In an IRST system, a determination of the range and type of a detected target may be made as follows. Atmospheric transmittance and background spectral radiance is estimated from available meteorological data and then, at each of consecutive scans, the contrast irradiance in the direction of a target is measured as well as the azimuth and elevation of said target. A target type is selected from a library of target types storing signatures of the target types considering the measured contrast irradiance as well as the measure of the contrast irradiance at the previous scan (if any). The range of the target is calculated considering the selected target type, the estimated atmospheric parameters and the measured contrast irradiance. Where the target has other than a radially inbound trajectory the trajectory of the target is estimated and the target type selected from the library, considering the estimated trajectory. The range of the target is estimated considering the selected target type, the angular movement of the target, and the range estimate for the target made during the last scan. Given two range estimates, the estimates are combined.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and system for the passive determination of the range and type of a target.
2. Description of the Related Art
A passive infrared search and track (IRST) system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,966 issued Sep. 9, 1980 to Kerr et al. These IRST systems used to detect and track airborne targets currently lack the capability to provide operationally useful estimates of target range and/or velocity. Providing this capability would be a significant enhancement to the performance of the IRST, and ultimately, the naval combat system in the self-defence of the ship. An effective ranging function could help alleviate the difficult target/clutter discrimination problem all IRST systems encounter, permitting potentially quicker and more reliable target designation and prioritization. Potential advantages to the naval combat system include:
(a) An increase in the combat system effectiveness against fast sea-skimming Anti-Ship Missiles (ASM) especially if the ASM deploys electronic countermeasures to disrupt tracking radar or are passive. PA0 (b) Improvement in the ship defence capability in emission controlled (EMCON) conditions when active ranging methods may alert or direct the threat to the ship. PA0 (c) An enhanced Threat Evaluation and Weapon Assignment (TEWA) process that is less vulnerable to hostile electronic counter-measures

Passive ranging technique for infrared search and track (IRST) systems


The object of the invention is to provide a digital voice transmission system which suppresses, even when a long voice message is to be transmitted, an increase of the transmission capacity of a radio channel and, even if a drop of a division of divisionally transmitted voice compression data occurs, it is prevented that the voice data becomes difficult to hear. Data including a radio apparatus identification code, a message identification code, a division number, a digital voice compression data identification code, text message length information, a text message, reproduction time information, a system possession voice data identification code possessed by the transmission side irrespective of whether or not radio transmission is employed, system possession reproduction time information, a voice start code and digital voice compression data are transmitted. The voice compression data are divided with a length equal to an integral number of times that of a compressed voice data unit and are allocated to radio frames.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a digital voice transmission system and more particularly to a digital voice transmission system wherein voice data to be transmitted are selected from requested voice data and the digital voice data are compressed and transmitted whereas the compressed data are decompressed and the voice is reproduced by a digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus with a display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional digital voice transmission system, a voice message is digitized into and transmitted as binary data between the transmission side and the reception side. In a paging protocol such as the FLEX, since it has a binary data transfer function, a voice message is transmitted as binary data.
As shown in FIG. 1, data to be transmitted include an ID code for identification of a digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus on the reception side, a voice compression data identification code for identification that the data to be transmitted are voice compression data, and digital voice compression data.
When the size of the voice compression data exceeds the amount which can be transmitted at one time, the voice compression data are divided and transmitted divisionally.
As shown in FIG. 2, data to be transmitted include an ID code for identification of a digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus on the reception side, a message ID for identification of a message, a division number indicative of a number in order of a division, a voice compression data identification code for identification that the data to be transmitted are voice compression data, and digital voice compression data.
In the following, division of voice compression data by the digital voice transmission system described above is described.
Division of voice compression data is performed by compressing voice data of L bytes obtained by digital sampling and making an object of transmission and dividing data of K bytes obtained by the compression in units of an amount (M bytes here) which can be transmitted at one time as seen in FIG. 3. Then, the voice compression data obtained by the division are transmitted in the data format shown in FIG. 2 to a digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus.
In the following, a digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus employed in the digital voice transmission system described above is described.
The digital voice reproduction radio reproduction apparatus in the present conventional example includes, as shown in FIG. 4, reception antenna 120, reception circuit 121 for demodulating a signal received by reception antenna 120, decoder 122 for decoding the received data demodulated by reception circuit 121 and discriminating whether or not the decoded data are a signal destined for the radio apparatus itself, ID memory 123 in which an identification number of the radio apparatus is stored, RAM 124 for storing the received data, CPU 128, CPU program ROM 125 in which an operation program for CPU 128 is stored, DSP 129 for voice decompressing the voice compressed data, DSP program ROM 130 in which a program for operation of DSP 129 is stored, digital to analog converter (DAC) 131 for converting the digital voice signal into an analog voice signal, amplifier (AMP) 132 for amplifying the voice signal, band-pass filter (BFP) 133, loudspeaker (SPK) 134, and operation switch (SW) 135.
In the following, operation of constructing voice compression data when reception of divisional transmission data of the digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus having the construction described above is missing is described.
The operation of constructing voice compression data when reception of divisional transmission data of the conventional digital voice reproduction radio reception apparatus is missing, will be explained below with reference to FIG. 5.
First, it is discriminated whether or not voice data received are a message destined for the apparatus itself (step S111).
If it is discriminated in step S111 that the received voice data are a message destined for the self apparatus, the number of the division received is placed into N (step S112).
Then, it is discriminated in step S112 whether or not the value of N into which the number of the division has been placed is 1 (step S113).
If it is discriminated in step S113 that N is 1, then since this signifies that the data received are new voice compression data (step S114), 1 is placed into M (step S115), and the received, divided voice compression data PartData are placed into VoiceData (step S116).
On the other hand, if it is discriminated in step S113 that N is not 1, then it is discriminated whether or not the current transmission is transmission of a division next to the last division number M received in the past (step S117), and if (N=M+1) stands, then it is discriminated that no division is missing (step S118) and the PartData are added to VoiceData (step S119). On the other hand, if (N=M+1) does not stand in step S117, then an error in reception is determined and the receiving operation is ended (step S120).
However, the operation of the conventional apparatus described above has such disadvantages as described below.
(1) Since an entire voice message inputted on the transmitter side of the voice message is voice compressed after digital sampling and then transmitted, the amount of information increases in proportion to the length of the voice message.
Here, a radio communication system having a low transmission rate such as a system for a paging service does not have a capacity sufficient to accept the capacity of digital voice data. For example, in a FLEX system or an ERMES system which is one of paging protocols, the transmission capacity is approximately 6,000 bps.
Therefore, it is considered that transmission of a long voice message or an increase of the number of times of origination to the receiver side increases the capacity of transmission data until it exceeds the transmission capacity of the system, and reduction in number of transmitters or a delay in transmission is invited inevitably.
(2) When transmitting digital voice data by a radio channel, an error or drop of data may possibly occur depending upon the state of the radio channel. In this instance, since the voice compressed data are handled as binary data, either it is impossible to restore data following the portion at which the drop of data has occurred into voice or the voice message is rendered discontinuous.
As a result, when the voice message is reproduced on the receiver side, the voice is produced but discontinuously and cannot be heard readily. Further, if reception of a voice data start code representative of the start of transmission of voice compression data misses, then reception of the voice compression data becomes impossible.


A knife valve comprises a body defining a valve seat and a knife blade longitudinally movable by a cylindrical stem in the body for opening and closing a lateral flow passage defined therethrough. The body includes a bonnet with the stem extending therethrough and with circular packing rings being disposed therein around the stem. The valve seat is located on a first side of the blade and in operative proximity thereto. The stem includes a lower head portion which defines an angular surface, whereas a top portion of the blade defines a slot forming an angular surface parallel to the angular surface of the stem head. The stem head is engageable in the slot with the angular surfaces thereof being in sliding contact. Therefore, when the blade is in its closed position, a longitudinal force exerted by the stem on the blade is transferred into a lateral force oriented towards the seat, thereby forcing the blade against the seat in a tight bidirectional seal under a positive torque. Angular lugs provided on a lower second side of the blade cooperate with tapered lower edges of the blade to also urge the blade against the seat in its closed position. A bypass arrangement is provided in the bonnet around the stem for communication with the valve passage to prevent the pulp fibers from accumulating in the bonnet and jamming the stem. A resilient seat is mounted to the valve body on the first side of the blade.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to knife valves and, more particularly, to a knife valve adapted for use in paper mills.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Knife valves are used, for instance, in paper mills as they are axially short, and thus light and economical since they are made of stainless steel. Furthermore, the valve's knife blade can cut through solids such as pulp contained in the liquid which circulates therethrough.
On the other hand, these knife valves are bonnet-less in order to prevent, for example, the pulp from jamming the valve stem within the bonnet. Therefore, such knife valves require that the knife blade of the valve which moves up and down and thus in and out of the valve body seals the seat of the valve as well as the knife itself. An elliptical packing chamber disposed around the knife blade is used to seal the knife. The surface which has to be sealed is, in such a case, so large that the seal has to be tightened more and more up to a point where the seat scratches the surface of the knife blade after the valve has been opened and closed a large number of times, which results in the valve leaking. Environmentally and down-time wise, such failures are often unacceptable.
Also, in high performance valves, when the frequency of operation is large and especially if there is a requirement for high pressure operations, that is around 150 PSI, and sealing in two directions, the packing chamber rings of the valve become overcharged with the changing load which results in the valve finally leaking through the packing chamber. It is noted that, when a bidirectional seal is required, gate valves cannot be used because they become jammed with pulp.
In the above knife valves, the knife blade must have a very precise finish in order that it does not cut and damage the elliptical packing seal while ensuring the tightness of the seal.


