A braking fluid pressure control apparatus is provided including a master cylinder driven by force applied to a brake pedal for generating braking hydraulic pressure; an auxiliary power unit sucking fluid from a reservoir and pressurizing the fluid so as to store the fluid as an auxiliary power source; a booster having a boost chamber for generating boost pressure proportional to force applied to the brake pedal in the boost chamber in receipt of pressure supplied from the auxiliary power unit so that the thrust of the master cylinder is increased by the boost pressure generated by the force applied to the brake pedal and the boost pressure is used as braking pressure. A pressurizing unit housing is provided with a large-diameter opening and a small-diameter opening arranged in series. A first piston is provided which is slidably inserted into the small diameter opening and fluid-sealing the small-diameter opening so as to separate a first cylinder chamber and a second cylinder chamber from each other. A second piston slidably is inserted into the large-diameter opening so as to separate the second cylinder chamber and a third cylinder chamber form each other. A spring is provided for urging the second piston toward the second cylinder chamber and for opening and closing a port. The apparatus permits brakes to operate effectively even if a problem exists in the boost pressure line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking fluid pressure control apparatus and more particularly to the braking fluid pressure control apparatus in which a part of wheel brake is operated by pressure generated in a hydraulic booster utilizing the pressure of an auxiliary power unit and other wheel brakes are operated by the hydraulic pressure of a master cylinder. The apparatus secures a favorable braking efficiency when a line for introducing the pressure of the auxiliary power unit to a boost chamber or a line for introducing the boost pressure into a pressurizing unit not operating properly and accomplishes a favorable relationship between the stroke of a brake pedal and braking efficiency when the apparatus is normally operating.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A conventional braking system of an automobile comprises an auxiliary power unit for storing hydraulic fluid sucked from a reservoir by a pump and pressurized; and a hydraulic booster utilizing the pressure of the auxiliary unit. The hydraulic booster is used in place of the conventional vacuum type booster. The hydraulic booster facilitates miniaturization of the braking system, i.e., mounted in the automobile by holding the master cylinder and an unlocking control device together as a unit and facilitates the improvement of braking efficiency.
In addition to the above type braking system, the following system is known: That is, the boost pressure of the hydraulic booster increases the thrust of the master cylinder generated by force applied to the brake pedal and instead of static fluid generated by the master cylinder, dynamic fluid having boost pressure generated in a booster chamber is used to pressurize hydraulic fluid communicating with a part of wheel brakes.
According to a mechanism for controlling the pressure of a brake operating cylinder disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 57-104449, hydraulic fluid communicating with a front wheel brake is pressurized by the master cylinder and hydraulic fluid communicating with a rear wheel brake is pressurized by boost pressure. The mechanism comprises a fluid introducing valve for opening and closing a path communicating a boost chamber and the rear wheel brake with each other and a discharge valve for discharging dynamic fluid from the rear wheel brake to a reservoir. Thus, an unlocking device utilizing dynamic fluid for the rear wheel is provided. In this construction, the unlocking device for the rear wheel can be constructed quite simply because the master cylinder is not operated unefficiently.
However, in the above-described pressure control mechanism, hydraulic fluid communicating with the rear wheel brake does not function and the function of the booster is not effectively used when the auxiliary power unit or the rear wheel brake circuit fails. If the boost function cannot be used, the force for operating the brake pedal necessary for obtaining a required braking efficiency increases, that is, even though the brake pedal is operated at a certain force, the braking efficiency is reduced.
In order to reduce the pedalling force necessary for obtaining a required braking efficiency in this state, the master cylinder diameter needs to be reduced. As a result, the pedal stroke becomes large in order to obtain the required braking efficiency.

Braking fluid pressure control apparatus


A process for converting noxious nitrogen oxides present in oxygen-containing gaseous effluents to N.sub.2 and H.sub.2 O comprising reacting the gaseous effluent with an effective amount of ammonia in the presence of a catalyst having a Constraint Index of up to about 12, said catalyst having a Constraint Index of up to about 12, said catalyst being composited with a binder containing at least one selected from the group consisting of titania, zirconia, and silica.

In recent years there has been an increased concern in the United States and elsewhere about air pollution from industrial emissions of noxious oxides of nitrogen, sulfur and carbon. Government agencies, in response to such concerns, have in some cases already placed limits on allowable emissions of one or more of the pollutants, and the trend is clearly in the direction of increasingly stringent restrictions. Petroleum fuel refineries are particularly affected by present and anticipated restrictions on emissions, particularly emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.
Although several nitrogen oxides are known which are relatively stable at ambient conditions, it is generally recognized that two of these, viz. nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO.sub.2), are the principal contributors to smog and other undesirable environmental effects when they are discharged into the atmosphere. These effects will not be discussed further here since they are well recognized.
Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, under appropriate conditions, are interconvertible according to the equation EQU 2NO+O.sub.2 =2NO.sub.2.
For purposes of the present invention, NO.sub.x will be used herein to represent nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide (the principal noxious oxides of nitrogen), and/or mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,554 to Lyon describes a homogeneous gas phase thermal reaction to remove NO.sub.x from combustion effluent by adding 0.4 to 10 moles (preferably 0.5 to 1.5 moles) of ammonia followed by heating to 1600.degree. C. to 2000.degree. C. The NO.sub.x content is lowered as a result of its being reduced to nitrogen by reaction with ammonia. The so-called "selective catalytic reduction" (SCR) type process which operates at a much lower temperature, 200.degree. to 600.degree. C., is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,632 to Pence et al., which describes a process for reducing NO.sub.x from a fossil fuel fired power generation plant, or from other industrial plant off-gas stream, to elemental nitrogen and/or innocuous nitrogen oxides by employing ammonia as reductant and, as catalyst, the hydrogen or sodium form of a zeolite having pore openings of about 3 to 10 Angstroms. The Pence et al. patent is incorporated by reference for its description of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) processes for reducing NO.sub.x emissions.
Now it has been found that the selection of binder material improves the efficacy of catalytic NO.sub.x reduction.


A method of driving a manned vehicle includes following steps of: acquiring correspondingly initial weight values of a plurality of weight sensors, each weight sensor is corresponding to a direction; acquiring correspondingly weight measurement values by the weight sensors; calculating correspondingly a weight ratio of each weight sensor according to the initial weight value and the weight measurement value of each weight sensor; producing a control command according to the direction corresponding to the weight sensor when the weight ratio of any one of the weight sensors is greater than a first threshold value; and driving the manned vehicle to move according to the control command. Accordingly, it is to effectively reduce the size and weight of the manned vehicle and reduce the difficulty of controlling the manned vehicle by intuitively controlling moving directions of the manned vehicle according to variations of the center of gravity of a user.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a driving method, and more particularly to a method of driving a manned vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to immediately control moving directions of a manned vehicle, the existing manned vehicle, such as an electric skateboard must additionally install a manipulative device, such as a steering handle for a user to control moving directions of the manned vehicle. However, the installation of the manipulative device increases the size and weight of the manned vehicle. In addition, the user may fall down or bump into obstacles to cause the user to be injured once the user who is less experienced in using the manned vehicle excessively or insufficiently steers the manned vehicle.


A light emitting device includes: a substrate; a light emitting element mounted on the substrate and emitting blue light and green light; and a wavelength conversion part wavelength-converting a portion of light emitted from the light emitting element into red light, and including fluoride-based phosphors represented by Chemical Formula: AxMFy:Mn4+ (2≦x≦3 and 4≦y≦7, where element A is at least one selected from a group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs and element M is at least one selected from a group consisting of Si, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ge and Sn) and organic or inorganic coating layers enclosing the fluoride-based phosphors.

The present disclosure relates to a light emitting device, a backlight unit and a display apparatus.
A light emitting diode (LED) is commonly seen a next generation light source having many positive attributes such as a relatively long lifespan, low power consumption, a rapid response rate, environmentally friendly characteristics, and the like, as compared with a light source according to the related art, and has been prominent as an important light source in various products such as illumination devices, backlight units for display devices, and the like. In particular, Group III nitride-based LEDs including GaN, AlGaN, InGaN, InAlGaN, and the like, mainly serve as a semiconductor light emitting device outputting blue light or ultraviolet light.
A light emitting device using such an LED may include a light emitting element supplying excitation light and phosphors excited by the light emitted from the light emitting element to thereby emit wavelength-converted light, such that desired color characteristics may be implemented. Accordingly, research into a phosphor having superior color reproducibility and reliability and a light emitting device using the phosphor has been demanded.

Light emitting device, backlight unit and display apparatus


The invention relates to a low-energy, low-fat or fat-free, high-protein soured or unsoured product prepared by means of a crosslinking enzyme, and to a process for the preparation thereof.

