A contents passing device according to the present invention includes a passing operation part configured to guide movement of contents, a passing movement part rotatably disposed in the passing operation part and configured to move so that the contents are passed, and a sensing part disposed in the passing operation part and configured to sense contents discharged due to free rotation of one end of the passing movement part, wherein the sensing part detects information on the sensed contents.

Generally, medicines such as digestive agents, health supplements such as vitamins, and foods such as sweets are produced in the form of solid, powder, or liquid contents, and tools, apparatuses, and the like are manufactured in the form of solid contents (hereinafter referred to as "contents").
Medicine and food contents are taken in a fixed amount or a necessary amount to prevent overuse or addiction as well as to maximize their efficacy.
Such contents are sold in a state of being contained in a predetermined storage container. The conventional contents storage container has a structure including a container main body in which a plurality of contents are contained and a cap that is coupled to an inlet of the container main body so as to be openable and closable.
Therefore, to take or ingest the contents, the cap is opened from the container main body, and then the contents contained in the container main body are withdrawn on a palm or a lid so as to be taken.
The above-described technical configuration is a background art for assisting the understanding of the present invention and does not indicate a widely known related art in the technical field to which the present invention belongs.
A fixed amount discharging container has been proposed in Korean Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-2012-0096798 (Title of Invention: A cap for discharging constant rate of pills).

Passage device and medication dose management device


The Object-Oriented Data Mining and Decision Making System is invented and disclosed. This system is an integration of two subsystems, the object-oriented data mining subsystem which is an object-oriented machine learning system, and the object-oriented decision making subsystem which is also called the object-oriented expert system. In this invention, object-oriented technology, a new technology in software design and development is applied. The difference between the methodology used in this invention and that used in all other learning systems and expert systems is that in this invention, all objects have the same attributes and actions and are in the same class in the whole process. At the same time, only objects themselves, nothing else are processed, without adding any additional structures, such as trees, hierarchies, and relations to them. Therefore a single class can cover all working objects in the whole process. Besides, statistical methodology is introduced to each object in the class.

This invention relates to the field of artificial intelligence, and more specifically to the fields of machine learning and expert system, and to object-oriented technology, therefore it is in the area of object-oriented machine learning and object-oriented expert system.
The goal of this invention is using machine learning and object-oriented technology to discover knowledge from databases and other data sources, and store discovered knowledge into a knowledge base. An object-oriented expert system can read the knowledge base and generate inference results directly.
The special features of the present invention are:
First, in the object-oriented technology, objects in a class are used directly, without introducing additional structures, such as tree structures of objects, decision trees, relations, or frames. From beginning to the end of the process, from the working objects to the result, the only structure discussed is object and class, and all objects are in the same class.
Second, in the learning process, generate-and-test technique is used in a top-down process, this means from the most general conjunctive objects to the less general conjunctive objects. And some threshold conditions are applied to the selection of the qualified learning objects.
Third, in the expert system, the inference process is reduced to the direct comparison between the test object and each knowledge object. If a matched knowledge object is found, the action in this object is executed. The same as in the object-oriented learning process, no additional structures, such as tree structures of objects, decision trees, relations, or frames are introduced.
The above three points disclosed in this invention are different from any existing systems or published technologies.
The inventor has a patent "Relational Artificial Intelligence System" (U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,732), in which the relational technology is introduced. The object-oriented technology is totally different from the relational technology. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,732 there are relations and arrays but no objects and classes; in this invention, there are objects and classes, but no relations and arrays.
The inventor has another patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,126). This is a table-formed expert system. Only tables but no objects and classes are discussed there. It is not object-oriented, therefore it is totally different from this invention.

Object-oriented data mining and decision making system


An aluminum-based alloy composition having improved combinations of corrosion resistance, drawability, bendability and extrudability consists essentially of, in weight percent, not more than about 0.03% copper, between about 0.1 and up to about 1.5% manganese, between about 0.03 and about 0.35% titanium, an amount of magnesium up to about 1.0%, less than 0.01% nickel, between about 0.06 and about 1.0% zinc, an amount of zirconium up to about 0.3%, amounts of iron and silicon up to about 0.50%, up to 0.20% chromium, with the balance aluminum and inevitable impurities. A process of making an aluminum alloy article having high corrosion resistance, drawability, bendability and hot deformability is also provided.

In the prior art, aluminum is well recognized for its corrosion resistance. AA1000 series aluminum alloys are often selected where corrosion resistance is needed.
In applications were higher strengths may be needed, AA1000 series alloys have been replaced with more highly alloyed materials such as the AA3000 series type aluminum alloys. AA3102 and AA3003 are examples of higher strength aluminum alloys having good corrosion resistance.
Aluminum alloys of the AA3000 series type have found extensive use in the automotive industry due to their combination of high strength, light weight, corrosion resistance and extrudability. These alloys are often made into tubing for use in heat exchanger or air conditioning condenser applications.
One of the problems that AA3000 series alloys have when subjected to some corrosive environments is pitting or blistering corrosion. These types of corrosion often occur in the types of environments found in heat exchanger or air conditioning condenser applications and can result in failure of an automotive component where the corrosion compromises the integrity of the aluminum alloy tubing.
In a search for aluminum alloys having improved corrosion resistance, more highly alloyed materials have been developed such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,649,087 and 4,828,794. These more highly alloyed materials while providing improved corrosion performance are not conducive to extrusion due to the need for extremely high extrusion forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,316 discloses an aluminum alloy with both high extrudability and high corrosion resistance. This alloy consists essentially of about 0.1-0.5% by weight of manganese, about 0.05-0.12% by weight of silicon, about 0.10-0.20% by weight of titanium, about 0.15-0.25% by weight of iron, with the balance aluminum and incidental impurities. The alloy preferably is essentially copper free, with copper being limited to not more than 0.01%. This alloy is essentially copper free with the level of copper not exceeding 0.03% by weight.
Although the alloy disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,316 offers improved corrosion resistance over AA3102, even more corrosion resistance is desirable. In corrosion testing using salt water--acetic acid sprays as set forth in ASTM Standard G85 (hereinafter SWAAT testing), condenser tubes made of AA3102 material lasted only eight days in a SWAAT test environment before failing. In similar experiments using the alloy taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,316, longer durations than AA3102 were achieved. However, the improved alloy of U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,316 still failed in SWAAT testing in less than 20 days.
An improved aluminum alloy has been developed which overcomes the drawbacks noted above in prior art corrosion resistant alloys. This improved alloy is an AA3000 series type alloy having controlled amounts of copper, zinc and titanium. The improved alloy is especially suited for applications requiring both hot formability and corrosion resistance. The alloy consists essentially of, in weight percent, an amount of copper up to 0.03%, between about 0.05 and 0.12% silicon, between about 0.1 and about 0.5% manganese, between about 0.03 and about 0.30% titanium, less than 0.01% magnesium, less than 0.01% nickel, between about 0.06 and about 1.0% zinc, an amount of iron up to about 0.50%, up to 0.50% chromium, with the balance aluminum and inevitable impurities. Further, an example of the alloy is described in which the copper is about 0.008% or less; the titanium is between about 0.07 and 0.20%; the zinc is between about 0.10 and 0.20%; and iron is between about 0.05 and 0.30%. This improved alloy is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/659,787 filed on Jun. 6, 1996, which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
While the improved alloy offers superb corrosion resistance and hot formability, particularly when extruded into tubing, the improved alloy does not always provide adequate performance when subjected to further cold deforming and optional annealing. Often times, the improved alloy is cold drawn after hot deforming or cold drawn and annealed. The cold drawn alloy is susceptible to necking or local deformation which can cause product breakage and an unacceptable surface finish, e.g. stretcher strains or orange peel. One of the causes of the necking is insufficient resistance to deformation or softness once the material passes the yield point but has not reached the ultimate tensile strength. In the metallurgical arts, the ability to resist local deformation can be measured by the "n value". The n value generally measures the difference between the yield point and the ultimate tensile strength. Since this value is well recognized in the art, a further description is not deemed necessary for understanding of the invention
In view of the drawbacks of the improved alloy discussed above, a need has developed to provide a new and improved alloy which has not only good corrosion resistance and hot formability but also bendability and drawability. In response to this need, the present invention provides an aluminum alloy material which has controlled amounts of manganese, magnesium and zirconium and is suitable for not only corrosion resistant applications of hot deformed materials but also materials that are hot deformed and cold worked, with or without annealing and subsequent cold deforming.

Corrosion resistant, drawable and bendable aluminum alloy, process of making aluminum alloy article and article


A semiconductor device capable of reconfiguration, including a plurality of logic units which are connected to each other by an address line or a data line, wherein each of the logic units includes: a plurality of address lines; a plurality of data lines; a clock signal line to receive a system clock signal; a first and a second memory cell units which operate synchronously with the clock signal; a first address decoder which decodes an address signal and outputs a decode signal to the first memory cell unit; a second address decoder which decodes an address signal and outputs a decode signal to the second memory cell unit; and an address transition detection unit which generates an internal clock signal and outputs the internal clock signal to the first memory cell unit, when a transition of the address signal input from the plurality of address lines is detected, wherein the first memory cell unit operates synchronously with the internal clock signal, and the second memory cell unit operates synchronously with the system clock signal.

