A specification of resource requirements is received. One or more resource configurations for a computing environment that satisfy the specification of resource requirements are generated utilizing a description of available resources in the computing environment. A model is utilized to estimate a level of service for each of the resource configurations, wherein the model predicts behavioral dependencies between attributes of the resources in the computing environment. A given one of the resource configurations is selected based at least in part on the estimated levels of service, and resources in the computing environment are assigned according to the selected configuration of resources.

A software-defined data center (SDDC) is a computing system wherein elements of the infrastructure, e.g., networking, storage, compute, etc., are virtualized and delivered to tenants (customers) of the data center as services. An SDDC is typically implemented in a cloud computing platform environment and the virtualized and delivered components are controlled through an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) layer.
The proliferation of applications and complexity of the underlying infrastructure in computing environments such as SDDCs and other cloud computing environments is rapidly increasing. As such environments increase in scale, management becomes a difficult task.

Allocation of resources in computing environments


Techniques are disclosed for supplying users in an online environment with a safe and effective chat facility. The chat facility is “safe” in the sense that the ability of users to compose inappropriate messages is greatly restricted, while “effective” in the sense that users are still allowed a broad range of expressivity in composing and exchanging chat messages.

1. Field
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to computer-based online communication. More specifically, embodiments of the invention are directed to a variety of techniques for managing the content of chat messages exchanged between users in online gaming and social environments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multiplayer video games and virtual worlds have rapidly become popular forms of online entertainment. Both generally provide users with access to a virtual environment where they may interact with one another. For example, avatars are frequently used to provide a graphical representation of each user present within a virtual environment and users interact with one another through their avatars. Users control the actions of their avatar to navigate the virtual environment, e.g., achieve gaming objectives as well as to communicate or chat with other users. Such an environment may be persistent where events occur and users interact with each other regardless of the presence of any particular user. Alternatively, such an environment may be game or session based, e.g., where a group of users participate in a match of a first-person shooter game.
User-to-user communication (i.e., chatting) is often a prominent feature within these kinds of online environments. For example, a user may chat directly with other users present in the same virtual location by typing characters into a text-field on a user interface. To promote civility and safety among users, a service provider hosting an online environment may desire to prevent the use of obscene language or other inappropriate communication, particularly in online environments developed for minors. In such a case, chat software may filter chat messages by removing swear words, slurs, or other known terms of disparagement. However, simply filtering "bad" words is inadequate as inappropriate messages are plainly not limited to simply "bad" words.
Accordingly, in some cases, a chat interface may not support users freely composing chat messages. Instead, users may chat by selecting messages from a pretended set of words or phrases. One constraint of such a system is that the set of allowed words or phrases must be defined by the online environment provider in advance. In such cases, however, users may have to type a chat message that exactly matches one of the allowed ones. In practice, this greatly restricts the expressivity of users within the virtual environment. For example, if the allowed messages includes the phrase "I want to play chess," but does not contain the phrase "I want to play checkers," the second phrase cannot be made as a selection. At the same time, entering all possible phrases is costly and time consuming and not a feasible option. Furthermore, even automatically generating new phrases and storing them in a static database is not a complete solution, since most phrases are rarely repeated again, they will simply occupy space without contributing to overall user experience.

Dynamically generated phrase-based assisted input


An anti-inflammatory conjugate including a polyamino acid backbone, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, and a moiety linking the anti-inflammatory agent to the backbone, wherein the polyamino acid backbone has a molecular weight greater than 250 kD.

The invention relates to compositions of matter targeted to antigen-processing cells.
An antigen-processing cell is a leukocyte capable of secreting proteases or reactive-oxygen intermediates, or a leukocyte capable of internalizing and processing a protein, a carbohydrate, a polynucleic acid, or bacterium, and subsequently presenting a processed form thereof on its cell surface. Circulating leukocytes can internalize foreign particles by three mechanisms, the first being active phagocytosis, the second being passive, concentration gradient-dependent adsorption, and the third being active transport. Antigen-processing cells therefore include granulocytes (e.g., eosinophils, or polymorphonuclear neutrophils), macrophages, and monocytes.
In addition to antigen processing, antigen-processing cells perform proliferative and secretory functions. Certain antigen-processing cells circulate throughout the body, via the vascular system. Circulating antigen processing cells may or may not circulate through the lymph system. Examples of circulating antigen-processing cells include eosinophils, polymorphonuclear neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, and monocytes. Examples of non-circulating antigen-processing cells include Kupffer cells in the liver, and microglial cells.


2-(1-alkoxyethenyl)-1-pyrroline compounds. The compounds may be employed for preparing food flavorant compositions, and 2-(1-ethoxyethenyl)-1-pyrroline, in particular, has characteristics suiting it as a flavoring agent for food products.

The present invention relates to pyrroline-based compounds, their production, and uses thereof.
This invention relates to a process for the production of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in encapsulated form, to the encapsulated product obtained and to a particular use thereof. The present invention also relates to a new compound of the pyrroline family from which encapsulated 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline can be obtained, to a process for its production and to a particular use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,838 (Buttery, et al.), describes a process for the production of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. This process comprises catalytically reducing 2-acetyl pyrrole for 15 hours under a hydrogen pressure of approximately 0.7 bar, to obtain (1-hydroxyethyl)-2-pyrrolidine as an intermediate product, and oxidizing the intermediate product obtained with silver carbonate under reflux in benzene, again over a period of 15 hours. The 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline is then isolated by gas phase chromatography using a capillary column 2 meters in length and 6.4 mm in diameter. The 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline thus obtained has a purity of approximately 95%, but can only be produced in small quantities at a time, due mainly to the purification of the compound by gas phase chromatography. In addition, the 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline is unstable and has to be stored at a temperature preferably below 0.degree. C., which makes it difficult to use, particularly on an industrial scale.
Another process for the production of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline from pyrrolidine is known from European Patent Application Publication No. 436 481, but does not solve the problem in question.

Pyrroline-based food flavoring compounds


A post-processing apparatus for washing off a photosensitive layer in a non-image area of an organic photoconductive master plate that has been prepared on a platemaker through the steps of exposure, development and fixing. The apparatus including a swelling/wetting section for rendering the photosensitive layer in the non-image area swollen and wet; a stripping section for stripping and removing the photosensitive layer; a cleaning section for washing the photosensitive layer with water; solution receiving tanks provided for the respective sections for receiving processing solution; spray pipes provided along a width of the master plate for spraying the processing solution from the solution receiving tanks respectively associated with the swelling/wetting, the stripping and the cleaning sections; and a detector for detecting a temperature of the processing solution. The detector being provided in a rear end of a fluid passageway of the spray pipe in the swelling/wetting section. The apparatus further including an outlet for injecting the processing solution toward the master plate, the outlet being bored in a wall of the rear end portion of the spray pipe facing with a temperature sensing head of the detector; a heater for the processing solution being provided in the solution receiving tank of the swelling/wetting section; and a controller for controlling the heater according to an output signal from the detector.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a post-processing apparatus with a detector for detecting a solution's temperature, by which a photosensitive layer in a non-image area of an organic photoconductive master plate that has been prepared on a platemaker through the steps of exposure, development and fixing is washed off to prepare a master plate having an image of printing quality formed thereon.
When preparing masters with image of printing quality formed by means of conventional platemakers, a sheet of zinc oxide master (hereinafter abbreviated as "ZnO master") or an organic photoconductive master plate using an aluminum substrate (hereinafter abbreviated as "OPC master plate") is selected depending upon various conditions such as the mode of printing, the number of prints and the method of paper feed; after charging for each master, the master is transported to an exposure stage where a latent image of the original is formed; then, the master is sent to a delivery transport unit where the original image is rendered visible (developed) and fixed before it emerges on a delivery tray.
In the case of a ZnO master, the one which has just been processed on the platemaker is sent as such to a printing machine. However, in the case of an OPC master plate using an aluminum substrate, the processed plate is transported to a post-processing apparatus where the photosensitive layer in the non-image area of the master is washed off by spraying a processing solution controlled at an appropriate temperature, thus yielding a master plate on which a desired image of printing quality has been formed. Since the processing solution for washing off the photosensitive layer in the non-image area requires very strict temperature control, the master plate just processed on the platemaker is first sent to the post-processing apparatus where the spray of a temperature-controlled processing solution is applied to the photosensitive layer in the non-image area, so that it becomes sufficiently swollen and wet to be stripped and washed off.
The conventional post-processing apparatus for OPC master plates has only a temperature sensing device submerged in the tank of processing solution. If the tank has a large capacity, a temperature variation occurs to the processing solution depending on the specific site of measurement, thereby making it extremely difficult to ensure that the temperature of the processing solution is strictly held closely at constant level throughout the interior of the tank. As a consequence, temperature fluctuations occur while the processing solution is sprayed and the resulting failure to achieve positive stripping and washing-off of the photosensitive layer in the non-image area has made it impossible to prepare a master plate on which an image of good quality has been formed.

