A new and distinct kiwifruit variety is disclosed. The variety results from selection among a population of seedlings derived from crossing the kiwifruit selections known as Kuimi 79-1-1 (not patented) and 30-03-05c.94 (not patented). The fruit of this new kiwifruit variety is characterized by moderate to large fruit size, high natural yield potential, ovoid shape, yellow flesh color, and potential for long storage. The new kiwifruit variety has been named ‘ZESY003’.

The invention relates to the discovery and asexual propagation of a new and distinct variety of kiwifruit, Actinidia chinensis cv. 'ZESY003', as herein described and illustrated. The new kiwifruit variety 'ZESY003' was selected from a population of seedlings derived from crossing two kiwifruit selections Kuimi 79-1-1 (not patented) and 30-03-05c.94 (not patented) in the course of a planned kiwifruit variety breeding program. The cross was made in November 1995 at Te Puke, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The new variety was selected 51-17-29b.97 and has been named 'ZESY003'.
The new kiwifruit variety 'ZESY003' may be distinguished from presently available Actinidia cultivars by the following distinguishing characteristics:
The fruit of the new kiwifruit variety 'ZESY003' maintain their firmness in cold store and at room temperature for much longer than those of 'Hort16A' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,066).
'ZESY003' produce larger fruit than those of 'Hort16A' and also produce more flowers.
The fruit shape at the stylar end of the new variety 'ZESY003' has a slight indentation surrounding a protrusion compared with that of 'Hort16A', which extends into a characteristic 'beak'.
The flesh of the new kiwifruit variety 'ZESY003' fruit is yellow in color (similar to 'Hort16A') when ripe for consumption, compared with 'Hayward', which is green in color.
'ZESY003' is tetraploid compared with 'Hort16A' which is diploid.
'ZESY003' is distinguished from its maternal parent (Kuimi 79-1-1) by characteristics including fruit shape, Kuimi 79-1-1 fruit are maliform, concave at the stalk attachment and slightly protruding at the stylar end with no stylar cavity; while fruit of 'ZESY003' are ovoid, almost flat at the stalk attachment and flat with an open cavity at the stylar end.
'ZESY003' is distinguished from its paternal parent (30-03-05c.94) as it is a female fruit kiwifruit variety whereas 30-03-05c.94 is a male non-fruit baring kiwifruit.
Asexual propagation of the new kiwifruit variety 'ZESY003', at Te Puke, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, by grafting shows that the unique combination of characteristics of the variety come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagation. In order to obtain true-to-type clones of the initial plant, asexually propagated plants were obtained by grafting dormant buds from the original seedling onto rootstocks.


In a driving assistance system for a vehicle according to the present invention, when a solid object existing in the traveling direction of the driver's own vehicle is recognized, a target control value setting part sets a target control value pertaining to control for avoiding a collision including turning control of the driver's own vehicle in order to bring a running state of the driver's own vehicle to a target running state that causes the driver's own vehicle to avoid a collision with the solid object. A control part performs collision avoidance control in accordance with the target control value. Moreover, a control value correction part corrects the target control value pertaining to the turning control of the driver's own vehicle based on the value of a state variable relating to the running state of the driver's own vehicle during the time in which the control by said control part is performed and said target control value associated with said state variable.

In a prior art, a solid object existing ahead of the driver's own vehicle is detected, and when it is predicted that the driver's own vehicle will collide with the detected solid object, brake is actuated electrically to avoid a collision with the solid object by its braking force. However, in collision avoidance utilizing only braking force, the braking force varies depending on the condition of the road surface and the condition of tires, and collision avoidance sometimes necessitates sudden braking. In view of this, in a prior art, a collision avoidance operation by turning is performed when it is not possible to avoid a collision reliably by braking force (see, for example, patent document 1).

Driving assistance system for vehicle and system for estimating frictional state of road surface


A system and a method for measuring three-dimensional velocities at a plurality of points in a fluid employing at least two cameras positioned approximately perpendicular to one another. The cameras are calibrated to accurately represent image coordinates in world coordinate system. The two-dimensional views of the cameras are recorded for image processing and centroid coordinate determination. Any overlapping particle clusters are decomposed into constituent centroids. The tracer particles are tracked on a two-dimensional basis and then stereo matched to obtain three-dimensional locations of the particles as a function of time so that velocities can be measured therefrom. The stereo imaging velocimetry technique of the present invention provides a full-field, quantitative, three-dimensional map of any optically transparent fluid which is seeded with tracer particles.

Stereo imaging velocimetry seeks to provide a three-dimensional measurement of the velocity of a fluid. As early as 1973, Elkins et al, in an article titled "Evaluation of Stereoscopic Trace Particle Records of Turbulent Flow Fields," Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 48, No. 7, pp. 738-746, (1977) reported an early stereo imaging system using cinematography equipment coupled with an electronic digitizer to track several hundred particles in a turbulent flow. Other early efforts employed a multi-colored approach which allowed higher seeding densities since particles could be separated into groups according to color.
One effort applied this technology to an approved understanding of internal combustion based completely on digital technology., A. A. Adamczyk and L. Ramai, "Reconstruction of a 3-Dimensional Flow Field from Orthogonal Views of Seed Track Video Images," Experiments in Fluids, 6, pp. 380-386, (1988), and "2-Dimensional Particle Tracking (PTV): Technique and Image Processing Algorithms," Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 6, (1988).
Another approach in Canada included performing stereo matching on particles, then tracking the three-dimensional locations in time to reproduce particle motion, R. G. Racca and J. M. Dewey, "A Method for Automatic Particle Tracking in a Three-Dimensional Flow Field," Experiments in Fluids, 6, pp. 25-32, (1988). Most researchers do the opposite, first tracking in two dimensions, then stereo matching the tracks to obtain the third dimension.
Guezennec, et al. have developed a commercially viable instrument that provides qualitative but not quantitative three-dimension results, Y. G. Guezennec, et al. "Algorithms for Fully Automated Three Dimensional Tracking Velocimetry Experiments in Fluids," Experiments in Fluids, 4, (1993).
Raffel, et al. patents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,144 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,703, disclose a method and an apparatus for measurement of three-dimensional flow velocities. U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,144 relates to a pulsed light method for particle image velocimetry (PIV). When using a pulsed light laser technique, one disadvantage is the complexity of the system while another disadvantage is the small area of the field of view. U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,703 relates to a digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) method. This patent also describes the use of a pulsed laser light source, but does describe using a CCD camera with a laser source and an electro-mechanical shutter controlled by the DPIV timer box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,642 describes a PIV system which uses pulsed-laser techniques. This patent describes recording the image with a charge coupled device (CCD) camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,536 describes a system for measuring velocity field fluid flow utilizing a Laser-Doppler spectral image converter, wherein a flow field seeded with small particles is illuminated by a collimated monochromatic sheet of laser light.
The Adrian, et al. Patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,109, describes a method and apparatus for measuring the displacement of particle images through multiple exposure velocimetry with a pulsed laser.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,044 discloses a fluorescent image tracking velocimeter that tracks the displacement of fluorescent particles in a fluid over time.
The Cha patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,814, discloses holographic diffraction image velocimetry for three-dimensional, three component particle fields or solid objects.
There are other patents that disclose arrangements which involve the positioning of video cameras at differing angular positions relative to an object such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,396,331; 5,110,204; 4,709,580; and 4,337,049. Other laser techniques for determining particle velocimetry are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,988,191 and 5,011,278.
There still exists a need for an apparatus and method that provides state of the art, full-field, three-dimensional flow analysis for any optically transparent fluid seeded with tracer particles regardless of size. Preferably, such a method would not require the use of lasers or other complex equipment with highly specialized optics. Lasers can cause safety concerns as well as limit the type of application. Also, there exists a need for an apparatus and method which would use off-the-shelf hardware that is easily adapted to most three-dimensional applications. It should provide an accuracy to within approximately 2% of full-field which is more accurate than any other three-dimensional system to date. It is desirable to have a modular design with each module being a fully functional stand-alone technique.

