An apparatus and process for simultaneously compressing liquids and gases and exchanging the heat of compression with fluids which may be the same liquids and gasses compressed. An apparatus and process for heating maintenance fluids using heat generated when the lift gas is compressed. The compressor may be used for recovering oil and gas from a subterranean formation wherein the production rate is controlled by the gas pressure at the well head, resulting in very slow strokes or pulses and bubbles of lift gas 500 feet long or longer. It may also be used for well maintenance using cooled injection gas from the well and heated fluids, which also may come from the well and be mixed with the well gas during compression, may be conducted without interrupting production.

Oil and gas recovery from subterranean formations has been done in a number of ways. Some wells initially have sufficient pressure that the oil is forced to the surface without assistance as soon as the well is drilled and completed. Some wells employ pumps to bring the oil to the surface. However, even in wells with sufficient pressure initially, the pressure may decrease as the well gets older. When the pressure diminishes to a point where the remaining oil is less valuable than the cost of bringing it to the surface using secondary recovery methods, production costs exceed profitability and the remaining oil is not brought to the surface. Thus, decreasing the cost of secondary recovery means for oil from subterranean formations is especially important for at least two reasons:                (1) Reduced costs increases profitability, and        (2) Reduced costs increases production.
Many forms of secondary recovery means are available. The present invention utilizes gas lift technology, which is normally expensive to install, operate and maintain, and often dangerous to the environment. Basically, gas lift technology uses a compressor to compress the lifting gas to a pressure that is sufficiently high to lift oil and water (liquids) from the subterranean formation to the surface, and an injection means that injects the compressed gas into a well to a depth beneath the surface of the subterranean oil reservoir.
Since the 1960's gas lift compressors have used automatic shutter controls to restrict air flow through their coolers. Some even had bypasses around the cooler, and in earlier models some didn't even have a cooler. Water wells employing free lift do not cool the compressed air used to lift the water to the surface. Temperature control at this point has never been considered important other than to prevent the formation of hydrates from the cooling effect of the expanding lift gas. Therefore, most lifting has been performed with gas straight from the compressor. The heat of compression in this gas is not utilized effectively and is rapidly dissipated when the lift gas is injected into a well.
Compressors for this service are expensive, dangerous, require numerous safety devices, and still may pollute the environment. Reciprocating compressors are normally used to achieve the pressure range needed for gas lifting technology. Existing reciprocating compressors are either directly driven by a power source, or indirectly driven via a hydraulic fluid. While both are suitable for compressing lifting gas, most prior art reciprocating compressors are costly to operate and maintain. Moreover, existing reciprocating compressors are limited to compressing gases because they are not designed to pump both gas and liquids simultaneously and continuously.
Existing compressors use many different forms of speed and volume control. Direct drive and belt drive compressors use cylinder valve unloaders, clearance pockets, and rpm adjustments to control the volume of lift gas they pump. While these serve the purpose intended, they are expensive and use power inefficiently compared to the present invention. Some prior art compressors use a system of by-passing fluid to the cylinders to reduce the volume compressed. This works, but it is inefficient compared to the present invention.
Another example of wasted energy and increased costs and maintenance is in the way the compressing cylinders are cooled in prior art compressors. All existing reciprocating compressors use either air or liquid cooling to dissipate the heat that naturally occurs when a gas is compressed. The fans and pumps in these cooling systems increase initial costs, and require energy, cleaning, and other maintenance. Prior art reciprocating compressors also require interstage gas cooling equipment and equipment on line before each cylinder to scrub out liquids before compressing the gas.
Another example of the inefficiency of prior art technology relates to current means for separating recovery components. Existing methods employ separators to separate primary components, then heater treaters to break down the emulsions. In some cases additional equipment is required to further separate the fluids produced. In each case, controls, valves, burners and accessories add to the cost, environmental impact and maintenance of the equipment.
Prior art compressors require additional equipment to pump the fluids produced from an oil and gas well from the wellhead through the pipeline to gathering or separation stations. In remote field applications, this additional equipment can be both environmentally hazardous and financially expensive. Such applications usually require such additions as "Blow-cases" or pumps. The present invention is capable of pumping these fluids directly, automatically, and at much lower cost.


A computer system and method for capture and handling job listings obtained from various often unrelated corporate and job board postings via the internet for examination by a job searcher. This system includes a scraping module having one or more scraping engines operable to scrape job information data set from job listings on the corporate career sites and job boards, wherein the scraping module receives and stores the scraped job information data set in a database. The system also has a scraping management interface module coordinating operation of and communication between the scraping engines and the career sites and job boards, a scraped listing quality management module coupled to the scraping management interface module analyzing selected scraped job information data stored in the database, and a job categorization module that examines and categorizes each job information stored in the database into one or more of a predetermined set of categories and returns categorized job information to the database, and an extractor module communicating with the database for compiling and transferring categorized job information data from the database to a search bank. The search bank is then accessible by a job searcher through a job search client server cluster connected to the Internet.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to software and more particularly to a system and method for assisting job seekers in their job search efforts.
2. General Background
Various job search vehicles are available to a job searcher or recruiter today on the Internet, e.g. the World Wide Web (web). However, the available resources that can be scrutinized are somewhat limited. Accordingly there is a need for a system that more completely searches and organizes information that can be obtained from as many sources as possible via the Internet and present search results in an effective manner to a job searcher in response to a query.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for improved job seeking


Methods and systems are provided for presenting information on a display device associated with an aircraft. An exemplary method involves displaying a navigational map on the display device, obtaining status information for the aircraft, determining an amount of procedure information to be displayed based at least in part on the status information, and displaying the determined amount of aircraft procedure information on the display device overlying the navigational map. The procedure information prescribes operation of the aircraft during execution of an aircraft procedure.

Published aeronautical charts, such as, for example, Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) charts, Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR) charts, Standard Instrument Departure (SID) charts, Departure Procedures (DP), terminal procedures, approach plates, and the like, depict and describe the procedures for operating aircraft at or in the vicinity of an airport, runway, or other landing and/or departure location. These charts graphically illustrate and describe the specific procedure information and instructions (e.g., minimum descent altitudes, minimum runway visual range, final course or heading, relevant radio frequencies, missed approach procedures) to be followed or otherwise utilized by a pilot for executing a particular aircraft procedure. These charts are typically provided by a governmental or regulatory organization, such as, for example, the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States. Traditionally, a pilot would maintain copies of these printed charts for the various possible airports that the pilot may encounter during operation of the aircraft. For example, for worldwide operation, there are as many as 17,000 charts.
Electronic displays in many modern flight deck displays (or cockpit displays) are eliminating the need to maintain paper charts for the various procedures that a pilot may need to execute. However, the size of the electronic display inside an aircraft cockpit is often limited due to the number of instruments and human-machine interface elements inside the cockpit (e.g., joysticks, knobs, buttons, and the like) along with the need for the pilot to have an unobstructed view outside the aircraft. Furthermore, some of the display area on the electronic display may be utilized or reserved for other processes (e.g., primary flight displays, synthetic vision displays, vertical situation displays, flight management windows, and the like). As a result of these display constraints along with the quantity of information contained on the procedure charts, it is difficult to display all of the desired procedure information for operating the aircraft in a clear and uncluttered manner.

Methods and systems for displaying procedure information on an aircraft display


A method and apparatus for filter air entering an animal's nostrils include a filtering element operatively disposed with a lower portion contacting the animal's nose region between the animal's nostrils and upper lip. A nose mask may be secured against the animal's nose region with adhesive or one or more stretchable bands extending around a portion of the head of the animal.

Horses and other animals are sometimes located in environments having airborne particulate matter, such as stables, training areas, or race tracks. The airways of horses or other animals may be irritated or inflamed, or the breathing function impeded, by the inhalation of particulate matter, such as dust, dirt, pollens, grains, grasses, or hay particles. Inhalation of these materials, particularly hay and some processed grains, may lead to allergic reactions or the respiratory condition known as "heaves," which is also known as recurrent airway obstruction. Believed to be primarily caused by chronic exposure to dusts and molds in hay and other materials, heaves can greatly impair the function of a horse's lungs, making it difficult for the horse to breathe at rest, and even more so during physical exertion. Similar to human asthma, heaves may cause the muscles inside the airways to constrict in response to external stimuli such as dust, pollen, or mold.
Horses typically breathe primarily through the nose. When feeding on hay, grains, oats or other dry materials, a horse may be susceptible to inhaling the feed or other particulate matter into the nostril, particularly if the horse inhales air through its nose while its nose is positioned near the feed. The feed may also tend to collect on the horse's nose during feeding, particularly on any moist regions of the nose. Moreover, particles such as dust, dirt or dander may be released into the air while a horse is being cleaned.
Various types of masks have been developed for use with horses to perform various functions. Fly masks have been designed to protect the sensitive areas of a horse's head from flies or gnats. Pre-warmer masks have been developed for cold-weather horse racing to warm the air entering a horse's nasal cavity and lungs. Other masks for use with horses have been designed to administer medication, such as bronchodilators or Corticosteroids, by inhalation.
Previous masks, however, do not filter air entering the nostrils, or cover the nose and mouth, and thus are not useful during feeding, when the susceptibility to inhaling hay and grain particles may be heightened.

