A transmission mechanism for music box ornament includes a music box which houses therein a wind-up spring and a barrel as a power source, a holding frame attached to the body has a pair of spaced flanges holding a sleeve therebetween and a drive wheel attached to the spindle of the barrel having a stub slidably engages with a slot in a motion bar. The motion bar has a finger attached to a bottom end of a tappet rod which moveably runs through the sleeve. The sleeve has an axial slit on a lateral wall to enable the finger to move axially up or down. There is an ornament attached to the top end of the tappet rod. When the wind-up spring is activated and music is sound, the spindle rotates and turn the drive wheel which in turn moves the tappet rod up or down through the holding bar. The tappet rod moves in the sleeve smoothly and steadily. The ornament attached to the tappet rod also is moved up or down steadily to create amusement effect.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transmission mechanism for music box ornament and particularly to a simple and low cost motion transmission mechanism driven by the music box power source for moving the ornament smoothly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Music box with a moveable ornament is a popular gadget, particularly among young ladies and girls. U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,787 discloses one of the commonly used transmission mechanisms for moving the ornament in a music box. Referring to FIG. 1, it mainly includes a casing A for housing a conventional music box gears therein and supporting an ornament thereon. Within the casing A, there is a drive wheel C with an eccentrical drive stub B which slidably engages with a slot J of a slide link F. The slide link F is supported at two ends by a pair of spaced and vertical guide rods D. Each guide rod D has a coil spring E cushion at the lower portion. The drive wheel C is driven and turned by a conventional wind-up power source of the music box. A tappet rod H has its bottom end attached to the slide link F and its top end engaged with the ornament.
The rotating drive wheel C and the drive stub C move the slide link F up or down reciprocally. The ornament attached to the top of the tappet rod H thus will also be moved reciprocally up or down to create amusement effect while music is sound.
The prior art set forth above has some drawbacks. For instance the coil springs E are for keeping the drive stub C making constant contact with the slide link F in the slot J. The spring force tends to accelerate the wearing of the stub C and the slot J. When the stub C is moved at either end of the slot J, the spring at another end tends to tilt the slide link at another end, thus the up or down movement of the tappet rod H and the ornament is rough and not smoothly. It also tends to accelerate the wearing of the guide rods D and the slide link F and makes the up and down motion of the tappet rod and the ornament even more unstable after long time of use. Moreover the whole structure is rather complicated and bulky. It is difficult to produce and assemble, and costs higher.

Transmission mechanism for music box ornament


A method comprises transmitting, to a terminal (101), at least one synchronization signal burst (150) in a time-limited channel access interval (405) of an open spectrum (409). The method further comprises transmitting, to the terminal (101), at least one paging signal (4004, 4005) in the channel access interval (405) of the open spectrum (409).

To facilitate efficient spectrum usage and high data rates, wireless communication on unlicensed bands is possible. An unlicensed band may reside in an open spectrum. Multiple operators or networks may share access to the open spectrum. In other words, access to the open spectrum may not be restricted to a single operator or network. Typically, the wireless communication on the open spectrum may involve procedures and limitations due to the possibility of multiple networks sharing the same spectrum. Such techniques are sometimes also referred to as clear channel assessment techniques, e.g. Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). Other techniques to ensure that multiple networks can share the same spectrum may include, but is not limited to limitations on maximum percentage of transmissions per time unit (limited transmission duty cycle), limitations on maximum transmission output power and limitations on the maximum channel occupancy time per transmission. The required techniques may differ depending on regulatory requirements for the open spectrum, and the requirements may be different depending on the specific frequency spectrum as well as the geographic location of the device. Throughout this description, any such procedure to perform required techniques imposed due to multiple access restrictions on the open spectrum is denoted as a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure.
When performing an LBT procedure attempting to transmit over the open spectrum, taking the required techniques for multiple networks to share the spectrum into account, a network node may conclude via the LBT procedure that is currently not able to communicate with the intended receiver at the intended time. The network node may be limited by any transmission regulation related to the sharing of the open spectrum, and we will here refer this unsuccessful transmission as an LBT failure. When the LBT failure occurs, the transmitter may need to wait until the limitation imposed by the sharing technique is no longer restricting the communication. Such waiting may impose a timer, or an evaluation of a limiting parameter as per the given examples above. Such waiting is referred to as a backoff procedure throughout this description. Hence failure of a LBT procedure may introduce communication delays.
For wireless communication, on the other hand, to limit energy consumption, idle mode operation is known. Here, a terminal (UE) does not maintain an active data connection with the network. To reach the UE, paging is employed. Paging includes communication of one or more paging signals, typically including a paging indicator and a paging message. Typically, paging is executed while the UE operates in idle mode. An receiver of a modem of the UE can be configured to selectively receive paging signals in idle mode.
It has been observed that the latency of paging a UE can significantly increase when communicating the one or more paging signals on the open spectrum. As mentioned above, this may be due to the network node not being able to transmit paging signals at the intended time due to LBT failure and associated back-off procedures, possible in connection with discontinuous reception (DRX) of the UE.


An inner receptacle having a single integral piece flexible bag including a thin walled portion and a rigid fitment portion. The fitment portion includes a flange which is larger in diameter than the flexible bag to provide a mechanism to attach the inner receptacle to a bottle. The fitment portion also provides a finger grasping portion. The inner receptacle may be utilized in, for example, a squeeze pump package, a trigger or finger pump package, or a mechanical pump package. The inner receptacle also includes a mechanism for enabling substantially all of the product therein to be dispensed. One such mechanism is provided by a perforated diptube. Another such mechanism is provided by the combination of a resiliently deformable upper half and a collapsible lower half to cause the flexible bag to invert upon itself. These single integral piece flexible bags are preferably made by a modified pressblowing process wherein an increased range of motion is provided by a rack and pinion mechanism to enable formation of the large flange.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensing packages which incorporate an inner receptacle including a flexible fluid product-containing bag; and more particularly, to such packages wherein the inner receptacles are replaceable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several types of dispensing packages are known which include an inner receptacle. Such packages are commonly referred to as bag-in-bottle packages. Bag-in-bottle packages have incorporated various dispensing mechanisms, including squeeze-pump packages such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,165 issued to Van Coney on Jun. 27, 1989; and trigger sprayer packages such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,123 issued to Stoody on Apr. 2, 1991.
In addition, some prior bag-in-bottle packages have acknowledged the benefits of enabling reuse of the outer package by enabling replacement of an empty inner receptacle with a new, full inner receptacle. Thus, the bulk of the package becomes reusable which reduces packaging costs to the manufacturer and to the environment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,123 issued to Stoody on Apr. 2, 1991 discloses such a replaceable inner receptacle for use with a trigger sprayer or finger pump bag-in-bottle package. The disclosed inner receptacle, however, is made of multiple separate and distinct components which must be attached together in a sealed manner. In particular, the body of the flexible bag (which is made of a tubular flexible material) must be sealed to a rigid fitment in an air tight manner around the entire curved circumferential surface of the fitment.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,320, issued to Harrison on Aug. 26, 1952, discloses another bag-in-bottle package which has a replaceable inner receptacle. This package operates as a squeeze pump. Like Stoody, the inner receptacle of Harrison is made of multiple separate and distinct components. In particular, a thinner, flexible, lower bag portion is sealed in an air tight manner to an upper, thicker, rigid, bag portion around the entire curved circumferential surface of the bag.
One disadvantage with these and similar inner receptacles is the requirement of sealing at the connection of the individual parts; particularly between curved surfaces. Such connections, lo whether welded, clamped, glued, etc., will generally lack the strength and/or air-tight integrity of a similar receptacle having a one-piece integral molded construction, and it will likely require difficult and costly assembly. For example, heat sealing curved surfaces usually requires multiple overlapping sealing steps because of the difficulty of applying uniform sealing pressure to curved surfaces.
Another disadvantage of the previously-discussed inner receptacles is their lack of a feature to enable the consumer to easily handle them; particularly, when removing an empty inner receptacle. Once the inner receptacle of Stoody or Harrison is seated in the outer bottle, the flange provides very little in the way of a grasping surface to enable removal of the inner receptacle from the outer bottle.

Package with replaceable inner receptacle having large integrally molded fitment


Received image data is enhanced to create enhanced image data using image processing to remove artifacts and to retrieve information associated with a desired target output. Image segmentation is performed on useable enhanced image data to created segmented image data by partitioning the enhanced image data into coherent regions with respect to a particular image-based criterion. Useable segmented image data and auxiliary data is pre-processing for input into a neural network as pre-processed data. The pre-processed data is divided into training, validation, and testing data subsets. A neural network architecture is determined to process the pre-processed data and the determined neural network architecture is executed using the pre-processed data. Output of the determined neural network is post-processed as post-processed data. The post-processed data is compared to a known value range associated with the post-processed data to determine if the post-processed data satisfies a desired output result.

