A power drive unit for propelling cargo containers and pallets in a desired direction over a plurality of cargo deck roller elements includes an elongated yoke having a pivot end and an opposite end. The pivot end is pivotally connected to a deck support structure. A drive roller is rotatably mounted to the yoke. At least one resilient member is disposed between the opposite end of the yoke and the support portion of the deck structure. A drive motor coupled to the drive roller selectively rotates the drive roller in two opposed directions. A reaction member connected to the drive motor is at least partially movably engaged with the deck support structure to permit at least some pivotal movement of the yoke, and to substantially prevent rotation of the drive motor relative to the yoke.

Items that are shipped by air typically are loaded first onto specially configured pallets or into specially configured containers. In the airfreight industry, these various pallets and containers commonly are referred to as Unit Load Devices ("ULDs"). ULDs are available in various sizes, shapes and capacities.
A ULD typically is loaded with cargo at a location other than the immediate vicinity of an aircraft. Once a ULD is loaded with cargo items, the ULD is weighed, transferred to the aircraft, and is loaded onto an aircraft through a doorway or hatch using a conveyor ramp, scissor lift, or the like. Once inside the aircraft, a ULD is moved within the cargo compartment to its final stowage position. Multiple ULDs are brought onboard the aircraft, and each is placed in its respective stowed position. Once the aircraft reaches its destination, the ULDs are unloaded from the aircraft in a manner that is the reverse of the loading procedure.
To facilitate movement of a ULD within an aircraft cargo compartment as the ULD is loaded, stowed, and unloaded, the deck of an aircraft cargo compartment typically includes a number of raised roller elements. These roller elements often include elongated roller trays that extend longitudinally along the length of the cargo deck, ball panel units, and the like. For example, roller trays typically include elongated rows of cylindrical rollers that extend in a fore and aft direction. Ball panel units include plates with upwardly protruding rotatable spherical balls. The ULDs sit atop these roller elements, and the roller elements facilitate rolling movement of the ULDs within the cargo compartment. Cargo decks also commonly are equipped with a plurality of power drive units (PDUs). PDUs are electrically powered rollers that can be selectively energized to propel or drive a ULD in a desired direction over a cargo deck's roller elements.
Generally, PDUs can be one of two basic types. A first type of PDU is secured to a cargo deck structure such that the powered drive roller can only rotate in fore and aft directions within a cargo hold. Such a "fixed" PDU typically is installed within a cargo roller tray such that the PDU's drive roller protrudes above a plane defined by the uppermost portions of adjacent roller elements when the drive roller is in an active position. The drive roller can be either an inflated tire or a rigid roller having an elastomeric rim. The rotating tire or roller contacts and grips the bottom of an overlying ULD such that the ULD is driven in a desired direction by traction between the roller and the underside of the ULD. Such stationary PDUs often are configured such that the drive roller can be selectively moved between an active raised position, and a retracted inactive or stowed position. The lifting of the drive roller from the retracted position can be actuated by springs, by an electrically powered lift mechanism, or the like. Such fixed PDU's typically are installed at cargo deck locations remote from an aircraft's cargo door, where a ULD's movement can be substantially limited to the fore and aft directions.
A second type of PDU is known as a "steerable PDU". In a typical steerable PDU, the drive roller is mounted to a rotatable frame or turntable that can be selectively oriented to align the drive roller in a desired direction within a cargo hold. Like the fixed PDUs described above, a steerable PDU can be configured to lift and retract the drive roller between its active raised position and its inactive retracted position. Steerable PDUs usually are installed at cargo deck locations that are proximate to an aircraft's cargo door, where a ULD may require movement in a direction other than the fore or aft directions as the ULD is being loaded and/or unloaded.
The bottom surfaces of ULDs can be irregular either due to their original construction or due to damage or deformation from prior use. Accordingly, when a ULD with an irregular bottom surface moves over an active PDU, the degree of contact between the unit's drive roller and the ULD can vary between full contact, partial contact, and zero contact. Once contact between the drive roller and the irregular surface of the ULD is lost or substantially reduced, the traction force between the drive roller and the ULD can be lost or reduced. When such lost or reduced traction occurs, the movement of the ULD within the cargo hold can be slowed or stopped, which detrimentally affects the cargo loading or unloading process. Though drive rollers that include resilient inflated tires can accommodate a certain amount of variation in contact between the drive roller and a ULD, non-inflated drive rollers are substantially less compliant to variations in the geometry of a ULD's undersurface.
One solution to this problem of lost or reduced contact and traction between a drive roller 20 and an irregular bottom surface 42 of a ULD 40 is illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a load-compliant PDU lift system 10 includes a drive roller 20 on a drive shaft 22 that is rotatably mounted to a yoke 12. As used herein, the term "load-compliant" means capable of automatically adapting to substantial variations or irregularities in the geometry of the undersurface of a ULD that contacts a PDU's drive roller. A first end 14 of the yoke 12 is pivotally mounted to a base 30 about a pivot axis 18. A second end 16 of the yoke 12 is vertically supported by one or more springs 50 disposed between the second end 16 and the base 30. Accordingly, as the spring is compressed by a vertical load "L" on drive roller 20, the second end 16 of the yoke 12 moves downward, the yoke 12 pivots downward, and the attached drive roller 20 also moves downward. Conversely, as the spring 50 pushes the second end 16 upward, the yoke 12 pivots upward, and the attached drive roller 20 also moves upward. Thus, the spring 50 permits the drive roller 20 to move up and down as necessary to maintain contact with an irregular bottom surface 42 of the ULD 40 as the ULD 40 is propelled by a traction force "FT" applied by the roller 20. The spring (or springs) 50 is sized such that the vertical force applied by the spring 50 is sufficient to maintain frictional contact between the drive roller 20 and the bottom surface of the ULD under load L. The PDU lift system 10 shown in FIG. 1 can be adapted to mount to a stationary support, frame or base 30, or to mount to a steerable rotating support or frame. In addition, the PDU lift system 10 can be configured such that the drive roller 20 is selectively retractable.
Though the load-compliant PDU lift system 10 depicted in FIG. 1 may effectively maintain contact between the drive roller 20 and a ULD's irregular bottom surface 42, such a PDU lift system 10 has some shortcomings. As shown in FIG. 1, the drive roller 20 is selectively operable to be driven and rotate in a counterclockwise driving direction "I", and to be driven and rotate in an opposite clockwise driving direction "II". The drive shaft 22 and drive roller 20 are rotated by a drive motor (not shown in FIG. 1) that is affixed to the yoke. When the drive roller 20 is driven in a counterclockwise direction "I" under vertical load L, the drive roller 20 is subjected to a traction force FT (acting left to right in FIG. 1) due to the frictional drag between the drive roller 20 and the bottom surface 42 of the overlying ULD 40. Because the drive roller 20 is connected to a drive motor that is affixed to the yoke 12, this traction force FT results in a clockwise torque TCW acting on the yoke 12 that is equal to the traction force FT times the vertical distance "H" between the top of the drive roller 20 and the yoke pivot axis 18 (TCW=FT·H). The clockwise torque TCW in turn forces the yoke 12 to rotate in a clockwise direction, thus compressing the spring 50, and causing the yoke 12 and drive roller 20 to move away from the ULD 40, and thus lessening the degree of contact between the drive roller 20 and the ULD's bottom surface 42. Because the traction force FT applied to the ULD 40 by the drive roller 20 is dependent upon the degree of contact between the drive roller 20 and the ULD 40, the additional compression of the spring 50 that results from the counterclockwise rotation of the drive roller 20 is detrimental to the magnitude of the driving force FT that is effectively applied to the ULD's bottom surface 42.
In contrast, when the drive roller 20 is driven in a clockwise direction "II", the direction of the frictional traction force FT is opposite from that shown in FIG. 1 (i.e. right to left in FIG. 1), and the resulting torque TCCW on the yoke 12 thus acts in a counterclockwise direction. This counterclockwise torque TCCW forces the yoke 12 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction about the yoke pivot axis 18 and to move upward, thereby increasing the degree of contact between the drive roller 20 and the underside 42 of the ULD 40. Because the degree of contact between the drive roller 20 and the ULD's underside 42 is increased by this movement, the effective traction force FT on the underside 42 of the ULD 40 is enhanced by the counterclockwise movement of the yoke 12. Thus, the load-compliant PDU 10 has a "strong" driving direction (left to right in FIG. 1), and a "weak" driving direction (right to left in FIG. 1). One possible solution to this problem is to provide larger and stiffer springs 50 to minimize the amount of additional spring compression that results from the traction force FT. But such large springs 50 can undesirably increase the size and weight of the PDU 10.
Accordingly, there is a need for a load-compliant PDU, and more specifically, for a load-compliant PDU lift system that is equally effective in driving ULDs in two opposite directions.

Cargo power drive unit with uniform bi-directional drive traction


A system, method and a computer program product are provided for hybrid rendering with deferred primitive batch binning A primitive batch is generated from a sequence of primitives. Initial bin intercepts are identified for primitives in the primitive batch. A bin for processing is identified. The bin corresponds to a region of a screen space. Pixels of the primitives intercepting the identified bin are processed. Next bin intercepts are identified while the primitives intercepting the identified bin are processed.