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


Maintaining failure survivability in a storage system includes determining a save time corresponding to an amount of time needed to transfer system data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory, determining a threshold corresponding to time for batteries to run while transferring data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory after a power loss, and providing an indication in response to the save time being greater than the threshold. The system may include a plurality of directors and the save time and the threshold may be determined for each of the directors. Determining a threshold may include determining an amount of battery time provided by battery power following power loss and multiplying the amount of battery time by a factor less than one, such as 0.8.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to computer storage devices, and more particularly to the field of transferring data between storage devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units (host adapters), disk drives, and disk interface units (disk adapters). Such storage devices are provided, for example, by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,939 to Yanai et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,394 to Galtzur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,147 to Vishlitzky et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,208 to Ofek. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and the storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units. The logical disk units may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data stored therein.
During operation, some data for a storage system may be temporarily stored in volatile memory. For example, data that is usually on disks may temporarily be cached in volatile memory to improve performance of the system. Any disk data that is modified after being read into cache is eventually destaged (written) back to the disk. In addition, metadata and other system parameters may be stored in volatile memory. It is desirable to maintain this data if a system power failure occurs. To this end, the system may be provided with battery backup that may be used in connection with transferring data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory following a power failure.
Generally, a system may be designed so that if power fails, the battery has enough power (time) to transfer data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory. However, in some instances, a power failure may be preceded by component failures that may affect the amount of time it takes to transfer data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory. It also possible for components of the battery to fail, thus decreasing battery power and the amount of time available to transfer the data. When the system is thus degraded, it is useful for a user (operator) to know when there is no longer enough battery power to guarantee transfer of all of the data from volatile memory to non-volatile memory following a power failure. It may also be useful to take steps to decrease an amount of time needed to transfer the data. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that addresses these issues.

Adaptive failure survivability in a storage system using save time and data transfer after power loss


A borohydride metallocene complex of a lanthanide, its process of preparation, a catalytic system incorporating it, a process for the copolymerization of olefins employing this catalytic system and an ethylene/butadiene copolymer obtained by this process, the butadiene units of which comprise 1,2-cyclohexane or 1,2- and 1,4-cyclohexane links. This complex corresponds to one or other of the following formulae A and B:

It is known to use catalytic systems based on halogenated metallocene complexes of lanthanides for copolymerizing ethylene and a conjugated diene.
The document EP-A-1 092 731 teaches the use, in producing copolymers of ethylene and a conjugated diene, of a catalytic system comprising:                on the one hand, an organometallic complex represented by one of the following generic formulae A or B:

where Ln represents a lanthanide metal having an atomic number which can range from 57 to 71,
where X represents a halogen which can be chlorine, fluorine, bromine or iodine,                where Cp1 and Cp2 each comprise a cyclopentadienyl or fluorenyl group which is substituted or unsubstituted and where P is a bridge corresponding to the formula MR1R2, where M is an element from Group IVa of the Periodic Table of the Elements and where R1 and R2 represent an alkyl group comprising from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, and        on the other hand, a cocatalyst which is chosen from a group consisting of an alkylmagnesium, alkyllithium, alkylaluminium, and a Grignard reagent or which is composed of a mixture of these constituents.
The document Patent WO-A-2004/035639 on behalf of the Applicants teaches the use, in producing copolymers of ethylene and butadiene, of a catalytic system comprising:
(i) a lanthanide metallocene complex represented by one or other of the following formulae:

where Ln represents a lanthanide metal having an atomic number which can range from 57 to 71,
where X represents a halogen which can be chlorine, fluorine, bromine or iodine,
where, in the first formula, two identical or different ligand molecules Cp1 and Cp2, each composed of a fluorenyl group which is substituted or unsubstituted, are connected to the said metal Ln, and
where, in the second formula, a ligand molecule composed of two identical or different fluorenyl groups Cp1 and Cp2 which are substituted or unsubstituted and which are connected to one another via a bridge P corresponding to the formula MR1R2, where M is an element from Group IVa of the Periodic Table of the Elements and where R1 and R2 represent an alkyl group comprising from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, is connected to the said metal Ln, and
(ii) a cocatalyst belonging to the group consisting of an alkylmagnesium, an alkyllithium, an alkylaluminium, and a Grignard reagent or which is composed of a mixture of these constituents.
Other catalytic systems based on monocyclopentadienyl complexes of lanthanide borohydride type are known in particular in the literature for the homopolymerization of diolefins.
Mention may be made, for example, of the paper by D. Barbier-Baudry, O. Blacque, A. Hafid, A. Nyassi, H. Sitzmann and M. Visseaux, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2000, 2333-2336, which mentions a complex of formula (C5H(iPr)4)Ln(BH4)2(THF) including a monocyclopentadienyl ligand substituted by an isopropyl group (iPr), where THF is tetrahydrofuran, for the homopolymerization of isoprene or styrene after alkylation by a cocatalyst of organolithium type.
More recently, the paper by F. Bonnet, M. Visseaux, A. Pereira and D. Barbier-Baudry, Macromolecules, 2005, 38, 3162-3169, disclosed the use of a similar complex of formula (C5Me4(nPr))Nd(BH4)2(THF)2 including a pentasubstituted monocyclopentadienyl ligand, where nPr is an n-propyl group, in the stereospecific 1,4-trans polymerization of isoprene after alkylation by a cocatalyst of dialkylmagnesium type.
It should be noted that these lanthanide borohydride monocyclopentadienyl complexes have not been used to date in the copolymerization of monoolefins and conjugated dienes.
The Chinese patent document 1 286 256 discloses, as polymerization catalysts for the synthesis of polymethacrylates, a borohydride metallocene complex of a lanthanide comprising a ligand molecule composed of a fluorenyl group corresponding to the following formula:{[(X1)2(R7)(C5R1R2R3R4)(C13H6R5R6)]MX2(L)n}m,where:
X1 represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a phenyl group,
X2 represents Cl, BH4, H, an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, N[Si(CH3)3]2, CH2[Si(CH3)3] or tetrahydrofuran,
R1, R3 and R4 represent H or the CH3 radical,
R2 represents H,
R5 and R6 represent H, an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or Si(CH3)3,
R7 represents Si, C, Ge or Sn,
M represents a lanthanide, yttrium or scandium,
L represents Si(CH3)3, Li(THF)4, [crown ether Y] or [crown ether Y]-2,4-epoxyhexacycle,
n represents 0 or 1 and m=1 or 2 (if m=2, n=0),
Y is a monovalent metal.
Another recent research route has concerned borohydride metallocene complexes of lanthanides including a ligand based on two cyclopentadienyl groups. Mention may be made, for example, of the studies by S. M. Cendrowski-Guillaume et al., Organometallics, 2000, 19, 5654-5660, and Macromolecules, 2003, 36, 54-60, which have disclosed the use of such a metallocene complex, of formula (C5Me5)2Sm(BH4)(THF), where Me is a methyl group and where Sm is samarium, for specifically catalysing the polymerization of ε-caprolactone by ring opening.
Mention may also be made of the studies by M. Visseaux et al., Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 691 (2006), pages 86-92, which have disclosed that the metallocene Cp*2Nd(BH4)(THF), when it is used in combination with butylethylmagnesium, even in the presence of a large excess of THF, constitutes a very active catalyst for ethylene and, in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of butylethylmagnesium, makes possible the stereospecific 1,4-trans polymerization of isoprene.

Borohydride metallocene complex of a lanthanide, catalytic system including said complex, polymerization method using same and ethylene/butadiene copolymer obtained using said method

Abstract: where, in the formula A, two ligand molecules Cp1 and Cp2, each composed of a fluorenyl group, are connected to the lanthanide Ln, such as Nd, and where, in the formula B, a ligand molecule, composed of two fluorenyl groups Cp1 and Cp2 which are connected to one another via a bridge P of formula MR1R2, where M is an element from group IVa, such as Si, and where R1 and R2, which are identical or different, represent an alkyl group comprising from 1 to 20 carbon atoms, is connected to the lanthanide Ln, where L represents an alkali metal, such as Li, where N represents a molecule of a complexing solvent, such as THF, where x is an integral or non-integral number greater than 0 and where p is an integer equal to or greater than 1.

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Ecole Superieure de Chimie-Physique-Electronique de Lyon (CPE)


