A sealing element is made up of a shut-off body with a sealing surface; a bonding layer component provided on the sealing surface of the shut-off body and containing silicon and carbon; and a sliding layer component provided on the bonding layer component and containing silicon and carbon. The bonding layer component has a silicon content greater than that of the sliding layer component so that the bonding layer component has more ductile properties than the sliding layer component. The sliding layer component is harder than the bonding layer component. The sliding layer component is thinner than the bonding layer component and less than one um so that the bonding layer component takes up stresses of the sliding layer component without impairing adhesion capability of the bonding layer component to the sealing surface.

The invention relates to a sealing element, particularly for shut-off and regulating valves. It comprises a disc-shaped, piston-shaped or spherical shut-off body. The shut-off body can comprise a metallic or nonmetallic material. This material can be, for example, a ceramic material, including aluminium oxide and the various silicon carbides SiC, Si.sub.2 C and silicon nitride Si.sub.3 N.sub.4.
On a working surface (sealing surface) of the shut-off body, a hard material layer containing carbon and silicon is applied by plasma CVD or plasma polymerization in a coating chamber. The hard material layer here comprises a bonding layer component applied to the working surface of the shut-off body and a subsequent covering layer (sliding layer) component. The bonding layer component has a first silicon content favouring adhesion to the working surface of the shut-off body, and the subsequent carbon-containing covering layer component has a second silicon content lower than that of the bonding layer component, or is silicon-free, to achieve low coefficients of sliding friction and static friction.
The deposition from the plasma is carried out by ion bombardment, e.g. by means of a glow discharge or by means of an additional ion gun. From a hydro-carbon-containing atmosphere a wear-resistant, carbon-containing layer having sufficiently low coefficients of sliding friction and static friction can be deposited in this way.
A sealing element of the above type and the associated plasma CVD coating process is known from DE-A 38 32 692.
According to this document, shut-off bodies are, to coat their working surfaces, placed in the coating chamber on a specimen holder having a negative potential relative to the plasma. For initial physical etching of the working surfaces of the shut-off bodies with argon, the coating unit is first operated as cathode atomization (sputtering) unit. For subsequent deposition of the bonding layer component of the hard material layer on the etched working surface, the same unit is then operated under certain first process parameters as high-frequency plasma CVD unit, with the argon gas in the coating chamber being replaced, for example by tetramethylsilane. Under altered second process parameters, the covering or sliding layer component is then deposited from a gas mixture of tetramethylsilane and hexane after deposition of the bonding layer component.
The sealing elements obtained by this method (these can advantageously be coated ceramic plates for water valves, e.g. single-hand mixers) have, thanks to the hard material layer applied, sufficiently low coefficients of sliding friction and static friction when sliding over one another, even in the presence of water, so that greasing of the sealing surfaces as has hitherto been required for uncoated ceramic plates is no longer necessary.
A disadvantage of the known sealing plates is that their hot-water resistance is in many cases unsatisfactory. This is the case particularly when a hot-water resistance of more than 1000 operating hours is to be achieved without the hard material layer applied becoming detached from the shut-off body.

Sealing element, particularly for shut-off and regulating valves, and process for its production


A device for carrying out gas reactions, comprising a plasma reactor with a through-flow of gases which has a, particularly cylindrical, plasma chamber, wherein flow-forming elements for forming a flow of gases are arranged before and/or in and/or after the plasma reactor in order to form a gas stream within the plasma chamber such that at least one, particularly central, zone in the gas flow is formed which is flow-reduced. A method for carrying out gas reactions is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for carrying out gas reactions, the device comprising a plasma reactor with a through-flow of gases, particularly a large-volume plasma reactor, which has a plasma chamber, particularly a cylindrical plasma chamber. The invention further relates to a method for carrying out gas reactions wherein a flow of gases or a flow of gasifiable substances is guided through a plasma, especially a plasma that is excited by microwaves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gases may flow through a device comprising a plasma reactor, particularly a cylindrical plasma reactor, to which microwaves are fed via coupling points, whereupon gas reactions may occur due to high excitation of the gases by the plasma. In particular, it is possible to carry out syntheses of substances and gas purifying reactions.
Known devices for the production of microwave plasmas consist of a plasma chamber, a microwave-feeding resonator with a microwave generator for producing the plasma, and coupling points, e.g. slots, antennas or the like, which are regularly arranged in the metal wall between the resonator and the plasma chamber for coupling the microwave into the plasma chamber.
Known plasma reactors for carrying out gas reactions use thermal plasma jets that require high powers of several times 10 kW and which heat the process gases to several times 1000 or even 10000 K. The power is introduced into small plasma volumes of several cubic centimeters (cm3) with power densities of several times 1000-10000 W/cm3.
According to DE 19 600 223, the resonator, in the form of a ring of rectangular cross-section, surrounds the metal wall with coupling points of the cylindrical, tubular plasma chamber.
Arrangements according to DE 19600223, for example, indeed produce non-equilibrium or non-thermal plasmas, in plasma chambers having a volume of several times 1000 cm3 and power densities of several W/cm3, at a microwave excitation frequency of 2.45 GHz, but they do not permit throughput of larger volume flows and corresponding gas velocities. The efficiency of such non-thermal plasmas, i.e. power input/turnover is markedly better as there is not as much energy wasted on the—generally useless—heating of the neutral gas.
Also suitable as microwave excitation frequency are, in particular, the commercially employed 915 MHz and 440 MHz, with correspondingly scaled plasma sources.
Known resonators that may be employed in accordance with the invention may also enclose a cylindrical wall of the plasma chamber with coupling points, either completely or as segments of a jacket having the same longitudinal axis, or they may be arranged within the cylindrical plasma chamber, e.g. in its axis. Due to the geometry of the resonator and the essentially tubular-cylindrical plasma chamber, and due to the regular arrangement of the coupling points between resonator and plasma chamber, certain wave patterns, so-called modes, are produced in the interior of the plasma chamber with optimal effectiveness of the plasma. The microwave generator may also be complemented or replaced by chemical, electromagnetic or high-frequency excitation.
Gases in the plasma chamber are excited by the plasma, whereby, inter alia, luminous effects are created. With the known reactors, it is of disadvantage that a gas flow disturbs the plasma even at low flow rates and pushes the plasma out of the chamber and causes the plasma to break down, which is thereby extinguished. It is not possible to achieve high gas throughputs and high gas flow velocities with the known reactors.
Known gas reactions and gas syntheses can also take place in the arc with discharge electrodes; here, the temperatures are too high for many purposes, the gas flow is impeded by the electrodes, and the high energy consumption is disadvantageous.

Plasma reactor for carrying out gas reactions and method for the plasma-supported reaction of gases


This present invention concerns a cover layer that is impermeable to the active substances and/or a removable protective layer of a transdermal therapeutic system, comprising a thermoplastic film which either directly contains the absorbing agents and channel-forming agents or is coated with a polymer support (thermoplast) containing these substances. The polymer support can either be applied over the entire surface of the film or in patterns, directly during production. The thermoplastic film that is used and the polymer support can be made from either the same or different materials.