Display images typically comprise millions of dots, where each dot represents one of thousands or millions of colors. These dots are known as picture elements, or "pixels". Each pixel has multiple attributes associated with it, such as, color, depth, translucency, or texture attributes. Those attributes are manipulated and processed before being rendered on a display screen of an electronic device.
Pixels are produced by rendering graphical objects in order to determine color values for respective pixels. Example graphical objects include points, lines, polygons, and three-dimensional (3D) higher order surfaces. Points, lines, and polygons represent rendering primitives which are the basis for most 3D rendering instructions. More complex structures, such as 3D objects, are formed from a combination or a mesh of such primitives. To display a particular scene, the primitives with potential contributing pixels associated with the scene are rendered individually by determining pixels that fall within the edges of the primitives, and obtaining the attributes of the primitives that correspond to each of those pixels.
Because there are often thousands, millions, or even hundred millions of primitives in a 3D scene, the complete rasterization of each primitive individually can result in less than optimal system performance while rendering complex 3D images on a display screen. Such conventional graphics systems suffer from repeated color and depth value reads and writes from memory as the rasterization process moves from one primitive to the next. Immediate shading of rasterized pixels can result in unnecessary processing overhead and overall inefficient use of system memory bandwidth.

Hybrid render with preferred primitive batch binning and sorting


The novel constructs and methods of this invention improve tolerance in plants to environmental stresses and senescence. Nucleic acids encoding a plant farnesyl transferase are described, as are transgenic plants and seeds incorporating these nucleic acids and proteins. Also provided are inhibitors of naturally-occurring farnesyl transferase which, when expressed, will enhance drought tolerance in the plants, improve resistance to senescence and modify growth habit.

Most higher plants encounter at least transient decreases in relative water content at some stage of their life cycle and, as a result, have evolved a number of desiccation protection mechanisms. If however, the change in water deficit is prolonged the effects on the plant's growth and development can be profound. Decreased water content due to drought, cold or salt stresses can irreparably damage plant cells which in turn limits plant growth and crop productivity in agriculture.
Plants respond to adverse conditions of drought, salinity and cold with a variety of morphological and physiological changes. Although our understanding of plant tolerance mechanisms to these stresses is fragmentary, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) has been proposed to be an essential mediator between environmental stimulus and plant responses. ABA levels increase in response to water deficits and exogenously applied ABA mimics many of the responses normally induced by water stress. Once ABA is synthesized it causes the closure of the leaf stomata thereby decreasing water loss through transpiration.
The identification of genes that transduce ABA into a cellular response opens the possibility of exploiting these regulators to enhance desiccation tolerance in crop species. In principle, these ABA signaling genes can be coupled with the appropriate controlling elements to allow optimal plant growth and development. Thus, not only would these genes allow the genetic tailoring of crops to withstand transitory environmental insults, they should also broaden the environments where traditional crops can be grown.
In addition, little is known of the genetic mechanisms which control plant growth and development. Genes which further affect other metabolic processes such as senescence and growth habits of plants can be useful in a wide variety of crop and horticultural plants.

Stress tolerance and delayed senescence in plants


An image processing device that includes a highlight extracted video creation unit that creates a highlight extracted video based on extraction of a highlight from each video file of a plurality of video files and a highlight extracted video storage unit that stores the highlight extracted video as one data file.

The present disclosure relates to an image processing device, an image processing method, and a program.
In the past, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-134770, for example, there is a description regarding a technique to determine an important scene in parallel with a process of filming a video image and to generate important scene identification information to record it.

Image processing device and image processing method


An apparatus is provided for supporting a child car seat on a vehicle seat having a seat belt. The apparatus includes a seat foundation that is adapted to lie upon the vehicle seat. The seat foundation includes a base with an upper surface that is adapted to receive the child car seat thereon, side walls that extend away from the upper surface, and a seat-belt mounting catch, which is positioned to lie in the upper surface in a location between the side walls. In addition, the seat foundation includes an auxiliary belt coupled to the base. The auxiliary belt is adapted to cooperate with the base to couple the child car seat upon the seat foundation.

The present invention relates to a foundation for a child car seat, and particularly to a seat foundation that mounts and supports a child car seat on a seat in a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a seat foundation configured to set in an anchored position on a vehicle seat and to retain a child car seat in a generally fixed position thereon.
Child car seats are widely accepted as necessary appliances for transporting young children in automobiles or other vehicles. Infant car seats with detachable bases are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,345,791 to Bryans et al., 4,733,909 to Single II et. al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,177 to Meeker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,472 to Freese et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,113 to Meeker, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,008 to Cone, II.
According to the present invention, an apparatus is provided for supporting a child car seat on a vehicle seat having a seat belt. The apparatus includes a seat foundation that is adapted to lie upon the vehicle seat and that includes a base having an upper surface adapted to receive the child car seat thereon, spaced apart side walls extending away from the upper surface, and a seat-belt mounting catch positioned to lie between the side walls and an auxiliary belt coupled to the base. The auxiliary belt is adapted to cooperate with the base to couple the child car seat upon the seat foundation.
The car seat has a seat base sized for placement upon the upper surface of the seat foundation base between the side walls of the base, a child-receiving seat supported by the seat base, a back portion extending from the child-receiving seat, and an aperture formed in the back portion and an auxiliary belt coupled to the base. The auxiliary belt extends through the aperture formed in the back portion and cooperates with the base to couple the car seat selectively upon the seat foundation in a mounted position.
A method is provided herein for enhancing the stability of a child car seat having a seat base, a seat portion, and a seat back formed to include an aperture therein upon a vehicle car seat having a seat bottom, a seat back, and a seat belt having a lap portion and a shoulder portion is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a seat foundation including a base having an upper surface, a lower surface, a back edge, a front edge, spaced apart side walls extending away from the upper surface between the rear and front edges, and a slot extending through the base, the slot having short channels positioned to lie adjacent the side walls and a long channel extending between the short channels.
The method further includes the steps of providing an auxiliary belt that is coupled to the base selectively, positioning the base upon the seat bottom, extending the lap portion of the seat belt across the side walls and upper surface of the base, and pressing the lap portion into the long channel of the slot and toward the back edge of the base until the seat belt extends through the short channels and a portion of the seat belt is positioned to lie adjacent the lower surface of the base. In addition, the method includes the steps of positioning the seat base of the car seat upon the upper surface of the seat foundation, extending the auxiliary belt from the base through the aperture formed in the seat back of the car seat, and tightening the auxiliary belt until the seat base of the car seat is coupled to the upper surface of the seat foundation in a mounted position.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


A dual drive arrangement has three way power split device such as an epicyclic gearing system converting input rotation from a gearbox or from an electric motor into an output rotation driving a hydraulic pump. A method for controlling the dual drive arrangement driving a hydraulic pump includes setting a minimal flow value to the hydraulic pump, sensing the vehicle speed, processing the sensed vehicle speed where the processing includes comparing the sensed vehicle speed with a reference speed value to thereby determine whether the vehicle operates in a first operational mode I where the speed vehicle is too low to drive the hydraulic pump up to the minimal flow or in a second operational mode II where speed vehicle where the speed vehicle is sufficient to meet at least the minimal flow value, and controlling the operation of the epicyclic gear so that the electric source drives the hydraulic pump when the vehicle runs under the first operational mode I and at least the gearbox drives the hydraulic pump when the vehicle runs under the second operational mode II.

