A board-to-board connector has such a configuration that at least one a first reinforcing bracket of a first connector and a second reinforcing bracket of a second connector is provided with a bent portion having a crank shape, viewed from the insertion/removal direction of the first and second connectors. Owing to such a configuration, deformation of the first reinforcing bracket and/or the second reinforcing bracket can be prevented, and a firm engagement state between the first and second reinforcing brackets is achieved. As a result, a strong removal force is required for releasing the engagement state, and a stable engagement between the first connector and the second connector can be maintained.

The Present Application relates generally to a board-to-board connector, and, more particularly, to a board-to-board connector having a strong removal force for releasing the engagement state and a stable engagement between a first and second connector.
Conventional board-to-board connectors have been used for electrically connecting a pair of parallel circuit boards. Such connectors are attached, by fitting, to respective opposing surfaces of the pair of circuit boards so that they are electrically connected to each other. Moreover, a technique has already been proposed in which reinforcing brackets attached to both ends of a board-to-board connector are configured to function as a locking member so that a state of being engaged with a counterpart connector is maintained. An example of a typical board-to-board connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-55306.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of reinforcing brackets of a conventional board-to-board connector. Referring to FIG. 8B, a first housing designated by reference numeral 811 is a housing of a first connector mounted in a non-illustrated, first circuit board, and referring to FIG. 8A, a second housing designated by reference numeral 911 is a housing of a second connector mounted in a non-illustrated, second circuit board. A plurality of non-illustrated first terminals is mounted in the first housing 811, and a plurality of non-illustrated second terminals is mounted in the second housing 911. When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, corresponding ones of the first terminals and the second terminals are brought into contact with each other, so that the first circuit board and the second circuit board are electrically connected to each other.
Furthermore, first bracket accommodation-concave portions 826 having a groove shape are formed on both end portions in the longitudinal direction of the first housing 811, and first reinforcing brackets 851 are attached to the first housing 811 by being press-fitted into the first bracket accommodation-concave portions 826. The first reinforcing brackets 851 are an integral member formed by applying processing, e.g., punching and bending, to a metal plate. Each of the first reinforcing brackets 851 is provided with a body portion 852, fixing leg portions 856 which are extended downwardly from both ends of the body portion 852 to be soldered to the first circuit board, a pair of projection pieces 857 which are extended downwardly from the body portion 852, an elastic piece 853 which is formed between the projection pieces 857, and a locking projection 854 which projects outwardly from an inner surface of the elastic piece 853.
Similarly, second reinforcing brackets 951 are attached to the left and right sides of each of both ends in the longitudinal direction of the second housing 911. The second reinforcing brackets 951 are an integral member formed by applying processing, e.g., punching and bending, to a metal plate. Each of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is provided with a body portion 952, fixing leg portions 956 which are extended downwardly from both ends of the body portion 952 to be soldered to the second circuit board, and a locking projection 954 which projects outwardly from the body portion 952.
When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 are engaged with the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951. In this way, the first connector and the second connector are locked and their engagement state is maintained. When the first connector and the second connector are engaged together by fitting, either one of the first housing 811 and the second housing 911 is engaged with the other housing in a reversed position (upside down) from the illustrated position.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional board-to-board connector, since the first reinforcing brackets 851 and/or the second reinforcing brackets 951 are deformed elastically, it is difficult to lock the first connector and the second connector together with a sufficiently strong force even when the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 are engaged with the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951. That is to say, when a removal force which is a force that releases the engagement between the first connector and the second connector is applied to the first connector and/or the second connector, the body portion 852 of each of the first reinforcing brackets 851 and/or the body portion 952 of each of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is torsionally deformed. Thus, the engagement between the locking projections 854 of the first reinforcing brackets 851 and the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951 is easily released. Particularly, in the case of the first reinforcing brackets 851, since the span between the leg portions 856 formed at both ends of the body portion 852 is large, the amount of torsional deformation at the center of the body portion 852 becomes large. As a result, the amount of displacement of the locking projections 854 increases, so that the locking projections 854 are easily separated from the locking projections 954 of the second reinforcing brackets 951.


An exerciser with combined walking and stepping functions includes a base frame with an upright portion. A movable support is fulcrumed at the upright portion and has two ends alternately turnable upward and downward. Two pairs of front swing rods are connected pivotally to the ends of the movable support. The rear swing rods are connected pivotally to the upright portion. A pair of pedal rods are connected pivotally to the bottom ends of the front and rear swing rods. A first locking device is mounted on the upright portion to lock the movable support against movement relative to the upright portion so as to place the pedal rods in a walking exercise configuration in which the pedal rods are movable forward and rearward. The first locking device releases the movable support when the pedal rods are in a stepping exercise configuration in which the pedal rods are turnable upward and downward relative to the bottom ends of the rear swing rods. A second locking device is mounted on the base frame to lock the bottom ends of the rear swing rods against movement relative to the base frame so as to place the pedal rods in the stepping exercise configuration. The second locking device releases the rear swing rods when the pedal rods are in the walking exercise configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an exerciser, more particularly to an exerciser with combined walking and stepping functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional exerciser 10 with a stepping function is shown to comprise a base frame 11 having a front support leg 12 and a rear support leg 13 disposed at front and rear ends thereof, respectively. A generally rectangular handle portion 14 is mounted above the front support rod 12 to permit grasping by the user's hands. Two pedal members 15 are connected pivotally to a lower portion of the front support leg 12. Each of the pedal members 15 has a resistance cylinder 16 interconnecting the intermediate portion thereof and the intermediate portion of the front support leg 12. Therefore, the user can pedal the pedal members 15 up and down in order to perform the stepping function.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional exerciser 20 with a walking function is shown to comprise a base frame 21 having a handle portion 22 provided at a front end of the top portion of the base frame 21. The rear end of the top portion of the base frame 21 has two swing arms 23 pivotally connected thereto. Each of the swing arms 23 has a pedal plate 24 connected to a lower end thereof. In this way, the pedal plates 24 can be swung forward and backward when the user stands on the pedal plates 24 in order to perform the walking function.
It is noted that the aforesaid exercisers are not provided with both walking and stepping functions.

Exerciser with combined walking and stepping functions


A method and a system for controlling a packet passing through a network device are provided. The method includes timestamping the packet with an arrival time when it arrives at the network device, and determining the time the packet spends in the network device. The time spent is calculated by comparing the arrival time stamp and the exit time stamp. Subsequently, the packet is labeled, based on a function of the determined time spent in the network device. The packet can be labeled, to be dropped, suppressed or temporarily stopped. The system for controlling the packet passing through the network device comprises the means for performing the above mentioned steps.

1. Field of Invention
The embodiments of the invention relate in general to data packet traffic regulation in networks. More specifically, the embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for data packet regulation in network devices such as data switching systems and routers.
2. Description of the Background Art
The need to transfer data such as work files, audio files, etc., has increased exponentially in today's world. This has given rise to the concept of connecting data sources and data receivers such as computer workstations, data servers, etc., in a network such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the Internet. The data transfer between the data source and data receiver takes place with the help of a network device, which enables the data transfer. Data sources and data receivers are connected to the network device through communication channels. Examples of network devices include routers, switches and bridges.
When a user wants to send a data packet from a data source to a data receiver, the data packet transfer in a network device takes place in the following manner: The user sends the data packet from the data source to the network device, which then transfers the data packet to the relevant data receiver with the help of a data switch. A data switch can be a switching device such as a combined input output queue (CIOQ) switch or a virtual output queue (VOQ) switch and the like.
The network device has a communication channel, which has a particular capacity, to transfer data packets. Whenever there is congestion in the network device, data packets accumulate in the network device, which gets flooded with data packets. The data packets accumulate in a buffer provided in the network device, which accommodates these data packets before they are sent to the data packet receiver. However, if the number of accumulated data packets exceeds the capacity of the buffer, it leads to severe congestion in the network device. The flooding of data packets results in the formation of a data packet queue at the input and the output of the network device. The formation of a queue at the network device may hamper the smooth transfer of data packets in the network and result in delays and losses in the transmission of data packets. It also hampers the working of the network device.
Conventional techniques for reducing congestion include either dropping or suppressing the data packets in the event of congestion at the network device. The decision to drop, mark to indicate congestion, or suppress data packets can only be taken after measuring the queue length formed by the data packets at the network device.
However, the queue length is not an exact indication of the magnitude of the congestion in the case of a complex network with more than one input and output queue at the network device. Further, it is difficult to simultaneously measure the queue length of different queues. Consequently, measuring the congestion level accurately is difficult. Moreover, in this kind of mechanism, data packets are evenly distributed in the buffers, in the case of congestion, to maximize buffer utilization, which, in turn, hinders an accurate assessment of the extent of congestion in the network device. Further, the queue length is not an exact measure of the congestion level, to evaluate the variable rate of data transfer at the output ports of the network device.

