A program product for processing a request for a state of a resource in a distributed processing environment may in general terms comprise receiving an identification of a resource, and identifying a provider associated with an indicator of states of the resource. The program product may further comprise obtaining the state of the resource. The state may be obtained by observing the state in memory shared with the indicator, or by retrieving the state from memory in which the state is contained, or by requesting and receiving the state from a remote provider, depending upon the particular resource.

A computer network may be generally understood as a group of computers which are linked by a communication system. Computers generally comprise a processing unit, one or more memory devices such as random access memory (RAM) or disk storage, and an operating system for controlling the processor and memory devices. Each computer in a network may be referred to as a processing node, or simply as a node. In a network which supports a distributed processing environment, a task may be distributed across several nodes and processed in parallel.
Computer networks include various types of resources, and a given network may include several distinct resources of the same type. Network resources may comprise software or hardware. A resource state indicator may be provided in association with a network resource to indicate states of the resource.
It is often necessary for a client such as an application running on a node of a network to be informed of the current state of a particular network resource. In general it is known that this can be accomplished by having the client directly address the resource state indicator associated with the resource to acquire state information.
Prior art techniques for acquiring state information require the client to provide a request in the form of an address which indicates the location to which the request is to be routed. The client is supplied with an address for each resource state indicator and presumes that each address will be valid at all times. In the event that a resource relocates to another node, for example, in the event of a node failure, the client will be unable to continue to obtain states of that resource because the address which the client has for that resource state indicator will no longer be valid.

Program product for obtaining the state of network resources in A distributed computing environment

International Business Machines Corporation


A fluid actuated linear drive includes a drive housing and a drive member which is movable between two stroke end positions. The drive member has a drive unit with a drive piston which divides off two drive chambers from one another, the drive chambers via two housing channels being connected to axial housing coupling openings which are arranged on a housing rear side. A multi-function module is built onto the housing rear side in a position of use and includes components of an external end position setting device for the drive member and is furthermore provided with module block channel systems which communicate with the housing channels and can be used for the feed and discharge of a drive fluid when the multifunction module is built onto the drive housing in the position of use.

The invention relates to a fluid-actuated linear drive comprising a drive housing and a drive member which by way of fluid force can be driven relative to the drive housing into a linear stroke movement in a housing longitudinal direction, wherein the drive member comprises a drive unit which comprises a drive piston which in the drive housing separates two drive chambers from one another, said drive chambers being successive in the housing longitudinal direction and each being connected to one of two housing channels, said housing channels passing through the drive housing and each at a housing rear side of the drive housing running out with an individual axial housing coupling opening at a housing rear surface of the drive housing which is orientated in the housing longitudinal direction and being able to be used for the feed and discharge of a drive fluid which generates the linear stroke movement, wherein the drive member is displaceable by way of the linear stroke movement between a rear stroke end position which is approached onto the housing rear side and a front stroke end position which is distanced with respect to this, wherein the rear stroke end position can be set or is set by an external end position setting device of the linear drive which comprises a stroke limitation stop which is arranged on the drive member outside the drive housing and a stroke limitation counter-stop which lies opposite the stroke limitation stop in the housing longitudinal direction and is supported with respect to the drive housing.
A linear drive of this type which is known from EP 0 868 965 A2 has an elongate drive housing and a drive member which is displaceable relative to the drive housing whilst carrying out a linear stroke movement, wherein the drive member comprises a slide unit, with which it is guided in a linearly displaceable manner on an outer side of the drive housing. The drive force for generating a linear stroke movement of the drive member can be produced by a drive fluid, to which in a manner coordinated with one another two drive chambers of the drive housing can be subjected, said chambers being separated from one another in a fluid tight manner by way of the drive piston of a drive unit of the drive member. Each of the two drive chambers communicates with one of two housing channels which pass through the drive housing and which each with an axial housing coupling opening run out at a housing side surface of the drive housing at the outside. Fluid tubes which are suitable for the feed and discharge of the drive fluid can be coupled onto the axial housing coupling openings. The known linear drive is provided with an external end position setting device, by way of which a rear stroke end position of the drive member can be set. It has a stroke limitation stop which is arranged on the drive member and participates in its stroke movement and a stroke limitation counter-stop which lies opposite the stroke limitation stop and which is supported with respect to the drive housing by way of it being fastened to the drive housing. A further external end position setting device, independently of the set rear stroke end position permits the setting of a front stroke end position of the drive member which is opposite with respect to this.
A fluid-actuated linear drive whose drive member for producing a stroke movement can likewise be subjected to a drive fluid in a controlled manner through two housing channels is known from EP 1 574 283 B1, wherein the housing channels each run out with a lateral coupling opening at a module block side surface of the drive housing at the outside. This linear drive is also provided with means which permit the setting of rear and front stroke end positions of the drive member in a variably adjustable manner.
Both known linear drives on account of the integrated travel setting possibilities demand a certain manufacturing effort which is manifested in the manufacturing costs. Given application cases which demand no particular travel setting, these linear drives in principle are functionally over-dimensioned and create costs for the user for measures which he does not actually need.


An automatic bar code label applying apparatus is characterized by comprising at least a test tube containing section (1) for containing test tubes (11) of a same type to be applied with respective bar code labels, a collection device (2) for collecting the test tubes from the test tube containing section, a transfer device (3) for transferring the collected test tubes to a bar code label applying station (41), a printing/application device for printing characters and bar codes on the labels and applying the printed labels to the respective test tubes and a delivery device for delivering the test tubes with applied bar code labels.

The present invention relates to an automatic bar code label applying apparatus to be suitably used for test tubes and blood sample tubes (hereinafter also referred to test tubes) containing blood, body fluid or some other fluid constituting the object of a screening operation, the label to be applied typically carrying data on the fluid to be screened in the form of characters and a bar code.
In the operation of examining a blood sample in a hospital, the sample is typically examined for a number of test items and the type (size) of the test tube for containing the sample may be selected depending on the test items. A large amount of data may have to be carried by the test tube in order to identify the subject of medical examination and such data may typically include the name and the sex of the subject, the status of inpatient or outpatient and the department in charge of the patient. Recently, efforts have been paid to computerize the operation of controlling the entire hospital by means of either an on-line system or an off-line system and the use of bar code labels carrying thereon characters and bar codes for test tubes is of course in line with such efforts.
While the use of bar code labels for test tubes is advantageous because they can simplify the post-examination management and the accounting system of the hospital but is accompanied by a cumbersome task of applying them to the respective test tubes on a one by one basis. Grave consequences may arise if they happen to be applied to wrong test tubes by careless mistake. In view of these circumstances, there is a demand for the technology of automatically applying bar code labels to test tubes.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an automatic bar code label applying apparatus to be suitably used for test tubes.

Automatic bar code label applying apparatus for test tubes


Systems and methods for rate limiting one or more clusters of service instances using at least one rate limit controller are described herein. A token distribution is determined for each one of a plurality of rate limiters. The token distribution comprising a maximum number of tokens and a token generating rate. The maximum number of tokens and the token generating rate are assigned to each one of the plurality of rate limiters. At least one request for additional tokens is received from at least a given one of the plurality of rate limiters. The token distribution of at least the given one of the plurality of rate limiters is adjusted based on the request and on token consumption information of at least the given one of the plurality of rate limiters. An adjusted token distribution is assigned to the given one of the plurality of rate limiters.

Cloud computing is a form of network-based computing (e.g., Internet-based computing) that enables access to shared pools of configurable computing resources and higher-level services that can be rapidly provisioned with minimal management effort, often over the Internet. Cloud computing is another paradigm shift that follows the shift from mainframe based computing to client-server based computing that is implemented as services. Cloud computing service providers generally provision three main types of services (referred to hereinafter as cloud computing services), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS), by creating virtual machines on demand for use by customers. IaaS provides a computing infrastructure that can be rented and used by customers. The computing infrastructure comprises physical computing resources (e.g. processors, memory, storage, servers, networking components, etc.) that are virtualized and shared among customers. PaaS provides a platform that allows customers to develop, run, and manage software applications without having to build and maintain the computing infrastructure. SaaS provides software applications running on the computing infrastructure on demand over the Internet on a subscription basis.
In a distributed computing environment, such as cloud computing, there is a need to control the rate of traffic when requests from multiple tenants, applications, application programming interface (API) calls and/or downloading/uploading operations share the same network or disk input/output bandwidth. Controlling the rate of traffic may inhibit one or more requests from taking over the majority of the bandwidth as well as prevent denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. This may be achieved by limiting the number of requests per time interval, the bandwidth per second, and/or the number of concurrent connections.
When a large number of requests is served by a cluster of service instances provided with a load balancer, rate limiting each node of the cluster of service instances (e.g. using a counter algorithm, a sliding window algorithm, a leaky bucket algorithm, or a token bucket algorithm) is not suitable due to, for example, an overburdening of the service (e.g. a backend service), an increased memory overhead, a lack of support of priority of requests, or a lack of smoothness in the effect of rate limiting. It is instead more appropriate to perform cluster rate limiting, in which rate limiters are used to rate limit clusters of service instances. However, in existing cluster rate limiting solutions, in order for each rate limiter associated with a given service instance to know whether to accept or reject a request, each rate limiter has to verify, for every request, a central configuration parameter and a counter saved in a shared location (e.g. a Redis™ or Cassandra™ database). This causes the rate limiters to generate traffic that consumes bandwidth, leading to bandwidth and latency overhead issues.
To avoid these issues, tokens can be evenly distributed to each service instance or tokens can be provided to a given service instance periodically or when its tokens are used up. However, because it is desirable for a load balancer provided in front of a cluster of service instances to have low latency, it becomes impossible for the load balancer to act as a rate limiter or to look into each request in order to evenly distribute requests based on rate limiting rules (e.g. from a tenant, an application, or an API) to service instances. The load balancer usually only uses simple rules, such as a round robin scheme, for distributing requests to the service instances as fast as possible without knowing rate limits. The distribution may be balanced for request serving, but unbalanced for rate limiting. Such unbalanced distribution for rate limiting typically causes inaccurate rate limiting if each rate limiter makes decisions by merely considering its own tokens, i.e. without knowledge of the manner in which the requests are handled in the cluster of service instances.
An additional disadvantage of existing cluster rate limiting solutions is the lack of coordination between instances of frontend services and instances of backend services. In particular, in cases where instances of frontend services call instances of backend services, rate limiting between the two is typically not coordinated, causing the instances of backend services to become overloaded when additional loads are received from the instances of frontend services.
As such, there is a need for improved systems and methods for rate limiting of clusters of service instances provisioned in distributed computing environments.

