A chronological display device depicting a displayed event and a continuous time display informing the viewer of continuous time intervals from the unchanging event to the present time or the remaining time to a future unchanging event.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a chronological display device that couples a continuous time display with a visual depiction of an event and continuously informs a viewer of time interval from the unchanging depicted event to present time, or remaining time to a future unchanging depicted event.
2. Description of Prior Art
Electronic and mechanical time pieces having the capability to measure and display lapse time from a starting time have been available for many years. These electronic devices use liquid crystal displays or analog display faces of time measurement to indicate lapse time or alternatively to start a signal when a particular time arrives. Mechanical devices are also used with or without some electronics. The only reference is time--lapsed seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years measured from starting time to present time.
Some time pieces may record more than one event, such as explained in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,630,935 and 4,303,995. These devices indicate a plurality of dates and relate elapsed time from a starting time of each date or time. All such time devices relate to calendar dates, time periods, and numerical relationships of beginning and ending elapse times.
The original event from which the elapse time is measured is known only to the operator of the time piece. Others observing the time piece have no reference to the starting event or time. The actual event that the referred elapse time measures must be stored separately in human memory, computers, notes, or note books. For long elapsed time periods of months or years, or when a plurality of times are recorded, remembering or finding the relationship of an elapse time indicator to an event becomes difficult.
A camera with an elapsed time indicator (U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,025) photographs a current event. This camera records the event but cannot display the picture. The developed picture does not display continually elapsing time. Additional photographs do not indicate the unchanging first event and only record a fixed and unchanging elapsed time.
Many people display reminders of significant events in their lifetimes to recall achievements, honors, and pleasant events. These include photographs and certificates of marriages, graduations, professional achievements, child births, vacations etc. However these displays of the unchanging event do not reflect the increasing time to make the viewer aware of the continual passing of time or approaching time for a future depicted event. People striving to complete work before a future time event occasionally and mentally calculate remaining times but are not always aware of periods of time remaining to complete a task. This especially happens when many projects are pursued at the same time.
The present invention depicts important unchanging events with an associated continuing time indicator that will immediately and visually remind the viewer of the event, indicate time interval from the event, and continue on in perpetual relation to the displayed event. If the depicted event is in the future, the present invention indicates and reminds the user of the time remaining to the important depicted event to assist future planning and scheduling.


A radar level gauge system is disclosed, having a transmitter for transmitting measuring signals towards the surface of the filling material, a receiver for receiving echo signals from said surface and a fastening structure adapted to secure said transmitter and receiver in a measuring position on a feed-through structure located in an upper boundary of said container. Further, a sealing unit is arranged between said fastening structure and said feed-through, and adapted to provide a pressure seal between the inside and the outside of the container, and in addition, there is provided means for blocking electromagnetic energy, adapted to block net transfer of electromagnetic energy between the inside and the outside of the container through said sealing unit.

Measuring the level of a liquid, fluids, granular compounds or other materials stored in a tank is a basic industrial need. Several technologies have historically been employed and the last decade radar has emerged as the dominating method for high quality measurements. These devices utilize antennas to transmit electromagnetic waves toward the material being monitored and to receive electromagnetic echoes which are reflected at the surface of the material being monitored. Today, numerous units for radar level gauging are installed worldwide, and among liquid level gauges the radar method has a growing percentage. The radar level gauges (RLGs) are typically mounted in tanks which can have a height from a few meter to 20–30 m or even more and with volumes from a few m3 and up to 100 000 m3 or more, typically located outdoors. High accuracy and reliability has been important virtues for RLGs.
Frequencies around 6, 10 and 26 GHz have typically been used, but other frequencies, such as in higher frequency bands, are feasible as well, such as near 60 and 80 GHz. Some RLGs use FMCW as the radar method (with a 1–2 GHz sweep, other use very short pulses (e.g. 0.5–1 ns) and it is expected that other existing radar distance measuring methods may be employed as well.
A radar level gauge radiates microwave power and to get desired accuracy the occupied bandwidth is conventionally very big as compared to conventional radar such as surveillance radar on ships etc. Generally, due to the wide bandwidth practically no radiation in free space is allowable, since the outdoor frequency space is already sliced in narrow bands and designated for various types of use. There are no multi-GHz bands free and unused, at least not below 100 GHz.
RLGs are in use often fixedly mounted in structures such as, in the typical case, a closed metallic tank. Typically there is a need to keep the tank well closed, due to pressure differences, risk for leakage, etc. However, of the small microwave power used inside the tank a small fraction of it may escape from the tank and seen from the outside as emitted electromagnetic radiation without apparent directivity. The electromagnetic radiation outside the tank caused by the RLGs could thus appear like spurious radiation. Approvals for existing RLGs have among other been based on emission outside the tank which is below the same level as any kind of electronics is allowed to emit according to current EMC-rules. In a specific country or region this could mean emissions below 0.075–1 microwatt outside of the tank which by experience is feasible in conventional designs.
However, special measuring needs could require use of higher power etc. in RLGs, e.g. to measure longer distances, which could give an increase of microwave leakage when using the conventional designs of today. There could also be situations in which one would like to reduce the amount of escaping microwave power; e.g. local occurrence of special conditions or especially sensitive equipment are potential reasons to further reduce the amount of escaping MW power.
Thus, even if the RLG systems in use today generally have passed applicable type approval based on low emission outside the tank there is foreseen situations where a reduction of the emission is desirable, and situations could occur where one would like to reduce the amount of escaping microwave power.

Microwave sealing for radar level gauges


Computer system for electronic data processing having programmable data transfer units used for transferring data from a first memory in which data is stored in a form of a multi-dimensional array to a second memory in such a way, that spatial or temporal locality for the transfer is established.

