A pacemaker having two bipolar leads, one atrial, one ventricular, each with TIP and RING electrodes, configured as for conventional bipolar pacing/sensing in both chambers. Switching circuitry in the pacemaker is operable to select from among various possible sensing configurations, including one configuration in which sensing is performed between the ring electrodes of the respective pacing/sensing leads. Pacing is preferably performed in a conventional unipolar configuration in each chamber, from the respective tip electrodes. The "ring-to-ring" EGM signal is applied to filtering and EGM amplifier circuitry, and then provided to a telemetry system for transmission to an external receiver. The ring-to-ring EGM signal possesses the high resolution properties of conventional intracardiac signals, and is relatively unaffected by the after-potentials and tissue polarization effects that arise when the same lead is used for pacing and sensing. Additionally, the ring-to-ring EGM signal is a composite of atrial and ventricular electrical signals, and thus has an appearance similar to that of surface ECGS. In the disclosed embodiment, separate atrial and ventricular EGM amplifiers are provided, with the atrial EGM amplifier receiving a conventional atrial unipolar sensing signal and the ventricular EGM amplifier receiving a conventional ventricular unipolar sensing signal. The outputs from the respective atrial and ventricular EGM amplifiers are algebraically multiplied, and the multiplied signal is applied to a threshold detector. Capture is verified when the multiplied signal experiences a positive voltage spike that exceeds a predetermined threshold in the threshold detector.