System and method for regulating data traffic in a network device


A coated cutting insert particularly useful for intermittent cutting of low alloyed steel. The insert is characterized by a WC-Co-based cemented carbide body having a highly W-alloyed Co-binder phase and a coating including an inner layer of TiC.sub.x N.sub.y O.sub.z with columnar grains and an outer coating of a fine grained, textured .alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -layer.

Low alloyed steel is a material which, in general, is difficult to machine with coated or uncoated cemented carbide tools. Smearing of workpiece material onto the cutting edge and flaking of the coating often occur. The cutting condition is particularly difficult when intermittent machining is employed under wet conditions (using coolant).
When machining low alloyed steels with coated cemented carbide tools, the cutting edge is worn by chemical wear, abrasive wear and by so-called "adhesive" wear. The adhesive wear is often the tool life limiting wear. Adhesive wear occurs when fragments or individual grains of the coating possibly followed by parts of the cemented carbide are successively pulled away from the cutting edge by the workpiece chip as it is formed. Further, when wet cutting is employed the wear may also be accelerated by an additional wear mechanism. For instance, coolant and workpiece material may penetrate into the cooling cracks of the coatings. This penetration often leads to a chemical reaction between workpiece material and coolant with the cemented carbide. The Co-binder phase may oxidize in a zone near the crack and along the interface between the coating and the cemented carbide. In time, coating fragments are lost piece by piece.

Coated cutting insert and method of manufacture thereof


An optical recording disc and a method of making such disc is disclosed. The disc has inner and outer peripheral edges, and includes a transparent substrate having a first portion corresponding to a recording area where data are recorded and a second portion corresponding to a non-recording area which extends from the recording area to a position adjacent to the outer peripheral edge of the disc. A continuous groove is formed in the substrate and extends over the first and second portions of the transparent substrate. The disc further includes a recording layer formed over the first and second portions of the transparent substrate and extending to a position so that the recording layer covers only a part of the groove in the second portion of the substrate whereby the outermost part of the groove is not covered by the recording layer.

Optical recording discs of the write-once or rewriteable type include a substrate having a recording layer. The substrate is formed by injection molding to include a wobbled groove on the surface of the substrate where the recording layer is formed. The groove defines recording channels on the disc for recording data and also provides for tracking of the disc while writing or reading data. The groove, which is a frequency modulated signal after detection and processing, also contains addressing and other information that are necessary for the write and read processes. The groove is usually in accordance with Orange Book standards. "Orange Book" is a licensed specification published by Philips Corporation and Sony Corporation which defines key properties of recordable compact disc (CD-R) media and recording procedures.
The recording layer, which can include an organic dye, is deposited on the substrate so as to completely cover the groove. The recording layer can be deposited by various techniques, including spin-coating, gravure, roller, flexographic, and vapor phase deposition. A reflective layer is then formed over the entire recording layer using similar techniques. The reflective layer can be, for example, gold, silver, or copper.
Because the reflective layer does not adhere well to the deposited recording layer, the outer region of the substrate must be substantially free of the recording layer to ensure proper adhesion of the reflective layer to the substrate. However, during deposition of the recording layer, the outer region of the substrate becomes wholly or partially coated with a residual portion of the recording layer. Consequently, the residual portion of the recording layer must be removed from the outer region of the substrate prior to deposition of the reflective layer. In a manner well known in the art, a dye compatible solvent is directed onto the outer region of the rotating disc to dissolve and remove the residual portion of the recording layer from the substrate. However, during evaporation and drying of the solvent, a portion of the recording layer uncontrollably bleeds outward toward the outer peripheral edge of the disc and forms undesirable corrugations at the outermost region of the substrate. The corrugations, which can extend for approximately one to three millimeters from the desired outer edge of the recording layer toward the outer edge of the substrate, substantially reduce the adhesion of the reflective layer to the substrate, as well as result in a deteriorated appearance of the recording layer. Poor adhesion reduces the durability, and thus, the useful lifetime of the disc. Additional application of solvent does not eliminate the corrugations.
In addition, as the solvent is spun onto the substrate to remove the residual portion of the recording layer, a portion of the solvent wicks under the outer edge of the recording layer, causing the recording layer to be lifted from the substrate. As the solvent evaporates, the recording layer is redeposited onto the substrate in a nonuniform manner so that a bead of dye is formed on the substrate at the outermost edge of the recording layer. This edge bead is a weakness in the optical disc, causing delamination of the layers when the disc is subjected to physical abrasion during either manufacturing or subsequent usage of the disc. Thus, the edge bead further decreases the durability and useful lifetime of the disc. Furthermore, during application of the solvent, a containment apparatus is typically used to partially surround the disc and contain any solvent droplets which are formed during the cleaning process and could become redeposited onto the recording layer. These droplets cause recording layer defects, sometimes referred to as dropouts, which decreases the quality of the recorded data and could result in an unusable disc.
In order to provide sufficient cleaning of the substrate prior to deposition of the reflective layer, it is necessary to utilize a solvent having physical properties compatible with the recording dye and substrate materials. The choice of solvents becomes limited and potentially costly, and the cleaning time is increased because of the inefficiency of the available solvents. In addition, many of the available solvents can cause environmental damage.

Reducing corrugations in optical recording discs


Electro-thermal feedback is utilized for removing thermal conductance between a bolometer""s absorber element of a pixel in a thermal radiation sensor assembly and the environments through its mechanical support structure and electrical interconnects, thereby limiting the thermal conductance primarily through photon radiation. Zeroing the thermal conductance associated with the mechanical support structure and electrical interconnects is achieved by electro-thermal feedback that adjust the temperature of an intermediate stage of the mechanical support structure and electrical interconnects to equal the bolometer""s absorber element temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to radiation sensors and more particularly to bolometer type sensors for detecting thermal radiation.
2. Description of Related Art
Bolometers are used and proposed for use in many new applications. The principal application is construction of thermal cameras. Interest in bolometers stems from the fact that their performance has significantly improved, they""re sensitive at much longer wavelengths, and operate at room temperature. Specifically, IR cameras, with large bolometer arrays have achieved a sensitivity, a Noise Equivalent Temperature resolution (NExcex94T) better than ≈0.05K. Such performance is less than that of quantum detectors; however, for many applications it is adequate and cost effective. Improved bolometer performance is achieved primarily through improved thermal isolation, made possible with advances in IC micro-machining technology. The thermal isolation achieved is about an order of magnitude from radiation limited isolation.
Bolometers inherently operate at slower rates than quantum detectors. However, with staring focal plane arrays, the slow speed limitation is alleviated, since the pixel integration times correspond to the frame rate, and is much longer than line times in scanning systems. Thus the main obstacle to making bolometers more sensitive are practical limitations in thermally isolating each pixel element. With improved thermal isolation, the bolometers performance will directly improve and thereby find wider applications, including potential replacement for cryogenic FLIR cameras. With ideal thermal isolation, the anticipated NExcex94T improvement is about an order of magnitude in sensitivity.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement in the sensitivity of electromagnetic radiation sensors.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improvement in sensors for detecting thermal radiation.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improvement in bolometers for detecting thermal radiation with increased sensitivity.
And it is yet a further object of the invention to provide a bolometer structure fabricated in silicon which operates in an improved mode for increased sensitivity.
These and other objects are achieved by elecro-thermal feedback for removing thermal conductance between a bolometer pixel and the environment through its mechanical support structure and electrical interconnects, thereby limiting the thermal conductance primarily through photon radiation. Zeroing the thermal conductance associated with the mechanical support structure and electrical interconnects is achieved by electro-thermal feedback that adjusts the temperature of the intermediate stage, and the mechanical support structure, and electrical interconnects to equal the bolometer""s absorber element temperature.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood, however, the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiments of the invention are made by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications coming within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description.
One aspect of the invention is directed to a thermal radiation sensor assembly, comprising: means for providing a heat bath for the assembly; an absorber element for detecting thermal radiation; an intermediate stage for thermally isolating the absorber element from the means for providing a heat bath and including a thermal isolation member having a predetermined thermal conductance, interconnecting the absorber element to the intermediate stage; and an electro-thermal feedback circuit located within the intermediate stage for reducing the thermal conductivity between the absorber element and the means providing a heat bath by causing the temperature of the intermediate stage to converge to the temperature of the absorber element when detecting thermal radiation, effectively causing the thermal conductance of the thermal isolation member to attain a minimum conductance value and thereby improve the sensitivity of the absorber element to the thermal radiation limit. A plurality of these sensors, moreover, are intended for use in an array.
Another aspect of the invention is directed to a method of sensing thermal radiation, comprising the steps of: locating an absorber element above a heat bath member; interconnecting the absorber element and the heat bath member by a thermal isolation member having a predetermined thermal conductance; and, reducing the thermal conductivity between the absorber element and the heat bath member by causing the temperature of the intermediate stage to converge to the temperature of the absorber element when detecting thermal radiation, effectively causing the thermal conductance of the thermal isolation member to attain a minimum conductance value and thereby improve the sensitivity of the absorber element to the thermal radiation limit.