As the integration of LSI is improved, an LSI referred to as an SoC (System on Chip) which is a microcomputer configured as a chip configuring a system on a silicon has been realized. The SoC mounts a memory inside the chip in many cases, and the storage capacity of a memory to be mounted thereon has been increased year after year.
In an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) which is realized as an SoC and is designed and manufactured for a certain purpose, there are cases in which electric power saving design referred to as a voltage island is performed in order to reduce electric power consumption. The voltage island divides the circuit in the ASIC into a plurality of modules, controls a power gate circuit, and is capable of independently switching on and off of the electric power source for each divided individual modules. Further, the electric power source not being used is switched off, whereby the leak current of such module can be prevented. By using such technique, the electric power source of the most part of the circuit not being needed can be turned off, whereby the leak current of ASIC can be suppressed to the minimum amount.


Disclosed is an improved process for the catalytic hydrogenation of cyanopropionaldehyde alkyl acetals (CPAA) to form the aminobutyraldehyde alkyl acetals. The basic process comprises hydrogenating the cyanopropionaldehyde alkyl acetals by contacting said cyanopropionaldehyde alkyl acetals with hydrogen in the presence of a nickel or cobalt catalyst under conditions for reducing the nitrile group to the primary amine. The improvement resides in effecting the hydrogenation of a cyanopropionitrile dialkyl acetal feedstock containing contaminating levels of cyanopropionaldehyde in the presence of a secondary alkanol or water.

Aminobutyraldehyde dimethyl acetal (ABAA) is an amine which can be incorporated into polymers to provide crosslinkable functionality useful in coatings formulations. The advantage of coatings technology based on ABAA and other aminoalkylaldehyde alkyl acetals is that it can avoid the use of formaldehyde-based crosslinkers. Legislation requiring reduction of such formaldehyde emissions has become increasingly stringent and coatings formulators and resin manufacturers have become receptive to alternative, more environmentally benign technologies.
ABAA, and other aminopropionaldehyde acetals are typically produced by hydrogenation of the corresponding nitrile, a material in turn produced by catalytic hydroformylation of acrylonitrile in an alcohol solvent. The initially-formed cyanopropionaldehyde is converted under the reaction conditions to the cyanopropionaldehyde acetal by reaction with an alcohol. The reaction product is distilled to remove impurities and then hydrogenated.
The following patents are relevant to the hydrogenation of nitriles:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,449,036 discloses the manufacture of primary amines by the catalytic liquid phase hydrogenation of the corresponding nitrites. In an effort to avoid the formation of secondary and tertiary amines, hydrogenation of nitrites has been carried out in the presence of ammonia or in the presence of substances capable of liberating ammonia. One of the problems was that the addition of ammonia decreased the partial pressure of hydrogen in the reactor which lead to lower rates of reaction than in hydrogenation reactions performed in the absence of ammonia. Cobalt catalysts in combination with an alkali metal hydroxide, e.g., sodium, potassium or lithium hydroxide, or quaternary ammonium bases were found to result in high yields of a primary amine without the concomitant problems associated with the use of ammonia.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,356 discloses the preparation of 1,3-propylenediamines by hydrogenating .beta.-aminopropionitriles in the presence of ammonia at temperatures below 200.degree. C., the catalyst for such hydrogenation being cobalt or nickel. The patentees point out that a small amount of a manganese compound dissolved in the hydrogenation mixture enhances the activity of the catalyst with little decomposition of the catalyst or deposition of the polymers thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,173 discloses a two stage catalytic hydrogenation of unsaturated dinitriles using ruthenium or nickel as the catalyst. In the process, ammonia is used in the first stage catalytic hydrogenation wherein the nitrile is reduced to the amine. This hydrogenation is followed by a second stage hydrogenation where the ethylenic unsaturation is hydrogenated. Conventional hydrogenation catalysts are deemed suitable for the two stage hydrogenation and these include ruthenium, Raney nickel, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,003 discloses an improved process for preparing primary amines from an aliphatic nitrile and hydrogen. Raney cobalt is used as the catalyst. To avoid the use of ammonia and other bases in an effort to produce primary amines in high yield, a small amount of alkali metal hydroxide is added. The catalyst employed is a Raney cobalt catalyst incorporating from 2-35 weight percent aluminum with a cobalt aluminum alloy being contacted with an aqueous medium containing dissolved alkali metal hydroxide.
European 0 316 761 discloses a process for producing N,N-dimethyldiamino-propane by the catalytic hydrogenation of N,N-dimethylaminopropionitrile in the presence of ammonia and one or more alkaline earth oxides. Raney cobalt is the preferred catalyst.

Process for hydrogenation of cyanopropionaldehyde-containing cyanopropionadelhyde acetals


A method and apparatus for textual searching of a database is provided herein. During operation a user will input a letter into a search engine. The search engine will score words based on the letter and display results of the highest-scored words. Another letter will again be received and the process repeated. In situations where titles are returned to the user, additional steps of associating the words with a title and scoring the title take place. The highest-scored titles are provided to the user as the displayed results.

The use of many electronic devices capable of searching databases has become widespread. For example, a television set-top box used as a multi-media device often has the capability of searching an electronic program guide (EPG) based on a textual input. Often times the searches require large strings of text to be input by the user. The shift of focus across the screen takes time for motor, visual, cognitive processing. This time-consuming process may lead to input error. Therefore a need exists for a method and apparatus for textual searching of databases on electronic devices that is robust to input errors and minimizes the amount of input efforts required from a user.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as "circuitry" may equally be accomplished via replacement with software instruction executions either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP). It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Content item retrieval based on a free text entry


A skate disposed between facing portions of a folded, flexible, cable guide includes a first set of rollers which contact only one of the two facing portions, and a second set of rollers which contact only the other of the two facing portions. A turning member mounted at an end of the skate is in rolling contact with the bent portion of the guide.

The term "flexible cable," as used herein, means any flexible, elongated, energy or fluid-conducting device, such as a cable composed of one or more electrical wires or optical fibers, a fluid-conducting hose for conducting compressed air or a hydraulic fluid used as a medium for transmission of motive power, a flexible conduit used to convey a gas, a liquid, or another fluid material for use in a machine or industrial process, a flexible actuator such as a Bowden wire, or a flexible rotating shaft with or without a non-rotating sheath. Such flexible cables are used, for example, to connect relatively moving parts of a machine such as a machine tool, an industrial robot, or a conveyor or other material-handling or material-carrying machine, such as a hoist or other machine used in a civil engineering application.
When a flexible cable is connected to a moving part, torsion, flexion, and tensile forces applied to the cable as a result of movement of the moving part can result in damage to, or distortion of, the cable. Cable guides have been used to avoid damage and distortion of the cables.
As shown in FIG. 10, a typical cable guide 100 is composed of a number of links, each comprising a pair of side plates 102 disposed on both sides of a cable C, and connecting rods or plates 101 connecting the side plates. The connecting plates 101 form bridges connecting the side plates of the cable guide both above and below the cable, and, together with the side plates 102, form an elongated channel through which the cable C extends. The side plates 102 on each side of the guide are hinged to one another so that the guide can bend at least in a single plane. Usually, the flexion of the guide is limited to a specific minimum radius of curvature in order to avoid kinking of the cable C.
Typically, the cable guide has a fixed end 105 and a moving end 106. Where a cable guide of sufficient length is folded on itself by a bend 120 as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible for two portions of the guide to come into face-to-face contact with each other. Friction between the contacting parts of the guide can obstruct smooth reciprocating motion. Moreover, frictional contact over time can cause wear and eventual breakage of the cable guide. Breakage can also result from interference between projecting portions of the two facing parts of the guide.
To avoid the problems resulting from frictional contact between facing parts of a folded cable guide, a skate can be interposed between the facing parts. As illustrated in FIG. 7, a skate 300 is sandwiched between two facing parts of the cable guide, preventing direct contact between the facing parts. A typical conventional skate is depicted and described in United States Patent Application Publication 2005/0155337, dated Jul. 21, 2005.
Alternatively, a plurality of supporting rolls can be provided on upper and lower parts of a frame disposed between facing portions of a folded cable guide, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho. 57-16273. In this case, the rollers on the upper and lower parts of the frame are disposed at equal intervals, and each roller on the upper part of the frame has a corresponding roller directly below it on the lower part of the frame.
The skate 300 of FIG. 7 includes pairs of rollers disposed between upper and lower parts of the cable guide. As shown in FIG. 8, the skate includes a pair of side frames 33 in which the rollers are rotatable, and a base 340, which maintains a predetermined widthwise distance between the side frames 330.
A skate 300 of the kind illustrated in FIG. 7 can be used with a long cable guide 100, where the opposed parts of the cable guide face each other over a long distance, even as much as several tens of meters. Since the cable guide 100 comprises interconnected, molded, links, accumulation of slight differences between the pitches of the right and left portions of the links can lead to lateral flexion in the guide 100, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Excessive lateral flexion of the guide from the ideal position, represented by the two parallel broken lines, can cause the guide 100 to come off from the skate 300.
When the cable C accommodated within the cable guide 100 is out of balance in the widthwise direction, the cable guide can snake. Furthermore, with a long skate, it is difficult to establish parallelism between a guide rail on which the fixed end 105 of the cable guide 100 is mounted, and a movable machine, or portion of a machine, attached to the movable end 106 of the guide. Thus, the guide 100 can move in a slanted relationship to the rollers 320, generating a force that acts laterally on the rollers 320. As a result, slip is generated between the rollers 320 and the cable guide 100. The slip prevents the skate 300 from moving smoothly, and generates a longitudinal shift of the skate relative to the cable guide. When the longitudinal shifts of the skate accumulate due to repeated reciprocation of the movable part of the guide, the guide can eventually collide with the skate. In the worst case, the skate 300, or the cable guide 100, can become deformed or damaged.
The rollers 320 of the skate 300 are sandwiched between upper and lower parts of a cable guide or between independent upper and lower cable guides. When the skate is to be removed from maintenance, it is typically taken out in the direction indicated by the arrow F in the enlarged part of FIG. 7. A large amount of sliding resistance is generated at contact points X and Y, between the rollers 320 and the upper and lower parts of the guide. Therefore, a large force is needed to draw the skate 300 out from between the upper and lower parts of the guide. The large drawing force required for removal of the skate can be reduced by lifting the upper part of the guide so that the skate can roll easily on the lower part of the guide. However, because of the difficulty encountered in lifting the upper part of a guide, raising the upper part of the guide does not make it significantly easier to remove the skate for maintenance.
In the skate described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho. 57-16273, where independent rollers are provided on upper and lower parts of a skate frame, removal of the skate from between opposed parts of a cable guide is easier than in the case of the skate of U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0155337. However, the skate described in the Japanese patent publication requires a large vertical space between the opposed parts of the cable guide.
An object of this invention is to provide a compact skate for a cable guide, which increases the useful life and endurance of the cable guide, and which can be removed readily and easily for maintenance.

