacts of block distortion, since no color blending is performed.
In addition to colorizing monochrome images, needs exist for recolorizing images that already contain color information. For example, advertisements may wish to emphasize products by showing a scene where only the product itself is in color. Sepia and related effects may create striking visual presentations. Online sales outlets may desire to allow a customer to visualize automobiles or clothing in different colors or styles on Web pages. Photographers may wish to selectively blend new colors with existing colors while retouching images. Beyond merely adding or replacing colors, photographers and artists commonly employ a number of effects or filters for manipulating images for various purposes.
Many of these applications are much more useful when images can be colored or manipulated accurately, with only a small input from the user, and quickly. Some applications are made practical only when the manipulation can be performed interactively in near real time—that is, within a time interval short enough that users can feasibly wait for the results and perhaps provide changes or comparisons without having to interrupt their thoughts or move to another task.
Video images as well as still may profit from such manipulation, especially where the user inputs could be applied to only a relatively small number of frames in a sequence. In the past, however, colorizing video images has required complex and slow techniques such as optical flow, which calculates a velocity field that warps one image into another, usually very similar, image in a sequence. Besides being slow in itself, optical flows generally require execution of an algorithm in addition to already slow image-manipulation algorithm.

Fast image and video data propagation and blending using intrinsic distances


A digital receiver (10) has a symmetrical base band processor (28, 30, 32, 34, and 36) which concurrently provides a left and a right channel of audio information. Because of the symmetrical design of the base band processor, each of the left and right channels of information has perfectly balanced phase and amplitude with respect to each other. The base band processor includes an adaptive gain compensator (28), multipliers (30, 32), and high pass filters (34, 36). Compensator (28) iteratively derives a gain factor which is multiplied by both an in-phase component and a quadrature component of a quadrature modulated input signal to respectively provide a composite of the left and right channels and a difference between the left and right channels. Subsequently, adders (44, 48) arithmetically manipulate the composite and difference of the channels to separate the left and the right audio information.