In a class-D amplifier, the input signal is compared with a carrier signal to generate a basic PWM signal, the PWM signal is then sent to a pulse processing unit, and by comparing with a basic periodic signal, half-width of the output PWM signal is extracted. Then, in the pulse processing unit, the half-width PWM pulse signal is used to generate a complete pulse whose width equals to the output PWM signal. The output power of the class-D amplifier can be kept as large as that by using differential input signals although the input signal is single-end and the entire signal processing path is kept single-ended.

Conventional audio power amplifiers suffer from low efficiency, and this causes these devices to generate heat that must be removed by large heat sinks and thereby causes the physical amplifiers to be quite large. Recently, in order to make amplifiers smaller, high-efficiency designs have been introduced. The most common solution is to use switching amplifiers, or known as class-D amplifiers. The class-D amplifiers are two to five times more efficient than class-AB amplifiers and have benefits because of the efficiency, for example, requiring smaller power supplies, eliminating heat sinks and thereby significantly reducing overall system cost, size and weight. The class-D amplifiers work by converting an analog or digital input signal into a two-level output signal using a high-frequency modulation process. This two-level signal is then fed to a power stage to switch power switches in a full or half H-bridge, which in turn feeds a passive output filter connected to a speaker. These power switches have very low switching loss, so that the amplifier has better efficiency. Most class-D amplifier systems employ a pulse width modulation (PWM) scheme, where the value of the input signal at a moment in time is represented by a fixed-voltage variable-width output pulse. A typical audio PWM amplifier works at a switching frequency of between 100 KHz and 500 KHz. Higher switching frequencies can reduce distortion but also result in lower efficiency due to the extra transitions in the output waveform. However as is well known, the class-D amplifiers have electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem, as do the majority of switching power management devices, since they are derived from switching power supply configuration.
In further detail, referring to FIG. 1, a conventional class-D amplifier in bridge-tied-load (BTL) configuration always generates two PWM signals Out+ and Out− with 180 degrees out of phase at a pair of differential outputs, and produces the differential output (Out+)−(Out−) which has an amplitude (2Vdd) twice as large as that of the PWM signal Out+ or Out−. This large amplitude results in large ripple of the load current and therefore, there is always need for an external filter to remove the high frequency switching carrier. This filter typically includes at least two high current inductors and three capacitors which are expensive and consume undesirable amounts of space. In addition, the LC filter can also ease the EMI problem since the 180 degrees out of phases PWM signals Out+ and Out− generate large EMI interference. For this reason, filterless class-D amplifiers are proposed, for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,614,297, 6,847,257 and 6,970,123, which eliminate the output filter while reducing the EMI interference.
FIG. 2 is a timing diagram to illustrate the operation of a general differential input class-D amplifier, in which two differential input signals Vin+ and Vin− are compared with a sawtooth carrier Vref, respectively, to generate two PWM signals PWM+ and PWM− whose subtraction is the output PWM signal to drive the power stage of the class-D amplifier. This output PWM signal has the same amplitude as those of the PWM signals PWM+ and PWM−, and thus the load current will have smaller ripple.
For a differential input class-D amplifier, the input information and the output power are designed in the difference of the signals PWM+ and PWM−. It is obvious that the pulse difference by the signals PWM+ or PWM− compared to 50% duty cycle is half of the output PWM signal, as shown in FIG. 2. In other words, the output PWM is symmetric to the 50% duty cycle. The output power of a single-end input class-D amplifier would be a quarter times less than that of which uses fully differential signals as inputs under a same gain. Conventionally, the single-end input signal is always processed by a gain stage which turns the single-end input signal into a fully differential input signal. The subsequent ternary or quaternary PWM control signals would need to be generated by using the fully differential input signal, or under a similar idea, using two mutually 180 degrees out of phase reference waveforms of sawtooth or triangle to generate the ternary or quaternary PWM control signals.
A new modulation scheme for class-D amplifiers is proposed under the concept illustrated in FIG. 2, which can keep the output power as large as that by using differential input signals in prior arts although the input signal is single-end and the entire signal processing path is kept single-ended.

Circuit and method for generating a PWM control signal for a class-D amplifier


The present invention is generally a radio frequency apparatus for warming fluids such as IV fluids. In exemplary embodiments, a uniform warming of fluids is achieved by exposing a fluid-carrying tube to Radio Frequency (RF) energy. The RF energy may be supplied by an RF generator, which is coupled to a waveguide. The waveguide typically includes an inlet into which a fluid tube may be introduced. Inside the waveguide, a pathway may be formed wherein the fluid tube may rest in a predetermined position. In exemplary embodiments, the pathway guides the positioning of the tube along a transmission-line length of the waveguide, in a manner such that the tube gradually approaches an electromagnetic field inside the waveguide and exits at a second terminal end of the waveguide. Having absorbed energy supplied from the RF generator, the fluid inside the tube exits the apparatus warmed to a desired temperature.