Skate unit for cable protection and guide device


The present invention provides a reset circuit with two different threshold input voltages. The reset circuit of the present invention is located within a processor, and is designed to control the reset functions of both the processor and the chips located peripheral to the processor. The reset circuit includes a first buffer with a first threshold voltage level. The input of the first buffer is connected to a reset signal and the output of the first buffer is connected to control the reset function of at least one chip that is peripheral to the processor. A second buffer is provided with a second threshold voltage level that is higher than the first threshold voltage level. The input of the second buffer is connected to the reset signal and the output of the second buffer is connected to control the reset function of the processor. The reset circuit guarantees that the processor is reset after the peripheral chips subsequent to power up.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of microprocessor systems, and more particularly, to a reset circuit for a microprocessor system.
2. Discussion of Related Art
All computer systems have some type of reset circuit. The purpose of the reset circuit is to initialize a CPU's internal storage locations (e.g., the general state of the machine). Typically during a reset operation, all registers are set to zero, the interrupt system is disabled, the input/output interface is initialized, and the program counter is set to some initial value. The terms reset, power up (from a cold or warm start), and boot are used interchangeably throughout this document. Typically, the reset signal is generated external to the CPU.
It is extremely important that the system designer design the system to guarantee that the CPU starts last after the reset pin becomes inactive. Once the reset funtions of the CPU begin, the CPU is initialized to some predetermined state and a defined sequence of events begins. It is essential that all the chips peripheral to the CPU initialize before the CPU is allowed to access their memory locations; otherwise, the CPU will be accessing invalid data.

System and method for resetting a microprocessor system


A method for treating sintered alloy is disclosed by exposing a portion of the sintered alloy at a temperature ranging from about 800.degree. C. to about 1300.degree. C. under an atmosphere that contains an amount of water vapor corresponding to dew points ranging from about 30.degree. C. to about 60.degree. C. The method according to the present invention gives sintered alloy with a satisfactory protective layer that excels in smoothness and uniformity, and that prevents abnormal oxidation. Moreover, the method is especially useful to a sintered alloy having a complex structure and/or thin walls, such as a honeycomb structure.

This invention relates to a method for treating sintered alloy to form a protective layer on its surface. This method is especially useful for sintered alloy bodies having protrusions and depressions along their surfaces, and for sintered alloy bodies having complex structures and/or thin walls, such as a honeycomb structure.
To enhance corrosion resistance and lubrication ability, parts made of iron have undergone a water vapor treatment in which they are hold in pressurized steam at a temperature between about 500.degree. C. and about 600.degree. C. to form a coating of Fe.sub.3 O.sub.4 on its surfaces. However, this coating does not function as a protective layer against oxidation in higher temperatures.
Methods for forming a heat-resistant coating have been disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,751, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-1279 (1991), and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-270904 (1990). U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,751 has disclosed a two-step method of treating a stainless foil at a temperature ranging from 900.degree. C. to 960.degree. C. and at a temperature ranging from 960.degree. C. to 1000.degree. C. to give an alumina whisker. Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-1279 (1991) has disclosed a method of treating a stainless steel foil containing Mg at a temperature ranging from 1000.degree. C. to 1150.degree. C. in vacuum or under a hydrogen atmosphere, and treating the resultant foil under a carbon dioxide atmosphere. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-270904 (1990) has disclosed a method of treating at a temperature ranging from 950.degree. C. to 1350.degree. C. under an oxidizing atmosphere such as air, oxygen, carbon dioxide, a mixture of hydrogen and water vapor, etc.
However, the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,751 requires two steps of heat treatments that make temperature control difficult and that also increase an operational cost. The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-1279 (1991) is applicable only to stainless steel containing magnesium. Moreover, it takes time in the surface treatment process. Both methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,751 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-1279 (1991) are applied to poreless stainless steel manufactured by melting and subsequent rolling.
Though Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-270904 (1990) has disclosed a method of surface treatment under an atmosphere of a mixture of hydrogen and water vapor, specific conditions of the surface treatment have not been disclosed. Moreover, the coating thus obtained does not have satisfactory durability.


There is described a method of processing control messages received by a wireless communication network from a wireless communication device. The method comprises: monitoring received control messages sent by the wireless communication device to identify control messages conveying information indicating whether or not the wireless communication device has a handover capability associated with performing a handover between the packet-switched and circuit-switched domains; for any such identified control message which indicates that the corresponding wireless communication device does not have said handover capability, modifying the control message to indicate that said corresponding wireless communication device does have said handover capability and forwarding the modified control message to the core network; and storing data indicative of whether or not the wireless communication device has said handover capability.

HNBs (also referred to as femto-cells) are small transceivers which will be placed in customer's homes, workplaces or other locations in order to increase network coverage and to offload signalling and user plane traffic from network macro-cells. In order to make the installation of a HNB attractive to a customer, HNBs are expected to be offered with preferential calling rates and are also expected to provide additional services not provided by a legacy CS macrocell. It is anticipated that more and more customers will switch from fixed landlines to mobile phone usage at home or in the workplace, resulting in a significant increase in circuit-switched (CS) voice traffic over the mobile communication networks. In order to avoid needing to upgrade legacy mobile switching centres (MSCs) and CS core networks in view of this increase in demand, the possibility of offloading the additional CS voice traffic via the HNB to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is being discussed by the 3GPP, with various architectural alternatives being elaborated on in TR 23.832 "IMS Aspects of Architecture for Home NodeB".
By the time Home NodeBs are deployed, it is expected that User Equipments (UEs) having IMS clients and supporting handover between the IMS and the CS domain using Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (commonly known as SRVCC) will also be available. UEs having IMS clients are expected to be configured to prefer IMS VoIP when within coverage of an HNB, as HNBs are expected to provide one or a few UEs with good enough QoS to provide Voice services via the IMS.
At the same time, HNBs are also expected to serve UEs which do not have an IMS client (e.g. pre-release 9 legacy UEs), which use normal CS procedures to establish voice calls. The Inter-Working Function (IWF) in the Home NodeB is expected to "translate" the CS signalling (CS 24.008 Call Control and the related user plane media) from such UEs to IMS signalling and VoIP traffic. The result of this approach is that from the core network's point of view the call is handled as an IMS PS call regardless of whether the UE supports PS voice call functionality (i.e. whether it is IMS capable or not).
As discussed above, the HNB IMS subsystem is to act like an adaptor between the CS and PS user planes and call control functions. The whole IMS HNB subsystem is expected to be transparent to the core network. For a practical deployment, it is likely that the Macrocell(s) surrounding the HNB IMS subsystem will be incapable of supporting PS voice traffic with the same QoS provided by the HNBs. It is therefore preferred that if the UE has Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) capability then the handout from HNB coverage to outside macrocell is based on the SRVCC procedures defined in 3GPP TS 23.216 "Single Radio VCC; Stage 2". At the moment there is no mechanism which allows the handover of a call leg with a legacy UE not having SRVCC capability while in the same network also allowing an SRVCC handover to occur for UEs with SRVCC capability. Without such a mechanism, either:                the UEs which are IMS capable will have to use CS when they are in IMS HNB coverage (i.e. UEs cannot use VoIP/SRVCC even if they are capable of doing so) unless the adjacent macrocells are upgraded to support VoIP; or        the CN has to implement different handout procedures based on the capabilities of the UEs.
The present invention addresses the above problem. Aspects of the present invention are set out in the accompanying claims.

