A memory card includes a non-volatile memory; and a power management unit for receiving an external supply voltage to supply an operating voltage to the non-volatile memory. The power management unit boosts/bypasses the external supply voltage based on whether the external supply voltage is lower than a detection voltage and then outputs the boosted/bypassed voltage as the operating voltage of the non-volatile memory.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a portable data storage apparatus, more particularly, a memory card that contains a non-volatile memory.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A smartcard—a type of memory card—is a card embedded with a memory in which data can be stored and retrieved. The smartcard receives its power from external sources like a card reader. Typically the memory inside this kind of memory card is a non-volatile memory such as EPROM, EEPROM or FLASH memory.
When connected with external sources like an electronic device, a memory card operates with a power supplied from the electronic device. When the power (hereinafter, referred to as an external supply voltage) supplied from the electronic device deviates from an operating voltage range of a non-volatile memory in the memory card, the non-volatile memory may not operate properly. For example, if the external supply voltage is lowered while writing/reading data in/from the non-volatile memory, erroneous data can be written/read in/from the non-volatile memory.
With conventional technology, lowering of an operating voltage of the non-volatile memory is limited due to a characteristic of the non-volatile memory that needs higher voltages than the external supply voltage. Furthermore, although an electronic device may operate with a low voltage (e.g. below 1.8V), it may be difficult to use a memory card having a non-volatile memory because non-volatile memories exhibit poor operating characteristics at low voltage. In other words, if a memory card having a non-volatile memory is applied to the low-voltage electronic device, the memory card may not operate reliably.
Therefore, a need exist for a power management system which can secure a stable operation of the non-volatile memory even when a memory card is supplied with an external supply voltage deviating from an operating voltage range of a non-volatile memory in the memory card.


A double skin façade (DSF) for a building is disclosed. The DSF has a first façade, a second façade, and a gap extending therebetween. Movement of air is driven in an upward direction toward an upper end of the DSF, causing movement of air contaminants from a lower end of the DSF to the upper end of the DSF, and thereby enhancing the air quality of the street canyon by removing air contaminants from a street level adjacent the building. Also disclosed is a building having a DSF, and a method of enhancing air quality in a street canyon by constructing a DSF on a building.

Urban Design resides at the interface of Planning, Engineering, and Architecture. The design of cities to support growing populations is a dance where planners balance zoning, policy, and legal frameworks, engineers lay infrastructure, and architects orchestrate buildings with façades that activate streetscapes where people live and work. Urban human health stands to benefit from the intersection of urban climatology and urban design. Planners are working to great effect to create a "sense of place," reduce traffic, and increase walkability. Architects develop great buildings to enhance the streetscape and "activate" communities along the streets; however, in many cases, urban climatology is taken into account only as an extreme weather event, increased wind loads, or to identify a need for building energy efficiencies. The existing inventory of buildings and streets are slowly being redesigned to accommodate more foot traffic, and new towns are being designed to counter sprawl and increase health outcomes by promoting walkability. City air quality issues caused by the buildings and street morphology—urban street canyons—are little understood and frequently overlooked during planning and design. It has become necessary to identify strategies to mitigate urban criteria air pollutants within these same urban street canyons. One method is to integrate buildings not only as effective contributors to urban streetscape but also as infrastructure to mitigate air pollutants.
In trying to make streets more walkable to boost economies and help people live healthier lifestyles, it is important to take into account that street plantings are insufficient to mitigate air pollution in a variety of urban configurations. Planners, engineers, and architects must become familiar with the ramifications of street configurations and urban form as they relate to the potential of trapped criteria air pollutants. Architects can effectively create design interventions within their building façades that can mitigate criteria air pollutants that are found in these urban street canyon configurations.
Urbanization and Air Quality Issues
As urbanization and densification increases, the microclimates of urban/higher density suburban areas change. Oke explains in Boundary Layer Climates (Metheun & Co. Ltd., London, 2nd edition, 1987) that the largest source of air pollution in North America is the atmospheric boundary layer of a city caused by its morphology with pollutants produced primarily by automobiles. The pollution mix is dominated by CO, CO2, NO2, Hc, and small particulates. When sufficient sunlight is available, this leads to the development of photochemical smog and secondary pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The removal of air pollutants at the street level is dependent upon air temperature stratification. Free flow of the air is important to diffusing the pollution into a larger volume. Dispersion is best when there is strong instability and deep mixing characteristics during sunny summer time conditions. The worst conditions for dispersion tend to occur where there is a temperature inversion and the boundary layer is stable. This suppresses turbulence, effectively eliminating upward motion.
In areas characterized by low buildings, the exchange between street-level where car pollutants are emitted and above roof-level depends upon the ratio of the height of the buildings to the width of the street/sidewalk between the adjacent buildings. If the streets are narrow, air exchange is restricted (panel (a) of FIG. 1) as compared to that in a more open arrangement, where the vortex circulation aids street-level flushing (panel (b) of FIG. 1).
Problem Identification
Current guidelines for buildings in urban cores and the establishment of new town centers many times provide requirements for height to width ratios that shape the relationship between the building and street. This can result in an urban morphology that creates a form called an urban street canyon. According to a Wikipedia entry, a "street canyon" (also known as an urban canyon) is a place where the street is flanked by buildings on both sides, creating a canyon-like environment. Classic examples of these human-built canyons are made when streets separate dense blocks of structures, especially skyscrapers. Urban canyons affect various local conditions, including temperature, wind, air quality, and radio reception. Typically, a street canyon is a relatively narrow street with tall, continuous buildings on both sides of the road. But now the term "street canyon" is used more broadly, and the geometrical details of the street canyon are used to categorize them.
The most important geometrical detail about a street canyon is the ratio of the canyon height (H) to canyon width (W), H:W, which is referred to as the aspect ratio. The value of the aspect ratio can be used to classify street canyons as follows: (1) Regular canyon: aspect ratio ˜1 and no major openings on the canyon walls, (2) Avenue canyon: aspect ratio<0.5, and (3) Deep canyon: aspect ratio ˜2.
In urban design, the movement of vehicular traffic, pedestrians, and bikers governs the width ratio based upon activity within the right-of-way (ROW) between buildings. When it is considered that most New Towns are 4-6 stories (approximately 62′-74′) and the predominant width of the ROW (approximately 64′-72′), the morphology of the urban canyon creates the <1:1 height to width ratio where meteorological influences including wind speed and direction create boundary layer inversions beneath the urban canopy layer. At these ratios, air pollution can become sequestered within the urban boundary layer. The problem becomes one where unhealthy places are unintentionally created. "Green Infrastructure" is assumed to offset some of the air pollution, but in actuality, street plantings, integrated building plantings, and surface mounted living walls serve only as surfaces for deposition of particulates and minor conversion of CO2, they do not actually mitigate VOCs.
Design Guides for Urban Cores and Town Centers
While Form Based Codes are used to restore buildings in urban cores and establish new town centers, their height to width ratios shape the relationship between the building and street with their resulting geometry creating a form called an urban street canyon. The movement of traffic, pedestrians, and bikers governs the width ratio based upon activity within the right-of-way between buildings. In association with the CNU, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has created a compendium of principles and practices for Complete Streets based on the local Transect, which includes the design capacity for safe interaction of automobiles, pedestrians, bikers, multi-modal transit, and urban infrastructure.
Air pollution is being addressed world-wide. High density, high population cities are searching for guidelines and study methodologies to address growth and development and their interactions with urban climatology. The approach to study the interaction of wind, air quality, and buildings, employs two basic methodologies. In general, numerical analysis through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel tests are commonly used for individual building and urban wind engineering studies. The advantage of using CFD is that it is cheaper than wind tunnel tests for less demanding tasks. Validation and verification of CFD results are still necessary research issues which can be accomplished with wind tunnel studies. CFD is, however, a useful tool to give a first order quantitative graphical representation.

Apparatus and method for improving air quality in street canyons

The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma


A grinder having an adjustable screen arrangement. The adjustable screen arrangement including two screens independently positionable in a number of positions relative to a grinding drum. Each screen further having a leading end independently positionable relative a trailing end of the screen. The adjustable screen arrangement allowing for selectively varied clearances between the screens and the grinding drum.

Machines, such as grinders and chippers, are used for shredding, grinding, and/or chipping a variety of material. For the purposes of this disclosure, the preferred environment in which the principles of the invention are described is that of a grinder. Horizontal grinders and tub grinders are illustrative of grinder machines, and the example of a horizontal grinder will be used herein as a preferred environment in which the present invention may be employed. References herein to a horizontal grinder, however, are not intended to be limiting. Instead, the principles of the invention are generally applicable to machines which utilize a screen in connection with reducing larger-piece material into smaller-piece material.
Horizontal grinders generally include a grinding chamber and a grinding drum. The grinding drum rotates and includes hammers or blocks. Screens position material so that the material is forced into contact with the grinding drum until ground/reduced to a certain size. Once the material reduces to the certain size, the material passes through holes in the screen and exits out of the grinding chamber.
The ability to grind of a variety of different material is desirable, as the usefulness of grinding or chipping different material arises in a variety of applications. For instance, waste is often ground to increased the rate of decomposition, which is useful in landfill operations; wood waste is ground to produce mulch that is useful in landscaping applications; and asphalt is ground to promote recycling efforts.
Accordingly, providing a machine that can grind a variety of material, and that is easily adaptable would be advantageous. In addition, providing a machine that better accommodates for wear situations would allow operators to more effectively operate such machines. Improvement has been sought with respect to such machines, generally to better accommodate ease of use, ease of adaptability, and ease of maintenance.