Post-processing apparatus with solution's temperature detector


A pellicle having a metal oxysilicide layer. A pellicle having a molybdenum layer, a ruthenium layer and a silicon oxynitride layer, wherein the molybdenum layer is disposed between the ruthenium layer and the silicon oxynitride layer. A method of manufacturing a pellicle for a lithographic apparatus, the method including providing a metal oxysilicide layer. A lithographic assembly including a pellicle having a metal oxysilicide layer. The use of a pellicle having a metal oxysilicide layer in a lithographic apparatus.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine constructed to apply a desired pattern onto a substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). A lithographic apparatus may for example project a pattern from a patterning device (e.g. a mask) onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on a substrate.
The wavelength of radiation used by a lithographic apparatus to project a pattern onto a substrate determines the minimum size of features which can be formed on that substrate. A lithographic apparatus which uses EUV radiation, being electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength within the range 4-20 nm, may be used to form smaller features on a substrate than a conventional lithographic apparatus (which may for example use electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of 193 nm).
A lithographic apparatus includes a patterning device (e.g. a mask or reticle). Radiation is provided through or reflected off the patterning device to form an image on a substrate. A pellicle may be provided to protect the patterning device from airborne particles and other forms of contamination. Contamination on the surface of the patterning device can cause manufacturing defects on the substrate.
Pellicles may also be provided for protecting optical components other than patterning devices. Pellicles may also be used to provide a passage for lithographic radiation between regions of the lithography apparatus which are sealed from one another. Pellicles may also be used as filters, such as spectral purity filters. Due to the sometimes harsh environment inside a lithography apparatus, particularly an EUV lithography apparatus, pellicles are required to demonstrate excellent chemical and thermal stability.


A method of grouping nodes within a distributed network is provided. The example method includes performing a leader node self determination operation by which each node within the distributed network determines whether to become a leader node or a non-leader node, each leader node being the leader of a group including at least one node. Next, requests are sent, from each leader node, requesting at least one non-leader node to join the group associated with the leader node. First received requests are accepted, at each non-leader node, such that accepting non-leader nodes transition from a non-leader node to a dependent node dependent upon the requesting leader node. A next set of requests are sent, from each remaining non-leader node, requesting to join the group associated with at least one leader node. A determination is made, at each requested leader node, as to whether to accept the non-leader node into the group associated with the requested leader node. Based on the determination, at each requested leader node, the non-leader node is either accepted into the group associated with the requested leader node, or is alternatively rejected from the group.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a method of computing aggregate statistics within a distributed network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many large-scale distributed applications require aggregate statistics (e.g., MIN, MAX, SUM, RANK, AVERAGE, etc.) to be computed based on data stored at individual nodes. For example, in peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, the average number of files stored at each peer node or the maximum size of files exchanged between nodes can be an important factor for system designers attempting to optimize overall system performance.
Similarly, in sensor networks, disseminating individual readings of temperature or humidity among a plurality of sensor nodes, besides being very expensive, may also be unnecessary, and aggregates like MAX (e.g., a maximum temperature from the plurality of sensor nodes) or AVERAGE (e.g., an average temperature from the plurality of sensor nodes) may be sufficient in most cases.
In another example, in a wireless network monitoring application deploying software probes on mobile handsets to monitor performance, a service provider may be more interested in abnormal measurements recorded by the probes, such as unusually low signal strength or atypically high application response times.
Three important design criteria for aggregate computations are scaling, robustness and communication overhead. Scaling means that the aggregation computation procedure may scale to a large number of nodes (e.g., without prohibitive costs, complexity, resource allocation, etc.). For example, P2P systems and sensor networks may include millions of participating nodes (e.g., distributed throughout the Internet). Accordingly, scaling may refer to how computation times are affected as new nodes join. For example, an aggregate computation procedure with good scaling characteristics may be associated with a linear increase in computation times (e.g., as opposed to an exponential increase) as new nodes are added to the system. Robustness relates to how accurate the aggregate computation remains in the presence of failures at one or more nodes within the system. For example, link and node reliability may be expected to be poor in wireless networks as compared to wired networks. Communication overhead is the signaling or messaging associated with computing the aggregate statistic. For example, wireless communication systems (e.g., IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, CDMA, OFDMA, GSM, UMTS, etc.) typically have lower bandwidths than wired communication systems, and in wireless sensor networks, nodes have limited battery lives (e.g., which are drained by messaging, searching to establish a connection, etc.).
Accordingly, in order to facilitate computations for aggregate statistics, system designers typically attempt to develop a solution which scales as nodes are added, is robust in the presence of failures and incurs a relatively low communication overhead. However, system designers typically make decisions which "trade-off" between scaling, robustness and communication overhead.
In a conventional centralized aggregate statistic computation process, each of a plurality of nodes within a system (e.g., a P2P system, a sensor system, a wireless system, etc.) transmits a value, to be collected and used in the aggregate statistic computation along with values from other of the plurality of nodes, to a central coordinator. The central coordinator collects the transmitted values and computes the aggregate. The conventional centralized approach is relatively efficient in terms of communication overhead because, assuming n nodes take part in the aggregate statistic computation (i.e., not counting the central coordinator), only n messages require transmission to compute the aggregate statistic. However, the centralized approach is weak in terms of scalability and reliability because the central coordinator may fail (e.g., low robustness) and/or become a bottleneck (e.g., low scalability as more nodes are added).
In a conventional decentralized gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process, each of a plurality of nodes within a system (e.g., a P2P system, a sensor system, a wireless system, etc.) exchanges information with a randomly-selected node within the system during each "round" of the computation process (e.g., a round may be a period of time required to exchange the information used in the computation process). It will be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that a gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process has advantages with regard to robustness (e.g., because message failures and/or node failures may be compensated by the random-communication) and scalability as compared to the conventional centralized approach.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional decentralized gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process for computing an aggregate AVERAGE. The process of FIG. 1 is performed at each of a plurality of nodes within a system (e.g., a P2P system, a sensor system, a wireless system, etc.), and will hereinafter be described as being performed at a representative Node X. Further, the plurality of nodes will hereinafter be described as including n nodes, where n is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The process of FIG. 1 illustrates one "round" of computation, wherein multiple rounds, or iterations, of the process of FIG. 1 are performed at each of the n nodes to compute the aggregate statistic.
In step S100 of FIG. 1, Node X selects one of the n nodes with a well-known random selection algorithm. Node X sends half of a local value to the randomly selected node in step S105. The local value corresponds to the aggregate statistic being computed with the conventional decentralized gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process of FIG. 1. For example, if the aggregate statistic is an average temperature at a plurality of temperature sensors distributed throughout a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, the local value referred to in step S105 is the temperature at Node X.
In step S110, the randomly selected node receives half of the local value sent from the Node X. The randomly selected node adds the received value from Node X to half of its own local value in step S115. Thus, a resultant summed value is halfway between previous local values stored at the randomly selected node and the Node x, respectively.
The process of FIG. 1 may be reconfigured to compute other aggregate statistics. For example, each node may send the full amount of its local value to a randomly selected node, and the receiving node may replace its own local value if the received value is lower for MIN, or higher for MAX.
As discussed above, while the process of FIG. 1 is described as performed at Node X and the randomly selected node, the process of FIG. 1 is, in actuality, performed at all n nodes at the same time during each "round". The process of FIG. 1 repeats a number of times until, statistically, there is a high probability that all n nodes have converged to an approximation of the true, aggregate statistic.
Recent statistical studies have shown that the process of FIG. 1 converges to "true" aggregate statistics at each of the n nodes in (log n) rounds, or iterations, of the process of FIG. 1. Also, because the process of FIG. 1 is performed at each of the n nodes during each round, n multiplied by (log n), or (n log n), messages are sent during the iterative process of FIG. 1.
As discussed above, it is generally undisputed that the conventional decentralized gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process, described above with respect to FIG. 1, is sufficiently robust to handle a reasonable number of node failures throughout the system. Further, (log n) (i.e., a number of rounds to converge to the aggregate statistic) serves as a scalability indicator and (n log n) (i.e., a number of messages throughout the (log n) rounds) serves as a communication overhead indicator for the conventional decentralized gossip-based aggregate statistic computation process.

Method of aggregate statistic computation


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for merging images of segments of a view. Methods include: receiving, from a network, a first image representing a first segment of the view and a second image representing a second segment of the view; determining the position of the second segment of the view relative to the first segment of the view; blending the first image with the second image based on the determined position of the second segment relative to the first segment to form a panoramic image of the view; and transmitting the panoramic image over the network.