Computer programs concerning scientific or engineering applications typically comprise a lot of loop controlled operations on array data.
Since the performance of single computers still often does not suffice for such applications and since there is a demand for high performance of the applications, a lot of research is done in the area of parallel computing. In parallel computing, parts of the applications which involve a lot of computations are distributed among a plurality of processing elements which communicate with each other, if possible.
One example of such a parallel computer architecture is a Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) architecture, which comprises a plurality of parallel processing elements which get their instructions from a single instruction memory.
For a computer system comprising a parallel architecture compilers are necessary, which can transform computer programs into a form which can be interpreted by the computer system. There exist variants of programming languages like the derivative Data Parallel C Extension (DPCE) of the well-known programming language C (see Numerical C Extensions Group of X3J11, Data Parallel C Extensions, Technical Report, Version 1.6, 1994), which allow the programmer to express the parallelism of the application via the formulation in the computer language. In contrast to a formulation using systems of affine recurrence equations (see e.g. Catherine Mongenet, Affine Dependence Classification for Communications Minimization, International Journal of Parallel Programming, vol. 25, number 6, 1997), which are single assignment and which in general operate on parallel variables of the same dimensionality as the iteration space, DPCE contains both parallel statements and sequential loops and thus forces (and enables) the programmer to explicitly express the relation between parallelism and memory usage he wishes to be established.
In parallel computing concerning scientific and engineering applications, there are especially considered loop nests operating on multi-dimensional arrays with affine index functions. These can be analysed statically by a compiler and since they are predominant in scientific and engineering applications there is a lot of interest in developing methods for compilation of programs including loop nests operating on multi-dimensional arrays such that high performance of the compiled programs is achieved.
The well known obstacles to achieving high performance for the named applications on parallel architectures are communication overhead and/or the I/O bottleneck.
In a SIMD architecture, the data to be processed are typically stored in a shared memory and have to be transferred to local distributed memories, where it is processed by the parallel processing elements.
In a SIMD architecture, by way of example, in which there exists a general purpose processor used for non-parallel data processing and control flow management, a shared memory and an array of parallel processing elements which are each equipped with a local memory and a number of functional units the data which have to be processed are distributed to the local memories according to the parts of the data which are processed by the different parallel processing elements.
This data transfer between the shared memory and the local memories typically has big bandwidth requirements, produces communication overhead and typically leads to low performance for the application.
For achieving high performance for the applications, a compiler must map the parallelism of the program, for instance parallelism adapted to a SIMD architecture, which is expressed in the program in the according programming language, like DPCE, to the computer system in a way to minimize communication and data transfer overheads.
Typically, data transfers occur in blocks of contiguous bytes. This means that if some data in the shared memory are needed in a local memory, for example a data word which corresponds to some floating point number, that a whole block of data which comprise this data word are transferred to the local memory. The size of this block typically depends on the size of the bus used for the data transfer.
Transferring more data than needed at the moment charges the limited local memory. But it may happen that some of these incidentally transferred data are in fact used later in time. This phenomenon is called spatial reuse, i.e., reuse of data located nearby in memory.
It would increase the performance of the transfer if the data transferred in one block to a local memory were still resident in the local memory when they are later used by the respective processing element and would not have to be transferred again.
Because of the limited size of local memories this becomes only possible when spatial reuse occurs early enough in time since otherwise the data which are used later is deleted from the local memory.
If spatial reuse occurs early enough in time such that data which have been transferred in a data transfer along with data which had to be transferred because they have been accessed have not to be transferred again, it is said in the following that spatial Locality is established for the data transfer.
Another type of reuse which can be exploited is so-called temporal reuse.
This means that data which are used at one time in a program is used later in time, i.e. at a later stage of processing.
In a SIMD architecture as described above, for example, where there is executed a program including a loop nest, there is temporal reuse if the same data are accessed a multiple number of times.
As above in the case of spatial reuse, performance can be increased if data which are accessed a multiple number of times have not to be transferred to a local memory each time they are accessed.
If temporal reuse occurs early enough in time, such that data which had to be transferred in a data transfer because they have been accessed have not to be transferred again when they are accessed again, it is said in the following that temporal locality for the data transfer is established.
Because of the restricted size of local memories, temporal reuse must happen early enough before the data which are reused and have been transferred to a local memory have to be replaced in the local memory. This is a so called scheduling problem. It means the compiler has to (re)organize the order of computations by applying loop transformations such that temporal locality of data is achieved.
In the following, the expression locality means spatial locality as well as temporal locality.
Some techniques are commonly used to achieve locality.
Firstly, loop transformations are used to change the order of computation in order to augment both temporal and spatial locality at the same time Michael E. Wolf, Monica S. Lam, A Data Locality Optimizing Algorithm, Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN '91 Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementtion, 30-44, 1991.
While there is no alternative to loop transformations, especially to tiling (see Wolf et al. (cited above)), for achieving temporal locality, their applicability is restricted by loop dependencies.
Therefore, additional data transformations are suggested in order to change the layout of data in memory. Arrays shall be re-stored in memory in the order in which they are used (see Philippe Claus, Benoit Meister, Automatic Memory Layout Transformations to Optimize Spatial Locality in Parameterized Loop Nests, ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News, Vol. 28, No. 1, March 2000, and Adrian Slowik, Volume Driven Selection of Loop and Data Transformations for Cache-Coherent Parallel Processors, Dissertation, University of Paderborn, 1999).
However, such data transformations are global in nature, i.e. they must be propagated to all references of an array in the program, eventually leading to a bad layout for a different reference. This effect must be counterbalanced by a careful combination of loop and data transformations, where loop transformations can be used to locally repair effects of data transformations M. F. P. O'Boyle, P. M. W. Knijnenburg, Nonsingular Data Transformations: Definition, Validity and Applications, Int. J. of Parallel Programming, 27(3), 131-159, 1999.
This additionally narrows down the degrees of freedom in the choice of loop transformations and may not be feasible together with conflicting optimisation goals. The globally best may be a compromise layout only, which is not optimal for an individual loop nest.
Also, achieving a new memory layout requires copying operations and thus costs run time.
Finally, most programming languages allow arrays of rectangular shape only. Since a transformed array has polyhedral shape at first, a bounding box must be constructed which may lead to much larger arrays than the original arrays.
A different means of reducing negative effect of input and output on performance is the collapsing of multidimensional arrays (see M. M. Strout et al. (cited above), W. Thies et al. (cited above), and F. Quilleré et al. (cited above)).
This is a technique used in the context of automatic parallelization, where arrays are expanded to bring programs into single assignment form in order to get rid of storage related dependences.
Later, one wishes to collapse into the same memory locations array dimensions which were just used for temporary storage.
This idea was not yet, but principally is applicable to optimisation of locality: expanded arrays correspond to iteration space tiles and one can "collapse" a tile such that all of its indices refer to different array elements.
The collapsed tile defines local memory addresses and also defines the array elements to be transferred. Thus multiply indexed data will be transferred only a single time.
The most general of these techniques is that of F. Quilleré et al. (cited above) which considers collapsing in multiple directions simultaneously, whereas M. M. Strout et al. (cited above) and W. Thies (cited above) only consider collapsing into a single direction and thus only by one dimension.
A different approach is that suggested in A. W. Lim, S.-W. Liao, M. S. Lam, Blocking and Array Contraction across arbitrarily nested Loops using Affine Partitioning, Proceedings of the eighth ACM SIGPLAN symposium on Principles and Practices of Parallel Programming, 103-112, 2001, however they are restricted in the choice of directions into which an array can be collapsed.
However, the named techniques apply to the problem of reducing temporary memory usage arising in the model of computation defined by affine recurrence equation, which is different from the problem of establishing locality for data transfer.
The purpose of optimising locality is not to minimize memory usage, but to minimize the negative effect of input and output on performance, i.e. to minimize the amount of data transfers between shared and local memory, since this costs run time.

Computer system for data processing and method for the transfer of an array segment of an affine-indexed multi-dimensional array referenced in a loop nest from a first memory to a second memory


Apparatus for locating blood vessels in a live human body is self-contained, compact, non-invasive, and fully movable about the body.. Within a housing of the general size and shape of a pen and having a distal end and a proximal end, solid state electrical circuitry generates high-frequency electrical signals producing ultrasonic signals directed ahead of the distal end toward a narrow area of a body, receives the ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic signals and generates high-frequency electrical signals in response to said echoes, mixes both high-frequency electrical signals and amplifies the resulting differentials to produce beats, the amplitudes of which will vary if a Doppler effect due to the pulsating flow of blood through a vein or artery is detected. These amplified differential signals or beats are used to drive a miniature loudspeaker at the proximal end of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, broadly speaking, to an improved device for locating flowing fluids such as blood in a body.
More particularly, this invention relates to a totally self-contained, non-invasive, freely movable device for locating veins and arteries in a live human body.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Various devices for locating veins and arteries in a live human body are known.
Some of these devices are based upon the use of ultrasonic signals and the Doppler effect for locating veins and arteries in the human body by detecting the flow of blood therethrough, reference being made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,167,630, 5,131,395, 5,103,825, 5,080,104, 5,080,103 and 4,887,606.
None of these prior art devices are totally self-contained, non-invasive and freely movable, the combination of all of said properties being found only in the present invention.

Apparatus for locating veins and arteries


A bracket assembly, particularly for supporting a roof gutter, is disclosed. The assembly includes a mounting member attachable to a fascia and a support member releasably attachable to the mounting member. Attachment is by relation of the support member relative to the mounting member such that lugs on the support member engage an elongate aperture in the mounting member. The bracket assembly may incorporate a cover attachment member to facilitate concealed covering.

Brackets for supporting roof gutters usually are generally U shaped having an upright section for attachment to a fascia and a gutter support arm for engagement with an adjacent peripheral edge of the roof gutter.
When such brackets are mounted along a fascia, the supporting arm of each bracket must be spaced relative to the supporting arms of other gutter brackets to provide sufficient gutter support. Each arm must also be positioned such that gutters supported therefrom are supported in an inclined longitudinal orientation to allow for water drainage. This arrangement of the gutter and associated supporting brackets may be unsightly and visually displeasing, especially on long gutter runs where the drainage angle is noticeable.
To position a number of brackets along a fascia or the like such that they provide support and a drainage inclination is time consuming. Generally this is achieved by fixing a gutter bracket at each end of a gutter run and stretching a string line therebetween.
Subsequent intermediate brackets are then fixed to a support surface using the string line as a guide.


An LED controller reduces jitter of an LED lamp. In one embodiment, the LED controller includes a jitter detection circuit adapted to determine an amount of jitter in an input voltage signal. The input voltage signal includes a plurality of cycles and indicates an amount of dimming for the LED lamp. The LED controller further includes a jitter compensation circuit, which generates a control signal to control regulated in the LED lamp such that an output light intensity of the LED lamp substantially corresponds to the amount of dimming for the LED lamp. The control signal controls current delivery to the LED lamp to compensate for the determined amount of jitter in the input voltage signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to driving LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lamps and, more specifically, to compensating for jitter in the LED lamps.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs are being adopted in a wide variety of electronics applications, for example, architectural lighting, automotive head and tail lights, backlights for liquid crystal display devices, flashlights, etc. Compared to conventional lighting sources such as incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps, LEDs have significant advantages, including high efficiency, good directionality, color stability, high reliability, long life time, small size, and environmental safety.
The use of LEDs in lighting applications is expected to expand, as they provide significant advantages over incandescent lamps (light bulbs) in power efficiency (lumens per watt) and spectral quality. Furthermore, LED lamps represent lower environmental impact compared to fluorescent lighting systems (fluorescent ballast combined with fluorescent lamp) that may cause mercury contamination as a result of fluorescent lamp disposal.
However, conventional LED lamps cannot be direct replacements of incandescent lamps and dimmable fluorescent systems without modifications to current wiring and component infrastructure that have been built around incandescent light bulbs. This is because conventional incandescent lamps are voltage driven devices, while LEDs are current driven devices, requiring different techniques for controlling the intensity of their respective light outputs.
Many dimmer switches adjust the RMS voltage value of the lamp input voltage by controlling the phase angle of the AC-input power that is applied to the incandescent lamp to dim the incandescent lamp. Controlling the phase angle is an effective and simple way to adjust the RMS-voltage supplied to the incandescent bulb and provide dimming capabilities. However, conventional dimmer switches that control the phase angle of the input voltage are not compatible with conventional LED lamps, since LEDs, and thus LED lamps, are current-driven devices.
One solution to this compatibility problem uses an LED driver that senses the lamp input voltage to determine the operating duty cycle of the dimmer switch and reduces the regulated forward current through an LED lamp as the operating duty cycle of the dimmer switch is lowered. However, due to asymmetrical electrical characteristics of dimmer switches, the adjusted phase angle may exhibit low-frequency jittering patterns. The jitter can cause low-frequency LED light flickering that is detectable by the human eye.