A method is provided for controlling a vehicle lifting device, having at least two, preferably moveable, lifting columns (1-4), which are controlled wirelessly. When a switch is activated for raising or lowering the lifting device, a corresponding signal is transmitted wirelessly to the lifting columns (1-4) and additional signals, which are representative of the individual lifting movements, are transmitted to a control device (5). In the case of unacceptably high movement differences between individual lifting columns, the normal operation is stopped. Here, it is essential that for monitoring the wireless signal transmission, the control device (5) exchanges control signals with the lifting columns (1-4) continuously, and the reception of these control signals is monitored at least in one direction.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a vehicle lifting device, wherein at least two—preferably moveable—lifting columns are provided, which are controlled wirelessly, such that when a switch is activated in the sense of raising or lowering the lifting device, a corresponding signal is transmitted wirelessly to the lifting columns, and such that additional signals, which are representative for the individual lifting movements, are transmitted to a control device and for unacceptably high differences in motion among individual lifting columns, the normal operation is stopped.
Such lifting devices with wireless control are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,634,461 and 7,014,012. Here, each lifting column is provided with its own control device, such that the lifting columns communicate among each other, in order to coordinate the lifting movements.
The sense and purpose of the wireless signal transmission consists in that no electrical cables must be laid between the lifting columns and that the lifting columns can be moved to a different location in the workshop in a very simple manner without detaching them from electrical or hydraulic connections. Therefore, not only is it possible to use the lifting columns equally for passenger cars and also for large trucks, but they can also be moved to the side after use, for example, so that the workshop area becomes free for other tasks.
So that the operation of the lifting columns is not disrupted by external signals, it is already known for security reasons to code the control signals individually. Therefore, only the control signals recognized as correct are accepted at the lifting columns and used for triggering a lifting movement or for stopping the lifting movement.

Method for wireless control of vehicle lifting device


The application describes a process where methane or any short chained hydrocarbon could be catalytically coupled with an oxygenate (preferably derived from thermal processing of biomass) to dehydrate and produce a deoxygenated hydrocarbon. The presence of oxygen in biomass derivatives adversely affects its ability to be further processed into hydrocarbon fuels because the resulting water poisons many catalysts (including alumina containing catalysts, zeolites, etc.) found in petrochemical refineries. While commonly used hydrodeoxygenation methods require expensive hydrogen to instigate deoxygenation, the present process uses short chained hydrocarbons (such as methane or natural gas) to instigate hydrodeoxygenation.

Methods for conversion of solid biomass into liquids by acid hydrolysis, pyrolysis, and liquefaction are well known (Klass 1998) [1]. A wide range of products are produced from the above reactions including: cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, polysaccharides, monosaccharides (e.g. glucose, xylose, galactose), furfural, polysaccharides, and lignin derived alcohols (coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols). Bio-oils, which are a mixture of over 300 different compounds, can also be produced by liquefaction or fast pyrolysis (Elliott, Beckman et al. 1991) [2]. What is needed is a process for the efficient conversion of biomass to hydrocarbons using available resources.

Deoxygenation of biomass derived oxygenates to hydrocarbons via direct methane intervention


A multibroadcast receiver 1 comprises a stereo receiving unit 4, an extractor 7 for taking out information about an identification code related to the contents of a broadcasting program and a necessary character code or the like from a data signal in a broadcasting radio wave, a print unit 10 for recording the information extracted from the extractor 7 thereon, an insert portion 12 for inserting a card 11 therethrough, a reader 13 for reading a predetermined identification code recorded on the card 11 inserted in the insert portion 12, and a controller 8 for checking the identification code on the card 11 against the identification code extracted from the extractor 7 and recording by the print unit 10 the necessary information taken out of the data signal on the card 11 in accordance with the result of check. Further, the controller 8 checks data inputted through a selectively-provided key input unit 16 against predetermined data taken out from the extractor 7.

A radio massmedia system using a normal broadcast receiver such as a television, a radio or the like basically provides information through a unilateral or unidirectional communication made from a broadcasting station or a program sponsor (hereinafter called "broadcasting station side") to an audience/listener (hereinafter called "audience side"). It is necessary for the broadcasting station side to continue to send information to many and unspecified persons or parties at all times while whether or not the viewers are watching and listening in fact, remains unknown. Further, the audience side must select necessary information from random and massive amounts of information given by broadcasting. Therefore, the degree of information transfer to the audience side can be actually said low. The broadcasting station side repeatedly sends increasingly massive amounts of information to the audience side to overcome the low degree of information transfer, thereby causing a vicious circle that a further increase in labors or trouble occurs to select information. Thus, the broadcasting station side incurs a result that even when the amount of information to be given is increased, commercial effects which are commensurate with that cannot be achieved.
A broadcast for transmitting a digital data signal using a multibroadcasting radio wave or PCM broadcasting radio wave used for a television and a radio has been recently put to practical use. This type of broadcast is of a system capable of simultaneously transmitting additive information based on the digital data signal together with a general broadcasting program and has a potential that a problem developed due to the unidirection of the aforementioned information transfer can be reduced by using such additive information.
The present invention has been made from the foregoing points of view, and it is an object of the present invention to solve the aforementioned problems developed in radio mass media, i.e., the increase in trouble incident to the selection of information and the decrease in commercial effects due to the reduction in the degree of information transfer by effectively utilizing a multibroadcasting system.

Multibroadcast receiver for extracting desired broadcast information based on an identification code

Kabushiki Kaisha Media Marketing Network


A disk drive has a base containing disks that are mounted on a central drive hub. A cover is mounted and sealed to the base. The cover has an aperture that is sealed with a flexible membrane. The membrane is selectively deflected into contact with the hub or one of the disks by a displacement device. The displacement device is completely external to the sealed drive to avoid contaminating the drive. In one version, a disposable plastic snap clamp is secured to the drive to lock the disks from rotation. A pusher finger on the clamp automatically engages and deflects the membrane into frictional engagement with the disk to immobilize it. The locked position is used during periods of non-operation of the drive. When the drive is operational, the clamp is removed to release the disks for rotation.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved disk drive, and in particular to an improved disk drive having a device for immobilizing the disk spindle. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a membrane-like locking device for selectively immobilizing the disks and/or spindle in a disk drive device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a data access and storage system consists of one or more storage devices that store data on storage media such as magnetic or optical data storage disks. In magnetic disk storage systems, a storage device is called a direct access storage device (DASD) or a hard disk drive (HDD), which includes one or more hard disks and an HDD controller to manage local operations concerning the disks. Hard disks are rigid platters, typically made of aluminum alloy or a mixture of glass and ceramic, covered with a magnetic coating. Typically, two or three platters are stacked vertically on a common spindle that is turned by a disk drive motor at several thousand revolutions per minute (rpm).
The only other moving part within a typical HDD is the head stack assembly. Within most drives, one read/write head is associated with each side of each platter and flies just above or below the platter""s surface. Each read/write head is mounted on a suspension to form a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The HGA is then attached to a semi-rigid arm apparatus which supports the entire head flying unit. More than one of such arms may be utilized together to form a single armature unit.
Each read/write head scans the hard disk platter surface during a xe2x80x9creadxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwritexe2x80x9d operation. The head/arm assembly is moved utilizing an actuator which is often a voice coil motor (VCM). The stator of a VCM is mounted to a base plate or casting on which is also mounted the spindle supporting the disks. The base casting is in turn mounted to a frame via a compliant suspension. When current is fed to the motor, the VCM develops force or torque which is substantially proportional to the applied current. The arm acceleration is therefore substantially proportional to the magnitude of the current. As the read/write head nears the desired track, a reverse polarity signal is applied to the actuator, causing the signal to act as a brake, and ideally causing the read/write head to stop directly over the desired track.
Head-to-disk stiction in disk drives has proven to be more difficult to control as the head-to-disk spacing has decreased. Disk surfaces as well as head surfaces have become smoother to permit closer fly height. This has resulted in increased problems of heads sticking to disks when the drive is at rest. In addition, shock impact of both the head and suspension cause xe2x80x9cdingsxe2x80x9d or dents in the disks and have become more problematic due to several factors. For example, mobile applications, such as laptops, have increased the ambient shock impact of both the head and suspension cause xe2x80x9cdingsxe2x80x9d or dents in the disks and have become more problematic due to several factors. For example, mobile applications, such as laptops, have increased the ambient shock environment. Moreover, the decrease in disk-to-disk spacing has resulted in closer suspension-to-disk spacing, and higher areal densities have made drives more susceptible to even minor dings. In addition, more drives are being handled by untrained personnel in the high-volume marketplace.
To address these problems, future disk drives will have a ramp to unload the heads from the disk when the drive is at rest. Unfortunately, this solution has created a new potential problem. When the heads are at rest on the disk, the slight stiction they created stabilized any random rotation or vibration of the spindle as the drive was being transported. However, with no heads on the disks, the spindle is now free to rotate. Under these circumstances, the spindle ball bearings can experience slight vibratory motion as the drive is being transported. Since there is no continuous rolling of the balls on the races to replenish the lubrication, the lubrication can be forced out of the interface. Without lubrication, there is direct metal-to-metal contact which can cause fretting corrosion of both the races and the balls. This problem is manifested as localized pitting and release of oxide particles. When the bearing becomes operational, the free particles and localized pits can interact to degrade bearing performance. Such a breakdown is typically manifested by increased acoustic noise and non-repeatable run out also have drawbacks such as complexity, decreased reliability, and increased cost. The addition of moving parts within the drive increases the risk of generating contaminants. Moreover, these solutions provide latching even when it not required, such as when the drive is not being transported and not subject to vibration (e.g., the drive is merely non-operational). Thus, an improved disk drive design is needed to immobilize the unrestrained components when the drive is not in operation.
A disk drive has a base containing disks that are mounted on a central drive hub. A cover is mounted and sealed to the base. The cover has an aperture that is sealed with a flexible membrane. The membrane is selectively deflected into contact with the hub or one of the disks by a displacement device. The displacement device is completely external to the sealed drive to avoid contaminating the drive. In one version, a disposable plastic snap clamp is secured to the drive to lock the disks from rotation. A pusher finger on the clamp automatically engages and deflects the membrane into frictional engagement with the disk to immobilize it. The locked position is used during periods of non-operation of the drive. When the drive is operational, the clamp is removed to release the disks for rotation.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved disk drive.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an improved disk drive having a device for immobilizing the disk spindle.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a membrane-like locking device for selectively immobilizing the disks and/or spindle in a disk drive device.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in view of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings.