Warming of fluids has various applications in any number of fields, for example medicine. In the medical field, warming of fluids is desirable during various procedures, particularly in those involving the intravenous administration of fluids to a patient. This issue becomes important given that certain fluids vital to patient resuscitation (such as blood or blood products) require preservation and storage at low temperatures in order to prevent them from spoiling or contamination. Hence administration of such fluids (e.g. packed red blood cells) requires warming them in order to avoid causing hypothermia in the patient receiving it. Other fluids may require warming prior to being intravenously infused in a patient even though said fluids may be stored at room temperature. It is important to note that the human body's normal temperature, which is critical to normal physiologic homeostasis (typically around 37 degrees Celsius), may be significantly higher than room temperature. Therefore, exposure of patients (intravenous or any other route) to therapeutic fluids that are lower than normal body temperature may not only cause significant discomfort, but also have physiologic consequences which can cause adverse clinical effects and unwanted outcomes. Accordingly, several systems, apparatus, and methods are found in the prior art describing different means to warm fluids such as refrigerated blood and other fluids that require intravenous or intraperitoneal administration. Unfortunately, the prior art solutions are riddled with numerous problems that have yet to be properly addressed.
One common problem is the application of non-uniform electric fields to warm a therapeutic fluid such as intravenous (IV) fluid, which result in an inhomogeneous heating of the liquids. Other problems are presented by conduction heating methods, such as methods that pass blood through heated conduits, which are energy inefficient, less portable and slow, and thus impractical in emergency situations. Other more advanced methods include the introduction of microwave heating, but these methods too have been shown to introduce their own challenges. Primarily, it is now well known that simply heating fluids such as blood (i.e. for example by placing a blood bag inside a conventional microwave oven) carries unacceptable risks given that heating blood in this manner does not result in a uniform distribution of heat throughout the fluid being heated. This important issue is a result of the manner in which microwaves are introduced that leads to generation of hotspots, exposing some areas of the fluid being warmed to excess heat. This will not only be undesirable given the non-uniform nature of heating, but can also lead to adverse effects such as damage to components of the fluid being warmed (i.e. damage to red blood cells or protein structure/function).
While some current methods appear to address hotspots created by systems that implement microwave heating means, these systems appear to rely on components and apparatuses that themselves present additional problems; such problems include introduction of additional steps/equipment (cartridges) in the fluid delivery apparatus (i.e. tubing). This disrupts the continuity of the delivery system (by requiring the tubing to be connected to a cartridge) and creates points where error and contamination can occur, hence raising safety and sterilization concerns. The following examples merely illustrate some of the problems found in the prior art.
One application requiring the warming of such fluids prior to administration includes the warming of peritoneal dialysis dialysate prior to intraperitoneal infusion. For example, certain patients with end-stage renal disease require renal replacement therapy for survival. One modality of renal replacement therapy is peritoneal dialysis (PD); a PD catheter is placed in the patients' abdomen and dialysates (either sterile solutions containing fixed amounts of electrolytes, lactate and dextrose or other infusate such as Icodextrin) are infused into the peritoneal cavity. During treatment, the patient's peritoneal membrane is used as a dialysis membrane and excess serum electrolytes and toxins are removed via diffusion into the dialysate. Given the large volume of dialysates needed each time a patient fills their peritoneal cavity (on average between 2.0-2.5 L), this fluid is usually warmed to between 35° C. and 37° C. to avoid patient discomfort and other unwanted side effects of hypothermia given cool fluid is entering the abdomen. The current system used to warm PD dialysates relies on heat conduction. The warming process is highly inefficient and is fraught with excess time and energy wastage. The system requires warming up a large surface of the dialysis machine and relies on conduction of this heat to a PD dialysate bag, which is placed on top of this surface.
While there are reports of patients/dialysis centers using microwave ovens to warm PD dialysate fluid, this practice is not sanctioned by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or manufacturers of PD solutions, given the potential for formation of hot spots during use of conventional microwave ovens. This is in light of the fact that there are several reported studies in the literature noting mere exposure to RF energy is safe and efficient, and does not lead to disturbance of the PD dialysate content or the integrity of the bag. Several publications provide discussion of these issues such as "Control of microwave heating of peritoneal dialysis solutions" by Deutschendorf A F, Wenk R E, Lustgarten J, Mason P., appearing in Peritoneal dialysis international: journal of the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis. 1994; 14(2): 163-7; "Microwave ovens for heating fluid bags for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis" by Hudson S, Stewart W K, appearing in British medical journal. 1985; 290(6486):1989; "Rapid warming of infusion solution" by Yamada Y, Yasoshima A. appearing in Surgery, Gynecology & Obstetrics. 1985; 160(5): 400-2; and "Microwave warming of peritoneal dialysis fluid" by Armstrong S, Zalatan S J. appearing in ANNA journal/American Nephrology Nurses' Association. 1992; 19(6): 535-9; discussion 40. However, regardless of these reports, significant safety concerns surrounding hotspot generation and non-uniform warming of dialysate, which can result in serious complications, have precluded routine use of general microwave ovens as a means of warming peritoneal dialysate.
Another important area where warming of therapeutic fluids is of significant value is in critical care when either large volume resuscitation is needed (i.e. liver transplantation, trauma from motor vehicle accidents or battlefield injuries) or in the peri-intra-postoperative period. In many cases the latter scenarios are interrelated and in all cases patients can suffer clinically significant hypothermia. Hypothermia, defined as core temperature<36° C. during a procedure, is a common problem in critical care and among surgical patients. In the case of patients undergoing surgery, an incidence of 4% to 72%, and up to 90% has been reported. Intraoperative hypothermia has been associated with significant clinical complications, including risk of cardiovascular adverse effects, issues with hemostasis and perioperative hemorrhage, increased risk of postoperative infection and disturbed drug metabolism. Given these significant complications, many professional societies, such as the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), www.aorn.org, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), www.nice.nhs.uk, have recommendations in place for preventing and treating during the perioperative period. While there are many factors which may contribute to hypothermia the use of un-warmed fluids for intravenous infusion has been deemed to play a major role. While the positive effects of normothermia in these patients has been documented, the role of warming of patients or infused fluids has been mainly studied using incubators and convection methods. "The effects of warming intravenous fluids on intraoperative hypothermia and postoperative shivering during prolonged abdominal surgery" by Camus Y, Delva E, Cohen S, Lienhart A published in Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1996 August; 40(7):779-82. "The effects of intravenous fluids temperature on perioperative hemodynamic situation, post-operative shivering, and recovery in orthopaedic surgery" by Hasankhani H, Mohammadi E, Moazzami F, Mokhtari M, Naghgizadh M M. published in the journal Can Oper Room Nurs J. 2007 March; 25(1):20-4, 26-7. Again, these methods are fraught with inefficiency, lack of portability and excess time requirement. Therefore, novel fluid warming technologies which can address hypothermia in the scenarios mentioned will be of significant value. The application of microwave technology has been limited and will be discussed in the next section.
Another important application involves the need for warming of blood and blood products (red blood cell transfusion); a treatment which becomes necessary to maintain the oxygen-carrying capacity in patients with severe anemia, especially those who have suffered major trauma or patients undergoing major surgery. During resuscitation of the latter patients, multiple units of blood products or packed red blood cells (PRBCs) may be administered in a short period of time. Such products or PRBC units are normally refrigerated at low temperatures of 4±2° C. prior to transfusion. The FDA regulation recommends storage temperature in the range of 1° C.-6° C.; "Safe storage" would be considered to be void if the temperature exceeds 8° C. (See for example FDA "Guide to inspections of blood banks," published by the FDA, Office of Regulatory Affairs Washington. 14 Sep. 1994).
For patients requiring large volumes of blood transfusion, to prevent hypothermia, the PRBCs units must be warmed up rapidly and almost immediately before transfusion. Aside from the inherent energy inefficiency of convection heating methods, using known means that implement conduction, could prove problematic; especially in emergency situations where considerable transfusions are required to be infused rapidly.
Although delays resulting from heating means relying on conduction of heat appeared to have been addressed by microwave heating methods, these systems proved similarly problematic. The use of conventional microwave ovens or other adapted derivatives to warm blood and IV products became popular soon after the introduction of commercial microwave ovens in the mid-1950s and was regularly used up until the 1970s. Such devices offer shorter heating times than the convectional heaters such as those using a water bath, but several reports of complications from overheating of blood products led to abandonment of microwave oven blood warmers. See for example "Danger of overwarming blood by microwave" by Arens J F, Leonard G L published in Jama. 1971; 218(7): 1045-6. Considerable ongoing debates remain regarding the use of these devices (see for example, "Indicators of erythrocyte damage after microwave warming of packed red blood cells" by Hirsch J, Menzebach A, Welters I D, Dietrich G V, Katz N, Hempelmann G. published in Clinical chemistry. 2003; 49(5): 792-9; and "Temperature course and distribution during plasma heating with a microwave device" by Hirsch J, Bach R, Menzebach A, Welters I D, Dietrich G V, Hempelmann G. published in Anesthesia 2003; 58(5): 444-7).
There are several reports that describe the use of various microwave-based techniques to warm blood products, which do not involve heating up a blood bag inside a microwave oven, per se. However, each of these methods is complicated by an apparent inability to avoid hot spots, or use techniques that require the use of a disposable cartridge. The former having the potential to damage or inadequately heat up the fluids; the latter introducing a point of disruption in the delivery of the infusate which can create the potential for clinically significant adverse events such as entry of air, contaminants or infection given that the need for a cartridge breaks the continuous sterile transfusion system (i.e. the tubing connecting the infusate to the patient). In addition, the need for a cartridge adds another layer of cost and complexity which is less desirable. (See for example, "Microwave applications in clinical medicine" by Lantis J C, 2nd, Carr K L, Grabowy R, Connolly R J, Schwaitzberg S D. published in Surgical endoscopy. 1998; 12(2): 170-6; "The limits of bloodwarming: maximally heating blood with an inline microwave blood warmer" by Herron D M, Grabowy R, Connolly R, Schwaitzberg S D. published in The Journal of trauma, 1997; 43(2): 219-26; discussion 26-8; "In-line microwave blood warming of in-date human packed red blood cells" by Pappas C G, Paddock H, Goyette P, Grabowy R, Connolly R J, Schwaitzberg S D. published in Critical care medicine, 1995; 23(7): 1243-50; "The effect of in-line microwave energy on blood: a potential modality for blood warming" by Holzman S, Connolly R J, Schwaitzberg S D. published in The Journal of trauma. 1992; 33(1):89-93; discussion-4; and "Rapid in-line blood warming using microwave energy: preliminary studies." By Schwaitzberg S D, Allen M J, Connolly R J, Grabowy R S, Carr K L, Cleveland R J. published in Journal of investigative surgery: the official journal of the Academy of Surgical Research. 1991; 4(4):505-10).
Accordingly, there is an unanticipated and significant clinical need, which is inadequately addressed at this time for warming fluids. More specifically, there is a need in the art for a fluid warming technique whereby fluids, such as intravenous (IV) fluids, can be warmed to the desired temperature via a warmer apparatus that avoids the potential complications of localized overheating, or exposure to hot-spots altogether. Furthermore, there is a need for a fluid warming technique and apparatus that is more portable and does away with cartridges or components that break a closed sterilized system, minimizing risk of error or infection and avoiding safety and sterilization challenges presented by current means.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a radio frequency fluid warmer and method that may be utilized to warm fluids, including IV fluids, which adequately addresses the problems with the prior art. It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.


A power-generating wheel system is provided and includes a liquid-filled riser tube, air balls circulating therethrough due to buoyancy, a top wheel located adjacent a top opening of the riser tube and having air ball receiver cavities and a second wheel located adjacent a bottom opening of the riser tube and having a sealed housing for releasing the air balls into the riser tube and receiving liquid from the riser tube. As air balls exit the top opening of the riser tube they rotate the first wheel, this rotation being transferred to the second wheel by a drive chain. A transfer system transfers the torque on the second wheel to an external device to be powered. A return chute returns the air balls from the first wheel back to the second wheel. A liquid supply system is provided to maintain the riser tube full of liquid.