During transmission of an information signal from a transmitter to a receiver in a communications system, the information signal typically modulates a carrier signal. The information signal may modulate the carrier signal using a wide variety of methods, such as amplitude, phase, or frequency modulation.
In an amplitude modulated (AM) stereo system, the amplitude of the carrier signal is typically modulated by the information signal such that a substantial amount of information may be transmitted in a relatively small band of frequencies. As well, stereo information associated with the transmitted signal may also be transmitted within the frequency band. Several systems for transmission and reception of AM stereo information have been developed through industry use. Each system implements a method for providing two audio channels within a predetermined band of frequencies with high quality stereo sound and very little interference. However, one of the standards, an AM stereo system which uses quadrature amplitude modulation, is used most often and is, therefore, a de facto industry standard.
An industry standard AM stereo system licensed by Motorola, Inc., under the trademark "C-QUAM" is referred to as a Compatible Quadrature Amplitude Modulation stereo system. The "C-QUAM" stereo system typically provides stereophonic information using amplitude modulation for a main information signal, and a quadrature type of phase modulation for a stereo information signal. Quadrature phase modulation is used to separate a composite of a left channel (L) and a right channel (R) of the stereo information signal, and a difference between the left and the right channels, by a phase angle of 90 degrees for transmission. A signal broadcast using the C-QUAM stereo system must then be separated into the composite of and the difference between the left channel and the right channel of the stereo information signal at a receiver.
In a "C-QUAM" stereo receiver, stereophonic components are typically extracted from a broadcast signal using standard analog circuits. The broadcast signal is converted to a pure quadrature information signal, and a quadrature demodulator is then used to extract both the composite and difference of the left and the right channels of the broadcast signal. If the broadcast signal has only the composite of the left and the right channels of the broadcast signal, the broadcast signal is monaural, or has no stereo components. The stereo components are transmitted as the difference between the left and the right channels of the broadcast signal.
Before the broadcast signal is input to the quadrature demodulator, the signal must be converted to an original transmitted quadrature signal which contains phase modulation components. This is accomplished by gain modulating the broadcast signal. To convert the broadcast signal to a base band signal, the broadcast signal must be demodulated with both an envelope detector and a sideband detector. The envelope detector demodulates the broadcast signal to provide a composite signal of the left and right channels of the broadcast signal. Similarly, the sideband detector demodulates the gain modulated broadcast signal to provide a difference signal indicating a difference between the left and right channels of the broadcast signal. The signals provided by both the envelope detector and the in-phase component of the sideband detector are then compared and the resultant error signal gain modulates the inputs of the sideband detector. Each of the composite and difference signals is then provided to a logic circuit referred to as a "matrix." The matrix processes each of the composite and difference signals to output a separate left and right channel signal. For further information on the operation of a "C-QUAM" encoder and receiver, refer to "Introduction to the Motorola "C-QUAM" AM Stereo System" published by Motorola, Inc. in 1985.
Although an analog solution adequately demodulates the base band signal and subsequently separates the base band signal into a left and a right stereo signal, the signal quality of the resulting left and right stereo signals is limited by the nature of the analog solution. For example, during the operation performed by the matrix, each of the composite and difference signals must have phase and amplitudes which are perfectly balanced. If the signals do not have balanced phases and amplitudes, the left and right channels of the base band signal are mixed and the resulting sound is distorted. With precise design and implementation, an analog solution may adequately balance both the phase and the amplitude of each of the composite and difference signals such that distortion is not readily noticeable. However, such precision is difficult to achieve.
Additionally, analog circuitry typically approximates a demodulation function. Therefore, the sound provided by an analog version of the C-QUAM receiver must be carefully monitored and processed to provide an audio sound which simulates the sound originally transmitted. As well, because the analog solution requires several components which are discrete, noise is produced during demodulation and during the transmission of information between each of the components. Additionally, in typical analog implementations of C-QUAM receivers, gain modulation is performed on an audio signal at the input of the C-QUAM receiver. Because the audio signal is typically sampled at a high frequency at the input, the precision and accuracy of the gain modulation operation may be limited by the speed with which the operation must be performed. Phase error and/or frequency error introduced during the demodulation may also result in increased distortion in the sound output by the analog version of the C-QUAM stereo system.
Therefore, a need exists for an AM stereo receiver which demodulates a broadcast signal to produce a high quality stereo signal. The stereo receiver should also not add any phase error or amplitude components which might distort the broadcast signal. Additionally, the AM stereo receiver should not introduce any extraneous noise which would further degrade the quality of the stereo sound. As well, the AM stereo receiver should also provide the stereo signal in a timely and economical manner.

Symmetrically balanced phase and amplitude base band processor for a quadrature receiver


According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system selectively compresses data fields in a parallel data flow. The system identifies within an execution plan for the parallel data flow a first instance of a data field within a stage of the parallel data flow. The system traces the identified data field through stages of the parallel data flow and determines a score value for the identified data field based on operations performed on the identified data field during traversal of the stages. The system compresses the identified data field based on the score value indicating a performance gain with respect to the compressed data field. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for selectively compressing data fields in a parallel data flow in substantially the same manners described above.

Present invention embodiments relate to information processing, and more specifically, to selectively compressing data fields in a parallel data flow.
Parallel data processing engines (e.g., Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) engines; MapReduce engines; etc.) typically process large volumes of data (e.g., terabytes). The data is broken up into records, each of which is individually processed by different stages of the engine. Each record is broken into a set of fields, each with its own data type and space requirements. Depending on the processing engine used, data may be passed from one process to another, written to disk, and passed over a network within the same data flow. In order to reduce the overhead for transporting data through a parallel data flow, many processing engines (e.g., HADOOP® MapReduce) compress records or blocks of records as they are written to disk or sent over a network. However, data written many times may require a significant number of compressions and decompressions.

Field level compression in parallel data flows

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method for displaying sticky notes on a phone are provided. The system for displaying sticky notes on a phone includes a processing system and a controller. The processing system includes a processor that is coupled to a display icon and user input device, to enter and display the sticky notes on the phone. The controller classifies the entered sticky notes on the basis of the action to be performed on them. These sticky notes may be classified, based on user identification associated with a multi-user phone.