Membrane locking device for selectively immobilizing disk drive spindle

International Business Machines Corporation


An electrotherapeutic device for treating a visual disease using microcurrent stimulation is provided. The device includes a signal generator in which a waveform controller digitally controls a waveform signal source so as to generate a waveform in which one or more waveform parameters (e.g., pulse width, pulse period, pulse position, pulse coding, peak current amplitude, duty cycle, and/or pulse shape) are varied in accordance with a protocol for treating a visual disease. The device also includes an applicator connected to the signal generator and configured to apply the waveform to at least one stimulation point within an eye region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices and methods for electrical stimulation therapy, and more particularly to electrotherapeutic devices and methods that provide microcurrent stimulation to tissue of an eye region for the treatment of macular degeneration and other visual diseases.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical stimulation therapy has emerged as a viable treatment modality for numerous diseases and disorders of the human body. One method of providing electrical stimulation therapy is to deliver microcurrent, which is typically defined as current below 1 milliamp, to tissue on or near the area of the body to be treated. For example, microcurrents in the range of 100 microamps to 1,000 microamps (peak) have been applied to tissue on or near a closed eyelid to treat macular degeneration and other visual diseases.
Normal retinal cell function involves a photochemical reaction that converts light energy to an electrical impulse, which travels from the optic nerve to the visual cortex (at the posterior end of the brain) that processes visual information. With macular degeneration and other visual diseases, diseased retinal cells eventually lose cell function such that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels decrease, protein synthesis and transport deteriorate, the cells become overwhelmed with an increase in toxicity, the cell membrane electrical potential decreases, and vascular blood flow is compromised. Basically, the retinal cells seem to go dormant for a period of time before they die. It is believed that, if microcurrent stimulation is provided to the retinal cells before cell death occurs, ATP levels increase, protein synthesis and transport are restored, the toxicity of the cells is mitigated, blood vessel permeability increases, a more normal cell membrane electrical potential is achieved, and normal cell metabolism is restored. In addition, it is believed that microcurrent stimulation has a healing effect on the small blood vessels in the retina, promoting a more efficient delivery of nutrients to the retinal cells and a more efficient uptake of proteins that can accumulate on the retina. Thus, microcurrent stimulation causes rejuvenation of the retinal cells to slow or stop degeneration of the eye due to macular degeneration and other visual diseases. In addition, animal studies indicate that microcurrent stimulation provided to the retinal cells provides a protective aspect for the retina with respect to being neuroprotective and photoreceptor protective, possibly due in part to the production/release of specific neurotrophic factors (which can include growth factors and cytokines).
Some of the earliest electrotherapeutic devices that provided electrical stimulation in visual disease applications were developed from the late 1700's to the late 1800's. These devices comprised stacks of wet cell batteries with electrodes connected to the battery electrodes that were used to treat neuropathy and retinitis pigmentosa with direct electric current (DC). A more recent patent that describes this type of electrotherapeutic device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,864 to Wallace, et al. and entitled "Apparatus and Method for Ocular Treatment," which discloses the use of a 200 microamp direct current generator to treat macular degeneration and other ocular pathology. These electrotherapeutic devices are very limited in scope with respect to output (i.e., only direct current) and capabilities.
Other electrotherapeutic devices that have been used to treat visual diseases are transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices. An example of a TENS device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,605 to Rossen and entitled "Transcutaueous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Device," which discloses a device that generates a monophase DC carrier signal modulated using current levels of 25 microamps to 900 microamps for pain management. The Rossen device has been used in a number of studies to treat macular degeneration. See, e.g., G. D. O'Clock and J. B. Jarding, "Electrotherapeutic Device/Protocol Design Considerations for Visual Disease Applications," Proceedings of the 31st Annual International IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Conference (EMBC '09), pp. 2133-2136, Sep. 2-6, 2009, Minneapolis, Minn. From the standpoint of clinical success and therapeutic efficacy in visual disease applications, the Rossen device has shown some positive results that are believed to be attributable to its DC offset and the lower frequency elements of its waveform.
Other TENS devices that followed the general design of the Rossen device include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,398 to Rogozinski and entitled "Microelectric Apparatus for the Antisepsis, Promulgation of Healing and Analgesia of Wound and Chronic Skin Ulcers," U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0233137 to Paul and entitled "Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Device and Method Using Microcurrent," and U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,528 to Harold and entitled "Treatment of Vision Disorders Using Electrical, Light, and/or Sound Energy."
One problem with TENS devices is that many of them utilize complex and overlapping waveforms that can be detrimental to the therapeutic efficacy of a device in visual disease applications. Another problem is that some TENS devices deliver rather high initial peak currents, which is a safety concern for applications involving vulnerable or sensitive cells and tissues such as those associated with the retina. In addition, some TENS devices have problems with constant current control, reliability, and electrode interface deficiencies (or contact integrity). Further, most TENS devices are frequency specific, and they deliver most of their power at individual frequencies. For instance, when viewing the signal produced by a device in the frequency domain, the majority of the power output from the signal resides at discrete frequencies. Also, frequency adjustments often must be done manually by the user. Accordingly, the therapeutic effect of the signals generated by these devices is not optimized and is often not consistent.
Another electrotherapeutic device that has been used in visual disease applications is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,035,236 and 6,275,735 to Jarding et al. and entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Electrical Microcurrent Stimulation Therapy." This device includes a waveform generator that generates sweep wave signals that are frequency modulated, i.e., the frequency of the signals varies over time. The waveform generated by this device is simpler in form (i.e., a relatively simple frequency modulated pulse train) compared to the waveforms used in some of the TENS devices and, as such, is compatible with the healing sequence associated with certain visual disease conditions. Also, this device uses a swept frequency approach to waveform modulation that delivers signals over a range of operating frequencies without the need to make any manual frequency adjustments. While this device is better suited for visual disease applications compared to other electrotherapeutic devices, its frequency variations are limited by an analog frequency sweep technique and thus has inherent deficiencies in spectral quality.

Microcurrent device for the treatment of visual disease


The spread of nascent cracks through a flexible electrodes layer is blocked or impeded by patterning at least one of the electrodes to have crack-spread blocking boundaries and/or crack-spread impeding choke points, where the crack-spread blocking boundaries are placed to block linear growth of cracks and the crack-spread impeding choke points are placed and sized to serve as bottlenecks that impede linear growth of cracks through the corresponding electrode. Additionally, greater flexibility is provided by including a pattern of elongated strips of narrow width electrode material longitudinally extending in different directions, where the provided flexibility is greater than what it would be if a pattern of elongated narrow width electrode strips longitudinally extending in different directions was not provided. One example of crack-spread blocking boundaries and flexibility enhancing patterning is that of shaping each electrode to have serpentine fingers extending longitudinally in different directions. One example of crack-spread impeding choke points is that of shaping each electrode to have dose but spaced apart openings for example in a grid pattern.

