A process for producing an eriocitrin-containing material comprises the steps of: preparing an eriocitrin-containing citrus extract from a citrus fruit using an extractant; and separating eriocitrin from the citrus extract. The step of separating eriocitrin from the citrus extract comprises the steps of: bringing the citrus extract into contact with a porous synthetic adsorption resin such that eriocitrin in the citrus extract is adsorbed on the porous synthetic adsorption resin, the porous synthetic adsorption resin comprising a phenol-formaldehyde resin as a main framework and having amino and phenolic hydroxyl groups; and eluting the eriocitrin adsorbed on the porous synthetic adsorption resin using an elution solvent.

Citrus fruits are known to be rich in antioxidants, such as eriocitrin, 6,8-di-C-glucosyldiosmetin, and 6-C-glucosyldiosmetin, belonging to polyphenols. These antioxidants derived from natural materials can be utilized favorably in various industrial products such as food or drink products, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. These antioxidants can be extracted from citrus fruits according to previously known processes described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 respectively describe a process for producing a polyphenol-containing material, which comprises purifying, using reverse-phase resin treatment or liquid chromatography, an extract obtained from a citrus material using water, an organic solvent, or a mixed solvent thereof.
Patent Document 3 describes a process for producing a food material containing eriocitrin at a high concentration. The process described in Patent Document 3 comprises: obtaining an extract from at least one of juices, peels, and squeezed residue of citrus fruits using an extractant; applying the extract to a porous synthetic adsorption resin such that eriocitrin is adsorbed on this resin; for the removal of impurities, washing, with water, the synthetic adsorption resin comprising the eriocitrin adsorbed thereon; and then separating and recovering the eriocitrin adsorbed on the synthetic adsorption resin using an organic solvent.
The production processes described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 involve fractionation based on high-performance liquid chromatography for enhancing polyphenol purity in the obtained polyphenol-containing material. However, this procedure, which is complicated and time-consuming, results in increase in the cost of producing the polyphenol-containing material. Alternatively, the production process described in Patent Document 3 involves, for the removal of impurities, washing, with water, the synthetic adsorption resin comprising the eriocitrin adsorbed thereon. However, foods supplemented with the obtained eriocitrin-containing material, particularly, foods supplemented with this material at a high concentration, still have bitterness or other unpleasant tastes and leave unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth after being ingested. The eriocitrin-containing material produced by the process described in Patent Document 3 has a peculiar, Chinese herbal medicine-like smell (crude drug smell) attributed to heat applied in extraction, concentration, and purification steps. In addition, general polyphenol-containing materials tend to have offensive smells or browning due to changes over time. Thus, their long-term quality maintenance is difficult to attain.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-48969    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-245552    Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-217560

Eriocitrin-containing material, method for production of the eriocitrin-containing material, and food, beverage, pharmaceutical preparation and cosmetic each comprising the eriocitrin-containing material


An anchor for securing the lower end of lift cords to the bottom rail of a vertically retractable covering for architectural openings includes features enabling the anchor to be wedged into a blind hole formed in the top surface of the bottom rail. The anchor can be one piece or two pieces and in the event of a two-piece anchor, a main body has spreadable legs and is engaged by a cam member to spread the legs after the anchor has been inserted into the blind hole. In the case of the single-piece anchors, there are legs or fingers engageable with the side wall of the blind hole upon insertion of the anchor into the blind hole to wedgingly secure the anchor in position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to retractable coverings for architectural openings and more particularly to an anchor for securing a lift cord for such a covering to the bottom rail of the covering.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
While coverings for architectural openings have assumed numerous forms for many years, most recently such coverings have been retractable in nature either vertically or horizontally across the opening depending upon the type of covering utilized. Vertically movable retractable coverings typically have a bottom rail that can be raised when moving the covering from an extended position across the architectural opening to a retracted position adjacent to the top edge of the opening. In moving the bottom rail vertically across the opening, lift cords typically extend from a control system at the top of the covering to the bottom rail and have been anchored in the bottom rail in various ways. Typically, the lift cord is passed through a hole in the bottom rail and secured beneath the bottom rail by either knotting the end of the cord so it cannot pass back through the hole or frictionally retaining the cord in the hole with a bottom cap inserted into the hole where it opens through a bottom surface of the rail.
It is to provide improvements in the manner in which a lift cord is anchored to the bottom rail that the present invention has been developed.

Lift cord anchor for coverings for architectural openings


A form tie lock tool is provided which includes the combination of a cam lock member for use with hand set concrete panels and an anchor lock member for use with gang form concrete panels. The tool includes a frame having a first opening and a second opening formed therein. A tie lock member, including the cam lock member and the anchor lock member, is connected to the frame. A form tie having a pair of looped ends is insertable between a pair of the hand set form panels. In one embodiment, each of the looped ends is receivable through a slot in one of the hand set panels to be grippingly engaged by the cam lock member which is then rotatable in a first direction to secure the form tie between the hand set panels. Similarly, a form tie having a pair of looped ends is insertable between a pair of gang form panels. Each of the looped ends is receivable through a slot in one of the gang form panels to be grippingly engaged by the anchor lock member which is then rotatable in a second direction to secure the form tie between the gang form panels. In another embodiment, the cam lock member and anchor lock member are slidably movable toward the frame to grippingly engage the looped end of the form tie.

Heretofore, in the formation of concrete wall structures, two separate tools were often required to maintain the position of concrete form ties inserted between a pair of panels between which concrete was poured and allowed to set or harden. A first tool was utilized with gang form panels. Gang forming is the construction of form panels in a substantially permanent relation. This type of panel formation is provided when the form panels can be used repeatedly since other identically formed concrete walls are also required. Thus, the first tool can be permanently mounted on a waler which is securely fastened to the form panel. Such a first tool is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,800 issued on Sept. 22, 1970 and entitled "Concrete Form Tie End Latch". When hand set panels were required, on the other hand, a second tool was utilized. Hand set panels are usually formed for a particular concrete requirement and are easily taken apart to be reused for different concrete forming jobs. Thus, the second tool is releasably mounted on the waler to facilitate the dismembering of the hand set panel after the concrete hardens. Such a second tool is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,538 issued on Jan. 30, 1962 and entitled "Combined Tie Lock and Reinforcing Timber Clamp".


The embodiments of the present invention provide a method for positioning using wireless signal and a positioning server. The coverage area of wireless signal is divided into multiple grids. The method comprises: acquiring speed information of UE; and determining a grid, in which the UE is located, based at least upon the speed information of the UE and speed information of the grids. Accordingly, according to the embodiments of the present invention, when the UE is positioned by using the wireless signal, the grid in which the UE is located is determined by using the speed information of the UE and the speed information of the grids, so that pattern matching may be performed more accurately and the positioning precision is improved.

Positioning technology is a technology adopted for determining the geographical position of user equipment (UE), and position information of the UE may be directly or indirectly acquired by using the resource of a wireless communication network.
At present, with continuous development of the mobile communication technology, the requirement for positioning service is also increasing, and some new positioning methods, such as a radio frequency pattern matching (RFPM) positioning method, namely an radio frequency pattern matching method or an electric signal pattern matching method, appear. This method is simple, feasible and higher in positioning precision, and is a key developed positioning technology in the future. The pattern matching positioning technology needs to construct a backstage database and store a drive test or estimated electric signal characteristic value (such as power, round-trip time (RTT) and the like) and a geographical position in the database in a mutual corresponding mode. When the UE needs to be positioned, the matched geographical position is searched through the actual signal characteristic value reported by the UE. The RFPM precision may be higher than the precisions of traditional OTDOA (Observed Time Difference of Arrival) and E-CID (Enhanced Cell Identification).
The RFPM has the advantages of higher positioning precision and wide application range, may be used for UE positioning of a non-line-of-sight network (at this moment, a GPS (Global Positioning System) is unavailable or has large error), has no requirement for the network synchronization performance, and does not need to upgrade the existing hardware.
However, the RFPM positioning technology needs to compare the measurement quantity of the UE with electric signal information of each small grid and the like, and when a wireless coverage network is larger, this work needs to consume a lot of time and energy.
Since the RFPM positioning technology finally needs to match measurement information with information in the database and determine the position of the successfully matched grid as the position of the UE, the precision of the technology is closely related to the size of the grid; and when the grid is larger, the positioning precision is poor. Secondly, since the measurement value obtained in actual positioning measurement may be similar to the information of multiple grids, an error grid may be selected during grid matching to cause a positioning error. Moreover, the pattern matching value is not single (different positions have similar signal characteristics), so the technical problems how to solve the uniqueness in pattern matching and how to reasonably utilize more available resources to improve the matching reliability need to be solved.

