The present invention relates to bar compositions in which an emollient composition comprising thickened entrapped emollient is added to a base bar composition at or during time of extrusion to form macroscopic, concentrated domains of emollient droplets. Addition of entrapped droplets allows far greater deposition than if the non-trapped emollients had been mixed in directly to form chips which are then extruded to form final bar.

It has long been a desirable goal to deliver some kind of benefit agent (e.g., silicone or other oils) to the skin through a personal wash composition.
In liquid cleansers, for example, cationic hydrophilic polymers such as Polymer JR.RTM. from Amerchol or Jaguar.RTM. from Rhone Poulenc have been used to enhance delivery of benefit agents (EP 93,602; WO 94/03152; and WO 94/03151). In applicants' copending application, U.S. Ser. No. 08/412,803 to Tsaur et al., separate hydrogel particles act as a structure to entrap the benefit agent in concentrated form.
In the subject invention, entrapment of benefit agent is achieved by producing compositions comprising emollient, wherein the medium in which the droplets are found (e.g., polyalkylene glycol) is thickened with a thickening agent (e.g., fumed silica) so that the droplets are entrapped in the polyethylene glycol. The emollient-containing, thickened carrier compositions may be dispersed throughout a bar (as in applicants copending application to Farrell et al. filed on same date as said application) or inserted as a concentrated composition into the bar (e.g., as a stripe).
Delivery of benefit agents (e.g., silicone) has proven difficult in bar compositions for a number of reasons. If the benefit agent does not remain sufficiently discrete from other components in the bar composition, for example, the generally hydrophobic benefit agent will contact hydrophobic materials in the bar mix rather than be free to deposit on the skin or other substrate. Thus, little or no benefit agent will be present in the final bar (after milling, plodding and extrusion of chips) to be delivered to the skin. If the benefit agent is too viscous, it tends to become entangled in the processing equipment and become too difficult to process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,849 to Visscher et al. teaches bar compositions containing a silicone skin mildness/moisturizing aid component. In one embodiment, the silicone component may be mixed with a carrier which is selected to facilitate incorporation of the silicone. Preferred carrier is said to be polyethylene glycol. At column 16, the reference describes that silicone is mixed into melted Carbowax (polyethylene glycol). The mixture is cooled to form flakes and that the flakes are preferably added to an amalgamator.
The compositions of Visscher et al., however, do not teach or suggest thickening the alkylene glycol carrier with a thickening agent (e.g., fumed silica) in order to more readily entrap the emollient. Because the silicone drops are not "contained" by the carrier (e.g., alkylene glycol carrier) in which they are delivered, the benefit agent silicone readily escapes from the carrier and significantly interferes with bar processing (e.g., a viscous, gooey mess is formed which cannot be readily processed) and readily clogs the machinery. By contrast, the entrapped emollient droplets of the invention do not interfere with processing.
Moreover, the present invention is particularly concerned with inserting (e.g., by injection, extrusion or coextrusion) separate compositions comprising the entrapped emollient droplets (i.e., entrapped in the thickened carrier) into bars such that they occupy concentrated regions or domains of the bar (rather than being dispersed as in copending application to Farrell et al., filed on same day). Visscher et al. neither teaches nor suggests concentrated, macroscopic regions of emollient drops from which deposition is enhanced.
Finally in a copending application to He et al., applicants teach low viscosity oils or emollients which are pre-thickened with hydrophobic polymers having low degree of crystallinity. That application teaches thickening of the oils themselves (i.e., thickening low viscosity oils) rather than thickening carriers in which emollients (preferably large size droplet emollients) are found.

Personal washing bar compositions comprising emollient rich phase/stripe

Lever Brothers Company, Division of Conopco, Inc.


An electric nailing apparatus includes a triggering member, a rotatable rod member including first and second sustaining structures, a transmission rod having a first protrusion structure, a motor member and a ram block sustained against a fixture element via a resilience element. In response to a rotation of a gear member, the ram block glides to compress the resilience element and then touch the first protrusion structure. In response to an external force, the triggering member moves to have the first sustaining structure touch a first switch device to start the motor member. After the ram block touches the first protrusion structure, the second sustaining structure is simultaneously stirred by the transmission rod to have the first sustaining structure detached from the first switch device, thereby stopping the motor member and providing a nailing energy to the ram block in response to a recovery force of the resilience element.

Nowadays, with increasing development of electric nailing technologies, safety is a major concern. For sake of safety, there is a need to provide an electric nailing apparatus capable of performing the nailing operation in one trigger/one shot manner.
As known, in case of insufficient electricity or inadequate mechanical inertia, there may be a dead point during the conventional electric nailing apparatus is operated. Whenever there is a dead point, the housing of the electric nailing apparatus should be disassembled for restoring related components within the housing and then perform the next nailing operation. Therefore, the process for operating such an electric nailing apparatus is not user-friendly.


In a vehicle side airbag device, when a side airbag is inflated and deployed, a tension cloth disposed bridging an upper side bag portion and a lower side bag portion on the vehicle width direction outer side of the side airbag is pulled up and down. The vehicle width direction inflation width of the side airbag is enlarged, so the vehicle width direction shock absorbing stroke can be ensured by the small-capacity side airbag. The tension cloth functions as a reaction force surface that supports the upper side bag portion from the outer side in the vehicle width direction, so even in a vehicle in which the position of a door beltline is low, a shoulder of an occupant can be restrained at an early stage. In a case where the vehicle has rolled over, the tension cloth protects the side airbag from fragments of a door glass.

In the vehicle side airbag device described in patent document 1 cited below, a side airbag is equipped with a rear side tube bag portion, which extends in an up and down direction on the vehicle rear side of a vehicle width direction outer side end of a chest of an occupant when the side airbag is inflated and deployed, and a front side tube bag portion, which is positioned on the vehicle front side of the vehicle width direction outer side end of the chest of the occupant on the vehicle front side of the rear side tube bag portion and extends in the up and down direction. The upper portion of the rear side tube bag portion is a shoulder restraining portion that is positioned to the side of the shoulder of the occupant and restrains the shoulder, and the upper edge of the front side tube bag portion is an arm support portion that is located in a position lower than the armpit of the occupant on the vehicle front side of the shoulder restraining portion and on which the upper arm of the occupant becomes placed.
That is, in this vehicle side airbag device, the shoulder of the occupant whose load resistance is relatively high is restrained by the shoulder restraining portion, and the upper arm of the occupant becomes placed on the arm support portion, so that the upper arm is kept from coming between the chest of the occupant whose load resistance is relatively low and the airbag.


Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for managing a database. In one or more examples, the system obtains input data comprising one or more data entries, where each data entry comprises one or more data items, and each data item comprises a field name and a field value. The system can generate a key-value set for each data item to obtain a plurality of key-value sets. Each key-value set includes at least a first key element comprising the field name of the respective data item and a second key element comprising the field value of the respective data item. The system can sort and store the plurality of key-value sets in the database. The system can further receive a query indicative of a field name or a field value, and generate, for display, an output based on retrieved key elements sets based on the query.

Recent years have seen an explosion in the production and collection of data. The data collected can produce relatively large and complex data stores that consume a significant amount of storage. Moreover, users often access the data via queries to identify data and/or process the data to produce various statistics and metrics. However, as the volume and/or complexity of data increases, accessing the data to perform such queries can result in slow searches that consume processing power.
For example, one use of data stores is to evaluate specific or "narrow" queries on a large number of items, e.g., a database of items, where, for many items in the database, the system can extract out a few field values, then aggregate all of the values into a result. Traditional row-oriented data stores can serve this use case correctly, but very slowly, because the system fetches additional, extraneous field values from storage. A common alternative is to use a column-oriented data store, which stores the values of each field in separate data structures, to attempt to improve the efficiency of query processing by improving the relevance of the data fetched from storage. While the column-oriented approach may sometimes speed up operations, it comes at the cost of scaling poorly when the dataset becomes complex.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a database structure to efficiently index, store, and retrieve data.

Database indexing using structure-preserving dimensionality reduction to accelerate database operations


A method, system, and program product for controlling the content displayed during a computer driven presentation of a presentation graphics application. Hidden object presentation properties are assigned to presentation graphics objects during creation of a presentation graphics file, the properties controlling the circumstances under which hidden objects are displayed during a computer driven presentation or screenshow. One type of hidden object presentation property indicates whether an object is viewable on an audience display and presenter display, or only a presenter display, during a multi-display screenshow. Another type of hidden object presentation property, such as hidden object value, determines the audience to which the object is displayed. Hidden object value properties may be hierarchical, individually selectable in any combination, or mutually exclusive. During screenshow setup, one or more display attributes are assigned to each logical display to be used in the screenshow, the display attributes determining the objects viewable thereon.