1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure of invention relates to a flexible touch display panel.
2. Description of Related Technology
Recently, bulky CRT type displays have been replaced with portable thin profile display panels such as thin flat or thin curved panel displays. Also, research into a technology for integrating a touch function into such thin display panels has been conducted. With the touch function integrated, the display panels can simultaneously serve as information output and information input devices, instead of merely information displaying devices. More specifically, when a user touches a surface of the touch-enabled display panel with a finger or pen, the touch and/or its location and/or its gesture is detected. One class of touch-enabled display panels has a capacitive touch panel monolithically integrated with the display panel.
Meanwhile, the utility of such thin and touch-enabled display panels is not restricted to rigid flat display panels, but rather can be expanded to include flexible display panels that are bendable in various directions. To integrate the touch function into the flexible display panel, it is desirable to develop a touch structure that will not be damaged even when the display panel is bent in various directions.
It is to be understood that this background of the technology section is intended to provide useful background for understanding the here disclosed technology and as such, the technology background section may include ideas, concepts or recognitions that were not part of what was known or appreciated by those skilled in the pertinent art prior to corresponding invention dates of subject matter disclosed herein.


A method, system, and computer program product for processing an encoded audio signal is described. In one exemplary embodiment, the system receives an encoded low-frequency range signal and encoded energy information used to frequency shift the encoded low-frequency range signal. The low-frequency range signal is decoded and an energy depression of the decoded signal is smoothed. The smoothed low-frequency range signal is frequency shifted to generate a high-frequency range signal. The low-frequency range signal and high-frequency range signal are then combined and outputted.

Conventionally, HE-AAC (High Efficiency MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 4 AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)) (International Standard ISO/IEC 14496-3), etc. are known as audio signal coding techniques. With such coding techniques, a high-range characteristics coding technology called SBR (Spectral Band Replication) is used (for example, see PTL 1).
With SBR, when coding an audio signal, coded low-range components of the audio signal (hereinafter designated a low-range signal, that is, a low-frequency range signal) are output together with SBR information for generating high-range components of the audio signal (hereinafter designated a high-range signal, that is, a high-frequency range signal). With a decoding apparatus, the coded low-range signal is decoded, while in addition, the low-range signal obtained by decoding and SBR information is used to generate a high-range signal, and an audio signal consisting of the low-range signal and the high-range signal is obtained.
More specifically, assume that the low-range signal SL1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is obtained by decoding, for example. Herein, in FIG. 1, the horizontal axis indicates frequency, and the vertical axis indicates energy of respective frequencies of an audio signal. Also, the vertical broken lines in the drawing represent scalefactor band boundaries. Scalefactor bands are bands that plurally bundle sub-bands of a given bandwidth, i.e. the resolution of a QMF (Quadrature Mirror Filter) analysis filter.
In FIG. 1, a band consisting of the seven consecutive scalefactor bands on the right side of the drawing of the low-range signal SL1 is taken to be the high range. High-range scalefactor band energies E11 to E17 are obtained for each of the scalefactor bands on the high-range side by decoding SBR information.
Additionally, the low-range signal SL1 and the high-range scalefactor band energies are used, and a high-range signal for each scalefactor band is generated. For example, in the case where a high-range signal for the scalefactor band Bobj is generated, components of the scalefactor band Borg from out of the low-range signal SL1 are frequency-shifted to the band of the scalefactor band Bobj. The signal obtained by the frequency shift is gain-adjusted and taken to be a high-range signal. At this time, gain adjustment is conducted such that the average energy of the signal obtained by the frequency shift becomes the same magnitude as the high-range scalefactor band energy E13 in the scalefactor band Bobj.
According to such processing, the high-range signal SH1 illustrated in FIG. 2 is generated as the scalefactor band Bobj component. Herein, in FIG. 2, identical reference signs are given to portions corresponding to the case in FIG. 1, and description thereof is omitted or reduced.
In this way, at the audio signal decoding side, a low-range signal and SBR information is used to generate high-range components not included in a coded and decoded low-range signal and expand the band, thereby making it possible to playback audio of higher audio quality.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Signal processing apparatus and method, and program


A busbar includes an opening, a first terminal, and a second terminal. The first terminal includes a first terminal piece with a step-like bent shape, in which the first terminal piece is bent from a conductor along a bending line, and a plurality of hole portions formed on the first terminal piece and arrayed in a direction parallel to the bending line. The second terminal includes a second terminal piece with a step-like bent shape, in which the second terminal piece is bent from a conductor along a bending line, and a plurality of hole portions formed on the second terminal piece and arrayed in a direction parallel to the bending line. The busbar balances the current sharing in a current that flows through a plurality of fastening points.

In a power conversion device, a busbar is used as a main circuit wiring member that connects to a semiconductor module. A laminate busbar, which is one of the types of busbar, is formed by layering a plurality of conductors through insulators to form a multilayered busbar and covering the surface of the multilayered busbar with a laminate material.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a laminate busbar in which a concave terminal lead-out window is formed at an end portion of the laminate busbar, and a plurality of connection terminal portions are led out to the terminal lead-out window in accordance with the array of main circuit terminals of an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) module. Each of the connection terminal portions is formed with a through hole for screw-fastening to each of the main circuit terminals of the IGBT module.

Main circuit wiring member and power conversion device


A parts tote includes a frame having transversely extending front and rear metal rod members connected by fore-and-aft extending side handle portions which include a hand grips of diameter of at least 1.25 inches for maximum use of hand strength. The handles extend at an angle of approximately 17 degrees from the horizontal so that the wrists remain straight while the tote is carried. The distance between the handles is set at shoulder width. The distance between the rod members is on the order of 12 inches or less to maintain a center of gravity close to the worker's body. One of several plastic containers or trays of differing depths, preferably on the order of 6 inches, may be snapped onto the frame. Tray side walls extend upwardly and diverge from the tray bottom to an upper edge location offset slightly inwardly and downwardly from the hand grip to provide substantial clearance for a gloved hand. Accessories, such as front brackets for hanging the tote from the upper edge of a shipping crate, may be attached to the metal rod portions of the frame by welding or other suitable method.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for carrying items, and, more specifically, to an ergonomically improved tote with handles.
2) Related Art
In many areas of industry, such as in manufacturing, processing or parts distribution, objects must be gathered or stored and moved by hand from one location to another in containers such as boxes, tubs or trays. A typical container often has a rolled top edge or similar structure which requires the fingers to lift and carry the load with no help from the thumb. The finger tips have only about twenty-five to thirty percent of the strength of the full hand, and therefore containers which rely on finger tip lift cause excessive stress and limit the amount of weight that can be safely lifted or carried.
Other types of containers which have hand cutouts on the side provide better use of full hand strength for lifting and carrying. However, as these types of containers are lifted, the wrist bends rather than remains straight. Bending of the wrist results in high physical stress, reduced hand strength, and reduced hand and eye coordination. Additional problems with cutouts include lack of clearance for easy insertion of a gloved hand and the relatively small contact area between the hand and the thin upper portion of the cutout which results in the topside of the handle cutting into the hand. The sharper the carrying edge that contacts the hand, the less load the hand can support.
Some containers include handles that require the hands to be spread widely during lifting and carrying. Large tray length with the resultant increased hand spread place more of the load on weaker muscles of the shoulder rather than on the strong bicep muscles and limits the load that can comfortably be carried.
Container width (front to back distance) directly influences load center of gravity. Many of the wider containers of the prior art cause more low back stress as the center of gravity moves forward.


A system for locating and managing application services according to one embodiment includes a location determination circuit configured to determine a physical location of an associated server; and a service location management (SLM) agent associated with the server. The SLM agent is configured to maintain a registry of service applications provided by the server and to transmit multicast messages over a data center network. The multicast messages are configured to advertise: an identification (ID) of the server; the service applications provided by the server; and the physical location of the server.

Large data centers often involve significant manual administration efforts. These tasks can be labor intensive, time consuming and prone to human error. In some cases, data centers may occupy many rooms, each room filled with numerous racks of equipment including large numbers of servers in each rack. Each server may host large numbers of application services along with associated software, operating systems, network interfaces, etc.
Typically, all of this information, regarding locations of servers and associated service applications and other related components, is manually entered in a database. The resulting database may therefore not always be kept up to date and may contain errors. Additionally, shared components such as virtualized server platforms are often not correlated with the applications that they support, leading to further inaccuracies in the database. Furthermore, when new servers are installed, system administrators must manually determine where rack space and power are available. If there are errors in the database with respect to locations, a physical search of all the racks must be performed which is also time consuming and which depends on the existence of accurate physical labeling on the servers.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Application service location and management system


Disclosed are methods of using Group 4 transition metal azatrane precursors to deposit Group 4 transition metal-containing films on one or more substrates via vapor deposition processes.