A method is presented to remove contaminating tumor cells from a cell population. The method includes labeling individual tumor cells in the population and then killing them with a high energy laser beam. The laser is focused so that it specifically kills the identified tumor cell, but not the remaining cells in the population.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for specifically isolating tumor cells from a population of non-tumor cells. In particular, this invention relates to methods for specifically labeling and thereafter individually killing tumor cells with a focused high-energy beam such as a laser beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a rapidly growing therapy throughout the world. Hematopoietic stem cells are cells that reside in the bone marrow and lead to the production of all of the body's blood cells. In 1995, over twenty thousand hematopoietic stem cell transplants were performed in the United States. In particular, the treatment of breast cancer with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has become a widely used cancer therapy.
Tumor metastasis is a well-known process by which tumor cells leave their initial location and spread to other parts of the body. Once transported to a new site, the tumor cells begin to grow and populate the new site, thus creating a new tumor. One treatment for patients with metastatic tumors involves harvesting their hematopoietic stem cells and then treating the patient with high doses of radiotherapy or chemotherapy. This treatment is designed to destroy all the patients tumor cells, but has the side effect of also destroying their hematopoietic cells. Thus, once the patient has been treated, the autologous stem cells are returned to their body.
However, if the tumor cells have metastasized away from the tumor's primary site, there is a high probability that some tumor cells will contaminate the harvested hematopoietic cell population. In such a case, the harvested hematopoietic stem cells include contaminating tumor cells. It is important to find a mechanism for killing all of the metastasized tumor cells prior to reintroducing the stem cells to the patient. If any living tumorigenic cells are re-introduced into the patient, they can lead to a relapse.
The problem of removing tumor cells from hematopoietic cells has been reported during traditional bone marrow harvest procedures (Campana, D. et al. Detection of minimal residual disease in acute leukemia: methodologic advances and clinical significance, Blood, 1995 Mar 15, 85(6): 1416-34). Similar problems were also found when others attempted to remove tumor cells with the newer method of leukopheresis of mobilized peripheral blood cells (Brugger, W. et al. Mobilization of tumor cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells into peripheral blood of Patients with solid tumors Blood, 83(3): 636-40, 1994).
In each of these procedures, the number of contaminating tumor cells ranged from about 10 to 5000 tumor cells per four million mononuclear harvested cells, depending on the chemo-therapeutic drug regimen used for mobilization. Mononuclear cells were obtained by a discontinuous density gradient centrifugation of the entire hematopoietic cell harvest. The total number of mononuclear cells harvested from a patient is normally on the order of 10 billion cells. Thus, the total tumor burden in a harvest varies from a lower boundary of about 25 thousand cells to a higher boundary of about 12 million cells.
These contaminating tumor cells have been shown by genetic marking to contribute to tumor relapse (Rill, E R et al., Direct Demonstration That Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for Solid Tumors Can Return a Multiplicity of Tumorigenic Cells, Blood, 84(2): 380-383, 1994). Thus, a great need exists for efficient methods for removing all of the tumor cells from a hematopoietic cell transplant (Gulati, S C et al. Rationale for purging in autologous stem cell transplantation. Journal of Hematotherapy, 2(4):467-71, 1993). A rapid and reliable method for removing all of the contaminating tumor cells would improve the efficacy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for a growing number of patients.
Others have attempted to remove contaminating tumor cells from hematopoietic stem cell harvests, but have met with limited success. Several methods of purging the tumor cell populations away from the harvested stem cells have been proposed and tested (A. Gee, Editor Bone Marrow Processing and Purging, Part 5, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 1991). Thus, the idea underlying all of these purging methods is to separate or destroy the malignant cells while preserving the hematopoietic stem cells that are needed for hematopoietic reconstitution in the transplantation patient.
Some companies and physicians have attempted to purge malignant cells away from populations of non-tumor cells using an immunoaffinity bead-based selection. In this procedure, the total cell population is contacted by immunoaffinity beads. For example, to isolate tumor cells from hematopoietic cells, a first (positive) CD34 selection isolates hematopoietic cells from tumor cells. Binding hematopoietic-cell-specific anti-CD34 antibodies to the immunoaffinity beads allows the physician to specifically remove these cells from populations of non-hematopoietic cells. In some instances, a negative immunoaffinity bead-based selection is also run on tumor or epithelial cell markers by conjugating tumor-specific antibodies to the beads.
Another method that has been tried for removing tumor cells from populations of non-tumor cells involved immunoconjugating a toxic agent to an antibody having specificity for only the tumor cells. In this system, antibodies were bound to chemotoxic agents, toxins, or radionucleides and then contacted with the harvested cell population. Unfortunately, not all of the tumor cells were killed by this treatment.
Other systems for isolating tumor cells from non-tumor cell populations have used the non-specific binding characteristics of hematopoietic cells as the basis for separation. For example, Dooley et al. used these adhesive characteristics to isolate hematopoietic cells with deep bed filtration (Dooley D C et al., A novel inexpensive technique for the removal of breast cancer cells from mobilized peripheral blood stem cell products, Blood, 88(10)suppl 1: 252a, 1916). However, some of the tumor cells were found to isolate with the hematopoietic cells, thus opening the door for a potential relapse by the patient.
In addition, cytotoxic agents, such as 4-Hydroxy-peroxy-cyclo-phosphamide (4HC), have been used to selectively kill tumor cells without damaging the hematopoietic stem cells. Unfortunately, this system also led to lower harvests of hematopoietic cells because the cytotoxic agents weakened or destroyed some of the non-tumor cells.
In other methods, sensitizing agents, such as merocynanine, were mixed with the cell populations which were thereafter photo-irradiated to specifically kill the tumor cells (Lydaki et al. Merocyanine 540 mediated photoirradiation of leukemic cells Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology 32(1-2):27-32., 1996). Also, Gazitt et al. used fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to sort hematopoietic stem cells from tumor cells (Gazitt et al. Purified CD34+ Lin- Thy+ stem cells do not contain clonal myeloma cells Blood, 86(1):381-389, 1995). As is known, flow cytometry sorts cells one at a time and physically separates one set of labeled cells from another second set of cells. However, it has been shown that individual neurons can be killed after loading them with the adsorbing dyes used in flow cytometry (Miller, J P and Selverston A I., Rapid Killing of Single Neurons by irradiation of Intracellularly injected dye Science, 206:702-704, 1979). Thus, using FACS to separate cell populations is not advantageous because the cell yields can be very low.
In another protocol, Clarke et al. disclosed the use of adenovirus mediated transfer of suicide genes to selectively kill tumor cells (Clarke et al. A recombinant bcl-x s adenovirus selectively induces apoptosis in cancer cells but not in normal bone marrow cells Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 92(24):11024-8, 1995).
However, most of the methods listed above are based on administering a whole-population based tumor cell separation or killing strategy. Unfortunately, the whole population tumor purging methods listed above do not kill or remove all of the contaminating tumor cells from the harvested stem cell population. In the best case, the residual tumor cell burden remained at 1 to 10 tumor cells for every 100,000 cells present in the initial harvest (Lazarus et al. Does in vitro bone marrow purging improve the outcome after autologous bone marrow transplantation? Journal of Hematotherapy, 2(4):457-66, 1993).
Therefore, even using the best available techniques, the number of residual tumor cells that are reintroduced into the patient during autologous stem cell transplantation is on the order of 10 to 2000 cells. Given the rapid exponential growth of tumor cells, such residual tumor cells in the transplant can quickly lead to a patient's relapse.
Thus, in spite of extensive efforts and many innovative approaches, there exists a great and growing need for methods and systems for eradicating virtually every tumor cell from a harvested cell population. The system and method described herein fulfills this need.

