An outer sleeve of a magnetic roll for a dual component development electrophotographic image forming device according to one example embodiment includes a series of grooves in an outer surface of the outer sleeve. The grooves extend along an axial length of the sleeve and are spaced circumferentially from each other around the outer sleeve. The outer sleeve has a diameter of between 15 mm and 30 mm, inclusive. The grooves are present on the outer surface of the outer sleeve at a groove density of at least 1.91 grooves/mm of the circumference of the outer surface of the outer sleeve and a total indicated runout of the outer sleeve is 0.05 mm or less.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to image forming devices and more particularly to a magnetic roll for a dual component development electrophotographic image forming device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dual component development electrophotographic image forming devices include one or more reservoirs that store a mixture of toner and magnetic carrier beads (the "developer mix"). Toner is electrostatically attracted to the carrier beads as a result of triboelectric interaction between the toner and the carrier beads. A magnetic roll includes a stationary core having one or more permanent magnets and a sleeve that rotates around the core. The magnetic roll attracts the carrier beads in the reservoir having toner thereon to the outer surface of the sleeve through the use of magnetic fields from the core. A photoconductive drum in close proximity to the sleeve of the magnetic roll is charged by a charge roll to a predetermined voltage and a laser selectively discharges areas on the surface of the photoconductive drum to form a latent image on the surface of the photoconductive drum. The sleeve is electrically biased to facilitate the transfer of toner from the developer mix on the outer surface of the sleeve to the discharged areas on the surface of the photoconductive drum forming a toner image on the surface of the photoconductive drum. The photoconductive drum then transfers the toner image, directly or indirectly, to a media sheet forming a printed image on the media sheet.
As the developer mix on the outer surface of the sleeve approaches the photoconductive drum by rotation of the sleeve, the developer mix is trimmed to a desired mass on the magnetic roll by a trim bar. A gap between the trim bar and the outer surface of the sleeve (the "trim bar gap") dictates how much developer mix is allowed to pass on the outer surface of the sleeve from the reservoir toward the photoconductive drum. The developer mix tends to accumulate and for a shear zone in the reservoir upstream from the trim bar gap. Friction between the outer surface of the sleeve and the developer mix is required to move the developer mix through the shear zone and the trim bar gap to the photoconductive drum.
The magnetic roll sleeve often includes a textured or roughened outer surface in order to provide the desired amount of friction between the outer surface of the sleeve and the developer mix. For example, the outer surfaces of some magnetic roll sleeves are grit blasted. Other magnetic roll sleeves include a series of grooves that extend axially along the length of the sleeve and are equally spaced circumferentially from each other about the outer surface of the sleeve. Some grooved magnetic roll sleeves include a groove density of about 1.27 grooves/mm of the circumference of the outer surface of the sleeve (e.g., 100 grooves on a sleeve having an outer diameter of 25 mm or 80 grooves on a sleeve having an outer diameter of 20 mm). Some larger magnetic roll sleeves, on the order of 62.5 mm in outer diameter, include a knurled outer surface having a sinusoidal, washboard-like knurl pattern that is present on the outer surface of the sleeve at a density of between about 1 and about 1.25 indentations/mm of the circumference of the outer surface of the sleeve. These knurled magnetic roll sleeves have a relatively large circumferential spacing between indentations of between about 0.8 mm and about 1 mm (measured from the center of the trough of one indentation to the center of the trough of the neighboring indentation). These knurled magnetic roll sleeves also have a high (e.g., much greater than 0.1 mm) total indicated runout, a measure of how concentric the sleeve is along its axial length.
Buildup of toner on the outer surface of the sleeve over the life of the magnetic roll tends to increase the amount of friction between the outer surface of the sleeve and the developer mix thereby allowing more developer mix to pass through the trim bar gap and increasing the mass of developer mix on the magnetic roll. Excessive mass of developer mix on the magnetic roll may lead to high rates of carrier bead and toner loss thereby decreasing the life of a replaceable unit holding the reservoir(s) and increasing the operating cost of the image forming device for the user. Accordingly, a magnetic roll sleeve that provides sufficient and consistent friction between the outer surface of the sleeve and a developer mix over the life of the magnetic roll is desired.

Magnetic roll for a dual component development electrophotographic image forming device


A multimedia device for performing at least one function and a method for controlling the multimedia device according to embodiments are discussed. A multimedia device for performing at least one function includes an interface module configured to receive a command signal while performing a first function from among the at least one function; a capture module configured to capture a screen image displayed according to the first function; an adjustment module configured to adjust at least one of a size and location of the captured screen image; and a controller configured to perform a second function if an application having the adjusted at least one of size and location is selected, wherein the application is used to control the multimedia device.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a computing device technology, and more particularly, to a computing device for performing at least one function and a method for controlling the same. For example, the computing device can be applied to a network TV, a smart TV, an Internet TV, an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), a web TV, a mobile device, or a smart phone.
Discussion of the Related Art
With development of information communication technologies, various devices capable of performing multiple functions have been developed and introduced to the market. While the multi-functional computing devices according to technical environments provide affirmative aspects to users, some functions from among several hundreds or thousands of functions are not used at all.
In addition, using a hot button or a bookmark menu (also called a favorite menu), a user can pre-register a desired function and then access the registered function in the future.
However, the conventional multi-functional computing device has a disadvantage in that the user must click on a plurality of depths to establish a hot button for a specific function desired by the user.
Further, even when using the bookmark function, the user must carry out inconvenient processes to enter the bookmark item, resulting in unnecessary time consumption.
In addition, functions capable of being added to the bookmark list or the list of hot buttons were greatly limited and classified according to individual groups, such that the user must remember the functions, resulting in greater inconvenience in use.
Finally, the related art has provided text-format options contained in the bookmark item, such that there is a need to develop a solution for more visually displaying user-desired items.

Generating user specific applications for performing functions in a user device and method for controlling the same


Disclosed herein is a reactor plate which prevents the entry of foreign matter from the outside and the pollution of a surrounding environment. A reactor plate (1) includes a reaction well (5), a reaction well channel connected to the reaction well (5), and reaction well air vent channels (19) and (21) connected to the reaction well (5). The reaction well channel has a main channel (13), a metering channel (15) branched off the main channel (13), and an injection channel (17) of which one end is connected to the metering channel (15) and the other end is connected to the reaction well (5). The main channel (13) and the reaction well air vent channel (21) can be hermetically sealed. The injection channel (17) is formed narrower than the metering channel (15) not so as to allow the passage of a liquid at a liquid introduction pressure applied to introduce the liquid into the main channel (13) and the metering channel (15) and at a purge pressure applied to purge the liquid from the main channel (13) but so as to allow the passage of the liquid at a pressure higher than the liquid introduction pressure and the purge pressure.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reactor plate suitable for use in various assays and analyses such as biological and biochemical assays and general chemical analyses in the fields of medical care and chemistry, and a reaction processing method for processing such a reactor plate.
Description of the Related Art
As small reactors for use in biochemical assays or general chemical analyses, micro multi-chamber devices are used. Examples of such devices include micro well reactor plates such as a microtiter plate constituted from a plate-shaped substrate having a plurality of wells formed in the surface thereof (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-177749) and the like.
Further, as a structure for dispensing a small amount of liquid which can quantitatively treat a small amount of liquid, a structure having a first channel, a second channel, a third channel which is in communication with the first channel through an opening provided in the channel wall of the first channel, and a fourth channel which is in communication with the second channel through an opening provided in the channel wall of the second channel, connects one end of the third channel to the second channel, and has relatively lower capillary attraction than the third channel is developed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2004-163104 and 2005-114430). When such a structure for dispensing a small amount of liquid is used, a liquid introduced into the first channel is drawn into the third channel, and then the liquid remaining in the first channel is removed, and as a result, the liquid having a volume corresponding to the capacity of the third channel is dispensed into the second channel.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Reactor plate and reaction processing method