1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate in general to sticky notes, and more specifically, the embodiments of the invention relates to systems and methods for displaying the sticky notes on a phone.
2. Description of the Background Art
PC or phone users generally use sticky post-it notes to store information related to tasks they need to perform, for example, these are used by users for the following: to remind them about people they need to call, things they have to do, appointments they need to attend, and to jot down messages. However, the sticky post-it notes are generally difficult to handle. They can get lost or stick to clothes. To overcome these problems, newer ways of recording, keeping and managing important information, dates, phone numbers and events, using electronic sticky notes and reminders, have been developed. A few computer software programs provide sticky notes, for example, sticky notes on MacOSX or 3M's product on windows. These electronic sticky notes are generally multi-functional, and their appearance can be customized; their fonts, colors and buttons changed, and styles saved. Further, they can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified date and time; or displayed every day, week or month, to act as reminders.
However, these electronic sticky notes cannot be applied on a phone.

System and method for displaying sticky notes on a phone


A control and digital telemetry arrangement for an aerial missile includes digital telemetry system, a firing circuit, a battery and a latching relay. The digital telemetry system receives an analog input telemetry signal and produces and transmits to a ground station a digital output telemetry signal representing the current status of missile functions. The firing circuit is connected to the telemetry system to indicate that a firing command signal for firing the missile rocket motor has been received. The battery is capable of being switched back and forth between non-conducting and conducting states. The latching relay is connected between the telemetry system and battery and the system and external ground power and capable of switching the battery from its non-conductive to conductive state for latching power from the battery to said telemetry system. The digital telemetry system, firing circuit, battery and latching relay are packaged in a cannister housing which, in turn, is mountable in the missile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telemetry systems and, more particularly, is concerned with a control and digital telemetry arrangement for an aerial missile.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional telemetry systems have incorporated a pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) format with frequency modulation (FM) transmitters. These are analog telemetry systems which have significant drawbacks.
The analog PAM format inherently incorporates an undesirable signal-to-noise ratio. Also, to be read by on-ground computers, the telemetered analog signals must first be converted to digital form. Further, the large physical dimensions cf FM transmitters make them undesirable for small diameter aerial missiles. Thus, past telemetry systems of PAM/FM format transmit an analog RF signal that is susceptable to noise, making it difficult for ground stations to discern between the transmitted signals and noise.
Consequently, a need exists for a telemetry system having a format which avoids the above-described drawbacks and can be used on small diameter aerial missiles.

Control and digital telemetry arrangement for an aerial missile

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A sealed rectangular parallelepiped polypropylene conditioning package with fast tear-off opening for pasty products likely to melt into a semi-liquid state, in particular cheese, includes a first sheet (1) cut out along a suitable contour and having a rectangular shell-type shape for receiving the product and for providing a gripping corner (2) for opening the package, a cover sheet and two tear-off strips (5,6). The gripping corner (2) has a triangular projection formed on one of the sides of the first sheet cut out into an octagonal shape and the tear-off strips (5, 6) form a pointed U shape whereof the tip is located in the triangular projection, thereby making it easy and simple to open.

A package of this type is known from French patent No. FR 2 499 025. In that package, the first sheet is provided with two parallel tear strips and the pull corner is formed by a 45° fold of two halves of one of the sides of the cut-out sheet. The effect of this folding is to be bring the ends of the two tear strips into a heat-sealing zone that is relatively far away from the end of the pull corner. When the pull corner is pulled, there is a danger of tearing the pull corner before exerting traction on the tear strips, and consequently of failing to open the package.
In a package derived from the preceding package, in which the corner is also formed by two 45° folds, the parallel tear strips are closer to the center of the package and present an enlargement towards said center so that they are situated very close to the end of the pull corner while the corner is being formed. However, portions of the sides of the 45° folded corner are heat-sealed onto the second sheet, forming a fold that presents greater resistance to tearing. Such a package, when made out of polyethylene (PP), is very difficult to tear because of this fold, which is why that package is made out of oriented polypropylene (OPP).
French patent No. FR 2 362 765 discloses a package in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped provided with a tear strip in the form of a tuning fork, with a very short handle forming the pull tongue for tearing purposes. It is not easy to take hold of that short tongue.