Output current compensation for jitter in input voltage for dimmable LED lamps


The present invention is aimed to provide, as an acoustic lens propagating a sonic wave having a wavelength λ of 100 μm or less, an acoustic lens capable of exhibiting excellent acoustic characteristics in response to the wavelength λ of the sonic wave to be propagated and a production method thereof. The acoustic lens is an acoustic lens 1 to be used for propagating a sonic wave having a wavelength λ of 100 μm or less, wherein the acoustic lens contains a silicone resin and silica particles, an average primary particle diameter of the silica particles is 15 nm or more, and a particle diameter (D90) of 90% of a cumulative percentage in cumulative particle size distribution of the silica particles is less than ⅛ of the wavelength λ of the sonic wave to be propagated.

In general, in an ultrasound diagnosis, an ultrasonic wave is propagated into the interior of an object (living body) to receive an echo thereof, and a variety of diagnostic information inclusive of a tomographic image of the object on a basis of echo-receiving signals is acquired.
In such an ultrasound diagnosis, transmission and reception of an ultrasonic wave is performed through an acoustic wave probe. The acoustic wave probe is provided with a piezoelectric element (transducer) bearing electro-acoustic conversion. Furthermore, when viewed from the piezoelectric element, the acoustic wave probe is provided with an acoustic matching layer and an acoustic lens in order on the side of an ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving surface (side of an object) and a backing material on the side of a rear surface (side of a power source), respectively.
In such an acoustic wave probe, the acoustic lens is provided for the purpose of focusing ultrasonic waves to be radiated to the living body, to obtain a high-intensity beam. As characteristics required for such an acoustic lens, there are exemplified that (i) it has an acoustic impedance (density×acoustic velocity) close to that of the living body; (ii) a propagation velocity of the ultrasonic wave is slower than 1,500 m/s as a propagation velocity of the living body; (iii) an attenuation of sonic vibration is low; and (iv) it has appropriate strength and is excellent in wear resistance.
For materials for such an acoustic lens, a silicone resin having an acoustic impedance close to that of the living body (1.4×106 to 1.7×106 kg/m2/s) and a low ultrasonic attenuation quantity has been mainly used. But, an acoustic lens constituted of only a silicone resin is inferior especially in the strength and wear resistance, and therefore, it was general to add a filler, such as a metal and an oxide.
Meanwhile, the addition of a filler became a cause of the attenuation of sonic vibration and was also a factor of worsening acoustic characteristics of the acoustic lens. For that reason, investigations regarding a particle diameter or composition of the filler, and so on have also been made recently. For example, PTL 1 proposes a technique in which by using silica of a nano particle size, the hardness and mechanical strength of the obtained silicone resin are improved while keeping an attenuation quantity of sonic vibration low. In addition, PTL 2 proposes a technique in which in order to make the acoustic impedance of the acoustic lens close to that of the living body, by using zinc oxide or ytterbium oxide having a density larger than silica is used, the attenuation of sonic vibration is reduced.
However, even the aforementioned techniques could not satisfactorily response to requirements for more improvements of acoustic characteristics in recent years. In particular, there is a tendency that the higher the frequency of a sonic wave to be propagated, the larger the attenuation quantity of sonic vibration, and therefore, for example, in an acoustic lens which is used upon radiation of a sonic wave having a high frequency of 10 MHz or more, it was very difficult to improve its acoustic characteristics.
In addition, in the conventional development of acoustic lenses, special construction of a theory regarding the acoustic characteristics in response to the frequency of a sonic wave to be radiated was not made, and a trial-and-error method of actually fabricating a material and evaluating it was repeated. Such a development method required a lot of time, labor and cost until realizing an acoustic lens having favorable acoustic characteristics, and involved such a problem that they are wasteful.

Acoustic lens and production method thereof, and acoustic wave probe


Sustained release compositions comprising a drug dispersed within a polymer matrix, methods of producing the same and treatments with the complex.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the preparation of a sustained release delivery system, and more particularly to a system using a polymer matrix containing a drug. The system is designed to administer effective levels of drugs over a sustained period of time when administered intramuscularly, epidurally or subcutaneously for the treatment of various disease states conditions. A particularly advantageous use of the system is the administration of a local anesthetic along the sheath of a nerve or muscle tissue to alleviate or ameliorate the effects of pain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Medications have been formulated to enable the administration of drugs to occur over a wide variety of paths, including instantaneous delivery by use of injectables, and sustained, controlled and extended release delivery by use of tablets, capsules, and particulate forms which enable release of the drug to be controlled by various means, such as by resistance of the structure's coating or composition against diffusion of the drug therethrough. These systems have all found wide applications for the delivery of drugs.
None of the known drug delivery systems, however, are able to administer effective therapeutic amounts of a drug for sustained periods of time, that is, longer than 24 to 48 hours. Actually, most delivery systems maintain effective dosages for from several hours to daily doses before requiring readministration. Such systems have not been found to be effective for the long term administration of drugs that require repetitive and continued use, except of course for selected patch treatments. Drugs that have been repeatedly administered for long term treatments include but are not limited to anesthetics for treating pain, steroids and hormone administration for maintenance, modification or alteration of body chemistry, metabolism and hormone balance and regulation, vitamin and mineral supplementation, and so forth. A delivery system is therefore needed which would permit the administration of therapeutically effective amounts of drugs to enable a continued and sustained release for at least 24 hours to several days.


The present invention relates to a titanium compound produced from a reaction mixture of a titanium tetraalkoxide compound with water and an optically active ligand represented by the following general formula (1), or a titanium oxoalkoxide compound and an optically active ligand represented by the following general formula (1),

There has already been generally known that asymmetric synthetic reactions can be carried out by using a metal complex prepared from an alkoxide or halide of metal such as titanium, aluminum or the like and an optically active compound as a catalyst. Of these, the reaction for synthesizing optically active cyanohydrins according to the asymmetric cyanation of aldehyde is particularly important as an enantioselective reaction increasing the number of carbon atoms, and various cases thereof as shown below have been reported.
(1) a method using a titanium complex with a chiral Schiff base prepared from optically active β-aminoalcohols and salicylaldehyde as a catalyst (Patent Document 1),
(2) a method using a titanium complex or a vanadium complex prepared from an optically active, tetradentate ligand called a salen type as a catalyst (Non-patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2), and
(3) a method using an aluminum complex prepared from an optically active binaphthyl compound as a catalyst (Patent Document 3).
However, the method (1) requires very low reaction temperature, around −78 degree C., and 10 to 20 mol % of the catalyst to obtain corresponding cyanohydrins with high enantioselectivities. In addition, the catalyst gives good enantioselectivities for very limited aldehydes. Regarding the method (2), enantioselectivity of the catalyst is not sufficient for aliphatic aldehydes in particular although the above mentioned problems are improved. The catalyst in the method (3) shows very high enantioselectivity for asymmetric cyanation of various aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes therefore the catalyst is regarded as a versatile catalyst. However, the catalyst is hardly adequate from the practical point of view because cyanating agent must be added for a long period of time, long reaction time, 36 to 70 hours, is required to complete the reaction and low reaction temperature, −40 degree C., is necessary. Reducing the amount of catalyst also remains as a problem to be solved.
On the other hand, in the asymmetric cyanation reaction of ketone, asymmetric catalysts exhibiting high enantioselectivity have hardly been known. One of a few examples include a method using a titanium complex or a rare earth metal complex prepared from an optically active, tridentate ligand derived from glucose as a catalyst, so there has been reported that cyanohydrins with a high optical purity are obtained from various substrates (Patent Document 4).
However, there have not been known asymmetric cyanation catalysts which can be applied to a wide range of substrates, achieve high yield and high enantioselectivity, obtain a desired product within a short period of time, and does not require facilities for the reaction at a low temperature.
Furthermore, there has also been demanded development of asymmetric cyanation catalysts combining industrially desired conditions such that they can be produced with ease and have high activity, and the amount thereof is suppressed low.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 1993-112518
Patent Document 2: WO02/10095
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-191677
Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-255985
Non-patent Document 1: J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 121, p. 3968 (1999)

Titanium compound and process for producing optically active cyanohydrins

Abstract: wherein, in the formula, R2, R3 and R4 independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or the like, and A* represents a hydrocarbon-containing group with three or more carbon atoms having an asymmetric carbon atom or axial asymmetry. The invention further relates to a process for producing optically active cyanohydrins which is characterized by reacting a carbonyl compound with a cyanating agent in the presence of such a titanium compound.


