A method for initiating cavitation within the fluid within a cavitation chamber is provided. In the cavitation preparatory steps, a hydraulically actuated piston is fully retracted and then the cavitation chamber is isolated. The hydraulic piston is then fully extended after which the chamber is partially opened until a predetermined cavitation piston position is obtained. After the chamber is once again isolated, cavities are formed and imploded by retracting and then extending the cavitation piston. At least one impeller, located within the cavitation chamber, is rotated in order to stabilize the cavities.

Sonoluminescence is a well-known phenomena discovered in the 1930's in which light is generated when a liquid is cavitated. Although a variety of techniques for cavitating the liquid are known (e.g., spark discharge, laser pulse, flowing the liquid through a Venturi tube), one of the most common techniques is through the application of high intensity sound waves.
In essence, the cavitation process consists of three stages; bubble formation, growth and subsequent collapse. The bubble or bubbles cavitated during this process absorb the applied energy, for example sound energy, and then release the energy in the form of light emission during an extremely brief period of time. The intensity of the generated light depends on a variety of factors including the physical properties of the liquid (e.g., density, surface tension, vapor pressure, chemical structure, temperature, hydrostatic pressure, etc.) and the applied energy (e.g., sound wave amplitude, sound wave frequency, etc.).
Although it is generally recognized that during the collapse of a cavitating bubble extremely high temperature plasmas are developed, leading to the observed sonoluminescence effect, many aspects of the phenomena have not yet been characterized. As such, the phenomena is at the heart of a considerable amount of research as scientists attempt to further characterize the phenomena (e.g., effects of pressure on the cavitating medium) as well as its many applications (e.g., sonochemistry, chemical detoxification, ultrasonic cleaning, etc.).
Acoustic drivers are commonly used to drive the cavitation process. For example, in an article entitled Ambient Pressure Effect on Single-Bubble Sonoluminescence by Dan et al. published in vol. 83, no. 9 of Physical Review Letters, the authors use a piezoelectric transducer to drive cavitation at the fundamental frequency of the cavitation chamber. They used this apparatus to study the effects of ambient pressure on bubble dynamics and single bubble sonoluminescence.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,796 discloses a cavitation chamber that is generally cylindrical although the inventors note that other shapes, such as spherical, can also be used. It is further disclosed that the chamber is comprised of a refractory metal such as tungsten, titanium, molybdenum, rhenium or some alloy thereof and the cavitation medium is a liquid metal such as lithium or an alloy thereof. Surrounding the cavitation chamber is a housing which is purportedly used as a neutron and tritium shield. Projecting through both the outer housing and the cavitation chamber walls are a number of acoustic horns, each of the acoustic horns being coupled to a transducer which supplies the mechanical energy to the associated horn. The patent discloses that the temperatures achieved by a collapsing bubble depend strongly on whether or not the interface of the bubble and the host liquid remain spherical during collapse. Noting that the earth's gravitational field is an asymmetric force that can cause bubble deformation, the patent discloses that a preferred cavitation chamber includes means for applying a magnetic field to cancel the gravitational force, thus creating a zero-gravity field within the cavitation zone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,796 further discloses that if the bubble is cylindrical or quasi-cylindrical, small surface perturbations will neither grow nor decay. The patent discloses several means of achieving such a bubble shape, including imposing a time-varying magnetic field.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,563,341, a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,796, discloses the use of a vertical standing pressure wave excited by a transducer in the bottom wall of the chamber as a means of reducing the effects of the earth's gravitational field within the cavitation zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,534 discloses a sonochemical apparatus consisting of a stainless steel tube about which ultrasonic transducers are affixed. The patent provides considerable detail as to the method of coupling the transducers to the tube. In particular, the patent discloses a transducer fixed to a cylindrical half-wavelength coupler by a stud, the coupler being clamped within a stainless steel collar welded to the outside of the sonochemical tube. The collars allow circulation of oil through the collar and an external heat exchanger. The abutting faces of the coupler and the transducer assembly are smooth and flat. The energy produced by the transducer passes through the coupler into the oil and then from the oil into the wall of the sonochemical tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,104 discloses a shock wave chamber partially filled with a liquid. The remaining portion of the chamber is filled with gas which can be pressurized by a connected pressure source. Acoustic transducers mounted in the sidewalls of the chamber are used to position an object within the chamber while another transducer delivers a compressional acoustic shock wave into the liquid. A flexible membrane separating the liquid from the gas reflects the compressional shock wave as a dilatation wave focused on the location of the object about which a bubble is formed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,818 discloses a transducer assembly for use with tubular resonator cavity rather than a cavitation chamber. The assembly includes a piezoelectric transducer coupled to a cylindrical shaped transducer block. The transducer block is coupled via a central threaded bolt to a wave guide which, in turn, is coupled to the tubular resonator cavity. The transducer, transducer block, wave guide and resonator cavity are co-axial along a common central longitudinal axis. The outer surface of the end of the wave guide and the inner surface of the end of the resonator cavity are each threaded, thus allowing the wave guide to be threadably and rigidly coupled to the resonator cavity.
PCT Application No. US95/15972 discloses a non-periodically forced bubble fusion apparatus. The apparatus is comprised of a liquid-filled pressure vessel into which deuterium gas bubbles are injected. A non-periodic pressure field is generated within the liquid, the pressure field causing the bubbles to oscillate and become compressed thereby heating the bubbles to a temperature which is sufficiently high to cause a fusion reaction in the hot deuterium plasma formed at implosion stagnation. The application does not disclose any means of stabilizing the movement of the injected bubbles or positioning the bubbles within the pressure vessel.
PCT Application No. US02/16761 discloses a nuclear fusion reactor in which at least a portion of the liquid within the reactor is placed into a state of tension, this state of tension being less than the cavitation threshold of the liquid. In at least one disclosed embodiment, acoustic waves are used to pretension the liquid. After the desired state of tension is obtained, a cavitation initiation source, such as a neutron source, nucleates at least one bubble within the liquid, the bubble having a radius greater than a critical bubble radius. The nucleated bubbles are then imploded, the temperature generated by the implosion being sufficient to induce a nuclear fusion reaction.
PCT Application No. CA03/00342 discloses a nuclear fusion reactor in which a bubble of fusionable material is compressed using an acoustic pulse, the compression of the bubble providing the necessary energy to induce nuclear fusion. The nuclear fusion reactor is spherically shaped and filled with a liquid such as molten lithium or molten sodium. A pressure control system is used to maintain the liquid at the desired operating pressure. To form the desired acoustic pulse, a pneumatic-mechanical system is used in which a plurality of pistons associated with a plurality of air guns strike the outer surface of the reactor with sufficient force to form a shock wave within the liquid in the reactor. The application discloses releasing the bubble at the bottom of the chamber and applying the acoustic pulse as the bubble passes through the center of the reactor. A number of methods of determining when the bubble is approximately located at the center of the reactor are disclosed.
In a paper entitled Sonoluminescence and Bubble Dynamics for a Single, Stable, Cavitation Bubble (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91 (6), June 1992), Felipe Gaitan et al. modeled the motion of acoustically driven bubbles based on the results of their single bubble experiments. The authors' experimental apparatus included a liquid filled levitation cell in which a stationary acoustic wave was excited, the stationary wave counteracting the hydrostatic or buoyancy force, thus stabilizing a bubble injected into the cell and allowing it to remain suspended in the liquid indefinitely.
Avik Chakravarty et al., in a paper entitled Stable Sonoluminescence Within a Water Hammer Tube (Phys Rev E 69 (066317), Jun. 24, 2004), investigated the sonoluminescence effect using a water hammer tube rather than an acoustic resonator, thus allowing bubbles of greater size to be studied. The experimental apparatus employed by the authors included a sealed water hammer tube partially filled with the liquid under investigation. The water hammer tube was mounted vertically to the shaft of a moving coil vibrator. Cavitation was monitored both with a microphone and a photomultiplier tube. To stabilize the bubbles within the water hammer tube and minimize the effects of the tube walls, in one embodiment the tube was rotated about its axis.
Although a variety of cavitation systems have been designed, typically these systems operate at relatively low pressure, utilize acoustic drivers to cavitate extremely small bubbles, and suffer from a variety of shortcomings due to the inherent instability of the cavitating bubbles. The present invention overcomes these limitations by providing a system that operates at high pressures and that can be used to form and cavitate very large, stabilized bubbles.

Hydraulic actuated cavitation chamber with integrated fluid rotation system


Digital object library management systems and methods for machine learning applications are taught herein. Such a method includes populating a digital object library with a number of machine readable digital objects, modifying the digital objects to include additional machine readable data about the digital objects or other digital objects and the relationships among existing digital objects, generating lists of objects for use in construction and verification of machine learning models used to classify unknown objects into one or more categories, building queries to generate object lists, initiating model generation, in which a machine learning model used to classify unknown objects into one or more categories is generated, initiating model evaluation, storing models, object lists, evaluation results, and associations among these objects, generating a visual display of object metadata, lists, relational information, and evaluation results and running distributable algorithms across the library of digital objects.