Targeted system for removing tumor cells from cell populations


A cover assembly for an outdoor electrical device includes a base having a rear wall with an adapter plate which surrounds the face of the device. A lid which is hinged to the base includes a front panel having an arched or curved contour. Projecting from the underside of the front panel is a grid of ribs having coplanar proximal edges. The distal face of a gasket seats against the proximal edges and the grid is open in a space behind a breakaway portion of the gasket. In the event the electrical device comprises a toggle switch, the breakaway portion is removed, leaving an opening such that the toggle switch lever can extend into the opening and, if necessary, into the open space, without distorting the proximal face of the gasket which seals against the rear wall when the lid is closed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to outdoor electrical device cover assemblies and more particularly to a cover assembly having an arched lid configured to accommodate toggle switches.
2. Antecedents of the Invention
There exists a wide variety of electrical devices mounted within boxes of electrical systems, e.g., receptacles of different voltage and current capacities, toggle switches, paddle switches, GFCI units, etc., having different sizes and shapes which necessitate device covers dimensioned to accommodate the operative face of each specific device. Covers for devices exposed to weather also required a weather proof lid and, in some instances, a locking mechanism.
While devices such as receptacles are mounted with their operative faces generally flush with a base or rear panel of the cover assembly, devices such as toggle switches include a toggle or lever which projects forwardly of the base. As a result, in use cover assemblies, having enlarged bubble type lids such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,280,135 and 5,773,760 were employed to accommodate the toggle or lever. Use of such cover assemblies for toggle switches and the like, which do not require in use openings for electric cords, was generally unsightly and the added bulk of the bubble lid detracted from the outdoor environment in some instances.
Alternately, covers having lids configured for a specific toggle switch were provided, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,189,212 and 4,994,631. A further approach, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,895, was to provide a cover assembly having a base with deep peripheral walls and a lid which fit flush with the edges of the peripheral walls. The depth of the peripheral walls was sufficient to accommodate a toggle switch lever. The depth of the cover assembly approximated that of an in use cover and resulted in a bulky appearance.

Liquid tight cover assembly for outdoor electrical devices


An apparatus for cleaning dentures including a motor box and a cleaning unit. The cleaning unit is constructed with a rectangular configuration having a bottom face, a front face, a rear face, and a pair of end faces defining a closed interior space and a top opening. The cleaning unit further has a drive shaft coupled to the motor box and rotatably situated in apertures formed in the end faces of the cleaning unit. Such drive shaft is equipped with a drive gear coupled thereto within the interior space of the cleaning unit. Also included is a first brush assembly with a plurality of vertical brushes each having a dowel rotatably coupled between the end faces of the cleaning unit. The vertical brushes include gears for communicating with the drive gear of the drive shaft. Further, a plurality of bristles are coupled to the dowels of the vertical brushes and are radially extended therefrom. Further provided is a second brush assembly including a plurality of horizontal brushes each including a disk with a plurality of bristles extending outwardly therefrom. The second brush assembly is also equipped with gears for communicating with the drive gear of the drive shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning dentures and more particularly pertains to cleaning dentures with a plurality of various brushes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of denture cleaners is known in the prior art. More specifically, denture cleaners heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of cleaning dentures with various chemical compositions are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
In this respect, the apparatus for cleaning dentures according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of cleaning dentures with a plurality of various brushes.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved apparatus for cleaning dentures which can be used for cleaning dentures with a plurality of various brushes. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A signal correcting method includes: obtaining multiple types of signals at each of a plurality of points; extracting a point with signal values corresponding to the multiple types of signals, which have a predetermined relationship to signal values of the multiple types of signals at a target point; and correcting the multiple types of signals at the target point based upon the signal values corresponding to the multiple types of signals at the target point and the signal values corresponding to the multiple types of signals at the extracted point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal correcting method that may be adopted when correcting signals such as image signals.
2. Description of Related Art
There are technologies known in the related art for generating RGB image data by capturing an image at an image sensor constituted with color filters disposed in an RGB Bayer array. The electrical charge signals at the individual pixels of such an image sensor may be read out through two channels so as to speed up the read operation. The electrical charge signals having been read out via the two channels are amplified to a predetermined level with amplifiers each corresponding to one of the channels, and the amplified signals then undergo A/D conversion and the like to generate RGB image data. Various types of noise introduced in the read circuit, the amplifiers and the like may be present in the RGB image data thus generated. Such noise may be reduced by applying a low pass filter with a predetermined range to the image data. Namely, the average of the values indicated in the nearby pixels present within a predetermined range containing the target pixel is determined and is then used to substitute the signal value at the target pixel. This processing is sequentially executed for all the pixels (see, for instance, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2000-341707).


Disclosed is an electrolyte solution for a magnesium rechargeable battery with a high ionic conductivity and a wide electrochemical window compared to the conventional electrolyte solution. The electrolyte solution is prepared by dissolving magnesium metal into the ethereal solution using combinations of metal chloride catalysts. The electrolyte solution can be applied to fabricate magnesium rechargeable batteries and magnesium hybrid batteries with a markedly increased reversible capacity, rate capability, and cycle life compared to those batteries employing the conventional electrolyte solution. Also disclosed is a method for preparing the electrolyte.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrolyte solution for a magnesium rechargeable battery that is electrochemically stable in a high-voltage region and has an improved ionic conductivity, and a method for preparing the electrolyte.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that the conventional lithium batteries employing lithium metal suffer from the many parasitic reactions of electrolyte systems towards reactive lithium anode, which poses several critical concerns in terms of their safety. Furthermore, lithium is known as an expensive element since it is relatively rarely found as a natural resources. Particularly, with the recent increasing demand for medium- and large-scale applications such as electric vehicles and ESS, safety and cost concerns of rechargeable lithium batteries become one of the dominating factors that should be taken into consideration and are considered to be major obstacles for the medium-/large-scale application.
In attempts to solve such problems, magnesium rechargeable batteries using magnesium metal as an electrode active material have recently been proposed as alternatives to rechargeable lithium batteries. Magnesium rechargeable batteries work by the migration of electrons during intercalation/de-intercalation of magnesium ions from a magnesium plate as an electrode, specifically an anode, into/from a cathode active material. Magnesium has a theoretical capacity similar to that of lithium and is environmentally friendly. Magnesium is far less expensive than lithium and is superior in terms of battery safety to lithium. Due to these advantages, magnesium rechargeable batteries have received considerable attention as a potential replacement for the rechargeable lithium batteries.
Previous research on the development of electrolyte system for the magnesium rechargeable batteries has focused on Grignard solutions (alkyl magnesium halide, RMgX, R=alkyl, X=halide) that shows a reversible Mg deposition and dissolution behavior on the electrode. However, Grignard solutions have low ionic conductivities which causes low charge/discharge rates of batteries, limiting the battery performance. Thus, fundamental improvements are needed to develop more competitive magnesium rechargeable batteries and magnesium hybrid batteries than existing ones.
Magnesium metal is a promising anode material for batteries due to its high energy densities per unit mass and volume (2205 Ah/kg, 3833 Ah/L, respectively). Particularly, magnesium is an abundant natural resource and is easy to handle. In addition, the use of magnesium as an anode material prevents the formation of dendrites on the electrode surface during charge and discharge. For these reasons, magnesium batteries are superior in safety and price competitiveness. In this aspect, magnesium batteries have received a great deal of attention as medium- and large-size battery systems for electrical energy storage and electric vehicles whose market is expected to expand in the near future.
The first serious study on the magnesium rechargeable batteries was first carried out by T. Gregory et. al. in 1990s although they belong to one of the battery systems with highest theoretical energy densities, only second to lithium batteries. However, for more than a decade after this report, there have been few reports on magnesium batteries. In the 2000's, D. Aurbach's group at Bar-Ilan University developed Chevrel-phase cathode active materials to ensure reversibility. Since then, magnesium batteries have again begun to attract much attention as promising alternatives to rechargeable lithium batteries for their ability to solve the safety and price problems of lithium batteries. However, the energy density of magnesium rechargeable batteries developed hitherto is half or less than that of lithium-ion batteries. Under these circumstances, there is an urgent need to develop new cathode active materials, electrolyte materials, and current collectors.
Particularly, there are many challenges related to the reversible deposition and dissolution of magnesium metal on the negative electrodes, the reversible insertion and de-insertion of Mg2+ ions into the cathode materials, and the diffusion of Mg2+ ions within the solid phase. A key solution to these challenges is to develop new electrolytes applicable to both cathode and anode.
Cathode active materials and electrolytes are two main research fields in the development of magnesium batteries. In the field of cathode active materials, various compounds, such as metal-sulfur compounds, organosulfur compounds, metal oxides, and metal silicate compounds, are being investigated to achieve high reversible capacity per unit weight and enhanced reversibility. However, the performance of these compounds is not yet satisfactory. In the current state of the art, the only cathode active materials such as Chevrel-phase Mo6S8 and Mo6Se8 show battery performance suitable for commercialization.
In the field of electrolytes, most studies have focused on Grignard solutions that are reversible with magnesium anodes. In recent years, some magnesium materials, including magnesium aluminate, have been reported to exhibit excellent performance characteristics. However, Grignard electrolytes capable of reversibly depositing and dissolving magnesium are very reactive with common cathode materials due to their high reducing power, making it impossible to practically apply to batteries. In contrast, the conventional electrolytes based on magnesium salt dissolved in organic solvent capable of reversibly intercalating/deintercalating Mg2+ ions into/from cathode materials form thick passivation films on the surface of magnesium anodes, impeding reversible deposition and dissolution of the metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,213 to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. suggests a non-aqueous magnesium rechargeable battery comprising a rechargeable positive electrode, a non-aqueous electrolyte, and a rechargeable negative electrode, wherein the non-aqueous electrolyte contains a halogen-containing organic magnesium compound represented by RMgX.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-188709 to Sony suggests an electrochemical device having a first electrode, a second electrode, and an electrolyte wherein an active material of the second electrode forms magnesium ions as a result of oxidation and the electrolyte is a mixture of a Grignard solution represented by RMgX (where R is an alkyl or aryl group and X is a fluorine, chlorine or bromine) and an organometallic compound or a salt other than magnesium salts.
However, these electrolytes have poor electrochemical stability at high potential region and low ionic conductivities, and the battery and the device have low charge/discharge rates at high voltages, limiting their performance. Thus, further improvements are needed to develop competitive high voltage magnesium batteries and magnesium hybrid batteries in comparison with existing batteries.