There are no completely carbohydrate-free and fat-free sour milk products in the market at this moment. There is a great interest in and a need and demand for extremely low-energy food products, light products and weight-control products.
In the preparation of sour milk products, it is typical that starter is added to homogenized, highly heat-treated milk, which, as it sours the milk, provides it with the structure and taste properties typical of the product. As a result of heating, some of the whey proteins of the milk are denatured.
Publication WO 2004/075644 (HP Hood LLC) describes a reduced carbohydrate microbiologically soured dairy product and a process for manufacturing it. An unflavoured soured milk product contains 2.21 to 3.09% carbohydrates, 3.98 to 4.86% protein and 1.33 to 2.20% fat. A flavoured soured product, in turn, contains 3.10 to 3.97% carbohydrates, 0.44 to 1.32% fat and 3.98 to 4.86% protein.
Publication US 2006/0057247 (Ngyen et al.) relates to a process for producing a microbiologically soured dairy product, which contains a small amount of added carbohydrates, from ultrafiltered milk and to a soured dairy product, which contains less than 4.9% carbohydrates and has a viscosity of 900 to 1 600 mPas and a pH of 4.1 to 4.5.
A problem with the products described in these publications is, however, the fact that they contain a great deal of carbohydrates and are, thus, not low-energy products. The maximum carbohydrate contents given to the products are close to the normal carbohydrate content of milk, that is, approximately 4.9%.
Control of the preparation of microbiologically soured low-energy products and the adjustment and maintenance of conditions, such as pH, temperature and time, is problematic, arduous and difficult to manage. In addition, the organoleptic properties of the products are sensitive to disturbances caused by changes in conditions. The preparation of extremely low-energy soured products, especially those from which carbohydrates are removed, is difficult to do with starters, because starter bacteria do not proliferate and acid does not form without adding sugar. Additional costs then arise from raw materials, for instance. In addition, the preparation process and product are more and more difficult to control when a carbohydrate-free, extremely low-energy product is prepared. It is known in the field to add a cross-linking enzyme to the protein source to minimize structural problems. A problem then arises that the processes and their control are further complicated and become more difficult as more preparation steps are added. Thus, simple product formulations and cost-effective preparation processes are needed to control the problems, such as post-souring and structural problems like a powdery structure, caused by the generally known processes to the products.
In the preparation of sour products, chemical souring with for instance glucono-delta-lactone, lactic acid, hydrochloric acid, citric acid, or a combination of different acids is a known alternative for microbiological souring with starters. For instance Schorsch, C. et al. [Int Dairy J 10 (2000), 519-528] and Myllärinen, P. et al. [Int Dairy J, 17 (2007) 800-807] disclose that milk sours chemically by adding glucono-delta-lactone (GDL), such as bacteria producing lactic acid, depending on the souring conditions. Schorsch, C. et al. describe the preparation of casein gel from ultrafiltered calcium-phosho-caseinate by treating it with a cross-linking enzyme, transglutaminase. In publication Int Dairy J 10 (2000) 529-539 (Schorsch, C. et al.), in turn, casein gel is prepared from ultrafiltered calcium-phosho-caseinate by treating it with a cross-linking enzyme and souring it chemically with glucono-delta-lactone (GDL). Myllärinen, P. et al. describe the preparation of milk protein from sodium caseinate or acid casein by chemical souring with GDL and adding treatment with a cross-linking enzyme to the souring. Menéndez, O. et al. (Nahrung/Food 48(3) (2004)165-168) describe the preparation of milk protein from acid-precipitated casein by simultaneous transglutaminase and glucono-delta-lactone treatment. In publication J Agric Food Chem 52 (2004) 4456-4464, (Eissa, A. S., et al.), whey protein is treated at a low pH with a transglutaminase enzyme, and in publication J Dairy Sci 86 (2003) 1556-1563 (Vasbinder, A. J., at al.), solutions made from skimmed milk powder and whey protein-free milk powder were treated with transglutaminase and GDL or D-gluconic acid.
In said publications, the described processes and the raw materials used in them are, however, not industrially applicable but only suitable for research use.
Patent publication FI 20055076 (Valio Oy) describes a low-energy skimmed milk beverage rich in added calcium and containing a low-energy milk base of skimmed milk or whey protein solution or a combination thereof and from which carbohydrates have been removed either entirely or partly, and a process for preparing the same. The energy content of the product is at most 20 kcal/100 g.
Publication WO 2009/016257 relates to a process for producing an acidified milk drink and publication WO 2007060288, in turn, relates to a method of manufacturing soured dairy products. The protein contents of the raw materials used in these processes are in the range of about 30 w-% to about 42 w-% of the dry matter.
Today, retail and consumers require products that contain less energy and are structurally pleasing. It is thus desirable to provide and develop natural processes which are more efficient than before and which ensure the consumer-pleasing organoleptic properties of extremely low-energy products and the preservation of the structure of the product during transportation and even long-term storage.
It has now unexpectedly been found that it is possible to produce from a milk protein raw material having a standardized protein, fat and carbohydrate content extremely low-energy, either unsoured, that is, neutral, or soured milk products that are flawless and/or excellent in structure and taste without any additional costs.


Some embodiments provide an image sensor pixel comprising a junction field effect transistor (JFET) and a floating diffusion configured to act as the gate of the JFET. An image sensor may comprise a plurality of pixels, at least one pixel comprising a floating diffusion region formed in a semiconductor substrate, a transfer gate configured to selectively cause transfer of photocharge stored in the pixel to the floating diffusion, and a JFET having (i) a source and a drain coupled by a channel region, and (ii) a gate comprising the floating diffusion region.

The Quanta Image Sensor (QIS) has been proposed as a possible next-generation image sensor. In the single-bit QIS, the specialized, sub-diffraction-limit sized binary-output photo-element sensitive to a single photoelectron is called a "jot". Central to single-bit as well as multi-bit QIS implementations is single-electron sensitivity (˜0.15 e− r.m.s.) which can be obtained from high, in-pixel conversion gain, e.g., more than 1000 μV/e−. For the high conversion gain needed, the capacitance of the floating diffusion (FD) node needs to be minimized. According to the present inventors' previous QIS work, the capacitance of the FD node has been greatly reduced, but further reductions in FD node capacitance and/or additional or alternative ways to reduce FD node capacitance may still be advantageous and/or desired.
By way of example, in accordance with the present inventors' previous QIS work, some QIS pixel designs incorporating a pump-gate charge transfer with a distal FD and a gateless reset have a greatly reduced FD total capacitance such that the residual part of the FD capacitance is mainly attributed to the MOSFET source-follower (SF). According to a calculation for an example of such a QIS design, to achieve a conversion gain of 10000 μV/e−, the total FD capacitance needs to be lower than 0.16 fF. With a 65 nm CMOS process, a MOSFET SF will contribute about 0.3 fF to the FD capacitance, thus effectively rendering it more difficult to achieve the 10000 μV/e− conversion gain for such a design at this technology node.

Image sensor and image sensor pixel having JFET source follower


The invention relates to manufacturing a surgical guide to be placed in a patient's mouth. The patient's mouth is scanned to obtain surgical-region scan data at a region where an implant is to be located. The patient's mouth is also scanned in the opened position to acquire dental conditions opposite from the surgical region so as to obtain opposing-condition scan data. A virtual model is developed using the surgical-region scan data and the opposing-condition scan data. Using the virtual model, a surgical plan is developed that includes the location of the implant to be installed in the patient. A virtual surgical guide is also developed based on the surgical plan. The dimensions of instrumentation to be used with the surgical guide are checked to ensure they will fit within the mouth by use of the opposing-condition scan data. After checking, final surgical-guide manufacturing information is obtained for manufacturing the surgical guide.

The dental restoration of a partially or wholly edentulous patient with artificial dentition is typically done in two stages. In the first stage, an incision is made through the gingiva to expose the underlying bone. After a series of drill bits creates an osteotomy in the bone, a dental implant is placed in the jawbone for integration. The dental implant generally includes a threaded bore to receive a retaining screw holding mating components therein. During the first stage, the gum tissue overlying the implant is sutured and heals as the osseointegration process continues.
Once the osseointegration process is complete, the second stage is initiated. Here, the gum tissue is re-opened to expose the end of the dental implant. A healing component or healing abutment is fastened to the exposed end of the dental implant to allow the gum tissue to heal there around. Preferably, the gum tissue heals such that the aperture that remains generally approximates the size and contour of the aperture that existed around the natural tooth that is being replaced. To accomplish this, the healing abutment attached to the exposed end of the dental implant has the same general contour as the gingival portion of the natural tooth being replaced.
During the typical second stage of dental restoration, the healing abutment is removed and an impression coping is fitted onto the exposed end of the implant. This allows an impression of the specific region of the patient's mouth to be taken so that an artificial tooth is accurately constructed. After these processes, a dental laboratory creates a prosthesis to be permanently secured to the dental implant from the impression that was made.
In addition to the more traditional system for placing dental implants described above, some systems use guided placement of the dental implants. In these situations, a surgical plan is developed for the patient that will include the location and orientation of the implants to be installed by a surgical guide. Once the surgical plan is known, the surgical guide can be developed and, eventually, placed in the patient's mouth at the known location. The surgical guide includes openings for providing the exact placement of the drill bits used to create the osteotomy. Once the osteotomy is completed, the surgical guide may permit the dental implant to be placed through the same opening and enter the osteotomy that was guided by the surgical guide.
Surgical guides can be created by the use of a CT-scan of the patient's mouth. The CT-scan provides enough detail to develop the surgical guide by use of various methods. For example, a CT-scan can provide the details of the patient's gum tissue and/or remaining teeth so that the surgical guide can be developed based on computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). One example of the use of a CT-scan is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0093988, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. This publication also describes the use of various tubes that can be placed within the surgical guide to receive the drill bits and implants.
However, some problems may occur with the development and manufacturing of the surgical guide. For example, the surgical plan may require the use of a certain sized implant, dental drill, or other components that may not fit well in the patient's mouth due to the opposing (i.e., upper or lower) teeth and/or gum tissue in the patient's mouth. Thus, the clinician may be disappointed because of the considerable amount of time and effort in planning the case, only to need a revised plan and possibly a new surgical guide. The patient, of course, is also disappointed because he or she did not receive what was expected in that visit (possibly a temporary prosthesis) and will be forced to return an additional day to complete the project.
As such, a need exists to develop an improved CAD-CAM related methodology for developing a surgical plan and a surgical guide that is used in accordance with the surgical plan.