Presentation graphics software applications are well known in the art. In general, presentation graphics applications allow a user to arrange presentation graphics objects (i.e., text, charts, graphics, etc., hereinafter "objects") onto a series of pages or presentation slides, edit and rearrange the objects within a page, add and delete pages, reorder pages, and save the resulting presentation in a file. The resulting presentation may be printed or otherwise converted to physical presentation media, such as transparencies or 35 mm slides, for example.
Modern presentation graphics software applications typically provide an alternative to physical presentation media. The alternative involves delivering the presentation directly to a display device attached to a computer system. Such a computer driven presentation, often termed a "slide show" or "screen show," provides an alternative to delivering a presentation using physical presentation media. As used herein, the terms "computer driven presentation," slideshow," and "screenshow" are interchangeable. A computer driven presentation is delivered by a computer system running the presentation graphics application used to create the presentation. Alternatively, presentation graphics applications typically provide a user with the ability to prepare a presentation for delivery by a computer system on which the presentation graphics application is not installed.
Presentation graphics applications supporting a computer driven presentation option typically provide a degree of user control during two operations: presentation creation, and slide show setup. While creating a presentation, a user may assign various properties to presentation graphics objects: these properties are referred to herein as object properties. Some object properties, referred to herein as object presentation properties, involve aspects of how the object is presented during a slide show, such as: whether the object appears when the page first appears or upon the occurrence of some event (i.e., a user input or the passage of a user-specified time period), "animation" effects controlling the way in which the object is introduced during a slide show (i.e., the object may just appear, or it may slide in from the right, down from the top, etc.), sounds associated with the introduction of an object, actions to be taken when an object is "clicked" or "moused over" during a slide show, etc. During slide show setup, a user may select various options controlling aspects of a slide show presentation. For example, user selectable options may include: various visual effects controlling how new pages are introduced, whether new pages are introduced manually or after a specified period of time, whether sounds are associated with the introduction of new pages, the pages to be shown, whether presentation controls are displayed, etc.
Once a user creates a presentation, selects object properties, and selects slide show options, a user saves the presentation in a file. If another version of the presentation is needed, such as for a presentation to a different audience, a user modifies the presentation by changing, rearranging, adding, or deleting objects; changing, rearranging, adding, or deleting pages; modifying object properties and slide show options, etc., then saving the modified presentation in a new file. Thus, if a user wishes to create two presentations containing pages that are substantially similar but differ in some respects (such as differences in the objects appearing on each page), two files are likely needed if both presentations are to be retained with all content, properties, and settings intact.
Presentation graphics objects may be associated with a presentation page by being placed on or within the page, or by other means. For example, presentation graphics applications often provide an opportunity for a user to associate objects such as text or notes with each page of a presentation. These notes, often called speaker notes or simply notes, are typically intended for the presenter rather than the audience. Speaker notes are typically entered in a window or screen region which is separate from the presentation page with which the notes are associated. Speaker notes are, therefore, an example of a presentation graphics object that is associated with a presentation page, but which does not appear on or within the page. Speaker notes may be viewed in a variety of ways. For example, a user may view speaker notes while creating or editing a presentation. Presentation graphics applications often provide the ability to print speaker notes along with the presentation page associated with the notes, for use by a presenter in rehearsing or delivering a presentation.
Modern personal computers, both portable and desktop models, typically support multiple physical display devices. For example, a portable or laptop computer typically includes a permanently attached display, such as an LCD display, often integrated into the laptop cover. Laptop computers further typically include support for an external monitor or projector, which may be used instead of or in addition to the laptop monitor. Furthermore, as DVD drives become more commonly available in laptops, support for television monitors has become more common as well, often provided via an additional physical connector, such as an S-video output. Desktop computer systems typically provide support for a computer monitor, and may also provide support for multiple computer monitors, and may further provide support for a television monitor through an S-video or other output. Hardware support for the plurality of monitors may be provided by a plurality of hardware controllers or adapters, often one adapter per monitor. Alternatively, a single graphics controller may be capable of emulating multiple different controllers and providing multiple outputs at once, providing support for multiple physical display devices with a single hardware graphics controller.
Multiple physical display devices may be treated as a single logical display, or multiple logical displays. When treated as a single logical display, the multiple display devices each display the same content. When treated as multiple logical displays, however, different content may be displayed on each physical device. Operating systems such as MICROSOFT WINDOWS 98 and subsequent versions provide support for multiple monitors, allowing a user to define two logical displays, and various characteristics of each display, such as the resolution and relative logical locations of the two displays.
In order to advantageously use multiple logical displays, a method is employed to determine the content shown on each logical display. Methods are known in the art that involve mapping objects to an intermediate attribute, and then determining the content of each display based upon the intermediate attribute. Specifically, methods involving intermediate attributes such as screen or window, screen or window region, color, page, etc., are known in the art. For instance, a method using a window intermediate attribute displays one set of windows on one logical display, and another set of windows on a second logical display. On each logical display, all objects within displayed windows are displayed, no objects are displayed from non-displayed windows. Also for instance, a method using color as an intermediate attribute displays objects of one set of colors on one logical display, and objects of another set of colors on a second logical display. In this manner, all objects of the same color are shown on the same set of logical displays. Methods involving page or screen region operate in a similar fashion: one set of pages or screen regions is displayed on one logical display, and another set of pages or screen regions are displayed on another logical display. All objects within the same page or screen region are displayed on the same set of logical displays. For example, methods of determining the content of multiple logical displays involving a screen or window intermediate attribute are illustrated in the following U.S. patents: "ELECTRONIC PRESENTATION SYSTEM USING PORTABLE STORAGE MEDIA," by McCullough, U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,658, issued Jul. 23, 1996; "PRESENTATION SUPPORTING METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREFORE," by Tanikoshi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,018, issued May 27, 1997; "REMOTE COLLABORATION SYSTEM PERFORMED BY A HOST COMPUTER RUNNING AN APPLICATION PROGRAM AND REMOTE COMPUTERS RUNNING A PROGRAM DISTINCT FROM THE APPLICATION PROGRAM," by Pommier et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,785, issued Aug. 31, 1999; "COOPERATIVE WORK SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR MANAGING A WINDOW DISPLAY," by Katsurabayashi, U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,199, issued Oct. 23, 2001. Methods of determining the content of multiple logical displays involving a page intermediate attribute are illustrated in the following United States Patents: "COMPUTER CONFERENCING SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVELY LINKING AND UNLINKING PRIVATE PAGE WITH PUBLIC PAGE BY SELECTIVELY ACTIVATING LINKED MODE AND NON-LINKED MODE FOR EACH PARTICIPANT," by McArdle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,702, issued Dec. 3, 1996; "METHOD OF APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING A SPLIT BAR WINDOW," by Porter, U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,852, issued Feb. 24, 1998; and "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LINKING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PAGES IN A CONFERENCING SYSTEM," by McArdle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,974, issued Jan. 12, 1999. Methods of determining the content of multiple logical displays involving a screen or window region intermediate attribute are illustrated in the following U.S. patent: "PRIVATE REGIONS WITHIN A SHARED WORKSPACE," by Smith et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,443, issued Apr. 21, 1992.
A further example of mapping objects to an intermediate attribute, and then determining the content of each display based upon the intermediate attribute, involves displaying a presentation to an audience while displaying additional information, shown in different windows or different window regions, to the presenter. For example, a presentation graphics application sold under the name MICROSOFT POWERPOINT provides support for multiple monitors when used in an operating system environment also having multiple monitor support. The MICROSOFT POWERPOINT presentation graphics application allows a user to establish an audience screen where the presentation is displayed, and a presenter screen where the presentation plus additional information, such as speaker notes and other information, are displayed. All of the additional information displayed on the presenter display is mapped to screen or window regions outside of the presentation pages. Thus, the screen or window region representing the presentation page is shown on both displays, while additional information outside of this region is displayed only on the presenter display.
For the foregoing reasons, therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of determining the content presented on a plurality of logical displays, without mapping presentation objects to an intermediate attribute.

Speaker annotation objects in a presentation graphics application

International Business Machines Corporation


A fuel cell system includes a windshield washer container 1 storing windshield washer fluid, a permeable membrane unit 2 provided inside the windshield washer container 1, and a fuel cell 11. The permeable membrane unit 2 has the capability of extracting methanol from the windshield washer fluid. The extracted methanol is directly used as the fuel for the fuel cell 11. The windshield washer container 1 has the size comparable with or less than that of a conventional windshield washer container.