Electrolyte for magnesium rechargeable battery and preparation method thereof

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Compounds, compositions and methods are provided for modulating the RNAi pathway. The compositions comprise oligonucleotides, targeted to nucleic acid molecules encoding EIF2C2. Methods of using these compounds for modulation of RNA interference as well as EIF2C2 expression and for diagnosis and treatment of disease associated with expression of EIF2C2 are provided. Also provided are compounds, compositions and methods for modulating the expression of DDX36. The compositions comprise oligonucleotides, targeted to nucleic acid encoding DDX36. Methods of using these compounds for modulation of DDX36 expression and for diagnosis and treatment of diseases and conditions associated with expression of DDX36 are provided.

Most eukaryotes possess a cellular defense system for protecting their genomes against invading foreign genetic elements. Insertion of foreign elements is believed to be generally accompanied by formation of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is interpreted by the cell as a signal for unwanted gene activity. dsRNA induces potent and specific gene silencing through a mechanism referred to as RNA interference (RNAi) in animals or posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants. The currently accepted mechanism commences with processing of the long dsRNA by Dicer RNase III into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that are double-stranded and are predominantly 21 or 22 nucleotides in length. Thereafter, siRNA duplexes are assembled into a multi-component complex, called the RISC complex (RNA-induced silencing complex), which guides the sequence-specific recognition, hybridization, and cleavage of endogenous mRNA.
One of the components of RISC is EIF2C2, a member of the large family of Argonaute proteins that are characterized by the presence of a PAZ domain and a C-terminal Piwi domain (Hammond et al., Science, 2001, 293, 1146-1150). Although these domains have an unknown function, it has been suggested that the PAZ domain may act as a protein-protein interaction motif. Dicer also contains a PAZ domain and this may provide a mechanism for interaction between Dicer and EIF2C2 to facilitate siRNA incorporation into RISC (Martinez et al., Cell, 2002, 110, 563-574). Other members of the Argonaute family have been implicated in translational control, microRNA processing, and development in diverse species (Carmell et al., Genes Dev., 2002, 16, 2733-2742).
The gene encoding human EIF2C2 was first cloned in 1999 during the course of cloning EIF2C1 (Koesters et al., Genomics, 1999, 61, 210-218). EIF2C1 is a eukaryotic protein translation initiation factor that forms part of the GTP-binding complex and assists with methionyl-tRNA(i) binding to the 40S ribosomal subunit. EIF2C2 (also called Ago2, Argonaute 2, and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2C,2) was accidentally isolated as a crosshybridizing cDNA clone and found to be 85% identical to EIF2C1 which is frequently lost in human cancers such as Wilms tumors, neuroblastoma, and carcinomas of the breast, liver, and colon. The gene encoding EIF2C2 was again cloned in 2001 when the protein was sequenced and it was identified as a member of the Argonaute family and as a homolog of rde-1, a protein essential for RNAi in C. elegans (Hammond et al., Science, 2001, 293, 1146-1150).
EIF2C2 has been identified as a component of RISC and may facilitate siRNA incorporation into RISC, however EIF2C2 may also have other biochemical functions. For example, a common form of inherited mental retardation called fragile X syndrome is caused by the loss of FMR1 expression, a gene which encodes an RNA-binding protein. The FMR1 complex in Drosophila contains two ribosomal proteins, 5S RNA, and EIF2C2. Since the Drosophila FMR1 complex can also associate with Dicer, a model has been suggested for translation control in Drosophila whereby the RNAi and FMR1 pathways intersect and raise the possibility that defects in the RNAi-related machinery may cause human disease (Caudy et al., Genes Dev., 2002, 16, 2491-2496; Ishizuka et al., Genes Dev., 2002, 16, 2497-2508).
EIF2C2 has also been found in a large 15 subunit ribonucleoprotein (RNP) that contains Gemin3, Gemin4, and numerous microRNAs. RNPs are assembled and restructured by the Survival of Motor Neurons (SMN) complex, a complex which results in the neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy when its levels are reduced (Mourelatos et al., Genes Dev., 2002, 16, 720-728).
EIF2C2 and Dicer have also been found to be mislocalized to perinuclear regions of germline cells in mutant ovaries of Drosophila with a null allele of maelstrom. As maelstrom is a component of Drosophila nuage, the perinuclear granules that are a hallmark of germline cells across the animal kingdom, the mislocalization of EIF2C2 and Dicer in maelstrom mutants suggests a potential connection between nuage and the microRNA or RNAi pathways (Findley et al., Development, 2003, 130, 859-871).
Currently, there are no known therapeutic agents which effectively inhibit the synthesis of EIF2C2. Suppression of EIF2C2 expression in Drosophila S2 cells with two different double-stranded RNA approximately 1000 nucleotides in length was used to demonstrate that EIF2C2 is essential for RNAi in these cells (Hammond et al., Science, 2001, 293, 1146-1150).
Consequently, there remains a long felt need for agents capable of effectively inhibiting EIF2C2 function. These agents would serve to mediate RNAi pathways and could potentially serve to ameliorate disease conditions associated with aberrant RNA processing or metabolism.
The present invention provides compositions and methods for modulating EIF2C2 expression and consequently the RNAi pathway.

Modulation of the RNA interference pathway


A linear transformation of parallel space-time transmit diversity encoded streams; also, asymmetrical symbol mapping of parallel streams. Separately or together, these improve error rate performance as well as system throughput. Preferred embodiments include CDMA wireless systems with multiple antennas.

The present invention relates to wireless digital communications, and more particularly to space-time diversity transmission systems and methods.
Spread spectrum wireless communications utilize a radio frequency bandwidth greater than the minimum bandwidth required for the transmitted data rate, but many users may simultaneously occupy the bandwidth. Each of the users has a pseudo-random code for "spreading" information to encode it and for "despreading" (by correlation) received spread spectrum signals and recovery of information. Such multiple access typically appears under the name of code division multiple access (CDMA). The pseudo-random code may be an orthogonal (Walsh) code, a pseudo-noise (PN) code, a Gold code, or combinations (modulo-2 additions) of such codes. After despreading the received signal at the correct time instant, the user recovers the corresponding information while other users' interfering signals appear noise-like. For example, the interim standard IS-95 for such CDMA communications employs channels of 1.25 MHz bandwidth and a pseudo-random code pulse (chip) interval TC of 0.8138 microsecond with a transmitted symbol (bit) lasting 64 chips. The recent 3GPP wideband CDMA (WCDMA) proposal employs a 3.84 MHz bandwidth and the CDMA code length applied to each information symbol may vary from 4 chips to 256 chips. Indeed, UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) approach UTRA (UMTS terrestrial radio access) provides a spread spectrum cellular air interface with both FDD (frequency division duplex) and TDD (time division duplex) modes of operation. UTRA currently employs 10 ms duration frames partitioned into 15 time slots with each time slot consisting of 2560 chips (TC=0.26 microsecond).
The air interface leads to multipath reception, so a RAKE receiver has individual demodulators (fingers) tracking separate paths and combines the finger results to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The combining may use a method such as the maximal ratio combining (MRC) in which the individual detected signals in the fingers are synchronized and weighted according to their signal strengths or SNRs and summed to provide the decoding. That is, a RAKE receiver typically has a number of DLL or TDL code tracking loops together with control circuitry for assigning tracking units to the strongest received paths. Also, an antenna array could be used for directionality by phasing the combined signals from the antennas.
Further, UTRA allows for space-time block-coding-based transmit antenna diversity (STTD) in which, generically, channel bits b0, b1, b2, b3 (values±1) are transmitted as the sequence b0, b1, b2, b3 by antenna 1 and simultaneously transmitted as the sequence −b2, b3, b0, −b1 by antenna 2. Note that interpreting (b0, b1) and (b2, b3) as two complex numbers (e.g., QPSK or QAM symbols) implies the sequence transmitted by antenna 2 differs from the sequence from antenna 1 by a rotation of π/2 in a two-complex-dimensional space followed by complex conjugation.
STTD is a diversity technique in the sense that it provides redundancy for the transmitted symbols. Recently, efforts in standardization of high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) in WCDMA have taken place. The use of multiple antennas at the transmitter as well as the receiver is considered as a candidate technology. While STTD fits nicely in the grand scheme, STTD does not provide any increase in data rate relative to the current WCDMA systems.
Naguib et al, Increasing Data Rate over Wireless Channels, IEEE Signal Proc. Mag. 76 (May 2000) considers multiple antennas for both transmitter and receiver together with synchronous cochannel space-time coding (STTD) and interference cancellation. This approach can be adopted for HSDPA systems with 4 antennas at the base station, where each of the two pairs of antennas transmits one distinct data stream. This results in the transmission of two independent data streams, and thus doubles the system data rate as well as capacity. This scheme is thus double STTD (DSTTD) for a 4-antenna transmitter, or multiple STTD for a 2n-antenna transmitter with n>2.
For high data rate systems, the performance of a scheme can be evaluated based on the error rate (bit error rate, symbol error rate, frame error rate) as well as system throughput (the total data rate the system can support). While double/multiple STTD provides increased data rate and reasonably good performance, it can still be improved in some circumstances.
For practical wireless communication systems employing multiple antennas, small inter-element spacing is desirable. However, this often results in large correlation between the channel parameters especially when the channel angular spread is small. For high data rate schemes such as double/multiple STTD, high channel correlation results in significant performance loss due to the loss in diversity gain as well as decrease in the ability to separate multiple independent data streams.