Flat pack rechargeable batteries which include internal support members are disclosed. In the most preferred form of the invention, an intermediate support extender plate is provided. The plate also includes holes to maintain a common path for electrolyte.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of rechargeable batteries and more particularly to the support of battery elements within a cell casing. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to a device for insuring structural integrity in thicker cells while maintaining a common path for electrolyte flow.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Small rechargeable batteries are becoming increasingly important with the continuing development of portable electronic appliances, such as uninterruptible power systems (UPS). The batteries which are used with such devices are frequently referred to as flat pack batteries. It is highly desirable that such batteries be compact and light in weight yet have a high storage capacity.
Advances have been made in this technology in recent years, even using conventional lead-acid battery technology. Lead-acid batteries typically suffer from weight disadvantages due to the weight of the plate materials (lead plates and lead-containing active materials) and the weight of the containers which are required to hold the plates and electrolyte. Lead-acid batteries, however, have very good power delivery characteristics and may be repeatedly recharged and even overcharged, with only minimal damage to the cells. Moreover, the power curve of lead-acid batteries is relatively predictable. Such features are not readily achievable with other batteries, such as nickel cadmium batteries.
One type of lead-acid battery is the recombinant battery which differs from conventional lead-acid batteries (for example, automobile batteries) in that there is no flowing electrolyte in the system. Substantially all of the electrolyte is maintained in separator material, typically made of a glass fiber mat, located between the plates. The gasses evolved during the electrochemical reactions which take place in lead-acid batteries are absorbed and recombined within the battery rather than being vented in the normal case. With such systems, the battery can be sealed and made maintenance free. Other recombinant systems still use valves to relieve any undesirable build-up of pressure within the cells of the battery.
One recent development in the field of recombinant lead-acid batteries is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,128 issued Dec. 26, 1991 to Aldecoa and Miller entitled "Rechargeable Battery" (hereafter, the "'128 patent"). The battery described in this patent includes a thin plastic casing having generally rectangular top and bottom portions, the casing including lead foil sheets for the positive and negative plates, each foil being pasted with an appropriate active material. Separator layers are placed between the active material. Another embodiment is described, wherein a single positive plate is located at the center of the casing, while two negative plates are disposed on either side, the latter being separated from the positive plate by layers of separator material. Further embodiments are described, including multi-layer batteries of the bipolar variety.
Common features of the batteries described in this patent are a plurality of support members which extend through the plates. The support members in the illustrated embodiments are plastic pins which may extend from one or the other of the casing portions, which pass through the plates and are attached to the opposite casing portion (for example, by vibration welding). Alternatively, pin segments from each casing component may pass partially through the cell and are joined at their tips by an appropriate process such as vibration welding. The support members are provided in a pattern which insures even support and which permits even compression of the battery components when the periphery of the casing portions are sealed. Other recombinant lead-acid batteries are described in the background section of the aforementioned '128 patent. That patent is specifically incorporated herein by this reference.
While the battery systems described in the '128 patent provide advantages over prior art systems, one drawback exists in connection with the creation of thicker multi-plate element stacks within a particular cell. As the thickness of a cell increases, the support capabilities of pins or other similar support members diminish. A solution to this drawback would represent a significant advance in this technology.

Support extension for flat pack rechargeable batteries


The invention relates to a method for determining at least one applicable path (32) for the movement of an object, especially of a surgical and/or diagnostical device, in human tissue (14) or animal tissue by means of a data set of intensity data obtained by a 3D imaging technique, the applicable path (32) of movement connecting a starting position (28) of the device with a defined target location (30). According to the invention the method comprises the steps: defining the target location (30) of a reference point of the device and choosing at least one possible starting position of the reference point of the device; determining a candidate path of movement (18, 20, 22) between the corresponding possible starting position (24,26, 28) and the defined target location (30); and evaluating the candidate path of movement (18, 20, 22) as being an applicable path (32) depending on information about local intensity extrema and/or intensity variation resulting from the intensity data along the candidate path of movement (18, 20, 22). The invention further relates to a corresponding computer-readable medium, a corresponding computer program product, and a corresponding computerized system.

Healthcare diagnosis decision support systems or computer-aided diagnosis or computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) systems are used in medicine to assist users like medical experts or physicians in the interpretation of medical images. Imaging techniques in X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Ultrasound diagnostics yield a great deal of information, which the user has to analyze and evaluate comprehensively in a short time. CAD systems help scan digital images, e.g. from magnetic resonance imaging, for typical appearances and to highlight conspicuous structures, such as vessels, nerve pathways, ventricles, functionally eloquent regions and/or tumor regions. Usually, machine-learning technologies, such as a decision tree and neural network, are utilized to build classifiers based on a large number of known cases with ground truth, i.e., cases for which the diagnosis has been confirmed by pathology. The classifier bases its diagnosis on a computational structure built from known cases and inputted features for the unknown structure case. The classifier output indicates the estimated nature of the unknown structure and optionally a confidence value. As the precision of medical imaging facilities improves to detect very small structures, and as the number of digital images to be processed increases this type of CAD becomes increasingly important as a tool to assist users like physicians. The computer-produced classification is considered a second opinion to a user like a physician in order to raise the accuracy and confidence associated with diagnosis.
Computer assisted surgery (CAS) represents a surgical concept and set of methods, that use computer technology for presurgical planning, and for guiding or performing surgical interventions. CAS is also known as computer aided surgery, computer assisted intervention, image guided surgery and surgical navigation, but these terms that are more or less synonyms with CAS.
The traditional approach of determining an applicable path of movement for a surgical and/or diagnostical device (a safe surgical trajectory) in an image guided therapy like MRI always comprises the two basic steps of: segmenting each critical structure in a spatial region defining the possible path(s) of movement around these regions and afterwards determining a corresponding safe or applicable path. One important area of application is brain surgery. In detail, the traditional surgery planning mainly follows the following steps:
In a first step, the target location is defined manually, or automatically, or in a semi-automated manner. This either involves registering the magnetic resonance (MR) volume to a template, often in the stereotactic coordinate system, and detection of anatomical structures from this transformation, or identifying some point and plane landmarks, such as Mid-sagittal plane, and AC/PC points to determine the location of the target. Once the target is determined, the planning reduces to the detection of an entry point. In many cases, the path between the entry and target points has to be straight and should not hit the critical structures.
The second step is the identification of critical structures, such as vessels, gyri and sulci, ventricles, and some functionally eloquent regions in the brain. This involves segmenting these structures for example from contrast-enhanced T.sub.1 weighted MR images by applying a set of image segmentation algorithms. Functionally eloquent regions are determined by analyzing fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance images) and/or DTI (diffusion tensor images) data.

Method for determining at least one applicable path of movement for an object in tissue


A receiver device of energy from the earth and its atmosphere for providing a supply of electric power.