Method and apparatus for filtering air entering an animal's nostrils


A thermal oil recovery process is disclosed for use in a heavy oil reservoir having a plurality of laterally separated, generally vertical wells whose use have left the reservoir characterized by a heated depletion zone, a channel, voidage, or mobility and communication. The process includes the steps of: drilling a well having a horizontal section and an opening therein that is located laterally between at least two of the vertical wells and at a depth within the lower part of the reservoir; injecting a steam through the two vertical wells to establish thermal communication with said horizontal well; and using the combination of steam drive and gravity drainage to recover oil from the reservoir through the horizontal well.

There exists throughout the world major deposits of heavy oils which, until recently, have been substantially ignored as sources of petroleum since the oils contained therein were not recoverable using ordinary production techniques. For example, it was not until the 1980's that much interest was shown in the heavy oil deposits of the Alberta province in Canada even though many deposits are close to the surface and represent an estimated petroleum resource upwards of many billion barrels.
It is well-known that heat can be employed to recover hydrocarbons from underground formations through wells drilled in the underground petroleum deposits. Various methods have been developed over the years for primary and secondary recovery of oil from underground formations by thermal means.
Moreover, it is well recognized by persons skilled in the art of recovering oil or petroleum from subterranean deposits that only a small fraction of the viscous petroleum may be recovered from subterranean formations by conventional, primary and secondary means. Some method, such as a thermal recovery process or other treatment, must often be applied to the formation to reduce the viscosity of the petroleum and increase the reservoir pressure to levels where it will readily flow to wells from which it can be brought to the surface of the earth. Steam and/or hot water flooding are commonly used for this purpose and have been very successful in some formations for stimulating recovery of viscous petroleum which is otherwise essentially unrecoverable. Steam flooding is a thermal oil recovery method which has enjoyed increased popularity in recent years and is often the most commercially practical method or process.
Huff-and-puff and Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) are applications of steam flooding. CSS and "huff-and-puff" involve injecting steam into a vertical well, then shutting in the well for a "soak," wherein the heat contained in the steam raises the temperature and lowers the viscosity of the petroleum. Thereafter, a production period begins wherein mobilized petroleum is produced from the well, usually by pumping. This process is repeated over and over again until the production index becomes smaller than a minimum profitable level.
Steam flooding may also be utilized as a steam or thermal drive means or a steam through-put process, wherein steam is injected into the reservoir through one or more vertical injection wells. This steam then moves through the subterranean reservoir mobilizing the petroleum it encounters. This steam-flood front moves through the reservoir towards a production well from which the petroleum fluids are produced. This steam drive process is often more effective than the "huff-and-puff" method inasmuch as the potential volume of the reservoir which can be swept by the process is greater.
Although the steam drive process is very effective in recovering petroleum from the portions of the reservoir through which the steam sweeps, in practice, the success of the steam drive method is often poorer because of the process' inability to develop liquid communication and because of low vertical and areal conformance efficiency. It is typical that less than 35% of petroleum contained within a formation can be recovered by the steam drive process thereby leaving large amounts of petroleum within the reservoir after the completion of the process.
One of the problems faced with thermal oil recovery method arises from the varying permeabilities of the reservoir. Where there is a permeable zone with a considerable increase in permeability when compared to the oil-bearing strata, the injected steam will flow into the permeable zone preferentially, or, on occasion, almost exclusively. Another problem encountered is the loss of a portion of the heat already transferred to the oil-bearing strata by the steam as a result of conduction away into the overburden. Clearly improvements are needed.


An aluminum complex hydroxide salt having Al oxide octahedral layers and a divalent anion among the octahedral layers, wherein an aluminosilicate anion expressed by the following general formula (1),[NapAlqSirOz]2−  (1)                wherein p, q, r and z are positive numbers satisfying,        5≦z≦20,        z=(p/2)+(3q/2)+2r+1,        0<p/q<1,        0.01≦q/r≦1is, at least, contained as the divalent anion. The aluminum complex hydroxide salt can be favorably used as a compounding agent for resins, and exhibits excellent heat retaining property as well as excellent transparency particularly when it is mixed as a heat retaining agent into films for agricultural use.

Lithium aluminum complex hydroxide salts expressed by the following formula,[Al2Li(OH)6]2.A.mH2O                wherein A is a divalent anion,have heretofore been known, and those in which the divalent anion A is a carbonate anion (CO32−) or a silicate anion (Si3O72−) have been used being mixed as heat retaining agents into the films for agricultural use (see patent documents 1 and 2).
Patent document 1: JP-A-7-286052
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent No. 2852563

Aluminum complex hydroxide salt and method of producing the same


The level of precious-metal inclusions in glass products, e.g., glass substrates for liquid crystal displays, is reduced by stirring molten glass in a stir chamber (11) under conditions such that the magnitude of the shear stress τ on the chamber's wall (19) and on the surfaces of the stirrer (13) is reduced while at the same time, the Q•E product for the system is kept high, where Q is the flow of glass through the stirring system and E is the system's stirring effectiveness.

Chemical and thermal homogeneity in glass is a crucial part of good forming operations. The function of a glass melter is generally to produce glass with acceptable levels of gaseous or solid inclusions, but this glass usually has cord (or striae or ream) of chemically dissimilar phases. These non-homogeneous components of the parent glass result from a variety of normal occurrences during the melting process including refractory dissolution, melting stratification, glass surface volatilization, and temperature differences. The resulting cords are visible in the parent glass because of color and/or index differences.
One approach for improving the homogeneity of glass is to pass the molten glass through a vertically-oriented stir chamber located downstream of the melter. Such stir chambers are equipped with a stirrer having a central shaft which is rotated by a suitable motor. A plurality of blades extend from the shaft and serve to mix the molten glass as it passes from the top to the bottom of the stir chamber. The present invention is concerned with the operation of such stir chambers and, in particular, with achieving high throughput and high mixing efficiency (mixing effectiveness) from such a chamber without introducing defects into the resulting glass, specifically, defects arising from the erosion of the wall of the stir chamber and/or the surfaces of the stirrer as a result of the mixing process.
A simple way of picturing what a stirrer does under laminar flow conditions is to think of the cord as lumps of off-composition glass surrounded by glass of desired, or parent, composition. Each piece of cord can be thought of as having an interface between it and the parent glass. A measure of the total inhomogeneity of the glass is the total interfacial surface area of the cord. The minimum interfacial surface area occurs when all of the cord is in one spherical lump. As the lumps are broken into smaller parts and are stretched out into flat planes, the interfacial surface area is increased despite the fact that the volume of cord remains the same. A measure of the efficiency of stirring (also referred to herein as the effectiveness of stirring) is the ratio of the increased interfacial area after stirring to that before stirring.
To be effective in increasing homogeneity, a stirring system should perform the following three functions:
(1) It should stretch the individual lumps of inhomogeneous glass into thin streaks. This function requires the application of shear stress to the glass.
(2) It should cut the streaks into short segments. This function can be achieved through flow of the molten glass in a direction normal to the plane of the stirrer's blades.
(3) It should disperse the short segments such that there is no recognizable pattern. This function can be achieved through the selection of blade shapes that push glass normal to the direction of bulk flow, i.e., blade shapes that produce at least some radial flow of the glass.
Making the streaks thin and cutting them makes them individually difficult to see on a microscopic scale. Dispersing them eliminates the possibility that a visible pattern will be left on a macroscopic scale.
In a process where the flow of glass is continuous, these three functions must take place in a discrete time interval determined by the residence time of the glass in the stir chamber. As the flow rate of glass is increased, the glass has less time in the chamber for these three functions to take place. The usual engineering response to a desired increase in flow is an increase in stirrer speed. This increases the shear stress, the cutting frequency, and potentially also the dispersion rate.
Traditionally, glass stirring systems have been designed to have the highest shear stress possible consistent with reasonable stirrer life. Indeed, such systems are normally designed to produce high shear stress even when operated at low speeds. The intent is to get the most stirring from the smallest stirring system because of the high cost of the precious metals (e.g., platinum alloys) from which the stirring system is fabricated. In general terms, shear stress is increased by increasing blade speed and/or reducing the clearance between the stirrer's blades and the wall of the stir chamber.
For many glass products (e.g., architectural glass), only moderate homogeneity requirements apply. However, other glass products must meet stringent homogeneity and other quality standards. LCD glass is in this latter category. For this glass, both cord and inclusions need to be minimized and/or eliminated.
In accordance with the invention, it was discovered that in the process of making LCD glass, precious metal inclusions (e.g., platinum alloy inclusions) having a size less than 50 microns were being introduced into the LCD glass during its manufacture. These inclusions were traced to the stir chamber and, in particular, to erosion of the stirrer and the stir chamber wall as a result of viscous shear stresses created by the motion of the stirrer through the viscous molten glass.
One of the objects of the present invention is thus to minimize the creation of precious metal inclusions during the stirring of molten glass. However, this primary object is supplemented by the objects of: (1) maintaining high glass throughput, and (2) maintaining high stirring efficiency (e.g., low levels of cord). These latter objects and the primary object pull in opposite directions, e.g., one can reduce stirrer speed to reduce sheer stress and thus erosion, but reduced stirrer speed means less efficient stirring and/or reduced throughput.
As discussed below, the present invention is able to simultaneously achieve these seemingly contradictory goals by means of relationships between stirrer speed, stirrer/stir chamber geometry, and glass viscosity which allow sheer stress to be reduced below the level where unacceptable levels of inclusions are formed (e.g., the sheer stress acting on the stirrer and the stir chamber wall can be made less than 3.5×10−3 N/m2) while at the same time stirring efficiency and throughput are maintained at levels previously only achieved with high sheer stirring.

