A disk array device includes hard disks from which RAID groups are configured. Therein, a volume setting unit sets one or more used areas. A data check control unit determines, on the basis of the state into which the used areas have been set, which areas in the RAID groups are subject to a diagnosis. A data check execution unit that executes a cyclical diagnosis on the areas determined, by the data check control unit, to be those subject to a diagnosis.

In a disk array device, the state of a hard disk mounted thereon, particularly, the conditions of a head and a medium surface, is checked. Therefore, a disk array device is mounted with the function of checking the state of a hard disk.
As one type of this function of checking the state of a hard disk, there is a function that accesses a given amount of data each time on each disk device in a certain given cycle and performs check on a medium in a disk drive, data consistency check on a RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) group, and the like. One type of such cyclical disk checking is provided with a feature called write check (Write Check) and a feature called data check (Data Check). Write check is a feature configured to perform Write, Read, and Compare operations mainly for the purpose of checking a head. Whereas, data check is a feature configured to, mainly for the purpose of checking the medium surface of a disk, run verification on areas used by a user. Here, "verification" means to detect an area in which a fault has occurred and move undamaged data in that area to undamaged areas. For example, a technology called "Data Patrol" exists as a function having these two features that performs cyclical disk check.
Here, there are the following two views about areas on which to run the verification in data check. One view is that only areas having volumes set thereon have to be verified. The other view is that not only areas having volumes set thereon but also unused areas having no volumes set thereon have to be verified. In addition, which one of these two views is adopted for how areas on which to run the verification are determined is an important issue in using a disk array device. The state of use of the disk array device is an important key in thus determining areas on which to run the verification.
In the past, it was often the case that one disk array device was used exclusively by a specific user. For this reason, a prevailing manner of operation was formerly such that volumes were set before shipment and not subject to change after shipment. Therefore, it was formerly possible to presume that areas having volumes set thereon were areas that are appropriate for being subject to data check.
In contrast, a manner of operation such that a large-scale disk array device is used by two or more users at the same time with the internal resources of the device allocated among these users has been becoming increasingly common over recent years. In addition, a manner of operation such that each of the users freely creates and changes volumes has been becoming increasingly common. Therefore, the current situation is such that there is no general rule for determining whether areas appropriate for being subject to data check are only areas having volumes set thereon or areas including unused areas. This is because, although it was formerly possible to presume that unused areas were areas to remain unused in the future, it is recently possible to presume that unused areas are areas that are currently not in use but likely to be used in the future.
With regard thereto, in a case where data check is performed only on areas having volumes set thereon, when a volume is newly created for an unused area, work for creating the volume might be delayed because it is impossible to previously detect abnormality of a medium in this area. On the other hand, always performing data check on areas including unused areas results in performing data check on areas that are unlikely to be used in the near term, which is inefficient.
As a technology for determining areas subject to such data check, there is a related technology that measures the usage rate of a disk or the like, and, when the usage rate of a certain level is reached, performs check on unused areas, and newly uses areas on which check has been already performed (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-176101). Additionally, there is a related technology that obtains, on the basis of the operating condition of a processor, the state in which a storage device is used, and determines a test capacity of unused areas (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 04-167046).
However, in the related technology that determines a test capacity of unused areas on the basis of the operating condition of a processor, a processing load for determining unused areas is large and affects the IO (Input Output) performance in the originally intended processing of a disk array device. On the other hand, the related technology that performs check on unused areas on the basis of the usage rate of a disk or the like is not capable of identifying the state in which these unused areas have been immediately before being used, and therefore, is not capable of handling aged deterioration and the like.

Disk array device and disk array device control method


A high precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images, one from a reference video signal and another from a corresponding test video signal, uses an iterative process and incorporates spatial resampling along with basic correlation and estimation of fractional pixel shift. The corresponding images from the reference and test video signals are captured and a test block is overlaid on them at the same locations to include texture from the images. FFTs are performed within the test block in each image, and the FFTs are cross-correlated to develop a peak value representing a shift position between the images. A curve is fitted to the peak and neighboring values to find the nearest integer pixel shift position. The test block is shifted in the test image by the integer pixel shift position, and the FFT in the test image is repeated and correlated with the FFT from the reference image. The curve fitting is repeated to obtain a fractional pixel shift position value that is combined with the integer pixel shift value to update the test block position again in the test image. The steps are repeated until an end condition is achieved, at which point the value of the pixel shift position for the test block in the test image relative to the reference image is used to align the two images with high precision sub-pixel accuracy.

The present invention relates to the matching of digital images, and more particularly to high precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images.
Accurate spatial alignment of digital images is of fundamental importance to many applications. One such application is the determination of picture quality using an instrument, such as the PQA200 Picture Quality Analyzer manufactured by Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton Oreg., USA, where images from a reference video signal are compared with corresponding images from a test video signal that is a processed version of the reference video signal. The better the spatial alignment between a reference image and a corresponding test image, the more accurate the determination of the amount of degradation of the test video signal due to the processing.
At pages 480-484 of Computer Image Processing and Recognition (1979) published by Academic Press, Ernest L. Hall describes a basic correlator method for template matching, which may be used for image alignment. Likewise J. J. Pearson et al in an article entitled Video-Rate Image Correlation Processor (IOCC 1997) published in SPIE Vol. 119 Application of Digital Image Processing, pages 197-205, describe a variant of the basic correlator method that uses phase information. For digital images with integer pixel shifts these correlation methods may be very accurate. However for a broader class of shifts, which involves both integer and fractional pixel shifts, the precision of the sub-pixel alignment becomes a very serious matter. Pearson et al describe a method for estimating the sub-pixel shifts by quadratic interpolation using the correlation values in the neighborhood of a peak. However, since the quadratic interpolation function does not necessarily match the true image shifting function, the accuracy obtained by the quadratic interpolation is limited.
What is desired is a high precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images.
Accordingly the present invention provides for high precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images using an iteration method and spatial resampling. A high precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images, one from a reference video signal and another from a corresponding test video signal, uses an iterative process and incorporates spatial resampling along with basic correlation and estimation of fractional pixel shift. The corresponding images from the reference and test video signals are captured and a test block is overlaid on them at the same locations to include texture from the images. FFTs are performed within the test block in each image, and the FFTs are cross-correlated to develop a peak value representing a shift position between the images. A curve is fitted to the peak and neighboring values to find the nearest integer pixel shift position. The test block is shifted in the test image by the integer pixel shift position, and the FFT in the test image is repeated and correlated with the FFT from the reference image. The curve fitting is repeated to obtain a fractional pixel shift position value that is combined with the integer pixel shift value to update the test block position again in the test image. The steps are repeated until an end condition is achieved, at which point the value of the pixel shift position for the test block in the test image relative to the reference image is used to align the two images with high precision sub-pixel accuracy.
The objects, advantages and other novel features of the present invention are apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended claims and attached drawing.

High precision sub-pixel spatial alignment of digital images


A system for controlling boost pressure at various different altitudes of operation of a turbo charged internal combustion engine includes a wastegate valve, an actuator and a controller. Signals delivered from an engine speed sensor, a boost pressure transducer and a barometric pressure sensor are processed in the controller. A control signal delivered from the controller to the actuator controls the position of the wastegate valve, bypass of exhaust gasses and the speed of the turbocharger.

Turbocharged engines of the type used primarily in off highway trucks often have a pneumatically actuated wastegate valve for controlling the turbocharger speed and thus the boost pressure delivered to the intake manifold of the engine. The wastegate valve is normally disposed in the exhaust system of the engine and controls the speed of the turbocharger by modifying the volume of exhaust gasses directed to the turbine section of the turbocharger.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,421 dated Oct. 6, 1987 to Yutaka Otobe et.al. discloses a wastegate valve for bypassing engine exhaust flow from the turbine section and thereby control boost pressure. The waste gate is moved by a pneumatic actuator controlled by a control valve which varies the wastegate valve opening pressure based on boost pressure and intake manifold temperature. Maintaining the boost pressure at a target pressure may improve engine operating conditions and reduce engine knock at a given altitude. However, since there is no compensation for operating at different altitudes, the loss of boost at high altitudes and over boost at lower altitudes and ambient temperatures may occur. Therefore optimum operation of the engine is not achieved.
Wastegate valves have been successful in protecting the engine from excessive boost (peak cylinder pressure) at low altitudes (ambient temperatures) but have not been successfully used in situations where precision modulation of the wastegate valve is required. State of the art fluid operated wastegate control systems lack the responsiveness and accuracy required for good modulation. Therefore, in order to provide a higher degree of optimization of wastegate valve operation a more responsive and accurate control system must be provided.
In order to optimize wastegate control, maintain lower exhaust temperatures, and provide the right amount of boost at various air densities (different altitudes and different ambient air temperatures) it is necessary to provide a control system which considers various related control parameters. At present such a control system has not been provided.


According to one configuration, a wireless communication system includes one or more wireless communication devices and gateway hardware. The gateway hardware can be configured to notify the one or more wireless communication devices of a change associated with frequency hopping settings (such as switchover from first frequency hopping settings to second frequency hopping settings). Further, the gateway hardware can include a first radio frequency interface and a second radio frequency interface. In accordance with the frequency hopping settings, the gateway hardware: i) fixedly tunes the first radio frequency interface to a first wireless channel; and ii) while the first radio frequency interface is fixedly tuned to the first wireless channel, the gateway hardware dynamically tunes the second radio frequency interface to hop amongst multiple different wireless channels. The frequency hopping settings support different wireless power levels depending on a number of pseudorandom wireless channels that are hopped.