Method for positioning using wireless signal and positioning server


A free-floating altitude stabilized system is provided. Independently energizable wire coils are linearly aligned with one another in a vertical direction on a buoyant body. An induced magnetic field is generated by any of the wire coils that are energized. A float housing a magnet is coupled to the body in such a way that it is capable of independent movement relative thereto. A control system energizes a selected one or more of the wire coils in such a way the magnet""s magnetic field and wire coil""s induced magnetic field react with one another to generate movement of the float vertically in a direction that is the same as a vertical component of wave motion.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for Governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to free-floating devices, and more particularly to a free-floating system that adaptively adjusts to wave motion in order to maintain a predetermined altitude of the system at the water""s surface or at some predetermined depth.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A variety of floating systems are used to keep radio or acoustic communication links above the water""s surface. Frequently, to maintain operable communication links, it is necessary for the communication equipment (e.g., acoustic, optical, electronic, etc.) to maintain a stable or constant altitude. This is especially true when the communication equipment is part of a tracking system where changes in altitude can cause signal disturbances that lead to corrupt distance measurements.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system that can freely float at the water""s surface and adaptively stabilize itself in terms of altitude in the presence of wave motion.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a free-floating altitude stabilized system for maintaining a floating body at a predetermined altitude in the water in the presence of wave motion.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, a free-floating altitude stabilized system includes a body that is buoyant in the water at a predetermined water depth. A plurality of wire coils are linearly aligned with one another in a vertical direction and coupled to the body. Each wire coil is independently energizable such that an induced magnetic field is generated by any of the wire coils that are energized. A float is coupled to the body in such a way that it is capable of independent movement relative thereto. A magnet, fixedly coupled to the float, emits a magnetic field. A control system is provided to energize a selected one or more of the wire coils in such a way the magnetic field and induced magnetic field react with one another to generate movement of the float vertically in a direction that is the same as a vertical component of wave motion.

Free-floating altitude stabilized system

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A cursor which is fixed at a point in a display screen, where navigational controls move the contents of display screen rather than the cursor. Preferably the cursor is used in conjunction with hand held displays.

As computer display systems increase in complexity the need to keep the interface simple and user friendly becomes more essential. A great advancement in this area has been the creation of a cursor control, so that a cursor may be moved freely around a display screen and point to individual segments of displayed contents. A user of a computer can move the cursor to a segment of interest on the display and effect certain computer instructions to act on that segment specifically. A common example of the use of the cursor is to enable the user to point to a specific item in a list or a specific icon, which represents a file, folder, program or other computer data. Then the user can effect a sequence of computer instructions through some input means, such as a xe2x80x9cmouse click,xe2x80x9d that causes the file, folder, program or other computer component to be xe2x80x9copenedxe2x80x9d and/or activated.
Other advancements have been made that can give a user a greater ability to move some or all of the contents of a display screen around the display. This capability is especially useful when the format of the information contents is larger (longer, wider or both) than the display can show at one time. At first this capability was limited to either scrolling vertically or horizontally, but newer programs have been developed to allow the free movement of the contents in any direction. Examples of this type of display screen can be found, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/328,053, filed Jun. 8th, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference. In this application, a hand held device displays a portion of a computer image, and a user scrolls this image by moving the hand held device in real space. However, navigating a cursor at the same time as scrolling in real space can become burdensome to the user.
As greater advancements in the movement of display screen contents are made, the burden on the user to manage the controls also increases. What is needed is a novel simplification of the way display screen contents are navigated.
The present invention seeks to improve the user interface with a display screen for computer systems that have maneuverable contents such as pan and scroll functions and/or unconstrained movement of the contents. One objective of the invention is to simplify the number of controls that a user must manipulate to find specific items of interest within information contents on display, and then to select the specific items with a cursor to effect further computer action.
In a preferred embodiment, the fixed cursor has a toggle function, which stops the cursor from being fixed. In yet another preferred embodiment, the fixed cursor is used in conjunction with a hand-held display device. In a combination of preferred embodiments, movement controls that scroll the contents of the hand-held display switch to moving the cursor when the toggle function is activated. Most preferably, motion commands move the contents of the display in the hand held display device, allowing the hand-held display to be operated with only one hand.
In another preferred embodiment, contents of a display will not scroll past the axes of the cursor, thereby keeping some portion of the content visible on the display at all times. Preferably the axes of the cursor are not show on the display.


A display system is disclosed. The display system may include a display panel for display of information. The display system may also include a touch screen coupled to the display panel. The touch screen may include a base layer physically coupled to a cover layer. The touch screen may also include a semi-rigid conductor for electrically coupling the base layer to the cover layer. The conductor may be generally dispensable at about room temperature. A touch screen including a semi-rigid conductor for electrically coupling a base to a cover is also disclosed. A touch screen having a first and second means for providing an electrically conductive material is also disclosed. A connector may electrically couple the first means to the second means and may be generally dispensable at about room temperature. A method of manufacturing a touch screen is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to display system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a touch screen. More particularly, the present invention relates to a connector for electrically coupling layers of a touch screen.
A touch screen is generally known. Such touch screen is typically used in front of a computer-driven display that is capable of displaying variable images, or a non-variable display that is capable of providing fixed images. Such touch screen may xe2x80x9csensexe2x80x9d or recognize the existence and location of a xe2x80x9ctouchxe2x80x9d on its exterior surface so that a user can input commands to an accessory (e.g., a general purpose computer). A touch screen may be resistive or capacitive, analog or matrix.
In a resistive touch screen, during an input event or xe2x80x9ctouchxe2x80x9d an electrically conductive flexible layer is deformed, bent or pressed across a gap to contact an electrically conductive stable layer. When the flexible layer contacts the stable layer, the touch from an input element or device (e.g., finger or stylus) can be xe2x80x9csensed.xe2x80x9d When the flexible layer of a matrix touch screen is pressed, a discrete switch is closed and two electrically conductive coatings (e.g., a transparent coating patterned in rows on one surface of the flexible layer and patterned in columns orthogonal to the rows on the opposing surface of the stable layer) are brought into electrical contact. The discrete switch is associated with a particular row and column. A computer or other electronic circuit can be used to provide electric signals to the rows and columns and determine the horizontal and vertical position (X, Y coordinate) associated with the closed discrete switch.
However, a problem with such touch screen is that the material that physically and electrically attaches the flexible layer to the stable layer (i.e., cured epoxy having a conductor) is hard and rigid and may crack or obtain fissures due to temperature and humidity changes. Other disadvantages of such epoxy include: storage of the epoxy at a cold temperature of about xe2x88x9240xc2x0 C., since such epoxy typically has a pot life or useful life of about six hours at room temperature, which may result in unused or unusable epoxy material; warming of the epoxy before use; curing of the epoxy at a high temperature of about 87xc2x0 C., which may require curing equipment (e.g., an oven), time (e.g., about one-hundred and twenty minutes), and which may affect other materials of the touch screen (e.g., shrinkage/expansion of the stable and flex layers).
Accordingly, there is a need for a touch screen conductor to couple the flexible layer to the stable layer that may be stored at ambient temperature. There is also a need for a touch screen fastener that may be semi-rigid. There is also a need for a low cost connector that may be easily applied in a touch screen application. There is also a need for a touch screen connector that may be applied at room temperature. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a touch screen having features that fulfill one or more of these needs. These and other features will become apparent to one of skill who reviews this disclosure and appended claims.
The present invention relates to a display system. The display system may include a display panel for display of information. The display system may also include a touch screen coupled to the display panel. The touch screen may include a base layer physically coupled to a cover layer. The touch screen may also include a semi-rigid conductor for electrically coupling the base layer to the cover layer. The conductor may be generally dispensable at about room temperature.
The present invention also relates to a touch screen including a semi-rigid conductor for electrically coupling a base to a cover.
The present invention also relates to a touch screen. The touch screen may include a first means for providing an electrically conductive material. The touch screen may also include a second means for providing an electrically conductive material. The touch screen may also include a connector for electrically coupling the first means to the second means. The connector may be generally dispensable at about room temperature.
The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a touch screen. The method may include providing a first layer having a first relatively translucent surface. The method may also include providing a second layer having a second relatively translucent surface. The method may also include dispensing a conductor on at least one of the first surface and the second surface thereby electrically coupling the first surface to the second surface. The conductor may have a viscosity of at least about 5,000 centipoise at 0.3 RPM at about room temperature. The conductor may also have flexibility sufficient to compensate at least partially for relative movement of the first layer and the second layer due to environmental changes.


A toilet bowl unit includes a toilet bowl with an inner toilet bowl surface having an upper peripheral portion, a central peripheral portion and a lower sump portion. A peripheral slot separates a lower edge of the upper peripheral portion from an upper edge of the central peripheral portion. A peripheral water channel is concealed inside the toilet bowl unit and has a side wall which is a weir over which water may flow into the peripheral slot. The slot has a discharge opening which is substantially horizontal at the rear and sides of the inner toilet bowl surface (for discharging a curtain of water) and includes at least one serpentine portion at the front of the inner toilet bowl surface (for discharging a jet of water). The horizontal portion(s) of the discharge opening are positioned just below a seat platform surface in order to minimize the unwashed area at the top of the inner toilet bowl surface.