Our planet is undergoing a dramatic period of climate change due at least in part to rapid growth of human population and the burning of fossil fuels. Accordingly, there is a great need for a clean and renewable source of energy for providing electric power.
There have been a number of individuals who have invented devices that were intended to provide energy obtained from the earth and its atmosphere, e.g., U.S. 28,793 by H. C. Vion in 1860, U.S. 129,179 by Mahlon Loomis in 1872, U.S. 182,172 by W. Crookes in 1876, U.S. 600,457 by N. B. Stubblefield in 1898, the "Condensing Dynamo" of Edward S. Farrow in 1911, U.S. Pat. No. 1,540,998 by Herman Plauson in 1921, U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,108 by C. Cristofv et al., and more recently U.S. 2008/0191580 by Harold Deyo in 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,110 for Method and Apparatus for Converting Electrostatic Potential Energy by Peter Grandics, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,439,712, 7,478,712, 8,686,575, 8,810,049, and 9,331,603, 9,479,086 by Clint McCowen assigned to Ion Power Group LLC. All of the aforementioned patents recited in his paragraph are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Nicola Tesla invented AC current, electric motors, generators, coils, light bulbs, and contributed to making the hydro-electric power station at Niagara Falls. He was also granted patents relating to lighting, radio transmission, radiant energy, and superconductivity, e.g., U.S. 454,622, U.S. 462,418, U.S. 514,168, U.S. 568,176, U.S. 568,178, U.S. 593,138, U.S. 609,245, U.S. 609, 251 U.S. 649,621, U.S. 645,576, U.S. 685,012, U.S. 685,955, U.S. 685,957, U.S. 685,958, U.S. 787,412, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,119,732. All of the aforementioned patents recited in his paragraph are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Tesla described the earth as follows in U.S. 787,412 on page 3:
" . . . the planet behaves like a perfectly smooth or polished conductor of inappreciable resistance with capacity and self-induction uniformly distributed along the axis of symmetry of wave propagation and transmitting slow electrical oscillations without sensible distortion and attenuation."
In U.S. 787,412, on page 3, Tesla disclosed his belief that it was advantageous when attempting to transmit communications through the earth to use relatively low frequencies under 20,000 Hz, and irrespective of the frequency that is being used, the wave or wave train should continue for a certain interval of time, and in particular, not less than one-twelfth or probably 0.08484 of a second. In this regard, Tesla was attempting to create stationary waves in the earth and he was then treating the distance associated with the surface of the earth as a resonating antenna.
Further, there also exists an unconfirmed story that Tesla obtained a 1931 Pierce Arrow from the automobile plant in Buffalo, N.Y. near the site of the power station he helped to design at Niagara Falls, and then replaced the gasoline combustion motor with an 80 hp AC electric motor capable of turning 1800 rpm. The electric motor was allegedly provided with power from a black box device that Tesla made that measured approximately 2 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 6 inches high which contained 12 Type 70-L-7 vacuum tubes and some resistors. One of the problems with this information is that the Type 70-L-7 vacuum tube was not manufactured until some years later. The black box was allegedly connected with an antenna measuring 1.5 meters or about 6 feet long, and two small metal rods also protruded from the black box device. According to this story, Tesla connected the black box to some wiring, he pushed in the two metal rods and then indicated to a Mr. Petar Savo, who was a relative, the device was ready to use and the motor then had a viable source of electric power. Tesla instructed Savo to drive the car which was then allegedly tested for about week and at one point reached a maximum speed around 90 miles per hour. The modified Pierce Arrow was stored at a farmhouse location about 20 miles from Buffalo, N.Y.
Savo had allegedly served as a pilot for Austria-Hungary during World War I, and later told the story to a man named Derek Ahlers who was a designer and inventor in the aviation industry living in New York. Savo's identity has not been confirmed, and this has led to the authenticity of this story being disputed. The Applicant has studied the Russian language, and knows there could be many different ways to translate and spell the name Savo. Because his last name is derived from the Cyrillic alphabet and could possibly be translated in many different spellings into English, the task of tracing and establishing his identity could be difficult or impossible. According to one version of this story, a man named Lee de Forest called Savo a couple weeks later to inquire about the automobile experiment. It is known that de Forest was the inventor of the three electrode or triode vacuum tube, but also of early amplifiers and regenerative circuits. Moreover, the Applicant has determined that an individual named John Derek Ahlers lived in New York during this period, and he was a prominent aviation engineer who is now featured in an exhibit at the Smithsonian.
There is also a second source that supports this story of Tesla's experiment with the Pierce Arrow automobile. A man named Klaus Lebens who lives in Germany discovered in his deceased father's papers a letter from 1930 in which his father described first meeting with Nikola Tesla at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on Nov. 25, 1930, and then taking a ride in an electric 1930 Pierce Arrow the next day. At the time, Heinrich Jebens was an employee of the German Patent Office in Hamburg, and he had travelled to America to meet the world-famous inventors Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, and others. The Applicant is not in a position to know if the letter of Jebens is authentic, but on information and belief officials who work in the German or U.S. Patent Offices are not inclined to tell fables about technology and inventions. The 1930 Pierce Arrow that was allegedly modified by Tesla would have been wired positive ground, and been equipped with a six volt battery and an ignition coil as a stock vehicle coming from the factory. However, the fate and location of the 1930 Pierce Arrow vehicle is unknown, and no research notes by Tesla relating to this experiment are known to exist. Accordingly, it would be difficult or impossible to find information and evidence that could serve to confirm this story. In sum, we don't know if the Pierce Arrow story is a myth, or whether Tesla actually made and tested the electric vehicle. Moreover, if Tesla did succeed with an alternative energy experiment using a Pierce Arrow including an electric motor, we don't know the structure of the device, or how it worked because he never mentioned the possible automotive invention to the news media, and it does not appear in any of his patents.
The invention of the vacuum tube provided for making a possible amplifier, a modulator, oscillator, regulator, and an electronic switch for use, but also means for making large magnifications by way of oscillations and regenerative feedback. In this regard, the "Fleming valve" disclosed in U.S. 803,684 by J. A. Fleming in 1905, was followed by the work of Lee de Forest who is attributed with the invention of the "grid Audio" or first triode vacuum tube that was patented as U.S. 841,387 in 1907, and U.S. 879,532 in 1908. De Forest also combined two triode vacuum tubes to create a "cascade amplifier" and was involved in legal disputes with Edwin Howard Armstrong over the discovery of "regeneration," the "ultra audion" or the feedback circuit for which de Forest was granted U.S. Pat. No. 1,113,149 in 1914. In this regard. Armstrong was awarded U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,113,149, 1,336,378, 1,342,885, 1,424,065, and was also the inventor of frequency modulation or FM disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,066. Other patents for vacuum tubes include U.S. Pat. No. 1,380,206 for a vacuum valve detector by R. A. Weagant, U.S. Pat. No. 2,047,019 for a grid structure by W. R. Ferris, U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,006 for electron discharge tube by M. Knoll et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,217,417 for electron discharge apparatus by L. C. Peterson, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,460,707 for electrotherapeutic apparatus by T. H. Moray. Other patents for signaling and/or antennas include U.S. 706,747 by R. A. Fessenden in 1902, U.S. Pat. No. 1,360,167 by E. F. W. Alexanderson in 1920, U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,754 by Otto Baltzar, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,998 for Toroidal Helical Antenna by Kurt Louis Van Voorhies. All of the aforementioned patents recited in his paragraph are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In accordance with Ohm's law which is I (current)=V (voltage)/R (resistance), there normally exists an inverse relationship between voltage and current. Accordingly, very high frequency voltage is normally associated very low current. High frequency voltage can be used to power certain electrical devices without generating the same amount of heat that is often associated with the use of high levels of current. For example, a florescent light does not normally generate the same amount of heat as does a conventionally wired and powered incandescent light which uses lower frequency voltage and also a resistive filament. In this regard, some of the aforementioned patents of Tesla, e.g., U.S. 454,622, teach the use of an inductor to achieve high frequencies of at least 15,000-20,000 cycles per second and also high voltage potentials of at least 20,000 volts in devices which can include resonating circuits, condensers, and means for causing rapid mechanical, magneto-electric, or disruptive discharge(s).
While not being bound to theory, the disclosure of the present application relates to the belief that voltage and current, dielectric capacity and magnetic inductance, are different aspects or parts of what is called "electricity" and they can appear together in various degrees, or they can very nearly or actually appear individually and to the near or complete exclusion of the other in certain conditions. An inductor which has generated high voltage but relatively low current that has suddenly been discharged into a high impedance load can provide one example of a cold form of electricity. In this regard, due to the sudden collapse of a magnetic field, high voltage can produce useful electrical energy in what can resemble a compression or pulse wave without high current then also being present when the electrical energy is discharged into a high impedance load. However, when conditions of high current and high voltage are both present, this can disrupt or prevent a similar compression or pulse wave from being easily communicated and which some individuals believe may travel along the skin or surface of a conductor. It may be the case that this compression or pulse wave travels substantially longitudinally and approximately at or near the speed of light in a conductor, and under certain conditions, also in the atmosphere and so-called empty space.
Alternatively, electrical energy without the presence of high voltage can be generated by the fluctuation of potentials in a low impedance circuit when relatively high current is being suddenly and repeatedly interrupted and the reflection of this fluctuation crosses between two negative terminals. The observed electrical energy may then take the form of a transverse wave. In a paper entitled "Conflicts Between Quantum Mechanics and Relativity," by Philo T. Farnsworth, which is believed to have been published by the Farnsworth Electronics Company of Fort Wayne, Ind. in the year 1956, he puts forth a theory that an observed magnetic field which is consistent with the right hand rule and is substantially perpendicular to the orientation and direction a straight wire could be the result of a mass inertial effect associated with and resulting from the movement of an electron along or in the wire.
Here is as good a place as any to state that due to a misunderstanding of electrical phenomenon by early scientists, what is normally called "negative" is actually positive, and vice-versa, that is, "positive" is negative. In this regard, negative earth is a source of electrons and other forms of electrical energy and has for practical purposes almost infinite capacity, and in a lightning strike the leader actually comes from the earth, and is then joined by one from the clouds as discussed and shown in The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume II, Chapter 9, entitled "Electricity and the Atmosphere." Accordingly, when studying some electrical diagrams it can sometimes be helpful to reverse the way most people commonly think about the origin and/or conduction of electrical power.
Both of these forms of electrical energy which are generated by relatively extreme conditions of either high voltage and low current or low voltage and high current conditions can sometimes be communicated via a conductor with relatively little or no resistance at normal temperatures. For at least these reasons, and others discussed in the patent references and scientific papers which are incorporated by reference herein, classical measurements and some so-called electrical laws and formulas may not accurately predict or describe electrical energy in circuits which are characterized by either of these two conditions, but real work can nevertheless be done.
Most vacuum or gas filled tubes use heated cathodes in order to provide electron emissions. However, cold cathode vacuum or gas filled tubes also exist, and they can have certain advantages over heated cathode vacuum tubes. For example, they do not need a battery or other power source to pre-heat the tubes and so there is no delay at start. They also consume less power for generating electron emission and produce less heat and so can provide a longer service life. Cold cathodes on vacuum tubes can include a coating, such as magnesium oxide. Once started, the emission of electrons from the coating can be self-sustaining provided a collector electrode of higher potential is present to attract the emitted electrons. Emission can be caused by exposure to ultraviolet light, or by bombarding the coating with electrons within the tube, or by excitation with a high frequency inductive coil or possible Tesla coil.
The following U.S. Patents disclose cold cathode vacuum tubes: U.S. Pat. No. 2,032,545, "Electron Tube," by H. B. McElrath; U.S. Pat. No. 2,943,225, "Cold Cathode Vacuum Tube Devices" by B. G. Firth et al. which discloses the use of a magnesium oxide coating; U.S. Pat. No. 2,184,910 "Cold Cathode Electron Discharge Tube, by Philo T. Farnsworth which discloses that its cathode can be excited by Tesla coil; U.S. Pat. No. 2,263,032, "Cold Cathode Electron Discharge Tube" by Farnsworth which discloses the use of Caesium and Barium; U.S. Pat. No. 2,590,863, "Cold Cathode Gas Tube Amplifier" by H. Jacobs, et al; U.S. Pat. No. 2,802,127, "Dynode Coating," and U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,706, "Cold Cathode Vacuum Tube," by D. Dobischek; and, U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,558, "Colt Cathode Vacuum Tube Means," by C. L. Stec. All of the aforementioned patents recited in his paragraph are hereby incorporated by reference herein. More information on prior art cold cathode tubes can be found on the following website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_cathode.
Farnsworth was the inventor of television. He also designed many high power vacuum tubes and/or gas-filled tubes including photomultipliers, multipactors, IR imaging tubes, image storage tubes, and image amplifiers. Farnsworth described some of these tubes as self-oscillating and they used regenerative feedback and resonant reinforcement. Many of his tubes included metal components such as aluminum, barium, nickel, silver, tungsten, and coatings such as calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and sometimes even soft radioactive materials such as nickel barium alloy, caesium, barium, strontium, and thorium as secondary emitters. In this regard, certain vacuum or gas filled tubes which include radioactive substances can be excited by high frequency voltage. For example, the magnetron used in many microwave ovens often contains a thoriated anode or cathode, and other vacuum or gas-filled electron tubes also exist that contain Pm-147, H-3, or Ni-63 which are low energy beta emitters. In this regard, thoriated tungsten has been used, e.g., in the following electron tubes: 01A, 3C24, 841, 4-65A, 10Y, 15E, 25T, 35T, 100TL and 801A.
The following patents of Farnsworth disclose vacuum or gas-filled tubes: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,969,399, 2,071,515, 2,071,516, 2,071,517, 2,091,439 U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,135,615, 2,139,813, 2,140,285, 2,140,832, 2,141,827, 2,141,837, 2,141,838, 2,143,262, 2,161,620, 2,172,152, 2,174,487, 2,179,996, 2,203,048, 2,204,479, 2,217,860, 2,260,613, 2,263,032, 2,274,194, 2,286,076, 2,311,981, and all of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,439 filed in 1936 Farnsworth describes tubes that are cold cathode devices and which operate over-unity and recited: "All that is necessary to set the tube into oscillation, is to energize the anodes, as there will be, in the space between the cathodes, a sufficient number of free electrons which are accelerated toward one or both of the cathodes by the potential of the anode, to strike thereon and cause the initiation of secondary emissions."
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,139,813, "Secondary Emission Electrode," Farnsworth discloses a multipactor vacuum tube that can operate cold cathode also over unity, and because of its symmetrical electrode the tube can function with AC instead of DC.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,140,832, "Means and Method of Controlling Electron Multipliers," Farnsworth indicates that the electrons do not reach the opposite surface before they get reversed, and this results in high output current. The oscillator power of this tube is indicated as 600 watts, and when used as an amplifier it could produce 1,000 watts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,143,262, "Means for Electron Multiplication," Farnsworth discloses that gain increases of between 100,000 to 1,000,000 are possible with a single multipactor. The disclosed tube was operated in an "interrupted" mode, that is, pulsed operation, and it was sensitive enough to self-oscillate or interrupt.
Some of Farnsworth's tubes included opposed curved cathodes, and they produced brilliant space suspended star-like "poissors" or plasmoids. Farnsworth was also able to achieve fusion in a vacuum tube, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,402, "Electric Discharge Device For Producing Interactions Between Nuclei, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,883, "Method And Apparatus For Producing Nuclear-Fusion Reactions," but also see U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,497, "Apparatus For Generation Fusion Reactions" and U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,910, "Lithium Ion Source In Apparatus For Generating Fusion Reactions," by his former associated R. L. Hirsch, and all of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In the 1950's, vacuum tubes were largely replaced by transistors for use in electronic devices, but in recent years NASA has developed a 460 GHz vacuum channel transistor which is faster than MOSFET transistors. Graphene transistors which are also much faster and powerful than conventional silicon transistors are also now being developed.
Farnsworth made some of the first television cameras, and some of his mutipactor and other vacuum tubes were designed for this application. For many years, RCA made photomultiplier tubes which could magnify the current produced by incident light by as much as 100 million times, and made available a widely used RCA Photomultiplier Manual, published in 1970. Hamamatsu is now the world leader in the photomultiplier industry and has its own handbook entitled Photomultiplier Tubes Basics and Applications published in 2014 that is available to the public on its company website. In some applications, semiconductor devices, and in particular avalanche photodiodes, can be used as an alternative to photomultipliers, but the latter are well-suited for detecting visible light and other forms of electrical energy which is not substantially collimated. Modern bolometers which are most often used to detect heat, light, and electromagnetic radiation can detect photons and other ionizing particles, but also non-ionizing particles and they also don't need to be heated or cooled in order to function. As a result, bolometers do not consume much power during operation.
After studying the Feynman Lectures on physics and work of Tesla and Farnsworth, and conducting experiments in electrical engineering, the Applicant believes that he has discovered certain phenomenon, and also how to make a receiver device that can use the naturally occurring energy of the earth and its atmosphere to provide useful electric power. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume II, Chapter 9, entitled "Electricity and the Atmosphere," discloses that there is about 100 volts of electrical potential for every three feet of elevation above level ground. As shown in drawing FIG. 1, which corresponds to FIG. 9.1(a) therein, there is a potential of about 200 volts at an elevation of six feet. However, because human beings and many other structures and things are electrical conductors, we do not normally sense this electrical potential because if we attempt to reach out and touch it, the earth and its atmosphere quickly adjust so as to maintain an equipotential or near neutral state.
The difference in electrical potential between the ionosphere which includes positively charged ions and the earth which is negative ground is associated with lightning, and on the average there are about 100 strikes around the world every second. This phenomenon results in Schuman Resonance. As previously discussed, contrary to popular belief, it is the negative and not the positive electrical side which is the leader in a lightning strike. The most powerful Schuman Resonance when taking a 30 second average over a period of 8 hours corresponds to a peak of approximately 7.83 Hz, and also other smaller peaks having less power at approximately 14 Hz, 20 Hz, 26 Hz, 33 Hz, 39 Hz, and 45 Hz.
An antenna which is raised above the ground surface can also cause one of equal length to effectively extend beneath the ground surface. As discussed in the Marine Corps' MCRP 8-10B.11, "Antenna Handbook," published in June, 1999 (henceforth MCRP), on page 2-19. "A quarter-wave antenna erected vertically, with its lower end connected electrically to the ground . . . behaves like a half-wave antenna." While not being limited to the following hypothesis, the present disclosure relates to the belief that the raising of an antenna above the ground and resulting upward shift of the local atmospheric gradient of electrical energy may cause a corresponding upward shift of the local gradient of earth ground electrical energy beneath an antenna.
When a monopole antenna is raised and grounded the electrical potential measured between the atmosphere, antenna, and ground is changed very little relative to the equipotential state which is normally maintained between the atmosphere and ground, as show in drawing FIG. 2. In this regard, the measured voltage is commonly then in the range of micro micro volts or picovolts. However, when the same monopole antenna is subsequently disconnected from ground, the equipotential electrical gradient(s) in the atmosphere of approximately 100 volts every three feet, as previously shown in drawing FIG. 1, then return to their approximately normal condition as if the antenna was not present, as shown in drawing FIG. 3.
When the normal grounded state of the antenna is switched on and off many times per second, then the electrical gradient(s) of the atmosphere relative to the earth ground can be caused to alternate and move up and down or dance along the length of the antenna. This creates movement of electrons and/or a compression-like wave which can result in the generation of electrical current, and provides a way in which to receive and convert the naturally occurring electrical potential of the earth and its atmosphere for use in providing an abundant source of renewable energy.
In this regard, one possible source of this energy is the aforementioned electrical potential which exists as between the earth and its atmosphere. Further, a related and more specific source of energy is the earth's Schuman Resonance peak of approximately 7.83 Hz, and other smaller peaks having less power at approximately 14 Hz, 20 Hz, 26 Hz, 33 Hz, 39 Hz, and 45 Hz. Another source of energy is the so-called negative ground which includes the earth and which for practical purposes has near infinite capacity, and in part, because the earth has a metallic core and electro-magnetic field. Telluric or earth currents also exist which vary in different locations around the world. Moreover, the earth and its atmosphere are being bombarded by solar wind and high energy radiation such as gamma rays which can cause and/or accelerate radioactive decay. It is also possible that the earth, solar system, Galaxy and Universe does contain what scientists in the late 19th and early 20th century and including Tesla commonly referred to as ether. In recent years, the existence of gravity waves has been confirmed. The Applicant teaches a receiver device that can tap into one or more of these possible sources of energy and then provide a source of electric power.