This invention relates to a server for merging images to form a panoramic image and methods practiced by the server.
Image capture devices, such as cameras, can be used to capture an image of a section of a view, such as a section of the front of a house. The section of the view whose image is captured by a camera is known as the field of view of the camera. Adjusting a lens associated with a camera may increase the field of view. However, there is a limit beyond which the field of view of the camera cannot be increased without compromising the quality, or "resolution", of the captured image. It is sometimes necessary to capture an image of a view that is larger than can be captured within the field of view of a camera. To do so, multiple overlapping images of segments of the view can be taken and then the images can be joined together, or "merged," to form a composite image, known as a panoramic image.
An image captured by a camera distorts the sizes of objects depicted in the image so that distant objects appear smaller than closer objects. The size distortion, which is known as perspective distortion, depends on the camera position, the pointing angle of the camera, and so forth. Consequently, an object depicted in two different images might not have the same size in the two images, because of perspective distortion.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Merging images to form a panoramic image


A butt-type connection terminal unit comprises first and second connection terminals whose front end surfaces are contacted to each other to make an electric connection therebetween and which include safety structure to prevent a person from accidentally touching the terminal front surfaces. The first and second connection terminals are provided, front end surfaces thereof, with respective plate-like insulators (5, 6) and slits (7, 8) at positions out of phase relative to each other, the plate-like insulators adapted for entrance into the corresponding slits when the front end surfaces are contacted to each other. A butt-type connection terminal unit is obtained in which the plate-like insulators serve to prevent a finger from touching the connection terminals, which realizes a stable electric connection and which is suited for downsizing connectors. A coaxial connector is also provided which employs the above connection terminal unit. A hollow cylinder (34) and a rod (36) are also usable as touch prevention structures.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connection terminal unit of a butt type having a finger-touching prevention structure, which is used, for example, in charging an electric automobile and to a coaxial connector employing the unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Butt-type terminals--which are connected to each other in face-to-face relation--are advantageous as compared with pin/sleeve type terminals in that a smaller force is required and less abrasion is caused when connecting and disconnecting the terminals. There are, however, various problems to the butt-type terminals especially when used with a high-voltage, high-current passing connector such as a connector for an electric automobile.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a coaxial connector employing a conventional butt-type terminal unit (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Specification No. 3-48881), in which denoted 51 is a plug connector and 52 a receptacle connector.
The front end surface of a connection terminal 53 of the plug connector 51 is formed as a spherical surface 53a, and the front end surface of a connection terminal 54 of the receptacle connector 52 is formed as a conical recess 54a. In other words, to enlarge the contact surfaces of the terminals in a direction perpendicular to a fitting direction of the connectors 51, 52, the spherical surface 53a and conical recess 54a are employed, which in turn enlarges the opening 56 of a hood 55 of the plug connector 51, resulting in a fear that a finger or the like enters into touching with the connection terminal 53 to cause an electric shock. To avoid this, the hood 55 may be elongated so as to put the connection terminal 55 out of reach. It is, however, not practical since the entire length of the connector becomes elongated.
FIG. 7 shows a connector employing a conventional pin/sleeve-type terminal unit (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Specification No. 60-145560). More specifically, a connection terminal 57 of a not-shown plug connector has a small-diameter projection 58 axially projecting at the front end, and a screw portion 63 provided on the front end surface of the projection 58. A metallic ring 59 is force-fitted over the small-diameter projection 58, and a conical guide 60 of heat-resistant resin material is threaded over the screw portion 63. The receptacle connector 52' contains a connection terminal 62 which has a sleeve 61 for receipt therein of the pin-like connection terminal 57.
In the connector of FIG. 7, the front end of the sleeve 61 and the conical guide 60 cooperate with each other to guide the insertion of the pin terminal 57. In contrast, in the butt-type terminal unit of FIG. 6, neither of the connection terminals 53, 54 has a guiding operation.
The guide 60 of heat-resistant resin material serves to prevent a finger or the like from touching the connection terminal 57. The guide 60, however, is of a structure which is guided by the open end of the metallic sleeve 61 to be inserted into and pulled out of the sleeve, thereby possibly resulting in deformations of the resin material, the production and biting of shavings which may cause adverse effects on connections, and the falling-off of the guide 60 during the inserting or pulling out of the pin terminal 57.

Butt type terminal unit with touch prevention structure


A coaxial connector for connecting a coaxial plug includes an insulation housing including an insertion opening portion and a pressing deformation portion situated above the insertion opening portion; an outer conductive member including a pressing portion for pressing the pressing deformation portion; a stationary terminal including a contact portion; and a movable terminal fitted into the insertion opening portion and including a fixed portion and an elastic portion. The elastic portion is separated from the contact portion so that the movable terminal is electrically disconnected from the stationary terminal when the coaxial plug is inserted into the insulation housing. The elastic portion contacts with the central conductive member so that the movable terminal is electrically connected to the central conductive member when the coaxial plug is inserted into the insulation housing.

The present invention relates to a coaxial connector to be mounted on a board. More specifically, the present invention relates to a coaxial connector having a switch, which has a switching mechanism to switch high-frequency signal circuits.
A conventional coaxial connector having a switch has been widely used for inspecting built-in high-frequency circuits in a portable communication device such as a cell phone and the like.
The conventional coaxial connector having the switch includes, for example, an insulation housing, which has a vertical hole that can receive a central conductive member of a coaxial plug therein, and an outer conductor provided outside the insulation housing. The conventional coaxial connector further includes a stationary terminal and a movable terminal, which are provided below the vertical hole. The stationary terminal has a contact portion, and the movable terminal has a fixed portion to be secured on the insulation housing and an elastic portion that can abut against the central conductive member of the coaxial plug and can contact with the contact portion (for example, see Patent Reference).
Patent Reference: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2007-141665
In the conventional coaxial connector having the switch, when the coaxial plug is not attached thereto, the movable terminal is pushed against the contact portion of the stationary terminal by an elastic force of the elastic portion, so that the stationary terminal is electrically connected to the movable terminal. On the other hand, when the coaxial plug is attached to the conventional coaxial connector, a lower end portion of the central conductive member of the coaxial plug is inserted in the vertical hole of the connector. In this state, the central conductive member abuts against the elastic portion. Accordingly, the elastic portion is pushed down by the central conductive member, so as to be elastically deformed and moved away from the contact portion. As a result, the stationary terminal is electrically disconnected from the movable terminal. At the same time, the central conductive member is electrically connected to the movable terminal. When the coaxial plug is attached to the conventional coaxial connector, a signal, which is flowing from the movable terminal to the stationary terminal, flows from the movable terminal to the central conductive member. Accordingly, it is possible to inspect a high-frequency circuit that is connected to the movable terminal.
In the conventional coaxial connector described above, even after the movable terminal and stationary terminal are assembled into the insulation housing, an insertion hole, through which the movable terminal, especially the elastic portion thereof, is inserted into the insulation housing, remains an opened state. Accordingly, a foreign substance may enter the conventional coaxial connector through the insertion hole, so that the foreign substance causes an adverse effect on connection between the stationary terminal and the movable terminal.
Patent Reference has disclosed a technique to solve such a problem. According to Patent Reference, the conventional coaxial connector has an extending section disposed on a side of the insulation housing where the movable terminal is inserted in. After the movable terminal is inserted in the insulation housing through the insertion hole, a pressing section provided on the outer conductor is bent downwardly to bend downwardly the extending section of the insulation housing, so that the insertion hole is closed.
According to the technique disclosed in Patent Reference, it is necessary to provide an additional step of bending the pressing section and the extending section to close the insertion hole. Further, it is difficult to reduce an outer dimension of the conventional coaxial connector due to the pressing section and the extending section.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the invention is to provide a coaxial connector having a closing structure capable of preventing a foreign substance from entering without an additional step such as a bending process and the like.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Coaxial connector and method of assembling the same


The present disclosure provides a renewable energy generator including a housing formed to float in a body of water, a main generator unit, frame(s) fixed internally of the housing at intervals, a main rotating shaft for linking the main generator unit rotatably to the frame(s), and a controller for operating the pendulum by driving the main motor, and controlling the main generator unit to cause the housing to behave due to the pendulum operation. The main generator unit includes an inner housing, a pendulum moving inside the inner housing, a pendulum rotation shaft vertically connected to the pendulum and fixed to the inner housing, a main motor for converting kinetic energy of the pendulum into electrical energy, and a gear unit linked to the pendulum rotation shaft and transmitting the kinetic energy of the pendulum to the main motor.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and do not necessarily constitute prior art.
To produce electricity, various methods exist and are widely used, including thermal power generation using chemical energy of fossil fuels, hydroelectric power generation using the potential energy of water by forming dams, and nuclear power generation using nuclear fission of uranium.
However, in recent years, resource depletion, safety issues, and eco-friendly values are increasingly propelling renewable energy productions in proportion over the three major power generation sources. Renewable energy includes power generation using infinite energy sources such as solar power, solar heat, tidal power, wave power, wind power, and geothermal heat.
More than 70% of the earth's surface is the sea that borders different countries with large bodies of water making them good environmental candidates to take advantage of the infinite energy of the waters, which garners increasing interest in wave power generation. Wave power generation refers to the production of electrical energy by using the periodic vertical motion of the water surface caused by waves.
Conventional wave power generation device is difficult to stably produce power by providing irregular horizontal and vertical motions in accord with the movement of irregular waves. For example, the conventional device cannot produce electricity efficiently because it is difficult to stably generate electricity in response to the fluidic movements of the sea level.
Moreover, since the position and attitude of the conventional wave power device fluctuate by naturally floating in a body of water or the sea, the wave power device when in a bad position and posture cannot produce electricity efficiently.