When flushing a toilet, it is desirable to ensure that as much as possible of the inner surface of the toilet bowl is washed clean by the flushing water. It is also desirable to reduce the possibility for waste to remain hidden out of sight in the toilet bowl and that the toilet bowl should have an attractive appearance and be easy to clean.
For many years, the conventional toilet has had a rim channel which overhangs the toilet bowl and which discharges water downwards into the toilet bowl through an open-bottom chamber or holes in the bottom wall of the overhanging rim.
In an attempt to improve the flushing of the toilet bowl surface and to reduce the places where waste can hide out of sight, so-called "rimless" toilets have been proposed in recent years. An example is shown in WO2009/030904 (Ideal Standard), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Another example of a "rimless" toilet is shown in US2013/0219605 (AS IP Holdco, LLC), which shows an American version of a rimless toilet having a "sump jet" which discharges into the sump of the toilet bowl. The contents of US2013/0219605 are also incorporated herein by reference for aiding the technical understanding of the reader.
These prior art rimless toilets can still leave un-rinsed various portions of the inner toilet bowl surface that are not flushed in an effective manner by the water. In particular, the rear surface portion and the front top portion of the bowl may not be washed clean. Moreover, recent amendments to the EN standards (EN 997) allow for an unwashed circumferential strip running around the top edge of the bowl and having a depth of 85 mm below the upper rim surface of the "rimless" toilet.
A toilet bowl that is visually attractive, easy to clean and hygienic (without undercuts which are exposed to fecal matter) is also desirable, such as in the commercial market for toilets where a toilet may be used by members of the public. Examples of locations include hospitals, care homes, offices, schools and hotels.


A bearing assembly rotatably supporting a shaft journal having a gear wheel at one end in a cylindrical seat in a housing comprising a one-piece outer ring having threads on its outer periphery cooperating with threads in the cylindrical seat. A plurality of circumferentially spaced openings are provided in the outer axial end face of the outer ring to accommodate a turning tool having projections corresponding to the openings to permit axial adjusting movement of the bearing assembly relative to the housing. The bearing assembly further includes an inner race ring on the shaft journal, two rows of rolling elements in the annular space between the rings spaced closely relative to one another. One of the rows comprises rollers having axes inclined at an angle to the bearing axis disposed adjacent the gear wheel and the other row comprises balls which roll against raceways in the rings to provide angular contact which are disposed at the opposite end of the shaft journal.

The present invention refers to a device for axial adjustment of a rotatable body which is mounted in a bearing.
More specifically, the present invention provides a bearing assembly rotatably supporting a shaft journal having a gear wheel at one end in a housing in a manner so that it may be easily adjusted to mesh with the pinion of gearing.
The invention is intended to be used primarily for supporting bodies, the axial position of which it is desirable to be able to adjust very accurately. As an example can be mentioned the supporting of a pinion gear wheel, the position of which must be adjustable in order to bring about an accurate gear contact between the pinion and the crown wheel of a gearing.
It is earlier known to use spacer washers between the end surfaces of a pinion bearing ring and a radial shoulder at a bearing seat in order to bring about axial adjustment of a pinion gear wheel. The adjustment procedure when using this method is however troublesome and timewasting and it requires qualified work. It is further known to mount the pinion bearing in surrounding sleeves, which have an external cylindrical portion and a portion provided with screw threads, the sleeves thereby being arranged axially displaceable in a cylindrical seat in the gear housing, the screw threads engaging in corresponding screw threads provided in the gear housing. The sleeves will be displaced axially when turned, whereby also the bearing and the pinion gear wheel will be displaced in relation to the gear housing, which means that the adjustment of the pinion can be brought about by turning of the sleeves.
The difficulties with such a device are the inevitable form defects which will occur at the manufacture of the sleeves, e.g. tolerances, excentricity, out-of-roundness and angular defects and dimension changes at operation in the form of contact deformations, flexing and thermal expansion. These factors will influence the gear contact. This device will furthermore require large space and it is heavy and requires considerable costs. The negative factors have together resulted in that the device has been used only very little in practice.
It is also known to provide the envelope surface of a bearing ring with threads along its whole extension and to provide a bearing seat with corresponding threads, thereby making it possible to adjust the axial position of the bearing in the seat by turning the threaded bearing ring. The threading, however, makes it difficult to maintain an accurate angular and centric position of the bearing, since it is difficult to machine the thread exactly concentrically and coaxially with the seat and the raceways, respectively, and to give the threads proper tolerances.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a bearing arrangement with a bearing, which in operation when arranged on a rotatable body will make possible an accurate adjustment of the body which is maintained during operation.
This is according to the invention achieved thereby that the bearing arrangement has been given the characteristics defined in the attached claims.

Device for axial adjustment of a rotatable body


A light source assembly includes a light source, a seat, and a wire structure. The seat includes an electrical pin electrically connected to the light source. The wire structure includes a connecting wire. The connecting wire includes a wire and a protecting pipe. The protecting pipe is made of high-temperature resistance material and sleeved on one end of the wire. The end of the wire sleeved with the protecting pipe is connected to the electrical pin.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to projector light source assemblies, and particularly to a wire structure of the light source assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Projectors generally include a light source, a connector, and a wire structure connecting the light source to the connector. In operation, the light source generates a great amount of heat and may burn the wire structure, breaking down the connection.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a light source assembly, which can overcome the limitations described.


An automatic content categorization system and method are provided.

Devices that are able to capture content, such as an image, a video, voice recordings, etc. are well known. These device may include smartphone devices, such as Apple® iPhone® line of products as well as the Android® operating system based devices, as well as cameras and other devices that have the capability to capture a piece of content. Most of these devices allow the user to capture the content and store it on the device or at a remote site. The user must then spend the time and effort to sort, organize or categorize the captured content after the content has been captured. Thus, none of these devices allow the user to easily and automatically categorize the content as it is being captured using the device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Automatic content categorizing system and method


A recovery force adjusting device for a cymbal stand includes a handle, a driving ring movable relative to the column and having a pin extending through the stop, a supporting seat having a cutout and a wedge the supporting seat, a rotating sleeve rotatably and movably sandwiched between the supporting seat and the driving seat and having a first, a second and a third sets of teeth formed on the rotating sleeve and a recovery spring to move the rotating sleeve upward. Due to the misalignment relationship between the wedge and the tooth of the first set of teeth, sliding movement of the wedge along a slope of the corresponding tooth of the first set of teeth forces the rotating sleeve to rotate and thus the position of the driving ring is changed. A compression force to the spring is thus adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recovery force adjustment device, and more particularly to a recovery force adjustment device for a paddle of a cymbal stand so that the user is able to easily adjust the magnitude of the paddle recovery force to adapt to different performers with different habits
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 7, a conventional adjusting device for changing the magnitude of the recovery force from the transmission rod (50) to the paddle (60) of a cymbal stand (70) includes a bonding block (53) securely connecting the first rod (51) to the second rod (52) of the transmission rod (50), a stop (54) formed on a mediate portion of the first rod (51) and having a disk (56) extending from the stop (54) and a recovery spring (55) mounted around the first rod (51) and sandwiched between the disk (56) and the bonding block (53). A sleeve (57) is screwingly connected to the outer periphery of the cymbal stand (70) and having an indentation (not numbered) defined to receive therein the disk (56).
When the recovery force of the recovery spring (55) is required to change, the user is able to rotate the sleeve (57) to change the distance between the disk (56) and the bonding block (53). When the distance between the disk (56) and the bonding block (53) is changed, the extension length of the recovery spring (55) is also changed. Therefore, the force required to move the paddle (60) downward relative to the cymbal stand (70) is changed.
This adjustment of the recovery force requires the user to continuously rotate the sleeve (57) until the required recovery force magnitude is reached. That is, the adjustment process of the magnitude of the recovery force is troublesome and inefficient.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved recovery-force adjusting device for a paddle of a cymbal stand to mitigate the aforementioned problems.

Recovery force adjustment device for a paddle of a cymbal stand


The present invention provides a tolterodine-containing patch in which an adhesive layer is laminated on a backing, characterized in that the adhesive layer is obtainable by adding tolterodine to an adhesive base comprising a rubber adhesive, a tackifier resin, and a softener, wherein the tolterodine is present in the form of a free base in the adhesive base.