The existing state of the art in digital object management systems have no specialization for the support of machine learning processes. Digital object management systems typically tend to be used by large library systems to expose digital documents to their users. What is needed is a system that addresses the challenge of conducting supervised machine learning in a "big data" environment where hundreds of thousands to billions of training and test examples need to be considered and managed. This is a historically new regime for machine learning which typically has operated in environments where training data was limited relative to training computational resources (i.e., if you had the data to train on, the trainer could handle it in a reasonable period of time). With automated data sources being used to feed machine learning algorithms, the performance of learning algorithms now limits the number of examples and/or features that can be used.
This new operating regime forces a user to choose which samples to use. Naïve approaches, such as random selection from the corpus, preserve collection bias and can adversely affect results. As a result there is a need for users to understand and control training sample bias.
Today, digital objects for machine learning are typically stored in a hierarchical file system. The file storage may be shared but is often limited to one user's machine. Supervised machine learning training and test lists are typically manually generated over a relatively small number of samples and/or objects. As machine learning technologies are incorporated into "big data" environments, they will need to manage millions to billions of samples. Machine learning is typically scripted or manually executed. Training and test results are often stored in the same hierarchical file system as the data objects. Often no relational metadata is maintained. If data is maintained it is implied through collocation of the results, training, and test lists with the classifier in the directory structure or in manually maintained spreadsheets.
Existing machine learning patents cover learning algorithms and processes used by machine learning techniques, but do not cover the preparation and managements of the inputs and outputs of the machine learning system.

System and method for training machine learning applications


A flexible cuff for wrapping around a part of a limb, that is comprised of multiple biosensing patch units of a required size and shape to fit the body contour for applying to an area of skin. The cuff has an array of flexible porous (polymer) electrodes held at constant potential with alternating polarities. A network of supply tubes connected to an external liquid reservoir provides a slow supply of medicated fluid to each electrode. A pump/titration regulator is in communication with the transdermal electrode to regulate permeant flow to the skin. An electric and an electromagnetic field applied through the cuff then causes the drug to be rapidly absorbed throughout the skin. The electrodes within the cuff, or the applicator pads which it is comprised of, can be additionally used for applying electromagnetic, Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulation, and for Electrical Muscle Stimulation. Alternatively, the cuff can be used to assist rehabilitation exercise therapy conditioning in combination with Electrical Muscle Stimulation.

Patients are often required to wear casts or braces over long periods of time. This limits access to the treatment area and prevents medical treatment. Atrophy of the underlying muscle tissue is a common problem. Because of the inaccessibility of the treatment area, drug delivery is made difficult, and traditional methods of drug delivery by injection must be used.
The use of iontophoresis and electrotherapy for drug delivery has been known and recognized as an acceptable form of treatment. Prior devices utilizing iontophoresis and/or electrophoresis were unable to simultaneously treat large areas systematically in an anatomical circumference or be incorporated under casts or braces, with the exception of the inventor's previous U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,384.
Furthermore, the previously known devices did not provide the availability of multiple treatment protocols.
Many iontophoretic drug delivery devices have been described in the patent literature, including U.S. Pat. Nos.:
5,387,189 to Gory et al; PA0 5,358,483 to Sibalis; PA0 5,356,632 to Gross et al; PA0 5,312,325 to Sibalis; PA0 5,279,544 to Gross et al; PA0 5,167,479 to Sibalis; PA0 5,156,591 to Gross et al; PA0 5,135,479 to Sibalis et al; PA0 5,088,977 to Sibalis; PA0 5,057,072 to Phipps; PA0 5,053,001 to Reller et al; PA0 4,942,883 to Newman; PA0 4,752,285 to Patelenz et al; PA0 4,734,090 to Sibalis; PA0 4,731,049 to Parsi; PA0 4,622031 to Sibalis; PA0 4,325,367 to Tapper; and PA0 4,164,226 to Tapper.
The need to provide a broad spectrum of treatment protocols suited to the injury and/or medical condition of the patient requires a system having a high degree of drug flow controllability.
Controlled delivery of drugs through the skin by use of transdermal patches is well known in the prior art. Passive transdermal drug delivery patches provide advantages over other drug delivery methods by delivering the drug directly to the affected area. This method is advantageous over other known methods such as oral administration which necessitates absorption through the digestive tract, or intravenous drug administration which involves needles. Currently, certain patient types present serious problems to traditional IV techniques. These patients include: patients with blood disorders, immuno-compromised patients, patients with renal dysfunction, patients with vein disorders or deep set veins and small children. It is estimated that patients in the above categories represent at least 20-25% of all hospital patients. Both oral and intravenous administration involve administering high doses of drug to the body at one time, systemically affecting the whole body with the pharmaceutical. These high levels of drug concentration in the blood can create toxic side effects. In addition, only a very small percentage of the drug reaches the affected target area in the body.
There has been a trend toward demands for new methods of self-administered prescription pharmaceuticals such as time-release oral medications and transdermal patches. Transdermal delivery provides medication specifically to the area of treatment in the exact quantities required. However, the number of passive transdermal drug delivery patches available, such as the nicotine, estrogen and nitroglycerine patches, are limited because they are effective only with small-molecule drugs. Many of the newly developed proteins and peptide drugs are too large to be delivered through passive transdermal patches, forcing pharmaceutical companies to seek advanced delivery technology such as electrical assist (ionotophoresis) for large-molecule drugs.
Iontophoresis is a technique employed for enhancing the flux of ionized substances through membranes by application of electric current. The principal mechanisms by which iontophoresis enhances molecular transport across the skin are (a) repelling a charged ion from an electrode of the same charge, (b) electroosmosis, the convective movement of solvent that occurs through a charged pore in response the preferential passage of counter-ions when an electric field is applied or (c) increase skin permeability due to application of electrical current.
Many drugs have been formulated for commercial use in the pharmaceutical industry employing iontophoresis. Both passive and electrical assist transdermal drug delivery necessitate wearing transdermal patches made of synthetic substances consisting of a high co-polymer content for long periods of time, often causing skin reactions due to the body's rejection of the membrane as being foreign to the skin. Also, most membrane patches require a specific drug designed toward use with a particular membrane for a specified limited time of usage.
Therefore, it would be desirable to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages and provide a transdermal active drug delivery system that would deliver large-molecule drugs in an efficient manner directly to the affected site, even under a cast or brace, while allowing long term skin contact without causing skin irritation.

Electrophoretic cuff apparatus drug delivery system


A method for controlling a clothes dryer based on a characteristic of the load determined by temperatures provided by an infrared sensor.

Laundry treating appliances, such as clothes dryers, refreshers, and non-aqueous systems, may have a configuration based on a rotating drum that defines a treating chamber in which laundry items are placed for treating. The laundry treating appliance may have a controller that implements a number of pre-programmed cycles of operation having one or more operating parameters.
In some clothes dryers, one or more operating parameters may be set based on the temperature inside the treating chamber and/or the temperature of the exhaust air. This temperature is assumed to be the same as the temperature of the load of laundry; however, this is most often not the case, leading to poor performance of the clothes dryer.
In other clothes dryers, one or more operating parameters may be set based on the moisture content of the load of laundry. Sensors known as moisture strips are located in the treating chamber and detect the conductivity, and therefore the moisture, of the laundry during a cycle of operation. Moisture strips can be susceptible to electronic interference and other environmental conditions, such as differences in water characteristics. With steam- and chemistry-dispensing clothes dryers, the amount of steam or treating chemistry dispensed may be imperceptible by moisture strips. Any of these circumstances may cause the moisture strips to misread the moisture content of the load of laundry.
Several events can occur within a clothes dryer that prevents the drum from rotating. For example, a broken drive belt, a seized drive motor, an open thermal protector in the drive motor, or an object wedged between a baffle and a bulkhead can all prevent the drum from rotating. Typical clothes dryers do not have any way of determining if the drum is not rotating when it should be rotating, and may continue to supply heated air to the load of laundry after a failure. Without rotation, the load of laundry is unlikely to dry evenly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for operating a clothes dryer using load temperature determined by an infrared sensor


A flash memory device is divided into two or more banks. Each bank includes a number of sectors. Each sector includes flash memory cells. Each bank has a decoder that selectively receives an address from an input address buffer or from an internal address sequencer controlled by an internal state machine. The output data for each bank can be communicated to a read sense amplifier or a verify sense amplifier. The read sense amplifier connects to the output buffer while the verify sense amplifier connects to the state machine. When one bank receives a write command, the internal state machine takes control and starts the program or erase operation. While one bank is busy with a program or erase operation, the other bank can be accessed for a read operation. Power is supplied for each of the read and write operations via an internal multiplexed multi power supply source that provides an amount of power needed based on the memory operation being performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of non-volatile memories. More particularly, this invention relates to a nonvolatile memory array with an arrangement that enables simultaneous read and write operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic systems typically include processors and memory. The memory will be used to store instructions and/or data. In some systems, non-volatile memory is needed to guarantee that the data is continuously stored even when the system is turned off. One non-volatile memory that is widely used is an EPROM. However, conventional EPROMs cannot be reprogrammed in the field. Thus, many electronic designs use EEPROMS, flash memories or battery-backed SRAM, all of which can be reprogrammed electrically. For devices where costs is a factor, flash memories are preferred because they are less expensive than EEPROMs and battery-backed SRAMs.
One problem with prior flash memories is that they do not provide sufficient random access. For example, prior flash memory devices typically do not allow a processor to perform a read operation while a program or erase operation is underway in the flash memory device. Typically, the processor periodically polls a status register of the flash memory device to detect the end of the program or erase operation before initiating a read operation to the flash memory device.
Unfortunately, the programming and erase cycle times for typical flash memory devices are orders of magnitude greater than acceptable read access times of a random access main memory. Such long latencies associated with programming or erase operations can lock up the operating system and prevent the system from functioning for unacceptably long time intervals if the flash memory is the only memory in the electronic system. Some prior flash memories allow erase suspend operations in order to address this problem. However, such memories typically impose a suspend latency interval of several microseconds before a read operation can be initiated.
Prior systems may employ multiple flash memory devices in an attempt to prevent such operating system lock up. In such systems, the processor usually has read access to one of the flash memory devices while other flash memory devices are undergoing a program or erase operation. However, such systems typically suffer from high cost because multiple flash memory devices are implemented even though the capacity of a single flash memory device may accommodate the particular electronic device.
Another prior art system uses a flash memory in combination with an EEPROM memory. This system allows a read operation of one of the memories while writing to the other. The size of an EEPROM cell is significantly larger than that of a flash memory. Therefore, a device which uses an EEPROM rather than a flash memory will be more expensive. Additionally, because the device includes two different technologies, the device is more complex which results in higher design and manufacturing costs.
Thus, there is a need for an efficient flash memory device that allows simultaneous read and write operations.