Methods and apparatus for homogenizing molten glass


The present invention relates to an electrode device for gas discharge sources, a gas discharge source comprising such an electrode device and to a method of operating the gas discharge source. The electrode device comprises an electrode wheel (1) rotatable around a rotational axis (3) and a wiper unit (11) arranged to limit the thickness of a liquid material film applied to at least a portion of an outer circumferential surface (18) of the electrode wheel (1) during rotation of said electrode wheel (1). The wiper unit (11) is arranged and designed to form a gap (17) between the outer circumferential surface (18) and a wiping edge (19) of the wiper unit (11) and to inhibit or at least reduce a migration of liquid material from side surfaces to the outer circumferential surface (18) of the electrode wheel (1) during rotation. With the proposed electrode device the electrode wheel (1) can be rotated at higher rotational speeds without the formation of droplets resulting in a higher output power and pulse frequency of a gas discharge source having such an electrode device.

Gas discharge sources are used, for example, as light sources for EUV radiation (EUV: extreme ultra violet) or soft x-rays. Radiation sources emitting EUV radiation and/or soft x-rays are in particular required in the field of EUV lithography. The radiation is emitted from hot plasma produced by a pulsed current. The most powerful EUV radiation sources known up to now are operated with metal vapor to generate the required plasma. An example of such a EUV radiation source is shown in WO 2005/025280 A2. In this known radiation source the metal vapor is produced from a metal melt which is applied to a surface in the discharge space and at least partially evaporated by an energy beam, in particular by a laser beam. In a preferred embodiment of this radiation source the two electrodes are rotatably mounted forming electrode wheels which are rotated during operation of the radiation source. The electrode wheels dip during rotation into containers with the metal melt. A pulsed laser beam is directed directly to the surface of one of the electrodes in the discharge region in order to generate the metal vapor from the adhered metal melt and ignite the electrical discharge. The metal vapor is heated by a current of some kA up to some 10 kA so that the desired ionization stages are excited and light of the desired wavelength is emitted. The liquid metal film formed on the outer circumferential surfaces of the electrode wheels serves as the radiating medium in the discharge and protects as a regenerative film the wheel from erosion.
For stable EUV radiation output of such a EUV discharge lamp, it is required that consecutive discharge pulses are hitting always a fresh smooth portion of the electrode surfaces. The distance of consecutive discharge pulses on the moving electrode surface is in the order of a few tenths of millimeter up to a few millimeters. Increasing the power of the lamp is possible mainly by increasing the repetition rate of the discharge. Therefore, the electrode rotational speed must be increased accordingly.
It has been found experimentally, that the film thickness of the liquid metal film on the rotating electrode increases with increasing rotational frequency due to the higher centrifugal forces. At high rotational frequencies, the film thickness can reach several hundreds of microns, resulting in the formation of liquid metal droplets spraying off the electrode surface. These droplets can cause short circuits in the lamp and thus lamp failure. Moreover, a varying film thickness of the liquid metal film influences the effective distance between the electrodes. This requires an optimization of the operational parameters of the lamp for each rotational frequency. WO 2005/025280 A2 discloses the use of strippers or wipers in order to ensure a limited thickness of the liquid material film applied to the outer circumferential surface of the electrode wheels. Nevertheless, the rotational frequency of the electrode wheels is limited due to the formation of droplets or instabilities of the liquid metal film at higher rotational speeds.

Electrode device for gas discharge sources and method of operating a gas discharge source having this electrode device


Among other things, two or more files are processed that each represent, in a streaming format, a portion of a media item. A file download facility at a user device can download the two or more processed files as if they were a single file.

This description relates to downloading media objects.
As shown in FIG. 1, media objects such as files 10, for example, can be downloaded 12 by a server 14 through a communication channel 13 to a mobile device 16. To facilitate this download, an application (app) 18 running on the mobile device may use a mobile file download (MFD) function 20 provided by the device's operating system (OS) 22.
For example, a news app can request download of a 10-minute "news update" video once per day. Once the app requests the download, a mobile file download (MFD) function of the OS (for example, the NSUrlSession API in Apple's iOS7 operating system) takes responsibility for downloading the file from the server. The server may be part of a content delivery network (CDN) 24 that includes a file storage service 26 where the file is stored.
The OS may signal the app when the download is finished, so that the app can, e.g., notify the user or update the app's internal data store 28.
Media objects are often packaged as many small files expressed in a streaming format. The small files are often called "fragments." When a mobile device is connected to the Internet, the device can download these fragments sequentially and render them (for example, present a video to a user of the device) while downloading; this concurrent "download-and-play" process is typically called 'streaming.' Usually the device discards the downloaded fragment shortly after it has been played. Streaming uses an Internet connection during playout of the media object. To allow a mobile device to play out a media object when the device does not have an Internet connection, the mobile device can download the media object before playout. Doing so may require the mobile device to download the fragments comprising the media object. However, in some cases, MFD systems are not designed to handle the download of many files.


An electrical connector (10) comprises a substantially rectangular peripheral wall (13) having an upper face, a receiving space (16) for receiving a mating connector (30), and a plurality of terminals (12) arranged in a pair of opposed walls of the peripheral wall. The upper face of the peripheral wall includes a first surface (13A), a second surface (13B′), and a slant surface (13C) in a transit area between the first and second surfaces of the upper face.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, especially en electrical connector mounted on a circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
This kind of electrical connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Number 2002-8753 (FIG. 12).
As shown in FIG. 4, this connector system comprises a socket type connector 50 and a mating connector 60 plugged-in the connector 50. The connectors 50 and 60 are mounted on corresponding circuit boards P1 and P2, respectively. When in use, the connectors 50 and 60 are usually plugged-in each other under the condition that they are mounted on the circuit boards P1 and P2.
The connector 50 has a shape of a thin parallelepiped, wherein a widthwise dimension thereof is larger than a heightwise dimension thereof and lengthwise direction thereof perpendicular to a plane of the sheet of paper is larger than the widthwise dimension. A housing 51 of the connector 50 has a receiving space 53 inside a peripheral wall 52 for receiving the mating connector 60. The receiving space 53 is provided with a plugging protrusion 54 in the center thereof for plugging with the mating connector 60.
Each of terminals 55 of the connector 50 is fixed to the housing 51 from above such that a bent portion provided in the middle thereof hold the peripheral wall 52. The terminal 55 comprises a contact portion 56 at an end thereof on the receiving space side and a connection portion 57 at the other end thereof projecting outside the housing 51, which is connected to the circuit board P1. The contact portion 56 is formed as a bent and made resiliently displaceable.
Guide walls 58 projecting upwardly are provided at both sides of the connector 50. Each of the guide walls 58 has a slant face 59 to facilitate the guidance of the mating connector 60.
The mating connector 60 has a shape suitable to be inserted into the receiving space 53 and terminals 62 are attached to side surface of a housing 61. The terminal 62 comprises a contact portion 63 in the middle thereof fixed to the side face of the housing 61 and a connection portion 64 at an end extending outwardly. The connection portion 64 is connected to the circuit board P2.
This kind of connector is required to be a low profile, wherein a heightwise dimension (height in the plugging direction) is small, to make small a distance between the facing circuit boards. If the distance is small, an electronic apparatus incorporating the circuit boards with the connectors is made thin.
Since both the connectors are plugged-in each other on the condition that they are fixed to the circuit boards, it is difficult to observe the position of the plugging because the visual field is obstructed by the circuit boards. Accordingly, if the slant portion 59 of the connector 50 is made longer, the guidance of the mating connector to the plugging position becomes easier. However, the guide wall 58 is required to be high to provide a long slant portion 59, and the long slant portion 59 makes large the size of the connector in the heightwise direction. Consequently, it is difficult to provide a connector of low profile. If the slant portion is attempted to be long without making large the height of the connector, the angle of the slant portion becomes gentle, which make it difficult to guide the mating connector to the plugging position smoothly.