The invention relates to a dual drive arrangement for the drive of a vehicle hydraulic pump, especially a power steering hydraulic pump, and a method for controlling the same.
Modern vehicles are equipped with peripheral components such as a power steering system that can be hydraulically powered.
Power steering systems have been a standard feature in vehicles for many years, in light vehicles and in industrial vehicles.
A power system steering assists the vehicle driver by applying a force to the wheels, through a hydraulic steering actuator. Therefore, a lower effort is required for the driver when turning the steering wheel and the vehicle is therefore easier to manoeuvre.
A power steering system typically comprises a hydraulic circuit carrying a pressurized fluid—such as oil—from a tank to the steering actuator, by means of a pump.
Conventionally, the pump is mechanically driven by the vehicle internal combustion engine, generally gear driven or belt-driven by said engine.
Recent years have seen the emergence of hybrid vehicles which help containing the emissions released by IC engines.
Hybrid vehicles are complex and are of different types. However they all rely on the principle of two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. Hybrid vehicles combine an internal combustion engine and one or more electric traction motors.
Thus, a hybrid vehicle can be driven by the internal combustion engine or by the electric motor(s) or by both internal combustion engine and electric motor(s).
In urban driving conditions where emissions should be avoided, it is desirable to drive the vehicle on the electric motor(s) while the internal combustion engine is turned off.
This however causes a problem for the vehicular peripheral components such as the power steering that are normally driven by the internal combustion engine.
Power steering systems can be electrically driven by an auxiliary electric motor. This however has several drawbacks linked to the availability of electric power supply and/or to the reliability of electrical components such as the electric motor or the power supply system.
It therefore appears that, from several standpoints, there is room for improvement in power steering systems.
It is desirable to provide an improved arrangement and an improved method to drive a hydraulic pump especially for a power steering system.
The invention relates, according to an aspect thereof, to a dual drive arrangement for the drive of a hydraulic pump for a vehicle having a gearbox driven by an internal combustion engine said gearbox having an output for mechanically driving driven wheels of the vehicle and said vehicle having an auxiliary electric motor for driving the hydraulic pump. The arrangement further has a three way power split system converting input rotation from the gearbox output and from the auxiliary electric motor into an output rotation driving the hydraulic pump.
The three way power split system may comprise an epicyclic gearing system or a differential.
Thus the invention, according to an aspect thereof, provides an arrangement that ensures a hydraulic pump can be driven by two alternate or combined energy sources. By fitting an epicyclic gearing system between on one side a vehicle gearbox output and an auxiliary electric motor and on the other side a hydraulic pump, the invention, according to an aspect thereof, offers a novel arrangement that ensures that the said hydraulic pump can be driven irrespective of the gearbox output rotational status. In other terms, the auxiliary electric motor can drive the hydraulic pump alone or in combination with the gearbox output so as to ensure that the hydraulic pump can be constantly driven even when the internal combustion engine is turned off and even if the vehicle is at standstill. The arrangement of an aspect of the invention is thus especially useful for hybrid vehicles which can be propelled purely by an electric source.
According to an embodiment of an aspect of the invention, the epicyclic gearing system has a central gear with outward facing teeth driven by the gear box, an outer gear with inward facing teeth driven by the electric power source, a planet carrier holding one or more planet gears meshed with the central gear and with the outer gear driving the hydraulic pump.
Preferably, the auxiliary electric motor drives a worm gear that meshes with outward facing teeth provided on the outer gear. Thus, in case of a failure in the electric power source, outer gear is locked while the central gear can be driven by the gearbox.
The electric motor can be powered by vehicle batteries.
The arrangement can suitably comprise an electronic control unit capable of controlling the electric motor.
The arrangement comprises a speed sensor connected to the electronic control unit that senses the rotational speed of the gearbox output shaft.
Another aspect of the invention concerns a method for controlling the said dual drive arrangement driving a hydraulic pump. The method comprises the steps of:                setting a minimal flow value to the hydraulic pump;        sensing the vehicle speed;
processing the sensed vehicle speed where the processing comprises comparing the sensed vehicle speed with a reference speed value to thereby determine whether the vehicle operates in a first operational mode where the speed vehicle is too low to drive the hydraulic pump alone up to the minimal flow or in a second operational mode where the speed vehicle is sufficient alone to meet at least the minimal flow value;
controlling the operation of the epicyclic gear so that the auxiliary electric motor drives the hydraulic pump in combination with the gearbox output when the vehicle rims under the first operational mode and the gearbox output drives the hydraulic pump alone when the vehicle runs under the second operational mode.
In a first scenario, the gearbox drives the hydraulic pump alone when the vehicle runs under the second operational mode.
In second scenario, the gearbox and the electric motor controlled in a reverse direction drive in combination the hydraulic pump when the vehicle runs under the second operational mode.

Dual drive arrangement for the drive of a vehicle hydraulic pump and method of controlling the same


A lighting strip system, including a carrier rail (3), which bounds a hollow space, to be mounted on a wall or ceiling, a plurality of electrical wires (12) running longitudinally in the hollow space, for the delivery of supply voltage and, if applicable, control signals. The lighting strip system also includes a plurality of coupling parts (13a) arranged in the hollow space with spacing in the longitudinal direction of the carrier rail (3). The coupling parts are electrically connected with the wires (12). A plurality of elongate lights (A1, A2, A3 . . . ) can be mounted one after another on the carrier rail in longitudinal direction. Electrical counter-coupling parts (13b) are provided on the lights (A1, A2, A3 . . . ) which when placed on the carrier rail (3) enter into the hollow space and make electrical plug contact with corresponding coupling parts (13a). In order to attain a simple and in particular rapid mounting, the coupling parts (13a) and the wires (12) constitute a prefabricated intermediate product, the carrier rail (3) being so formed that the intermediate product can be moved longitudinally into the carrier rail (3).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lighting strip system which comprises a carrier rail with a hollow space, a plurality of electrical wires running longitudinally through the hollow space, a plurality of coupling parts spaced apart from each other longitudinally within the hollow space and electrically connected with the wires, a plurality of lights which are mountable one after another along the carrier rail, the carrier rail having a wall formed with recesses and electrical counter-coupling parts provided on the lights and extending through the recesses when the lights are mounted whereby the counter-coupling parts make electrical plug contact with corresponding coupling parts within the hollow space.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a lighting strip system to which this invention may be applied is described in EP 0 624 754 A1. However, that document fails to disclose how the wiring and coupling parts are mounted.
In particular, large rooms such as e.g. auditoria, halls or long corridors, it is usual, for the illumination of the room concerned, to install so-called track lights or lighting strips, which may consist of a plurality of lights or lighting bars arranged one after another in each case in a row, which can be mounted on the carrier concerned, e.g. a ceiling or wall of the room, directly or by means of a carrier rail.
In DE 196 15 597 A1 there is described a device of the kind indicated in the introduction for contacting the conductor wires of a through-wiring with the conductor wires of electrical connection conductors of the lights of a track light. This previously known lighting strip has a longitudinal channel, in particular rectangular, consisting of a carrier rail and a cover rail, through which the wires of the through-wiring extend. The carrier rail and the cover rail are releaseably connected with one another by means of a quick-fastening connection. In the carrier rail there is arranged a plug-in sleeve connected by suitable means, e.g. a quick-fastening connection, with the base wall of the carrier rail. The plug-in sleeve consists of a base part which receives the wires in slots and a cover part arranged towards the cover rail which has plug-in sleeve holes in which there are arranged contact elements connected with the wires. The plug-in sleeve forms a first plug-in connection part associated with the carrier rail, which can be contacted with a second plug-in connection part having contact elements which is attached to the cover rail and the contact elements of which are connected with the lamp wiring. With this known configuration, the lamp is held in plug-in sockets, as is per se known, which stand up outwardly from the cover rail. With this known lighting strip it is possible to install the wiring from the open side of the carrier rail.
In DE 39 20 614 A1 there is described an attachment and connection system for the rapid mounting of lamps, in particular of lamps having a watertight housing. The main parts of this known attachment system are a holder, which can be attached to a ceiling or a cable guide by means of screws, whereby a two-part lamp housing is connected with the holder by means of a connecting device provided with hooks. Between the holder and the housing tub lying opposite thereto a through passage for cables is provided, which cables are longer than the holder and are mounted on a (non-illustrated) cable connection, which is arranged on the housing, for the electrical supply of the lights.
According to DE-A-2 545 038 there is described an arrangement for the through-wiring of lighting strip lights, with which a prefabricated intermediate product is manufactured from the wires and the coupling parts. This intermediate product is mounted above the lamp housings arranged in series, where normally no spatial restriction exist for this intermediate product.
The object of the invention is to further develop a lighting strip system of the kind indicated above that a simple and in particular rapidly effectable mounting of the wires or the through-wiring is ensured, and the mounting of the associated coupling part in the spatially restricted hollow space of the carrier rail is ensured.
This object is achieved by means providing coupling parts that are slidable within the carrier rail so that the coupling parts or slides which contain the coupling parts and the wires form a prefabricated intermediate product. The cross-sectional dimensions of the coupling parts or slides are adapted to associated internal dimensions of the carrier rail that the coupling parts or slides are longitudinally displaceable in the carrier rail with a slight plug for movement, whereby the carrier rail internally forms a longitudinal guide for the coupling parts or the slides. Advantageous further developing features of the invention are also described and claimed herein.
The mounting of the wires with the at least one coupling part arranged prefabricated thereon is effected in that the wires are moved longitudinally into the hollow space of the carrier rail. This can be effected by means of pulling or pushing the wiring units. The latter is possible due to the stiffness of the wires. Thereby, the wires may have a particular length adapted to the length of a lighting strip section, or they may be drawn off from a longer supply reserve, e.g. rolled off a roll. The longitudinal spacing of the coupling parts connected with the wires is determined by means of the longitudinal spacing of the recesses in the cover wall of the carrier rail or by means of the length of the associated lights of the lighting strip. Preferably, the coupling parts are in each case formed as slides or arranged in a slide which is displaceable longitudinally through the carrier rail into a longitudinal position in which the coupling parts coincide with the associated recesses or associated counter-coupling parts of the lights. Thereby, the position of these plug-in connection parts in the transverse direction can be determined by means of a guide. In the longitudinal direction the position can be determined by means of a particular length of movement which, due to the knowledge of the position of the at least one recess, is predetermined. It is also possible to limit this length of movement by means of stop which, e.g. through the recess, can be inserted into the carrier rail and by means of abutting limits the movements of one or each coupling part. After the introduction of the so-called wiring the lights of the lighting strip can be mounted by lateral placement on the carrier rail, whereby plugs arranged on the lights are connected as counter-coupling parts with the coupling parts by means of plugging together. The coupling parts and the counter-coupling parts are preferably plug-coupling parts. In this connection position, the through-wiring with the coupling parts is arrested by means of the counter-coupling parts.
Further, the wiring can be realized in a simple manner and with slight effort due to the axial introduction into the hollow space of the carrier rail, since the wiring needs only be pulled or pushed. With the known mounting measures, in contrast, the wiring must be mounted into the carrier rail by means of a lateral introduction movement, which in particular in the case of greater lengths of a lighting strip system is difficult and complicated.