Conventional frequency-hopping is a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly switching a carrier of a wireless device amongst many different frequency channels using a pseudorandom sequence known to both a transmitter and receiver. Typically, frequency hopping is used as a multiple access method in the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).
As a more specific example, to implement frequency hopping, each available frequency band is divided into sub-frequencies. Signals rapidly change (i.e., hop) among these frequencies in a predetermined order. In theory, interference at a specific frequency will only affect the signal during that short interval of use.
In certain instances, frequency hopping can cause interference with adjacent direct-sequence spread spectrum systems. However, it is generally a reliable method of communication and provides good use of a wireless spectrum.

Wireless system and device communication management


The present invention relates to a new electrolysis cell for the fusion electrolytic extraction of aluminum wherein the anode blocks are connected to one another using a compressed granulate packing. The invention also relates to a novel electrolytic cell wherein the cathode blocks are separated one from another and have sloped or curved upper surfaces allowing newly formed aluminum to drain into an underlying receptacle area.

Aluminum metal is prepared on an industrial scale by the Hall-Heroult aluminum electrolysis process.
In a typical arrangement an electrolysis cell is lined with carbon, which acts as the cathode. Iron or steel bars are embedded in the cathode lining to provide a path for current flow. The anodes are also of carbon and are gradually fed into the top of the cell because the anodes are continually consumed during electrolysis. Several cells may be connected in series.
For aluminum, the electrolyte used is typically cryolite (Na.sub.3 AlF.sub.6) containing, when the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 is added by point feeders, 2 to 4% dissolved Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. Other additives, such as CaF.sub.2 (up to 6%) and AlF.sub.3 (up to 12%), are added to obtain desirable electrochemical properties. The Hall-Heroult cell operates at temperatures of approximately 960.degree. C. (1760.degree. F.).
At the cathode of the aluminum cell, aluminum is reduced from an ionic state to a metallic state, through a series of complex reactions. The metallic (reduced) molten aluminum forms a molten pool in the bottom of the cell. Periodically, an amount of metal is drained or siphoned from the molten pool of aluminum metal at the bottom of the cell.
At the anode, oxygen is oxidized from its ionic state to oxygen gas. The oxygen gas in turn reacts with the carbon anode to form carbon dioxide gas, thereby gradually consuming the anode material. Two types of anodes are in use: prebaked and self-baking. Prebaked anodes are individual carbon blocks that are replaced one after another as they are consumed. Self-baking anodes, are made up of a carbon paste which is fed into the cell from above. As the anode descends in the cell it hardens and new carbon paste is fed continually into the top of the cell.
If impurities in the aluminum oxide raw material are carefully controlled, aluminum with a purity of 99.7% or higher may be produced.
The following references provide a general discussion of various aspects of fusion electrolysis extraction of aluminum, particularly the design and operation of electrolysis cells.
(1) Winnacker/Kuechler; Chemische Technologie (Chemical Technology), Vol. 4, Fourth Edition, Carl Hanser Verlag Munich, 1986, Aluminum Chapter, pp. 252-282 PA0 (2) Grjotheim, K. and B. J. Welch: Aluminum Smelter Technology, Aluminium-Verlag, Duesseldorf, 1980 PA0 (3) Light Metals 1986, edited by R. E. Miller, Proceedings of the 115th AIME Annual Meeting, New Orleans, March 1986, pp. 343-347, The Metall. Soc. Inc., Warrendale, Pa., USA PA0 (4) Hall-Heroult Centennial, First Century of Aluminum Process Technology 1886-1986, edited by W. S. Peterson and R. E. Miller, presented at the 115th TMS Annual Meeting, New Orleans, March 1986, The Metall. Soc. Inc., Warrendale, Pa., USA PA0 (5) Wilkening, S.: Gewinnung von Aluminium durch Schmelzflusselektrolyse, Praxis der Naturwissenschaften (Extraction of Aluminum by Fusion Electrolysis, the Practice of the Natural Sciences) Chemie, Vol. 35, No. 3, 1986, pp. 21-25. PA0 (6) Lange, G. and G. Wilde, Large Aluminum Cells with Continuous Prebaked Anodes, Extractive Metallurgy of Aluminum, Vol. 2, edited by G. Gerrads, Interscience Publishers, New York, 1962, pp. 197-209 PA0 (7) Ginsberg, H. and S. Wilkening, Beitrag zur thermodynamischen und energetischen Betrachtung der Schmelzflusselektrolyse des Aluminiums (Contribution to the Thermodynamic and Energetic Analysis of the Fused-Mass Electrolysis of Aluminum), part II, Metall, Vol. 18 (1964), No. 9, pp. 908-918 PA0 (8) Winnacker, L. and L. Kuechler, Chemische Technologie (Chemical Technology), Vol. 6 of Metallurgie, pg. 194, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 1973
To properly understand the process conditions of the present invention, the following theoretical relationships are set forth.
The energy theoretically required for the electrochemical reduction of Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 using a carbon anode is approximately 6.5 kWh/kg of aluminum. The technically most advanced electrolysis plants have achieved specific energy consumption rates of about 13 kWh/kg of aluminum, but this still signifies a relatively low efficiency of about 50%. The theoretical amount of current required to deposit 1 kg of aluminum is 2.980 kAh/kg of aluminum. For the current yields of 93 to 95%, attainable under the most advantageous operating conditions, 3.17 kAh/kg of aluminum are required on the average. The specific consumption of electrical energy results from the product of current consumption and cell voltage: EQU E=(C.times.U.sub.Z)/.eta.kWh/kg of Al
in which
C=2.98 kAh/kg of aluminum PA1 .eta.=current yield PA1 U.sub.z =cell voltage.
The cell voltage U.sub.Z is composed of the ohmic voltage drop of the cell IR.sub.Z and the polarization voltage U.sub.P : EQU U.sub.Z =I.times.R.sub.Z +U.sub.p EQU I=electrolysis current.
The ohmic resistance of the electrolysis cell R.sub.Z, which is responsible for the generation of heat, is distributed over the three essential regions of anode (R.sub.An), electrolyte or electrolysis bath (R.sub.Bath) and cathode (R.sub.Ca), in which the amounts of heat, E.sub.An =I.sup.2 .times.R.sub.An, E.sub.Bath =I.sup.2 .times.R.sub.Bath and E.sub.Ca =I.sup.2 .times.R.sub.Ca, are generated. The electrolysis cell is operated in a thermal equilibrium and it has always been the goal of those in the art to minimize energy consumption and heat losses for economical reasons.
On the assumption that the specific energy consumption at a current efficiency of 94% (3.17 kAh/kg of aluminum) is 13 kWh/kg of aluminum, a cell voltage U.sub.Z of 4.1 volt is obtained, for which the following division can be designated: EQU U.sub.An =0.4 V=I.times.R.sub.An EQU U.sub.Ca 0.4 V=I.times.R.sub.Ca ##EQU1##
If a polarization voltage U.sub.P of about 1.7 V is deducted from U.sub.Bath =3.3 V, approximately 1.6 V remains for the ohmic voltage drop (I.times.R.sub.bath =U.sub.Bath). For a given cross-sectional area of the electrodes, that is, the cathode and the anode, the voltage drops depend, of course, on the current density.
As is provided for pursuant to the invention, it is possible to double the anode and cathode surfaces in an electrolysis cell while keeping the current strength I (amperage) unchanged. In this case, the ohmic voltage drop in the electrolyte decreases by half, that is, from at least 1.6 V to 0.8 V. With that, 0.8 V.times.3.17 kAh/kg of aluminum=2.5 kWh/kg of aluminum less energy would be produced in the form of joulean heat, without any disadvantageous effect on the interpolar distance between the anode and the cathode or on the current yield. One of the results of the decrease in the energy consumption pointed out here leads, for example, to the above-mentioned total consumption of 10 to 11 kWh/kg of aluminum.
In comparison to the present state of the art, the following improvements, are achieved with the inventive electrolysis cell. For discussion purposes the inventive process is classified into three general areas: (1) the process overall; (2) the anode region; and (3) the cathode region.

Electrolysis cell and method for the extraction of aluminum


The baiting device of the present invention acts to provide a device for exposing ants or other crawling insects to bait without allowing the bait to become dampened or blown away and while protecting small animals or children from eating the bait. The preferred ant bait or insect killer is placed within the sealed container. The lid of the container is locked into place by a fastener to a cap on top of the pipe so that the lid is not easily removed by animals or children. The baiting device is then stuck into the ground like a stake near the ant bed under attack. Because there is an open airway through the pipe to the bait within the container, the bait may be smelled by ants and other insects which may enter the container and remove bait through the holes in the pipe. The bait is protected within the container from exposure to the weather and other outside forces, as well as being sealed away from pets and children. In the preferred embodiment the level of bait remaining in the device may be monitored through the clear sides of the container.