Receiver device of energy from the earth and its atmosphere


An arcade game including an object sensor for detecting a playing piece directed by a player. A target field including at least one target receives the directed playing piece, and the sensor determines the identity and a position of the playing piece. A scoring mechanism provides a game score based on a distance between the final resting position of the playing piece and one of the targets. In a described embodiment, the playing piece is a golf ball putted by the player toward a target hole. A removal mechanism removes the playing piece from the target field so that the player may retrieve the playing piece. The sensor includes a visual sensor, such as a video camera, and a digital processor for examining recorded images of the target field to validate the playing piece, determine a final position of the playing piece, and determine the distance between the playing piece and the target. Target field images can also be examined to determine and validate the trajectory of the playing piece. The sensor and digital processor also compensate for changing lighting conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to games normally played in an arcade environment, and more particularly to games that sense objects directed by a player to influence a game score.
2. Background of the Related Art
Games of many types are played in arcade environments. One type of game includes object sensors for detecting objects directed by players at provided targets. Golfing games can make use of object detection to determine when a golf ball falls into a target hole.
An example of a game with an object sensor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,281, of Leber et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,163, of Warner et al, which describe horseshoe-pitching games having a stake target area for receiving a pitched horseshoe. A TV camera and computer or sensor grid are used to determine the position of a horseshoe and the resulting score.
Another example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,576, of T. Harris, which describes an apparatus and method for computing the trajectory of a moving object. Video cameras and a computer identify a ball and compute its position in three dimensions as a function of time.
An example of a golfing game having an object sensor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,140 of G. Vincent, in which a video camera positioned at the tee records a flight trajectory of a ball from the tee to the green to keep a record for the player.
Another example of a golfing game having an object sensor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,145 of S. Kim, in which a ball is detected when it falls in a cup or crosses an optical beam positioned on the putting green.
The object sensing games of the prior art, while enjoyable, are limited when determining an identity of a directed object and the final resting position of the object. In addition, the prior art games are limited when determining a trajectory of a directed object. These prior art games tend to determine one of these characteristics, but not more. In addition, the prior art games tend to assume that a directed object is a valid object and do not therefore determine the identity of an object or perform other validation procedures. In prior art golfing games, the detection of balls tends to be limited to a sensor provided in the target hole or at a particular location on a putting green or field, which does not allow a reliable score or evaluation for balls that do not land in the hole.
Furthermore, the prior art games tend to require a great amount of operator supervision to prevent player abuses of the game and to compensate for changing environmental conditions. These limitations can be undesirable in an arcade environment for a game which detects a player-directed object and presents a score to a player based on the final position of the object.