Lighting strip system and a method of mounting a lighting strip system


A forwarding system including a plurality of forwarding elements to receive and transmit data and a control element to receive and process route updates, the control element being connected to the forwarding elements and including at least one route management component to transmit one or more route updates to the forwarding elements and synchronize the commitment of the route updates by the forwarding elements.

Networks of computers such as intranets, local and wide area networks, and public networks such as the Internet can exchange information in "packets." A packet includes data such as files and programs and can also include a header that contains information that identifies the packet and indicates its origin and destination. The header can further include network protocol identifiers, which describe the version number of the protocol that is to be used to transmit the information through and amongst networks. Moreover, the header can contain information identifying the port on the source computer from which the packet was sent and the port on the destination computer to which the packet is to be sent.
One type of network device that transmits data packets and their associated headers amongst network elements are known as "routers." In order to be transmitted from a one network to another, a data packet is typically routed by a plurality of routers that are each connected to other routers, public networks, private networks and/or individual server/client computers.
Routers often include a routing table that specifies the manner in which the various routers are connected to one another. Routers can implement a dynamic routing process wherein each router exchanges with other routers a routing protocol (such as Routing Information Protocol (RIP) and/or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)) update on a periodic basis, commonly once every thirty seconds. The route updates provides information regarding the paths by which the router is currently connected to other routers and networks. Upon receipt of routing update packets, such as a RIP or OSPF update, each router can process the update and record any new routing information, or networks path descriptors, into its routing table.
Routers can have an open network ("ON") architecture wherein the router includes a control element that creates and manages the routing protocols and a separate forwarding element that forwards the packets pursuant to information specified in an associated routing table, sometimes called a routing information base (RIB). In such architectures, there may be multiple forwarding elements managed by a single control element, in which case each forwarding element can contain both an RIB and a forwarding information base (FIB) specifying via known labeling protocols the paths between various forwarding elements. Routing errors can occur if RIB and FIB updates are implemented at different times by the various forwarding elements controlled by the single control element. For instance, if a packet is received by a router that is processing RIB and FIB updates, the packet could be transmitted by an "updated" forwarding element to an "un-updated" forwarding element that drops the packet because it has not yet processed the RIB or FIB update.

Systems and methods for updating routing and forwarding information


A polymeric membrane includes an active layer over a support, wherein the active layer includes at least two chemically distinct polyamide films. A first one of the films is in contact with the support, and a second one of the films is not in contact with the support. The second polyamide film is crosslinked with the first polyamide film at an interface therewith, and the second polyamide film includes a structure having a side chain group including an ammonium salt.

Thin film composite (TFC) membranes including ultra-thin active layers and porous supports have been widely used in reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) processes for desalination. The active layer in a TFC membrane controls separation properties, while the support layer enhances mechanical strength.
TFC membranes commonly experience substantial flux declines when exposed to feed water contaminants such as, for example, particulates or suspensions of organic, inorganic or biological materials. The contaminants can cause membrane fouling, which increases the operating pressure required for a constant rate of water production, decreases the service lifetime of the membrane, and increases operating costs. To reduce fouling, the feed water entering the membrane may be pre-treated, or the membrane may be periodically chemically cleaned to remove contaminant deposits. Although pretreatment processes can remove certain foulants such as large particles or biomolecules, dissolved organic matter can remain on the membrane following the pretreatment step.
The membrane surface may be modified by applying a protective coating layer to mitigate fouling, which can reduce the number of cleaning cycles. Anti-fouling coating layers have been made from, for example, nanoparticles, enzymes, and epoxy compounds. Although the above-described materials and techniques can reduce membrane fouling, generally they are not well-suited for large scale manufacturing because additional casting, drying and/or curing steps may be required to form the thin protective layers on a support membrane. In addition, depending on their thickness, these additional protective coating layers can cause a drop in water flux through the membrane.
Consequently, a continuing need exists for filtration membranes, particularly for water purification, having enhanced fouling resistance, anti-microbial properties, and/or enhanced salt rejection properties.

Composite membranes and methods of preparation thereof


A system and method for performing memory operations in a multi-plane flash memory. Commands and addresses are sequentially provided to the memory for memory operations in memory planes. The memory operations are sequentially initiated and the memory operation for at least one of the memory planes is initiated during the memory operation for another memory plane. In one embodiment, each of a plurality of programming circuits is associated with a respective memory plane and is operable to program data to the respective memory plane in response to programming signals and when it is enabled. Control logic coupled to the plurality of programming circuits generates programming signals in response to the memory receiving program commands and further generates programming enable signals to individually enable each of the programming circuits to respond to the programming signals and stagger programming of data to each of the memory planes.

Conventional NAND flash memories typically multiplex input/output (I/O) lines for receiving command, address, and data signals. Some commands, such as a program (i.e., write) command, require all three different types of information to be provided to the memory device. That is, in order to program memory cells with new data, a program command is issued, then the addresses of the memory cells that will be programmed are provided, and finally, data to be programmed are provided. A confirmation command is typically issued after the data are provided to the memory indicating the end of the command. All of this information is provided to the memory using the same I/O lines.
Control signals are used to differentiate the types of signals when latching the different information into the memory. For example, typical control signals command latch enable (CLE) and address latch enable (ALE) signals are brought to a HIGH logic level to indicate to the memory device that the signals that will be latched in response to the next rising edge of a write enable (WE#) signal are either a command or an address, respectively. Thus, when the CLE signal is HIGH (and the ALE signal is LOW), the signals latched from the I/O lines in response to a rising edge of the WE# signal represent a command. In contrast, when the ALE signal is HIGH (and the CLE signal is LOW), the signals latched from the I/O lines in response to a rising edge of the WE# signal represent an address. When both the CLE and ALE signals are LOW, the signals latched from the I/O lines in response to a rising edge of the WE# signal represent data.
In programming data to the memory, the time for the program operation to complete can be divided into three general time ranges: (1) command and address writing time, (2) data loading time, and (3) programming time. Using an example of a write cycle time tWC of 35 ns (i.e., the period of the WE# signal), command and address writing time can be about 245 ns (i.e., 7×35 ns), programming time about 150 us, and assuming that data for a full page is being loaded (further assuming a 2 kbyte page and byte-wide I/O lines), 71.7 us (i.e., 35 ns×2 kbytes) for the data loading time. As illustrated by the present example, the command and address writing time is nearly negligible, but the data loading time can be almost one-third of the total time for the program operation to complete.
One approach that has been taken in improving programming bandwidth of flash memory is through multi-plane page programming. As known, a memory array of flash memory cells is often divided into a plurality of memory "planes," for example, one memory may have a memory array divided into two memory planes, or for another memory, the memory array is divided four separate memory planes. In a multi-plane page programming operation, data are sequentially loaded to data registers for each of the memory planes, and the loaded data are then programmed to the memory planes simultaneously. In this manner, the program time, which is generally the same if one page of memory is programmed or multiple pages for multiple memory planes (one page per memory pane) are programmed, is shorter compared to sequentially programming multiple pages for multiple memory panes. A disadvantage, however, is that loading data to the data registers can take considerable time, especially in the case where full pages of data are being written for each of the memory planes.
An improvement to multi-plane programming is combining multi-plane programming with a secondary cache register, which is included in the memory in addition to the data register. Data to be programmed are initially loaded to a cache register. The data are then moved to a data register and programming of the data now in the data register begins. After programming has begun, new data can be loaded to the cache register in preparation for programming upon completion of programming the previous data. As applied to multi-page programming, data are sequentially loaded to the cache registers associated with the different memory planes. Upon completion of data loading for each of the memory planes, the data are simultaneously copied from the cache registers to the respective data registers and simultaneous memory plane programming begins. During programming, new data can be sequentially loaded for programming to the memory planes into the respective cache registers. When programming of the previous data are complete, the new data for all of the memory planes are moved from the cache registers to the respective data registers, and simultaneous programming of the new data is begun. The cache registers allows some of the data loading time to be "hidden" since data can be loaded during the time data are being programmed to the memory planes. In contrast, in multi-page programming without cache registers (i.e., using only data registers), loading of new data to be programmed cannot begin until programming of the previous data is completed.
A disadvantage of cache multi-page programming is that considerable layout area is used for the cache registers. Each of the cache registers for the memory planes is typically the same size as the corresponding data registers. As a result, the layout area devoted to registers is doubled where cache registers are included. As a result, although programming bandwidth for cache multi-page programming is improved over non-cache multi-page programming, layout area is sacrificed to provide this feature. In applications where miniaturization is a priority, doubling the layout area occupied by registers is undesirable.