Bank architecture for a non-volatile memory enabling simultaneous reading and writing


A change-over switch for the switching of two electric circuits is disclosed, including a housing, a tappet, two contacts of a first electric circuit, two contacts of a second electric circuit, and a switching contact which comprises in an initial state a first shape in which said first electric circuit is closed and said second electric circuit is opened, and which by actuating said tappet may be transferred into a second shape in which said first electric circuit is opened and said second electric circuit is closed.

Such change-over switches may in particular be used in motor vehicles, for example as a make/break double-throw or double switch. The designs known from the prior art are, however, comparatively expensive.
It is the object of the invention to create a change-over switch which is distinguished by particularly low manufacturing expense, redundancy and reliability, and the possibility to simultaneously switch two independent switching circuits such that at least one pair of contacts closes and one pair of contacts simultaneously opens.

TRW Automotive Electronics & Components GmbH & Co. KG


A tank to header attachment construction for heat exchangers include T-shaped tabs on the header which extend through slots in a flange on a tank. The top bar of each tab has it ends bent out of alignment with the slot to secure the tank to the header.

Heat exchangers commonly have a plurality of parallel flat sided extruded or roll formed tubes connected at opposite ends to a pair of header-tank assemblies, and a plurality of fins between and bonded to the tubes to facilitate efficient heat transfer to the surrounding area. Each header-tank assembly generally comprises a header with slots therethrough for receiving the tubes, and a tank secured to the header to contain a heat exchange fluid medium and receive the same from the tubes. The fins are brazed or soldered to the sides of adjacent tubes, and the tubes are brazed or otherwise bonded to the header along with the tank to assure leak free joints.
During assembly, the header and tank must be secured to one another to seal the joint therebetween. Tabs of various sorts are known for tank retention of headers. For example, T-shaped tabs located on the header are employed in Buchanan U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,579. In this patent, the so-called bars or tops of the T-shaped tabs are bent inwardly in their entirety over a flange on the tank so as to hold the header and tank assembly together. While such known connections between the tank and the header may perform acceptably for their intended purpose, there is always room for improvement. For example, there is a continuing desire to make the connection easier to form and to improve pressure resistance. In addition, there is a need for an improved means of attaching side pieces to the headers.

Plastic tanked heat exchanger-side, header tank assembly


A cylinder head assembly includes a cylinder head having a top deck, a fire deck, and an igniter post extending upward from the fire deck. An igniter sleeve is within an igniter bore in the cylinder head and includes a locating surface clamped against an upward facing stop surface of the cylinder head. A tip coolant clearance is defined axially between a sleeve tip and the fire deck, and a body coolant clearance is defined peripherally between the igniter sleeve and the cylinder head and is continuously circumferential of the igniter sleeve axially between the sleeve tip and a coolant cavity formed in the cylinder head.

Internal combustion engines are well-known and in widespread use throughout the world for diverse purposes such as vehicle propulsion, production of rotational power in a great many machines, and electrical power generation. Most modern internal combustion engines include a cylinder block having combustion cylinders therein, and a cylinder head that includes intake and exhaust conduits, and valves controlling the opening and closing of the intake and exhaust conduits. Depending upon the engine type, an igniter such as a sparkplug, a prechamber sparkplug or another prechamber ignition device, may be supported in the cylinder head. Spark-ignition technologies are often used in gaseous fuel or gasoline engines. The internal geometry of the cylinder head is commonly complex to provide multiple coolant passages for conveying a coolant through the cylinder head to dissipate heat from combustion, including dissipating heat from sparkplugs or other ignition devices.
Cylinder head geometry, materials, and construction generally, have been varied in many ways over the years in efforts to optimize cooling efficacy. Where components overheat, various problems in the nature of cracking, thermal fatigue, combustion problems, and even seizure of moving parts or melting of materials can occur. Poor cooling efficacy can limit the manner in which an engine can be operated, or enhance it if efficacy is high. Certain modern engines are desirably relatively power dense, and inferior capacity for heat rejection can limit the available engine power output, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,385,800 to Hyde et al., commonly owned, is directed to a cylinder head assembly, cylinder head, and method. Hyde et al. propose a cylinder head assembly including an igniter mount and a sleeve abutting the igniter mount within an igniter bore, such that the sleeve and cylinder head form an igniter cooling passage or moat circumferential of the igniter mount. The disclosed configuration apparently improves heat dissipation and reduces likelihood of pre-ignition. While Hyde et al. may have various applications, there is always room for improvement and development of alternative strategies.

Cylinder head assembly and axially located igniter sleeve for same


A wheel assembly and a method of using the wheel assembly are provided. The wheel assembly is attachable to various objects and capable of quickly and easily collapsing or folding to become more compact for more efficient and cost-effective transportation or shipping. It is then capable of being quickly and easily expanded.

Wheel assemblies are secured to various types of products to allow the products to be more easily and conveniently transported. Wheeling is generally a more effective means of transporting a product than other means such as carrying, especially when the product is large or heavy. Many wheel assemblies include a rigid base, an axle fixed to the base and wheels positioned along the axle. The axle is rigid; often a single steel bar or stub axles welded or rigidly fixed on opposite sides of the product. The wheels are generally located at fixed positions along the axle; typically at the axle's opposite ends. The axle and wheels must extend sufficiently beyond the product's boundaries to provide a stable base and be sufficiently designed to support a heavy load when the product is wheeled.
The known axle-wheel arrangement typically makes the product larger and heavier, and therefore, more costly for the manufacturer or distributor to package and transport. To reduce size for shipping, wheel assemblies are often completely removed before shipping, shipped separately, and then reattached when the product and wheel assemblies arrive. This is time consuming, costly and sometimes, detaching and reattaching the wheel assembly damages the product. Even if it is desirable to detach and reattach the wheel assembly, it is still adds cost and expense.
There is a need for a cost-effective wheel assembly that can be used in connection with products designed to support large and/or heavy loads and that can be quickly and easily transformed to a more compact arrangement for packaging, shipping or transporting both while attached to the product or when detached. There is also a need for a wheel assembly that can be quickly and easily expanded, from the compact arrangement to a use position, as necessary, to efficiently wheel the product, for example, when the product reaches its final destination.


Method and system for detecting a dead server in a multi-server environment. A virtual ring structure is used in which each server in a server pool is only required to monitor the status of two other servers in the server pool. Thus, a server need only transmit ping signals to two other servers (its buddies) in the server pool at any given time. Because each server maintains the status of only two other servers at any given time, the size of the server pool is not limited by the ability of each server to send and process ping signals. The two servers which are monitored by any given server in the server pool are referred to as the “buddy A” server and the “buddy B” server. When the monitoring server determines that one of its buddy servers is down, the monitoring server reports the status of the down server to a SQL server that maintains a server table. The server table maintains a list of each “live” server and the buddy servers assigned to that server. Down servers are removed from the server table. When a server determines that one of its buddies is down, the report to the SQL server results in a buddy reassignment. The buddies of the down server are made buddies of one another and the virtual server ring is once more intact. The SQL server then knows not to route any client to the down server.

It is imperative for the efficient operation of a multi-server network that the status of each server be known. If, for example, a server is down, i.e. dead, then clients attempting to log into the server should be routed away from the dead server to another server within a server pool. Thus, there must be some means for maintaining the status of each server in the server pool.
One approach to maintaining the status of any given server within a server pool has been to transmit and monitor "ping" signals communicated between servers. In this conventional approach, each server in the server pool would send a ping signal to all other servers within the pool and wait for a responsive ping signal. If a responsive ping signal was not received from a particular server, the ping sending server could make a determination that the unresponsive server was dead. Under this approach, each server in the pool can monitor and maintain the status of all other servers in the pool. When a monitoring server in the server pool determines that another server is dead, the monitoring server can report the status of the dead server to a centralized location, such as a SQL server. Thus, when a client attempts to access a server in the pool, the SQL server will prevent the client from being connected to a dead server and will route the client to an operative server.
Another approach to maintaining the status of any given server within a server pool has been to transmit and monitor "ping" signals communicated from a centralized location. In this approach, one centralized server in the server pool would send a ping signal to all other servers within the pool and wait for a responsive ping signal.
While the approaches described above are fairly effective, they consume a good deal of system resources and have very limited extensibility. Whether ping signals are communicated from a single server or from each server, the capacity for generating and processing ping signals becomes limited as the number of servers in the pool increases. In other words, the size of the server pool becomes limited by the capacity to generate and process ping signals, especially when processing is accomplished through only a single server. Moreover, the multiple ping signals consume a lot of the bandwidth of a network as the number of servers in the server pool increases.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and system for maintaining the status of servers within a server pool that is infinitely extensible without consuming a large amount of system resources. There is also a need for such a method and system that is able to be implemented within existing server pool models.