In the recovery of hydrocarbons, fundamental petrophysical properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs include permeability, porosity, saturation, and residual hydrocarbon saturation. These petrophysical properties can be inferred from physical well cores and change non-linearly as a function of, for example, direction, location, stress conditions, and fluid type. Knowing the stratigraphic and well-to-well distribution of permeability is key to predicting hydrocarbon reservoir performance. Petrophysical properties collected from various wells can be extended to an entire production field and used to infer properties of and to predict performance of a specific hydrocarbon reservoir. The major difficulty in predicting permeability in a mature hydrocarbon reservoir is a lack of sufficient data, particularly when using well core analysis. After obtaining a well core, the quality of information that can be extracted from the well core for analysis is reduced as a function of time (for example, due to storage, transportation, environmental conditions, and handling). Without accurate permeability data, petrophysical property predictions can be inaccurate and lead to unnecessarily-high hydrocarbon recovery costs.

Inferring petrophysical properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs using a neural network


A system and method for predictive congestion detection for network devices is provided. A routing engine associated with an input of a router receives congestion information from an output, utilizing the received congestion information to initialize a congestion value associated with that output. Between receipt of updated congestion information from the output, the routing engine predicts a potential change in the congestion state at the output based on the congestion value and information regarding usage of the output that is known to the routing engine.

Adaptive or dynamic routing is a process where a router can forward data via a different route or to a given destination based on the current conditions of the communication circuits within a network. Networks are capable of routing around issues within the network, such as another network device in the network going down, failure of a communication link, and congestion. Routers (or network switches) enabled with adaptive routing can determine the optimal route for each data packet and decide, on-the-fly, the "next hop" or next network device in the network.
The figures are not exhaustive and do not limit the present disclosure to the precise form disclosed.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


The present invention relates to a buckling restrained brace capable of absorbing vibration energy produced by an earthquake, wind power and the like, in a building and a steel structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to buckling restrained braces used in buildings and steel structures and capable of absorbing vibration energy generated by an earthquake, wind power, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Examined Utility Model (Kokoku) No. 4-19121 discloses a buckling-constraining brace member in which an adhesion-preventive film is provided between a center axial member and a concrete member. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model (Kokai) No. 5-3402 discloses a buckling-constraining brace member wherein a steel-made center axial member is passed through a steel-made buckling-constraining member, and an adhesion-preventive film is placed between the surface of the center axial member and the buckling-constraining member. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model (Kokai) No. 5-57110 discloses a damping brace member wherein both ends of an intermediate member having a small cross section are each connectively and integrally jointed to one end of a side member having a large cross section, in series to form a steel-made center axial member, and the axial member is fitted in a constituent hollow buckling-constraining member. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model (Kokai) No. 5-57111 discloses a damping brace member having the same constitution as in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model (Kokai) No. 5-57110 and excellent in damping properties, durability and weatherability. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-229204 discloses that the stiffness and yield stress of a buckling-constraining brace member can be arbitrarily determined, and that the stress flow of the steel-made center axial member is improved. R. Tremblay et al. reported experimental result relate to buckling-constraining members in the 8th Canadian conference on Earthquake Engineering (cf. Seismic Rehabilitation of a Four-stored Building with a Stiffened Bracing System, published on, Jan. 19, 1999).

Buckling restrained braces and damping steel structures

Abstract: The buckling restrained brace of the present invention is accomplished by a buckling restrained brace 1 wherein a steel-made center axial member 3 is passed through a buckling-constraining concrete member 2 reinforced with a steel member 6, and an adhesion-preventive film 4 is provided to the interface between the steel-made center axial member and buckling-constraining concrete 5, the adhesion-preventive film showing a secant modulus in the thickness direction of at least 0.1 N/mm2 between a point which shows a compressive strain of 0% and a point which shows a compressive strain of 50%, and up to 21,000 N/mm2 between a point which shows a compressive strain of 50% and a point which shows a compressive strain of 75%, and having a thickness dt in the plate thickness direction of the steel-made center axial member and a thickness dw in the plate width direction thereof from at least 0.5 to 10% of the plate thickness t and from at least 0.5 to 10% of the plate width w, respectively, and by the application of the buckling restrained brace to a damping steel structure.


An absorbent article includes a generally reduced length absorbent assembly positioned between a moisture barrier and a bodyside liner. The moisture barrier and the bodyside liner extend beyond the absorbent assembly and define at least one waist region with a length dimension greater than about 10 centimeters. A moisture control layer is present in from about 25 to 100 percent of the area of the first waist region. The moisture control layer is configured to accommodate liquid that may be present in the waist region as a result of condensation or perspiration and also limit the transport of liquid from the absorbent assembly into the waist region.

Many absorbent articles such as incontinence garments, diapers and training pants have a generally centralized crotch region housing an absorbent structure. The absorbent structure is adapted to take in and retain body excretions. Toward the longitudinal ends, these absorbent articles include regions which are commonly referred to as end-seal regions or waistband regions. When the absorbent article is worn, the end-seal regions are positioned against the abdomen and lower back of the wearer. The end-seal regions commonly include elastic members to form physical leakage barriers and fastening components to secure the absorbent article about the wearer.
An important factor in the design of absorbent articles is the dryness and comfort of the wearer. Much of the attention paid to maintaining the dryness of the absorbent article has focused on improving the absorbent structure. In fact, absorbent technology advances have increased the efficiency of absorbent structures to the point where they can be much thinner and smaller than previously possible. In some products, however, particularly those such as disposable undergarments that include fastening components in the end-seal regions, the ability to decrease the length of an absorbent structure does not necessarily translate into a reduction in the overall length of the product. Instead, the decrease in the length of the absorbent structure may only lead to an increase in the length of the end-seal regions.
Simply as a consequence of their size, larger end-seal regions, referred to herein as waist regions, play a greater role in determining the dryness and comfort of the wearer. Unfortunately, existing products have employed materials which tend to wick liquid from the absorbent structure into the waist regions. As can well be imagined, once distributed into the waist regions this liquid can create a damp, uncomfortable sensation. Furthermore, some liquid capacity is needed in the waist regions to acquire perspiration and condensation that may form in the waist regions and isolate the perspiration and condensation from the skin of the wearer. When the materials used in the waist regions transport liquid into the waist regions from the crotch region, the liquid capacity of the waist regions is depleted or exhausted and thus not available for perspiration and condensation.
Therefore, what is lacking and needed in the art is an absorbent article having a relatively large waist region that can accommodate condensation and perspiration within the waist region without separately transporting liquids from the absorbent structure into the waist region.

Absorbent article having improved waist region dryness and method of manufacture


A halogen-free flame retardant epoxy resin composition containing (A) a bisphenol A type epoxy resin, (B) a curing agent, (C) red phosphorus particles each of which is covered with a covering layer, at least the outermost layer of which is formed of a resin, and (D) an inorganic filler.

Recently, as world-wide environmental problems and safety to a human body arouse concern, it has been increasingly required that electric/electronic products be less harmful and more safe, in addition to flame retardancy requirement. More specifically, the electric/electronic products are needed hardly to burn and scarcely to generate a harmful gas and fume. Conventional printed wiring boards, on which electric/electronic products are to be mounted, usually have a substrate formed of glass-epoxy. Generally, a brominated epoxy resin, in particular, a tetrabromobisphenol A type epoxy resin, containing bromine which serves as a flame-retardant, is used as the epoxy resin in the substrate.
Such a brominated epoxy resin has good flame retardance. However, it generates a harmful hydrogen halide (hydrogen bromide) gas when burned. For this reason, the use of the brominated epoxy resin is being suppressed. In the circumstances, compositions have been developed, in which a non-halogen flame-retardant such as a nitrogen compound, phosphorus compound or an inorganic compound is added to the conventional epoxy resin (see, for example, British Patent No. 1,112,139 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-269730). However, these additives imparting flame retardance have problems: they impose undesirable effects on curing of the epoxy resin, decrease the moisture vapor resistance of the cured composition, and impair impregnation of the composition into a glass cloth.
Another feature which is important equally to the flame retardance, and which the printed wiring board should have in view of safety improvement, is tracking resistance. The tracking resistance is particularly required for a substrate having a high voltage circuit, such as a printed wiring board for use in air conditioners and televisions.
To impart the tracking resistance, a chain hydrocarbon, a cyclic compound or an inorganic material has been added to a resin composition for use in the printed wiring board, as a substance which is hardly carbonized. However, these substances are disadvantageous in that the chain hydrocarbon and cyclic compound reduce heat resistance of the printed wiring board, and the inorganic material must be used in a large amount.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an epoxy resin composition which exhibits good flame retardance, without containing and also good tracking resistance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepreg impregnated with such an epoxy resin, as well as a laminate, copper-clad laminate and printed wiring board which are formed by using the prepregs.

Halogen-free flame-retardant epoxy resin composition


Hardeners for epoxy resins include a reaction product of (A) a compound having an average of at least one 1,2-epoxide group per molecule, compound (A) being a reaction products of (A1) a polyfunctional epoxide having ate least two 1,2-epoxide groups per molecule of said epoxide and (A2) a monohydroxyaromatic compound, and (B) an amine. Epoxy resins cured with the hardeners are useful as coatings.