In the battle against crawling insects, one of the most popular and effective weapons is the use of bait which is taken by the insects back to the insects' home where more complete exposure or exposure to key insects (i.e. a queen) can occur. Baits are commonly spread around, near, or on the surface of the home of the insects or near or in an area where the insects are gathering food. Exposure to outside elements, however, can reduce the life and/or effectiveness of bait as it is washed away, diluted, dissolved, blown away, etc. Further, children, household pets, and livestock may also get into the bait, creating potential risks for themselves, as well as again damaging the life and/or effectiveness of the bait. Various patents have been issued in the past on devices providing some form of container device for baiting insects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,582 to Morris discloses a container with openings in its outer surface mounted on a hollow extension or stem. The container portion has an inner wall with openings offset from those in the outer wall and an inner floor with openings offset from the opening of the hollow stem into the container. The bait is placed in the inner compartment formed by the inner floor and inner walls. Insects may enter through the openings in the container itself or theoretically from the bottom of the stem which has been inserted into the ground. There are no other openings in the stem. The cover of the container is optionally partially transparent, which, combined with the use of a contrasting color for the floor of the bait compartment, allows an easier view of the amount of bait used.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,991,547 to Deford discloses a container which is essentially a metal stake with openings. The stake may be stuck in the ground or other location or hung from an appropriate spot. The stake includes a hollow middle section, covered on top and bottom by cap portions, which acts as a container. The bait is placed within the container and may be accessed by the insects through openings in the container itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,872 to Patton et al. discloses a stake with corrugations which is to be inserted into the ground. A cup with an aperture is snapped over a recess in the stake to create a container for the bait or poison. Insects access the bait through openings in the container itself. Additionally, when used outside, the corrugations will accumulate poison bait as it is partially solubilized by water worldling its way into the container and carrying part of the bait out of the container into the corrugations.
All of the preceding baiting devices rely on holes in the container itself to provide insects access to the bait within the container. The prior art devices rely on a secondary wall system or on the size of the holes themselves to prevent children and pets from getting to the bait. These same methods are also all that the devices rely on to prevent rain or the elements from affecting the bait stored within.


A lavatory includes a basin including a bottom surface, the basin configured to hold a volume of water; and a drain opening disposed in the bottom surface of the basin. The bottom surface of the basin includes a substantially horizontally extending projection formed integrally with the bottom surface of the basin. The horizontally extending projection is disposed over the drain opening such that the drain opening is at least partially obscured from a view of a user.

The present application generally relates to the field of lavatories (e.g., sinks, etc.). Specifically, the present application relates to a lavatory having a hidden drain.
A lavatory may include a basin and a primary drain opening configured to receive a flow of water from the basin and thereby drain the water from the basin. The primary drain opening is configured to prevent water from accumulating in the basin. However, primary drain openings are often visible to users of the lavatory, thereby decreasing the aesthetic appearance of the user while the user uses the lavatory because foreign matter can collect at or around the primary drain opening. Accordingly, typical lavatories must be regularly cleaned to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the lavatory.
Additionally, a lavatory may have a secondary drain opening located on a side of the basin of the lavatory. The secondary drain opening is configured to receive a water flow from the basin when the primary drain opening of the basin is blocked or clogged. Accordingly, the secondary drain opening is configured to maintain the water level in the basin at or below a predetermined level when the primary drain opening is blocked or clogged. Because the secondary drain opening is typically located on a side of the basin, the secondary drain opening creates difficult to clean areas on the side of the basin such that foreign matter can collect at or around the secondary opening, decreasing both the aesthetic appearance of the basin and the cleanliness of the basin. Additionally, because additional piping is required to connect the secondary drain opening to a plumbing system, the secondary drain opening reduces the amount of potential storage space beneath the lavatory.


Compounds that exhibit aggregation induced emission (AIE), and more particularly to water-soluble conjugated polyene compounds that exhibit aggregation induced emission. The conjugated polyene compounds can be used as bioprobes for DNA detection, G-quadruplex identification, and potassium-ion sensing. The polyenes also can be utilized as an external fluorescent marker to study conformational structures, to monitor folding processes of label-free oligonucleotides with G-rich strand sequences, and to visualize DNA bands in PAGE assay. The polyenes have applications in high-throughput anticancer drug screening and are useful for the development of efficient anti-cancer drugs. Furthermore, the present subject matter can also be used to monitor fibrillation of amyloid proteins and to facilitate the storage and delivery thereof.

Fluorescence (FL) techniques have emerged as a mainstream research and development area in science and engineering, particularly in the field of biochemical and biological science. Currently, fluorescent molecules are used as probes for DNA sequencing, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, high-throughput screening, and clinical diagnostics.
Fluorescence-based techniques offer high sensitivity, low background noise and broad dynamic ranges. A great number of fluorescent probes have been investigated and are already widely used in biotechnology. Many of them show favorable spectral properties of visible absorption and emission wavelength, high extinction coefficients, and reasonable quantum yields. Upon complexation with proteins and DNA, the fluorescence of the bioprobes can be enhanced/quenched and/or red/blue-shifted, thus enabling visual observation of the biomacromolecular species. Among these, the most useful probes are those that act as "turn-on" sensors, whose fluorescence is activated by the analytes.
Several probes for DNA detection based on fluorescent enhancement have been developed such as phenanthridine and acridine derivatives. Middendorf et al. have reported on ethidium bromide (EB), a well-known phenanthridine derivative, which has already been widely used for DNA sequencing (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,947, U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,603, U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,151, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,153). FL enhancement induced by proteins can be attributed to the interaction with hydrophobic regions of proteins, such as NanoOrange (Molecular Probes, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 6,818,642) and Nile red (U.S. Pat. No. 6,897,297, U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,208), or reaction with amine groups of proteins in the presence of cyanide or thiols, such as fluorescamine (U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,967) and o-phthaldialdehyde (U.S. Pat. No. 6,969,615, U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,918). The FL of cyanine dyes has been found to increase dramatically upon complexation with DNA and proteins. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,027, U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,030). Haugland et al. have reported unsymmetrical cyanine dyes, which possess superior fluorescent characteristics when complexed with nucleic acids (U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,134). The SYPRO® dyes are merocyanine dyes that are essentially non-fluorescent when free in solution but become intensely fluorescent in hydrophobic environments (e.g. SYPRO® Red and SYPRO® Orange dyes of Molecular Probes, Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 6,914,250, U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,267). Water-soluble cyanine dyes, such as Cy3 and Cy5, are commonly used in labeling of DNA or RNA for microarray (Y. R. Iyer et al., Science, 1999, 283, 83). Cy3 and Cy5 have merits of high fluorescence intensity and emission even in the solid state; however, they are quite unstable and show insufficient detection sensitivity (U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,002).
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,109,314, a good fluorescent dye should possess a high fluorescent quantum yield and molecular absorption coefficient, as well as good solubility in aqueous media and stability under ambient conditions. However, most of the dyes discussed above are lipophilic, which are, at best, only dispersible in aqueous media. For example, Nile Red, a dye used to stain proteins, should be first dissolved in acetone and then mixed rapidly with water immediately prior to use (J. R. Daban et al., Anal. Biochem, 1991, 199, 169).
Additionally, substantially all of the above-described fluorescent dyes suffer from the problem of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). Due to their lipophilic character, these fluorescent dyes are prone to aggregate when dispersed in aqueous media or when bound to biological macromolecules. The close proximity of the chromophores often induces a non-radiative energy transfer mechanism that results in self-quenching of the luminescence. This self-quenching drastically reduces the dyes' fluorescent signal thereby prohibiting their use as efficient bioprobes or biosensors.
Substantial effort has been made to mitigate aggregate formation of these dyes (J. R. Lakowicz, et al. Anal Biochem, 2003, 320, 13). However, only a small number of researchers have focused on the design and synthesis of novel organic molecules or polymers that do not suffer from fluorescent quenching, and moreover, even display enhanced light emission upon aggregation.
Recently, some non-emissive dyes have been induced to emit efficiently by aggregate formation, the exact opposite of ACQ. AIE molecules with a high quantum yield ΦF (up to 0.85) and various emission colors (blue, green, yellow and red) have been reported. While the AIE dyes have been used for the construction of efficient optical and photonic devices, the possibility of employing them as bioprobes for detecting biopolymers has been virtually unexplored. Accordingly, there remains a great need for water-soluble "light-up" compounds and probes, for example, for the detection of biomacromolecules such as DNA and proteins.
Many known fluorescent materials accomplish the detection of saccharides by the competing intramolecular interaction of an amine functionality with a boronic acid pendant. Less effort has been spent on the detection of other biological compounds. Furthermore, vapor-sensing compounds and devices are often manufactured from expensive platinum salts and complexes and/or in combination with palladium. They are based mainly on a color shift from dark-red to light-red, making it difficult to visually sense the color shift. Sensors exhibiting an on-off change in their luminescent color rather than a color shift will be thus not only advantageous but also more sensitive. To date, the only known "on-off" example was shown by Kato (U.S. Pat. No. 6,822,096), who utilized the luminescence change from the invisible near-infrared to the visible red of binuclear platinum (II) complexes. However, these complexes only shift the emitted wavelength out of the visible spectrum.
Fluorescent materials, including inorganic semiconductor quantum dots, organic and metallorganic dyes, dye-doped silica or polymer particles, have currently attracted great attention in a wide variety of high-technology applications such as high-throughput screening, ultra-sensitive assays, optoelectronics, and living cell imaging. Colloidal quantum dots (hundreds to thousands of atoms) are traditionally made from crystals of IIA-VIA or IIIB-VB elements (PbS, CdSe, etc.) or other semiconductors. The heavy metals therein are intrinsically toxic to the researchers and the experimental systems (e.g., living cells), as well as generating a toxic waste stream into the environment. Organic and metallorganic dyes generally consist of α-conjugated ring structures such as xanthenes, pyrenes or cyanines, with emissions across the spectrum from UV to the near infrared (˜300-900 nm) and may be fine tuned to particular wavelengths or applications by changing the chemistry of their substituent groups. The size of individual dye molecules is very small (˜1 nm), which causes non-specific labeling and high background signals as dyes diffuse away from their intended targets. Spectrally, organic dyes tend to have fairly wide absorption and emission spectra (FWHM˜0.50 nm), which can lead to spectral overlap and re-absorption when using multiple dye species simultaneously. In normal use, dye molecules are exposed to a variety of harsh environments and often suffer from photobleaching and quenching due to the interactions with solvent molecules and reactive species such as oxygen or ions dissolved in solution.
In order to create more robust emitters with enhanced brightness and stability, composite nano- and micro-particles consisting of dye molecules and silica or polymer matrix have been developed. Thus the encapsulated dye molecules can be protected from external perturbations, with reduced stochastic blinking, photobleaching, and quenching. Dye-loaded polymer particles are superior to their silica counterparts in terms of the versatile chemical compositions, tunable surface chemistry suited for biocompatibility and bioconjugation, facile preparation, and easy control of the particle size and size distribution.
Gao et al. have incorporated pyrene dyes into polystyrene particles using a normal microemulsion approach, leading to a 40-fold increase in emission intensity with respect to the pure dye at the identical concentration (H. Gao et al., Colloid Polym. Sci. 2002, 280, 653). Dinsmore et al. swelled poly(methyl methacrylate) particles and absorbed a rhodamine dye into them for usage in a confocal microscopic study of colloidal dispersions (A. D. Dinsmore et al., Appl. Opt. 2001, 40, 4152). U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,855 discloses fluorescent particles containing anthracene- or naphthacene-derived dyes aiming to the application as biological markers.
Up to now, most of the organic dyes commercially available, including the above mentioned dyes as well as ethidium, Nile red, fluorescamine, o-phthaldialdehyde, cyanine dyes, etc. are emissive only in their solution state, whereas emission is quenched in aggregation states (e.g., high dye concentration state, film state, solid state, etc.). This is attributed to the mechanism of non-radiative energy transfer between the closely packed chromophores, thus resulting in self-quenching of the fluorescence. Thus, the loading concentration of dyes in the polymer particles cannot be sufficiently high and accordingly the intensity of fluorescence is considerably limited.
With respect to polymers for dye encapsulation, the currently available species are mainly hydrophobic polystyrene and less hydrophobic poly(methyl methacrylate), as mentioned hereinabove. The hydrophobic nature of these particles commonly leads to clustering and non-specific binding of biological materials, which considerably limits their application in the aqueous environment of biology and other fields. Additionally, these particles are prepared and dispersed in an organic solvent. For example, Hu et al. prepared poly(methyl methacrylate) fluorescent particles through dispersion polymerization in a mixture of hexane and ethanol (H. Hu et al., Langmuir 2004, 20, 7436). The solvent-dispersible polymer particles are difficult to disperse stably in aqueous media.
Recent studies on biomacromolecules aid the understanding of pathogenesis of numerous diseases as well as development of effective therapeutic agents. For example, fibrillation of amyloid proteins is recognized as a pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Prion disease, and Huntington's disease. Insulin is a well-established model of amyloid fibrillation and its amyloid fibrils are found at frequent injection sites of diabetic patients and have been suggested as indicative of Parkinson's disease. Therefore, monitoring insulin aggregation and/or other amyloid proteins facilitates the understanding of pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases or other diseases associated therewith, thereby developing effective diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents.
Amyloid fibril formation of insulin has been studied by a variety of spectroscopy and microscopy techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (APM), real-time light scattering, stopped-flow turbidimetry, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), and NMR spectroscopy. Among them, fluorescence technique is the most commonly used method on intrinsic fluorescence of proteins. For example, Thioflavin T (ThT) is a standard fluorescence probe for amyloid assay. Despite its widespread use, it suffers from a number of drawbacks, such as small stokes shift, low specificity, poor sensitivity, false-positive response, poor reliability, incapability of catching oligomeric intermediates, and unsuitability for kinetic study. Many of the other fluorophores for amyloid detection also contain electron donors and acceptors, between which intramolecular charge transfer occurs. Such fluorophores are sensitive to the hydrophobicity of the environment and their emissions are intensified upon binding to hydrophobic regions of amyloids rich in n-sheet structure. However, when multiple fluorophore molecules are accumulated in a hydrophobic patch of protein, π-π interaction between their stacked aromatic rings occurs, which promotes the formation of such detrimental species as excimers and exciplexes. This can lead to severe emission self-quenching, making the fluorophores unsuitable for quantitative analysis.
In addition to the problems in monitoring, insulin fibril formation has been a nuisance in delivery and long-term storage for treatment of diabetes because insulin can form amyloid fibrils in vitro under certain destabilizing conditions, such as elevated temperature, low pH, increased ionic strength and exposure to hydrophobic surfaces. It is also generally believed that dissociation of the native associated states of insulin (i.e., dimers, tetramers and hexamers) into monomers is a prerequisite for fibril formulation. The monomers undergo partial unfolding into intermediate states, in which they re-associate into stable and fibrous amyloid aggregates. These destabilizing conditions lead to an early maturity of amyloid fibrils, which does not favor the long-term storage and delivery of insulin. Therefore, inhibitors for protein aggregation are also of great significance in developing effective therapeutic agents for diabetes or for diseases treatable by similar biomolecules.
Functional kidneys are capable of removing wastes from the body, regulating electrolyte balance and blood pressure, and stimulating red blood cell production. Kidney diseases are a major cause of health problems world-wide. E.g. >20 million Americans-1 of 9-adults have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Another 20 million more Americans are at increased risk (US National Kidney Foundation). Each year in the United States, more than 100,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure (ESRD: End-Stage Renal Disease). The high-risk groups for kidney disease include diabetes and hypertension patient. Most kidney diseases do not cause noticeable symptoms until very late. Nearly 50% of people with an advanced form of kidney disease even don't know. However, certain changes in the urine can be seen earlier, which may suggest problems with kidneys or urinary tract. There are over a hundred different types of proteins in the blood and the kidneys are very good at keeping them from entering the urine. Most of the proteins that make it into the urine are reabsorbed, chewed up and returned to the blood. As a result, less than 150 mg (30 mg/L) of protein is normal lost in the urine per day. A higher level of protein loss in the urine is called proteinuria and may mean there is a kidney disease. Determination of urinary protein is of major clinical importance because it readily reflects kidney functionality.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for new sensors useful for detecting/sensing a wide variety of biomacromolecules. Sensors based on detecting fluorescence of an analyte such as a biomacromolecule are highly sensitive, thereby lowering detection limits. Sensors that have the capability to quantitatively analyze kinetics of biomacromolecules are desired. Notably, fluorescent markers that enable the monitoring of amyloid fibrillation and compounds that inhibit fibrillation are most desired.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Water-soluble AIE luminogens for monitoring and retardation of fibrillation of amyloid proteins

THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A liquid filter apparatus includes a filter media belt enclosed by sealably mated cover pan and floor pan defining a vacuum chamber connected to a sealed clean liquid tank, with clean liquid pumped out continuously to draw liquid to be filtered into an upper region of the filter chamber via on inlet hose connected to a source of liquid to be filtered. The cover pan is lifted after the vacuum is relieved to allow indexing of the filter media belt. A main control valve to the clean liquid tank is closed and pumping liquid continues during indexing. A vacuum control device limits the maximum vacuum developed in the clean liquid tank and a vacuum pump removes air from the tank for priming and to eliminate excess accumulated air.

This invention concerns filtration apparatus of a type used in industrial operations to remove contaminants from a liquid used during manufacturing. After machining such parts as engine blocks, manifolds, it is usual to wash the parts to remove chips, grinding swarf, cutting fluid residue, etc. The parts are conveyed through an enclosed washer chamber where spray jets wash off these contaminants, with the spray liquid and washed off material collected in a tank beneath the washer chamber.
It is necessary to remove the chips and other debris from the liquid to allow continued reuse of the liquid in the washing sprays, and in the past, an inclined filter media belt filter was mounted within the tank, periodically indexed to remove accumulated filtrate, the liquid drawn through the filter media belt to be filtered. A drag conveyor is also periodically indexed to convey accumulated solids out of the tank for disposal. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,726 for an example of such a filter.
In this arrangement, the filter apparatus is difficult to service, as the belts and conveyor are enclosed within the washer collector tank.
In some versions, the feeding of disposable media over the belt to remove fine particles would require access to the rear of the tank, which is often difficult in many installations.
To pump the contaminated liquid to an external filter would require a separate tank to receive the liquid in order to allow belt indexing, increasing the floor space and cost of the equipment required.
This situation is also presented with other stand alone equipment such as individual grinders and other machine tools having a dedicated chip cutting fluid collection tanks below the machining zone.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a filter apparatus for removing contaminants received in a tank such as a washer collection tank or other equipment, which apparatus is not necessary to be disposed within the tank and does not itself require a separate collection tank and which can quickly carry out the periodic indexing of a filter media belt to clean solids therefrom.
The above recited object, and others which will be understood upon a reading of the following specification and claims are achieved by a filter apparatus mounted above a clean tank. A downwardly facing upper pan is movable relative a floor pan to bring a perimeter flange into engagement with a hose seal disposed on the lower pan to create a sealed filter chamber. A vacuum box is mounted below the lower floor pan and connected to the clean tank by a piping connection to transfer fluid to a clean tank, the piping extending out from one side of the vacuum box, down to the level of the clean tank and back into one side of the clean tank. The piping connection has a main control valve located along the length of the fluid connection.
A pump is connected to the clean tank for pumping filtered liquid back to the utilizing equipment, which pumping generates a negative pressure in the clean tank (and also the vacuum box).
A filter belt loop has an upper segment extending into the filter chamber over one segment of the hose seal which extends entirely around the filter chamber and onto a perforated plate supported on a set of elongated bars fixed on the lower pan, and out of the filter chamber over another segment of the hose seal.
A vacuum pump is provided to evacuate air from the tank to prime liquid flow drawn into an inlet pipe connected to the upper pan and extending into the collecting tank containing the liquid to be filtered. Upon opening of the control valve, liquid is drawn into the vacuum chamber, passing through the filter belt and into the vacuum box and thence into the clean tank.
To index the belt to clean accumulated solids, a vacuum breaker valve is opened to allow air into the filter chamber to relieve the vacuum, and drain the dirty liquid from the filter chamber. The main control valve is thereafter closed. A power cylinder lifts the upper pan from the hose seal to allow the filter media belt to be advanced to carry the belt segment on which the solids have accumulated out of the chamber to be discharged.
The recirculation pump continues to be operated during indexing to insure an uninterrupted supply of clean liquid and to maintain a vacuum in the clean tank. The vacuum level increases during pumping to a predetermined maximum level, with an air bleed vacuum control device introducing air into the clean tank when the maximum vacuum is reached to prevent an excessive vacuum level from developing which could interfere with the pumping of clean liquid out of the tank.
Upon reopening the main control valve, liquid to be filtered is again quickly drawn into the vacuum chamber, through the filter belt and into the clean tank via the vacuum box.
The vacuum pump is operated as necessary to eliminate excess air until a predetermined liquid level is restored in the tank sensed by a liquid level switch.