A multiple tube, multiple lights effects neon or fluorescent lighting system for a skateboard produces a variety of controlled light effects and combinations. A pair of high strength colored protective transparent elongated casings house the light tubes. The casings are removably attached in a highly visible position on the side edges of a skateboard or under the skateboard adjacent to the side edges. The casings are secured by industrial strength mating hook and loop fasteners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to illumination devices for skateboards and particularly to a colored tubular fluorescent light which is removably mounted on the bottom or sides of a skateboard or other vehicle; the fluorescent tube light is powered by a battery and has a power control button which allows the user to turn the light on or off and to choose from various lighting displays, such as flashing light, steady light, or to have the light travel back and forth along the length of the light bulb.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Illuminated skateboards are well known in prior art, most use LED, fiber optic, or neon lighting systems built into the skateboard truck or permanently mounted on the sides or bottom of the skateboard deck.
Due to the excessive activity, constant banging, dropping, and abuse to skateboards in their use it is necessary to provide a high strength secured and protected light source removably attachable to a skateboard with a variety of lighting options to enhance the visual effects of the lighted skateboard in action. Prior art devices do not adequately meet these needs.
U.S. Patent Application #20070047216, published Mar. 1, 2007 by Piazzolla, is for a glow stick holder which mounts to an article such as, but not limited to, a skateboard, an inline roller skate, a snow ski or the like. In one embodiment, the device has an open ended transparent tube for interlocking receipt of the glow stick therein. In another embodiment, a semi-cylindrical clip is sized, structured and disposed before snap fit grasping receipt of the glow stick. One or more brackets have a collar that surrounds and holds the tube or semi-cylindrical clip, and a mounting flange for attaching the bracket to the article using, for instance, screws, hook and loop fasteners, or an adhesive. Alternatively, the brackets may directly hold the glow stick. In this instance, the collar of the bracket is signed for grasping receipt of the glow stick.
U.S. Patent Application #20050102733, published May 19, 2005 by Holmberg, claims lighted sports equipment comprising a ski pole includes a tip portion, an illuminable shaft portion, and a grip portion. The tip portion has a tip end and a connecting end. The illuminable shaft portion has a first engaging end, a second engaging end that is removably coupled to the connecting end of the tip portion, and an illumination means for illuminating the illuminable shaft portion in response to provision of electrical energy thereto. The grip portion has an end that is removably coupled to the first engaging end of the illuminable shaft portion. The equipment further comprises means for selectively providing electrical energy to the illuminable shaft portion. Also disclosed is lighted sports equipment such as a snowboard, a waterboard, and a skateboard. Neon may also be used for illumination.
Two U.S. Patent Applications, #20010004808 published Jun. 28, 2001 and #20010024364 published Sep. 27, 2001 by Hurwitz, describe safety and sports equipment including a skateboard, as well as apparel and accessories, including one or more wire-like or flat electroluminescent lamps for illumination. The lamps may be powered by battery, solar energy, or any other suitable means of energy. The lamps may further be secured to an object, embedded within a rigid surface, or recessed within a material. The lamps may be either permanently, temporarily, or removably secured to the object that is being illuminated.
U.S. Patent Application #20030231485, published Dec. 18, 2003 by Chien, discloses a tubular electro-luminescent panel(s) light device which offers a desired bending directions with super brightness basing on certain width of panel incorporated proper invertor system. The said panel(s) with much narrow width than tube means to allow the panel(s) can be bent at any direction and angle within the tube means to offer a desired light effect. The said panel(s) can be flat or twisted within the tube means which may have the desired colored, transparency, wall thickness, diameter, shape, length for requirement. The said device may incorporated with non-elastic means, magnetic means, tube holder, sensor means, Integrated circuit to add a lot of desired variety features. Neon may also be used
U.S. Patent Application #20060158890, published Jul. 20, 2006 by Freedman, provides a lightweight, shockproof lighting system designed to mount on the underside of a vehicle, providing decorative pattern of light on the ground beneath the vehicle, and providing significant visibility to others using the road. The lighting system is comprised of impact-resistant, waterproof transparent plastic tubes, which house fragile, elongated fluorescent lamps by cushioning them from road shock with springs. These light tubes also include an internal reflector, which directs more of the light towards the road. The lighting system is provided with a wiring arrangement for connection to a source of electrical power, such as a battery pack or wheel generator.
U.S. Patent Application #20050236998, published Oct. 27, 2005 by Mueller, claims light emitting diode based products. Methods and systems are provided for controlled semiconductor-based illumination. In one example, one or more semiconductor-based illumination systems are configured to illuminate an area about the illumination system(s). A user interface facility is employed to instruct one or more of the semiconductor-based illumination systems to produce a desired mixed light output to illuminate the area about the illumination system(s). The LED system may be adapted to a variety of lighting applications, either as a replacement for conventional light bulbs, including incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, tungsten light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs, and so forth. It is mentioned that the lighting system may be used on a skateboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,220,011, issued May 22, 2007 to Hurwitz, relates safety and sports equipment including a skateboard, as well as apparel and accessories, including one or more wire-like or flat electroluminescent lamps for illumination. The lamps may be powered by battery, solar energy, or any other suitable means of energy. The lamps may further be secured to an object, embedded within a rigid surface, or recessed within a material. The lamps may be either permanently, temporarily, or removably secured to the object that is being illuminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,048,284, issued May 23, 2006 to Seifert, concerns an illuminated skateboard including a light string, configured to produce light, mounted about a peripheral edge of a deck. The peripheral edge of the deck extends between a top surface and a bottom surface of the deck. The illuminated skateboard also includes a pair of trucks each having a pair of wheels for supporting the deck, and a driver circuit coupled between an electrical power source and the light string. The driver circuit provides electrical power from the electrical power source to the light string. A method for making the illuminated skateboard is also described. The light string comprises an electroluminescent strip or a plurality of light-emitting diodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,080, issued Apr. 30, 1996 to Magle, shows a lighting kit that provides indirect lighting for roller skates or skateboards by mounting a lighting assembly under the shoe section of the skate or underside of the skateboard and providing a light directed down from the bottom of the shoe section of the skate or underside of the skateboard to the floor under the user. The color of the lighting system can be altered by placing a color filter in front of the lamp. In an alternative embodiment the conventional lamps used in the first embodiment are replaced by electroluminescent (EL) lamps. The EL lamps provide a flat structure which is relatively unnoticeable to observers when the skate is in use and the lamps turned off because they are positioned flat against the bottom of the skate or skateboard. When the lamps are activated, they illuminate the floor beneath the skate but are not directly seen. The third embodiment provides flat EL lamp panels which removably attach to the sides of the skates or skateboards such that they can be used not only for aesthetic reasons but also to provide an effective safety measure. The kit can be manufactured with the skate or skateboard as an integral component. In kit form, the electroluminescent lamps can be attached to existing in-line skates or skateboards via conventional attachment means such as adhesive or double stick tape. By using removable attachment means, such as double stick tape, hook and loop material, or the like, electroluminescent lamps of one color can be replaced with electroluminescent lamps of another color, thereby allowing a user to conveniently change the color of the light projected onto the floor beneath the in-line skate or skateboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,653, Jul. 13, 1999 to Chien, shows super-thin lighting arrangement for a moving object. An illumination arrangement for a small moving object of the type which includes a main object arranged to be moved when an outside force is applied to the object and a moving base arranged to permit the main object to move when the outside force is applied to the main object by overcoming a resistance to movement of the main object which would otherwise be present, includes an illumination arrangement mounted between the moving base and the main object. The moving object can for example take the form of a skate, skate board, or a toy such as a toy car. In the case of a skate, the illumination arrangement is mounted in a transparent outsole which also contains a power supply and all necessary circuitry, the lighting elements used therein being in the form of electro-luminescent strips or panels, and the outsole being secured between the roller or blade mounting bracket of the skate and the boot by including openings for passage of the rivets or similar fasteners used to attach the mounting bracket to the boot. The boot itself may contain openings, such as ventilation openings, through which additional illumination elements attached to a soft liner can be viewed, or the object may itself be transparent and the illumination elements affixed to an inside surface of the main object.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,733, issued Aug. 13, 2002 to Seifert, relates an illuminated sports board which has a riding platform having a top surface and a bottom surface, a microcontroller mounted on the top surface, a power source operably connected to the microcontroller, an electro-luminescent sheet positioned on the riding platform, an electrical circuit electrically connecting the microcontroller to the electro-luminescent sheet, and a translucent resin layer covering both the riding platform and the electro-luminescent sheet.
Two U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,003 issued Mar. 6, 2007 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,498 issued Jun. 20, 2006 to Dowling, are for light-emitting diode based products. High-brightness LEDs are provided, which combined with a processor for control, can produce a variety of pleasing effects for display and illumination. A system is disclosed which uses high-brightness, processor-controlled LEDs in combination with diffuse materials to produce color-changing effects. The systems described may be usefully employed to bring autonomous color-changing ability and effects to a variety of consumer products and other household items. The system may also include sensors so that the illumination of the LEDs might change in response to environmental conditions or a user input. Additionally, the system may include an interface to a network, so that the illumination of the LEDs may be controlled via the network. The LED system may be adapted to a variety of lighting applications, either as a replacement for conventional light bulbs, including incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, tungsten light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs, and so forth. It is mentioned that the lighting system may be used on a skateboard.
Two U.S. Pat. No. 7,161,313 issued Jan. 9, 2007 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,205 issued Nov. 15, 2005 to Piepgras, provide light emitting diode based products. Various exemplary implementations of light emitting diode (LED) based illumination products and methods are disclosed including, but not limited to, glow sticks, key chains, toys, balls, various game accessories, light bulbs, night lights, wall lights, wall switches, wall sockets, wall panels, modular lights, flexible lights, automotive lights, wearable accessories, light ropes, decorative lights such as icicles and icicle strings, light tubes, insect control lights and methods, and lighted air fresheners/scent dispensers. Any of the foregoing devices may be equipped with various types of user interfaces (both "local" and "remote") to control light generated from the device. Additionally, devices may be controlled via light control information or programs stored in device memory and/or transmitted or downloaded to the devices (e.g., devices may be controlled individually or collectively in groups via a network, glow sticks or other products may be downloaded with programming information that is stored in memory, etc.). Devices also may include sensors so that the generated light may change in response to various operating and/or environmental conditions or a user input. Various optical processing devices which may be used with any of the devices (e.g., reflectors, diffusers, etc.) also are disclosed. The LED system may be adapted to a variety of lighting applications, either as a replacement for conventional light bulbs, including incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, tungsten light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs, and so forth. It is mentioned that the lighting system may be used on a skateboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,936, issued Jun. 16, 1998 to Walton, is for a portable neon lighting system connectable to a vehicle. The portable neon lighting system comprises a first plastic encased neon light which comprises a first plastic encased neon light electrical connection, at least one first plastic encased neon light first strap, and at least one first plastic encased neon light second strap. The portable neon lighting system further comprises a rechargeable battery/transformer electrically connected to the first plastic encased neon light electrical connection. The rechargeable battery/transformer comprises a rechargeable battery/transformer ON/OFF switch electrically connected between the battery and the transformer, the rechargeable battery/transformer is connectable to a frame member by a rechargeable battery/transformer first strap and a rechargeable battery/transformer second strap. The portable neon lighting system further comprises a recharger electrically connected to the rechargeable battery/transformer by a recharger electrical connection. The recharger is connectable to a frame member by a recharger first strap and a recharger second strap. The recharger further comprises a recharger engager which functions to engage to and rotate with a moving part of the vehicle. The recharger engager functions as an energy transformation means to power the rechargeable battery/transformer thereby generating electricity therefrom.
What is needed is a high strength secured and protected light source removably attachable to a skateboard with a variety of lighting options to enhance the visual effects of the lighted skateboard in action.