Method and apparatus for processing control messages in a wireless communications system


An improved sealable connector has a geometry which effects reliable sealing upon assembly. The connector is useful, for example, for connecting a pressure sensor to a fuel pump accumulator in a fuel injection system. The connector includes a male member, a female member, and an annular seal disc which compressibly seats between the male and female members. The male member has a tip with a flat annulus at an innermost radius surrounding a fluid-delivery bore. A frustoconical section of the tip extends radially outwardly from the annulus, sloping away from the plane of the annulus at about 5.degree.-15.degree., for example. The female member has a cavity shaped to receive the male member, the cavity having a bottom defined by a flat annular seat surrounding another fluid-delivery bore. The seal disc is compressed between the flat seat of the female cavity and the planar/frustoconical tip of the male member. Axial compressive loads on the disc are concentrated under the planar annulus such that the disc has a radially-inward zone of plastic compression adjacent to the fluid-carrying bore, this plastic compression zone being radially-outwardly surrounded by an elastic compression zone.

The present invention generally relates to a seal between communicating members. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure forming a sealable fluid-medium connection having a geometry which provides improved sealing at high fluid pressures.
A highly pressurized fluid system is demanding on seals between joined members, such as conduit members in sealed fluid communication with each other. For example, in a fuel injection system for a diesel engine, fuel pressures are often around 30,000 psig, requiring high strength components and seals.
A high-pressure fuel injection system can have a fluid pressure sensor which provides a useable output signal corresponding to fuel pressure in a fuel pump accumulator. The output signal may be directed to an engine control processor. Such a fuel pressure sensor may be mounted to a port in a wall of the accumulator.
A need exists for a structure providing a reliable seal connection in a system carrying or containing fluids at high pressures, such as a connection for a pressure sensor in a fuel injection system.
Conventionally, high-pressure seals have threaded connections which are tightenable to increase compressive loads on a deformable seal disc or ring located between connected members. In order to obtain an adequate sealing compression, previous connectors required tightening to a certain precise torque, and sometimes a very high torque. Depending on the connector design and the particular seal material subjected to high loading, overtightening a conventional seal may cause an uncontrolled plastic deformation and extrusion of the seal material, resulting in load loss and seal failure. Accordingly, a seal design is desired which is forgiving in the amount of torque required, providing adequate sealing within a range of torques, and which reduces the risk of causing seal failure by overdeformation of the seal material.
Additionally, a seal structure is desirable which minimizes the amount of torque required to set the seal. Such a lower torque would ease assembly during manufacture or repair.

High-pressure sealable connector for a pressure sensor


A current sensing system comprises a current transformer; a burden resistor connected across a secondary of the current transformer; a piezo-optic sensor coupled to the burden resistor, comprising a piezoelectric transducer, an optical fiber and a first optical filter with a first bandwidth; and an optical interrogator, configured for sending an originating signal to the first bandwidth optical filter and receiving a resulting data signal and a second optical filter with a second bandwidth for filtering the resulting data signal.

The invention relates generally to current sensing systems. In particular, the invention relates to optically interrogated systems.
Measurement of currents flowing in high-voltage environments is highly desirable, especially in power transmission and distribution systems. Transmission systems react dynamically to changes in active and reactive power. For power transmission to be economical and the risk of power system failure to be low, reactive compensation systems are desirable, particularly systems capable of simultaneously monitoring current flow at several points on a grid.
High-voltage current transformers (CTs) are traditionally used in the utility industry to measure currents flowing on transmission lines at voltages up to 735 kV. Use of high-voltage CTs is very costly, ranging into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, because of the cost of large, oil-filled insulating columns that provide the mechanical support for a large current transformer and ensure sufficient dielectric insulation from measurement point to ground.
As an alternative to high-voltage current transformers, optical current sensors are sometimes used. Optical current sensors typically rely upon the Faraday effect, whereby the magnetic field created by the alternating current alters the polarization of light flowing in fiber near the conductor. The method for extracting this information from fiber is very intricate and costly. In one example complex, active power supplies are located at line potential. These supplies derive electrical power from the transmission line or a ground-based laser and provide power to electronics that actively sample, multiplex, and transmit optical digital signals over fiber to ground-potential equipment.
There is a need therefore for low cost high-voltage current metering and instrumentation. There is a particular need for a current measuring system that allows for multiplexing, which can be economically scaled and used in applications where instrumentation of multiple channels is required. Additionally, a completely passive current sensor, eliminating any need for auxiliary power circuits at the high-voltage level, is highly desirable in high-voltage equipment, where a sensor failure can require costly outages to allow for repair.


Provided herein are devices for installing jamb assemblies and like structures within a rough opening. In certain embodiments, the installation device comprises a guide portion attached to a jamb assembly and a spacer portion operatively connected to the guide portion and configured to selectively move relative to the guide portion to provide adjustment of the jamb assembly relative to the rough opening.

Pre-hung windows and doors are conventionally installed via a "shim and fastener" methodology. Generally, in operation, this process involves placing the jamb assembly (including the window or door frame) within the rough opening in the structure, then adjusting the jamb assembly within the opening so that the jamb assembly is plum, level, and aligned with walls of the building by inserting a series of shims at various points around the frame. This is performed iteratively at several points until the user is satisfied with the alignment. Once aligned and plum, the user then drives a fastener through the shims, and into a framing member (stud) that makes up the rough opening. The fastener holds the shims in place and secures the window or door within the opening. The user then trims the shims so that they do not protrude from the wall and provides a finish over the remainder of the rough opening. However, this conventional method can be time consuming and not particularly user-friendly for the non-professional. Further, due to heat-cold cycling and changes in humidity and weather throughout the year, structures distort over time. This distortion can affect the alignment of, for example, a door relative to the remainder of the structure, preventing the door from operating smoothly. Should a window or door that was installed using the "shim and fastener" method become misaligned, it generally cannot be realigned without essentially starting the entire alignment process over from the start.


A system and method for controlling bale forming operations is disclosed. The system and method includes a monitoring system for visually imaging a portion of a bale and providing a warning to an operator if the bale is wrapped or shaped incorrectly.

For many years, agricultural balers have been used to consolidate and package crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling of the crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts and conditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cut crop material is properly dried, a baler is pulled along the windrows to pick up the crop material and form it into densified packages, otherwise known as bales, which would be cylindrically-shaped round bales in the case of a round baler. More specifically, the pickup of the baler gathers the cut and windrowed crop material from the ground then conveys the cut crop material with a conveyor, such as a rotating conveying rotor into a bale-forming chamber within the baler. The pickup assembly has a drive mechanism that operates to power both the pickup and the conveying rotor, and the pickup drive mechanism is operably connected to and driven by the main drive mechanism of the baler. The baling chamber comprises a pair of opposing sidewalls with a series of belts that rotate and compress the crop material into a cylindrical shape. When the bale has achieved a desired size and density the operator wraps the bale to ensure that the bale maintains its shape and density. The operator raises the tailgate of the baler and ejects the bale onto the ground. The tailgate is then closed and the cycle repeated as necessary and desired to manage the field of cut crop material.
Common practice has the baler wrap the bales with twine, net-like or continuous plastic sheeting. With twine, the bale is wrapped back and forth from side-to-side as the bale is turned, from a single dispensing mechanism, or back and forth from middle-to-side from as the bale is turned, from dual dispensing mechanisms with twine numerous time, the twine "gripping" the crop material and prior wrappings of twine adequately to hold the package together in a process is often referred to as "tying" or "wrapping". Net wrap is typically made of a woven plastic sheet, generally equal in width to the bale being formed, with regular openings there through and is over-lapped on itself to hold the package together. An adhesive may be used to improve the holding power of the net wrap. Plastic wrap, or film, is a generally continuous sheet of plastic, also generally the width of the bale being formed, with a somewhat adhesive surface that drips itself when overlapped and the crop material to form the package.
Once the bale is formed and tied or wrapped, it is ejected through the rear of the baler onto the field where it may sit until use, or may be collected into a central location for longer term storage. The tying and wrapping processes are subject to a number of failures or defaults. More particularly, the baler obviously carries a limited supply of packaging materials, so on occasion, the supplies run out and could result in the ejection of a bale that has been neither tied nor wrapped. Also, rips or tears do occur in the net wrap and plastic wrap materials, resulting in only partial coverage of the bale before ejection. Round bales are created under considerable pressure, so a tear or rip in the wrapping material is magnified with undesirable consequences in bale shape and rigidity.
In addition, the bale wrap or tie may become caught on a baler component such that the wrap or tie is wrapped onto the baler component instead of the bale. Without a method of detecting this error, an unwrapped or misshaped bale may be ejected from the bale chamber.
Practically, it is the operator's responsibility to look over his shoulder and try to monitor the progress of bale formation, its tying or wrapping, and its ejection all while driving the tractor. Not only is this a difficult responsibility to meet, it is impossible in some cases because many balers have components on the front thereof blocking a reasonable view of the bale.
What is needed is a baler that includes a system to detect bale forming and wrapping errors and to monitor bale forming and wrapping operations to avoid ejecting an improperly formed and/or wrapped bale from the baler.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

System for controlling bale forming and wrapping operations


Provided is a process for preparing cinacalcet, (R)-α-methyl-N-[3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propyl]-1-naphthalenemethane amine.