A circuit for a delta-sigma digital-to-analog converter (DAC) includes a first stage with a delta-sigma noise-shaping loop. The first stage is capable of receiving an input signal, includes a first quantizer that has a first quantization error, and provides a first stage output. A first DAC receives the first stage output and provides a first analog output. A second stage receives the first quantization error. The second stage provides a second stage output to the digital differentiator. A second DAC receives a digital differentiator output and provides a second analog output. An adder adds the first analog output and the second analog output to provide a third analog output, so that the first quantization error is cancelled out and the inband noise is suppressed in the third analog output.

A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is a device for converting a digital signal to an analog signal. A delta-sigma modulation used in DAC applications is a method for encoding high-resolution signals into lower resolution signals using pulse-density modulation. Integrated circuits which implements this technique can relatively easily achieve very high resolutions while using low-cost CMOS processes, such as the processes used to produce digital integrated circuits.
However, a conventional delta-sigma DAC using single-stage noise-shaping loop modulators requires high over-sampling ratios (OSR) to achieve a high resolution, thus consumes more power. (Over-sampling is used to reduce the noise in the frequency band of interest.) Also, single stage modulators encounter difficulty in attempting to use a high-resolution truncation DAC due to high number of conversion elements and dynamic element matching (DEM) hardware required. (DEM is a technique used in integrated circuits design to compensate for components mismatch.) Further, single-stage higher-order modulators are prone to suffer from instability, requires complex single-stage topologies, and consume large area in integrated circuits for multi-bit quantization.
On the other hand, a conventional delta-sigma DAC using cascaded modulators can consume large area in integrated circuits. For example, an exemplary DAC using a correction path requires analog differentiators for noise cancellation, and implementation of differentiators in analog domain is a complex and power-consuming task.
Accordingly, new methods for a delta-sigma DAC are desired.

High resolution delta-sigma digital-to-analog converter

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Apparatus selectively positionable in a boat for holding at least one scuba tank. The apparatus includes a receptacle, a cover covering the receptacle interior and having holes for receiving scuba tanks, and lock plates adjustably slidably mounted on side walls of the receptacle for engagement with the boat.

A search directed to the present invention located the following United States patents directed to racks and holders for scuba tanks and other types of gas tanks and cylinders: 4,168,007, issued Sep. 18, 1979, 5,025,935, issued Jun. 25, 1971, 4,391,377, issued Jul. 5, 1983, 4,899,895, issued Feb. 13, 1990, and 3,602,368, issued Aug. 31, 1971.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,935, issued Jun. 25, 1991, is of particular note in that the patent discloses a scuba cylinder retention rack for attachment to the bed of a pickup truck. The patent also suggests the possibility of attaching the portable retention rack to a boat. The rack of U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,935 is not positively held in place, but rather maintained in position by a spring biased element. Furthermore, the rack is only connected or associated with one side of the vehicle, and sliding between the rack and vehicle can occur. The cylinder or cylinders held by the rack are not elevated relative to the floor of the pickup bed and, in fact, the tank bottoms are positioned directly on the floor of the pickup bed. This means that any cylinder in the rack can fall through the bottom thereof and not be transported thereby when the rack is removed from its location of attachment to the pickup bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,861, issued Aug. 24, 1982, discloses a support system for large, generally cylindrical tanks in ships. The teachings of this patent do not appear to be at all applicable to racking and storage of scuba tanks. The tanks disclosed in the patent are essentially for permanent installation in a vessel and relate particularly to the transportation of large quantities of LNG.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,175, issued Jun. 27, 1989, relates to a general type of storage container for storing articles in the interior of an automobile. The arrangement does not appear to be applicable to the storage of scuba tanks. The storage container utilizes end stabilizers, such as screw clamps, to stabilize the storage elements of the apparatus with respect to the vertical walls of the interior of the automobile. A somewhat similar arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,544, issued Jul. 31, 1990. The stabilizing approaches of these latter two patents would not lend themselves to attachment to a relatively resilient surface such as the side of an inflated boat.


A product-on-demand delivery system for an agricultural machine having a main hopper arrangement wherein each outlet nozzle of the main hopper nozzle manifold is connected to plural product hoses that are each in communication with an auxiliary product hopper of an application unit. The nozzle manifold includes an inlet for receiving pressurized air, and an outlet nozzle allowing air with entrained seed or product to exit the main hopper. The outlet nozzle includes a splitter portion, such as a Y-shaped fitting, having a single splitter inlet and two splitter outlets. The single splitter inlet is coupled to a nozzle portion of the outlet nozzle and the two splitter outlets are coupled to two product hoses that are each coupled to a respective application unit. An internal divider wall extends through the nozzle portion and partially through the splitter portion from the splitter inlet to the splitter outlets. The divider wall evenly divides flow of air and entrained seed or product between the two splitter outlets to the two application units.

Pneumatic product-on-demand delivery systems have been used on agricultural seeding machines to automatically direct seed from a main seed hopper to a plurality of individual planting units. Each of the individual planting units has an auxiliary seed hopper for receiving the seed, a seed meter for metering the seed from the auxiliary seed hopper, and a furrow opener for forming a planting furrow into which the metered seed is deposited. A fan is used to create pressurized air that forms an air stream on which the seed is taken to the planting units. These systems automatically replenish the auxiliary hoppers as needed.
The commercially available seed-on-demand delivery systems typically require a large fan to create the air stream. The large fan is required because of the pressure losses in the pneumatic system caused by abrupt changes in direction by the air stream in the main hopper.
Another system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,468, herein incorporated by reference. In this system, a product-on-demand delivery system is configured wherein the air stream passing through the main hopper is not subjected to the abrupt changes in direction.
The product-on-demand delivery system comprises a frame having a main hopper and an application unit. An air pump directs pressurized air to a manifold where the pressurized air is distributed to a plurality of air supply hoses. The air supply hoses are coupled to air inlets located on the bottom of the main hopper. Opposite the air inlets are corresponding product outlets for receiving the air streams and product entrained in the air stream. The product outlets are coupled to product supply hoses that are in turn coupled to auxiliary hoppers located on the application units. The bottom of the main hopper is concave and has outwardly diverging side walls. The air inlet is downwardly angled relative to the bottom and the product outlet is upwardly angled relative to the bottom.
Peaked baffles are located above corresponding air inlets and outlets so that product puddles form beneath the baffles. Gaps are formed between adjacent baffles so that product from the main hopper can flow into the product puddles.
The product-on-demand delivery system advantageously supplies seed from a main seed hopper to auxiliary seed hoppers located on a planting unit. The planting unit would include auxiliary seed hoppers that each supply seed to a respective seed meter each of which directs metered seed to a planting furrow formed by a furrow opener.
The present inventors have recognized that it would be desirable to provide a product-on-demand delivery system that includes a less costly and a less mechanically congested main hopper. The present inventors have recognized that it would be desirable to provide a main hopper which could be minimized in length and which could be connected to an optimal number of auxiliary seed hoppers.

Nozzle assembly for product-on-demand delivery system


A light air-cushion vehicle has a thrust reverser bucket arranged at an output end of an air nozzle, at least one direction rudder having control surfaces at the output end of the air nozzle and at least one direction rudder having control surfaces in a lift contour, a control system for the thrust reverser bucket and a control system for the direction rudders. The direction rudders are kinematically connected to each other and to a steering device. The control surfaces at the output end of the air nozzle turn around an axis in the vertical direction and the control surfaces in the lift contour turn around an axis in the longitudinal direction axis.