Implantable cardiac pacemakers of varying degrees of sophistication and operational capability are well known in the art. Earlier pacemakers were simple by today's standards, typically being capable of pacing only in a single chamber of the patient's heart, and only at an asynchronous, fixed, and uninhibited pacing rate. Today, pacemakers are available which are capable of synchronous, inhibited pacing in both chambers, at a pacing rate which may be varied according to detected intrinsic cardiac activity or some other physiological indication of the patient's metabolic needs.
Pacemakers are most commonly operated in conjunction with one or more leads, for conveying cardiac stimulating pulses from the pacemaker to the patient's heart, and for conveying electrical cardiac signals from the heart to the pacemaker's sensing circuitry. At least two different types of pacemaker leads, unipolar and bipolar, are commonly known and used.
Unipolar leads have only a single electrode and a single electrical conductor therein. The electrode is disposed at or near the distal end of the lead, which is situated in some particular location in the patient's heart, for example at the apex of the heart in the right ventricle, in the atrial chamber, or in the coronary sinus. The single electrode and conductor of a unipolar lead are used both for sensing (that is, for conducting electrical cardiac signals from the heart to the pacemaker) and for pacing (that is, for delivering stimulating pulses from the pacemaker to the heart.
Bipolar leads have two electrodes and two electrically isolated conductors therein. Often, one electrode, called the "tip" electrode, is a conductive contact disposed at the distal end of the lead, while a second electrode, called the "ring" electrode, is a conductive ring disposed on the lead body some distance back from the distal end of the lead. One of the isolated conductors conducts signals between the pacemaker and the tip electrode, while the other conducts signals between the pacemaker and the ring electrode.
In the case of unipolar pacing and sensing, the electrically conductive pacemaker canister can serve as an indifferent electrode, with pacing and sensing signals being conducted between the lead electrode and the pacemaker canister. In bipolar pacing and sensing, it is not necessary to use the pacemaker canister as an electrode in the pacing or sensing circuit, since pacing and sensing can occur between the tip electrode and the ring electrode, rather than between the tip electrode and the pacemaker canister as in a unipolar configuration.
As pacemaker functionality has become increasingly sophisticated and complex, it has become ever more important for the physician to monitor and obtain information about the pacemaker's operation and the heart's responses to the pacing therapy. Accordingly, many pacemakers today are capable of transmitting, for example via radio-frequency telemetry, information about the pacemaker's current programmable parameter settings and the pacemaker's operational status. In addition, the telemetry system may be capable of transmitting a representation of the intracardiac electrogram (EGM). The electrical cardiac signal received on the pacemaker lead and provided to the pacemaker's sensing circuitry can also be applied to the telemetry system, and transmitted in either analog or digital form to an external receiver, where the intracardiac electrogram can be recorded and/or viewed on a strip chart or ECG monitor.
In order to verify or optimize operation of an implanted pacemaker, a physician must be able to determine, among other things, when a stimulating pulse has been delivered to a chamber of the heart, and whether the stimulating pulse possessed sufficient energy to evoke a response from that chamber of the heart (i.e., whether "capture" was achieved). Such determinations can be difficult to make, particularly with some of the more advanced dual chamber, rate-responsive pacemakers in which the pacing rate may vary from one cardiac cycle to the next, and in which stimulating pulses may or may not be delivered depending upon sensed intrinsic cardiac activity.
Often, a physician will use a conventional surface electrocardiogram (surface ECG) equipment to monitor cardiac and pacemaker functions. Obtaining a surface ECG usually requires a hospital visit, and can involve placement of a dozen or more skin electrodes. This can be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and expensive for the patient. In addition, cardiac signals are subject to attenuation and distortion when they pass through the patient's tissue to be received by surface electrodes, and this can complicate the interpretation of the signals and assessment of cardiac and pacemaker function. In some cases, the morphological aspects of an electrical cardiac signal that must be detected to accurately assess cardiac or pacemaker function are simply not revealed in the surface ECG. For example, in determining whether a pacemaker has achieved capture, the physician must look at electrical cardiac signals for evidence of an evoked cardiac response to a pacing stimulus. The electrical evidence of an evoked response is a subtle characteristic of the cardiac signal. Additionally, the stimulating pulse is often not visible in surface ECG tracings of bipolar lead configurations.
Intracardiac electrogram (EGM) signals, derived from the electrical cardiac signal on the pacemaker lead(s) and transmitted to an external programmer as described above, are also known to be useful in monitoring and verifying pacemaker operation. One perceived drawback to such intracardiac EGM signals, however, is that since the same lead is used for pacing and sensing, the high stimulating pulse voltage spike, after-potentials, and electrode-tissue polarizations render the intracardiac EGM system "blind" to the cardiac signal for a period of time immediately following the delivery of each stimulating pulse. Unfortunately, it is during this time period immediately following a stimulating pulse that is of most interest in determining whether capture has been achieved (i.e., whether there has been an evoked response).
Typically, in dual chamber pacing, atrial and ventricular EGM signals are detected using the same lead configuration (i.e., unipolar or bipolar) as used for pacing in the respective chambers. For example, if atrial bipolar pacing between the tip and ring electrodes on the atrial lead, the atrial tip and ring electrodes will also provide the inputs to the atrial sense amplifier.
With conventional surface ECG electrodes, the electrogram signal viewed by the physician on the ECG monitor or strip chart recorder represents a composite of the atrial and ventricular signals of the heart. In the inventors' experience, it has generally been found that physicians are generally more familiar with this type of ECG waveform than the separate atrial and ventricular signals provided from intracardiac electrodes. Since a surface ECG signal represents both the atrial and ventricular signals simultaneously, the physician can easily perceive the timing relationships between activity in the two chambers, the relative magnitudes of atrial and ventricular signals, and possibly evidence of an evoked cardiac response. With the separate atrial and ventricular signals provided from intracardiac electrodes, on the other hand, the physician must somehow view both signals at once, such as on a dual-trace ECG monitor or a dual-trace strip chart recorder, in order to ascertain information about the interaction or coordination of atrial and ventricular cardiac activity, and about the operation of the pacemaker. Also, intracardiac EGM signals are susceptible to the aforementioned problems with after-potentials and polarization, making detection of evoked responses difficult.
Thus, although intracardiac electrogram signals offer greater resolution (i.e., less distortion and attenuation of cardiac signals) than surface ECG signals, intracardiac pacing leads are not effective for all purposes, since the above-noted problems of after-potentials and electrode-tissue polarizations render the pacing lead "blind" to electrical cardiac activity immediately following delivery of a stimulating pulse from that lead.
The ability to detect capture in a pacemaker is extremely desirable, since delivering pacing pulses having energy far in excess of the patient's stimulation threshold is wasteful of the pacemaker's limited power supply (typically a battery). Accordingly, several different techniques for verifying capture and adjusting a pacemaker's stimulation pulse energy have been shown in the prior art.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,792 issued to Mulier et al. on Sep. 11, 1973 and entitled "Automatic Threshold Compensating Demand Pacemaker" discloses a pacemaker in which the energy of each stimulating pulse is decreased by an incremental amount from the previous stimulating pulse. The pacemaker disclosed in the '792 patent employs three electrodes: a sensing electrode, a stimulating electrode, and a common electrode. According to the '792 patent, the common electrode must be of sufficient size to avoid after-potential and polarization problems. The pacemaker disclosed in the '792 patent monitors sensed activity during a 100-msec "window" following each stimulating pulse; if loss of capture is detected (i.e., if no intrinsic cardiac activity is detected in the 100-mSec post-stimulation time window), the pacemaker next succeeding stimulating pulse is increased in energy, but only by an amount sufficient to raise the stimulating pulse energy safely over the last stimulating pulse which did achieve capture.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,024 issued to Bowers on Nov. 18, 1975 and entitled "Threshold Tracking System and Method for Stimulating a Physiological System" appears to disclose a pacemaker which continuously or periodically performs a stimulation threshold test to determine the minimum energy of a stimulating pulse that will achieve capture. The stimulating pulse energy level is periodically readjusted to be very near the stimulation threshold. Intrinsic cardiac activity is monitored during a 100-mSec time window following delivery of a stimulating pulse. If capture is not achieved, one or more "back-up" pulses are delivered until an evoked response is achieved. The stimulating pulse energy level is then re-adjusted upward.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,758 issued to Jirak on Apr. 13, 1976 and entitled "Automatic Threshold Following Cardiac Pacer" there appears to be disclosed a pacemaker in which the energy of each stimulating pulse is decreased from that of the previous stimulating pulse, until loss of capture is detected, whereupon the stimulating pulse energy is increased, and then the incremental decreases are resumed and the process repeated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,189 issued to Auerbach et al. on Oct. 25, 1977 and entitled "Condition Monitoring Pacer", U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,139 issued to Auerbach on May 9, 1978 and entitled "Automatic Detection and Registration of Failure Condition in a Cardiac Pacer Monitoring System", U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,865 issued to Auerbach et al. on Jun. 27, 1978 and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Monitoring a Timed Failure Condition Relationship in a Cardiac Pacer", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,892 issued to Auerbach on Mar. 20, 1979 and entitled "Cardiac Pacer and Monitor System" are commonly-assigned patents which each appear to disclose a pacemaker having fast-recovery circuitry operable to eliminate after-potentials in a sense amplifier dedicated to monitoring capture immediately following delivery of a pacing pulse. According to the '189, '139, '865 and '892 specifications, the dedicated capture sense amplifier is thereby able to amplify any evoked response of the heart to the stimulating pulse. Cardiac signals from the pacing/sensing leads are sampled at appropriate times following delivery of a stimulating pulse, and the sampled values are compared with predetermined threshold values to determine whether an adequate evoked response has occurred. If an insufficient evoked response (or no evoked response) is detected more than a predetermined number of times in a row, the pacemaker responds by increasing the energy of stimulating pulses, and by generating a marker pulse that can be recorded on a surface ECG.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,627 issued to Lewyn et al. on Sep. 19, 1978 and entitled "Cardiac Pacer System and Method with Capture Verification Signal" discloses a pacemaker having circuitry that is said to remove electrode polarization energy from the input of the pacemaker's sense amplifier, so that sensing can resume very shortly (18-mSec, according to the '627 specification) after a stimulating pulse is delivered. Thus, the pacemaker described in the '627 patent is said to be capable of detecting capture even though only a single lead is used for both pacing and sensing functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,628 issued to Rizk on Sep. 19, 1978 and entitled "Demand Pacemaker With Self-Adjusting Threshold and Defibrillating Feature" appears to disclose a pacemaker having an electromechanical transducer adapted to detect a ventricular contraction following delivery of a stimulating pulse. The pacemaker circuitry increments a counter upon delivery of stimulating pulse. If a ventricular response to the stimulating pulse is detected by the electromechanical transducer during the refractory period after the stimulating pulse, the counter is decremented. If no response is detected, the counter is not decremented. The energy level of pacing pulses varies according to the count value of the counter; thus, if one or more stimulating pulses are delivered without a corresponding ventricular response, the energy level of subsequent pacing pulses will be increased in response to the positive, non-zero count value in the counter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,803 issued to Rickards on Oct. 21, 1980 and entitled "Physiologically Adaptive Cardiac Pacemaker" apparently discloses a pacemaker having a first sense amplifier for detecting QRS complexes, and a second sense amplifier for detecting T-waves (i.e., a ventricular evoked response). According to the '803 specification, the pacemaker varies its base pacing rate in proportion to the time interval between a delivered stimulus and an evoked response (T-wave) thereto. If no evoked response is detected, the stimulating pulse energy is incrementally increased. The '803 specification further describes a magnet mode in which pacing stimuli are delivered at an asynchronous rate with maximum energy. When the magnet is removed, the pacemaker reduces the stimulating pulse energy in a sequence of steps in successive cycles, until a pacing pulse is delivered which does not evoke a response. Then, the pacing energy is increased one step.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,396 issued to Wittkampf et al. on Dec. 15, 1981 and entitled "Rate Adaptive Pacemaker and Method of Cardiac Pacing" relates to a pacemaker having so-called "polarization compensation circuitry" that is said to produce a compensation signal that is combined, via a differential adder, to the sense amplifier inputs. According to the '396 specification, this compensation signal is said to counter the effects of electrode polarization, so that QRS complexes and T-waves can be accurately sensed following delivery of a stimulating pulse. The '396 specification also describes an initial, positive-going excursion of each stimulating pulse, followed by the conventional negative-going stimulating pulse itself. The initial, positive-going portion of the stimulating pulse is said to further compensate for the effects of electrode polarization.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,508 issued to DeCote on Jun. 23, 1987 and entitled "Low-Power Consumption Cardiac Pacer Based on Automatic Verification of Evoked Contractions", U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,509 issued to DeCote, Jr. on Jun. 23, 1987 and entitled "System and Method for Detecting Evoked Cardiac Contractions", U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,142 issued to DeCote, Jr. on Nov. 24, 1987 and entitled Automatic Cardiac Capture Threshold Determination System and Method", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,376 issued to DeCote, Jr. on Mar. 8, 1988 and entitled "Cardiac Pacemaker and Method Providing Means for Periodically Determining Capture Threshold and Adjusting Pulse Output Level Accordingly" are commonly-assigned patents which relate to a capture determination scheme. According to these patents, a capture detect circuit is provided which is said to operate based on an assumption that if pacing pulses are applied to the heart in closely-spaced pairs, only one of the two pulses can possibly evoke a cardiac response. Furthermore, according to these patents, if the first pulse of the pair is delivered at an energy level known to exceed the patient's capture threshold, then this first pulse will evoke a response, and the second one of the pair will not. The capture verification circuit described in these patents digitizes the "recovery artifact" (i.e., the electrode polarization occurring after a pacing pulse) following the second pacing pulse of the pair. According to these specifications, the digitized recovery artifact will be the same for any pacing pulse which does not evoke a response. Thereafter, only single pacing pulses need to be delivered; the recovery artifact following each pacing pulse is then compared to the digitized recovery artifact from the non-capture pacing pulse. Only recovery artifacts from other pacing pulses that did not evoke a response will match the digitized recovery artifact; a pacing pulse which does evoke a response will differ from the digitized artifact, and this detection of this difference indicates that capture has been achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,376 issued to Callaghan et al. on Sep. 11, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation", U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,460 issued to Callaghan et al. on Nov. 13, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation", U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,461 issued to Callaghan et al. on Nov. 13, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation", U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,462 issued to Callaghan et al. on Nov. 13, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation", U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,464 issued to Callaghan et al. on Nov. 13, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,467 issued to Callaghan et al. on Nov. 13, 1990 and entitled "Pacemaker With Improved Automatic Output Regulation" (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Callaghan et al. patents.) are commonly-assigned patents which relate to a pacemaker said to be capable of automatic capture verification and pacing threshold determination. According to the Callaghan et al. patents, a "charge dump" circuit is provided for discharging polarization potentials on the output capacitor and electrode immediately after delivery of each pacing pulse. Pacing is peformed between the tip electrode of a bipolar pacing/sensing lead and the pacemaker canister, serving as a common or indifferent electrode. Sensing of intrinsic cardiac actitivity is performed in conventional bipolar manner (i.e., between the tip and ring electrodes of the bipolar lead). Sensing of cardiac activity following delivery of a pacing pulse, on the other hand, is performed between the ring electrode and the pacemaker canister.
According to the Callaghan et al. patents, a capture detection circuit is coupled to the ring electrode and is activated during a 60-mSec time window following delivery of pacing pulse. Capture verification is normally performed every four cardiac cycles; if capture is not detected upon capture verification, the pacing rate is temporarily increased by 5-PPM, in order to determine whether the apparent loss of capture is actually the result of a fusion beat (i.e., a simultaneous instrinsic and paced event). If the possibility of a fusion beat is ruled out, the stimulating pulse energy in increased incrementally until capture is obtained (and the energy is further increased to provide a safety margin between the stimulation threshold and the pulse energy.
Notwithstanding the variety of prior art arrangements for enabling a pacemaker to verify capture, it is believed by the inventors that there has yet to be shown in the prior art a method for verifying capture that is well-suited to dual-chamber pacemakers.
For example, many of the above-noted prior art references relating to capture verification (e.g., Mulier et al. '792, Bowers '024, Jirak '758, Auerbach et al. '189, and '865, Auerbach '139 and '892, Lewyn et al. '627, Rizk '628, Rickards '803, Wittkampf et al. '396, DeCote '508, '509, '142, and '376, and Callaghan et al. '376, '460, '461, '462, '464, and '467) appear to address only single-chamber (specifically, ventricular) pacing and sensing.
It appears to the inventors that in the prior art, the problems with electrode polarization and after-potentials has been dealt with primarily in two ways: either additional circuitry is required to quickly counteract such after-potentials following a stimulation pulse, or an additional electrode or lead is required that is dedicated to the capture sensing function. The additional circuitry is considered undesirable, since it itself consumes some power, and increases the size and complexity of the pacemaker's circuitry. A lead dedicated to the capture sensing function is also considered undesirable, particularly with dual-chamber pacemakers which already require two leads. Lastly, none of the above methods is totally without problems as no successful commercial product has been developed based upon the above patents.