Epoxy resins, especially those prepared from bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin, are known base materials for the production of high-quality casting resins and coating compositions. These aromatic epoxy resins, cured using amines, generally possess not only good chemical and solvent resistance but also good adhesion to numerous substrates. Bisphenol A epoxy resins which can be processed without the use of a solvent and have a very low viscosity are accorded particular importance, for example for the protection and renovation of concrete structures, as concrete additives such as for epoxide cement concrete (ECC field), for elastic adhesive systems in various fields of application, and for the coating of a wide variety of substrates. When amines are used, the epoxy resins can generally be cured at ambient temperature.
The use of Mannich bases of polyamines, phenols and formaldehyde is known for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,347, EP-A 0 042 617, U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,471, EP-A 0 068 263 and EP-A 0 253 339. With these products it is possible to produce, at low temperatures, thoroughly cured epoxy coatings which feature high pendulum hardnesses after a short drying time. The phenolic hydroxyl groups of the free or bonded phenolic structures are responsible for the accelerating effect.
One disadvantage of these systems is the more or less high content of free phenol, which greatly restricts the use of the hardeners due to environmental legislation and regulations.
EP-A 0 645 408 describes phenol-free hardeners having very good low-temperature properties. These epoxy systems cure rapidly, thus leaving the processor relatively little time for application. As described in Table 1 of EP-A 0 645 408 the pot life of such phenol-free hardeners is from 15 to 20 minutes.
There is a desire for systems having good low-temperature properties, i.e., those capable of rapid and complete drying at temperatures below 10.degree. C. so as to form coatings of high pendulum hardness, but which permit a relatively long processing time. At the same time, such hardeners are required to have a relatively low viscosity, i.e., below 5000 mPa.multidot.s at 25.degree. C., and to form a coating with a surface that is free from clouding and is insensitive to water.

Hardeners for epoxy resin systems, which are formed from epoxy, monohydroxy aromatic, and amine adducts


Methods are provided for making use of an apparatus for generating vibrational energy in a borehole, the apparatus utilizes a mass and a rotary source for suspending the mass in a borehole or in casing in a borehole or in an instrument housing that may be positioned in an opened or cased borehole arranged to cause frictional contact with the surface of the rotating mass, the mass being rotatable about is rotational axis in one direction to cause it to backward whirl in the opposite direction, the centrifugal force of the whirling mass serving to generate vibrational energy that is used to obtain geophysical information as to the structure of the earth surrounding and adjacent to the borehole and for enhancing cementing and production enhancing techniques in oil or gas wells.

This disclosure provides methods of creating and using a downhole vibrational energy source in earth boreholes. In one application the vibrational energy is used as a seismic energy source for generating information as to the geology surrounding the borehole. In other applications the downhole vibrational energy source is used to augment more successful extraction of hydrocarbons from subterranean formations.
For information relating to others who have provided methods and apparatuses for generating downhole seismic energy, reference may be had to the following previously issued U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,718,205; 4,252,210; 4,671,379; 4,702,343; 4,722,417; 4,783,771; 4,796,723; 4,805,725; 4,805,727; 4,815,557; 4,834,210 and 4,856,614.

Methods of employing vibrational energy in a borehole

Oil & Gas Consultants International Inc.


An accessory and an accessory for an image pickup apparatus are provided and are advantageous in reducing cost by reducing the number of parts. A retaining ring is engaged in an annular groove formed in an outer circumference of a cylindrical part of a wide-angle converter lens. Each of retaining ridges has a bottom wall extending from the inner circumference of the annular part in the direction of the width of the annular part in a recess, and a protruded wall extending radially outward of the annular part from the end of the bottom wall, spaced from the annular part, and protruding radially outward from the first outer circumference. When the parts, provided with the retaining ridges, of the annular part are depressed radially inward of the annular part, the protruded wall sink radially inward from the first outer circumference.

The present disclosure relates to an accessory capable of being attached to and detached from an image pickup apparatus or the like by a single action, and an accessory for an image pickup apparatus.
A conversion lens is an example of accessories used with an image pickup apparatus, such as a digital camera or a video camera.
A conversion lens of this type is provided with a clamping member for engaging/disengaging the conversion lens with/from an image pickup apparatus (See JP H10-62856 A).
Conventional accessories including such a conversion lens need a plurality of members in combination to arrange the clamping member. Necessity of the plurality of members is disadvantageous from the view point of cost reduction by reducing the number of components.

Accessory and accessory for image pickup apparatus


An electronic device with a force sensing key (200) has a switch (280), a first force sensing region (290) for acquiring a first force value, a second force sensing region (290) for acquiring a second force value, and a processor for determining a selected function for the key (200) based upon the first force value and the second force value when the switch (280) is activated. The first force sensing pad (290) and the second force sensing pad (290) use a partially resistive material (250) that exhibits a force-to-voltage response value. By forming the switch (280) as a dome (225) switch, the force sensing key (200) provides crisp tactile feedback to a user. The force sensing key (200) can be configured for a variety of applications and user preferences by varying the architecture of the actuator (270).

A compact keypad for a telephone, PDA, remote controller, or similar device typically has between twelve and twenty keys for controlling the operation of the device. The keys generally include: number keys "0"–"9"; telephony keys "*" and "#"; and keys for additional functions such as "menu", "cancel", "cursor up", "cursor down," "cursor right," "cursor left," and "select". In at least some instances, the device's size impacts the number of keys that can be conveniently accessed.
In order to increase the number of functions available through a device (or maintain a constant number of functions in light of decreasing device size), often several keys in the compact keypad are associated with multiple functions and/or meanings in order to enable the increased number of features and functions of the device. Commonly, the compact keypad functions as an alphanumeric keypad for features such as messaging and phonebook, where both letters and numbers are entered from the keypad.
Various approaches have been used to associate a single key with multiple alphanumeric characters. In one type of approach, a single key is associated with a single switch, and at least one key press (but usually more than one keypress) is required for the user to obtain the desired character. For example, a user presses a single key multiple times to cycle through alphanumeric choices until a pause (or pressing of another key) by the user indicates a selection of the currently presented character.
In a second type of approach, more than one switch is associated with a single key. Sometimes these multi-switch keys are referred to as "cluster" keys or "combination" keys. Near-simultaneous activation of one or more switches associated with the multi-switch key indicates which alphanumeric character is desired. This second type of approach is less cumbersome for alphanumeric character entry, because a user can manipulate a single key to access multiple characters directly. A user, however, is also more prone to make entry errors because the depression of the key must be precise enough to access only the desired switches and also because the tactile feedback for a multi-switch key is unfamiliar. For example, most users release a key after a single popple dome of a switch has been depressed, which is sometimes before the correct combination of popple dome switches has been activated to obtain the desired result in a multi-switch key. This user habit results in a need for changing the incorrect character entered and may eventually result in user frustration.
Thus, there is a desire for a compact keypad that facilitates direct alphanumeric character entry and entry of other functions. It is desirable that the compact keypad does not have an unusual tactile sensation. The various aspects, features and advantages of the disclosure will become more fully apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon careful consideration of the following Drawings and accompanying Detailed Description.

Electronic device with force sensing key


It has been found that in addition to acting as an auxiliary blowing agent, various salts of formic acid may be used to tailor the reactivity characteristics of rigid, polyurethane foam formulation. Salts of particular interest are: ammonium formate, sodium formate, and potassium formate. By varying amounts and combinations of the above salts, characteristics of a formulation's reactivity such as cream time, gel time, rise time, and tack-free time may be manipulated.

The use of carboxylic acids and their salts is known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,924 describes the use of formic acid as a blowing agent in polyurethane foams based upon adducts of hexahalocyclopentadiene and unsaturated monocarboxylic compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,002 describes a carboxylic acid or carboxylate reacted with an isocyanate to produce gas which is used as an effective blowing agent for polyurethanes. This invention describes such use in the manufacture of various types of urethane foams. The salts of formic acid found to be useful were those of formic acid with weak organic bases such as hydrazine, triethylamine, dimethylbenzylamine, and triethylenediamine. It is also disclosed that carboxylic acids and their salts are less exothermic than water in their reaction with isocyanates. U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,039 is directed to a process for the production of molded polyurethane foams having a compact surface and a density of at least 250 kg/m.sup.3 (15.6 pcf).
It has been found in the present invention that formic acid and its salts may be used not only as blowing agents but can also be used to tailor the reactivity profile of a given polyurethane foam system.

Use of formate salts as auxiliary agents for low density rigid foams


The disclosure provides compositions comprising at least one assembly comprising a peptide and a major histocompatibility complex (MHC), wherein the peptide is an integral component of the MHC, wherein the peptide is attached to a surface at its C-terminus through a linker and wherein the peptide is synthesized on the surface. In certain embodiments, the compositions comprise a plurality of assemblies in a spatially-ordered array. The disclosure provides methods for making and using these compositions.

There has been a long-felt but unmet need in the art for a surface-bound peptide presented by properly assembled major histocompatibility complex (MHC) that can be synthesized in situ for in vitro analysis of the peptide in an accurate biological context. The disclosure provides a solution to this long-felt but unmet need.