Engines providing a high output torque are utilized to drive many types of mechanical devices, such as belt driven saws, drills, conveyors, and electrical devices such as electric generators. The high torque provided by these engines is often needed to rotate relatively large diameter drive wheels which then, in turn, can be connected to smaller diameter wheels to increase the revolutions per minute (rpm) provided to a drive shaft of the driven mechanical or electrical device.
The engines themselves often need an external source of power to operate. Many are driven by a local power grid which provides electricity to operate the engines. In many remote areas of the world a localized power grid is often unavailable. The know methods of providing electricity to the engines in these cases are by providing solar or wind electric generating devices or by having a small localized "mini" hydro-electric plant operating off a stream or river system. The problems with these methods are that they rely entirely on unpredictable, and often unreliable, environmental conditions including the presence and strength of sunlight, the speed and direction of wind, and the continuity, volume and velocity of the water flow. The common problem with all these systems is the continuity of the source of energy be it sunlight, wind or liquid.
Accordingly, there is an established need for an alternative, high output torque system which can provide a consistent and continuous torque.

System and method for obtaining a high torque output from bouyant elements traveling through a liquid medium


The present invention describes a flocked stretchable design and a process for producing a flocked stretchable design or transfer. The design, when configured as a transfer, includes a carrier layer, a release adhesive applied to the carrier layer, a plurality of flock fibers releasably attached to the release adhesive, an elastic film, and a first adhesive layer bonded to the flock fibers and the elastic film, and a second, discontinuously distributed, adhesive layer bonded to the other side of the elastic film. The design, when direct flocked, does not include the carrier and the release adhesive. The present invention also includes methods of producing both the designs.

It is often desirable to decorate clothing or other articles with designs that have various surfaces, such as designs that have a flocked surface such that the surface is fuzzy. Using flocked designs works well with clothes or other articles that are not meant to be stretched. To date, flocked designs have not been used with stretchable articles since the flock adhesive layer and, thus, the design, tends to permanently splits or cracks, sometimes without recovery, as the material is stretched. This is undesirable since the design becomes severely deformed. It is also undesirable since the flock fibers may become detached from the transfer or design, leaving permanent holes, voids, or gaps in the design. Another undesirable aspect of using flocked designs on stretchable articles is that the stretchable article may not reform to its original size and shape near the flocked design due to the adhesive used to keep the flocked design on the clothing or article.
Today's fashions are often characterized by stretchable materials, whether the stretchable material is a knitted material, nylon, polyester, elastic or other material. Thus, a wide market of clothing does not use flocked designs because of the undesirable characteristics associated therewith. What is needed is a flocked stretchable design or transfer that can be stretched with the clothing or other article that will reform to its original design without loss of design quality or adhesion or integrity of the image.


A differential microphone array (DMA) is provided that includes a number (M) of microphone sensors for converting a sound to a number of electrical signals and a processor that is configured to apply linearly-constrained minimum variance filters on the electrical signals over a time window to calculate frequency responses of the electrical signals over a plurality of subbands and sum the frequency responses of the electrical signals for each subband to calculate an estimated frequency spectrum of the sound.

Microphone arrays may include a number of geographically arranged microphone sensors for receiving sound signals (such as speech signals) and converting the sound signals to electrical signals. The electrical signals may be digitized by analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for converting into digital signals which may be further processed by a processor (such as a digital signal processor). Compared with a single microphone, the sound signals received at microphone arrays may be further processed for noise reductionspeech enhancement, sound source separation, de-reverberation, spatial sound recording, and source localization and tracking. The processed digital signals may be packaged for transmission over communication channels or converted back to analog signals using a digital-to-analog converter (ADC). Microphone arrays have also been configured for beamforming, or directional sound signal reception. The processor may be programmed as if to receive sound signals from a specific sound source.
Additive microphone arrays may achieve signal enhancement and noise suppression based on synchronize-and-add principles. To achieve better noise suppression, additive microphone arrays may include a large inter-sensor distance. For example, the distance between microphone sensors in additive microphone arrays may range from a couple of centimeters to a couple of decimeters. Because of the large inter-sensor spacing, the bulk size of additive microphone arrays may be large. For this reason, additive microphone arrays may not be suitable for many applications. Additionally, additive microphones may suffer the following drawbacks. First, the beam patterns of additive microphone arrays are frequency-dependent and the widths of the formed beams are inversely proportional to the frequency. Therefore, additive microphone arrays are not effective in dealing with low-frequency noise and interference. Second, the noise component from the additive microphone arrays are generally attenuated in a non-uniform manner over the entire spectrum, resulting in undesirable artifacts in the output. Finally, when the incident angle of the target speech source is different from the array's facing direction (a situation which may often occur in practice), the speech signal may be low-pass filtered, resulting in speech distortion.
In contrast, differential microphone arrays (DMAs) allow for small inter-sensor distance, and may be made very compact. DMAs include an array of microphone sensors that are responsive to the spatial derivatives of the acoustic pressure field. For example, the outputs of a number of geographically arranged omni-directional sensors may be combined together to measure the differentials of the acoustic pressure fields among microphone sensors. Thus, different orders of DMAs may be constructed from omni-directional microphone sensors so that the DMAs may have certain directivity. FIG. 1 illustrates a third-order DMAs. As shown in FIG. 1, the first-order signal differentials of the DMAs may be constructed by subtracting two nearby omni-directional microphone sensors' outputs. Second-order differential DMAs may be constructed by subtracting two nearby first-order differential outputs. Similarly, third-order differential DMAs may be constructed by subtracting two nearby second-order differential outputs. Similarly, an Nth order differential DMAs may be constructed from subtracting two differentials of order N−1.
Compared to additive microphone arrays, DMAs have the following advantages. First, DMAs may form frequency-independent beam patterns so that they are effective for processing both high- and low-frequency signals. Second, DMAs have the potential to attain maximum directional gain with a given number of microphones sensors. Third, the gains of DMAs decrease with the distance between the sound source and the arrays, and therefore inherently suppress environmental noise and interference from far-away sources.
An Nth order DMA may be constructed from at least N+1 microphone sensors. As shown in FIG. 1, the DMA may be constructed in the time domain by directly differentiating the output signals of two nearby microphone sensors at the first-order level or their corresponding derivatives at higher order levels. The implementation as shown in FIG. 1 has drawbacks. For example, each level of differential outputs of the DMA requires equalization filters for compensating the array's non-uniform frequency response, particularly for high-order DMAs. Equalization filters have been difficult to design and tune in practice.
Another drawback is that DMAs may amplify sensor noise. Each microphone sensor may include membranes what may vibrate in response to sound waves to convert pressures applied by the sound waves into electrical signals. The generated electrical signals include sensor noise in addition to the measurements of the sound. Unlike environmental noise, the sensor noise is inherent to the microphone sensors and therefore is present even in a soundproof environment such as a sound booth. Typically, microphone array outputs may have 20-30 dB of white noise due to the sensors depending on the quality of microphone sensors. DMAs are known for amplification of sensor noise; and, the higher order DMAs, the larger the amplification. For example, a third-order DMA of current art may amplify the sensor noise to about 80 dB, rendering the DMA useless for practical purposes.
One way to reduce the sensor noise is to use larger membranes in the microphone sensors. However, both larger membranes and larger microphone sensors increase the bulk size of DMAs. Another way to reduce the sensor noise is to use materials that generate less noise. However, the lower the generated sensor noise, the more expensive the microphone sensors. For example, a 20 dB microphone sensor can be much much more expensive than a 30 dB microphone sensor. Finally, no matter how microphone sensors are fabricated, the sensor noise inherently exists and is subject to amplification by DMAs. Thus, the presently available and/or known DMAs are limited to one or two orders of differentials. Accordingly, a need exists to improve over the present DMAs and provide an improved low noise differential microphone array.

Low noise differential microphone arrays


Disclosed is a solid photographic processing composition for developing a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material comprising a ferric complex of an aminopolycarboxylic acid and a sugar alcohol compound.