Method and system for cluster rate limiting in a cloud computing system


A probe array for a scanning microscope has numerous individual probes that respectively have a probe tip on one or more beams. The individual probes are arranged in the form of a two-dimensional grid such that the directions of the beams include with respect to the directions of the grid an angle which is not equal to 0.degree. or 180.degree.. The grid spacings in both mutually perpendicular directions can be smaller than the length of the beams, due to the inclined arrangement of the beams relative to the translation vectors of the grid formed by the probe tips (3a-3p). The two beams (4a, 5a) of each individual probe are mutually arranged in a V-shape to form a mutually nested arrangement of the individual probes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a probe array for scanning probe microscopes and more particularly, to a probe array for tunneling microscopes.
2. Discussion of Relevant Art
A probe array for scanning probe microscopes, in particular for tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,850. The individual probes respectively consist of a thin beam that can be deflected perpendicularly of its longitudinal direction, and a probe tip arranged at the free end of the beam. These individual probes are arranged as a two-dimensional grid, the long axes of the beams being aligned parallel to one grid direction of the two-dimensional grid. The spacings of the probe tips from each other are thus considerably greater in one direction than the length of the beams. Therefore with this arrangement, at least in one direction of the array, no probe spacings can be attained which are smaller than the beam lengths.
A further probe array for tunneling microscopes is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,978, in which the individual probes are arranged in several mutually parallel rows, which again have numerous individual probes. However, the probe tips are not received on individual beams. Such a probe array is therefore not suitable for microscopes in which the distance between the probe tips and the specimen to be measured is regulated corresponding to the interacting atomic forces between the probe tip and the specimen.
A one-dimensional, linear probe array for near-field lithography is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,280. In this arrangement the individual probe tips are arranged on deflectable beams. The individual beams are arranged as an array, parallel to the longitudinal direction of the beams. A two-dimensional probe array is not described in this document.
A linear array of several two-beam structures, which are respectively V-shaped, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,907 for atomic force microscopy. One of the two-beam structures has a probe for atomic force microscopy, and the two other structures respectively have a sharp-edged attachment for the micromanipulation (moving and cutting) of microscopic objects. No two-dimensional probe array is described in this document, either.

Probe array for a scanning probe microscope


A high voltage split core transformer and method of assembling same is provided by which the coupling factor is improved. A split core assembly is surrounded by a secondary winding that is precisely located in a burner assembly housing. Conductive members are encased within the housing and, in conjunction with traces provided on a printed circuit board enclosing the housing cavity, define first and second primary windings about the core secondary winding. This arrangement reduces the number of turns in the secondary winding and allows the use of larger cross-sectional wire which increases the current carrying capability thereof, making the transformer suitable for D1-D5 automotive headlamp applications.

Cross-reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/646,213, filed Dec. 27, 2006, entitled "Lamp Igniter Module and Transformer Carrier"; Ser. No. 11/646,009, filed Dec. 27, 2006, entitled "Lamp Transformer"; Ser. No. 11/645,879, filed Dec. 27, 2006, entitled "Lamp Transformer Assembly"; and Ser. No. 11/513,777, filed Aug. 31, 2006, entitled "Lamp Transformer".
This disclosure relates to an improved high voltage transformer assembly and method of improving the coupling of the high voltage transformer assembly, and a method for enclosing the high voltage transformer within the burner or igniter enclosure in an automotive headlamp application. It will be appreciated, however, that selected aspects may be used in related environments and applications.
Discharge lamp automotive headlamp designs are generally known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,042,169 discloses a gas discharge lamp base where the transformer includes a bar-core or rod-type transformer. Another automotive headlamp design is disclosed in DE 197 51 548, where the ignition transformer includes an electrically non-conductive, Ni—Zn ferrite core, a gap in the core, and a non-conductive solid body disposed in the gap. The solid body protrudes from the body at one side. Yet another automotive headlamp design is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,081. It describes a starting device that includes a transformer with two primary windings connected in parallel and a secondary winding.
A split core arrangement is desirable since it changes the reluctance of the component and the associated BH curve. Thus, as current or flux increases, greater voltage is obtained. Further, the voltage out of the transformer assembly is related to the input voltage multiplied by a function that is related to the number of turns in the secondary winding, and to the number of primary windings as multiplied by a constant.
It is desirable to know the voltage expected from a transformer assembly so that the manufacturer can rely on the expected operation of the headlamp. The coupling factor is dependent on a number of factors, such as geometry, size, shape, number of turns, material, distance, etc. In automotive headlamp designs, there is a limit to the number of turns that is available. By carefully controlling these various factors, coupling is improved. The dimensional constraints of the housing size are dictated by the automotive industry. Likewise, the positioning of the primary winding is important. The positioning must be predictable so that the desired, predetermined voltage out is obtained. Thus, alternative solutions are needed to more closely control the coupling and provide the high voltage necessary for instant startup of headlamps, i.e., on the order of 25 kV.
It is also desirable to provide a transformer assembly design that is adaptable to different headlamps. The headlamps are often referred to or rated as D1-D5 applications, for example, and require different current levels because of the dose and operational characteristics of the lamp. For example, a D1 headlamp incorporates mercury into the fill, needs less steady state current to operate, and usually permits use of lower gage wire for the turns. A D3 lamp, on the other hand, is mercury free and needs greater current. For example, 0.4 amps may be required for a D1 lamp, while 0.8 amps are required for a D3 lamp. Thus, a need exists to provide a transformer design that allows for a reduction in the number of turns in the secondary winding, and yet increases its current carrying capability so that it is suitable for use in D1-D5 applications.
Moreover, simplified manufacturability of the transformer is also desired as well as reduced variation in the coupling factor to improve the performance of the transformer assembly.

High voltage transformer and a novel arrangement/method for hid automotive headlamps


The present invention provides compositions for, a method of suppressing the rise in plasma concentrations of atherogenic lipoproteins after administration of an agent having small acceptors of cholesterol, other lipids or compounds. The method includes the step of co-administering an effective amount of a multiplicity of an agent having large liposomes that include phospholipids substantially free of sterol with the administration of the agent having the small acceptors. The atherogenic lipoproteins include LDL, VLDL, IDL, .beta.-VLDL, Lp(a), a lipoprotein containing apolipoprotein-B, oxidized lipoproteins, and modified lipoproteins. The agent having small acceptors consists essentially of small acceptors and in which the agent having large liposomes consists essentially of large liposomes. In a variant, co-administration of the agent having large liposomes is simultaneous with the administration of the agent having small acceptors. Optionally, co-administration of the agent having large liposomes is separated in time from the administration of the agent having small acceptors by an effective time period. An improved pharmaceutical composition for reducing the size of arterial lesions that enters the liver of a subject is also provided the improvement comprises an anti-oxidant and derivatives thereof. The invention also provides an improved mode of operation of liposomes utilizing the improvements described herein.