The present invention relates to methods and uses for preventing or treating hormone-dependent disease, in particular breast cancer, in a mammal by antiprogestins, in particular antiprogestin 11β-(4-acetylphenyl)-17β-hydroxy-17α-(1,1,2,2,2-pentafluoroethyl)-estra-4,9-dien-3-one or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative or analogue thereof. The invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising said antiprogestin.

Endocrine therapy represents a mainstay of effective, minimally toxic, palliative treatment for metastatic breast cancer. As a standard palliative treatment of non-operable mammary carcinomas as well as for adjuvant therapy after primary treatment of mammary carcinomas predominantly the antiestrogen tamoxifen is used. However, tamoxifen cannot cure breast cancer. Thus, for secondary therapy progestins or aromatase inhibitors are commonly used. In premenopausal women ovariectomy, tamoxifen and LHRH (luteinizing hormone releasing hormone) analogs achieve comparable results (H. T. Mouridson et al., Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol., 24, pp. 99-105, 1988).
Although tamoxifen is widely used for adjuvant therapy of breast cancer, its use as a chemopreventive agent is problematic, because it has been shown that the treatment results in an increase in the incidence of endometrial cancers (I. N. White, Carcinogenesis, 20(7): 1153-60, 1999).
Antiprogestins represent a relatively new and promising class of therapeutic agents that could have significant impact on breast cancer treatment. Although antiprogestins were originally created with regard to medicinal non-surgical termination of pregnancy (EP 129 499), certain antiprogestins have recently gained importance in the endocrine therapy of those breast cancers involving receptors for progesterone (T. Maudelonde et al., in: J. G. M. Klijn et al., Hormonal Manipulation of Cancer: Peptides, Growth Factors and New (Anti) Steroidal Agents, Raven Press, New York, 1987, pp. 55-59). This new strategy in endocrine therapy is based on the antitumor activity of antiprogestins in progesterone receptor-positive human breast cancer cell lines in vitro and in several hormone-dependent mammary tumors of the mouse and rat in vivo. In particular, the antitumor mechanism of the antiprogestins onapristone and mifepristone (RU 486) was investigated using the hormone-dependent MXT mammary tumor model of the mouse as well as the DMBA- and the NMU-induced mammary tumor models of the rat (M. R. Schneider et al., Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol., Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 691-701, 1989; H. Michna et al., Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 14:275-288, 1989; H. Michna, J. Steroid. Biochem. Vol. 34, Nos 1-6, pp. 447-453, 1989). However, due to low activity and adverse side effects involved with e.g. mifepristone this compound could not be recommended as a single agent in the management of breast cancer (D. Perrault et al., J Clini. Oncol. 1996 October 14(10), pp. 2709-2712).
Antiprogestin compounds are suitable for initiating abortions and thus for use in postcoital fertility control, as contraceptives for women (WO-A 93/23020, WO-A 93/21927) and further for the treatment of hormone irregularities, for initiating menstruation and for initiating labor. Further indications are in the field of hormone substitution therapy (WO-A 94/18983), the treatment of afflictions related to dysmenorrhea and the treatment of endometriosis (EP-A 0 266 303) as well as myomas.
17 α-fluoroalkylsteroids having strong antiprogestin activity as well as methods for producing them are described in WO 98/34947.
Antiprogestins of the prior art tested or used previously due to their antitumor activity frequently exhibited certain disadvantages.
For example, despite the fact that prior art antiprogestins exhibited antigestagenic activity, these compounds were not suitable treatments for hormone-dependent diseases such as breast cancer. In particular, prior art compounds were associated with side effects, e.g. mifepristone exhibits strong antiglucocorticoid side effects (cf. L. M. Kettel et al., Fertil. Steril. 1991 September, 56(3), pp. 402-407; X. Bertagna, Psychoneuroendocrinology 1997; 22 Suppl. 1, pp. 51-55) and besides it showed only moderate activity in clinical trials (see again D. Perrault et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 1996 October, 14(10), pp. 2709-2712). Regarding side effects of other hormone-based therapies, as already mentioned above, tamoxifen administration can result in an increase in the incidence of endometrial cancers (I. N. White, Carcinogenesis, 20(7):1153-60, 1999).
Another problem with prior art antiprogestins was poor bioavailability when administered orally. Thus, they generally had to be administered in high doses, giving rise to possible unfavorable side effects. Moreover, oral administration is desirable with respect to patient convenience and compliance.
Furthermore, there is still a need for compounds that are active not only in the treatment, but also in the prophylaxis of breast cancer and other hormone-dependent diseases. The increased incidence of endometrial cancer associated with tamoxifen tends to show that this compound is unsuitable for prophylaxis treatment of healthy women, and no other suitable compounds are available (cf. L. Bergman et al., The Lancet, Vol. 356, Sep. 9, 2000; 881-887).

Use of antiprogestins for prophylaxis and treatment of hormone-dependent diseases


Transmitting and receiving methods of an Internet facsimile system are disclosed. The Internet facsimile system includes a telephone network, a transmitting network, a server and an office machine. The server has therein a network interface and a memory unit. The office machine includes a data storage means and network interface. The office machine transmits a fax through the telephone network and establishes a connection with the server through the transmitting network. The storage means has a memory capacity much less than that of the memory unit. Therefore, the transmitting and receiving methods of an Internet facsimile system capitalize on the tremendous memory capacity provided by the server as an intermediate storage such that the memory shortage of the office machine is avoided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmitting and receiving methods of an Internet facsimile (fax) system and in particular, to a facsimile service method of a fax device capable of connecting to a server.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fax machines are typically used to transmit facsimiles of hardcopy paper documents to other fax machines. A fax machine (the transmitting end) first connects to another fax machine (the receiving end) a fax number, and then transmits information with a fax signal. The quality of the faxed copy depends on the type of fax machines used, noise in the fax signal, and most importantly the quality of the original document.
However, when the fax machine is operated in a high-resolution mode or scans multiple documents with complicated plots for example, the memory shortage becomes a problem. In this case, the insufficient memory capacity usually causes failure in transmitting or receiving documents, and therefore a waste of communication cost.
Accordingly, there is a strong need for improved transmitting and receiving methods of an Internet facsimile (fax) system which are inexpensive and have good reliability and capacity.