Golfing game including object sensing and validation


Detecting wear through use of information-transmitting devices. At least one information-transmitting wireless device is provided for each of one or more wear positions of an item, wherein each of the devices is adapted for transmitting information to a reader, such that each of the devices can transmit information usable for detecting wear of the item as the item wears. When using a plurality of devices for a particular wear position, the devices may be stacked or placed in a depth-wise, end-to-end arrangement. As another alternative, a single device having a plurality of separable areas may be provided for each of one or more wear positions. As yet another alternative, a single device may be provided for each of one or more wear positions such that its failure to transmit indicates wear at the corresponding wear position. An information-transmitting device may become damaged or missing, due to item wear, and an RFID reader may therefore be unable to scan (i.e., receive data from) the device.

The present invention relates generally to information-transmitting devices (such as radio frequency identification, or "RFID", tags), and more particularly, the use of such devices for detecting wear of items.
Information-transmitting devices, such as those commonly referred to as RFID tags, may be used for labeling and tracking items of merchandise from manufacturing through distribution and retail sale. A typical RFID tag includes both passive elements (e.g., an antenna) and active elements (e.g., a read-write data memory, control circuitry, and a radio frequency transponder). RFID transmissions are, by definition, wireless. RFID tags are typically not self-powered, but may receive their power via capacitative coupling from an external radio frequency source. When brought into proximity with an RFID reader at a typical effective distance of about 1 centimeter to 5 meters (depending on the type of tag), the RFID tag receives sufficient power to enable clocking the semiconductor and analog portions comprising the transponder, control circuits, and data memory through enough clock cycles that the tag can return the data bits from its memory as a digitally-encoded RF signal. This is advantageous because the tag can be read (or written) from a distance without the necessity of line-of-sight, as had been required to read a bar code with a laser scanner.
RFID technology has generally been utilized for inventory control (e.g., in a warehouse, manufacturing, or distribution facility) and for item identification at the point of sale as an improvement over today's nearly ubiquitous laser-scanned bar codes. Several large retailers have indicated a desire to begin using RFID tagging on all their inventory. The cost of RFID tags is expected to decline to the point of being cost-effective even on small-value retail items.

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus and method for producing a composite part, such as a reinforced composite part, are provided that enable control over the fiber or other particle orientation within each layer of the part during manufacture. The apparatus and method employ a print head including a dispensing tip and a magnetic assembly controllable to apply a magnetic field at a print location adjacent the dispensing tip outlet.

Direct-write 3D printing is an additive manufacturing process in which volumetric pixels (voxels) are deposited from a nozzle to form layers. The part is then built up layer by layer. There are many different types of 3D printing, each with its own benefits and limitations. For example, laser sintering and stereolithographic printing use directed energy with a laser or UV source to cure the material solution. Direct-write printing coordinates the extrusion rate of a viscous liquid solution with the relative X, Y and Z movement between the extrusion nozzle and printing location. Additionally, direct write printing is compatible with many different materials at relatively low costs for low volume production, and is often used as a prototyping method in product development. The most comparable technology to direct write 3D printing is fused filament fabrication (FFF), which uses the same process of extruding a material through a nozzle.
Direct-write 3D printing offers many advantages over FFF. The biggest advantage is that some direct-write materials can be printed at room temperature. FFF requires its material to be heated up to the material's melting point before it can be extruded. After the material is heated, it cools rapidly. As the material cools, it contracts, which can lead to warping issues. Warping is a major issue with FFF printing, which must be corrected with either a heated bed or heated build chamber. Direct-write materials printed at room temperature do not experience the same warping effect. FFF parts are weakest in the Z-axis because the layers do not bond well to each other. Poorly bonded layers can also lead to layer delamination, where the layers separate from each other, leading to weaker parts. Materials printed at room temperature utilize a solvent, and cure as that solvent evaporates. As a layer is deposited on top of another layer, some of the solvent from the newly deposited material penetrates the layer below it. This allows the newly deposited material to form a bond with the layer below it. This leads to stronger parts that are air and water tight. Direct-write printing is also cheaper than FFF printing because it does not require heating elements.
A method and apparatus for the additive manufacturing of discontinuous fiber composites using magnetic fields is described in WO 2015/188175. Magnetic fields are applied during various additive manufacturing processes to achieve complex particle orientations within each layer of a part.

Direct write three-dimensional printing of aligned composite materials


A testing method of bending stress and a testing apparatus thereof are provided. The method includes the following steps. A stress distribution model of a structure to be tested is built. Next, a testing sample of the structure to be tested is provided, and a force is applied on two ends of the testing sample to bend the testing sample till it breaks at a breaking point, so as to obtain a first distance between the two ends of the testing sample when the testing sample breaks, or a second distance from the breaking point to a closer end of the two ends. Next, a maximum principle stress value of the stress distribution model or a break point principle stress value at the breaking point of the stress distribution model is obtained according to the first distance or the second distance.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a testing method and a testing apparatus. Particularly, the disclosure relates to a testing method of bending stress and a testing apparatus thereof.
2. Related Art
In recent years, along with quick development of electronic technology, and emerging of high-tech electronics industries, more user-friendly and more powerful electronic products are quickly developed and have design features of lightness, slimness, shortness and smallness. In a convention technique, substrate thinning is a method of decreasing a weight and thickness of an electronic device. However, a bending strength of the thinned substrate is decreased, and a structure strength of the substrate is accordingly decreased.
Moreover, in the conventional technique, a required size of the substrate is formed through cutting. However, the substrate generally includes a fragile material such as glass, silicon substrate and ceramics, etc., and when the substrate is cut, a fracture surface is liable to have defects. If a cutting fracture surface of the substrate has small defects such as scars, cracks or foreign body, etc., when the substrate is bended, a problem of stress concentration is occurred around the defect, which may cause damage of the substrate. Therefore, quantitative measurement is required to obtain a bending stress strength of the substrate having a cutting defect, so as to determine whether the substrate is safe during a manufacturing process thereof or whether a structure of a finished product thereof is safe.

Testing method of bending stress and testing apparatus thereof

Industrial Technology Research Institute


There are provided a content data transmission method, device, and program that minimize serious disturbances in reproduced content on the reception side, caused by a transmission error of encoded data, without sending feedback information from the reception side to the transmission side. When an encoder creates encoded data to be distributed, the encoder creates plural items of encoded data at the same time or creates FEC data at the same time in advance and, when storing the data in a file, stores the data as if the data were one item of encoded data. When a distribution server distributes the data using the file, the plurality of items of encoded data are automatically distributed at the same time and the FEC data is distributed. A client receives the plurality of items of encoded data or the FEC data to reduce the probability of data shortage due to a packet loss and, as a result, the deterioration in the image quality and the audio quality is reduced.