With the scaling down of semiconductor devices, new materials with high dielectric constant are required. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) have become the main deposition techniques for such thin films. CVD and ALD may provide different films (metal, oxide, nitride, etc.) having a finely defined thickness and high step coverage. In CVD and ALD, the precursor molecule plays a critical role to obtain high quality films with high conformality and low impurities.
Among high-k dielectrics, Group 4 based materials, such as TiO2, HfO2 or ZrO2, are very promising, whether used as pure or mixed oxides or in laminates. Group 4-containing films, such as TiN, may also be used for electrode and/or Cu diffusion barrier applications. The Group 4 oxides may also be used for their etch resistance properties in lithography applications, such as for hard masks or spacer-defined multiple patterning applications.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,344,948 and 5,464,656 to Verkade disclose neutral single-source molecular organic precursors containing tetradentate tripodal chelating ligands, including Me2N—Ti((—N(Me)-CH2CH2—)3N—) and tBuO-Ti((—N(Me)-CH2CH2—)3N—).
A need remains for thermally stable, Group 4 precursor molecules capable of providing controlled film thickness during vapor phase deposition at high temperature.

Methods for vapor deposition of group 4 transition metal-containing films using Group 4 transition metal-containing films forming compositions

L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude


A structure comprising a memory chip and a tester for testing the memory chip, and a method for operating the structure. The memory chip comprises a BIST (Built-in Self Test) circuit, a plurality of RAMs (Random Access Memories). A first RAM is selected for testing by scanning in a select value into a RAM select register in the BIST. While the BIST performs a first testing pass for the first RAM, the tester collects cycle numbers of the failing cycles. Then, the BIST performs a second testing pass for the first RAM. At each failing cycle identified during the first testing pass, the BIST pauses so that the content of the location of the first RAM associated with the failing cycle and the state of the BIST can be extracted out of the memory chip. The testing procedures for the other RAMs are similar to that of the first RAM.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to memory testing, and more specifically, to a memory chip that facilitates memory testing.
2. Related Art
Testing of a memory array in a conventional memory chip using a tester involves running a BIST (Built-In-Self-Test) circuit inside the memory chip through multiple testing passes. For the first testing pass, the tester initializes the BIST and the BIST performs a predetermined sequence of cycles. A cycle may be a write cycle, a read cycle, or a setup cycle. During a write cycle, the BIST writes a test pattern (e.g., all 1s) into a location of the memory array. During a read cycle, the BIST causes the content of a location of the memory array to be read and compared with the expected data. If there is a mismatch, a fail signal is generated to the tester. During a setup cycle, the BIST may do some setup without writing or reading the memory array.
As an example of the testing of the memory array of the conventional memory chip, assume that during the first testing pass, the BIST sequentially and without pause runs from cycle 1d ("d" stands for decimal) to cycle 3000d, in which cycles 1d-2000d are setup and write cycles, and cycles 2001d-3000d are read cycles. Assume further that at cycle 2200d, the read data is not the same as the expected data. As a result, a fail signal is sent to the tester which records the cycle number of the failing cycle (which is 2200d). Assume further that at cycle 2400d, the read data is not the same as the expected data. As a result, a fail signal is sent to the tester which records the cycle number of the failing cycle (which is 2400d).
As a result, the tester has to run the BIST two more testing passes (the second and third testing passes) to collect fail data corresponding to the two failing cycles 2200d and 2400d. More specifically, for the second testing pass, the tester initializes the BIST and the BIST performs the same predetermined sequence of cycles as in the first testing pass except that the BIST stops at cycle 2200d. Then, the read data is collected from the memory chip by scanning out the entire memory chip.
Then, for the third pass, the tester again initializes the BIST and the BIST performs the same predetermined sequence of cycles as in the first testing pass except that the BIST stops at cycle 2400d. Then, the read data is collected from the memory chip by scanning out the entire memory chip.
In general, if during the first testing pass, the tester records N failing cycles, the tester has to cause the BIST to run N more passes. It is always desirable to reduce the number of testing passes the BIST needs to run.
Therefore, a design of a novel memory chip is needed that requires fewer BIST testing passes to test the memory chip than in prior art. A method is also needed for testing the novel memory chip.

International Business Machines Corporation


The embodiments herein provide a nano-carrier system for delivering a long-acting injectable drug of dexamethasone and a method of synthesizing the same. The dexamethasone entrapped nanoparticles are prepared using a lipid/phospholipid core which is coated by a polymer. The lipid and phospholipid are dissolved in organic solvent. This solution is transferred into an aqueous phase consisting of distilled water or a buffer. A solution of polymer is added drop wise. The drug entrapped nanoparticle formation is achieved by diffusion of the organic solvent within the aqueous solvent to obtain the nanoparticles. The drug gets entrapped within the nanoparticles via the anti-solvency effect of the aqueous matrix. The resulting drug nanocarriers are capable of releasing the drug in a slow rate upon injection. The synthesized drug carrying nanoparticles are cryopreserved stored for future administration. For better storage, the nanodispersion is dried to form a powder.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to the field of molecular nanotechnology. The embodiments herein particularly relate to nanomedicines or nanocarrier based drug delivery systems. The embodiments herein more particularly relate to a system and method for synthesizing long acting, and slow release nanoparticle or nano carrier based drug delivery system for Dexamethasone.
2. Description of the Related Art
In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that becomes a whole unit with respect to its transport and properties. The particles are further classified according to the diameter. The "nanoparticles" have a diameter within a range of 1 and 100 nanometer.
Nanotechnology has offered many advantages for novel drug delivery systems in terms of both time-controlled drug delivery and site-directed drug delivery. These advantages are mainly derived from the very small (submicron) sizes of the nanostructures used as nanocarriers for drugs as well as the possibility of engineering the carrier structure and/or surface according to the particular biological requirements.
"Nanomedicine" is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nonmaterial's to nano-electronic biosensor and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology.
The current problems for nano-medicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and the environmental impact on a nanoscale material.
The nano-medicine has provided the possibility of delivering drugs to specific cells using nanoparticles. The overall drug consumption and side effects are lowered significantly by depositing an active agent only in a morbid region at a required and appropriate dosage thereby eliminating a need for a higher dosage.
Drug delivery researchers are developing nanoscale particles or molecules to improve a "bioavailability" of a drug. The term bioavailability refers to the presence of drug molecules where they are used in the body and where they act against an ailment. Drug delivery system mainly focuses on maximizing the bioavailability both at specific places in the body and over a period of time.
The drug delivery systems such as lipid or polymer based nanoparticles are designed to improve the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of the drugs. Further, the metal based nanoparticles are also designed and developed to deliver the drugs.
The commonly used metals for nano-drug delivery system include but not limited to gold, silver, platinum etc. The metal based nanoparticles for the drug delivery system show toxicity. The recent studies in this arena have shown that positively charged gold nanoparticles are found to enter kidney, while negatively charged gold nanoparticles remained in the liver and spleen. The positive surface charges of the nanoparticles decreases the rate of opsonization of nanoparticles in the liver, thereby affecting the excretory pathway. Even a relatively small size of the nanoparticles such as 5 nm can become compartmentalized in the perinephral tissues, and accumulate in the body over tissues. The advancement of research proves that targeting and distribution can be augmented by nanoparticles and the dangers of nano-toxicity have become an important question for the medical use in drug delivery.
A drug may cause tissue damage, but a drug delivery with regulated drug release can eliminate the problem. When a drug is removed too quickly from the body, this rapid drug delivery could force a patient to use a dose higher than a necessary dose. But a clearance can be reduced with drug delivery systems by altering the pharmacokinetics of the drug. A poor bio-distribution is a problem that can affect normal tissues through a widespread drug distribution, but the particulates from the drug delivery systems lower the volume of distribution and release the effect on a non-target tissue. The potential nano-drugs works by very specific and well understood mechanisms, one of the major impacts of nanotechnology and nano-science is the development of completely new drug delivery systems with more useful behaviors and less side effects.
Long-acting injectable drug delivery systems can benefit from the potentials of nanotechnology via the slow drug release from the nano-carriers already being loaded by the drug of interest. These drug carriers may be administered by injection into the host body through different routes mainly including intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intra-dermal, intra-arterial, intra-thechal, and intra-cardiac administration. Basically, a drug dose loaded in a nano-carrier is administered and the carrier, then supplies the drug needed for the particular pharmacological effect for a more extended time following a single dose compared to a conventional bolus dose. The pharmacokinetic outcome of the injectable long-acting dosage form is expected to be the lack of fluctuations in plasma concentrations of the drug which, eventually, results in avoiding the risks of over dosages, i.e., toxicity, or under dosages, i.e., treatment failure, in drug therapy. When a particular drug is administered in a chronic (long-term) basis in the form of repeated doses, a fluctuation in drug concentrations in plasma is observed. These pharmacokinetic fluctuations directly result in pharmacodynamic fluctuations where the drug affects the site of action and experiences peaks and troughs at the same time of concentration changes or after a lag phase. These fluctuations in the drug concentration are highly risky for patient, in particular for a drug like dexamethasone with narrow therapeutic index (small differences between therapeutic and toxic doses). With the conventional, currently available products of the drug in the market, there is always a risk for the patient to experience an overdosage (toxic effects in brain or other tissues) in the peak times or an underdosage (insufficient drug effect), both the stages are harmful for the patient.
Dexamethasone is a potent synthetic member of the glucocorticoid class of steroid drugs that has both the anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressant effects. Dexamethasone is twenty five times more potent than cortisol in its glucocorticoid effect while having minimal mineral corticoid effect. Dexamethasone is used to treat many inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and bronchospasms, dental surgery in nasal drops, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy are given dexamethasone to counteract certain side effects of their anti-tumor treatment dexamethasone.
The dexamethasone is one of the most effective and most widely used anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressant drugs. The formulation of a long-acting product from dexamethasone has the potential to improve the patient outcome as well as the patient comfort, thereby improving the overall success of chronic therapy with this drug which obviously is resulted from the achievement of a long time concentration of the drug in the range of vicinity of the site of action. The lipid based as well as polymeric-based nanoparticles are prepared and loaded with the drug dexamethasone, which, upon entry to the host body via injection, serves as a drug reservoir capable of releasing the drug for long time periods in blood circulation. This long-term drug profile is used as a basis for a prolonged chronic drug action toward the desired effects.
The dexamethasone is one of the most effective and most widely used narcotic analgesics. The analgesic drugs with well known indications in the relief of moderate to severe pains as well as the treatment of opoid dependence. The formulation of a long-acting product from dexamethasone has a potential to improve the patient outcome as well as the patient comfort so that the overall success of chronic therapy with this drug is resulted obviously from the achievement of a long time activity of the drug in vicinity of the site of action with a reasonable concentration. The lipid based as well as polymeric-based nanoparticles are prepared and loaded by the drug dexamethasone which serves as a drug reservoir capable of releasing the drug for long time periods in blood circulation, upon entry to the host body via injection. This long-term drug profile is used as a basis for prolonged chronic drug action toward the desired effects.
Hence there is a need to develop a nanoparticle based drug delivery system for dexamethasone without any threat of cytotoxicity. Also there is a need for a nanoparticle drug delivery system for dexamethasone to release the drug slowly and in a controlled manner to an action site. Further there is a need to develop a method for synthesizing the organic biomolecule based nanoparticle drug delivery system for dexamethasone.
The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