Transmittance and receiving method of an internet facsimile system


A method and apparatus for governing sensor data readings from a plurality of input sensors onboard a communications device. An inventory of available input sensors is generated, and a set of requested input sensors from an application running on the communications device is received. The requested input sensors that are absent from the inventory of available input sensors is identified, and based upon received measured values from the available input sensors, equivalent values for those absent input sensors are derived. The accuracy and precision of the measured and equivalent sensor values are estimated, and those measurements not meeting certain thresholds are filtered. The measured values and the derived equivalent values meeting the predetermined thresholds for accuracy and precision, and the filtered measured values and the filtered derived equivalent values are output to the application.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to mobile communications devices and human-computer interfaces therefor including integrated motion sensors, and more particularly to cross-platform motion sensor control.
2. Related Art
Mobile devices fulfill a variety of roles, from voice communications and text-based communications such as Short Message Service (SMS) and e-mail, to calendaring, task lists, and contact management, as well as typical Internet based functions such as web browsing, social networking, online shopping, and online banking. With the integration of additional hardware components, mobile devices can also be used for photography or taking snapshots, navigation with mapping and Global Positioning System (GPS), cashless payments with NFC (Near Field Communications) point-of-sale terminals, and so forth. Such devices have seen widespread adoption in part due to the convenient accessibility of these functions and more from a single portable device that can always be within the user's reach.
Although mobile devices can take on different form factors with varying dimensions, there are several commonalities between devices that share this designation. These include a general purpose data processor that executes pre-programmed instructions, along with wireless communication modules by which data is transmitted and received. The processor further cooperates with multiple input/output devices, including combination touch input display screens, audio components such as speakers, microphones, and related integrated circuits, GPS modules, and physical buttons/input modalities. More recent devices also include accelerometers, gyroscopes, and compasses that can sense motion and direction. For portability purposes, all of these components are powered by an on-board battery. In order to accommodate the low power consumption requirements, Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computing Machine ARM architecture processors have been favored for mobile devices. Several distance and speed-dependent communication protocols may be implemented, including longer range cellular network modalities such as GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and so forth, high speed local area networking modalities such as WiFi, and close range device-to-device data communication modalities such as Bluetooth.
Management of these hardware components is performed by a mobile operating system, also referenced in the art as a mobile platform. Currently, popular mobile platforms include Android from Google, Inc., iOS from Apple, Inc., and Windows Phone, from Microsoft, Inc. These three platforms account for over 98.6% share of the domestic U.S. market.
The mobile operating system provides several fundamental software modules and a common input/output interface that can be used by third party applications via application programming interfaces. This flexible development environment has led to an explosive growth in mobile software applications, also referred to in the art as "apps." Third party apps are typically downloaded to the target device via a dedicated app distribution system specific to the platform. Although apps are executed locally on the device, their functionality and utility may be significantly enhanced with data retrieved from remote sources. Indeed, many apps function as mobile-specific interfaces to web-based application services. Yet, notwithstanding the availability of device-native apps for the most popular web applications, users continue to rely on general-purpose web browsers installed on the mobile devices to access websites. When accessed from a mobile web browser app, alternative interfaces with larger fonts and simplified layouts that are more suitable for viewing content from the smaller display area of a mobile communications device may be presented.
User interaction with the mobile device, including the invoking of the functionality of these applications and websites, and the presentation of the results therefrom, is, for the most part, restricted to the graphical touch user interface. That is, the extent of any user interaction is limited to what can be displayed on the screen, and the inputs that can be provided to the touch interface are similarly limited to what can be detected by the touch input panel. Touch interfaces in which users press, tap, slide, flick, pinch regions of the sensor panel overlaying the displayed graphical elements with one or more fingers, particularly when coupled with corresponding animated display reactions responsive to such actions, may be more intuitive than conventional keyboard and mouse input modalities associated with personal computer systems. Thus, minimal training and instruction is required for the user to operate these devices.
However, as noted previously, mobile devices must have a small footprint for portability reasons. Depending on the manufacturer's specific configuration, the screen may be three to five inches diagonally. One of the inherent usability limitations associated with mobile devices is the reduced screen size; despite improvements in resolution allowing for smaller objects to be rendered clearly, buttons and other functional elements of the interface nevertheless occupy a large area of the screen. Accordingly, notwithstanding the enhanced interactivity possible with multi-touch input gestures, the small display area remains a significant restriction of the mobile device user interface.
Expanding beyond the confines of the touch interface, the integrated motion sensors have been utilized as an input means. Some applications such as games are suited for motion-based controls, and typically utilize roll, pitch, and yaw rotations applied to the mobile device as inputs that control an on-screen element. Along these lines, more recent remote controllers for video game console systems also have incorporated accelerometers such that motion imparted to the controller is translated to a corresponding virtual action displayed on-screen Additionally, motion sensors may be used to switch from portrait to landscape views, and vice versa, while rotating and resizing the entire viewable content.
Utilizing the accelerometer and other motion input sensors in native apps is a relatively straightforward endeavor, as the operating system/platform provides an application programming interface that generates a consistent set of data for a given motion input independent of device specifics. Further sensor data consistency can be expected in end-to-end integrated mobile platforms such as iOS, where the hardware components and the software components originate from a single source. In this regard, third party developers need only target a single hardware/software combination. Consistency in the capture and interpretation of motion sensor inputs represents a significant challenging, however, with mobile platforms such as Android where there is a wide range of hardware providers. Depending on the particular device, the quality of the sensor data may differ, which results in variable sensitivity and accuracy such that a consistent user experience in motion-based interaction becomes impossible. While targeting a fewer subset of devices available on the market may be a viable approach with native apps, this is not the case for web-based applications, as compatibility across the broadest range of devices and platforms is desirable. Optimizing the sensor data processing for each device and web browser/application configuration may be possible, but may be impractical because of the large number of combinations.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved cross-platform motion sensor control that standardizes sensor data so that web-based applications and native apps alike across a variety of devices and mobile platforms can have consistent motion input interactivity on a universal basis. There is also a need in the art for estimating sensor quality and filtering the generated sensor data to adapt to each motion input interaction.


A portable gift-wrap holding and dispensing system that can be used to store and dispense rolls of material. A cutting guide is provided to assist cutting the material.

This invention relates to providing a system for improved holding, measuring and cutting of paper, particularly gift wrapping paper of the type stored on hollow tubes.
Typically, gift-wrapping for holidays and other occasions is sold in rolls. Such rolls are typically about thirty-six inches (or less) in width with varying diameters of hollow, typically cardboard, tubes onto which such wrapping paper is most commonly rolled for dispensing. Consumers purchase such wrapping paper rolls and often have a plurality of such rolls on hand. Typically, these rolls of wrapping paper are stored on a shelf, closet floor or some other location. Oftentimes, it is difficult to find the rolls, or they are damaged while being stored. Furthermore, during dispensing of the wrapping paper, it is typically cumbersome to hold the paper, measure it, and then cut it (which is most often done with scissors). The paper has a tendency to move during cutting, thereby resulting in a crooked or torn edge on the paper.


Multifunctional liquid phase carriers (LPCs) and methods of using LPCs for the preparation of biopolymers are provided. The LPCs are highly symmetrical compounds that possess more than two points of attachment for biopolymer synthesis. The LPCs have the formula Sp(X1)n, where Sp is a highly symmetrical moiety such that all X1 groups are equivalent. X1 is a functional group that is suitable for biopolymer synthesis, including OH, SH, NH2, COOH and the like. Biopolymers that may be produced using the methods provided include oligonucleotides, peptides, protein nucleic acids (PNAs) and oligosaccharides. Analogs of the biopolymers may also be prepared using the methods.

Recent developments in chemistry and biology are indicative of an increased demand for modified biopolymers, such as oligonucleotides, peptides and oligosaccharides. For most applications, oligonucleotides are needed only in small amounts (nano- to milligrams), for use in, e.g., polymerase chain reactions (see, e.g., K. B. Mullis Angew. Chem. 1994, 106, 1271–1276 and K. B. Mullis et al. Methods Enzymol. 1987, 155, 335–3508) and as diagnostic tools (see, e.g., S. Beck et al. Anal. Chem. 1990, 62, 2258–2270; C. Jurinke et al. Anal. Biochem. 1996, 237, 174–181; C. Jurinke et al. Genetic Analysis: Biomolecular Engineering 1996, 13, 67–71; C. Jurinke et al. Anal. Biochem. 1997, 69, 904–910 and C. W. Siegert et al. Anal. Biochem. 1996, 243, 55–65).
There, however, is an increase in uses of biopolymers as therapeutic agents. For example, antisense oligonucleotides (see, e.g., E. Uhlmann et al. Chem. Rev. 1990, 90, 543–584 and F. F. Milligan et al. J. Med. Chem. 1993, 36, 1923–1937) may be used as therapeutic agents. Current methods of biopolymer synthesis, such as solid phase synthesis of oligonucleotides and peptides, result in preparation of small amounts of a desired biopolymer (see, e.g., N. D. Sinha et al. Tetrahedron Lett. 1983, 24, 5843–5846; H. Köster et al. Tetrahedron 1984, 40, 103–112; and N. D. Sinha et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984, 12, 4539–4557).
Thus, there is a need for economical large-scale methods of synthesis of modified biopolymers, such as oligonucleotides, peptides and oligosaccharides, that provide the biopolymer with the requisite high purity for therapeutic use. Synthesis in solution offers advantages in large scale production, such as easy upscaling, direct reaction control and purification after each reaction cycle, affording products of high purity. One drawback of solution phase synthesis lies in lower yields, caused by loss of product during purification and incomplete reactions, because reagents cannot be used in large excesses. Known methods of solution phase synthesis of biopolymers also suffer from loss of yield as the length of the biopolymeric chain increased.
A further drawback of solution phase techniques is the lack of solubility of the substrate biopolymer in organic solvents when the number of monomeric units exceeds 3–5. Such lack of solubility also contributes to lower yields seen in solution phase synthesis of biopolymers. Therefore, there is a need for carriers that mediate the solubility of the growing biopolymeric chain.
Therefore, it is an object herein to provide carriers for solution phase synthesis of biopolymers. It is also an object herein to provide methods for biopolymer synthesis using the carriers.