Designs of light air-cushion vehicles with a single propulsion unit wherein a part of the airflow from the pulling or pushing fan is directed in a cavity of the air chamber in the bottom creating conditions for the vehicle hovering are presently known in the art (for example, patents U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,020, B60V 1/14 , 1975 (1), U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,495, B60V 1/14, 1991 (2), U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,663, B60V 1/14, 1971 (3)).
The vehicles with entire airflow from a propelling fan directed in the air cushion chamber are also known (patents U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,212, B60V 1/14, 1972 (4) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,766, B60V 1/00, 1965 (5)). At the same time part of the flow can be directed to any side by opening valves of a corresponding side providing rather free maneuvering. "Pulling" power of such vehicles is not big since the pressure in the cushion can not exceed the pressure required for hovering, and when the pressure grows it is released unevenly at all sides. Taking into account that a thrust always exists due to air "sucking in", it is neutral only in case the fan is in horizontal position. When the fan is inclined ahead, the apparatus starts moving in the direction of fan inclination even if the air outflows uniformly along the whole perimeter of the air cushion.
The fan thrust practically can not be balanced with releasing air from the air cushion cavity in the direction providing back thrust, i.e., in reverse (under physics laws), as suggested in (5), though it is possible to control motion and decrease the "direct" thrust down to almost zero.
The motion control in (4) with rudders arranged behind the fan is due to eccentricity of the thrust in relation to the longitudinal axis of the apparatus, and the effectiveness of the control as well as the entire propulsion complex is extremely low.
A technical solution according to reference (3) is known, wherein the control surfaces are placed directly behind the fan in the propulsion duct at the front of the apparatus, and there are rudders at its stem. In usual conditions the apparatus has good characteristics of controllability at cruising regime and acceleration mode.
Direct thrust can be almost zero if the thrust duct is completely closed with flaps at the output of the duct; however in such case the control over the apparatus is lost.
Another design of a light air-cushion vehicle is known from (2). In this case control of motion direction is provided by a single multilink bucket reversing device. This solution is also characterized by complete absence of clarity how to control the apparatus in the mode of "reverse". What is more, control characteristics of the apparatus can be so nonlinear that it would be technically impossible to control apparatus motion.
The coefficient of the back thrust of the reversing devices is well investigated in aviation. It is not more than 0.4 even in case of thorough engineering (it is 0.35 for NK-8-2U engine of TU-154 airplane). It can even be zero in "short" apparatus like the one described in (2). An attempt of complex solution of controlling and reversing problems is in source (1). Here there is theoretical possibility to control the direction of motion at complete thrust reversing in reversing flap position shown in FIG. 13 due to release of flaps "142" and "146" though release of the control flaps decreases back thrust and possibly leads to a side force at the apparatus body contrary to the desired result due to the effect of aerodynamic "curvature" of the apparatus erection profile. It is especially dangerous at high speed as the relation is nonlinear.
The review of the known designs of air cushion apparatuses shows the following:
1. None of the designs solves the problem of apparatus thrust control satisfactorily (from maximum positive to maximum in reverse direction).
2. None of the designs offers a solution of the problem of quality apparatus position control in braking mode at high speed.
3. None of the solutions is suitable for position and motion direction control at zero or close to zero speed, at the same time providing satisfactory thrust and propulsive efficiency of the moving device.


Disclosed herein are methods for controlling invertebrate pest infestations, particularly in plants; compositions and insecticidal polynucleotides useful in such methods; and plants having improved resistance to the invertebrate pests. More specifically, insecticidal polynucleotides and methods of use thereof for modifying the expression of genes in an insect pest, particularly through RNA interference are disclosed.

Commercial crops are often the targets of attack by invertebrate pests such as insects. RNA interference (RNAi, RNA-mediated gene suppression) is an approach that shows promise for use in environmentally friendly pest control. In invertebrates, RNAi-based gene suppression was first demonstrated in nematodes (Fire et al., (1998) Nature, 391:806-811; Timmons & Fire (1998) Nature, 395:854). Subsequently, RNAi-based suppression of invertebrate genes using recombinant nucleic acid techniques has been reported in a number of species, including agriculturally or economically important pests from various insect and nematode taxa, such as: root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), see Huang et al. (2006) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 103:14302-14306, doi:10.1073/pnas.0604698103); cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), see Mao et al. (2007) Nature Biotechnol., 25:1307-1313, doi:10.1038/nbt1352; Western corn rootworm (Diabrofica virgifera LeConte), see Baum et al. (2007) Nature Biotechnol., 25:1322-1326, doi:10.1038/nbt1359; sugar beet cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii), see Sindhu et al. (2008) J. Exp. Botany, 60:315-324, doi:10.1093/jxb/ern289; mosquito (Aedes aegypfi), see Pridgeon et al. (2008) J. Med. Entomol., 45:414-420, doi: full/10.1603/0022-2585%282008%2945%5B414%3ATAADRK %5D2.0.CO%3B2; fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum), pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum), and tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta), see Whyard et al. (2009) Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol., 39:824-832, doi:10.1016/j.ibmb.2009.09.00; diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), see Gong et al. (2011) Pest Manag. Sci., 67: 514-520, doi:10.1002/ps.2086; green peach aphid (Myzus persicae), see Pitino et al. (2011) PLoS ONE, 6:e25709, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025709; brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens), see Li et al. (2011) Pest Manag. Sci., 67:852-859, doi:10.1002/ps.2124; and whitefly (Bemisia tabaci), see Upadhyay et al. (2011) J. Biosci., 36:153-161, doi:10.1007/s12038-011-9009-1.

Compositions and methods for controlling insect pests


A method for producing hydrogen and/or other gases from steel plant wastes and waste heat is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing molten waste from steel plant like molten slag in a reactor. The molten slag is contacted with water and/or steam in the presence of a reducing agent to form a stream of hydrogen and/or other gases. The hydrogen and/or other gases can then be extracted from the stream of gases from the reactor.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for producing hydrogen and/or other gases from steel plant wastes and waste heat.
Description of Related Art
With the increasing use and depletion of non-renewable sources of energy, such as petroleum, natural gas and coal, hydrogen is being increasingly looked upon as a viable alternative fuel. Quite a few processes exist for separation and collection of hydrogen gas. Among these the most popular are electrolysis and the use of high temperature nuclear reactors or petroleum processing plants to split water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen. These processes are expensive as they involve use of electricity or other chemicals such as sulphuric acid, hydrogen iodide, metallic zinc and zinc oxide, which need closed-loop regeneration and handling. This makes the production of hydrogen a costly process.
In the steel plant the generated wastes, like molten slag from basic oxygen converters called LD slag, at a temperature of about 1600° C. to 1700° C., are dumped into pits for removal and further processing. In the present invention, the heat of this waste material can be used for the production of a gas stream comprising hydrogen gas or hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

Method for producing hydrogen and/or other gases from steel plant wastes and waste heat


A plastic box formed of plastic that closes an opening by bending inner Flaps, arranged on one pair of opposite two sides at a periphery of the opening, towards the inside, and folding an outer flap arranged on one side of the other pair of opposite two sides, while inserting and latching an insertion flap piece into the inside of the opening. The plastic box includes a lock mechanism that functions by engaging respective base end parts of the inner flap with notches formed on respective end parts of a bend line bent from the outer flap of the insertion flap piece. In addition, the plastic box includes a finger-receiving brim piece protruding from the bend line towards the outside at a position shifted from the center of the bend line towards the side edge.

As packaging boxes in which, for example, cosmetics, medicines, confections, stationary and other daily use products are packaged, plastic boxes are widely used in place of paper boxes formed of conventional thick paper or cardboard. A plastic box is often used as a container that is transparent or gives the impression of transparency, and as a packaging box that allows the contents or decorations inside the box to be seen from the outside. The plastic box is preferably formed into a hexahedral shape by an easily assembling process, for example, by bending a plastic sheet which has been formed into a predetermined shape by cutting, along bend lines and then joining at suitable locations.
When assembling a plastic box into a hexahedral shape, a tubular body opened at the upper and lower ends and with a square cross section is assembled using side walls surrounding four directions, and then the bottom surface portion and the upper surface portion are formed by bending inner flaps and outer flaps, provided so as to stretch to the upper edge and the lower edge of the side walls, thereby closing the square opening. In other words, the opening is closed by bending the inner flaps, arranged on one pair of opposite two sides at the periphery of the square opening, towards the inside, and folding the outer flap, provided with an insertion flap piece and arranged on one side of the other pair of opposite two sides, onto the outer side of the folded inner flaps, while inserting and latching the insertion flap piece into the inside of the opening between the other side of the other pair of opposite two sides and the bent inner flap, thereby closing the opening portion and forming the bottom surface portion and the upper surface portion.
In contrast, because the plastic has elasticity, when assembling a plastic box into a hexahedral shape, each surface of the box body assembled in a solid shape by bending along a bending line tends to curve compared to a paper box. Because of this, even though the insertion flap piece is simply inserted into the inside of the opening to form the bottom surface portion or the upper surface portion, the elasticity of the plastic makes it easy to extract the insertion flap piece from the inside of the opening. Consequently, this plastic box has an objective of preventing the insertion flap piece from being extracted in this manner and is provided with a lock mechanism that functions by forming latching notches on respective end parts of the bend line from the outer flap of the insertion flap piece and then latching the base end parts of the inner flap to these notches.
Because the upper surface portion of the plastic box assembled into a hexahedral shape must mainly open and close to allow items to be placed in and taken out of the box, lock mechanisms have been developed taking into consideration the ease of opening and closing the plastic box (as an example refer to Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-42632).


Software instructions are executed on a processor within a computer system to configure a steaming engine to operate in either a linear mode or a transpose mode. A stream of addresses is generated using an address generator, in which the stream of addresses includes consecutive nested loop iterations for at least a first loop and a second loop. While in the linear mode, the first loop is treated as an inner loop. While in the transpose mode, the second loop is treated as the inner loop. A matrix can be fetched from memory in the linear mode to provide row-wise vectors. A matrix can be fetched from the memory in the transpose mode to provide column wise vectors.

Digital signal processors (DSP) are optimized for processing streams of data that may be derived from various input signals, such as sensor data, a video stream, a voice channel, radar signals, biomedical signals, etc. Digital signal processors operating on real-time data typically receive an input data stream, perform a filter function on the data stream (such as encoding or decoding) and output a transformed data stream. The system is called real-time because the application fails if the transformed data stream is not available for output when scheduled. Typical video encoding requires a predictable but non-sequential input data pattern. A typical application requires memory access to load data registers in a data register file and then supply data from the data registers to functional units which perform the data processing.
One or more DSP processing cores can be combined with various peripheral circuits, blocks of memory, etc. on a single integrated circuit (IC) die to form a system on chip (SoC). These systems can include multiple interconnected processors that share the use of on-chip and off-chip memory. A processor can include some combination of instruction cache (ICache) and data cache (DCache) to improve processing. Furthermore, multiple processors with shared memory can be incorporated in a single embedded system. The processors can physically share the same memory without accessing data or executing code located in the same memory locations or can use some portion of the shared memory as common shared memory.