System and memory for sequential multi-plane page memory operations


A base station for processing a received and stored spread spectrum signal determines the signal strengths of a first plurality of signals included in the stored spread spectrum signal. The strongest signal of the first plurality is subtracted from the stored signal such that the stored signal is replaced in the memory by a modified spread spectrum signal including a second plurality of signals. The base station determines signal strengths of the second plurality of signals, then subtracts the strongest of the second plurality from the modified spread spectrum signal.

Many conventional messaging systems include portable radio communication devices carried by subscribers and at least one fixed base station for transmitting messages to the radio communication devices for subsequent presentation to the subscribers. In some of these systems, one or more of the radio communication devices may be transceivers capable of transmitting signals as well as receiving messages from the base station. These systems are described as two-way messaging systems.
In two-way messaging systems, a portable transceiver can signal a base station for a number of reasons. By way of example, the portable transceiver could transmit a signal to the base station to deliver a message, to acknowledge reception of a message, or to indicate to the base station that the portable transceiver is located within the coverage area of the base station.
Currently, one-way messaging systems, e.g., paging systems, are typically allocated a frequency channel, for example, 25 kHz. To add two-way messaging capability to such a system, portable transceivers require limited throughput to the base station, e.g., 100 bits/sec. Additionally, to maximize battery life, it is desirable for the portable transceivers to use low power levels when transmitting. However, it is then necessary to transmit at a very low rate in order to balance the range between the low power inbound channel and the high-rate, high-power outbound channel. If the low-rate inbound signals are multiplexed into the channel, a plurality of the portable transceivers could share a single channel.
One possible method for multiplexing a set of narrowband inbound signals is frequency division multiple access (FDMA). However narrowband FDMA has the undesirable property that a great deal of frequency accuracy is required in the local oscillators of the portable transceivers in order to contain each signal within its allotted spectrum. In order to fully utilize the spectrum allocated for FDMA, it would be necessary to have nearly perfect frequency generation in the portable transceivers, which is expensive to implement. To allow for error in the transmitter local oscillators, it is therefore necessary to provide sufficient guardbands between inbound subchannels. However, this results in a waste of spectrum.
Another method for multiplexing a set of narrowband inbound signals is the use of code division multiple access (CDMA). CDMA portable transceivers are simple to implement in comparison to those used in narrowband FDMA systems because multiplexing occurs in the code domain where frequency accuracy is not as critical. In addition, guardbands between subchannels are not required because all subchannels occupy the same spectrum. However, it is well known that CDMA systems are interference limited, i.e., the number of simultaneously transmitting portable transceivers is limited. Furthermore, existing CDMA systems often suffer from the near-far problem. This problem occurs when a fixed base station is unable to detect an inbound spread spectrum signal that is significantly lower in power than other simultaneously received inbound spread spectrum signals. In order to make a CDMA system perform properly, therefore, it is necessary to control the amount of interference, which depends upon the amount of traffic, on the inbound channel. Additionally, it is typically necessary to include complex power control circuitry, which is often expensive and bulky, in the portable transceivers to ensure that all of the transmitted spread spectrum signals are detectable by the base station.
Thus, what is needed is a CDMA system that alleviates the near-far problem while allowing flexibility in the number of simultaneously transmitting portable transceivers. Furthermore, the portable transceivers for use in the CDMA system should not require the addition of complex power or frequency control circuitry.

Code division multiple access (CDMA) inbound messaging system utilizing interference cancellation to recover inbound messages


An output driver circuit includes a sense amplifier coupled to a first inverter and a second inverter. The first and second inverters drive a first and second chain of logic gates, respectively. A p-channel output transistor is coupled to the output of the first chain of logic gates, and an n-channel output transistor is coupled to the output of the second chain of logic gates. The transistors in the first and second inverters are selected so that the first inverter and the second inverter have complementary preferential output states. The first and second inverters generate their preferential output state in response to a selected intermediate output voltage range from the sense amplifier to turn off both the n-channel transistor and the p-channel transistor. This causes the n-channel and p-channel output transistors to both turn off when the sense amplifier generates the intermediate voltage during an equilibrate period.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more specifically to a circuit which utilizes an output driver circuit to output data from a sense amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a sense amplifier is utilized to read data from a memory in an integrated circuit. During each read cycle, the sense amplifier senses voltage levels in a selected memory cell and outputs data in the form of a high or low voltage level. In between read cycles, the sense amplifier is equilibrated in preparation for the next read cycle. Equilibrating the sense amplifier can be accomplished by setting the bit lines and the complementary bit lines to the same voltage level.
A problem can arise, however, with the data output from the integrated circuit during an equilibrate time period. During the equilibrate time period, the sense amplifier will not be reading an actual value from the memory. As a result, the output from the sense amplifier can be an intermediate value between logical one and zero. Depending on how this value is read by other devices or output buffers, short duration output voltage swings can occur. This causes undesirable noise internally, due to the high currents drawn by typical output drivers, and on the external data bus coupled to the data output.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an output driver circuit which eliminates noise from data output from an integrated circuit when a sense amplifier is equilibrated in preparation for another read cycle.


A wheel assembly having an outer stem of a constant velocity joint selectively providing rotational drive torque to a hub at an inboard edge of the hub. The hub is retained by an inboard retention device which also acts to engage an engagement ring used to provide the driving torque to the hub. The preload on the bearings used to support the hub within the steering knuckle of the present invention is not determined by the forces provided by the inboard retainer, but instead are established by interaction between the inner races alone or by the inner races in combination with a tone ring used with an ABS or speed sensing traction control type system.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to motor vehicle wheel assemblies and, more particularly, to an inboard rotational drive engagement and bearing system used in conjunction with a spindle having inboard retention.
2. Discussion
Presently most vehicle wheel assemblies used in conjunction with wheels that are driven, or selectively driven, utilize devices to retain the hub which are accessed from the outboard end of the wheel hub, and are therefore referred to as "outboard retention" devices. The hub typically provides for mounting of a wheel as well as mounting of a brake disc rotor at an outboard region. The outboard retention device is tightened to a specified range which controls the preload on bearings which support the hub relative to the steering knuckle or other non-rotating portions of the wheel assembly. A disadvantage of conventional outboard retention devices retaining the hub to the wheel assembly and establishing the preload on the bearings is that there is axial run out or end play inherent in the system. The axial run out is a result of the fact that there is an upper limit to the bearing preload which can be established and still allow the bearings to function properly. This upper limit still allows variation in the axial position of the hub and attached rotor. Axial run out is a disadvantage because of the variation in inboard/outboard position that the brake disc rotor has relative to the brake pads which are typically positioned on the inboard and outboard sides of the disc.
Further, it is presently convention within the industry to provide driving rotational torque to the hub of the wheel assembly at its outboard end. By transferring the torque to the outboard edge of the hub there is a requirement that the axle, spindle, or outer stem which transfers the torque be of significantly greater structure than if the torque were transferred at the inboard edge of the hub. Since it is beneficial to reduce the weight of the vehicle to improve fuel economy and performance, and it is particularly beneficial to reduce the unsprung weight of the vehicle suspension because of the additional benefit to handling and response, it is a significant advantage to provide rotational driving forces to the inboard edge of the hub.
The present invention overcomes several of the disadvantages indicated above, and utilizes the advantages to provide a robust vehicle wheel assembly having inboard rotational drive engagement and inboard retention.

Inboard mounted wheel end disconnect unit


The disclosure describes a polymer brush structure exhibiting birefringence, said polymer brush structure comprising a plurality of substantially parallel oriented polymers and characterized by a longitudinal z-direction having a first refractive index, nz, and a lateral x,y-direction having a second refractive index, nx,y, wherein the difference, Δn, between the first refractive index and the second refractive index is in a range of about 0.1 to about 0.6, as measured by ellipsometry and fit to a Cauchy analytical model.

Birefringence is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. Certain crystalline materials may have different indices of refraction associated with different crystallographic directions. The birefringence is often quantified as the maximum difference between refractive indices exhibited by the material.
Birefringent materials are used widely in optics to produce polarizing prisms and retarder plates. Such materials are also used in liquid crystal displays, light modulators, spectral filters, and medical diagnostics (e.g., cross-polarizing filters for microscopes).
The present direction is directed to new materials for use in these applications, and methods of making the same.

Birefringent polymer brush structures formed by surface initiated ring-opening metathesis polymerization


A trip unit is provided for a circuit breaker that includes electrical contacts, a trip mechanism, a bimetallic strip, and an armature. The trip unit includes a first trip bar coupled to the trip mechanism and disposed about a pivot point, and a second trip bar coupled to the first trip bar and disposed about the pivot point. In a first operating condition, the first trip bar rotates about the pivot point substantially independently of the second trip bar, and activates the trip mechanism to open the electrical contacts. In a second operating condition, the second trip bar rotates about the pivot point, causing the first trip bar to rotate about the pivot point and activate the trip mechanism to open the electrical contacts. Numerous other aspects are provided.

