The present invention relates to a purified antibody molecule preparation being characterized in that at least one antigen binding site comprises a glycosylated asparagine (Asn) in the variable region of the heavy chain (VH). More specifically, a pharmaceutical and a diagnostic composition comprising said antibody molecule and antibody mixtures are provided which is/are capable of specifically recognizing the β-A4 peptide/Aβ4. The present invention relates in particular to a mixture of antibodies comprising one or two glycosylated antigen binding sites with a glycosylated asparagine (Asn) in the variable region of the heavy chain, i.e. mixtures of isoforms of antibodies which comprise a glycosylated Asn in the variable region of the heavy chain (VH). Also disclosed are compositions or antibody preparations comprising the specifically glycosylated antibody isoforms. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical and diagnostic uses for these antibodies are provided. The antibody isoforms may for example be used in the pharmaceutical intervention of amyloidogenesis or amyloid-plaque formation and/or in the diagnosis of the same.

About 70% of all cases of dementia are due to Alzheimer's disease which is associated with selective damage of brain regions and neural circuits critical for cognition Alzheimer's disease is characterized by neurofibrillary tangles in particular in pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus and numerous amyloid plaques containing mostly a dense core of amyloid deposits and defused halos.
The extracellular neuritic plaques contain large amounts of a pre-dominantly fibrillar peptide termed "amyloid β", "A-beta", "Aβ4", "β-A4" or "Aβ"; see Selkoe (1994), Ann. Rev. Cell Biol. 10, 373-403, Koo (1999), PNAS Vol. 96, pp. 9989-9990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,829 or Glenner (1984), BBRC 12, 1131. This amyloid β is derived from "Alzheimer precursor protein/β-amyloid precursor protein" (APP). APPs are integral membrane glycoproteins (see Sisodia (1992), PNAS Vol. 89, pp. 6075) and are endoproteolytically cleaved within the Aβ sequence by a plasma membrane protease, α-secretase (see Sisodia (1992), loc. cit.). Furthermore, further secretase activity, in particular β-secretase and γ-secretase activity leads to the extracellular release of amyloid-β (Aβ) comprising either 39 amino acids (Aβ39), 40 amino acids (Aβ40), 42 amino acids (Aβ42) or 43 amino acids (Aβ43); see Sinha (1999), PNAS 96, 11094-1053; Price (1998), Science 282, 1078 to 1083; WO 00/72880 or Hardy (1997), TINS 20, 154.
It is of note that Aβ has several naturally occurring forms, whereby the human forms are referred to as the above mentioned Aβ39, Aβ40, Aβ41, Aβ42 and Aβ43. The most prominent form, Aβ42, has the amino acid sequence (starting from the N-terminus): DAEFRHDSGYEVHHQKLVFFAEDVGSNKGAIIGLMVGGVVIA (SEQ ID NO: 3). In Aβ41, Aβ40, Aβ39, the C-terminal amino acids A, IA and VIA are missing, respectively. In the Aβ43-form an additional threonine residue is comprised at the C-terminus of the above depicted sequence (SEQ ID NO: 3).
The time required to nucleate Aβ40 fibrils was shown to be significantly longer than that to nucleate Aβ42 fibrils; see Koo, loc. cit. and Harper (1997), Ann. Rev. Biochem. 66, 385-407. As reviewed in Wagner (1999), J. Clin. Invest. 104, 1239-1332, the Aβ42 is more frequently found associated with neuritic plaques and is considered to be more fibrillogenic in vitro. It was also suggested that Aβ42 serves as a "seed" in the nucleation-dependent polymerization of ordered non-crystalline Aβ peptides; Jarrett (1993), Cell 93, 1055-1058.
Modified APP processing and/or the generation of extracellular plaques containing proteinaceous depositions are not only known from Alzheimer's pathology but also from subjects suffering from other neurological and/or neurodegenerative disorders. These disorders comprise, inter alia, Down's syndrome, Hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis Dutch type, Parkinson's disease, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Creutzfeld Jacob disease, HIV-related dementia and motor neuropathy.
Until now, only limited medical intervention schemes for amyloid-related diseases have been described. For example, cholinesterase inhibitors like galantamine, rivastigmine or donepezil have been discussed as being beneficial in Alzheimer's patients with only mild to moderate disease. However, also adverse events have been reported due to cholinergic action of these drugs. While these cholinergic-enhancing treatments do produce some symptomatic benefit, therapeutic response is not satisfactory for the majority of patients treated. It has been estimated that significant cognitive improvement occurs in only about 5% of treated patients and there is little evidence that treatment significantly alters the course of this progressive disease. Consequently, there remains a tremendous clinical need for more effective treatments and in particular those which may arrest or delay progression of the disease.
Also NMDA-receptor antagonists, like memantine, have been employed more recently. However, adverse events have been reported due to the pharmacological activity. Further, such a treatment with these NMDA-receptor antagonists can merely be considered as a symptomatic approach and not a disease-modifying one
Also immunomodulation approaches for the treatment of amyloid-related disorders have been proposed. WO 99/27944 discloses conjugates that comprise parts of the Aβ peptide and carrier molecules whereby said carrier molecule should enhance an immune response. Another active immunization approach is mentioned in WO 00/72880, wherein also Aβ fragments are employed to induce an immune response.
Also passive immunization approaches with general anti-Aβ antibodies have been proposed in WO 99/27944 or WO 01/62801 and specific humanized antibodies directed against portions of Aβ have been described in WO 02/46237, WO 02/088306 and WO 02/088307. WO 00/77178 describes antibodies binding a transition state adopted by β-amyloid during hydrolysis. WO 03/070760 discloses antibody molecules that recognize two discontinuous amino acid sequences on the Aβ peptide.
WO 03/016466 describes a humanized anti-Aβ antibody which is modified in order to avoid any potential glycosylation in its heavy chain, since a glycosylation in variable region(s) of antibodies has been postulated in Wallick (1988) J. Exp. Med. 168, 1099-1109.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is to provide efficacious means and methods in the medical management of amyloid disorders, in particular means and methods for the reduction of detrimental amyloid plaques in patients in need of a (corresponding) medical intervention.