MHC-bound peptide arrays and methods of use thereof


The present invention relates to a recombinant baculovirus comprising: (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a foreign virus envelope protein; (b) a first promoter operatively linked to the envelope-encoding nucleotide sequence; (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding an antigen protein; and (d) a second promoter operatively linked to the antigen-encoding nucleotide sequence; and a vaccine composition using the same. The recombinant baculovirus of the present invention has an excellent efficacy on both humoral and cellular immune responses against a specific antigen (e.g., HPV L1), enabling to function as a more efficient DNA vaccine.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recombinant (chimera) baculovirus and a vaccine composition thereof.
Description of the Related Art
HPV (human papillomavirus) is a causative factor in the development of cervical cancer which occupies approximately 12% of global women's cancer. Incidence frequency and mortality of cervical cancer is higher enough to be at a rate of one person per 2 min in the world (Vaccine 24: 5235-5244 (2006)). Presently, about 100 types of HPV have been identified. Of them, HPV type 16 and HPV type 18 classified as high risk group have been found in the tissue of cervical cancer at a ratio of not less than 70% (Vaccine 22: 3004-3007 (2004)).
To modulate cervical cancer, an effective vaccine development for HPV infection has been attempted. First of all, there is urgently demanded a vaccine development for preventing cervical cancer.
HPV L1 protein as VLPs (virus like particles) has inherent self-assembly potential, allowing to form external envelopes without viral genome. It has been reported that VLP contributes to sufficient induction of immune responses to produce a neutral antibody having higher titer (Journal of Virology 81 (24): 13927-13931 (2007); Virology 321: 205-216 (2004); Journal of Medical Virology 80: 841-846 (2008)).
For efficient gene delivery in vivo, gene delivery systems have been developed using numerous viral vectors. For the purpose of gene therapy, viral vectors such as retrovirus and adenovirus are utilized to deliver HPV16L1 gene to an animal host (Science 260 (5110): 926-932 (1993)). However, utility of these viruses cause several drawbacks including: (a) virus proliferation in a replication-dependent manner; (b) cytotoxicity; (c) induction of early immune responses; and (d) expression of undesired viral genes.
By contrast, a baculovirus transfer vector has important advantages as follows: (a) insertion of a foreign gene having a relatively large size; and (b) post-translation processing due to use of insect cells (higher eukaryotic cells). The latter advantage is very crucial in the senses that the biological and immunological activity of a recombinant protein expressed by using a baculovirus transfer vector are almost equivalent to those of original protein compared with protein produced in prokaryote, E. coli. In addition, baculovirus has been known to be a biologically safe virus because its replication is impossible in animal cells and it induces no cytotoxicity (Virology 125: 107-117 (1983); Hum. Gene Ther. 7: 1937-1945 (1996); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 127-132 (1999); Trends Biotechnol. 20: 173-180 (2002)). It has been known that the replication of AcNPV (Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus) belonging to be an insect virus group is also impossible in a variety of animal cells, whereas it is possible to deliver a gene into cells through its infection (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 10099-10103 (1995); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 2348-2352 (1996)). Previously, it was reported that a specific gene in AcNPV genome could be highly expressed in animal cells where it is controlled by an animal promoter (Journal of Virology, 76 (11): 5729-5736 (2002); Vaccine 26 (20): 2451-2456 (2008)).
Recently, several studies tried to increase a gene transfer efficiency by introducing Env of other viruses onto the surface of baculovirus, for example including diverse reports obtaining higher gene transfer efficiency by introduction of a VSV envelope G protein onto the surface of baculovirus (Journal of Virology, 78 (16): 8663-8672 (2004); Journal of Urology 250 (2): 276-283 (2006); Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 289 (2): 444-450 (2001); Journal of Virology 75 (6): 2544-2556 (2001)), or by adding a gp64 protein on virus surface (Human Gene Therapy, 14 (1): 67-77 (2003)). In addition, vaccination using a baculovirus vector was known to induce immune responses against a hemagglutinin glycoprotein of influenza virus (Journal of Immunology, 171: 1133-1139 (2003)).
Throughout this application, various patents and publications are referenced and citations are provided in parentheses. The disclosure of these patents and publications in their entities are hereby incorporated by references into this application in order to more fully describe this invention and the state of the art to which this invention pertains.

KONKUK UNIVERSITY INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION CORP.


A golf club shaft including a tip section, a grip section, a main body section and a vibration control section. The vibration control section prevents first harmonic vibrations, second harmonic vibrations, third harmonic vibrations, and so on from be transmitted to the hands of the golfer after impact.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to golf clubs and, more particularly, to golf club shafts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the years, many substitutes have been introduced for the hard wood shafts originally used in golf club drivers and irons. Early substitute materials included steel and aluminum. More recently, carbon fiber reinforced resin shafts have become popular. Fiber reinforced resin shafts are typically hollow, round in cross-section and consists of the tip, main body, and grip sections. Such shafts typically have a constant taper from the tip/main body portion intersection to the main body portion/grip intersection. The surface of the shaft is typically smooth and continuous.
When a golfer strikes a golf ball, vibrations are transmitted through the shaft to the golfer's hands. These vibrations, which are commonly referred to as the club's "feel," provide experienced golfers with considerable information about their shots. In fact, many golfers can tell whether or not they have hit a good shot through feel alone. Golf clubs, like other vibrating bodies, typically have a fundamental mode of vibration, a first harmonic, a second harmonic, a third harmonic, and so on. The inventor herein has determined that the feel of a golf club is created by the fundamental mode of vibration. The first harmonic, second harmonic, third harmonic, and so on tend to create "noise" which detracts from the feel created by the fundamental mode.


A female contact intended to receive a male contact, the female contact including a base and at least one side wall having a free edge defining an open end, the side wall being connected to the base and including an inner wall, wherein: the female contact includes a helical spring made of an electrically conductive material disposed between the base and the open end; part of the inner wall and the base are made of an electrically conductive material; and the inner wall of the female contact and/or the spring assure/assures electrical contact with a male contact in the position of use.

A female connector is a device comprising at least one female contact in which a male connector comprising at least one male contact is inserted in order to establish electrical contact. The electrical contact is established when the female contact is in contact with the male contact.
It is therefore essential that the contact between the female contact and the male contact does not have any faults, so that electrical contact can be established continuously.
This type of connection exists in a very large number of electrical devices including, for example, electrical relays and baseplates thereof.
Electrical relays and baseplates thereof are thus formed of a female connector (referred to as a baseplate) comprising at least one female contact (referred to as a socket) into which a male connector (referred to as a relay) comprising at least one male contact is inserted.
FIG. 1 illustrates the points of electrical contact between a female contact and a male contact in a conventional connection. This electrical contact is produced at the inner wall of the side wall of the female contact.
However, when these connections are used in harsh conditions, that is to say for example subjected to strong vibrations, or when they are subjected to numerous manipulations resulting in many inserts/removals of the female contact with the male contact, the female contact deforms and the electrical contact is then no longer assured continuously.
In addition, the female contacts integrated in electrical connections must have very precise measurements since their dimensioning is dependent in particular on the measurements of the corresponding male contact. However, very slight dimensioning variations may appear during the manufacture of the female contacts. This is why it is very important for the contact between the female contact and a male contact to be established continuously even if the female contacts do not have exactly the required measurements.
Consequently, it would be beneficial to provide a female contact making it possible to assure continuous electrical contact whatever the conditions of use (environment, duration, etc.) and even when slight dimensioning variations occur during the manufacturing process thereof or during use thereof.
The inventors have shown that a female contact comprising a spring would be able to satisfy these requirements.

SOCIETE TECHNIQUE DE PRODUCTIONS INDUSTRIELLES


A quantum cryptographic key distribution (QKD) relay (205) includes one or more interfaces (530-1 through 530-N) and processing logic (505). The one or more interfaces (530-1 through 530-N) receive secret keys from other QKD relays in a QKD network. The processing logic (505) determines one or more paths for transporting the secret keys, using quantum cryptographic techniques, across a QKD network and route the secret keys towards a respective destination across the QKD network using the determined one or more paths.