Method for pre-operative visualization of instrumentation used with a surgical guide for dental implant placement


A fuel-sorbing device excellent in sorbing evaporated fuel includes a sorbent of layered porous silica for capturing evaporated fuel and a container which houses the sorbent and into which the evaporated fuel is introduced. The layered porous silica is composed of a plurality of superposed sheets made of a framework of SiO.sub.2. Adjacent sheets are partly bonded each other to form a three-dimensional framework having a large number of pores. The sorbent can be used in combination with an organic polymer sorbent, so as to sorb evaporated fuel in two stages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel-sorbing device, such as a canister to be attached to a fuel tank of an automobile. More particularly, it relates to a fuel-sorbing device using a particular sorbent.
2. Description of the Related Art
A relatively large amount of fuel evaporates at the time when it is fed by a feeding gun into a fuel tank of an automobile. Part of the fuel contained in a fuel tank or in the float chamber of a carburetor also evaporates not only when the automobile is running, but also when it is not running. Because of this, a canister filled with a sorbent is positioned between the tank and the open space, in order to capture the evaporated fuel and to avoid its leakage into the atmosphere.
Fuel-sorbing devices charged with a sorbent are also used in order to capture fuels evaporated from fuel-storage tanks other than those of automobiles, as well as to capture fuels leaked therefrom.
Powders or granules of active carbon have been used as a sorbent in the prior fuel-sorbing devices, including canisters.
When a canister has sorbed evaporated fuel almost to its maximum sorbing capacity, air is introduced into the device in order to desorb (or purge) the fuel out of the active carbon. The purged canister is again used to sorb evaporated fuel.
However, when such a canister is used, there often occur cases wherein evaporated fuel is captured only insufficiently, and part of it released into the atmosphere.
That is, the fuel-capturing capability (or working capacity) of active carbon is not sufficiently high.
Of fuel components captured by the active carbon housed in a canister, relatively small molecules containing 5 carbon atoms or less can be readily desorbed during the purging (desorbing) step, whereas it is difficult to completely desorb larger molecules (or molecules containing 6 or more carbon atoms) by the purging.
Because of this, when active carbon is subjected to purging repeatedly, larger molecules gradually accumulate in the active carbon, and the working capacity of the sorbent deteriorates with the lapse of time.
A marked deterioration in the working capacity of carbon atom is also observed when evaporated fuel is condensed and liquefied on the inner wall of a canister or a connecting pipe, and the active carbon is soaked with the liquefied fuel. If active carbon is used in an increased amount sufficient to rectify the above deficiency, the size of the canister would become undesirably large, posing various restrains on the designing of automobiles, or the like.
Thus, prior canisters using active carbon are often insufficient in their capability of capturing evaporated fuel and hence, part of evaporated fuel is released into the atmosphere, causing air pollution.

Fuel-sorbing device using layered porous silica


A power-up circuit with hysteretic characteristics for regulating the activation of one or more output buffers of an extended logic circuit. The hysteresis of the power-up circuit of the invention permits turn on of a switching transistor of the circuit at one threshold voltage level and maintains the active state of that switching transistor until a second lower threshold voltage level. The hysteresis is achieved by providing two separate and electrically isolated control paths that are connected to the control node of the switching transistor. The first control path includes a plurality of diode devices designed to regulate the power supply level required to turn on the switching transistor. The second control path also includes diode devices but in lesser numbers so that, once the switching transistor is turned on by the first control path, it remains on in spite of fluctuations at the power supply rail.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of sub-circuits used to synchronize the energizing of the various parts of an extended circuit. Such a subcircuit is characterized as a "power-up circuit," and serves to delay the application of electrical power at power-up until the level of voltage available is high enough to ensure the proper operation of the circuit. More particularly, it is a circuit that delays the application of power to the output pullup and pulldown stages in output buffers until those stages can be controlled by the rest of the output buffer and associated circuitry. More particularly yet, the present invention provides a means of delaying circuit activation until the rising power-supply-voltage is sufficiently high to ensure that the output buffer is placed in a definite state before its pullup and pulldown stages are energized. Yet more particularly, the present invention introduces a hysteresis into the energizing/de-energizing process such that the turn-on-threshold-voltage marking the point at which power supply voltage is applied to the extended circuit as the power supply voltage is rising, is significantly higher than the turn-off-threshold-voltage marking the point at which power supply voltage is removed from the extended circuit as the power supply voltage is falling. This ensures that a relatively high turn-on-threshold-voltage can be set, without a concern that the circuit will be de-energized by normal fluctuations in the applied power supply voltage.
Another sub-field in which the circuit of the present invention can be categorized is that of reset circuits, i.e., circuits used to set to logic-low the levels of a group of logic stages in an extended circuit or, more generally, to set the levels of the logic stages to definite values, logic-low or logic-high.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, power is supplied to an extended logic circuit by a power supply connected across the circuit. This usually is accomplished by connecting the low-potential power rail of the logic circuit to ground and connecting the high-potential power rail to the output of the power supply. The high-potential power rail voltage is usually referred to as V.sub.cc, and the low-potential power rail as GND. Normally the power supply is part of the circuitry and when ac power is provided to the power supply the output voltage of that power supply will not instantaneously increase to the full design voltage for the high-potential power rail of the logic circuit. Rather, the voltage output of the power supply, V.sub.ps, will commence at ground level and ramp up more or less linearly to the design voltage over a period on the order of milliseconds. Problems arise because long before V.sub.ps brings the high-potential power rail up to the level where the entire circuit is operating properly, the circuit will become active. This can result in various stages being placed in indeterminate states, as opposed to being in one of the two well-defined binary states. This in turn can result in excess power dissipation both within the circuit and from the common bus to which the circuit is ultimately coupled.
In general, each three-state output buffer connected to a common bus will be regulated by an output enable gate which can place the buffer in its disabled (high-Z) state regardless of the other signals to the buffer. This provides a direct way to ensure that the buffers are all disabled during the potentially disruptive period during which the power supply voltage is ramping up. A signal from a power-up circuit is simply coupled to the output enable gate of each buffer, a power-up circuit designed to provide a disabling signal through that output enable gate during the period of ramp-up. That is, a power-up circuit is used which will generate at an early stage in the ramping up of V.sub.ps a signal which can be used to hold the output buffer disabled. In other words, the power-up circuit is a "fix" added to the main circuit to make up for the fact that the main circuit cannot generate a disabling signal soon enough. The power-up circuit will generate an output voltage V.sub.PU which is in a definite logic state by the time that V.sub.ps reaches the level at which any parts of the extended logic circuit can start conducting. That definite-logic-state signal can then be used to ensure that the output logic buffer is disabled. A generic array incorporating a power-up circuit is depicted in FIG. 1, which shows the output enable gate (OEG) to be an OR gate with one input from the power-up circuit and one input from that part of the circuit which is supposed to generate the output enabling signal once the circuit is in operation and that particular buffer is supposed to be active. With the layout of FIG. 1, it can be seen that the output of the power-up circuit, V.sub.PU, must be logic-high throughout that part of the V.sub.ps ramp-up for which the buffer is vulnerable. For transistor-transistor logic (TTL), this will be the range from about 2V.sub.BE to 4V.sub.BE, with V.sub.BE being defined as the voltage drop across the base/emitter junction of a conducting bipolar transistor (i.e., the bias required to cause forward current across that pn junction). Thus the requirement is that the power-up circuit put out a logic-high signal while V.sub.ps is varying from 2V.sub.BE to 4V.sub.BE during ramp-up, and that it then be locked at logic low so as to return control of the buffer to nOE. Although this has been stated in relation to the specific schematic circuit of FIG. 1, it can be seen that the main requirement is that the power-up circuit coupled into the circuit to be protected must somehow generate a well-defined binary signal during the period of vulnerability during which the rest of the circuit, if left unguarded, could generate a series of mixed states, neither logic high nor logic low.
Early power-up circuits are described in Houk et al. (U.S. Pat. 4,481,430, issued 1984) and in Kantz (U.S. Pat. 5,051,611, issued in 1991). The basic circuit of Houk is shown in FIG. 2 (Prior Art). It can be seen that as V.sub.ps, ramps up from ground, the power-up output voltage V.sub.PU will first follow V.sub.ps, since there will be no current through resistor R3 and hence no voltage drop across that resistor. At some point on that ramp-up--depending on the way in which the power-up circuit is coupled to the rest of the circuit, and in particular to the output enable gate--the output buffer will be disabled. Although the exact voltage at which that happens can only be determined from a consideration of the specifics of that coupling, it is easy to determine the value of V.sub.p, for which the power-up circuit yields control. It is when transistor Q1 turns on. Transistor Q1 will be non-conducting until V.sub.ps is high enough to cause forward conduction through diodes D1 and D2 and hence provide base drive to Q1. Even after both diodes D1 and D2 are conducting, Q1 will not conduct until the drop across R2 equals V.sub.BE, the voltage required across the base-emitter junction of Q1 to turn on the transistor. The "forward" base-emitter voltage drop will be taken to be the same across all transistors, and also to be the forward-conduction voltage drop for all the circuit diodes (which are generally bipolar transistors themselves with the collector and base nodes tied together). Thus it can be seen that Q1 will turn on when V.sub.ps reaches a voltage V.sub.BE [3 +R1/R2], or about 4V.sub.BE when the R1 and R2 resistors are comparable to one another. When Q1 turns on the output of the power-up circuit will fall to V.sub.sat (the collector-emitter drop across a conducting bipolar transistor of the circuit) and will remain there as long as V.sub.ps remains above V.sub.BE [3+R1/R2]. For this duration, V.sub.PU will be locked at logic-low. The gate to which V.sub.PU is connected--generally an OR gate as shown in FIG. 1--is wired so that a logiclow V.sub.PU does not have any effect on the state of the output buffer. It can be seen, then, that for V.sub.ps >V.sub.BE [3+R1/R2] the power-up circuit cuts out (cedes control of the buffer). The problem with the invention of Houk et al. is that it does not allow for fluctuations in the high-potential power rail voltage which fluctuations, though large, are not inconsistent with proper operation of the circuit. These fluctuations will occur for a number of reasons and are a normal feature of a properly-functioning circuit. In particular, fluctuations in the high-potential power rail voltage which brings that voltage as low as 4V.sub.BE above ground are not inconsistent with proper functioning of the circuit; nevertheless, the power-up circuit of Houk et al. will shut down the circuit when such a fluctuation occurs.
The circuit of Kantz addresses the susceptibility of earlier power-up circuits to shut down circuits in the presence of normal operational V.sub.ps fluctuations. It does this by introducing a hysteresis such that, once the power-up circuit has relinquished control over the extended circuit at the V.sub.ps threshold V.sub.UTh, it will not reassert control until V.sub.ps has fallen below a different threshold V.sub.DTh, where V.sub.DTh <V.sub.UTh. FIG. 3 depicts the essence of the power-up circuit of Kantz. As V.sub.ps increases from ground potential the diode stack is at first not conducting; transistor Q3 receives no base drive and hence is non-conducting. The output voltage of the power-up circuit is equal to V.sub.ps during this interval, as with that of Houk et al. and, like that of Houk et al. will cause the buffer to be disabled once a certain value for V.sub.ps --typically around 2V.sub.BE -is reached. Note that once V.sub.ps exceeds V.sub.BE, transistor Q2 turns on. However, the output voltage V.sub.PU continues to track V.sub.ps, since the base current through Q2 will result in negligible voltage drop across resistor R7. There will, however, be current through R4, and a corresponding voltage drop across R4 with Q2 conducting. Initially, this current all passes through Q2. When V.sub.ps reaches a certain voltage, however, the diode stack consisting of D3 and D4 will start conducting and the current through R4 will then be the sum of the respective currents through the diode stack branch and through Q2. As V.sub.ps continues to increase, it will pass the threshold V.sub.UTh at which base drive is supplied to Q3; at this point, V.sub.PU will drop to V.sub.SAT, turning Q2 off. The threshold V.sub.UTh is the point at which the power-up circuit of Kantz yields control over the buffer. The turning off of Q2 at V.sub.UTh is essential to the hysteresis effect in Kantz. Now all of the current through R4 passes through the diode stack. Consequently, when V.sub.ps decreases-either during power-down or during a transitory fluctuation-it can reach a voltage V.sub.DTh lower than V.sub.UTh before the base voltage of Q3 falls below V.sub.BE causing Q3 to turn off and hence the power-up circuit to shut down the output buffer. Because Kantz allows the power-up threshold voltage V.sub.UTh to be set higher than the power-down threshold voltage V.sub.DTh, it permits V.sub.UTh to be set higher than would be desirable when one has to select a single threshold which is to be a compromise between (1) providing adequate protection during power-up and (2) avoiding shutdowns for minor fluctuations in the power supply voltage.
Although the power-up circuit of Kantz allows separation of the threshold voltages V.sub.UTh and V.sub.DTh, it is limited with regard to the fixing of the values of those threshold voltages by means other than selection of alternative resistance values. This is of particular concern given the types of variations observed in fabricated resistors, wherein actual resistance values can deviate by as much as 30% from design values. Any alternative means used to change V.sub.UTh and V.sub.DTh, such as by adding supplemental diode means to the circuit branch including transistor Q2 could bring the power-up circuit outside the range of acceptable operating conditions, particularly as required power supply levels are reduced. What is therefore needed is a simple bipolar power-up circuit with hysteresis.