Several human conditions are characterized by distinctive lipid compositions of tissues, cells, membranes, and extracellular regions or structures. For example, in atherosclerosis, cholesterol (unesterified, esterified, and oxidized forms) and other lipids accumulate in cells and in extracellular areas of the arterial wall and elsewhere. These lipids have potentially harmful biologic effects, for example, by changing cellular functions, including gene expression, and by narrowing the vessel lumen, obstructing the flow of blood. Removal of these lipids would provide numerous substantial benefits. Moreover, cells, membranes, tissues, and extracellular structures will benefit in general from compositional alterations that include increasing resistance to oxidation and oxidative damage, such as by increasing the content and types of anti-oxidants, removing oxidized material, and increasing the content of material that is resistant to oxidation. In aging, cells have been shown to accumulate sphingomyelin and cholesterol, which alter cellular functions. These functions can be restored in vitro by removal of these lipids and replacement with phospholipid from liposomes. A major obstacle to performing similar lipid alterations in vivo has been disposition of the lipids mobilized from tissues, cells, extracellular areas, and membranes. Natural (e.g., high-density lipoproteins) and synthetic (e.g., small liposomes) particles that could mobilize peripheral tissue lipids have a substantial disadvantage: they deliver their lipids to the liver in a manner that disturbs hepatic cholesterol homeostasis, resulting in elevations in plasma concentrations of harmful lipoproteins, such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL), a major atherogenic lipoprotein. There exists a need for better methods to manipulate the lipid content and composition of peripheral tissues, cells, membranes, and extracellular regions in vivo, particularly in regard to diseases and processes involving oxidation and oxidative damage. Moreover, currently available artificial particles for intravenous administration contain significant amounts of oxidized material (Helbock et al. Pediatrics 91:83-87, 1993), which contributes to their unsuitability for these purposes.
The intravenous administration of cholesterol-poor phospholipid vesicles (liposomes) or other particles that transport cholesterol and other exchangeable material from lipoproteins and peripheral tissues, including atherosclerotic arterial lesions, to the liver produces substantial derangements in hepatic cholesterol homeostasis, such as enhanced hepatic secretion of apolipoprotein-B, and suppression of hepatic LDL receptors. The hepatic derangements lead to increased plasma concentrations of LDL and other atherogenic lipoproteins. Increased concentrations of LDL or other atherogenic lipoproteins will accelerate, not retard, the development of vascular complications. Deranged hepatic cholesterol homeostasis can also be manifested by abnormal regulation of genes, such as gene for the LDL receptor, a gene for HMG-CoA reductase, a gene for cholesterol 7-alpha hydroxylase, and a gene regulating a function involved in cholesterol homeostasis. There exists a need for methods or compounds that can produce a removal of cholesterol and other exchangeable material, including oxidized materials, from peripheral cells, tissues, organs, and extracellular regions, and that can produce a delivery of anti-oxidants to cells, tissues, organs, and extracellular regions, but without harmfully disrupting hepatic cholesterol homeostasis, including hepatic gene expression and regulation.
The invention described herein provides methods and compositions related to the removal of cholesterol and other exchangeable material from peripheral tissues, and otherwise altering peripheral tissue composition, to reduce or avoid oxidation and its effects and products, while controlling plasma concentrations of LDL and other atherogenic lipoproteins and avoiding harmful disruption of hepatic cholesterol homeostasis. It is an object of the invention of the present invention to solve the problems articulated above and other problems in the art.

Method of suppressing a rise in LDL concentrations after administration of an agent having small acceptors


A method for measuring structures (3) on a substrate (2) with a coordinate measuring machine (1) is disclosed. A predefined measuring method is used for measuring at least one structure (3) on the substrate (2), wherein the measuring includes the position and/or the width of the structure (3). The predefined measuring method consists of a plurality of processes linked with the coordinate system (1a) of the coordinate measuring machine (2). The measuring method for a substrate is defined by a first orientation with respect to the coordinate system of the coordinate measuring machine (1). The predefined measuring method is applied to a second orientation of the substrate (2).

A coordinate measuring device is well-known from prior art. See, for example, the lecture script "Pattern Placement Metrology for Mask Making" by Dr. Carola Blaesing. The lecture was given on the occasion of the Semicon conference, Education Program, in Geneva on Mar. 31, 1998, and described the coordinate measuring machine in detail. The structure of a coordinate measuring machine, as known, for example, from prior art, is explained in more detail in the following description associated with FIG. 1. A method and a measuring device for determining the position of structures on a substrate are known from the German published application DE 10047211 A1. Details concerning the mentioned position determination may be found in that document.
The unpublished German patent application DE 2007 030 390.6 discloses a coordinate measuring machine having associated therewith means for automatically orienting the substrate. The coordinate measuring machine further has associated therewith a control and computing unit, so that self-calibration may be performed on the basis of at least two different and automatically set orientations of the substrate.

Method for measuring positions of structures on a substrate with a coordinate measuring machine


A method and apparatus for reducing leakage currents in a high voltage tolerant I/O buffer. An I/O buffer designed to tolerate high external voltages by blocking such voltages at a passgate in a p-output path that uses a device between a p-driver gate node and a p-gate node of the passgate to ensure that the p-transistor of the passgate is turned on when the p-driver is driving the pad high. A second device isolates the p-gate node of the passgate from the pad until a pad voltage reaches a predetermined level. Once the pad voltage reaches the predetermined level, the device drives the voltage at the p-gate node of the passgate to that of the pad. Maintaining the p-transistor of the passgate on while the p-driver is driving the pad high allows a rapid hard shut-off of the p-driver as the I/O buffer tri-states the pad. Additionally, the second device maintains the necessary voltage protection by insuring a hard shut-off of the p-transistor of the passgate when the voltage at the pad reaches a predetermined level.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an I/O buffer. More specifically, the invention relates to improving the leakage currents characteristics of the p-output path of a five volt tolerant I/O buffer.
(2) Related Art
Input/output (I/O) buffers are generally well-known in the art. Early semiconductor processes were designed to operate in the voltage range of zero to five volts. Lower power processes have been developed such that some existing semiconductor processes are designed to use lower voltage ranges. For example, CMOS technologies frequently operate between the power supply voltage (V.sub.cc) of 3.3 volts and ground. Because such circuits are often used in an environment having components which still require a 5 volt range, it is necessary to devise a lower voltage circuit that operates in a higher voltage environment. Different voltage ranges are increasingly common, and voltage protection is necessary any time a lower voltage chip resides in a higher voltage environment. For example, if the CMOS chipset shares a bus with a typical dynamic random access memory (DRAM) interface, when the chipset tri-states its I/O buffer and samples the bus, signals may be driven back at five volts. Thus, the I/O buffer must be designed to tolerate five volts without a functionality or reliability problem. To do this, it is desirable to prevent the five volts from passing through the I/O buffer to the chipset itself.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art circuit employed in an output buffer to accomplish the necessary protection and reliability in a five volt environment In the p-output path, p-predriver 1 drives a signal into passgate 14 which is composed of an n-type transistor 8 and p-type transistor 9. N-type transistor 8 has a gate coupled to a supply voltage V.sub.cc while its other two terminals are connected to the corresponding terminals of the p-type transistor 9. The drains of transistors 8 and 9 are coupled to the gate 10 of p-driver 6 which is also a p-type transistor. The source terminal of the p-driver is connected to a peripheral power supply (V.sub.ccp), and the drain is connected to pad 5. V.sub.ccp is nominally the same voltage as V.sub.cc, however, because of noise considerations, it is common practice to employ a separate power rail for the p-driver and peripherals. One could, of course, couple the p-driver 6 to V.sub.cc instead. One of ordinary skill in the art will also recognize the p-type transistors have a fourth terminal providing a necessary N-well bias. N-well biasing is performed in a manner consistent with high voltage tolerant design. This fourth terminal is omitted throughout for clarity.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the transistors are symmetric. Stated differently, defining a particular terminal to be a source or drain is arbitrary as the source or drain is actually defined by the voltage relative to the gate voltage of a particular transistor at a particular time. Taking the p-driver 6 as an example, if the voltage at gate 10 is at least a threshold voltage (V.sub.T) below one of the other terminals, the highest voltage terminal will be the source. Thus, if, for example, pad 5 is at five volts and the voltage at gate 10 is V.sub.T less than 5 volts, the pad terminal of p-driver 6 becomes the source and the drain is connected to V.sub.ccp, thereby creating a DC current sink in the power supply. Conversely, under normal operation, the source will be the terminal connected to V.sub.ccp.
Resistors 11 and 12 provide electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for the circuit. High voltage bias transistor 7 is used to prevent the DC current sink in the power supply discussed above in connection with the p-driver. The gate of the high voltage bias transistor is tied to V.sub.cc. Accordingly, when the pad voltage exceeds V.sub.cc by V.sub.T, the pad voltage appears at the gate of the p-driver. Because the pad voltage appears at the gate 10 of the p-driver 6, there is not a V.sub.T drop between the pad and the gate of the p-driver, the p-driver remains off and no current is sourced to V.sub.cc through the p-driver. Additionally, because gate 13 of the p-transistor 9 of the passgate 14 is connected to the pad, the pad voltage appears at the gate 13 of the p-transistor 9 and keeps the p-transistor 9 turned off. This prevents a high voltage signal from being driven back into the p-predriver 1 and further into the internal components (not shown).
N-type transistors 3 and 4 form an n-driver stack and are driven by the n-predriver 2. N-transistor 4 is gate coupled to the N-predriver 2 and source coupled to V.sub.ssp. V.sub.ssp is typically ground. Transistor 3 is gate coupled to V.sub.cc. Accordingly, the maximum voltage that can appear at the intermediate node in the stack is V.sub.cc -V.sub.T. Thus, the high voltage is effectively stopped at the passgate and in the n-driver stack.
In the course of normal operation, to drive the pad 5 to V.sub.ccp, the gates of the n-driver 4 and p-driver 6 must be driven low. To drive the pad 5 low, both drivers' gates must be driven high. To float the pad 5 and go into tri-state, both drivers 4, 6 must be turned off. Therefore, the p-driver gate 10 must be driven high, and the gate of the n-driver 4 must be driven low. This creates an indeterminate condition at the pad 5. When in tri-state, it is often desirable to know the state of the pad 5, e.g., it is desirable to pull the pad 5 high or pull the pad 5 low so that when the pad 5 is not being driven, it is in a known state. One way this is typically done is by using a weak resistor as a pull-down resistor 15 or pull-up resistor (not shown). A pull-down resistor 15 from the pad to ground is shown for illustration. Leakage current from the p-driver 6 can prevent the desired pull-down. Moreover, if the p-driver 6 leaks, this leakage represents a power waste, both in terms of the current sourced by the p-driver 6, but also because external devices have to drive back that much harder against this leakage current to successfully drive the pad 5. While power waste is undesirable in any event, it can be devastating in low power systems, including mobile systems.
The prior art circuit exhibits leakage in the p-output path under certain conditions. Specifically, failure conditions exist when the pad 5 is driven to a logic 1 which implies that the gate of the n-driver 4 is low and the p-driver gate 10 is low. Therefore, 3.3 volts appear at the pad 5, and the same 3.3 volts appear at the p-gate 13 of the passgate 14. Thus, the p-transistor 9 of the passgate 14 is turned off. However, the n-transistor 8 has no trouble sourcing a zero volt signal to the gate 10 of the p-driver 6. Thus, the p-driver 6 is on, and the pad 5 is driven high. A problem occurs in the transition from a pad high condition to a tri-state. To float the pad 5, the gate 10 of the p-driver 6 must be driven high to shut the p-driver 6 off. Unfortunately, one can only drive a voltage up to a V.sub.cc -V.sub.T through the n-transistor 8 of the passgate 14. The p-transistor 9 of the passgate 14 remains off because the 3.3 volts of the pad 5 continue to appear at its gate 13. Since the maximum voltage that can be driven through the n-transistor 8 is less than the voltage required to turn the p-driver 6 off, a leakage path exists from V.sub.ccp through p-driver 6 through the pull-down resistor 15 to ground. Therefore, a leakage current results until the voltage at the pad 5 is reduced enough to allow the p-transistor 9 of the passgate 14 to turn on, and 3.3 volts can be sourced to a gate of the p-driver 6 shutting the p-driver 6 off. Unfortunately, a weak pull-down resistor may not be strong enough to drag the pad 5 low enough to turn the p-transistor 9 of the passgate 14 on.
To reduce this unnecessary power drain and to ensure that the pad 5 can be placed in a known state when not driven, it would be desirable to be able to prevent this leakage current while still protecting the internal circuitry from high voltages of external drivers.