The present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate dynamic programming language execution in a managed code environment. A runtime code generator is provided within the framework of a managed object environment. The code generator includes a class allocator that reserves one or more method slots for a dynamic method call. A dynamic method builder then employs the method slots to generate an intermediate language stream that forms a method description. The method description is then fed to a Just-In-Tine (JIT) compiler that returns at least one dynamically generated pointer to facilitate execution of the dynamic method call at runtime.

As computer science has evolved, object oriented programming has become one of many familiar models designers and programmers utilize to implement functionality within computer systems. The object model generally is defined by a class structure that includes class members providing both methods and associated data elements belonging to the class. The class members thus provide/define desired functionality within a computer program, wherein an object is declared as an instance of a particular class. As is commonplace, objects often must exchange data and/or invoke other objects operating on the same platform and/or communicate with objects belonging to remote platforms. In order to communicate between objects, interface systems and standards have been developed to define how objects may communicate and/or interact with one another.
A familiar system for communicating and interfacing between objects is known as the Component Object Model (COM), wherein another similar system is referred to as the Common Object Request Brokers Architecture (CORBA). Still yet other communication interfaces may be defined in languages such as JAVA within an operating framework of a Java Virtual Machine, for example. As these and other systems have been developed however, two common object architectures or models generally have emerged and may generally be defined in terms of managed and unmanaged object systems, for example.
Managed objects may be allocated from a heap within a managed software or execution environment and are generally not responsible for managing associated object lifetimes. Managed objects may be described in terms of a data type (e.g., metadata) and automatically collected (e.g., reclaimed) by a managed environment "garbage collector" that removes the object from memory when the object is no longer being accessed. In contrast, unmanaged objects may be allocated from a standard operating system heap, wherein the object itself is responsible for freeing memory it employs when references to the object no longer exist. This may be accomplished through well-known techniques such as reference counting, for example.
Various compilers and other tools expose a managed system's functionality that enable designers to write code that benefits from a managed execution environment. Thus, code that is developed with a language compiler that targets a managed system such as a Common Language Runtime or Java Virtual Machine is referred to as managed code. This type environment employs features such as cross-language integration, cross-language exception handling, enhanced security, versioning and deployment support, a simplified model for component interaction, and debugging and profiling services, for example.
To enable managed systems to provide services for managed code, language compilers typically emit metadata that describes the types, members, and references in managed code. Metadata is stored with the code, wherein a loadable common language runtime portable executable (PE) file contains the metadata. The managed system employs the metadata to locate and load classes, lay out instances in memory, resolve method invocations, generate native code, enforce security, and set run-time context boundaries.
The managed system automatically handles object layout and manages references to objects, releasing them when they are no longer being used. Objects whose lifetimes are managed in this manner are called managed data. As noted above, garbage collection mitigates memory leaks as well as some other common programming errors. If code is managed, designers can use managed data, unmanaged data, or both managed and unmanaged data in a respective application. Since language compilers supply their own types, such as primitive types, systems may not always know (or need to know) whether data is being managed.
A prototypical example whereby runtime code generation is beneficial relates to late bound calls as found in languages such as Visual Basic, ECMAScript, Python, Perl, PHP, Scheme, Ruby, and so forth. In these languages, the types of a receiver and arguments of a method call are not known statically, whereas the managed system method call instructions (e.g., call, callvirt, ldftn, ldvrtftn) require the static types of the method arguments and result. Hence, method dispatch is performed dynamically based on the runtime types of the receiver, actual arguments, and the static name of the method. This interpretative layer is one of the main reasons that late bound languages do not perform as well as statically typed languages.

Systems and methods providing lightweight runtime code generation


A system and method determines the probability of oil or mineral deposits. At least one data collection device collects elevation slope, magnetic and gravity data sets for a predetermined area of the earth's surface. A processor receives the elevation slope, magnetic and gravity data sets and applies the gravity and magnetic data sets in a transfer function to link the elevation slope data set to the likely presence of oil or mineral deposits.