The cover layers used in conventional transdermal therapeutic systems are films made from acetal, acrylate, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, acrylonitrile (methyl methacrylate) copolymer, acrylonitrile copolymer, ethylene ethyl acrylate, ethylene methyl acrylate, ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene vinyl alcohol polymer, ionomers, nylon (polyamide), nylon copolymer, polybutylene, polycarbonate, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, thermoplastic polyester copolymer, polyethylene copolymer (high-density), polyethylene (high molecular weight, high-density), polyethylene (intermediate molecular weight, high-density), polyethylene (linear low-density), polyethylene (low density), polyethylene (medium density), polyethylene oxide, polyimide, polypropylene, polypropylene (coated), polypropylene (oriented), polystyrene, polyurethane, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, and/or styrene acrylonitrile, which, if required, may have been metallized or pigmented. They serve to stabilize the active substance-containing system and protect it against external influences. The cover layer is impermeable to the active substances and therefore prevents the active substance from diffusing to the outside.
The removable protective layers that are used in transdermal therapeutic systems are also impermeable to the active substances and are usually made from polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene, polysiloxane, polyacrylate, ethylene vinyl acetate, polyurethane, polyisobutene or paper, in most cases coated with silicon and/or polyethylene, or a composite of these. They also serve to stabilize the active substance-containing system and protect it against external influences. The removable protective layer is impermeable to the active substances and therefore prevents the active substance from diffusing to the outside during storage.
Transdermal therapeutic systems are usually packaged in sachets. The sachets are usually made from a laminate material coated with aluminum. Such coating increases the impermeability to humidity and oxygen of the packaging. Permeability depends on the thickness of the coating. As the thickness of the aluminum coating increases, environmental incompatibility and the costs incurred in manufacturing and disposing of the packaging increases. In practice, however, total impermeability can not be attained. For that reason, the transdermal therapeutic system is always exposed to a certain degree of humidity. In addition, after production, the transdermal therapeutic system releases a certain amount of residual humidity to the environment. To ensure suitable storage stability, in the sachet, an inlay can be placed which contains a drying agent. As a result, however, the packaging of the transdermal therapeutic system becomes more complicated and significantly more expensive. Highly odorous substances such as amines and polymer monomers which are released during storage from the active substance or the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer can not be eliminated at all or only partially by using this method.
The object of this present invention is to increase the storage stability of transdermal therapeutic systems by minimizing the negative impact of humidity, oxygen, free amines and/or free polymer monomers on the stability of the transdermal therapeutic systems. At the same time, the transdermal therapeutic systems are to be manufactured by conventional means, without any complicated additional production steps, and packaging costs are to be reduced simultaneously.
Surprisingly, it has been possible to achieve the object of this present invention by using, as a cover layer that is impermeable to the active substances or as a removable protective layer of the transdermal therapeutic system, a polymer in the form of a film which either directly contains the absorbing agents and channel-forming agents or which is coated with a polymer support containing these substances. The coating can be applied either over the entire surface of the film or in patterns (e.g. in a grid pattern) directly during production.
The company Capitol Specialty Plastics holds several patent applications (WO 00/17259, WO 00/17260, WO 00/16884, WO 99/62697, WO 99/61856, WO 98/39231, WO 99/61855, WO 00/17258, WO 99/63288, U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,937) which claim polymers containing absorbing agents, releasing agents, channel-forming agents, etc. These polymers are mainly used to eliminate humidity from packages. They are either inlays that are placed in the packages, or the packages are lined therewith. The thickness of the inlays and coating films described is ≧400 μm. This is disadvantageous insofar as these inlays or coatings require an additional production step and represent another cost factor.
By using the cover layer and/or removable protective layer in accordance with this present invention, the thickness of the aluminum coating of the packaging can be greatly reduced. This benefits the environment and reduces the costs of the packaging. The manufacturing process need not be changed. Common state-of-the-art manufacturing processes can continue to be used. In addition, no additional drying element needs to be placed in the packaging. The manufacturing costs of the TTS can therefore be significantly reduced.

Absorbing agents and cover layer which is impermeable to active substances and which contains channel-formers or removable protective layer of a transdermal therapeutic system


An access terminal (102) reacquires a system frame number (SFN) when a difference between a continuous counter elapsed time (220) and a calculated elapsed time (222) exceeds a threshold. The continuous counter elapsed time (220) is generated by a continuous counter (122) remaining active during a sleep state of the access terminal (102) and the calculated elapsed time (222) is based on a SFN derived from a counter value generated by a discontinuous counter (124) that is deactivated during the sleep state. In one aspect, the continuous counter (122) may be clocked by a continuous clock (118) during a sleep mode and the discontinuous counter (124) may be clocked by a faster clock (120) that is deactivated during the sleep mode. During reactivation after the sleep mode, the discontinuous counter (120) is set, at the counter set time, to a reset counter value (126) corresponding to an SFN indicated by the continuous counter (122).

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to synchronization in communication systems, and more specifically to system frame number error detection.
2. Background
Many wireless communication systems employ communication protocols that arrange control information and data into frames where an access terminal (user communication device) references the timing of reception and transmission tasks based on a system frame number (SFN). An access terminal, for example, may access information transmitted from a communication network within a particular frame referenced to the current (SFN). Accordingly, the access terminal must maintain frame synchronization with a communication network by tracking and updating the SFN in order to properly receive information. For example, in an asynchronous communication system such as system operating in accordance with WCDMA standards, a base station pages the access terminal during Paging Occasions that are based on the SFN of the cell at the particular time. The access terminal deciphers a frame of a Page Indicator Channel (PICH) where the frame is based on the current SFN. If the SFN of the access terminal is not synchronized to the SFN of the cell, the access terminal will not receive a page and will not be able to receive calls. One potential method for maintaining SFN synchronization between the access terminal and the cell includes requiring the access terminal to constantly monitor a Broadcast Channel (BCH) where each BCH block includes an encoded SFN. Unfortunately, this technique is not practical due to the resulting power consumption and negative impact on battery life of the access terminal. Some conventional systems allow the access terminal to rely on the SFN that is maintained at the access terminal without monitoring the BCH. This technique is limited since if the SFN is incorrect at the access terminal, the access terminal will not be able to receive calls or otherwise maintain frame synchronization with the communication network.
Accordingly, there is a need for system frame number (SFN) evaluation.


In some embodiments of the invention, the central controller may comprise a processor and a computer readable medium coupled to the processor. The computer readable medium comprises code, executable by the processor to implement a method. The method comprises identifying, by the processor, a sample container or a sample container holder associated with the sample container, and then accessing, by the processor, a location database storing mapping data correlating sample containers or sample container holders with sample containers to test regions in the storage unit. The test regions store sample containers with samples that have been or are to be tested according to different tests. After accessing the database, the method continues by providing, by the processor, a proposal for storage of the sample container or the sample container holder associated with the sample container in the storage unit.

Embodiments of the invention relate to sample container or sample container holder storage systems.
When sample tubes are conventionally processed by a sample processing system, samples may have to wait to be further processed or are held for retesting in some cases. In such cases, a technician may have to manually place the sample tubes containing the samples into storage units, such as a refrigerator for subsequent testing. There can be a number of reasons for this. For instance, a sample may need to be retested at a later date, so the sample may be stored for possible later use. In another example, an analyzer may not be ready or available to analyze a sample. Additionally, local country laws may require that certain types of samples be retained for defined periods of time for retesting, such as in France where it is required to maintain certain patient samples having infectious disease such as HIV or HCV for a defined period of time. The patient samples may then be stored in a storage unit such as a refrigerator for the defined period of time. When patient samples are stored, the technician will manually note the type of patient sample, i.e. HIV or HCV, the retention date and refrigerator location in a notebook (e.g., refrigerator 1, drawer 6). This allows the sample to be easily retrieved for further processing or disposal. The following are examples of these types of manual processes.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional process flow for processing samples in a serum bank using an automated sample processing system. In step 1000, sampled blood is placed into sample tubes. At steps 1002 and 1004, a pre-analytical process is performed using the automated sample processing system, and a sample aliquot is placed in a sample tube. In steps 1006 and 1008, the sample tube may be sorted and a bioassay may be performed. If a bioassay is not yet to be performed on a sample in a sample tube, then in step 1010, the sample tube may be positioned in a common box, uncorrelated with an analytical test code (e.g., one after another). In step 1012, a box reference such as the date may be associated with the box. Lastly, in step 1014, the box is stored in a freezer at a location selected by the technician who writes down the location of the sample and type of sample for future reference.
FIG. 2 shows another conventional process flow for a serum bank that is processed manually. In step 1020, blood is sampled and is placed into sample tubes. The samples in a sample tube may then be processed with bioassays in step 1022. Alternatively, in step 1024, the sample tube may be dedicated for a serum bank. The sample tube may be positioned in a common box uncorrelated with an analytical test code such as indicating that the patient sample is HIV or HCV positive (i.e., one after the other) in step 1026. In step 1028, the box number and positions of the sample tubes in the box are recorded in a laboratory book (step 1028). The box is then stored in a freezer (step 1030), and the position of the box in the freezer is recorded in the laboratory book (step 1032).
FIG. 3 shows another conventional process. In this process, blood samples may be placed in a number of sample tubes (step 1040). Some sample tubes may proceed along a post-analytical path and may be subject to a bioassay (step 1042). Other sample tubes may proceed along a pre-analytical path and may not be subject to the bioassay (step 1043). In step 1044, either post-analytical or pre-analytical samples may be aliquoted into new sample tubes or into a microtitre plate (step 1044). The tube or plate may be placed in a common box, uncorrelated with an analytical test code (i.e., random sample types) (step 1046), or may be positioned in a box that is dedicated to a single test such as Toxoplasmosis or Rubella or a single type of patient sample, e.g. HIV or HCV positive (step 1048). The box number and position of the tube or plate in the box are recorded in a laboratory book (step 1050), and the box is then placed into an open area of a freezer (step 1052). Again, the box may be placed in a random position of the freezer, or a specific area of the freezer can be defined for a specific type of patient sample, such as HIV or HCV. Again, certain countries, such as France, require the placement of like patient samples (HIV/HCV tested) in the same freezer location. The position of the box in the freezer is then recorded in the book (step 1054).
One system that addresses the above problem includes a software product called ItemTracker™ by ItemTracker Software Ltd. In this product, samples can be stored in a refrigerator and the locations of those samples can be tracked. However, the locations of the samples in the refrigerator correspond to different technicians that are responsible for processing the samples. Further, the software is essentially a stand-alone piece of software that is not integrated with any other instrument, thereby making it limited in its application.
Other systems that discuss storage are described in a number of U.S. Published patent applications. These are listed below.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20100028124 to Lackner et al. describes a laboratory storage and retrieval system that is used to store laboratory sample tubes and retrieve stored sample tubes. This published application describes a system that resorts sample tubes on the basis of the expiration dates of the contents of the sample tubes. According this published patent application, this simplifies the disposal of the expired samples.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2010/0049358 to Koch et al. discloses a method and system for handling sample tube racks. It discloses resorting sample tubes according to the diameters of the sample tubes and the sample tubes' shelf lives.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2012/0283867 to Gelbman et al. discloses an automated refrigerated specimen inventory management system. The system allows a user to identify desired pre- and post-analytical storage temperatures desired for each unique combination of sample/specimen type and test requested.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2010/0303590 to Pedrazzini discloses an apparatus for automatically depositing, preserving and retrieving biological material specimens in a refrigerated storage. Pedrazzini discloses a storage comprising a shelf counter consisting of a pair of optical fibers which detect the passage of a tab placed on the external wall of the shelves and an emitter-receiver pair adapted to detect the presence of a container during the handling between the storage and a bench.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems, individually and collectively.