Transposing a matrix using a streaming engine


The present invention relates to novel compounds, in particular novel pyridinone derivatives according to Formula (I)

Glutamate is the major amino-acid transmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Glutamate plays a major role in numerous physiological functions, such as learning and memory but also sensory perception, development of synaptic plasticity, motor control, respiration, and regulation of cardiovascular function. Furthermore, glutamate is at the centre of several different neurological and psychiatric diseases, where there is an imbalance in glutamatergic neurotransmission.
Glutamate mediates synaptic neurotransmission through the activation of tonotropic glutamate receptors channels (iGluRs), the NMDA, AMPA and kainate receptors which are responsible for fast excitatory transmission (Nakanishi et al., (1998) Brain Res Brain Res Rev., 26:230-235).
In addition, glutamate activates metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) which have a more modulatory role that contributes to the fine-tuning of synaptic efficacy.
The mGluRs are seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) belonging to family 3 of GPCRs along with the calcium-sensing, GABAb, and pheromone receptors.
Glutamate activates the mGluRs through binding to the large extracellular amino-terminal domain of the receptor, herein called the orthosteric binding site. This binding induces a conformational change in the receptor which results in the activation of the G-protein and intracellular signalling pathways.
The mGluR family is composed of eight members. They are classified into three groups (group I comprising mGluR1 and mGluR5; group II comprising mGluR2 and mGluR3; group III comprising mGluR4, mGluR6, mGluR7, and mGluR8) according to sequence homology, pharmacological profile, and nature of intracellular signalling cascades activated (Schoepp et al. (1999) Neuropharmacology, 38:1431-76).
Among mGluR members, the mGluR2 subtype is negatively coupled to adenylate cyclase via activation of Gαi-protein, and its activation leads to inhibition of glutamate release in the synapse (Cartmell & Schoepp (2000) J Neurochem 75:889-907). In the CNS, mGluR2 receptors are abundant mainly throughout cortex, thalamic regions, accessory olfactory bulb, hippocampus, amygdala, caudate-putamen and nucleus accumbens (Ohishi et al. (1998) Neurosci Res 30:65-82).
Activating mGluR2 was shown in clinical trials to be efficacious to treat anxiety disorders (Levine et al. (2002) Neuropharmacology 43: 294; Holden (2003) Science 300:1866-68; Grillon et al. (2003) Psychopharmacology 168:446-54; Kellner et al. (2005) Psychopharmacology 179: 310-15). In addition, activating mGluR2 in various animal models was shown to be efficacious, thus representing a potential novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of schizophrenia (reviewed in Schoepp & Marek (2002) Curr Drug Targets. 1:215-25), epilepsy (reviewed in Moldrich et al. (2003) Eur J Pharmacol. 476:3-16), migraine (Johnson et al. (2002) Neuropharmacology 43:291), addiction/drug dependence (Helton et al. (1997) J Pharmacol Exp Ther 284: 651-660), Parkinson's disease (Bradley et al (2000) J Neurosci. 20(9):3085-94), pain (Simmons et al. (2002) Pharmacol Biochem Behav 73:419-27), sleep disorders (Feinberg et al. (2002) Pharmacol Biochem Behav 73:467-74) and Huntington's disease (Schiefer et al. (2004) Brain Res 1019:246-54).
To date, most of the available pharmacological tools targeting mGluRs are orthosteric ligands which activate several members of the family as they are structural analogs of glutamate (Schoepp et al. (1999) Neuropharmacology, 38:1431-76).
A new avenue for developing selective compounds acting at mGluRs is to identify molecules that act through allosteric mechanisms, modulating the receptor by binding to a site different from the highly conserved orthosteric binding site.
Positive allosteric modulators of mGluRs have emerged recently as novel pharmacological entities offering this attractive alternative. This type of molecule has been discovered for several mGluRs (reviewed in Mutel (2002) Expert Opin. Ther. Patents 12:1-8). In particular molecules have been described as mGluR2 positive allosteric modulators (Johnson M P et al. (2003) J Med Chem. 46:3189-92; Pinkerton et al. (2004) J Med Chem. 47:4595-9).
WO2004/092135 (NPS & Astra Zeneca), WO2004/018386, WO2006/014918 and WO2006/015158 (Merck) and WO2001/56990 (Eli Lilly) describe respectively phenyl sulfonamide, acetophenone, indanone and pyridylmethyl sulfonamide derivatives as mGluR2 positive allosteric modulators. However, none of the specifically disclosed compounds are structurally related to the compounds of the invention.
It was demonstrated that such molecules do not activate the receptor by themselves (Johnson M P et al. (2003) J Med Chem. 46:3189-92; Schaffhauser et al. (2003) Mol Pharmacol. 64:798-810). Rather, they enable the receptor to produce a maximal response to a concentration of glutamate which by itself induces a minimal response. Mutational analysis have demonstrated unequivocally that the binding of mGluR2 positive allosteric modulators does not occur at the orthosteric site, but instead at an allosteric site situated within the seven transmembrane region of the receptor (Schaffhauser et al. (2003) Mol Pharmacol. 64:798-810).
Animal data are suggesting that positive allosteric modulators of mGluR2 have the same effects in anxiety and psychosis models as those obtained with orthosteric agonists. Allosteric modulators of mGluR2 were shown to be active in fear-potentiated startle (Johnson et al. (2003) J Med Chem. 46:3189-92; Johnson et al. (2005) Psychopharmacology 179:271-83), and in stress-induced hyperthermia (Johnson et al. (2005) Psychopharmacology 179:271-83) models of anxiety. Furthermore, such compounds were shown to be active in reversal of ketamine- (Govek et al. (2005) Bioorg Med Chem Lett 15(18):4068-72) or amphetamine- (Galici et al. (2005) J Pharm Exp Ther 315(3), 1181-1187) induced hyperlocomotion, and in reversal of amphetamine-induced disruption of prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle effect (Galici et al. (2005) J Pharm Exp Ther 315(3), 1181-1187) models of schizophrenia.
Positive allosteric modulators enable potentiation of the glutamate response, but they have also been shown to potentiate the response to orthosteric mGluR2 agonists such as LY379268 (Johnson et al. (2004) Biochem Soc Trans 32:881-87) or DCG-IV (Poisik et al. (2005) Neuropharmacology 49:57-69). These data provide evidence for yet another novel therapeutic approach to treat above mentioned neurological diseases involving mGluR2, which would use a combination of a positive allosteric modulator of mGluR2 together with an orthosteric agonist of mGluR2.

1, 4-disubstituted 3-cyano-pyridone derivatives and their use as positive allosteric modulators of MGLUR2-receptors

Abstract: wherein all radicals are defined in the application and claims. The compounds according to the invention are positive allosteric modulators of metabotropic receptors—subtype 2 (“mGluR2”) which are useful for the treatment or prevention of neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with glutamate dysfunction and diseases in which the mGluR2 subtype of metabotropic receptors is involved. In particular, such diseases are central nervous system disorders selected from the group of anxiety, schizophrenia, migraine, depression, and epilepsy. The invention is also directed to pharmaceutical compositions and processes to prepare such compounds and compositions, as well as to the use of such compounds for the prevention and treatment of such diseases in which mGluR2 is involved.


The invention provides an electronic circuit capable of reducing surge voltage while reducing switching loss when a MOSFET is turned off. A capacitor (91) is connected between apart closer to a first power source terminal (31) of a U-phase module (3) in a bus bar (61a) and a part closer to a second power source terminal (32) of the U-phase module (3) in a bus bar (64a). A capacitor (92) is connected between apart closer to a first power source terminal (41) of a V-phase module (4) in a bus bar (62) and a part closer to a second power source terminal (42) of the V-phase module (4) in a bus bar (65). A capacitor (93) is connected between a part closer to a first power source terminal (51) of a W-phase module (5) in a bus bar (63) and a part closer to a second power source terminal (52) of the W-phase module (5) in a bus bar (66).

A MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor), such as a DMOSFET (Double Diffused MOSFET), or an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) is used as a switching element of an electronic circuit, such as a three-phase inverter circuit or an H bridge circuit. A gate drive signal is supplied to a gate terminal of the MOSFET or of the IGBT through a gate resistor.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship among gate resistance, switching loss (DMOS Eoff) caused when a DMOSFET is turned off, and surge voltage and showing a relationship among gate resistance, switching loss (IGBT Eoff) caused when an IGBT is turned off, and surge voltage.
In the IGBT, the gate resistance dependency of switching loss at the turn-off time is low. Additionally, in the IGBT, the amount of increase of the surge voltage is small with respect to an increase of the gate resistance. On the other hand, in the DMOSFET, the switching loss at the turn-off time can be made much smaller by reducing the gate resistance than in the IGBT. However, in the DMOSFET, if the gate resistance is reduced, the rate of change di/dt of a drain current at the turn-off time will become great, and therefore a great surge voltage will be generated.
As shown in FIG. 4, Patent Literature 1 discloses an arrangement in which, in a three-phase inverter circuit including six IGBTs, a snubber circuit is connected between a single DC input terminal P to which a collector of high-side IGBTs equivalent to three phases is connected and a single DC input terminal N to which an emitter of low-side IGBTs equivalent to three phases is connected, in order to restrain a surge voltage.


Systems, methods, and programs for adjusting marking data for use with alternately stacked multi-thickness media. The systems, methods, and programs input marking data and determine an orientation of sheets of the multi-thickness media that is alternated within a stack. The systems, methods, and programs adjust, for each sheet whose orientation is not consistent with the marking data, the marking data for that sheet such that the marking data for that sheet is consistent with the orientation of that sheet.