Recently, the widespread use of the Internet makes content distribution more popular where content, including moving pictures and audios, is distributed and played back via an IP (Internet Protocol) network. In the distribution of this kind, in order to improve the transmission efficiency of for example moving pictures, highly efficient compression encoding scheme based on the inter-frame prediction is used in many cases. In those schemes, predictive parameters, acquired by predicting the encoded images from the temporally preceding and following frames, and predictive residual image data are encoded to reduce the amount information of temporally correlated moving picture data. In addition, the high compression and encoding of predictive residual image data through transform-coding and quantization enables content data to be transmitted using a small amount of transmission bandwidth.
Typical exemplary transmissions use compression and encoding schemes such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group)-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. In those compression encoding schemes, inter-frame prediction is performed for an input image frame for each fixed-size rectangular area, called a macro block, through motion compensation, and the obtained motion vectors and the signal data, generated by compressing the predictive residual image data through the two-dimensional discrete cosine transform and quantization, are subjected to variable-length coding.
Effective compression encoding schemes based on the inter-frame prediction, such as AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), are also available for audios to enable content distribution that uses the transmission bandwidth efficiently.
Encoded data encoded by an encoder is stored in a storage device in a file format described in Non-Patent Document 2 or Non-Patent Document 3 that will be described later. The encoded data is converted to packets by the distribution server using a method such as RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) described in Non-Patent Document 1, which will be described later, for distribution to a client via an IP network. The client obtains the encoded data from the received packets and decodes the data to reproduce videos and audios.
On an IP network, there is a possibility that distributed packets are lost. In particular, the possibility of packet loss is higher when the network is wireless.
And, when even a part of content data is lost, a client cannot completely decode videos and audios with the result that the videos or audios are disturbed by interferences or noises or sometimes cannot be reproduced at all. This effect is particularly obvious in encoded data based on the inter-frame prediction, and interferences or noises propagate in the time direction.
To restore lost packets, the following methods are used.                Retransmission        FEC (Forward Error Correction)        Multiple-packet transmission
Retransmission is a method for requesting the distribution side to redistribute a packet, which is lost on the client side, to re-distribute the packet. Note that the retransmission cannot be used on a transmission line that has no uplink.
The FEC is a technique in which the distribution side transmits encoded data and the FEC data (error correction data) in advance and, when a packet is lost, the FEC data is calculated to restore the lost packet.
The multiple-packet transmission is a method in which a packet containing the same information is transmitted multiple times to reduce the probability of packet loss.
Another known configuration is that multiple encoders are used to generate the encoded data of audio data at different compression rates at the same time for transmission over a packet-based network such as an IP network (for example, Patent Document 1 that will be described later).    Non-Patent Document 1: IETF RFC 1889 "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Application"    Non-Patent Document 2: ISO/IEC 14496-12:2003: "Information technology •Coding of audio-visual objects—Part 12: ISO base media file format"    Non-Patent Document 3: ISO/IEC 15444-12:2003 "Information technology—JPEG 2000 image coding system—Part 12: ISO base media file format"    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication Kokai JP-A 2003-318851 (FIG. 1)

Content distribution method, encoding method, reception/reproduction method and apparatus, and program


A flux indicator is utilized as a low-overhead consistency check for a shared resource such as a data structure, and provides a mechanism for determining both whether a data structure has or is currently in the process of being modified. In connection with attempts to modify the data structure, the flux indicator is updated from a first state to a second state prior to modifying the data structure, and thereafter updated to a third state after modifying the data structure, Copies of the flux indicator are then obtained both before and after attempting to obtain a copy of data from the data structure. The validity of the copy of the data is ensured when the first copy of the flux indicator does not indicate that the data structure is in the progress of being modified and the first and second copies of the flux indicator have the same state.

Given the continually increased reliance on computers in contemporary society, computer technology has had to advance on many fronts to keep up with increased demand. One particular subject of significant research and development efforts is parallelism, i.e., the performance of multiple tasks in parallel.
A number of computer software and hardware technologies have been developed to facilitate increased parallel processing. From a hardware standpoint, computers increasingly rely on multiple microprocessors to provide increased workload capacity. Furthermore, some microprocessors have been developed that support the ability to execute multiple threads in parallel, effectively providing many of the same performance gains attainable through the use of multiple microprocessors. From a software standpoint, multithreaded operating systems and kernels have been developed, which permit computer programs to concurrently execute in multiple threads so that multiple tasks can essentially be performed at the same time.
In addition, some computers implement the concept of logical partitioning, where a single physical computer is permitted to operate essentially like multiple and independent "virtual" computers (referred to as logical partitions), with the various resources in the physical computer (e.g., processors, memory, input/output devices) allocated among the various logical partitions. Each logical partition executes a separate operating system, and from the perspective of users and of the software applications executing on the logical partition, operates as a fully independent computer.
While parallelism effectively increases system performance by virtue of the ability to perform multiple tasks at once, one side effect of parallelism is increased system complexity due to the need to synchronize the operation of multiple concurrent processes or threads, particularly with regard to data structures and other system resources that are capable of being accessed by multiple processes or threads. Separate processes or threads that are capable of accessing specific shared data structures are typically not aware of the activities of other threads or processes. As such, a risk exists that one thread might access a specific data structure in an unexpected manner relative to another thread, creating indeterminate results and potential system errors.
As an example, the possibility exists that one thread may retrieve data from a data structure, while another thread may later change the data structure in some manner, resulting in each thread seeing a different state for the data structure. Efforts must be made, however, to ensure that the state of a data structure be consistent when viewed by different threads, otherwise indeterminate results can occur.
As but one of many examples, some computer systems concerned with resiliency and high availability rely on journaling systems to log changes to data structures such as objects and permit such objects to be recovered in the event of a failure in the computer system. As objects change, journal entries are typically created and written to a non-volatile memory such as a disk drive so that the objects can be recreated in the computer system's main (volatile) memory after a failure.
Some journaling systems are remote in nature, whereby activities that occur on one computer are duplicated on a second, redundant computer. In these remote journaling applications, the journaling systems on the redundant computers are often able to switch between live and standby modes. In a live mode, journal entries received from the primary computer are written directly to non-volatile storage on the redundant computer, along with maintaining current copies of the objects in the redundant computer's volatile memory by applying the journal entries to the copies of the objects in volatile memory. In a standby mode, the copies of the objects in the redundant computer are still kept current; however, the journal entries received from the primary computer are not written to non-volatile storage by the redundant computer.
It has been found that, when switching from standby mode to live mode, objects in volatile memory need to be forced or written to non-volatile storage so that later journal entries work off of the non-volatile copy of the objects for updates. However, for performance reasons, it is often desirable to allow a journal to switch modes prior to forcing all objects to non-volatile storage, and thereafter allow objects to be forced to non-volatile storage in connection with changes made to those objects. Consistency requires that an object be forced to non-volatile storage before a change is made to that object. As a result, any object that is being changed typically must be queried to determine whether the object needs to be forced to non-volatile storage prior to making the change.
Given, however, that objects may be concurrently accessed by different processes, a concern exists that a process attempting to query an object prior to modifying that object may do so at the same time the object is being modified by another process, which could potentially lead to indeterminate results, and potential system errors.
To address these concerns, a serialization mechanism such as a lock or semaphore may be used to limit the access to a shared data structure or other shared resource to one process at a time. A lock or semaphore is essentially a "token" that can be obtained exclusively by a process or thread in a multithreaded environment to access a particular shared resource. Before a process or thread can access a resource, it must first obtain the token from the system. If another process or thread currently possesses the token, the former process or thread is not permitted to access the resource until the token is released by the other process or thread. In this manner, the accesses to the resource are effectively "serialized" to prevent indeterminate operations from occurring.
In some environments, different types of locks or semaphores may be used. For example, "exclusive" locks or semaphores may be used to gate write access to a shared resource such as a data structure, so that only one thread is permitted to access a data structure when the state of the data structure is being modified. "Shared" locks or semaphores, however, may be used to gate read access to a data structure, to permit multiple threads that are not intending to modify the state of the data structure to concurrently access the data structure to obtain its current state.
While locks and semaphores enable a programmer to ensure complete serialization of a data structure or other shared resource, it has been found that the operations associated with obtaining such locks and semaphores can add significant overhead, and as a result, have an adverse impact on system performance, particularly in applications where data structures are frequently read but rarely modified.
For example, in the aforementioned journaling application, it may be desirable to use a semaphore in connection with querying journaled objects when transitioning from standby to live mode. Obtaining a semaphore, however, can add significant additional processing to the code path for querying journaled objects, and thus substantially increase the performance overhead of such an operation. Given the relative infrequency of updates to journaled objects as a whole, and the substantial overhead associated with querying large numbers of journaled objects, much of the effort associated with obtaining semaphores is effectively wasteful and burdensome on system performance.
A substantial need therefore exists in the art for a manner of maintaining consistency of a data structure or other shared resource among multiple threads in a multithreaded environment with lower overhead than typically provided by conventional serialization mechanisms.

Low-overhead consistency check for shared resource using flux indicator


Dipeptide, and tripeptide and tetrapeptide ester derivatives of bioactive agents are provided wherein the parent agents are substrates effluxed by the P-gp transporter. The derivatives are useful in treating the same condition as the bioactive agent. Also disclosed is a method for preparing a bioactive agent for targeted delivery by nutrient or peptide transporters comprising linking the agent to one or more groups of the formula —X—Y(n)-Z(n′)-Z′(n″)-R; wherein each X, Y, Z, and Z′ is independently Met, Val, Thr, Tyr, Trp, Ser, Ala or Gly; R is independently H or an amino-protecting group; n=1, and each, n′, or n″ is independently 0 or 1.