Antibodies against amyloid beta 4 with glycosylation in the variable region


A surface modified electrode and a method of preparing the surface modified electrode are provided. The surface modified electrode includes a glassy carbon electrode and a coating of a compound of formula I disposed on the glassy carbon electrode. The present disclosure also relates to a method of preparing the surface modified electrode. The method includes depositing a slurry of the compound of Formula I on the glassy carbon electrode to form a film and coating a polymer matrix on the film to obtain the surface modified electrode. The present disclosure also relates to a method of preparing the compound of Formula I. The method includes condensing 4-bromobenzaldehyde (4-BBD) and 4-methyl-benzenesulphonylhydrazine (4-MBSH), to obtain a first mixture and precipitating the first mixture to obtain the compound of Formula I. The surface modified electrode is used in an electrochemical sensor for the detection of metal ions.

With increasing industrial activities around the world, there is a huge increase in the amount of non-biodegradable metal cations, such as cadmium, in the environment. These metal cations, like cadmium, are extensively used as coloring constituents, or for electro-plating of metals, and in rechargeable Cd—Ni batteries. Improper disposal of these metal cations leads to their increasing concentration in water, air, and plants, thereby contaminating the environment and ecological system. Ingestion of these metal cations leads to a poisonous effect on human and animal health by affecting the brain, kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, testes, and central nervous system, leading to disorders such as bone demineralization, carcinogenic effects, hypertension, nephrotoxicity, renal dysfunction, and other physiological disorders.
It is critical to detect these metal cations and efficiently treat them. Conventionally, several techniques are available for the detection of heavy metal cations such as atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), atomic emission spectroscopy (AES), atomic fluorescence spectroscopy (AFS), gas chromatography (GC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), co-precipitation, electrochemistry, chemiluminescence, cloud print extraction, fluorescence, ion chromatography, liquid-liquid extraction, and solid-phase extraction technology. However, these techniques are time and cost intensive, require complex assembling methods, and require extra care during analysis of unsafe heavy metal cations in the laboratory. Owing to such drawbacks, there exists a need to develop simple, safe, rapid methods for detection of heavy metal ions with high selectivity and sensitivity.

Electrochemical sensor for detection of heavy metal ions, and methods of preparation thereof


The disclosure describes a method for producing bulk, particulate material that includes solid, generally ellipsoidal particles by dispersing irregularly shaped feed particles including about 60 to 100% by weight of at least one silicate-containing material selected from among wollastonite, alkali feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and nepheline. While maintaining the feed particles in dispersion, they are heated sufficiently to bring about at least partial fusion within at least the surfaces of the particles. This produces a bulk particulate product of which about 15 to 100% by volume is generally ellipsoidal particles. Also described are compositions of matter including solid particles, at least a portion of which are substantially glassy and generally ellipsoidal. At least a portion of these particles have been respectively formed from feed particles composed substantially of at least one silicate selected from among wollastonite, alkali feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and nepheline. The bulk particulate compositions contain about 15 to 100% by volume of the substantially glassy, generally ellipsoidal particles that are products of at least partial fusion of such feed particles.