Cardiac pacemaker with auto-capture function


The invention relates to a novel process, novel process steps and novel intermediates useful in the synthesis of pharmaceutically active compounds, in particular neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitors.

The present invention relates to a method to prepare N-acyl derivatives of biphenyl alanine. N-acyl derivatives of biphenyl alanine are key intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceutically active compounds, in particular neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitors, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,810, U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,516, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,816, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,641, South African Patent Application 84/0670, UK 69578, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,996, EP 00342850, GB 02218983, WO 92/14706, EP 0034391 1, JP 06234754, EP 00361365, WO 90/09374, JP 07157459, WO 94/15908, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,990, U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,632, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,522, EP 00636621, WO 93/09101, EP 00590442, WO 93/10773, WO2008/031567 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,996.
Typically, synthetic methods to prepare biphenyl alanine derivatives use expensive starting materials such as non-natural D-tyrosine. Moreover, said methods require the use of trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride, which is also expensive, to activate the phenolic hydroxyl in order to carry out the aryl coupling reaction leading to the desired biphenyl structure. One example of such a synthetic approach is described in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 1995, Vol. 38 No. 10. Scheme 1 illustrates one of these methods:

Therefore, there is a strong need to develop inexpensive methods to prepare biphenyl alanine derivatives. It is found that the present invention meets this objective and thus provides a process that is industrially advantageous.

Process for the manufacture of N-acylbiphenyl alanine

ZHEJIANG JIUZHOU PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD


The hierarchal clustering method for large XML data is a scalable technique that takes large XML data sets and measures distances between those sets of data and then arranges those data into groups according to the distance measurements. The method can cluster XML data by both content and structure, and can cluster homogeneous XML data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data mining, and particularly to a hierarchal clustering method for large XML data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data clustering is defined as the problem of grouping similar objects such that similarity between objects of the same group is higher than the similarity between those objects and objects of other groups.
An XML (Extensible Markup Language) document basically comprises components that include elements representing a logical component of a document. Elements can contain other elements and/or text (character data). The boundary of each element is marked with a start tag and an end tag. A start tag starts with the "<" character and ends with the ">" character. An end tag starts with "</" and ends with ">". The root element contains all other elements in the document. For example, an XML document may have a root element named "paper". Children of an element are elements that are directly contained in that element. In some XML documents, the element is not enough to describe its content. Such documents are called text-centric documents. Attributes are descriptive information attached to elements. The values of attributes are set inside the start tag of an element. For example, the expression <reference xlink="./paper/xmlql"> sets the value of the attribute xlink to "./paper/xmlql". The main difference between elements and attributes is that attributes cannot contain other attributes or elements. Values are sequences of characters that appear between an element's start-tag and end-tag. Like attributes, values cannot contain elements. For example, the expressions "2004" and "Tom" are examples of values.
Due to its nested structure, XML is commonly modeled as a rooted and labeled tree. Nodes of the tree correspond to elements, attributes, and text in XML documents. Edges represent element-sub-element, element-attribute and element-text relationships. This tree model reflects the logical structure of an XML document and can be used to store and query XML data. A path is a series of ordered nodes between the root node and an internal or a leaf node. An exemplary path is the path "/PaPer/author/name". The W3C XML specification provides detailed information about XML.
An XML document is a self-describing document. XML elements can either be simple or complex. Simple elements contain only values or attributes. On the other hand, complex elements can additionally contain other elements, and therefore a nesting structure is formed. This structure can have any level of nesting.
Some XML documents have to conform to a Document Type Definition (DTD). DTD specifies the elements, the attributes, and the structure of an XML document. Unlike relational database tables, XML documents are semi-structured. A newer specification for XML documents is the XML schema. The XML schema can impose more constraints on an XML document than the DTD. It also has a hierarchal structure that specifies the name and the data type of XML elements. The flexibility of defining the XML structure makes XML able to represent any kind of data, but it also makes it more difficult to process.
Data clustering is defined as the problem of grouping similar objects such that similarity between objects of the same group is higher than the similarity between those objects and objects of other groups. There are several algorithms for clustering XML data. Nearly all XML clustering algorithms follow a similar approach. First, the XML dataset is read. The dataset can be XML documents or XML schema or both. Second, optionally the data is represented in a model, such as a tree model or Vector Space Model (VSM). After that, a similarity function measures the distance between any two XML objects, or parts of the model. Finally, these objects are grouped as an array of clusters or as a hierarchy structure. The main approaches of clustering algorithms include data clustering tools, such as similarity functions, null values, and scalability.
The main data clustering approaches are as follows. In the Partitioning Approach, algorithms start by taking n data points and then classifying them into k (k>n) partitions. Examples of this approach are k-means, k-medoids and CLARANS.
A Hierarchical Approach creates a hierarchical decomposition of the given set of data objects. It can either be done from top-down (divisive) or bottom-up (agglomerative). Hierarchical approaches result in creating a tree that holds a cluster of clusters.
One example of the Hierarchical Approach is the BIRCH algorithm (Balanced Iterative Clustering using Hierarchies). BIRCH, in its first phase, creates a tree that summarizes the input data. This tree is called the Clustering-Feature tree (CF-tree). A single node in the BIRCH tree has a few attributes that summarize the statistical features of its descendant nodes.
The Density-based Approach continues growing a given cluster as long as the density (number of objects or data points) in the neighborhood does not fall below a certain threshold. Examples of this approach include DBSACN, OPTICS and DenClue.
The Grid-based Approach relies on creating a grid structure. This grid is finite and created by quantizing the data object space. This approach is known to be efficient.
The Model-based Approach uses machine learning techniques that learn from the distribution of data points. Examples of this approach are self-organizing feature map (SOM) and COBWEB.
Given a large homogeneous XML dataset, the aforementioned approaches have difficulty clustering such a large homogeneous XML dataset's content and structure while producing an output in the form of hierarchal clusters.
Thus, a hierarchal clustering method for large XML data solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

Hierarchal clustering method for large XML data

KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS


Phase-locked loop (PLL) circuitry in which a sampling phase detector samples the output signal in accordance with the reference signal and a frequency detector detects the output signal frequency in accordance with the reference signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to phase detectors, and in particular, to sampling phase detectors.
2. Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, the classical phase-locked loop (PLL) 10 has an architecture as shown with a phase frequency detector and charge pump 12, a low pass filter 14, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 16, and a frequency divider 18 with divider ratio N, all interconnected substantially as shown. As is well known, the divider 18 in the feedback loop is used to provide frequency down conversion to ensure a correct frequency relationship between the input reference signal 11 and the output signal 17. While useful and widely used, such an architecture has two basic limitations: tradeoff between loop noise and VCO noise; and multiplication of loop phase noise power by the square of the divider ratio (N2) transferred to the output.
Referring to FIG. 2, an alternative PLL architecture 20 uses a sampling phase detector and charge pump 22, thereby avoiding the need for a feedback frequency divider. The VCO output signal 17 is sub-sampled by the reference clock 11. Such sampling phase detectors are well known, and are often used in clock data recovery (CDR) circuits and delay locked loop (DLL) circuits.
Referring to FIG. 3, such a PLL architecture 20 performs sub-sampling with a sample-and-hold (S&H) circuit 22a, the primary elements of which (in its most simplified representation) are a serial switch circuit 24 and shunt capacitance 26. By avoiding the use of a feedback frequency divider, the frequency divider noise is eliminated.
Referring to FIG. 4, in such a sub-sampling process, the sine wave VCO output signal 17 with frequency fVCO is sampled by pulses with the clock signal 11 frequency fref, where fVCO=N*fref. With an integer ratio N, the sub-sampler output voltage 23 should ideally be a constant DC voltage Vsam.
Referring to FIGS. 3A and 4A, in accordance with a more practical implementation, the S&H circuit 22b includes serial switch circuits 24a, 24b and with the shunt capacitance implemented as two capacitors 26a, 26b. The VCO output signal 17 is sampled by non-overlapping reference clock signals 11p, 11n such that the VCO output signal 17 is sampled by the first clock signal 11p and the first sampled signal 23a is sampled by the second clock signal 11n to produce the final sub-sampler output voltage 23 with a constant DC voltage Vsam when fOSC=N*fref.
Such conventional sampling phase detectors, however, have their own disadvantages. For example, one property of a sampling phase detector is a large detection gain. In order to use it in a feedback loop like a DLL or PLL and ensure loop stability, either the performance of the phase detector must be sacrificed or an external loop filter with a low bandwidth, and, therefore, large capacitances, must be used. Such an external loop filter, of course, generally prevents such a phase detector from being fully integrated on a chip.

Phase-locked loop including sampling phase detector and charge pump with pulse width control


A tombstone cover is described for the display of indicia. The cover has a member made from a flexible material adapted for disposal over the tombstone and a cinch. The member also has a front; a top; opposing sides; and a back. At least 50 percent of a height of the tombstone remains uncovered by the member.