Silver halide light-sensitive color photographic materials are usually processed with a color developing solution, a bleaching solution, a bleach-fixing solution, a fixing solution, a stabilizing solution, etc., to obtain an image. The respective processing solutions are usually contained in a plastic bottle and supplied to customers in the form of a processing kit and the customer prepares a working solution, (i.e., a starting solution and a replenishing solution) and then use the processing solution.
However, the processing kits have still needed to have a lot of spaces for storing them, and the transportation cost of the kits can also in no way be slighted.
For saving the storage space, cutting down the transportation cost and reducing the quantity of waste plastic bottles, it may be considered to pulverize a photographic processing composition and then to supply it. However, a pulverized photographic processing composition has not only such a problem that there is an apprehension for the worker's health, because the fine powder thereof is whirled up in the air when dissolving the composition and he may possibly inhale the flying powder, but also such a problem that a whirling processing composition component is mixed in another photographic processing composition and thereby a trouble is produced in the development process.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 3-39739(1991) discloses granulated agent of aminopolycarboxylic acid ferric complex, comprising a re-halogenation agent and having a certain average grain diameter. According to this method, since this granulated agent is not apparently powder shaped, scattering of the agent may be restricted, however, it was found that this had a defect that there is large variation of quality in the manufactured product, apparently due to the difference of bonding strength between ferric complex and the re-halogenation agent.
Further, it was found that there is another defect that physical property of the granulated agent is changed, with the lapse of time, and, finaly, the agent loses function as granulated particle.
So quality variation in the manufactured product tends to take place when the granulated agent is molded by compression molding and hardness of the tabular shaped composition manufactured therefrom can be deteriorated. The diameter and thickness of the tabular shaped composition expands with the lapse of time, and then, it is found that the hardness of the tabular shaped composition is deteriorated. Needless to say, expansion of the tabular shaped composition leads to a deterioration of a market value, and deterioration of the hardness of the tabular shaped composition often causes cracking and partial loss by vibration or impact applied during transportation, so that they are serious problems as to a quality of the tabular shaped composition.
Further, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publications No. 5-119454(1993) and No. 6-19100(1994) disclose a tabular shaped processing composition comprising a ferric complex of aminopolycarboxylic acid and a re-halogenation agent.
Still further, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publications No. 4-254853(1992) discloses a granular shaped composition comprising an aminopolycarboxylic acid ferric salt and polyethylene glycol.
According to this method, components of the granular shaped composition are stable, because polyethylene glycol functions as a binder, however, it was found that it is not sufficient to solve the variation of physical properties of the granular shaped composition. Furthermore, the granulated agent is compressed to prepare a tabular shaped composition, so that a hardness degradation of the tabular shaped composition with the lapse of time is avoided to some extent. However, it was found that cracks of the surface of the tabular shaped composition and expansion of the tabular shaped composition took place.
Still further, Japanese patent O.P.I. Publication No. 51-61837(1976) discloses a tabular shaped composition comprising a ferric complex of aminopolycarboxylic acid and lactose. In accordance to this method, again, although the binding force of the tabular shaped compositions may be enhanced to some extent, however, this method cannot solve the above-mentioned problems of storage under high temperature and low humidity conditions.
After long and intensive research on the solid photographic processing composition containing an aminopolycarboxylic acid ferric salt, when a sugar alcohol is contained in the solid photographic processing composition, the present inventors have discovered the following improved results. In a large-scale preparation, a content variation of the solid photographic processing composition is small, and the granulated properties is stable at the lapse of time, and, when the tabular shaped processing composition is prepared by compressing molding, expansion of the tabular shaped processing composition and hardness deterioration of the tabular shaped processing composition are not occurred.

Solid photographic processing composition for developing a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material


The gooseneck trailer hitch assembly includes a block tube that is fixed to a trailer frame. A top plate is fixed to the block tube. A vertical shaft is connected to the top plate. A steel spherical member is slidably mounted on the vertical shaft. Two rings are clamped to the spherical member and pivotable about the spherical member center. A tower assembly tube receives on of the two rings and is fixed to the rings. A tube positioning member is fixed to the tower assembly. The positioning member includes a wedge surface that contacts a steel ring and moves the tower assembly tube toward a vertical position as the spherical member is moved toward to the top plate. The positioning member also includes a cylindrical surface that engages the steel ring after the tower assembly tube is vertical. A vibration and force damper is provided between the steel ring and the block tube.

Conventional ball and socket hitches, on light trucks, for pulling trailers add weight to the truck rear axle and reduce weight on the front axle. Side loads on the trailer are transferred through the rear hitch ball on the truck and tend to force the steered front wheels on the truck to one side or the other. Hitch weight must be limited for some trailers to be pulled by light trucks.
Gooseneck trailers move the pivot point forward relative to a truck rear axle where more weight can be transferred to the truck, weight distribution on the truck is improved and the trailer effect on the truck steering is minimized when compared to a rear mounted hitch on the truck. These advantages make it possible to pull a heavier gooseneck trailer or carry more cargo on a trailer pulled with a truck than could be pulled with the same truck using a rear mounted ball hitch.
Alignment of a truck with a gooseneck trailer when connecting the trailer to a truck can be somewhat difficult. The driver of the truck may not be able to see the hitch component attached to the truck due to the vehicle configuration or other cargo carried by the truck.
Gooseneck trailers tend to be larger due to their ability to haul more cargo when pulled by trucks with a given cargo capacity and the fact that such trailers may have two or three axles. As a result of trailer size and weight, it is difficult to obtain alignment of truck and trailer connector assemblies. Experienced drivers can generally align a truck with a trailer and position the truck mounted connector within about a foot or less of horizontal alignment with a trailer mounted connector. With a person on the ground guiding a truck and truck driver, it is possible to reduce horizontal misalignment between truck and trailer connector components to six inches or less. Where one of the connector components is a two inch diameter ball, horizontal alignment must be within about two inches. Obtaining such alignment can be difficult even when using a second person as a guide.
Construction standards for hitch couplers connecting a trailer or other component to a towing vehicle vary substantially depending upon a number of factors. Trucks pulling trailers weighing more than 2,000 pounds at highway speeds generally have components that have little or no relative horizontal movement between components. If there is relative movement the loads that occur when the truck brakes are applied or the trailer brakes are applied after the truck has slowed can result in substantial impact forces. These forces will cause wear and may lead to hitch failures. Hitches with ball and ball socket connectors generally eliminate impact forces if there is sufficient weight forcing the ball into the socket, the ball is clamped securely into place and the ball socket is clamped securely or welded into place.


Various embodiments of the invention relate to compositions comprising vitamins, minerals and trace elements, antioxidants, amino acids, probiotics, and other components and methods for using such compositions to treat or prevent diseases associated with oxidative stress, including cardiovascular disease.

Nutritional supplements available today are composed of ingredients that most often act against a particular condition, but not against a spectrum of conditions. For example, probiotics present a popular means for specifically balancing the intestinal flora and food digestion. There are no multi nutritional supplements on the market today, however, that comprise ingredients necessary for, e.g., simultaneously maintaining intestinal flora, supplying beneficial vitamins and trace elements, and combating diseases associated with oxidative stress, including cardiovascular disease (CVD).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-nutrient supplement and uses thereof


A compound of formula I:

Some pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBDs) have the ability to recognise and bond to specific sequences of DNA; the preferred sequence is PuGPu. The first PBD antitumour antibiotic, anthramycin, was discovered in 1965 (Leimgruber, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 87, 5793–5795 (1965); Leimgruber, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 87, 5791–5793 (1965)). Since then, a number of naturally occurring PBDs have been reported, and over 10 synthetic routes have been developed to a variety of analogues (Thurston, et al., Chem. Rev. 1994, 433–465 (1994)). PBDs are of the general structure:

They differ in the number, type and position of substituents, in both their aromatic A rings and pyrrolo C rings, and in the degree of saturation of the C ring. In the B-ring there is either an imine (N═C), a carbinolamine (NH—CH(OH)), or a carbinolamine methyl ether (NH—CH(OMe)) at the N10-C11 position which is the electrophilic centre responsible for alkylating DNA. All of the known natural products have an (S)-configuration at the chiral C11a position which provides them with a right-handed twist when viewed from the C ring towards the A ring. This gives them the appropriate three-dimensional shape for isohelicity within the minor groove of B-form DNA, leading to a snug fit at the binding site (Kohn, In Antibiotics III. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 3–11 (1975); Hurley and Needham-VanDevanter, Acc. Chem. Res., 19, 230–237 (1986)). Their ability to form an adduct in the minor groove, enables them to interfere with DNA processing, hence their use as antitumour agents.
In WO 00/12508, some of the present inventors disclosed the following compound (SJG-136, Compound 80):

This compound is also disclosed in Gregson, S. J., et al., Chem. Commun., 1999, 797–798. It has entered Phase I clinical trials in the UK and is likely to enter Phase I clinical trials in the US shortly.
One difficulty that this compound presents in formulation is that in water it converts to the di-carbinolamine form:
and when isolated often exists as a mixture of the imine, mono-carbinolamine and the di-carbinolamine forms. Furthermore, if the compound is isolated as a solid with a mixture of these three forms, the balance between them may change over time. Although this does not pose a problem for administration of the compound, it can provide difficulties in accurately assessing the amount of active substance in a given amount of powder.
SJG-136 does not appear to exhibit the cardiotoxicity that has been associated with pyrrolobenzodiazepines in the past.
Also disclosed in WO 00/12508, is the following compound (DRG-16, Compound 218):

This compound is also disclosed in Gregson, S. J., et al., J. Med. Chem., 2004, 1161–1174, in which it is shown to have similar properties to SJG-136.