Removable tubular variable lighting system for a skateboard


The invention comprises a container having sidewalls and a bottom; a rigid cover having integrally molded or detachable features simulating natural or manmade topographical features such as riverbeds, mountains, islands, whirlpools, and various rock and stone shapes. In accordance with the invention, the cover is detachably secured to the sidewalls of the container.

This invention relates to a sand and water table to be used as an educational product for early childhood schools and learning centers.
It is well known that conventional teaching by means of lecture and forced rote memorization has limited effectiveness, especially for young children. One major drawback of the conventional lecture approach is that it does not allow for individual differences in learning styles and in rates of learning. In addition, such teaching methods fail to foster a love for learning and do not encourage young students to learn on their own. Overcoming the shortcomings of conventional teaching methods is an age-old problem.
On solution is to provide students with hands-on, self-directed, experiential educational activities that, in contrast to conventional teaching methods, do promote a child's innate curiosity and foster independent learning. It is important that such activities not only impart knowledge but also be fun and interesting so that children will choose to learn rather than be forced to learn.
It also is well known that children, young and old, enjoy playing with water, sand and the like. Hence, activities involving water and sand can provide ideal "learn through play" experiences, allowing children to explore by following their natural desires and interests. Shaping sand and pouring water allows self-expression and experimentation without fear of mistakes. In addition, the child is afforded the opportunity to direct and construct his or her own learning in a manner dictated only by the child's imagination and desires. In this way, water and sand play provides the child with a sense of being in control. Water and sand play also provides an excellent opportunity for young children to play together, promoting their ability to work together and to learn from each others' experiences.
Furthermore, through the fun and fascination of manipulating and experimenting with real materials, children make basic discoveries that deepen their understanding of natural science concepts and of the world around them. For example, by experiencing the movement of water and floating objects, children discover that the amount and force of water affect its movement. Children also learn about gravity through observing the natural downward flow of water, and about erosion from watching water steadily wash away sand. Moreover, water and sand play encompasses multiple senses, language skills, math and science concepts, problem-solving skills, social development, and creative expression.
It is therefore desirable to develop a piece of equipment that would simulate the natural environment and provide for a variety of experiences with water, thereby teaching children about the properties of sand, water and water flow. It is further desirable that such an apparatus be in the form of a cover easily attachable to, and detachable from, an existing sand and water table.
It is therefore one objective of the present invention to provide a sand and water table with a cover that includes topographical features such as hills, bends, depressions, ripples and the like. It is another object of the invention that said cover easily attaches to, and detaches from, the sand and water table. Other objectives, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims.


A method for recording address information on an optical recording medium, an optical recording medium including address information recorded thereon by the same method, and a method for detecting the address information recorded on the optical recording medium. Physical address information of the recordable optical recording medium is encoded for insertion as a synchronous code in a head of each sector in an error correction code block unit including a predetermined number of sectors. After the encoded physical address information is modulated into a wobble signal, a wobble-shaped groove is formed on the optical recording medium, using the wobble signal. This configuration allows sector-by-sector addressing operation without reducing the data recording capacity of the optical recording medium for recording real data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for recording address information on an optical recording medium, an optical recording medium including address information recorded thereon by the same method, and a method for detecting the address information recorded on the optical recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general recordable optical disc (optical recording medium) such as a DVD-RAM, a DVD-RW (Re-Writable), or a high-density optical recording medium has a recess formed along a track having a spiral or concentric-circle form. The recessed portion is called a groove, and the remaining portion is called a land. There are two methods of recording data on the optical disc. One method is to record data on one of the groove and the land, and the other is to record data on both of them. When the groove is formed, a specific variation is formed in the wall of the groove. During the recording or reproducing operations, the specific variation produces a signal having a specific frequency. Thus, the specific variation is used as auxiliary clock means. The specific variation is called a wobble, and the signal having the specific frequency is called a wobble signal.
Meanwhile, physical address information should be formed in advance on the optical disc. To this end, a CAPA (Complementary Allocated Pit Addressing) method is used for the DVD-RAM, and a land pre-pit addressing method is used for the DVD-RW.
The Land pre-pit addressing method used in the DVD-RW has a problem that the address decoding performance may be lowered depending on the state of the disc and recording/reproducing conditions such as a tilt of the disc.
On the other hand, in the CAPA method, sector-by-sector address information is formed and recorded in the pre-pit form at the head of each of the sectors for the physical addressing operation. The CAPA method has an advantage in that a sector-by-sector addressing operation can be performed, but has a problem that, because the address information is recorded on a sector basis on the data recording region on which real data is to be recorded, the data recording capacity for recording real data is reduced.
In order to overcome the problem of reduction in the data recording capacity, a method for recording physical address on the optical recording medium using a wobble signal carrying the physical address has been proposed. This method is called a wobble addressing method.
As an example of such a wobble addressing method, there is a BPSK (Binary Pulse Shift Keying) wobble addressing method that has been adopted in the high-density optical recording medium.
FIG. 1 is a view showing the format of one error correction block of physical address information that is formed and recorded in the wobble form on the high-density optical recording medium by the BPSK wobble addressing method. As shown in FIG. 1, in the high-density optical recording medium, four addressing operations are performed for one ECC (Error Correction Code) block having a predetermined recording size (e.g., an ECC of 16-sector recording size). That is, the error correction code block of 16-sector recording size is divided into four different ADIP (Address In Pre-Groove) words (ADIP Word #1–#4) of 4-sector recording size, and the addressing operation is performed for each ADIP word. One ADIP word includes 52 ADIP units, and one ADIP unit includes 93 wobble units. An ADIP word synchronous code (ADIP Sync) is expressed at the first ADIP unit of each ADIP word, and physical address information of the error correction code block is expressed by 51 bits at the remaining 51 ADIP units. The ADIP word synchronous code indicates that its subsequent 51 ADIP units are physical address data of the error correction code block, and each ADIP word synchronous code has one kind of predetermined code value.
Accordingly, the BPSK wobble addressing method currently used in the high-density optical recording medium has an advantage in that, because there is no need to form and record address information in a separate pre-pit, differently from the CAPA method, the data recording capacity for recording real data can be prevented from being reduced.
However, in the BPSK wobble addressing method, because the ADIP word synchronous code is formed and recorded on a 4-sector basis, it is possible to perform random access, or data overwrite recording, etc., on an error correction block basis, but it is impossible to perform addressing operation on a sector basis.

Method for recording address information on optical recording medium, optical recording medium including address information recorded thereon by the same method, and method for detecting address information recorded on the same optical recording medium


A method and system for evaluating service definitions in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) system which provides service offerings categorized according to service categories using a taxonomy. A specification field receives a formal definition of a service. The formal definition is for inclusion to define one of service offerings of the SOA. A current grammar is determined which is currently in effect as a specification-requirement of acceptable definitions for a service category in which the service is categorized. The current grammar is a common grammar. The system determines whether the formal definition in the specification field is acceptable, by adhering to the current grammar determined to be currently in effect as the specification-requirement for the category of the service. The formal definition is accepted for the service when it is determined to be acceptable according to the current grammar. Otherwise, the formal definition is rejected.