Method and system using sample processing system and storage units


The present application provides a media pad for cooling an inlet air flow to a compressor of a gas turbine engine. The media pad may include a first media sheet with a chevron corrugated surface having a first mist eliminator and a second media sheet with a wavy corrugated surface having a second mist eliminator.

A conventional gas turbine engine includes a compressor for compressing a flow of ambient air, a combustor for mixing the compressed flow of ambient air with a flow of fuel and combusting the mixture, and a turbine that is driven by the combustion mixture to produce power and exhaust gases. Various strategies are known for increasing the amount of power that a gas turbine engine may be able to produce. One method of increasing the power output is by cooling the ambient air flow upstream of the compressor. Such cooling may cause the air to have a higher density, thereby creating a higher mass flow rate into the compressor. The higher mass flow rate into the compressor allows more air to be compressed so as to allow the gas turbine engine to produce more power. Moreover, cooling the ambient air flow generally may increase the overall efficiency of the gas turbine engine in hot environments.
Various systems and methods may be utilized to cool the ambient air flow entering the gas turbine engine. For example, heat exchangers may be used to cool the ambient air flow through latent cooling or through sensible cooling. Such heat exchangers often may utilize a media pad to facilitate the cooling of the ambient air flow. These media pads may allow heat and/or mass transfer between the ambient air flow and a coolant flow such as a flow of water. The ambient air flow interacts with the coolant flow in the media pad for heat exchange therewith.
The airflow passages through such media pads are intended to provide effective water evaporation and mixing of the flow of ambient air with the water vapor from the flow of water. As the air velocity increases, however, water shedding may occur. Specifically, airborne water droplets may accumulate in a downstream inlet duct and/or flow into the compressor. Such water droplets may cause blade abrasion and the like. Known inlet air system thus may incorporate an evaporative cooling system with a downstream mist eliminator. Such mist eliminators, however, require both significant space and additional materials. Moreover, such mist eliminators generally require routine maintenance and associated down time. Known systems also add pressure losses which reduce overall gas turbine output.
There is therefore a desire for an improved media pad that provides efficient cooling without requiring a further downstream mist eliminator. Such a media pad may provide cooling efficiency with less space requirements and fewer materials as compared to known systems. Moreover, such a media may provide a lower system pressure drop as compared to known systems.

Media pads with mist elimination features


A system for handling a dependency between two product segments of a process modeling a production system within a manufacturing execution system (MES) includes a network and a production modeler. The network has data processing units running a MES software for controlling and/or monitoring a production process operating a production components. The production modeler within the MES software defines the dependency between the two product segments, and allows modeling the dependency in a graphical environment as a link between the two product segments. The link is selected from a tool box having link types, each defining one of predetermined dependencies, such as: the two product segments run in parallel, one of the product segments starts after end of the other product segment, one of the product segments starts with a predetermined delay after the other product segment has been started, both two product segments use an identical equipment.

The present invention relates to a system and a method for handling a dependency between two product segments of a process modeling a production system within a manufacturing execution system.
In the world of process, automation and process monitoring standard automation systems for controlling the widest conceivable variety of machines and plants are state of the art. Such technology covers in particular a broad range of products which are offered by the Siemens Corp. under its SIMATIC® product family within the field of manufacturing execution systems (MES). An extensive line of products for solving the technical tasks in question such as counting, measuring, positioning, motion control, closed-loop control and cam control enhance the performance capabilities of appropriate process controllers. A variety of configurations enable the implementation of flexible machine concepts.
In this context, a broad range of IT solutions exists to connect the actual hardware close to the technical and/or logistical process to the application layer of the client driving the installation. Manufacturing execution systems have therefore been developed to meet the requirements of a service oriented architecture (SOA) to integrate seamlessly into a totally integrated automation (TIA). A plug & play architecture, in which individual functions can be combined and configured with each other thereby forms the basis for this success thereby simplifying the complex structures of controlling a manufacturing plant or the like.
These demands often require in the backbone rather complicated and sophisticated software solutions which enable the approach of totally integrated automation. In view of this, the software engineers very often use production moduler to define the plant model and its standard operating procedures and create the respective new software by means of a high level graphical language which identifies the workflow of activities within the software. Subsequently, this string/term of high level graphical language is translated into a client based software language executable on the machine language level. This translation requires tremendous efforts in programming and need serious testing to check whether the translated program behaves the same as the original string/term of the high level graphical language.
For modeling the production system it is required to divide the productive process in many steps (hereinafter called product segments) so that each of the product segments represents a simple action that can be controlled by the MES system. This subdivision must take care of all dependencies existing between the product segments in order to guarantee that the entire production will be executed in the correct way. The most common dependency managed by MES systems and coded in international standard ANSI/ISA/95 represents the management of the timing relations between product segments. This type of dependency is used to define the temporal sequence of the execution of the single product segments. This dependency is modeled as typed link between the two product segments. The link type defines the type of dependency and an optional value can be used to add additional details or restraints (e.g. product segment A must start no later than 2 minutes after product segment B is started).
In the real environment, another type of dependency exists which represents the demand to use a specific production resource for the execution of a product segment depending on a resource that has been chosen for use within another product segment. Considering the equipment resources, it is often necessary to model the constraint that two or more product segments must use the same equipment. Another frequent case describes the need to model the requirement for a product segment to use an equipment which is physically connected to an equipment in use in another product segment.
So far, this type of constraints is modeled individually using custom attributes of the respective product segments. According to this procedures, an engineer has to identify the involved product segments and to chose an adequate custom attribute to represent this constraint. Later on, a manufacturing execution system does not use these constraints; again, the engineer must implement a custom procedure to check the dependencies influencing the normal process execution in order to assure that the production is performed correctly.
Unfortunately, this procedure causes the process to have an internal interface for the hand-over of the data stemming from the identification step into the implementation step. Beside a certain risk for failures, either by data transfer or data interpretation errors, this procedure does not render the system into a fully automated system, but the engineers have to handle this step individually by hand (of course, they use computers, but the intelligent work has to be done by both of them personally).

System and method for handling a dependency between two product segments of a process modeling a production system


A solid-state imaging apparatus comprises first accumulation units, of which number is n, holding a digital value of n-bits output from a counter, second accumulation units, of which number is n, holding the digital value of n-bits transferred from the first accumulation units, of which number is n, and an A/D converter writing the digital value of n-bits from the counter based on an image signal generated by pixels into the first accumulation units, of which number is n, wherein correspondingly to each column of the pixels, the first accumulation unit of m-th bit (1≦m≦n) and the second accumulation unit of m-th bit (1≦m≦n) are arranged and paired, and the pairs of which number is n are arranged in a direction along the column of pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the number of pixels of a solid-state imaging apparatus has been increased for enhancement of the quality of photographed images, in an image input apparatus such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera. Further, the solid-state imaging apparatuses, which are loaded with A/D converters to realize digital output, come out.
As one example of the A/D conversion type which is loaded on a solid-state imaging apparatus, there is a column A/D conversion type. As the prior art document, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-48460 (Patent Document 1) is cited. Its circuit configuration is illustrated in the drawing.
A column A/D conversion type has A/D converters 9 at respective columns of pixels and operates them in parallel, and therefore, can enhance the speed of readout of a solid-state imaging apparatus. Meanwhile, with miniaturization of pixels, serious limitations in layout are posed to the A/D converters 9 arranged at the respective columns. The configuration of a column A/D converter generally has a common counter 5 and lamp signal generating circuit, and has in each row, a comparison circuit of a sensor signal and a lamp signal, and an accumulation unit which stores data from the counter when the comparison circuit performs comparison and determination. When the number of bits of A/D conversion increases for enhancement of image quality, if processing is to be performed in the same period of time as the case where the number of bits is increased, the operation speed of the counter needs to be increased proportionally to the power of two.
Further, in the sensor loaded with column A/D converters, during A/D conversion of sensor output of a certain row, the A/D conversion data of the previous row is output, for enhancement of operation speed, and therefore, the accumulation unit which holds the conversion data of the previous row is required.
FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-48460 is illustrated in FIG. 8. The configuration disclosed in FIG. 8 has the problem of increase in the width between the pixels because a plurality of accumulation units is arranged in the direction along the row.