The present invention is related to a decorative cover for a tombstone. More particularly, the present invention is related to a cover for adorning a tombstone with a decorative symbol or message which does not obscure the information thereon.
Graveside markers have been used throughout most of recorded history. They range from simple markers with no indicia to very large ornate stones with information such as the name of the deceased, birth and death dates, favorite sayings or verses, decorative images and the like. As is well known the marker, also referred to as a tombstone, is not easily altered and certainly not intended to be altered. Alterations require a very elaborate process and typically the only time a grave marker is altered is upon the occasion of the death of a spouse or an individual sharing the stone over common graves.
Loved ones have long felt an emotional desire to adorn gravesites and tombstones with materials indicative of a season or special occasion. There is currently no way to easily adorn a tombstone for such occasions. There are teachings of covers which can contain images yet these obscure the markings on the tombstone which defeats the purpose of the stone. There has been a long felt need for a decorative tombstone cover which can be placed on a tombstone for a special occasion and removed without permanently altering the stone or obscuring the information permanently etched or printed thereon.


The invention is a package and the method of making the package. A roll to be enclosed has a longitudinal axis. A first layer of material is axially wrapped on the roll with the first layer extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis. A second and a third layer are than radially wrapped over the first layer in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The second layer is a protective cushion layer.

Packages for rolls and wrapping machines for making packages for rolls are well known in the art. A wrapping machine which includes means for wrapping radial layers of materials in an interleaved manner are shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,567 which was granted Apr. 12, 1988.
Another prior art wrapping machine is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,892 issued Nov. 28, 1989. This prior art wrapping machine is a dual station wrapping machine where successive layers of material are positioned on a roll or body to be wrapped.
Prior art packages for rolls are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,250,875 and 5,487,255. An end disc is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,711.
Bodies or rolls to be wrapped by the improved package include paper rolls, such as carbonless paper rolls which are very sensitive to marking. Another type of body to be wrapped is a material roll, for example, a roll of plastic film material which is to be utilized to cover foods in the food industry. The package for this type of a roll must form a package which does not contaminant the film layers being wrapped.


A preamplifier circuit, a clock switching circuit, and an optical receiver are provided that include a preamplifier that controls a bandwidth for conducting amplification on an input signal by varying a feedback resistance according to a control signal; a control signal generating part that determines the band of the output signal of the preamplifier to generate the control signal; and a correction signal generating part that generates a correction signal for correcting the control signal; wherein the correction signal corrects the control signal to adjust the feedback resistance. Accordingly, even when the number of rises and falls of an optical input signal in a given time period is less than a predetermined number range, the control signal may be properly generated to successfully conduct band control. Thus, an optical receiver that is not dedicated to a predetermined input signal pattern but is rather capable of automatically adjusting its bandwidth may be realized, and the cost of manufacturing the optical receiver structure may be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a preamplifier circuit, a clock switching circuit, and an optical receiver implementing such circuits. Particularly, the present invention relates to a preamplifier circuit for amplifying a signal that is supplied to an optical receiver and is electrically converted through optical-to-electric conversion, and a clock switching circuit for switching a clock according to the transmission speed of an input signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Exemplary configurations of a preamplifier circuit that amplifies a signal that is supplied to an optical receiver and is electrically converted through optical-to-electric conversion are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-195107 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 3-270504, for example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a preamplifier circuit according to the prior art. The illustrated preamplifier circuit includes a photo detector 1, a preamplifier 2, a variable resistive element 3, comparator circuits 4 and 5, and a control voltage generating circuit 6. The photo detector 1 converts an optical input signal into an electric signal through optical-to-electrical conversion. In turn, the preamplifier amplifies the output signal from the photo detector 1. The variable resistive element 3 is arranged to be parallel with the preamplifier 2 and its resistance may vary according to a bias signal applied thereto. The output signal from the preamplifier 2 is supplied to a next stage circuit and the comparator circuits 4 and 5.
The comparator circuit 4 compares the output signal from the preamplifier 2 with a first standard voltage and supplies the comparison result to the control voltage generating circuit 6. The comparator circuit 5 compares the output signal from the preamplifier 2 with a second standard voltage that is lower than the first standard voltage and supplies the comparison result to the control voltage generating circuit 6. The control voltage generating circuit 6 calculates an exclusive OR signal (i.e., rise and fall detection signal) from the comparison results, calculates an average value voltage of the exclusive OR signal, conducts differential amplification on the average value voltage and a standard voltage, and outputs the resulting amplified voltage as a control voltage. This control voltage is used as a bias voltage to be applied to the variable resistive element 3 to change the resistance of the variable resistive element 3.
In this way, the variable resistive element 3 may control the amount of voltage from the preamplifier 2 output that is to be fed back to the input side to control the gain and frequency bandwidth of the preamplifier 2 and adjust the frequency of the optical input signal to a suitable value.
However, in the preamplifier circuit of the prior art the number of rises and falls of the input signal within a certain time period must be within a predetermined range. Thereby, when the number of rises and falls of the optical input signal is below the predetermined range, the control voltage of the variable resistive element 3 may not be properly generated and band control may not be properly conducted.
It is desired that an optical receiver be capable of accurately realizing the so-called 3R functions, namely, reshaping, retiming, and regenerating a signal light.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of an optical receiver according to the prior art. It is noted that components shown in this drawing that are identical to those shown in FIG. 1 are given the same numerical notations. It is also noted that the comparator circuits 4 and 5 and the control voltage generating circuit 6 are omitted from this drawing. In the illustrated optical receiver, the photo detector 1 converts an optical input signal into an electric signal through optical-to-electric conversion. The output signal of the photo detector 1 is amplified by the preamplifier 2. The variable resistive element 3 is arranged to be parallel with the preamplifier 2, and its resistance may be changed by a bias voltage.
The output signal from the preamplifier 2 passes through an AGC (automatic gain control) amplifier 7 to be supplied to a clock generating circuit 8 and an identification circuit 9. The clock generating circuit 8 generates a clock that is in sync with a clock component included in the output signal from the AGC amplifier 7 using a PLL or SAW filter and supplies the generated clock to the identification circuit 9. The identification circuit 9 samples the output signal from the AGC amplifier 7 using the clock from the clock generating circuit 8, reproduces the sampled data, and outputs the data along with the clock.
The optical receiver according to the prior art is designed in accordance with the transmission speed of the signal light being used so as to properly realize the 3R functions. For example, dedicated optical receivers are designed for transmission speeds of 622 Mb/s, 2.48 Gb/s, and 10 Gb/s, respectively.
In such case, for example, if the preamplifier 2 and the AGC amplifier 7 that realize equalizing amplification are designed for a transmission speed of 2.48 Gb/s, when a signal that has a higher transmission speed than the equalizing band (2.48 Gb/s) such as a transmission signal of 10 Gb/s is received at the optical receiver, the received signal (10 Gb/s) may be subject to band restriction at the equalizing amplifiers thereby resulting in deformation of the waveform and degradation of the reception characteristics of the signal. Also, when a signal that has a lower transmission speed than the equalizing band such as a transmission signal of 622 Mb/s is received at the optical receiver, a high frequency noise component of the receives signal may be increased thereby resulting in degradation of the reception characteristics.
As can be appreciated from the above descriptions, a preamplifier that is adapted for the transmission speed of the signal light being used needs to be implemented, and accordingly, in order to realize a structure for receiving signals with transmission speeds of 622 Mb/s, 2.48 Gb/s, and 10 Gb/s, respectively, three types of optical receivers are needed. However, such a structure results in an increase in the circuit size and manufacturing cost.

Preamplifier circuit, clock switching circuit, and optical receiver


A whip and tongue grafting device may include a slanting cut tool including a guide to position stem for receiving a slanting cut, and including a cutting device for making the slanting cut. The device may also include a whip cut tool including a guide to position a stem for receiving a tongue cut, and including a cutting device for making the whip cut. The device may also include other guides for producing other required cuts to the stem.

Whip and tongue grafting is a well-known method for grafting the scion and rootstock of two plants together. The advantage of whip and tongue grafting is that it provides a relatively sturdy join and in theory is comparatively simple to do.
Current methods for performing a whip and tongue graft include simply using a knife to make the two main types of cut, or using a knife combined with a guide to give consistent results. These techniques are simple, but have the disadvantage of being giving inconsistent cuts as in the first case or being relatively complex to perform as in the second case.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved whip and tongue apparatus and method, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.


A method and system for transferring data to common destinations using a common destination list is provided. In a preferred embodiment, a user uses a software facility ("the facility") that is preferably integrated into an operating system to transfer source objects using a list of common transfer destinations. By selecting a source object and issuing a transfer command, the user causes the facility to display in conjunction with the source object a list of common transfer destinations ("common destination list"). When the user selects a destination from the common destination list, the facility initiates a transfer of the source object to the selected destination. The destinations contained in the common destination list are preferably customizable by the user in a straightforward manner. In a further preferred embodiment, the facility monitors object transfers that the user specifies using other techniques, such as drag and drop, and prompts the user to automatically add frequently-used destinations to the common destination list.