Conventional packet-switching networks permit cheap and reliable communications independent of the distance between a source node and a destination node in the network. These conventional networks often rely upon either public keys or shared private keys to provide privacy for messages that pass through the network's links. Public key cryptographic systems have the drawback that they have never been proven to be difficult to decipher. Therefore, it is possible that a method of efficiently cracking public key systems may one day be discovered. Such a discovery could make all public key technology obsolete. All supposedly "secure" networks based on public key technology would thus become vulnerable. Shared private keys also have the drawback that the logistics of distributing the private keys can be prohibitive.
Quantum cryptography represents a recent technological development that provides for the assured privacy of a communications link. Quantum cryptography is founded upon the laws of quantum physics and permits the detection of eavesdropping across a link. Quantum cryptographic techniques have been conventionally applied to distribute keys from a single photon source to a single photon detector, either through fiber optic strands or through the air. Although this approach is perfectly feasible for scientific experiments, it does not provide the kind of "anyone to anyone" connectivity that is provided by current communications technology. Conventional quantum cryptographic techniques require a direct connection to anyone with whom one wishes to exchange keying material. Obviously, a large system built along these lines would be impractical, since it would require every person to have enough sources and/or detectors, and fiber strands so that they could employ a dedicated set of equipment for each party with whom they intend to communicate.
Furthermore, conventional quantum cryptographic techniques fail to adequately handle the situations in which eavesdropping is present on a link or when a dedicated link fails (e.g., a fiber is accidentally cut). In conventional quantum cryptographic techniques, further key distribution across the dedicated link becomes impossible until eavesdropping on the link ceases or the link is repaired. In addition, there may exist situations in which a single quantum cryptographic link may not be able to connect two endpoints, such as, for example, if the distance between the two endpoints causes too much signal attenuation, or because the two endpoints use different, incompatible optical encoding schemes.
It would, thus, be desirable to implement a quantum cryptographic network that could provide the "any to any" connectivity of conventional packet-switching networks, such as the Internet, while eliminating the need for a direct connection between parties transporting quantum cryptographic key material, and which may further sustain key distribution even with link failure and/or when eavesdropping exists on the link.
Therefore, there exists a need for systems and methods that combine the assured privacy achieved with quantum cryptography with the distance independent communication achieved with conventional multi-node, multi-link packet switching networks.

Systems and methods for implementing routing protocols and algorithms for quantum cryptographic key transport


An engine start is beforehand detected when a preparation operation to engine start is detected. When the preparation operation is detected based on a seat switch indicating that a driver seats himself on a driver seat, control of an electric current for a heater of an air/fuel ratio sensor is started. The air/fuel ratio sensor is then activated prior to the engine start. Failure diagnosis is conducted on a function for detecting the preparation operation. Namely, the seat switch is diagnosed as having failure, for instance, by the following. Even while a vehicle travels, the seat switch is in an OFF state indicating that no driver is seated. This structure can restrict the engine start without the air/fuel ratio sensor being pre-heated. It can also restrict deteriorating of emission.

Patent Application Publication of USP-2002/0005178 A1 discloses that a heat accumulating device is provided for executing warming-up of an engine of a vehicle prior to a engine start. The engine start is beforehand detected through opening and closing of a door or manipulation of an ignition key as a preparation operation to the engine start. The engine is then warmed up using the heat accumulating device prior to the engine start. Here, in particular, the engine start is prohibited until the warming-up is completed. The warming-up using the heat accumulating device is thereby securely executed.
However, failure of a function for detecting the preparation operation to the engine start naturally leads to incapability of detecting the preparation operation. Accordingly, the warming-up of the engine cannot be executed before the engine starts. Reducing emission thereby becomes difficult due to starting of the engine in low temperature.


The present invention discloses an iron-type golf club head in which the sole portion has a main surface and a stepped surface. Further, the sole portion comprises a chromium coating. The invention creates a unique combination of head shape and surface friction coefficients that minimize the bad effects of turf impact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an iron-type golf club head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a new sole design for an iron-type golf club head to improve turf contact and divot taking
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art discloses sole designs for golf club heads and chromium coating for durability and polishing irregularities. One invention that addresses sole design is U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,530 to Schmidt et al. for a Golf Club with Sole Bevel Indicia. The Schmidt et al. invention discloses an iron type golf club head having a sole which is beveled in order to provide an improved method for embossed numeral placement. The bevel of this invention is flat or substantially flat and inclined upwardly and rearwardly relative to the bottom of the sole. However, the Schmidt patent does not address the improvement of turf contact or desired mass properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,052 to Chappell discloses a hard chrome coating. The invention is an iron golf club with a multilayer construction having a soft nickel alloy core and a hard chrome coating. However, the chrome coating is used to address the problem of durability and polishing inconsistencies which occur during the manufacturing process. The purpose of the invention is to provide a multilayer design which is durable and consistent from club to club with enhanced feel characteristics. The patent does not address the problem of reducing friction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,444 to Buettner discloses a golf club head which is coated with a hard coating of titanium nitride. The patent addresses the method of coating the golf club using tapered pins inserted into golf club hosel bores, which enables the club head to be coated at elevated temperatures without distorting the hosel bores. It does not discuss the capabilities of the coating to reduce friction and enhance golf play.
The golf club sole and the leading edge have meaningful effects on how well the club head maintains speed and direction. For many clubs and shots it is desirable to impact the ball just before the club down swing is complete, this to achieve improved spin for the situation. To achieve this, the club has to contact the ball and transfer energy to the ball near simultaneously with the turf Should the club pass through the turf before the energy is transferred to the ball, the ball speed and spin are diminished.
Also, on contact with the turf, particularly in a downward hit, the impact can be felt as harsh by the golfer. Some golfers become timid about swinging the club toward the turf and attempt to pick the ball off the turf without contact. In general, a divot is taken to allow the club head to contact the ball in the most advantageous orientation. Contacting the ball just prior to the ground is the intent, but for most golfers there are errors in delivering the ball. It is preferable that the club head's path follow through the turf. Often the club head impacts the turf before the ball due to variation in the swing path and, or because the ball lies in the turf such that ball and turf must be hit for the most advantage.


A method of processing an image includes steps of identifying one candidate for a human face region within an image; calculating a probability that the candidate for human face region represents a human face; and saving the probability as attached information to the image. The method of processing an image can also include steps of identifying one candidate for human face region within an image; calculating a probability that the candidate for human face region represents a human face; judging whether or not the candidate for human face region represents a human face by comparing the probability with a threshold; and saving a result of the step of judging as attached information to the image. According to these methods, results of identifying candidates for human face regions will be saved to the image, and further processes to be conducted on the image can be facilitated.

A number of techniques are known for detecting areas of interest in an image, such as a face or other identified object of interest. Face detection is an area of particular interest, as face recognition has importance not only for image processing, but also for identification and security purposes, and for human-computer interface purposes. A human-computer interface not only identifies the location of a face, if a face is present, it may also identify the particular face, and may understand facial expressions and gestures.
Many studies on automatic face detection have been reported recently. References for example include "Face Detection and Rotations Estimation using Color Information," the 5th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication, 1996, pp 341-346, and "Face Detection from Color Images Using a Fuzzy Pattern Matching Method," IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 21, no. 6, June 1999.
All the conventional methods of detecting human faces have their own advantages as well as shortcomings depending upon different algorithms used for processing images. Some methods are accurate but are complex and time-consuming.
Further, it is also very important to detect whether an image is a portrait. An image containing any human faces is called a portrait. In recent years, in association with the rapid spread of modern IT devices, a request for accurately determining a portrait has been increasing. For example, if the image can be judged as a portrait, the printer can adjust its parameters optimized for the portrait when it prints the image. Then the image's printing quality can be greatly improved. For this reason, there has been a strong demand for a device or a process, which can easily and automatically detect a portrait in an image.
Importantly, none of the conventional methods of detecting human faces saves the detecting result to the image, which makes it not convenient for further processing of the image if a particular process is needed for human face regions.
It is thus needed in the art to develop a method and apparatus that can identify human face regions within the image or determine whether an image is a portrait and save the result of the identifying process or the result of the determining process for further processing of the image.

Image processing method, apparatus and storage medium


A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for minimizing the amount of changes that need to be made to exception handling logic when new exceptions are added. Exceptions are organized into hierarchies in a polymorphic exception handler. A root of one of the hierarchies in which an exception occurs is caught. The exception is instructed to rethrow itself. The rethrown exception is caught and identified. A type of the rethrown exception is determined and a message is outputted indicating the type of the rethrown exception.