Melting or softening of small particles under controlled conditions to convert them to generally ellipsoidal form is known. "Atomization," "fire polishing" and "direct fusion" techniques have been used.
Atomization methods involve first melting myriad raw material particles together to convert them to molten, i.e. bulk liquid, glass. Such bulk liquid typically contains far more than hundreds or thousands of times the amount of raw material required to make a single product particle. A thin stream of this molten glass is "atomized" by dropping it into a disruptive air jet, subdividing the stream into fine, molten droplets. The droplets are kept away from one another and from other objects until they have been cooled and solidified. Then they can be recovered as substantially discrete, generally ellipsoidal glass particles.
Describing atomization of glasses, Katz and Milewski, at page 303 of their "Handbook of Fillers and Reinforcements for Plastics," Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, N.Y., 1978, explain that a glass batch, which initially includes crystalline materials, may contain sand, soda ash, dolomite, feldspar and other ingredients. When melted and thoroughly mixed so that the ingredients are no longer crystalline, the resultant bulk liquid material is then atomized. Glassy, amorphous, generally ellipsoidal particles are formed.
In fire-polishing, discrete solid particles of material having irregular shapes are heated to the softening or melting temperature of the material while suspended and dispersed in a hot gaseous medium. As particles become soft or molten, surface tension forms them into ellipsoidal shapes. If kept in suspension until cooled below the temperatures at which they "freeze" and become solid, the particles may then be recovered as generally discrete glassy ellipsoids.
Particulate feed materials for fire-polishing may be in the form of amorphous crushed glass solids when initially introduced into the gaseous medium. Thus, at page 302 of Katz and Milewski it is shown that particles of crushed and screened glass, such as plate glass, various glass cullets and bottle glass, all amorphous materials, may be suspended and dispersed in a hot gaseous medium and softened or melted to form then into ellipsoidal shapes.
Direct fusion bears some resemblance to fire-polishing. Feed particles with irregular shapes, including individual solid particles and/or adherent groups of such particles that are sometimes referred to as "clusters" or "agglomerates," are heated and softened or melted while in suspension and dispersion in a hot gaseous medium to form then into molten, generally ellipsoidal shapes, followed by cooling, freezing and recovery. Direct fusion draws its name in part from the fact that its feed particles directly undergo conversion to glassy or amorphous form in the ellipsoid-forming step, without prior conversion to bulk liquid form.
It is believed that a group of several mutually adherent feed particles, whether they become adherent prior to or during the ellipsoid-forming step, can melt and fuse to form a single, generally ellipsoidal particle of proportionately larger diameter. Thus, when these fused products are produced by direct fusion, whether they are formed from such groups of feed particles and/or from particles that remain discrete during fusion, the resulting generally ellipsoidal particles generally exhibit the varying average chemical compositions of the particles and/or groups of particles from which the ellipsoids are respectively formed, except that there may be relatively small losses of ingredients through high-temperature volatilization. Direct fusion products do not necessarily have the more uniformly similar particle-to-particle composition expected of particles produced from bulk liquid glass.
Atomization and fire polishing of glasses may be described as indirect methods. Their feed materials have been formulated from glass-making raw materials which were melted and homogenized in the form of bulk liquid prior to entering the ellipsoid-forming step. Consequently, in indirect methods, the individual chemical identities of the glass-making raw materials have been merged into an average composition which is uniformly present in the respective ellipsoids so produced.
Illustrations of direct fusion may be found in Japanese published patent applications HEI 21990! 59416 and HEI 21990! 199013, published respectively on Feb. 28, 1990 and Aug. 7, 1990. Therein, Morishita, et al and Shimada, et al respectively suggest fusing high purity silica particles with sizes measured in microns. The resultant products are for example useful as fillers in plastics.
Also, Klingaman and Ehrenreich, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,268,320 and 4,294,750, teach how to recover pyroplastoids, fused, substantially non-hollow alumino-silicate glassy ellipsoidal particles from fly ash found in the flue gases of coal fired boilers. These fused particles are also used as fillers in plastics, and for other purposes.
Ellipsoidal particles recovered from fly ash are generally economical, but can suffer from the disadvantage of containing colorants that are expensive if not virtually impossible to remove. Such colorants render these ellipsoids undesirable for certain end use applications.
Atomization processes can produce products comparatively free of undesirable colorants. However, these do not readily produce abundant quantities of some of the smaller particle sizes that are desired, for example particles smaller than 25 microns in average size.
Fire polishing of crushed or ground commercial glasses can be used to make very small particles having low color levels. However, the high cost of milling these amorphous materials to small sizes has contributed to the high cost of making small, uncolored particles by this route.
Direct fusion processes heretofore disclosed for converting crystalline silica to amorphous ellipsoids appear capable of producing white or transparent particles in very small sizes, but tend to be quite expensive due to the energy required to fuse these high-melting materials. It has been suggested that these processes be applied to broad categories of mineral materials, including alumino-silicates, metal silicates and other inorganic powders. However, whether this suggestion is practical, which of the myriad types and forms of raw materials available in these categories should be employed, and how this suggestion should be implemented to overcome the above difficulties, have yet to be made clear.
Thus, it is believed that a need remains for improvements in ellipsoidal fused particulate products, and in methods for producing them. The present invention seeks to fulfill this need.
Disclosure of the Invention in Summary Form PA0 Advantages
Fulfillment of this need has been accomplished in part by development of a method disclosed herein. It produces, in bulk, particulate material that includes solid, generally ellipsoidal particles. The method includes bringing into a dispersed condition irregularly shaped feed particles including about 60 to 100% by weight of at least one silicate-containing material selected from among wollastonite, alkali feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and nepheline. While maintaining the feed particles in dispersed condition, the feed particles are heated sufficiently to bring about at least partial fusion within at least the surfaces of the irregularly shaped particles. This produces a bulk particulate product in which about 15 to 100% by volume of the bulk particulate product is generally ellipsoidal particles.