In recent years, it has become increasing common for human users to use graphical user interfaces ("GUIs") to operate general-purpose computer systems. Such modern graphical user interfaces utilize a concept called "desktop metaphor," in which "objects" of all types are represented graphically as pictorial icons. Many kinds objects may exist within a computer system. Some kinds of objects, such as document objects, contain data. Other objects include programs, locations within intra-machine or intermachine file systems, or representations of peripheral devices connected to the computer system.
According to a user input technique called "drag and drop," GUI users may specify a data transfer by using a pointing input device such as a mouse to "drag" an icon representing an object containing data onto an icon representing an object that may receive data and "drop" it there. The object that is dragged is called the "source object." The object upon which the source object is dropped is called the "destination object." As a result of the drag and drop operation, a default data-receiving method of the destination object is invoked upon the source object. Thus, by dropping a source object on a program object, a user may open the source object for editing using that program object; by dropping it on a file system location object, the user can cause a copy of the source object to be created at the file system location associated with the file system location object; by dropping it on a peripheral device object, a user may perform a common function associated with the peripheral device on the source object, e.g., by dropping the source object on a printer object, the user may print the source object on the printer associated with the printer object, while, by dropping the source object on a modem object, the user may transmit the source object to another computer system using the modem associated with the modem object. Depending on the identities of the source and destination object, and any preference expressed by the user after the drag and drop, the source object may continue to exist independent of the destination object (in which case the drag and drop operation is characterized as a "copy") or the source object may be deleted (in which case the drag and drop operation is characterized as a "move"). The specific handling of drag and drop operations is determined in each case by the destination object.
While drag and drop operations perform an important function within GUIs that support them, they can be difficult for users to carry out. First, a user must ensure that the icons representing the source and destination objects are both visible. In each case, this may involve traversing an extensive hierarchy of all of the objects within the computer system, a potentially time-consuming process that is exacerbated when the objects' locations in the hierarchy are unknown. Second, the user must drag the source object onto the destination object and drop it there, a process that requires a fair amount of dexterity. In order to perform the drag and drop, the user must depress a button on the pointing device while the pointing device is pointing at the icon representing the source object, then hold the button down while moving the pointing device to point to the destination object, then release the button while the pointing device is pointing at the destination object. In practice, while it is relatively straightforward for a user to move the pointing device to point at the source object and depress the button, it is difficult, especially for novice users, to move the positioning device with the button held down and release the button only when the pointing device is pointing to the destination object.

Method and system for transferring data to common destinations using a common destination list


Methods, systems, and devices for filtering network traffic from automated scanner are described. A device (e.g., an application server) may receive an activity message associated with an interaction with an electronic communication message and identify, from the activity message, at least a source identifier of the activity message and one or more attributes associated with the electronic communication message. The device may then add the activity message to a mapping of source identifiers and attributes associated with previously received activity messages and classify the activity message as being associated with an automated scanner based on a comparison of the received activity message to the mapping over a previous time window. Upon classifying the activity message, the device may transmit a classification result to an external server.

A cloud platform (i.e., a computing platform for cloud computing) may be employed by many users to store, manage, and process data using a shared network of remote servers. Users may develop applications on the cloud platform to handle the storage, management, and processing of data. In some cases, the cloud platform may utilize a multi-tenant database system. Users may access the cloud platform using various user devices (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, or other computing systems, etc.).
In one example, the cloud platform may support customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. This may include support for sales, service, marketing, community, analytics, applications, and the Internet of Things. A user may utilize the cloud platform to help manage contacts of the user. For example, managing contacts of the user may include analyzing data, storing and preparing communications, and tracking opportunities and sales.
In some cases, CRM solutions, among other solutions (e.g., marketing solutions, etc.), may benefit from data analytics. Applications supporting artificial intelligence enhanced data analytics may greatly increase the scope of data processing and model generation by automating much of the data analysis process. For instance, data analysis related to marketing emails may be used to develop marketing models for users. Marketing emails may include tracking features such as open rates, click rates, and unsubscribe rates. In some instances, these tracking features can be inadvertently affected by automated scanners (e.g., email security scanners). Conventional marketing systems may implement data analytics applications that may not consider an activity of automated scanners when calculating engagement metrics for a user. Specifically, current techniques lack the ability to identify an automated scanner from tracking one or more engagement activities associated with marketing emails.

Filtering network traffic from automated scanners


A connector terminal includes a conductive bar-shape member, a plurality of concavities each formed as a groove provided in an outer circumference of the bar-shape member, extending in a lengthwise direction of the bar-shape member, and spreading toward an opening from a bottom, and a convexity formed between the adjoining concavities. A first surface is formed on the bottom of the concavity. A second surface and a third surface that form different inclination angles relative to a depthwise direction of the concavity are alternately formed on an internal wall surface of the concavity from the bottom toward the opening.

A connector terminal that is fitted in so as to pass completely through the housing of an electrical connector is formed with a plurality of concavities in the outer circumference of a bar-shape member so as to prevent a pull-out of the connector terminal from the housing. Such concavities are formed by depressing the outer circumference of the conductive bar-shape member by a tapered punch. A portion between the adjoining concavities is to be engaged with the internal surface of the housing. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-203627 discloses such a connector terminal.
The connector terminal disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-203627 includes, as illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21, an engage portion 2 and a correction portion 3. The engage portion 2 is to be in contact with, with pressure being applied, the internal wall surface of an unillustrated holding hole which has a rectangular cross-sectional shape and which is formed in the housing. The correction portion 3 is provided at the front side relative to the engage portion 2 in the axial direction (at −Y side). The correction portion 3 is utilized to align the lengthwise direction of a terminal portion 1 (the same direction as a Y-axis direction) with the lengthwise direction of the holding hole (the same direction as the Y-axis direction). The correction portion 3 has an X-cross-sectional shape that is to contact the internal surface of the holding hole across a certain length. Four protrusions 7 that form the X-cross-sectional shape extend in the Y-axis direction. The external edge of the protrusion 7 is in parallel with the external edge of the terminal portion 1. According to the connector terminal employing the above structure, when the correction portion 3 is press-fitted in the holding hole of the housing, the protrusion 7 slightly bites into the corner of the holding hole while being aligned with the corner of the holding hole in the rectangular cross-sectional shape. Hence, the direction of the connector terminal and the entering posture thereof are corrected.
The engage portion 2 in contact with the internal wall surface of the holding hole of the housing includes engagement pieces 4a, 4b divided in the Y-axis direction of the terminal portion 1. The engagement pieces 4a, 4b have respective uniform XZ cross-sections that are symmetrical when viewed from the fit-in direction. Respective side faces of the engagement pieces 4a, 4b at +X side and at −X side are formed with V-grooves 5a, 5b across the whole lengths of the engagement pieces 4a, 4b.
According to the connector terminal disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-203627, since the V-grooves 5a, 5b are formed in the side faces of the engagement pieces 4a, 4b at +X side and at −X side, the thickness of the engagement pieces 4a, 4b at the corner is quite thin. Hence, the amount of bit-in by the engagement pieces 4a, 4b to the housing is little. Accordingly, the holding force of the connector terminal relative to the housing is weak, and when excessive pull-out force is applied to the connector terminal, the connector terminal may be pulled out.
Conversely, according to a connector terminal illustrated in FIG. 22, a concavity 20 formed in the outer circumference of a bar-shape member B0 in a square bar shape is formed as a V-groove that has an angle q1 of 90 degrees. Hence, the thickness of an engage portion 310 becomes substantially uniform from the basal end to the front end. Accordingly, the sufficient amount of bite-in by the engage portion 310 to a housing can be ensured. Consequently, the holding force of the connector terminal relative to the housing can be improved.
However, in order to form such an engage portion 310, when the outer circumference of a bar-shape member to which plating is applied is depressed by a punch that has an angle of the front end which is 90 degrees, when the front end of the punch bites in the bar-shape member, the plating is likely to be peeled off. In addition, together with the advancement of the depression by the punch, the tapered punch deeply bites into the bar-shape member. This gradually peels off the plating while pushing and spreading the concavity 20. Therefore, the plating peeled pieces are accumulated on the punch.
Hence, when the punch is applied multiple times to produce the connector terminal, a large amount of plating peeled pieces may be accumulated on the inclined face of the punch, and a cleaning work to eliminate the accumulated plating from the punch is necessary in this case. When a cleaning work for the punch is carried out, the production of the connector terminal should be suspended.
The amount of plating peeled piece accumulated on the inclined face of the punch gradually increases from the front end of the punch toward the basal end thereof. Hence, the accumulated plating peeled pieces are formed in a shape like a thin and elongated string along the lengthwise direction of the connector terminal. In this case, the string-like plating peeled pieces may stride over the adjoining connector terminals, causing a short-circuit of the connector terminals.
When the concavities are formed by a punch that has an angle of the front end which is larger than 90 degrees, since such a punch depresses a plating so as to hold down the plating, a peeling of the plating can be suppressed. For example, by forming the concavities 20 formed as a V-groove that has an angle q2 of 120 degrees by a punch which has the angle of the front end that is 120 degrees, a peeling of the plating can be suppressed. In this case, however, the thickness of an engage portion 320 (engage portion 320 indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 22) gradually becomes thin from the basal end toward the front end. Accordingly, the holding force of the connector terminal relative to the housing may decrease.