This present invention relates to a shoelace binder 10 that is designed to prevent a tied shoelace from coming loose. The present invention is comprised of a cover 16 and a base 18. The cover has a body 20 that has a front face 22 and a rear face 24. Two pins, a first pin 26 and a second pin 28, are attached to the front face and the rear face of the cover so that two ends 30 32 of each pin are attached to the front face and the rear face, respectively. The base has two flanges 34 36, each flange having a hole about the middle portion of the flange. Each of the flange holes 38 40 is used to grip a shoelace end 42 46 securely when a shoelace tip 44 48 is inserted into that flange hole, and reinserted into the flange hole from the opposite side after the shoelace has wrapped around one of the pins. An improvement to the invention can be made by the use of elastic materials for the cover.

This present invention relates to a shoelace binder that is designed to prevent a tied shoelace from coming loose.
An untied or loosen shoelace is a hazardous and unsightly condition that can be prevented. However, the conventional method of tying a double knot or making a tighter knot is difficult and is often prone to loosening. The effect of loose shoelace is that a person can trip over the loose end and it is unsightly.
Another method known is that a person can clip the knot with an alligator clip or a clip that completely encapsulates the entire shoelace ends after making the shoelace ends into a ball. The inventor believes that the use of an alligator clip is, not only unsightly, but also easy to be knocked off the knot, making the clip of a little use. Also, the inventor believes that the use of a clip that encapsulates the balled-up ends of shoelace is unsightly, and uncomfortable to wear on a shoe because it is often quite large in order to cover up the entire volume of the balled-up shoelace ends.
Another method used is the use of hook-and-pile (synthetic materials that adhere when pressed together, commonly sold under the trademark "Velcro") straps to cover the knot. However, the use of these straps over the knot covers a large area of the shoe, altering the style of the shoe significantly and making the shoe look childish. Moreover, the bow look of a conventional shoelace knot and shoelace ends is not preserved.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new and improved shoelace binder that is comfortable to wear, quick and easy to use, maintains the bow look of the tied shoelace ends at the user's option, and is small.

Kangwon-Do Choonchaun-See Shinbook-Enp Chunjunyook-Rhee Haekang Apt. 101 Dong-211 Ho


A call conferencing apparatus, method, and computer program allow a chairperson or other participant to enter a pass code for a conference call dynamically. Other participants are then prompted for the pass code. Participants who enter the correct pass code are allowed to join a conference bridge, while participants who enter an incorrect pass code are not.

Audio and video conferencing systems are becoming more popular in the United States and around the world. In a conventional conferencing system, one participant communicates audio signals to other participants (often through a multipoint conferencing server or other unit) and receives audio signals from the other participants (indirectly through the server). The participants may also exchange video images allowing the participants to see one another.

Apparatus, method, and computer program for providing pass codes related to conference calls


A new Echinacea plant particularly distinguished by having an upright growth habit, large number of ray florets, and a yellow-green stem color is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of coneflower, botanically known as Echinacea purpurea, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Fourth of July'. 'Fourth of July' originated from an open pollination between an unknown female Echinacea purpurea plant and an unknown male Echinacea purpurea plant in Csemö, Hungary in the summer of 2005. 'Fourth of July' was first propagated in Csemö, Hungary. 'Fourth of July' was found to reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation via division in Csemö, Hungary.


A memory system includes a memory unit and a memory controller. The memory unit includes a plurality of memory banks, wherein an information stored in a memory bank is accessed via a word line and a bit line. The memory controller is configured to limit repetitive accessing of a same word line or a same bit line so that the number of consecutive access is less than a predetermined critical value.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments relate to a memory controller, and more particularly, to a memory controller and a memory system including the same.
2. Related Art
In order to improve the communication speed between a memory apparatus and a processor such as central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU), a memory controller or interface chip has been used. Furthermore, a system-in-package (SIP) semiconductor apparatus in which a memory apparatus and a memory controller or interface chip are packaged together has been developed.
Referring to FIG. 1, the memory unit 10 may include a memory bank 11 having a plurality of memory cells to store data. The memory cells MC may be electrically connected to word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2 in a row direction and bit lines BL0, BL1, and BL2 in a column direction (please check them), and located at the respective intersections between the word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2 and the bit lines BL0, BL1, and BL2. The word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2 and the bit lines BL0, BL1, and BL2 may be accessed by a row decoder 12 and a column decoder 13, respectively. The row decoder 12 may access a corresponding word line WL0, WL1, or WL2 according to a row address signal, and the column decoder 13 may access a corresponding bit line BL0, BL1, or BL2 according to a column address.
With the increase in integration-density of the memory apparatus, the number of memory cells has geometrically increased. Accordingly, the numbers of word lines and bit lines have also increased. That is, size of the memory cells, a distance between the word lines WL0, WL1, and WL2, and a distance between the bit lines BL0, BL1, and BL2 have been significantly reduced. Therefore, when specific word lines or bit lines are successively accessed, memory cells electrically connected to an adjacent word line or bit line may be influenced. That is, as the specific word lines or bit lines are successively accessed, data stored in the memory cell connected to the adjacent word line or bit line may be destroyed or varied. Thus, the reliability of the memory cell may be degraded.

Memory controller and memory system including the same


A pole base assembly driving device for a tape recorder is disclosed. Manufacturing of decks becomes simpler and at lower cost. The pole base assembly driving device has a loading gear rotatably disposed on the deck, and rotated by a driving force which is transmitted from a driving source installed on the deck. The pole base assembly further comprises an elastic rod connected by one end to the loading gear, and connected by the other end to a link member which is connected with the pole base assembly. The elastic rod is preferably made of a material which is elastically bendable by an external force, and preferably comprises a deformation restricting means for restricting a deformation of the elastic rod when the elastic rod is deformed by the rotation of the loading gear, such as protrusions on the concave side of the rod when deformed and a reinforcement member. As a result, the number of parts and manufacturing cost is reduced, and deterioration of durability due to breakage of parts can be avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape recorder, and more particularly, to a driving device for moving a pole base assembly along a deck so as to move a magnetic tape into and out of close contact with a head drum during magnetic tape loading and unloading.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, tape recorders such as a video tape recorders (VTR), camcorders, and the like, have deck mechanisms to record and reproduce data as a magnetic tape runs along a predetermined path defined inside the deck.
FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a moving deck 100, which is typically employed in the tape recorder. The deck 100 of the tape recorder includes a pair of pole base assemblies 140, and a driving device for moving the pole base assemblies 140 along a guide rail 130 of the deck 100 during the loading or unloading of the magnetic tape.
Each of the pole base assemblies 140 includes a base member 141 slidably connected with a guide rail 130, a pole member 145 protruding from an upper surface of the base member 141 and/or a roller member 144. While the guide rail 130 is depicted as being integrally formed with the head drum base 120, which is for seating the head drum 110 on the deck 100, many other variations are available for the structure of the guide rail 130, as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.
As shown in FIG. 2, the pole base assembly driving device 150 includes first and second loading gears 153a, 153b, and first and second link members 155a, 155b.
The first and the second loading gears 153a, 153b are disposed on the deck 100 to correspond to the pair of pole base assemblies 140, respectively, and are driven by the force which is transmitted from a loading motor 151 (FIG. 1) via a predetermined gear train including a main gear 152 (FIG. 1).
The first link member 155a is rotatably connected at one of its ends to the base member 141 of the pole base assembly 140. The second link member 155b is rotatably connected at both of its ends to the other end of the first link member 155a and to the loading gears 153a, 153b, respectively. As a result, the pole base assemblies 140 are moved along the guide rail 130 in association with the rotation of the loading gears 153a, 153b.
In order to ensure stable data recording or reproducing with respect to the magnetic tape (not shown), during the loading of the magnetic tape, the pole base assemblies 140 should be in close contact to the terminal end of the guide rail 130 toward the head drum 110, and should also maintain the close contact stably.
To this end, conventionally, the loading motor 151 has been driven for an extra time after the pole base assemblies 140 have contacted the end of the guide rail 130 toward the head drum 110 so as to rotate the loading gears 153a, 153b for a predetermined rotation angle.
However, this way causes excessive pressure on the link members 155a, 155b when the loading gears 153a, 153b are driven past that the point at which the pole base assemblies 140 have contacted the end of the guide rail 130. Also, as the loading and unloading of the magnetic tape is repeated, such over pressure is repeatedly exerted on the link members 155a, 155b, causing the link members 155a, 155b to break and subsequently, causing the durability of the deck 100 to degrade.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, conventionally, the pole base assembly driving device 150 added torsion springs (S) inside the loading gears 153a, 153b, respectively, as shown in FIG. 3. The torsion springs (S) are disposed to surround the axes 153c of the loading gears 153a, 153b. The torsion springs preferably have one end fixed to an inner sidewall of the loading gear 153a, 153b and the other end fixed to the second link member 155b which is pivotally connected to the loading gear 153a, 153b.
By this structure, as the loading gears 153a, 153b are rotated past the point at which the pole base assemblies 140 are in contact with the end of the guide rail 130 toward the head drum 110, the loading gears 153a, 153b can be elastically rotated with respect to the second link member 155b within the movement range permitted by the torsion springs (S). Accordingly, the pole base assemblies 140 are in close contact with the end of the guide rail 130, and stay in close contact by the recovery force of the torsion springs (S).
Recently, demand for compact-sized tape recorders has been increasing, and accordingly, components of smaller size and less number are required. However, because the conventional tape recorder requires the loading gears 153a, 153b and the second link member 155b to be pivotally connected with the loading gears 153a, 153b, and also requires torsion springs (S) for the loading gears 153a, 153b, the manufacturing process is relatively complicated and lots of components are required for assembly.