The compositions of matter of the present invention comprise solid particles. In these compositions at least a portion of the particles are generally ellipsoidal particles that are substantially glassy. At least a portion of the particles respectively have chemical compositions corresponding substantially with that of material selected from among wollastonite, alkali feldspar, plagioclase feldspar and nepheline. The compositions of matter comprise about 15 to 100% by volume of said generally ellipsoidal particles that have said chemical compositions, based on the total volume of solid particles present in said compositions of matter.
The invention, depending on which of its various embodiments is used, is expected to provide one or more of the advantages set forth in this and succeeding paragraphs. It should be understood therfore that the invention includes embodiments which possess less than all of the advantages described below.
It is an advantage of the invention that the designated minerals, partly because of their crystalline structure, can be ground easily to an average size as small as 3 microns, and, when mined from appropriate deposits, can readily be freed to the extent necessary or desired from certain of the accessory minerals with which they are found combined in nature, such as magnetite.
Another advantage of the invention is that these minerals can be efficiently melted in an "open" flame, without special confining furnace walls or flame quenching processes, to provide generally ellipsoidal particles which are only a few microns in average particle size. Among the preferred feed materials of the invention are those which, as described below, can have relatively low viscosity at temperatures slightly above their crystalline dissolution temperatures, whereby surface tension can readily form the particles, when melted or softened, into generally ellipsoidal shapes. As compared to silica, the designated minerals can have a significantly smaller temperature difference between their ellipsoid-forming and "melting" temperatures. In fact, the preferred minerals can be converted to generally ellipsoidal form in high yields in an open flame of natural gas and air, without unwanted agglomeration.
It is surprising that the above described minerals could be successfully "flash fused" in the above manner, at flame temperatures comparable to those used in so-called "indirect" processes, in which the feed material is a glass powder, as distinguished from these crystalline feed materials. For example, wollastonite is reported to have a melting point of 1540.degree. C., which is at least about 400.degree. above the working temperature at which most commercial glasses are fire-polished to ellipsoidal form.
Also, it was not apparent that an unconfined or open flame would have sufficient heat capacity to successfully convert substantial proportions of feed particles of the designated minerals to generally ellipsoidal shape at the relatively low, energy conserving temperatures, for example about 1000 to about 1900.degree. C., that have been successfully used in the method of the present invention. Although it has been taught that dispersion of fine mineral particles in flames tends to extinguish them, due to lack of sufficient heat capacity in the flames, the method of the invention can be operated without undue difficulties.
While the inventor does not wish to be bound by any theory, it appears that the designated minerals may be fused with particular effectiveness when or as they contain substantial amounts of materials which cause them to deviate from their nominal chemical formulas, such as solid solutions, separate phases or small levels of ionic substitutions to be discussed in greater detail below. Those components of designated minerals that are responsible for such deviation may cause a lowering of feed particle melting points and working temperatures, as occurs in other crystalline materials which differ from their nominal composition.
It is also surprising that generally ellipsoidal products with specific gravities about 5 to about 15% lower than the specific gravities of the designated mineral feeds have been recovered. This provides an advantage of about 5 to about 15% both in manufacturing and in applications for the resultant powders.
A further advantage of the invention is the fact that the designated minerals can be converted to products of essentially the same particle size as the ground minerals used as feed materials for the fusion operation. More particularly, they can be readily converted to generally ellipsoidal particles under conditions that do not highly promote agglomeration of the product.
Another advantage of the invention is that the products can have higher temperature resistance than glass spheres manufactured by grinding and fusing various cullets, scrap window and bottle glasses and the like.
Products can be produced according to the invention for a wide variety of applications. For example, such products can be made in forms that are useful as film anti-blocking agents; as paint flatting agents; and as specialty powders useful in a wide variety of applications in thermosetting and thermoplastic resins such as silicones and fluoropolymers, in engineering plastics, in lotions and creams, and in composites, paper and other materials in any physical form, such as for instance molded products and single or multi-layer products including especially webs and laminates. They also are useful in powder form as anti-caking aids, and as a powder with unusual "slip" or lubricity.
The advantages of these products flow in part from the chemical composition of the feed materials and resultant products, and from the generally ellipsoidal shaped particles present in the products. These advantages are especially apparent in those products, now made economically available, which have very small particle diameters.
When produced from preferred ores, the products are characterized by high levels of whiteness and transparency, relatively low cost as compared to other generally ellipsoidal glassy fillers of comparable size, whiteness and transparency, and high chemical inertness. Moreover, the products can have essentially the same whiteness as the feed materials used. It is believed that the present invention represents the most cost effective means known for directly manufacturing small-diameter, substantially non-hollow, generally ellipsoidal particles with a high degree of whiteness and transparency.
When produced in forms characterized by sufficient amounts of generally ellipsoidal particles, e.g. about 30 or more and up to 100% by volume based on the total volume of the solids contents of the compositions, the products may be used, even at relatively high concentrations, to form relatively low viscosity mixtures in liquids or molten plastics. Products that are abundant in generally ellipsoidal particles can have high levels of hardness coupled with low abrasiveness. Highly ellipsoidal products are also characterized by relatively low surface area and consequently engage in relatively little surface interaction with other materials with which they may be formulated in a variety of end use applications.
Products containing some particles having significant surface roughness may for example be employed to advantage in compositions where some degree of abrasiveness is desired. Fusion operations conducted according to the invention can be readily controlled to produce predetermined proportions of both substantially glassy and rough, irregular crystalline particles in the particulate product, which can thus be used to impart a predetermined degree of abrasiveness in end use applications. Such products are especially conserving of energy since much higher production rates per unit of fuel consumption can be attained where only partial conversion to ellipsoidal particles is required.