A human serine protease expressed in cytotoxic killer cells, having a mass of about 25.8kD, and having the amino acid residues of the serine protease charge-relay catalytic mechanism conserved is provided. The protease can be produced by recombinant DNA technology. The cDNA is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The continuing expansion of new tools, protocols, techniques, and reagents has allowed molecular biologists and immunologists to ask novel questions concerning obscure physiological processes and, in many situations, obtain some insight into the components of the process and the manner in which the components operate. Important to the existence of all vertebrates is their ability to defend themselves against pathogens. In mammals, the immune system is divided into a number of different pathways, each pathway having different defense mechanisms, different components, and different modes of regulation.
The killer cells, of which there are many subsets, are able in a restricted or unrestricted manner to kill cells which can be distinguished from normal cells of the host. These cells may arise from viral transfection or transduction, neoplastic transformation, or transplantation from an allogeneic host, where the transplanted tissue or organ has one or more different major histocompatibility (MHC) Class I or minor histocompatibility surface antigens from the host.
There is substantial interest in being able to understand and influence the natural physiological processes. In the case of transplantation, the ability to inhibit graft rejection would greatly increase the success of the transplantation and possibly allow for broader disparity between the MHC antigens of the donor and the recipient. Understanding of the processes by which killer cells select and destroy other cells will aid in an understanding of autoimmune diseases, as well as allow for aiding individuals who are deficient in their immune response.
It is therefore of substantial interest to be able to identify the structural genes, the regulatory regions associated with the structural genes, and the expression products of the structural genes associated with the various immune mechanisms, particularly in humans. One avenue which would have significant beneficial effect in diagnosis and therapy would be the availability of the genes and components of the killer cell lytic process.
2. Description of the Relevant Literature
Polypeptides released from killer cells and their cytoplasic granules have been implicated in the lytic event of killer cell lysis mechanisms, such polypeptides including serine proteases, toxic lymphokines and pore forming poly-perforins. (Henkart, et al., J. Exp. Med. (1984) 160:75; Podack and Konigsberg, ibid (1984) 160:695; Podack, Immunology Today (1985) 6:21; Henkart, Ann. Rev. Immunol. (1985) 3:31; Martz, Immunology Today (1984) 5(9):254.) The inhibition of CTL or NK mediated target cell lysis by low and high molecular weight serine protease inhibitors has been demonstrated. (Wright and Bonavida in Natural Killer Activity and Its Regulation (Ed. T. Hoshinu, et al.) Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, p. 145 (1984) and references cited therein). Hatcher, J. Immunol. (1978) 120:665 isolated a cytotoxic serine protease from unstimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes with an approximate molecular weight of 30 kB. Pasternak and Eisen, Nature (Lond.) (1985) 314:743, reported a tryspin-like serine protease of 28 kD specific for CTL cells. Marks, Science (1986) 231:1367 describes general theories concerning cell mediated cytoxicity. See also U.S. patent application Ser. No. 860,085, filed May 6, 1986, which reports a murine killer cell protease.

Serine protease from cytotoxic killer cells

The Board of trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A damping device for an electromagnetic valve control of an internal combustion engine has a pressure chamber, a hydraulic supply line communicating with a first pressure chamber and supplying the pressure chamber with a hydraulic medium. A damping piston is positioned at one side of the pressure chamber and is moveable relative to the pressure chamber. A moveable mass acts on the damping piston. When the damping piston is moved in a first direction by the moveable mass from a rest position into the first pressure chamber, the hydraulic medium is initially displaced from the pressure chamber into the hydraulic supply line until the hydraulic supply line is closed off by the damping piston and a hydraulic pressure is generated in the pressure chamber to create a force acting counter to the movement of the moveable mass.

The present invention relates to a damping device for movable masses, preferably for electromagnetic drive systems, especially for electromagnetic valve controls, operating without camshaft, of internal combustion engines, comprising at least one damping element that exerts a force which is oriented counter the direction of movement of the movable mass.
For electromagnetic valve controls, operating without camshaft, of internal combustion engines it is known to open the valve by the axlel of an armature. In the closing direction, the valve is spring-loaded. An armature is seated on the armature axle which can be moved in two directions by two coils. Starting from a central position, depending on the respective supply of electricity to a coil, the armature is then moved in the desired direction. The armature axle is secured by a spring force in abutment at the valve shaft. The pressure spring loading the armature axle is pretensioned such that in the current-free state of the electric drive the armature is maintained in the central position. Upon movement the armature will impact at high force and high velocity on the stops provided at the electric drive which results in a considerable noise pollution and also reduces the service life of the electric drive. The springs loading the armature axle or the valve stem present resistance to the armature axle and the armature. However, this resistance cannot be adjusted so high that the hard impact of the armature at the stops of the electric drive are dampened or reduced.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to embody a damping device of the aforementioned kind such that it operates at reduced noise level, has a long service life, and reliably and over a path as short as possible will reduce the movement to zero.