This invention was made with the support of the U.S. Government under National Institutes of Health Grant No. GM 64320-03. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
P-Glycoprotein (P-gp) is a member of the large ATP binding cassette super family of transport proteins also called traffic ATPases. P-gp is composed of two homologous halves, each containing six transmembrane domains, separated by flexible linker polypeptides. P-gp is a 170 kDa membrane bound protein that effluxes a wide variety of structurally unrelated drugs out of cells. This efflux pump is responsible for export of wide variety of hydrophobic natural products, drugs, and linear and cyclic peptides from the cytoplasm and cytoplasmic membrane of eukaryotic cells, using energy from ATP hydrolysis.
Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the efflux of drugs and various xenobiotics by this transporter. However, there are three prevalent models, the hydrophobic vacuum model (HVC), the pore model, and the flippase model that have been used to explain the mechanism by which P-gp effluxes out drugs. The hydrophobic vacuum model is the most widely accepted model of P-gp action. According to the HVC model P-gp acts as a vacuum cleaner, moving compounds that are substrates from the lipid bilayer into the extra cellular space.
P-gp is ubiquitously expressed on human tissues such as intestinal mucosa, brain capillary endothelial cells, biliary canaliculus, and kidney tubules. Thus, the ubiquitous presence of this transporter and the broad substrate specificity of P-gp makes it a major factor responsible for sub-therapeutic levels of various drugs in the blood and various tissues. Recently, it has been reported that presence of this transporter on the brush border membrane of the intestinal epithelium not only decreases the permeability of various bioactive agents but also increases the metabolism of various drugs by back effluxing the drugs and increasing the exposure time of the drug in the cells as well as in the lumen.
Thus, bioavailability of various anticancer drugs, anti-HIV drugs, calcium channel drugs, and other drugs which are P-gp substrates is limited by this efflux transporter. Over expression of P-gp by tumor cells confers multidrug resistance. Efflux of many anticancer drugs including taxol, vincristine, vinblastine, actinomycin D, colchicines, and daunorubicin, from tumor cells makes P-gp a major barrier to chemotherapy. High expression of this transporter on the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) restricts the entry into the brain of P-gp substrates such as anti-HIV drugs such as ritonavir, saquinavir, nelfinavir, and various anticancer drugs, and thus imposes a major challenge in the treatment of various diseases of the brain.
Expression of this efflux transporter on various body tissues and cells not only influences the in vivo disposition of various therapeutically active drugs but also greatly influences pharmacokinetics of the drug. It has been known that inhibition of P-gp by various modulators can lead to improved bioavailability of drugs across the intestines, the kidneys, and the BBB. Various modulators that are inhibitors of P-gp are often co-administered so that they can inhibit P-gp and increase bioavailability when given simultaneously with other bioactive agents. However, usage of these compounds is limited by their toxicity, owing to the high serum concentration that is achieved with the doses required to inhibit P-gp. Thus, although various approaches have been studied to overcome P-gp mediated drug efflux, P-gp remains a major barrier to bioavailability, chemotherapy, and effective permeation of P-gp substrates into the brain and other tissues.
Besides efflux transporters, such as P-gp, there are various membrane transporters/receptors, such as peptide or vitamin transporters, that help in the influx of various nutrients and other compounds that are substrates for these transporters into various organs, cells, and across various barriers, including the blood brain barrier.
Thus, there exists a need for bioactive compounds that are not recognized by P-gp as a substrate, but that are substrates of membrane transporters/receptors. There is also a need for increasing the bioavailability of bioactive compounds that are P-gp substrates. Further, there is a need to increase the concentration of bioactive compounds that are P-gp substrates in sanctuary sites of a mammalian subject. Still further, there is a need to enhance delivery to cells of bioactive compounds that are P-gp substrates.

Peptidyl prodrugs that resist P-glycoprotein mediated drug efflux

The Curators of the University of Missouri


Certain embodiments provide an adjustable length infusion cannula having a cannula including a first proximal end and a first distal end, and a hub having a second proximal end, a second distal end, and a central aperture that extends between the second proximal end and the second distal end. The central aperture is configured to accept the first distal end of the cannula and allow the cannula upward movement and downward movement through the hub. The adjustable length infusion cannula also includes a locking mechanism configured to lock the cannula within the hub such that the first distal end extends a first distance past the second distal end of the hub.

An infusion cannula generally includes a hub and a tube-shaped cannula that can be inserted through a small incision or puncture made on a body part, often for delivery or removal of fluids. In ophthalmic surgery, an infusion cannula may be used for administration of therapeutic fluids such as saline, BSS® (Balanced Salt Solution) or air, air-gas mixtures or silicone oil to a patient's eye. For example, a surgeon makes an incision in the eye and inserts the cannula into the incision up to the hub, which acts as a stop, preventing the cannula from entering the eye completely. Fluids can be injected into the eye through the cannula
Infusion cannulas used during certain procedures, such as vitrectomy, are typically 4 millimeters (mm) in length. However, for eyes with a thick choroid, using a 4 mm infusion cannula may result in a suprachoroidal or subretinal infusion of fluids in the eye. The suprachoroidal space is a potential space between the sclera and choroid that traverses the circumference of the posterior segment of the eye. The subretinal space between the photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is the remnant of the embryonic optic vesicle. infusing fluids into the suprachoroidal or subretinal spaces may cause damage to the eye. As such, in certain cases, a 6 mm infusion cannula may be used to ensure complete passage of the cannula through the eye's thickened choroid, thereby preventing any potential suprachoroidal or subretinal infusion. However, a 6 mm infusion cannula, in some cases, obstructs a surgeon's view by blocking certain areas of the eye (e.g., peripheral retina). As such, after using the 6 mm infusion cannula for the infusion and removal of material, one solution may be for a surgeon to remove the 6 mm infusion cannula and insert a 4 mm cannula to continue the surgery without an obstructed view. However, removing and inserting cannulas in a patient's eye may not only be damaging to the eye, but it is inefficient and cumbersome.


A method for controlling the temperature of a baking oven having a catalyst, a heating source, an oven chamber temperature sensor, and a catalyst temperature sensor, includes generating an electrical control signal based on a control state, the control state being a function of signals from the electrical sensors and being reached when the catalyst temperature is higher than the oven chamber temperature and the temperature difference between the catalyst temperature and the oven chamber temperature is greater than or equal to a threshold value. The heating source is controlled using the electrical control signal so that the oven chamber temperature is maintained substantially constant.

A method for controlling the temperature of a baking oven containing a catalyst is known, for example, from German Patent DE 197 06 186. In this method, the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature can be controlled separately because the catalyst has a separate catalyst heater. Temperature-time profiles, or threshold values, which are dependent on the selected operating mode, for example, the pyrolytic mode, are stored in the control unit for the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature. If the pyrolysis temperature is not reached within a predetermined time, then the oven chamber heater is turned off for safety reasons. If threshold values for the catalyst temperature, which are also predefined, should be exceeded during pyrolysis, then the oven chamber heater, or the catalyst heater, is turned off as well.
Furthermore, German Patent Application DE 196 06 571 A1 describes a temperature control method in which a pyrolytic cleaning process is controlled as a function of the oven chamber temperature and of a soil sensor that detects the catalyst temperature. In this method, in a first phase of the cleaning process, the oven chamber is heated to about 300° C. only as a function of the oven chamber temperature. In a subsequent second phase of the cleaning process, the oven chamber is then further heated to a maximum temperature required for the pyrolytic cleaning process only as a function of the catalyst temperature.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,501 describes a temperature control method in which during a pyrolytic cleaning process, the oven chamber is heated only as a function of the catalyst temperature. Once the catalyst temperature exceeds a predefined value, the oven chamber heater is turned off, stopping the pyrolytic cleaning process.
Another temperature control method is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,584 B1. In this method, the pyrolysis time is controlled as a function of the oven chamber temperature and the catalyst temperature. Once the catalyst temperature, after it has first exceeded the oven chamber temperature, falls below this temperature, the pyrolytic cleaning process is terminated after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.
Furthermore, European Patent Application EP 0 878 667 A2 describes a method in which the pyrolytic cleaning process is terminated when the temperature difference between the catalyst temperature and the oven chamber temperature falls below a predefined value.

Method for controlling the temperature of a baking oven having a catalyst


An organic thin-film solar cell module according to one embodiment includes solar cell panels and reflective surfaces. Each panel includes a substrate, a 1st electrode, a 2nd electrode and a photoelectric conversion layer. When supposing a 1st plane including the reflective surface, a 1st intersection line as a line of intersection of the 1st plane and the 2nd main surface of the substrate, and a 2nd plane including the 1st intersection line and forming an angle of 45° with the 2nd main surface of the substrate and an angle smaller than 45° with the 1st plane, an edge of the photoelectric conversion layer is in contact with the 2nd plane or the 2nd plane intersects the photoelectric conversion layer.

The organic thin-film solar cell is a solar cell comprising an organic thin-film semiconductor composed of a combination of conductive polymer, fullerene, etc. The organic thin-film solar cell can be produced by a convenient process including the coating or printing of a photoelectric conversion film, so that the production cost thereof can be lower than that of a solar cell based on an inorganic material, such as silicon, CIGS, CdTe or the like. However, the photoelectric conversion efficiency and life of the organic thin-film solar cell are inferior to those of conventional inorganic solar cells. A reason therefor would be that the properties of an organic semiconductor for use in the organic thin-film solar cell are susceptible to parameters whose control is difficult, such as the purity, molecular weight distribution, orientation, etc. of semiconductor materials. Accordingly, various innovations for enhancing the power generation efficiency of the organic thin-film solar cell are required.