In a service-oriented architecture (SOA) system, which has a process chain of service offerings, each of the service offerings can have its own rules. The SOA system provides a conventional technique to expose pieces of service offerings that might be composable.
Using SOA techniques, a provider can execute a complete process chain for an overall process by combining offerings of different partners that can each supply one or more services to undertake steps of the overall process. For this process, the provider conventionally employs a so-called partner portal that allows the partners to make their respective service offerings known to the provider. Typically, the partner that provides one of the service offerings also provides the self-describing definitions for the service.
The definitions for each of the services are not necessarily confluent, even when the services are in a process chain. Furthermore, each of the offered services might have legal and/or internal restrictions which limit the functioning of the services.
The rapidly expanding number of offered services makes it increasingly difficult to guide service definitions to the needs of the provider.
An SOA governance system is used for activities related to exercising control over services in a SOA. In addition to the service definitions, another of the operational elements of a conventional governance model is an access control infrastructure which is used in order to check authorization, using access control policies and security assertions written in a specialized grammar such as XACML or SecPAL.
As an example of service definitions, consider U.S. Pat. No. 7,801,976, to Hodges et al., which discloses a SOA method to capture service properties in service process profiles, and among other things to interrogate possible services by reviewing service properties captured in the service process profiles. According to Hodges, machine-readable (e.g., XML-based) metadata may be used to capture the self-describing service profiles.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,739,228, to Erickson et al., discloses a method of generating a services repository using a target services roadmap, which receives an identification of an implemented service from the user and maps the implemented service to target services. Erickson uses, among other things, a service description which can be the definition of a reusable business function that endpoints can consume.
These and other known solutions are examples of standard techniques for self-describing services as well as techniques to check these descriptions against certain rules and/or policies.
Nevertheless, the problem remains that the service descriptions are insufficiently flexible and not readily extensible, especially for the purposes of the provider of the process chain which combines offerings of separate partners.

System and method for evaluating input based on dynamic grammars


A pixel arrangement structure, a display substrate and a mask group are disclosed. The pixel arrangement structure includes a plurality of pixel groups, each of the plurality of pixel groups includes one red sub-pixel, two green sub-pixels and one blue sub-pixel; the red sub-pixel and the blue sub-pixel are arranged along a first direction; the two green sub-pixels are arranged along a second direction. Four vertexes included in the red sub-pixel are located in a first virtual rhombus and are substantially coincident with four vertexes of the first virtual rhombus, respectively; four vertexes included in the blue sub-pixel are located in a second virtual rhombus and are substantially coincident with four vertexes of the second virtual rhombus, respectively; at least one of the red or the blue sub-pixel has a shape of a corresponding virtual rhombus with each side of the virtual rhombus being an inwardly concaved side.

At present, in mobile phone and flat panel display technology, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displayers have gradually become the mainstream of next generation displayers for their advantages of self-illumination, vivid colors, low power consumption, wide viewing-angle and the like. Organic light-emitting diode includes active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED). As compared to conventional liquid crystal displayers, AMOLED displayers are self-luminous instead of adopting backlight sources. Organic light-emitting diode is formed by evaporating an organic material onto an array substrate, in which the organic material is evaporated onto an anode in an opening of a pixel definition layer (PDL) on the array substrate, and the opening of the pixel definition layer is configured to limit a size of an actual light-emitting area.

Pixel arrangement structure and display substrate

Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Measuring a D.C. motor's armature voltage and current and measuring its rotation speed using a Hall-effect sensor enable a particular motor's characteristic equation to be determined empirically. After the equation that models a motor is determined, rotation speed can be determined between Hall-effect sensor signals using real-time measurements of armature voltage and current, which are substituted back into the equation. Current and/or voltage can also be adjusted to increase, decrease or maintain rotation speed.

The direct current (D.C.) motor is often called upon to do the really tough industrial jobs because of its flexibility and because it is easy to control. It can also provide its full rated output torque at start up, i.e., zero RPM, using no more than its rated current. In certain applications, however, its high starting torque can be problematic, such as when a D.C. motor is used to drive mechanical devices that do not stand up well to high starting torque. Precise speed control can also be difficult to achieve as the load on a D.C. motor changes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,179 to Kessler et al. entitled "Method for Establishing the Rotational Speed of Mechanically Commutated D.C. Motors" discloses a method and apparatus for providing precise speed control using commutation ripple. For various reasons, however, the commutation ripple of some D.C. motors is not detectable, rendering the method and apparatus disclosed in the patent unhelpful. A method and apparatus for providing precise control of a D.C. motor rotation speed when commutation ripple is too weak or undetectable would be an improvement over the prior art.

High resolution motor speed for closed-loop speed control


A latch mechanism which facilities installation and removal of a reel space type cutting head of a gang mower. The latch mechanism includes horizontal slots formed in the vertical plates of a pull frame. The horizontal slots receive bushings attached to the cutting head assembly. When the bushings engage the horizontal slots, locking plates are rotated to engage a horizontal crossrod and fixed in place so that the cutting head is locked in position to the pull frame. The cutting head can similarly be removed from the pull frame by moving the locking plates from a locked to an unlocked position, thereby opening the horizontal slots so that the bushings of the cutting head can be removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to riding mowers for use on golf courses and other large grounds, and more particularly relates to riding mowers having a latch mechanism which greatly facilitates attaching and detaching cutting heads from the mower.
2. Discussion
The assignee of the present invention manufacturers and sells riding mowers for turf maintenance. More particularly, the assignee sells both electrically and hydraulically operated mowers for turf maintenance. An example of the all-electric riding greens mower is described in detail in the commonly-assigned patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,778, issued Apr. 18, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,037, issued Jul. 30, 1996; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,445, issued Sep. 10, 1996, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Whether using an electrically or hydraulically operated mower, turf mowers of the type used on golf courses or other large grounds typically require frequent maintenance. This frequent maintenance periodically necessitates the removal of the cutting heads from the mower to facilitate access to the various parts of the cutting head so that maintenance, repair, and replacement of parts may be more easily performed.
In a typical gang mower, the cutting head attaches to the mower through a pull frame assembly. The pull frame assembly includes a vertically oriented spindle or kingpin inserted into a vertical cylinder attached to the frame of the mower by a lift arm. The spindle is held in place by a linchpin inserted through the spindle on the opposite side of the vertical cylinder to maintain attachment to the vertical cylinder. The pull frame also attaches to the cutting head by bolting to each end of a crossrod which traverses the frame of the cutting head.
In a typical three cutting head mower configuration, two cutting heads are placed in front of the front wheels of the mower, and a third cutting head is placed beneath the operator between the front wheels and the rear wheel of the mower. The center cutting head usually presents the most difficulties of the three cutting heads with respect to removal. The mower frame is relatively close to the ground so that there is insufficient clearance to easily remove the spindle of the pull frame from the vertical cylinder. In such a configuration, the operator must first detach the cutting head from the pull frame by removing shoulder bolts which attach the pull frame to the cutting head via the crossrod.
To unbolt the cutting head, the operator must reach beneath the mower in order to get into a suitable position for removing the shoulder bolts. The operator then removes the shoulder bolts from the cutting head to detach the pull frame from the cutting head. After the shoulder bolts have been removed, the operator then gets onto the mower, starts the engine, raises the lift arm to clear the pull frame from the cutting head, and backs the mower up slightly so that the cutting head can be removed from beneath the mower.
While this operation may seem relatively straight-forward, the complexity and compactness of the mower and the attached cutting head significantly complicate this operation. A given cutting head may have several accessories, such as rotary brushes, groomer assemblies, counterweights, front roller scrapers, grooved rollers, and vertical cutters. These accessories may not only impair access to the shoulder bolts, these accessories may completely restrict access to the shoulder bolts without the removal of one or several of these accessories. This increases significantly the operator time required to remove the shoulder bolts so that the cutting head may be removed from the mower. The above difficulties are not easily resolved due to the very limited space available for inserting any additional parts to facilitate installation and removal of the cutting head.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a release mechanism to facilitate installation and removal of the cutting head onto and from the mower.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a release mechanism for facilitating installation and removal of the cutting head onto and from the mower which requires a minimum of space and enables the use of any of a number of various attachments on the cutting head.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a release mechanism for facilitating installation and removal of a cutting head onto and from a mower where the release mechanism is advantageously located between vertical plates of the pull frame and cutting head.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a release mechanism having two operative positions, where one operative position enables installation and removal of the cutting head and the other operative position locks the cutting head onto the pull frame.