This invention relates generally to circuit breakers, and more particularly to circuit breaker thermal magnetic trip units and methods.
Circuit breakers typically include one or more electrical contacts, and provide protection against persistent over-current conditions and short circuit conditions. In many circuit breakers, a thermal-magnetic trip unit includes a thermal trip portion which trips the circuit breaker on persistent over-current conditions, and a magnetic trip portion which trips the circuit breaker on short circuit conditions. Existing thermal-magnetic trip units typically include a single trip bar that releases a trip mechanism to trip the circuit breaker and open the electrical contacts to stop the flow of current in the protected circuit.
However, existing thermal-magnetic trip units typically do not isolate thermal trip events from magnetic trip events.

Circuit breaker thermal-magnetic trip units and methods


The present invention is to provide an optical transmitter with reduced power consumption. The optical transmitter includes two laser diodes connected in series to each other, one of which is connected in the anode thereof to the first driver, while the other of which is connected in the cathode thereof to the second driver. Further, between the anode of the first laser diode and the cathode of the second laser diode connects an impedance device. In the present invention, the first and second laser diodes, and the impedance device have the substantially same impedance to each other within a concerned frequency range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmitter
2. Related Prior Art
Generally, an optical transceiver includes a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device within each assembly, and these assemblies are installed in a package accompanied with an electronic circuit. Moreover, in an optical communication system configured with the multi signal channel, a multi-channeled optical transceiver is applied. Japanese Patent published as JP-H05-091056A and JP-2002-111601A have disclosed typical multi-channel transceiver.
The multi-channeled optical transceiver generally provides subject such as (1) to reduce power consumption, and (2) to decrease a count of lead pins in assemblies installing the light-emitting device and the light-receiving device. In the optical transceiver disclosed in aforementioned Japanese Patents, JP-H05-091056A and JP-2002-111601A, the power consumption reaches at least N×V0×ILD, where N, V0, and ILD are the count of channels, the power supply voltage, and the average current flowing in the light-emitting device, respectively.
One method to reduce the power consumption has been disclosed in Japanese Patent published as JP-2003-188824A, in which the optical transceiver installs a transmitting optical subassembly (TOSA) including a semiconductor laser diode. This laser diode within the TOSA is driven by a paired transistor constituting a differential circuit with a common emitter. One of paired transistor, not connected to the laser diode, is used to supply a portion of the bias current of the laser diode. Thus, the power consumption can be reduced.
Assuming a case that the multi-channeled optical transmitter is configured based on a optical transmitter shown in Japanese Patent published as JP-2003-188824A, the total power consumption P0 of the multi-channeled optical transmitter becomes;P0=N*V0*IH,where N, Vo and IH are the count of channels, the power supply voltage, and the bias current for the LD when the LD turns on, respectively. In this case, the LD is driven by the differential circuit, namely, the LD is configured as a load device for a transistor constituting the difference circuit. The power consumption above becomes lower than that when the LD is driven by a conventional driver, in which the power consumption becomesP0=N*V0*(IH+IL),where IL denotes the bias current for the LD when the LD turns off.
Generally, the low-level current IL is merely 10˜20% of the high-level current IH. Moreover, the former current IL is determined by the threshold current of the LD, and recently developed LDs have relatively smaller threshold current. Thus, the reduction of the power consumption of the transmitter becomes harder in optimizing the structure and the material of the LD.
Therefore, the present invention is to provide an optical transmitter that installs a plurality of LDs and reduces the power consumption thereof.

Optical transmitter with a least pair of semiconductor laser diodes


This invention provides pertains to the discovery that that nicotine interrupts molecular signaling between endodermal and mesodermal cells of the lung alveolus. Treatment of the lung with specific molecular agents (e.g., PPAR gamma agonists) can prevent and/or reverse the injury caused by nicotine.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy has diverse adverse effects on fetal outcome, including increased risk of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, premature delivery, low birth weight, early neonatal mortality, sudden infant death syndrome, and poor pulmonary outcome (Cunningham et al. (1994) Am. J. Epidemiol. 139: 1139-1152; Gilliland et al. (2003) Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med 167: 917-924.; Hanrahan et al. (1992) Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. 145: 1129-1135; Higgins (2002) Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol 14: 145-151; Hofhuis et al. (2003) Arch. Dis. Child 88: 1086-1090.). Maternal smoking during pregnancy adversely affects fetal lung growth that may result in adverse long-term consequences such as increased occurrence of lower respiratory illnesses and altered pulmonary mechanics on pulmonary function testing (Chen et al. (1987) Pediatr. Pulmonol., 3: 51-58; Collins et al. (1985) Pediair. Res. 19: 408-412; Gilliland et al. (2003) Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med 167: 917-924; Hofhuis et al. (2003) Arch. Dis. Child, 88: 1086-1090; Maritz (1988) Biol. Neonate, 53: 163-170; Scott (2004) Tobacco Induced Diseases 2: 3-25; Walsh (1994) Hum. Biol., 66: 1059-1092). The mechanisms underlying the general effects of maternal smoking on fetal viability and growth are generally thought to be due to fetal hypoxia (Cnattingius and Nordstrom (1996) Acta Paediair. 85: 1400-1402). The mechanisms underlying pulmonary outcomes, however, appear to be more complex and are poorly understood Scott (2004) Tobacco Induced Diseases 2: 3-25). On the one hand, there is evidence of increased surfactant production at birth, possibly contributing to a decrease in the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome (Curet et al. (1983) Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 147: 446-450; Gluck and Kulovich (1973) Am J Obstet Gynecol. 115: 539-546; Lieberman et al. (1992) Obstet. Gynecol. 79: 564570; 39. Wuenschell et al. (1998) Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 274: L165-L170). On the other hand, there is strong evidence for deleterious effects on pre- and postnatal lung growth and development following in utero exposure to maternal smoking (Chen et al. (1987) Pediatr Pulmonol 3: 51-58; Cnattingius and Nordstrom (1996) Acta Paediatr 85: 1400-1402; Collins et al. (1985) Pediatr. Res., 19: 408-412; Cunningham et al. (1994) Am J Epidemiol 139: 1139-1152; Gilliland et al. (2003) Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 167: 9.17-924; Hanrahan et al. (1992) Am. Rev. Respir. Dis., 145: 1129-1135; Higgins (2002) Curr. Opin. Obstet. Gynecol., 14: 145-151; Hofhuis et al. (2003) Arch Dis Child 88: 1086-1090; Maritz (1988) Biol Neonate 53: 163-170; Scott (2004) Tobacco Induced Diseases 2: 3-25; Sekhon et al. (1999) J Clin Invest 103: 637647; Sekhon et al. (2001) Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., 164: 989-994; Walsh (1994) Hum. Biol., 66: 1059-1092). The mechanisms underlying these seemingly paradoxical effects remain largely unknown.
There is, consequently, currently no specific treatment for the deleterious effects of smoking on the lung. Such patients are typically treated with steroids and P blockers, which alleviate the symptoms caused by smoking, but do not address the actual etiology of the smoke-induced effects.

Treatment for nicotine-induced lung disease using peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonists

Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center


A method for inventorying and monitoring an asset located in an vehicle asset management area. The method involves an inventorying of a presence of an asset within an vehicle asset management area based on a detection of a RFID tag associated with the asset within the vehicle asset management area, and a monitoring of the inventoried presence of the asset within the vehicle asset management area based on the RFID tag associated with the asset.

A parked vehicle can be locked to prevent an unauthorized removal of an asset located in the parked vehicle. Examples of such an asset include, but are not limited to, a personal asset (e.g., money, a wallet, a purse, a compact disc, clothing, a piece of jewelry, a book, etc.) and a vehicle asset (e.g., a compact disc player, a seat, a steering wheel, etc.). Additionally, an asset can be securely mounted onto a parked vehicle in hope of preventing an unauthorized dismount of the asset from the parked vehicle (e.g., a bicycle, luggage, etc.).
While locking the parked vehicle and securely mounting an asset to a vehicle are helpful steps in preventing an unauthorized removal/dismount of an asset, there exists a need for creating an inventory system for logging in and out assets to thereby facilitate a monitoring of the assets whereby a notification can be provided for any unauthorized removal/dismount of the asset from the vehicle. The present invention addresses this need and advances the state of the art for monitoring assets located in or mounted upon a vehicle.

RFID asset management method and system for vehicles


A system and method for installing, deploying, and recovering a plurality of spacecraft that provides an ease of use and structural stability, and facilitates a standardization of spacecraft design. In embodiments of this invention, threaded rods are arranged orthogonal to a surface of a baseplate, and each spacecraft includes a coupling mechanism that selectively engages or disengages each threaded rod. Each spacecraft is added to the stack by engaging its coupling mechanism and rotating the threaded rods while the preceding spacecraft on the stack disengage their coupling mechanisms, thereby enabling the spacecraft to travel along the threaded rods toward the baseplate. When all of the spacecraft are added to the stack, the stack is preloaded by rotating the treaded rods into a terminator component at the top of the stack while the coupling mechanisms in all of the spacecraft are disengaged. Spacecraft are deployed by reversing the process.