Exemplary embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for energy production from fluid. In a step, the computer determines if the rate of the fluid level increase in the one of the one or more fluid reservoirs is above a predetermined threshold. In a step, the computer sends a signal to a bypass valve to open and release fluid through a bypass fluid connection from the one of the one or more fluid reservoirs if the rate of the fluid level increase in the one of the one or more fluid reservoirs is above a predetermined threshold. In a step, the computer sends a signal to a regulation valve to open for fluid connection to one or more turbines if the fluid level of the one of the one or more fluid reservoirs is above the predetermined threshold level.

Producing energy from recycling and from renewable resources has become a need to reduce pollution and to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources. It is well known that water and other fluids contain at least two kinds of energy. The first kind of energy is kinetic energy which is related at least to fluid flow properties. Fluid can also contain potential energy which is stored in the fluid due to the physical height of the fluid relative to a lower physical height. The potential energy of the fluid may turn to kinetic energy when the fluid flows from a greater height to a lower height due to gravity. When fluid flows or falls, power can be generated by using several devices, such as turbines and generators.

Regulation valve control based on fluid level changes

International Business Machines Corporation


A neurotrophin production/secretion promoting agent which comprises an azole derivative of the formula:

Neurotrophin is a generic term denoting nerve growth factor (NGF) gene families, meaning proteins which play an important role in the differentiation and functional homeostasis of central and peripheral nerve cells, synapse formation, and regeneration or repair of injured nerve cells. In addition to NGF, so far discovered in mammals are brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) (while neurotrophin-6 (NT-6) has been discovered in fish, it is not known whether this exists in mammals as well). While these are similar in structure and in physiological activity, it is known that they differ in specificity to responding neurons. On the other hand, TrkA, TrkB and TrkC, which are trk family gene products, have been identified as neurotrophin receptors. NGF has high affinity for TrkA, BDNF and NT-4/5 have high affinity for TrkB, and NT-3 has high affinity for TrkC. The complicated actions of neurotrophins on the nervous system are considered to result from the functions, distributions and expression regulating mechanisms involved of neurotrophins and their receptors.
The possibility of clinical application of neurotrophins has been suggested based on the diversity of their actions on the nervous system. In fact, in animal experiments, it has been revealed that NGF, upon intracranial administration, improves the memory and ability to learn and prevents death of neurons due to brain ischemia (Brain Res., vol. 293, p. 305 (1985); Science, vol. 235, p. 214 (1986); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, vol. 83, p. 9231 (1986); and etc.). Further, it was confirmed by Lans Olsson et al. that direct injection of NGF into the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease resulted in amelioration of symptoms of dementia (1991 Symposium on Alzheimer's Disease). Further, patients with diabetic neuropathy show a decreased serum NGF level and, in animal experiments, the pathology of diabetic neuropathy is improved by administration of NGF (Acta Neurol. Scand., vol. 81, p. 402 (1990); Brain Res., vol. 634, p. 7 (1994)) and, based on these and other findings, NGF is considered to effectively act on peripheral nervous system diseases as well as the central nervous system diseases. On the other hand, it is known that when the rat sciatic nerve is injured, Schwann cells transiently synthesize and secrete NGF and thereafter synthesize and secrete BDNF over a long period (J. Cell Biol., vol. 119, p. 45 (1992)). It is further known that BDNF, when intramuscularly administered to wobbler mice genetically developing motor nerve degeneration, prevents the nerve degeneration (Neurology, 50 (4S) A 246 (1998)), that it shows a protective effect on the motor nerve degeneration and nerve cells death in rats (40th Meeting of the Japanese Neurochemical Society, 238 (1997); 15th Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry, S85 (1995)) and that it shows a protective effect on motor functions and sensory nerve cells in an acrylamide neuropathy model (60th Meeting of the Japanese Pharmacological Society, P-532, 1996).
In view of these findings, NGF is currently under clinical investigation as a therapeutic agent for peripheral neuropathy caused by cancer chemotherapy or diabetes mellitus (Genentech), and BDNF as a therapeutic agent for nerve degeneration diseases or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (Sumitomo Pharmaceutical, Regeneron).
However, these neurotrophins each is a macromolecular protein having a molecular weight of 10,000 or more and it is known that applying these neurotrophins as therapeutic agents can lead to problems, such as limited methods of administration and safety problems. Therefore, searching for low molecular compounds capable of promoting the production/secretion of neurotrophins in a specific tissue is of great significance in developing prophylactic/therapeutic agents for diseases of the central or peripheral nervous system. Low molecular compounds hitherto known to have NGF production/secretion promoting activity include catechol derivatives (Furukawa, Y., J. Biol. Chem., vol. 261, p. 6039 (1986); JP Kokai S63-83020; JP Kokai S63-156751; JP Kokai H02-53767; JP Kokai H02-104568; JP Kokai H02-149561; JP Kokai H03-99046; JP Kokai H03-83921; JP Kokai H03-86853; JP Kokai H05-32646), quinone derivatives (JP Kokai H03-81218; JP Kokai H04-330010; JP Kokai H07-285912), glutamic acid derivatives (JP Kokai H07-228561), unsaturated fatty acid derivatives (JP Kokai H08-143454), eudesmane derivatives (JP Kokai H08-73395), condensed-ring oxazole derivatives (JP Kokai H08-175992), carbazole derivatives (JP Kokai H08-169879), indole derivatives (JP Kokai H07-118152; JP Kokai H08-239362), and natural product-derived terpene derivatives (JP Kokai H07-149633; JP Kokai H08-319289). However, their activities are not satisfactory enough, and more potent compounds are desired. It is also known that leteprinim (NeuroTherapeutics, USA), which is a purine derivative, promotes intracranial neurotrophin production in an animal model.
Meanwhile, some of the compounds of the formula (I) or salts thereof described hereafter, wherein X is O, which are active ingredients in the present invention, are disclosed in JP Kokai H09-323983 (WO97/36882), hence already known. However, the neurotrophin production/secretion promoting activity of these known compounds is so far unknown.
It is an object of the present invention to provide neurotrophin production/secretion promoting agents which are useful in the prevention and treatment of diabetic neuropathy, other kinds of peripheral neuropathy resulting from cancer chemotherapy, diabetic cardiomyopathy, nerve degeneration diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, cerebral ischemic diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's chorea, depression, inflammatory bowel disease and so forth.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Neurotrophin production/secretion promoting agent

Abstract: wherein R1 represents a halogen atom, a heterocyclic group which may optionally be substituted, a hydroxy group which may optionally be substituted, a thiol group which may optionally be substituted, or an amino group which may optionally be substituted; A represents an acyl group which may optionally be substituted, a heterocyclic group which may optionally be substituted, a hydroxy group which may optionally be substituted, or a carboxyl group which may optionally be esterified or amidated; B represents an aromatic group which may optionally be substituted; X represents oxygen atom, sulfur atom, or nitrogen atom which may optionally be substituted; and Y represents a divalent hydrocarbon group or heterocyclic group, or a salt thereof; which is useful as an agent for preventing or treating neuropathy.