The present invention relates to a fuel cell system which is, for example, preferably used as an auxiliary power source of an automotive vehicle.
Automotive vehicles are recently equipped with many electronic devices. Accordingly, a great amount of electric power is required for the automotive vehicle. In general, the automotive vehicle installs an alternator to generate electric power and a battery to store electric power. Meanwhile, various kinds of fuel cells are already proposed as effective devices capable of supplying electric power to the automotive vehicles.
One of the conventionally known fuel cells is a polyelectrolyte fuel cell (hereinafter, referred to as PEFC). Furthermore, as a fuel cell system using this fuel cell, the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-184666, corresponding to the U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0168024A1, discloses a system which uses gasoline or methanol as the fuel and generates electric power by using hydrogen extracted from this fuel through a reformer.
However, according to such a fuel cell system, it is necessary to install a heavy and expensive reformer on a vehicle. Furthermore, the reformer is generally dissatisfactory in its performance because it cannot quickly and accurately respond to frequent accelerating/decelerating and stopping operations or other load changes occurring in the automotive vehicle.
On the other hand, another example of the fuel cell is a direct methanol fuel cell (hereinafter, referred to as DMFC) which is for example disclosed in "A Guide to Visual Technology—Everything in Fuel Cell—," first edition, pp 209 to 219, written by Konosuke IKEDA, published by Nippon Jitsugyo Publishing Co. Ltd., Aug. 20, 2001. The direct methanol fuel cell is a kind of PEFC, and is characterized in that no reforming of methanol into hydrogen is required and accordingly the methanol can be directly used as the fuel to generate electric power. Accordingly, the fuel cell system using the DMFC requires no reformer.
In view of the foregoing, it is useful to utilize a fuel cell system incorporating the DMFC or a comparable fuel cell capable of generating electric power with methanol or other directly supplied fuel, as an auxiliary power source of an automotive vehicle to supply electric power.
However, the fuel cell system incorporating the DMFC requires an additional container to be installed in an automotive vehicle for storing methanol or comparable fuel. Securing a sufficient space for this container is not easy because an available space in an automotive vehicle is limited.

Fuel cell system for an automotive vehicle


An apparatus for diverting material in a controlled manner comprising a diverter plate attached to a mounting assembly. The diverter plate is shaped for receiving falling material and facilitating the flow of the material onto a conveyance means or into storage. The mounting assembly comprises a carrier spring assembly that permits the diverter plate to pivot about a shaft and thereby move from a default position to an unload position. The mounting assembly further comprises two adjustable locking mounts that hold the shaft in place and also allow the shaft to be adjustably rotated and thereafter fixed in place. A method for diverting material in a controlled manner comprises the steps of installing the apparatus at a transfer point and activating a first conveyance means that feeds material to the chute. A second conveyance means that receives the material after diversion by the apparatus can optionally be activated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transfer points on conveyor belts or other means of conveyance, and more specifically, to an apparatus and method for diverting or directing the flow or movement of material from one means of conveyance such as a first conveyor belt to another means of conveyance such as a second conveyor belt or into storage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conveyor belts are often used to transfer large quantities of materials, such as mineral ores, from one location to another. Transfer points are frequently needed at junction points between two such conveyor belts when the material must be transported in a new direction or at a lower elevation. At these transfer points, material dumps from an initial or first conveyor belt into a chute and onto a subsequent or second conveyor belt. The material typically drops from about 2-3 feet to about 10-20 or more feet in vertical height at transfer points. A frequent problem encountered when using conventional transfer point equipment is that when the material hits the second conveyor belt under the chute, the force of the material impacting against the second conveyor belt causes belt damage such as cuts and/or holes in the conveyor belt surface. Currently, impact beds or impact rollers made of rubber or urethane are used to help absorb impact to the belt, and to therefore prolong the life of the belt. Although conventional impact beds and impact rollers provide some degree of conveyor belt protection through impact absorption, they are not designed to slow and/or redirect the flow of the falling material in order to provide significantly increased levels of conveyor belt impact protection.
Another problem often encountered with the use of conventional transfer point equipment is that some of the material tends to fall off of the second conveyor belt. Although an external skirt board is generally used at transfer points to try to seal the conveyor belt, the material usually hits the second conveyor belt with such a high force that the material blows out the back and sides of the external skirt board. This leads to lost material, increased clean-up costs, and damage to external skirt boards and other nearby equipment.
Conveyor belt cover damage is very costly to repair. Cuts in the surface trap material that later comes out of the cuts and can accumulate on the conveyor belt rollers, thereby damaging the rollers and requiring costly roller replacement. Adjusting and/or replacing worn out external skirt board is costly as well.
In order to alleviate the need for such costly repair and clean-up, new chutes are currently being designed and manufactured. Such attempts to solve the aforementioned problems associated with conventional conveyor belts and transfer points are not only very costly in and of themselves, there is also no convenient method for making adjustments to these pre-manufactured fixed chutes without major cost expenditures.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an inexpensive, convenient, adaptable, durable, and effective apparatus and associated method for reducing impact damage to conveyor belts and for reducing material spillage at transfer points.

Method and apparatus for diverting material


Tracking fluid displacement along a wellbore using real time temperature measurements. A method of tracking fluid displacement along a wellbore includes the steps of: monitoring temperature in real time in the wellbore; and observing in real time a variation in temperature gradient between fluid compositions in the wellbore. Another method of tracking fluid displacement along a wellbore includes the steps of: monitoring temperature along the wellbore; and observing a variation in temperature gradient due to a chemical reaction in the wellbore. Another method includes the step of causing a variation in temperature gradient in the fluid while the fluid flows in the wellbore.

The present invention relates generally to operations performed and equipment utilized in conjunction with a subterranean wellbore and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a method of tracking fluid displacement along a wellbore using real time temperature measurements.
In well production and injection operations, it is known to use a distributed temperature survey (DTS) to sense temperature along a wellbore. For example, in stimulation operations a temperature profile may be generated after the operation is completed, and the temperature profile may be used to determine where the injected fluid entered formations or zones intersected by a wellbore. This information is useful in evaluating the effectiveness of the stimulation operation, and in planning future stimulation operations in the same, or a different, wellbore.
Unfortunately, these methods do not provide an operator with the information needed in real time, while the operation is progressing, to evaluate how the operation could be modified to improve the results of the operation. In addition, these methods rely on detecting temperature variations which are limited by various factors, including the difference between surface and downhole temperatures, properties of the fluids flowed in the wellbore, etc.
Therefore, it may be seen that improvements are needed in the art of tracking fluid displacement in a wellbore. It is among the objects of the present invention to provide such improvements, which may be useful in various operations, including but not limited to production, injection, stimulation, completion, testing, fracturing, conformance, etc.


A computerized method of intercepting SQL processing within a relational database. The relational database includes a relational database management program having SQL processing logic. The method includes the steps of: (a) enabling an SQL intercept code by connecting directly into the SQL processing logic of the relational database management program; (b) using the SQL intercept code to intercept an SQL statement made to the relational database; (c) using the SQL intercept code to collect a first set of real-time SQL performance information located in selected structures of the relational database; (d) returning control to the SQL processing logic until the relational database management program has processed the SQL statement to completion; (e) using the SQL intercept code to collect a second set of real-time SQL performance information located in the structures; (f) comparing the first set with the second set in order to measure the performance of the SQL statement; and (g) returning control to the relational database management program.

This invention relates to acquisition of performance and resource consumption data from a relational database, and, more particularly, to a method of retrieving this data, specific to Structured Query Language (SQL) queries, from the DB2 database licensed by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) published SQL standards in 1986 and 1987, respectively. ANSI and ISO jointly worked on an extension to the standards, variously called SQL2, SQL-92, or SQL/92. Another extension to the standards, SQL3, is in progress, to enhance relational capabilities, and add support for object-oriented features.
A query to a relational database is a request for information from the database based on specific conditions. For example, a query could be a request for a list of all customers in a customer table who live in Texas. In order to reduce response time to SQL queries which are directed to a relational database, a user, such as a systems programer, an applications programer, or a database administrator, improves his hardware, by buying a faster CPU or adding more space for data storage, or both, or improving his response time by the buffering of data objects.
Alternatively, the user optimizes the SQL statements. The user optimizes SQL statements, also known as "tuning", through monitoring and measuring SQL performance. He measures performance by determining what amount of available system resources an individual SQL statement is using, and the overall workload impact of any specific SQL statement. The user makes changes based on these observations.
However, due to the complexity of the relationships among the data, the process of tuning SQL statements is complex, time consuming, and demands considerable system resources. For example, DB2 for Multiple Virtual System (MVS) offers a detailed SQL trace capability. However, this SQL trace can add anywhere from 50% to 100% overhead to DB2. Because of this large overhead, the SQL trace is generally not continually used. Other optimization programs, such as thread or transaction level traces, provide measures that identify only the most resource-demanding groups of SQL statements. These traces are not capable of identifying the specific SQL statements in need of tuning. Still other optimization routines measure performance across the entire SQL process, including DB2's SQL Processing Prologue and the Epilogue. These routines give an aggregate measure called "Class 2" time, which is of limited value in determining how a specific SQL statement performed.
SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements represent the actual low-level SQL queries which either select, update, insert, or delete data from DB2. Optimizing these on a statement by statement basis is the most effective way to minimize resource consumption and maximize performance.
What the industry needs is a method of reducing the response time to SQL queries directed to a relational database, without having to increase the hardware requirements, and without having to provide more memory caches for data objects. More specifically, what the industry needs is a program that will directly monitor SQL DML performance and resource consumption on an ongoing basis, without the monitoring program consuming 50% or more of system resources.