Electrowetting devices (EWD) are presented. The electrowetting device includes a first substrate and an opposing second substrate with a polar fluid layer and a non-polar fluid layer interposed therebetween. A first transparent electrode is disposed on the first substrate. A second electrode is disposed on the second substrate. A first partition structure is disposed on the first substrate; thereby defining a plurality of color sub-pixels. A dye and/or a pigment substance is doped in one of the polar fluid layer and the non-polar fluid layer. A luminescence substance is doped in one of the polar fluid layer and the non-polar fluid layer. An emission module (also known as an excitation module) is disposed underlying the bottom of the first substrate. The colors of the non-polar fluid layer in the neighboring sub-pixels are different.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electrowetting devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrowetting display devices are rendered images in accordance with electrowetting or electrocapillary techniques. Briefly, the free surface energy of some fluids is changed due to the electric field effects such that distribution area of the fluids can change along with the electric field effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,967,763, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an electrowetting display device. A non-polar fluid in the electrowetting display device converges due to the electrowetting effect; thereby controlling a bright state and/or a dark state of a pixel.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are cross sections respectively illustrating a voltage off-state and a voltage on-state for a conventional electrowetting display. Referring to FIG. 1A, a conventional electrowetting display 10 includes a substrate 11 with a patterned pixel electrode 12 disposed thereon. A dielectric layer 13 having a hydrophobic surface is disposed on the patterned pixel electrode 12. Patterned bank structures 14 are disposed on the dielectric layer 13; thereby defining each of the pixel regions. An colored non-polar fluid 15a containing a black dye and transparent polar fluid 16 are disposed in each pixel region. When the applied voltage is "off", the colored non-polar fluid 15a is spread on the hydrophobic surface in a pixel region; thereby rendering the pixel region to display a dark state.
On the contrary, when the applied voltage is "on", the transparent polar fluid 16 is affected by electrowetting force to approach the pixel electrode and the colored non-polar fluid 15b is converged far away from the pixel electrodes 12. A large portion of the pixel region is thus exposed; thereby rendering the pixel region to display a bright state, as shown in FIG. 1B.
FIG. 2 is a cross section schematically illustrating a conventional single-layered color electrowetting display device. In FIG. 2, a single-layered color electrowetting display device 50 includes a first substrate 51 and s second substrate 61 opposing to each other. The first substrate 51 includes patterned electrodes 52 corresponding to each of sub-pixel regions. A reflective layer 53 is disposed on the patterned electrode 52. A partition structure 54 is disposed on the reflective layer 53; thereby defining an array of sub-pixels. A black-dye containing first fluid 55 is disposed on the patterned electrodes 52 in each of the sub-pixels. A transparent second fluid 56 is filled between the first substrate 51 and the second substrate 61. A color filter 62 including red 62R, green 62G, and blue 62B color units is disposed on the second substrate 61. Each of the red 62R, green 62G, and blue 62B color units correspond to a sub-pixel region. A seal structure 70 is formed on the peripheral region of the display device encapsulating the first substrate 51 and the second substrate 61. A common electrode 65 contacts the second fluid 50. The surface tension of the first fluid 55 and the second fluid 56 are changed due to the electrical field generated between the common electrode 65 and electrodes 52 in each sub-pixel region; thereby rendering display images. Specifically, whether the ambient light passing through the display device is reflected or absorbed is dependant upon shrinkage or stretching of the black non-polar fluid. The reflective light passing through the color filter on the first substrate is converted to a desired color of light to achieve full color display.
WO 2003/071347, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a color electrowetting display structure. FIG. 3 is a cross section of a tri-layered color electrowetting display device. Referring to FIG. 3, in the structure of the tri-layered color electrowetting display device 100, a partition structure 113 defines a plurality of sub-pixel structures between the upper and lower substrate. A polar fluid 106 and corresponding two different colored non-polar ink oils 105W, 105C, 105Y, and 105M are filled to each sub-pixel structure, wherein the polar fluid is sandwiched between two non-polar ink oils such that a tri-layered structure consisting of ink oil, polar fluid and ink oil is presented between the upper and lower substrates. A color filter 121 is disposed on the upper substrate. The color filter has a complementary color with the other two different colors of the non-polar ink oils. During operation, different bias are respectively applied to the electrodes 112 and 132-137, and whether the different non-polar ink oils are shrunk or stretched can affect incident light 116 by the reflective plate 122 or absorbance by different colored non-polar ink oils 105W, 105C, 105Y, and 105M. Thus, the reflected light passing through the color units 121M, 121C, and 212Y of the color filter render desired light colors.
The conventional single-layered color electrowetting display structure, however, uses color filters associated with black non-polar fluid (such as ink oil). A part of the incident light is absorbed by the color filter, lowering the optical performance of the display due to the light absorption of the color filter. Contrast ratio and brightness of the display images are also reduced. In addition, alignment between the color filter substrate and the lower substrate is difficult that fabrication complexity of the display device is also increased. On the other hand, although a conventional tri-layered color electrowetting device can effectively improve color saturation. However, the tri-layered structure is complex and the alignment process of fabrication is tedious that could make the production costs very high.
Other conventional electrowetting display technologies, such as U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0297030 and U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0002806, disclose self-emission type electrowetting display. By utilizing light emission media (e.g., electroluminescent particles or quantum dots), a self illuminating electrowetting display can be implemented. Additional similar stacks of layers may be added to provide a color display. U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0033798, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an electrowetting display device with a phosphor layer transforming short-wavelength light into different colored lights.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Clamping apparatus for providing a fixed support on a fixed beam or other similar structures wherein outer and inner elongated members are mounted for relative sliding telescoping movement therebetween and are moved by a rotatable threaded bolt and each of the outer and inner elongated members have an inclined surface so that when the inclined surface of the jaws contact the opposite side edges of the fixed beam the facing surfaces of the fixed beam and the outer and inner elongated members are moved into intimate contact.

There are many instances where it is desired to mount safety apparatus or construction apparatus or other type of apparatus to a beam or a rail. Some examples of mounting apparatus for this purpose are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,526,896; 2,765,139; 5,354,026; 4,767,091 and 4,799,639. This application discloses clamping apparatus that functions to provide a strong support for the mounting of any desired type of apparatus to beams or rails of varying configurations.


According to the method of evaluating visceral fat accumulation of the present invention, amino acid concentration data on concentration values of amino acids in blood collected from a subject to be evaluated is measured, and a visceral fat accumulation condition in the subject is evaluated based on the measured amino acid concentration data of the subject.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of evaluating visceral fat accumulation, a visceral fat accumulation-evaluating apparatus, a visceral fat accumulation-evaluating method, a visceral fat accumulation-evaluating system, a visceral fat accumulation-evaluating program, and a recording medium, which utilize concentrations of amino acids in blood (plasma).
The present invention also relates to a method of searching for prophylactic/ameliorating substance for visceral fat accumulation, wherein a substance for preventing a visceral fat accumulation or ameliorating a visceral fat accumulation condition is searched.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, along with an increase in the opportunities to take high-fat diet or a decrease in the opportunities for exercise, the problem of a visceral fat accumulation, which is one of the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, is rising as an issue. If the visceral fat level is high, even though the degree of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia or the like may be low, the risk of myocardial infarction or cerebral infarction drastically increases. Thus, it is thought that the visceral fat accumulation is causative of many lifestyle diseases. Therefore, the problem of how to reduce the risk of the visceral fat accumulation and to prevent the visceral fat accumulation is attracting attention as an urgent issue for healthcare insurance.
Since the visceral fat accumulation due to obesity causes hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, which in turn develop into arteriosclerosis, it is considered that the visceral fat accumulation constitutes a particularly important criterion among the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome. It is also known that concomitantly with the visceral fat accumulation, hyperinsulinemia occurs, or the balance in the adipocytokine secreted from adipose tissues is disrupted.
At the 102nd annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine in April, 2005, the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome in the Japanese population (see "Metabolic Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria Review Committee, Journal of the Japanese Society of Internal medicine, 94, 794, 2005.") were established by eight related academic societies, including the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine (eight academic societies including Japan Society for the Study of Obesity, Japan Atherosclerosis Society, Japan Diabetes Society, the Japanese Society of Hypertension, the Japanese Circulation Society, Japanese Society of Nephrology, the Japanese Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine). At the annual meeting, the diagnostic criterion for visceral fat accumulation was determined to be a visceral fat area of 100 cm2 or more, and the waist circumference (abdominal circumference) corresponding to this area was determined to be 85 cm or more for men and 90 cm or more for women. If the criterion for visceral fat accumulation is satisfied, and two or more items among the three items listed below are met, the condition is determined as metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, if only one item among the following three items is met, the condition is regarded as premetabolic syndrome.
1. The systolic blood pressure is 130 mmHg or higher, or the diastolic blood pressure is 85 mmHg or higher.
2. The fasting blood glucose level is 110 mg/dL or higher.
3. The triglyceride level is 150 mg/mL or higher, or the HDL-cholesterol level is lower than 40 mg/dL.
According to the "National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2004" reported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in May, 2006, the population of patients at age 40 to 74 with visceral fat syndrome or pre-visceral fat syndrome reached about 20 million, which corresponds to one-third of the entire population of this generation. The proportion of those who were strongly suspected was 25.7% for male and 10.0% for female, and the proportion of those who were considered to have pre-visceral fat syndrome was 26.0% for male and 9.6% for female.
Since the visceral fat accumulation is causative of lifestyle diseases, and also the proportion of those patients with visceral fat syndrome is high, it may be said to be an important task to measure the visceral fat accumulation inexpensively, conveniently and quickly, and to suggest guidelines for amelioration from the findings on the level of metabolism. The diagnosis of the visceral fat accumulation involves the use of the abdominal visceral fat area or the abdominal circumference. However, each of these indicators has problems, such as that the measurement of visceral fat area frequently requires computer tomography (CT) and demand cost, time and labor, while the measurement of the abdominal circumference is subject to change in the value depending on the measurer and is associated with a possibility that subcutaneous fat accumulation is confused with the visceral fat accumulation, bringing about an overlook of hidden obesity.
Meanwhile, amino acid metabolism is affected in peripheral tissues, by the insulin resistance derived from the visceral fat accumulation. Prior technology literatures report the results of the researches on the amino acid metabolism in obesity patients or diabetic rats, in which changes are seen in the blood plasma levels of amino acids related to obesity or insulin resistance attributed thereto (see "Felig, P., Marliss, E., et al., New Engl. J. Med., 281, 881 (1969)." or "Felig, P., Marliss, E., et al., Diabetes, 19, 727 (1970).").
If amino acids that specifically vary in the peripheral blood level or the like in the group of patients with the visceral fat accumulation, were discovered, and index formulae using the concentration parameters of the varying amino acids could be established, the index formulae would be able to be widely applied as a convenient and sensitive detection method that reflects the background metabolic changes in the visceral fat accumulation. In regard to the method of diagnosing a disease state using blood amino acids, the indices described in WO 2004/052191 and WO 2006/098192 are known. However, in WO 2004/052191, the object of clinical diagnosis is an index intended to discriminate between hepatitis C patients and hepatitis-free subjects, while in WO 2006/098192, the object of clinical diagnosis is an index intended to discriminate between Crohn's disease patients and healthy subjects, and to discriminate between ulcerative colitis patients and healthy subjects.
However, there is a problem that there are reports on changes of amino acids in obesity or diabetes, and there is no report on a metabolic pattern of amino acids in peripheral blood in a visceral fat accumulation condition. Specifically, there is also a problem that there is no report on application to a diagnostic method for a discrimination between 2 groups of a visceral fat accumulation group and a visceral fat accumulation-free group or for an evaluation of a visceral fat area state.
There is a problem that technology of diagnosing the visceral fat accumulation condition with a plurality of amino acids as explanatory variables is not developed and not practically used.

