A demand system is disclosed for controlling the output airflow from a pneumatic source in response to changes in airflow demand. The source includes a pressure sensitive bypass mechanism in fluid communication with a discharge manifold to divert unwanted airflow and a linear electronic limiter with a limiter signal input to control the pneumatic source and proportionally adjust output airflow into the discharge manifold. The demand system includes an airflow detector operative to produce a linear output signal proportional to the airflow through the bypass mechanism and a controller. The controller includes an input connected to the airflow detector and an output connected to the electronic limiter input and operative, as the airflow detector senses airflow through the bypass mechanism, to produce a linear output signal representative of the airflow to the limiter for altering the pneumatic source output.

This invention relates to a demand system for use with pneumatic sources and more particularly an electronic demand system for controlling the airflow from a pneumatic source linearly in response to changes in airflow demand.
In order to compete successfully in the airline industry, airline operators must minimize the expenses and departure delays included in maintaining and servicing its equipment. These factors have a major impact on operators because jet aircraft require virtually constant attention to operate reliably and safely. Thus, in order to survive in the marketplace, aircraft operators must depend upon reliable and cost effective aircraft servicing units whenever possible.
An example of the servicing regularly required for jet aircraft includes start-up of the jet engines. Pneumatic sources, including systems commonly referred to as air start units, conveniently couple to the aircraft and provide pneumatic power for actuating a pneumatic start system built into the jet engine which, in turn, drives and starts the engine. Air start units also typically double as auxiliary sources of air conditioning power for the aircraft while on the ground.
Because of stringent safety requirements for jet aircraft, air start systems must have the capability of providing variable airflow to the aircraft through a service hose connected to a discharge manifold at a substantially constant pressure. This generally requires a pneumatic control system for reliable pressure regulation of the air start unit. Damage to the aircraft can occur if the pressure is not sufficiently well regulated.
One conventional configuration for an air start unit having a pneumatic control system includes a compressor driven by a diesel engine and having an output directed into a discharge manifold. The compressor engine includes a mechanical governor for controlling its speed, and consequently, compressor output airflow. A bypass control valve is plumbed into the side of the discharge manifold to sense the discharge pressure for comparison with a regulated reference pressure. A differential in the discharge and reference pressures causes the bypass valve to either vent off excess pressure, or close to build up pressure within the manifold.
To assist the bypass valve in reducing or increasing pressure as needed in the manifold, the above unit incorporates a mechanical demand control system for varying the compressor engine speed. The system comprises first and second pneumatic actuators having respective pressure inputs communicating with the manifold and control pressure line respectively. Variations in the manifold pressure cause a proportional forward or rearward displacement of the first actuator to mechanically alter the engine throttle linkage. The second actuator is kept at a relatively constant level to maintain a minimum engine idle level.
Another conventional air start unit design incorporates a small pneumatic valve that attaches to the large bypass valve to control the throttle linkage of the engine. During operation, mechanical movement in the main bypass valve translates to direct mechanical movement of the small pneumatic valve via a mechanical linkage to either reduce or increase the pneumatic pressure to a single pneumatic actuator on the throttle.
While the conventional configurations described above work well for their intended purposes, several problems result from the use and operation of the associated demand systems. First and foremost are the system's inherent mechanical nature that necessitate precise adjustments and servicing to maintain satisfactory operation. Those skilled in the art have realized the complexity of such demand systems and often must invest substantial amounts of time and money in specialized mechanic training programs to maintain the units in operating condition. Another problem involves the relatively poor response characteristics of the demand systems that often cause the respective bypass valves to "hunt" for the proper level of closure to stabilize the manifold pressure. Lastly, mechanical demand systems that interface with mechanical governors are often incompatible for use with modern diesel engines incorporating electronic control governors to meet stringent emissions control regulations.
A further proposal to solve many of the aforementioned problems, marketed by the assignee of the present invention, includes many of the same features of the first proposal. However, instead of relying upon complex mechanical systems, the proposal instead incorporates a switch in the bypass valve to detect a threshold level of valve travel. The amount of valve travel indirectly indicates the presence of diverted airflow through the bypass. The switch output is fed back to an electronic governor in the compressor engine to step the engine output up or down according to predetermined set threshold levels. Because of the electrical characteristics of the feedback switch, the second proposal is easily implemented in modern diesel engine designs requiring electrical inputs for control of the electronic governor. However, the stepped threshold nature of the switch fails to adequately address the response problems typically associated with the mechanical based systems. Additionally, reliable operability of the switch often requires regular adjustments and specialized training.
Thus, those skilled in the art have recognized the need for an improved demand system for use with a pneumatic source to interface with modern diesel-powered compressors and provide reliable, straightforward, and relatively maintenance-free operation. The demand system of the present invention satisfies this need.

Demand system for pneumatic source with controller responsive to bypass air flow rate


A ring-type voltage-controlled oscillator with a good duty cycle for use in a PLL frequency synthesizer. The delay cell circuit used in the ring-type VCO comprises two first inverters, two resistance units, and a differential delay circuit. The inverters receive respective differential input signals and generate respective differential signals to resistance units. The differential delay circuit is coupled to the resistance units, generating differential output signals which are a delayed version of the differential input signals. The resistance units have a resistance value adjusted according to a resistance control voltage for controlling the strength of inverters so as to alter the time delay of the first and second differential output signals.

The invention relates to a ring-type voltage oscillator, and more particularly to a ring-type oscillator with improved duty cycle.
In recent years, the rapid growth of cellular communications systems has motivated an increasing demand for high performance integrated radio frequency (RF) components, such as frequency synthesizers. Phase-locked loop (PLL) techniques have been widely used in frequency synthesis to meet the stringent requirements of wireless standards. Among the function blocks in a PLL, VCO (Voltage-controlled oscillator) is a crucial circuit for determining the characteristics of a PLL. A desirable VCO offers a broad frequency band, realizes stable oscillation, and has low noise characteristics.
Ring-type oscillator is one kind of voltage-controlled oscillators. It is realized by cascading several delay cells to form a closed loop. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional ring-type oscillator 10. Operation of delay cells 12a, 12b and 12c in the ring-type oscillator is similar to an inverter and each delay cell generates a complement output signal with a time delay added to an input signal. The amount of time delay dictates the frequency at which the ring-type oscillator operates. The greater the delay time, the lower the frequency. That is, the frequency of the ring-type oscillator is inversely proportional to the total delay time of the delay cell in the loop. Ring-type oscillators provide advantages such as wide operating-frequency range and no extra processing step in a standard CMOS process, compared to other kind of VCOs, such as a LC-tank VCO.
However, VCOs including ring-type oscillators usually show poorer phase-noise performance, such as duty cycle distortion which may result in a poor bit-error rate and an inferior lock-in range of a clock and data recovery circuit. The duty cycle fluctuation of a ring-type oscillator may stem from the mismatch of transistors or extrinsic parameters, for example, device processing temperature, voltage and/or frequency of the frequency synthesizer. To solve this problem, a duty cycle correction circuit is usually added in a frequency synthesizer. However, this increases the power consumption and circuit complexity of the frequency synthesizer. Therefore, it is desirable to have a ring-type oscillator with an improved duty cycle.

Ring-type voltage oscillator with improved duty cycle


A cryogenic variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope of novel design and component configuration, for use in conjunction with a variety of low temperature methodologies.