Method of efficient collection of SQL performance measures


A ratchet screwdriver includes a main rod, a driven shaft, a ratchet mechanism, a socket connector, a control member, and a handle. Thus, the pawl member of the ratchet mechanism is pivoted to engage the ratchet teeth of the socket connector by rotation of the rotation wheel of the control member, so that the ratchet screwdriver is operated easily and conveniently, thereby facilitating a user operating the ratchet screwdriver to drive a workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ratchet screwdriver, and more particularly to a ratchet screwdriver that is operated easily and conveniently, thereby facilitating a user operating the ratchet screwdriver.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional screwdriver comprises a shank, and a driver head detachably mounted on a distal end of the shank. Thus, the driver head of the conventional screwdriver is used to rotate a workpiece, such as the screw, bolt, nut or the like. However, the conventional screwdriver does not have a ratchet mechanism, so that it cannot be operated easily and conveniently, thereby causing inconvenience to a user when operating the conventional screwdriver.


The optical disc library apparatus of the present disclosure includes one or more magazines configured to store a plurality of optical discs, a plurality of optical disc drives configured to perform recording or reproducing on or from the optical discs, a changer mechanism configured to perform loading or ejecting any optical disc stored in the magazine to or from any optical disc drive, and a controller configured to control the changer mechanism. The magazine includes magazine-disc association information associating magazine information specifying the magazine with disc information specifying a plurality of optical discs to be stored in the magazine. The controller outputs the magazine-disc association information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an optical disc library apparatus for taking out a portable optical disc stored in a magazine from the magazine and carrying the optical disc to any optical disc drive, an optical disc to be used in the apparatus, and an optical disc library system configured by using an optical disc library apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an amount of data to be stored in a large-scale data center is rapidly increasing, and accordingly an amount of less accessed data in the data to be stored also tends to increase. Therefore, a library apparatus for archiving less accessed data into a portable information recording medium, which is able to reduce power consumption and to be suitable for long-period storage, attracts attention.
The portable information storage medium is an optical disc such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc (hereinafter, BD). The optical disc roughly includes a rewritable information storage medium such as a DVD-RAM or a BD-RE, and a recordable information storage medium such as a DVD-R, a DVD+R, or a BD-R. Further in recent years, a new more large-capacity BD disc is being developed.
The optical disc is superior to a hard disc drive (HDD) or a magnetic tape such as a Linear Tape-Open (LTO) in terms of warranty of the data for fifty years, namely, semi-permanently.
According to the high capacity of the optical disc in recent years, a recordable optical disc that is more inexpensive than a rewritable optical disc has a greater opportunity to be used for archiving less accessed data.
As a library apparatus for archiving in an optical disc, a library apparatus that includes a plurality of optical disc drives and utilizes a plurality of optical discs which is stored in a cartridge case (hereinafter, magazine) is disclosed (for example, see Patent Literature 1). This library apparatus performs recording or reproducing on or from the plurality of optical discs by unit of magazine collectively and transfer speeds of the recording or reproducing can be improved. Further, the optical discs are put into the magazine, so that the library apparatus can restrain lowering factors in reliability of the optical discs such as fingerprints and scratches.
Further, as the library apparatus using the magazine storing the plurality of optical discs, a disc array as one virtual large volume is structured in a plurality of optical discs in a magazine and in a plurality of optical disc drives. The library apparatus performs recording or reproducing on or from the disc array i.e. a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). As a result, the library apparatus, in which recording or reproducing data is highly-reliable, is disclosed (for example, see Patent Literature 2).

Optical disc library apparatus having magazine-disc association information, optical disc, and optical disc library system

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A method includes a periodic motion data input step S208 of receiving input of periodic motion data indicating changes of the periodic motion with time in an object to be examined who is a target of image data collection, a step S214 of estimating fluctuations in the time resolution of the image data with time based on the periodic motion data, designating an image collection range in the object, and adjusting the collection position of the image data such that the image data is collected in the image collection range at a suitable time of image data collection, the estimated time resolution being set in a predetermined suitable range, and an image data collection position control step S216 of relatively moving at least a part of the image data collection range and the collection position of the image data such that the part of the range and the position are superimposed on each other within a time when the image data of the image data collection range has a time resolution within the desired range based on the image data collection conditions.

When image data is collected from the heart area of an object to be examined and an image is reconstructed based on the data, the image quality is degraded by cardiac motion artifact caused by a heartbeat and respiratory motion artifact caused by a thorax motion associated with respiration.
Conventionally, a scanning method called electrocardiographic synchronous scanning or ECG (electro cardio gram) is available in which electrocardiographic data is obtained to reduce heartbeat motion artifact, and then image data is collected and an image is reconstructed based on the data in synchronization with a heartbeat or with a phase shift relative to a heartbeat (for example, Patent document 1). For example, according to segment reconstruction which is a kind of cardiographic synchronous scanning, based on cardiographic data recorded with image data, image data collected in a diastole during which cardiac motions are relatively few is extracted and an image is reconstructed according to the data, so that an image can be obtained with a preferable time resolution and less cardiac motion artifact. During the collection of image data, image data collection conditions such as a scanning speed are set and fixed according to the heart rate of an object to be examined. Thus it is desirable to stabilize the heart rate to keep the high quality of an obtained image.
In order to prevent respiratory motion artifact, the object is generally caused to hold his/her breath to prevent a thorax motion during the collection of image data.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-189412
However, in many cases, when the object holds his/her breath, the heart rate tends to fluctuate more than a resting pulse rate. Although fluctuations in heart rate due to breath holding vary among individuals, the fluctuations vary, in any event, the time resolution of an image obtained in cardiographic synchronous scanning. For example, in the case of image data collection conditions set suitably for a resting heart rate, when the heart rate during the collection of image data is almost equal to the resting heart rate, an image obtained under the image data collection conditions has a preferable and constant time resolution. In reality, however, the heart rate during the collection of image data deviates from the resting heart rate, and thus a satisfactory image cannot be obtained under image data collection conditions suitable for the resting heart rate.
The present invention is devised in view of such circumstances. An object of the present invention is to provide an image data collection control method and an image data collection system whereby preferable image data can be obtained even when the heart rate of an object to be examined fluctuates during the collection of image data.

Method and system for collecting image data from image data collection range including periodically moving part


A bearing assembly includes a bearing flange and a flange receptacle having a longitudinal axis, which comprise a mutual axial stop and a fixing for securing the mutual stop position. The fixing is designed as a wedge-type clamp which can be actuated transversely, in particular radially, to the longitudinal axis. The wedge-type clamp clamps the bearing flange and the flange receptacle axially into the mutual stop position. The bearing assembly may be, for example, provided for a robot and its rotary body.

Bearing assemblies are known from practice, and generally comprise a bearing flange and a flange receptacle which have a common longitudinal axis, a mutual axial stop, and a fixing for securing the mutual stop position. The bearing flange has a radial collar or pipe flange which rests against an end face of the flange receptacle and is fixed there by screws.


A centralized controller for probing and securing vulnerable network resources is disclosed. A list of services hosted by a resource is received at the controller. A request to probe the list of services hosted on the resource is received by the controller. A probe candidate is determined by the controller. The probing is triggered by the controller based on a user scheduled time. The probing includes sending a probe packet that contains a special marker. The controller sends the list of resources to be probed for a set of port and protocol, to the probe candidate. A probe result generated as a result of the probing is received at the controller. The probe result includes vulnerable service information. A policy is computed based on the probe result and is enforced on the probed resources.