In an embodiment, header information of messages is altered to specify a window within which to receive information, so that the messages sent by a remote device will be sent at a rate that a network can receive messages. The sending of acknowledgements of messages are paced to control window growth. Bandwidth is allocated to a plurality of flows such that the satisfied flows require less bandwidth than an amount of bandwidth allocated to each unsatisfied flow.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,236,459 is related to this specification, which discusses delaying the sending of acknowledgements of messages (commonly referred to as "acks") on the server side.


Rod magazine for a firearm, having a channel for holding cartridges in a stack, and having a feed for feeding the stack to a channel end which is clasped by magazine lips, which hold the top cartridge in the stack back in the channel direction, but allow its movement approximately transversely with respect to the channel direction beyond the rod magazine, with the channel being equipped with guide strips, which run in the channel direction, for the shoulders of the cartridges, and with the guide strips projecting beyond the channel end and into the movement path, which is located in front of the magazine lips, of the top cartridge.

The present invention relates to a rod magazine for a firearm, having a channel for holding cartridges in a stack and having a feed for feeding the stack to a channel end which is overlapped by magazine lips which hold the top cartridge in the stack back in the channel direction, but allow it to move approximately transversely with respect to the channel direction beyond the rod magazine, with the channel being equipped with guide strips, which run in the channel direction, for the shoulders of the cartridges.
FIGS. 1 to 3 show a rod magazine 1 such as this according to the prior art in the form of a perspective view (FIG. 1) and in two different operating positions, in the form of a section, in conjunction with a repeating rifle 2, a detail of which is illustrated (FIGS. 2, 3) . The rod magazine 1 has a channel 3 for holding cartridges 4, 4′ in a stack. Side guide strips 5 in the channel 3 act as a stop for the shoulders of the cartridges 4, 4′ and as sliding aids during their movement upwards. A feeder 6 which is loaded by a magazine spring (not shown) feeds the stack to the channel end 7.
In its rearward part, the channel end 7 is overlapped by magazine lips 8 which hold the respective top cartridge 4 in the stack back in the channel direction (at the top in the illustrated example), but at the same time allows movement of the cartridge 4 approximately transversely with respect to the channel direction (to the left in the illustrated example) beyond the rod magazine, in order to load the rifle 2. For this purpose, an attachment 9 on the breech 10 engages between the magazine lips 8 and acts on the bottom of the cartridge 4 in order to insert it into the firing chamber 11 of the barrel 12, by a forward movement of the breech 10.
As FIGS. 2 and 3 show, the head or the neck of the cartridge 4 during this process runs on guide edges 13, 14 of the firing chamber 11, which can lead to slight deformation and asymmetry of the cartridge, adversely affecting the firing accuracy.
It has therefore already been proposed to use rod magazines which are matched to the respective weapon and to the respectively used cartridge caliber, in order to minimize the risk of deformation of cartridges during loading. However, the known designs are always restricted to the specific weapon/magazine/caliber combinations.
The object of the invention is to overcome the described disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a rod magazine for a firearm, which allows cartridges to be fed better, including cartridges of different caliber.


A structure stamp has a flexible stamp which has a microstructured or nanostructured stamp surface for embossing of an embossing structure which corresponds to the stamp surface on an embossing surface, and a frame for clamping the stamp. Moreover, the invention relates to a device for embossing an embossing pattern on an embossing surface with the following features: a stamp receiver for accommodating and moving a structure stamp, an embossing material receiver for accommodating and placing an embossing material opposite the structure stamp, and an embossing element drive for moving an embossing element along the structure stamp.

The state of the art for microstructuring and/or nanostructuring of surfaces comprises mainly photolithography and various embossing techniques. The embossing techniques work either with hard or soft stamps. Recently, embossing lithography techniques have prevailed and are displacing classical photolithography techniques. Among embossing lithography techniques, the use of so-called soft stamps is becoming more and more favored. The reason is the easy manufacture of the stamps, efficient embossing processes, very good surface properties of the respective stamp materials, low costs, the reproducibility of the embossing product and the possibility of elastic deformation of the stamp during mold removal. In soft lithography, a stamp of an elastomer with a microstructured or nanostructured surface is used to produce structures in the range from 20 nm to >1000 μm.
There are six known techniques:
microcontact and/or nanocontact printing (μ/nCP)
replica molding (REM)
microtransfermolding (μTM) or nanoimprint lithography (NIL),
micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC)
solvent-assisted micromolding (SAMIM) and
phase shift lithography.
Elastomer stamps are produced as a negative of a master. A master stamp is a hard stamp of metal or ceramic which is produced one time by correspondingly complex processes. Then any number of elastomer stamps can be produced from the master. The elastomer stamps enable conforming, uniform contact over large surfaces. They can be easily separated from their master stamp, and from the embossing products. Furthermore, elastomer stamps have low surface tension for easy and simple separation from the stamp and substrate. For automated implementation of soft lithography processes, it is necessary to support the elastomer stamp by a carrier. Currently, glass carrier substrates with different thicknesses are used. By using thick glass substrates, the elastomer stamp, however, at least partially loses its flexibility.
The use of rigid carriers makes automatic separation of the stamp and substrate after the embossing process difficult, as a result of which process automation and industrial usability of imprint lithography are only possible with difficulty.
An advantage of the present invention is a device and a method for microstructuring and/or nanostructuring with which automation and a faster process sequence can be ensured.
This advantage is achieved with the claimed features. Advantageous developments of the invention are given in the dependent claims. All combinations of at least two of the features given in the specification, the claims and/or the figures also fall within the scope of the invention. At the given value ranges, values within the indicated limits will also be considered to be disclosed as boundary values and will be claimed in any combination.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Structure stamp, device and method for embossing


A transmitting apparatus includes a plurality of antenna elements, user signal output unit, calibration signal generation unit, antenna signal processing unit, and total transmission power measuring unit. The user signal output unit weights a user signal by an antenna weight and outputs it to each antenna element. The calibration signal generation unit outputs a calibration signal to be used to detect the characteristic of a transmission path. The antenna signal processing unit provided in the transmission path executes spread modulation and multiplexing for the user signal and calibration signal and outputs a multiplexed signal. The total transmission power measuring unit measures the value of total transmission power of the multiplexed signal to be transmitted from each antenna element on the basis of the multiplexed signal input from the antenna signal processing unit. An antenna weight correction unit executes a correction operation on the basis of the total transmission power value.