Method and system for synthesizing nanocarrier based long acting drug delivery system for dexamethasone


A hammer assembly for attachment to a rotor of a rotary material crusher. The hammer assembly has an adaptor for attaching to the rotor, having a base portion and a hammer mounting portion, with the base portion being attachable to the rotor at the periphery portion thereof, and a hammer for mounting on the adaptor, having at least one impact portion, for crushing material, and a mounting portion for engagement with the hammer mounting portion of the adaptor. The hammer mounting portion of the adaptor includes bearing surfaces facing a direction of impact when crushing material, and the mounting portion of the hammer includes bearing surfaces for mating with the bearing surfaces of the hammer mounting portion of the adaptor. The hammer assembly further includes a retainer rod for preventing demounting of the hammer from the adaptor. The retainer rod passes through an opening formed by a retainer rod groove in the hammer and a retainer rod groove in the adaptor which face each other. The size of the retainer rod and the size of the grooves are selected such that the hammer is free to move to enable the bearing surfaces of the hammer to bear on the bearing surfaces of the adaptor and transfer impact forces when impact forces from crushing material are present, with the retainer rod being free from any of the impact forces.

In rotary material crushers, a rotor having hammers attached to a peripheral portion of the rotor are driven to rotate at speeds from 300 to 800 rpm, which translates to linear speeds for the hammers from 5000 to 8000 feet per minute, so as to have the hammers impact material such as limestone, and the like, in order to reduce the size of the material. Such crushing of material generates high impact forces on the hammers, which are in turn transferred to the rotor. In view of the high impact forces, it is important to provide a robust means for attaching the hammers to the rotor, but at the same time providing an attaching means which enables the hammers to be easily removed and replaced when excessive wear to the hammers causes them to be unusable.
Conventional means for attaching the hammers to the rotor, such as bolts, or the like, have been found to be undesirable, as the above-described impact forces, besides acting on solely the hammers, also act on the attaching means in a manner that makes removal by conventional means difficult and time consuming.

Hammer assembly for a rotary material crusher


A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment install a new or fixed version of a program if the program or a feature in the program has been used more than a threshold number of times. If the program has not been used more than the threshold, the new or fixed version of the program is not installed. In an embodiment, an environmental condition is used in determining whether to install the new or fixed version. In this way, the risk that the new version will cause new problems is balanced with the likelihood that the problem solved by the new version will be encountered.

The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely sophisticated devices, and computer systems may be found in many different settings. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware, such as semiconductors and circuit boards, and software, also known as computer programs. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer hardware higher, more sophisticated and complex computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
As the sophistication and complexity of computer software increase, the more problems, faults, or errors the software tends to have. Thus, it is common after a release of a software program for a customer to report a problem and the developer of the software to fix the problem and release a new version of the software that fixes the problem. Developers often release multiple versions that include fixes for different problems, and these versions are separate from the regularly scheduled releases of the software. Sometimes the versions are called PTFs (Program Temporary Fixes) to distinguish them from the regularly scheduled releases, which include not only fixes to problems but also new and enhanced functions.
Usually, only customers that have encountered the problem and have a specific need for a solution will want to install the new version that includes the fix because a fix to one problem might inadvertently cause another problem. Customers that have not encountered the problem or who perceive a low likelihood of encountering the problem will wait until the fix has been used by others for a substantial length of time without problems in order to lessen the risk of installing the fix to the software. Other customers have no idea of the risk versus benefit of installing fixes, so they blindly install all fixes or install no fixes at all.
Some customers have the resources to employ a system administrator, who knows the needs and software usage patterns of the customer's users. This system administrator might be savvy enough to read the list of available fixes and problems and make an informed and intelligent choice regarding which fix to apply to which users' computer. The system administrator might take into account the length of time the fixed version has been available, the harm to the customer that might occur if the problem is encountered, and the likelihood that the problem will be encountered. But, with the advent of the Internet and the desire by many customers to reduce costs by avoiding the need to employ system administrators, applying fixes is becoming more automated with less intervention by a human decision-maker.
Without a better way to automatically decide which fixes to install, customers will continue to suffer the costs of employing human decision-makers, will continue to install fixes that introduce risk but no benefit, and will continue to encounter problems even though a fix was available that they could have installed to obviate the problem.


Only the display device stores content files and a management device stores file management information. The content files are managed using the file management information. Because the management device does not store the actual content files, the security policy of an organization is not violated even if the management device is located outside the organization. Furthermore, because the display device stores the content files, the user desire to keep content files locally at hand is satisfied. Furthermore, because file management information consisting of small amounts of data is exchanged between the display system and the management device, the communication environment of the system does not need to be suitable to large data transmissions. Furthermore, because the management device stores the file management information, the storage capacity required by the management device is small.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to technology for managing documents, images, and other types of information.
2. Description of Related Art
Information management systems that are known by names such as content management systems (CMS), document management systems (DMS), and digital asset management (DAM) systems are used by corporations and other organizations for managing massive amounts of information including documents and images. One reason that such information management systems have attracted attention is that the need to efficiently manage a flood of information in corporations has become acute. Another major factor is the emphasis on sharing information within a corporation and between companies in a corporate group.
Civil litigation in the United States, for example, involves a process called "discovery," a system that requires documents that are required as evidence to be provided to the other party. To comply with this system of discovery, many law firms in the United States have introduced information management systems for handling different types of documents as easily searchable digital data.
The information that is handled by an organization and the purposes for which the information is managed vary widely between organizations, and information management systems are therefore ideally built to the particular specifications of the individual organization. Such custom-built management systems are, however, expensive to develop. Therefore, while large corporations have steadily introduced such information management systems, many small and medium-size corporations have yet to deploy such information management systems. Because it is difficult for small and medium-size corporations to provide the human resources and new dedicated facilities required to build such systems, building a system with the lowest possible overhead is desirable. Japanese Patent Publication JP 2001-222525, for example, teaches a method of managing confidential documents for different corporations on a single server system that is managed by a third-party contractor that contracts individually with each of the corporations.

Information management system, display system, management apparatus and program


An electrical appliance includes a housing carrying a drive motor, a temperature sensor and a controller. The temperature sensor monitors the operating temperature of the drive motor. The controller is responsive to the temperature sensor. The controller adjusts the current applied to the drive motor in response to a high temperature condition detected by the temperature sensor.

Substantially any electrical appliance may at one time or another be subjected to operating extremes which may cause the operating temperatures of the appliance to rise to a sufficiently high temperature so as to potentially cause damage to the mechanical workings of the device or even its housing or enclosure. The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for (1) sensing when the operating temperature of an electrical appliance rises above a predetermined high temperature condition and (2) adjusting the current flow to at least a portion of the device in response to sensing such a condition.

Thermal protection system for electrical appliance


According to the invention, the system comprises an infrared detector (7) for alternately generating images (5′) of sources of light (5) in the near infrared emitted by a missile flying towards a target and thermal images of the observed scene, said thermal images being visible on the display means (11).