Over the past 20 years, the ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has established itself as an invaluable tool for studying the morphology and electronic structure of surfaces at the atomic scale. During this time, the minimum lateral feature size of silicon-based microelectronics has reached 90 nm and will soon make a transition to 65 nm technology. In this context, the STM has been used to develop a new understanding of silicon surfaces and to study the adsorption and desorption of individual atoms and molecules from silicon surfaces. For example, the study of STM-induced hydrogen and deuterium desorption from Si(100) surfaces has directly impacted the performance and reliability of microelectronics technology. Using a monolayer of hydrogen as a chemical resist, the STM has also been used to pattern and study molecular adsorption on the Si(100) surface. Furthermore, through feedback-controlled lithography (FCL), individual molecules have been patterned on silicon surfaces with atomic resolution. The study of individual molecules adsorbed onto the silicon surface, both isolated and adsorbed at controlled distances from one another, may enable the development of complementary molecular-scale electronic technologies that can be integrated with conventional microelectronic circuits.
When studying the adsorption of individual molecules on surfaces, a cryogenic variable temperature UHV STM offers a wider and more controlled experimental phase space than a room temperature UHV STM. In particular, at cryogenic temperatures, surface diffusion of physisorbed species may be controlled or eliminated, and thermal drift can be significantly attenuated. Much previous work of UHV STM manipulation and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) of individual atoms and molecules has focused on metal surfaces at cryogenic temperatures. In these cases, the cryogenic UHV STM was used to manipulate individual physisorbed species that would be highly mobile at elevated temperatures, thus enabling the STM to make and break individual chemical bonds in a more controlled way. Furthermore, by reducing thermal broadening of the probing electronic energy distribution, spectroscopic resolution is improved at cryogenic temperatures. Through STS and inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy, the cryogenic UHV STM has been used as a tool for the chemical identification of individual adsorbed molecular species and for obtaining the intra-molecular electronic structure of both randomly adsorbed molecules and patterned molecular arrays.
A variety of cryogenic variable temperature UHV STM designs have been presented in the literature. A common design problem centers on a trade-off between adequate coupling to the cryogen to maintain a stable low temperature while being sufficiently decoupled from any source of environmental vibrations. In many designs, the STM is clamped directly to a cryostat, and the cryostat and STM are vibrationally isolated. In other active cooling designs, a flexible thermal link exists between the STM and cryostat. In passive cooling schemes, the STM stage is located inside an isothermal enclosure, is then clamped to the cryostat for cooling, and is subsequently unclamped to perform STM.

Cryogenic variable temperature vacuum scanning tunneling microscope


An EMI shielding lens for a lamp, e.g., an automotive lamp. The lens includes a transparent, unitary, polymeric lens blank and a thin, heat transferred grid layer including an electrically conductive grid pattern disposed on the lens blank inner or outer surface. The grid pattern may be formed from indium tin oxide or from a conductive, heat transferable, inks or polymer. The grid layer may also include colored or opaque indicia. Linear elements of the grid pattern are spaced apart by less than 1/2 .lambda. of the EMI to be shielded. Also discloseed is an electromagnetic interference shielded lamp assembly including an electrically conductive housing, a light source within the housing, the EMI shielding lens fixed to the housing, and grounding means. Methods for fabricating the lens and the lamp assembly are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to lighting, and particularly to a lamp, e.g., an automotive lamp having a lens in which a thermally transferred decal provides shielding against radio noise from the light source of the lamp. The invention also relates to the lens and to methods for producing the lens and the lamp assembly.
Automotive lamps generally include a housing having a reflective coating, a light source mounted within the housing, and a lens sealed to the housing rim. The housing may be fabricated from a metal or a rigid polymeric material coated with a metal to provide the required reflective coating, while the lens is generally molded from polycarbonate or acrylic polymers. When the light source, however, emits significant electromagnetic radiation outside the visible frequency, this assembly may further require means to shield nearby electronic devices from the unwanted radiation. The terms "electromagnetic interference" (EMI), "radio frequency interference" (RF), or "radio noise" are most commonly used to describe extraneous radiation that interferes with operation of electronic devices. In an automobile, these devices may include radios, on-board computer controls, and mobile communication devices. Interference from the light source radiation may also cause problems in devices near the automobile or associated with passengers therewithin, e.g., pacemakers, radios, computers, and communication devices. Most EMI problems with these devices are limited to frequencies between 1 KHz and 10 GHz. For convenience, the term EMI is used herein to refer generally to such unwanted radio and audio frequencies.
One type of prior art EMI shielding of automotive lamps combines the conductive properties of the housing or housing metallic coating with a wire mesh screen covering the area enclosed by the lens, both the housing and the screen being electrically grounded. This wire mesh is difficult to work with during product assembly because it is not easily processed by automatic assembly equipment. It also adds potential for failure of the bond sealing the lens to the housing. Further, it is difficult and costly to form such wire mesh screens into the shapes required for non-planar lenses, e.g., those having recurved or other complex lens shapes.
Another type of prior art EMI shielding of a lamp involves an evaporative metal coating on the lens. This is a costly and complex process requiring precise control of the thickness of the coating. The process also results in significant loss of light emitted by the lamp.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an EMI shielding lamp which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide an EMI shielding lamp lens which is readily and economically processed and assembled by automatic equipment.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a lamp lens having an EMI shielding means included as an integral part of the lens.
It is still another object of the invention to provide radio noise shielding on planar andnon-planar lamp lenses, including those having recurved or other complex lens shapes.
Further objects of the invention are to provide straightforward and economical methods for producing a unitary radio noise shielding lamp lens and for producing a lamp assembly having a unitary radio noise shielding lens.


An apparatus includes a visual display to be viewed by a vehicle occupant. At least one drone includes a camera. A controller is configured to receive images from the camera on the at least one drone and generate an overhead view of the vehicle based on the images received from the at least one drone and display the overhead view on the visual display.

A vehicle can include a plurality of cameras that generate images of vehicle position that are combined together to present the driver with an overhead view of a position of the vehicle in relation to a surrounding environment. This type of visual display can assist the driver when maneuvering in tight constraints. In certain situations, the coverage provided by the cameras may be insufficient to fully understand the position of the vehicle in relation to the surrounding environment.


A rotating magnetic head for a magnetic recording reproduction system. The rotating magnetic head detects the position of the rotating head placed on the periphery of a rotating drum, and perform servo control of the position of the movable head. The detection of the position of the rotating head is realized by an optical, non-contact mechanism or by detecting the difference of the track scanned by fixed heads. The former requires more than one movable heads and the latter requires a fixed head.