Tolterodine is used in the treatment of hyperactive bladder, and widely distributed in the market in the form of an oral formulation. Currently, a commercially available tolterodine oral formulation mainly uses tolterodine tartrate as an active ingredient.
Meanwhile, regarding a transdermal absorption-type formulation containing tolterodine, there have been attempts to develop a patch by various methods until now (Patent Documents 1-4). A patch has advantages, for example, in that a constant blood drug concentration can be maintained and the administration can easily be discontinued by peeling off the patch when a side effect occurs. Further, while an oral formulation requires a liquid such as water at the time of administration and thus has a possibility of producing an adverse effect on the treatment due to increase of urge to urinate, a patch does not increase urge to urinate and thus is advantageous to drug compliance of a patient.
Generally, in a transdermal absorption-type formulation, it is known that higher transdermal absorbability is achieved when a free base is used as compared to an acid addition salt. Therefore, regarding tolterodine, mainly a patch using a free base has been reported (Patent Documents 2-4).
However, if an inappropriate base ingredient is selected for a patch using a tolterodine free base, tolterodine may react with the base ingredient and thereby may be decomposed. As a result, the content of the active ingredient may decrease during storage, a degradation product may be produced, and thereby an adverse effect may occur in the formulation stability. Namely, if a tolterodine free base is selected as the active ingredient, an appropriate base ingredient must be selected so as not to produce an adverse effect in the active ingredient stability.
The patch containing a tolterodine free base disclosed in the above Patent Documents 2-4 mainly uses an acrylic adhesive. However, when tolterodine is mixed with an acrylic adhesive, the content of the active ingredient decreases during storage, and a degradation product is readily formed. Namely, in view of the formulation stability, a patch containing an acrylic adhesive as a base ingredient is insufficient.
Also, a tolterodine-containing patch has a problem with skin irritation. In this respect, the present inventors have found that a transdermal permeation rate of tolterodine (flux: μg/cm2/hr) is correlated with the skin irritation of a patch. Therefore, in the preparation of a tolterodine-containing patch, the present inventors have found that a good balance between drug efficacy and safety can be achieved by adjusting the transfer rate of the drug from a formulation to a skin in an appropriate range. These properties of tolterodine are not described nor suggested in the above related art documents, and are newly found by the present inventors' earnest studies.


Methods and structures for electroplating shield structures for perpendicular thin film write poles having ultra thin non-magnetic top gaps on the order of a few nanometers are disclosed. Ultra thin, conductive seed layers serve a dual purpose as both plating seed layer and non-magnetic top gap for the write pole. Due to reduced current carrying capacity of ultra thin seed layers, an additional thick seed layer is also employed to aid delivering plating current to regions near the pole.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to structures and methods for fabricating thin film perpendicular write heads. More specifically, the invention relates to structures and methods for fabricating wrap around and trailing shields using ultra-thin metal gap seed layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Perpendicular write heads are currently well known in the art. Variants of such heads, having wrap around shields and trailing shields, have been recently disclosed. See, for example US Patent Application Publications 2005/0259355, 2006/0044682 and 2006/0174474, assigned to Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherlands B.V.
During the fabrication of the wrap around shield of the prior art, a film stack containing the magnetic pole material, a non-magnetic gap layer, a CMP stop layer, and a number of image transfer layers are deposited. After the pole width is imaged and the film stack etched by a number of consecutive etch processes, a film stack containing the tapered pole material is created. A conformal non-magnetic layer is then deposited, which will serve as the side shield or wrap around shield gap material. Following deposition of the side gap material, a layer of RI-etch-able (or RIE-able, reactive ion etch-able) material is deposited and the structure planarized by CMP. Following planarization, the RI-etch-able material is removed leaving the tapered pole, main gap and side gap materials. A magnetic material is then deposited over this structure by electroplating to form the wrap around shield. Prior to plating, a conductive seed layer is deposited to provide a starting cathode for the plating process. As the main gap (or top gap) continues to shrink in thickness to dimensions of a few nanometers or less, the main gap layer is eliminated from the starting film stack, being replaced by the metallic, non-magnetic seed layer used to plate the wrap around shield. Difficulties arise when trying to plate on these ultra-thin seed layers due to their higher resistivity if plating dimensions exceed a few hundred microns. In structures of the prior art, the plating of all shield structures on a wafer is done from a single blanket seed layer. This is no longer possible for seed layers having a thickness of one to two nanometers and below.
During the formation of trailing shields of the prior art, a film stack containing the magnetic pole material, a non-magnetic gap layer, a CMP stop layer, and a number of image transfer layers are deposited. The pole width is imaged and the film stack etched by a number of consecutive etch processes, creating a film stack containing the tapered pole material. A filler layer is deposited and the resulting structure planarized by CMP to the stop layer. A plating seed layer is subsequently deposited, followed by deposition of the trailing shield. As with wrap around shields, thinner gap layers require substitution of the pre-deposited gap layer in the film stack with the ultra-thin non-magnetic seed layer. Plating of the trailing shields will experience the same difficulties described above for the wrap around shields.
What is needed is a better process for producing the wrap around and trailing shields for the perpendicular write head.

Methods for plating write pole shield structures with ultra-thin metal gap seed layers

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A netlist of a schematic diagram is generated. The netlist indicates the connectivity of components through connection lines. A normal display mode is provided in which at least a portion of the components are presented on the display, and connection lines corresponding to the components are also displayed. A topology display mode is provided in which the components are presented on the display without the connection lines. The user can switch between the topology display mode and the normal display mode while editing the schematic diagram. Automatic pin assignment and routing of the connection lines is performed according to the netlist, and is based upon grouping similarly classified connection lines. An abstract display mode is provided that presents abstract lines for a selected component, with a single abstract line running between two connected components. The abstract display mode is combinable with the topology display mode. Finally, the automatic positioning of components according to predefined topology templates is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software graphics editors. More specifically, a method and related system are disclosed that enable a user to generate schematic diagrams.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Schematic diagrams are widely used to illustrate relationships between the parts of a system. Such diagrams include functional block diagrams, flowcharts, logic diagrams, circuit schematics and flow sheets, to name a few, and are broadly characterized in that they contain components that are interconnected by lines. The components are typically geometrical shapes, or standard shapes recognized amongst professions, that symbolically represent physical components or processes in the system. The interconnecting lines indicate relationships (mechanical, electrical, procedural, etc.) between the components so connected. Schematic diagrams are one of the most effective means of conveying broad information about a system, and are thus extremely useful in conveying knowledge. There exists a great deal of software in public use that enables users to design, edit and print schematic diagrams. However, despite the availability of such sophisticated software, the creation of a good schematic diagram continues to require a great deal of time, much of it spent in the tedious editing of the spatial positioning of the components and interconnecting lines.
As a general guideline, a good schematic diagram should: demonstrate the interconnectedness of components, reflect the existence of logical clusters, minimize the number of intersections and jogs in the connection lines, and efficiently utilize the available drawing area. Schematic diagram generation systems must provide a number of editing features that enable a user to create a schematic diagram. At a minimum, the user must be able to specify the positions and sizes of the components, the position of pins on the components, and the routes the connection lines follow between their respective pins. As used here, the term "pin" indicates the end-point or start-point position of a connection line on a component. Each connection line thus has at least two pins. As the number of components and connection lines increase, so too does the difficulty in creating the schematic diagram. Moreover, there are times when a user may want to create two or more schematic diagrams of the same system, with each diagram emphasizing a different aspect of the system. This is termed changing the topology of the schematic diagram, as it involves the spatial reorganization of the components with respect to each other. Changing the topology of an existing diagram is a time-consuming task when using current editor software packages.
As a first step in creating a schematic diagram, the editor software creates a "netlist", which holds information about the positions and sizes of components, and the routing of connection lines between these components. The netlist may be loaded from permanent memory (such as a hard disk, CD, etc.), or it may be created from scratch, and is used by graphics software within the editor to draw the corresponding schematic diagram on a display of the computer. As the user makes changes to the schematic diagram as presented on the display, the editing software makes corresponding changes to the netlist. The netlist is, in effect, the internal representation of the schematic diagram within the memory of the computer. As such, its exact nature is a design choice that will vary from program to program, and it is pointless to go into specific details of its organizational structure. The construction and use of such netlists is well known in the art. Netlists may also be generated automatically by specialized software that parses other higher-language files. Examples of this include the parsing of hardware description language (HDL) files to obtain a netlist for a circuit schematic. After the netlist is loaded into memory, the user is free to change the position of the components, the sizes of sizable components, the positions of floating pins, and the routing of the connection lines. As used here, a "floating pin" is one that is not constrained to a specific position on its component. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is an example schematic diagram 10. The schematic 10 includes six sizable components (PLA, STK, REG, INC, OUT and MUX), and thirteen fixed-sized component 12 for a total of 19 components. Numerous connection lines 14 run between the various components, and are in the form of an arrow to indicate the flow of data between the components. The components may be classed with reference to a connection line 14 as a "source component" or a "load component", the terminology being adopted from the electronics profession. The connection line arrows 14 have their tails anchored on a source component, and their heads pointing to a load component. Depending on the connection lines 14 being considered, the same component may be both a source and a load, as it may both be pointed to by a connection line 14, and point at another component via a connection line 14. A user must spend a fair amount of time to generate the schematic 10, carefully positioning and sizing the components, and routing the connection lines 14. However, the topology of the schematic 14 is based upon an idea or theme that the user is trying to impart. To emphasize or indicate a different idea, the user may wish to change the topology of the schematic 10. FIG. 2 illustrates this concept. FIG. 2 shows the schematic 10 with a different topological layout, thereby presenting a new schematic 20. In many editing packages, changing the schematic 10 to look like the schematic 20 can be almost as time-consuming as making the original schematic 10. For example, some editing software does not explicitly remember the connectivity of the various components. Hence, when a component is moved, such as component PLA, the connection lines 14 associate with the component do not move with the component. Each connection line 14 must therefore be re-routed, and the positions of its pins re-positioned. Other editor packages may keep track of the connectivity of the components, but they generally perform a rather crude auto-routing function that has connection lines 14 crossing over and through components. This is shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is an example schematic with connection lines 14 generated by a simple auto-router. It's clear from FIG. 3 that a user will have to spend a great deal of time "cleaning up" the connection lines 14 generated by the auto-router. Finally, and what is least obvious, is that during the design and construction of a schematic, the user may lose focus of the theme which he or she is trying to convey due to the complexity of the connection lines 14. That is, it is not always a quick and easy task to determine which components are connect to which other components. The very presence of so many connection lines and pins can make simple changes to the topology of the schematic more difficult, as poorly routed connection lines and pins during intermediate stages of the design process can actually obscure the flow of information that is to be conveyed by the schematic diagram. Such obfuscation is also present in FIG. 3.