This application is related to U.S. Patent Applications entitled A SYSTEM, METHOD AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR A DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK and A SYSTEM, METHOD AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR MAINTENANCE AND ADMINISTRATION IN AN E-COMMERCE APPLICATION FRAMEWORK, both of which are filed concurrently herewith and which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to error handlers and more particularly to handling exceptions.
An important use of computers is the transfer of information over a network. Currently, the largest computer network in existence is the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide interconnection of computer networks that communicate using a common protocol. Millions of computers, from low end personal computers to high-end super computers are coupled to the Internet.
The Internet grew out of work funded in the 1960s by the U.S. Defense Department""s Advanced Research Projects Agency. For a long time, Internet was used by researchers in universities and national laboratories to share information. As the existence of the Internet became more widely known, many users outside of the academic/research community (e.g., employees of large corporations) started to use Internet to carry electronic mail.
In 1989, a new type of information system known as the World-Wide-Web (xe2x80x9cthe Webxe2x80x9d) was introduced to the Internet. Early development of the Web took place at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. The Web is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval system aimed to give wide access to a large universe of documents. At that time, the Web was known to and used by the academic/research community only. There was no easily available tool which allows a technically untrained person to access the Web.
In 1993, researchers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) released a Web browser called xe2x80x9cMosaicxe2x80x9d that implemented a graphical user interface (GUI). Mosaic""s graphical user interface was simple to learn yet powerful. The Mosaic browser allows a user to retrieve documents from the World-Wide-Web using simple point-and-click commands. Because the user does not have to be technically trained and the browser is pleasant to use, it has the potential of opening up the Internet to the masses.
The architecture of the Web follows a conventional client-server model. The terms xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d are used to refer to a computer""s general role as a requester of data (the client) or provider of data (the server). Under the Web environment, Web browsers reside in clients and Web documents reside in servers. Web clients and Web servers communicate using a protocol called xe2x80x9cHyperText Transfer Protocolxe2x80x9d (HTTP). A browser opens a connection to a server and initiates a request for a document. The server delivers the requested document, typically in the form of a text document coded in a standard Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format, and when the connection is closed in the above interaction, the server serves a passive role, i.e., it accepts commands from the client and cannot request the client to perform any action.
The communication model under the conventional Web environment provides a very limited level of interaction between clients and servers. In many systems, increasing the level of interaction between components in the systems often makes the systems more robust, but increasing the interaction increases the complexity of the interaction and typically slows the rate of the interaction. Thus, the conventional Web environment provides less complex, faster interactions because of the Web""s level of interaction between clients and servers.
A system, method and article of manufacture are provided for minimizing the amount of changes that need to be made to exception handling logic when new exceptions are added. Exceptions are organized into hierarchies in a polymorphic exception handler. A root of one of the hierarchies in which an exception occurs is caught. The exception is instructed to rethrow itself The rethrown exception is caught and identified. A type of the rethrown exception is determined and a message is outputted indicating the type of the rethrown exception.
In an aspect of the present invention, single exception interfaces may be used as the roots of the hierarchies. In another aspect of the present invention, the polymorphic exception handler may handle each unique root. In a further aspect of the present invention, an added exception may be organized into a hierarchy and handled by the polymorphic exception handler.
In an embodiment of the present invention, handling behavior may be encapsulated in the polymorphic exception handler. in another embodiment of the present invention, catch blocks may also be created to catch the rethrown exception.

System, method, and article of manufacture for a polymorphic exception handler in environment services patterns


A filtering system for separating a composite signal containing two signals in different frequency bands: a high frequency signal and a low frequency signal. The composite signal to be separated is input into an inductive element in a high frequency filter section. The high frequency signal is immediately coupled by mutual induction with a resonant element of the high frequency filter section, the resonant element being designed so that the low frequency signal is not coupled because of the low value of its frequency. The low frequency signal is transmitted to low pass filter section which rejects any signal remaining in the high frequency band.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a filtering system for separating two signals of different frequencies or different frequency bands in a composite signal, one of the signal to be separated being in a relatively low frequency band (e.g., from D.C. to 300 MHz) and the other signal being in a relatively high frequency band (e.g. from 800 Mhz to 20 GHz). The invention also relates to a circuit for installation of this circuit on a wall of a resonant cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Ordinarily, in the telecommunication field, it is convenient to transmit simultaneously, e.g. on a same carrier, such as a cable, two or more signal types, e.g. a high frequency signal that must pass through a pass-band filter and a low frequency signal, that can also include a D.C. level.
For example, FIG. 1a shows the frequency bands S2, e.g. from 0 to about 300 Mhz, and S1, e.g. from 925 to 970 Mhz.
FIG. 1b is a block diagram schematic of a conventional circuit, in which the composite signal S1+S2 is applied to two filters connected in parallel F1A (that allow only band S1 to pass), and F2B, that allows only band S2 to pass.
The technical literature of the prior art discloses many possible circuits to solve this problem. However, these known circuits have many drawbacks, arising in particular from losses, distortion of the bands (especially the high frequency bands), size, cost, etc.
The filtering scheme of FIG. 1b is typically carried out in an embodiment utilizing a low-pass filter F2B with an inductive input, for example the configuration of FIG. 2, in which S1+S2 is applied on the node N that has, at its left side, filter F1A, including substantially a high capacitor C followed by an inductance LH (connected to ground) and, at its right side filter F2B including the inductances L1b, L2b, L3b connected in series and capacitances C1b, C2b, etc. connected in parallel to ground.
The capacitor C prevents the D.C. and low frequencies of S2 from being short-circuited to ground through the input coupling inductance of pass-band filter F1A. The pass-band filter F2B transmits the D.C. and low frequencies.
Even if the above-described prior art circuit can solve the "size" problem, it has many drawbacks, including:
high input capacitance, caused by the sum of C with the capacitances C1b, C2b, etc. of the low-pass filter F2B;
high insertion loss in the high frequency band S1, caused by the fact that the low-pass filter F2B is upstream of, i.e. precedes, the pass-band filter F1A;
the capacitance inserted in series with the input inductance LH of low-pass filter F1A causes a resonance that creates an undesirable attenuation in a band near the bands of the input signal.

System for filtering signals of high and low frequency bands, and relevant implementation device


A turbine blade including an airfoil, the airfoil including an airfoil outer wall having pressure and suction sidewalls joined together at chordally spaced apart leading and trailing edges extending radially outwardly from a blade root to a blade tip surface. A continuous squealer tip rail extends radially outwardly from and substantially continuously around the blade tip surface forming a radially outwardly open squealer pocket. The squealer tip rail includes an aft portion adjacent to the trailing edge, where the pressure side tip rail is discontinued in the chordal location of the aft portion. A plurality of chordally spaced film cooling holes are provided in a surface of the suction sidewall and provides a cooling fluid flow along the aft portion of the squealer tip rail surface to define a sub-boundary layer or film of cooling fluid between a hot gas vortex flow and the aft portion of the squealer tip rail at the suction sidewall.

In a turbomachine, such as a gas turbine engine, air is pressurized in a compressor then mixed with fuel and burned in a combustor to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases are expanded within the turbine section where energy is extracted to power the compressor and to produce useful work, such as powering a propeller for an aircraft in flight or turning a generator to produce electricity. The hot combustion gas travels through a series of turbine stages. A turbine stage may include a row of stationary vanes followed by a row of rotating turbine blades, where the turbine blades extract energy from the hot combustion gas for powering the compressor and providing output power. Since the turbine blades are directly exposed to the hot combustion gas, they are typically provided with internal cooling circuits which channel a coolant, such as compressor bleed air, through the airfoil of the blade and through various film cooling holes around the surface thereof. One type of airfoil extends from a root at a blade platform, which defines the radially inner flowpath for the combustion gas, to a radially outer cap or blade tip section, and includes opposite pressure and suction sides extending axially from leading to trailing edges of the airfoil. The cooling circuit extends inside the airfoil between the pressure and suction sides and is bounded at its top by the blade tip section.
The gas turbine engine efficiency is, at least in part, dependant upon the extent to which the high temperature gases leak across the gap between the turbine blade tips and the seals or shrouds which surround them. The leakage quantity is typically minimized by positioning the radially-outward blade tip section in close proximity to the outer air seal. However, differential thermal elongation and dynamic forces between the blade tip section and outer air seal can cause rubbing therebetween. Also, it should be noted that the heat load on the turbine blade tip section is a function of leakage flow over the blade tip section. Specifically, a high leakage flow will induce a high heat load to the blade tip section, such that gas leakage across the blade tip section and cooling of the blade tip section have to be addressed as a single problem. In a typical construction, the blade tip section of an airfoil may be provided with a squealer tip rail extending radially outwardly a short distance from the blade tip section, and extending substantially completely around the perimeter of the airfoil to define an inner squealer tip pocket facing radially outwardly. The squealer tip rail is located radially closely adjacent to a stationary outer seal wall, or outer turbine shroud, to provide a relatively small clearance gap therebetween to seal or restrict the flow of gas across the blade tip section.
The squealer tip rail is a solid metal projection of the airfoil, and is directly heated by the combustion gas which flows thereover. In addition, a vortex flow of hot gases is typically formed on the suction side of the airfoil adjacent the blade tip, where the size of the vortex generally increases toward the aft end, i.e., the trailing edge, of the airfoil. The squealer tip rail is cooled by a cooling fluid, such as air, channeled from an airfoil cooling circuit to the blade tip section to convect heat away the area of the squealer tip pocket. Convective cooling holes may be provided in the squealer tip pocket located along the squealer tip rail. In addition, heat from the squealer tip rail may be conducted into the squealer tip section and convected away internally of the airfoil by the cooling fluid channeled through the internal cooling circuit. The squealer tip section, including the squealer tip rail, typically operates at temperatures above that of the remainder of the airfoil and can be a life limiting element of the airfoil in a hot turbine environment. In particular, it is known in the art that the portion of the airfoil located at the intersection of the pressure side airfoil surface and the blade tip section is subject to very high heat loads and accordingly is more likely to experience thermal distress. Accordingly, there is a continuing need to provide effective cooling to the surfaces of the blade tip section, and particularly to the squealer tip rail.