The present invention relates to a transmitting apparatus using at least two antenna elements, which executes communication while forming a transmission beam by weighting user signal data (code, rate, frequency, or transmission power) transmitted from each antenna element by an antenna weight and, more particularly, to a transmitting apparatus which has a calibration function of correcting an antenna weight in accordance with the characteristic of a transmission path in the apparatus. The user signal data will simply be referred to as a "user signal" hereinafter.
In, e.g., a cellular mobile communication system, a scheme using adaptive antenna control has been examined aiming at an increase in signal speed/quality and subscriber capacity. According to the adaptive antenna control technique, in an array antenna including three or more antenna elements with very high correlation, a transmission beam pattern is formed by controlling at least one of the phase and amplitude (to be referred to as "phase/amplitude" hereinafter) of a user signal transmitted from each antenna element by using the same frequency band, and directivity is applied in the arrival direction of a desired signal, or null is formed for an interference signal.
In an array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus having a plurality of transmission paths connected to the respective antenna elements, generally, no ideal transmission directivity pattern can be formed because of the frequency characteristic (phase and amplitude) in constituent elements (including cables) on each transmission path, characteristic variations caused by a temperature or humidity fluctuation, and variations such as a secular change. For this reason, in forming a transmission directivity pattern, variations in phase and amplitude caused by the above-described factors must be compensated for. This operation is called calibration. Calibration includes online calibration and offline calibration. In the former, calibration is executed even during operation of the apparatus, and an updated latest calibration coefficient is applied. In the latter, a calibration coefficient measured before the operation of the apparatus (at the time of installation or shipment) is applied even during the operation.
Conventionally, in the calibration method of the array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus of this type, a known calibration signal is input to the radio transmitting unit connected to each antenna element, and variations in phase (delay) and amplitude (gain) of each transmission path, which vary every moment independently, are compensated for by using a result obtained by demodulating the calibration signal. The conventional calibration method will be described below in more detail with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11.
FIG. 8 shows an arrangement example of a conventional array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus which executes online calibration. This array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus comprises an array antenna 801 including N antenna elements 8021 to 802N, distributor 1 8031 to distributor N 803N, antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 804N, antenna 1 signal processing unit 8051 to antenna N signal processing unit 805N, calibration signal generation unit 1 8061 to calibration signal generation unit N 806N, user signal processing unit 807, adder 808, radio receiving unit 809, calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N, and demodulation result processing unit 811.
In the array antenna 801, the N antenna elements 8021 to 802N are arranged closely in an array. They can form a desired transmission directivity pattern by controlling the antenna weight (phase/amplitude) by the user signal processing unit 807. The number N of antenna elements is set to 3 or more to discriminate the antenna from a normal diversity arrangement.
The user signal processing unit 807 outputs user signals weighted by the antenna weight for the respective users to the antenna 1 signal processing unit 8051 to antenna N signal processing unit 805N.
The calibration signal generation unit 1 8061 to calibration signal generation unit N 806N generate calibration signals which are orthogonal to each other in all transmission paths in the baseband and output the signals to the antenna 1 signal processing unit 8051 to antenna N signal processing unit 805N, respectively.
The antenna 1 signal processing unit 8051 to antenna N signal processing unit 805N receive the user signals output from the user signal processing unit 807 and the calibration signals output from the calibration signal generation unit 1 8061 to calibration signal generation unit N 806N, execute spread modulation and multiplexing, and output the resultant multiplexed signals to the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 804N, respectively. The user signal and calibration signal code-multiplexed by each antenna signal processing unit are orthogonal to each other.
The antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 804N receive the multiplexed signals output from the antenna 1 signal processing unit 8051 to antenna N signal processing unit 805N, execute digital/analog conversion, quadrature modulation, frequency conversion from the baseband to radio frequency band, amplification, frequency band limitation, and the like for the multiplexed signals in the baseband, and output the signals to the distributor 1 8031 to distributor N 803N, respectively.
The distributor 1 8031 to distributor N 803N receive the multiplexed signals output from the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 804N and output the multiplexed signals to the antenna elements 8021 to 802N, respectively. The distributor 1 8031 to distributor N 803N also partially distribute the powers to the adder 808.
The adder 808 receives the multiplexed signals output from the distributor 1 8031 to distributor N 803N, combines the multiplexed signals in the radio frequency band, and outputs the signal to the radio receiving unit 809.
The radio receiving unit 809 receives the multiplexed signal output from the adder 808, executes frequency band limitation, amplification, frequency conversion from the radio frequency band to baseband, quadrature demodulation, analog/digital conversion, and the like, and outputs the signal to the calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N.
The calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N receive the multiplexed signal output from the radio receiving unit 809 and extract, from the multiplexed signal, the calibration signals in the transmission paths 1 to N. More specifically, the calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 extracts the calibration signal generated by the calibration signal generation unit 1 8061. Similarly, the calibration signal demodulation unit 2 8102 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N extract the calibration signals generated by the calibration signal generation unit 2 8062 to calibration signal generation unit N 806N, respectively. As described above, the calibration signals are orthogonal to each other. Hence, they can be extracted by despreading the multiplexed signal.
The calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N detect transmission path 1 demodulation symbol point (phase/amplitude information) to transmission path N demodulation symbol point (phase/amplitude information) from the extracted calibration signals. The transmission path 1 demodulation symbol point is added the phase/amplitude variation of the transmission path including the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041. This also applies to the transmission path 2 demodulation symbol point to transmission path N demodulation symbol point. The detected transmission path 1 demodulation symbol point to transmission path N demodulation symbol point are output to the demodulation result processing unit 811.
The demodulation result processing unit 811 receives the transmission path 1 demodulation symbol point to transmission path N demodulation symbol point output from the calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N, calculates calibration coefficients as the correction information of the respective transmission paths from these demodulation symbol points, and outputs the calibration coefficients to the user signal processing unit 807. More specifically, the calibration coefficients are calculated in the following way.
It is defined that the transmission path including the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 8041 is always the reference route. The calibration signal generated by the calibration signal generation unit 1 8061 is demodulated by the calibration signal demodulation unit 1 8101. The obtained symbol point is defined as a reference symbol point S1, as shown in FIG. 9. The symbol point generated by the calibration signal generation unit 2 8062 and demodulated by the calibration signal demodulation unit 2 8102 is defined as S2. The symbol point generated by the calibration signal generation unit N 806N and demodulated by the calibration signal demodulation unit N 810N is defined as Sn. The demodulation result processing unit 811 detects a phase difference θ2 and amplitude ratio r2=B/A between S1 and S2 and a phase difference θn and amplitude ratio rn=C/A between S1 and Sn. When normalization with respect to the reference symbol point S1 is done, the symbol points can be expressed, as shown in FIG. 10. At this time, r2 to B/A=B′/1, and rn=C/A=C′/1 although the values of the phase differences θ2 and θn and the amplitude ratios r2 and rn do not change. The demodulation result processing unit 811 outputs the values θ2 to θn and r2 to rn to the user signal processing unit 807 as calibration coefficients for each calibration period.
The user signal processing unit 807 corrects the user signals, which have undergone antenna weight (phase/amplitude) control for the respective users, by using the calibration coefficients output from the demodulation result processing unit 811.
Even when the phase/amplitude varies in the transmission paths during the operation of the apparatus, this array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus can correct the generated phase/amplitude variation by giving the calibration coefficients to the user signal processing unit 807. When the user signals which form a transmission directivity pattern by antenna weight (phase/amplitude) control are transmitted after correction of the phase/amplitude variation in the transmission paths, an accurate transmission directivity pattern can be formed (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-336149).
FIG. 11 shows an arrangement example of a conventional array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus which executes offline calibration. This array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus comprises an array antenna 1101 including N antenna elements 11021 to 1102N, antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 11041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 1104N, antenna 1 signal processing unit 11051 to antenna N signal processing unit 1105N, calibration signal generation unit 1 11061 to calibration signal generation unit N 1106N, user signal processing unit 1107, adder 1108, radio receiving unit 1109, calibration signal demodulation unit 1 11101 to calibration signal demodulation unit N 1110N, and demodulation result processing unit 1111.
When the calibration coefficients in the apparatus are to be measured at the time of installation or shipment of the apparatus, the arrangement from the adder 1108 is connected to the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 11041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 1104N. In operation of the apparatus, the arrangement is disconnected from the antenna 1 radio transmitting unit 11041 to antenna N radio transmitting unit 1104N, and instead, the array antenna 1101 is connected.
The calibration coefficients measured at the time of installation of the apparatus are stored in the user signal processing unit 1107. An effect to transmission directivity pattern formation can be obtained by adding the calibration coefficient to the antenna weight even during the operation. This calibration method is effective especially for an apparatus which shares the local signal or operation clock to be supplied to all antenna radio transmitting units because the influence of the local signal as the dominant factor of the phase variation is invisible.
However, in the conventional array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 8, calibration is always executed during operation. Hence, the calibration signal as an unnecessary radio wave for the user signal is continuously transmitted. In addition, the spreading devices equal in number to the antenna elements always operate. This suppresses the remaining system capacity of carrier power in each transmission path.
In this array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus, the calibration signals transmitted from all the antenna radio transmitting units at the same time are demodulated at a short period to calculate the calibration coefficients. Since this requires high-speed arithmetic processing, the load of signal processing is large.
In this array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus, the calibration signal with the same power is always multiplexed and transmitted with respect to the user signal whose set power increases or decreases. As a result, the calibration signal looks like interference for the user signal more than necessary, and the calibration accuracy is low.
In the conventional array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus shown in FIG. 11, the calibration coefficient measured at the time of installation or shipment is used even in executing calibration during the operation. For this reason, the information of total transmission power information as one of the major factors of the phase/amplitude variation in the transmission path is not fed back. Hence, correction cannot be done in consideration of the saturation characteristic in the constituent element in the transmission path. As a result, accurate calibration is impossible.
Problems of calibration of an array antenna transmitting/receiving apparatus using adaptive antenna control have been described above. However, even calibration of a transmitting apparatus which executes transmission diversity has the same problems. Transmission diversity is a technique of increasing the terminal reception quality by executing transmission from two antenna elements of a radio base station transmitting apparatus, which are arranged almost without correlation, by using the same frequency band and controlling the phase/amplitude of the user signal transmitted from each antenna element.