Automatic schematic diagram generation using topology information


A method of de-multiplexing and a time division de-multiplexer (1) for optic signals is disclosed. A multiplexed optic signal (A) is delivered through a cavity of a multi-region semiconductor laser amplifier device (2). The clock component is extracted (6) and it is used to drive (7) the contacts (3,4) of the device (2) with activating signals so that there is an electronic response in each contact for one channel of the optic signal (A) only. Thus, separate electronic data channels are sensed by sense amplifiers (14). The de-multiplexer (1) thus both de-multiplexes and converts optic signals to electronic signals simultaneously.

Heretofore, opto-electronic conversion and time division de-multiplexing have been carried out in separate stages. It is firstly necessary to convert a multiplexed optic signal to electronic form and then to de-multiplex the electronic signal. For example, European Patent Specification No. 356,302 (Etat Francais) discloses an optical wavelength de-multiplexing apparatus. A separate apparatus would be required for time division de-multiplexing of output signals from this apparatus. This is complex and expensive. Accordingly, in many cases optic signal transmission is not used where there are many nodes such as in a network, although it would otherwise be advantageous.


The present invention relates to polymerase HBV mutant polypeptides comprising a mutated polymerase domain which is functionally disrupted for polymerase activity and fusion proteins comprising such polymerase mutant polypeptide. The present invention also relates to a nucleic acid molecule and an expression vector for expressing said polymerase mutant polypeptide as well as a composition which can be used for eliciting an immune response to HBV with the goal of providing a protective or therapeutic effect against HBV infection.

Hepatitis B is a major public health problem with more than 350 million persons chronically infected worldwide, 20 to 40% of them being at risk of developing chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite the existence of effective preventive vaccines, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still rampant in many countries, even developed ones, with an estimation of 4.5 millions of new cases of infection per year worldwide. Unlike the WHO recommendation which is to implement universal vaccination, the coverage of full course preventive vaccination varies from 25% in Asia to 75-90% in Europe. Currently hepatitis B is the 10th cause of mortality (around 1 million of deaths/year) and HBV related liver carcinoma, the 5th most frequent cancer. Geographic repartition of HBV infection is uneven with prevalence lower than 1% in Western countries to more than 10% in South Eastern countries, most part of Africa and Equatorial South America.
Hepatitis B virus is a member of the hepadnaviridae and primarily infects the liver, replicating in hepatocytes. The infectious particles are the so called 42-45 nm "Dane particles" which consist of an outer lipoprotein envelope with three different surface proteins (HBs) and an inner nucleocapsid, the major structural protein of which is the core protein (HBcAg). Within the nucleocapsid is a single copy of the HBV genome linked to the viral polymerase protein (P). In addition to 42-45 nm virions, the blood of HBV-infected patients contains 20-nm spheres made of HBsAg and host-derived lipids which are released from infected cells. These spheres outnumber the virions by a factor of 104-106.
After virions enter hepatocytes, by an as-yet-unknown receptor, nucleocapsids transport the genomic HBV DNA to the nucleus, where the relaxed circular DNA is converted to covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). The cccDNA functions as the template for the transcription of four viral RNAs, which are exported to the cytoplasm and used as mRNAs for translation of the HBV proteins. The longest (pre-genomic) RNA also functions as the template for HBV replication, which occurs in nucleocapsids in the cytoplasm. Some of the HBV DNA and polymerase-containing capsids are then transported back to the nucleus, where they release the newly generated relaxed circular DNA to form additional cccDNA. With a half-life longer than the one of hepatocytes, the cccDNA is responsible for the persistence of HBV. Other capsids are enveloped by budding into the endoplasmic reticulum and secreted after passing through the Golgi complex.
Structural and functional organization of the HBV genome has been investigated for more than 30 years. The HBV genome is a relaxed circular partially double-stranded DNA of approximately 3,200 nucleotides consisting of a full-length negative strand and a shorter positive strand. It contains 4 overlapping open reading frames (ORFs), C, S, P and X. The C ORF encodes the core protein (or HBcAg), a 183 amino acid-long protein constitutive of the nucleocapsid and a second protein found in the serum of patients during virus replication known as HBeAg which contains a precore N-terminal extension and a part of HBcAg. The C-terminus of the core protein is very basic and contains 4 Arg-rich domains which are predicted to bind nucleic acids as well as numerous phosphorylation sites. The S ORF encodes three surface proteins all of which have the same C terminus but differ at their N-termini due to the presence of three in-frame ATG start codons that divide the S ORF into three regions, S (226 amino acids), pre-S2 (55 amino acids) and pre-S1 (108 amino acids), respectively. The large-surface antigen protein (L) is produced following translation initiation at the first ATG start codon and comprises 389 amino acid residues (preS1-preS2-S). The middle surface antigen protein (M) results from translation of the S region and the pre-S2 region starting at the second start ATG whereas the small surface antigen protein of 226 amino acids (S, also designated HBsAg) results from translation of the S region initiated at the third start ATG codon. The HBV surface proteins are glycoproteins with carbohydrate side chains (glycans) attached by N-glycosidic linkages. The P ORF encodes the viral polymerase and the X ORF a protein known as the X protein which is thought to be a transcriptional activator.
The viral polymerase is about 832-845 amino acid residues long according to the HBV genotype and it is encoded in a long open reading frame ("P") that overlaps the 3′ end of the core gene and all the surface protein genes. The viral polymerase is a multifunctional protein composed of four domains, including three functional domains, respectively the terminal protein, polymerase and RNase H domains that catalyse the major steps in HBV replication (priming, DNA synthesis and removal of RNA templates) as well as a non-essential spacer domain present between the terminal protein and polymerase domains (see for example Radziwill et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:613; Bartenschlager et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64, 5324). The catalytic sites responsible for enzymatic activities have been characterized. In this regard, four residues forming the conserved YMDD motif (residues 538 to 541 numbered with respect to the 832 residue long polymerase) have been shown essential to the DNA- and RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity whereas RNase H activity is based on a DEDD motif involving four non-consecutive amino acid residues, respectively Asp (D) in position 689, Glu (E) in position 718, Asp (D) in position 737 and Asp (D) in position 777 as well as few other amino acid residues including Val (V) in position 769 and Thr (T) in position 776. Different mutations have been described in the art that abolish the RT polymerase and RNase H activities (Chang et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64: 5553; Bartenschlager et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64, 5324, Radziwill et al., 1990, J. Virol. 64:613 and Chen et al., 1996, J. Virol. 70:6151). Several groups have succeeded in expressing HBV polymerase protein in various host system, but its expression has been reported toxic for the expressing cells, requiring the use of inducible promoters (Choi et al., 2002, Antiviral Res. 55:279; Karimi et al., 2002, J. Virol. 76:8609).
A number of preclinical and clinical studies have emphasized the importance of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune responses for effective anti-viral response. It was indeed observed that patients naturally having recovered from hepatitis B mounted multi-specific and sustained responses mediated by T helper (TH) and cytotoxic T (CTL) lymphocytes which are readily detectable in peripheral blood. Appearance of anti-HBe and anti-HBs antibodies indicates a favorable outcome of infection. HBsAg-specific antibodies are neutralizing, mediate protective immunity and persist for life after clinical recovery.
Chronic HBV infection is, however, only rarely resolved by the immune system. The vast majority of chronically infected patients show weak and temporary CD4 and CD8 T cell immune responses that are antigenically restricted and ineffective to clear viral infection. The reason for this alteration of the effector functions of the cellular immune response in chronic hepatitis B is currently not well-understood even if the involvement of different inhibitory molecules that are up-regulated in HBV chronically infected patients, such PD-1, CTLA4 . . . etc, has been observed. Therefore, there is a need for immunomodulatory strategies capable of inducing an effective T-cell response.
Conventional treatment of chronic hepatitis B includes pegylated interferon-alpha (IFNa) and nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NUCs) such as lamivudine, and more recently entecavir, telbivudine, adefovir and tenofovir. IFNa is a potent antiviral molecule, whereby inhibiting viral replication, which however, causes serious side effects in merely 25-30% of patients. NUCs act as competitive inhibitors of HBV polymerase aimed to inhibit the reverse transcription of the pre-genomic RNA into the negative DNA strand and then the double stranded viral DNA. They limit the formation of new virions, but are ineffective to eliminate the supercoiled cccDNA hidden in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes which constitutes a source of new progeny viruses. This can explain why NUC efficacy is temporary and viral rebound occurs immediately after cessation of treatment, requiring patients to stay lifelong under treatment. In addition, long-term efficacy is also limited due to emergence of resistant HBV mutants (more than 24% after one year and approximately 66% after four years of lamivudine treatment as reported in some studies although newer NUCs showed much fewer occurrences of drug-resistant HBV mutants). A number of HBV strains exhibiting a decreased sensitivity to anti-viral agents have now been isolated and genome sequencing revealed high spot of substitution mutations in the polymerase domain, including in the YMDD motif (US2008-0233557; Zoulim and Locarnini, 2009, Gastroenterology, 137:1593).
Besides antiviral therapies, efforts are currently made to develop supplemental therapies aiming at improved host's immune responses, specifically those mediated by cytotoxic T and helper T lymphocytes. Several encouraging vaccine strategies have focused on HBV surface proteins S, preS1 and/or preS2 (Zanetti et al., 2008, Vaccine 26: 6266; Mancini-Bourguine et al., 2006, Vaccine 24:4482) as well as on multivalent immunotherapy approaches aimed to simultaneously target multiple HBV antigens. For example, immunization with a polyepitope DNA vaccine encoding multiple envelope, core and polymerase epitopes was shown to elicit CTL and TH responses in preclinical mouse models (Depla et al., 2008, J. Virol. 82: 435). An approach based on a mixture of DNA plasmids encoding HBsAg, HBcAg and HBV polymerase (WO2005/056051; WO2008/020656) demonstrated specific anti-HBV cellular and humoral responses in transgenic mouse model of chronic hepatitis B (Chae Young Kim et al., 2008, Exp. Mol. Medicine 40: 669). Phase I clinical trials were initiated in South Korea in HBV carriers in combination with lamivudine treatment (Yang et al., 2006, Gene Ther. 13: 1110). Another approach recently investigated involves the use of a vectored therapeutic vaccine encoding a combination of HBc and HBV polymerase together with Hbs immunogenic domains (WO2011/01565). Mice immunized with Ad-vectorized vaccine showed T cell response against all expressed HBV antigens, especially against polymerase.
One may expect that HBV will continue to be a serious global health threat for many years due to the chronic and persistent nature of the infection, its high prevalence, the continuing transmission of HBV and the significant morbidity of the associated diseases. Thus, there is an important need to develop more effective approaches for improving prevention and treatment of HBV infections or HBV-associated diseases or disorders. In particular, there still exists a need for approaches that conciliate T cell-mediated immunity against the targeted HBV antigen(s), especially against core, and low potential toxicity. Such approaches are especially useful for treating subjects chronically infected with HBV.
This technical problem is solved by the provision of the embodiments as defined in the claims.
Other and further aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are given for the purpose of disclosure.