Pole base assembly driving device for tape recorder


A system and method are disclosed for transparently proxying a connection to a protected machine. The method includes monitoring a communication packet on a network at a proxy machine. The communication packet has a communication packet source address, source port number, destination address, and destination port number. The proxy determines whether to intercept the communication packet based on whether the communication packet destination address and the communication packet destination port number correspond to a protected destination address and a protected destination port number stored in a proxy list. The proxy machine then determines whether to proxy a proxied connection associated with the communication packet based on the communication packet source address and the communication packet source port number. A protected connection is terminated from the proxy machine to a protected machine. The protected machine corresponds to the communication packet destination address and the communication packet destination port number.

In many network applications, it is often desirable or necessary to prevent a user from making a connection to a first machine at one IP address that has information that the user needs and instead service an information request with a second machine at a different IP address. For example, it is often desired from a security standpoint not to allow connections from potentially hostile machines to a machine that stores sensitive information. Instead, it may be required that a connection first be made to a proxy which itself has various security features such as user authentication and possibly encryption.
The user requests the information from the proxy and the proxy establishes a connection with the machine that is being protected and obtains the information. If the protected machine determines that the user is authorized to receive the information, the proxy can then relay the information to the user that requested it. The proxy thus stands in for the machine that stores the sensitive information and prevents outside users from connecting directly to the protected machine. Instead, the user must first request the information from the proxy and only the proxy connects with the protected machine. The protected machine is insulated from contact with potentially dangerous outside contact.
In a proxy arrangement that is used for security, the proxy generally first identifies and authenticates the user who is requesting information from a machine at a target IP address. In the discussion that follows, the user requesting information will be referred to as the client and the protected machine that is providing information will be referred to as the server. It should be noted that in certain situations the client and server designations may be reversed The machine that is protected (in the example above, the server) is also referred to as the proxied machine at the proxied address. In some applications, the proxied machine is also referred to as the target machine at the target address because it is the machine that the client or user actually intends to access and from which the user expects to obtain data or some other service.
The target machine is distinguished from the proxy because the user does not generally desire to retrieve information from or contact the proxy other than for the purpose of authenticating himself or otherwise preparing for the desired connection with the target machine. The machine that acts as a proxy is called the proxy machine at the proxy address. The user making the connection is referred to as the user or the client. When a proxy is used, the user connects to the proxy machine at the proxy IP address and never actually makes a connection to the proxied machine at the proxied IP address.
Another example of a situation in which a proxy may be desirable is a web cache. It may be desirable to store certain information that is available from a primary web site at a first IP address at a web cache located at another IP address. In this situation, the user is directed to the IP address of the web cache for the information, and, if the information requested is not found in the cache, then the web cache connects to the IP address of the first web site, obtains the information and then transfers it to the user.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a proxied connection. A client 100 has an IP address of aaa.1. Client 100 wishes to obtain information from a server 102 that has an IP address bbb.1. Client 100, however, is not authorized to connect to server 102. Client 100 therefore must make a connection to a proxy 104 which has an IP address of xxx.1. Proxy 104 is authorized to make a connection to server 102.
In the example illustrated, client 100 connects to proxy 104 via the Internet 110. It should be noted that on other embodiments, the client connects to the proxy via some other internet or intranet. To connect to proxy 104 via the Internet, client 100 must know the IP address, xxx.1, of proxy 104 so that a connection can be made to proxy 104. Furthermore, client 100 must obtain authorization to log onto proxy 104. Usually, this is done by some sort of authentication or password procedure. Once client 100 has successfully logged on to proxy 104, client 100 may request proxy 104 to make a connection to server 102 and obtain data that is contained on server 102.
Once client 100 has successfully logged on to proxy 104, client 100 requests that the proxy establish a connection and log onto the server. The client sends datagrams or packets to the proxy and the proxy relays them to the server. It should be noted that in the following description the terms datagram and packet are used interchangeably to refer to messages or portions of messages sent to or from a network device. Generally, the client must also specify to the proxy the IP address of the server that it wishes to access so that the proxy can make a connection to the server. Once a connection with the server is established, then proxy 104 reads the data received from the client and relays the data to the server via the server connection. Likewise, the proxy reads the data received from the server and relays the data to the client via the client connection.
Typically, the client is required to log on to the proxy to get authorization to send information to the proxy to be relayed to the server and then the client must again log onto the server through the proxy. Although the proxy makes its own direct connection with the server which may require authentication of the proxy, the server in most cases will run a separate process to verify that the user of the proxy is authorized to get the information from the server that is being requested. Thus, the proxy protects the server from a direct connection with a hostile source, but the server still must ensure that the user of the proxy is authorized to obtain the requested information. If the same information is required by the proxy and the server, then the information often must be supplied twice, once during authentication to the proxy and once during authentication to the server. Thus, the client must know to request the proxy address and then go through two separate authentication procedures in order to successfully obtain information from the server.
Certain proxy programs simplify the process somewhat by allowing the client to provide both a proxy password and a server password in a single step when the client signs on to the proxy. In some instances, a single password is used for both the proxy and the server. Nevertheless, the client still must know to contact the proxy. As a result, when a proxy is changed, many separate client applications must often be reconfigured to contact the appropriate proxy.
The use of a proxy as described above requires the user to log onto the proxy at the proxy IP address. It is thus evident to the user that a proxy is being used. Furthermore, in some situations, the user is required to go through two separate security procedures, one to log onto the proxy, and a second to log onto the target machine or server. It would be desirable if a proxy could be provided that operated in a transparent manner so that the user would not be aware of the operation of the proxy and would not be required to go through two separate security procedures. Such a proxy would also eliminate the need to reconfigure a large number client applications when a proxy is changed.

Method and apparatus for transparently proxying a connection


An image pickup apparatus includes an image pickup element, a memory for storing a digital signal obtained by converting image information output from the image pickup element by an A/D converter, a displacement detection unit for detecting the position displacement of a camera, and a control unit for controlling the write timing of an image in the memory by predicting a release time at which the position displacement detected by the displacement detection unit falls within a predetermined allowable range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus and, more particularly, to an image pickup apparatus such as an electronic still camera which electrically records a still image on a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, an image pickup apparatus such as an electronic still camera which electrically records a still image on a recording medium is known. In recent years, compact, lightweight image pickup apparatuses have been increasingly developed.
However, a conventional compact, lightweight image pickup apparatus has a drawback in that a vibration or camera shake in a photographing operation, easily can occur and in particular, the probability that a vibration is generated is very high at the instance when a photographer depresses the release switch.

Image pickup apparatus with vibration compensation


A system generally relating to an SoC, which may be a field programmable SoC (“FPSoC”), is disclosed. In this SoC, dedicated hardware includes a processing unit, a first internal memory, a second internal memory, an authentication engine, and a decryption engine. A storage device is coupled to the SoC. The storage device has access to a boot image. The first internal memory has boot code stored therein. The boot code is for a secure boot of the SoC. The boot code is configured to cause the processing unit to control the secure boot.

The availability of increasingly powerful systems-on-chips ("SoCs") has led to growth of embedded computing. Embedded devices, popular because they facilitate mobility, are more vulnerable than enterprise devices. With the increased capability of embedded devices, the value of the information in such embedded systems has grown, and so too has the need to protect such information. Threats to embedded devices include device loss/theft, data loss/theft, cloning, reverse engineering, and denial of service.
For example, an end user, who might own only a single embedded device, is most affected by loss or theft of the device. End users may also be concerned with privacy and integrity of information stored in embedded devices. A manufacturer of an embedded system, or a software vendor that produces applications for embedded devices, may be concerned whether their source code can be stolen. If the adversary cannot steal such code, the embedded device may still be cloned by stealing the object code. An adversary can steal compiled code when an embedded device is booted (i.e., powered on) or running by inserting malware when images are initially loaded into an SoC. As an example attack, inserted malware can write loaded object code to an external port for capture to clone the embedded device. Furthermore, for example, in a denial of service attack, malware can cause an embedded device to become inoperable or unavailable.
Thus, generally two security-related tasks in embedded devices are secure boot and maintaining security during device operation. With respect to the former security-related task, it would be useful to provide security for an embedded device in order to protect against one or more of the above-mentioned threats.

Secured booting of a field programmable system-on-chip including authentication of a first stage boot loader to mitigate against differential power analysis


A portable electric device charging connector arrangement comprising a socket, a power supply connected to the socket, the socket including a female USB connector; an adapter comprising a housing and a male USB plug extending from the housing; a mounting arranged to support the housing; the mounting including a socket engaging portion arranged so that the socket engaging portion engages the socket when the USB plug is engaged in the USB socket; the housing further comprising a device connector extending upwardly in use so that a portable electric device may be charged when engaged to the device connector.