Vulnerability management programs make up the front line of risk reduction for security conscious organizations. A vulnerability assessment is the process of defining, identifying, classifying and prioritizing vulnerabilities in computer systems, applications and network infrastructures, and providing the enterprise performing the assessment with required awareness, knowledge and risk to understand the threats to its environment and act or react accordingly. Enterprises employ vulnerability testing on a periodic basis to ensure the security of their networks, particularly when changes are made, e.g., services are added, new equipment is installed or ports are opened. Vulnerability assessment aims to uncover vulnerabilities in a network and recommend the appropriate mitigation or remediation to reduce or remove the risks.
As the enterprise environment gets more complicated, so does vulnerability management. Many organizations piece together disparate, stand-alone solutions to accomplish the key aspects of vulnerability management such as assessment, mitigation, and protection. However, this leaves them with a disjointed picture of security, which is not only more difficult to manage, but also more expensive. With security budgets and resources under pressure, it is required to take the most efficient approach possible that brings the key pieces of vulnerability management together in a single solution. Unified vulnerability Management delivers a consolidated solution for assessing, mitigating, and protecting the environment, while reducing the overall cost of security and compliance. It is challenging to identify a vulnerability assessment that delivers unified configuration and vulnerability scanning across network devices, operating systems, applications, databases, and web applications using a scalable, non-intrusive approach.

Probe and secure the vulnerable network services using a centralized controller


A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and apparatus for communicating a command to a networked device that requires a driver via an endpoint device that does not have the driver installed are disclosed. For example, the method establishes a first connection with virtual device server, establishes a second connection with a universal device driver API server, transmits a command to the universal device driver API server, receives a translated command compatible with the driver of the networked device from the virtual device server, wherein the translated command is received by the virtual device server from the driver that is called by the universal device driver API server, establishes a third connection with the networked device using identical connection information associated with the second connection with the virtual device server and transmits the translated command to the networked device over the third connection.

There is no widely standardized method for communicating with networked devices. Different manufacturers support different standards, often specific to only the devices of the manufacturer. Operating systems, such as Windows® for example, allow the installation of vendor-supplied drivers, which translate commands executed against the Windows® application programming interface (API) into vendor-specific commands. The commands are sent "over the wire" to the networked device in vendor-specific ways.
However, other operating systems may not have such drivers. For example, operating systems of mobile devices cannot typically use such drivers natively. While some vendors may offer drivers for these platforms, there is a need for programs running on operating systems of mobile devices to be able to connect to and control these networked devices, which is difficult with the current state of technology.
One could create a separate driver for every possible operating system, whether desktop or mobile. However, creating drivers is a labor intensive and error prone process.

Method and apparatus for universal control of networked devices


Disclosed are a display device and a method control of the display. The method includes: selecting an initial duty and a target initial brightness which generate a color shift is less than or equal to a preset color shift value; calculating a corresponding initial grayscale according to the initial duty and the target initial brightness; searching for an initial data voltage corresponding to the initial grayscale according to a gamma curve, where the initial data voltage is associated with the initial duty and the target initial brightness; and performing a brightness adjustment, where the brightness adjustment comprises either a segmented or a mixed pulse width modulation dimming technique and power modulation dimming technique, where the brightness adjustment is performed in a brightness interval from the target initial brightness to maximum brightness.

An organic light-emitting diode is a type of photoelectric component that uses a multilayer organic thin film structure to generate electroluminescent light. It is simple to manufacture, has low-cost, and applies low driving voltage. These main features make the organic light-emitting diodes stand out in an application of flat panel displays. Therefore, in recent years, as an emerging flat panel display device technology, organic light-emitting diode display devices have become very popular domestic and abroad.
At present time, the brightness adjustment of an organic light-emitting diode display device is to apply pulse width modulation dimming at low brightness, this technique can avoid indivisible gamma curve and severe Mura defect at low brightness. In the case of indivisible gamma curve, different grayscale values may correspond to an identical voltage on the gamma curve; thus these grayscale values cannot be distinguished from each other. However, the power width modulation (PWM) dimming at low brightness often causes severe color shift, which leads to a bias toward red color in most cases. In particular, the existing organic light-emitting diode display device tends to display at higher frequency, which causes obvious color shift phenomenon at low brightness.

Display device, control method and apparatus thereof


Provided is an interlocking chain-type forward and backward actuating device, the device being configured so that an increase in the number of parts is minimized, an increase in the size of the device is avoided, the amount of scattering of lubricating oil to the outside of the device is reduced, the wear of connection pins is reduced, the breakage of the connection pins is avoided, and the striking noise and vibration of the chains occurring during the reception of the chains are reduced. Chain guide plates are respectively provided on both sides of a pair of interlocking chains in the chain width direction. Chain locus restriction members having chain locus restriction faces in contact with rigid chain portions, which are made rigid by engaging and integrating the pair of interlocking chains with each other, are disposed so as to be adjacent to the rigid chain portions.

Conventionally, as an interlocking chain type forward and backward actuating device, an interlocking chain type lift device has been known that moves a driven body such as a heavy load using a pair of interlocking chains (also referred to as zip chains) that are interlocked with each other and are integrally driven (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Further, as an interlocking chain, an interlocking chain has been known that guides a plate coupling pin projected outside of a plate constituting the interlocking chain in a running groove (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Engagement chain type device for operating forward and backward movement


A system for a wind turbine generator comprising: a set of voltage limiting elements, and a controller configured to bypass the voltage limiting elements when a line voltage is below a predetermined threshold, and configured to connect each voltage limiting element in series between a grid side converter and a turbine transformer of the wind turbine generator, and to determine a current control reference signal for controlling the grid side converter (to generate a determined current) when the line voltage is above the predetermined threshold.

Wind farms are commonly located in remote areas to take advantage of good wind conditions. This may require long transmission lines to connect the wind farms to the rest of the power grid. Because of the long transmission lines and extreme conditions in the remote areas the wind farms may have to be designed to withstand relatively high levels of fault conditions, this is also necessary in order to ensure good connectivity with the grid. Overvoltage is one such fault condition which should be handled properly.
In W. Sweet, "Danish Wind Turbines Take Unfortunate Turn", IEEE Spectrum, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 30, 2004 it was reported that on the west coast of Denmark an offshore wind farm called Horns Rev 1 connected by an undersea cable experienced temporary overvoltages (TOV) as high as 2 p.u. when the main-circuit breaker tripped at the on-land connection point and left the wind farm in isolated operation with the cable and the wind farm transformer.
In W. Wiechowski, J. C. Hygebjerg and P. Børre Eriksen,—Higher Frequency Performance of AC Cable Connections of Offshore. 7th int. Conf. on Large Scale Integration of Wind Power and on Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind Farms, pp. 211-217, 2008 it was reported the Danish transmission system operator, Energinet.dk, performed investigations of such overvoltage in connection with the planning of the new offshore wind farm Horns Rev 2. These investigations have shown that the overvoltage levels are influenced by many parameters, including operational characteristics of the wind turbine generator (WTG) prior to the disconnection, protection systems, control and the accuracy of the representation of the cable and the transformers in the relevant frequency range.
In each country the grid code specifies what fault conditions a wind farm must be designed to withstand before tripping. This directly affects the design of the WTG. As shown in FIG. 1, the dotted curve 1 corresponds to Australia where the temporary overvoltage up to 1.6 pu can be experienced. For Canada the overvoltage in FIG. 1 could be up to 2 pu for a short duration. In FIG. 1 if we do not consider Canada and Australia, the solid curve 2 covers temporary overvoltage grid requirement for all other countries.
Wind farm owners and wind turbine manufacturers may wish to protect the power electronics and power components in converter systems of wind turbines from damage caused by the overvoltage. The easiest solution to protect the turbines is by disconnection from the grid. However, transmission system operators may want to maintain grid connectivity of wind farm in case of overvoltage. Thus the relevant grid code may require the turbine to stay connected to the grid during such overvoltage events.
International patent publication number 03/058789 discloses a number of current limiters in the form of series impedances in parallel with power electronic switches. The current limiters operate independently for the respective phase when the line current in that phase is above a predetermined limit. During the fault condition, the power control is disabled, enabling voltage control with a fast current controller. In this publication, the series resistors seem to absorb most of the active power in the fault conditions which makes them bulky. This problem appears to be more serious with growing size of the WTGs.


The present invention relates to a system and a method for reducing access times for retrieving audio samples. The system uses a wave table cache. The wave table cache allows devices such as a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to retrieve audio samples in a linear fashion from the wave table cache at a rate much faster than individually fetching the required portions of the audio sample from the main memory of the system. The DSP may then use the audio samples to generate signals to create sounds based on the audio samples.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to audio samples and, more specifically, to a system and method for reducing the access time for devices such as a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to retrieve an audio sample from system memory by using a wave table cache.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wave tables are used by Digital Signal Processors (DSP) for use in audio applications to create sounds based upon audio samples stored in the system. Storing the audio samples to be used by the DSP may be done in the operating system memory or in a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM).
The problem with current systems that use the above approach is that system latency to fetch the audio samples from the operating system memory or from a PROM can cause delays in creating the audio sounds and with processing the samples in a timely manner. Furthermore, some computer systems have bandwidth problems across the memory, Input/Output (I/O), or Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) busses which can affect the overall performance of the system.
Therefore, a need existed to provide a system and method for retrieving and processing the audio samples in a timely manner without causing delays in the system. The system and method must also reduce bandwidth problems across the memory, I/O, and PCI busses thereby increasing the overall performance of the system.