An imaging inspection system and inspection method for a combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine having an imaging inspection device and a controller. The imaging inspection device includes a combustor interface, an inspection head having a first camera, an inspection head extender, a roll actuator, and a pitch actuator. The controller is configured to manipulate the inspection head in a predefined sequence.

High performance gas turbine engines typically rely on increasing turbine inlet temperatures to increase both fuel economy and overall power ratings. These higher temperatures, if not compensated for, oxidize engine components and decrease component life. Components of the gas turbine, particularly the combustor are periodically inspected visually. Currently, manual boroscopes or actuated inspection heads are operated for combustor inspections.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,894 issued to Devitt et al. on Apr. 6, 2010 shows an imaging system for robotically inspecting gas turbine combustion components. In particular, the disclosure of Devitt et al. is directed toward a system for in situ inspection of a surface of a hot gas component of a turbine. The system includes a robot having an elongated inspection arm extending toward the surface of the hot gas component; and an inspection head carried adjacent an end of the inspection arm remote from controls for the robot. The inspection head is manipulated by the inspection arm to locate the inspection head adjacent interior wall portions defining the hot gas component including by displacing the inspection head in a generally axial direction and generally radially toward a wall portion of the hot gas component being inspected. The inspection head is configured with a UV system to excite and detect fluorescence from a taggant material disposed in a coating on the hot gas component.
The present disclosure is directed toward overcoming known problems and/or problems discovered by the inventors.


The invention relates to a control panel for construction equipment and/or cranes, preferably vehicle cranes, with a series of manually operable switches for triggering certain functions and control functions of the machine to be operated. In terms of the invention, the switch is formed on a touch-sensitive panel (touch-screen).

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a control panel for construction equipment and/or cranes, preferably mobile cranes, with a series of manually operated switches for triggering certain functions and control functions of the machine to be operated.
2. Description of Related Art
In principle, these control panels are known, for example from the DE 201 00 168 U. There, push buttons are provided as manually operated switches, said buttons each being part of a foil-covered keyboard. Thus, in a clearly defined manner, certain buttons have been given corresponding functions or control functions. If particular buttons of the foil-covered keyboard are to be given new functions, the buttons must be provided with new lettering which requires the exchange of the entire keyboard or expensive re-fitting work.
It is the object of the invention to further develop a generic control panel such that correlating the manually operated switches to certain functions can be modified without any problems.


A method is provided for controlling the concentration of nitrogen in a fuel cell stack. The method includes providing a fuel cell stack with cathode passages and anode passages including a valve in communication with the anode passages. The method further comprises selecting a maximum desired amount of nitrogen to be found in the fuel cell stack and calculating an actual amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack. Next, the method provides for comparing the maximum desired amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack to the actual amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack, and opening the valve if the actual amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack is greater than the maximum desired amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack. The method calculates the actual amount of nitrogen in the fuel cell stack based on an amount of nitrogen that enters the anode passages due to an age of the fuel cell stack.

In proton exchange membrane (PEM) type fuel cells, the hydrogen-based feed gas is supplied to an anode of the fuel cell and an oxidant is supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell. PEM fuel cells include a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) comprising a thin, proton transmissive, non-electrically conductive, solid polymer membrane-electrolyte having the anode on one of its faces and the cathode on the opposite face. The MEA is sandwiched between a pair of electrically conductive elements which serve as current collectors for the anode and cathode and contain appropriate channels and/or openings therein for distribution of the fuel cell's gaseous reactants over the surfaces of the respective anode and cathode catalysts.
Typically, atmospheric air is used as the oxidant in PEM systems. Primarily, air comprises nitrogen and oxygen, among other chemical compounds. When air is used as the oxidant in the PEM, the force of the partial pressure of the nitrogen in the air across the PEM will drive some of the nitrogen in the air to permeate through the PEM into the anode. In addition, over time, passages may develop in the MEA which facilitate an additional flow of nitrogen into the anode. The nitrogen that permeates into the anode dilutes the hydrogen based feed gas, thus reducing the efficiency of the PEM fuel cell.
Generally, in order to improve the efficiency of the PEM due to the diluted hydrogen feed gas, the nitrogen diluted hydrogen feed gas is removed from the anode at regular intervals. Typically, an evacuation valve is used to enable the diluted hydrogen feed gas to exit the anode of the PEM. This process, however, results in the waste of hydrogen feed gas as the amount of nitrogen in the anode is hard to predict. Accordingly, it is desirable to create a system to accurately determine the amount of nitrogen in the hydrogen feed gas to reduce the waste of hydrogen feed gas.

Adaptive anode nitrogen management control


Copper particle clusters constituting a powder suitable for making a conductive paste are provided that are individually composed of not fewer than two and not more than 20 unit particles joined through neck portions. A conductive paste made from the powder is excellent in conductivity. A conductive filler for conductive paste is provided that consists essentially of a mixture of copper particle clusters A individually composed of two or more unit particles joined through neck portions and spherical metallic particles B of smaller diameter than the particles A. A conductive paste made from the filler is low in viscosity and excellent in conductivity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to copper particle clusters and powder containing the same suitable for use as the conductive filler of a conductive paste.
2. Background Art
In the fabrication of thick-film circuit boards and the like by screen-printing a conductive paste on an insulating board, the silver-system paste long used as the main conductive paste has recently been replaced to some extent by copper-system paste. Copper-system paste has certain advantages over silver-system paste, including higher resistance to migration, excellent soldering tolerance, and low cost. A copper-system conductive paste having these advantages is obtained by dispersing copper powder of a particle diameter of about 0.1-10 μm in a vehicle (resin binder).
Copper paste using copper powder as metallic filler has also drawn particular attention in connection with the recent practice of fabricating multi-layer boards for high-density component mounting by forming stacked boards with through-holes or via holes in the shape of fine holes or slits, charging conductive paste into these openings, and solidifying the conductive paste by heating to form high-density conductive circuits in the boards. Copper paste can be used to advantage as the conductive paste charged into the small hole-like or slit-like openings.
Known processes of producing copper powder include the mechanical pulverization process, atomization process of spraying molten copper, electrolytic cathode deposition process, vapor deposition process and the wet reduction process. Although each method has its merits and demerits, the wet reduction process is the main one used to produce copper powder for conductive paste because it enables relatively ready production of fine powder of a particle diameter suitable for use in a conductive paste. Copper powder production processes using the wet reduction method are taught by, for instance, Japanese Patent Publication JPA No.Hei 4-116109 (1992), JPA No.Hei 2-197012 (1990) and JPA No.Shou 62-99406 (1987).
Although copper-system paste rates highly in various aspects of performance, its most basic requirement for use as a conductive paste is excellent conductivity. When a metallic filler of a given purity is dispersed in a resin at a given filling rate, the electrical resistance of the resulting paste will nevertheless exhibit different values depending the particle size distribution and particle shape. In order to obtain a paste with low electrical resistance, it is obviously important to ensure close contact among the particles, i.e., to ensure that the metallic particles are dispersed in the resin at a high filling rate so as to increase the contact interface among the particles. Although obvious, this is hard to achieve in practice while also maintaining the other qualities required by the conductive paste, such as good viscosity property.
Low electrical resistance can generally be obtained when the metallic filler in the resin includes many particles with irregular surfaces because the surface irregularities increase the contact area among the particles. However, a paste containing a large percentage of particles with pronounced surface irregularities is high in viscosity and therefore difficult to charge into the through-holes or via holes. Simultaneous reduction of electrical resistance and viscosity is therefore difficult because an attempt to lower electrical resistance by controlling particle shape has the adverse effect of increasing paste viscosity.
A first object of the present invention is to provide copper particles/powder that exhibit high conductivity (low electrical resistance) when dispersed in a resin.
A second object of the present invention is to provide copper particles/powder that exhibit high conductivity (low electrical resistance) and minimize viscosity increase when dispersed in a resin.

Copper particle clusters and powder containing the same suitable as conductive filler of conductive paste


A new and distinctive Geranium cultivar particularly distinguished by its dark green leaves with light zonation and bicrenate border which provide a contrast to its dark red colored semidouble flowers is provided. In this Geranium a large umbel of flowers stands on strong stems of between 290 to 300 mm high, whose foliage is Botrytis resistant.

This Geranium cultivar originated as a hybrid seedling produced in my nursery at Stuttgart, Germany, by my crossing of two plants, hereinafter identified, selected from a field of various geranium varieties maintained at my nursery for breeding purposes. This particular seedling was selected from among the sibling population from the stated cross due to its unusually attractive flower color; the desired plant characteristics of compactness, dense canopy of lush foliage of clear green coloration and zonation which is inconspicuous to absent and highly disease resistant; self-branching from basal portions, and a high level of vigor until blooming, allowing for rapid development of flowering specimens to market stage. This selected seedling was propagated by me at Stuttgart, Germany, by cuttings with very satisfactory results and thereafter this selected plant was propagated through several successive generations in the same manner which demonstrated conclusively that the novel characteristics of the originally selected seedling would be maintained from generation to generation and its homogeneity would be firmly established.