A cross dichroic prism as a color-combining optical device and optical modulators constituting an optical device body are fixed with insulating pins being interposed. The optical device body includes a base and reinforcing members, supporting surfaces for supporting and fixing the reinforcing members are formed at a heat conductive member constituting the base. The reinforcing members are supported by the supporting surfaces of the heat conductive member, and also support and fix the optical modulators so as to enhance fixing state of the optical modulators relative to the cross dichroic prism.

Conventionally, there has been known a three-plate type projector including a color-separating optical system that separates a light beam irradiated by a light source into three color lights, three optical modulators that modulate the respective color lights in accordance with image information, and a color-combining optical device that combines the light beam modulated by the respective optical modulators.
In order to downsize the projector, an optical device in which three optical modulators are bonded and fixed relative to a color-combining optical device is applied to such a three-plate type projector (for example, see JP2000-221588A).
In this optical device, the three optical modulators are bonded and fixed relative to the color-combining optical device with a plurality of pin spacers being interposed.
To be more specific, each of the optical modulators includes an optical modulation element for modulating a light, and a holder frame having an opening corresponding to an image formation area of the optical modulation element and housing the optical modulation element. Here, four holes are formed on a periphery of the opening of the holder frame. While housing and holding the optical modulation element in the holder frame, by respectively inserting four pin spacers to the four holes formed on the holder frame, end surfaces of the respective pin spacers are bonded and fixed on a light-incident surface of the color-combining optical device, and also outer surfaces of the respective pin spacers are bonded and fixed on inner surfaces of the respective holes, so that the three optical modulators are bonded and fixed relative to the color-combining optical device.

Optical device with optical modulator fixation-enhancing structure and projector

Abstract: With this arrangement, an optical device as well as a projector, in which the connecting state of the optical modulators relative to the color-combining optical device can be strengthened so as to form a fine optical image without pixel deviation, can be provided.


A liner for a food product case is made from a non-woven textile mat which is non-absorbent to liquid but permeable to both air and liquid to permit circulation of liquid and cooled air through the liner and around the food items. Moreover, an upper surface of the mat includes a pattern of a non-skid medium, preferably a thermal expanding or puff ink to inhibit food items placed atop the liner from sliding downwardly along a sloped surface of the food case. Advantageously, the thermal expanding or puff ink is preferably applied through a silk screening process which enables highly detailed and multi-colored graphics including commercial advertisements to be applied to the mat and serve as a point of purchase display.

This invention relates to a liner, and more particularly to a liner for food product cases.
Many supermarkets and other retail or wholesale food stores use refrigerated cases for displaying perishable food items to self-service customers. Commonly, packaged meat, chicken and fish are arranged on a display surface in a refrigerated case. Likewise, fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, beans or the like are arranged on a display surface of a refrigerated vegetable case which may include means to periodically mist or spray water on the vegetables to maintain their freshness.
Typically, the display surface of the food product cases of the type described is sloped or inclined downwardly toward the customer to provide for better access and viewing of the food items by the customer. One problem associated with the food product cases having a sloped display surface is that the food items thereon have a tendency to shift or slide toward the lower front edge of the food case. As a result, the food items in the case may have a tendency to accumulate at the lower front edge of the case and thereby minimize the number of products which are easily accessible and the visual effect of the displayed products because the products are in a pile at the front edge of the case.
It is well known to place perforate liners between the product display surface of food cases and the food items themselves to allow air and moisture to pass beneath the food items and to provide a cushion between the food and the case. Such known liners are fabricated from expanded PVC with polyester woven lace and as such have a tendency to absorb and retain moisture. The absorbency of known food case liners presents a potential health problem because the absorbent liner provides a host for the growth of bacteria which obviously should be avoided for products used in association with food items. As such, known food case liners present potentially significant health and safety problems and have proven to be ineffective in providing a proper surface for the arrangement and display of the food items in the food case.


A fuel cell system is provided with a fuel cell (20) which generates electricity by a chemical reaction between a fuel gas supplied to an anode side of the fuel cell and an oxidization gas supplied to a cathode side of the fuel cell; estimating means (50) for estimating whether there is a possibility that a chemical short is occurring in the fuel cell when supply of the fuel gas and the oxidization gas to the fuel cell is stopped; and scavenging means (12) for supplying a scavenging gas to the cathode side when it has been estimated that there is a possibility that the chemical short is occurring.

Hydrogen fuel cells generate power through a reaction between hydrogen gas as the fuel gas and oxygen gas as the oxidization gas. Operation of the fuel cell is started by supplying the hydrogen gas to a hydrogen electrode (anode) of the fuel cell while supplying the oxygen gas to an oxygen electrode (cathode), and stopped by stopping the supply of the hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to the fuel cell. When the operation of the fuel cell is stopped with fuel gas and oxidization gas still remaining in the fuel cell, a pressure difference causes the residual gas to move through the electrolyte between the hydrogen electrode and the oxygen electrode, thereby generating a chemical reaction which increases the temperature to a level that may damage the electrolyte (i.e., a chemical short). Because of this, residual gas inside the fuel cell is scavenged by supplying an inert gas inside the fuel cell while it is stopped. Also, as disclosed in JP-A-4-4570, when the fuel cell is in a standby state in which operation thereof is stopped for a relatively short period of time during which power is not supplied from the fuel cell to a load, small amounts of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas continue to be supplied to the fuel cell during this time in order to prevent residual gas from moving through the electrolyte in the fuel cell.
However, when scavenging residual gas using an inert gas when the fuel cell is stopped, not only must the necessary amount of inert gas be stored beforehand, but a scavenging mechanism for scavenging and a tank must be provided separately from the fuel gas/oxidization gas supply system, which is undesirable from the viewpoint of reducing the size as well as the manufacturing costs of the fuel cell. Furthermore, with a construction in which small amounts of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas are continually supplied to the fuel cell and the gases are circulated within the fuel cell even when it is in the standby state, the fuel consumption efficiency decreases due to the fact that auxiliary devices such as a compressor are operating even when power is not being supplied to a load. This is undesirable for obtaining an on-board fuel cell and the like.

Fuel cell system and control method thereof for detecting a chemical short


There is provided a honeycomb filter including a honeycomb base material including a porous partition wall parent material; plugged portions arranged in open frontal areas of predetermined cells in an end surface on an inflow side of the fluid, and open frontal areas of the remaining cells in an end surface on an outflow side of the fluid; and a porous collecting layer disposed on the surface of the partition wall parent material in the remaining cells. In a cross section orthogonal to an extending direction of the cells, a shape of the cells is a rectangular shape, and a thickness of a portion of the collecting layer which is positioned in each of corner portions of each of the cells is from one to three times that of a portion of the collecting layer which is positioned in the center of each of sides of the cell.