Renewable energy generation device and control method therefor


The crystal orientation of a workpiece is determined and a tilt angle of the workpiece is adjusted based on the determined crystal orientation at the outside of a wire saw, and then the workpiece is attached to a workpiece feed table of the wire saw so that the slicing can be started.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire saw and a workpiece slicing method thereof, and more particularly to a wire saw and a workpiece slicing method thereof for slicing brittle materials such as silicon, glass and ceramics.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the wire saw slices a single crystal material such as silicon into wafers, the single crystal material must be tilted by a predetermined angle with respect to a plane including a wire row of the wire saw so that the face of the sliced wafer can be a desired crystal face.
In the conventional wire saw, tilting equipment, which is integrated with a workpiece feed table, adjusts a tilt angle of the workpiece. The tilting equipment supports the workpiece so that the workpiece can swing horizontally and vertically with respect to the plane of the wire row. An operator manually adjusts the tilt angle of the workpiece based on the previously-obtained data relating to the crystal orientation of the workpiece.
Since the tilting operation in the wire saw has to be done in a limited space, the operation is extremely difficult. In addition, the operation takes time, and the slicing cannot be efficiently performed.
In the conventional method of adjusting the tilt angle of the workpiece, if an error takes place when the workpiece is attached to the tilting equipment, the error will not be noticed. Thus, inferior wafers will be manufactured.
Furthermore, the conventional wire saw slices only one workpiece per slicing. For this reason, if the workpiece is much shorter than the width of the wire row, much of the wire row can not contribute to the slicing, and the manufacturing efficiency is lowered.


A braking control apparatus for a vehicle includes four wheel braking apparatuses for applying a braking torque to wheels, a first hydraulic pressure generating apparatus generating a hydraulic pressure, a vacuum booster generating an assist force for assisting a breaking operation, a first hydraulic circuit, a second hydraulic circuit, a second hydraulic pressure generating apparatus generating an assist hydraulic pressure that is added to the hydraulic pressure, a detecting portion for detecting a braking operation variable, a target value determining portion for determining a first assist hydraulic pressure target value and a second assist hydraulic pressure target value to be both greater than zero over a range where the braking operation variable is greater than a predetermined value at which the assist force by the vacuum booster is started, and a pressure regulating portion for regulating the assist hydraulic pressure to match the assist hydraulic pressure target value.

A vacuum booster is widely known to generate an assist force for assisting a braking operation force produced by a driver and applied to a master cylinder. By using a pressure lower than an atmospheric pressure (hereinafter referred to as a "negative pressure") such as a manifold air pressure of an internal combustion engine, the braking operation by the driver is assisted according to the known vacuum booster. Such assist will be hereinafter referred to as a "vacuum assist".
In addition, a brake hydraulic pressure control apparatus is widely known to have a hydraulic pump for generating an assist hydraulic pressure added to a hydraulic pressure generated by the master cylinder, and a solenoid valve for adjusting and controlling the assist hydraulic pressure. By using the assist hydraulic pressure, the braking operation by the driver is assisted according to the known brake hydraulic pressure control apparatus. Such assist will be hereinafter referred to as a "pump assist".
JP9030385A and JP9323641A disclose apparatuses each assisting a braking operation performed by the driver by means of the pump assist in addition to the vacuum assist. Such apparatuses will be explained with reference to FIG. 21.
FIG. 21 is a graph illustrating characteristics of a braking pressure (i.e., wheel cylinder pressure) relative to a braking operation force F produced by the driver. In FIG. 21, a characteristic line Ch1 shows characteristics in cases where neither the vacuum assist nor the pump assist is performed. A characteristic line Ch2 shows characteristics in cases where only the vacuum assist is performed. A change point (i.e., vacuum assist limit point) on the characteristic line Ch2 is a point where an application of the braking pressure by the vacuum assist reaches a limit value (i.e., maximum value).
A characteristic line Ch3 shows characteristics according to the apparatus disclosed in JP9030385A. As illustrated by the characteristic line Ch3, only the vacuum assist is performed until the braking operation force F reaches a value FB0 that corresponds to the change point (F≦FB0). In cases where the braking operation force F reaches the value FB0, the pump assist is then started. Accordingly, the decrease in a rising gradient of the braking pressure relative to the increase in the braking operation force F within an area where the braking operation force F exceeds the value FB0 can be compensated.
A characteristic line Ch4 shows characteristics according to the apparatus disclosed in JP9323641A. As illustrated by the characteristic line Ch4, only the vacuum assist is generally performed. In cases where a deceleration speed of a wheel exceeds a predetermined value because of a sudden braking, and the like, the pump assist is started and performed relative to the braking operation force F at that time (=value F1). Accordingly, a vehicle can be securely rapidly accelerated at a time of the sudden braking, and the like.
The pump assist is achieved by a hydraulic pressure control based on an electronic control of a motor for driving a hydraulic pump, a solenoid valve, and the like. On the other hand, the vacuum assist is achieved by only a mechanical structure of the vacuum booster, without the use of the electronic control. Thus, dynamic characteristics in application of the braking pressure between the pump assist and the vacuum assist relative to the braking operation force F are inevitably different because of a difference in operating principles between the pump assist and the vacuum assist.
Accordingly, when the pump assist is started during the braking operation during which only the vacuum assist is performed, the driver may tend to have an uncomfortable feeling in a brake operation. Such tendency is most pronounced in cases where the pump assist is started at a time when the braking operation force F becomes sufficiently large (i.e., at a time when the vacuum assist is sufficiently large) as in the apparatuses disclosed in JP9030385A and JP9323641A.
A need thus exists for a braking control apparatus for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


A glove for gripping a piece of athletic equipment to be swung by an athlete includes a glove shell formed by a palm portion, a back portion, a thumb portion and four finger portions. The palm and back portions form an opening through which the athlete inserts a hand. A palm strap extends across the palm portion, and has one end attached proximate to the opening and another end with holes through which the two middle finger portions project. A protrusion is attached transversely to the palm strap at a location proximate to the holes and toward the one end, thereby forming a section of the palm strap between the protrusion and the opening for wrapping around the piece of athletic equipment to be swung. A wrist strap is provided to secure the glove shell about a wrist of the athlete.

The present invention relates to gloves which aid an athlete in gripping and swinging a bat, club, racquet or other athletic equipment; and more particularly to gloves which are useful in playing golf.
Golfers often wear gloves when swinging the golf club in order to strike the ball with greater precision. Similarly, baseball players wear gloves to more firmly grip the bat and gloves are used in racquet sports for similar purposes. Such gloves are designed to eliminate blisters, calluses and generally to protect the hand, in addition to improving the grip. They also avoid problems caused by perspiration.
Since grip is an important aspect of many sports, presently available gloves for this purpose are extremely thin to enhance the feel of the object being swung. This combination of grip and feel is considered by many to add power to the hand, for example when playing golf, tennis, or other sports. The design of prior athletic gloves has concentrated on the use of special fabrics and pads sewn on the inside of the fingers and the palm to improve the grip.

Athletic glove for gripping bats, clubs and racquets


A method and a related system to index voicemail documents by training a language model for a speaker or group of speakers by using existing emails and contact information on available repositories.

A search engine is a system that retrieves information from a database. Here, a database can be any type of repository containing electronic documents, for instance: the Web, mailing archives, file repositories, etc. Documents can contain text, images, audio and video data. Most search engines only index the textual part of documents.
A speech recognition engine automatically converts spoken words from an audio stream into electronic text. The result of the operation is named a "transcription". There are two-types of speech recognition systems: those that are speaker-dependent (trained and optimized to for specific speakers) and those that are speaker-independent (needing no training for specific speakers).
Speech recognition engines generally use language models Language models are probabilistic distributions on sequences of words. These models define the probability of the next word based on a sequence. Both speaker-dependent and speaker-independent systems can have language models. Some speech recognition software provide training tools to train the language model by supplying training data. These systems modify their pre-determined language model with new probabilities estimated from the additional training text supplied by the user of the software. For instance, a system can be packaged with a "US-English" language model, which captures the statistics of the generation of English in the general US population. While this language model is adequate to transcribe speech in English when no other information on the content to be converted is known, a specific speaker or group of people (for instance, people working for the same organization) may need a better optimized language model to reflect their particular use of the English language. For instance, technical words, people, products and model names, etc., are unlikely to be properly recognized by a general language model.
These systems also use dictionaries that define the set of word candidates. On certain systems, the dictionary can also be modified by the user of the speech recognition system.
Improvements are desired to make searching of voice files easier, faster and more accurate.