Compositions comprising fused particulates and methods of making them

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A method of using a FLASH memory for a circular buffer, and the FLASH memory for same, the method including one or more of the following steps in various exemplary embodiments: providing a circular buffer having a plurality of sectors; designating a byte of each of the plurality of sectors of the circular buffer as a binary state indicator; saving data sequentially in the circular buffer; and cycling through a plurality of sectors of the binary state indicators, such as empty or erase, last, middle and first, as the data is sequentially saved in the circular buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a flash memory for a circular buffer.
2. Description of Related Art
One form of computer memory is non-volatile memory. An example of non-volatile memory is flash memory. One use of memory, including non-volatile memory such as flash memory, is to store log data. However, there is a need for a flash memory able to be used in a circular buffer.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those that can be achieved by the various exemplary embodiments and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the various exemplary embodiments will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the various exemplary embodiments, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variation which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel methods, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described in various exemplary embodiments.

Method of using a flash memory for a circular buffer


A drive assist controller verifies the driving intention of a driver on the basis of whether or not the driver is contacting the steering wheel when a lane-maintaining control is being executed. An automatic driving controller verifies the driving intention of the driver on the basis of whether or not the driver is gripping the steering wheel when automatic driving is being performed. This configuration makes it possible to appropriately determine the driving intention of a driver, by changing the method of verifying the driving intention of the driver between cases when the driver has driving authority and cases when the vehicle has driving authority.

In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-168720, a control assisted vehicle is disclosed in which driving assistance is terminated, in the case that a decrease in a driving intention of the driver is recognized during a steering control driving assist. When confirming whether or not the driving intention of the driver is decreasing, the control assisted vehicle makes a determination by comparing an indicator (steering torque), which is indicative of the driving intention, with a threshold value.


The invention relates to a method for reducing effects of self-created digital radio frequency interference on broadband reception. In the method a DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting—Terrestrial) signal is received at a broadband receiver (200). The received signal is demodulated in a demodulation process. Information (210) on frequencies of self-created digital radio frequency interference is provided for the broadband reception. The information has been generated based on prior measurements and stored to a memory prior to the receiving of the DVB-T signal. The information is used in the broadband reception so as to reduce the effects of the self-created digital radio frequency interference on the broadband reception.