Method and apparatus for reducing leakage currents in an I/O buffer


In the encasement of a height-adjustable support column comprising a plurality of encasement elements (12) which are arranged annularly around the support column and which engage each other in a telescopic manner and can be slid relatively to each other in the axial direction of the support column, the encasement elements (12) each consisting of a material band (14) bent into a ring whose abutting edges (16) each have a rebate (20) bent backwards and are connected to each other by means of a retainer clip (22) having a C-shaped profile and clasping the rebates, at least one of the rebates (20) is provided with a recess (26) into which a locking element (28) provided on the retainer clip (22) can be engaged.

In particular the encasement is intended for the support column of an operating table. When the encasement needs to be replaced or access to the support column is needed for maintenance or repair, the annular elements of the encasement have to be opened. For this purpose the retainer clip has to be removed. In a known solution the rebates are provided with cuts close to their longitudinal ends which cuts extend perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the rebates so that when the retainer clip has been slid on, the lobes created by providing said cuts can be folded back behind the retainer clip towards the wall of the encasement element. There is a risk of damaging the exterior of the encasement element both when pushing the lobe against the wall of the encasement element and when bending the lobe away so as to again release the retainer clip.

Encasement for a height-adjustable support column


Provided is a plurality of component supply units (A, B, C) having a component supply table (11) mounted with a plurality of component supply cassettes (1), a rail (12) which reciprocatingly movably guides and supports the component supply table, a base (22) which fixes the rail, a driving member (14) which moves in a direction in which a component determining table moves while being able to be positioned in the base, and a coupling member (13f, 13c, 13r, 16) which can releasably couple the component determining table with the driving member.