System for reducing access times for retrieving audio samples and method therefor


An electronic integrated circuit chip includes a semiconductor substrate with a front side and a back side. A first reflective shield is positioned adjacent the front side of the semiconductor substrate and a second reflective shield is positioned adjacent the back side of the semiconductor substrate. Photons are emitted by a photon source to pass through the semiconductor substrate and bounce off the first and second reflective shields to reach a photon detector at the front side of the semiconductor substrate. The detected photons are processed in order to determine whether to issue an alert indicating the existence of an attack on the electronic integrated circuit chip.

Integrated circuit chips containing information, the access to which is reserved to authorized persons, such as bank card integrated circuit chips, are likely to be targeted by attacks.
Various types of attacks may be conducted from the back side of an integrated circuit chip, i.e., from the side of the semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit chip opposite to the side of the substrate where electronic circuits containing the information are located. In a type of attack, the attacker etches a portion of the back side of the semiconductor substrate to reach elements of the circuits such as, for example, transistors or diodes. To achieve this, the attacker may use a focused ion beam FIB. The attacker can thus access these elements, through which information is withdrawn. In other types of back side attacks, the attacker disturbs the circuit operation by means of a laser or by application against the back side of a probe taken to a high voltage. The attacker then deduces the coveted information from the effect of such disturbances, currently called "faults". The attacker can also use various techniques of observation of the integrated circuit chip operation from the back side, for example, by mapping various types of electromagnetic or photon emissions generated by the operating integrated circuit chip circuits.

Protected electronic integrated circuit chip

STMicroelectronics (Research & Development) Limited


A double-bell ringing system of a telephone, including a base, a first bell and a second bell bilaterally supported on the base, a driving mechanism mounted on the base and controlled to reciprocate a reciprocating rod in striking the first bell and the second bell alternatively, the reciprocating rod having two plastic end pieces packed at its two opposite ends for beating the first bell and the second bell respectively, and a control bar mounted on the base and alternatively set between a first position where the control bar stops the reciprocating rod from striking the second bell, and a second position where the control bar is moved out of the path of the reciprocating rod for permitting the reciprocating rod to strike the first bell and the second bell alternatively.

The present invention relates to a double-bell ringing system for a telephone, and more particularly to such a double-bell ringing system which can be alternatively controlled to let one or both bells ring.
Regular double-bell ringing systems for a telephone are commonly complicated and occupy much installation space. Further, the manufacturing cost of these double-bell ringing systems is high.

Double-bell ringing system of a telephone


A protective circuit, for reducing electrical disturbances or interference during operation of a DC motor, features a series transistor (62) arranged in a supply lead from a DC voltage source (12) to a DC motor; an auxiliary voltage source (52), associated with that series transistor, having a substantially constant auxiliary voltage which is configured to make the series transistor (62) fully conductive when a supply voltage furnished by the DC voltage source is substantially free of electrical interference; and an analyzer circuit (32, 34, 36) for analyzing the supply voltage, which analyzer circuit is configured, upon the occurrence of electrical interference in the supply voltage, to increase the resistance of the series transistor (62) correspondingly, in order to reduce the influence of that electrical interference on the operation of the DC motor.

During the operation of DC motors, the occurrence of electrical interference or disturbances constitutes a problem. In particular, the occurrence of electrical interference, in control circuits that are configured for electronic commutation of currents flowing in a DC motor, can negatively affect control of the DC motor. Such electrical disturbances or interference encompasses both high-energy transient pulses and low-voltage interference in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 20 kHz, with amplitudes of 6 V peak-to-peak.
Protective circuits used in the existing art encompass varistors and LC filters or filter capacitors to protect DC motors from electrical interference. The varistors serve to absorb the high-energy transient pulses, and the LC filters or filter capacitors serve to filter out low-voltage interference. The necessary size, restricted working temperature, and limited service life of LC filters or filter capacitors, however, makes them complicated to use and of only limited utility. The use of varistors is complex and cost-intensive because of the varistor dimensions that are required.

Protective circuit for reducing electrical disturbances during operation of a DC motor


A filter element, in particular for cleaning combustion air for internal combustion engines, arranged in a filter housing composed of a filter medium having at least one end face on which a resilient, synthetic resin sealing bead is arranged which contacts a sealing contour on the filter housing. An identifier element which is completely covered by the sealing bead is arranged in the filter element, for example, within an end disk thereof.

The present invention relates to a filter element, particularly for cleaning combustion air, for use in a filter housing having a filter medium with at least one end face enclosed by a sealing bead of resilient synthetic resin material that contacts a sealing contour on the filter housing.
Published German patent application no. DE 199 44 344 discloses a filter element having the following features. An end disk made of an elastic sealing material is arranged on the respective face disks of the hollow cylindrical filter element. A connecting opening provided on the inside of at least one of the end disks communicates with a connection nipple situated inside the filter housing. Thus the side of the end disk which has a connecting opening must be pushed over the connection nipple to establish a tight connection. This leads to the object of creating a radial tension on the elastic connecting opening of the end disc sufficient to form a tight closure. This radial tension is achieved by the fact that a ring, preferably made of synthetic resin material, is situated in the elastic end disk which forms a connecting opening on the periphery at the outer end at a radial distance from the inside diameter This reduces the inside diameter of the end disk in the relaxed state to a smaller size than the outside diameter of the connection.

Filter element, particularly for cleaning combustion air


A technique that determines the tension in a tendon using a conduit reaction force applied to an end of a conduit through which the tendon is threaded. Any suitable tendon tension sensor can be employed that uses the conduit reaction force for this purpose. In one non-limiting embodiment, the tendon tension sensor includes a cylindrical strain gauge element and a force member mounted to an end of the conduit. The force member includes a cylindrical portion having a bore and a plate portion, where the cylindrical portion is inserted into a bore in the strain gauge element. The tendon is threaded through the strain gauge element and the force member. A strain gauge is mounted to the strain gauge element and measures the reaction force when tension on the tendon causes the strain gauge element to be pushed against the force member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a tendon tension sensor for measuring the tension on a tendon using conduit reaction forces on a conduit through which the tendon is threaded and, more particularly, to a tendon tension sensor for measuring the tension on a tendon in a robotic hand, where the sensor is mounted to an end of a conduit that the tendon is threaded through and where the sensor measures conduit reaction forces on the conduit.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Dexterous robot systems are known in the art that perform a variety of functions. A dexterous robot system typically includes a robotic arm having a robotic hand with fingers and related joints that operate to grasp an object or part for a particular application. In one dexterous robot system design, tendons are employed to actuate the fingers where the tendons are coupled to the finger joints. The actuators that actuate the tendons to move the fingers are typically positioned within the forearm area of the robotic arm. Tendons extend from the actuators to the finger joints, where they are attached. Typically, it takes two tendons to actuate a single joint of the finger, one tendon to close the finger and another tendon to open the finger.
The tendons are sometimes threaded through a conduit that isolates the joint actuation from configuration changes occurring between the actuator and the joint. The conduit applies reaction forces to its support structure that serves to counter the tendon forces. This keeps the actuator joint forces from interfering with upstream joints in response to torque provided by the joint. Further, the conduit maintains the length of the tendon constant. Thus, if the wrist of the robotic arm moves, the conduit maintains the length of the tendon constant so that the fingers do not move.
To close the loop on a robotic finger force control, feedback is needed for the tendon tension. Directly sensing the tendon tension has proven to be challenging. Several factors contribute to this challenge including providing a location downstream of a major friction force, where space in the downstream robotic assembly, typically a robotic palm, is severally limited. Further, the tendon is not stationary.
One known technique for measuring tension in a robotic tendon employs a strain gauge sensor for measuring the tensile deformation of the tendon. However, the range of tensile forces that are encountered in robotic applications may be so small that strain gauge sensors may not be sensitive enough to provide an accurate measurement. Also, the strain gauge sensor doesn't measure the deformation of the tendon, but employs a strain element to introduce a bend in the tendon so that a greater tendon tension results in a greater strain in the element. However, there is typically not enough space for such a sensor.
It is also known in the art to use load cells to measure tension. However, commercially available load cells typically are too large for robotic applications in that they cannot be adequately housed inside of a robotic arm.
Another known design employs an S-shaped elastic element on which a strain gauge is mounted. An end of a tendon is coupled to one end of the S-shaped element and an end of another tendon is coupled to an opposite end of the S-shaped element so that tension on the tendon causes the S-shaped element to deform. This design requires cutting the tendon and the element has a relatively large diameter. This design also presents a problem of lack of space as well as having wires hanging in space attached to a moving piece.