There is provided a method, system and program storage device for utilizing a hardware performance monitors for improving performance of an application comprising a plurality of instructions while the application is executing on a micro-architecture, comprising: creating a machine internal representation (MIR) for the plurality of instructions or a subset thereof for the hardware and generating an executable (EXE) from the MIR for execution on the hardware; determining hardware performance monitor (HPM) information for an event associated with a resource of the hardware during execution of the EXE to identify one or more instructions of the application that affect the execution of the application on the hardware; re-computing the MIR according to the HPM information; and re-generating the EXE from the re-computed MIR for execution on the hardware if the MIR and the re-computed MIR are different, thereby improving utilization of the resource by the application. Also provided is a hardware performance monitor (HPM) subsystem for improving performance of an application comprising a plurality of instructions while the application is executing on a hardware.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to compiler systems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an adaptive optimization system and method for utilizing hardware performance monitors to improve an application's performance during its execution on a particular micro-architecture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With rapidly changing hardware, modem compilers have to target a variety of architectures or architecture implementations. To make this task easier, most compilers consist of an architecture-independent frontend section and an architecture-specific backend section the result of which is an executable application. More particularly, while the frontend section transforms a source application into an intermediate representation (i.e., "IR"), the backend section transforms the IR generated by the frontend section into a sequence of machine instructions (i.e., instruction schedule) for a particular instruction set architecture (i.e., "ISA"), such as PowerPC, which is to be executed on a specific implementation of the ISA (i.e., micro-architecture), such as PowerPC 604e.
Typically, the backend section views the particular ISA as a collection of resources (e.g., caches, registers and the like) and constraints between them, which comprise a micro-architectural model for the particular ISA. The backend section utilizes the micro-architectural model to select a "better" instruction schedule, which takes the fewest clock cycles to execute. In general, the more precise the micro-architectural model the better the instruction schedule that can be generated by the backend section, but the more time that is required by the backend section to generate the instruction schedule. It is noted that the increase in time associated with generating a better instruction schedule is often nonlinear. Notwithstanding the preciseness of the micro-architectural model actually used, it will nevertheless have some imprecision, if for no other reason than some facts that are dependent on the application's execution behavior are impossible to ascertain at compile time, such as the location of data in main memory and the like.
Various compilers exist: static and dynamic. For static compilers, where the instruction schedule is generated before the application executes and the cost of compilation is amortized over many application executions, the execution time of the backend section is less important and the precision of the micro-architectural model is more important because the static compiler has only one opportunity to guess the correct schedule of instructions. If the guess is wrong, the consequence is poor performance of the application during its execution. For dynamic compilers, the instruction schedule is generated at application execution time and the compilation time is counted as part of the application's execution time. Typically, with the dynamic compiler the precision of the micro-architectural model is not as important as the saving of the execution time and thus the precision of the micro-architectural model may be sacrificed in lieu of savings in the execution time. One such compiler is a just-in-time (i.e., "JIT") compiler, which compiles/optimizes the application only once. Just like the static compiler, the JIT has only one opportunity to guess the instruction schedule and the making of an incorrect "guess" may also lead to poor application performance during application execution. An alternative dynamic compilation strategy is an adaptive optimization system (i.e., "AOS"). In the AOS, the backend section of the compiler has an opportunity to "guess" multiple times to try to get a better instruction schedule. After guessing, the AOS may evaluate the guess and guess again if appropriate, thereby helping to eliminate poor application performance due to one or more bad guesses. Furthermore, the backend section may only have to guess again for parts of the application that have the potential to make a performance difference, and for these parts the backend section can spend more time on compilation because they are a small fraction of the total application size.
Many of the currently available microprocessors provide hardware performance monitors (i.e., "HPMs"), which count a number of times that a micro-architectural event that captures some behavior of a particular micro-architectural resource occurs on the micro-architecture. For example, the typical micro-architectural resources that may be counted may include caches or functional units within a micro-architecture. Functional units represent stages in a pipelined superscalar micro-architecture. The stages may include fetch/decode, dispatch, execute and complete on the particular micro-architecture. The execute stage may include integer and floating-point units, as well as branch and load/store units. The typical events that may be counted include the number of times a micro-architectural resource starts, completes and stalls. For example, an instruction's execution may stall if a value that is an input to the instruction at the time of execution is not available, or if an underlying micro-architectural resource that is required by the instruction is not yet available. The HPMs may be used to generate offline information, which determines where execution time is spent in the application and which may be used to identify parts of the application that should be modified to improve micro-architectural resource utilization. In order to generate offline information, the application is executed to collect HPM data and after the application completes, the HPM data is analyzed to determine how to modify the application's behavior for subsequent executions of the application.
A drawback associated with utilizing offline HPM data from one execution to modify the behavior of an application for subsequent executions is that the modification may not result in improved performance of the application when subsequent executions have different behaviors. For example, the application's behavior may differ from one execution to the next because of the different input to the application. In addition, because offline information is aggregated, the behavior of individual application components may not be obvious. For example, if an application has phase shifts, the phases may not be apparent in the offline information that is collected across all phases. Therefore, offline information may be imprecise and thus may not be useful for modifying application behavior.
FIG. 1 illustrates prior art compiler system 100 without use of hardware performance monitors. The compiler system 100 comprises a static compiler 116, which includes frontend 104, intermediate representation (i.e., "IR") 106, selection/scheduling heuristics 108, machine model 110 and backend 112, all of which are described in detail below. In the compiler system 100, the source code 102 represents an application's source code, which is to be compiled by the static compiler 116. The frontend section 104 of the static compiler 116 takes as input or reads in the application's source code 102, parses the source code 102 and generates an IR 106, which breaks down instruction in the source code 102 into a plurality of low-level abstract operations that are more conducive to optimization. The IR 106 is a sequence of operations that has implied data and control dependencies between the operations. For example, on a reduced instruction set computer (i.e., "RISC") microprocessor, the low-level abstract operations comprise loads and stores of memory values into registers and subsequent computations on the values in the registers. It is noted that at this point, the registers are symbolic registers, which are subsequently translated into actual hardware registers by the backend section 112. The backend section 112 of the static compiler 116 reads in the IR 106 and generates an executable (i.e., "EXE") 114, which represents a schedule of macro-architectural instructions, i.e., assembly language instructions for a particular instruction set architecture ISA, e.g., PowerPC. As aforementioned, the ISA defines a particular target architecture to which a user-level application must conform. More particularly, the backend section 112 selects micro-architectural instructions for the IR operations 106, orders the instructions via instruction scheduling and maps symbolic registers into physical registers via register allocation.
Further with reference to FIG. 1, during EXE 114 generation, the backend section 112 consults the machine model 110, which describes characteristics about the particular target micro-architecture, e.g., PowerPC 604e. For example, the machine model 110 may include micro-architectural resources that are available (e.g., fetch/decode, dispatch, execute, and complete phases of a pipelined superscalar microprocessor), a number of instances of a particular micro-architectural resource (e.g., there may be a number of integer functional units which partially comprise the execute stage), and clock cycles that are required for a value to flow from one micro-architectural resource to another (e.g., the number of cycles for an instruction to be executed after it has been dispatched). More particularly, the machine model 110 provides detailed information about the underlying micro-architecture that the backend 112 uses to determine latencies and constraints between instructions for a particular instruction schedule. For example, if the expected latency or delay of an instruction is d clock cycles for a particular micro-architectural resource, then the backend 112 will attempt to schedule all instructions that are dependent on the value generated by the instruction at least d clock cycles later. Furthermore, if there is more than one integer functional unit, the backend 112 may schedule more than one integer instruction to be executed in the same clock cycle.
Yet further with reference to FIG. 1, in addition to the machine model 110, the backend 112 further consults selection/scheduling heuristics 108, which are used for instruction selection and instruction scheduling in the EXE 114. For example, there may be a plurality of instructions that could be selected at any given time and the heuristics 108 help the backend section 112 select the optimal instructions among the plurality of instructions so that the instruction schedule will finish executing in the fewest possible number of clock cycles on the particular target micro-architecture. One goal of the backend 112 is to generate a "valid" instruction schedule that orders the instructions so that their execution will maintain the data dependencies between instructions. For example, if the value generated by executing instruction A is used by instruction B, then instruction A must be scheduled for execution before instruction B.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for providing a system and method for utilizing hardware performance monitors to evaluate and modify the behavior of an application during its execution. More particularly, there is a need in the art for providing an adaptive optimization system and method for utilizing hardware performance monitors to improve an application's performance while the application is executing.

System and method for using hardware performance monitors to evaluate and modify the behavior of an application during execution of the application


A method for determining a position of a mobile terminal while using an aircraft is provided. Before using the aircraft, orbital data for the navigation satellites of the navigation satellite system is loaded onto the mobile terminal. A planned flight route can then be identified by the mobile terminal with reference to a boarding pass. While using the aircraft, an application on the mobile terminal correlates a current time, the flight route of the aircraft, and the positions of the navigation satellites as ascertained with reference to the orbital data of the navigation satellites to determine which navigation satellites can be received at the current time, and these are then compared with navigation satellite signals that are actually received by the mobile terminal to derive a position of the mobile terminal and to establish whether the mobile terminal is actually located in the aircraft.