This invention relates to a connector arrangement for connection of a portable electric device to a low voltage power supply, particularly to an arrangement comprising a socket connected to a low voltage power supply into which a portable device may be connected.
The problem with portable devices such as cellular phones, MP3 players and IPods® players is that each manufacturer's product has a different socket so that a charger unit and power lead must be provided for each device. This can be especially inconvenient when travelling since a mains power adapter may be necessary for each device.

Portable electric charging adaptor for electronic devices


Human pancreatic endocrine cells are proliferated without loss of hormone function in a culture medium containing extracellular matrix from bladder carcinoma cell lines in the substantial absence of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor. Proliferation is preferably carried out in the substantial absence of any peptide growth factors and nicotinamide. The cells may be proliferated in a monolayer on a solid substrate. Islets and islet-like cell clusters are proliferated without loss of insulin-secreting function by incubation in a medium containing extracellular matrix from a human bladder carcinoma cell line, preferably cell line ATCC HTB-9.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention lies in the field of the growth and functionality of pancreatic cells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus is a widespread disease, arising from an autoimmune disorder in which insulin-secreting beta-cells in the pancreas are destroyed. The loss of these cells impairs the body's ability to assimilate glucose from the blood, and the resulting high glucose levels can lead to blindness, kidney disease, nerve damage, and ultimately death. Insulin injections are commonly used to compensate for the lack of beta cells, but blood sugar levels can still fluctuate widely. Methods of lessening the fluctuations have included the use of small, frequent doses of insulin and the use of mechanical pumps that mimic the action of the pancreas, but these require continuous or periodic maintenance, and the results are often of limited success. An alternative is a pancreatic transplant, but this requires major surgery and the availability of donor pancreases is limited.
A more promising option is the transplantation of islets of Langerhans, using tissue derived from either cadavers or human fetuses. Islets of Langerhans are clusters of cells in the pancreas that include the insulin-secreting beta cells, and their transplantation entails considerably less risk than the transplantation of a pancreas. Sources for islet transplantation include adult pancreatic tissue, fetal pancreatic tissue and islet-like cell clusters (ICCs). Fetal tissue offers a greater content of islets in proportion to its mass, as well as a greater capacity for proliferation with its less mature cells. Islet-like cell clusters are heterogeneous cell populations that include epithelial cells that differentiate after transplantation to form various types of cells including mature islets.
Islet tissue that is available for transplantation is scarce, however, and islets must be banked and transported in order to obtain sufficient islets for a single recipient. One means of permitting the accumulation needed to obtain a sufficient number of islets is cryopreservation. Ex vivo or in vitro proliferation, or the growth of islet tissue in culture media, is another. Ex vivo or in vitro proliferation are also of use in generating sufficient islet tissue for clinical and laboratory research.
Successful ex vivo or in vitro proliferation occurs when the proliferated cells retain their functionality as sources of insulin. Regulation of the proliferation and differentiation of human fetal pancreatic islet cells is dependent on interactions between cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts and specific growth factors. Unfortunately, the nature of these interactions, and in particular the relative effects of matrix and growth factors on growth vs. differentiation, are not known. This prevents one from selecting matrices and growth factors, or combinations of the two, that will achieve proliferation while retaining cell functionality.
It is known, for example, that cell division among adult human .beta.-cells is induced by a combination of extracellular matrix and hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), the latter being one of a variety of peptide growth factors that have been tested. The cell proliferation that is achieved, however, is accompanied by a downregulation of islet-specific gene expression. Cell transplantation experiments performed with a cell suspension of proliferated cells failed to produce mature endocrine cells. The use of nicotinamide, a potent inducer of endocrine differentiation, in a suspension of the cells resulted in new islet formation, but this was accompanied by considerable cell attrition, which canceled much of the benefit of the new cell formation.
A method and growth medium are therefore sought that will result in the proliferation of islets and ICCs at a substantial rate with minimal or no loss of insulin secreting function.

Culturing human pancreatic endocrine cells in medium containing extracellular matrix from human bladder carcinoma cells

The Regents of the University of California


A motor control apparatus for controlling a motor is provided. The motor has an output power stage and a relay allowing power to be connected to the output power stage. The apparatus comprises a microprocessor providing a PWM cycle delivered through a capacitor to a transistor. The microprocessor activates the transistor for a first predetermined amount of time during the PWM cycle causing the relay to actuate the output power stage thereby driving the motor. A detection mechanism within the microprocessor for detecting a fault in the main output transistor. The circuitry disengages the relay from the output power stage thereby causing the motor to cease being driven.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a switching motor control and, more particularly, it relates to a switching motor control for a D.C. motor utilizing a microcontroller to replace at least a portion of the analog circuitry in the motor control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The availability of faster and more proficient semiconductors having higher voltage capabilities have guided designers away from using step-down transformers in power supplies in order to reduce the cost and size for D.C. motor controls. More motor controls are being designed to operate off-line, i.e., the motor controls immediately rectify and filter the 120 volt AC line and produce a 170 volt DC rail.
In the prior art, the pulse width modulation (PWM) circuitry utilized in the motor-controllers has required op-amps, comparator, and delay circuits to generate the error voltages of the control loops and the PWM waveforms to drive the power stage. Still, more op-amps are used to generate the I.R. (internal resistance) compensation which is so common in D.C. motor control. Achieving noise rejection to protect control signals from the transients generated by the switching transistors has been difficult and has required more components and op-amps in the form of synchronous and integrating filters.
With off-line switching motor controls, it is not unusual to drive a 120 volt DC motor. Since the power supply can be 170 volt DC with a typical line of 120 volt AC, the maximum torque that the motor could deliver to the load is quite high. The user input to these motor controls is typically in the form of a DC voltage from a potentiometer or a D/A converter. If this voltage is corrupted and becomes inappropriately high, the motor can seriously damage the load and the user. Corrupted voltage can occur in a number of different ways ranging from loss of continuity to the input signal to a total failure of the output power handling device.
The output power handling stage of the prior art motor controllers is typically a single transistor and a free-wheeling diode. This combination provides PWM at a very low cost and high efficiency. If, however, the power transistor should become shorted (not an unusual failure mode) when the power is applied, the full 170 volt DC supply would be applied across the motor and the motor will accelerate at a phenomenal rate. Such acceleration could be very dangerous and potentially damaging to the load and the operator.
Over-temperature protection has previously required the addition of a temperature measuring device in the form of circuitry to buffer the signal and circuitry to cause the protection. The addition of a temperature measuring device adds cost, complexity, and parts to the motor controllers.
The switching motor control of the present invention solves many of the common motor control problems in the prior art by the implementation of a small-inexpensive microcontroller which consolidates most of the functionality which were previously to be accomplished in discrete circuitry.


A lubrication controlling method for a starting clutch including a wet type multi-plate clutch disposed between a transmission and an engine of a vehicle and adapted to transmit a power, the method including always supplying lubricant oil during an operation of the wet type multi-plate clutch, continuously changing a flow amount of the lubricant oil in accordance with a condition of the wet type multi-plate clutch, and controlling the amount of the lubricant oil so that a supplied amount of the lubricant oil during an idle rotation of the wet type multi-plate clutch is greater than a supplied amount of the lubricant oil during the complete engagement of the wet type multi-plate clutch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a unit type starting clutch which can be fitted with respect to a torque converter of an automobile and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in automatic transmissions i.e. ATs, the starting of a vehicle was performed by torque transmitting through a torque converter. The torque converter was mounted to many AT vehicles since the torque converter has a torque amplifying effect and provides smooth torque transmission.
On the other hand, the torque converter has a disadvantage that a large amount of slip is generated during the torque transmission and, thus, the torque converter has less efficiency.
Therefore, in recent years, there has been proposed a technique in which a starting clutch is used in place of the torque converter, and the torque has been amplified at a low speed range by reducing a gear ratio and by increasing the number of speed change stages.
In general, the starting clutch includes a wet type multi-plate clutch housed in a clutch case. In the multi-plate clutch, friction plates as friction engaging elements at an output side and separator plates as friction engaging elements at an input side are arranged alternately along an axial direction. With this arrangement, a power is transmitted by engaging the friction plates with the separator plates by means of a piston.
In the starting clutch, particularly when the vehicle is operating under heavy traffic conditions, engagement and disengagement of the clutch are repeated frequently, causing heat to accumulate in the clutch portion, and thus requiring a large amount of lubricant oil to be supplied to the clutch portion. However, power loss caused by a pump for supplying the large amount of lubricant oil adversely impacts the reduction of fuel consumption.
In the wet type starting clutch, when the vehicle begins to start, i.e., when the wet type multi-plate clutch is engaged, a maximum amount of heat is generated. Conventionally, in order to cool such heat, a large amount 10 liters/min or more) of lubricant oil was always supplied. In the wet type multi-plate clutch, the lubricant oil is required to perform the cooling upon the engagement of the clutch, and the lubricant oil is also required to cool the heated clutch having a high temperature during an idle rotation of the clutch. In general, during the engagement of the clutch, since it is difficult for the supplied lubricant oil to flow between the plates of the clutch, even if the lubricant oil is supplied, it is difficult to cool the clutch.
To address such a problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-324818 discloses a technique in which the lubricant oil is supplied in accordance with a condition of the vehicle by using an electronic hydraulic solenoid. However, in this technique, the large amount of the lubricant oil is supplied to the clutch during a slipping condition of the clutch, and, if the engagement and disengagement of the clutch is repeated frequently, adequate cooling cannot be achieved.