Sensing the tendon tension through the conduit reaction forces

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


The present invention relates to a DC power pack integrated with a micro-controller embedded controller for setting various voltages to accommodate different trains run on a track system. Micro-controller embedded controller (MECC) contains memory for pre-stored information and variable or changing information relating to the operation of the train system and related voltage and waveform requirements. Storage of variable or changing information can be in non-volatile memory or volatile memory with battery back-up. Throttle setting, braking and acceleration are controlled with the MECC connected to a user interface for selecting a number of possible values to increase the realism of the railroad operation. The railroader is capable of setting acceleration and deceleration times. Alternate embodiments provide for uploading/downloading data and information from the present invention to update the variable information pertaining to the operation of various manufactures trains and their operation set points. A short circuit or overload sensor is provided to protect the power pack circuit.

Over the years, attempts have been made to control model trains and railroads with various levels of success. In many cases the system allows for only a few operations to be controlled such as the original AC trains having forward, reverse and stop for an individual train on a single track. In some cases the use of digital circuitry has been incorporated to control the relative states of these circuits and generate pulses to initiate states of operation.
The advent of DC motors made controlling the train easier and less cumbersome. However, the railroader continues to seek greater control over the operation of every aspect of the train and railroad. As DC motors have become more prevalent in the model train industry the sophistication of controllers for the locomotives has increased allowing for multiple trains of various manufactures to occupy the same or shared tracks. This has also given way to an increased desire to make the operation of the train to function as similar as possible to an actual locomotive engine wether it steam, coal or electric in nature.
When a model train operator currently uses a DC locomotive he needs a specific power pack or controller functioning within a certain range of operation specific to a DC locomotive. Unfortunately, if the operator has multiple trains by various manufacturers he is placed in a unenviable position of choosing which trains he can run with which power source on which tracks. This is very limiting and possibly even dangerous to either the train or the power pack. Further, solutions provided to railroaders have been complex in operation, not adaptable to multiple train requirements or required external computer interfaces to operate. The modern railroader still likes the simplicity of operation and yet wants the more sophisticated operation.

Microcontroller embedded control circuit for model railroads


An assay method incorporating at least two different chemiluminescent compounds for detection and/or quantitation of at least two substances in a test sample is described. The synthesis of chemiluminescent reagents or conjugates for use in such methods as well as kits incorporating such reagents are also disclosed. The assays have particular application in the field of clinical diagnostics.

1. Technical Field:
The present invention relates to a new class of chemiluminescent, aromatic ring-fused acridinium compounds (AFAC) which emit green or yellow light upon simple chemical treatments. This invention also relates to conjugates formed from AFAC and binding partners, e.g. biological molecules, and test assays utilizing the conjugates. Furthermore the invention relates to test assays in which the detection and/or quantitation of two or more substances or analytes in a test sample can be carried out simultaneously due to the discernable and non-interfering light emission characteristics of two or more chemiluminescent conjugates.
2. Technical Review:
Chemiluminescent compounds that emit light with separated wavelength maxima and minimally overlapping but correctable emission spectra can be very useful in analytical assays, particularly in industrial assays, and in clinical diagnostic assays for multi-substance, e.g. multi-analyte, determinations. Such compounds can be used to tag or label binding partners, e.g. biological molecules, such as antigens, antibodies, and nucleic acids to form conjugates or tracers that are capable of producing mutually non-interfering, or minimally over-lapping light emission signals or spectra, that allow the simultaneous detection and/or quantitation of multiple substances in a test sample. For example, simultaneous determinations of serum levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from one patient sample is possible, and is demonstrated below, utilizing two chemiluminescent compounds having light emission spectra which span about 100-250 nm for a spectral region with signal intensity above 5% of peak height, but differing in their emission maxima so that the signals are discernable. In one example the emission maxim of two chemiluminescent signals differ by about 60 nm and preferably by 80 nm or more. A further example where simultaneous determinations is possible according to the methods described herein, is in the assay of amplified nucleic acid sequences, e.g. oncogenes associated with malignant transformation. See EP-A-0 481 704 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,798) and references cited therein) which is commonly assigned and incorporated herein by reference. In such assays, the inclusion of a parallel, internal reference material for a known, different target sequence in the same working vessel or reaction medium as a positive control is recognized as important to assay performance, for example, to safeguard false negative results. In other assay formats, the inclusion of a known control substance will also serve to assess assay performance.
The economical benefit and the experimental necessity of determining and/or quantitating two or more substances, e.g. analytes, in a test sample were the two main underlying motives in the development of a multiple-tracer assay system of the present invention. It was further envisioned that an ideal multiple-tracer system would emit multiple-wavelength signals under identical chemical conditions. It was recognized that it would be less desirable and more cumbersome to combine two chemiluminescent tracers in a multiple-analyte assay system that required two different sets of signal generating mechanisms, conditions and timings as would be in the case of utilizing two different classes of chemiluminescent compounds such as acridinium compounds pairing with luminol series or with stable dioxetanes, which involve the use of other chemicals or enzymes to generate the signal. Furthermore the two or more different chemiluminescent compounds or conjugates must have emission efficiency differing by not more than one order of magnitude.
A still further fundamental requirement was the adequate stability of the chemiluminescent compounds in aqueous media or environment, which will withstand the shipping conditions for commercial products when placed in kit form.
These goals have been achieved by developing stable chemiluminescent analogues within the same general class that exhibit bathochromic shifts in their emission maxima, and emit light with comparable efficiency under identical chemical treatments.
Chemiluminescent acridinium compounds which are shown herein to emit blue light upon treatment with hydrogen peroxide and metal hydroxide have been well documented. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,745,181, 4,918,192, 5,110,932, 5,227,489 and 5,241,070 describe stable polysubstituted-aryl acridinium esters; all of which are commonly assigned and incorporated herein by reference. Such acridinium compounds shall be referred to generally herein as "reference acridinium esters" or "acridinium esters". Such compounds as indicated include an acridinium ring system and, depending on the use of such compounds, further include an appropriate functional group(s), e.g. for attaching the label to a substance to form conjugates for use in a test assay, including the assays of the present invention.
Batmanghelich, et al, EP-A-0 478 626 (priority GB 2233450A (Jun. 24, 1989)), described the use of acridinium compounds of varying light emission, i.e. fast and slow durations to prepare different tracer conjugates, to achieve a "substantially simultaneous" quantitation of two or more different analytes. This approach, however, has several major drawbacks. First, one of the acridinium esters includes electron-withdrawing substituents on the phenolic moiety in order to achieve very short duration of light emission, i.e. complete emission or emission maxima in one second. This type of compound, e.g. a ortho-dihalogenated aryl acridinium ester, however, may suffer from lack of stability in aqueous environment. Second, light emission kinetics must be carefully examined to permit accurate correction in order to distinguish the light emission contributed individually by the two tracers during the overlapping period of light emission. The described method relies on the measurement of photons emitted in two separate time windows for sequential integration of light intensity. Unless the light emission overlap is relatively small, such correction could be a potential source for poor assay precision, particularly for detection of two analytes having widely different concentrations. The requirement for smaller light emission overlap would in turn demand the availability of a pair of chemiluminescent compounds, one having very short and the other very long duration of light emission; and would lead to compounds which either have stability problems or render the dual-analyte assay unpractical due to excessively prolonged signal-collection time. Where the signal collection time is extended, an advantage of performing two assays in a single test sample would be lost.
Batmanghelich et al also described acridinium compounds of different light emission spectra to prepare different tracer conjugates. The approach was to extend the electronic conjugation of the acridinium nucleus to obtain 3-(4-Carboxybutadienyl)-acridinium ester (compound 2b) with bathochromic shift of about 80 nm in the emission maximum as compared to the parent acridinium ester (compound 2a). Extension of electronic conjugation of the acridinium nucleus does not necessarily lead to major bathochromic shift in the emission maximum which is practically needed to construct a dual-analyte immunoassays and a possible reduction in emission efficiency. No teaching was made of benzacridinium chemiluminescent compounds or conjugates for use in such assays. Experimental data for 3-Carboxybutadienyl-acridinium ester is provided herein.
McCapra et al, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,281,712, 5,283,334, 5,284,951, 5,284,952, 5,290,936, 5,321,136 and EP-A-0 322 926, suggested a "chemiluminescent moiety" consisting of heterocyclic ring or ring system with ester, amide linkages attached to one of the carbon atoms on the ring or ring system. These chemiluminescent compounds were said to include benza!acridinium, benzb!acridinium, and benzc!acridinium but the synthesis and structure of these compounds or conjugates was not described. Neither emission wavelength maxima, nor light emission efficiency of said compounds were predicted; nor were the use of at least two chemiluminescent compounds or conjugates in an assay method, nor the utility of such compounds when used in assays based on their emission spectra described.
The synthesis of substituted acridine compounds have been described by Dombrowski et al in EP-A-0 369 344.
Dombrowski provided an alternative method of preparing a substituted N-arylisation that leads to the key intermediate of substituted acridine-9-carboxylic acid. The method taught involved the use of a properly substituted Triphenyl Bismuth Diacetate reacting with isatin or substituted isatin to form the desired substituted N-arylisation product which then undergoes the well-known base catalyzed rearrangement. See J.Martinet and A. Dansette: Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr. 45, 101 (1929) to give the key intermediate acridine-9-carboxylic acid. However, this approach has several drawbacks. First, the formation of the desired Triphenyl Bismuth Diacetate needed in this approach is a lengthy synthesis. For instance, the synthesis of simple, unsubstituted triphenylbismuth diacetate requires four steps involving the reactions of the following sequence: PhBr.fwdarw.PhMgBr.fwdarw.Ph.sub.3 Bi.fwdarw.Ph.sub.3 BiCl.sub.2 .fwdarw.Ph.sub.3 Bi(OAc).sub.2. See J. V. Supniewski and R. Adams: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 48, 507 (1926). Secondly, many functional groups that are required at the desired position(s) of the benzene ring are not compatible with the nature of this reaction. For example, in the step of forming Grignard reagent PhMgBr, any reactive carbonyl groups in the benzene ring would react intermolecularly to form the complex, unwanted mixture. Lastly, this process requires the use of a Bismuth salt and Bismuth is a heavy metal belonging to the same periodic group VA as arsenic and antimony. Therefore, a more efficient process involving the use of less toxic reactants(s) is warranted.
The nomenclature of benza!acridinium and benzb!acridinium utilized in this disclosure is based on Rule 21.5 of Definitive Rules for Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry, Ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in the 1957 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.
According to the example given on Benza!anthracene, the compound arising from fusing benzene ring to the peripheral sides of the acridinium nucleus (structure below) should therefore be named according to whether side a, b, or c of the acridinium nucleus is fused with the benzene ring. ##STR1##
The following abbreviations are utilized in the disclosure:
1. ABAC: angular benza!acridinium compound PA0 2. AFAC: aromatic ring fused acridinium compound PA0 3. EtO: ethoxy PA0 4. DMAE: dimethyl acridinium ester PA0 5. DIPAE: diisopropyl acridinium ester PA0 6. LBAC: linear benzb!acridinium compound PA0 7. LEAC: longer emission acridinium compound PA0 8. LEAE: longer emission acridinium ester PA0 9. MeO: methoxy PA0 10. NSE: N-sulfoethyl PA0 11. NSP N-sulfopropyl PA0 12. PCT: percent cross talk PA0 13. PMP: paramagnetic particles PA0 14. QAE: quaternary ammonium ethoxy PA0 15. RLU: relative light units PA0 16. EC-AE: electronically conjugated acridinium ester PA0 17. NOS-AE: non-ortho-substituted acridinium ester PA0 18. pCE-AE: para-carboxyethyl acridinium ester