So called infotainment (i.e. movies, music, news information, etc.) is offered for the entertainment of passengers in aircraft, in particular passenger airplanes. This multimedia infotainment content may be available to passengers during a flight, for example, on mobile terminals such as tablet PCs or smartphones, for example. The proprietors of rights in the infotainment content normally only grant usage rights to the content (e.g. movies, music items, etc.) for a clearly limited scope of use. For example, said scope of use may have temporal (e.g. a time window), spatial (e.g. region, language, etc.) and/or situational (e.g. for cinema, home TV, mobile use, use by an airline, etc.) limitations. Provision is therefore made for special usage rights such as e.g. the so-called "Airline Hospitality Window" in relation to infotainment content that is to be used in an aircraft, such usage rights being required in order to use this relatively new infotainment content while using an aircraft or a flight.
Various means of using infotainment content in aircraft, in particular passenger airplanes, are known. One possibility is for mobile terminals containing previously downloaded infotainment content to be given to passengers on loan during a flight by the respective airline operator, or for passengers in the aircraft to be able to download infotainment content onto their own mobile terminals by means of so-called streaming from a streaming server which is installed in the aircraft. However, these two variants require a corresponding infrastructure and logistics on the part of the airline operator. A corresponding efficient and expensive infrastructure (e.g. server, mobile terminals, etc.) must be available in the airplane, and this infrastructure must be updated continuously for current infotainment content, wherein a large number of mobile terminals must be provided with new content or a large volume of data must be transferred onto the streaming server, for example.
The infotainment content can also be downloaded by the respective passenger onto their own mobile terminal already before using an airplane. For this purpose, infotainment content can be purchased in advance by a passenger and stored on their mobile terminal, wherein little or no content from the so-called "Airline Hospitality Window" is used for this purpose, and use is instead made of content that is e.g. accessible generally and e.g. available via the Internet or specific Internet sites. A further possibility is however provided by so-called buffered infotainment content. In this case, infotainment content is downloaded by the passenger e.g. from an airline-operated server onto their mobile terminal while on the ground and before using the aircraft, for example. The content can then be viewed with a time delay in the airplane. However, this variant of the infotainment content use only allows partial verification of the so-called "Airline Hospitality Window", i.e. use in the airplane. While it is possible to check a temporal restriction relating to the use of the content, it is not possible to monitor regional or situational use of the content as part of limiting the usage rights to view the infotainment content during a flight, since it is not possible to establish whether the mobile terminal is actually in the aircraft. Therefore e.g. usage rights relating to use of content on the ground are applied in many cases, and consequently the available content is frequently out of date and/or subject to a regional usage restriction.
Although mobile terminals such as e.g. tablet PCs, smartphones, etc. now offer facilities and/or applications for position fixing, use thereof may be restricted or ineffective in an aircraft. The connection to the radio network is often used as a basis for fixing the position of a mobile terminal such as a cell phone, for example. However, this connection is deactivated for reasons of safety in an aircraft. In order to effect this deactivation, modern mobile terminals such as e.g. tablet PCs and smartphones can be switched into so-called flight mode, in which the connection and connection setup to a radio network is prevented.
However, these modern mobile terminals, which can also be used to play infotainment content, often have e.g. a facility and/or application by means of which satellite signals of a global navigation satellite system can be received and analyzed for the purpose of position fixing. In the case of satellite-based position fixing e.g. by means of GPS (Global Positioning System), three-dimensional position fixing of the mobile terminal nonetheless requires a distance from the mobile terminal to at least four visible navigation satellites to be ascertained. The distance between the relevant navigation satellites and the mobile terminal is then derived from a signal propagation time. Due to the screening effect of the airplane shell, reception of navigation satellite signals is however usually insufficient to allow position fixing of the mobile terminal in an aircraft.
In addition, mobile terminals such as e.g. tablet PCs, smartphones, etc. often lack full receivers for navigation satellite signals or GPS, and instead use a method called Assisted GPS. In this case, the mobile terminal simply takes propagation time measurements based on the receipt of so-called pseudoranges to a plurality of navigation satellites. The name pseudoranges is used because, due to a limited length of the sequences of the navigation satellite signals, the propagation time between the navigation satellites and the mobile terminal is only a modulo 1 ms value. For the purpose of position fixing, the navigation satellite signals must be supplemented by further information (so-called auxiliary data such as e.g. navigation data or orbital data of the satellites), which is supplied via the respective radio network or radio communication system in the case of Assisted GPS. However, this information is not available in an airplane because a connection to the radio network is not present or has been deactivated. Moreover, the navigation signals of the satellites in the airplane are severely attenuated or, for example, a sufficient number of navigation satellite signals for position fixing can seldom be received. At best, they may be available from a seat in the immediate vicinity of an airplane window.
For the purpose of validation for a subsequent journey by air, position fixing can be performed at a departure airport and then used. However, this procedure has the disadvantage that the position fixing is relatively unreliable and inaccurate for checking corresponding usage rights in relation to infotainment content which is only allowed to be used during a flight, for example. Although it can be established that a passenger is located at the departure airport with the relevant mobile terminal on which this specifically protected content will be used, it is not conclusively checked whether the corresponding flight is also used.
Further possibilities for determining a position of a mobile terminal in an aircraft, or checking whether a specific mobile terminal is located in a specific aircraft, consist in e.g. the aircraft providing amplification facilities (so-called repeaters) for navigation satellite signals or broadcasting current position data in the airplane via wireless LAN or Bluetooth, for example. In both cases, a dedicated and generally expensive infrastructure must be installed in the airplane in order that the position data can be supplied. In particular, specific cost-intensive precautions must be taken when using repeaters for the navigation satellite signals, since navigation satellite signals are very important to flight safety and therefore disruptions must be prevented.

Method for determining a position of a mobile terminal


The present disclosure relates to one or a combination of an absorbent article's chassis, inner leg cuffs, outer leg cuffs, ear panels, side panels, waistbands, and belts that may comprise one or more pluralities of tightly spaced (less than 4 mm, less than 3 mm, less than 2 mm, and less than 1 mm) and/or very fine (less than 300, less than 200, less than 100 dtex) and/or low strain (less than 300%, less than 200%, less than 100%) elastics to deliver low pressure less than 1 psi (according to the conditions defined by the Pressure-Under-Strand method below) under the elastics, while providing adequate modulus of (between about 2 gf/mm and 15 gf/mm) to make the article easy to apply and to comfortably maintain the article in place on the wearer, even with a loaded core (holding at least 50 mls of liquid), to provide for the advantages described above.

The present disclosure details elastomeric laminates comprising a greater number of elastic strands having a greater fineness and a closer spacing than has been previously disclosed or practiced in disposable absorbent articles. Further, the present disclosure details combinations of these elastic elements in groupings, including groupings with traditional elastics (e.g., strands, films, extruded strands, scrims, elastomeric nonwovens, etc.) that have not been previously disclosed.
These improved elastomeric laminates can be used as disposable absorbent article (for, example, taped diapers, pants, pads, and liners) components for fit and gasketing at the waist, legs, crotch and sides of the wearer to generally provide the greatest level of extensibility, the most comfortable wearing conditions, improved leakage protection and a better fit.
More particularly, these improved elastomeric laminates offer several advantages, including improved textures and less pressure of the elastic elements on the wearer's skin at a given modulus versus traditional elastomeric laminates known today. These improvements result in enhancing application (e.g., making pant articles easier to open for donning), fit, comfort and reduced marking of the wearer's skin. The inventive elastomeric laminates disclosed in this application perform better than traditional stranded and film versions of laminates known today.
Elastic laminates of the prior art have a number of consumer negatives that vary based on the laminate structure. For example, traditional stranded laminates used in absorbent articles known today typically comprise elastic elements of relatively high decitex (also referred to herein as "dtex") and relatively large elstic spacing, which when combined result in high pressure imparted by each elastic on the skin and large uncontrolled rugosities in the laminate both of which leads to increased skin marking, reduced comfort and a non-garment like appearance. Traditional stranded laminates typically comprise elements spaced at least 4 mm apart primarily due to manufacturing limitations and handling of individual strands of elastics via separate material infeeds. With regard to extruded strands and/or extruded scrim materials, they are similar to many elastomeric films in that they typically comprise thermoplastic materials that undergo significant stress relaxation over time and thus do not maintain the proper forces at the waist and legs to provide proper initial and sustained fit and gasketing over the entire wearing time.
Regarding elastic film laminates, they are significantly more occlusive (i.e., less breathable, very low or no air permeability), resulting in greater hydration of the skin and as a result significantly reduced comfort and increased marking associated with the susceptibility of the hydrated skin to marking. Also, film based elastic laminates in general tend to have a higher modulus versus stranded elastic laminates, therefore being more difficult to apply to a wearer (making it difficult to open for donning), therefore requiring more sizes to cover a given fit range of wearers. It is also very difficult to create a force profile across the elastic film laminate or scrim based elastic laminate as they are typically formed via webs with relatively uniform properties.
There has therefore been a long standing unmet consumer need which is to create a product that delivers very low pressure on the skin, high level of breathability, adequate force for sustained fit, low modulus, high extensibility and a smooth uniform texture. Such an absorbent article would provide improved skin condition, skin marking, skin hydration, ease of application, ease of removal, improved sustained fit, improved gasketing, as well as improved body conformity and wearer comfort.
To deliver against all of the unmet consumer needs requires a complete structural redesign of the elastomeric laminates used in the absorbent article. The balance of elastic decitex, elastic strand spacing, number of elastics and elastic pre-strain required to deliver such a unique blend of properties requires elastic decitex that are very low, well below that of the prior art, disposed at elastic to elastic spacing that are also very low, also well below the prior art, which in turn requires a larger number of elastics well above that known in the prior art, and elastic strains that are also low and well below nearly all of the known prior art. In addition to the very specific combinations of decitex, spacing, number of elastics and pre-strain required to deliver against the range of unmet consumer needs an additional factor of nonwoven choice, basis weight, composition, etc. is also critical to creating the overall desired structure.
Elastomeric laminates of the present disclosure have higher body contact and improved textures versus the prior art as demonstrate by the Surface Topography Method and less pressure of the elastic elements on the wearer's skin at a given modulus and reduced marking of the wearer's skin versus traditional elastic laminates known today as demonstrated by the Pressure-Under-Strand method. These improvements result in enhancing application (e.g., making pant articles easier to open for donning), fit, comfort as evidenced by the Product Measurement Test. These inventive elastomeric laminates also provide a very high level of breathability as evidenced by the WVTR Method and by the Air Permeability method. The inventive elastomeric laminates disclosed in this application perform better than traditional stranded and film versions of laminates known today.
The specific set of criteria required to deliver against all of the aforementioned unmet consumer needs with a single product not only requires unique elastomeric laminate structures but it requires a new process, beamed elastic (a plurality of elastics formed on and delivered from a beam or spool), for delivery of such a large number of low decitex elastics, at low pre-strain and low spacing in order to achieve the right balance of laminate properties. Such an approach to the best of our knowledge has never before been disclosed or attempted in the field of absorbent articles; hygiene articles, taped diapers, diaper pants, adult incontinence articles, menstrual products, etc.