Damping device for movable masses, preferably for electromagnetic systems


Methods and compositions are disclosed utilizing metabolic derivatives of astemizole for the treatment of allergic disorders while avoiding the concomitant liability of adverse effects associated with the astemizole. The metabolic derivatives of astemizole are also useful for the treatment of retinopathy and other small vessel disorders associated with diabetes mellitus and such other conditions as may be related to the antihistamine activity of astemizole. For example, the metabolic derivatives of astemizole are useful for the treatment of asthma, motion sickness, and vertigo, without the concomitant liability of adverse effects associated with astemizole. Furthermore, the metabolic derivatives of astemizole, in combination with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents or other non-narcotic analgesics, or in combination with a decongestant, cough suppressant/antitussive or expectorant, are useful for the treatment of cough, cold, cold-like, and/or flu symptoms and the discomfort, headache, pain, fever, and general malaise associated therewith, without the concomitant liability of adverse effects associated with astemizole.

This invention relates to novel pharmaceutical compositions containing desmethylastemizole, 6-hydroxydesmethylastemizole and norastemizole. These compositions possess potent antihistaminic activity and are useful in treating allergic rhinitis, asthma and other allergic disorders while avoiding adverse effects associated with the administration of other antihistamines, such as astemizole, including but not limited to cardiac arrhythmias, drowsiness, nausea, fatigue, weakness and headache. Also, these compositions, in combination with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents or other non-narcotic analgesics, are useful for the treatment of cough, cold, cold-like, and/or flu symptoms and the discomfort, headache, pain, fever, and general malaise associated therewith. The aforementioned combinations may optionally include one or more other active components including a decongestant, cough suppressant/antitussive, or expectorant.
Additionally, these novel pharmaceutical compositions containing desmethylastemizole, 6-hydroxydesmethylastemizole and norastemizole are useful in treating motion sickness, vertigo, diabetic retinopathy, small vessel complications due to diabetes and such other conditions as may be related to the activity of these derivatives as antagonists of the H-1 histamine receptor while avoiding the adverse effects associated with the administration of other antihistamines, such as astemizole.
Also disclosed are methods for treating the above-described conditions in a human while avoiding the adverse effects that are associated with the administration of other antihistamines, such as astemizole, by administering the aforementioned pharmaceutical compositions containing desmethylastemizole, 6-hydroxydesmethylastemizole and norastemizole to said human.
The active compounds of these compositions and methods are metabolic derivatives of astemizole. Chemically, these derivatives are desmethylastemizole, 6-hydroxydesmethylastemizole and norastemizole. These compounds are described in Kamei et al., Arzneimittel-Forschung/Drug Research, 41: 932-36 (1991).
Astemizole is an antagonist of the H-1 histamine receptor protein. Histamine receptor proteins occur in two well-identified forms in tissues, of which H-1 and H-2 receptors are two. The H-1 receptors are those that mediate the response antagonized by conventional antihistamines. H-1 receptors are present, for example, in the ileum, the skin, and the bronchial smooth muscle of man and other mammals. Astemizole antagonizes the effect of histamine in the guinea pig isolated ileum, suppresses histamine-induced whealing in the skin of guinea pigs, and protects against histamine induced bronchoconstriction in the guinea pig.
Through H-2 receptor-mediated responses, histamine stimulates gastric acid secretion in mammals and the chronotropic effect in isolated mammalian atria. Astemizole has no effect on histamine-induced gastric acid secretion, nor does it alter the chronotropic effect of histamine on atria. Thus, astemizole has no apparent effect on the H-2 histamine receptor.
Astemizole is well absorbed but is extensively metabolized. See Uchiyama et al., Pharmacometrics, 40: 77-93 (1990). Three main metabolites have been identified, and all of the metabolites are reported to have antihistaminic activity. See Kamei et al., Arzneimittel-Forschung/Drug Research, 41: 932-36 (1991).
On the basis of its antihistaminic activity, researchers evaluated the pharmacological effects of astemizole in man. Clinical trials of efficacy indicated that astemizole is an effective H-1 antagonist. See Howarth, Clin. Exp. Allergy, 20 (Suppl. 2): 31-41 (1990).
Weintraub et al., Hosp. Formul., 22: 918-27 (1987) describes clinical efficacy of astemizole in the treatment of both seasonal and perennial allergies. It has also been suggested that astemizole would be useful for the treatment of asthma.
Astemizole may also be useful for the treatment of motion sickness and vertigo. Some antihistamines have been found to be effective for the prophylaxis and treatment of motion sickness. See Wood, Drugs, 17: 471-479 (1979). Some antihistamines have also proven useful for treating vestibular disturbances, such as Meniere's disease, and in other types of vertigo. See Cohen et al., Archives of Neurology, 27: 129-135 (1972).
In addition, astemizole may be useful in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy and other small vessel disorders associated with diabetes mellitus. In tests on rats with streptozocin-induced diabetes, treatment by antihistamines prevented the activation of retinal histamine receptors which have been implicated in the development of diabetic retinopathy. The use of antihistamines to treat retinopathy and small vessel disorders associated with diabetes mellitus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,591.
It has also been suggested that astemizole, in combination with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents or other non-narcotic analgesics, would be useful for the treatment of cough, cold, cold-like and/or flu symptoms and the discomfort, pain, headache, fever, and general malaise associated therewith. These compositions for the treatment of the above-described symptoms may optionally include one or more other active components including a decongestant (such as pseudoephedrine), a cough suppressant/antitussive (such as dextromethorphan) or an expectorant (such as guaifenesin).
Many antihistamines cause somewhat similar adverse effects. These adverse effects include but are not limited to sedation, gastrointestinal distress, dry mouth, and constipation or diarrhea. Astemizole has been found to cause relatively less sedation as compared with other antihistamines. See Weintraub et al., Hosp. Formul., 22: 918-27 (1987).
However, the administration of astemizole to a human has been found to cause other adverse effects. These adverse effects include but are not limited to cardiac arrhythmias, including ventricular tachyarrhythmias, torsades de pointes, and ventricular fibrillation. See Knowles, Canadian Journal Hosp. Pharm., 45: 33,37 (1992); Craft, British Medical Journal, 292: 660 (1986); Simons et al., Lancet, 2: 624 (1988); and Unknown, Side Effects of Drugs Annual, 12: 142 and 14: 135. An additional unwanted side effect of astemizole is appetite stimulation and weight gain in patients taking the drug for various indications. See Krstenansky et al., Drug Intell. Clin. Pharm., 21: 947-53 (1987).
Thus, it would be particularly desirable to find a compound with the advantages of astemizole which would not have the aforementioned disadvantages.

Methods for treating allergic disorders and other disorders using norastemizole


In a telephone, a speech band switching circuit selectively provides a received speech with one of a plurality of frequency characteristics. A sensing circuit senses the level of noise around the telephone. A speech band control circuit compares the noise level sensed by the sensing circuit with a predetermined level and controls the speech band switching circuit on the basis of the result of comparison. When the noise level is higher than the predetermined level, the control circuit sends a control signal to the switching circuit. In response, the switching circuit selects a high-pass filter in place of a low-pass filter. As a result, a received speech is easy to hear despite the noise around the telephone because the low frequency range thereof is filtered out.

The present invention relates to a telephone capable of limiting a band-width of a received speech signal and, more particularly, to a mobile telephone capable of making a received speech easy to hear even in a noisy environment.
It has been customary with a telephone to include a filter for limiting a band-width of a received speech signal in a receiver circuit thereof. The filter limits a received speech signal to a predetermined frequency band and thereby makes the speech easy to hear. Specifically, the telephone has a casing and a transmitter (microphone) and a receiver (speaker) mounted on the casing. A radio section demodulates a signal coming in through an antenna. The filter mentioned above controls the frequency band of the output of the radio section. The radio section and filter are connected to the receiver. In this configuration, the demodulated signal from the radio section has the frequency band thereof limited by the filter, so that a speech signal is output from the receiver within the limited frequency band. Usually, the filter is of the kind filtering out a low frequency component in order to make a received speech easy to hear.
Various approaches have recently been proposed to improve the quality of speeches received on a telephone. One of them is to provide the filter with a characteristic which enhances a low frequency component by filtering out a high frequency component. Specifically, when a high frequency component is enhanced to promote easy hearing, a received speech sounds metallic and annoys the user of the telephone. In contrast, the filter of the kind filtering out a high frequency component allows a received speech to sound soft, thereby improving the speech quality. Another approach is to allow the user to adjust the frequency of a received speech on the telephone, i.e., the easiness of hearing, as taught in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-123554 (document 1) by way of example.
However, the telephone with any of the conventional implementations for improving speech quality has the following problem. Assume that the telephone is used in a noisy urban environment outside of a building. Then, because city noises are generally distributed in a low frequency component, they are superposed on a speech signal whose frequency is limited to a low frequency component. The resulting speech output from the receiver is extremely hard to hear. For this reason, it has been customary to limit received speeches to a high frequency band so as to promote easy hearing, rather than to improve the speech quality in consideration of operation in noisy environments.
The telephone taught in the above document 1 promotes easy hearing because it allows the frequency characteristic of a received speech to be adjusted in matching relation to the environment. However, the adjustment is done by hand and, therefore, forces the user to manipulate the telephone while conversing with the other party. Moreover, it is likely that noise drowns out a speech due to inadequate adjustment and shuts off communication for a moment.