Method to train the language model of a speech recognition system to convert and index voicemails on a search engine


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip having an electrode, a connector having a chip contact surface, an interconnecting portion, and an external electrode terminal contact surface, the chip contact surface being electrically connected to the electrode, and a first connection material disposed between the chip contact surface and the electrode, the first connecting material having a surface area that is greater than a surface area of the chip contact surface.

Conventionally, semiconductor devices include semiconductor chips including metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) having vertically oriented electrode structures with copper connectors, or the like, that are connected to lead frames or external electrode terminals. In these devices, copper connectors having the same size and shape (i.e. standard connectors) are used in order to improve the efficiencies of managing the inventory to manufacture different products. However, the sizes of semiconductor chips may be different and thus the contact area of the standard connector may not be suitable for connection with differently sized semiconductor chips. In some instances the contact area of the semiconductor chip may be smaller than the contact area of the standard connector. This may result in increased resistance between an external electrode and the semiconductor chip, which may cause degradation of the semiconductor chip performance.


An all-optical regenerating circuit including a wavelength converter based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The input signal is amplified and the interferometer adjusted to place the input signal across an entire monotonic portion of a sinusoidal transfer function to the wavelength-converted output signal. Retiming is effected by wavelength converters including pulsed laser sources of the output wavelength. A multi-wavelength regenerator may be integrated on a chip including two arrayed waveguides and an array of tunable lasers on parallel waveguides therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to optical communications systems. In particular, the invention relates to optical regenerators in optical communication systems.
2. Background Art
Communication networks are increasingly being implemented with optical fiber as the transmission medium. Optical fiber, particularly silica fiber, offers many advantages of high bandwidth, low noise, and relatively low loss. The total bandwidth can be further increased by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) in which multiple optical carriers of wavelengths differing by about a nanometer or less are modulated with separate data signals and are then multiplexed onto a single optical fiber.
Much effort has been expended in reducing the loss due to absorption in optical fiber. As a result, optical signals can be transmitted over many kilometers without the need for amplification or regeneration of the signals. Nonetheless, there is some loss, particularly if the fiber is spliced. Further loss occurs in all-optical switching nodes, including passive couplers, which can be inserted into the optical path to eliminate the need to convert the signal between optical and electrical forms for switching. Accordingly, many optical communication networks, particularly those spanning significant distances, include optical amplifiers which can amplify the optical signal without the need for converting it to electrical form. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are commonly used for such optical amplification. They are particularly useful because they have a substantial gain bandwidth sufficient to simultaneously amplify a large number of WDM wavelengths without the need to demultiplex them before amplification.
Optical amplification should be contrasted with conventional regeneration in which the modulation of a transmission signal is detected and the extracted data is used to modulate a new transmission carrier, whether it be electrical or optical. In optical transmission, the conventional regeneration requires an optical to electrical (O/E) conversion and an electrical to optical (E/O) conversion.
Optical amplification enjoys additional advantages over conventional regeneration because it is independent of the data format. For example, Yoo has proposed an optical router in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/654,384 and 10/081,396, filed respectively on Sep. 2, 2000 and Feb. 22, 2002, now issued as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,519,062 and 6,768,827, both incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. Such optical routers allow packets to be routed across a complex optical network according to addressing information contained in their headers without the need to decode the data portion. Optical amplifiers can amplify such optical packets without decoding any portion of the packet or even knowing the packet format. However, optical amplifiers have a non-flat gain spectrum and produce noise. Therefore, amplification alone does not prevent degradation of the data waveform and its timing.
Loss, however, is not the only limiting factor for fiber transmission. Depending upon the chosen transmission wavelength and the particulars of the fiber, there may be some chromatic, waveguide, or other temporal dispersion, which broadens the wave form of the optical data signal. Further, although fiber noise is low, some noise becomes impressed on the optical data signal so that square data pulses are degraded. Sources of noise include non-linearities and cross-talk. Accordingly, reshaping of the optical pulse is desired. Yet further, the timing of the pulse train may become degraded, for example, by jitter in the transmitter or in other elements (perhaps caused by temperature variation), temporal dispersion in the fiber, indefinite pulse edges due to shape degradation, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), polarization dependent loss (PDL). Simply reshaping the optical pulses does not completely address the timing problem. Conventional electrical regenerators reshape binary signals to nearly their original form and provide a new, reclocked signal in a process often referred to as retiming or reclocking. Conventional optical amplifiers do not reshape or retime optical data signals. It is nonetheless desirable to accomplish the regeneration, reshaping, and reclocking of optical signals, often referred to as 3R regeneration, without converting the optical signals to electrical form.
Amplification or regeneration is additionally desirable in complex optical networks receiving input signals from disparate sources over different transmission paths and lengths but switching them through a common switching or routing fabric. Further, the source power of the distant transmitter may vary over time. It is desirable that the switched signals be of nearly equal amplitude or power to allow common optimization of the switch fabric. Electronic regeneration performs this power equalization. Isolated optical amplifiers require close control to effect dynamic power equalization.
As a result, even optical networks would benefit from regeneration. However, the standard electrical regeneration requiring optical-to-electrical (O/E) conversion and E/O conversion for each of the WDM channels as well as decoding the packet format does not scale well with a large number of WDM wavelengths.
Much recent work has addressed 3R regeneration of optical signals. However, many of the approaches involve complex optical systems, often in conjunction with analog electronic components, which are not suited for commercialization. It is greatly desired to provide optical regeneration in an integrated system amenable to mass production.

Reconfigurable multi-channel all-optical regenerators

The Regents of the University of California


A transfer device for transferring an actuator displacement, has a housing with a first recess having a first and second plunger displaceably mounted. These plungers are actively connected via at least one transfer chamber by a fluid. The active connection causes the second plunger to be displaced when the first plunger is moved and vice versa. The transfer chamber is hydraulically coupled via a sealing gap to a compensating chamber compensating the pressure differences, in a delayed manner. The transfer device also has a chamber device with a compensating chamber, a chamber housing, and a first plunger. The chamber device has a device with a first body with a recess including a second body, and with an elastomer placed in the recess between the first and second body. The elastomer has a first groove extending at least partially along the recess.

A transfer device can be arranged in an injection valve of an internal combustion engine and transfers the displacement of the actuator to a needle valve. Piezoactuators, which, because of their very fast reaction to control signals are very suitable for precisely controlling the dosing of fuel and if necessary allowing several consecutive part injections during an operating cycle of a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, are used ever more frequently as actuators.
The fuel pressure in an injection valve for diesel combustion engines amounts to up to 2,000 bar. The result of this is that considerable forces have to be applied for opening or closing the injector needle. Furthermore an actuator embodied as a piezoactuator only has a far smaller lift than the lift of the injector needle required. The provision of a transfer device for transferring lift of the actuator is known, said device amplifying the lift and/or also creating a temperature-related length equalization.
A fuel injection valve is known from DE 199 50 760 which features a piezoelectric or magnetostrictive actuator. A transfer device with two lifting plungers displaceable against each other is provided between the actuator and a valve needle. The transfer device is hermetically sealed in relation to an inner valve space. The first lifting plunger is effectively connected to the actuator and has an open cylindrical shape on one side, the opening of which is arranged facing away from the actuator. The second lifting plunger is guided in the cylindrical opening. The first lifting plunger is in its turn located in a hollow cylindrical housing. A transfer chamber is embodied between an end surface of the housing and the first and the second plunger. Furthermore a tensioning spring is provided which pre-tensions the first and second plunger in opposite directions. Furthermore a compensating chamber is provided which is partly delimited by a corrugated tube and is hydraulically coupled to the transfer chamber. The compensating chamber is used to compensate for the change in volume of the transfer chamber and to supply the transfer chamber with a transfer medium at a defined pressure. This type of corrugated pipe is relatively complex and expensive however.
A transfer device for transmission of the displacement of a piezoelectric actuator of an injection valve is also known from DE 101 62 045 A1. The actuator acts on a first lifting plunger 1 which in part of its area is embodied in the form of a cylindrical pot and in the inside of which a second plunger engages which is coupled to a servo valve or an injector needle of the injection valve. The first lifting plunger is guided in a cylinder body. Likewise the second lifting plunger is guided in the cylinder body. The first and the second lifting plungers are coupled via a pressure chamber. An axial displacement of the first lifting plunger is transmitted by means of the pressure chamber into an opposite axial displacement of the second lifting plunger. Furthermore a compensating chamber is provided which compensates for the change in volume in the transfer chamber and supplies the transfer chamber with a transfer medium at a defined pressure.