1. Related Technical Fields
Related technical fields include systems, methods, and programs for alternating sheets of media.
2. Background Art
Many conventional marking devices are configured to obtain optimized results with standard sizes of sheets of media such as, for example, letter sized media (8.5″ by 11″), A4 media, executive sized media, A5 media, legal sized media, envelopes, and the like. Specifically, for example, the media storage, media transport, and marking functions of these conventional marking devices are designed around these common media sizes such that these sizes of media can be most efficiently used within the devices. Accordingly, special steps and/or user-assisted functions may be required for uniquely sized media.
Such marking devices typically include one or more input modules, each of which may include one or more feeders, into which blank media is loaded for imaging. Conventional feeders are usually adjustable for media size, and generally feed from the top of the stack of media. The feeder generally includes an elevator on which the stack of media is loaded, and which rises as media is fed off the top of the stack reducing the stack height. Thereby, the stack is kept level with the feeding mechanism.
The primary function of the feeder is to advance media to the imaging process one sheet at a time, at very precise intervals, as dictated by the marking device process.
Conventional marking devices typically include one or more output modules, performing various post imaging operations. Typically, the last output module in the imaging and finishing process is a stacker, where consecutive pages or sets of pages are automatically stacked one on top of the previous, as part of the real-time imaging and finishing process.
Some types of combined media for use in these conventional marking devices incorporate a smaller, uniquely sized, sheet of media fixed to at least a portion of a larger, standard sized, sheet of media. These types of media enable marking on the smaller, uniquely sized, sheet of media while utilizing the efficiently stored and transported, standard sized, sheet of media as a vehicle through the marking device. As a result, fewer special steps and/or user-assisted functions are required for marking on the smaller, uniquely sized, sheet of media.
Conventional marking devices that are optimized for standard sized media are designed to begin marking on a leading portion of the sheet of media as it is transported through the device. As a result, the smaller, uniquely sized, sheet of media is frequently fixed to the leading edge of the larger, standard sized, sheet of media. This allows for marking to begin on the leading portion of the combined media.

System, method, and program for alternating sheets of media


For analyzing an information signal having a sequence of blocks of information units, wherein a plurality of consecutive blocks of the sequence of blocks represents an information entity, using a sequence of fingerprints for the sequence of blocks, identification results are provided for consecutive fingerprints, wherein an identification result represents an association of a block of information units with a predetermined information entity. Then at least two hypotheses are formed from the identification results for the consecutive fingerprints, wherein a first hypothesis is an assumption for the association of the sequence of blocks with a first information entity, and wherein the second hypothesis is an assumption for the association of the sequence of blocks with the second information entity. Then various hypotheses are examined to obtain an examination result on the basis of which there is then made a statement on the information signal. This achieves a meaningful and reliable time-continuous analysis of an information signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to signal analysis and particularly to signal analysis for the purpose of identification of signal content.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to archive the ever increasing stock of audio and video material, establish databases that are easy to search or distribute them via various ways of distribution, automatic information recognition systems are necessary that assist to identify audio and video material or, more generally, information material unambiguously based on the contents.
One application for this is the so-called "broadcast monitoring". With the help of such an audio-video monitoring system, it is for example intended to ensure that only legal contents are distributed or that the respective royalties for the right holders of the audio and video material are paid correctly.
A further application is, for example, the recognition of audio material that is to be exchanged between partners via peer-to-peer networks.
A further application is the monitoring possibility for the advertising industry to monitor a television or radio station as to whether the booked advertising times have really been broadcast, or whether only parts of the booked advertising share have been broadcast, or whether parts of the commercials have been disturbed during transmission, which may, for example, be the responsibility of the television or radio station. At this point, it is to be noted that particularly the costs for television commercials in popular programs at good broadcasting times are so high that the advertising industry, particularly in view of these high costs, has a vital interest in a monitoring possibility, so that they do not merely have to trust the word of the broadcasting stations. Currently, the monitoring possibility is based on paid "test hearers" or "test viewers", who continuously watch a certain television program and record, for example, the exact times at which a commercial is transmitted, and who further monitor whether, during the transmission, there has been no disturbance, or whether the whole commercial has been transmitted correctly, i.e. whether there has been no picture distortion, etc.
The disadvantages of this concept are evident. On the one hand, the costs are significant and, on the other hand, the reliability or strength of evidence of statements of test hearers and/or test viewers is problematic, particularly if considerable repayment demands are made that solely depend on test watchers with regard to their provability.
Various known systems may be used for automated broadcast monitoring. For example, WO 02/11123 A2 or the specialist publication: "Invited Talk: An Industrial-Strength Audio Search Algorithm", Avery Wang, ISMIR 2003, Baltimore, October 2003, disclose systems and methods for recognizing audio and music signals in an environment of strong noise and high distortions. A first step is an examination whether there is a match between hash values of a reference audio object and the currently determined hash value of the audio object still unidentified. If this is the case, the associated time offset, i.e. the relative distance from the beginning of the audio object, of the hash value in the still unidentified audio object and the time offset of the hash value in the reference audio object is stored under the respective identification of the reference audio object. When all input hash values have been processed, a so-called scanning phase starts. During this phase, there is an examination of how many time offset pairs per reference audio object time match continuously. If a certain number is detected, an identification of the corresponding reference audio object is assumed. The time offset pairs are considered to be continuous in time, i.e. temporally associated with each other, when they form a straight line in a two-dimensional scatter plot with one time offset as the x-coordinate and the other one as the y-coordinate.
In the specialist publication "Robust Audio Hashing for Content Identification" by J. Haitsma, T. Kalker, J. Oostveen, in Proceedings of the Content-Based Multimedia Indexing, 2001, url:citeseer.ist.psu.edu/haitsma01robust. html, a system for robust audio hashing for content identification is presented. For content-based music recognition, a hash function is used that associates a bit sequence with a portion from an audio signal, namely such that audio signals acoustically similar for the human sound perception also generate a similar bit sequence. For the calculation of a hash value, the audio signal is first windowed and subjected to a transform to finally perform a division of the transform result into frequency bands with logarithmic bandwidth. For these frequency bands, the signs of the differences in the time and frequency directions are determined. The bit sequence resulting from the signs constitutes the hash value. One hash value is always calculated for an audio signal length of 3 seconds. If the Hamming distance between a reference hash value and a test hash value to be examined for such a portion is below a threshold s, a match is assumed and the test portion is associated with the reference element.
In order to perform a recognition of audio material, the audio signal is typically split into small units of length Δt. These individual units are each analyzed individually to have at least a certain time resolution.
This causes several problems.
The recognition results of the small analyzed time periods of the audio signal have to be put together so that an unambiguous correct statement on the recognized audio signal can be made for a longer time period.
For the analysis of a continuous audio data stream, transitions from one audio element to another, i.e. a transition from a piece of music A to a piece of music B, should be detected correctly.
There is further the situation in which there are several versions of a piece of music, which, for example, have the same beginning and only start to differ after a certain time. Just think of, for example, short versions or maxi versions of a song. Alternatively, there are also situations in which pieces of music that are based on the same song differ, for example, at the beginning, have an identical middle part and again differ from each other towards the end of at least one of the two pieces of music. For the payment of royalties to copyright holders, it may be important, whether, for example, the maxi version of a song may be played for a higher charge, whether only a normal version may be played for a medium charge, or whether, for a low charge, there may already be played the short version of a song. In this case, it should be possible to reliably distinguish several versions of a song.
The above prior art is unsatisfactory in that it results in detection errors when the results of the individual recognitions are simply put together. In particular, no information is given as to whether and how a continuous audio data stream from several different audio objects may be analyzed, and how corresponding transitions between various audio objects may be detected. In addition, although particularly in the latter prior art the ambiguity of reference hash values is mentioned, no explicit solution for the problem of the determination of an unambiguous candidate is given. If an audio object is considered to be identified for a hash value, for the directly subsequent hash value there is only an examination whether it fits the identified audio object. If this is not the case, there is a new search including all reference audio objects.
Particularly for distinguishing different versions of one and the same song, no solution is known in prior art.

Device and method for analyzing an information signal


A charged particle beam system utilizes a box-shaped cooling member accommodating the lens in order to cool the particle-optical lenses. The cooling medium is circulated between the wall of the lens and the wall of the cooling member, enabling a high transfer of heat by convection. By using a cooling liquid which is undersaturated for air and which is heated prior to its passage through the cooling duct, accumulation of air due to heating can be prevented in the cooling member.

The invention relates to a charged particle beam system, comprising a source for emitting a beam of charged particles and a focusing device which comprises at least one coil for deflecting the beam, said at least one coil comprising a cooling member which encloses the coil and which comprises a cooling duct for transporting a cooling medium.
The invention also relates to a cooling device, a coil provided with a cooling member and a cooling member suitable for use in such a charged particle beam system.
A charged particle beam system of the kind set forth is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,254.
The cited Patent Specification describes a coil for focusing an electron beam which is formed by a copper tube around which a resin-insulated wire is wound. The outer side of the coil is provided with a copper layer so that the coil fits in a cylindrical opening of a cooling member, the copper layer on the outer side of the coil engaging the inner wall of the cooling member which is also made of copper. The cooling member comprises a cooling duct which is coaxial with the coil and wherethrough water is pumped. The heat developed in the coil is first transported to the cooling duct by conduction by the copper cooling member and is subsequently discharged from the charged particle beam system via convection. In the case of a power dissipation of 30-40 W in the coil, the coil is heated to a temperature of 70.degree. C. Approximately 70% of the heat is then carried off by the cooling water.

Charged particle beam system and cooling device, a coil comprising a cooling member and a cooling member for use in such a charged particle beam system