Telephone having a speech ban limiting function


There is an anchor for securing a working line (54) to a structure. The anchor includes a sole plate (2) with an attachment (19) for the working line (54). There is at least one friction plate (5) and a connector strap (4). In use of the anchor the sole plate (2) and friction plate (5) are located against respective opposite sides of a rafter (3) of the structure and are linked together by the strap (4) in a manner such that the working line load on the sole plate (2) generates a clamping force between the sole plate (2) and the friction plate (5). This force resists movement of the anchor by gripping only the outside of the rafter (3).

The need for safety systems for people working at heights has long been recognised. Fall-arrest systems have been devised to protect workers in situations where they would otherwise be exposed to risk of serious injury or death by falling. Fall-arrest systems are a means by which the worker is attached to a secure point on the underlying structure. An integral part of any fall-arrest system is the anchorage point to the underlying structure. Both the anchor point and the underlying structure should be capable of sustaining the forces that may be imposed when arresting a fall with a wide margin of safety. It is essential that the anchor point and its means of attachment to the underlying structure do not interfere with the ability of the underlying structure to carry its load requirements. In the building industry timber roof frames are typically constructed of pre-assembled trusses. In many cases the drilling of holes and placement of bolts in the truss/rafter member may lead to structural weakening and inability of the truss/rafter to carry its load requirements. In particular, the truss/rafter may be unable to sustain the forces imposed in arresting a fall because of such weakening. All of the anchor points designed to date rely on penetration of rafter/truss members or other timber members by nails, screws or bolts through a rigid plate system as an integral means of support. These penetrations and plates may weaken the timber unacceptably.


The present invention provides a lubricating composition comprising: (a) an oil of lubricating viscosity; and (b) a crosslinked polymer derived from monomers comprising: (i) 0.001 wt % to 7 wt % of a di- or higher functional crosslinking monomer; (ii) 30 wt % or higher of a hydrocarbyl-substituted (meth)acrylic monomer, wherein each hydrocarbyl contains greater than 8 carbon atoms; and (iii) 0 wt % to 40 wt % of a hydrocarbyl-substituted (meth)acrylic monomer, wherein each hydrocarbyl contains 8 or fewer carbon atoms. The invention further provides a method of preparing the crosslinked polymer and its use in a lubricating composition for lubricating an internal combustion engine.

The use of polymers as a rheology modifier (or viscosity modifier) or as a dispersant in an oil of lubricating viscosity is well known. Typically polymers include a polymethacrylate with physical properties that have high and low temperature viscometrics as well as shear stability. For typical linear polymers these properties are related to the polymer's molecular weight. Therefore the useful molecular weight range for lubricating compositions is limited. Polymer molecular weights chosen optimize shear performance, for example, may then result in unacceptable low temperature viscometrics or render reduced fuel economy.
In an attempt to overcome the limitations of linear polymers, star polymers have been disclosed in International publication WO 06/47398, WO 06/47393, WO96/23012 A1 and European patent applications EP 979 834 A2 and EP 936 225 A1. The star polymers of WO 06/47398, WO 06/47393 are prepared by RAFT, ATRP or nitroxide mediated stable free-radical polymerisation; whereas WO96/23012 and EP 936 225 disclose star polymers prepared from anionic polymerisation techniques.
The processing of the star polymers is complex. The star polymer disclosures describe making polymers with arm-first, core-first or arm-core-arm approaches. In addition anionic polymerisation processes require more complex processing. For instance, the process requires highly pure solvents and an inert atmosphere substantially free of water, and typically performed at sub-ambient temperatures.
It would be desirable to have a polymer suitable for use in lubricating compositions with at least one of acceptable viscosity index improving characteristics, acceptable cleanliness, acceptable shear stability, acceptable viscosity index per thickening efficiency and acceptable dispersant properties. Further it would be desirable to have a polymer prepared with less complex processing than may be used for conventional polymers, e.g., without the use of special or non-commercial catalysts/initiators, purified solvents, or sub-ambient temperatures. The present invention provides a polymer with such properties.


A method and apparatus for providing an image quality test and reporting method for x-rays that allows a field engineer to effectively maintain and troubleshoot vascular imaging systems produced by all manufactures. In general, the method and apparatus of the present invention provides for a test stand, a plurality of x-ray test phantoms (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70) and a computer program for data entry, analysis and storage of the test results.

In the area of X-ray vascular imaging devices, poor vascular image quality, non-standardized vascular image quality, and the inability to quantify and archive vascular image quality, are each a particular problem encountered by radiographic technicians and service engineers. The need to systematically measure the image quality of multiple vascular X-ray equipment systems dates back to the 1970's. Since then, a number of systems have developed. In the experience of these inventors, however, the method and apparatus of the present invention is the most versatile, all-inclusive, software-based program available in the industry.

Image quality vascular uniformity evaluation method and apparatus


The present disclosure envisages an asynchronous clock gating circuitry and a method for designing the asynchronous clock gating circuitry. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry could be placed at the very beginning of the clock network, given its design and implementation logic. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry helps meet the timing requirement on the enable pin thereof. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry avoids cumbersome replication of cluck gating circuitry during physical implementation of the (circuit) design, and further helps reduce the power consumption levels in sequential circuits.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic circuits. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to the design and implementation of integrated circuits. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to designing clock gating circuits.
Description of the Related Art
With the recent advancements in design and implementation of integrated electronic circuits, the emphasis has also been upon designing electronic circuits which bring about a reduction in power consumption and an increase in the overall efficiency of the semiconductor device which made operation using the said integrated circuit. One of the methods to bring about a reduction in the power consumption levels of a semiconductor device is to shut off the active clock inputs to the sequential blocks (circuits) thereof when (those sections/circuits are) not in use.
Sequential circuits typically have been the major contributors for power dissipation in the digital system since one of the inputs to sequential circuits is a clock which is switched on all the time. Further, since clock signal are heavily loaded most of the times and this phenomenon brings about an increase in the power dissipation. Further, to distribute the clock and to control the skew network, a clock network (also referred to as clock tree) incorporating clock buffers is constructed. The construction of clock tree with clock buffers makes a direct contribution to the increase in power consumption across the sequential circuits.
Clock gating is one of the conventional methods utilized to control and optimize the (electrical) power dissipated by a clock network and the corresponding sequential circuits, since in a typical semiconductor device, the clock network contributes significantly for power dissipation. One of the well known conventional techniques for saving electrical power in clock trees was to stop the clock fed into any idle modules thereof. The phenomenon of clock gating controls the switching of the clock network by selectively disabling the clock, whenever there has been no change in the state of a clock register.
Yet another conventional attempt towards reducing the power dissipation of sequential circuits involved using a pre-computation technique to generate a signal that controls the load enable pin of the flip flops in the data path. The control signal is typically derived by investigating the combinational blocks in the data path. However, the aforementioned technique is useful only if the outputs of the block can be pre computed (predicted) for certain input assignments.
Yet another conventional attempt towards reducing the power dissipation of sequential circuits involved the use of a latch based clock gating circuit in control-dominated designs. However, the drawback associated with this approach is that the additional latch based clock gating circuit when placed early in the clock tree to save clock tree power, has diminished timing budget for its setup time requirement. In order to improve the timing budget, plurality of latches are put later in the clock tree (near the sequential elements which receives gated clock). This approach defeats the purpose of saving the clock tree power, additional power is dissipated by plurality of lathes itself. In view of the foregoing, there was felt a need for an efficient and effective mechanism for gating the active clock edges and for ensuring improved power management and utilization in sequential circuits.