1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a rotating magnetic head used in a magnetic recording reproduction system of videotape recorders.
2. Description of the Background Art:
Conventional methods for magnetic recording and reproduction includes automatic scan tracking (AST) and dynamic track following (DTF) and both are used for 1 inch VTR for broadcasting services. In both methods, the head tracks are moved in the width direction of the track in order to reproduce the information on the tracks of a magnetic tape.
FIG. 21 shows a block diagram of conventional rotating magnetic head for a magnetic recording reproduction system. The reproduction system in the diagram has fixed heads 1 and 2, movable heads 3 and 4, bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 and 6, and a rotating drum 7.
The rotating drum 7 rotates at the speed of 180 rpm. On the periphery of the drum, the fixed heads 1 and 2, and the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 and 6 are attached with the same angle distance. At the top of the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 and 6, the movable heads 3 and 4 are attached. With this configuration, rotation of the rotating drum 7 causes the rotation of the fixed heads 1 and 2 and the movable heads 3 and 4. When a magnetic tape is rolled round the rotating drum 7, the heads 1 through 4 are rubbed against the magnetic tape one by one. The fixed heads 1 and 2 are usually used for normal reproduction. The movable heads 3 and 4 are used for special reproduction, when the AST or DTF technique is utilized.
FIG. 22 shows actions of the movable heads 3 and 4 at special reproduction. In this figure, the cross-sectional view of the neighborhood of the joint of the rotating drum 7 and the bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 is shown. In contrast with FIG. 21, the bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 and the movable head 3 is placed below the rotating drum 7.
A fixed drum 8 is on the same axis as the rotating drum 7 and is fixed to the covering box of a VTR. A magnetic tape 9 is rolled round the rotating drum 7 and the fixed drum 8 so that one of the fixed heads (1 and 2) or the movable heads (3 and 4) contacts the magnetic tape 9. In FIG. 22, the movable head 3 contacts with the magnetic tape.
The movable head 3 makes contact with a different area of the magnetic tape 9 by bending the bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 as shown by the dotted arrow in FIG. 22. The other movable head 4 has the same structure and performs the same actions.
The bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 bends in vertical directions in FIG. 22 according to a supplied voltage. FIG. 23 is a conceptual diagram of the mechanism. The bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 has piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b with three electrodes 5c, 5d and 5e between the two piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b. In other words, piezoelectric elements and the electrodes are laminated in the following order: 5c, 5a, 5d, 5b and 5e. One endpoint of the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 is fixed as described above, and the other endpoint of the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 is free and supports the movable head 3.
When alternating current voltage is added to the bimorph type piezoelectric element 5, the free endpoint oscillates due to expansion and contraction of piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b. As shown by arrows inside the piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b in FIG. 23, the piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b are polarized and the direction of polarization (direction of the arrow in the figure) is the same within a piezoelectric element. Moreover, the piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b are polarized and laminated so that the directions of polarization of the two piezoelectric elements coincide with each other.
When alternating current voltage in one direction is added between the electrodes 5d and 5c and voltage in the other direction is added between the electrodes 5d and 5e, one of the piezoelectric elements 5a and 5b expands while the other contracts as shown by the horizontal arrows in the FIG. 23. The expansion and contraction causes bending of the free endpoint the bimorph type piezoelectric element 5 to the contracting piezoelectric element, which results in the shifting of contact area of the movable head 5 and the magnetic tape 9.
FIG. 24 shows track patterns normally recorded on the magnetic tape 9. At normal recording, the recording is performed by fixed heads 1 and 2. The magnetic tape 9 is rolled around and covers approximately 190 degrees of the movable drum 7 and the fixed drum 8. Therefore, the fixed head 1 and the fixed head 2 alternately perform recording. In FIG. 24, A1, A2, . . . are the tracks recorded by the fixed head 1, and B1, B2, . . . are the tracks recorded by the fixed head 2 that has different azimuth angle from the fixed head 1.
At normal reproduction, the fixed heads 1 and 2 scan the tracks A1, B1, A2, B2 . . . in the order and reproduction is performed. The azimuth angle of the head at recording and the azimuth angle of the head at reproduction must be equal.
In FIG. 24, a control track and a linear audio track are indicated by C and D respectively.
Description of a mechanism for speedy searching reproduction of normal recording follows. In the following description, an example of speedy searching reproduction in which the searching speed is five times faster than normal reproduction is used.
Speedy searching is defined as a reproduction in which the information recorded on the magnetic tape 9 is reproduced at higher speed, usually an integer (2, 3, 4 . . . ) times faster, preferably without any noise.
In speedy searching five times faster than normal reproduction, if the voltage is not applied to the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 and 6 and the contact area of the movable head 3 to the magnetic tape is fixed, the scanning track of movable head 3 spans, for example, from A1 to A3. Among tracks between A1 and A3, the tracks to be reproduced by the movable head 3 are those tracks recorded with the same azimuth angle as the movable head. If the azimuth angle of the A1, A2, . . . are the same as the azimuth angle of the movable head 3, among A1, B1, A2, B2 and A3 the reproducible tracks are A1, A2, and A3. Therefore, during the scanning of the tracks B1 and B2, the movable head 3 generates noise and noise bars will be displayed on a reproduction screen.
In order to remove the noise in speedy searching, alternating current voltage is added to the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 5 and 6 supporting the movable heads 3 and 4. The alternating current voltage, called driving voltage of the movable head 3 and 4, makes the movable head 3 scan L2, which is identical to the track A1, and not L1. Specifically, it is a saw-tooth-wave like voltage that deviates the contact area to the magnetic tape of the movable head 3 or 4. The amount of deviation should be four track pitches per field period.
By use of the alternating current voltage the noise in the speedy searching disappears. The movable heads 3 and 4 scan the tracks A1, B3, A6, . . . , and noiseless speedy searching is enabled. If the driving voltage of the movable heads 3 and 4 is adjusted to the desired speed, speedy searching at any speed is possible in principle.
In practice, however, a rotating magnetic head having the same structure can not perform noiseless speedy searching if the speed is more than five times faster. This is because the movable heads 3 and 4 can not keep facial contact with the magnetic tape 9. The movable heads 3 and 4 have gaps and precise contact of the neighborhood of the gap to the magnetic tape is required for noiseless reproduction. When the width of the deviation of the movable head 3 and 4 is large, facial contact is disabled, and in more than five time speedy searching reproduction, the noise can not be removed.
On the other hand, in order to simplify the structure of the rotating magnetic head, decreasing the number of heads is quite effective. From this view point, if the movable heads can also perform normal recording/reproduction, the fixed heads can be abandoned.
By simply abandoning the fixed heads, however, good normal recording/reproduction can not be realized. Firstly, when reproducing information recorded by other instruments, the tip of the movable head sometimes has to make oblique contact with the magnetic tape. The contact angle of the movable heads toward the magnetic tape is reflected by C/N of the reproduction signal and oblique contact is a factor of poor C/N. Moreover, in normal recording with the movable heads, the reproduction FM signal can not be detected and the positioning control of the movable heads is very difficult. Fixing a movable head at a designated position is also difficult. These factors make recording in standard format extremely difficult.
The rotating magnetic head in which speedy searching reproduction is performed by positioning control of movable heads has the following problems: (1) more than five times faster reproduction than normal reproduction is impossible; and (2) normal recording/reproduction can not be properly realized.
A type of VTR, for example the one known as VHS-HiFi, employs multi-layer recording that records voices and pictures on different layers. FIG. 25 shows an outline structure of a rotating magnetic head, especially the positioning of heads, applied for VHS-HiFi VTR. The instrument records the HiFi audio signals (voices) on the deep layer of the magnetic tape, and the video signals (pictures) on the surface layer. To enable the above recording, the instrument includes six heads.
Of six heads, heads 11 and 12 are for deep layer recording/reproduction. The heads 11 and 12 have different azimuth angle and are placed in an axial symmetric position on the periphery of a rotating drum 17.
The video heads 20 and 21 are for surface layer recording. The azimuth angle of the heads 20 and 21 are also different and placed on the periphery 60 degrees away counterclockwise from the head 11 or 12. In the figure, the direction of magnetic tape movement is indicated by an arrow A and the tape is rolled round and covers 190 degrees of the periphery of the rotating drum 17.
13 and 14 are movable heads driven based on the same principle as the prior example. The movable heads 13 and 14 are placed 60 degrees away counterclockwise from the head 20 or 21.
FIG. 26 shows the principle of multi-layer recording in accordance with the conventional example.
The heads 11 and 12 have larger gaps than the heads 20 and 21. In this example, the gap width of the heads 11 and 12 is 0.9 mm, on the other hand the gap width of the heads 20 and 21 is 0.3 mm. The width of the heads 11 and 12 are 26 microns and the width of the heads 20 and 21 is 48 microns. There is a difference in height (the distance from the center of the rotating drum 17 to the tip of a head) between the heads 20 or 21 and the heads 11 or 12, and the heads 20 and 21 are 16 micro m higher than the heads 11 and 12. The recording current supplied to the heads 11 and 12 is stronger than the current supplied to the heads 20 and 21. The heads 11 and 12 perform recording before the heads 20 and 21.
A description of the recording follows by showing the actions taken by the heads 11 and 20.
As shown in FIG. 26, the magnetic tape 19 is composed of base 19a with thickness of, for example, 16 microns, and magnetic substance layer 19b with thickness of, for example, 4 microns on top of the base. The head 11 is supplied with recording current and records voices into the deep layer of the magnetic substance layer. The head 20 is supplied with weaker recording current and records pictures on the surface layer of the magnetic substance layer 19b. The voices are recorded on the deep layer, and the pictures are recorded on the surface layer.
Because of the difference in height of the heads 11 and 20, and because of the width selection, the area scanned by the head 14 on the magnetic tape 19 completely covers the area recorded by the head 11. Therefore, the audio signals recorded by the head 11 are not exposed on the surface layer, which avoids decreasing of C/N at reproduction.
FIG. 27 shows track patterns recorded on the two layers of the magnetic tape 19. FIG. 28 shows detailed description of track patterns B3 and A4 in FIG. 27.
The tracks A1, A2 . . . in FIG. 27 are recorded by the heads 11 and 14, B1, B2 . . . are recorded by heads 12 and 13, and C is a control track.
The tracks A1, A2, . . . and B1, B2, . . . are divided into an edge area and a main area by switching points where switching of reproduction signals take place. In FIG. 28, B3 and A4 are main areas, x0, x1, y0 and y1 are switching points, X and Y indicate the length of the edge area, and V indicates the length of the main area.
The magnetic tape 19 is rolled round and covers 190 degrees of the movable drum 17 and one head performs recording/reproduction of 180 degrees of the 190 degrees, excluding the edge areas. In other words, two heads, for example the heads 11 and 12, alternately perform recording/reproduction of 180 degrees. The switching point is the point where the switching of the heads takes place.
The main area is the interval surrounded by the switching points and on this area the voices and the pictures are recorded as described above. The rest of the track (outside the main area) is named edge area. An edge area corresponds to five degrees of a rotating drum 17. With the edge area, the disappearance of reproduction signals in the neighborhood of the switching points is avoided by providing continuous reproduction signals in alternate use of two heads.
When the movable head 13 is fixed, its scanning trace will be the dotted line L4 shown in FIG. 27. The trace is the same as the trace made when the five time speedy scanning reproduction is performed (see FIG. 24). The movable head being fixed, it also generates noise and noise bars will be displayed on the reproduction screen, which was the case in the previous example.
By driving the movable heads 13 and 14, and following the track A1 with the head 13 or 14, the noise disappears. This can be achieved by driving the movable head 13 with the bimorph type piezoelectric elements 15, as illustrated in FIG. 29. The principle of the movement is the same as the one shown in FIGS. 22 and 23, and the driving voltage is also a saw-tooth-wave.
A noiseless reproduction signal can be obtained by following the tracks recorded by the heads 11, 12, 20, and 21 with the movable head 13 and 14. As shown in FIG. 30, the reproduction signal is continuous, because of the switching of the movable heads 13 and 14. As shown in FIG. 30, the reproduction signal is continuous, because of the switching of the movable heads 13 and 14 at switching points and the existence of the edge area of five degrees around the switching point.
An instrument having this kind of structure, however, has different problems from the previous example. The problems are the expensiveness due to increase in complexity of the instrument and generation of jitters caused by repeated head hammering on the tape.
The instrument includes three pairs of heads for voices, pictures and special reproduction (including speedy searching reproduction). As the number of the heads increases, the number of hammering of the heads on the magnetic tape also increases. More accurately, small vibrations of unused heads (for example, voice heads) affect actions of working heads (for examples, movable heads).