Cooling of turbine blade suction tip rail


The stability of an oil-based fluid crude oil fluid may be determined by measuring a first RI value of the crude oil that does not comprise a solvent where the first RI value is used to determine a first solubility parameter therefrom. A second RI value may be taken from the crude oil at a point of asphaltene flocculation during a turbidimetric flocculation titration. The second RI value may be used to determine a second solubility parameter. A process for refining the crude oil may be controlled by maintaining the process or implementing a change to the process based on a ratio of the first solubility parameter to the second solubility parameter.

As world reserves of light, sweet crudes diminish and worldwide consumption of oil increases, refiners seek methods for extracting useful products such as gasoline and fuel oils from heavier crude resources. While not as desirable and easy to process, extensive reserves in the form of "heavy crudes" exist in a number of countries, including Western Canada, Venezuela, Russia, the United States, and elsewhere.
For example, heavy or extra heavy crude oil can be found in the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela, the oil sands in Canada, and the Ugnu Reservoir in Northern Alaska. Alberta produces approximately two-thirds of Canada's oil and more than three-quarters of its natural gas. Nearly half of Alberta's oil is mined from vast oil sands, which contain deposits of a heavy crude oil called bitumen. Alberta's oil sands represent the largest known deposits of bitumen in the world. The oil sands occur in three major areas of the province: the Athabasca River Valley in the northeast, the Peace River area in the north, and the Cold Lake region in east central Alberta.
Such heavy oils (even some not so heavy oils) are often difficult to refine because of their viscosity and propensity for being unstable and precipitating solids, such as asphaltenes, upon storage and processing, most notable asphaltenes. Asphaltenes are most commonly defined as that portion of petroleum, which is soluble in xylene and toluene, but insoluble in heptane or pentane. Asphaltenes exist in crude oil as both soluble species and in the form of colloidal dispersions stabilized by other components in the crude oil. Asphaltenes have higher molecular weights and are the more polar fractions of crude oil, and can precipitate upon pressure, temperature, and compositional changes in crude oil resulting from blending or other mechanical or physicochemical processing. Asphaltene precipitation and deposition can cause problems in subterranean reservoirs, upstream production facilities, mid-stream transportation facilities, refineries, and fuel blending operations. In petroleum production facilities, asphaltene precipitation and deposition can occur in near wellbore reservoir regions, wells, flowlines, separators, and other equipment.
When asphaltenes precipitate from crude oil, they can foul equipment and reduce the quality of the products being refined. Other issues associated with heavy crude oil include: high solids; increased amounts of entrained water; and high sulfur content; high total acid number (TAN) and high metals. Asphaltene deposition is a well-known problem affecting all aspects of petroleum production and processing. Crude oils containing high or low levels of asphaltenes can be destabilized while processing causing fouling, formation of sludge, corrosion and all the equipment fixing, cleaning, and cost aggravations associated with these effects.
Additional operational problems observed with heavy crude oil: difficulty in blending crude streams, increased unit upsets, increased pollution, loss of through-put, difficulty with desalting, increased load on wastewater plants, increase in air emissions, and flexibility in plant operations is reduced. All of this leads to an overall increase in operating costs.
Asphaltenes may be present and stable in a crude oil under equilibrium reservoir conditions, but may aggregate or deposit as temperatures, pressures, and overall fluid compositions change as the crude oil is removed from the reservoir during production and/or being further refined. Asphaltenes are typically dark brown to black-colored amorphous solids with complex structures and relatively high molecular weights.
Asphaltene stability can even be disturbed by mixing hydrocarbon-based fluids i.e. such as mixing two types of crude oils together, two types of shale oils together, condensates, and others, of different origins at certain ratios as the chemistry of the hydrocarbon-based fluids from different sources may be incompatible and induce destabilization of the asphaltenes therein. In non-limiting examples, such as during refining or fuel blending, two or more hydrocarbon-based fluids may be mixed together. Sometimes, changes in physical conditions are sufficient to induce destabilization, or even the mixture of different hydrocarbon-based fluids that have incompatible chemistries. Said differently, even if neither hydrocarbon-based fluid, alone, has destabilized foulants or the hydrocarbon-based fluid would not act as a destabilizing additive by itself, the mixing or the mixture of two or more hydrocarbon-based fluids may further destabilize the foulants present in either hydrocarbon-based fluid.
There are several shortcomings when measuring asphaltene stability to improve foulant stability. Thus, it would be desirable to develop better methods of analyzing the stability of the asphaltenes within crude oils.

Methods of determining crude oil stability


Apparatus and methods for removably securing payloads are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes coupling the payload to a body of a locking assembly, engaging an insertion portion of the body into the channel, translating the insertion portion of the body along the track from a first position to a second position, the body being substantially constrained from movement away from the track in the second position, and actuating at least one engagement member from an unsecured position to a secured position, a portion of the track being clampably engaged by the at least one engagement member and the insertion portion of the body when the at least one engagement member is positioned in the secured position such that the body is substantially constrained from movement along the track by the at least one engagement member.

Personnel and cargo are frequently transported in aircraft of various types. For example, some aircraft are configured to carry passengers, while others are configured to carry cargo. Still other aircraft (e.g., a "combi" aircraft) are configured to carry some combination of passengers and cargo in the same aircraft cabin. In all of these aircraft, the payload article is generally secured to a load supporting surface, such as a reinforced floor structure, by removable fittings coupled to the payload article that engage longitudinal tracks mounted on or within the load supporting surface. Accordingly, the payload article, which may include an aircraft seat, a cargo pallet, or other payload containers or devices, may be suitably positioned on a desired portion of the load supporting surface and then secured in the selected position by fixably engaging the fittings in the longitudinal tracks.
The installation and removal of the payload article generally requires the use of one or more hand tools to respectively tension and release the fittings coupling the fitting to the track. As a consequence, in cases where a large number of fittings must be installed or removed, a relatively large amount of time must be devoted to individually tension or release the fittings. For example, when the payload article is a passenger seat in a commercial aircraft, the seat must be properly positioned and located in the tracks so that a desired seat pitch is obtained. The seat is then fixedly coupled to the track using hand tools, such as socket wrenches. Consequently, approximately twenty minutes is required to properly install or remove the seat. Thus, several man-hours are typically required to install or remove only a portion of the seats presently available in a typical commercial passenger aircraft.
There presently exists a need in the art for a fitting that may be removably coupled to a track in a load supporting structure so that a payload article may be quickly and conveniently engaged and disengaged from the track.

Apparatus and methods for removably securing payloads in an aircraft


Apparatuses and methods for moving playing cards from a first group of cards into plural hands of cards, wherein each of the hands contains a random arrangement of cards. The apparatus may comprise a card receiver for receiving the first group of cards, a single stack of card-receiving compartments generally adjacent to the card receiver, the stack generally vertically movable, an elevator for moving the stack, a card-moving mechanism between the card receiver and the stack, and a microprocessor that controls the card-moving mechanism and the elevator so that an individual card is moved into an identified compartment. The number of compartments receiving cards and the number of cards moved to each compartment may be selected. Apparatuses for feeding cards may comprise a surface for supporting a stack of cards, a feed roller with a frictional outer surface, a drive mechanism for causing rotation of the feed roller, a pair of speed-up rollers to advance the cards out of the feed roller, and a clutch mechanism for disengaging the feed roller from the drive mechanism as the card comes into contact with the speed-up rollers.