The invention relates to a method for burning fine-grain material, particularly for the manufacture of cement clinker from cement raw meal. The material is thermally treated in a multistage burning process with a pre-heating stage, a calcining stage with a high-degree of calcination, a sintering stage in a very short rotary kiln and a cooling stage. Fuel is introduced both into the sintering stage in the short rotary kiln as well as into the calcinating stage. Hot exhaust air from the cooling stage is supplied both to the sintering stage as well as to the calcining stage as furnace air. The invention also relates to an apparatus for the manufacture of mineral products of the burning process such as cement clinker.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to methods and apparatus for the production of cement clinker.
2. The Prior Art
With the introduction of raw meal pre-heaters into the cement clinker burning process, rotary kilns which up to then had been long could be built shorter. With modern burning systems incorporating conventional cyclone pre-heaters, a ratio between the length of the rotary kiln to the inside rotary kiln diameter of approximately 15:1 through 17:1 has become general in practice. Efforts of the system manufacturers to further reduce the relative rotary kiln length have failed because of the safety requirements of the system users. Longer rotary kilns have tended to result in disruption-free operation, particularly with respect to interior cycles.
With the introduction of pre-calcination technology with secondary firings in the pre-heating system, a high degree of deacidification of the raw meal was achieved before entry into the rotary kiln. The advantages of lower heat introduction in the sintering zone of the rotary kiln, however, were only partially exploited. The kiln diameter was approximately reduced in relationship to the proportionate heat amounts supplied, on the one hand, to the pre-burner locations and, on the other hand, to the sintering zone of the rotary kiln. Until now, the standard ratio of kiln length to inside kiln diameter (15:1 through 17:1) mentioned above was approximately retained. As a result, specific rotary kiln lengths which were still large ensued, which resulted in high investment and operating costs. On the other hand, a reduction of the diameter of the rotary kiln, given the same throughput capacity and the same degree of oven charge, produced a shorter dwell period of the raw meal or, respectively, clinker in the rotary kiln. Therefore, until now, a further shortening of the rotary kiln was not considered.
The substances volatizing in the rotary kiln often exhibit harmful components such as alkali compounds and sulfur which, upon their condensation from the rotary kiln exhaust gas, lead to caking in the lines conducting the gas. Moreover, these harmful components enter the raw meal pre-heating system together with the rotary kiln exhaust gas where they precipitate on the raw meal and are reintroduced into the rotary kiln with the pre-heated raw meal. A highly accumulating cycle of harmful substances can thus be formed in the burning process. In order to avoid this disadvantage, it is conventional to draw off a portion of the hot rotary kiln exhaust gases from the burning process via a bypass and to discard it. The significant heat content of the thermally highly valuable exhaust gas of the rotary kiln is however lost from the burning process by this technique. As a result, the entire burning process can become uneconomical. Particularly in very large cement manufacturing systems, it can no longer be justified in terms of heat efficiency to discard too much rotary kiln exhaust gas containing harmful substances without exploiting its heat content. By so doing the manufacturing costs of cement, given today's energy costs and those to be expected in future, become too high.

Method and system for burning fine-grained material, particularly for the manufacture of cement clinkers


A water recovery system can treat water in a confined space. The wastewater treatment system includes a cation-exchange device in which water to be treated, such as wastewater originating in a space station, water discharged by the human body, water produced by condensing water vapor contained in the air, is directly introduced to a cation-exchange resin and thereby treated by cation exchange; a diamond-electrode electrolysis device in which organic substances, urea, and other nitrogen compounds contained in water discharged from the cation-exchange device are decomposed; a catalytic decomposition device in which the residual organic component is brought into contact with a catalyst to be decomposed; an electrodialysis device in which water discharged from the catalytic decomposition device is treated by electrodialysis to produce desalted water as well as an acid and an alkali; and a mineral adding device in which a mineral is added to the desalted water.

Japanese patent publication 2006-095526A discloses a method in which water is recovered from wastewater originating in a confined space by pervaporation. However, wastewater such as urine and domestic wastewater usually contains volatile components such as ammonia, and the volatile components may be disadvantageously mixed in the recovered water. Furthermore, when the wastewater contains a hardness component, scale trouble is caused on a pervaporation membrane. When the wastewater contains an organic substance such as protein, fouling may occur, which deteriorates membrane distillation capability. In addition, pervaporation requires high energy consumption.
Japanese Patent Publication 2010-119963A discloses a method in which wastewater originating in a confined space is subjected to a biological treatment, membrane separation, and subsequently distillation or freezing in order to recover water. However, in a biological treatment, microorganisms are likely to be inactivated when operating conditions thereof deviate from the norm. Inactivated microorganisms are not reactivated again. Moreover, in an activated sludge process, one third to half the organic substance is removed in the form of sludge. That is, an activated sludge process produces sludge containing precious water as a waste substance.

Water recovery system for use in confined spaces


An optical parallel-to-serial converter constructed from at least two optical shift registers coupled in cascade by an optical two-to-one combiner. The input port of the first optical shift register serves as one input to the parallel-to-serial converter, an extra optical combiner optically coupled to the last of said optical shift registers serves as one input port, while the optical combiners coupling said optical shift registers serve as the other input ports receiving parallel optical pulses. The output port of the last of said cascaded optical shift registers serves as the output port of the parallel-to-serial converter. The shift registers are controlled by two clocks, operating at the same rate, but each out of phase with the other, providing control signals to shift and output said optical pulses serially from said shift registers to effect a parallel-to-serial conversion.

This invention relates to optical components generally, that is, components which operate in the optical domain. Such components are designed for use in various systems which utilize optical fibers, such as optical communications systems, optical data processing systems and optical switching systems. Specifically, this invention pertains to an optical parallel-to-serial converter.
The development of optical fiber and optical semiconductor technologies in recent years has made possible various types of optical communications systems and optical switching systems. To utilize the full bandwidth and speed available in optical systems, it has become necessary to design and fabricate optical logic and switching components which eliminate the necessity for electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversions.
With future communications networks being projected to have terabit capacity, light-speed transmission alone does not suffice for the full utilization of available bandwidth. At present, the high bandwidth advantage of optical fibers is still not fully utilized because electronic switching systems are not fast enough for high speed and high throughput optical switching. To solve this problem, the switching functions must be performed in the optical domain, eliminating the optical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical conversions. Switching and multiplexing with the speed of light is necessary. Consequently, the success of terabit networks relies on the successful development of photonic switching and signal processing systems. Since no electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical conversion will be allowed in these systems, pure optical subsystems, such as optical memory cells, optical shift registers, optical serial-to-parallel converters and optical parallel-to-serial converters, will play important roles in these systems.


A method for providing feedback information includes receiving a configuration of a plurality of offset values, determining the feedback information in accordance with at least one measurement made by a user equipment and with the plurality of offset values, and sending the feedback information to a network controller.

In the Third Generation Partnership (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) downlink multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission modes, user equipments (UEs) in the communications system feedback their best channel state information (CSI), such as rank indicator (RI) and/or precoding matrix indicator (PMI), to evolved NodeBs (eNBs), according to the criterion of maximizing the UEs' own throughput. However, determining maximum throughput at every UE individually is generally not the same as maximizing overall system throughput, since different CSI values will generate different levels and types of interference to other UEs in the system. This is particularly true when MIMO vertical tilting (different down tilt beam angles) is used because a higher down tilt beam will generally cause less interference to other devices.

System and method for intelligent channel state information selection


A joint prosthesis includes first and second articulated corresponding joint components implantable within a body of a patient, wherein the corresponding joint components have corresponding surfaces that are relatively displaceable with respect to each other over a predefined functional range of motion of the corresponding joint components. The corresponding joint components each comprise one or more magnetic elements creating gradient magnetic fields having relatively strongest and weakest field areas over different portions of each of the corresponding surfaces, wherein the gradient magnetic fields are strongest in attraction at positions of the corresponding surfaces which align when the corresponding surfaces are at a boundary of the predefined functional range of motion, and deter joint dislocation by deterring relative movement of the corresponding surfaces beyond the boundary.