Rotating magnetic head for a magnetic recording reproduction system


A capacitive, operator-sensing circuit for mobile power equipment includes a charge-transfer touch sensor that is electrically coupled to at least one sensing electrode mounted on a gripping surface of the mobile power equipment. The charge-transfer touch sensor is preferably a digital integrated circuit that operates to change an output voltage between two levels or states (logic high and logic low) depending upon a quantity of charge sensed on the at least one sensing electrode, the sensed charge on the at least one sensing electrode changing with the presence or absence of an operator""s hand on the at least one sensing electrode. The charge-transfer touch sensor outputs a DC voltage signal, maintaining a given output voltage level until the sensor senses a predetermined change in sensed charge on the sensing electrode. The capacitive operator-sensing circuit additionally includes coupling circuitry coupled between the charge-transfer touch sensor and a component of the equipment. A change in sensor output voltage from a first level to a second level causes a cessation of operation of the component. For example, the component may be an internal combustion engine of the equipment and a change in sensor output voltage from the first level to the second level causes the coupling circuitry to electrically couple a magneto of the engine to be coupled to ground thereby shutting off the engine.

This invention relates generally to a capacitive, operator-sensing circuit for disabling a component, such as an internal combustion engine, of mobile power equipment and, more particularly, a capacitive, operator-sensing circuit including a charge-transfer sensor coupled to a capacitive sensing electrode affixed to a gripping surface of the mobile power equipment, the circuit functioning to disable the component upon sensing a change in the charge of the sensing electrode as a result of an operator removing his or her hand from the gripping surface.
Various types of mobile power equipment driven by internal combustion engines are in widespread use today such as lawn and garden maintenance equipment, construction equipment, and agricultural implements. Examples of such internal combustion mobile power equipment include power lawnmowers (push and self propelled), rototillers, cultivators, snowblowers, power lawn edgers, riding lawnmowers, garden tractors, etc. Such equipment includes a handle or gripping surfaces which is/are used by the operator to push the equipment (if not self-propelled) and/or direct the equipment movement along a desired path of travel. Gripping surface might include a steering wheel and steering wheel spokes of a riding lawnmower or the steering levers of a skid steer vehicle. A constant concern with such mobile power equipment is insuring that the engine is disabled (turned off) in the event that the operator losses control of the equipment, i.e., the operator losses his or her grip on the handle or gripping surfaces. In some types of mobile power equipment a working implement, such as a cutting blade or an auger, is driven by the motor and there is an electrical or mechanical clutch disposed between the engine, a transmission and the working implement. In such equipment instead of turning off the engine, it may be sufficient to disengage the clutch when the operator losses his or her grip on the handle. Disengaging the clutch insures the working implement is no longer driven by the engine even though the engine continues to run. Such a clutch arrangement is used in equipment having a working implement driven by a power take-off drive system. A power take-off drive system typically includes a drive shaft to which the working implement (cutting blade, auger, etc.) is attached. When the power take-off drive is engaged, the engine rotates the power take; off drive shaft.
Various types of mechanical assemblies have been used on such mobile power equipment to shut off the engine and/or disengage the power take-off drive system in the event that the operator losses his or her grip on the handle or gripping surfaces. Generally such mechanical assemblies included a lever or rod that is required to be pivoted to a position adjacent, for example, the handle for the engine to operate. The operator thus grips both the lever and the handle simultaneously to maintain the lever adjacent the handle. The lever is typically biased by a spring to swing away from the handle if the operator releases his or her grip on the handle thereby shutting off the engine and/or drive wheels on self-propelled mobile power equipment and/or disengage a power take-off drive shaft.
Such mechanical assemblies have several disadvantages including being costly to install and maintain, adding additional weight to the equipment and continuously exerting pressure against the operator""s hand causing operator fatigue. Additionally, such mechanical assemblies are capable of being defeating by simply tying the lever to the handle with a piece of rope or twine.
An electrical operator-sensing circuit would overcome many of the disadvantages of a mechanical assembly including fatigue and defeatability. One such electrical circuit proposal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,864 to Brewster, Jr. The ""864 patent discloses an operator sensing circuit that requires an operator to electrically bridge first and second spaced apart operator contacts mounted on the lawnmower handle of an electric lawnmower for actuation of the electric motor that drives the cutting blade. However, the ""864 patent requires that both hands of the operator be on the handle. It is often desirable and necessary to permit continued operation of the equipment if the operator maintains one hand on the handle, e.g., the operator removes one hand from the handle to wipe his or her brow or push low hanging branches out of the way when mowing under a tree. Additionally, the ""864 patent teaches the use of a phase lock loop circuit requiring a signal generator and signal receiver which is relatively complex and expensive.
What is needed is a simple-to-fabricate and install, low-cost, rugged, durable and difficult to defeat operator-sensing circuit which permits continued operation of the power equipment when at least one hand of the operator is maintained on the equipment handle.
A capacitive, operator-sensing circuit for mobile power equipment includes a charge-transfer touch sensor that is electrically coupled to at least one capacitive sensing electrode affixed to a gripping surface of the mobile power equipment. The charge-transfer sensor periodically generates charge bursts that are coupled to the sensing electrode and a floating transfer capacitor. The charge-transfer sensor senses the charge buildup on the sensing electrode resulting from the charge bursts. The sensor changes an output signal between a first and a second states if the sensed charge changes by a predetermined threshold magnitude.
The charge-transfer sensor is preferably a digital integrated circuit that operates to change an output voltage signal between two levels or states depending upon sensed charge of the sensing electrode. The gain and sensitivity of the sensor are configured such that the sensed charge of the sensing electrode changes by the predetermined threshold magnitude (or more) when an operator""s hand is moved from a position of gripping or touching the gripping surface to a position of not gripping or touching the surface. The charge-transfer sensor outputs a DC voltage signal, maintaining a given output voltage level until the sensor senses a change in the sensed charged of the predetermined threshold value.
The operator-sensing circuit additionally includes coupling circuitry coupled between the charge transfer touch sensor and a component or system of the mobile power equipment. For example, the component may be an internal combustion engine of the equipment and the coupling circuitry may be coupled to a magneto of the internal combustion engine. A change in sensor output voltage signal from a first level to a second level causes the engine magneto to be electrically coupled to ground thereby shutting off the internal combustion engine.
The coupling circuit includes a first and second field effect transistors (FETs) coupled to a gate of a triac bilateral switch. The triac is coupled between the magneto and ground and, when the break over threshold voltage of the triac is exceed by application of a sufficiently high positive or negative voltage to the triac gate terminal, the triac conducts in both forward and reverse direction as necessary to ground the magneto and shut off the engine.
In one preferred embodiment of the operator-sensing circuit of the present invention, the charge-transfer sensor is coupled to two sensing electrodes which are disposed at spaced apart positions on the equipment handle or gripping surfaces. While either or both of the sensing electrodes is contacted by an operator""s hand, the sensor output voltage signal remains at the first level and the engine magneto is not grounded out.
In another preferred embodiment of the operator-sensing circuit of the present invention, the coupling circuit includes a relay which switches between two open and closed conditions as the sensor output voltage changes levels (logic high and logic low). The relay may advantageously be electrically coupled to a controller which disengages a component of the mobile power equipment such as a power take off drive when the operator""s hands are removed from the sensing electrodes. Alternately, in mobile power equipment driven by an electric motor, such a coupling circuit utilizing a relay and controller may be advantageously used disable or turn off power to the electric motor, when the operator removes his or her hands from the sensing electrodes.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention are described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Capacitive, operator-sensing circuit for disabling engine of mobile power equipment