Lubrication controlling method for starting clutch


Methylation of p16 DNA and a resultant decrease in p16 gene expression is associated with transcriptional block and is associated with a variety of neoplasms. A method for detecting a neoplasm in a subject by detecting methylation of 5'CpG islands in p16 DNA, or detecting p16 mRNA or polypeptide levels in a sample is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to regulation of cell growth and proliferation and specifically to a novel cell cycle-related polynucleotide, 5'ALT, and novel polynucleotides encoding truncated cell cyclin inhibitors, p16.sup.INK4A and p15.sup.INK4B. The invention also relates to the identification of neoplastic cells in a sample, by detecting p16 mRNA, polypeptide, and 5'CpG island methylation of p16DNA.
2. Description of Related Art
The growth cycle of eukaryotic cells is regulated by a family of protein kinases known as the cyclin-dependent kinases ("CDKs"). The cyclins and their associated CDKs move cells through the three phases of the growth cycle (G1, S and G2, respectively) leading to division in the mitosis phase (M). The cyclin/CDK complexes whose role in cellular proliferation has been most clearly defined to date are the cyclin D/CDK enzymes, which are believed to assist in the progression of the G1 growth cycle phase. Of these enzymes, cyclin D1 is believed to be an oncogene, whose overexpression stimulates excessive cell division through the continuous production of kinase, thus contributing to the development of cancers of, for example, the breast and esophagus. Cyclin D1 is specifically bound by CDK4 as part of a multi-protein complex that also consists of a protein known as p21 and cell nuclear antigen. Known inhibitors of such cyclin/CDK overexpression include the tumor suppressor protein p53 and the protein product of the retinoblastoma (Rb) gene. Recently, two putative inhibitors of cell cyclins, p16.sup.INK 4A and p16.sup.INK4B, were isolated (Serrano, et al., Nature, 366:704, 1993; Hannon, et al., Nature, 371:257, 1994, respectively). The cyclin-CDK inhibitors p16.sup.INK4A (CDKN2MTS-1) and p15.sup.INK4B (MTS-2) are inportant components of cell cycle regulation. Transition through G1 is promoted by the cyclin-dependent protein kinases CDK4 and CDK6 which phosphorylate Rb resulting release of E2F and cell cycle progression (Hunter, T. & Pines, J.,Cell 79: 573-582, 1994). In addition to more universal inhibitors (Morgan, D. O., Nature, 374:131-134, 1995), these kinases are strongly inhibited both p16.sup.INK4A and p15.sup.INK4B. Isolation of the genes for these negative cell cycle regulators was quickly followed by their co-localization to chromosome 9p21, within a critical region commonly deleted in many types of human cancer (Kamb, A., et al., Science, 264:436-440, 1994; Nobori, T., et al., Nature, 368:753-756, 1994). Familial and sporadic malignant melanomas have been consistently associated with cytogenetic abnormalities of chromosome 9p21 (Fountain, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 89:10557, 1992; Cannon-Albright, et al., Science, 258:1148, 1992) Deletions of this region are also common in gliomas (Olopade, et al., Cancer Res., 52:2523, 1992), lung cancers (Olopade, et al., Cancer Res., 53:2410, 1993), and leukemias (Olopade, et al., Genomics, 14:437, 1992). Although excellent tumor suppressor gene candidates, somatic point mutations were found to be rare in many primary human tumors with hemizygous loss of 9p21 (Cairns, et al., Science 245:415-416, 1994).
Frequent loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and homozygous deletion of chromosome 9p21 has suggested the presence of tumor suppressor genes in this region. Localization of an inhibitor of the cyckin D/cyclin dependent kinase 4 complex, now called CDKN2/p16, to 9p21, along with frequent homozygous deletions of this gene in human cancer cell lines, suggested that p16 might be the target gene (Kamb, et al, supra; Nobori, et al., supra). Since the initial reports of this homozygous deletion, numerous studies have shown varying, but in general much less frequent, abnormalities of p16 in primary tumors of these cancers. For example, although the rate of homozygous deletions ranged from 40-60% of breast cancer cell lines (Kamb, et al., supra; Xu, et al., Cancer Res., 54:5262, 1994), neither homozygous deletion or point mutations are typically observed in primary breast carcinomas. Also, certain common neoplasms, such as prostate and colon cancer, have not been found to harbor homozygous deletions in established cell lines.
In this regard, allelic loss of 9p21 has been found to occur early in the progression of at least two tumor types (Cairns, et al., Oncogene, 8:1083, 1993; van der Riet, et al., Cancer Res., 54:1156, 1994). Hemi- and homozygous losses of chromosome 9p21 are among the most common changes found in most tumor cell lines (Olopade, et al., Genomics, 14:437, 1992) and primary tumors (Merlo, et al. Cancer Res., 54:640, 1994; Migeon, et al., Genet Res., 56:91, 1990).
In eukaryotic cells, methylation of cytosine residues that are immediately 5' to a guanosine, occurs predominantly in CG poor regions (Bird, A., Nature, 321:209, 1986). In contrast, discrete regions of CG dinucleotides called CpG islands remain unmethylated in normal cells, except during X-chromosome inactivation (Migeon, et al., supra) and parental specific imprinting (Li, et al., Nature, 366:362, 1993) where methylation of 5' regulatory regions can lead to transcriptional repression. De novo methylation of the Rb gene has been demonstrated in a small fraction of retinoblastomas (Sakai, et al., Am. J Hum. Genet., 48:880, 1991), and recently, a more detailed analysis of the VHL gene showed aberrant methylation in a subset of sporadic renal cell carcinomas (Latif, et al., Cancer Res., 52:1451, 1992). Expression of a tumor suppressor gene can also be abolished by de novo DNA methylation of a normally unmethylated 5'CpG island (Issa, et al., Nature Genet., 7:536, 1994, Herman, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad Sci., U.S.A., 91:9700, 1994).
Identification of the earliest genetic changes in tumorigenesis is a major focus in molecular cancer research. Diagnostic approaches based on identification of these changes are likely to allow implementation of early detection strategies and novel therapeutic approaches targeting these early changes might lead to more effective cancer treatment.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine


Systems, methods, and programs store feature information relating to features existing on a road and on the periphery of the road, each piece of feature information being associated with a unique identification symbol, each piece of feature information including disposition information expressing a spatial disposition of each feature independently of the road network, form information expressing a form of each feature, accuracy information expressing an accuracy of the information, and acquisition timing information expressing an acquisition timing of the information. The systems, methods, and programs (1) output the feature information stored in the feature database and input map information constituting the map database, the map information being generated based on the output feature information, or (2) generate map information constituting the map database on the basis of the feature information stored in the feature database.

1. Related Technical Field
Related technical fields include systems, methods, and programs for generating an electronic map database suitable for use in a navigation systems.
2. Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-195747 (pages 5-6 and 10-11, FIG. 3, and FIG. 17) describes a system for generating an electronic map database. The structure of this system is shown in FIG. 15. A map data generating device 101 formed by installing a predetermined program on a general-purpose computer constitutes the nucleus of the system. On the basis of a road database 102 defined by links constituted by line segments and nodes serving as intersection points between the links, and an aerial photograph 103, attribute information is set in relation to each of the links in the road database 102. Thus, a new map database is generated. Here, attribute information is information regarding the structure and traffic regulations of each link.
The map data generating device 101 includes a command input portion 104, a database referencing portion 105, a polygon generating portion 106, a pattern database 107, a pattern analysis portion 108, an attribute setting portion 109, and a result output portion 110. The command input portion 104 inputs a command from an operator. The database referencing portion 105 references the road database 102 and the aerial photograph 103 on the basis of the input command. The polygon generating portion 106 generates a closed figure from each of the links defined in the road database 102 (to be referred to hereafter as a polygon) having a predetermined surface area. The pattern database 107 stores various image patterns included in the aerial photograph 103 in association with corresponding attributes.
For example, the pattern database 107 stores an association between the "parking lot" attribute and a pattern such as that found in a parking lot, in which short line segments forming a vehicle parking space are disposed at fixed intervals, or an association between the "no passing" attribute and a yellow line such as a center line. The pattern analysis portion 108 reads the aerial photograph 103 and analyzes the image patterns included therein on the basis of the pattern database 107. The attribute setting portion 109 sets attribute information in relation to the links in the road database 102 on the basis of an analysis result of the pattern analysis portion 108. The result output portion 110 receives a setting result from the attribute setting portion 109, associates the attribute information with each link, and outputs a new map database.