Long emission wavelength chemiluminescent compounds and their use in test assays


An apparatus for separating non-magnetic mineral values includes first and second conveyers in overlying relation which counter-rotate relative to one another, wherein one of the conveyers includes a magnetic assembly which cooperates with paddles on the upper conveyer to progressively isolate values from magnetic material, and multiple stages are provided for intermittent magnetic interactions such that non-magnetic materials are effectively isolated from magnetic materials.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for isolating valuable or toxic substances from a source containing such materials.
It is well known that precious metals and toxic substances can be contained in small amounts in a composite material that may include a mixture of soil, rocks, ores, metals, minerals, tailings, and the like. In the instance of precious metals, the amount of precious metals in a volume of composite materials may be quite small, but the volume of composite materials may be very large. If the precious metals can be extracted to a high degree, substantial and valuable amounts of precious metals can be obtained. Similarly, in the case of toxic substances, their presence in even lower, trace amounts in composite materials can present a similar environmental or human hazard. If not extracted from the large volumes of composite materials, it becomes necessary to dispose of all of the composite materials, which is very costly and greatly impacts the environment. If the toxic substances could be extracted and disposed of separately, the cost of disposal and the environmental problem are greatly reduced.
While extraction devices and processes have been known in the past, frequently they have produced large amounts of polluted water or required special handling in order to perform extraction. This has significantly raised the cost of separation attempts and frequently made it financially unjustifiable to process the large volumes of composite materials in order to extract precious metals or toxic substances. Also, the prior art extraction devices and processes were inefficient resulting in incomplete extraction of precious metals or toxic substances. Accordingly, there is a need for a more efficient extraction method and apparatus as well as a method and apparatus that can be easily transferred and employed at the location of the composite material.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The average film thickness of an amorphous silicon film formed on a substrate is measured. Then, the amorphous silicon film is irradiated with a laser beam to form a polysilicon film, and the grain size distribution of the polysilicon film is measured. An optimum value of energy density of laser beam irradiation is calculated on the basis of grain size values measured at two points A and B of the polysilicon film. Then, the average film thickness of an amorphous silicon film formed on a subsequent substrate is measured. A value of energy density of laser beam irradiation for the subsequent amorphous silicon film is calculated on the basis of the two average film thicknesses. Accordingly, a uniform polysilicon film of large grain sizes is formed on the whole surface of a large-size substrate to provide polysilicon TFTs in a large area.

The present invention relates to a display device provided with a semiconductor device (such as a thin-film transistor (TFT)) and a method for manufacturing the same.
As an active layer of a thin-film transistor (TFT) serving as a driver in a liquid crystal display device, a polycrystalline semiconductor film is superior to an amorphous semiconductor film because the polycrystalline semiconductor film is so high in mobility of carrier (electrons in an n channel or holes in a p channel) that both small cell size and high resolution can be attained.
An ordinary polycrystalline silicon TFT needs to be subjected to a high-temperature process at a temperature of 1,000° C. or higher. On the other hand, in a low-temperature polycrystalline semiconductor production technique in which only a semiconductor layer is annealed by a laser so that a substrate is not exposed to a high temperature, a TFT high in mobility can be formed in a low-temperature process in which an inexpensive substrate can be used.
In the laser annealing, an amorphous silicon film 71 as a precursor film formed on a substrate 7 of a liquid crystal display device is scanned while irradiated with a laser beam 11 absorbable to the amorphous silicon film 71 as shown in FIG. 2. As a result, the whole surface of the amorphous silicon film on the substrate is polycryallized to form a polycrystalline silicon film 72. Incidentally, another amorphous semiconductor film may be used as the precursor film.
As shown in FIG. 3, the grain size of the polycrystalline silicon changes (from regions R1 to R5) according to the energy density (fluence) of laser beam irradiation. Accordingly, laser stability is reflected in the grain size distribution of the polycrystalline silicon. The carrier mobility of the polycrystalline silicon film increases as the grain size of the polycrystalline silicon increases. It is therefore necessary to keep the grain size distribution uniform and keep the grain size large so that high-performance TFT characteristic uniform in a plane can be obtained.
The grain size will be kept large if the energy density of the region R4 in FIG. 3 can be used. When the energy density however changes to a higher one because of instability of laser beam irradiation, a region containing microcrystal having a grain size of not larger than 200 nm is used as represented by the region R5. In this case, carrier mobility is reduced to cause a device failure.
The grain size changes not only according to the energy density of laser beam irradiation but also according to variation in film thickness of the amorphous silicon before laser annealing. Accordingly, the instability of laser beam irradiation and the influence of variation in film thickness on the substrate must be suppressed so that a polycrystalline silicon film with a grain size always kept in a predetermined grain size range can be produced. It is therefore important to inspect the grain size of the polycrystalline silicon, feed the result of inspection back to the laser annealing condition and control the grain size of the polycrystalline silicon to be kept constant.
A technique concerning the method for controlling the energy density of laser beam irradiation at laser annealing has been described in JP-A-10-294289. The technique is as follows. The degree of orientation of crystal in a crystallized thin film is measured with an orientation analyzer. A judgment is made on the basis of a result of the measurement as to whether the energy density of laser beam irradiation is either too much or too little. A laser beam output is adjusted on the basis of the judgment.
A technique for evaluating the grain size of the polycrystalline silicon by measuring a light diffraction pattern and feeding the evaluated grain size back to the laser annealing process has been described in JP-A-2003-109902.

Display device and method for manufacturing the same