In gases discharged from internal combustion engines such as diesel engines, various types of combustion apparatuses and the like, a large amount of particulate matter (PM) mainly composed of soot is included. When this PM is discharged as it is to the atmosphere, environmental pollutions are caused. Therefore, a diesel particulate filter (DPF) for collecting the PM is mounted on an exhaust system of an exhaust gas.
As such a DPF, there has been used, for example, a honeycomb filter "including porous partition walls to partition and form a plurality of cells which become through channels of a fluid (an exhaust gas and a purified gas) and an outer peripheral wall positioned in an outermost periphery, and further including plugged portions in open frontal areas of predetermined cells in an end surface on an inflow side of the fluid (the exhaust gas) and open frontal areas of the remaining cells in an end surface on an outflow side of the fluid (the purified gas)".
There has been a problem that when the PM in the exhaust gas is collected by using such a honeycomb filter, the PM penetrates into the porous partition walls to clog pores of the partition walls, and a pressure loss rapidly increases sometimes.
A filter has been suggested in which to suppress the increase of the pressure loss, a collecting layer for collecting a PM is disposed on the surfaces of partition walls, and the collecting layer prevents the penetration of the PM into the partition walls (e.g., see SAE Technical Paper 2008-01-0618, Society of Automotive Engineers (2008)).
Heretofore, as a regulation on an automobile exhaust gas, the regulation by means of a mass of the PM has been performed. In recent years, however, the introduction of the regulation on the number of the PMs has been investigated. In this case, it is necessary to securely collect the PM having small particle diameters. It is known that the PM having the small particle diameters is collected by the surfaces of pores which are present in a filter, mainly by diffusion (e.g., see SAE Technical Paper 2007-01-0921, Society of Automotive Engineers (2007)).
Heretofore, when the honeycomb filter including the collecting layer is prepared, the collecting layer has been formed by immersing the honeycomb filter into a collecting layer forming slurry (a collecting layer forming raw material) or pouring the collecting layer forming slurry into cells of the honeycomb filter, to coat porous partition walls (a partition wall parent material) with the collecting layer forming slurry, followed by firing. Moreover, when a porous film having smaller pore diameters and smaller thickness than the porous partition walls is formed on the surfaces of the partition walls, it has been necessary to set the particle diameters of ceramic particles constituting the porous film to be smaller than the pore diameters of the partition walls. However, in this method, there has been a problem that the collecting layer forming slurry penetrates into the pores of the partition walls (the partition wall parent material) of the honeycomb filter, and an initial pressure loss in the case of the circulation of the exhaust gas through the obtained honeycomb filter becomes high.
Furthermore, in the case of a honeycomb filter made of cordierite, aluminum titanate or the like, there has been a problem that a slurry penetrates into micro cracks formed in the honeycomb filter or the like, and a thermal expansion coefficient or the like of the obtained honeycomb filter or the like becomes high.
On the other hand, a method has been suggested in which pores of a porous support material are charged with "a substance which can be removed later", the pores are clogged, and then the surface of the porous support material is coated with a slurry including ceramic particles having small particle diameters (e.g., see JP-A-1-274815, JP-B-63-66566 and JP-A-2000-288324). Examples of "the substance which can be removed later" can include combustible substances (JP-A-1-274815). When the combustible substances are used, the combustible substances can be burnt and removed later in a firing step. Moreover, examples of "the substance which can be removed later" can include water and alcohol (JP-B-63-66566 and JP-A-2000-288324). When the water or alcohol is used, the surface is coated with the slurry and then dried, whereby the water or alcohol can be removed.
Moreover, a method has been suggested in which a ceramic porous film (a collecting layer) is formed on the surface of a porous support material by use of fine particles mainly composed of an oxide such as alumina or zirconia (e.g., see JP-A-2010-95399). Specifically in the method, the ceramic porous film is formed on the surface of the porous support material made of a porous ceramic by use of a porous film forming coating material containing "the fine particles mainly composed of the oxide" having controlled "average primary particle diameter, tap bulk density and average secondary particle diameter in the coating material (the average secondary particle diameter when the material is dispersed in a dispersion medium)", and containing the dispersion medium mainly composed of water. A viscosity of the material is controlled to be 2 mPa·s or larger and 1000 mPa·s or smaller.
Furthermore, a method has been suggested in which a collecting layer forming slurry prepared by further adding a pore former and water to the same material as that of a honeycomb formed body is sprayed on the honeycomb formed body, to deposit the collecting layer forming slurry on partition walls of the honeycomb formed body, followed by drying and firing, thereby disposing the collecting layer on the honeycomb formed body (e.g., see WO 2008/136232A1).
In addition, a method has been suggested in which a slurry made of a bonding material mainly composed of an inorganic fibrous material longer than pore diameters of porous partition walls and silica or alumina is deposited on the surfaces of the partition walls, followed by drying and firing, thereby forming a porous film (a collecting layer) on surface layers of the partition walls (e.g., see WO 2008/136232A1).
On the other hand, when the porous partition walls (the partition wall parent material) are coated with the collecting layer forming slurry by immersing a honeycomb filter in the collecting layer forming slurry (the collecting layer forming raw material) or pouring the collecting layer forming slurry into cells of the honeycomb filter, there has been a problem that a large amount of collecting layer forming slurry is deposited on corner portions of the cells (the corner portions of the cells in a cross section of the filter which is orthogonal to a cell extending direction). A film thickness of the obtained collecting layer becomes non-uniform.
Such a problem also occurs, when a filtering film is formed on the surfaces of cell walls of a support material during the manufacturing of a monolith type ceramic filter for use in microfiltration or ultrafiltration. On the other hand, a method has been suggested in which corner portions of cells are chamfered or formed in a circular shape, to make a thickness of a filtering film uniform (e.g., see JP-A-7-124428). However, the monolith type ceramic filter (the filter for liquid filtering) for use in the microfiltration or the ultrafiltration is completely different in technical field from a honeycomb filter (the filter for gas filtering) to collect a particulate matter in an exhaust gas. Therefore, a technology of the monolith type ceramic filter for use in the microfiltration or the ultrafiltration cannot immediately be applied to the honeycomb filter to collect the particulate matter in the exhaust gas.

Honeycomb filter and manufacturing method of the same


A restoration system and method for vehicle interior controllers. After extended use, vehicle controllers often become worn or faded. This system and method provides an efficient and inexpensive alternative to replacing the entire vehicle control panel. The system is comprised of a label with an adhesive side and marked identifiers on the opposite side. The label is shaped to match the boundaries of the vehicle controllers. The marked identifier on the label appears substantially identical to the manufacturer's original identifier. The restoration method includes removing the faded identifiers from a controller, removing the debris from the controller, smoothing the surface of the controller for better bonding, and affixing the replacement label to the surface of the controller.

Conventional motor vehicles have a number of different types of controllers for various functions such as climate control, defroster activation, air flow mode control and others. The controllers allow users to adjust the temperature, fan, and the seat position among other things. When controllers are pressed down, or turned depressed, the corresponding function is activated. In order to identify different functions of the controllers, automobile manufacturers generally mark or label controllers with symbols, numbers, or icons. These identifiers clearly indicate to users the function that each controller serves. The identifiers are generally marked with color and/or the appropriate icons depending on the controllers' function. For example, heat controllers are generally marked red while cool or air conditioning controllers are marked blue. After extended use, the marked identifiers may become dilapidated, faded or potentially even completely worn off. As the identifiers fade, users are left without means to readily determine the functions of the controllers as well as with an aesthetically unpleasant view of the control panel. Additionally, the light source behind the faded controller may also produce a uneven and unsafe illumination that may distract the vehicle operator. Lotions, oil, and body secretions on hands of users also contribute to fading and disappearance of identifiers. Controllers that are used in a highly repetitive manner and exposed to high temperatures are also subject to fading as well as wear and tear. To address this problem, users may request the automobile dealers or repair shops to replace the controllers. However, this process can be inefficient and expensive because often times, the entire control panel must be replaced. In addition, faded identifiers are not aesthetically pleasing and discourage purchasers of used automobiles. Used automobile buyers often incorrectly associate additional, more severe automotive issues with faded control panels.
As an alternative, manufacturers have made controllers with protruding identifiers that are slightly raised from the controller's surface. However, these controllers can be costly to manufacture. If the protruding identifiers are made of different material from the controllers, the identifiers will eventually separate from buttons over time due to wear and tear. This is also not aesthetically pleasing and also can be costly to repair.
Some repair shops or automobile dealers attempt to solve the problem by repainting the identifiers. However this process is time consuming and not satisfactory due to potential smudging of the paint. Other repair specialists or auto detailers provide stickers with characters or symbols to replace the faded portion of the controllers. These individual labels are very complicated to use and can produce unsatisfactory results. For example, a user would be required to first locate and then remove the individual letters for the word heat (H, E, A, and T) from a large list of stickers. The user would then have to place the individual letters on the controllers, taking extra care to space and align the letters properly. In the case of an icon or symbol, the user would have to align the icon or symbol perfectly to avoid detection of the replacement label as an after-market device. In other prior art systems, the user would select a label from a large selection using transfer tape. The individual characters would be peeled away from the back of the label with a gripping tool. Transfer tape would be used again to apply the label to the controller. A heating element would be used to secure the placement of the new controller label.
Accordingly, the present invention overcomes the problems and disadvantages of the prior art. It is a restoration system that can be applied to the various surfaces on the interior of automobiles. The present system is an improvement over prior art because it is more efficient, aesthetically appealing, and inexpensive. The present restoration system practically eliminates chances for error or misalignment. It is also difficult to detect as an after-market device.

Control panel restoration system and method


Presently disclosed is a method for reducing interference in a wireless distributed antenna systems. In an embodiment, interference is reduced by selectively placing a first wireless remote unit in a reduced signal interference mode. A controller sends a signal, such as a reverse link power-down signal, to the first remote unit after detecting less than a threshold incoming signal strength at the first remote unit. In an alternative embodiment, the controller requests that a given remote unit switch to the reduced signal interference mode when the controller is receiving signals from a mobile station through at least two different remote units.