(R)-α-methyl-N-[3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propyl]-1-naphthalenemethane amine ("CNC-base," "cinacalcet base," or "cinacalcet") has the following formula:
and a CAS number of 226256-56-0. This molecule is the free base form of cinacalcet hydrochloride, C22H22F3N.HCl. Cinacalcet hydrochloride ("CNC—HCl"), has a molecular weight of 393.9 and CAS number 364782-34-3. CNC—HCl is marketed as SENSIPAR™, and is the first drug in a class of compounds known as calcimimetics to be approved by the FDA.
Calcimimetics are a class of orally active, small molecules that decrease the secretion of parathyroid hormone ("PTH") by activating calcium receptors. The secretion of PTH is normally regulated by the calcium-sensing receptor. Calcimimetic agents increase the sensitivity of this receptor to calcium, which inhibits the release of parathyroid hormone, and lowers parathyroid hormone levels within a few hours. Calcimimetics are used to treat hyperparathyroidism, a condition characterized by the over-secretion of PTH that results when calcium receptors on parathyroid glands fail to respond properly to calcium in the bloodstream. Elevated levels of PTH, an indicator of secondary hyperparathyroidism, are associated with altered metabolism of calcium and phosphorus, bone pain, fractures, and an increased risk for cardiovascular death.
CNC—HCl is approved for treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis. Treatment with CNC—HCl lowers serum levels of PTH as well as the calcium/phosphorus ion product, a measure of the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the blood.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,068 discloses calcium receptor-active molecules, such as those having the general structure of cinacalcet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,244 ("'244 patent") discloses calcium receptor-active compounds related to cinacalcet and methods of preparing such compounds. Using the methods disclosed in the '244 patent, as well as DRUGS OF THE FUTURE (2002) 27(9):831, the desired cinacalcet enantiomer, may be produced by reacting 3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propylamine with 1-acetyl naphthalene in the presence of titanium (IV) isopropoxide, to produce an imine corresponding to cinacalcet, followed by treatment with ethanolic or methanolic sodium cyanoborohydride, and resolution of the racemic cinacalcet by chiral liquid chromatography, as depicted in the following scheme:
However, this process involved the use of flammable and highly toxic reagents, such as titanium (IV) isopropoxide and ethanolic or methanolic sodium cyanoborohydride.
In another process disclosed in the '244 patent, cinacalcet may be produced by treating 3-trifluoromethylcinnamonitrile with diisobutyl aluminum hydride, followed by treatment of the intermediate aluminum-imine complex with (R)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine, and reduction of the intermediate imine with ethanolic sodium cyanoborohydride, according to the following scheme:
Synthesis of the 3-trifluoromethylcinnamonitrile precursor in this process is disclosed only in Tetrahedron Letters (2004) 45:8355. Although this is a possible process, Al[iBu] is highly flammable and, thus, this process is not ideal.
Similarly, using the process disclosed in the '244 patent, as well as DRUGS OF THE FUTURE (2002) 27 (9): 831, the desired cinacalcet enantiomer may be produced by reacting (R)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine with 3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propionaldehyde in the presence of titanium (IV) isopropoxide to produce the imine that corresponds to cinacalcet, followed by treatment with ethanolic sodium cyanoborohydride, according to the following scheme:

However, the processes mentioned require the use of reagents such as titanium (IV) isopropoxide and ethanolic sodium cyanoborohydride, which are highly flammable, difficult to handle and toxic. Moreover, the only synthetic route known to the precursor of CNC-base, 3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propionaldehyde is disclosed in Tetrahedron Letters (2004) 45: 8355, and is described in the following scheme:
by reduction of the double bond of the corresponding cinnamic acid derivative, followed by reduction of the carboxylic acid moiety to the corresponding alcohol, which is then oxidized to the aldehyde by Swern-oxidation, using reagents which are not environmentally friendly reagents and are unstable, such as oxalyl chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved process for the preparation of CNC-base and salts thereof, preferably, the hydrochloride salt, that is more environmentally friendly. The present invention provides such an alternative.

Process for the preparation of cinacalcet base


A display element, a method for fabricating the same, and a display device are provided. The display element includes: a blocking layer; a fingerprint sensor on one side of the blocking layer; a light-shielding layer on the side of the blocking layer away from the fingerprint sensor, wherein the light-shielding layer includes a first via-hole; a middle layer on the light-shielding layer; a pixel definition layer on the middle layer, wherein the pixel definition layer includes a second via-hole in which a cathode layer and a light-emitting layer are arranged; an antireflection coating on the pixel definition layer; and an anode layer on the light-emitting layer.

The fingerprint recognition and display element generally recognizes a fingerprint optically through aperture imaging, where light emitted from the display element is reflected by the fingerprint, and then aperture-imaged onto a fingerprint sensor. Particularly the light can be reflected by valleys and ridges of the fingerprint to and imaged onto the fingerprint sensor to thereby recognize the fingerprint.

Display element, method for fabricating the same and display device


Methods for identifying factors that regulate appetite are disclosed. Preferably, the methods feature determinination of decreased food consumption in selected recipient mammals following administration of a test sample. A product having appetite suppressing activity is also described. In addition, methods for reducing food consumption in a mammal, featuring administration of a pharmaceutical composition comprising a representative appetite suppression factor, are disclosed.

Obesity affects an ever-increasing proportion of the population of Western cultures. Nearly one-third of adults in the United States are in excess of their ideal body weight by at least 20%. This results in a major public health problem, because obesity is associated with a multitude of medical problems that include hypertension, elevated blood lipids, coronary artery disease, osteoarthritis and Type II or non-insulin-dependent diabete mellitus (NIDDM). In the United States alone, there are an estimated 6-10 million individuals with NIDDM, including 18% of the population over 65 years of age and most of these individuals are obese (Harris et al. Diabetes 36:523-534, 1987). While there appears to be a heterogeneous etiology for NIDDM, obesity alone leads to insulin resistance and NIDDM in individuals that are predisposed to the disease, and it exacerbates the condition in patients already presenting with NIDDM.
Stability of body composition requires that energy intake equals expenditure when integrated over prolonged periods. Since recent human studies have failed to demonstrate active changes in energy expenditure with changes in body composition, it appears likely that energy intake is continually adjusted to preserve a constant total adipose tissue mass. If adipose tissue mass is regulated directly, then there must be some input signaling this quantity to the central nervous system for the purpose of making corrective changes in appetite when total body fat content fluctuates. The nature of this input has been examined in a variety of animal experiments involving induced weight change (Cohn et al., Yale J. Biol. Med. 34:598-607, 1962; Harris et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 191:82-89, 1989; and Wilson et al., Am. J. Physiol. 259:R1148-R1155, 1990); lipectomy (Forger et al., Metabolism 37:782-86, 1988; Liebel et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 131:559-82, 1965; and Chlouverakis et al., Metabolism 23:133-37, 1974); plasma transfer from obese or satiated animals to hungry animals (Davis et al., Science 156:1247-48, 1967; Davis et al., J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 67:407-14, 1969; and King, Physiol. Psychol. 4:405-08, 1976); and parabiosis between obese and lean animals (Hervey, J. Physiol. 145:336-52, 1959; Parameswaran et al., Am. J. Physiol. 232:R150-R157, 1977; Nishizawa et al., Am. J. Physiol. 239:R344-351, 1980; Harris et al., Am. J. Physiol. 257:R326-R336, 1989; Schmidt et al., Acta Physiol. Acad. Sci. Hung. Tomus 36:293-98, 1969; Coleman et al., Diabetologia 9:294-98, 1973; Harris et al., Int. J. Obesity 11:275-83, 1987; and Coleman et al., Am. J. Physiol. 217:1298-1304, 1969). From these experiments, there was some evidence that the plasma level of one or more unidentified stable circulating molecules increases in proportion to total body fat content and augments the effect of meal-related satiety signals in the central nervous system.
The search for factors that affect and ultimately control appetite has taken two paths. The first, based on genetic observations, has recently resulted in the cloning of the ob gene (Zhang et al., Nature 372:425-32, 1994; by use of positional cloning using mice that were ob/ob mutants. However, while Zhang and others speculated that the ob gene product may be a regulating factor of body fat content, this has not been shown. The second path involves attempts to isolate a discrete factor or factors that regulate body composition based on functional properties.
The isolation of a functional appetite suppression factor (ASF), however, has been unsuccessful, in part due to an inability to reliably determine changes in food consumption as a result of administration of putative appetite suppression factors. The present invention provides a consistent method for identifying and quantitating ASF activity in a test sample, including a sample containing an expressed ob gene product or other factors that regulate appetite.