A method of laser-assisted prostatectomy which is based on the use of special laseroscope with continuous flow of the flushing and cooling liquid is provided. The method consists of inserting the above laseroscope into the patient's urethra with the laser fiber tip positioned at the prostate gland area, inserting a balloon catheter through the laseroscope to the urinary bladder neck, inflating the balloon of the catheter, initiating an inflow of washing and cooling liquid to the operating area, which is isolated from the urinary bladder by the balloon catheter, inserting a laser fiber into the laseroscope, firing the laser fiber and directing a laser beam laterally from the laser fiber onto the prostatic gland for directing the laser beam to the required area. The method is carried out by means of an apparatus comprising a tubular sheath (10) with three guide tubes, i.e., a guide tube (13) for an optical lens system (12), a second guide tube (14) for a laser fiber (16), and a third or auxiliary guide tube (18) for interchangeably inserting: a cleaning brush (19), which may rotate and reciprocate in the guide tube (18) for cleaning the operating tip of the laser fiber (16); an ultrasonic probe (40) for measuring the degree and depth of ablation of the prostatic tissue; and a balloon catheter (42) for the occlusion of the bladder neck. Spaces (15a) and (15b) between the inner surface of the sheath (10) and the outer surfaces of the guide tubes form mutually isolated channels for the continuous supply and removal of the flushing and cooling liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to urology, in particular, to a method and apparatus for treating patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.
2. Description of Prior Art Technique
At the present time, laser technologies find wide application in medicine for surgery. In particular, in the field of urology, a conventional cystoscope is commonly used to perform laser operations in the urethra, bladder, and prostate (see Urology Johnson, D. E., Laser Prostatectomy Using Right-Angle Delivery System. Lasers in Urology. Laparascopy and General Surgery, Vol. 1421, p. 36, 1991). A laser fiber is inserted into the axial channel of the cystoscope, while a liquid which is used for filling the urinary bladder is supplied through the sheath.
In the course of such an operation, for example, a laser prostatectomy, the filling and irrigation liquid is periodically removed from the system. For this purpose, the operation is discontinued, a valve is opened, all or a part of the existing liquid is drained from the bladder and replaced with fresh liquid. The operation is then resumed. Poor heat-removal conditions which arise in the operation area during operation with the use of the above-described conventional cystoscope sometimes lead to the overheating of the metal laser tip to such an extent that it has to be replaced before the operation may proceed.
Very often during the operation the laser tip comes into contact with tissue in the prostate affected area. This causes the prostate tissue to adhere to the reflecting surface of the laser-beam emitting device. As a result, the operation has to be discontinued, and the laser fiber has to be removed for cleaning purposes. This is an extremely inconvenient and time-consuming operation.
Furthermore, the radially inwardly directed forces developed by the enlarged prostate constrict the prostatic part of the urethra, whereby the field of vision is obscured.

Method of laser-assisted prostatectomy and apparatus for carrying out the method


Concepts for a link interface of a communication protocol are presented. Where the communication protocol provides for Idle Flits of first and second sizes for maintaining link continuity, the first size being smaller than the second size, such concepts are configured to remove Idle flits of the first size.

The present invention relates generally to the field of link interfaces, and in particular to link interfaces that are configured to transmit and receive Flow Control Digits (Flits) via a link.
The present invention also relates to a method for a link interface of a communication protocol which supports transmitting and receiving Flits via a link.
The present invention also relates to a computer program product comprising computer-readable program code that enables a processor of a system, or a number of processors of a network, to implement such a method.
Link interfaces support data transfer been a host processor and a device. Such interfaces may adhere to a communication protocol which provides a standard for data transfer and may support control and response packets to be passed between the host processor and a device. An example of such a communication protocol is OpenCAPI. OpenCAPI is a data transfer standard that allows control and response packets to be passed between a host processor and an OpenCAPI device.
FIG. 1 shows the standard upstream and downstream data flow between host and device 100, known as the OpenCAPI Stack. From FIG. 1 it can be seen that an OpenCAPI interface in a host processor is divided into three parts: Transaction Layer (TL), Data Link Layer (DL) and the Physical Layer (PHY). Similarly, an OpenCAPI interface of an OpenCAPI device is sub-divided in the same manner, except that the Physical, Transaction and Data Link Layers are denoted "PHYX", "TLX" and "DLX" respectively.
The host processor forms control packets in the TL and forwards these to the DL. The DL is further sub-divided into a Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) side. The Tx side of the DL adds what is termed "DL Content" to the incoming TL control packet to form a Flow Control Digit (Flit). This Flit is then serialised by the PHY layer and sent to the device.
At the device end, an incoming serial stream is formatted back into Flits by the PHYX layer. The Rx side of the DLX layer then takes these Flits, checks for correct CRC and examines the DL Content to determine whether it needs to be forwarded to the TLX layer). If this is so, the TLX layer decodes the control packet and, based on its content, instructs an AFU (Attached Functional Unit) of the device, which contains the bulk of the device's functionality, to carry out the Host's instruction.
Once the command is carried out, the device issues a response packet which is formatted by the TLX layer and then the DLX layer into another Flit (in a similar way that the TL and DL did this for the host in the downstream direction). The packet is then serialised via PHYX and sent, upstream, to the Host Processor.
For typical link interfaces (including those employing OpenCAPI), once a link between Host and Device is up and running, Flits must be sent continuously in both directions in order to maintain link continuity. For this reason, such link interfaces provide for Idle Flits (or Null Flits) to be transmitted. Any Idle Flits are not forwarded to the TL(X) level. Because Idle Flits may be of differing sizes, they may not necessarily appear conveniently aligned on a Flit_In bus. For example, part of an Idle Flit may appear in a portion of the Flit_In bus on one cycle and the remainder of the Idle Flit will then appear at the next cycle. Conventional link interfaces only cater for receiving Idle Flits of a single, fixed size.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and system are provided for determining at least one combined forecast value of non-conventional energy resources. An Input/output Interface receives an adaptively selected historical dataset and a current dataset from one or more predictive forecast models and/or measurements. An adaptive forecast module generates one or more variants of machine learning models to model the performance of the one or more predictive forecast models by training the one or more variants of machine learning models on the historical dataset. The adaptive forecast module correlates the current dataset with the historical dataset to adaptively obtain a filtered historical dataset. The adaptive forecast module evaluates the one or more variants of machine learning models on the filtered historical dataset. The adaptive forecast module derives a statistical model to determine the at least one combined forecast value by combining outputs obtained based on the evaluation.

The depletion of conventional energy has resulted in utilization of non-conventional energy resources, such as wind, sunlight, tides, geothermal heat, etc. for generating energy and power. The renewable energy generated from these natural resources plays a significant role in meeting the energy requirements for constantly growing sectors in the global economy.
There has been tremendous growth in the utilization of wind energy for generating power in recent times. Market analysis at the end of 2011 indicates that wind power is growing at over 20% annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of 238,000 megawatts (MW), primarily in continents such as Europe, Asia, and the North America. Considering the impact of wind resources in the power market for delivering quality and sufficient quantity output, accurate forecast of wind resources is essential.
There have been several attempts made in the past for accurate forecast of wind resources. Several forecasting tools exists in the art that enable forecasting of wind resources based on different assumptions and concepts resulting in multiple alternate forecasts. Further, attempts have been made to combine these several alternate forecasts into a single forecast of superior accuracy using various statistical and machine learning methods.
One such method includes classifying, normalizing and grouping historic wind patterns and associating each group with an energy output that the wind farm produces using neural network and Bayesian logic. The method uses turbine specific data, met mast data and regional forecast information from external forecasting services to adaptively adjust its logic and update current wind patterns. The wind resource is forecast based on a match obtained from an historical database relating the updated wind pattern to wind farm energy and use of actual measured energy and turbine specific data. However, this method is limited to using only regional forecast information and ignoring turbine level forecasts. Further, performance of a neural network changes with change in parameters governing the network; and hence use of a single neural network may not cover the entire parameter space.
Another method that enables wind resource forecasting is implemented using two sub-systems. A wind forecasting subsystem of this method adaptively combines wide area wind forecast signals, alternate meteorological data sources and SCADA based inputs to produce a refined wide area wind forecast signal. This then acts as the input to another subsystem termed wind farm production forecasting, that uses turbine specific transfer functions and power curves to convert wide area wind forecast signals to turbine specific wind forecast signals and energy forecasts, respectively, that is further refined based on SCADA inputs. However, the adaptive statistics module employed by this method uses regional forecast information and ignores turbine specific forecasts.
Another technique for estimating wind resource forecasts utilizes an NWP model. The NWP model, in addition to receipt of wide area regional forecast as input, adjusts and calibrates its forecast based on turbine level measurements. However, the NWP model may not work well for short term forecasts. Further, the NWP model receives a single forecasting service as input and hence does not combine several forecasts. In addition, this technique is limited to application of physical models only.
A method to improve the accuracy of the NWP model for short term forecasting generates multiple forecasts from a single model by using slightly different initial conditions (and/or boundary conditions), which are later combined to give an ensemble forecast. However, this method uses a single NWP model; the input/runtime boundary conditions are perturbed to generate multiple results. Accuracy is hence bounded by the model's performance. Further, ensemble techniques currently used are mostly mathematical and hence do not involve any machine learning approach.
Another approach involves adaptively combining alternate forecasts by means of two methods: (1) linearly combining them with appropriate weights assigned; and (2) exponentially weighing and tracking the best predictor. The approach further involves selection of the best forecasts using exponential weighing. However, the weighing method has inherent limitations in that it fails to adapt to changes, especially when the best predictor constantly changes.
A need therefore exists for a method and system that enable adaptive forecasting of wind resources by combining several alternate forecasts and achieving maximized forecast accuracy. More particularly, there is a need in the art to converge on a most efficient method of combining that is independent of the nature of the predictors, whose forecasts are to be combined, applicable universally, not limited to a specific location, and able to function over a range of forecast time horizons.
A need also exists for a method and system that enable use of alternate forecasts at turbine level. Further, there is a need for a method and system that enable wind resources forecasting by creating variants of artificial neural networks that covers the entire parameter space rather than relying on a single neural network.