Wireless communication is an increasingly popular means of personal communication in the modern world. People are using wireless networks for the exchange of voice and data as an alternative to using a wire infrastructure. In principle, a user can seek information over the Internet or call anyone over the public switched telephone network (PSTN) from any place inside the coverage area of the wireless network.
In a typical cellular wireless system, an area is divided geographically into a number of cell sites, each defined by a radiofrequency (RF) radiation pattern from a respective base transceiver station (BTS) antenna. The BTS antenna in the cells are in turn coupled to a base station controller (BSC), which is coupled to a telecommunications switch (e.g., mobile switching center (MSC)) or gateway (e.g., packet data serving node (PSDN)) that provides connectivity with a transport network such as the PSTN or the Internet.
When a mobile station (MS) (such as a cellular telephone, pager, or appropriately equipped computer, for instance) is positioned in a cell, the MS and BTS can communicate with each other in various channels over an RF air interface. Communications from the BTS to an MS are considered to be in a "forward" direction, so the air interface channels used to carry such communications are referred to as the "forward link" channels. Conversely, communications from an MS to the BTS are considered to be in a "reverse" direction, so the air interface channels used to carry such communications are referred to as "reverse link" channels.
Traditionally, in-building communication, such as within a home or office building has been conducted via landline communication technology. Now, wireless communication is increasingly being used within buildings, replacing the more traditional landline communication facilities. Use of a MS instead of a fixed landline terminal can conveniently allow for free movement within buildings as well as into and out of the buildings. Traditional wire infrastructure private branch exchange (PBX) may be replaced, for example, by a wireless PBX to route phone calls and Internet connections inside a building.
A wireless communications technique commonly used to allow multiple users on the same channel is code division multiple access (CDMA). CDMA permits multiple users to use the same wireless communication channel at the same time, which allows the network infrastructure to support more wireless users. In CDMA, a narrowband data signal from a MS is spread over a spectrum of frequencies in order to create a broadband signal for transmission to a BTS. When the BTS receives the broadband signal, it uses a unique code to recover the transmitted narrowband data signal from the multiple of signals encountered by the BTS.
Distributed antenna systems (DAS) have been developed in order to provide better in-building coverage. In a DAS, a number of antenna units are distributed throughout a geographic area and controlled by a DAS controller. Antenna units are configured to communicate with mobile stations located within their respective coverage areas. In wireless DAS (WDAS), remote antenna units are communicatively coupled with a WDAS controller (or hub) via wireless links. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/222,015, filed by Mark L. Yarkosky entitled "Method and system for decreasing noise from wireless repeaters" provides further background and is hereby incorporated by reference.

Interference cancellation system and method for wireless antenna configuration


A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes an electrically data rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory cell and a write circuit for writing data in the memory cell, the write circuit writing a data in the memory cells by supplying a write voltage Vpgm and a write control voltage VBL to the memory cell, continuing the writing of the data in the memory cell by changing the value of the write control voltage VBL in response to an advent of a first write state of the memory cell and inhibiting any operation of writing a data to the memory cell by further changing the value of the write control voltage VBL to Vdd in response to an advent of a second write state of the memory cell.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrically data rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory device. More particularly, it relates to a multi-value flash memory adapted to store a multi-valued data in a memory cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a flash memory, the accumulated electric charge of the floating gate of a memory cell transistor is changed as the stored data is erased and a new data is written there. Then, as a result, the threshold value is changed to store the data. For instance, the negative threshold value may be made to corresponds to a "1" data, whereas the positive threshold value may be made to corresponds to a "0" data.
In recent years, multi-value flash memories adapted to store a plurality of bits in a single memory cell have been developed to reduce the cost per bit and/or increase the storage capacity. In a memory device adapted to store two bits in a single memory cell, the memory cell has four threshold values depending on the data to be stored there.
A highly reliable memory device can be obtained by accurately controlling the threshold values of each memory cell. "Fast and Accurate Programming Method for Multi-level NAND EEPROMs, pp. 129-130, Digest of 1995 Symposium on VLSI Technology" proposes a method of writing data, raising the write voltage Vpgm at a rate, in order to precisely control the threshold values of each memory cell.
With the method proposed in the above cited document, the width of distribution of each threshold value can be controlled theoretically to as small as 0.2V by raising the write voltage Vpgm at a rate of 0.2V/10 μsec. Normally, the write voltage Vpgm is divided into a plurality of write pulses and the voltage Vpgm of the pulses is raised stepwise at a predetermined rate. This technique provides an effect similar to that of continuously raising the write voltage Vpgm. The threshold value is checked after applying each pulse to the memory cell and the write operation is terminated when the threshold value has got to a predetermined verification level.
Meanwhile, micronization of processing dimensions is in progress. This means that the gaps separating memory cells are made smaller and smaller to consequently give rise to various problems from the viewpoint of multi-valued flash memories. For instance, the distance separating floating gates is reduced to produce problems as pointed out below as a result of micronization.
Imagine two memory cells A and B arranged side by side. Assume that the data of the two memory cells are erased simultaneously and they are made to have a threshold value of −3V. Then, firstly a data is written into the memory cell A. As a result, its threshold value may be raised to 0.5V to 1V. Subsequently, another data that is different from the data written into the memory cell A is written into the memory cell B. As the threshold value of the memory cell B is raised to 1.5V to 2V, the electric potential of the floating gate of the memory cell A falls and its threshold value is raised, say, to 1V to 1.5V as a result of the capacitive coupling of the floating gates of the two memory cells.
In the above described instance, the difference of the threshold values of the memory cells A and B (read out margin) should be at least 0.5V. However, it is reduced to 0V as a result of the capacitive coupling of the floating gates of the two memory cells. Thus, the difference of the threshold values necessary for discriminating two different data is reduced and the read out margin disappears.
How the threshold value of a memory cell storing a data written in advance in a manner described above changes under the influence of a write operation of another memory cell will be described below by referring to FIGS. 1A through 1C of the accompanying drawing.
FIG. 1A shows the electric charge of the floating gate FG1 of a memory cell where the data stored there is erased and subsequently a new data is written. Electrons are accumulated in the floating gate FG1 of the memory cell where a data is written. In FIG. 1A, "- -" indicates electrons. Subsequently, data are written in the memory cells located respectively at the two sides of the first memory cell and having respective floating gates FG2, FG3. Then, a change occurs at the floating gate FG1 of the first memory cell as shown in FIG. 1B. The electric potential of the memory cell where a data is written first falls and its threshold value rises as shown in FIG. 1C because of the electrostatic capacitive coupling of the neighboring floating gates FG2, FG3. Then, as a result, the threshold value of the memory cell having the floating gate FG1 shows a wide distribution. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, reference symbol WL denotes the word line (control gate) arranged commonly for the memory cells having the floating gates FG1, FG2, FG3.
Thus, the technological development for reducing the distribution width of the threshold value of a memory will become increasingly important in the future in order to cope with this problem.
It may be conceivable to reduce the stepwise increment Dvpgm of the write voltage Vpgm in order to avoid this problem. For example, the distribution width of the threshold value is reduced from 0.5V to 0.1V to increase the write out margin by 0.4V by reducing the stepwise increment Dvpgm from 0.5V to 0.1V.
However, as the stepwise increment is reduced to ⅕ of the original value, the number of pulses becomes five times as many as the original number. Then, the write time will become five times as long as the original value to give rise to a new problem.
Therefore, so far, any attempt at securing a write out margin and raising the reliability of a memory device is accompanied by the problem of an increased write time.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory device adapted to store a multi-valued data in a single memory cell