Transmitting apparatus employing online calibration


An improved heat sink clip assembly comprises a pair of retaining members in elongated type for readily retained at opposite sides of an electronic device package. A finned heat sink having integral holders at opposite sides is placed over the package and defines the retaining members by means of the holders. Each retaining member is formed with a shoulder and has at least one tongue along the shoulder and respective hook at both upraising ends. A wire clip is detachably engaged with each end hook to secure the whole assembly all together.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,456 disclosed a heat sink clip assembly comprising a frame and a clip for securing and aligning a heat sink with an electronic device package. The frame includes a cavity for receiving the electronic device package with the leads thereof exposed for mounting on a printed circuit board. In this design, the electronic device package must be disengaged from the printed circuit board before the frame is mounted, and engaged again thereafter. Since there are a plurality of leads on the package to be correspondingly inserted into a plurality of aligned preformed holes in the printed circuit board, so that it is a tedious and troublesome work to diengage and then to engage again the package with respect to the printed circuit board, respectively, before and after the mounting of the frame on said package.


A rotary fluid pressure device (11) having a housing (13,31), inlet and outlet ports (21,23), a gerotor gear set (15), a valve member (51) and an input-output shaft (49). A seal assembly (73) is disposed radially between the shaft (49) and the housing (31). The seal assembly comprises, in the order of leakage flow from a case drain region (63), a high pressure shaft seal (77), an annular chamber (71) in which is disposed a rigid back-up member (79;91) for the seal (77), a drain passage (81) communicating from the annular chamber (71) to a case drain port (47), and a low pressure shaft seal (83). The back-up member (79;91) may cooperate with either the housing (31) or the seal (77) or the input-output shaft (49) to define a fluid passage (87,89;93,95), so that any leakage flow past the high pressure shaft seal (77) flows through the drain.

The present invention relates to rotary fluid pressure devices, such as low-speed, high-torque (LSHT) gerotor motors, and more particularly, to an improved high pressure shaft seal assembly for use in such devices.
Gerotor motors of the LSHT type are normally classified, in regard to their valving configuration, as being of either the "spool valve" or "disc valve" type. As used herein, the term "spool valve" refers to a generally cylindrical valve member in which the valving action occurs between the cylindrical outer surface of the spool valve and the adjacent internal cylindrical surface (bore) of the surrounding housing. By way of contrast, the term "disc valve" refers to a valve member which is generally disc-shaped, and the valving action occurs between a transverse surface (perpendicular to the axis of rotation) of the disc valve and an adjacent transverse surface of the housing (stationary valve surface). Furthermore, among disc valve motors, there is also a sub-category which may be referred to as "valve-in-star" motors, in which the gerotor star member itself has a disc valve integral therewith, an example of such a motor being illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,681, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
Although the present invention may be utilized with LSHT gerotor motors having any one of a number of different valving configurations, it is especially suited for use with spool valve motors, and will be described in connection therewith. It should be noted that the use of spool valve gerotor motors has typically been limited to relatively smaller motors, having relatively lower flow and pressure ratings. This has been true partly because of certain inherent limitations in spool valve motors, resulting from the radial clearance between the spool valve and the adjacent cylindrical surface ("stationary valve surface") of the housing. This radial clearance provides a potential cross port leakage path such that, as the radial dimension of the clearance increases, the volumetric efficiency (and overall efficiency) of the motor decreases.
One of the problems associated with spool valve type gerotor motors is that, as customers seek to continually increase the torque output of the motor by increasing inlet pressure, there is a tendency for the spool valve to "collapse" under the higher pressure, thus increasing the radial clearance between the spool valve surface and the stationary valve surface of the housing. As noted previously, the increasing radial clearance results in decreasing volumetric efficiency of the motor, which is always undesirable from the viewpoint of the customer.
It has been known to those skilled in the art that one possible solution to the problem of a "collapsing" spool valve is to increase the "case drain" pressure, i.e., the pressure in a chamber disposed within the interior of the motor, including the volume disposed within the hollow cylindrical spool valve. The typical way of increasing case drain pressure is simply to restrict flow out of the case drain port, thereby causing a buildup in pressure within the case drain region. Therefore, instead of the case drain region pressure being at reservoir pressure, the case drain region pressure may be elevated to somewhere in the range of 1,000 psi to 2,000 psi., with that pressure opposing the tendency of the spool valve to collapse. As is well known to those skilled in the art, if flow out of the case drain region is restricted, the pressure in the case drain region will typically be about mid-way (or slightly greater) between the inlet pressure and the outlet pressure.
Unfortunately, increasing case drain pressure has not been considered an acceptable solution to the collapsing spool problem because the shaft seal assembly (i.e., the seal between the housing and the rotating output shaft) becomes worn much faster than would otherwise be the case, thus necessitating much more frequent downtime of the motor for replacement of the shaft seal assembly. More frequent replacement of motor shaft seals, and the associated downtime for the motor, is also not acceptable from the viewpoint of the customer.


A packaging structure composed of a composite synthetic resin sheet having a depressed portion formed therein for holding an article and a metal foil bonded to the sheet, said composite sheet being a three-layer sheet composed of an interlayer of high-density polyethylene and outside layers of a propylene polymer bonded to both surfaces of the interlayer, the interlayer having a thickness of 120 to 800 micrometers, each of the outside layers having a thickness of 15 to 80 micrometers, and the thickness of the interlayer being at least 2.5 times the total thickness of both outside layers; a process for production thereof; and a process for producing a composite (synthetic) resin sheet suitable as a material for the aforesaid packaging structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a packaging structure having excellent moisture resistance and transparency and permits excellent withdrawal of goods packed therein, and to a process for production thereof.
This invention also pertains to a process for producing a composite sheet which can be suitably shaped into a packaging structure by vacuum forming and/or pressure forming.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pharmaceuticals (in tablets, capsules, etc.), cosmetics and foodstuffs must be completely packed since insufficient packing can readily cause degeneration or spoilage. Furthermore, it is convenient if after packing these goods can be viewed from outside.
In order to meet such a requirement, there have previously been used packages obtained by filling such goods in accordance with vacuum forming and/or pressure forming using a single-layer sheet of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polypropylene (PP), or a composite sheet composed of a polyethylene (PE) sheet and PVC layers bonded to both surfaces of the polyethylene sheet by a dry laminating method.
Since a packaging structure formed of a single-layer sheet of PVC or PP has low moisture resistance, it is the usual practice to remedying this defect by putting the packaging structure further in an aluminum bag. But the moisture resistance of the packaging structure after opening the aluminum bag is a problem, and filling of the package into the aluminum bag makes the manufacturing process complex and adds to the cost of production.
A package formed by using a composite sheet composed of PE and PVC has fairly satisfactory moisture resistance in practical use, but the ease of withdrawing the contents from the package is not entirely satisfactory. Some of new drugs recently developed require higher moisture-proof than before, and for packing such drugs, the moisture resistance of packaging structure composed of the aforesaid composite sheet is still desired to be improved.


According to a method for producing an inorganic iodide in accordance with the present invention, it is possible to efficiently produce a highly pure inorganic iodide by reacting a hydrogen iodide gas with an inorganic base compound by bringing the hydrogen iodide gas into contact with the inorganic base compound. As such, it is possible to provide a simple and efficient method for producing an inorganic iodide.

Conventionally, inorganic iodide has been synthesized by a variety of methods. For example, Patent Literatures 1 through 7 listed below disclose examples of methods of synthesizing inorganic iodides. Patent Literature 1 discloses a method including adding iodine to an alkaline solution so as to carry out a reaction to give iodate, and then reducing the iodate with aluminum or zinc. Patent Literature 2 discloses a method including adding iodine to an alkaline solution to obtain a solution, and then carry out reduction with hydrogen sulfide. Patent Literature 3 discloses a method including reducing iodine or iodate with alkali metal amalgam in an alkaline environment or in a neutral environment. Patent Literature 4 discloses a method including treating an iodine alkali hydroxide solution with an organic reducing agent such as formic acid, oxalic acid, or malonic acid. Patent Literature 5 discloses a method including adding iodine to a potassium hydroxide solution to obtain a solution, and then reducing the solution with formic acid serving as a reducing agent. Patent Literature 6 discloses a method including reacting iodine with potassium hydroxide or with alkaline carbonate with use of hydrazine serving as a reducing agent. Patent Literature 7 discloses a method of (i) neutralizing a potassium hydroxide solution with use of formic acid so as to obtain a resultant solution, (ii) adding an over-stoichiometric amount of iodine to the resultant solution so that the resultant solution undergoes a reaction, and (iii) treating free iodine in the post-reaction resultant solution with potassium sulfide.