Release mechanism for cutting head of a gang mower


A simulation for breeding a virtual creature for growing the creature by a player by applying disciplining or training treatments to the creature in a screen. The apparatus is provided with mark display units individually displaying a plurality of kinds of treatments related to breeding the virtual creature and key switches for inputting a corresponding one of the treatments by selecting a specific mark from the plurality of marks. The apparatus includes a storing unit for storing control data related to breeding the virtual creature, a control unit whereby treatments for breeding the virtual creature are inputted by operating the key switches and a display unit for displaying the fostered virtual creature. Control data corresponding to input into the control unit is read from the storing unit and a control process related to breeding the virtual creature is conducted based on the read control data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a simulation apparatus for breeding a virtual creature by performing a treatment in respect of a call from the virtual creature, or even if there is no call or request from the virtual creature, by a player voluntarily taking care of the virtual creature.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, various electronic game apparatuses for raising a pet such as a dog or a cat in a predetermined screen, have been proposed and sold. There have been known conventional electronic game apparatuses of this kind disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-7-261962 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-7-281819.
According to a conventional example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-7-261962, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are installed to a main body of an apparatus and infrared ray emitted from the light emitting element is reflected by hand or the like and received by the light receiving element by noncontact operation of a user (player)-Further, data of a plurality of patterns of dog characters and biorhythms of dog characters are stored in a memory and accordingly, data of the dog characters in correspondence with a number of times of the noncontact operation and a biorhythm of the day are selectively read from the memory and are displayed. Thereby, a character image in correspondence with physical condition of the dog character can be selectively displayed.
According to the conventional example disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-7-28189, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are installed to a main body of an apparatus and infrared ray from the light emitting element is reflected by hand or the like and received by the light receiving element by noncontact operation of a user by which a noncontact operation distance is detected. Further, a plurality of kinds of dog character data where motion of a dog is changed such as a looking-back dog or a paw-raising dog or the like and effective sound data are stored in a memory and accordingly, the dog character data are selectively read and displayed in correspondence with the noncontact operation distance and the effective sound thereof is emitted from a speaker. In this way, the character image in compliance with a gesticular order by the hand of the user can selectively displayed.
However, according to both of the above-described conventional examples, instruction is issued to a character image by a unilateral order from the user and there has been no example where a player breeds a creature taking the state of the character image into consideration.

Breeding simulation apparatus for virtual creatures


The present invention relates to an apparatus for characterizing particles suspended in a liquid, especially a self-contained disposable cartridge for single-use analysis, such as for single-use analysis of a small quantity of whole blood. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for characterizing particles in liquid and a device for sampling a small and accurate volume of liquid. The apparatus comprises a housing having a mixing chamber and a collection chamber separated by a wall containing an opening, a first bore in the outer surface of the housing for entrance of a liquid sample, a first cavity for receiving and holding a first liquid sample, and a second cavity for receiving and holding a second liquid sample.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for characterizing particles suspended in a liquid, especially a self-contained disposable cartridge for single-use analysis, such as for single-use analysis of a small quantity of whole blood.
2. Description of the Background Art
Present instruments for particle characterization such as counting and sizing are fairly expensive, immobile and require operation by trained personnel. The consequence hereof has been that many instruments are placed in dedicated laboratories that are operated by specialized personnel. Furthermore, the samples to be analyzed must be transported to this laboratory and the results are reported back to the requiree.
However, efforts have been made to provide a disposable cartridge for particle characterization. WO 03/104772 discloses a cartridge for analysis of a blood sample. The cartridge disclosed in WO 03/104772 can be used for determination of the content of haemoglobin and for counting and differentiation between three types of white blood cells (WBCs). In one embodiment the platelets are counted after lysing of the blood sample. In another embodiment the cartridge comprises two orifices and two mixing chambers for characterization of a blood sample. The blood sample is diluted in a first mixing chamber for particle characterization of WBCs through a first orifice and a part of the diluted sample is further diluted in a second mixing chamber for particle characterization of red blood cells (RBCs) and platelets (PLTs) through a second orifice.
WO 03/044488 discloses a disposable apparatus for use in blood testing, the apparatus being adapted for simultaneous dilution of blood into two different dilution ratios in two different mixing chambers.

Dual sample cartridge and method for characterizing particles in liquid


A method for programming a memory is provided. The memory includes a number of cells and has a preset PV level for a target cell. The method includes programming a first-side of the target cell to have a Vt level not lower than the preset PV level; reading a Vt level of a second-side of the target cell and accordingly obtaining a corrected PV level corresponding to the first-side; and programming the first-side of the target cell to have a Vt level not lower than the corresponding corrected PV level.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a method for reading and programming a memory, and more particularly to a method for reading and programming a memory, which corrects the program verify (PV) level, erase verify (EV) level or read reference level of the first-side and the second-side of each cell by considering an array effect, a second-bit effect and a neighbor-bit effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the traditional flash memory, such as a multi-level cell (MLC) memory, has two sides in each memory cell and each side, having at least one bit, is set to have a preset PV level in a program operation and have a preset reference level for read/PV/EV in a read operation. For example, if the MLC memory has one bit in each side of the memory cell, there are four possible Vt distributions for each cell: "11", "10", "01" and "00". These reference levels are normally kept at a constant value in the whole program or read operation without considering the cell characteristics of the neighboring cells.
FIG. 1A shows an example of the second-side and neighbor side for a first-side of a specific cell to be programmed or read during source side sensing. As shown in FIG. 1A, supposed the first-side B2 of the cell B is to be programmed or read, the other side B1 of the cell B is defined as a second-side of the first-side B2.
When the memory array becomes larger, the sensed threshold voltage (Vt) level of each cell will deviate from an initial Vt level by a shift value due to a parasitic-resistance effect (an array effect), a second-bit effect and a neighbor-bit effect existing in the cell current sensing path as shown in FIG. 1B. The second-bit effect and neighbor-bit effect will be more and more significant when each cell of the memory is scaling down. As a result, the sensing window SW1 between Vt distributions "11", "10", "01" and "00" of the memory becomes smaller than the sensing window SW0 without Vt shift (as shown in FIG. 1B) and thus the memory cycling margin is greatly reduced.

Method for reading and programming a charge-trap memory device compensated for an array/second-bit/neighbor-bit effect


A method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium are provided for taking snapshots of a storage volume. According to aspects of one method, each snapshot is represented as a unique sequence number. Every fresh write access to a volume in a new snapshot lifetime is allocated a new section in the disk, called a provision, which is labeled with the sequence number. Read-modify-write operations are performed on a sub-provision level at the granularity of a chunk. Because each provision contains chunks with valid data and chunks with invalid data, a bitmap is utilized to identify the valid and invalid chunks with each provision. Provisions corresponding to different snapshots are arranged in a linked list. Branches from the linked list can be created for storing writable snapshots. Provisions may also be deleted and rolled back by manipulating the contents of the linked lists.

In the data storage industry, snapshots have become a preferred method of protecting a data storage volume against inadvertent data loss and for performing background backups. A snapshot is a read-only volume that is a point-in-time image of a data storage volume that can be created, mounted, deleted, and rolled back onto the data storage volume arbitrarily. Snapshots are utilized extensively in the data storage industry for security, backup, and archival purposes.
Snapshots are typically implemented in the data storage industry utilizing a technology called copy-on-write ("COW"). When a snapshot is taken utilizing a COW algorithm and a new write arrives at a logical location at which data was written before the snapshot, a copy is made of the old data at a new location before the new data is written to the old location. Some metadata is also written to keep track of the fact that the old data has been copied to a new location.
One major drawback of the existing methods for performing snapshots is that the required input/output operations impose significant performance penalties when snapshots are currently active. This is because snapshots implemented utilizing the COW algorithm must perform three input/output operations for each new read/write request that arrives to the system: 1) a read from the original location of the old data; 2) a write to a snapshot location for the old data; and 3) a write to the original location for the new data. Two of these input/output operations are to the same location, thereby increasing rotational latency. Additionally, a number of sparse metadata writes must be performed in both cases. The combination of the rotational delay due to the double I/O at the same location and the overall delay results in performance penalties of a factor of at least twenty for each snapshot taken in some contemporary implementations. If multiple snapshots are active, most contemporary systems exhibit such severe performance degradation that taking more than four or five concurrent snapshots becomes impractical.
In addition to the significant performance penalties, current systems for taking snapshots in a data storage system are also limited in the features they provide. For instance, current systems do not allow the arbitrary creation of snapshots with effectively imperceptible delay imposed between the creation of snapshots, do not allow users to quickly delete snapshots to reclaim space without effecting newer or older snapshots and without contributing perceptibly to the input/output load of the system, and do not permit snapshots to be "rolled back" to any earlier snapshot without making the system unavailable for a length of time, or even having to take the system down entirely. Current systems also do not support the mounting of arbitrary snapshots or the creation of "writable snapshots," which are branches off of any snapshot and that share data with the parent snapshot but not necessarily with the parent volume.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for taking and managing snapshots of a storage volume


A bonded structure 1 including an aluminum alloy plate 3 and a rubber 7 of vibration proof rubber adhering to each other with an adhesive wherein the aluminum alloy plate 3 includes aluminum alloy containing no more than 12% by weight of silicon and no more than 2.2% by weight of copper and the application of such aluminum alloy to the bonded structure 1 decreases the total weight of the structure 1 and improves both corrosion resistance and adhesiveness under corrosive conditions wherein the bonded structure is favorably applied to damper pulleys and shock-absorbing body mounts of vehicles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bonded structure of aluminum alloy and rubber with adhesive and to the manufacturing process therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Bonded structures generally include a steel base and rubber adhering to the base. Typical examples of bonded structures are damper pulleys and shock-absorbing body mounts of vehicles. A damper pulley fixed to a crank shaft of an engine transmits a driving force to auxiliary equipment like a generator via a belt. A shock-absorbing body mount attached between a suspension frame and a body reduces vibration transmitted from wheels to the body. Aluminum alloy has recently been used as a new base material for such bonded structures because of its lightness in weight.
Bonded structures for vehicles are required to have sufficient durability since they may be used under corrosive conditions, for example, they may be exposed to sea water in coastal zones or to snow-melting salt in cold districts. Namely, a joint between the aluminum alloy and the rubber in bonded structures should have extremely high corrosion resistance and adhesiveness.