Digital broadcasting systems, such as the digital television system, have been under development, and they are seen to gradually replace the analog broadcasting systems. This is, among other things, because of their ability to provide new types of services and better quality of service compared to the analog broadcasting systems.
One of the digital broadcasting systems currently being under standardisation by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system. In the DVB system digital video is broadcasted using satellite, cable and/or terrestrial infrastructures.
The DVB system using terrestrial infrastructure is defined as DVB-T (DVB-Terrestrial) system. In DVB-T transmission digital data is modulated into a radio frequency (RF) signal. The modulation method used is the COFDM (Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) modulation. The modulated DVB-T signal is transmitted from a DVB-T transmitter. The transmission occurs over a DVB-T radio channel. The transmitted DVB-T signal is received at a so called set top box (STB) containing a DVB-T receiver. The DVB-T receiver demodulates the received DVB-T signal in order to regenerate the digital data. The digital data may contain for example an MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group) coded video stream.
FIG. 1 shows funtional blocks of a DVB-T receiver according to prior art. The DVB-T receiver 100 shown in FIG. 1 functions according to a well known superheterodyne principle.
A COFDM modulated radio frequency DVB-T signal sent from a transmitter and received via an antenna is conveyed to a low noise amplifier 101 of the DVB-T receiver 100. In the low noise amplifier 101 the DVB-T signal is amplified in order to raise the power level of the received DVB-T signal. The amplified DVB-T signal is conveyed to a tracking filter 102. The tracking filter 102, which is an adjustable band pass filter, filters the DVB-T signal to attenuate the frequency components that lie outside the frequency band which is desired to be received. From the tracking filter 102 the DVB-T signal is conveyed to an adjustable RF amplifier 103 which amplifies the filtered DVB-T signal in order to compensate losses caused in the tracking filter 102. From the adjustable RF amplifier 103 the DVB-T signal is conveyed to a second adjustable tracking filter 104 for band pass filtering. The purpose of the second adjustable tracking filter 104 is to attenuate the image frequencies of the DVB-T signal. The filtered DVB-T signal is conveyed from the second tracking filter 104 to a first input of a down conversion mixer 105.
A local oscillator 111 generates a local oscillator signal. A phase locked loop 112 controls the frequency of the local oscillator signal as well as the pass band of the previously mentioned adjustable tracking filters 102 and 104. The frequency of the local oscillator signal is controlled with the aid of a feedback from the local oscillator 111 to the phase locked loop 112 and with the aid of a reference oscillator signal which a reference oscillator 113 provides for the phase locked loop 112. The local oscillator signal is conveyed to a second input of the down conversion mixer 105.
The down conversion mixer 105 mixes the DVB-T signal coming from the second tracking filter 104 with the local oscillator signal in order to convert the DVB-T signal down into the frequency band of an intermediate frequency (IF). The down converted DVB-T signal is conveyed to an IF amplifier 106 which amplifies the down converted DVB-T signal. From the IF amplifier 106 the DVB signal is conveyed to an IF filter 107 which band pass filters the amplified DVB-T signal. The IF filter 107 is a band pass filter of a fixed pass band the width of which is substantially the same as the width of one DVB-T channel. The pass band of the IF filter 107 has steep edges so as to strongly attenuate the frequency components that lie outside the width of the DVB-T channel. From the IF filter 107 the DVB-T signal is conveyed to an adjustable IF amplifier 108 which amplifies the signal before the signal is conveyed to a COFDM demodulator 109. The COFDM demodulator 109 is a digital demodulator block which demodulates the received COFDM modulated DVB-T signal so as to form the (original) digital data. From the COFDM demodulator 109 the digital data may be conveyed, for example, to an MPEG-2 decoder or to another appropriate functional block.
The COFDM demodulator 109 itself may comprise a plurality of functional blocks (not shown) the operation of which is generally known to a person skilled in the art. Typically, the COFDM demodulator 109 contains blocks for performing analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), automatic gain control (AGC), Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), channel estimation and correction, and channel decoding.
Of the mentioned blocks the ADC is used to convert the received DVB-T signal from an analog form to a digital form. The AGC block controls with a feedback control signal AGC-1 the gain of the adjustable RF amplifier 103 and with a feedback control signal AGC-2 the gain of the adjustable IF amplifier 108 so as to optimise the received DVB-T signal voltage level so that the received DVB-T signal fits to an ADC conversion window. The gain is adjusted so that the ADC does not clip, that is the signal voltage of the DVB-T signal does not exceed an upper limit (nor go below a lower limit) of the ADC conversion window, because information carried by a clipped portion of the DVB-T signal will be corrupted or completely lost.
The FFT block is used to transform the analog-to-digital converted signal from time domain to frequency domain. The channel estimation and correction block is used to determine a transfer function H(f) of the DVB-T channel and, based on the transfer function H(f), to correct the effects that the transmission path causes to the DVB-T signal. The channel correction is typically performed by multiplicating the DVB-T signal with a function 1/H(f) which is an inverse function to the determined transfer function H(f). The transfer function H(f) is determined based on particular pilot signals. The pilot signals are signals which are transmitted together with the DVB-T signal but whose transmission amplitudes and location in the spectrum are known, in advance, to the DVB receiver.
The channel decoding block is used to reverse coding and interleaving operations performed at the DVB-T transmitter. For example, error correction (relating to errors occurred in the transmission path) is performed in the channel decoding block.
With terrestrial digital video broadcasting it is possible to achieve a good quality data transfer even if the DVB-T receiver is mobile. However, problems may occur with the mobile DVB-T receiver due to the small size requirement of the mobile communication devices and due to the desire to use internal integrated antennas and rapid digital electronics such as microprosessors/controllers in these devices. Namely, the digital electronics produce radio frequency interference which tend to couple to the device's own antenna(s) thus degrading the performance of the device in the form of bigger overall bit error rates and in the form of reduced receiver sensitivity in at least some of the receiving channels.
One commonly used solution for reducing the effects of this kind of self-created digital interference has been to shield the components causing radio frequency digital interference for example with metal cups.
Another possibility for reducing the effects of self-created digital interference is to make the device bigger in order to have a better separation between the receiving antenna and the sources of the digital interference.
Another possibility is to use external antennas instead of internal antennas. However, it is in many cases desirable to use internal antennas.
The self-created digital interference is considered to be rather stable in frequency domain. The digital interference typically consists mainly of clock oscillator signals, the harmonic signals of the clock oscillator frequency and/or the intermodulation products of the clock signals. The spectrum of the digital interference is considered to be a stable comb-like line spectrum rather than a continuous spectrum. In narrowband systems it may thus be possible to avoid the effects of the digital interference already in the designing phase of the device by designing the device so that no digital interference signals are present in the used (frequency) band. However, in broadband systems (such as the DVB-T system in which the total used bandwidth is around 400 MHz, more specifically 474 MHz–858 MHz) this kind of designing procedure is not very useful due to the broadness of the used bandwidth.