Method of evaluating visceral fat accumulation, visceral fat accumulation-evaluating apparatus, visceral fat accumulation-evaluating method, visceral fat accumulation-evaluating system, visceral fat accumulation-evaluating program, recording medium, and method of searching for prophylactic/ameliorating substance for visceral fat accumulation


Methods and systems that facilitate efficient and effective application program maintenance and patch distribution are described. A device comprises: a memory that stores application source code files and instructions for creating a hot patch file, wherein the application source code files include an update source code file and initial source code files before an application update; and a processor operable to create the hot patch file, wherein the hot patch file is created based upon differences between a pair of optimized source code file sets that result from optimization of a first set of the initial source code files and separate optimization of a second set of source code files; wherein the second set includes an update source code file and associated files selected from the first set based on results from a graph indicating manners in which said source code files related to one another.

Numerous electronic technologies such as digital computers, calculators, audio devices, video equipment, and telephone systems facilitate increased productivity and reduce costs in analyzing and communicating data in most areas of business, science, education and entertainment. Frequently, these activities involve computer programming and source code processing. Maintaining and updating the source code files can be complex and tedious.
Source code files are typically either dynamic or static and each has various advantages and disadvantages. Static type source code executes relatively fast during runtime, however is relatively difficult to maintain and update. Dynamic type source code is easy to maintain and update, but runs relatively slow As a practical matter, various pre-compile optimization is performed on the dynamic type source code to help it run faster. However, conventional approaches to pre-compile optimization introduce complexities that basically eliminate many of the advantages of dynamic type source code related to maintenance and updating.
One important feature of dynamic scripting language is that the code can be directly executed by the interpreter and no compilation process is required. This feature facilitates simplification of the hot patch processes. In effect, if the dynamic source code is not pre-compile optimized and there is a bug or programming defect in one source code file of an application's numerous files, the application maintainer can merely replace the original source code file corresponding to the bug with a patch or fixed source code file and reload it in the language interpreter (the other numerous source code files are untouched during the patching). However, when pre-compile optimization is used to overcome slow dynamic code, the pre-compile optimization can introduce challenges to traditional hot patch process attempts. In one conventional example, a first FILE1 defines a constant ABC=100 and a second file FILE2 uses the ABC constant in an operation K=ABC+25. Performing a conventional pre-compile optimization (e.g., constant propagation optimization) replaces ABC in FILE2 with 100 and the optimized file is K=125. However, if there is a change in FILE1 (e.g., defining ABC=200) and if the maintainer follows conventional hot patch process approaches (only replacing FILE1 and not touching FILE2) then the patch will not fix the problem because there is no corresponding appropriate consideration of the impact on FILE2.
To overcome the complexities and potential problems introduced by pre-compile optimization in dynamic code applications, conventional solutions typically use a whole application scope pre-compilation which replaces all the source code files in the application, and reloads all the source files (e.g. similar to static code approaches). However, these traditional approaches usually give rise to three problems that reduce or eliminate the maintenance and upload advantages otherwise associated with dynamic type source code. The first problem is an increase in the patching workload. Even though the patches are primarily directed to replacing and reloading the fixed files, the conventional approaches require replacing and reloading of all the files globally. The second problem is an increase in the pre-compilation complexity. The global scope of the pre-optimization often requires a long period (e.g., hours, days, etc.) for enterprise applications. In the original hot patch mode, no such step is required. The third problem is loss of the hot patch continuous run features. It's possible that the application maintainer stops the application to reload all files because some files belong to a particular type (e.g., base libraries, boot loaders, etc.) and cannot be replaced without stopping the application.
Dynamic scripting languages, such as JavaScript, Python, PHP, Lua, etc., are widely used in building large applications. Some examples include: Web front end applications (e.g., Google web based tools, like Map, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, etc.); Web back end applications (e.g., Facebook's application with PHP, etc.); gaming industry applications (e.g., Blizzard's World of Warcraft with Lua, etc.) and mobile applications (e.g., Apple's iOS applications with Object-C, etc.). Conventional approaches to maintaining and updating some files of a dynamic scripting language in large applications are typically time and resource intensive.

Systems and methods to update source code files


A new and distinct Vriesea plant named ‘HAPPYYELLOW’ characterized as a funnel-form rosette plant, measuring about 25 cm in height (above the pot when flowering) and 35 cm in diameter; bipinnate spike inflorescence, measuring about 40 cm in height and about 25 cm in diameter, and yellow (closest to RHS 7A) in color; and linear-lanceolate foliage, measuring about 25 cm in length and about 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm in width, and green (RHS 137A) in color.

The present invention relates to a new, distinct and stable hybrid of Vriesea hybrid, and hereinafter referred to by the variety denomination 'HAPPYYELLOW'. The new Vriesea 'HAPPYYELLOW' originated from a cross made in a controlled breeding program by the inventors in 2010, and then first flowered in 2015, in Assendelft, The Netherlands. The female or seed parent is the unnamed Vriesea selection identified by code 870612 (unpatented). The male or pollen parent is the unnamed Vriesea selection identified by code 1003092 (unpatented).
Vriesea is a member of the Bromeliaceae family. Vriesea is predominantly epiphytic and the genus of about 250 species are found in forested and rocky areas in Mexico, Central America, West Indies and South America. For the most part, species have rosettes of glossy, sword-shaped, smooth-edged leaves.
Floral bracts of Vriesea frequently have brilliant colors and may last for many months. The range of colors for Vriesea is generally from yellow through orange but may also include flame red and deep red-purple. White, yellow, or green tubular, three-petalled flowers may also appear on a stem or within the leaf rosette but are usually short-lived.
Vriesea may be advantageously grown as pot plants for greenhouse or home use. Typically, the plants are shaded from direct sunlight. During the spring to autumn period, the central vase-like part of the leaf rosette is normally filled with water.
Vriesea is native to tropical America. Leaves of Vriesea are usually formed as basal rosettes which are stiff and entire and in several vertical ranks. Vriesea plants have terminal spikes or panicles which are often bracted with petals united in a tube about as long as the calyx. The ovary is superior and the seeds plumose.
Asexual propagation of Vriesea is frequently performed by vegetative means through the use of tissue culture practices. Propagation of Vriesea can also be from offshoots which can be detached from the mother plant and grown in an appropriate soil or bark mixture.
Methods for cultivation and crossing of Vriesea are well known. For a detailed discussion, reference is made to the following publications, which are incorporated herein by reference: Benzing, David H., THE BIOLOGY OF THE BROMELIADS, Mad River Press, Inc., Eureka (1980); Zimmer, Karl, BROMELIEN, Verlag, Paul Parey, Berlin (1986); and Rauh, Werner, BROMELIEN, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (1981).
A Vriesea inbred is produced by brother/sister crossing over several generations to produce a genetically homozygous plant selection. A hybrid cultivar is produced by crossing two genetically distinct inbred lines, collecting seeds produced by the cross, and germinating seeds so-produced to make hybrid plants. The hybrid seeds and plants produced by this method are uniform with respect their morphological and physiological characteristics.
A need exists for a greater variety of Vriesea cultivars with attractive ornamental features. Additionally, a need exists for additional Vriesea hybrid cultivars that can be easily propagated by seed. The new Vriesea 'HAPPYYELLOW' was developed through a controlled breeding program and exhibits unique, desirable and stable characteristics.


A transformable airplane may be reconfigured easily and rapidly to perform any one or a combination of tanking, transport, bombing, or command and control missions as desired for a tactical situation by installing or replacing mission-specific modules as desired. A reconfigurable aircraft includes a pair of wings and an aircraft body having at least one bay defined in an interior of the aircraft body. The at least one bay is configured to accept a plurality of removably replaceable modules that configure the aircraft to perform a plurality of missions. Transport mission modules may include space and tie-downs for cargo pallets and/or palletized seating. A roll-on/roll-off ramp may be provided. Tanking mission modules may include a remote aerial refueling operator station. Bombing mission modules may include a bomb rack and a bomb ejector. ISR mission modules may include command and control stations in signal communication with phased array antennas.