In recent years, the component supply apparatus for supplying electronic components to an electronic component mounting apparatus which mounts the electronic components onto a printed board has had the practices of diversification in the amount of mounted component supply cassettes and division of its supply table in order to cope with the requirements for multi-sort small-quantity production and an increase in the operating rate.
Conventionally, this kind of component supply apparatus has generally had a construction as disclosed in Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-221326. The construction will be described below with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a first supply table 2 and a second supply table 3 which are able to set a plurality of component supply cassettes 1 are reciprocatingly movably guided by a rail 4. Below these supply tables 2 and 3 is provided a threaded shaft 5 fixed parallel to the rail 4. On the lower surface side of the supply tables 2 and 3 are provided a nut section 6 meshed with the threaded shaft 5 and a hollow motor 7 which rotationally drives the nut section 6 around the threaded shaft 5. The reference numeral 8 denotes a mounting head which attracts by suction a component at the component supply cassette 1 and transfers and mounts it onto a board 10 positioned by an X-Y table 9.
When a pair of component supply cassettes 1 of identical electronic components are set at the supply tables 2 and 3 in the aforementioned construction and when a depletion of components occurs in one supply table, the table is switched to the other supply table for alternative use, thereby allowing the component supply cassette 1 in which the depletion of components occurs to be supplied with components in the meantime.
When there are many sorts of the components to be used, it can be performed to set component supply cassettes 1 of electronic components of different sorts at the supply tables 2 and 3 and supply the components to the mounting head 8 through successive switching between the supply tables 2 and 3.
However, since the constituent elements of the rail 4, threaded shaft 5 and so on are arranged on one base in the aforementioned prior art, various kinds of component supply apparatuses are required to be prepared depending on the amount, installation space condition and so on of necessary component supply cassettes 1. Furthermore, it is difficult to flexibly change the number of component supply cassettes and the number of supply tables depending on a change in the production state and the like.
The present invention has an object to provide a component supply apparatus capable of freely using a plurality of component supply units by connecting them.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A compressor or pump employs principles of unsteady delayed stall to enhance the head increase produced by the compressor or pump. Plural airfoil-shaped lifting elements are spaced from each other in a cascade and the fluid is directed into the cascade by a device that varies a parameter of the flow relative to each lifting element in repeating cycles to cause the flow relative to each lifting element to begin to separate from the lifting element and then reattach thereto during each cycle. The cascade can comprise an axial flow impeller with plural impeller blades arranged around a hub capable of rotating on an axis. The device for varying the flow parameter can be a stator with a plurality of stator blades upstream of the impeller, or a second, counter-rotating axial flow impeller. In either case, the parameter is a flow angle at which the flow is directed to the downstream impeller. The disclosed approach is applicable to any method, and any apparatus that incorporates structure, in which flow is directed to a cascade of lifting elements in a manner whereby the flow relative to each lifting element periodically begins to separate from the lifting element and then reattaches thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method to enhance lift by cyclically causing the flow over an airfoil to begin to separate from the airfoil and then reattach, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for increasing the pressure differential created by a rotating impeller.
2. Description of Related Art
Apparatus such as propulsion devices (for example, airplane propellers and marine propulsors), turbomachinery (for example, axial and centrifugal flow compressors), pumps, turbines (axial and centrifugal configurations), and the like, all involve the transfer of energy between a rotating impeller and a working medium fluid. The tools for designing such apparatus have become very sophisticated, using advanced mathematical techniques incorporating complex algorithms requiring the computing capacity of powerful modern computers. But even the most advanced design tools still generally assume steady-state flow conditions. That is, current fluid dynamics design approaches assume that the flow parameters at a given point are constant for any particular set of operating conditions, meaning that at any given location on, say, the blade of a marine propeller operating under a particular set of conditions, the flow parameters do not change over time.
One commentator has put it like this: "In the decades since 1934, engineers and mathematicians have amassed a body of aerodynamic theory sufficient to design Boeing 747s and stealth fighters. As sophisticated as these aircraft may be, their design and function are based on steady-state principles: the flow of air around the wings and the resulting forces generated by that flow are constant over time." Dickinson, "Solving the Mystery of Insect Flight," Scientific American, June 2001, pp. 49–57. The same steady-state assumptions are used to design complex propulsion systems such as jet engines. Yet a steady-state fluid dynamics analysis suggests that the seemingly simple way insects propel themselves is actually impossible.
Science has recently come to understand that insect flight in fact involves significant variations over time of the flow field around the insects' wings, caused by complex flapping/rotational wing motion. In other words, understanding insect flight requires non-steady-state analysis. As it turns out, one phenomenon insects take advantage of was observed many years ago. Francis et al., "The Flow Near a Wing Which Starts Suddenly from Rest and then Stalls," Rep. Memo Aeronautical Research Comm., Aeronautics Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England, Rept. No. 1561, Aug. 8, 1933, shows that a wing that starts at an angle of attack in excess of that associated with steady-state stall travels several chord lengths before experiencing flow separation and loss of lift. An insect uses the delayed stall associated with translational wing motion (in addition to taking advantage of lift and wake capture associated with rotational wing motion) in order to fly. Dickinson et al., "Wing Rotation and the Aerodynamic Basis of Flight," Science, Vol. 284, Jun. 18, 1999, pp. 1954–60.
The flow over a wing W at the onset of aerodynamic stall is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The wing W has a conventional airfoil cross-section, and in normal, level flight the flow stays attached to the top and the bottom of the airfoil. As those skilled in the art understand, when the flow stays attached to the upper and lower airfoil surfaces, the wing generates a lift force L. It is also well known that the magnitude of the lift L is proportional to the airfoil's angle of attack α. This is the angle between the vector representing the airfoil's velocity U∞ through the air and the airfoil chord (a line connecting the leading and trailing edges of the airfoil cross-section). If the angle of attack a increases beyond a critical value, the flow separates from the top surface of the wing W and the lift decreases to a much lower steady stalled value. This is called "stall," and under normal circumstances it is avoided at all costs.
FIG. 1 illustrates notionally the flow phenomena that occur when an airfoil first enters the flow regime associated with steady-state stall. FIG. 1 shows a wing W traveling from right to left at a high angle of attack α. FIG. 1A shows the wing at time t, just as the wing encounters flow conditions that will lead to steady-state stall. Each of FIGS. 1B to 1E shows the wing position at a very short incremental time τ after the previous figure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, steady-state stall is a process that actually takes a finite time to develop into flow separation from the wing surface. FIG. 1A illustrates that the process of aerodynamic stall begins with a starting vortex C that is generated in the wake of the wing and a vortex CA at the leading edge of the wing W. This vortical flow continues to develop and become more complex as time passes, but as the flow is just beginning to separate from the top surface of the wing, the leading edge vortex CA causes the wing to generate lift as if the flow were still attached to its top surface. In fact, the leading edge vortex CA actually increases the local velocity over the wing, which increases the lift L as illustrated in FIG. 1B. As the wing W continues to travel at an angle of attack α greater than the stall limit, this vortical flow continues to increase in complexity, and the flow eventually does separate from the top surface of the wing, as represented in FIGS. 1D and 1E. It has been suggested that insects can take advantage of this momentary increased lift associated with the beginning of flow separation because they flap their wings and reverse wing direction, causing the flow to reattach before stall actually sets in fully. Dickinson, "Solving the Mystery of Insect Flight" (see above).
Of course, an insect is able to move its wings relative to the air using a complex, periodic flapping and pitching motion that changes the wings' orientation and prevents them from fully stalling. The difficulty in taking the same advantage of this delayed stall mechanism in a manmade device lies in finding a practicable way of introducing the cyclical flow variations necessary repeatedly to approach stall and then permit the working medium flow to reattach as in normal airfoil operation.
Turbomachinery, such as compressors and fans, use rotating blades with an airfoil cross-section to increase the pressure of the working medium. Marine propulsors, such as ships' propellers, torpedo propulsors, and water jets, also use rotating blades with airfoil cross-sections. The amount of energy transferred between any such device and its working medium is a direct result of the amount of lift generated by the blades. Accordingly, any manner of increasing such lift will improve the performance of these devices. However, there is no known mechanism by which such rotating machinery can take advantage of the significant transient lift increases achievable by operating in a delayed stall regime.
Non-steady-state flow leading to delayed stall has been studied. The rotating blades of a helicopter in forward flight experience cyclical variations in angle of attack that can lead to operation in the delayed stall regime for some of the blade travel. For that reason, The Boeing Company, in the course of its helicopter design efforts, has developed and published algorithms for analyzing delayed stall (usually called "dynamic stall" when referring to helicopter rotor blades). Harris et al., "Rotor High Speed Performance, Theory vs. Test," J. of Amer. Helicopter Soc., Vol. 15, No. 3, April 1970, pp. 35–44; Tarzanin, "Prediction of Control Loads Due to Blade Stall," J. of Amer. Helicopter Soc., Vol. 17, No. 2, April 1972, pp. 33–46. In particular, a formulation of the Boeing dynamic stall model by Wayne Johnson has proven especially useful for that purpose. Johnson, "Rotorcraft Aerodynamics Models for a Comprehensive Analysis," Proc. Amer. Helicopter Soc. 54th Annual Forum, Washington, D.C., May 20–22, 9998, pp. 71–93; Nguyen and Johnson, "Evaluation of Dynamic Stall Models with UH-60A Airloads Flight Test Data," Proc. Amer. Helicopter Soc. 54th Annual Forum, Washington, D.C., May 20–22, 1998, pp. 576–88.
More recently, unsteady flow lift enhancement principles, initially identified and studied in relation to the hydrodynamics of fish, have been explored as concepts that might be incorporated into the control surfaces of small underwater vehicles for the generation of very high maneuvering forces. Preliminary studies have shown that actively controlled flapping control surfaces can generate much higher maneuvering forces than what is possible using steady-state hydrodynamic forces. Bandyopadhyay, "Maneuvering Hydrodynamics of Fish and Small Underwater Vehicles," Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 42, No. 1, February 2002, pp. 102–117.
Further, it has been observed in a modeling study done at the NAVSEA Naval Underwater Weapons Center Division that a reduction in the rotational speed of a marine propulsor can lead to a reduction of radiated noise attributable to various mechanisms, such as blade tonal noise due to wake deficit, trailing edge singing, and ingested turbulence. These noise sources have been shown to be a function of rotational rate to the power of 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Based on a scaling analysis, it was shown that a reduction of 5% in a propulsor's revolutions per minute can reduce noise by 3–5 dB. Bandyopadhyay, et al., "A Biomimetic Propulsor for Active Noise Control: Experiments", NUWC-NPT Tech. Rept. 11,351, NAVSEA Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Newport, R.I., March 2002, pp. 1–15. Accordingly, if it were possible to increase the thrust generated by a particular propulsor, it would be likewise be possible to reduce its rotational speed and thus the noise it generates.
However, in spite of all of the prior art studies and work with algorithms involved in analyzing delayed stall lift enhancement, the fact remains that it has not been utilized in turbomachinery, propulsion devices, and other applications discussed herein.

Apparatus and method for enhancing lift produced by an airfoil


An apparatus includes data acquisition circuitry and a processor. The data acquisition circuitry is configured to acquire multiple signals using multiple respective electrodes of an array of electrodes coupled to one of an organ of a patient and tissue or a cell culture. The processor is configured to hold a definition of a mixed-norm that is defined as a function of relative positions of the electrodes in the array, and jointly compress the multiple signals in a compressed-sensing (CS) process that minimizes the mixed-norm.

Various known methods were proposed to facilitate remote diagnosis of medical conditions, such as heart problems. For example, South Korean Patent KR 101526774 describes an electrocardiogram sensing apparatus comprising: (a) an electrocardiogram sensing unit for measuring a user's electrocardiogram signal; a processor for filtering the measured electrocardiogram signal using a bandpass filter and for compressing and sensing the filtered electrocardiogram signal; and a data communication unit for transmitting the compressed sensed electrocardiogram signal to the electrocardiogram monitoring device; (b) a first communication unit for receiving the compression sensed electrocardiogram signal; a processor for restoring the compressively sensed electrocardiogram signal and analyzing the restored electrocardiogram signal; and a display unit for outputting the electrocardiogram analysis data; and (c) an electrocardiogram monitoring apparatus.

Compressed-sensing of spatiotemporally-correlated and/or rakeness-processed electrograms


This is a ring fitted with a device that sounds an alarm during times of emergencies. The special features of the ring are a transmission circuit and alarm device that emits a sound enclosed in the setting of the ring. The switches are at the top of the setting forming a connection between the transmission circuit and the battery when pressed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ring with an alarm device, in general, and to a ring selectively operative for emitting a sound to call people in times of emergencies, in particular.
2. Prior Art
For the elderly and the physically handicapped, particularly those who suffer from heart disease or high blood pressure, symptoms can suddenly appear at any time or place. Whether in the bath or in the toilet, when someone is struck by severe pain and is unable to call out, even people living in the same household may be unaware of the trouble. There have been many instances of time thus uselessly wasted until it was too late to help.
Carrying pocket pagers, portable phones, or other devices utilizing radio waves is inconvenient and in an emergency the person might not be able to operate the device. In addition, this type of device is inappropriate for household use. Systems for notifying medical personnel when an emergency situation arises are in the process of development, but ordinarily it is not the person who has had the accident, but the nurse who is in attendance who gives the report.
In the course of normal, everyday life, when people susceptible to the risks described above suddenly collapse or feel poorly, they will be able to call people nearby. In this way, they will be able to receive emergency treatment immediately.
This device was designed with the above situation in mind. Easy to use in a crisis situation, this emergency ring is a means of attracting people nearby.


A smart temperature sensing device 10 includes a sensor 16 and a memory 25 on a sensor unit 14. The memory contains a plurality of custom nonlinear calibration coefficients which uniquely characterize the sensor 16. A temperature system includes the smart temperature sensing device 10 and a FSAU 12 having a processor 28 which downloads the calibration coefficients and utilizes them in converting electrical signals from the sensor 16 into temperature values that represent the temperature at the sensor 16. A method of calibrating a sensor 16 includes measuring an output signal of the sensor 16 over a temperature range, thereby obtaining a plurality of paired data points. The paired data points are used in a curve-fitting algorithm to obtain coefficients to a polynomial that characterizes the nonlinear temperature-voltage relationship of the sensor 16. The coefficients are stored within the memory 25 until downloaded by the processor 28 for use in signal conversion.