Organic thin-film solar cell module and sub-module


A division ratio of a first frequency divider that generates a local signal and a division ratio of a second frequency divider that generates a RF interfering signal are different, and a first frequency synthesizer that generates the local signal and a second frequency synthesizer that generates the RF interfering signal employ an identical reference signal. The second frequency synthesizer that generates the RF interfering signal is not provided with a frequency switching function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DC offset calibration system that corrects a DC offset which emerges when an interfering signal is input in a direct conversion type radio receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing mobile phones include a dual band mobile phone compatible with signals of two different frequency bands, for example bandwidths of 880 to 915 MHz allocated to GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and 1710 to 1785 MHz allocated to DCS (Digital Cellular System). Some of such dual band mobile phones include a frequency synthesizer so as to handle two frequency bands by switching the frequency of a local signal.
Lately, however, there is a growing demand for a triple band mobile phone that is compatible with signals of 1850 to 1915 MHz allocated to PCS (Personal Communication System), in addition to the GSM and DCS. Thus, compatibility with still more frequency bands will be required from the mobile phone in the near future. For demodulating a signal received by a radio equipment compatible with a plurality of frequency bands, it is advantageous to employ a direct conversion type high-frequency semiconductor IC, from the viewpoint of micronization in dimensions of the radio equipment and manufacturing cost. The direct conversion system eliminates the need to provide an intermediate frequency filter, since a RF input signal is directly converted into a low-frequency base band signal, unlike a conventional system which requires the intermediate frequency.
The frequency conversion is performed by mixing a RF input signal and a local signal of the same frequency as the RF input signal frequency, in a mixer circuit. Under the direct conversion system, however, if a secondary nonlinear distortion is present in the mixer circuit, a DC offset emerges in an output base band signal when the level of the input signal is high. Such phenomenon will be described in details referring to FIGS. 4 and 5.
FIG. 4 shows a spectrum of a RF input signal. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 501 designates a low level desired signal having a center frequency equal to a local signal frequency fLo, and 502 designates a high-level interfering signal having a higher frequency fINT. When the RF input signal accompanied with such high-level interfering signal is input to a mixer circuit, the spectrum of the output signal as shown in FIG. 5 appears in the output of the mixer. In FIG. 5, numerals 601, 602 respectively designate the components of the desired signal and the interfering signal generated as the mixer output upon frequency-conversion of the RF input desired signal 501 and the interfering signal 502. Numeral 603 designates a DC offset generated by the high-level interfering signal when a secondary nonlinear distortion is present in the mixer circuit. Accordingly, the direct conversion system has a drawback that the receiving sensitivity is degraded because of the presence of the DC offset 603 in the frequency band of the desired signal 601 in the mixer output. Provided that the mixer circuit is constituted of a differential circuit in a perfectly symmetrical differential balance, a secondary nonlinear distortion is not generated. However, the perfect symmetry of the elements constituting the differential circuit cannot be practically achieved because of manufacturing variation among individual units, and hence it is impossible to eliminate the secondary nonlinear distortion.
To solve this problem, a technique of correcting the DC offset generated by the secondary nonlinear distortion has been proposed.
Referring now to FIG. 6, description will be made on the technique of detecting an interfering signal contained in a RF input signal, to thereby correct a DC offset generated in a mixer output, according to patented document 1. In FIG. 6, numeral 403 designates a mixer circuit, and 401, 402 a switching cell and a RF input cell constituting the mixer circuit 403, respectively. The RF input signal input from RF input terminals 413, 414 is amplified in the RF input cell 402, and the amplified RF signal is mixed with a local signal input from local input terminals 411, 412, in the switching cell 401, thus to be converted to an IF signal. The IF signal thus converted is output from output terminals 409, 410. The direct conversion system is also called a "zero IF system", since the center frequency of the IF signal is a direct current.
The switching cell 401 includes bipolar transistors Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. If all the transistors Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 were of an identical characteristic, the differential circuit would have a perfectly symmetrical balance. Practically, however, the transistors Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 have a different characteristic from one another shifted from an ideal characteristic, because of the manufacturing variation. This leads to generation of the secondary nonlinear distortion during the conversion of the RF input signal to the IF signal, which results in generation of the DC offset in the mixer output as shown in FIG. 6. As is commonly known, the DC offset is proportionate to the square of the input signal intensity, and hence the DC offset in the output becomes greater when the level of the interfering signal contained in the input signal is higher.
In FIG. 6, numeral 408 designates a DC offset corrector. The DC offset corrector 408 includes a detector 406 that detects the RF input signal and outputs a detecting signal, a controller 405 that outputs a control signal according to the detecting signal, and a correction generator 404 that generates a correction signal according to the control signal from the controller so as to reduce the DC offset in the mixer output terminals 409, 410. The DC offset corrector 408 serves to cause variation of the correction signal according to the intensity of the RF signal input to the mixer circuit 403, thus to cancel the DC offset in the mixer output.
Here, the secondary nonlinear distortion in the mixer circuit 403 is different, owing to the manufacturing variation. Since the mixer circuit 403 has a different characteristic among individual units, DC offset corrector 408 also serves as a user interface 407 for adjusting the control signal generated by the controller 405.
[Patented document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,725
In such a DC offset calibration system, an additional frequency synthesizer for generating an interfering signal is indispensable, apart from a frequency synthesizer that generates a local signal. The two frequency synthesizers have to oscillate in very close frequencies to each other, in order to satisfy the interfering signal standard of a desired radio system. In this case, interference emerges in the respective voltage control oscillators, which causes degradation in C/N (carrier/noise) characteristic and emergence of a spurious, thus impeding adequately precise DC offset calibration.
Also, incorporating such a DC offset calibration system in a radio system is against the demand for further micronization and cost reduction of the radio system.
Further, a radio system that operates in a plurality of bands includes the same number of mixers corresponding to the respective bands. Accordingly, each of the mixers have to be individually calibrated for the DC offset, for the same reason. Consequently, an interfering signal of a different frequency has to be input to each of the mixers.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A solvent such as PGMEA is coated on a wafer in advance to easily spread resist liquid onto the wafer on a spin chuck. Before coating, the solvent supplied from a solvent supply source is stored in a distill tank first, the solvent is heated by a heating unit to be evaporated, and the evaporated solvent is cooled by a cooler, thereby performing the purification of the solvent by distillation. Therefore, particles among the solvent are removed. The purified solvent is stored in a storage tank first, and then supplied to a solvent nozzle above the spin chuck from a solvent supplying line. And then, the solvent is coated on the wafer by ejecting the solvent from the solvent nozzle to the wafer. Further, the distill tank is cleaned periodically to suppress the increase of the concentration of the particles in the solvent.

In a photolithography process of manufacturing processes of a semiconductor device, a resist coating processing is performed to form a resist film on the surface of a semiconductor wafer ("wafer"). In general, a spin coating method is adopted as the coating processing. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the spin coating method is a method in which a resist liquid is supplied to a center portion of a wafer W from a nozzle 11 in a state where wafer W is fixed on a spin chuck 10 and is rotated in a high speed to spread the resist liquid toward the outside in a diameter direction of wafer W by centrifugal force, thereby coating the resist liquid.
When the resist liquid is coated, it is necessary to coat the resist liquid on wafer W with high in-plane uniformity. Since most of the resist liquid on wafer W is thrown out of the wafer and wasted in the spin coating method, what is required is a method to reduce the amount of the resist liquid supplied onto wafer W.
As a method to save resist, so-called a pre-wet method is known in which a processing liquid to modify a surface of a substrate is coated on a surface of the wafer prior to coating a resist liquid such that the surface of the wafer becomes wet with a solvent thereby facilitating the spread of the resist liquid (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H07-320999 and 2007-299941). When the solvent is coated, a filter with a mesh body is disposed on a flow line from a processing liquid bottle to a solvent nozzle such that foreign matter in of the solvent is filtered in the filter.
Meanwhile, as circuit patterns are being miniaturized, the presence of the foreign matter with an infinitesimal size, which has not been practically a problem until now, is expected to affect the yield. For example, foreign matter (particles) may involve foreign matter derived from a crude liquid of the processing liquid, foreign matter derived from a transporting path which is mixed while the processing liquid is passing through an apparatus from a crude liquid tank, or ionized metal. Various designs have been executed to remove the foreign matter from the processing liquid. However, there is a limit in miniaturizing meshes of filters and it is difficult to remove an ion by an existing filter.

Liquid processing apparatus, liquid processing method, and storage medium


Structures and methods applicable, for example, to apparel and accessories. Such a structure might, for instance, include a layer imparting rigidity. A layer might, for example, be situated above the layer imparting rigidity. Alternately or additionally a layer might, for instance, be situated below the layer imparting rigidity. Situated within one or more discontinuities might, for example, be one or more magnets. One or more platforms might, for instance, be situated above such a layer situated above the layer imparting rigidity. Alternately or additionally one or more platforms might, for example, be situated below such a layer situated below the layer imparting rigidity. One or more items placed on one or more of the platforms might, for instance, be attracted to one or more of the magnets.

In recent times, there has been an increase in individuals adopting apparel and accessories. For example, many individuals are increasingly adopting apparel and accessories perceived to be aesthetically pleasing. As another example, many individuals are increasingly adopting apparel and accessories perceived to provide useful functionality. As yet another example, many individuals are increasingly adopting apparel and accessories associated with sports (e.g., golf). Accordingly, there may be interest in provision of further apparel and accessories integrating various aesthetic and functional aspects.

Structure and method for apparel and accessories