A hood structure for absorbing an impact applied to a hood of an automotive vehicle at collision has: a hood outer panel for closing an engine room; at least one impact absorb body disposed under the hood outer panel, for absorbing the impact applied to the hood when deformed; and an engine disposed under the impact absorb body, for stopping the deformed impact absorb body. Here, to reduce head injury criterion (HIC) effectively at a shortest possible stoke of the hood outer panel, an impact energy absorption rate of the impact absorb body and a total hollow gap formed between the hood outer panel and the engine are both determined in such a way that an impact energy generated at collision can be absorbed in accordance with an ideal impact energy absorption waveform Cm representative of an ideal relationship between reaction force and stroke of the deformed hood outer panel. The ideal impact waveform Cm can be obtained by calculation on the basis of an amount of impact energy required to be absorbed at collision and in accordance with the HIC derivation formulae (1) and (2). Since the impact absorb body is deformed at collision at a relatively moderate energy absorption rate to generate a secondary reaction force required for the ideal impact waveform Cm, the head impact characteristics can be securely improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front upper structure of an automotive vehicle, and more specifically to a front upper (e.g., hood and fender) structure of a vehicle body which can effectively absorb an impact energy applied to a front upper body of the automotive vehicle by walker's head (by a head impactor in the case of impact tests) in case the vehicle collides with a walker.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of the hood structure of an automotive vehicle of this sort is disclosed in Japanese Published Unexamined (Kokai) Patent Application No. 61-26682.
In this conventional hood structure, as shown in FIG. 1A, an inner panel 7 is attached to an inner surface (on the side of an engine room 5) of a hood outer panel 3 of a hood 1. The inner panel 7 is composed of a frame body 9 and some inner ribs 11 formed on the inner surface of the frame body 9 to reinforce the frame body 9. The frame body 9 is pivotally supported by a vehicle body via two hood hinges 13 attached on both rear sides of the frame body 9. An engine 15 is disposed within the engine room 5.
Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, a flat plate portion 17 is formed between two of the inner ribs 11 located over the engine 15, and a plurality of punch-off project pieces 19 (formed by punching out the flat plate portion 17 so that some curved pieces 19 can project downward to the engine 15) are formed in the flat plate portion. As shown in FIG. 1C, the cross-sectional shape of each of the punch-off project pieces 19 is formed into roughly circular arc shape and both ends 21 thereof are connected to the flat plate portion 17.
In the hood structure as described above, in case a head of a walker collides with an outer surface of the hood outer panel 3, since the hood outer panel 3 and the inner ribs 11 are deformed into the engine room 5, the punch-out project pieces 19 also collide with the engine 15 and deformed into crush. Accordingly, it is possible to absorb an impact energy applied onto the hood 1 over the engine 15 owing to the deformation of the punch-out project pieces 19, while reducing a movement distance (referred to as a stroke, hereinafter) of the hood 1.
Even if the impact energy can be absorbed by the hood 1 as described above, however, the impact energy applied to the walker's head cannot be necessarily reduced safely in practice.
As the experimental data with respect to the head impact characteristics, a WSTC (Wayne State Tolerance (Curve) as shown in FIG. 2 is so far well known, which is disclosed in [New Automotive Vehicle Engineering Manual <Third Edition>], Published by Japanese Automotive Technology Association on Sep. 30, 1983, pp 2 to 30 and in [Automotive Vehicle Engineering Encyclopedia) <16-volumes>], Published by Sankaido Inc. on Mar. 20, 1980, pp 201 to 203, respectively.
In this WSTC, an effective acceleration G is used as a parameter. This effective acceleration G is an average acceleration obtained by dividing an integral value of acceleration by a duration time ms. Therefore, the effective acceleration corresponds to an average reaction force received by the walker's head in case of collision.
The WSTC shown in FIG. 2 indicates that: even if the average reaction force received by a head impactor (the walker's head in case of collision) is small to some extent (e.g., the effective acceleration=G1, where the duration time is long (e.g., the duration time=T1), the impact energy applied to the head impactor reaches a dangerous region. On the other hand, even if the average reaction force received by the head impactor (the walker's head) is large to some extent (e.g., the effective acceleration=G2), where the duration time is extremely short (e.g., the duration time<T2), the impact energy does not reach the dangerous region but remains in a safe region.
In other words, since the head impact characteristics are determined on the basis of both the acceleration and the duration time, the head impact characteristics are not necessarily reduced even if a large impact energy is absorbed. In other words, there exists such a case that the head impact characteristics can be improved by increasing the initial reaction force applied to the walker's head to some extent within a predetermined short time, without maintaining a relatively small reaction force for a relatively long time.
Further, the WSTC is the experimental data obtained when the applied acceleration is assumed to be linear. In practice, however, since the actual impact energy received by the head impactor in case of collision with the hood is not of linear, but has a rather complicated acceleration waveform, it is impossible to directly apply the WSTC to the actual impact against the walker's head. Therefore, a method of adopting an HIC (Head Injury Criterion) value is so far well known as a method of evaluating the safety on the basis of the WSTC and various impact test results using an impactor.
Here, the HIC value can be derived from the following formulae: ##EQU1## where t1 and t2 denote any duration time (0<t1<t2) during which the acceleration is applied; a(t) denotes an acceleration at a center of gravity of the head. The smaller HIC value is, the higher will be the safety, and the safety limit thereof is determined as HIC=1000, in general.
In accordance with the above formulae, the HIC value can be calculated as the maximum value of those obtained (1) by first obtaining an average acceleration a1.sub.2 between t1 and t2 in the duration time, (2) by raising the obtained average acceleration a.sub.12 to 2.5-th power, and (3) by further multiplying the raised acceleration by the duration time (t2-t1). Therefore, when the impact behavior (the acceleration waveform) differs, the HIC value differs in principle, so that the magnitude of the HIC value can be decided on the basis of the average acceleration a.sub.12 and the duration time (t2-t1). Further, since the relationship between the average acceleration a.sub.12 and the duration time (t2-t1) can be replaced with the relationship between the hood reaction force and the hood stroke (movement distance), it is also possible to decide the magnitude of the HIC value on the basis of the reaction force and the stroke of the hood.
As described above, for the reason that a large amount of the impact energy can be absorbed, the HIC value is not necessarily reduced uniformly; that is, even if the amount of absorbed impact energy is the same, there exists the case where the HIC value differs from each other. Further, even if the HIC value is small at only a single point on the hood, there exists the case where the HIC value is large at the other points on the hood.
Accordingly, in the conventional hood structure as shown in FIG. 1A, since the reaction force for collapsing the punch-out project pieces 19 formed into circular arc shape in cross section will not rise abruptly, there exists such a possibility that a relatively high reaction force is maintained for a relatively long time. Therefore, in order to reduce the head impact characteristics, it is necessary to reduce the collapse reaction force of the punch-out project pieces 19 and further increase the stroke of the hood. In other words, in the conventional hood structure as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, it has been necessary to dispose the hood at a relatively high position vertically away from the engine in order to increase the stroke of the hood, thus resulting in another problem in that the front visual field of the automotive vehicle is narrowed.

Front upper structure of automotive vehicle


A service testing system is disclosed to enable consistent replay of stateful requests on a service whose output depends on the service's execution state prior to the requests. In embodiments, the service implements a compute engine that executes service requests and a storage subsystem that maintains execution states during the execution of stateful requests. When a stateful request is received during testing, the storage subsystem creates an in-memory test copy of the execution state to support execution of the request, and provides the test copy to the compute engine. In embodiments, the storage subsystem will create a separate instance of execution state for each individual test run. The disclosed techniques enable mock execution states to be easily created for testing of stateful requests, in a manner that is transparent to the compute engine and does not impact production execution data maintained by the service.

A cloud-based service provider provides computing resources to clients that the service provider manages in its service provider network. The service provider manages the operation of the computing resources to allow the resources to be efficiently and securely shared by multiple customers. Cloud-based services may be provided using groups of virtual compute and storage nodes. Such architectures allow the service to be easily scaled to accommodate very large customers, and automatically adjust its resources based on changing demand levels. These services are often stateful, where the service's response to a request will depend on an execution state of the service prior to the request. For example, a service that processes customer orders may maintain execution state over a sequence of customer requests to store data about an order, such as the contents of the customer's shopping cart, the customer's browsing history, and the shipment and payment options for the order, etc.
Replay testing is an important tool used to verify many types of software, including software that implements cloud-based services. While it is relatively straightforward to perform replay testing on stateless services that always return the same response for the same request, replaying requests on stateful services present a number of challenges. For stateful services, the execution state of the service is needed to correctly replay a request. However, a desired execution state for service may not always be available, as the state may have been overwritten in the production database. Moreover, replay testing using production data would impact live execution state data stored in the production database. Maintaining a full-scale test database for testing purposes is costly, and worse, a single test database may not be scalable to handle large numbers of test runs that rely on conflicting execution state data. Better systems are needed to carry out replay testing of stateful services.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.
It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed a second contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a first contact, without departing from the scope of the present invention. The first contact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are not the same contact.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Bypassing generation of non-repeatable parameters during software testing


A computer-implemented technique can include receiving, at a server, labeled training data including a plurality of groups of words, each group of words having a predicate word, each word having generic word embeddings. The technique can include extracting, at the server, the plurality of groups of words in a syntactic context of their predicate words. The technique can include concatenating, at the server, the generic word embeddings to create a high dimensional vector space representing features for each word. The technique can include obtaining, at the server, a model having a learned mapping from the high dimensional vector space to a low dimensional vector space and learned embeddings for each possible semantic frame in the low dimensional vector space. The technique can also include outputting, by the server, the model for storage, the model being configured to identify a specific semantic frame for an input.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Linguistic semantics focuses on the history of how words have been used in the past. Frame semantics is a theory of language meaning that relates linguistic utterances to word knowledge, such as event types and their participants. A semantic frame refers to a collection of facts or a coherent structure of related concepts that specify features (attributes, functions, interactions, etc.) that are typically associated with the specific word. One example semantic frame is the situation of a commercial transfer or transaction, which can involve a seller, a buyer, goods, and other related things.

Semantic frame identification with distributed word representations


A substantially conventional case for a CD is secured by a security tag. The security tag is formed from sheet material having an adhesive surface which is secured to both the lid and the base of the case to retain the case closed and to secure the CD therein. A security device is secured to the adhesive security tag. This security device is an article surveillance device detectible by detectors provided in gangway structures at the exits of retail outlets.

The present invention relates to a method of securing a package and its contents, and to a security tag for securing a package.
If products, such as CD's, are displayed in the case or pack provided in a retail store without security measures being taken they can be, and often are, stolen. Many large stores, therefore, affix to most or all of their products an externally detectible security device. When a product is purchased this security device is deactivated at the point of purchase. However, if an attempt is made to steal the product, detectors placed at exits to the premises sound an alarm.
Despite these precautions, it is still advisable to display CD's in their cases without further measures being taken as otherwise the CD is removed from the case which is left on display. Thus, retail outlets which use security devices which are externally detectible also shrink wrap the cases so that the contents cannot be removed. Thus, before each CD can be displayed for sale is has to be shrink wrapped, for example, in the store or by the suppliers, and then the security device, which is commonly an electromagnetic or an acousto magnetic tag, is applied.
In some retail operations, each CD is removed from its case and only the case is placed on display. As with shrink wrapping, this requires time from staff, either in the store or of the supplier, in preparing stock for display. Furthermore, where the CD has been removed, there can be difficulties on purchase in retrieving the correct CD for the buyer.