Appetite supression factor and related methods


A thermal flow meter for use in dialysis is described, that uses a thermal wave to generate a signal in the fluid for which the flow rate is to be measured. The phase angle of the thermal wave signal changes when traversing downstream. The phase difference between the signals received downstream, compared with a reference excitation source signal is measured, and used to determine the flow rate of the fluid.

Fluid flow meters operate based upon the principle that the propagation velocity of a wave in a fluid, as determined by measuring the phase shift of the signal, is indicative of the velocity of the fluid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,431 to Muston, et al discloses determining fluid flow rates "by transmitting ultrasonic pulses in both directions along a path through the fluid aligned with the direction in which velocity component is to be measured. Transmission of, and measurement upon, pulses in the two directions are controlled by a master clock pulse generator. The frequency of a first variable frequency oscillator is adjusted to fit N pulses exactly into the timer period for flight of an ultrasonic pulse along the path in one direction. The frequency of a second variable frequency oscillator is adjusted to fit N pulses exactly into the time period for flight of an ultrasonic pulse along the path in the opposite direction. The difference frequency is proportional to velocity component. This system may be combined with a limited sing-around system to improve resolution, at the expense of the time response."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,942 to Magori discloses using "the phase difference method wherein two ultrasound transducers W1 and W2 are mounted offset but aligned with each other in a tube through which the velocity of flow is to be measured wherein both of the ultrasound transducers are excited in a pulse manner by an oscillator OS2 and wherein receiving amplifiers V1 and V2 are, respectively, associated with the ultrasound transducers W1 and W2. Evaluation devices are connected after amplifier V1 and V2 such that the phase relationship of the signals at the outputs of the receiving amplifiers V1 and V2 is determined during the reception of ultrasound signals. The phase relationship between the signals at the ultrasound transducers is also determined during transmission of ultrasound signals and this phase difference is used as a reference during reception of ultrasound signals."
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0106308 describes use of thermal measurements to detect and/or measure the reestablishment of blood flow during a clot dissolution treatment. A catheter 10 is positioned through a clot 90 at a treatment site 88 in a patient's vasculature 86. The catheter 10 includes at least an upstream thermal source 120 and a downstream thermal detector 122. When the thermal source 120 supplies thermal energy into the surrounding environment, a "thermal pulse" 124 is created therein. As the thermal pulse 124 propagates downstream, the characteristics of the thermal pulse 124 will change, which can be measured and analyzed using the thermal detector, thereby providing information about blood flow at the treatment site.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0056585 describes a thermal flow meter with a flow rate detecting unit containing a heating element, a flow rate detecting temperature sensing element and a flow rate detecting electroconductive heat transfer member extending into a fluid flow passage, which are disposed so as to enable heat transfer therebetween, the flow rate detecting temperature sensing element varying in electrical characteristic value in accordance with flow of a fluid in the fluid flow passage through heat exchange with the fluid in the fluid flow passage which is carried out through the flow rate detecting electroconductive heat transfer member; and a fluid temperature detecting unit containing a fluid temperature detecting temperature sensing element and a fluid temperature detecting electroconductive heat transfer member extending into the fluid flow passage, which are disposed so as to enable heat transfer therebetween, the fluid temperature detecting temperature sensing element varying in electrical characteristic value in accordance with the temperature of the fluid through heat exchange with the fluid in the fluid flow passage, wherein a flow rate of the fluid is detected on the basis of the electrical characteristic value of the flow rate detecting temperature sensing element and the electrical characteristic value of the fluid temperature detecting temperature sensing element, and fluid discrimination is effected by determining a conductivity between the flow rate detecting electroconductive heat transfer member and the fluid temperature detecting electroconductive heat transfer member. All of the aforementioned patents and published applications are herein incorporated by reference.
These aforementioned prior art flow meters often suffer from excessive noise and may have limited efficacy where space around the flowing fluid is limited (such as in conduits of small diameters). These conditions are typically true for medical applications and are particularly so in extracorporeal blood processing systems such as hemodialysis, hemofiltration and hemodiafiltration systems.
Accordingly, there is need in the art for a thermal flow meter that has improved accuracy and efficiacy. There is also a need in the art for a thermal flow meter that has decreased sensitivity to noise and signal dispersion. Finally, there is a need in the art for a thermal flow meter that can be readily implemented in a manifold, does not require expensive, non-disposable materials, and can generate a signal that can be readily, and easily, filtered.


An illumination control device is used in an optical pointer to cooperate with an optical sensor module and a light-emitting device to emit proper illuminance of light. The illumination control device includes a microcontroller generating a supplemental current when the optical pointer is in a power-saving state; and a controlled current amplifier in communication with the microcontroller, the optical sensor module and the light-emitting device for providing an amplified current for the light-emitting device to emit light. The controlled current amplifier amplifies a synthesized current of a light-emitting current generated by the optical sensor module and the supplemental current generated by the microcontroller to obtain the amplified current when the optical pointer is in the power-saving state.

Optical pointers such as optical mouse pointers have replaced the conventional rotating ball pointers and become the mainstream. Please refer to FIG. 1 which illustrates the operation of an optical mouse pointer. Principally, a visible light source 10, e.g. a light-emitting diode (LED), disposed in the lower part of the housing 1 illuminates on the plane 14 where the optical mouse rests. The light reflected by the plane 14 and focused by the lens 11. The focused light is transmitted to a photoelectric converter 12, e.g. a charge coupled device (CCD), to be converted into an electric signal. The electric signal corresponding to the image data of the illuminated portion of the plane 14 is then processed by a digital signal processor (DSP) 13 to realize the moving direction and distance of the optical mouse, and a control signal is generated to control the movement of the cursor on the computer display according to the moving direction and distance of the optical mouse on the plane 14. The lens 11, photoelectric converter 12 and digital signal processor 13 are usually integrated as an optical sensor module 15.
In order to achieve the purpose of saving power, the resulting current of the optical sensor module 15 for controlling the visible light source 10 is automatically reduced to lower the illuminance of the visible light source 10 when no movement of the optical mouse is detected for more than a preset period, e.g. a half second. In other words, the optical mouse enters a so-called power-saving state. Since the illuminance of the visible light source is at a low level in the power-saving state, the refreshingly movement of the optical mouse might be neglected particularly when the plane 14 has a less reflective surface or dark color. Therefore, the restore from the power-saving state to the working state might become lagged.
In order to avoid this problem, the illuminance of the visible light source 10 in the working state is raised in a prior art, thereby making the illuminance of the visible light source 10, although reduced in the power-saving state, is still sufficient for detecting the refreshingly movement of the optical mouse. The raised illuminance, however, may be adverse to the stipulation for eye safety. Moreover, the resulting current of the optical sensor module 15 in the suspending mode may exceed the upper limit generally required by a computer system for a general peripheral device.