Many different types of searches are used for exploring and developing geological resources, such as oil, gas or mineral deposits. These searches are typically localized, requiring time-consuming search and evaluation teams. In some techniques used in oil and gas exploration, geological research requires laborious hands-on, on-the-ground technical data collection using gradiometers and magnetometers. Remote sensing is typically not involved in these searches, except for a cursory classification of geostrata, for example, used in slope determination.
In the last few years, commercial satellites, such as the IKONOS satellite system, have delivered commercial image data at a very high spatial resolution. For example, the IKONOS system records four channels of multi-spectral data at four meter resolution, and one pan chromatic channel at one meter resolution. Thus, the IKONOS system can deliver near photographic high resolution satellite imagery of almost any location in the world. As a result, the volume of earth-observation imagery has greatly increased.
Some oil and mineral commercial exploratory services provide remote sensing and aircraft data collection for the geological resource community by intensely analyzing contour maps. An example of this type of system is the Falcon™ airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) from BHPBilliton that measures minute changes in the earth's gravity to explore different terrains. Gravity data compliments magnetics data and provides insights to gain access to new terrains, prioritize targets, reduce exploration time and costs, and compliment magnetics, EM and radiometrics data. In a typical device, the gradiometer unit has two gradiometers and experiences different aircraft accelerations (e.g., reference ellipsoid, latitude, earth tide and isostatic effects). The measured gradient is the subtraction of one gradiometer response from the other. As a result, most of the corrections cancel out. This unit obtains raw data, processes it with digital signal processing circuits, and provides self-gradient correction, terrain correction, and transformation to GDD and gD.
Another technique for facilitating oil and gas exploration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,037, which discloses gravity and magnetic data inversion using vector and tensor data, including the use of seismic imaging and geopressure production analysis for oil, gas and mineral exploration and development. Complicated mathematics are used to analyze data fields. There is no prediction algorithm, however. In that system, geological structures are modeled by obtaining seismic data to derive an initial density model. An inversion process uses vector or tensor components of the gravity and/or magnetic data. An initial model includes a topographic or bathymetric surface and a 2D or 3D density model, that aids in distinguishing the top of any zones of anomalous density. A lower boundary of an anomalous density zone is derived by using the inversion process. The seismic data can also be processed in depth or time using a density model from the inversion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,316, the disclosed system measures the earth's local gravity and magnetic field in conjunction with global positioning coordinates. This system focuses on a localized search and does not use a prediction algorithm. Magnetometer errors during wellbore survey operations are determined on up to three axes, with or without the use of an external reference measurement of the local magnetic field. This provides an accurate result using data from a minimum number of surveys. Any difference between the corrected transform data and reference data in the earth's coordinate system is minimized to determine model parameters.
It would be advantageous, however, if a system and method could be developed that used a predictive algorithm to determine the likelihood of oil or mineral deposits within a predetermined area of the earth's surface.

System and method for determining oil or mineral deposits


A vehicle body end section structure is obtained that enables a spacer member that transmits load to a framework member in a small overlap collision to be suppressed from impinging on a wheel in a minor collision. The vehicle body end section structure comprises a pair of left and right framework members, a bumper framework section connected to leading end portions of the pair of framework members, and a spacer member that projects out from a jutting-out portion of the bumper framework section toward a framework member side. The spacer member is disposed such that a rotation trajectory of the spacer member about a connection location between the bumper framework section and the framework member, the connection location is positioned on an opposite side in the vehicle width direction of the spacer member, does not impinge on a wheel in plan view.

A known bumper structure is configured with a reinforcement extension provided at a vehicle width direction end portion of bumper reinforcement, and load that is input to the reinforcement extension in a small overlap collision is transmitted to a side member (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2008-213739). A structure is also known that includes a second projection portion provided at a back face side of a bumper beam extension portion, and a first projection portion extending from a side face of a side frame toward the vehicle width direction outside, such that the first projection portion and the second projection portion impinge on each other in the event of a collision between a pole and the bumper beam extension portion (see, for example, JP-A No. 2012-228907).