Wagering games based on the outcome of randomly generated or selected symbols are well known. Such games are widely played in gaming establishments such as casinos and the wagering games include card games wherein the symbols comprise familiar, common playing cards. Card games such as twenty-one or blackjack, poker and variations of poker and the like are excellent card games for use in casinos. Desirable attributes of casino card games are that the games are exciting, they can be learned and understood easily by players, and they move or are played rapidly to a wager-resolving outcome.
From the perspective of players, the time the dealer must spend in shuffling diminishes the excitement of the game. From the perspective of casinos, shuffling time reduces the number of hands placed, reduces the number of wagers placed and resolved in a given amount of time, thereby reducing revenue. Casinos would like to increase the amount of revenue generated by a game without changing games, particularly a popular game, without making obvious changes in the play of the game that affect the hold of the casino, and without increasing the minimum size of wagers. One approach to speeding play is directed specifically to the fact that playing time is decreased by shuffling and dealing events. This approach has led to the development of electromechanical or mechanical card-shuffling devices. Such devices increase the speed of shuffling and dealing, thereby increasing playing time. Such devices also add to the excitement of a game by reducing the time the dealer or house has to spend in preparing to play the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,969 to Samsel, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,367 to Howard disclose automatic card shufflers. The Samsel, Jr. patent discloses a card shuffler having a housing with two wells for receiving stacks of cards. A first extractor selects, removes and intermixes the bottommost card from each stack and delivers the intermixed cards to a storage compartment. A second extractor sequentially removes the bottommost card from the storage compartment and delivers it to a typical shoe from which the dealer may take it for presentation to the players. The Howard patent discloses a card mixer for randomly interleaving cards including a carriage-supported ejector for ejecting a group of cards (approximately two playing decks in number, which may then be removed manually from the shuffler or dropped automatically into a chute for delivery to a typical dealing shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,712 to Lorber et al. discloses an automatic shuffling apparatus designed to intermix multiple decks of cards under the programmed control of a computer. The Lorber et al. apparatus is a carousel-type shuffler having a container, a storage device for storing shuffled playing cards, a removing device and an inserting device for intermixing the playing cards in the container, a dealing shoe and supplying means for supplying the shuffled playing cards from the storage device to the dealing shoe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,453 to Stevens et al. discloses an apparatus for automatically shuffling cards. The Stevens et al. machine includes three contiguous magazines with an elevatable platform in the center magazine only. Unshuffled cards are placed in the center magazine and the spitting rollers at the top of the magazine spit the cards randomly to the left and right magazines in a simultaneous cutting and shuffling step. The cards are moved back into the center magazine by direct lateral movement of each shuffled stack, placing one stack on top of the other to stack all cards in a shuffled stack in the center magazine. The order of the cards in each stack does not change in moving from the right and left magazines into the center magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,954 to Erickson et al. discloses the concept of delivering cards one at a time into one of a number vertically stacked card-shuffling compartments. The Erickson patent also discloses using a logic circuit to determine the sequence for determining the delivery location of a card, and that a card shuffler can be used to deal stacks of shuffled cards to a player. U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,140 to Huen discloses a card dispenser which dispenses or deals cards in four discrete directions onto a playing surface, and U.S. Pat. No. 793,489 to Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 2,001,918 to Nevins, U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,343 to Warner, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,473 to Friedman et al. disclose various card holders, some of which include recesses (e.g., Friedman et al.) to facilitate removal of cards. U.S. Pat. No. 2,950,005 to MacDonald and U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,670 to Cassady et al. disclose card-sorting devices that require specially marked cards, clearly undesirable for gaming and casino play.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,421 to Hoffman discloses a card-shuffling device including a card-loading station with a conveyor belt. The belt moves the lowermost card in a stack onto a distribution elevator whereby a stack of cards is accumulated on the distribution elevator. Adjacent to the elevator is a vertical stack of mixing pockets. A microprocessor preprogrammed with a finite number of distribution schedules sends a sequence of signals to the elevator corresponding to heights called out in the schedule. Each distribution schedule comprises a preselected distribution sequence that is fixed as opposed to random. Single cards are moved into the respective pocket at that height. The distribution schedule is either randomly selected or schedules are executed in sequence. When the microprocessor completes the execution of a single distribution cycle, the cards are removed a stack at a time and loaded into a second elevator. The second elevator delivers cards to an output reservoir. Thus, the Hoffman patent requires a two-step shuffle, i.e., a program is required to select the order in which stacks are loaded and moved onto the second elevator and delivers a shuffled deck or decks. The Hoffman patent does not disclose randomly selecting a location within the vertical stack for delivering each card. Nor does the Hoffman patent disclose a single-stage process that randomly delivers hands of shuffled cards with a degree of randomness satisfactory to casinos and players. Further, there is no disclosure in the Hoffman patent about how to deliver a preselected number of cards to a preselected number of hands ready for use by players or participants in a game. Another card-handling apparatus with an elevator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,085 to Johnson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,743 to Nicoletti discloses a playing card dispenser including an inclined surface and a card pusher for urging cards down the inclined surface.
Other known card-shuffling devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,644 to Stephenson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,488 to Plevyak et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,807,884 and 5,275,411 both to Breeding, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,189 to Breeding et al. The Breeding patents disclose machines for automatically shuffling a single deck of cards including a deck-receiving zone, a carriage section for separating a deck into two deck portions, a sloped mechanism positioned between adjacent corners of the deck portions, and an apparatus for snapping the cards over the sloped mechanism to interleave the cards.
The Breeding single-deck shufflers used in connection with LET IT RIDE® stud poker are programmed to first shuffle a deck of cards, and then sequentially deliver hands of a preselected number of cards for each player. LET IT RIDE® stud poker is the subject of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,288,081 and 5,437,462 to Breeding, which are herein incorporated by reference. The Breeding single-deck shuffler delivers three cards from the shuffled deck in sequence to a receiving rack. The dealer removes the first hand from the rack. Then, the next hand is automatically delivered. The dealer inputs the number of players, and the shuffler deals out that many hands plus a dealer hand. The Breeding single-deck shufflers are capable of shuffling a single deck and delivering seven player hands plus a dealer hand in approximately 60 seconds. The Breeding shuffler is a complex electromechanical device that requires tuning and adjustment during installation. The shufflers also require periodic adjustment. The Breeding et al. device, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,068,258; 5,695,189; and 5,303,921 are directed to shuffling machines for shuffling multiple decks of cards with three magazines wherein unshuffled cards are cut then shuffled.
Although the devices disclosed in the preceding patents, particularly the Breeding machines, provide improvements in card-shuffling devices, none discloses or suggests a device and method for providing a plurality of hands of cards, wherein the hands are ready for play and wherein each comprises a randomly selected arrangement of cards, without first randomly shuffling the entire deck. A device and method which provides a plurality of ready-to-play hands of a selected number of randomly arranged cards at a greater speed than known devices without shuffling the entire deck or decks would speed and facilitate the casino play of card games.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,154 describes an apparatus for moving playing cards from a first group of cards into plural groups, each of the plural groups containing a random arrangement of cards, the apparatus comprising: a card receiver for receiving the first group of unshuffled cards; a single stack of card-receiving compartments generally adjacent to the card receiver, the stack generally adjacent to and movable with respect to the first group of cards; and a drive mechanism that moves the stack by means of translation relative to the first group of unshuffled cards; a card-moving mechanism between the card receiver and the stack; and a processing unit that controls the card-moving mechanism and the drive mechanism so that a selected quantity of cards is moved into a selected number of compartments.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Provided herein are butter compositions, which include a legume butter or nut butter or seed butter and a plant-derived wax that increases the hardness of the butter compositions and reduces the separation of oil from the butter during storage. Butter compositions incorporating such plant-derived waxes and methods of manufacturing these butter compositions are also disclosed.

Nut butters are typically prepared by roasting and blanching raw nuts and then grinding them. The resulting product is a pasty material, which is a mixture of nut particles and oil that is released from the cellular structure of the nuts during the grinding operation. If this product is allowed to stand for a period of time, then the oil tends to separate from the product and form separate layer on the top leaving a solid mass of ground nut particles underneath.
In order to prevent this oil separation, stabilizers or stabilizing agents such as mono- and diglycerides, often consisting of high melting point fats and oils such as partially or completely hydrogenated fats or oils, can be included in the nut butter preparations. Examples of oils from which such stabilizers are made include rapeseed, cottonseed, and soybean oils. It is known that certain stabilizers form a crystalline structure when cooled, and that such crystalline structures assist in preventing the oil from separating from the ground nut particles.
Customers are increasingly paying closer attention to their health and to the particulars regarding their food sources. As such, consumers are questioning their consumption of products which contain partially or completely hydrogenated fats or oils because it is known that these partially or completely hydrogenated fats or oils contain high amounts of trans-fat (also known as a trans-fatty acid) and many doctors consider trans-fat to be the worst type of fat that can be consumed. Unlike other dietary fats, trans-fat raises both the low density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as "bad" cholesterol, and lowers the high density lipoprotein (HDL) also known as "good" cholesterol. Furthermore, studies have shown that the combination of high LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol can increase the risk of heart disease in both men and women.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a stabilized butter composition that has improved or longer-term storage stability including reduced oil separation.
In general, one aspect of the invention is to provide a butter composition. The butter composition comprises at least one type of a roasted and ground nut, seed or legume, and a stabilizer, wherein the stabilizer is a plant-derived wax.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of preparing a stabilized butter composition is provided. The method comprises the steps of roasting at least one variety of a nut, seed or legume, grinding the at least one variety of nut, seed or legume to form a nut paste, seed paste or legume paste, heating a plant-derived wax stabilizer above its melting point to form a pourable stabilizer, mixing the pourable stabilizer with the nut paste, seed paste or legume paste to form a mixture, and cooling the mixture to form the stabilized butter composition.
In still yet another aspect of the invention, a butter stabilizer composition is provided. The nut stabilizer composition comprises a plant-derived wax baying an ester content in the range from about 78%-100% and a melting point in the range from about 74° C.-82° C.
The present invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention to the embodiment described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.


A door device of a small-sized vehicle, that enables easily interlocking a door lock and a lever is provided. An openable door 70 is provided to a side of a body, a lever 92 provided inside the door 70 for opening the door 70 is swingably provided, and a rotational central axis of a lever supporting shaft 120 turned by a swing of the lever 92 and a rotational central axis of a latch for a door lock (a lever member 144) driven by a turn of the supporting shaft 120 are made the same.

A small-sized vehicle includes a multiple utility vehicle (MUV) that can run on wasteland and others. This type of some vehicles are provided with a seated type of seat, a leg space located in front of the seat and continuous in a lateral direction and the open sides of a body (for example, refer to a patent document 1).    Patent document 1: JP-A No. 2007-269147