Laminate(s) comprising beamed elastics and absorbent article(s) comprising said laminate(s)


A digital radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit comprises circuitry that is adapted to select between a transmitter input signal (148) and a receiver input signal. A plurality of filters are adapted to receive either the transmitter input signal or the receiver input signal and to produce either a filtered transmitter signal or a filtered receiver signal. Circuitry alternatively receives the filtered transmitter signal or the filtered receiver signal and produces a modulated output and a demodulated output.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art which may be related to various aspects of the present invention which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a flexible data communications system implemented as an alternative or extension to a wired LAN within a building or campus. Using electromagnetic waves, WLANs transmit and receive data over the air, minimizing the need for wired connections. Thus, WLANs combine data connectivity with user mobility, and, through simplified configuration, enable movable LANs. Some industries that have benefited from the productivity gains of using portable terminals (e.g., notebook computers) to transmit and receive real-time information are the digital home networking, health-care, retail, manufacturing, and warehousing industries.
Manufacturers of WLANs have a range of transmission technologies to choose from when designing a WLAN. Some exemplary technologies are multicarrier systems, spread spectrum systems, narrowband systems, and infrared systems. Although each system has its own benefits and detriments, one particular type of multicarrier transmission system, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), has proven to be exceptionally useful for WLAN communications.
OFDM is a robust technique for efficiently transmitting data over a channel. The technique uses a plurality of sub-carrier frequencies (sub-carriers) within a channel bandwidth to transmit data. These sub-carriers are arranged for optimal bandwidth efficiency compared to conventional frequency division multiplexing (FDM) which can waste portions of the channel bandwidth in order to separate and isolate the sub-carrier frequency spectra and thereby avoid inter-carrier interference (ICI). By contrast, although the frequency spectra of OFDM sub-carriers overlap significantly within the OFDM channel bandwidth, OFDM nonetheless allows resolution and recovery of the information that has been modulated onto each sub-carrier.
The transmission of data through a channel via OFDM signals also provides several other advantages over more conventional transmission techniques. Some of these advantages are a tolerance to multipath delay spread and frequency selective fading, efficient spectrum usage, simplified sub-channel equalization, and good interference properties.
In spite of these advantages, there are some problems with OFDM data transfer. An OFDM System generates base band symbols via a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) that consist of many samples. The base band signal so constructed is complex (a real component and an imaginary component) and has a complex frequency content approximating (though less than), half the sampling frequency. The modulation of the base band sample data signal and subsequent demodulation of a sampled data radio frequency (RF) signal is a relatively complex process.
Known methods of digital modulation include separately up-sampling the real and imaginary components with a sample rate converter (filtering process) from a base band sampling rate, S0, to a sampling rate, S1, sufficient to carry the base band signal modulated on the desired carrier. The desired sample data complex carrier may be created at the sampling rate S1. The real part of the base band signal is multiplied with the real part of the complex carrier (cosine) and added to the product of the imaginary part of the base band signal with the imaginary part of the complex carrier (sine) to create a real sample data RF signal. A compensated digital-to-analog (D/A) converter converts the real sample data RF signal to an analog RF signal. A method and apparatus is desirable that reduces the complexity of modulating the base band sample data signal onto a sampled data radio frequency (RF) carrier and demodulating a sampled data RF signal while maintaining fidelity.

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) digital radio frequency (RF) transceiver


The present invention relates to a nanoperforator having a lipid-bilayer nanodisc and a membrane-structured protein surrounding the nanodisc and to a pharmaceutical composition having the nanoperforator as an active ingredient for preventing or treating viral infectious diseases. The use of the lipid-bilayer nanoperforator provided in the present invention can lead to the safe prevention or treatment of a disease caused by viral infection regardless of whether the virus is a variant or not, and thus the present invention can be widely used for the safe and effective treatment of viral infectious diseases.

An influenza virus is an RNA virus belonging to the family Orthomyxoviridae, which is divided into three types: A, B, and C. Among these types, while the influenza B and C viruses infect only humans, the influenza A virus infects humans, horses, pigs, other mammals, and various types of poultry and wild birds. The serotype of the influenza A virus is divided according to the type of two viral surface proteins, i.e., hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), and to date, 144 types of viral surface proteins (16 types of the HA protein and 9 types of the NA protein) are known. HA plays a role in attaching a virus to somatic cells, and NA allows a virus to penetrate into cells.
The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus, which has recently drawn attention, is also referred to as "swine flu" or "swine flu virus," and is a new type of virus in which genetic materials of human, pig, and avian influenza viruses are mixed.
As viral infectious therapeutic agents developed so far, an amantadine- or rimantadine-based M2 ion channel inhibitor and an oseltamivir (Tamiflu®)- or zanamivir (Relenza®)-based neuraminidase inhibitor are known, but these therapeutic agents have limited effects. That is, it is known that variant viruses having resistance to amantadine- or rimantadine-based derivative compounds are rapidly produced, H5N1-type influenza viruses, which are detected in some areas, have resistance to amantadine- or rimantadine-based compounds, and the influenza B virus is not sensitive to amantadine derivatives. It is also known that the number of viruses having resistance to oseltamivir- or zanamivir-based derivative compounds has increased, and these resistant viruses occur frequently in children.
Studies have been actively conducted to develop a novel therapeutic agent that does not have the above-described problems in existing treatments of viral infections. For example, Korean Patent Registration No. 1334143 discloses a composition for preventing or treating a cold, avian influenza, swine influenza, or swine flu, which includes a Polygala karensium extract and a xanthone-based compound isolated therefrom. However, these agents have low anti-viral activity, and thus are unable to exhibit an effective effect of preventing or treating swine flu.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a new anti-influenza agent that can be generally applied to all variant viruses and replace existing viral inhibitors.

Pharmaceutical composition comprising nanoperforator for preventing or treating viral infectious diseases


A juice dispensing system which includes a first station and a second station is provided. The first station includes a housing and dispensing valve extending therefrom for dispensing juice product into a cup. The dispensing valve includes an inlet for receiving water and juice concentrate, mixes the water and the concentrate to form the product and then dispenses the juice products A first conduit extends through the housing to provide water to the inlet at the dispensing valve, while a second conduit provides juice concentrate to the inlet supply at the dispensing valve. The juice concentrate is stored in a juice concentrate reservoir at a second station, the second station being at a remote distance from the first station. A peristaltic pump is disposed within the second conduit for creating a suction which draws the juice concentrate from the juice concentrate reservoir and further meters the juice concentrate to the dispensing valve. The peristaltic pump is located within the housing of the juice dispenser at the first station.