Normal Joint Function
The anatomy of the normal joint demonstrates articular cartilage on subchondral bone. The two cartilage surfaces oppose each other. The synovial tissue around the joint produces joint fluid, which lubricates the joint and nourishes the cartilage.
The ligaments that surround the joints provide stability to the joints. Normal joint motion occurs when the two cartilage surfaces glide across each other in both rotation and translation. The cartilage is made up of chondrocytes, which are the cartilage cells and extracellular matrix. The extracellular matrix is composed of type 2 collagen and proteoglycans. Proteoglycans are large sulfated sugar molecules. Both components are produced by the chondrocytes. The function of these large proteoglycan molecules is that they attract water molecules through their negatively charged sulfur ions, which attract the positive hydrogen atom of the water dipole. The collagen gives the cartilage tensile strength which resists shear forces. The proteoglycans allow cartilage to absorb water by ionic attraction and osmotic gradients. Cartilage also imbibes water through flexion and extension of the joint. As a result, cartilage is a highly specialized tissue with characteristics to absorb compressive forces and resist tensile forces. The subchondral bone provides support to the articular cartilage and blood supply to the deeper cartilage layers. Histologically, articular cartilage has 4 layers: superficial layer, transitional layer, radial layer and calcified layer. Each layer has a characteristic morphology and function. (Ref 1).
Pathological Degenerative Arthritis
When the articular cartilage structure is maintained normal joint function occurs. When the articular cartilage degenerates joint function is compromised. The stages of degeneration are initiated by an insult such as a traumatic event or through gradual degeneration and mechanical wear over time. Biochemically the initiating factors are the release of chemotactic factors by the chondrocytes and synovial tissue such as IL-1, and TNF, which attract white blood cells such as leukocytes and macrophages into the region. These white blood cells release enzymes such as metalloproteinases which degrade collagen and proteoglycans. (Ref. 1, Ref. 2). In addition, chondrocytes release these degradative enzymes into the extracellular matrix further degrading the cartilage. As the proteoglycans break down, the cartilage has less ability to hold water. As a result, the cartilage has less ability to resist compressive forces. As the collagen gets degraded, the cartilage has decreased ability to resist tensile forces. As the process progresses, increased degradation and mechanical wear of the articular cartilage occurs resulting in degenerative osteoarthritis. (Ref. 1, Ref 2) The cartilage surface becomes thinner until there is bone on bone contact. During the degenerative process the synovial fluid becomes thinner and the bone edges of the joint form osteophytes in an attempt to stabilize the joint. As the joint continues to deteriorate, the patient clinically has increased swelling, pain, loss of motion and loss of function.
Many musculoskeletal diseases lead to joint damage and degenerative arthritis such as trauma and fractures that heal malaligned, infection that damages the joint surface, inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis that has hypertrophic synovium that damages the cartilage surface. (Ref. 1).
Treatment options for degenerative osteoarthritis range from conservative to surgical depending on the disease severity. Conservative treatment includes rest, NSAID, braces etc. Hyaluronic gel injections provide good relief of symptoms for significant period of time by replacing the thin synovial fluid with hyaluronic gel that is similar in viscosity to normal synovial fluid. The gel lubricates the joint and provides an anti-inflammatory effect. If conservative treatment fails and the patient becomes increasingly symptomatic, then surgical treatment is instituted. Surgical options include arthroscopy and debridement, open debridement, osteotomy, arthrodesis and joint replacement arthroplasty. (Ref. 3). Arthroscopy and joint debridement are indicated for early degenerative arthritis. Arthrodesis is for more advanced degeneration. The purpose of arthrodesis surgery is to remove the involved degenerative joint surfaces. Then the joint is made stiff by bridging the 2 bone ends together with internal fixation such as plate and screws or external fixation. This eliminates motion and providing a stable joint region. As a result, pain is removed and function is improved. (Ref 4). Fusion can be done for any arthritic joint and common joints that are fused are spine vertebral joint segments, ankle and feet, wrist and hands, etc. (Ref. 5)
The disadvantages of arthrodesis surgery are that motion is lost in the fused joint. A joint can take from 2-4 months to heal. In addition complications of arthrodesis are non-union, or implant failure. (Ref 4). Arthrodesis of spinal segments can be especially problematic and even with newer instrumentation, fusion failure occurs. Also, once the joint is fused stiff there is no motion and the stress is transferred to adjacent joints, and these joints may eventually deteriorate.
The most common surgical treatment for degenerative arthritis of joints is joint arthroplasty or joint replacement. (Ref 6, Ref. 7, Ref. 8). The most common joint replacements performed are total hip and total knee replacements. Other joint replacements performed are finger joint replacements, elbow joint replacements, wrist replacements and shoulder replacements. (Ref. 5, Ref. 9, Ref. 10, Ref. 11). The introduction and refinement of total joint replacements has been one of the great advances in orthopedic surgery. (Ref. 8). The advantages of total joint replacements are that an arthritic joint that has poor motion and function and which causes significant pain and discomfort can be replaced with metal and polyethylene, eliminating pain and increasing motion and function. Total hip replacements have been performed extensively to replace degenerated hips. They have been widely successful eliminating pain and increasing function. The life span for a total hip replacement can average between 20-30 years. (Ref. 6, Ref 7, Ref. 8).
Total hip replacements are placed by removing the arthritic femoral head and placing a metallic or ceramic femoral component which has a head portion and a stem portion that is fixated into the femoral canal by press or interference fit or with cement. The degenerated acetabulum is removed and a metal or ceramic cup or socket is placed into the acetabulum and fixated by press or interference fit or stabilized with cement or screws. A polyethylene liner is placed in the cup as the articulating surface for the head of the femoral component. Once the components are in place the femoral component is reduced into the acetabular component. Stability of the prosthesis through a range of motion is obtained by the congruent fit of the head portion of the femoral component and the cup component of the acetabulum, the correct alignment and positioning of the components, and the tension obtained of the soft tissues such as the muscles, ligaments and tendons around the components. (Ref 8, Ref 12).
Most total hip replacements are placed using a posterior approach from the back of the hip. This approach is more commonly used due to the fact that visualization of the hip is improved. Going posteriorly, however, has a higher dislocation rate (Ref 12, Ref. 13), as this approach results in the posterior capsule or ligaments being removed to place the prosthesis. To protect the hip from dislocating total hip precautions are instituted post operatively. Positions of hip adduction and hip flexion and internal rotation put the greatest stress on the prosthesis and can result in dislocation posteriorly. (Ref 12).
The vast majority of total hip replacements are successful. (Ref. 7). Complication of total hip replacements do occur, however, and the most common complications are loosening of the prosthesis, dislocation and infection. (Ref 12). Dislocation of the hip is the second most common complication. (Ref. 14). In one study, e.g., approximately 4% of total hip replacements performed using a posterior approach resulted in dislocation. (Ref. 13). Causes of total hip dislocation are surgical factors such as improper placement of the components, patient factors such as poor soft tissue tension and poor patient compliance, or prosthesis factors. (Ref. 13, Ref 15). The patients place the leg in an adducted or leg crossing over position and hyperflexion of the hip. This position places the greatest strain on the hip and leads to dislocation posteriorly or out the back of the acetabular cup. (Ref. 12).
Treatment
Treatment for total hip dislocations includes placing the dislocated femoral head back into the acetabular cup manually under anesthesia. (Ref. 9). The patient is placed in a brace and the hip kept from going into positions that place it at risk of re-dislocating until the soft tissues re-tighten. Once a patient dislocates a total hip replacement, they are at greater risk of re-dislocating in the future. If re-dislocation occurs the replacement and adjustment of component position may be necessary. (Ref. 12). If re-dislocation continues to reoccur then placement of a constrained prosthesis may be necessary. (Ref. 16, Ref. 17). Once total hip dislocations occur there is a risk of multiple surgeries and poorer final functional outcome for the patient. (Ref 12).
Janssen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,588 describes artificial joints wherein a permanent magnetic field is created between two components for attraction or repulsion by placing permanent magnets in both components of the total joint prosthesis. They specifically demonstrate this for a multitude of joint replacements including total joint replacements in which femoral and acetabular components have magnets. Bertram US. 2003/0236572 further describes total joint replacements using magnetism to control instability. While magnet placements are described in such references which allow translation in various joints while providing increased stability, there is no disclosure regarding placements of magnets of varying strength in joints to decrease risk of dislocation, and in particular to prevent hip dislocations posteriorly, while also reducing the risk of component loosening due to strength of the magnetic fields.
Hyde, Jr. U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2002/0128651 describes apparatus and methods for stabilizing and/or maintaining adjacent bone portions in predetermined desired relationships and for constraining one, two or three dimensional motion and/or rotation of the adjacent bone portions wherein implanted magnetic arrays provide interacting magnetic fields in the area of the bone portions. While magnet placements are described which generate interacting magnetic fields in an articular joint to reduce the joint reactive forces while constraining the bone portions to move in a natural joint motion, there is again no disclosure regarding placements of magnets in joints to decrease risk of dislocation, and in particular to prevent hip dislocations posteriorly, while also reducing the risk of component loosening due to strength of the magnetic fields.


A method for performing optical signal and beam distribution in a heterodyne interferometer. A planar lightwave circuit is provided including a plurality of waveguide optical transmission elements and an input coupler and an output coupler arranged along the optical transmission elements. Optical pathlengths of the transmission elements are matched between the input coupler and the output coupler to compensate for thermal effects. Reference and measurement optical phases are determined employing the input coupler and the output coupler.

Heterodyne Interferometry measures the phase of a continuous signal for as long as the signal remains stable over all portions of a reference path and a measurement path. The major practical problem with high resolution interferometry is that every optical pathlength change in the system, including the ones that are not intended, are measured. After the beams are split in the interferometer, movement of optical components, especially mirrors, add or subtract optical path length from one of the two beams separately, resulting in a signal that is unrelated to the measurement. Therefore, stability of optical components in the separate legs of the interferometer is critical, as described in J. D. Trolinger, Ultra High Resolution Interferometry, Proc. SPIE Vol. 2816, pp114-123 (1996).
Typically, existing heterodyne interferometer devices are subject to thermal drift errors that limit their performance. In addition, they consist of a precision assembly of critical components leading to high cost to manufacture. Therefore, a need exists for a robust, easily manufacturable device, which is immune to thermal drift errors.

Robust heterodyne interferometer optical gauge


In administration based on the existing (N−1) reliability criteria, an appropriate administration plan may be not drafted in a power system in which renewable energy increases. Accordingly, according to the invention, a power system monitoring apparatus that monitors a power system includes: an input unit that inputs assumable system breakdown data including an occurrence frequency of each assumable breakdown of the power system and assumable output change data including an occurrence frequency of each assumable output change of each generator connected to the power system; and an output unit that generates conditions by which events of the assumable breakdowns and the assumable output changes are combined based on the occurrence frequencies of the assumable breakdown and the assumable output change and outputs a control plan for each of the conditions.

In administration of power systems, plan drafts for maintaining supply reliability are important. Even in a case in which defects occur in equipment of the power systems, it is necessary to maintain operations of the power systems and continue power supply. The power system is one of the important social infrastructures. To maintain supply reliability in the power system is one of the duties of power system administrators.
The basic ideas for maintaining the reliability is a preventive plan draft by preliminary analysis. Supply trouble causes which can occur in power systems are assumed preliminarily, and then it is determined whether states in which the supply trouble causes occur can be evaluated in terms of analysis calculation and whether power supply can be continued. Power system administration plans are drafted under the condition that there is no problem even when any of the assumed supply trouble causes occurs.
As an example of the power system administration technologies, stability maintenance control can be exemplified. For example, as in PTL 1 and PTL 2, drafts of optimum stability maintenance countermeasures by collecting measurement information regarding power systems online have been proposed. In this way, advances in calculator technologies and communication technologies improve the reliability of power systems.

Power system monitoring apparatus, power system control apparatus, and power system monitoring method employing events of assumable breakdowns and assumable output changes