A tandem roller bearing assembly is provided that combines a tapered roller bearing with an angular contact ball bearing, yielding high load capacity with improved efficiency. A one-piece outer ring contains an outer tapered roller raceway and an outer angular contact ball raceway and can support an axial load in a single direction. A one-piece inner ring contains an inner tapered roller raceway and an inner angular contact ball raceway and can support an axial load in a single direction. Various rib configurations are implemented on the inner tapered roller raceway to achieve multiple friction and axial load support options.

Given the fuel economy goals of future passenger vehicles, friction and weight reduction are of high importance to automotive engineers. The drivetrain of an automobile consists of multiple arrays of gears and bearings to transfer the rotary motion of the internal combustion engine to the rotary motion of the wheels. The efficiency of the drivetrain has evolved very rapidly in recent years due in large part to improved designs of transmissions, transfer cases and differential units. The design of rolling element bearings has played a vital role in this efficiency gain and will continue to evolve with the innovations of drivetrain technology.
Rolling element bearing assemblies are typically circular in shape, and generally comprise of rolling elements, normally contained by a cage, disposed between inner and outer raceways. Rolling elements take many forms, including spherical balls, cylindrical rollers, needle rollers, or various other configurations, such as cone-shaped tapered rollers or barrel-shaped spherical rollers. Cages are often used to contain the rolling elements and guide them throughout the rotating motion of the bearing, but are not a necessity in some configurations. The material of a cage can vary from steel to plastic, depending on the application, duty cycle, along with noise and weight requirements.
The type of bearing used for a particular application depends on multiple factors including the load, load direction, required stiffness, and speed. Angular contact ball bearings are known and are able to withstand combined radial and axial loads. One or two rows of balls are possible in a single bearing unit and various arrangements of multiple angular contact ball bearings are possible to address the needs of the application. Referring to FIG. 11, a cross-sectional view of a prior art angular contact ball bearing 200 is shown. Angular contact ball bearing 200 contains an inner ring 214, an outer ring 211, balls 212, and a ball cage 213. The inner ring 214 contains an inner ball raceway 219 with an axial shoulder 217; the outer ring 211 contains an outer ball raceway 218 with an axial shoulder 215. In addition to the inherent radial load capability of a ball bearing, the presence of the respective axial shoulders 217, 215 provides axial load capability in the directions shown in FIG. 11. In general, angular contact ball bearings provide a low-friction solution for drivetrain applications due to a rolling interface that is maintained between the balls 212 and respective inner and outer raceways 219, 218, including axial shoulders 217, 215, when subjected to radial or axial load conditions. However, the load capacity of angular contact ball bearings is relatively low compared to other bearing types.
Like angular contact ball bearings, tapered roller bearings are known and are also able to withstand combined radial and axial loads, but, for a given bearing envelope size, have a significantly higher load capacity than angular contact ball bearings. Referring to FIG. 10, a cross-sectional view of a prior art tapered roller bearing 100 is shown that rotates about a central axis 113. Tapered roller bearing 100 contains an inner ring 104, an outer ring 101, tapered rollers 102 and a tapered roller cage 103. The inner ring 104 contains an inner tapered roller raceway 108 with a small diameter end 112 and a large diameter end 111; a rib 106 is present at the small diameter end 112 and a rib 105 is present at the large diameter end 111. The outer ring 101 contains an outer tapered roller raceway 107 with a small diameter end 110 and a large diameter end 109. The design of tapered roller bearings is such that the inner raceway 108 and outer raceway 107 are angled with respect to the central axis 113 of the tapered roller bearing 100. For a given width of envelope space, the angled inner and outer raceways 108, 107 increase the amount of line contact with the tapered rollers 102 which increases the load capacity of the tapered roller bearing 100. The rib 106 on the small diameter end 112 of the inner raceway 108 is present to retain the tapered rollers 102 on the inner raceway 108. The rib 105 on the large diameter end 111 of the inner raceway 108 serves as a thrust interface for the tapered rollers 102. However, the friction that results from this sliding interface exceeds that of the rolling interface between the balls and axial shoulders of an angular contact ball bearing.
For drivetrain applications, tapered roller bearings offer high load capacity while sacrificing efficiency. A bearing solution is required that maintains the load capacity of a tapered roller bearing while lowering the inherent friction.