Inorganic iodide, production method thereof, and production system thereof


A mining machine is disclosed. The mining machine may include a mobile ranging device, a movement sensor device, and a control unit. The mobile ranging device may be configured to communicate with a location sensor device and cause the location sensor device to transmit location data relating to a location of the mining machine. The movement sensor device may be configured to transmit movement data relating to a movement of the mining machine. The control unit may be configured to receive coordinate data relating to a plurality of zones and a plurality of drawpoints of a tunnel, the location data, and the movement data. The control unit may identify an active zone, determine a machine heading, determine a machine articulation, identify an active drawpoint based on the active zone, the machine heading, or the machine articulation, and cause an action to be performed in connection with the active drawpoint.

Mining machines (e.g., load, haul, and dump (LHD) machines and/or the like) are commonly used in underground mining applications to perform a variety of tasks. In an underground mining application, such as in a block caving mining application, a mining machine may be tasked with transporting ore from drawpoints distributed at varying depths or zones within a substantially linear underground tunnel. A zone may be defined by a pair of drawpoints laterally extending from opposite sides of the tunnel. In a particular work cycle, and according to a particular site plan, the mining machine may travel to a target zone within the tunnel, turn into a drawpoint, load ore from the drawpoint, haul the ore out of the tunnel, and dump the ore into a crusher or a depository. In some cases, mining operators may monitor specific tasks being performed by a mining machine (e.g., identifying when and where the mining machine loads the ore, when and where the machine dumps the ore, and/or the like) in order to monitor movement of ore. However, without access to Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, monitoring mining machines in an underground tunnel can introduce some challenges.
In some underground mining applications, radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are used to identify a location of a mining machine within a mining site. In a block caving mining application, for example, RFID readers may be positioned on a ceiling of an underground tunnel, and configured to detect a location of the mining machine based on a proximity between an RFID tag on the mining machine and the RFID readers. Due to cost and/or infrastructure limitations, RFID readers may not be available within individual drawpoints of the tunnel. As there are no RFID readers in the individual drawpoints, an RFID system may be limited to crude estimations as to when and where a mining machine may have accessed a drawpoint (e.g., based on a zone last accessed by the mining machine). The RFID system may be unable to confidently determine which drawpoint (e.g., which of two drawpoints within the zone) the mining machine turned into. Current configurations of RFID systems may thus lack an ability to precisely identify when a mining machine accesses a drawpoint, and may be inadequate for monitoring movement of ore within a mining site.
One attempt to monitor ore movement within an underground mining site is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,599 that issued to Makela, et al. on Mar. 1, 2011 ("the '599 patent"). In particular, the '599 patent discloses a mining vehicle that comprises means for determining a location of the mining vehicle. The '599 patent discloses that the location of the mining vehicle is determined by a dead reckoning technique. The '599 patent discloses one or more identifiers that may be arranged in a mine that can be used for exact determination of the location of the mining vehicle and for correction of any error in the dead reckoning. The '599 patent discloses that the identifier may be a transmitter whose operation may be based on the use of radio frequencies. While the '599 patent may determine a location of the mining vehicle relative to an underground tunnel, the '599 patent lacks an ability to locate the mining vehicle within a drawpoint of the underground tunnel or within one of multiple drawpoints originating from a common location of the underground tunnel.
A localization system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.

Localization system for underground mining applications


The invention relates to compositions comprising of SEQ NO: 1-244, 248-249, and any homologs, analogs, and fragments thereof. Such compositions can be used to treat, prevent, and modulate pain, inflammation, and metabolic processes in various organisms including plants and animals. Such compositions can be formulated with an acceptable pharmaceutical excipient for administration to a human or a plant. The compositions can be administered topically or for systemic use.

Pain is a condition that affects everyone at some point in his lifetime. The pain signaling pathway can be modulated by endogenous and synthetic opioid peptides and by small molecules. Pain is induced by multiple types of stimuli such as temperature and tissue damage suggesting that these pathways have at least one common component. Currently, the therapeutic choice in the management of severe acute and chronic pain is at the plasma membrane site, where the opioid peptides act as agonists for different opioid receptors.
As the world is experiencing an increase in life expectancy and population size, there is a significant need to identify new compositions and methods to treat and/or prevent different physiological conditions associated with pain, inflammation, thermoregulation, and other mitochondria-associated condition in both animals and plants.

Methods and compositions for modulating conditions in both mammals and plants


A new Poinsettia plant particularly distinguished by moderately oak-shaped, light to bright-red bracts with large star-shaped inflorescences, medium green leaves with pointed lobes, an early to mid-season flowering response and a medium to large size, round, and upright plant habit, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima (Willd. Ex Klotzsch) and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Fisdra'. The new cultivar originated from a hybridization made in the year 2000 in Hillscheid, Germany. The female parent was the proprietary red-flowered poinsettia plant '9217' (unpatented). The male parent is unknown as the female parent was pollinated with a mixture of pollen from a group of about 50 red-flowered poinsettia plants. The seeds produced by the hybridization were germinated in February 2001. Multiple plants were selected and chosen for asexual propagation in late Summer 2001 and were further evaluated in late Fall 2001. In 2002, the most desirable lines were grafted onto rootstocks of poinsettia plant 'Beckmann's Altrosa' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,336) in order to improve branching ability. Cuttings from the successfully grafted plants were then grown in a trial in the Fall of 2003. A single plant selection was chosen in 2003 and named 'Fisdra'.
The new cultivar was created in 2003 in Hillscheid, Germany and has been asexually reproduced repeatedly by vegetative cuttings in Hillscheid, Germany over a two-year period. 'Fisdra' has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar were applied for in Europe on Feb. 9, 2005 and in Canada on Mar. 18, 2005.


The invention relates to a switching-valve arrangement for a shifting system of an automatic transmission having a first actuator for engaging and releasing gears, at least a second actuator for engaging and releasing gears, a first activatable switching valve, a second activatable switching valve, a first signal element, and a second signal element. By means of the signal elements and switching valves the first and second actuators can be pressurized. In case of failure of one of the signal elements one of the actuators can always be pressurized and even in case of erroneous operation of the first and second signal elements only one of the actuators can be pressurized at the same time.

The invention relates to a switching-valve arrangement for a shifting system of an automatic transmission, in particular for a shifting system of a dual clutch transmission, which has a first actuator and at least a second actuator for engaging or releasing gears.
DE 101 34 115 discloses a hydraulic control arrangement for controlling a dual clutch transmission which has a plurality of gears and a plurality of actuators for engaging and releasing the gears. The hydraulic control arrangement can be divided up here into a first and second partial circuit.
A first switching valve is provided between the first partial circuit and a pressure line, the switching valve, in a first position, separating the first partial circuit from the pressure line and, in a second position, connecting it to the pressure line. By virtue of the first switching valve being subjected to a first switching force by a valve-activating means, the first switching valve is moved from the first position into the second position counter to the force of a spring. It is thus possible to connect a first actuator within the first partial circuit to the pressure line via the first switching valve. If the switching force is reduced or set to zero, the spring forces the switching valve back into its first position.
Furthermore, a second switching valve is provided between the second partial circuit and the pressure line, this second switching valve, like the first switching valve, in a first position, setting the second partial circuit to a pressureless state and, in a second position, connecting the second partial circuit to the pressure line. Here too, a valve-activating means provides a switching force, a second switching force, in order to move the switching valve into the second position counter to the force of a spring. A second actuator of the dual clutch transmission, which in this case is to be assigned to the second partial transmission, can thus be connected to the pressure line.
Consequently, the two partial circuits can be set to a pressureless state and/or subjected to pressure by the first and the second switching valves. The two switching valves are switched by valve-activating means which are independent of one another. In the event of a valve-activating means for one switching valve failing, this independent activation may result in the two actuators being subjected to pressure simultaneously. In respect, for example, of the switching valves of DE 101 34 115, which are designed as electrically activated magnetic switching valves, this would be the case when, as a result of error, one of the two switching valves is permanently activated and the other switching valve switches as envisaged. However, irrespective of the way in which the hydraulic control arrangement according to DE 101 34 115 is actually divided up, error-induced simultaneous pressure activation of actuators of a shifting system can, in the case of dual clutch transmissions, result in serious damage. If, for example, the first actuator and the second actuator are assigned to a partial transmission of a dual clutch transmission, and if these two actuators are subjected to pressure simultaneously, it would be possible for two gears to be engaged simultaneously in this partial transmission.
It would indeed be possible for one switch-over valve, instead of the two switching valves, to be switched upstream of the actuators, this switch-over valve, in a first position, connecting the first actuator to the pressure line and, in a second position, connecting the second actuator to the pressure line. This rules out the situation where the two actuators are subjected to pressure simultaneously. On the other hand, if use is made of this switch-over valve, it would always be the case that one actuator is subjected to pressure, and this would be associated with certain leakage-related losses. It is indeed possible to provide upstream of the switch-over valve, in turn, a switching valve which, as has already been described above, separates the downstream actuators from the pressure line as required. If, however, this switching valve fails, for example if it cannot any longer be moved into the position in which it connects the pressure line to the actuators, it is no longer possible for the downstream actuators to operate any gears. This would possibly mean, in the case of a dual clutch transmission in a motor vehicle, that it is no longer possible to engage starting gears.

Switching-valve arrangement for a shifting system of an automatic transmission