Many applications require sensing of a temperature to effectuate a task. One typical way of sensing a temperature is to place a temperature sensor within the environment to be sensed. The temperature sensor conveys an electrical signal, which is indicative of the temperature of the environment, to electrical conversion circuitry which converts the electrical signal into a temperature and subsequently displays it to a user. A problem often arises, however, in that many conventional prior art temperature sensing solutions do not provide for highly accurate temperature readings because the sensors are not adequately calibrated for use with the electrical conversion circuitry.
One prior art solution to this problem was to calibrate a given sensor over a temperature range by placing general calibration information into a memory associated with the conversion circuitry. This general calibration information suffered from the drawback that each sensor in use is not identical, but rather has its own internal variations. Therefore, the general calibration data used within the electrical conversion circuity did not provide for an accurate temperature reading for any one particular sensor.
Another solution involved calibrating a given sensor over a number of different temperatures and storing calibration information within a memory associated with the electrical conversion circuitry. In this manner, the sensor was calibrated and had unique calibration information associated with it in the electrical conversion circuitry. This solution, however, suffered from the drawback that the useful life of a sensor is often substantially shorter than the useful life of the conversion circuitry. Therefore, when a sensor needed to be replaced, the unique calibration information within the electrical conversion circuitry was no longer applicable to a replacement sensor. Whenever a sensor needed to be replaced (which was frequent), a user needed to replace both the sensor and the substantially more expensive electrical conversion circuitry. This resulted in high cost and expense to the user.
In addition to the above prior art limitations, prior art methods of calibrating a sensor consisted of using linear approximations to characterize a sensor over a temperature range. In this manner, typical linear conversion methodologies such as look-up tables were utilized, but the linear approximations provided poor accuracy since temperature sensors do not behave linearly over a broad range of temperatures. Therefore, even when a sensor was calibrated, its calibration consisted of inaccurate linear approximations.


In a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles with a radio receiver with an RDS decoder for digital signals, convertible via a table into traffic information, the signals can be forwarded from the decoder via a data link to a navigation system provided with a route data storage which generates the traffic information from the signals.

The invention relates to a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles having a radio receiver with an RDS (radio data system) decoder for digital signals, convertible through the use of a table into traffic information.
Traffic information is known to those in the field as TMC (traffic message channel). The problems of such a radio receiver have to do with the adjustment of, or changes in, the table for the standard on which it is based and the data used to code and decode the digital signals. These include local codes and standard text. A radio receiver is disclosed as a radio signal receiver of the type referred to above in German patent document DE-OS 35 36 820; this receiver contains the local codes and standard text in a fixed-value storage medium and decodes the codes transmitted and forms speech information from them. It is not possible to adjust to an altered standard, for example, with this system.
European patent document EP 0 580 617 B1 describes a radio receiver in which an attempt is made to overcome the above-described problem as follows: a chip card containing the local codes and additional data for conversion of the digital signals in a data storage can be inserted into the radio receiver. Adjustment to an altered standard and changed road conditions and local codes can be effected by replacing the chip card. Changes in local names can be taken care of by replacing the chip card. However, a radio receiver of this type is expensive, as it has to have a chip card reader. Moreover, it is not easy to use the chip card as it can easily be removed and become lost.
The goal of the invention is to create a radio signal receiver of the type discussed above in which the radio receiver does not have to be changed or adjusted when standards, local codes, and the like, change, and moreover offers the option of easy adjustment, changing, and updating.
The invention achieves this goal by a radio signal receiver for motor vehicles having a radio receiver with an RDS decoder for digital signals, convertible through the use of a table into traffic information. The signals can be forwarded from the decoder via a data link to a navigation system provided with a route data storage. The navigation system contains the table and generates the traffic information.
It is advantageous for the navigation system to convert the traffic information into acoustic information by means of a speech storage.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the navigation system outputs the traffic information as visual information. The navigation system enters the traffic information in the map section being displayed, preferably the planned route. The radio signal receiver further contains a storage for at least some of the digital signals.

Radio signal receiver for motor vehicles with an RDS decoder for digital signals

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


An expandable cabinet tray comprises a dish securing rack moveably coupled to two (2) rails affixed to an interior portion of a cabinet. The dish securing rack is horizontally adjustable through the use of sliding support rods. Extending upwardly from the dish securing rack are tines for supporting various pieces of dishware.

Today's modern kitchens are provided with an abundance of storage space, but none are used more than the kitchen cabinet. These cabinets are used to store dinnerware such as bowls, plates, and the like, in a stacked format. Additionally, they are used to store cookware such as pots, pans, lids, and the like as well. Unfortunately, this stacked arrangement often means that several items must be removed until the user can get at the one he or she needs. This not only a time-consuming process, but also exposes other pieces of dinnerware or cookware to possible damage from chipping or even breaking. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which desired dinnerware and cookware items can be easily removed from a kitchen cabinet, without impacting other items, and without exposing them to possible chipping or damage. The development of the expandable cabinet tray fulfills this need.
The expandable cabinet tray is a storage apparatus for kitchen cabinets that holds various dinnerware and cookware items. The invention is intended to increase usability of the kitchen cabinets as well as prevent damage to the stored items. The invention is comprised of an overall stainless steel frame which fits into the upper wall section of a kitchen cabinet. It is provided with an adjustment mechanism to securely install the invention in place. The frame provides an inner moving mechanism which extends in and out of the cabinet area. In turn, this extension portion includes adjustable dividers for storing each individual piece of dinnerware, such as bowls, plates, cups, or the like. It can also be used to store cookware such as pots, pans, lids, and similar products. As such, at no time does any piece of dinnerware or cookware touch another item. This makes it very easy to remove one item, without having to move other items for access. Additionally, it prevents damage to the item by eliminating the possibility of chipping or breaking. It is envisioned that the present invention could be easily installed in almost any type of kitchen cabinet with a minimal amount of tools, and could be removed at a later date, without leaving any telltale marks behind.


An oilfield treatment method is given that uses fluids that contain surfactants used as foamers and/or viscosifiers such that the fluids pass the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Directive 27 requirements for low toxicity to certain bioluminescent bacteria. Such fluids may be used in oilfield treatments, for example drilling and stimulation, near fresh water aquifers. The surfactants are certain non-ionic surfactants that are not aromatic, or certain amphoteric surfactants (that can be neutral), or certain zwitterionic surfactants, (in which both positive and negative charges are present in a single molecule so that the whole molecule is neutral).

The invention relates to foamed or surfactant fluid systems (VES's) that are applied in various applications of the oil industry, providing a degree of biodegradability, and meeting the requirements of Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Directive 27, in that they pass a test of their toxicity to light emitting bacteria.
New Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Directive 27 requirements (that require following Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Guide 50 "Drilling Waste Management") put restrictions on the use of oilfield fluids in wells, such as those penetrating shallow gas reservoirs, where the potential exists for fluids to contaminate fresh-water aquifers and water wells, if hydraulic communication is inadvertently established. The Directive requires that any fluid pumped must pass the bacterium toxicity test protocol of Guide 50, similar to that used for qualifying drilling and other fluids for land surface disposal. In this test, bioluminescent bacteria are added to the as-pumped fluid. The sample is aged for a limited amount of time, and the inhibition of the natural bioluminescence of the sample is measured. If the EC50 is >75%, the fluid passes; otherwise it fails. EC50 is the relative sample concentration (in dilution water) required to decrease light output by 50%. A sample with a value of EC50 of 10% means that a sample concentration of 10% in dilution water lowers the light output of the microorganisms by 50%. Most hydraulic fracturing fluids that are viscosified with viscoelastic surfactants, or that contain foamers and/or other additives, for example fracture fluids used in friction-reduced water (slickwater) treatments (using high fracture volumes, pump rates, and pressures) can not pass this test. This test is well known to those of skill in the art. It uses Microtox® reagents (supplied by AZUR Environmental, Carlsbad, Calif., U.S.A.) which are the freeze dried (lyophilized) luminescent bacterium Photobacterium phosphoreum (marine water organisms, strain NRRL B-11177).


A sealing structure for a gas turbine blade which pivots about a pivot shaft. A split ring is located in a groove on the shaft, in which the ring can be embedded and held by a bush. When the blade is fitted, the bush abuts against a wall of the stator, slides on the pivot shaft and frees the ring, which expands and forms the seal. The invention relates to gas turbines where the stator blades have a variable setting.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sealing structure for a pivoting gas turbine blade.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Numerous gas turbines of aircraft engines now have variable setting blades, i.e. which pivot so as to deflect to a greater or lesser extent a gas flow passing through the blades. It is therefore possible to maintain a satisfactory efficiency no matter what the turbine operating conditions. Such blades are more particularly encountered in the first stages of a high pressure compressor positioned downstream of a lower pressure compressor.
The pressure of the gases exposes the pivots of these blades to high thrust forces, which with progressive wear lead to an eccentricity of their section. The sealing of the annular flow where the gases circulate is then lost at the location of the pivots, so that it is necessary to fit gaskets.
French Patent 2,452,591 describes a device with several gaskets, whereof one is a split elastic joint located in a groove of the pivot. The insertion of such a split ring into the bearing can prove difficult and this is why the present invention proposes a structure making it possible in very simple and even automatic manner to carry out the said insertion.