Device, method for producing the device, chamber device and transfer device


A system for providing translations of applications for operation in a non-native language. The translation makes use of associated tables either existing within the operating system or at locations outside of the operating system. The translation system makes use of application based translations tables that may also interrelate with core translation tables and community translation tables, prior to sending the data to a graphical interface.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to software products. More particularly, aspects of the present invention relate to providing users with application content in a local language.
2. Description of Related Art
Computing systems exist in a number of languages. A number of software applications and operating systems are created in a first language then ported over to other languages. This is sometimes referred to as localization of the applications and operating systems. However, a number of software applications are never translated into other languages. These applications remain available only in their source language for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the high cost of localization is not expected to be met by sales of applications in other languages. Other times, the software developer may lack the skills needed to effectively translate or have translated the nuances of an application into other languages. These and other reasons bar users of different languages from using applications that have not been translated into their specific languages.
A conventional process of creating applications in more than one language is shown in FIG. 3A. An application is created in a first language in step 301. Next, a developer may translate the application into a second language in step 302. The conventional process of creating applications in more than one language is through the use of localization tools. Either resource files are localized and the product is re-compiled, or tools that do not require the re-compiling of the application are used.
Some techniques exist to allow applications to be more easily translated for users of other languages. First, some systems provide links to automated machine translation dictionaries that are accessed in real-time to translate text to be displayed to a user into that user's local language. Here, the automated machine translation dictionaries have no knowledge of terms as used in an application. The selected translation typically has nothing in common with previously translated words. A difficulty with this approach is that mere mechanical dictionary translations are of generally poor quality. File in a source language (relating to the act of accessing a location for a document) may be translated as a metal sharpening device using mere dictionary translations.
Second, as shown in FIG. 3B, an application 304 may include with it an application translation resources 305. The core of application 304 may be written in a first language. However, when text is to be output to a display or printer or other device or medium, the application 304 accesses the application translation text in application translation resources 305. The application 304 obtains corresponding entries in text of translation resources 305 relating to expected text messages and their translated equivalents. The translated equivalents are forwarded to graphic device interface (GDI) 308, rendered, and output to a display 309.
Three issues exist with the system of FIG. 3B. First, unless the application translation resources 305 are provided, no robust translation of the application 304 will exist. Second, some of the information provided by application 304 may be generated from the operating system, not application 304 directly. If the operating system supporting application 304 is localized to a first language and application 304 is localized to a second language, the user may be forced to receiving messages in both the first and second languages. Third, if an application exists already without translation resources 305, then potential users may not have the ability to use application 304 in their language until translation table 305 is created and integrated into application 304.

Language localization and intercepting data using translation tables


Quick ignition of gaseous fuel in a heater is accomplished. There is provided a heater including an insulating substrate having a rectangular prism shape; and a heat-generating resistor disposed inside the insulating substrate so as to extend a longitudinal direction thereof, the insulating substrate being warped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a heater comprising an insulating substrate and a heat-generating resistor mounted inside the insulating substrate, and an ignition apparatus equipped with the heater.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a heater for use in a gas range, a vehicle-mounted heating system, an oil fan heater, a glow plug for automotive engine, or others, a heater disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2004-342622 can be cited by way of example. The heater disclosed in JP-A 2004-342622 comprises an insulating substrate and a heat-generating resistor embedded in the insulating substrate.

Heater and ignition apparatus equipped with the heater


An electron turbulence damping circuit (40) for a complimentary-symmetry unit (10′) includes a first output device (12′) having a first conductivity and a second output device (14′) having a second conductivity that is opposite the conductivity of the first output device (12′). A common load connector (28′) is secured in electrical communication between a load (30′), a first current output (18′) of the first output device (12′) and a second current output (24′) of the second output device (14′). First and second resistive elements (42, 46) are secured in parallel between current inputs (16′, 22′) of the output devices (12′, 14′) and the common load connector (28′). The first and second resistive elements have a virtually identical resistance value that is greater than ten times a minimum impedance of the load (30′). The output devices (12′, 14′) may be transistors.

It is well known that electronic amplification systems frequently utilize what is referred to as complimentary-symmetry functional units. Complimentary circuits were first described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,791,644 that issued on May 7, 1957 to Sziklai of RCA Laboratories. A complimentary-symmetry circuit may include one or more functional units referred to as complimentary-symmetry amplification units. In known amplification systems, it is common to have a plurality of complimentary-symmetry amplification units wired in series in what is known as "op amps", in order to minimize signal degradation. Each such complimentary-symmetry amplification unit typically includes first and second output devices, such as transistors, for low-power or high-power amplification of electrical currents in response to control voltages applied to the output units. The first and second output devices of a complimentary-symmetry unit are coordinated so that they have opposite conductivity.
For example and as shown in FIG. 1, a typical complimentary-symmetry unit 10 may include a first output device 12 and a second output device 14. The first output device 12 may be an amplification transistor known in the art. The device 12 includes a first current input 16, a first current output 18 and first control voltage input 20. The second output device 14 similarly includes a second current input 22, a second current output 24, and a second control voltage input 26. A common load connector 28 is secured in electrical communication with the first and second current outputs 18, 24 and with a load 30, such as an audio loudspeaker, which includes a ground or common return 32.
Such complimentary-symmetry units 10, are commonly used for in audio signal amplifiers and other similar types of circuits, such as audio, data, instrumentation, bi-polar output stage circuits (also referred to as "op-amps"), operational amplifiers, any bi-polar output applications, or servo-control circuits, etc. In audio amplification systems, the complimentary-symmetry amplification units essentially operate as a valve and interrupt and permit flow of electrons in amplifying the audio signal current with the control voltage. Usage of complimentary-symmetry amplification units is so widespread and commonly accepted that it is understood by those skilled in the art that such units work efficiently and need no modification. However, known electronic circuits that use complimentary-symmetry amplification units as sub-components of the circuits produce resulting output signals that are rarely precise replications of input signals that are amplified by the circuits. Accordingly, there is a need for an improvement to electronic circuits that use complimentary-symmetry amplification units so that a resulting amplified output signal more accurately replicates an input signal.

Electron turbulence damping circuit for a complimentary-symmetry amplification unit


The invention is directed to a suppository based vaccine delivery system for immunizing against urogenital and anorectally transmitted infectious disease in humans and animals and a method for treating the same. More particularly, this invention is directed to a suppository based vaccine delivery system for the prophylaxis against or treatment of urogenital or anorectal transmitted infectious diseases, such as from viral or microbial pathogens. The suppository based delivery system comprises vaccine and/or vaccine adjuvant(s) comprised of whole or fractionated viral or other microbial pathogens, or their purified cellular constituents, whether native, mutated, synthetic, cloned or recombinantly expressed, that consists of nucleic acids, proteins, lipids or other antigenic determinants capable of producing humoral or cellular-mediated immunity in humans or animals; and a polyethylene glycol base; wherein the suppository is adapted to be inserted into a bodily orifice of a human or animal so as to allow the suppository to be in contact with tissue of the bodily orifice to facilitate transfer of vaccine or vaccine adjuvant(s) material therethrough.