The present invention relates to imidazopyridine derivatives of the Formula I and, therapeutically acceptable salts thereof which inhibit exogenously or endogenously stimulated gastric acid secretion and thus can be used in the treatment of gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases. In further aspects, the invention relates to the compound of the invention for use in therapy; to processes for preparation of such new compound; to pharmaceutical compositions containing the compound of the invention, or a therapeutically acceptable salt thereof, as active ingredient; and to the use of the compound of the invention in the manufacture of medicaments for the medical use indicated above.

Substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines, useful in the treatment of peptic ulcer diseases, are known in the art, e.g. from EP-B-0033094 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,164 (Schering Corporation); from EP-B-0204285 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,601 (Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co.); from WO99/55706 and WO99/55705 (AstraZeneca); from WO 03/018582 (AstraZeneca); and from publications by J. J. Kaminski et al. in the Journal of Medical Chemistry (vol. 28, 876-892, 1985; vol. 30, 2031-2046, 1987; vol. 30, 2047-2051, 1987; vol. 32, 1686-1700, 1989; and vol. 34, 533-541, 1991).
For a review of the pharmacology of the gastric acid pump (the H+, K+-ATPase), see Sachs et al. (1995) Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 35: 277-305.
We have now found a substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, useful in the treatment of peptic ulcer diseases exhibiting advantageous properties e.g. fast onset, high potency and/or long duration, high solubility and high dissolution rate.

Imidazopyridine compounds, processes for their preparation and therapeutic uses thereof


A method and an apparatus for configuring a channel resource, a base station, and a user equipment are disclosed. The method includes: determining load information of a cell; according to the load information, that the cell reaches a congested state, configuring channel resource configuration information for a new user equipment accessing the cell, where the configuration information includes: a first DPCH Pilot bit transmit power offset and/or a first number of pilot bits, the first DPCH Pilot bit transmit power offset is smaller than a power offset configured for a user equipment in a non-congested state, and the first number of Pilot bits is smaller than a number of Pilot bits that is configured for a user equipment in a non-congested state, and sending the configuration information to the new user equipment. The method can improve downlink throughput of the cell and reducing a call drop rate.

With the development of smart phones (Smart phone), often a large number of users are online simultaneously. When no data is transmitted on an R99 channel, a large number of resources still need to be consumed, and therefore there are fewer available resources of a high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) data channel, thereby lowering capacity for transmitting downlink data.
Currently, on an R99 downlink (DL) dedicated physical channel (DPCH), power offsets of a DPDCH channel and a DPCCH channel in the DPCH channel is configured by a network side. Power offsets of a transport power control (TPC) domain, a transport format combination indicator (TFCI) domain, and a pilot (Pilot) domain in the DPCCH channel are configured differently and have different fixed values.
During the research and practice of the prior art, in an existing implementation manner, when a load of a cell is very high, the downlink DPCH channel occupies a large part of transmit power, resulting in low available power of the HSDPA channel for transmitting service data and thereby reducing downlink throughput of the cell. On the downlink DPCH channel, because no service data is sent most of the time and only control bits of the Pilot, TPC, and TFCI domains are sent, a large number of resources are wasted.

Method and apparatus for configuring channel resource, base station, and user equipment


A ventilation apparatus for a seat of a vehicle includes: a main duct configured such that a first end thereof is connected to a blower and a second end thereof is coupled to a seat frame so as to allow air to flow therebetween; and a connecting duct configured such that a first end thereof is connected to the second end of the main duct and a second end thereof is connected to a seat pad, and formed in a bellows shape having a variable length so as to allow air to flow between the seat frame and the seat pad even if a spacing distance between the seat frame and the seat pad is changed.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Various techniques are applied to a seat of a vehicle to provide a comfortable environment since an occupant often sits on the seat for a long time.
Accordingly, the use of a vehicle seat with a ventilation system that enhances occupant comfort by blowing air or absorbing air has been increased.
The ventilation seat communicates with a blower and a seat pad, and blows or sucks air from the blower to form air flow on a contact surface between an occupant and the seat.
Meanwhile, among the convenience functions of the seat, a movable system for adjusting the posture, position, height, etc. of the seat can be applied. Here, if a gap between the seat pad and the seat frame is variable, it is difficult to maintain sealing of a duct connecting the blower and the seat pad of the ventilation seat. To solve this, method of connecting the duct and the seat pad using rubber bellows has been considered, but many connector structures are required to connect the rubber bellows, and the thickness of the rubber bellows itself is too thick, which leads to an excessively large layout of the seat.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Ventilation apparatus for seat of vehicle and variable type ventilation seat using same


Present invention prevents connection terminals for connecting stator windings to external conductive wires from densely concentrating on a bobbin. A multipolar generator includes a stator core 10 on which salient poles 11 of integral multiples of “3” are provided, and main windings 17 wound around the salient poles 11. Auxiliary machine windings 18 to 20 in place of the main winding 17 are wound around at least one of three salient poles 11 provided at intervals of integral multiples of “3” from the salient poles 11 of both ends of six continuous salient poles 11 around which the winding start and winding finish of the main winding 17 are wound. The auxiliary windings are arranged each other at intervals of integral multiples of “3”. When the number of the auxiliary windings is 2 or less, the salient pole 11 around which the other auxiliary winding should be wound, is empty.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outer rotor type multipolar generator. In particular, the present invention relates to an outer rotor type multipolar generator suitable for avoiding congestion of terminals for connecting end parts of stator windings to easily automate the connection work between the stator winding and the terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an outer rotor type multipolar generator having a stator and a rotor. The stator has stator windings wound around a large number of salient poles provided on the outer periphery of a stator core. The rotor has a plurality of permanent magnets arranged on the outer periphery of the stator so as to face the salient poles. Examples of the outer rotor type multipolar generators include one using stator windings wound around all of a large number of salient poles as main windings for taking out three-phase AC, and one using stator windings wound around some of a large number of salient poles (for example, three salient poles) as auxiliary windings for taking out single-phase AC.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 11-150905 describes an outer rotor type multipolar generator having a stator in which main windings for three-phase AC output are wound around twenty-four salient poles of twenty-seven stator cores, and a charge winding, a sub-winding and a DC winding as auxiliary windings are wound around the other three salient poles. In this outer rotor type multipolar generator, connection terminals for connecting the stator windings to external conductive wires are fitted and fixed to an insulating bobbin for the stator core. The leading portions of the stator windings can be connected to the connection terminals by fusing to facilitate the connection work.
JP-A No. 2002-165397 describes an outer rotor type multipolar generator having a stator in which main windings are wound around eighteen salient poles of twenty-one salient poles while a DC winding is wound around two salient poles and a sub-winding and an exciter winding are wound around one salient pole. In this outer rotor type multipolar generator, an insertion hole penetrating in a core plate laminating direction of a stator core is formed in a bobbin. The leading portion of the stator winding passed from one side of the insertion hole to the other side, and is exposed to the side surface of the bobbin. The leading portion is connected to a connection terminal arranged on this side surface.
Since a plurality of auxiliary winding are collectively arranged adjacent to one another between the main windings in the outer rotor type multipolar generator described in the above Patent Documents, the leading portions of the three-phase main windings and the leading portions of the single phase auxiliary windings concentrate on the inner periphery side of the stator core. Since the connection terminals for connecting the leading portions to the external conductive wires are advantageously arranged closely to the leading portions, the connection terminals concentrate on the bobbin on the inner periphery side of the stator core. For example, twelve connection terminals of six connection terminals for three-phase main winding and six connection terminals for single phase auxiliary winding concentrate on the partial region of the side surface of the bobbin.
Thus, when the connection terminals are intensively arranged on the bobbin on the inner periphery side of the stator core, the main winding and auxiliary winding connected to the connection terminals and being dissimilar voltage different from one another needs to be insulated, and it is difficult to automate work for drawing the stator winding to the connection terminal.
Alternatively, when the stator winding is connected to the connection terminal by soldering or fusing (heat caulking) or the like, for example, as described in JP-A No. 11-150905, in order to avoid fusing or the like in a congestion position, it is necessary to provide a step of connecting the stator winding to the connection terminal erected on the side surface of the bobbin using fusing and a forming step of bending the connection terminal along the side surface of the bobbin after fusing. This is because work for pushing an energization electrode against the connection terminal for fusing in a narrow place is not suitable for automation.
Alternatively, examples of the outer rotor type multipolar generators include a type (hereinafter, referred to as a "full main winding type") containing no auxiliary winding and a type containing the auxiliary winding, as described above. Both the types can advantageously use the bobbin commonly. However, when the auxiliary winding is not contained, the main winding wound in a position in which auxiliary winding has existed must be wound around the other salient pole located farther to extend over three salient poles from the winding start or the salient pole of the winding start, and the automation of wiring is not easy. That is, the bobbin cannot be commonly used for the full main winding type.