The present disclosure is directed to extraction bags for use in removing tissue from the body of a patient, in embodiments, as part of a minimally invasive surgical procedure. The extraction bag includes at least an inner, permeable cut resistant layer and an outer impermeable layer. In embodiments, the extraction bag may include additional layers, such as a low friction layer on an inner surface of the inner, permeable cut resistant layer, and/or a metal cut resistant layer located between the inner, permeable cut resistant layer and the outer impermeable layer.

Minimally invasive surgery, such as endoscopic surgery, reduces the invasiveness of surgical procedures. Endoscopic surgery involves surgery through body walls, for example, viewing and/or operating on the ovaries, uterus, gall bladder, bowels, kidneys, appendix, etc. There are many common endoscopic surgical procedures, including arthroscopy, laparoscopy, gastroentroscopy and laryngobronchoscopy, just to name a few. In these procedures, trocars are utilized for creating incisions through which the endoscopic surgery is performed. Trocar tubes or cannula devices are extended into and left in place in the abdominal wall to provide access for endoscopic surgical tools. A camera or endoscope is inserted through a trocar tube to permit the visual inspection and magnification of the body cavity. The surgeon can then perform diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures at the surgical site with the aid of specialized instrumentation, such as forceps, cutters, applicators, and the like, which are designed to fit through additional cannulas.
When removing tumor tissue from the abdominal space, it is important that the tumor tissue does not come into contact with healthy or uninvolved tissue, so as in this way to avoid metastasis and thus avoid harming the patient. Minimally invasive surgical procedures, however, may be limited where large size tumors or large masses of tissue have to be removed from a body cavity. If tumor tissue or tissue parts have to be removed, they may be introduced into an "extraction bag" at the site where the tumor or diseased tissue has been detached from the surrounding tissue, after which the extraction bag is withdrawn from the body, normally through a trocar or similar device, thereby minimizing contact of the diseased tissue with healthy tissue.
In some instances, depending upon the volume of tissue being removed from the body, the tissue within the extraction bag must be broken up prior to removal from the body to allow for the extraction bag and its contents to pass through the opening used to conduct the endoscopic procedure.
Improved extraction bags for removal of tissue remain desirable.


This invention is intended to develop many DNA markers in plants of the genus Fragaria and to evaluate anthracnose resistance with high accuracy with the use of such many DNA markers. The markers associated with anthracnose resistance in plants of the genus Fragaria each comprise a continuous nucleic acid region sandwiched between the nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 and the nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 10 in the chromosome of a plant of the genus Fragaria.

With the development of DNA markers (also referred to as genetic markers or gene markers), both useful and undesirable traits can be rapidly and efficiently identified when improvement in plant varieties is intended. The development of DNA markers has advanced for a wide variety of practical plants as well as for model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. Thus, such markers significantly contribute to improvement in plant varieties.
DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013 reports the development of integrated high-density linkage maps of strawberry cultivars. According to DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013, linkage maps comprising approximately 300 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers have heretofore been reported; however, the development of higher-density linkage maps of strawberry cultivars has been desired because of the complex genomic structures thereof; that is, they are octaploids. According to DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013, also, simple sequence repeat markers were developed for F. vessca and F. x ananassa, and integrated high-density linkage maps thereof were constructed. More specifically, linkage maps were prepared using 5 plant varieties; i.e., 02-19, Sachinoka, Kaorino, Akihime, and 0212921, and these maps were integrated so as to construct an integrated high-density linkage map. According to DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013, the number of markers developed for the 02-19 cultivar is 575, that for the Sachinoka cultivar is 556, that for the Kaorino cultivar is 294, that for the Akihime cultivar is 318, and that for the 0212921 cultivar is 822. In the integrated high-density linkage map disclosed in DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013, however, there are linkage groups without markers to be located, and such phenomenon is more apparent in the Kaorino and Akihime cultivars, to which small numbers of markers are developed. In addition, the integrated high-density linkage map disclosed in DNA Research 20, 79-92, 2013 is not considered to encompass all linkage maps.
Also, Tochigi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, Abstracts of Research Results, No. 29, pp. 51-52 describes that DNA markers linked to strawberry anthracnose resistance were developed so as to efficiently develop strawberry anthracnose-resistant varieties. According to Tochigi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, Abstracts of Research Results, No. 29, pp. 51-52, linkage maps were prepared using markers by the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method, the AFLP method, and the SSR method, and markers associated with anthracnose resistance were analyzed. This resulted in the development of markers that could reduce the breeding population to one-eighth with the use thereof for the population crossed with the Strawberry Parental Line Nou-2 and could be used to identify the anthracnose-resistant varieties with a probability of about 70% according to Tochigi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station, Abstracts of Research Results, No. 29, pp. 51-52.
As described in Microbiol. Cult. Coll., 25(1): 27-32, 2009, Glomerella cingulata and Colletotrichum acutatum are known to cause strawberry anthracnose.
Meanwhile, WO 2007/125958 discloses the development of markers for selection of sugar beet black rot resistant varieties and JP 2010-516236 A discloses a technique for selection involving the use of markers linked to the target traits in maize.

Marker associated with anthracnose resistance in plant of the genus


The objective of the invention is to automatically and dynamically change the slew rate corresponding to the change rate and amplitude of the input signal. In this operational amplifier, when voltage (Vin) of the input signal is high, or when it changes drastically, at the time the voltage difference between the input signal and the output signal (Vout−Vin) exceeds prescribed value (VF), in constant current circuit (12), switch controller (22) turns ON switch (20). As a result, operation current amplifier (16) operates, and current (IE) of constant current source (14) is amplified with a positive feedback loop. By means of positive feedback amplification of the current (IE), slew rate (SR) rises drastically from the reference value that has been adopted, and output voltage (Vout) immediately follows input voltage (Vin). Then, when the voltage difference between the input signal and the output signal (Vout−Vin) falls to within prescribed value (VF), switch controller (22) turns OFF switch (20), and the amplification function of operation current amplifier (16) stops.