Reducing effects of self-created interference on broadband reception


A vernier duct blocker comprising a plurality of vanes each having a width and comprising a forward portion and an aft portion defining a plurality of gas paths each of the plurality of vanes being separated by a plurality of widths, and a rotatably movable ring interposed between the forward portion and the aft portion comprising a plurality of openings each having a width, wherein the width of one of the plurality of vanes differs from the width of another one of the plurality of vanes.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, and method for using such an apparatus, for controlling the flowpath area in a gas turbine engine. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for providing non-linear flowpath area control of a gas turbine engine through the use of vernier duct blocker.
(2) Description of the Related Art
When operating gas turbine engines, it is frequently desirable to control the amount of gas flowing through the secondary flowpath between the outer duct and the inner support structure. One common method of achieving such control is to install an apparatus for adjusting the area through which the gas may flow. Such flow blockers often include a rotatable member with a plurality of openings that can be rotated in order to control the size of an open area through which gas can flow. With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated one such apparatus. A number of vanes 21 are circumferentially attached about a ring or rings each vane separated from its neighbor by a uniform distance w. Each vane is formed of a forward portion 15 and an aft portion 13, which, together, form an airfoil shaped vane 21. Between each forward portion 15 and each aft portion 13, there is positioned a rotatably movable ring 11. Rotatably movable ring 11 has a series of openings 17 each of a width w and spaced so as to generally correspond to the widths w between each adjacent pair of vanes 21.
With reference to FIG. 4a there is illustrated a view of a portion of a flow blocker 10 looking aft and directly towards the leading edges 23 of the aft portions 13. To assist in visualization, the forward portions 15 of each vane 21 are not shown. When the openings 17 of the rotatably movable ring 11 are aligned with the spaces between adjacent vanes 21, the flow blocker 10 is in a fully open position whereby a maximum opening, consisting of the sum of all unblocked openings 17, is created. With reference to FIG. 4b, it is evident that when rotatably movable plate 11 is rotated, the sum of the unblocked portions of all openings 17, is substantially reduced.
It is most desirable for a flow blocker 10 to provide for complete, or nearly complete, blockage of gas flow when necessary while causing little if any blockage when needed. In addition, it is often the case that there are located several flow blockers arranged in series along a central axis 19 of a gas turbine engine. Depending on the flight envelope in which an engine is operating, differing flow blockers will be adjusted to provide for differing opening areas through which gas can flow. Unfortunately, there typically exists a linear relationship between the angular rotation of the rotatably movable ring 11 and the size of the resultant opening through which gas can flow. As a result, in instances wherein one wishes to finely control the area of an opening such that only a small area is provided through which gas can flow, small angular adjustments of the rotatably movable ring 11 result in relatively large differences in the opening area through which gas can flow.
What is therefore needed is a flow blocker 10, and method for so using such a flow blocker, that permits a wide range of adjustable opening sizes through which gas can flow while allowing for fine control of the opening sizes when a small opening size is desired.


An arc welding method preforms reciprocating wire feed so as to alternately perform forward feed and reverse feed. The arc welding method includes a normal arc welding step, a normal short circuit welding step, and an abnormal arc welding step. In the abnormal arc welding step, a short circuit state occurs at a second time point, which is before a lapse of a second period from a first time point at which an arc state occurs. Further, in the abnormal arc welding step, the reciprocating wire feed continues until a third time point after a lapse of a first period from the second time point. At the third time point, the reciprocating wire feed is stopped and the abnormal arc welding step is completed. From the third time point, the welding wire is decelerated and the reciprocating wire feed is restarted.

FIG. 12 is a time chart showing (a) wire feeding speed WS, (b) welding voltage V, and (c) welding current I in a conventional arc welding control method that involves short circuits.
With reference to FIG. 12, when a short circuit occurs at time t11 in an arc period from time t11 to time t12, wire feeding speed WS decelerates from wire feeding speed WS1 as forward feed to wire feeding speed WS2 as reverse feed. Thus, the wire is fed reversely. In the short circuit period, welding current I is increased by current control as time elapses.
When the short circuit is opened at t12 in an arc period from time t12 to time t16, wire feeding speed WS accelerates from wire feeding speed WS2 as reverse feed to wire feeding speed WS1 as forward feed. Thus, the wire is fed forwardly. At the beginning of the arc period, welding current I is increased by current control.
Reversely feeding the wire in a short circuit period as described above reduces the feeding amount of the wire in a short circuit period. This operation opens the short circuit state and generates an arc in a shorter period than the case where the wire is not reversely fed.
Further, after a short circuit is opened, that is, after an arc state is started, the wire is forwardly fed and welding current I is increased at the same time. This operation can burn the wire in a stable manner and form a droplet at the tip of the wire.
The above control can prevent spattering of the wire and irregular short circuit cycles caused by the continuous short circuit state for a long time; thereby achieving cyclic stable welding (see Patent Literature 1, for example).

Wire fed arc welding method having abnormal arc or abnormal short circuit welding steps

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An embodiment of a semiconductor package apparatus may include technology to create a tracking structure for a memory controller to track a range of memory addresses of a persistent memory, identify a write request at the memory controller for a memory location within the range of tracked memory addresses, and set a flag in the tracking structure to indicate that the memory location had the identified write request. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

Three dimensional (3D) crosspoint memory technology may provide high capacity non-volatile memory (NVM). For example, INTEL OPTANE technology may utilize a combination of 3D XPOINT memory media, memory and storage controllers, and interconnect technology to provide high throughput, low latency, high quality of service, and high endurance in a memory system.


A system for creating and displaying an advertising message on an automobile radio antenna using a plurality of symbolic fixtures to form a vertical message. In the preferred embodiment, each symbolic fixture includes a clip placed in a crevice in a lateral surface of the fixture, so each fixture can be snapped out without sliding the fixture over the antenna. The clips optionally include a removal tab which may be either hidden or visible to assist in easy removal of the symbolic fixtures when changing the displayed message.