Two arms rotatably mounted in slideable abutment with an interior wall of a nozzle. The arms extend from a common axis of rotation, and each includes a bump having a crest running radially from the axis of rotation to the tip of the arm. Together with the opposing ceiling and adjacent sidewalls of the nozzle, the arms define the moveable throat of the nozzle. The ceiling of the nozzle opposite the arms is contoured so that rotation of the arms changes the area of the nozzle throat while changing the direction of fluid medium flowing through the nozzle. The arms are connected by a linkage which coordinates their movement. Coordinated rotation of the arms can simultaneously change the throat area of the nozzle and the direction of fluid flow, or change either the throat area or the direction of fluid flow while keeping the other constant.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vectoring thrust and changing the throat area of a ducted propulsion system. More particularly, the invention comprises two arms rotatably mounted along an interior wall of a choked flow nozzle which, when rotated, vector engine thrust and vary the throat area of the propulsion system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Unless its trajectory is ballistic, a flight vehicle must have means for changing its direction of travel and, in particular, its rotation about the yaw axis. When a flight vehicle is powered by a jet engine, the performance characteristics of the jet engine are of prime importance. These two fundamental tenets play significant roles in the design and performance of every flight vehicle powered by a jet engine.
The performance of a jet engine is directly affected by the throat area of the exhaust nozzle. Performance is maximized when the area of the choke plane of the engine's exhaust nozzle approximates the theoretical optimal value that can be calculated using equations well known in the art of fluid mechanics. Simply stated, the optimal choke plane area will vary as a function of the altitude, Mach number and power setting at which the jet engine is operating. Since these parameters vary throughout a typical flight, it is not possible for a jet engine to be operating at maximum efficiency throughout the entire flight envelope of a flight vehicle unless the throat area can be varied.
One means to enhance jet engine efficiency is to change the throat area by means of a rotatable conical plug located in the nozzle throat. An example of such a device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,222 issued to Tommy D. McComas. This approach reduces the thrust otherwise generated because the plug obstructs the fluid medium flowing through the nozzle.
Rotation about the yaw, pitch or roll axis is commonly controlled by having a control surface projecting from the fuselage and exposed to the ambient wind. The control surface is deflected to create the desired moment about the vehicle's center of gravity. This invention is directed to controlling yaw. However, as will subsequently become clear, the invention could alternatively be used to control pitch if its axis of rotation were rotated by 90.degree. from the orientation shown in the described embodiment.
Yaw has typically been controlled by a vertical stabilizer having a hinged rudder, where the rudder comprises the aft section of the stabilizer. The stabilizer and rudder project radially outward from the external skin of the flight vehicle. Use of this apparatus causes an increase in the skin friction drag and pressure drag for the vehicle compared to what the magnitude of these drag components would be if the vehicle had no such projecting structure, with the drag increasing in proportion to the amount of deflection.
The surface area of the rudder must be adequate to provide sufficient force to control yaw at the minimum flight velocity of the vehicle. However, this area is more than enough to control the vehicle at higher velocities, and thus results in excessive drag at velocity greater than the minimum flight velocity. The rudder must also have sufficient area to provide the vehicle with the desired degree of maneuverability. Again, designing the rudder to have the capability of providing the desired degree of maneuverability penalizes the vehicle with drag when the capability to maneuver is not being fully utilized.
The advent of the jet engine has been accompanied by numerous efforts to implement directional control by vectoring the thrust loads produced by such an engine. The common approach is to place a hinged rudder or rotatable vane in the expansion shroud downstream of the throat. This provides a smoother aerodynamic shape for the external skin. However, the rudder or rotatable vane is located in the supersonic exhaust flow downstream of the sonic choke plane. This placement creates shock waves which reduce the thrust and the resultant control force which would otherwise be generated by a given deflection of the rudder or vane.
The drawbacks caused by the shock waves created by a rotatable vane in the nozzle can be avoided by placing the vane in the throat, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,184 issued to H. Vincent Mancus. However, positioning a rotatable vane in the nozzle throat causes variation of the effective throat area and results in fluctuations of the static pressure whenever the vane is rotated to vector thrust. More particularly, suddenly reducing the throat area in the nozzle of a jet engine will cause a rapid increase in the static pressure upstream of the throat. If such a device is used with an air breathing turbine propulsion system, the sudden increase in static pressure downstream of the turbine machinery can stall airflow across the turbine blades and cause an instantaneous degradation of engine performance.
Conversely, if the effective throat area is rapidly increased by the thrust vectoring mechanism, the static pressure will quickly drop and reduce the turbine efficiency, with a resultant degradation of engine performance. In summary, the use of a rotatable vane in the throat of the exhaust nozzle of an air breathing jet engine to vector its thrust will cause the performance of the engine to wander. Depending on the rates at which the vane is rotated, these performance variations may be uncontrollable.
Thrust vectoring is also achieved by complex mechanical devices which swivel the exhaust shroud of the nozzle so that the flow is deflected to exhaust in the desired direction. Such apparatus cause an increase in drag. They also are very complex and relatively heavy.
Several devices perform the dual functions of thrust vectoring and varying the area of the nozzle throat by deflecting the fluid flow with a vane or flap located in the nozzle, and concurrently changing the throat area by moving an obstruction located in the throat to change its projected planar area. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,253 issued to William M. Burkes and William H. Miller, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,868 issued to Gerald F. Goetz. These devices are combinations of prior art apparatus which are used independently to achieve the two functions, and thus suffer the aforementioned thrust and weight penalties attendant to the use of such apparatus.
The applicants have also invented the thrust vectoring device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,524 entitled Nozzle Throat Disc for Thrust Vectoring. The apparatus described therein is a symmetrical disc located in the throat of a nozzle. The disc is rotatable about an axis which passes through its center and lies normal to the upstream fluid flow. A rounded bump runs radially along a disc diameter and projects from both major surfaces. When the disc is rotated so that the diametrical bump is not perpendicular to the upstream fluid flow, the fluid flow turns upon passing over the bump to flow in a direction approximately normal to the bump. This device overcomes the aforementioned problems and drawbacks attendant to prior art devices for vectoring thrust, but does not solve the problem of changing the throat area in order to maximize engine performance at various altitudes and fluid velocities.

Rotatable arms for thrust vectoring and changing the area of a nozzle throat


A method for producing a bearing assembly for a vehicle seat, which has a first bearing element (12) and a second bearing element (16) which can be moved in a movement direction (r) relative thereto, wherein the first bearing element first receives the second bearing element, with a large, undefined play in a play direction (p) which is perpendicular to the movement direction, and the first bearing element and/or the second bearing element is later deformed in a plastic manner by pressurizing in a stamping direction (x) until the first bearing element and the second bearing element contact each other without play in the play direction. Before the plastic deformation, the first bearing element elastically deforms under reduction of play and the elastic deformation is reversed after the plastic deformation, so that a defined clearance fit occurs between the first bearing element and the second bearing element.

Producing interference fits, for example in bearing assemblies, is costly as low manufacturing tolerances have to be maintained. Thus, often only complex manufacturing methods are used or a classification and sorting into tolerance groups has to be carried out, which is associated with high logistics and manufacturing costs. If the tolerance groups are not able to be specifically produced, sorting is not always possible so that surplus parts are produced which have to be scrapped. A method for producing a bearing assembly or a further sub-assembly with an interference fit, in which the individual components may be produced with high tolerances and which comprises a step in which the high tolerances are all compensated is desirable.
A bearing assembly which is produced according to a method of the type mentioned in the introduction is disclosed in DE 103 29 237 A1. According to said method, the first bearing element is provided with an opening which is surrounded by a plurality of material recesses. Deformation regions are located between the material recesses and the opening. The second bearing element is configured as a pin, the direction of movement thereof extending in the peripheral direction. The first bearing element receives via its opening the second bearing element. A high degree of clearance is initially present in the direction of clearance defined by the radial direction. Then the deformation regions are plastically deformed so that projections are formed in the direction of clearance, until said projections bear against the second bearing element entirely without clearance. Due to the absence of clearance, however, there is the risk that the two bearing elements jam together.
DE 20 2010 015 171 U1 discloses a bearing assembly in which on the first bearing element the projections are initially produced on the opening and then the second bearing element is inserted by elastic deformation of the projections into the opening of the first bearing element. Depending on the extent of the elastic deformation, there may be the risk that a certain lack of freedom of movement results.

Method for producing a bearing assembly and fitting for a vehicle seat having a bearing assembly produced according to said method