Viral and microbial pathogens transmitted through or originating from exposure of the urogenital or anorectal epithelium or mucosa are a major problem in medicine. Urogenital and anorectal structures and systemic tissues beyond may be affected. Such infectious disease can result from mucosal exposure during sexual contact or other contact or from opportunistic growth of the urogenital or anorectal flora.
A tendency for recurrence, reinfection and chronic progression is characteristic of many urogenital or anorectal tract infections. Viral or microbial adherence to the mucosal epithelium is frequently a key precondition for the colonization or infection of these tissues. In-vitro studies have shown that the adherence phenomenon is often accomplished via the pili of bacteria or other outer membrane constituents of infecting viruses or microbes. Such adherence can be prevented by the development of antibodies and/or enhancement of cell-mediated immunity against antigenic components of the invading organisms, which include viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi and the like.
Bacteria and viruses are the most frequent causative agents of genitourinary or anorectal tract infections. The genitourinary/anorectal tracts can also be infected by other microorganisms, such as protozoa, fungi and the like. Recurrence and chronicity are characteristic of many genintourinary/anorectal tract infections. Recurrence may be due to either relapse or reinfection.
In spite of a great deal of progress in the treatment of infectious disease, the morbidity and mortality of genitourinary/anorectal tract infections remains unchanged. The reasons for this are myriad and depend on the host susceptibility, heightened sexual exposure and on viral or microbial factors.
Recurrences of infections with a previously infecting organism may result from inadequacy of the treatment administered because of incorrect choice of medicine, emergence of resistance strains, insufficient treatment duration, insufficient concentration of chemotherapeutic agents, the existence of bacterial L-forms, and persistence or survival of viral or microbes in urinary calculi or epithelium of the vaginal or anorectal mucosa and surrounding tissues. Recurrent urogenital/anorectal infections can be reinfections with different strains of organisms responsible for prior infections and generally having a greater capacity to adhere to the epithelial cells of the vagina, urethra or rectum. The reinfecting bacteria can originate in the intestinal flora. Frequently, viruses and chlamydia pathogens may lay dormant in epithelial cells and revert to an active state through mechanisms not fully understood.
The composition of the urogenital or anorectal flora may be altered by chemotherapeutic agents that are used in the treatment and prophylaxis of genitourinary or intestinal infections. The flora frequently develop antibiotic resistance and cause a reinfection or primary opportunistic infection. Such infections may be a consequence of the eradication of normal, harmless flora, such as lactobacilli, allowing other pathogenic microbes, resistant to the antibiotics, to flourish.
Studies have revealed that low levels of secretory IgA (sIgA) in urine indicate a defective local immune response of the urinary tract and favor urogenital tract infections. An important property of sIgA is the prevention of interaction of bacterial pili or outer membrane constituents of viruses or other microbes with the specific receptors found on the epithelium of the vaginal/anorectal mucosa or urinary tract. Pili-mediated adhesiveness is an important virulence factor of the bacteria involved. In the case of viruses and non-piliated microbes, other outer membrane constituents are involved in host-attachment phenomena, prior to propagation to infection. For the defense against infection it is important to reduce the adhesion of the pathogens to the epithelium or to prevent the attachment of the pathogen altogether.
Normally, the host organism forms specific local antibodies against the invading bacteria and secretes these antibodies as sIgA. In patients with persisting or frequently relapsing urinary tract infections this natural mechanism of local immunological infection defense is apparently disturbed. Therefore, enhancement of immune defense is a rational means of eliminating the cause of recurrent urinary tract infections.
A vaccination strategy that stimulates the production of antibodies to a spectrum of antigens that are present in several types of pathogens is desirable. Vaccination of the urogenital or anorectal epithelium with nucleic acids encoding specific proteins involved in pathogen-host attachment phenomena presents a novel method of stimulating cell-mediated immunity.
Previously, vaccines against urogenital infections have been administered parenterally or orally and have resulted in enhanced resistance to urogenital infections. However, patients suffer from side effects such as malaise, fever, and muscle soreness. Oral vaccines are subject to the destructive influences of gastric acidity and digestive enzymes. A necessary retention at a local surface for extended transmucosal contact may be difficult to achieve. Prior art concerning mucosal vaccination through the vaginal route using whole cell lysates has taught enhanced resistance to recurrent infection, but there is no mention of transmucosal immunization by the anorectal route and the production of transmucosal immunity against local infection at the site of delivery system target. No specifically therapeutic local immune response to a delivery system is presented. The efficacy presented is confined to non-specific vaccine materials that present a complex potential to produce complex reactions by poorly understood mechanisms.
In an attempt to overcome the defects associated with parenteral and oral administrations of vaccines or in using vaginally-delivered vaccines comprised of fractionated or whole cell extracts, an intravaginal or intrarectal mucosal vaccine delivery system against infections is proposed wherein the vaccine is comprised of purified antigenic determinants capable of stimulating an immune response to pathogenic factors involved in attachment and disease. Administering a vaccine against urogenital or anorectal infections intravaginally or intrarectally is that there is a mucosal immune system wherein antigens are absorbed through mucosal surfaces and processed by specialized local lymphoid tissues, after which antibodies are secreted onto local mucosal surfaces. In the case of nucleotide vaccines, epithelial cells of the mucosa express the proteins to the cell surface promoting cellular-mediated immune responses. As discussed above, in the genitourinary tract, temporary or partial deficiencies in local vaginal or urinary antibodies are an important factor in the heightened susceptibility to urogenital infections shown in some women. Immunization via the mucosal surfaces within the genitourinary tract is preferable to parental or oral routes as it has been discovered that vaccination via the intravaginal surface creates a secretory immune response in the urogenital tract. With nucleotide vaccines, such vaccination stimulates specific cellular-mediated immune responses.
Advances in the identification of specific pathogenic factors involved in infection attachment and propagation, the elucidation of the mucosal immune system and the ability of the mucosal tissue to participate in cellular-mediated immune response via nucleotide vaccination suggest that vaccination of the genitourinary/anorectal tract by a transvaginal or anal route is preferable to oral or parenteral immunization. The specific method of vaginal or rectal immunization may actually resolve infection before disease ensues, preventing pathogen attachment or neutralizing toxins prior to pathogen and host interaction.
For instance, in the past, urinary tract infections vaccines were administered vaginally in the form of a liquid vaccine. Several problems were associated with the intravaginal administration of liquid urinary tract infections vaccine. The major problem encountered was that the liquid vaccine flowed out of the vagina soon after insertion. This severely limits the amount of time that the liquid antigens are in contact with the mucosal surface of the vagina, decreasing the effectiveness of the vaccine. The antigens need sufficient contact with the vaginal mucous membrane to elicit a secretory immunoglobin response. Patients receiving the vaccination were required to lie in a supine position for an extended time after receiving the vaccine to prevent the vaccine from immediately flowing out of the vagina. However, often the vaccine still leaked out of the vagina following the period of time in the supine position, limiting the effectiveness of the vaccine. In addition, the requirement that patients lie in a supine position for an extended time after receiving the vaccine, is a burden on the patient. Patients may receive several vaccinations over the course of treatment and the patients must spend a considerable amount of time after each vaccination immobile.
U.S. Ser. No. 08/923,813 entitled Vaginal Suppository Vaccine For Urogenital Infections was filed Sep. 4, 1997 and allowed. This application is owned by assignee herein and relates to a suppository based vaccine delivery system for immunizing against urogenital infectious diseases in humans.
It is apparent that improvements are necessary in optimizing vaccine delivery to the urogenital mucosa for effective prophylaxis against urogenital infectious diseases. Further, it is desirable to have a rectally-administered vaccine for effective prophylaxis against rectal tract infections involving transmission through the anorectal tract.
The subject invention overcomes the above limitations and others, and teaches a suppository-based vaccine delivery system for prophylaxis against urogenital and anorectal tract infectious diseases, such as bacterial, protozoal, fungi, viral infections and the like, using fractionated, whole cell or purified protein, nucleic acid or lipid constituents, whether native, mutated, synthetic, cloned or recombinantly expressed, of urogenital/anorectal pathogens that stimulate the generation of humoral or cellular-mediated immune response.

Urogenital or anorectal transmucosal vaccine delivery system


Provided is a compound comprising the structure:(SIG)-(SI-MOD)m.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of reagents for visual detection, quantification and localization of cells. More specifically, probes are provided that increase their signal upon exposure to specific enzyme or chemical analyte presence.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Signaling molecules that are responsive to the intracellular environment are indispensable tools for fast and accurate detection and measurement of both physiological and pathological processes. However, only a limited number of rationally designed probes or "signalophores" capable of detecting intracellular organic biomolecules exist.
For a chemical molecule to be a suitable signalophore, it should meet several conditions. First, it should have favorable spectral properties, and be detectable by readily available sources and filter systems. Second, it should exhibit a significant signal enhancement triggered by the presence of a specific enzyme activity or analyte to be detected. For the signal-to-background ratio, and as a result the sensitivity of the probe to be maximized, the probe should preferably be "signalogenic"—in a "no-signal" form in the absence of the enzyme or analyte and in "signal on" form in their presence. One of the types of probes fulfilling the above criterion are self-immolative probes.
The concept of self-immolative substrates has been successfully used in designing several prodrugs where the active drug is released upon the activation by a specific chemical trigger. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,754,681 and 7,445,891. That approach was also used, albeit to much lesser extent, for making markers for probing and detecting specific biological processes and phenomena.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,534,902 describes fluorogenic assays based on the use of a group of self-immolative markers containing a so-called trimethyl lock, which is an aromatic self-immolative group that comprises three methyl groups. Trimethyl locks have been used for detection and measurement of several enzymatic activities including esterases (Chandran et al., 2005; Lavis et al., 2006), DT diaphorase (DTD) (Huang et al., 2006), and cytochrome P450 (Yatzeck et al., 2008).
Self-immolative dendrimers that release multiple fluorescent moieties upon activation have also been developed (US Patent Publication US2005/0271615; Danieli and Shabat, 2007).
Several latent probes have also been designed utilizing a benzyl carbamate self-immolative moiety. A fluorescent image contrast agent selectively activated by prostate specific antigen was described by Jones et al. (2006), while Pires et al. (2008) evaluated cellular glutathione fluorescence imaging using a latent rhodamine derivative.
Substituted benzyl groups as self-immolative substrates were also used by Nakata et al. (2009) for preparing bioreductively-activated fluorescent pH probes for tumor hypoxia imaging. Richard et al. applied that group for preparing a chemiluminescent probe for in vitro detection of protease activity while a long-wavelength latent fluorogenic substrate was utilized as an indicator for dehydrogenase-coupled biosensors (Huang et al., 2010).
Several other self-immolative groups have been used for determination of enzyme activities as well. A traceless linker that is stable under physiological conditions but spontaneously decomposes to a hemithioaminal intermediate upon protease activation is taught by Meyer et al. (2008). Additionally, a Waldmann traceless linker has been utilized for peptidase probes (Richard et al., 2008a). A penicillin G acylase fluorogenic probe is also described by Richard et al., 2008b. Further, a self-immolative disulfide linker carboxylic acid was used to prepare biotin-containing fluorogenic probes for internalization and drug release (Ojima et al., 2008). See also Sagi et al., 2008. Additional self-immolative substrates for detecting enzymes are described in Gao et al. (2003), Duimstra et al. (2005), and Ho et al. (2006).
There is a need for further self-immolative signalogenic markers with a high signal-to-background ratio that are sensitive to specific enzyme or analyte triggers. The present invention addresses that need.