Abstract: A compound of formula I:

Abstract: or solvate thereof, wherein n is 1 to 10, and M and M′ are independently selected from monovalent pharmaceutically acceptable cations, or together represent a divalent pharmaceutically acceptable cation.

United States of America, Represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


An engine ECU includes a bandpass filter (1) extracting only vibrations at a first frequency band A, a bandpass filter (2) extracting only vibrations at a second frequency band B, a bandpass filter (3) extracting only vibrations at a third frequency band C, and a bandpass filter (4) extracting only vibrations at a fourth frequency band D including the first to third frequency bands A-C. The engine ECU determines whether knocking occurred or not based on a vibration waveform of the fourth frequency band D and a peak value in magnitude of vibrations in a synthesized waveform of the first to third frequency bands.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knocking determination device and, more specifically, to a knocking determination device for an internal combustion engine that determines whether knocking occurred or not, based on a waveform of vibrations of the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a technique for detecting knocking of an internal combustion engine is known. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-227400 discloses a knock control device for an internal combustion engine that can accurately determine whether the engine knocks. The knock control device for an internal combustion engine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-227400 includes a signal detector detecting a signal representing a waveform of vibrations occurring in the internal combustion engine (or a vibration waveform signal), an occurrence period detector detecting a period as an occurrence period during which the vibration waveform signal detected by the signal detector assumes a predetermined value or higher, a peak position detector detecting a peak position in the occurrence period detected by the occurrence period detector, a knock determiner determining whether the internal combustion engine knocks based on the relation between the occurrence period and the peak position, and a knock controller controlling an operation state of the internal combustion engine in accordance with a determination result of the knock determiner. The knock determiner determines knock (knocking) occurs when the peak position relative to the occurrence period is in a predetermined range. The signal detector detects a prescribed frequency component particular to a knock signal as the vibration waveform signal.
According to the knock control device for an internal combustion engine disclosed in the publication, a signal representing a waveform of vibrations occurring in the internal combustion engine is detected by a signal detector. An occurrence period during which the vibration waveform signal assumes a predetermined value or higher and a peak position therein are detected by an occurrence period detector and a peak position detector, respectively. Thus, the knock determiner can determine whether the engine knocks by detecting the position of the peak in the occurrence period of the vibration waveform signal. According to the knock determination result, the operation state of the internal combustion engine is controlled. When the peak position relative to the occurrence period is in a predetermined range, that is, when a waveform has such a shape that the peak position appears earlier relative to a predetermined length of the occurrence period of the vibration waveform signal, the knock determiner recognizes it as being particular to knocking. Thus, even in a transition state where an operation state of the internal combustion engine abruptly changes or when electric loads are turned on/off, whether or not the internal combustion engine knocks is accurately determined, and the operation state of the internal combustion engine can be controlled appropriately.
While a frequency component particular to knocking is detected as the vibration waveform signal with the knock control device for an internal combustion engine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-227400, the frequency component particular to knocking is not constant. Accordingly, it is necessary to detect frequency components included in predetermined frequency bands. Thus, the detected frequency components may include those which are not particular to knocking. Such a problem is not considered in the knock control device for an internal combustion engine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-227400. Accordingly, some frequency bands may include great noise components. In this case, there has been a problem that the magnitude or peak of vibrations cannot be detected appropriately and the accuracy of knocking determination is deteriorated.

Knocking determination device for internal combustion engine


A vessel drier for producing a powder material, includes a cylindrical container, a heating source, and a plurality of heat conductive members. The cylindrical container has an inner space to contain a fluid raw material and is adapted to rotate along a rotation axis thereof. The heating source is provided outside the cylindrical container to heat the cylindrical container. The heat conductive members are provided at an outer surface of the cylindrical container so as to enlarge the area of the outer surface of the cylindrical container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vessel drier which heat treats a fluid having a solid material suspended therein to form a powdery material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Powdered materials may be manufactured by heat treating (e.g., drying or pre-sintering) a fluid containing a solid material therein. By way of example, a fluid suspension containing a ceramic component (i.e., a ceramic slurry of a ceramic component and fluid) may be subjected to a heat treatment process using, for example, a vessel drier.
A conventional vessel has three main components: a cylindrical container, a plurality of ceramic balls located in the container and a heater which provides heat to the container.
The heater is provided outside the cylindrical container and heats both the cylindrical container and the ceramic balls located therein. The walls and the ceramic balls apply heat to the ceramic slurry located in the cylindrical container thereby causing vaporization of the fluid from the ceramic slurry. As a result of this vaporization process, a residue of the ceramic component will be formed on the surfaces of the balls and on the walls of the cylindrical container.
The container is driven for rotation about its central axis so as to cause the ceramic balls to continually rub against one another and act much like a mortar and pestle to crush the residue of ceramic material formed on the balls. This yields a powdered ceramic material which is evacuated though an outlet connected to the cylindrical container.
The convention vessel drier has several drawbacks relating to the efficiency at which heat is applied to the cylindrical container. The ceramic powder forming process is a continuous process. New slurry is continually (or at least periodically) added to the container and the resultant powdered ceramic material is continually (or at least periodically) removed from the container. If the amount of the ceramic slurry supplied to the cylindrical container is too great, insufficient heat will be supplied to the ceramic slurry and efficient processing will not take place. The amount of ceramic slurry which can be processed through the vessel dryer is a direct function of the heat transfer between the cylindrical container and a heater. Because the heat transfer between the cylindrical container and a heater of a conventional vessel drier is relatively low, it is not possible to increase the throughput of the heating process to desired levels.
One possible solution to this problem is to provide a larger heater. However, this is not an efficient solution to the problem because the enthalpy per a unit area (the total amount of heat per unit area) which the cylindrical container receives does not increase proportionally to the increase in the size of the heater. Alternatively, a larger heater may be employed and the diameter of the cylindrical container may be increased. However, this results in an undesirable increase in the size of the vessel drier. The effective production yield of the process can also be increased by utilizing a more powerful heater. However, this makes it necessary to provide a vessel drier which uses more refractory material to withstand the additional heat output of the heater.
In view of the forgoing, there is a need to provide a vessel drier which will maintain a high production yield even though the amount of a raw material per a unit time treated by the vessel drier increases.

Vessel drier having high heat efficiency


Homogeneous polymer blends are prepared from otherwise thermodynamically immiscible polymers. Thus, mixtures of polymers such as poly (methyl methacrylate) and poly (ethyl methacrylate) are dissolved under pressure in supercritical fluid solvents such as chlorodifluoromethane and expanded through a fine nozzle. As the SCF solvent evaporates, the polymer mixture deposits as a substantially homogeneous blend.

Polymer blends represent an important class of polymeric materials, accounting for 20% of the U.S. synthetic resin market in 1985. Although the majority of commercially important polymer blends are thermodynamically immiscible heterogeneous blends, considerable interest exists for producing miscible homogeneous blends, because such blends achieve properties intermediate to those of their constituent polymers. Commercial miscible blends are at present mainly used for their mechanical and thermal properties, but immense potential exists for the development of polymer blends with specially tailored optical, surface, barrier or biodegradation properties. In spite of much synthetic research effort, miscible polymer pairs are rare, because the high molecular weight of polymers provides little entropic driving force for miscability. Favorable enthalpic contributions, which lead to miscability, are possible only when specific interactions are present between moieties in the different polymers.
In an attempt to bypass the specific interactions requirement, researchers have studied potential techniques for producing nonequilibrium single-phase blends of thermodynamically immiscible polymers. These techniques typically involve the preparation of a dilute ternary solution of two polymers in a common liquid solvent, followed by rapid quenching of the blend into the solid state via coagulation, solvent evaporation or freeze-drying. These diffusion-governed processes are slow, as compared with incipient polymer phase separation in liquid solutions, so it is not surprising that some degree of phase separation occurs, e.g., micron-sized domains are formed or extremely broad glass transition temperatures are noted.
In light of the fact that many polymers (e.g., all glassy polymers) enjoy commercial use in a thermodynamic state far removed from equilibrium, it is short-sighted to limit the search for intermediate-property polymer blends to systems that are thermodynamically miscible. For example, rapid coagulation or quenching of polymer mixtures can result in a frozen-in single phase morphology, such as that observed in molecular composites. However, coagulation and quenching techniques are governed by solvent and heat diffusion, respectively, which are typically slow processes in high molecular weight systems, and can cause an undesirable skin/core morphology.
To summarize, attempts by others to produce a homogeneous mixture of immiscible polymers or copolymers have involved processes such as solvent evaporation, coagulation, rapid freezing or freeze-drying. Each of these techniques is governed by a diffusive process, either of heat or of mass. Particularly in polymercontaining materials, diffusive processes are typically slow. The present invention produces a homogeneous mixture of immiscible polymers by density reduction of a solution whose solvent is above its critical point. The time scale of this process is governed by convection (i.e., bulk flow), not diffusion, and the characteristic convective velocity for flow of a compressible fluid such as a supercritical fluid is the speed of sound, which is quite rapid.
Producing a homogeneous mixture of immiscible polymers is of practical interest for several reasons. The vast majority of pairs of polymers are immiscible, so they separate into two different phases when they are mixed. Because of the phase separation, the immiscible mixtures are opaque and have poor mechanical properties, even to the point of having little mechanical integrity. In homogeneous miscible blends, however, transparency and good mechanical properties can be achieved. The properties are usually intermediate to the two components, so producing homogeneous mixtures of polymers offers the opportunity to achieve adjustable properties without the need for synthesizing new polymer materials.
Besides the usefulness of producing stable homogeneous polymer mixtures for the sake of their properties, it may be desirable to produce unstable homogeneous polymer mixtures that will revert in time to their thermodynamically stable, immiscible form. Since the rate of phase separation will be dependent on the environmental conditions, these materials could be used as environmental indicators, or as environmentally degradable materials.
According to the present invention, a homogeneous single-phase blend of otherwise immiscible polymers is prepared via a precipitation technique which is not limited by slow diffusion processes. The solid binary blend is precipitated by rapid pressure (density) reduction from a homogeneous ternary solution of the two polymers in a supercritical fluid (SCF) solvent. Single-phase polymer blends are produced thereby.