Method and system for adaptive forecast of wind resources


A two-ply liner-label and liner-label-roll are provided. A front side of a liner is coated with a release coating. The liner also includes a plurality of die cut tabs that at least partially align with a second die cut label in the label. The backside of the label is coated with an adhesive material and applied to the front side of the liner to form a liner-label roll. The tabs remain affixed to their corresponding individual labels when the labels are removed for placement on packaging; thereby, leaving holes in the liner as the liner is wound into a waste-liner roll within an auto applicator machine.

The ubiquitous adhesive label is available in a myriad of configurations for use in various applications, including specialty applications. The adhesive label includes an adhesive on its back side and is initially laminated to an underlying release liner.
Adhesive labels may be found in individual sheets, or joined together in a fan-fold stack, or in a continuous roll (web). Label rolls are typically used in commercial applications requiring high volume use of labels.
The challenge with liner-based adhesive rolls is that as the label is removed from the liner while the web is processed through an auto applicator machine and the label is affixed to a package, the underlying liner is rewound as waste in the machine and the tension in the liner grows causing the liner to break. Swapping out the feed roll and/or removing the waste-liner roll means stopping the machine and having specialized staff remove the waste-liner roll and refeed (rethread) the remaining combined liner-label roll for continued processing or swapping out the liner-label roll with a new liner-label roll. Because of this tension in the liner between the feed roll and the accumulating waste roll, the size of the waste-liner label roll is limited (meaning the total number of labels that can be applied to packaging by the machine before waste-liner roll is removed and/or a new liner-label roll is refed in the machine is limited).
Because maximizing the total number of labels that can be applied by the machine without manual media maintenance is the goal in the industry, most liner-label rolls are constructed as three-ply (three substrates) layered on top of one another. The rolls include two liners and the label (three ply or three independent substrates). This allows the feed and waste rolls to withstand a greater tension before breakage within the machine and is believed in the industry to be an optimal solution. However, 1) this additional substrate is costly to manufacture; 2) label capacity through conventional auto applicator machines has stagnated, and 3) the three-ply approach creates greater waste byproduct (three substrates).


A method of installing a cementitious composition includes providing a dry fast setting cementitious composition having a set time and in the form of finely divided particles of at least one cement binder, pouring an amount of the dry cementitious composition into a volume of water located in a hole without any type of physical mixing of the cementitious composition and water other than the mixing which occurs merely by applying the cementitious composition into the water. The major portion of the particles of the cementitious composition have approximately the same drop rate through the volume of water. The water contacts the dry cementitious composition when poured into the volume of water to hydrate the particles of the dry cementitious composition, the particles of cementitious composition dropping through the water to displace excess water and form the hydrated cementitious composition particles in a substantially non-segregated mass. The hydrated cementitious composition is then allowed to set and cure to a solid mass for at least the set time, e.g. less than 10 minutes.

At present, it is essential that all cementitious compositions are mixed with water before placement in order to obtain the proper characteristics of the final product. Some type of mixing is and has always been required. Some manufacturers of premixes, usually in a container having instructions thereon, have put the dry premix in a hole and then recommended adding the water. Some have put premixes in bags and dropped the mixes while in bags through the water, then after the bags are in place, letting water penetrate through the bag to the mix. However, these systems have not allowed full hydration. Mortar mixers, concrete mixers, hand mixing or other types of wet mixing have been utilized to obtain a uniform distribution of the appropriate amount of water in the cement. According to the prior art, the quantity of water to be mixed with the cement must be controlled to a very narrow range, and too little or too much water will produce an ineffective or unusable material. Cementitious mixtures could not be placed in a dry state directly into water or on to a wet surface without first wetting and mixing the dry components with water.

Method of installing a cementitious composition


A corkscrew includes a support member having two opposite sliding slots, a movable rod slidably mounted in the sliding slots of the support member, a resting member mounted on the support member, a screw member mounted on the support member, a cover mounted on the support member, and a pull handle pivotally mounted on the cover and formed with a tongue located between the sliding slots of the support member and the movable rod. Thus, the angle between the pull handle and the support member is adjustable, so that the user can pull the pull handle upward relative to the support member to pull the cork of the bottle upward successively until the cork is removed from the bottle so as to remove the cork from the bottle easily and conveniently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a corkscrew and, more particularly, to a corkscrew to remove a cork from a wine bottle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional corkscrew in accordance with the prior art shown in FIG. 5 comprises a pull handle 14, a resting member 11 pivotally mounted on the pull handle 14 and provided with a recessed resting portion 12, and a screw member 13 pivotally mounted on the pull handle 14. In operation, the resting member 11 and the screw member 13 are expanded outwardly from the pull handle 14. Then, the screw member 13 is screwed into a cork 15 of a bottle 10 until the resting portion 12 of the resting member 11 is rested on the mouth 16 of the bottle 10. Then, the pull handle 14 is pulled upward to pull the cork 15 of the bottle 10 upward gradually.
However, when the pull handle 14 reaches the largest rising angle, the pulling force applied by the pull handle 14 on the cork 15 cannot pull the cork 15 of the bottle 10 upward any more. At this time, one part of the cork 15 protrudes from the bottle 10, and the other part of the cork 15 remains in the bottle 10, so that the user needs to apply a force on the cork 15 so as to pull and remove the cork 15 from the bottle 10 completely, thereby greatly causing inconvenience to the user.

Corkscrew having an angle adjustable function


Systems include a test object that comprises a surface having a non-planar topographical feature, and an electrode comprising a non-linear segment that is proximate to the non-planar topographical feature of the surface of the test object. The electrode is positioned proximate to but not in contact with the surface of the test object such that the perpendicular distances between the electrode and the surface of the test object are uniform across the electrode. The electrode is further configured to (i) be translated across the surface of the test object while maintaining the perpendicular distances between the electrode and the surface of the test object, and (ii) impart a layer of charge across the surface of the test object when the test object is translated across the surface.

Electrically insulative components proximate to electrically conductive grounded components act as capacitors which store a bi-layer of static electrical charge. Where large amounts of such electrostatic charge is accumulated, electrostatic discharges, or shocks, can occur. When these discharges occur in the presence of flammable substances, they can cause an ignition of the flammable substances. Accordingly, prevention and characterization of the risk of electrostatic accumulation and/or discharge for the surfaces of objects is important to industries which utilize insulative components in association with flammable environments. Example industries include fuel production, fuel transportation, vehicle operation, mining operations, chemical processing, metal fabrication, power plant construction and operation, and operations which involve combustible particulate such as sawdust, metal, flour, and grain.
Currently, to address this threat of combustion, discharge testing is used to test the risk of electrostatic charge accumulation and/or discharge associated with different insulative components (such as materials, fastening elements, joints, textural features, shapes, etc.). To conduct such discharge tests, a uniform electrostatic charge must first be applied across the surface of the object to be tested. Traditionally, corona wires and/or pin charging grids have been used to apply a uniform electrostatic charge to the surfaces of objects to be tested. However, these traditional methods are difficult to use, and are only able to apply uniform charge across flat surfaces. That is, traditional charging methods are unable to apply a uniform electrostatic charge across surfaces having irregular surfaces, such as ridges, sealing caps, complex surfaces, etc.
Discharge testing cannot be performed on objects having irregular surfaces, and the testing of such objects currently is being performed analytically using modeling. This currently results in conservative estimates of the risk of electrostatic charge accumulation and/or discharges, as due to their theoretical nature, analytical models are programmed to err on the side of conservative estimations. Because of this overestimation of the risk of electric discharges for objects having irregular surfaces, industries that utilize insulative components in association with flammable environments presently are forced to conduct redesigns and/or implement safety measures that may not actually be necessary.

Surface charging systems and method for charging a non-planar surface


Digital video effects are described. In one aspect, a foreground object in a video stream is identified. The video stream comprises multiple image frames. The foreground object is modified by rendering a 3-dimensional (3-D) visual feature over the foreground object for presentation to a user in a modified video stream. Pose of the foreground object is tracked in 3-D space across respective ones of the image frames to identify when the foreground object changes position in respective ones of the image frames. Based on this pose tracking, aspect ratio of the 3-D visual feature is adaptively modified and rendered over the foreground object in corresponding image frames for presentation to the user in the modified video stream.

Online video chatting, video conferencing, video phone, wireless video communication, and/or so on, are very popular forms of communication. Advancements in video communication technology have enabled real-time interaction and sharing of information and documents over distances. This combination of video, voice and data creates a collaborative environment that can nearly replicate a face to face meeting. Adding digital effects to a video stream makes video communication more fun, functional, aesthetic, commercial, and/or serves other purposes.