Tandem tapered roller and angular contact ball bearing


A system and method for determining an acoustic and/or thermal characteristic of a target material are provided. The system includes an acoustic source arranged to direct a sound wave at a target material; a device for measuring a sound pressure generated by at least the acoustic sensor, to obtain a sound pressure measurement; a density sensor arranged to measure a density of the target material to obtain a density measurement; and an analyzer arranged to receive the sound pressure measurement and the density measurement. The analyzer is capable of determining an acoustic and/or thermal characteristic of the target material based on the sound pressure measurement and/or the density measurement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for determining an acoustic and/or thermal characteristic of a target material. The present invention also relates to determining an acoustic and/or thermal characteristic of a target material present on a production line.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the construction of residential and commercial buildings, materials can be used to provide thermal and/or acoustic insulation. For example, such materials can be placed in the wall cavities of a building. Materials used to provide thermal and/or acoustic insulation in such applications are known in the art and include, for example, a glass fiber material. Processes and apparatuses for manufacturing such insulation materials are known in the art.
During or after the manufacture of the thermal and/or acoustic insulation material, the manufactured product can be tested in order to ensure that the thermal and/or acoustic characteristics thereof meet particular quality control standards. However, measuring the relevant characteristics of the manufactured product can often be a difficult and/or time consuming task. For example, measuring characteristics of the manufactured product typically requires taking a sample of the product from the production line for testing. The testing of characteristics such as, for example, the effective thermal conductivity of a fiber glass material, can take as long as one-half hour to complete. The interruption in the production process to. obtain a portion of the insulation material for testing can be burdensome, and also can have an adverse effect on the efficiency of the overall manufacturing process. In addition, the considerable amount of time normally required to determine relevant characteristics of the manufactured product can further delay production of the material and/or permit the manufacture of non-compliant materials while the sample material is being tested.
The problems discussed above can be ameliorated or overcome by employing exemplary aspects of the present invention. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, acoustic and/or thermal measurements taken in connection with a target material (i.e., the material to be tested) can be obtained without requiring the removal of a sample of the target material. That is, according to exemplary aspects, simultaneous manufacturing of the target material and testing of the characteristics of the target material can be achieved. In addition, exemplary aspects of the present invention can enable the determination of characteristics of the target material within a relatively short period of time.
The present inventor has also recognized that in some cases, it can be beneficial to obtain both acoustic and density measurements in connection with a target material, in order to determine a characteristic of the target material based on such acoustic and density measurements. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, such characteristic based on the acoustic and density measurements can be obtained.
Other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the specification, drawings and claims appended hereto.

Systems and methods for determining an acoustic and/or thermal characteristic of a target material


The invention relates to a windshield wiper system with two wipers (1, 2) that travel in opposite directions and can each be driven by a separate motor (MFS, MBS), wherein a regulating unit (7) is provided for triggering the motors (MFS, MBS) separately from each other by means of control signals, wherein the regulating unit (7) triggers the motors (MFS, MBS) of the wipers (1, 2) in order to preset a time-dependent angular position of the wipers according to a trigonometric function φ(t).

The invention relates to a windshield wiper system with two wipers that travel in opposite directions. In an opposed-pattern wiper system, the wipers travel in opposite directions. The wipers are driven by a drive unit, the two wipers being coupled to each other by means of a mechanism in such a way that the wipers do not collide during operation.
Up till now, the angular preadjustment of the opposed-pattern wipers has been manually set. This is carried out based on individual, manually determined angular positions of the wipers in which the wipers do not touch. Then, these angular positions are connected to one another by means of control curves, based on cubic curve elements. The disadvantage here is that this does not absolutely guarantee that collisions will be prevented; whether the wipers collide or not depends instead on the experience of the development engineer. Moreover, the curve elements are not suitable for a regulation since the curves can only be time-differentiated once, as a result of which the desired curves generate instabilities in the course of accelerations. This causes the wipers to chatter.
The object of the current invention, therefore, is to design the control of opposed-pattern wipers so that the wipers do not chatter or collide during operation.

Windscreen wiper system comprising two opposed wipers


The present invention relates to a noise attenuating window comprised of two panes of glass separated by a spacer tube. The spacer tube contains T-shaped acoustic resonator capable of targeting a single mode or multiple-mode to be attenuated.

Sound transmission through windows is one of the major noise sources in rooms. The challenge for noise transmission control through a window is in the implementation of any noise control techniques that do not sacrify the vision quality of the window, and are economical enough for mass production. In order to reduce noise transmission, grid-stiffened single-leaf windows are used, however, the use of grid-stiffeners will affect the vision quality of the windows. Some other techniques associating with noise reduction using acoustic resonators are also developed.
European patent to Serge and Eric (E. P. Pat No. 698753), discloses a sliding casement window which has a frame with inner and outer peripheral walls delimiting an inner free space and a peripheral opening. An acoustic resonator unit is disposed in this space. In this patent, the acoustic resonator unit is used to absorb the random impinging sound from outside environment and the transmitting sound in the room. However, since the acoustic resonator is only a narrow band noise control device, it cannot be guaranteed to always work at its resonance in this design, resulting in a low efficiency of noise absorption.
As known in the art, double-glazed windows have been also used for reducing noise transmission. Such windows generally comprise a pair of spaced glass sheets which a hermetically sealed together around their peripheral edges to form a dead-air space of chamber therebetween. Through introducing more mechanical filters, the sound insulation property of the double-glazed windows is significantly improved when compared with a normal single-leaf window. However, double-glazed windows are tied with an unacceptable noise transmission in low-frequencies.
Attempts have been also made in the past to overcome this problem. For example, United States patent to Eric et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,710) discloses a sandwiched cylindrical structure having a noise attenuation property, in which a Helmholtz resonator network is integrated into the sandwiched cylindrical shell to reduce the sound transmission. However, its potential of the Helmholtz resonator network using for noise transmission control in small enclosures like such a small air chamber inside the double-glazed window is limited because the bulb-like Helmholtz resonator will occupy more space and it is difficult to integrate into the windows without affecting the vision quality.
German patent to Jacobus (D.E. Pat. No. 3401996) discloses a sound-insulating double-glazed window having a circumferential acoustic resonator to control noise in low frequencies. The framework of the window consists of two pieces of frames having a U-shaped space in each, which will form the acoustic resonator body when they are connected, and the gap between the two connected frames forms the opening of the resonator. However, assembling such a window is labor-consuming since the framework includes more components than that of a regular double-glazed window, and in fabrication, more attenuation has to be paid on sealing treatments of the two connected frames, which form the acoustic resonator body and any leakage from it can disable the resonator. Moreover, the resonator used in this double-glazed window is actually a circumferential channel having a small gap, thus, the resonance frequencies of this resonator is difficult to design to target to the air-chamber resonances of interest.
It is an object of the present system to overcome the disadvantages and problems in the prior art.

Double-glazed windows with inherent noise attenuation


As lighting systems age the need for retrofits—namely where newer lighting technology is used to replace older or different technology, but where a direct replacement is not possible without some kind of modification to the rest of the lighting system—increases. The residential lighting retrofit market is well established with a one-for-one light source replacement approach that is widely embraced; for example, a table lamp with a failed incandescent bulb can be readily replaced with an LED bulb despite the disparate power requirements because of the onboard driver system, and this avoids having to modify the lamp itself, the outlet, incoming power, etc. No such solution exists for specialized lighting systems such as sports and wide area lighting systems. The present invention is directed to such a solution, and one which is cost effective, easy to implement, and customizable to meet the varying site requirements of such specialized systems.

Direct replacement of a light source generally occurs when an existing—usually failed—light source is replaced with another having similar power regulating and connection means. For example, the light source of a residential lighting fixture (e.g., table lamp) may include a failed 60 W incandescent bulb which is replaced with a 100 W incandescent bulb—this is not a retrofit situation. A retrofit situation occurs when the light source being replaced is somehow different from the light source replacing it; most typically in terms of power requirements. Take, for example, that same table lamp in which the failed 60 W incandescent bulb is instead replaced with a 15 W LED bulb (which has a comparable light output to a 100 W incandescent bulb); the latter requires an onboard driver system so to adapt the available AC to the DC power requirements of the LED source, and is an example of a retrofit situation. However, it should be noted that the above example is a simple retrofit situation—the disparate power requirements are resolved without any other modification to the rest of the lighting system—and that there are other more complex lighting retrofit situations which lack such an elegant solution widely embraced by the market.
Take, for example, specialized lighting systems such as sports or wide area lighting systems. Unlike the example of a table lamp, there are no standard bulb shapes or sizes, no standard bulb base, no standard incoming power. On the contrary, all of these features can differ from site to site and manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, a site might have 480 incoming voltage or 240 incoming voltage, incoming power might be three-phase or one-phase, the existing lighting system might be a mix of HID lamps and sodium lamps of varying sizes and shapes, and the like. Lighting technology aside, power regulating means, connection means, and the aforementioned non-lighting technology portions of the existing lighting system such as poles, enclosures, wiring, and crossarms could also differ. As one example, an existing lighting system could include a solid wood pole with exposed wiring or a hollow steel pole with internal wiring. As another example, poles might be bolted to a plate on the ground, buried in the ground, or attached to some other feature in the lighting system (e.g., a truss system).
Therefore, it may be appreciated that the one-for-one replacement approach in the residential lighting retrofit market—namely, old light source out, new light source in, no other changes required—while appealing, is likely impractical for the specialized lighting retrofit market.
That being said, to date some manufacturers have attempted to take the one-for-one replacement approach in specialized lighting system retrofits; these efforts have largely been met with serious issues. For example, some manufacturers attempt to retain existing crossarms—even when one-for-one retrofit fixtures do not fit in the existing crossarm footprint. Doing so restricts the range of achievable horizontal and vertical aiming of retrofit fixtures, and often results in dark spots at the target area thereby compromising lighting uniformity. Some manufacturers drill new holes in existing crossarms to accommodate the footprint of one-for-one retrofit fixtures. Doing so often results in weakening of the crossarm, as well as introducing additional locations for moisture ingress, thereby compromising wiring and potentially increasing corrosion.
Even still, there is a market for retrofitting specialized lighting systems. Sports fields, for example, are in play for many years past the useful life of an older lighting technology, and often some components (e.g., poles, ballasts) still have useful life. Therefore, there is a need for a modified approach to the one-for-one retrofit solution already widely embraced by the residential lighting retrofit market; namely, one that takes into account the unique requirements of specialized lighting systems by retrofitting older or different lighting technology with newer technology while minimizing modification to non-lighting technology portions of the lighting system such as poles, enclosures, wiring, and crossarms where such is feasible and cost effective.
Thus, there is room for improvement in the art.