An apparatus (juice dispenser) for reconstituting citrus fruit or vegetable juice concentrate, such as orange juice concentrate, with water (preferably cold tap water) and dispensing the reconstituted fruit juice into a cup is well known in the prior art. Such juice dispensers must be adapted to operate efficiently with a citrus fruit juice concentrate which carries pulp and other solids, presenting unique problems preventing efficient flow. Furthermore, dispensing of the pulp solids evenly is an object of juice dispensers. Thus, straining out or removing the pulp or solids is not a viable option.
Generally, a juice dispensing apparatus includes a dispensing tower having a plurality of mixing valves which operate to mix independent inflows of water and juice concentrate, control the brix of the mixed product and dispense the product into a cup or glass. The dispensing tower generally includes a cooling system which is either the mechanically refrigerated type or the cold plate type. The mechanically refrigerated type uses refrigerant-filled coils to form an ice bank which is surrounded with conduit coils through which water passes and is chilled. Generally, these coils are contained in a water bath for uniform cooling. The water conduit is connected to a water supply at one end, passes through the water bath within the dispensing tower and is connected to the dispensing valve at an opposite end. The cold plate cooler utilizes an aluminum block or plate of similar metal in which the water conduits are embedded. Ice is placed in contact with the aluminum block. The ice cools the block, which in turn, cools the water within the block. The cold plate is also embedded in insulation or a foamed insulation block as are the water conduits which lead from the cold plate to the dispensing valve. In a juice dispenser, it is not necessary to cool the concentrate because of the ratio of water to concentrate, the fact that the water is cooled independently.
In general, there are two types of juice dispensers. The first is a self-contained juice dispenser in which the dispensing tower includes mixing and dispensing valves, the cooling system for the water supply and a concentrate container within which fruit or vegetable juice concentrate is placed for later dispensation. A pump, typically a peristaltic pump, accurately meters the flow of the concentrate to the mixing valves. Typically, the juice concentrate reservoir is located above the dispensing valve, and vacuum and gravity feed moves the concentrate from the concentrate reservoir through a metering device, often a peristaltic pump, and to the dispensing valve.
It has also been proposed to provide a juice dispensing apparatus which uses either a venturi pump or aspirator or venturi action without the use of a mechanical pump. These systems utilize the energy from the pressure of the tap water supply system to draw fruit juice concentrate from a supply reservoir. Examples of these prior art systems include Jenkins U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,357 and Uttech U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,151, incorporated by reference herein.
The problems with large countertop drink dispensing units are well known. In many businesses, including for instance, the fast food industry, countertop space is at a premium. In order to maximize the efficiency and flow required in the fast food industry, as well as free valuable counter space, remote drink dispensing units have been used. Prior art remote dispensing units, most notably used for soft drinks, have numerous advantages. The drink dispensing tower usually only includes a number of handles, mixing valves or the like, which are operated to cause beverage components to flow from supplies at a remote location into a cup in which they are mixed to form the drink. Only the ice component of the drink need be stored in a location adjacent to the dispensing tower. An example of such remote drink dispensing units is seen in Neumann U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,244, incorporated by reference herein.
Other prior art apparatuses, especially those used for mixing and dispensing non-pulpy beverages, utilize a pump at the reservoir for pressurizing the syrup or concentrate to push the concentrate through the line and into the mixing and dispensing mechanism.
The advantages of such remote drink dispensing units include the ability to change the drink supply at a remote location without interfering with the flow of sales at a front counter or the ability of customers to serve themselves at a self-serve unit, such as during a lunch crowd. The space requirements of several large syrup canisters, as in the case of soft drinks, or bag-in-box reservoirs, as in the case of fruit juice concentrate, is great. Allowing drink dispensers to draw from the supplies, while the supplies are located in a back room, is of great advantage to many food industries. Remote drink dispensers are also significantly easier to operate, maintain and repair. The dispensing towers are smaller and compact and, especially in the case of certain juice dispensers, such as seen in McMillan U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,861 or Popinski U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,835, utilize storage tanks, either separate or as a part of the dispensing tower. The storage tanks need to be periodically filled and, importantly, need be cleaned and flushed with flushing water. Remote juice dispensers, including those using bag-in-box supply reservoirs for juice concentrate, make cleaning easier.
For definitional purposes, a bag-in-box supply reservoir, known in the art, comprises a corrugated cardboard box having a plastic or foil-lined bag therein which contains the fruit juice concentrate. A simple plastic valve, also well known in the art, is attached to a nipple opening in the bag, the plastic valve then being attached by a conduit to the juice dispenser.
In conventional remote juice dispensers, a juice reservoir, such as a bag-in-box, is located at a distance from the juice dispensing appliance such as the dispensing tower. The reservoir is teamed with a pump at the reservoir location which moves the juice concentrate from the reservoir to the dispensing tower. In such an embodiment, each juice reservoir must include its own pump which, in turn, supplies an individual dispensing valve at the dispensing tower. This design has certain inherent disadvantages.
The juice marketplace is very competitive. Retailers change juice vendors very frequently. When concentrate is bought from a different source, the previous vendor comes into the store location and removes his equipment. The new vendor then comes in and installs his own equipment. When juice concentrate pumps are located remotely from the dispensing appliance, they must first be removed by the first vendor and new, separate pumps installed by the second vendor. Not only does this make extra work, it involves extra bookkeeping for both vendors and store managers. Often, because the pumps are located at a remote location, they are not retrieved by the first vendor and are sometimes lost.


A packaging system or method for protecting combustible material in a sprinkler-provided environment has an outer layer with a combustible surface covering a fire-retardant protection layer. Combustion of the surface of the outer layer promotes effective sprinkler operation, while combustible material is protected by the fire-retardant protection layer.

This invention relates to the protection of combustible materials.
One approach to fire protection of combustible materials in vessels, such as plastic containers packaged in corrugated boxes, has been to use fire-retardant corrugated paperboard packaging materials, which may be fire-retarded by an applied spray or impregnation method. Another approach has attempted to protect large plastic intermediate bulk containers, often holding hundreds of gallons of combustible liquid, by placing the primary liquid container beneath an insulating blanket or inside of a metallic outer enclosure (sometimes referred to in the industry as a "spam can".
Both of these "traditional" approaches attempt to delay or prevent failure of a packaging system by reducing heat transfer to and/or slowing combustion of outer or intermediate layers of packaging material. Both of these approaches rely on concentric protection layers, with the outermost layer being non-combustible or fire-retardant. However, these approaches are often deficient in buildings protected by automatic fire sprinkler systems, because they can delay the operation of the sprinklers, which otherwise control or suppress the fire.
Packaging systems using non-combustible or fire-retardant outer shell materials can be counter-productive in a building equipped with a fire sprinkler system because of reduction of initial fire growth and flamespread across surfaces of stored goods, required for rapid operation of the sprinklers that are necessary for fire control. By delaying operation of fire sprinklers, the period of un-mitigated fire exposure to stored goods is extended. Extended exposure to a severe fire will cause failure of traditional package protection systems (described above) by eventually consuming a fire-retarded combustible exterior layer or, in the case of a "spam can", transferring sufficient heat to a liquid container inside to cause the container to fail and release its contents. Such a release of contents has been repeatedly demonstrated to be catastrophic, resulting in fires that exceed the capability of traditional fire sprinkler systems.
An additional disadvantage of the "spam can" design is that the metallic exterior is not absorbent, which limits the effectiveness of sprinklers in pre-wetting containers that have not yet been damaged by fire. Absorbent exterior surfaces, such as those made of corrugated paperboard, have the advantage of absorbing water from sprinkler discharge, which pre-wets packages surrounding a fire and delays their ignition.

Fire-protective packaging system and method


A weighted device that attaches to a baseball or softball bat for the purpose of increasing the bat's mass during batting practice thereby increasing a persons strength and improving their bat control, ultimately improving their batting average and batting power. The device can be used during the actual practice of hitting a ball. The device can be attached to the bat at various locations along the tapered portion of the bat.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates a device for improving a persons strength for swinging a baseball or softball bat. Specifically, the present invention relates to attaching a temporary adjustable weight to a bat that is used during actual batting practice and increases the inertial resistance of a swing, requiring more effort of the batter, inducing an increase in muscle mass specific for swinging a bat.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the early years, athletic organizations relied on an individuals raw talent and generalized exercise that consisted of calisthenics, running and free weight training to improve their athletic teams. These efforts, if done properly, did improve the strength and endurance of these athletes for lifting weights, running and calisthenics. The next step was to transfer these improvements to the sport of interest and this generally meant to run through the fundamentals and play the game. It has also been recognized that exercise in an activity does not prepare one for another unrelated activity. Anyone whom has been active in, for example weight lifting, soon recognizes, after a day of playing touch football, the limitations of weight lifting as a preparation for touch football. Newer techniques of concurrent training are used in an attempt to add resistance and/or inertia to the athletic activity that one is attempting to improve. Examples of this is the Russian hockey team that have used steel hockey sticks and heavy pucks during their fundamentals and scrimmages, also sprinters that attach parachutes to their waists that increases resistance as they run. Similarly wrist and ankle weights are used in many sports to add inertia during practice.