Self-immolative probes for enzyme activity detection

Abstract: In this compound, SIG is a signaling molecule, SI is a self-immolative structure bound to SIG such that SIG has a reduced signal relative to the signal of SIG without SI, MOD is a moiety bound to SI that is subject to modification by an activator, and m is an integer from 1 to about 10. With this compound, when MOD is modified by an activator, SI is destabilized and self-cleaved from SIG such that SIG generates an increased signal. Also provided is a method of determining whether a sample comprises an activator, using the above-described compound. Additionally provided is a method of determining whether a cell comprises a nitroreductase using the above-described compound where nitroreductase is the activator. Further provided is a method of determining whether a mammalian cell is hypoxic using the above-described compound where nitroreductase is the activator. A method of detecting a microorganism that comprises a nitroreductase, using the above-described compound where nitroreductase is the activator, is also provided. Also provided is a method of identifying nitroreductase in a sample, using the above-described compound where nitroreductase is the activator.


An apparatus for scarfing edge portions of a veneer sheet to produce a joint suited for joining the veneer sheets in an edge to edge relation. A conveyor system aligns, conveys and flattens the sheet. The sheet as it is being conveyed is engaged by tapered anvils that deflect edge portions of the sheet at an angle to the plane of the flattened sheet. One anvil on one side deflects one edge portion upward and the anvil on the opposite side deflects the opposite edge portion downward. The resiliency of the sheet maintains the deflect edge portion against the anvil. The sheet is conveyed through scarfing saws which generate a bevel on each of the deflected side edges.

There are a number of situations where it is desirable to bond two or more sheets of veneer together in edge-to-edge relation. Veneer sheets (peeled from logs or blocks) are thin (e.g., 1/8 inch thick) and inherently contoured in all three dimensions making joining of the sheets difficult. They cannot be satisfactorily abutted square edge to square edge. Overlapped gluing is accomplished by the technique referred to as scarfing. The edges to be joined are cut at a severe angle, e.g., 10-30 degrees from the plane of the sheet which more than doubles the edge surface for gluing and allows for an overlapping of the piece by as much as 11/4 inch, all without adding any thickness in the area of overlap. A secure bond is achieved with this method of gluing.
A problem with scarfing is in making a uniform angled cut along the undulating edges of the sheets so that the edges can be mated one to the other for achieving a smooth juncture of the two edges. The production of such angled cut edges is an objective of the present invention.


A paint tray assembly for applying a liquid to a roller wherein the paint tray assembly is adapted to continuously allow the paint tray assembly to be conveniently positioned to apply paint to the roller as a painter moves around a room. The paint tray assembly provides for a top portion rotationally coupled to a bottom portion for allowing the paint tray assembly to be rotationally oriented to properly position the ramped surface, with respect to the painter, for applying the liquid to the roller without having to pick up and reposition the tray. The paint tray assembly further provides for sloped external sides, narrower at the point where the paint tray assembly rests against the support surface, assisting in sliding the paint tray assembly across the floor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to painting equipment and more specifically to a movable paint tray assembly for applying a liquid to a roller.
2. Description of the related art
Heretofore, various paint tray assemblies have been used for applying a liquid, like paint, to a roller. Such paint trays are typically rectangular in shape having a partially ramped rectangular bottom surface. The ramped bottom surface starts at the back wall of the tray, and slopes downward to the bottom of the tray as it extends toward the front of the tray. Sidewalls extend around the rectangular bottom surface forming a reservoir for holding paint, which is deeper near the front of the tray and shallower toward the back.
When using such a paint tray, a painter typically approaches the paint tray from the back of the paint tray and will extend the roller into the paint located in the reservoir. Once the paint is absorbed into the roller, the painter pulls the roller back along the ramped bottom surface causing the paint to spread onto the roller with excess paint draining back into the reservoir.
Due to the shape of the tray and the orientation of the ramped bottom surface, the paint can only be conveniently applied to the roller from one direction. As a painter moves around the room, unless the paint tray is continuously reoriented, the painter is often in a poor position to reapply more paint to the roller. The painter in many instances must walk around to the back of the tray in order to reapply more paint to the roller.
Several examples of previously disclosed analogous and non-analogous paint tray assemblies allowing for the painter to apply paint to the roller from a plurality of positions around a room without having to pick up and reorient the paint tray, or paint tray assemblies providing transport mechanisms for assisting in the movement or reorientation of the paint tray are contained in the following U.S. Patents.
Elliott et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,022, discloses a circular paint tray assembly providing a center circular well for holding paint and a sloping paint spreading surface which extends around the circular well the full circumference of the tray. By extending around the full circumference of the tray, the ramped paint spreading surface allows a painter to apply paint to a roller from any position around the tray, without having to pick up and reorient the paint tray.
Owens, U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,749, discloses a U-shaped paint pail having two steeply sloped surfaces for applying paint to a roller. The two sloped surfaces are positioned opposite one another. The two sloped surfaces allow for two painters to simultaneously apply paint to their roller, or to allow a single painter to apply paint to a roller from one of two positions around the paint pail. The U-Shaped paint pail is further mounted on four casters to allow the paint pail to be rolled from one area to another. In the preferred embodiment, the direction of rotation of two casters is limited so as to restrict the movement of the pail to a straight line, often parallel to a wall.
Schumacher et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,301, discloses a mobile work station or cart with wheels and a handle, for holding a paint tray and other paint supplies. The wheels and the handle serve to facilitate movement of the work station as the painter moves from one work area to another work area.
Dunn, U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,494, discloses a paint cart assembly including a roller frame assembly, which may be used to assist in the movement of the cart assembly into an advantageous position with respect to the surfaces being painted and the position where the painter is working.

Movable paint tray assembly for applying a liquid to a roller


A pipeline assembly includes a hollow body having a first opening and a second opening. A valve port fluidly coupled to the first opening is provided on the body and a valve port seat is disposed in the valve port. A shutter is urged against the valve port seat by a spring fluidly de-coupling the second opening from the first opening and the valve port. A valve plug includes a check valve. When the valve plug is disposed in the valve port, the valve plug decouples the shutter from the valve port seat to fluidly couple the first opening and the second opening with a fluid flow in only a first direction when the check valve is in an open condition.

In many water, or fluid, supply systems, a pipeline system will include a backflow prevention valve and assembly, sometimes referred to as a backflow preventer (BFP) unit. The BFP unit assures that a fluid, and any solids therein, flows in only a desired direction, i.e., a forward direction, as a backflow may cause contamination and health problems. Often, a BFP unit is required per local ordinances and regulations. Backflow prevention valves and assemblies are installed in buildings, such as residential homes, and commercial buildings and factories, to protect public water supplies by preventing the reverse flow of contaminated water back into the public water supply.
A typical BFP unit includes an inlet shutoff valve and an outlet shutoff valve with a backflow prevention valve, sometime referred to as a "check valve," positioned between the inlet and outlet shutoff valves. Many different configurations of backflow prevention assemblies are commercially available, each being different in configuration.
Owing to the fact that BFP units are important for water safety, they are manually tested on an annual basis, often per government regulations, to assure proper operating condition. Specifically, fluid pressure measurements are taken at specified locations in the BFP unit. If it is determined that a check valve needs to be replaced, the inlet and outlet shutoff valves have to be closed, the check valve replaced and tested, the shutoff valves opened and the apparatus confirmed to be operating per any local ordinances and/or standards. The process is time-consuming and the steps have to be performed in the correct sequence in order to not contaminate the public water supply or inadvertently flood an area.
What is needed is a better system for maintaining a pipeline system that includes a backflow prevention system.

Pipeline system with automatically closing port