Apparatus method, and system for cost-effective lighting system retrofits including LED luminaires


A scanning and projecting device of a construction having a rotationally symmetrical first image forming optical system, a scanning surface disposed on the focal plane of the optical system, a deflector to deflect a parallel light beam emitted from the scanning surface and passing through the first image forming optical system, a rotationally symmetrical second image forming system which receives the parallel light beam deflected by the deflector, a light receiving surface disposed at an image forming position of the second image forming optical system, and at least one anamorphic optical system disposed in the light path between the scanning surface and the light receiving surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a scanning and projecting device to form a distortion-free image on a flat surface to be scanned by the use of a light deflector such as a rotary type reflecting mirror like a polygonal mirror, or a rotating-and-vibrating type reflecting mirror like a galvano-mirror (both types of the reflecting mirrors will hereinafter be called generally "rotary reflecting mirror").
2. Description of the Prior Arts
There have so far been proposed various types of devices for projecting an image on a flat surface to be scanned by using a rotary reflecting mirror. As one of image projecting methods for such projecting device, two image forming optical systems are arranged with a rotary reflecting mirror being interposed therebetween, and parallel light beams are scanned by these two image forming optical systems and the rotary reflecting mirror.
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing illustrate one embodiment of the image projecting device using such scanning system, in which a light beam from a scanning plane 1 is rendered a parallel light beam by a first image forming lens 2, having one of its focal planes on the scanning plane 1, and is deflected by a rotary reflecting mirror 3. This deflected parallel light beam will then be focussed on a focal plane 5 by a second image forming lens 4. Accordingly, a position P on the scanning plane 1, which is to be focussed on a fixed point P' on the plane 5, moves with rotation of the rotary reflecting mirror 3.
In such image projecting optical system, as the scanning position P on the scanning plane 1 changes with rotation of the rotary reflecting mirror 3, there takes place changes in the image forming magnification in both the scanning direction (along the plane of the drawing sheet) and the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction (normal to the drawing sheet). Further, the changes in the image forming magnification differ in the ratio thereof between the scanning direction and the direction orthogonal thereto. On account of this change in the image forming magnification, therefore, the image of the scanning plane 1 to be focussed on the fixed point P' on the focal plane 5 is distorted.


Aspects and examples are disclosed for providing compressed risk assessment messages for real-time transmission to online services. For example, a request for a compressed risk assessment message about an entity is received from an online service. The compressed risk assessment message is generated by executing a risk assessment algorithm with at least some data about the entity. The compressed risk assessment message indicates a risk associated with the entity. The risk is indicated using less data than a detailed risk assessment generated by the risk assessment system, which may include an explanation indicating how the risk is determined. The compressed risk assessment message is transmitted to an online service that requests the compressed risk assessment. In some aspects, a detailed risk assessment is generating using the risk assessment algorithm, and, subsequent to transmitting the compressed risk assessment message, is transmitted to the online service.

Certain computing systems implement risk assessment algorithms, which can include automated modeling algorithms (e.g., algorithms using modeling techniques such as logistic regression, neural networks, support vector machines, etc.) that can evaluate risks involved with initiating or otherwise participating in electronic transactions with entities over a data network. For example, a risk assessment system can use machine-learning algorithms to learn from and make predictions regarding electronic transactions having certain circumstances. The predictions can include assessments of risk associated with electronic transactions involving certain entities.
These risks can be used by online services that are used to exchange electronic content with entities or otherwise conduct electronic transactions involving computing devices corresponding to the entities. For example, an online service can operate in collaboration with a remote risk assessment system when engaging in electronic transactions involving a given entity. The collaboration can involve the risk assessment system providing a risk assessment with respect to the entity and the online service modifying one or more actions taken in response to requests from the entity, where the requests are received via a communication session with the online service.

Providing compressed risk assessment messages for real-time transmission via data networks to online services


A chromatography column adapted for high pressure chromatography is characterized by a tubular membrane separating a glass tube from the pressurized area between the glass tube and a pressure tube adapted to receive a pressurizing fluid. Changing of the glass tube is facilitated by annular seals at each end of the glass tube against which an adjustable threaded plug, fitted in one of a pair of screw caps fitted on each end of the pressure tube, exerts sealing pressure.

This invention relates to a column adapted for high pressure liquid chromatography of the type having a glass column adapted to be filled with the sorbent and which is surrounded concentrically, with an intermediate space being maintained therebetween, by a pressure tube.
Such columns are known, for example, from German Utility Model No. 7,146,039, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,329,286 and German Auslegeschrift No. 2,524,751. In these known columns, the intermediate space between the glass column and the pressure tube is filled with the eluent, as the pressure liquid, used for the chromatographic separation by connecting the intermediate space to the eluent feed, so that the pressure acting externally on the glass column is the same as or greater than that inside the column and the glass column thus cannot explode from the pressure of the eluent.
It has been proposed to seal off the intermediate space from the ends of the column so that the eluent contained in the intermediate space cannot mix with the eluent entering at the top of the column. In German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,329,286, this is achieved by sealing off the ends of the column from the intermediate space with O-rings, which has the disadvantage that the glass column must be matched precisely to the length of the pressure tube, with minimum tolerance.
It is thus proposed in German Auslegeschrift No. 2,524,751 to seal off the glass column from the intermediate space with a seal of the stuffing box type, whereby even relatively large differences in length of the glass column can be tolerated. Polytetrafluoroethylene seals are used as the stuffing box-type seals. Although these seals are resistant towards the eluent present in the intermediate space, they have a relatively low elasticity, so that the diameter tolerances of the glass column to be compensated by the seals are small. These stuffing box-type circumferential seals also make it very difficult to change the glass column. More specifically, in order to change the column, the screws at both ends of the pressure tube must be undone and at least one of the two such seals, which have been pressed firmly onto the glass tube, must be removed so that the glass column can be pulled out of the pressure tube. A further disadvantage of this construction is that a free space must be provided between the end of the column and the screw connection of the pressure tube in order to compensate for length variations in the glass column. This means that the column is not firmly clamped in the longitudinal direction, so that leaks in the inflow and outflow capillaries, which necessarily fit in only relatively loosely, can very easily result.
It is an object of this invention to prove a column for high pressure liquid chromatography which uses simple head seals which permits easy change of the glass column and which permits the use of glass columns with relatively large variations both with respect to diameter and with respect to length, and in particular, which employs seals for the glass column which do not come into contact with the pressure fluid. Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Merck Patent Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung


An image forming apparatus is provided with a detachable process cartridge having an electrophotographic photoconductive drum and a plurality of developing units. Each of the developing units has a signal generating device for generating a signal corresponding to the amount of toner in the developing unit, and an output signal of the signal generating device is transmitted to a toner amount discriminating circuit mounted in the body of the image forming apparatus through a common line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process cartridge having a plurality of developing units using different color toners and being detachable from the body of an image forming apparatus, and an image forming apparatus using such a process cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art
A well-known type of image forming apparatus can output a high-quality image by replacing a process cartridge including an electrophotographic photoconductive member and a developing unit with another cartridge even if toner in the developing unit runs out.
A process cartridge having a plurality of developing units is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,195.
In order to know when it is necessary to replace the process cartridge, it is preferable to provide a means for detecting whether the amount of toner in each developing unit falls below a predetermined amount. Thus, a signal generating member for generating an electric signal in accordance with the amount of remaining toner is also mounted in the developing unit.
However, if a discriminating circuit is mounted in each developing unit so as to discriminate, based on the output of the signal generating member, whether the amount of the toner remaining in the developing unit is above a predetermined amount, the construction of the image forming apparatus becomes complicated and its size is enlarged.
Thus, it is preferable from the point of view of reducing the cost of the process cartridge to mount the above discriminating circuit in the body of the image forming apparatus rather than int he process cartridge.
However, if an output terminal for transmitting a signal from the signal generating member to the discriminating circuit in the apparatus body is disposed in each developing unit in the process cartridge when the process cartridge is attached to the apparatus body, it is necessary to mount a plurality of input terminals to engage the output terminals in the apparatus body. Therefore, the number of the output and input terminals becomes large, thereby increasing the rate of damage and contact failure of these terminals when the process cartridge is attached to the image forming apparatus.

Process cartridge with toner depletion detection feature and image forming apparatus using the same