A heavy current mini connector. The connector has a power terminal assembly and a holder. The power terminal assembly includes a set of resilient contacting tabs. The power terminal assembly and a busbar conductive plate are inserted into each other. The power terminal assembly is conductively connected with a PCB and covered on its outer side with the holder made from steel. The set of resilient contacting tabs is located at the front portion of the power terminal assembly and in contact with the busbar conductive plate. The clamping plates, fastened to the base and provided in the front of the holder, are clamped to the two sides of the power terminal assembly. The base is located on the rear of the holder and is clamped onto the outside of the rear part of the power terminal assembly. The ventilation apertures are situated on the middle of the base.

Under the circumstance of heavy current, security becomes the premier standard for connector products. As an important aspect of connector security, the ability of anti-deflection plays a vital role in ensuring the security and durability of connector.
Nowadays, one of the defects of the heavy current connector in the prior art is that its adaptability, i.e. its tolerance to deflected plugging posture, is insufficient. Accurate plugging posture of such connector can eliminate various potential electric risks and improve the heat dissipation, plugging convenience and connecting reliability of the heavy current connector, so as to further enhance the connector's security.

Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A method for querying target information within a card view (15) is disclosed wherein a three-dimensional object (151) is selected on the basis of a user input and data (152) linked thereto is outputted. Preferably, in order to navigate within the card view (15), the gestures of the user are evaluated. The user can then navigate within a card view in a virtual manner and can easily query target information relating to an object.

The invention relates to a method for requesting destination information within a map view shown on a display device, to a method for navigating in a map view reproduced on a display device, to a computer program product storing one of these methods and to a navigation unit which is suitable for carrying out such methods.
Navigation calculations for determining a route from a starting point to a destination point are based on two-dimensional geoinformation data. The user of a route search program running on a computer or of a navigation unit arranged in a vehicle has to select the destination for his trip by inputting letters or by making a selection from a predefined list. To this end, he needs to know the name of his destination already, however. This is often not the case in foreign places. In the same way, he can request destination information relating to the points (points of interest) included in the data, for example filling stations, museums, hotels, multistory car parks or the like. In large cities, however, he will, regularly be provided with a confusingly large number of options in this regard. A way of visually searching for a particular area by altering a map view, that is to say of navigating in a map, is not provided.
The European patent specification EP 0 366 132 B1 discloses a multifunction control device for motor vehicles which has a rotary switch which can be used to input the series of letters in a destination for a navigation unit. This does not allow orientation of the user within a road map view which is output on a display device.
The international application WO 99/19788 discloses a system for real-time identification of gestures. If the system identifies a gesture made by a person, a computer performs an operation which is based on the semantic meaning of the gesture. Thus, by way of example, a person's moving his arms up and down is converted into the image of a bird in flight.

Method for requesting destination information and for navigating in a map view, computer program product and navigation unit


Disclosed is lubrication for a slow-running two-stroke engine, especially marine diesel engines. The lubrication uses Swirl Injection Principle by locating the lubricant injectors closer to the TDC than ⅕ of the full stroke of the piston, which is closer than in typical marine diesel engines. This can be achieved by reconstructing cylinder liners or by adding new mounting holes to the cylinder. In case that such reconstruction is not possible, an improvement of SIP principles can also be achieved by directing the spray towards the TDC or to a location on the cylinder liner closer to the TDC as compared to the location of the SIP valves, for example under an angle of more than 30 degrees or even more than 60 degrees when measured from a plane normal to the cylinder axis.