Military air forces use large, typically widebody, aircraft to perform missions such as tanker, transport, bomber, and command and control missions. Numerous electronic, mechanical, and fluid systems and subsystems are integrated to configure a large aircraft for any one of these missions. Additionally, many structural modifications are made to a basic airframe to equip the aircraft to perform the mission. The system integration and structural modifications entailed represent significant large-scale-integration projects and are extremely expensive and time consuming.
As a result, these aircraft generally have been made to perform only one mission. One exception is the tanker/transport aircraft, such as the KC-135 tanker/transport aircraft made by The Boeing Company. While the KC-135 tanker/transport aircraft can perform both tanking and transport missions, the KC-135 is not reconfigurable to perform other missions, such as bombing or command and control. Likewise, currently known bombers or command and control aircraft are not reconfigurable to perform tanking and/or transport missions.
Because of the extreme costs involved in production of such aircraft, air forces have pursued service life extension programs for in-service fleets instead of buying new aircraft. Accordingly, in-service aircraft have become increasingly older. Due to increased aging of airframes, reliability has become lowered. This lower reliability has negatively impacted mission readiness. While mission readiness has decreased, operation and support (O&S) costs have increased.
Increased operational tempos, rapid deployments, and operational commitments would make it desirable for air forces to add aircraft to fleets of tanker, transport, bomber, and command and control aircraft. However, due in part to consumption of limited budgets by increased O&S costs, air forces are not able to pursue production programs for fleets of aircraft that are dedicated to each mission.
An aircraft that could be configured and reconfigured as desired for any one or more of these missions could reduce costs for production (as well as O&S costs) and yet increase operational readiness. However, there is an unmet need in the art for a transformable airplane.


Color transmissive displays have historically used only backlight for forming the color image, and have not used ambient light. Usually, such a display is not used in bright sunlight, since the color image becomes washed out. Transflective color displays form an image by reflecting ambient light or by transmitting backlight, and can be used in bright sunlight. The transflector in such displays reflects the ambient light while also transmitting the backlight. The requirements on the transflector, however, are different from those used in monochromatic displays. According to the invention, a color transflective display device uses comprises a transmissive display unit having a viewing side and a back side and defining picture elements. A structured transflector is disposed to the back side of the color display unit. The structured transflector includes a structured surface and a layered dielectric reflector disposed over the structured surface.

The physical downsizing of microprocessor-based technologies has led to the development of portable personal computers, pocket secretaries, wireless phones, and pagers. All of these devices, and other devices such as clocks, watches, calculators, etc., have the common need for a data display screen having low power consumption in order to extend the useful working period between battery replacements or battery charging.
The most common type of display in such devices is the liquid crystal display (LCD). LCDs may be classified based upon the source of illumination. Reflective displays are illuminated by ambient light entering the display from the front. A reflective surface, such as a brushed metal reflector placed behind the LCD returns light that has been transmitted through the LCD while preserving the polarization orientation of the light incident on the reflective surface. Although reflective displays meet the need for low power consumption, the displays are only useful under good ambient lighting conditions. Under low levels of ambient light, the display often appears dark and is difficult to read. Therefore, the purely reflective display has limited utility.
Another type of LCD display is a backlit display, in which light is generated behind the display and is transmitted through the display to the viewer. Typically, the backlight assembly includes a light source, such as a light-emitting diode (LED), a fluorescent lamp, or other device that emits light, and some optical elements to direct the light from the light emitter to the LCD. Backlighting may also be used to supplement a reflective display so that it can be used over a wide range of ambient light conditions. However, the introduction of a backlit assembly increases the power drain on the battery, significantly reducing the useful battery life, or the time between battery chargings.
The combination of backlighting with an ambient reflective display introduces the need for a "transflective" film. The transflective film is placed between the LCD and the light source, and is used for reflecting ambient light that has been transmitted through the LCD and transmitting light from the light source to illuminate the LCD.

Structured transflectors for enhanced ambient and backlight operation of transmissive liquid crystal displays


An infrared energy reflecting enamel composition comprises a ground coat of enamel on a substrate and embedded TiO.sub.2 particles in the ground coat of enamel. The infrared reflecting enamel composition has an infrared energy reflectivity value of at least 80%. A method for manufacturing the composition is also disclosed for embedding the TiO.sub.2 in the enamel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to enhanced reflectance infrared energy reflecting compositions for cooking apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ovens for cooking food have been known and used for thousands of years. One of the simplest and probably the oldest cooking of food resulted when food products were left next to a fire, perhaps on a hot rock, and cooked essentially by a heat transfer method of conduction. With refinement, an enclosure surrounding the heating element entrapped the heated air, giving rise to cooking by convective heat transfer. This process was the prototype for the modern gas or electric oven.
In the past century, radiant energy from energy radiation sources has been used to heat and directly cook foodstuffs. Within the past few decades, microwave ovens have become common, in which microwave radiation cooks the food. This has proved useful in allowing very short cooking times for many types of food.
Ovens using infrared energy sources, for example such as quartz halogen lamps, are used for quick heating of food. These quartz halogen lamp ovens can also be used for cooking, and are common in restaurants. In these ovens most of the heat is infrared energy. This infrared energy is reflected and a majority of the infrared energy is lost into the walls of the oven. The walls of these ovens do not reflect a sufficient amount of infrared energy cooking energy onto the food to be cooked to be an efficient user of energy.
Attempts have been made to line the inside of the quartz halogen lamp ovens with metallized coatings, which are often highly polished coatings. However, the highly polished surfaces cannot withstand the scrubbing and cleaning processes and materials to which ovens are subjected. The cleaning leads to a degradation of the polished metallized coating, and a subsequent reduction in the reflective efficiency of the oven.
Further, the metal reflective surfaces provide only a specular reflectance, and do not efficiently disperse and direct the infrared energy to the food to be heated. The specular reflectance by metallic surfaces provides a direct, "angle in equals angle out" type of reflectance. Thus, the specular reflectance merely reflects around the oven, without a substantial portion of the energy impinging on the food.
Specular reflection of energy from metallic surfaces for use in ovens is known, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,571,005 to Westerberg et al.; 3,304,406 to King; and 5,276,763 to Gobel et al. These ovens specularly reflect energy, which as discussed above, reflects around the oven, without necessarily all of the energy impinging on the food. The specular reflectance is not dispersed throughout the oven to impinge onto the food. Accordingly, specular reflectance of the infrared energy by polished metal surfaces of an oven is energy inefficient.
It was generally believed that radiation with wavelengths much shorter than 1 micron is not useful in cooking or baking processes, partly because of the weaker interaction of the shorter wavelengths with the foodstuff molecules in terms of general heat transfer, and partly due to the inferior penetrating properties of such radiation. In particular, it was believed that visible light, i.e., radiation with a wavelength in a range between about 0.4 to about 0.7 micron, was not very useful in the cooking process.
However, if a sufficiently intense source of visible light radiation is used with sufficient infrared energy radiation reflection onto the food, an effective cooking apparatus results. The combination of the deeply penetrating reflected infrared radiation and the intense visible radiation establishes a temperature gradient within the interior of the foodstuff that ensures that the surface temperature of the foodstuff is hotter than the interior, and the products of the cooking, i.e., the water vapor and gases like CO.sub.2, are quickly driven to the surface and out of the foodstuff. This process results in a very rapid and efficient cooking of the food.
Using infrared radiation to cook food has a number of significant advantages. The cooking process is very fast. Bakery products, for example, can be baked 5 to 10 times faster than ovens that rely on conventional convection and conduction processes. The quality of the cooking process is enhanced for many foodstuffs. Vegetables are cooked so fast that they are virtually steamed in their own water vapor, leaving them hot, but with very little loss of any of their nutritive values.
The reflectance efficiency of a material composition is dependent on several factors. These factors include the particle size of the reflecting particles and the volume fraction or coverage over the surface of the material composition. An optimum particle size and volume fraction will optimize the reflectance in the desired wavelength. Thus, it is desirable to increase the particle size and increase the volume fraction so as to increase the reflectance of the material composition.
Enamels contain oxide particles, for example, white enamels Q0808A, XT1056-4, T1363 and XT 1032 of the Ferro Corporation all contain oxides. These enamels comprise a white enamel with Anatase TiO.sub.2. However, as discussed above, these enamels are not acceptable infrared reflectors because the size and amount or volume fraction of the Anatase TiO.sub.2 particles do not provide a sufficient degree of reflectance. Accordingly, even though these enamels contain Anatase TiO.sub.2, they are not suitable for infrared heating, and there is a significant degree of energy loss.

Enhanced infrared energy reflecting composition and method of manufacture


A nose guide including a fastening mechanism for attaching the nose guide to a harness frame on a weaving loom. The fastening mechanism includes a pair of elongated straps and a pair of bosses carried on the inner surfaces of the straps which are provided to fit within elongated complimentary recesses provided in the straps. Fasteners extend through the bosses for securing the opposed straps together for attaching the nose guide to a slat of the harness frame.

This invention relates to a nose guide for use on a harness frame of a weaving machine. The invention relates generally to a weaving loom harness wherein warp yarns are held in individual heddles and are supported on a heddle frame and in particular, to a unique nose guide attachment for wooden nose guides. Normally, wooden nose guides are glued to the top and bottom of aluminum slats forming part of the harness frame at locations that coincide with stationary guide supports in the weaving machine. When the slats are wood, wood guides are tenoned and glued into a mortised location. As a result, when the wooden guides are worn out or damaged, they are very difficult to replace by the user.
To aid in repairability, wood guides have been attached with screws without glue. However, due to the thin legs or side plates of the wood guide, they sometimes tend to warp or wear quickly against the adjacent guides in the weaving machine.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a fastening mechanism for attaching nose guides to a harness frame which can be readily removed for replacement.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a fastening mechanism for attaching wooden nose guides to harness frames which do not obstruct the surface plane of the nose guide and apply forces over a substantial portion of the side plates of the nose guide to minimize warping of the nose guide.