This invention relates to the field of space craft, and in particular to a system and method for attaching multiple space vehicles to a launch vehicle, deploying the space vehicles, and recovering other space vehicles.
To reduce the cost of space vehicle deployment, and in particular small spacecraft (e.g. under 500 pounds), the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD), NASA, other government agencies, commercial companies, and several universities developed the EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA), which enables multiple small spacecraft to be launched from ATLAS V, Falcon 9, and other launch vehicles. Other standards for multi-satellite payloads are also available, such as Loadpath's Cubestack, SSO-A's Multi Payload Carrier and Hub, and others, each with particular advantages and disadvantages. For ease of explanation and understanding, the EELV-ESPA standard is used herein to provide a contrast to embodiments of this invention.
FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate an example EELV Secondary Payload Adapter. The adapter 100 is cylindrical, and includes six ports 110, each with an attachment flange 120. Each spacecraft 150 has a mating attachment flange 130. Each spacecraft 150 is coupled to the adapter 100 by coupling the attachment flanges 120, 130. This coupling may be accomplished using a motorized LightBand 140 (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,227,493; 6,343,770; 6,390,416) from Planetary Systems, Inc., which is tightened around the circumference of the joined flanges 120-130. Deployment after launch is accomplished by loosening the LightBand 140.
As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the individual spacecraft can be different in size and shape, provided they conform to an overall envelope and include the appropriate flange 130. As illustrated in FIG. 1C, the adapter 100 is designed to be situated concentric with the vertical axis 182 of the launch vehicle 180, and multiple adapters 100 can be stacked within the launch vehicle 180, again, for example, using a LightBand to couple the adapters 100.
Although the ESPA provides a standard architecture for designing the spacecraft interface to the launch vehicle and enables multiple spacecraft to be launched from a single launch vehicle, it is not particularly efficient in volume and weight.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 1C, a significant amount of volume is wasted between the vehicles 150, and between the vehicles 150 and the fairing 185 of the launch vehicle. In a typical configuration, the volume efficiency (volume of spacecrafts/available payload volume) can be as low as 50%.
Because the adapter 100 must support the attached spacecraft with minimal movement during launch, its weight can range from 400 pounds to over 600 pounds. The fairing 185 surrounding the spacecraft of each adapter can amount to well over 1000 pounds. In a typical configuration, the mass efficiency (mass of spacecraft/launch vehicle capacity) rarely exceeds 50% due to the mass of the adapter, fairing, and other 'overhead' items.
Another problem with the ESPA architecture is the creation of convoluted load paths, as illustrated by the arrows 190 in FIG. 1C, which lead to potentially large deflections 195 that are difficult to prevent without adding substantial mass to the supporting elements. The potentially large deflections 195 also necessitates constraints on the spacecraft's dynamic envelope, to avoid collisions between spacecraft during launch.
Additionally, the ESPA architecture does not provide a means to control the deployment of the spacecraft. When the launch vehicle is in the proper deployment location, after the fairing has been released, the coupling between the flanges 120-130 is released and the space vehicle 'tumbles away' until its internal navigation and propulsion systems direct it to its proper station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,569, issued 4 Jun. 1996, to Steffy et al. discloses a "SATTELITE HAVING A STACKABLE CONFIGURATION" that provides mass and volume efficiency, with a simplified load path. Relatively short cylindrical satellites of the same diameter are stacked and bolted to each other using three coupling devices arranged on the perimeter of each satellite. The bolts are secured using separation nuts that release the bolts for deployment; a spring mechanism in each coupling device propels the top-most satellite away from the stack. The bolting of each satellite to each other, and the lowermost satellite in the stack to the launch vehicles, provides a self-supporting structure with linear loading, with each set of couplers being preloaded (torqued) to minimize deflection of the stack. However, this self-supporting structure is particularly well suited for uniformly short cylindrical satellites, but if a tall satellite is included in the stack, the wall structure of the tall satellite would need to be sufficiently reinforced to avoid unwanted stack deflection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,601, issued 14 Jul. 1992, to Henkel, discloses a "JACK SCREW PAYLOAD DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM" that uses a set of three motor-driven screws on a baseplate that is attached to the launch vehicle. The motor-driven screws are threaded into attachment fittings (nuts) on the space vehicle to attach the space vehicle to the baseplate. By un-screwing the screws at a predetermined speed, the space vehicle can be 'launched' from the baseplate at a desired velocity. However, this arrangement is a single space vehicle deployment system, because once the space vehicle is screwed down to the baseplate, the screws cannot be further rotated to accept other space vehicles. If multiple space vehicles are threaded onto the screws sequentially, the screws will again cease rotation when the lower space vehicle reaches the baseplate, preventing the preloading (torqueing) of the upper space vehicles, rendering the stack unstable for launch.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method for installing, deploying, and recovering a plurality of spacecraft that provides an ease of use and structural stability that is not currently available in existing spacecraft deployment systems. It would be of further advantage to provide a system and method that supports a standardization of spacecraft design that enables spacecraft from different sources to be efficiently arranged within the launch vehicle.
These advantages, and others, can be realized by defining a standard, or family of standard dimensions for the exterior shape of each spacecraft, with well defined placement of internal structures that facilitate the coupling of multiple spacecraft in a stack above a baseplate that is configured to be fixedly attached to the launch vehicle.
In an embodiment of this invention, a plurality of threaded rods are arranged orthogonal to a surface of the baseplate, and each spacecraft includes a channel through which each rod can traverse. Each spacecraft also includes a coupling mechanism that selectively engages or disengages each threaded rod. Each spacecraft is added to the stack by engaging its coupling mechanism while each of the preceding spacecraft disengages its coupling mechanism. When the coupling mechanism is engaged and the threaded rods are rotated, the spacecraft travels along the threaded rods toward the baseplate; when the coupling mechanism is disengaged, the threaded rod is free to rotate. When all of the spacecraft are added to the stack, the threaded rods engage a terminator component, which may be the nosecone of the launch vehicle, and are rotated while the coupling mechanisms in all of the spacecraft of the stack are disengaged. The threaded rods are screwed into the terminator component, thereby preloading the stack to the baseplate to withstand the loads introduced during launch.
To deploy the spacecraft from the launch vehicle, the process is reversed. The terminator component is released by unscrewing the threaded rods while the coupling mechanisms of all of the spacecraft are disengaged. Upon release of the terminator component, the uppermost spacecraft in the stack engages its coupling mechanisms, thereby enabling the spacecraft to travel along the threaded rods, away from the baseplate, when the threaded rods are further rotated. Each subsequent spacecraft is similarly ejected by engaging its coupling mechanisms as the threaded rods are rotated.
The spacecraft deployment system of this invention may also be used to retrieve spacecraft, thereby reducing the amount of 'space junk' that remains in orbit after the spacecraft has completed its mission. In such an embodiment, the remainder portion of the launch vehicle with the baseplate and threaded rods is directed to the spacecraft that is to be retrieved. The threaded rods enter the channels of the spacecraft, and the spacecraft engages its coupling mechanisms to travel along the threaded rods, toward the baseplate, when they are rotated. As each subsequent spacecraft is engaged, the spacecraft on the stack disengage their coupling mechanisms to enable the threaded rods to rotate. If the nosecone is available for retrieval, it is retrieved and used as the terminator component to preload the stack for re-entry; otherwise, the topmost spacecraft may engage its coupling mechanism to serve as the terminator component.
Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features or functions. The drawings are included for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

System and method to attach and remove space vehicles


According to the inflation of the curtain, its tip portion moves away from the first window side and comes to engages with support portions. At the same time, a tether moves from the side of the window side to the support portions and comes to be positioned across the window portion. Thereby, the window portion can be properly covered by the curtain airbag.

The present invention relates to a curtain airbag device that promptly covers a window portion of a vehicle, such as an automotive vehicle, train, ship, aircraft, or space vehicle, or a structure, such as a house, building, or space station.
A curtain airbag device, in which a curtain-shaped airbag is accommodated at a periphery of a window portion of a vehicle and the airbag is inflated by gas that is supplied at a vehicle crash or a rollover so as to cover the window portion promptly, is generally known. In this device, a passenger could not be protected properly by the curtain airbag device unless a proper tension is provided at the curtain. For example, in a case where the curtain is folded and accommodated at a portion along one window side and both window sides next to this window side of a rectangular window portion, the curtain may be inflated with its tip portion having a total length of these three window sides. Namely, the length of the free tip portion of the curtain inflated becomes relatively long, so the curtain tends to be turned up even with a relatively small force applied. As a result, the protection of the passenger could not be properly attained.
In view of the above problem, there are generally provided a plurality of inflatable portions (bags) that extend from one window side of the window portion toward the tip portion of the curtain so that an entire width of the curtain in an inflated state can be reduced by these inflatable portions, namely the length of the free tip portion of the curtain can be shorter, thereby providing a large tension at the curtain. However, it may be difficult to obtain a sufficiently large enough tension. Further, since considerably large inflatable portions may be required to cover a large window portion, a large-sized inflator may be also necessary to supply a large amount of gas to the large inflatable portions. Thereby, application of the curtain airbag device to the large window portion would be difficult.
US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0066022 A1 discloses a curtain airbag device for a vehicle back window, in which a curtain portion is placed in the folded state at an upper peripheral portion of the back window and tension-providing support points are provided respectively at middle portions of the both-side peripheral portions of the back window, wherein the curtain portion is inflated downward from the tension-providing support points, thereby generating the tension with the tension-providing support points.
The above-described patent publication also discloses another curtain airbag device, in which there are provided guide rails extending vertically at the both-end portions of the back window, wherein the curtain portion placed at the upper peripheral portion is moved down along the guide rails, thereby lowering a tension line by moving the tension-providing support points downward.
However, in a case where the tension line is lowered by moving down the tension-providing support points as described above, a distance between both tension-providing portions by way of the upper peripheral portion of the window portion becomes relatively long. Namely, the length of the curtain located between the tension-providing portions (the width of the curtain) in the inflated state becomes considerably long, and therefore a large amount of gas supply would be required to inflate the large inflatable portions for generating a desirable tension properly.
Further, since the tension-providing portions move as described above, the guide rails would generate a sliding resistance for the inflation of the curtain. Thereby, a smooth and prompt inflation of the curtain could not be attained properly.