Due to the focus of on environmental protection, efforts are ongoing with respect reduction of emissions from marine engines. This also involves the steady optimization of lubrication systems for such engines. Thereto is added increased competition and the economic aspects of reducing oil consumption, as this is a significant part of the operational costs of ships. A further concern is proper lubrication despite reduced lubricant because the longevity of diesel engines should not be compromised by the reduction of oil consumption. Thus, there is a need for steady improvements with respect to lubrication.
For lubricating of large slow-running two-stroke marine diesel engines, several different systems exist, including injection of lubrication oil directly onto the cylinder liner or injection of oil quills to the piston surface.
An alternative method, commercially called Swirl Injection Principle (SIP), is relatively new and based on injection of a spray of atomized droplets of lubrication oil into the scavenging air swirl inside the cylinder. The helically upwards directed swirl results in the lubricant being pulled towards the Top Dead Centre (TDC) of the cylinder and pressed outwards against the cylinder wall as a thin and even layer. This is explained in detail in International Patent Application WO2010/149162. The lubricant injectors are non-return valves that comprise an injector housing inside which a reciprocating valve member is provided, typically a valve needle. The valve member, for example with a needle tip, in a valve housing closes and opens the lubricant's access to a nozzle aperture according to a precise timing. In current SIP systems, a spray with atomized droplets is achieved at a pressure of 35-40 bars, which is substantially higher that the oil pressure of less than 10 bars that are used for systems working with compact oil jets that are introduced into the cylinder. In some types of SIP valves, the high pressure of the lubrication oil is also used to move a spring-loaded valve member against the spring force away from the nozzle aperture such that the highly pressurised oil is released therefrom as atomized droplets. The ejection of oil leads to a lowering of the pressure of the oil inside the valve member, resulting in the valve member returning to its origin until the next lubricant cycle where highly pressurized lubrication oil is supplied to the lubricant injector again.
In such large marine engines, a number of injectors are arranged in a circle around the cylinder in a plane perpendicular to a cylinder axis and each injector comprises one or more nozzle apertures at the tip for delivering lubricant jets or sprays into the cylinder from each injector. Examples of SIP lubricant injector systems in marine engines are disclosed in international patent applications WO02/35068, WO2004/038189, WO2005/124112, WO2010/149162, WO2012/126480, WO2012/126473, and WO2014/048438, which are herewith incorporated by reference.
Traditionally, the cylinders of engines have been built with openings for oil injectors placed at a distance from the top dead centre (TDC) of the cylinder, where the distance about ⅓ or more of the total stroke of the cylinder. However, for increasing length of the cylinders, considerations apply whether the lubrication nozzles should be moved further towards the TDC in order to safeguard a proper lubrication in the cylinder near the TDC, where the heat is high and where the requirements for proper lubrication are most critical. For oil quills that are applied to the piston directly, such considerations have been disclosed by Miyake et al. in the article "PAPER NO.: 177 Cylinder liner and piston ring lubrication issues in relation to increase stroke/bore ratio", published by the International Council on Combustion Engines at the CIMAC Congress 2013 in Shanghai. In these experiments, it was found that the positioning of the lubrication valves at large distance of 1.2 m from the TDC resulted in the oil not being scraped into the combustion chamber. From the perspective of oil refreshment and neutralization of sulphuric acid in the combustion chamber, re-positioning of the lubrication valves closer to the TDC at 0.3 m was found advantageous, as 67% of the oil would be scraped into the combustion chamber. However, for overall lubrication of the entire cylinder, two-level lubrication improved the situation much with 20% of the oil scraped into the combustion chamber.
As compared to scraping of oil quills into the upper part of the cylinder, special considerations apply for SIP lubrication because part of the spray from the SIP valve nozzles is drawn helically upwards towards the TDC and into the combustion chamber and therefore provides a better lubrication even over a large distance from the SIP nozzles to the TDC. This is also why changing from quill scraping of oil to SIP lubrication has proven general improved conditions. For these reason also, it is generally not believed that a moving of the SIP injectors to a position closer to the TDC would yield any improvement that would justify the modification of cylinder liners. Especially, an improvement as it was found by Miyake et al. for the re-positioning of the oil quill lubrication valves cannot be expected. Thus, although, one may speculate in moving the quill nozzles or the jet nozzles of more traditional lubrication systems further towards the TDC, these considerations do not appear to apply for lubricant sprays of SIP lubrication principles due to the oil-transporting helical swirl.
However, despite these apparent advantages of SIP lubrication systems, a general steady motivation for improvements exists.

Method for lubricating a large slow-running two-stroke engine with SIP lubricant injector