Bonded structure of aluminum alloy and rubber and manufacture process therefor


A doctor blade device (01) for cleaning a surface has a doctor blade (03) and a tub (09) for receiving the material stripped from the surface by the doctor blade. The doctor blade is movable between a position in which it projects out of an opening (13) of the tub and a position in which it is submerged in the tub. A closure element (07) closes the opening in the submerged position of the doctor blade.

Washing apparatuses are known for the automatic cleaning of ink-carrying rolls in a printing press, which washing apparatuses comprise spray nozzles or similar means for applying a cleaning fluid to the surface which is to be cleaned, and also comprise a doctor blade device which serves for pressing a flexible doctor blade against the surface which is wetted with the washing fluid, and thus for wiping off the washing fluid together with ink which is dissolved in it. The ink solution which is obtained in this way runs off into a trough of the doctor blade device and is led away via the latter. After the end of the washing process, ink residues remain on a conventional doctor blade device of this type, which ink residues have to be removed by hand, as they would otherwise dry on the doctor blade and damage the surface of the roll to be cleaned when said doctor blade is used again.
The invention is based on the aim of providing a doctor blade device.


A lens shift mechanism includes a movable portion configured to support a projection lens and movable in two directions orthogonal to each other in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis; first and second operating units configured to generate drive forces for moving the movable portion in the two directions, respectively, first and second rotating portions to which the drive forces generated by the first and second operating units are transmitted, and a lock mechanism configured to be capable of switching between a locked state in which the two operating units are locked and an unlocked state in which the two rotating portions are rotatable, and the lock mechanism includes first and second locking members configured to lock the first and second rotating portions respectively and a lever mechanism configured to move the two locking members.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projector.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a projector including a light modulating apparatus configured to modulate an optical flux emitted from a light source and a projection lens configured to project the modulated optical flux is known. There is proposed a projector provided with a lens shift mechanism configured to move the projection lens so as to allow a user to move a projected image without moving the projector.
There is also proposed a technology provided with a lock mechanism in a lens shift mechanism so as to prevent an image projected by a projection lens moved for some reasons from being displaced (for example, see JP-A-2007-78729).
The lock mechanism described in JP-A-2007-78729 includes a lever member configured to allow a user to perform a sliding operation, a horizontal lock member configured to disengageably engage a spur gear on a back side of a horizontal operation dial to enable or disable an operation of the horizontal operation dial according to the sliding operation of the lever member, a vertical lock member configured to disengageably engage a spur gear on a back side of a vertical operation dial to enable or disable an operation of the vertical operation dial, and a torsion spring configured to urge the respective lock members in the direction toward the respective spur gears.
The horizontal lock member and the vertical lock member are each configured to engage and disengage the spur gear by rotating about a shaft extending parallel to a center axis of rotation of the spur gear to be engaged and disengaged.
However, the lens shift mechanism described in JP-A-2007-78729 has problems of complicated structure and complexity in manufacture due to a configuration of the lock mechanism in which the horizontal lock member and the vertical lock member are assembled to shafts extending parallel to the center axes of rotation of the spur gears of the operation dials, and increase in size of the lock mechanism or generation of restriction in arrangement of other members due to an arrangement of the horizontal lock member and the vertical lock member in the direction orthogonal to the center axes of rotation. Also, the lens shift mechanism described in JP-A-2007-78729 has a risk of breakage of members which constitute the lens shift mechanism when a drive force which causes the projection lens to move further is exerted thereon when the projection lens reaches a limit of movable range.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Projector with a lens shift mechanism configured to move a projection lens


A garden soaker hose and reel assembly includes a ground anchor on one end of the soaker hose which is rigidly fixed to the soaker hose. The reel has a special configuration to make the soaker hose easier to unwind from the reel and to wind back onto the reel. The soaker hose can be provided with a stripe on the upper wall of the soaker hose to make it easily apparent if the hose is twisted.

A soaker hose is a well-known product and comprises a flattened plastic hose containing small openings in a top face. One end of the soaker hose is provided with a hose coupling. The other end (the tail end) is usually provided with a small plastic plug. Sometimes, the tail end of the soaker hose is simply welded shut.
One disadvantage with a soaker hose is that the hose is prone to twisting as it is laid on the ground. Any twisting will result in water spraying from the hose in the wrong direction and this is undesirable.
It is known to lay bricks or heavy weights on the hose to keep it straight as the hose is positioned in place.
It is also known to provide ground stakes which contain some form of finger clamping mechanism to clamp about the hose body to hold the hose in place. These ground stakes are often used if it is desired to have the hose adopt a deliberate somewhat twisted shape such that water passes from the hose in a desired direction. These ground stakes are always removably attached to the soaker hose body and are not designed to stay attached to the soaker hose. Another disadvantage with these ground stakes are that they can block some of the holes in the soaker hose which is undesirable. Examples of these types of ground stakes are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,668, U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,370, U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,194, U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,342 and Canadian patent 1307513. Therefore, it is not desirable to have a ground stake attached intermediate the length of a soaker hose.
It is known to provide some form of anchor assembly on one end of a soaker hose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,817 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,818 describe such devices. However, a main disadvantage with these known devices is that the anchor allows the soaker hose to swivel or rotate. This is a disadvantage with soaker hoses as it is always highly desirable to ensure that when the soaker hose is laid on the ground, it is always laid in the "upright" position to ensure that the perforations in the soaker hose extends upwardly.
Another disadvantage with a soaker hose is that to keep the hose from twisting, it is desirable to store the hose in a substantially non twisted manner. Therefore, some form of soaker hose reel would be advantageous as this could keep the soaker hose in a non twisted position when being stored. However, it is found that storing the hose on a circular hose reel tends to promote twisting of the hose. Also, conventional hose reels have some disadvantages in the easy and smooth unrolling of the soaker hose from the hose reel.
It can be quite difficult to unwind a soaker hose from the reel and onto a ground surface while preventing twisting of the soaker hose and preventing the soaker hose from being dragged along the ground as the hose is unwound from the reel.
Finally, conventional soaker hoses are usually made from a top piece and a bottom piece that are welded together to form the hose. These pieces are identical, and small openings are punched or otherwise formed in the top piece. A disadvantage with the system is that it is extremely difficult to see if the hose is in the "upright" position or the "upside down" position as the only way that this can be seen is by viewing the openings, and the openings are usually no more than a pinprick in size making it very difficult to see if the soaker hose is indeed in the proper upright position.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.


Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to access control and provide a method, system and computer program product for access control management for a collection of heterogeneous application components. In a first embodiment, a data processing system for role-based access control management for multiple heterogeneous application components can include at least one business role descriptor associating a business role with multiple, different application roles for corresponding, disparate application components. The system also can include at least one access policy associating a user with the business role. Finally, the system can include policy deployment logic include program code enabled to process the access policy to assign the user to the different application roles in the disparate application components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the concurrent display of multiple, heterogeneous application components and more particularly to access control among multiple, heterogeneous application components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Access control relates to the moderation and limitation of access rights to resources in a computing system. Resources can range from documents to application logic and access rights can range from read-only access to full read, write and execute access. Oftentimes, access control can vary from user to user depending upon the trustworthiness of the user. Those having a higher level of trust are granted access permissions associated with a high degree of access, while those having a lower level of trust are granted only an amount of access permission required to achieve a specific objective. In this way, the exposure of the security and integrity of the underlying resources can be minimized.
Access control for an application having only a limited number of users can be relatively manageable. For each individual user, a requisite level of access can be determined subjectively, and corresponding access rights can be assigned to the user. For an application which involves a vast number of often unpredictable individual users, access control can be unmanageable. Where the requisite access rights change for individual users in the latter scenario, access control can be a disastrous proposition! In consequence, the notion of role-based access control evolved.
Role-based access control relates to the assignment of access rights not to an individual user, but to a role fulfilled by one or more individual users. Specifically, it can be more readily determined what level of access rights are to be afforded to a user who fulfills a particular role in an application, such as an administrator, guest, manager, executive and the like. In the concept of workflow, roles can be extended to the type of user responsible for a portion of a business process. In this way, though the identity and roles assumed by any one user can be fluid in nature, the access rights afforded to a user assigned to a specific role can remain relatively static. Consequently, the management of access rights, even for a vast number of users, can be dramatically simplified.
Identifying roles for a particular application can be a simple task so long as the number of roles is limited in nature. The complexity of managing different roles can increase, however, where multiple, different applications are involved. In the past, the singular management of multiple, disparate applications rarely had been an issue. More recently, the popularization of portal and application server technologies have given rise to a new breed of disparate application collections. In a heterogeneous collection of applications, however, similar roles can have disparate identifiers such that one can easily mistake two identical roles of different names as two different roles, or two different roles of identical names in different applications as the same role. Accordingly, the same problems akin to the granular management of access rights for individual users can be present in the heterogeneous application scenario.

Role-based access control management for multiple heterogeneous application components

International Business Machines Corporation


To provide an active material with high capacity, high initial charge-discharge efficiency, and high average discharge voltage. An active material according to the present invention includes a first active material and a second active material, wherein the ratio (δ) of the second active material (B) to the total amount by mole of the first active material (A) and the second active material (B) satisfies 0.4 mol %≦δ≦18 mol % [where δ=(B/(A+B))×100].

In recent years, the spread of various kinds of electric automobiles has been expected as the solution to the environment and energy issues. The development of the lithium ion secondary battery as an on-vehicle power source such as a power source for driving a motor, which is the key for the practical application of the electric automobiles, has been conducted extensively. For widely spreading the battery as the on-vehicle battery, however, it is necessary to increase the performance of the battery and decrease the price of the battery. Moreover, the mileage per charge of the electric automobile needs to be as long as that of the automobile powered by a gasoline engine. Thus, the battery with higher energy has been anticipated.
For allowing the battery to have higher energy density and higher discharge capacity, it is necessary to increase the quantity of electricity to be stored in a positive electrode and a negative electrode per unit mass. As a positive electrode material (active material for a positive electrode) that can meet the above requirements, a Ni—Co—Mn ternary composite oxide and a so-called solid solution based material having a crystal structure belonging to a space group R-3m and containing lithium in a transition metal site have been examined. In the Ni—Co—Mn ternary composite oxide and the solid solution based material, however, since the irreversible capacity at the initial charge is high, the initial charge-discharge efficiency of the positive electrode active material is low. Therefore, in the design of the battery, the opposite negative electrode needs to be used excessively, resulting in a problem that the battery capacity deteriorates, for example. In view of this, Patent Literature 1 has suggested that the initial charge-discharge efficiency is improved by the inclusion of the lithium-contained metal oxide containing nickel and manganese, and LiFePO4.

Active material, electrode using same, and lithium ion secondary battery


A system and related method provides within a data processing system (DPS), a first set of computing resources comprising a set of processor units that comprises a first core in an active state, and a second core that is initially in an inactive state. The processor allocates, for a partition that is hosted on the DPS, the first set of computing resources. The partition is operated using the first core before the second core has been activated. A resource manager determines whether to increase processing capacity based on an abnormal event. The processor then activates the second core from the inactive state to the active state. The partition is then operated using both the first and second (activated). In response to a predefined criterion, the second core is deactivated from the active state to the inactive state.

Disclosed herein is a data processing system to dynamically increase processing capacity of one or more virtual machines executing on corresponding partitions of the data processing system when an abnormal event occurs.
Organizations commonly use network data processing systems in manufacturing products, performing services, internal activities, and other suitable operations. Some organizations use network data processing systems in which the hardware and software are owned and maintained by the organization. These types of network data processing systems may take the form of local area networks, wide area networks, and other suitable forms. These types of networks place the burden of maintaining and managing the resources on the organization. In some cases, an organization may outsource the maintenance of a network data processing system. Other organizations may use network data processing systems in which the hardware and software may be located and maintained by a third party. With this type of organization, the organization uses computer systems to access the network data processing system. With this type of architecture, the organization has less hardware to use and maintain.
This type of network data processing system also may be referred to as a cloud. In a cloud environment, the cloud is often accessed through the internet in which the organization uses computers or a simple network data processing system to access these resources. Further, with a cloud, the number of computing resources provided to an organization may change dynamically. For example, as an organization needs more computing resources, the organization may request those computing resources.
As a result, organizations that use clouds do not own the hardware and software. Further, these organizations avoid capital expenditures and costs for maintenance of the computing resources. The organizations pay for the computing resources used. The organizations may be paid based on the resources actually used, such as actual processing time and storage space, or other use of resources. The organizations also may pay for fixed amounts of computing resources periodically. For example, an organization may pay for a selected amount of storage and processing power on a monthly basis. This usage is similar to resources, such as electricity or gas.
Although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein is not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, embodiments are capable of being implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known or later developed.

Increasing processing capacity of virtual machines for an abnormal event


The invention provides a water treatment apparatus and method of use. The apparatus comprises an inlet configured to be connected to a source of liquid to be treated, and at least one liquid treatment vessel arranged to expose liquid in the vessel to ultraviolet radiation in an advanced oxidation process reaction. A source of ultraviolet radiation comprises a longitudinal axis oriented substantially parallel to a direction of flow of liquid past the source. A boundary surface between the source and a liquid to be treated is provided with one or more cleaning elements arranged longitudinally on the boundary surface. The cleaning elements and the boundary surface are arranged to be rotationally moveable relative to one another around the longitudinal axis of the source.

Industrial waste waters are generated as a by-product from industrial operations which include (but are not limited to) chemical manufacturing or processing, food and beverage production and the oil and gas industry. In the field of industrial or wastewater treatment, it is known to use advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) to treat water or waste water through interactions with reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals (.OH). Advanced oxidation processes are useful for a number of reasons, including the high reactivity of hydroxyl radicals and their applicability in oxidising a range of organic and inorganic contaminants; their ability to treat organic compounds directly when in an aqueous phase; and the absence of additional hazardous substances or waste streams.
One example application is in the treatment of produced water in the oil and gas industry. Produced water is a wastewater by-product from hydrocarbon extraction, and it must be separated from the oil and gas fractions of the produced fluid. The separated water will contain low but measurable amounts of organic and inorganic contaminants that have the potential to harm the environment and so the water must be treated. Another hydrocarbon industry application is the treatment of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations.
Examples of advanced oxidation processes include those in which oxygen (O2), ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and/or ultraviolet (UV) radiation are used to generate hydroxyl radicals in the reaction process, either alone or in combination with one another. Some advanced oxidation techniques use metal oxide catalysts such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) or aluminium oxide (Al2O3) in order to lower activation energies, lower ozone consumption, and/or ultimately to enhance reaction parameters such as the rate of reduction in Total Organic Content (or Total Organic Carbon) (TOC). Advanced oxidation processes have been engineered for batch treatment of liquids and continuous online treatment within flow systems.
A range of different factors are known to impact on the efficiency of an advanced oxidation process, and there is generally a demand to improve upon the efficiency of existing systems, process time, and the ability to handle a range of flow rates and contaminants.
GB 2,404,189 describes a process and apparatus for the treatment of produced water from the hydrocarbon production industry, which uses a combination of ozone and UV radiation to reduce hydrocarbon and organic matter within the water. A Venturi ozone injector is used to introduce and dissolve ozone into the produced water flow stream which is subsequently exposed to UV radiation.
WO 2012/056249 discloses a fluid treatment apparatus for an advanced oxidation process. The apparatus comprises a primary flow line connecting an inlet and an outlet of the apparatus and an ozone-injecting device. A reactor vessel includes a UV light source for treating the ozone-enriched fluid. A secondary flow line is arranged in parallel to the primary flow line to provide variation of a fluid flow rate within the apparatus.
While the approaches described in GB 2,404,189 and WO 2012/056249 are useful in certain applications to the treatment of produced water, there remains a commercial need to provide water treatment apparatus and processes which have improved efficacy, economy, reliability and/or flexibility of application.
GB 2389577, RU 2042637, US 2010/0242192, JP2004358327, KR 1020100044762, and WO2006/111396 disclose rotational cleaning systems for ultraviolet sources in water treatment apparatus. However, the configurations of cleaning elements and drive mechanisms of the described systems limit their application in to a wide range of flow geometries.

Apparatus and methods for water treatment