The method of measuring crystallographic orientations, crystal systems or the like of the surface of a specimen has steps of: irradiating the specimen with an ion beam; measuring the secondary electrons generated by the irradiation of the ion beam; repeating the irradiation of the ion beam and the measurement of the secondary electrons with each variation in an angle of incidence of the ion beam with respect to the specimen; and determining the crystalline state based on the variation in the amount of the secondary electrons corresponding to the variation of the angle of incidence.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of crystal analysis and an apparatus for crystal analysis capable of analyzing crystalline states such as the crystallographic orientations of individual crystal grains on the surface of a specimen.
2. Description of the Related Arts
The recent development of micromachining technologies has come to require the technologies for analyzing crystal system and crystallographic orientations of crystal grains on a solid surface or the like. For example, a fine copper (Cu) wiring formed by a plating process has been employed for a coil wiring of a write element for a magnetic head employed in a hard-disk drive. In this copper wiring, the orientations of microcrystals and the structures of crystal-grain boundaries make a difference in a resistance value of the wire, causing variations in the characteristics of the magnetic head. For this reason, control of crystal growth has become one of the requirements for fabricating a magnetic head of high reliability and thus grasping of diameters of microcrystal grains, states of grain boundaries and crystallographic orientations has become of great interest.
Concerning the diameters of crystal grains and states of grain boundaries, it is easy to obtain knowledge through observations by an electron microscope and observations by a scanning ion microscope (SIM). As a practical method available for obtaining the knowledge specifically on the crystallographic orientations of the copper crystal grains that make up the copper wiring described above, however, there has been known only the EBSP (Electron BackScattering Pattern method or the Electron BackScattering diffraction Pattern) method. In the EBSP method, an electron beam impinges on a specimen at a large incidence angle in a scanning electron microscope (SEM); the electron beam experiences reflections and diffraction in the specimen; and is scattered backwards to form a diffraction image. This diffraction image (i.e., diffraction pattern) varies in its bandwidth and intensity depending on the crystalline structure at the incident position of the electron beam. Accordingly, the crystal system and the crystallographic orientation can be determined by analyzing the obtained diffraction pattern. Performing the analysis of the pattern while scanning a specimen surface with the electron beam enables obtaining the knowledge on the two-dimensional distribution of the crystallographic orientations on the specimen surface.
However, a problem has been that, because, in the EBSP method, the electron beam impinges on a specimen surface at a large angle of incidence, minute unevennesses of the surface affect on the result of the analysis and the correspondence between the distribution of the crystallographic orientations observed through the EBSP method and the microscopic image observed through the ordinary scanning microscopic photographs cannot easily be identified. Furthermore, because the diffraction pattern is caused by the Bragg reflection from crystal grains, it is basically difficult to have the resolution (ie., spatial resolving power) raised higher than the existing value, practically the resolution being of the order of several tens of nanometers.
An incidence angle described herein stands for the angle measured from the direction of the normal of the plane of incidence.
While a crystal system and a crystallographic orientation can be decided by the X-ray diffraction method as well, it is difficult in the case of the X-ray to narrow the beam and consequently the resolution is of the order of ten micrometers. Furthermore, the penetration depth of the X-ray is so deep that it is difficult to decide the crystallographic orientation in the outermost surface of a specimen. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H05-264477 (JP, 5-264477A) discloses a method of analyzing crystallographic orientations of the crystal grains in the surface layer of a specimen through the use of a X-ray, in which a collimated X-ray is applied to a specimen at a large angle of incidence, i.e., at a grazing angle along the specimen surface and, based on the obtained diffraction circles, the crystallographic orientations of the microcrystals in the surface layer are measured.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-21609 (JP, P2003-21609A) discloses a method of detecting a crystal axis of a specimen using the Rutherford backscattering analyzer of the parallel magnetic field type that has performance of converging the ions back-scattered from the specimen, the surface of which is irradiated with an ion beam, on the beam axis through the use of the magnetic field parallel to the incident ion beam. In this method, the distribution of detected quantity of the scattered ions is obtained making use of the two-dimensional ion detector and the detection of the crystal axis of the specimen is performed on the basis of the obtained distribution. This method, however, is problematic in that the measuring devices to be employed tend to be complicated, such as a two-dimensional ion detector, a parallel magnetic field generator and the like and in addition, a long measurement time tends to be required for measuring the two-dimensional distribution of the scattered ions.
As described above, the EBSP method is widely employed at present as a method of analyzing and identifying the crystal systems and crystallographic orientations of the crystal grains on a specimen surface made up of fine crystal grains. The EBSP method, however, is problematic in that because the electron beam impinges on a specimen surface at a large angle of incidence, minute unevennesses of the surface affect on the result of the analysis, and that the resolution is of the order of tens of nanometers. While alternatively to the EBSP method, there exist methods of analyzing and identifying the crystal systems and crystallographic orientations of fine crystal grains on a specimen surface, such methods are not necessarily practical as compared to the EBSP method.

Method and apparatus for crystal analysis


A system, computer program product and method for a running process migration with planned minimized down-time. The method facilitates fast and efficient process migration by performing background data synchronization prior to actual process migration. The service slowdown is reduced by employing two-stage transfer method. During a first stage the service, being executed on the original machine, does not stop and all the available data required by this process is being copied. After the first stage is completed the service continues to be executed without an interruption, while the most of the data associated with the service process is already transferred to the new machine. During the second stage the execution of the service on the first machine is stopped. The files, which were not available during the first stage, are now copied. Then the execution of service is started on the second machine. The down-time is reduced to the duration of the second stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to process and data migration, and more specifically, to safe transmitting active processes from one server to another with minimized down-time.
2. Related Art
Human beings are becoming increasingly dependent on computer systems. From simple home computers, which are used for word processing and Internet access, to high speed, multi-processor systems powering genomic research and simulating nuclear explosions, computers have permeated society. As computer use continues to increase and people become even more dependent on them, people need access to the information stored on computer systems on a continual basis.
One approach to providing continuous access is to make information available through multiple servers, where each of the servers performs the same task. In such an arrangement, the remaining server or servers can continue to provide information in the event one of the servers fails. While such an approach is advantageous for mission-critical information, implementation costs associated with such configurations can be considerable. Not only does such an approach require additional servers, which can significantly increase the costs, but such an approach also requires additional hardware and/or software to properly direct network traffic, balance the load placed on the servers, and other related and similar functions.
Although a large share of the information on the Internet, and even within corporate intranets, is not mission-critical, it is still desirable to minimize and plan down-time associated with even non-mission-critical information. For example, the time that a company's web site is unavailable can result in lost sales and decreased customer satisfaction.
An unfortunate reality is that servers must be down for a certain period of time for routine maintenance, such as applying operating system patches or hardware and/or software upgrades. Also, when old servers are replaced with new servers, the transition from one physical server to another requires interruption of service for a period of time. Transitioning, or migrating processes running on one server to another in such circumstances is generally referred to as "process migration."
Other reasons for migration may include the need for a security patch, a need to reduce the load on a particular server, which is overloaded at the moment, a software upgrade. Generally the system administrator can decide for whatever reasons that a particular process should be migrated to a different server, etc.
An example of a conventional process transfer method is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, process migration typically involves first shutting down a computer processes running on a first server, such as processes providing access to E-mail, stored files, or the like (step 100). A file copying process is then initialized (step 110). The file copying process typically copies only files associated with the process of concern (i.e., E-mail, file server, or the like) to the new server (step 120). The file copy process continues until all appropriate files have been copied (step 130). The process or processes of concern is then launched on the new server (step 140).
Typically, the following conventional methods for service transfer are used. A direct transfer method implies direct transfer of a service process or processes from one physical machine to another physical machine. The direct transfer is only possible if both machines use the same operating system and the same set of files.
Direct migration/transfer of all the processes supported by the operating systems yields optimal results as it requires no server disconnection. With smooth service migration and zero down-time this method appears to be the most efficient. However, in reality, this method does not always work because the service has to be supported by its own operating system so that all of the system settings and parameters exist at the new machine at all times.
The same is true for a file system. Migration processes require that all of the content of the files residing on both machines are absolutely identical. Such architecture is quite a challenge for a designer of an operating system. So far there are only experimental distributed operating systems and special development projects for operating system kernel modification have been implemented (for example, the MOSIX project developed for Linux operating system kernel).
Modern conventional operating systems do not support services of this kind due to numerous technological difficulties. For instance, regular implementations of UNIX type Linux, Sun Solaris, HP HPUX, FreeBSD, various versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems, Apple Mac OS X and others do not contain the necessary tools for effective process migration discussed above.
Another method of service migration with scheduled non-zero down-time is easier to implement. This method implies that the service at first is stopped at the original machine and only after that gets lunched at the new machine. The stoppage of the process, however short it may be, requires more than just restart of the processes and services on a new machine. It also requires that all of the data is absolutely identical on both of the machines.
Use of the network file systems, such as Sun Microsystems' NFS (Network File System) for UNIX, allows for maintaining the identical data at more than one machine. This system de facto represents a standard for UNIX operating systems and is implemented (for both the client and the server) in all of modern operating systems. The files used by a process or a service are located on a file server. The two machines are equipped with client sets of the corresponding file systems providing for visibility of the files. All changes to the files made by the process or the service are traced and copied to the file server by the file system.
The updated files are immediately accessible for use by the migrated processes. Thus, the transferred/migrated process can be immediately launched at the new machine provided that the proper software has been installed. This system nevertheless has certain shortcomings. One of the disadvantages of this method is very high requirements for the network file systems. For example, NFS (Network File System) is implemented in such a way that loss of connection between the two machines affects their performance significantly. In some instances, applications using files from a file server and from operating system slow down or stop their execution completely.
Another disadvantage of this method is scalability of the system. Modern network file systems (such as NFS) are limited by the number of clients that could be successfully served by an average workgroup server. This number ranges from 10 to 100.
Yet another disadvantage is typically referred to as "a single failure point." The single failure point means that a disconnection of a file server disables all of the machines that use this file server. Thus, the method using a dedicated file server is very often unacceptable. This problem can be solved by synchronization of data by the technique of an online mirror backup, also referred to as Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID).
The principle of a mirror backup is quite simple: as the operating system stores a record into the disk sector where the file data is stored, the record is written to the disk and to its mirror backup. This provides for precise copying of all of the disc stored data. Essentially, this method requires disks duplicating. Therefore, data mirroring is quite expensive and inefficient. It is also difficult to implement and usually not very convenient to implement, because a server for storing the data copies should be determined prior to the service launch. Change of the location of the service launch will require moving of all the data from its old location.
The easiest way to solve this problem is to copy data directly for the time interval between the stoppage of the service or process at the original machine and its restart at the new machine. However, long time required for copying data of a large size is a great disadvantage of this method. Physical time of the transfer in this case equals the planned down-time of the service.
As discussed herein, a service transfer or a service migration from one physical machine to another requires server function interruption. A need exists, therefore, for software and hardware updates as well as regular service reorganization and reconfiguration that do not result in results in scheduled and unscheduled server function interruption.
Furthermore, a process and services it provides may be unavailable for significant periods of time, depending on the number and size of the files to be copied. Even with respect to non-mission-critical information, the time required to copy the files can have significant and unfortunate effects on a business.
Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient method for process migration with planned minimized down-time.

System, method and computer program product for process migration with planned minimized down-time