Precipitation of homogeneous polymer mixtures from supercritical fluid solutions


Techniques involve writing to a disk array. In response to a request for writing target data to a target storage area in a stripe of the disk array including at least one failed storage area, it is determined whether incompletion of the writing of the target data is to cause failed data in the at least one failed storage area to be unrecoverable. In response to determining that the incompletion of the writing is to cause failed data to be unrecoverable, the failed data is recovered. The recovered data is stored in a persistent memory, and the target data is written in the target storage area. In this way, the efficiency and performance of writing processing of the disk array having a failed disk is increased significantly.

Redundant array of independent disks (RAID) generally includes a data disk and a parity disk. The parity disk is used for storing parity data of valid data, for example, parity check information, in the data disk. RAID may be divided into multiple stripes across disks. Each stripe includes a plurality of data storage areas located on multiple data disks and a parity storage area located on the parity disk. The parity storage area stores parity data of valid data in the data storage area of a same stripe. When a certain disk fails, failed data stored on the failed disk in the stripe can be recovered based on the parity data in the parity storage area.
After a disk fails, RAID enters a degraded mode under which the RAID can still process read and write input/output (TO) request for other disks. When the degraded RAID processes a write IO for a certain disk, if a power failure occurs, it may cause the write operation on the disk to be incomplete. Thus, data on the disk is still an old version while data on the parity disk has been updated to a new version. An inconsistency of version as such would render the data on the failed disk in the RAID unrecoverable, which causes a "write hole".
A problem of the "write hole" is a common problem in RAID. A traditional solution is to reserve some space at the end of each disk as a journal area. When the degraded RAID processes a write IO request, data to be written may be stored temporarily in the journal area. If the above incompletion of the write operation occurs when data is updated, the data in the journal area is used to restore consistency of the RAID stripe after system recovery, thereby avoiding a risk of data loss on a failed disk.
However, this approach introduces extra operations of data write/read and thus reducing performance of write TO.

Method, device and computer readable storage medium for writing to disk array


Short fibers in a solder or a welding material often do not have the desired strength. Fiber mats that are introduced onto a surface or into a recess of a metallic component are provided. In addition a process for applying material to a metallic component is provided. In the process, a first fiber mat and a second fiber mat are used.

Recesses which have to be filled in components are often filled with a solder, but the solder has lower mechanical strength characteristics than the base material of the component.
An improved solder is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,643. However, the short fibers used therein do not produce the desired increase in mechanical strength.

Process for applying material to a component, a fiber and a fiber mat


An electrical feedthrough for an implantable medical device (IMD) is provided that employs a feedthrough conductor having a non-platinum based inner core and one or more layers of a conductive coating to control oxide growth on the surface of the conductor. The coating permits soldering the feedthrough conductor to IMD electronics. The resulting feedthrough provides a substantial cost savings over feedthroughs employing a solid platinum or platinum-iridium conductor.

Electrical feedthroughs are used in implantable medical devices (IMDs) such as cardiac rhythm management devices (e.g., pacemakers and implantable cardioverter/defibrillators) to electrically connect electronic circuitry contained in a hermetically-sealed housing to external components such as, for example, therapy leads. Such feedthroughs include one or more conductive elements that extend into the hermetically-sealed interior of the device housing where they are electrically connected to the IMD electronic components (e.g., control circuitry or battery), through an insulating material, and outside the IMD, where they are electrically connected to therapy lead terminals. Electrical feedthroughs for implantable medical devices may also incorporate filters for filtering electromagnetic interference (EMI) that could impair the performance of the other IMD electronics.
The feedthrough may contact body fluids after implantation. Accordingly, feedthroughs are typically constructed of biocompatible materials. Platinum and platinum-iridium alloys are commonly-used as feedthrough conductor materials because they are biocompatible. Because of the high cost of platinum, however, it is desirable to identify alternative feedthrough conductor materials and configurations.
Other biocompatible conductive materials such as tantalum and niobium and their alloys are susceptible to surface oxide growth, which is encouraged by various high temperature processes (e.g., brazing) the conductor undergoes during fabrication of the feedthrough. The oxide layer impairs the electrical connections between the feedthrough conductor and the IMD electronic components, including the EMI filters when used, to which it is connected. Furthermore, the oxide layer limits the available methods of establishing that electrical connection. In particular, this oxide layer hinders electrically connecting the feedthrough and the IMD electronic component by soldering the feedthrough conductor to a terminal or port on the electronic component. In some cases, however, it may be especially desirable, from a manufacturing standpoint, to solder the feedthrough conductor to the IMD electronic components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,003, issued to Selfried et. al., teaches a feedthrough utilizing a tantalum or niobium terminal pin coated with a thin film of a conductive metal, e.g., platinum, to reduce the insulating effect of the oxide layer on the tantalum or niobium pin. As taught therein, the coating "must not be too thick" so as to prevent the glass insulating material used to seal the terminal pin into the feedthrough from "seeing" the tantalum or niobium terminal pin and not just the coating. The '003 patent specifically teaches that a coating thickness of 10,000 angstroms (1 micron) or less is satisfactory. It has been found, however, that with coatings this thin on tantalum or niobium terminal pins, the resulting feedthrough conductor cannot be readily soldered to provide a robust electrical connection to the IMD internal electronic devices after the aforementioned high temperature processes are performed. One possible explanation for this is that with such thin coatings, the tantalum or niobium terminal pin material migrates to the surface of the coating during the high-temperature processes such as brazing. As a result of this migration, an oxide layer may form on the surface of the coating, thus inhibiting the solderability of the terminal pin.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an implantable medical device feedthrough utilizing a conductor design that is inexpensive, but which also permits the conductor to be soldered to the IMD electronic circuitry.

Implantable medical device feedthrough assembly having a coated conductor


A lever fastening device comprises a lever articulated to a base about a first axis and formed in two adjoining portions of which the first has one of its ends articulated to the base on the first axis whereas the second portion is articulated to the opposite end of the first portion about a second axis; a tie element is connected to the second portion in a position spaced from the second axis on the opposite side to the first axis.

The subject of the present invention is a lever fastening device according to the preamble to the main claim.
Fastening devices or, in short, "fastenings", of this type are used widely in the field of sports equipment and footwear such as ski boots, snow-board shoes and bindings, and skating boots, for adjustably tightening onto one another two portions of the footwear (or equipment), such as two flaps of the upper.
These fastenings are used mainly for fastening plastics shells or cuffs of boots where, owing to the presence of levers, these fastenings can overcome the resistance offered to the closure of the flaps of the upper by the fairly stiff nature of the material used.
However, the use of conventional lever fastenings involves problems of two kinds which the invention proposes to overcome.
In the first place, the operation of the levers still requires considerable effort during both the opening and the closure of the fastening; this effort is not always in proportion to the user's muscles, particularly in the case of women and children.
In the second place, these levers can be manoeuvred only between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position. In the fully-open position, they project from the shell of the footwear like flags, hampering the user's movements; in the fully-closed position they lock the user's foot down hard so as to produce conditions which are not always comfortable, particularly when the user is not performing any sporting activity but, more simply is taking a rest or a break.
The problem upon which the present invention is based is that of the provision of a fastening device which is designed structurally and functionally so as to overcome all of the problems complained of with reference to the prior art mentioned.