On a wafer holding area 50 on the upper surface of a susceptor 22, a wafer W is supported by a wafer support 54 such that a gap with a predetermined distance is formed between the wafer W and a wafer heating surface 52. A projection 58 that decreases the distance of the gap with respect to the wafer W is formed on the wafer heating surface 52. At this time, the heating condition for the wafer W by the susceptor 22 is adjusted by means of the distances of the gaps at the respective portions of the wafer holding area 50. Thus, the uniformity of the planar temperature distribution of the wafer W and that of the thickness distribution of the formed film can be improved.

Semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses include one called a single wafer processing type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing silicon wafers one by one. In this single wafer processing type semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a wafer support unit for horizontally supporting only one wafer is usually arranged in a process chamber.
The wafer support unit generally has a susceptor (substrate holding table) where a wafer is placed. The susceptor is heated by a heating means such as a lamp, and the wafer is heated through the susceptor.
The wafer support unit also has a lift mechanism for vertically moving the wafer placed on the susceptor with respect to the susceptor. The lift mechanism has a plurality of lift pins extending through the susceptor. When the wafer is placed on the upper ends of the lift pins and the lift pins are vertically moved, the wafer can be vertically moved. The lift mechanism can transfer a wafer transferred on the blade of a transfer robot onto the susceptor, or can conversely transfer a wafer from the susceptor to the transfer robot.


A toy or game includes a head assembly having dimensions to provide a planar contact surface for the continuous bouncing of an elastomer ball off of the assembly surface. Located opposite the striking surface of the club head is a back surface that includes a concave pocket cavity that is large enough to hold at least one ball. The head assembly also has a bottom surface that is convex located adjacent to the back surface, and a hosel for attaching a shaft to the head assembly. The concave pocket and the oversized head allow a player to volley the ball, scoop the ball up or hit from a surface, and toss or catch the ball to/from another player.

This invention relates generally to games of skill requiring eye-hand coordination, and more specifically to a club-like apparatus for bouncing, throwing, catching and scooping one or more elastomer balls.
Both children and adults are attracted to games and sports that require or develop eye-hand coordination and which can be played either alone or in groups. One such game/sport is "foot bag," (e.g., Hacky Sack®) where a ball-like bean bag is bounced, tossed and caught using only the feet. Unfortunately, this activity requires a high degree of coordination and agility and it is difficult to master for most people. Young children are unlikely to have the necessary coordination and many adults are unlikely to have the necessary agility. Thus, their attempts to learn will often end in frustration and failure.
Another example of a difficult-to-master skill is one that has become popular with the rise of a well-known professional golfer. This golfer has the uncanny ability to scoop a golf ball from the ground with his golf club, and bounce and catch the ball on the face of the club, much as a skilled foot bag player can bounce and catch the foot bag on his foot. He regularly entertains his fans with demonstrations of this skill, and many fans would like to emulate this skill, even if they have no interest in playing golf. However, it is too difficult for most of them.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus that can be used by both children and adults that facilitates the development of the coordination and agility that are required to perform these and other similar activities.

Apparatus and method for manipulating a ball


Circuit protection devices, power distribution systems, and circuit protection device monitoring in a zone selective interlocking (ZSI) system are described. In one example, a circuit protection device for use in a ZSI power distribution system includes a trip mechanism configured to interrupt current flowing through the circuit protection device, and a trip unit operatively coupled to the trip mechanism. The trip unit is configured to monitor current flowing through the circuit protection device, output a first signal when the monitored current is less than a threshold value, and output a second signal when the monitored current is greater than or equal to the threshold value. The first and second signals are different from each other and different than an absence of a signal.

The present application relates generally to power distribution systems and, more particularly, to zone selective interlocking and circuit protection device monitoring in power distribution systems.
Known electrical distribution systems include a plurality of switchgear lineups including circuit breakers that are each coupled to one or more loads. The circuit breakers typically include a trip unit that controls the circuit breakers based upon sensed current flowing through the circuit breakers. More specifically, the trip unit causes current flowing through the circuit breaker to be interrupted if the current is outside of acceptable conditions.
Some known circuit breakers are programmed with one or more current thresholds (also known as "pickup" thresholds) that identify undesired current levels for the circuit breaker. If a fault draws current in excess of one or more current thresholds for a predetermined amount of time, for example, the trip unit typically activates the associated circuit breaker to stop current from flowing through the circuit breaker. However, in power distribution systems that include a plurality of circuit breakers, a typical arrangement uses a hierarchy of circuit breakers. Large circuit breakers (i.e., circuit breakers with a high current rating) are positioned closer to a power source than lower current feeder circuit breakers and feed the lower current feeder circuit breakers. Each feeder circuit breaker may feed a plurality of other circuit breakers, which connect to loads or other distribution equipment.
A fault may occur anywhere in the circuit breaker hierarchy. When a fault occurs, each circuit breaker that has the same fault current flowing through it may detect different amounts of fault current as a result of varying sensor sensitivities and/or tolerances. When the fault occurs, the circuit breaker closest to the fault should operate to stop current from flowing through the circuit breaker. If a circuit breaker higher in the hierarchy trips, multiple circuits or loads may unnecessarily lose service.
To accommodate for the varying tolerances and to ensure that multiple circuit breakers do not unnecessarily trip based on the same fault current, the current thresholds of at least some known circuit breakers are nested with each other to avoid overlapping fault current thresholds. In some other known systems, circuit breakers in a lower tier send coordination or blocking signals to higher tier circuit breakers upon detection of a fault current. The upper tier circuit breakers' operation is coordinated with the operation of the lower tier circuit breaker in response to the blocking signal. In at least some known systems, higher tier circuit breakers are unable to distinguish between the absence of a blocking signal and a communication failure (such as a broken connection/wire) between the lower tier circuit breaker and the higher tier circuit breaker. When a communication failure occurs in such systems, the higher tier circuit breaker will remain unaware that the lower tier circuit breaker has detected a fault and unnecessary nuisance trips of the higher tier circuit breaker are more likely.

Zone selective interlocking and circuit protection device monitoring in a power distribution system


An airbag assembly for a motor vehicle does not require any heat stakes and permits a deployment door to be formed in the interior panel without the need for scoring or other pre-weakening thereof. The airbag chute is constructed of plastic and includes a substrate facing surface. A door assembly includes a metal door and a plastic door plate. The door plate is positioned between the substrate and the door portion, and has a substrate facing surface. The substrate facing surfaces of the airbag chute and the plastic door plate are attached to the substrate. The substrate facing surface of the plastic door plate engages the substrate over a contact area to distribute a force imposed on the plastic door plate from the deployment of the airbag.

Most modern vehicles include inflatable restraint apparatus having deployable airbags positioned in many locations throughout an automotive vehicle. Generally, an interior panel includes a deployment door formed into the panel which is designed to break free upon deployment of the airbag. A supporting structure behind the interior panel typically contains flexible tethers or metal hinges, which in combination with the deployment door is designed to let the airbag deploy in a very short duration.
A primary aim of the airbag assembly is to control the opening of the deployment door to avoid break explosion and the possibility of flying parts. Clean deployment is provided, in part, through aggressive pre-weakening of the outline of the deployment door to form a seam (typically by laser scoring, mechanical scoring, etc.) in order to insure clean airbag performance. Many airbag assemblies also include ribs formed directly into the substrate of the instrument panel and its deployment door such that the airbag assembly may be directly attached thereto. These ribs are fairly tall and extend through slots or apertures in the airbag assembly and are heat staked or otherwise deformed to attach the components.
Unfortunately, the provision of ribs or other structures for heat staking directly to the substrate of the instrument panel can result in exterior surface appearance defects during molding. Similarly, the pre-weakening of the deployment door's seam can cause potential surface appearance defects, either before or after the scoring procedure. The characteristics of the seam may also change over a long period of time due to exposure to environmental conditions such as UV rays, other light rays, heating or other temperature changes. Finally, the heat stakes represent an additional structure which must be controlled for flying parts during airbag deployment.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide an inflatable restraint apparatus and airbag assembly for a motor vehicle which overcomes the above-noted drawbacks of using a heat staking operation to connect structural components and which reduces or eliminate the need for aggressive pre-weakening of the seam defining the deployment door in the interior panel.

Airbag assembly for improving force distribution