The document U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,028 (EP-0 206 912) discloses a deviation meter making it possible to locate a missile flying at least approximately in the direction of a target and to which is linked an optical emitter generating successive light flashes in the near infrared, said deviation meter comprising:                an optical detector comprising a matrix of photosensitive elements able to detect said successive light flashes;        an optical system, which observes the scene in which the target and said missile are located and in the focal plane of which is positioned said optical detector;        electronic means of controlling said optical detector that are able to trigger snapshots of said scene by the latter; and        means able to synchronize snapshots of said optical detector with said successive light flashes.
Thus, in such a known deviation meter, the position in said matrix of the photosensitive element or elements excited by said successive light flashes is representative of the position of said missile relative to the axis of said optical system.
When such a deviation meter is used in an alignment-guided missile firing station, it is associated with a daytime aiming device (telescope) and/or a nighttime aiming device (heat-sensitive camera) for the use of the operator of said firing station. There is thus obtained a composite aiming system with deviation meter enabling said operator to follow a target with one or other of said aiming devices depending on the conditions of brightness, the deviation meter supplying position information concerning the missile in flight to means of guiding the latter to said target.
In such a composite aiming system, there is therefore a deviation measurement channel and at least one aiming channel, each of said channels having its own optical system, its own detector and its own electronics (heat-sensitive aiming), and so on, which renders said system complex, costly, heavy and voluminous. Such drawbacks are particularly disadvantageous when said composite aiming system is to be carried by the operator.
These drawbacks of complexity, cost, weight and bulk are added to by the fact that it is necessary to provide, for the deviation meter channel, a wide-field optical channel for the control of the missile by the firing station after launch and a reduced-field optical channel for guidance.
Moreover, in such a composite aiming system, it is essential for performance purposes for the axes of the deviation measurement and aiming channels to be strictly harmonized and remain so throughout the duration of use, which entails precision adjustments or even an additional optical harmonization device, and means that the system has to be used with care, although the conditions of use do not normally allow that.
Furthermore, the daytime aiming device (telescope) forms a direct optical channel able to transmit a laser attack to the operator.
Finally, because, in such a composite aiming system with deviation meter, the missile is servo-controlled to the line of sight of the daytime aiming device or to that of the nighttime aiming device, the guidance of the missile is very sensitive to the untimely or ill-controlled movements that the operator imparts on said system (for example, when jettisoning the missile from its launch tube, when tracking a target with strong defilade, difficulties while aiming, etc.). The result is a disturbed guidance for the missile which, possibly, may even leave the field of said system.

Aiming system with integrated deviation meter


The present invention relates to Compounds represented by the formula (I) or salts thereof. In the formula (I), the ring A represents a benzene ring, a thiophene ring, or a pyridine ring; Ra represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, or an alkoxy group; the ring B represents a pyridine ring, a pyrimidine ring, or a quinoline ring; the ring C represents a benzene ring; a pyridine ring, a quinoline ring, or an isoquinoline ring; X and Y, the same or different, represent an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, with the proviso that the case X is a sulfur atom and Y is an oxygen atom be excluded; R1 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an amino group, a cycloalkylamino group, an alkylcarbonylamino group, an alkyloxycarbonylamino group, an alkylaminocarbonyl group, or a non-aromatic heterocyclic group; and R2 and R2′, the same or different, represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, a halogeno-alkyl group, or a halogeno-alkoxy group.

Neovascularization is a phenomenon in which a new blood vessel network is formed from an existing vessel, which is predominantly observed in microvessels. Neovascularization is a physiological phenomena and essential for angiogenesis during the embryonic stage but is not observed in adults except for limited sites such as endometrium and follicle and limited periods such as a course of healing of wounds. However, pathologic neovascularization is observed in diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, retinal vein occlusion, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, diabetic macular edema, plaque psoriasis, and atherosclerosis and is associated closely with pathologic progress of each of the diseases. The neovascularization is regulated by a balance between a promoting factor and a suppressing factor, and it is considered that the neovascularization occurs due to disruption of the balance (see Non-Patent Publication 1 and Non-Patent Publication 2).
The vascular endothelial growth factor (hereinafter, referred to as "VEGF") is a factor that promotes construction of a capillary vessel network by way of proliferation, migration, and tube formation of vascular endothelial cells by specifically acting on receptors (Flt-1, KDR/Flk-1, etc.) existing on a surface of vascular endothelial cells and has a remarkably important role in occurrence of neovascularization. Therefore, many trials for treating the diseases associated with neovascularization by controlling occurrence of neovascularization through inhibition of VEGF have been reported. Examples of drugs to be used for such treatment include indolin-2-one derivatives (see Patent Publication 1), phthalazine derivatives (see Patent Publication 2), quinazoline derivatives (see Patent Publication 3), anthranilamide derivatives (see Patent Publication 4), the 2-aminonicotinic acid derivatives (see Patent Publication 5), 4-pyridylalkylthio derivatives (see Patent Publication 6), and the like.
Meanwhile, since compounds having an oxadiazole ring or a thiadiazole ring exhibit useful bioactivity, applications of the compounds to many pharmaceutical products and the like have been tried. Among the applications, each of the oxadiazole derivatives reported in Patent Publication 7 and Non-Patent Publications 3 and 4 is proved to have neovascularization inhibitory activity by way of the inhibition of VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase. Each of the compounds disclosed in the publications is characterized by having a 4-pyridylalkylamino group or a 4-pyridylethyl group. However, synthesis and neovascularization inhibitory activity of the compounds having the 4-pyridylalkyloxy group, 4-pyridylalkylthio group, or the like are not disclosed at all.    Non-Patent Publication 1: Molecular Medicine, vol. 35, Extra Edition, "Molecular Mechanism of Symptom and Pathology", Nakayama Shoten, 73-74 (1998)    Non-Patent Publication 2: Extra Edition of Protein, Nucleic Acid, and Enzyme, "Forefront Drug Development", Kyoritsu Shuppan, 118, 2-1187 (2000)    Non-Patent Publication 3: Bioorg, Med. Chem. Lett., 16 (5), 1440-1444 (2006)    Non-Patent Publication 4: Bioorg, Med. Chem. Lett., 16 (7), 1913-1919 (2006)    Patent Publication 1: International Publication WO98/50356    Patent Publication 2: International Publication WO98/35958    Patent Publication 3: International Publication WO97/30035    Patent Publication 4: International Publication WO00/27819    Patent Publication 5: International Publication WO01/55114    Patent Publication 6: International Publication WO04/078723    Patent Publication 7: International Publication WO04/052280

Oxadiazole derivatives and thiadiazole derivatives having neovascularization inhibitory activity


A speech communication apparatus which is used with a microphone being fixed to a predetermined position in the vicinity of the mouth in such a manner as to prevent the transmission of uncomfortable noise such as sneezing, coughing or throat-clearing noise to a partner. There is provided a speech communication apparatus including a speech communication microphone, a speaker and a communication unit for amplifying an output signal from the speech communication microphone, the speech communication apparatus includes the communication unit having an amplifier for amplifying an input signal and outputting the input signal so amplified, and a controller for controlling the gain of the amplifier in response to an excessive input signal, wherein the controller controls the gain of the amplifier such that a reproduced sound of an excessive input signal is reduced to a predetermined level only for a predetermined period of time when the excessive input signal is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech communication apparatus, and more particularly to a speech communication apparatus in which a speech communication microphone is mounted on a speech communicator in such a manner as to be fixed in the vicinity of the mouth of said speech communicator.
2. Description of Background Art
A communication system (an intercom) is known in which in order to establish speech communication between a rider and a driver of a riding type vehicle such as a motorcycle and a passenger of said riding type vehicle a speaker or a rider or driver of another vehicle, a speech communication microphone and an electric contact between them are mounted in a helmet for the driver, the passenger and the driver of another vehicle, respectively, and a communication unit mounted on the vehicle side is connected to the helmet for the driver, the passenger and the driver of another vehicle, respectively.
In the conventional communication system described above, since the speech communication microphone is normally fixed in the vicinity of the mouth of the driver when the helmet is worn by the driver, the speech communication microphone cannot be moved away from the vicinity of the mouth even when the driver feels like sneezing or coughing. This causes a problem that noise generated when the driver sneezes or coughs is allowed to be entirely detected by the speech communication microphone for transmission to the passenger or the driver of another vehicle who is in communication with the driver, thereby making his or her speech communication partner feel uncomfortable.
Although there exists no prior art developed to solve the technical problem described above, as a common technology for attenuating an excessive input which offends the ear JP-A-5-183363 discloses a technology in which a signal exceeding allowable positive or negative maximum values is converted into a code of a noise level at which noise cannot be substantially picked up by converting an input signal into a digital signal for data processing.
In the above prior art, the input signal is converted into the digital signal, the digital signal resulting from the conversion is data processed to determine whether or not the input signal is excessive, and if it is determined to be excessive the excessive input signal must be converted into a string of codes. Thus, there has been caused a problem that the construction of the prior art speech communication system becomes complicated.