Map database generating systems, methods, and programs


The present inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems, and methods in which a diagnostic test is identified, where the diagnostic test is for determining whether a particular treatment is effective for a particular patient based on one or more characteristics of a patient's cells. When a treatment is developed with the potential to treat one or more diseases, the drug can have different effects on different cell lines related to the diseases. A machine learning system is programmed to infer a measurable cell characteristic, out of many different measurable cell characteristics, that has a desirable correlation with the sensitivity data of different cell lines to a treatment. The machine learning system is programmed to then determine, based on the correlation, a threshold level of the cell characteristic the patient should exhibit in order to recommend administering the treatment.

The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present inventive subject matter. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed inventive subject matter, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Drug discovery is often driven by mechanistic assumptions or screening and refinement of lead compounds in a rationale design manner. While such assumptions and/or screening procedures are often effective with respect to a specific target and a specific drug, effects of the drug on performance and/or regulation of components associated with the target are typically not considered. For example, a kinase inhibitor may be well defined for inhibition of one or more specific kinases, but effects of the inhibitor on other elements or functioning of signaling pathways associated with the kinases are typically not known. Thus, while effectiveness with respects to the mechanism of action may be assessed via a kinase specific test, such tests are often not suitable as diagnostic or prognostic tool as a cell often exhibits compensatory mechanisms to the effect of the drug.
More recently, various improved systems and methods have been described to obtain in silico pathway models of in vivo pathways, and exemplary systems and methods are described in WO 2011/139345 and WO 2013/062505. Further refinement of such models was provided in WO 2014/059036 (collectively referred to herein as "PARADIGM") disclosing methods to help identify cross-correlations among different pathway elements and pathways. While such models provide valuable insights, for example, into interconnectivities of various signaling pathways and flow of signals through various pathways, numerous aspects of using such modeling have not been appreciated or even recognized.
Thus, there is still a need to provide improved systems and methods to identify and/or develop diagnostic and prognostic test, especially for efficacy of a drug.

Pathway analysis for identification of diagnostic tests


An adjustable chair includes an upper frame configured to carry a seat, and a lower frame pivotably coupled with the upper frame and configured to support the upper frame above a ground surface. The adjustable chair further includes an adjustment mechanism that is selectively movable between a plurality of positions for securing the upper frame relative to the lower frame in a corresponding plurality of orientations. A method of adjusting an adjustable chair including a first chair portion carrying a seat and a second chair portion includes providing the first chair portion and the seat in a first orientation relative to the second chair portion. The first chair portion is pivoted about a first pivot axis to provide the first chair portion and the seat in a second orientation relative to the second chair portion.

Chairs are convenient tools for sitting and relaxing. It is generally well known to use chairs inside building structures, such as homes, and on flat surfaces, such as patios. It is also known to take chairs to other locations such as ball fields, beaches, parks, and the like. Most chairs are designed to be used on flat surfaces, however, and do not perform well on sloped surfaces. In particular, chairs can be unstable on sloped surfaces and can present challenges for an individual attempting to sit on the chair on a sloped surface. For example, a hunter may select a spot from which to hunt on a hillside, and might wish to sit on a chair. Also, a fisherman might sit on the bank of a lake or river, which could be sloped, and might also wish to sit on a chair.
Therefore a need exists for improvements relating to chairs for sitting on sloped surfaces.


New cross-linked polymeric foam compositions, and methods for making the same, are provided. The new compositions utilize novel cross-linked polyolefin copolymers and show improvements in strength, toughness, flexibility, heat resistance and heat-sealing temperature ranges as compared to conventional low density polyethylene compositions. The new compositions also show processing improvements over linear low density polyethylene. The novel polyolefins, which are essentially linear, comprise ethylene polymerized with at least one alpha-unsaturated C3 to C20 olefinic comonomer, and optionally at least one C3 to C20 polyene, and exhibit, in an uncross-linked sense, a resin density in the range of about 0.86 g/cm3 to about 0.96 g/cm3, a melt index in the range of about 0.5 dg/min to about 100 dg/min, a molecular weight distribution in the range of from about 1.5 to about 3.5, and a composition distribution breadth index greater than about 45 percent.

Current art for the production of cross-linked polyolefin foam structures involves the use of conventional high-pressure reactor-produced, low density polyethylene (LDPE). LDPE is comprised of a wide-ranging distribution of branch lengths, best characterized as "long- but variable- chain branching", and a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) which is generally greater than about 3.5. LDPE resin densities, which directly relate to the resulting bulk property stiffness, typically range between 0.915 to about 0.930, thus limiting the degree of mechanical flexibility in foam structures thereof since the lower limit of secant moduli for LDPE is about 20 ksi. While processability of LDPE is quite good, the physical properties, in particular the tensile strength, low-temperature flexibility and toughness, are less than would be obtained from a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), due in part to the substantially non-linear nature of LDPE and the profusion of "long-chain branches."
Conventional linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) exhibits physical properties which are superior to that of LDPE at about the same range of resin densities, but show somewhat higher secant moduli and are difficult to process, resulting in foams with poor cell structure and higher than desired foam structure densities. LLDPE resins, produced by conventional Ziegler transition metal catalysts in the copolymerization of ethylene with one or more alpha-unsaturated monomers, exhibit considerably narrower molecular weight distributions than LDPE, higher molecular weights, and typically only about 15-20 "short-chain branches" per 1000 carbon atoms. Melt-processing in general, and foam processing in particular, are greatly enhanced by the ability of the resin to "shear-thin" or demonstrate a strong, inverse dependency of melt viscosity toward shear rate. "Shear thinning" increases with the degree of branching, which is exemplified in the relative shear-insensitivity of LLDPE and particularly HDPE and resulting foam processing difficulty. Commercially-available LLDPE resins with densities below about 0.910 g/cc are unavailable, thus further limiting the flexibility of foam structures thereof.
Very low density polyethylene (VLDPE) is a special subset of LLDPE wherein an even greater number of "short-chain branches" (ca. 30-50 per 1000 carbon atoms) are effected by appropriate level of comonomer to result in much lower resin densities than LLDPE, e.g. 0.88 g/cc to 0.91 g/cc. These materials thus exhibit greater flexibility than LLDPE. However, generally with conventional linear polyolefins, the greater the number of "short-chain branches," the lower the resulting resin density, but also the shorter the length of the molecular backbone. The presence of shorter molecular backbones, with greater comonomer content therein, prematurely leads to a phenomena known as "melt fracture," which is manifested as the onset of perturbations at the surface of an extrudate with increasing shear rate, resulting in loss of control of the quality of such profiled, extrudable materials.
Certain other undesirable structural features accompany efforts to increase "short-chain branching" while employing conventional linear polyethylene technology, such as an increase in the non-uniformity of the distribution of branches on the molecular backbone. Additionally, conventional linear polyethylene technology leads to a distribution of molecular weights, with a greater propensity of incorporation of the alpha-unsaturated comonomer into the lower molecular weight fractions, thereby leading to melt fracture. Also, as a result of this non-uniformity of molecular weights and distribution of comonomeric species within and among the distribution thereof, linear polyolefins exhibit less than optimal performance in various parametric standards such as toughness, particularly at low temperatures, and stability of extrusion, particularly at high rates.
Many of the above noted deficiencies in the foamable polyolefin art could be satisfied through the use of a linear olefinic resin which is essentially free of "long-chain branches", and which has a molecular weight that is sufficiently high to preclude melt-fracture, a narrow molecular weight distribution, a considerable melt-viscosity/shear rate sensitivity and a full range of resin densities. Such a linear polyolefin would exhibit the preferred balance of physical properties, would exhibit good toughness and processability, and would be available in a range of resin flexibilities. It is thus an object of this invention to provide a linear olefinic resin which possesses these characteristics.
Various catalysts are known to the art of polyolefin foams. "Metallocenes" are one class of highly active olefin catalysts, well known in the art of preparation of polyethylene and copolymers of ethylene and alpha-unsaturated olefin monomers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,299 (Ewen et. al.) teaches that the structure of the metallocene catalyst includes an alumoxane which is formed when water reacts with trialkyl aluminum with the release of methane, which complexes therein with the metallocene compound to form the active catalyst. These catalysts, particularly those based on group IV B transition metals such as zirconium, titanium and hafnium, show extremely high activity in ethylene polymerization.
Metallocene catalysts have great versatility in that, by manipulation of process conditions such as catalyst composition and reactor conditions, they can be made to provide polyolefins with controlled molecular weights from as low as about 200 to about 1 million or higher. Exemplary of the latter case is ultra-high molecular weight linear polyethylene. At the same time, the molecular weight distribution of the polymers thereof can be controlled from extremely narrow to extremely broad, i.e. from less than 2 to greater than 8.
Metallocene catalysts are particularly advantageous in the preparation of copolymers of ethylene and one or more alpha-unsaturated olefin comonomers to provide highly random distributions of comonomer within each and every molecular backbone, while separately controlling the average molecular weight as well as the distribution of molecular weights about the average. It is thus an object of the present invention to use the versatility of metallocene catalysts to produce linear olefinic resins having the aforementioned properties.
These and other objects are realized by the present invention, as disclosed herein.

Cross-linked foam structures of polyolefins and process for manufacturing