Sealing structure for a pivoting blade of a gas turbine

Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation "Snecma"


The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for providing user selectable multi-color illumination to automotive instrument panel instruments. In one embodiment, an instrument panel or individual instrument is supplied with a plurality of differently colored illumination sources. The intensity of each color is individually controllable, allowing the user to select both intensity and hue of instrument illumination. In one embodiment, an instrument panel illumination system comprises three light sources that produce nominally white light and three associated diffusing filters, one red, one green, one blue. In another embodiment different colors of illumination are provided by light sources producing different colors of light, such as, for example, a plurality of high intensity red, green, and blue light emitting diodes ("LED's"). In one embodiment, a plurality of triplets of red, green and blue high intensity LED's are mounted above a white diffusing filter. In one embodiment, a plurality of colored light sources are mounted in an instrument housing behind the instrument's bezel.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an example automotive instrument panel of the prior art. FIG. 2 shows a side, cut away view of the instrument panel of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, instrument panel 100 consists of a housing 105 having a generally triangular cross section, as shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 1, housing 105 has opaque top, back, and right, and left sides 115, 110, 117 and 116, respectively, and a transparent front panel 120. Instruments such as a speedometer 150 and tachometer 155 and other indicators such as a clock, temperature, oil pressure, and fuel gauges are typically mounted to back side 110. The faces of these instruments are typically supplied with measurement marks and numbers in white or another bright color that stands out against the background of back side 110, which is typically black. As shown in FIG. 2, the housings 200 of instruments such as speedometer 150 and tachometer 155 typically extend outwards from back side 110 of instrument panel 100.
The faces of the dashboard instruments are typically illuminated by one or more illumination units. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, two illumination units 122 and 124, respectively, are used. Multi-colored illumination unit 122 includes a translucent light diffusing panel 125 and a light source 130. Similarly, illumination unit 124 includes a diffusing panel 135 and a light source 140. Light sources 130 and 140 are typically 12 volt electric light bulbs that produce white light. Diffusing panels 125 and 135 are typically pieces of translucent plastic. Diffusing panels 125 and 135 are both the same color. The most common colors are white, reddish-orange, and green. The purpose of diffusing panels 125 and 135 are to disperse the light of bulbs 130 and 140, respectively, so as to provide even lighting of the instrument faces on back side 110. As shown in FIG. 2, light from each bulb is dispersed by its respective diffusing panel, reflects off transparent front panel 120, and illuminates back side 110.
In the prior art, the intensity of dashboard instrument illumination is variable, but the color is fixed. The intensity may be adjusted by a driver by adjusting the intensity of the light emitted by the light sources, typically using a variable resistance control. The color of the illuminated instrument faces is determined by the color of the markings on the face of the instruments and the color of the diffusing panels. For example, if the instrument markings are white, the markings when illuminated appear to be the same color as that of the diffusing panels. If white diffusing panels are used, the instrument markings appear white. If orange diffusing panels are used, the instrument markings appear orange. If green diffusing panels are used, the instrument markings appear green.
Up until now, the color of dashboard instrument illumination available in a particular car is fixed and determined by the car manufacturer, even though a purchaser or driver of a vehicle may prefer a different color from the color implemented by the manufacturer. There is a need for a system that allows a driver to select a desired instrument illumination color.

Method and apparatus for providing user selectable multi-color automobile instrument panel illumination


The present invention is a beverage utensil which contains a receptacle component on one end and an identification component on the opposite end. The utensil is designed such that the receptacle component is capable of stirring the beverage and also for removing solid edible elements from the beverage for consumption by the imbiber of the beverage.

Many types of spoons and/or stirrers are known in the field of utensil ware. Stirring devices have been known, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,444. Examples of stirring devices can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,477,653 disclosing an elongated shaft having a rectangular blade pivotally attached at a distal end thereof. U.S. Design Pat. No. 197,478 discloses a food stirring implement with an elongated shaft and a rectangular stirring blade. U.S. Design Pat. No. 235,307 discloses a combined spoon and spreading device on opposite ends of an elongated shaft. U.S. Des. Pat. No. 256,212, discloses a combined spoon and chopper having culinary implements provided at opposite ends of an elongated shaft. U.S. Des. Pat. No. 268,077 discloses a stirring device with an elongated flat handle formed with an enlarged stirring blade.
Variations on spoons are known in the art that can be used for dispensing of medicine or other ingredients. The spoons generally are designed to dispense ingredients from the bowl of the spoon with the ingredients stored in the spoon handle (such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,091,242, 6,675,482, 5,491,895 and 5,154,318) or within the bowl of the spoon (such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,911,578, 3,946,652 and 4,338,338). These spoons are expensive to manufacture, not suitable for reuse, and do not provide the needed stirring and grasping functions of the present invention.
The present invention provides advantages over the known prior art by combining multiple utilities and by further adding the improvement of a customizable identification component.

Beverage utensil with identification component


A method for driving an ultrasonic motor includes setting an upper limit rotation speed that is lower than a rotation speed at a resonance frequency at a lowest temperature of a predetermined operating temperature range and a lower limit frequency that is more than or equal to a resonance frequency at a highest temperature of the operating temperature range, and, when the ultrasonic motor starts, a rotation speed of the ultrasonic motor becomes lower than the upper limit rotation speed and the ultrasonic motor is driven with a driving frequency which is higher than the lower limit frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic motor, a circuit for driving the ultrasonic motor, and a driving method using the circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, it is known that frequency characteristics of ultrasonic motors vary with changes in temperature, and therefore it is difficult to accurately control the operation of such motors. In general, as the temperature increases, the resonance frequency of an oscillator of an ultrasonic motor decreases and also a maximum rotation speed, which is a rotation speed obtained when the ultrasonic motor is driven at the resonance frequency, increases. When the ultrasonic motor is driven at a frequency lower than the resonance frequency of the oscillator of the ultrasonic motor, the operation becomes unstable, the rotation speed significantly decreases, and controllability deteriorates. In addition to this, in some cases, the flow of a large current damages the ultrasonic motor or a driving circuit.
Usually, when the ultrasonic motor in a resting state starts to be driven, an alternating-current driving voltage having a driving frequency, which is higher than the frequency to start the ultrasonic motor, is firstly applied. Then, the driving frequency is decreased to start rotating the ultrasonic motor and thus to adjust the rotation speed. In general, an operating temperature range of the ultrasonic motor is determined and a stable operation in the operating temperature range is demanded.
Thus, variations, due to temperature, in the resonance frequency of the oscillator of the ultrasonic motor have to be dealt with by using some technique and the motor has to be driven at a frequency higher than the resonance frequency at all times.
As a method to solve the above drawback, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-59367 discloses a method in which a memory that stores data regarding a lower limit frequency fL, which is a frequency higher than a resonance frequency at a lowest temperature of a predetermined operating temperature range, and an oscillation control circuit that performs control so that a frequency is higher than the lower limit frequency are used. This lowest temperature means a lower limit temperature in an operating temperature range that is estimated by the user.
FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a driving method for an ultrasonic motor described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-59367. The estimated operating temperature range is −20° C. to +60° C. and FIG. 10 illustrates a relationship between a driving frequency f and a rotation speed N at typical temperatures of −20° C., +20° C., and +60° C. A common example of the relationship between the rotation speed of the ultrasonic motor and the applied driving frequency is illustrated in FIG. 10. As shown in the drawing, when the temperature increases, the resonance frequency decreases and the rotation speed at the resonance frequency increases.
In the case of driving at the lower limit frequency fL, suppose now that the rotation speeds at −20° C., +20° C., and +60° C. are NmL, NmM, and NmH, respectively, and the resonance frequencies at −20° C., +20° C., and +60° C. are frL, frM, and frH, respectively. Further, in the case of driving at the resonance frequencies at the respective temperatures, suppose now that the rotation speeds are NrL, NrM, and NrH. The terms, a highest temperature, means an upper limit temperature in the operating temperature range that is estimated by the user.
The lower limit frequency fL is set to a frequency at which a rotation speed close to the maximum rotation speed NrL is obtained with stability at the above-set lowest temperature, and the frequency data is stored in the memory. In this state, the oscillation control circuit performs driving at a frequency higher than the lower limit frequency fL on the basis of information stored in the memory. When driving is performed by using such a method, the driving frequency does not fall in a region of frequencies lower than all the resonance frequencies frL, frM, and frH over the entire temperature range.
As another method to solve the above drawback, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-296378 discloses a method in which a value of such a lower limit frequency is corrected on the basis of a temperature detected by a temperature sensor arranged in proximity to an ultrasonic motor.
FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating changes in the lower limit frequency to be set on the basis of a temperature, which is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-296378.
As described above, because the resonance frequency of the ultrasonic motor varies with changes in temperature, the lower limit frequency is set with consideration of the temperature dependence of the resonance frequency. Specifically, data of the lower limit frequencies at temperatures illustrated in FIG. 11 are stored in a memory. Because the resonance frequency shifts to the lower frequency side with increasing temperature, the value of the lower limit frequency is set so as to decrease in accordance with that shift. When control is performed, the lower limit frequency corresponding to a temperature detected by the temperature sensor is read from the memory and is set. Because the lower limit frequency is set so as to be higher than the resonance frequency at each temperature, the driving frequency does not fall in a region of frequencies lower than the resonance frequencies in the respective temperature conditions.