For an amplifier, especially an operational amplifier, the response speed and the operation frequency depend on the slew rate (SR). The slew rate refers to the maximum rate of rise/fall of the output, and it is represented by the following formula 1.SR=k*ICS/C  (I)
Here, ICS represents the current value of the bias current in the operational amplifier. K represents a coefficient; k*ICS represents the current value of the operational current for charge/discharge of the capacitor for phase compensation, and it is also the current value of the operational current fed to the transistor pertaining to the amplification. C represents approximately the capacitance of the phase-compensating capacitor, and, strictly, it represents a capacitance that also includes the parasitic capacitance of the transistor.
Consequently, in order to increase the response speed and the operation frequency, that is, in order to increase the slew rate, one may simply reduce the capacitance of the phase-compensating capacitor or increase the bias current. However, a scheme for reduction of the capacitance of the phase-compensating capacitor can hardly be adopted in consideration of the stability (to prevent oscillation), and it is especially undesirable for a voltage follower. On the other hand, as the bias current is increased, the power consumption rises. For present amplifier applications, there is a high demand for lower power consumption, and, in many cases, is not effective simply increasing the bias current.
As an example, for a source driver that drives the signal line of a liquid crystal display, there is a D/A converter (hereinafter to be referred to as "DAC") for converting the digital tone data that represent the display tone of each pixel to an analog tone voltage, and a voltage follower comprising an operational amplifier is set as a buffer amplifier in the final stage of the DAC for driving the signal line load with a relatively heavy capacitive property. In such application, the interval from the time of change of the input to the time it settles down to the target tone voltage (signal amplitude), that is, the settling time, is an important index in determining the usable frequency. Here, the settling time is determined by slew rate SR and the tone voltage (signal amplitude). For example, when slew rate SR is constant at 10 V/μs, the settling time when the signal amplitude is 4 V is 4 V/10 V/μs=0.4 μs, and the settling time when the signal amplitude is 1 V is 1 V/10 V/μs=0.1 μs. In this way, when slew rate SR is constant, the settling time depends on the signal amplitude, and, the higher the signal amplitude, the longer the settling time, and the poorer the settling characteristics.
Here, consider a scheme for changing bias current ICS proportional to slew rate SR. That is, when the signal amplitude is higher, bias current ICS is larger, and the slew rate SR and thus the rising speed become higher. When the signal amplitude is lower, bias current ICS is smaller. As a result, even when the amplitude is large, it is still possible to have a short settling time (improved settling characteristics) and, at the same time, it is possible to meet the demand for a lower power consumption.
In one aspect, the present invention addresses the aforementioned problems by providing an amplifier that can automatically and dynamically change the slew rate corresponding to the rate and amplitude of change of the input signal.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an amplifier wherein the settling time can be minimized, even for an input signal with a large amplitude.
In another aspect, the present invention provides an amplifier having low power consumption that can significantly improve the settling time characteristics.


A process for obtaining an adapted strain of Pseudomonas includes the following steps: deleting the genes ExoS, ExoT, aroA and IasI in an initial Pseudomonas strain cultivated in a LB medium; progressively cultivating this strain in a chemically defined medium based on a glucose minimal medium supplemented with magnesium and calcium; wherein the adapted strain presents the same toxicity and secretion capacities than the initial strain, and its doubling time when cultivated in the chemically defined medium is less than 60 minutes. An adapted strain is furthermore treated to become ‘killed but metabolically active’.

Bacteria have been developed for use as vaccines that deliver heterologous antigens. These bacteria have been modified to contain nucleic acid sequences encoding a protein or antigen of interest. However, injection of native virulent infectious bacteria is potentially deleterious to the recipient organism. Therefore, virulence of bacteria has to be attenuated before their use in immunotherapy.
Due to the endowed effective ability to deliver antigen to antigen presenting cells in vivo, type III secretion system (T3SS or TTSS) based attenuated bacterial vectors attracted more and more attention for their potential use, in particular for cancer vaccine development. In the last decades, the use of Gram-negative bacteria, such as Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia and Pseudomonas which use their powerful secretion machinery—type III secretion system to deliver bacterial effectors to the membrane or into the host cell cytoplasm, has attracted more and more attention for their potential use for cancer vaccine development (Epaulard et al., 2006). Until now, T3SS based bacteria has been proved as a carrier for cancer vaccines which provide the protection against several tumor models like glioma, prostate cancer, breast cancer and fibrosarcoma in mice.
Beside their high efficiency, the safety of bacterial vectors are very important for clinical application. In our previous work described in the article from Epaulard et al., published in 2008, two attenuated strains of Pseudomonas were described:                one attenuated strain "CHA-OST", in which the exoS exoT genes encoding two major T3S toxin exoenzymes—ExoS and ExoT—have been deleted, demonstrated efficient antigen delivery ability and tumor protection performance;        a more attenuated strain "CHA-OAL", in which beside exoS and exoT genes, the aroA and IasI genes have also been deleted. The aroA gene encodes the 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase which is a key enzyme in aromatic amino acid synthesis and the IasI gene encodes the enzyme which produces quorum sensing (QS) homoserine lactones 3-oxo-C12-HSL.
This second strain CHA-OAL has a greatly reduced toxicity while keeping a good efficiency at high doses. This maximally attenuated strain may represent the best compromise between virulence attenuation and efficiency so that it was endowed the potential for clinical applications.
The patent EP 1 692 162 describes an expression vector of chimeric proteins, comprising the functional part of the proteins ExoS or ExoT from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and an antigen of interest. The chimeric protein can be expressed by a strain transformed with said vector, and be "injected" into the cytoplasm of an antigen-presenting cell via the TTSS system. Preferentially, the transformed strain is a CHA-OST strain wherein the genes exoS and exoT have been deleted.
Recently, a new concept of vaccines that are "killed but metabolically active" (KBMA) have been described. They retain the immunological properties of live organisms but have a safety profile closer to that of killed organisms. Initially, the KBMA vaccine strategy was demonstrated by Brockstedt et al. with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria (Brockstedt et al., 2005). The deletion of two uvr genes (A and B) coding for exonucleotidase A and B subunit renders bacteria sensitive to psoralen-induced crosslink by exposure to long wavelength UVA light (Wollowitz, 2001). However, it is unclear whether this photochemical treatment could be applied to Pseudomonas bacteria and whether the type III secretion system would work after this treatment.
For clinical purpose, it is also important to join good manufacturing practices for vaccine production. In particular, bacterial vectors should be produced in chemically defined medium with constant growth performance to ensure the quality of the product.
Indeed, one of the main technical problem met with the culture of attenuated Pseudomonas strains is their poor growth rate in standard chemically defined growth media. In recent studies, one chemically defined medium—glucose minimal (M9) medium has been applied in different bacterial species culture, such as E. coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Pseudomonas putida, for the investigations of genes expression, protein expression and bacterial communities. This medium was previously developed by DeBell R M and had been proved to be ideal for Exotoxin A production by P. aeruginosa (DeBell, 1979).
There is a need in the art for an optimized chemically defined medium, allowing a high and constant growth rate for Pseudomonas attenuated strains. Preferentially, these strains are transformed with a vector of expression such as described in patent EP 1 692 162.

Attenuated and adapted strain of pseudomonas for delivering antigens

CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE GRENOBLE


A method and system for organizing a process having a plurality of operations is described. The process can be a manufacturing or assembly process. Some sequences of operations in the process are unfeasible. The method includes ordering the various operations of the process in a sequence by iteratively performing via a computer environment the acts of adding information on either a mandatory or an allowable sequence between two operations, and determining from the information on the sequence between the two operations further information on mandatory or allowable relations between operations of the plurality of operations, until all relations between couples of operations of the plurality have been determined. The method further includes organizing the process compliant with the set of relations obtained in the ordering via the computer environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for organizing and carrying out a production process comprising a plurality of operations.
2. State of the Art
For manufacturing or assembling a product it is well known that the various operations must be carried out in some sequence. It is also easy to identify a feasible sequence of operations of manufacture or assembly of an existing product: one only needs to examine in what sequence the operations are carried out in reality.
A concept related to that of a sequence of operations is the concept of true precedence constraint. In a manufacturing process and particularly in the assembly of products, this concept of precedence between operations (or tasks) can be of importance. A precedence constraint expresses the fact that, for whatever reason, an operation Op2 can only be started after another operation Op1 was successfully terminated, i.e., that the completion of the latter is a necessary prerequisite of the former. Op1 is then said to be a predecessor of Op2 (that is, Op1 must precede Op2) and, conversely, Op2 is said to be a successor of Op1 (that is, Op2 must follow Op1).
A detailed and complete knowledge of precedence constraints among the operations needed to produce or assemble the final product, is necessary in particular when the production or assembly process is to be optimized by an automated algorithm, such as an automatic line balancing algorithm. Indeed, the precedence constraints ensure that the sequence of operations resulting from the optimization will be feasible with respect to the actual manufacturing or assembly process as far as the order of the operations is concerned. Despite their practical importance, precedence constraints have been notoriously difficult to collect and to validate.
A precedence constraint (or simply a precedence) among two operations typically arises from the structure of the product being manufactured or assembled, and the technology used in the manufacturing or assembly process. If Op1 is a predecessor of Op2, then Op2 is unfeasible with the technology as long as Op1 was not successfully terminated or, conversely, Op1 is unfeasible once Op2 was started.
The following are three typical examples of precedence constraints, although many other reasons may give rise to a precedence constraints among operations:

Method for organizing a manufacturing or assembling process


A VLAN memory access system to provide VLAN address table look-ups with the ability to simultaneously do processor read cycles or processor write cycles to the same memory structure with anatomical accesses. The system encompasses the interaction between a memory look-up table that stores the slot allowed transition bit mask for a multi-slot hub based VLAN switch, a switch processor interface that is used to upgrade the memory access table by writing entries into the table or reading the table to verify its contents, and a look-up processor that uses the VLAN table to make forwarding decisions on the destination of a packet based on the value read from the VLAN memory look-up table. The VLAN table accesses must be arbitrated between the look-up processor, which has the highest priority, and read or write accesses from the switch processor. The look-up processor takes the VLAN ID field of a packet and uses this as the address of the slot allowed transmit bit mask to be applied to the destination slot bit mask. This logical AND function is used to determine the final bit mask of slots that will receive this packet.