Speech communication apparatus with gain control for clear communication


An upper has a front shell portion and a rear shell portion which includes a rear wall part, a front wall part, left and right wall parts that cooperate to confine a receiving space to receive the leg of the wearer. A leg support member is attached to an inner surface of the rear shell portion and extends from the rear wall part to the left and right wall parts. At least one of two end portions of the leg support member extends forwardly and outwardly from the rear shell portion and is manipulatable to tighten the leg support member around the wearer's leg so as to support and comfort the wearer's leg.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shoe, more particularly to a shoe incorporating a leg support member disposed within an upper to surround and support the leg and/or ankle of a wearer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art to provide a sandal with an ankle strap in addition to toe straps in order to enhance retention of the sandal on the foot of a wearer and to improve the comfort and support provided by the sandal.
It is also known that shoes are provided with ankle supports in order to prevent the ankle of wearers from undesirable twisting movement which can injure the wearers' ankle. An example of such shoes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,947 in which a removable ankle support 1 is attached to an outer side of an upper as shown in FIG. 1. The ankle support 1 has two sheet springs respectively attached to two sides of the upper and can be tightened around the upper at a position corresponding to the wearer's ankle. The ankle support 1 disclosed in this patent is provided outside the upper.
While various ankle supports have existed in the art, further development is still needed for improvements in foot, leg and/or ankle support systems incorporated into shoes.


A granular detergent composition having a density from 550 to 950 g/liter, said detergent composition comprising. i) a polymeric dye transfer inhibiting agent PA1 ii) a protease having an isoelectric point below 10 PA1 iii) a surfactant system which is free of alkylbenzene sulfonate surfactant.

Currently, there is a high interest in "compact" detergent products. The particularity of such detergent compositions is their relatively high density compared to conventional detergent compositions, and their ability to achieve the same efficiency as conventional detergent compositions by using a considerably lesser amount of "compact" detergent composition. This particularity is best reflected, in terms of composition, by a relatively low amount of inorganic filler salt. The efficiency of such "compact" detergent composition is best achieved by eliminating the pre-wash cycle and by using dispersing and diffusing devices, which are put directly in the drum of the washing machine at the start of the main washing cycle.
Detergent compositions containing proteases are well-known in art. By using a protease in a detergent, it is possible to hydrolyze the proteins, present in stains and soil on the clothes, to such a degree that they become readily soluble in water.
It is equally well recognized that the relative ability of each protease to meet various performance criteria depends at least in part on the composition of the detergent matrix. As a consequence, the detergent formulator is faced with a difficult task of providing compact detergent compositions containing a protease, wherein said protease has an excellent detergency performance.
The present invention is based on the unexpected finding that in a "compact" matrix containing a polymeric dye transfer inhibiting agent and a non-alkylbenzene sulfonate surfactant system, the detergency performance of a protease having an isoelectric point below 10 outperforms other proteases having an isoelectric point of higher than 10 such as Savinase.RTM., Opticlean.RTM., Maxacal.RTM., Purafect.RTM., and Esperase.RTM..
This finding allows formulation of compact granular detergent compositions providing both excellent cleaning and fabric care properties on cotton and woollen fabrics.
According to another embodiment of this invention a process is also provided for laundering operations involving colored fabrics.

Protease containing dye transfer inhibiting composition


A two door assembly (10) for an elevator car (11) includes a high speed door (12) and a low speed door (14) that move between an open and closed position to close the entrance (16) of the elevator car. The doors (12, 14) are retained slidably between a header (18) disposed along the top of the car entrance and a door guide (20) disposed along the bottom of the car entrance (16). A drive mechanism (22) moves the high speed and low speed doors (12, 14) between the open and closed positions. A drive arm (24) interconnects the doors to move the low speed door (14) at approximately one-half the speed of the high speed door (12) driven by the drive mechanism (22). One end (38) of the drive arm (24) is connected pivotally to the door guide (20) of the elevator car (11). Each door (12, 14) has a pin (32, 34) extending from a bracket (26, 28) connected to each respective door for sliding engagement with a pair of slots (42, 44) that extend longitudinally along the drive arm (24). The length of the slots (42,44) are sufficient to permit movement of the doors (12, 14) between the open and closed positions. The weight of the drive arm (24) at a predetermined center of gravity (50) provides a predetermined closing force (F.sub.HC) to the high speed door (12) in the closed position and a reduced closing force (F.sub.HO) to the high speed door in the open position.

For elevator systems it is known that a door assembly of an elevator car may include a high speed and a slow speed door. A two speed door mechanism interconnects the doors which controls their speed relative to each other. Currently two types of mechanisms are used to open and close the two speed door assembly. One type of mechanism uses multiple links to interconnect the low speed door, the high speed door and a drive motor. This mechanism requires a number of components which increase the time and cost to manufacture and assemble the door assembly.
Another two speed door mechanism uses cables and pulleys to control the operation of the doors. The cable design has proven to have inadequate stiffness necessary for smooth two door operation. The cable design also forces the mechanism to be installed in the header of the elevator car which is not possible for some elevator systems that do not have space in the header area for a cable arrangement.
In addition to controlling the movement of the doors, the door mechanism must also hold the doors closed at a constant force to comply with elevator codes. One current method is the use of a motor to provide constant force to the door assembly in the closed position. The use of motor force is undesirable because it consumes energy and provides additional heat to the system. Another method is the use of weight closers which provide a constant weight or force closing the door assembly. This method, however, is undesirable because the weights exert a constant closing force not only at the closed position but also at all positions. The driving motor must therefore continually overcome this constant closing force throughout the opening of the doors and thereby consume energy and provide additional heat to the system. Another method is the use of springs to provide a constant closing force when the door assembly is closed. Springs, however, can be noisy and introduce reliability problems.

Sliding two speed door mechanism for an elevator car


A retrofittable pressure gauge for a spray gun includes a pressure sensor, located in a pressure chamber, a power source and a display unit, all enclosed within a case, a passageway providing fluid communication between the pressure chamber and a pressurised interior space of the spray gun when the gauge is mounted on the spray gun and a mounting fixture configured for mounting the pressure gauge at a spreader valve or a trigger operated fluid valve of the spray gun.

Traditionally the compressed air inlet pressure of a compressed air spray gun is adjusted to suit a particular compressed air spray gun air cap or spraying medium by a compressed air pressure reducing valve and air pressure gauge mounted upstream of the compressed air inlet, mounted either adjacent to the source of the compressed air near a spray booth or mounted pendant of the handle of the compressed air spray gun. One problem associated with the aforementioned arrangements of air pressure gauge and compressed air spray gun is that the location of the air pressure gauge is such that the air pressure upstream of the compressed air pressure reducing valve is measured. It is preferable to measure the air pressure downstream of the compressed air pressure reducing valve and all other compressed air valves which can affect a variable pressure reduction and lead to inconsistent compressed air pressure reaching the air cap.
It is possible for a compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve to be included as part of the spray gun thus eliminating the need for a separate compressed air pressure reducing valve, however a problem with this arrangement is that there is at present no means of displaying the compressed air pressure, and if a separate compressed air pressure reducing valve is used upstream with an air pressure gauge, the pressure reducing valve is downstream and if not fully open can cause the pressure setting to vary.
A solution to the aforementioned problem is provided by EP 526 525 which discloses a compressed air spray gun comprising a miniature digital electronic air pressure gauge located down stream of the compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve for measuring the air pressure at the air cap and downstream of the trigger operated shut off valve. As such compressed air spray guns are often used in hazardous areas, the air pressure gauge comprises a sealed unit with an aperture leading to a pressure sensitive transducer connected to an amplifier. The signal from the amplifier is input to an analogue digital converter and thence to a decoder/driver and display. On exhaustion of the cell powering the amplifier, the sealed unit is discarded and replaced with a new sealed unit.
The miniature digital electronic air pressure gauge of EP 526 525 is threaded into a threaded aperture bored into the compressed air spray gun. The air pressure gauge is arranged to be in communication with a bore leading to a region downstream of the compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve and downstream of the trigger operated shut off valve.
A similar solution is offered by the ITW OMX-610 spray gun except the threaded aperture receives an analogue pressure gauge and communicates with a region downstream of the compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve but upstream of the trigger operated shut off valve.
DE 100 31 857 A and DE 100 31 858 A disclose spray guns comprising pressure gauges which are integrated into respectively the handle of the spray gun and the compressed air inlet valve. Embodiments are disclosed with the compressed air pressure being measured upstream of the compressed air inlet, between the compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve and the trigger operated shut off valve and downstream of both the compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve and the trigger operated shut off valve.
Given the foregoing, a need has been identified to provide an air pressure gauge which can be retrofitted to a wide range of existing compressed air spray guns without the need to modify the compressed air spray gun body and thereby measure the air pressure downstream of a compressed air inlet pressure reducing valve and trigger operated shut off valve where the mounting of the gauge does not affect the ease of use of the existing spray gun controls.