Method for driving ultrasonic motor, ultrasonic motor, and robot arm


To achieve an expansion of color reproducibility and an improvement in contrast ratio, color filters 8R, 8G and 8B formed in stripes are successively arranged on one surface of a front glass substrate 1, interposing a black matrixes 7 between them. Sustaining electrodes 6 are provided thereon and a dielectric layer 9 and a protecting layer 10 are provided. On a rear glass substrate 2, barrier ribs 3 are provided in the manner they face the respective black matrixes 7, and thus the spaces between the barrier ribs 3 facing the respective color filters 8R, 8G and 8B form cells. The cells are respectively provided with the sustaining electrodes 6 falling at right angles with the address electrodes 4, coated with fluorescent substances 5R, 5G and 5B corresponding to the respective colors, and also sealed to hold discharge gas therein. A wave band selecting filter 11 for screening the light emitted from the discharge gas in the respective cells is provided on the other surface of the front glass substrate 1.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plasma display device used as various thin-type display panels, and more particularly to a plasma display panel in which a fluorescent substance is excited with energy of ultraviolet rays to produce visible light.
2. Description of Related Art
Plasma display panels (PDP) can be made dramatically small in depth compared with cathode-ray tube direct-view type display units and rear projection display units, and have been expected as a promising means for realizing wall type large-screen televisions in the future. At present, however, such plasma display panels are on such a level of development that they have still a lower contrast ratio and brightness than the existing display units. In order for them to come into wide use in the future, it is essential to achieve a great improvement in such performances.
Under such circumstances, as a measure for improving contrast ratios and color purities of plasma display panels, Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open (KOKAI) No. 59-36280 and No. 61-6151, for example, disclose techniques in which optical filters formed of an inorganic material are imparted to individual cells.
In these techniques, the optical filters are dividedly arranged so as to correspond to individual cells, on a glass substrate provided in front of a cell board, and have transmittance corresponding to the luminescent colors of the individual cells. Spectra of light emitted from fluorescent substances provided inside the individual cells change correspondingly to the transmittance of the filters to bring about an improvement in color purity of red, green and blue each.
The fluorescent substances used in plasma display panels commonly tend to reflect light coming from the outside (i.e., ambient light). Especially in an environment having bright surroundings, they may cause a rise in apparent black level to tend to cause a decrease in contrast ratio of display units. The optical filters provided correspondingly to the individual cells attenuate the ambient light incident on the fluorescent substances and also again attenuate the ambient light component reflected from the fluorescent substances before it is emergent outside, so that the contrast ratio in a bright environment can be greatly improved.
In the above conventional techniques, process temperatures in the production of plasma display panels are estimated to be about 500.degree. C. to about 600.degree. C., and hence inorganic materials resistant to high temperatures are used in the optical filters. If, however, the process temperatures can be dropped to about 250.degree. C., it is possible to use optical filters made of organic materials that enable much sharper change in transmittance and is possible to more improve color purity.
The above filter technique is supposed to step by step bring about improvements of color purities of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. In the case of plasma display panels, however, luminescent color of discharge gas sealed in panels is a great factor that obstructs the improvement in color purity. As the discharge gas sealed in panels, a gas chiefly composed of neon (Ne) gas and mixed with xenon (Xe) gas, helium (He) gas or argon (Ar) gas is usually in wide use taking account of discharge efficiency. The neon gas has an emission spectrum, as shown in FIG. 7, formed of a combination of several peak wavelength components distributed to range from the latter half of 500 nm to 700 nm, among which a component having the greatest energy is the component at 585 nm. Hence, the neon gas is discharged in orange color, which is commonly called neon orange.
Accordingly, the color purities of the respective three primary colors, red, green and blue, should be improved through the optical filter provided for each cell and also the discharge color of neon gas sealed in panels should be removed as far as possible. These are essential subjects for improving color purity and for expanding color reproducibility, as required for display units of plasma display panels.

Plasma display panel with optical filters


A central office node using beam patterns and antenna polarizations, a remote node, and a wireless communication method between the nodes. The central office node includes: a first antenna array with first polarization attributes; a second antenna array with second polarization attributes; and a transmitter unit configured to transmit data to a plurality of remote nodes using beam patterns generated during beamforming and the polarization of the first and second antenna arrays.

1. Field
The following description relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to wireless communication using beamforming.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, when a signal power is focused on an intended receiver or transmitter, beamforming takes place. Signal transmission and reception may derive advantages from beam patterns in contrast to omnidirectional patterns. From the view of a transmitter, beamforming allows the reduction of power required for transmission and power that causes interference to unintended receivers. From the view of a receiver, beamforming enables the reinforcement of an intended reception signal, and the reduction of interference from other transmitters or signal sources.
In a wireless communication system, the use of beamforming makes it possible for nodes to communicate with each other. For example, in a wireless backhaul network, a central office that is connected with a core network communicates with a plurality of remote nodes via wireless beams using carrier frequencies greater than 10 GHz.
In the wireless backhaul network, the central office uses beam patterns via multiple antennas when transmitting and receiving a large amount of data to and from a plurality of remote nodes, and thereby the data transmission and reception are executed without interferences between the remote nodes. However, if a distance between two remote nodes is much shorter, when compared to a distance between a transmitter antenna and a receiver antenna, an angle between two beam patterns may become too small, so that the beamforming may be difficult to implement.

Central node apparatus and method for transmitting wireless signals between central office node and remote node using beam patterns and antenna polarization

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Embodiments relate to a sensor for use in a magnetic resonance tomography unit and to a system including of a magnetic resonance tomography unit and a sensor. The sensor includes an energy supply device, a data transmission device and a first resonant antenna. The first resonant antenna includes a signal connection to the data transmission device and/or the energy supply device. A significant mismatch of the first resonant antenna exists between the impedance of the signal connection and the impedance of the first resonant antenna in free space at a first resonant frequency.

Magnetic resonance tomography units are imaging devices that, for imaging an examination object, align nuclear spins of the examination object with a strong external magnetic field and excite them by a magnetic alternating field for precession about the alignment. The precession or return of the spins from the excited state into a state with lower energy in its turn generates a magnetic alternating field, also referred to as a magnetic resonance signal, as a response, that is received via antennas.
With the aid of magnetic gradient fields, a spatial encoding, that makes it possible to assign the received signal to a volume element, is impressed on the signals. The received signal is then evaluated and a three-dimensional imaging presentation of the examination object is provided. The presentation created specifies a spatial density distribution of the spins.
Since the magnetic resonance signals are very weak, receive antennas, e.g. local coils, may be arranged as close as possible to the region to be examined. For transmission of the received signals and for supplying power to pre-amplifiers and signal processing in the local coils, cable connections to the magnetic resonance tomography unit may be used that are susceptible to faults, complicated to handle and not least dangerous for the patient through the sheath currents caused by the excitation pulses on the conductors, at least when corresponding blocking filters are to be omitted.
There have therefore long been efforts to provide the local coils with wireless transmission technology. In such cases, however, wireless transmission technology is susceptible to faults, e.g. through interferences, supplying power to the local coils by batteries may lead with constant use to interruptions for charging the batteries, and the radio waves used may disrupt the magnetic resonance recording.
Other sensors are also used in conjunction with the magnetic resonance tomography unit, for example EEG (Electro Encephalogram), EKG (Electrocardiogram) or breathing sensors, that capture physiological data during the imaging and are also used in some cases for controlling the imaging and require an energy supply.
If the energy supply is provided wirelessly, via the body coil for example, the power required may heat up the patient and reduce the power budget available for recording.

Sensor and magnetic resonance tomography unit with wireless near field transmission of energy and data


A multi-wire electrical connector system is provided for electrical equipment, such as circuit breaker, contactor or electrical switches. The connector system includes a plurality of stacked spring-loaded connector modules, and a single actuator to simultaneously operate all of the stacked connector modules to an open position or a closed position. Each connector module includes a housing, an isolated terminal and a spring. The terminal has a fixed conductive member. The housing is movable relative to the fixed conductive member between the open and closed positions. In the open position, an electrical wire can be inserted into or removed from a housing of each connector module. In the closed position, an electrical wire is clamped against a respective terminal in each connector module.

Electrical equipment can include multiple isolated terminals which are connectable to separate electrical wires. Each isolated terminal typically has its own connector mechanism, which is operated to connect an electrical wire to the terminal or disconnect an electrical wire from the terminal. Thus, the terminals can require a substantial amount of parts and materials as well as a substantial area (e.g., a front face area) in the electrical equipment to accommodate them. Furthermore, it is time consuming to individually connect or disconnect an electrical wire to or from, respectively, each and every terminal of the electrical equipment.