In a local area network (LAN) information is sent from workstation to workstation in the form of packets. Each packet contains a header and data portion. The header portion contains control type information such as destination address, source address, the type of information being transferred, and error correcting codes. The data portion contains the actual information to be transferred from one workstation to another.
Workstations are connected to each other over a medium such as wire cables or fiber optic cables. The cables usually lead from the individual workstations to a hub or concentrator. The plurality of workstations connected to a single concentrator is often known as a segment. A plurality of segments, each having their own concentrator, can be connected to each other by connecting the concentrators.
One of the simpler embodiments of a concentrator is provided with only a repeater function. Any packet that is received by a repeater from a workstation is sent out to all other workstations connected to the repeater. When a plurality of segments, each having repeaters, are connected to each other, a packet generated by one workstation is spread throughout the entire LAN. The destination address of the workstation to receive the packet is included in the header of the packet. Workstations that are not to receive the packet, disregard or ignore the packet.
As the number of segments and workstations increase on a LAN, the number of packets traversing the LAN, or the traffic, also increases. With all the workstations and segments connected by repeaters, the packets going to all workstations causes delays for the packets and a corresponding lowering of performance of the network.
Bridges and routers are known to connect segments and only transfer packets from one segment to another segment if the destination address of the packet is on the other segment. Otherwise a packet will not be delivered into a segment.
Routers are more sophisticated than bridges and can route packets according to additional conditions. Routers are also more complicated and more expensive than bridges or repeaters. Correspondingly, bridges are more complicated and more expensive than repeaters.
Very often it is desirable to provide individual groups of workstations within a single segment, or to have a single group encompass several segments. Also, it may be desirable to have several different groups each contain separate portions of several different segments. The routing of packets to only members of the same group can become very complicated and expensive if routers are used. Also very often a single workstation will send a multi-cast or broadcast packet intended for all members of its own group. With traditional bridges and routers, a broadcast packet would go to all members of all groups. This is not desirable since it needlessly increases traffic and may also be undesirable from a security view point.
Also when a workstation is moved, or a person wants to move to a different workstation and still receive their same information, reconfiguration of a router is very involved. The same is true when additional workstations must be added to a router's configuration, or a particular workstation wants to be associated with a different group of workstations on the LAN.

Virtual local area network memory access system


This invention relates to an adhesive composition comprising: an elastomeric latex; a phenol, an aldehyde and an alkylated melamine-formaldehyde resin suitable for use in the adhesion of textile material to rubber. This invention also relates to a method of promoting the adhesion of a textile material to rubber comprising the step of contacting the textile material with an adhesive composition comprising an elastomeric latex; a phenol; an aldehyde; and an alkylated melamine-formaldehyde resin. The adhesive composition of this invention provides equal or better retention of adhesive strength after heat aging.

Tires are generally made from a composite of rubber compositions and fiber reinforcements made from textile materials such as synthetic polymers. It is important to achieve good adhesion between the textile material and the rubber composition in order to maintain the integrity of the tire. Power drive and under the hood hose applications also need to maintain integrity under high heat conditions.
Two adhesive systems which are widely used for achieving bonding between textile material and rubber compositions are: 1) the Resorcinol-Formaldehyde-Latex (RFL) coating method wherein an RFL adhesive is applied to the tire cord and 2) the Hexamethylenetetramine-Resorcinol or Hexamethoxymethylmelamine-Resorcinol adhesion promoting methods wherein an adhesion promotion system is incorporated into the rubber composition.
Resorcinol is a very expensive compound which exhibits very undesirable toxicological properties. Its use as a compound for the adhesion of textile materials to rubber is problematic because of its offensive odor, difficulty in handling and possible toxic hazards during rubber processing due to excess fuming of resorcinol during the curing or vulcanization process. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,263,190 and 5,792,805 express the long held desire to reduce or eliminate the use of resorcinol in rubber processing.
The present invention partially relates to the partial replacement of resorcinol-formaldehyde in a RFL adhesive composition with an alkylated melamine-formaldehyde resin to reduce the amount of resorcinol in the RFL adhesive composition and provide similar or better adhesive characteristics to rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,294 discloses the use of trimethylol melamine in a RFL adhesive composition to adhere nylon to natural rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,190 discloses the use of mixture of an aklylated melamine-formaldehyde resin and a glyoxal-urea reaction product in latex to replace the use of resorcinol-formaldehyde resin in a RFL adhesive composition.
It is believed that none of the above-mentioned documents disclose or suggest the use of an alkylated melamine-formaldehyde resin in a RFL adhesive coating composition.

Rubber adhesive composition for textile materials


A mechanism is presented for merging e-mail messages into a collated file. An e-mail message and its associated responses may be accessed and collated based on a selected pattern for responses. The set of e-mails may be collated into a single document with the responses associated with the particular message to which the response is directed. Using pattern matching operations in an iterative fashion, a response may be associated with the message that elicited the response whether the original message or a previous response. The form of association may be user selectable.

Collaborative work environments, particularly with respect to collaborative software development, are becoming more commonplace. In such environments, teams of developers work together to produce a common work product for solving a complex problem. Often, the collaborative effort may include contributors in diverse locations, which may be geographically dispersed.
While tools are available to facilitate such collaborative work environments they have drawbacks. For example, a collaborative software development may use a "team room" concept in which a single document is maintained in which each of the collaborators inserts his or her changes. In this scheme, one collaborator must be responsible to merge all of the changes to be made. Alternatively, the document may be locked so that only one contributor can access the document at a time. Other software, WebRevue, for example, allow collaborators to comment on a document; however, it requires users to go to an external site and view the document using a browser. Discussion databases can be replicated for off-line viewing, but these have a thread model similar to the familiar Usenet Newsgroups. Thus, it may be difficult to find particular information in the database. Consequently, ordinary e-mail is commonly used to exchange information in a collaborative environment.
Nevertheless, such e-mail may rapidly accumulate as a fragmented set of comments and contributions. Consequently, there is a need in the art for mechanisms to merge topically-related e-mail and to thereby allow it to be viewed as one file with contributions from multiple users embedded in the single document. Additionally, there is a further need for mechanisms to embed the contributions in their appropriate locations within the document.

Method and system for merging topically related e-mail in a collaborative work environment

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a method of identifying an orthodontic adhesive on a tooth structure, the method including selectively staining a surface including the orthodontic adhesive or the tooth structure. Methods of bonding and debonding an orthodontic appliance to and from a tooth structure are also provided.

Orthodontic treatment involves movement of malpositioned teeth to orthodontically correct positions. Tiny orthodontic appliances, known as brackets, are connected to anterior, cuspid and bicuspid teeth, and an archwire forms a track to guide movement of the teeth to desired positions. In previous years, the orthodontic appliances were connected to teeth by welding or brazing each orthodontic appliance to a metal band, which was then placed on the desired tooth. But, more recently, it has been preferred to bond the brackets directly to the tooth surface. The direct bonding method minimized the use of metal band thus eliminating the "metallic mouth" appearance that is often associated with orthodontic treatment.
The use of a bonding method may typically require, among other steps, placing an amount of orthodontic adhesive on the bracket, applying the brackets to the desired, preferably preconditioned teeth, and removing excess orthodontic adhesive. Conventional orthodontic adhesives are typically clear or contain pigment, which gives the orthodontic adhesives a white or tooth color. It is desirable that a sufficient but not an excess amount of orthodontic adhesive is used to bond the brackets to the teeth surface. Excess orthodontic adhesive on the teeth may eventually be a site for bacteria accumulation. Because orthodontic treatment may last from 18 to 36 months or more, the bacteria accumulation may damage the teeth and may lead to discoloration of the orthodontic adhesive, both of which may be undesirable. Removal of the excess orthodontic adhesive from teeth surfaces may be difficult if there is similarity in the orthodontic adhesive color and the teeth color due to a lack of a contrasting color in the orthodontic adhesive.
Orthodontic adhesives with high bond strengths may lead to other difficulties. For example, one of the most difficult aspects of the orthodontic treatment process may be the removal of the bracket after completion of treatment. It is well known in the industry that certain adhesives, used in combination with certain rigid brackets, are capable of causing enamel fracture under some debonding conditions. As a result, many commercially available ceramic brackets have been designed for the bond to fail at the interface between the bracket and the adhesive to prevent damage to the tooth surface during the debonding process. This approach results in most of the cured adhesive pad being left behind on the tooth surface after the bracket has been removed. Removal of the adhesive pad, which is typically hard and heavily crosslinked, may be time consuming for the clinician and uncomfortable for the patient.
As with the unhardened orthodontic adhesive, the removal of the cured orthodontic adhesive from teeth surfaces may be difficult if there is similarity in the cured orthodontic adhesive color and the teeth color due to a lack of a contrasting color in the orthodontic adhesive.
A need remains for a method that effectively distinguishes unhardened and/or hardened orthodontic adhesive from the tooth surface to enable easy removal of the orthodontic adhesive by the practitioner.

Methods of identifying orthodontic adhesives


An apparatus and method for winding a roll is disclosed. The apparatus engages a reel spool against an endless flexible belt spanning two rolls to form an unsupported span of the belt. The tissue web is carried to the free span on the endless flexible belt, and the reel spool is pushed into the endless flexible belt in the free span winding the roll. A displacement sensor measures the deflection of the endless flexible belt during winding, and, in response, the reel spool position is changed to control the deflection at a desired level. Located within the apparatus are at least one static measurement probe, and at least one static induction device. The probe and the static induction device are used to measure and control the static charge of the tissue web, the transfer belt, or both. By maintaining a predetermined static charge differential between the transfer belt and the tissue web, the reel will have improved web handling and/or transfer efficiency.

In the manufacture of various types of tissue products such as facial tissue, bath tissue, paper towels and the like, the dried tissue web or tissue sheet coming off of the tissue machine is initially wound into a parent roll and temporarily stored for further processing. Sometime thereafter, the parent roll is unwound and the tissue web is converted into a final product form.
In winding the tissue web into a large parent roll, it is vital that the roll be wound in a manner which prevents major defects in the roll and which permits efficient conversion of the roll into the final product, whether it be boxes of facial tissue sheets, rolls of bath tissue, rolls of embossed paper towels, and the like. Ideally, the parent roll has an essentially cylindrical form, with a smooth cylindrical major surface and two smooth, flat, and parallel end surfaces. The cylindrical major surface and the end surfaces should be free of ripples, bumps, waviness, eccentricity, and wrinkles, i.e. the roll should be substantially uniform. Likewise, the parent roll must be stable, so that it does not depart from its cylindrical shape during storage or routine handling, i.e. the roll should be dimensionally stable. Defects can force entire parent rolls to be scrapped if they are rendered unsuitable for high speed conversion.
New tissue reels having an endless flexible belt, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,918 entitled Apparatus and Method for Winding Paper that issued May 11, 1999 to Klerelid et al., are effective in the winding of tissue and paper webs. In particular, tissue webs having a bulk of 9 cubic centimeters per gram or higher and a high level of softness, as characterized, for example, by an MD Max Slope of about 10 kilograms or less per 3 inches of sample width are especially suited to winding on such reels. Such reels and winding methods can be used to produce substantially uniform and dimensionally stable parent rolls of such soft tissue webs having diameters on the order of 70 to 150 inches. Such parent rolls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,273 entitled Parent Roll for Tissue Paper that issued Aug. 31, 1999 to Lin et al.
As the machine speed of the belted reel disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,918 is increased, web handling can become a problem. In particular, the tissue web can wander or be loosely affixed to the transfer belt, causing an uneven parent roll during winding and/or problems in effecting an efficient transfer to a new reel spool during a transfer when the tissue web is changed from winding onto the full diameter parent roll and directed to winding on a new reel spool. One method of solving this problem is to use vacuum boxes beneath the transfer belt to securely hold the tissue web to the transfer belt, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,681 entitled Apparatus and Method for Winding Paper that issued Mar. 2, 2004, to Guy et al. However, such a solution requires an air permeable transfer belt, which may not always be desirable. Additionally, vacuum boxes are prone to becoming plugged with excess tissue dust and can be a fire or explosion hazard. The exhaust must be sent to a dust removal system, which adds more cost and complexity. Vacuum boxes and dust removal systems require frequent cleanings to ensure safe, reliable operation. Vacuum boxes are only effective to control the tissue web in the immediate area where they are located, and it is difficult to locate them along the entire length of the transfer belt in the reel section. Finally, transfer belt wear can be an issue if tissue dust builds up between the vacuum box and the fabric.
Therefore, there is still a need for an apparatus and method of winding paper webs, especially bulky tissue webs, at faster production speeds having improved web stability in order to wind more uniform parent rolls. There is also still a need for an apparatus and method for maintaining especially good tissue web control during a transfer to manufacture such webs cost effectively.

Apparatus for winding paper with static control


An electronic power device for a juke box or the like comprises a highly thermally conductive heat sink defining a first cavity on one side thereof and a second cavity on the other side thereof, with the first and second cavities having a common, thermally conductive wall. A printed circuit board carries substantially non-heat generating components thereon and is located within the first cavity. At least one heat generating electronic component is provided, located in the second cavity. The circuit board and the generating electronic component are in electrical connection through the common, thermally conductive wall.

Power amplifiers receive an input signal of low power and, using an electronic circuit, amplify the signal to higher power. This high power signal may then for example, be used to drive a transmitter or speaker.
Using present technology, a circuit which accomplishes this task includes components that generate substantial amounts of heat, and components that do not generate large amounts of heat.
The substantially heat producing components are placed in contact with a highly thermally conductive heat sink, which dissipates the excess thermal energy, thereby preventing the components from overheating.
A power amplifier, thus, must accomplish two goals: the circuit must be completed electrically and the heat generating components must be attached to a heat sink.
Amplifier designs of the prior art accomplish these goals in one of two ways: the first is typically used when the heat dissipation requirements are moderate. With this design, all components are inserted into a printed circuit board. Electrical connections are made by the traces of the printed circuit board. The heat sink is then mounted directly to the heat producing components. Heat dissipation is limited because the end product's chassis, which mechanically protects the circuit board, also encloses the heat sink. A window can be cut out from the chassis to expose the heat sink to the external environment, but the desired mechanical isolation of the printed circuit board is compromised.
The second prior art design mechanically separates the substantially heat producing devices from the remaining components. The heat producing components are mounted to the heat sink, which is typically mounted so that a significant amount of its surface area is external to the chassis compartment. The rest of the circuit is placed on printed circuit board. The electrical connections are completed by wires with connectors running between the printed circuit board and the heat producing devices. The principle disadvantages of this approach are the cost and complication added by the wiring and the physical separation of related components, which can induce noise, signal degradation, etc.
Desirable features of a power amplifier include: ease of production, large heat dissipation capacity, immunity to mechanical stress, minimized use of connectors and wiring, and ease of maintenance.
The invention finds advantage in its ability to satisfy the above stated design objectives, among others.

Assembly for integrating heat generating electronic device with nonheat generating devices


The disclosure herein relates to dolls and action figures that are capable of lifelike movement via a manual controller. In some embodiments, only the movement of the arms or legs is manually controlled. In another embodiment, the movement of both the arms and legs is manually controlled. In some embodiments, the actuator gearing system includes a clutch to help prevent the gears from stripping. In other embodiments, the controller is removable.

For generations, kids, teens, and adults have played with dolls or action figures. Most dolls are motionless and require manual manipulation to move the doll or action figure into specific configurations, e.g. sitting or standing. With advancements in photography and videography, more kids, teens, and adults are making movies of their dolls or action figures. With most dolls or action figures, this requires "stop-motion" type filming that can take hours to make short videos. Accordingly, there is a need for dolls and action figures that allow for more lifelike movement without having to manually adjust the parts of the doll or action figure.