This invention relates generally to creating and displaying a consumer modifiable advertising message on an automobile radio antenna.
There are many known ornamental attachments designed for vehicle antennas. Traditional antenna attachments are formed by boring a hole through the center of the attachment. Such prior art antenna attaches are secured to the antenna by threading the antenna through the hole.
There are known problems with this method of attachment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,820 observes that such a method is problematic in that vehicle antenna generally have a tip with a larger diameter than the rod of the antenna, so the mounting hole is undesirably enlarged when sliding the attachment onto the antenna, making it difficult or impossible for the attachment to remain securely positioned on a particular place on the antenna. The '820 patent teaches an improvement wherein the channel contains recesses to accommodate the larger antenna tip. While the '820 is a significant improvement over the prior art, it suffers from at least three shortcomings. First, it relies on the center bore channel of the prior art for attachment which allows the attachment to be undesirably rotated when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds. Second, antenna tips are not standardized so unique attachment must be prepared for each different size an style of antenna tip. Third, the '820 is limited to attachments contemplated, prepared, and distributed by the manufacturer.
What is needed is an improved system that overcomes these limitations and provides the consumer with a flexible, easy, and reliable system to design and modify advertising messages create by the consumer for display on an automobile radio antenna.

System for creating and displaying an advertising message on an automobile radio antenna


Disclosed are a polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cells which has improved handling properties and mechanical strength by employing symmetric-type laminated composite films and a method for manufacturing the same.

Recently, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been most commonly used as a fuel cell for vehicles. In order to produce high output performance of at least several tens of kW in various operating conditions of a vehicle, the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell must be stably operated in a wide current density range.
In order to satisfy a required output level of the fuel cell, the fuel cell has been used in the form of a stack in which unit cells are stacked to be assembled. For example, the unit cell is configured such that gas diffusion layers (GDLs) and gaskets are stacked at outer parts of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA), at which a cathode and an anode are located, and bipolar plates (or separators) having flow fields to supply reaction gas (hydrogen used as fuel and oxygen or air used as an oxidizer) and to pass cooling water are provided outside the GDLs. Hundreds of these unit cells can be stacked, and then, end plates to support the unit cells are coupled to the outermost unit cells.
Electrochemical reaction to produce electricity of the fuel cell occurs in the MEA including a perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer-based membrane and electrodes, i.e., the anode and the cathode. In the electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell, as expressed in the following reaction equation 1, once hydrogen supplied to an oxidation electrode, i.e., the anode, of the fuel cell is separated into protons and electrons by hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), the protons are moved to a reduction electrode, i.e., the cathode, through the membrane, and the electrons are moved to the cathode, through an external circuit. The protons and electrons react with oxygen gas supplied from the outside in the cathode by oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and produce electricity and heat and simultaneously produce water as a by-product, as expressed in the following reaction equation 2.H2→2H++2e−, standard electrode potential=0.000 V (vs. standard hydrogen electrode)  [Reaction Equation 1]½O2+2H++2e−→H2O, standard electrode potential=1.229 V (vs. standard hydrogen electrode)  [Reaction Equation 2]
Since the fuel cell is usually operated at a high temperature of 60° C. or higher and dehydration is repeated due to heat generation caused by electrochemical reaction, repetitive dry-wet cycling occurs in the MEA. Wrinkled deformation may occur due to repetitive shrinkage and swelling of the electrolyte membrane under the repetitive dry-wet cycling condition, and thus, in order to maintain durability of the MEA of the fuel cell, robustness of the electrolyte membrane is very important.
In the related art, technology in which mechanical strength of an electrolyte membrane is improved by manufacturing a reinforced membrane by impregnating a porous reinforcement film with an ionomer dispersion has been reported.
Further, hydrogen supplied to the anode and oxygen supplied to the cathode must be separated by the polymer electrolyte membrane, but crossover, in which these gases are moved to the counterpart electrodes through the electrolyte membrane, occurs. That is, H2 crossover, in which hydrogen supplied to the anode crosses over to the cathode, or O2 crossover, in which oxygen supplied to the cathode crosses over to the anode, may occur. When this crossover occurs, ionomer degradation within the electrolyte membrane and the electrodes is accelerated or corrosion of a carbon substrate within the cathode is accelerated, thereby greatly lowering durability of the fuel cell.
Further, utilization efficiency of hydrogen used as the fuel is reduced or there is a danger of explosion or ignition due to hydrogen included in exhaust gas when crossover of an excessive amount of gas occurs, and thus, technology which suppresses crossover is positively necessary.

Polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cells and method for manufacturing the same


A touch signal scan apparatus and a touch signal scan method are disclosed. The apparatus includes: a drive signal supply unit electrically connected with M drive lines in one-to-one correspondence, an electrode layer in which the M drive lines and N sense lines are arranged, and N amplifiers electrically connected with different output ends of the N sense lines in one-to-one correspondence. The drive signal supply unit is configured to supply drive signals with at least two different frequencies to the M drive lines in a period of one frame, and the frequencies of the drive signals supplied to two adjacent drive lines are different. The apparatus further includes a bandwidth filter electrically connected with the N amplifiers and configured to separate sense signals output from the N amplifiers so as to obtain the sense signals corresponding to the respective drive signals with the at least two different frequencies.

Capacitive touch screens can be categorized into self-inductive capacitive ones and mutual inductive capacitive ones as per their detection mode of a touch signal. A mutual inductive capacitive touch screen comprises a plurality of drive lines and a plurality of sense lines intersecting the drive lines orthogonally, and mutual inductive capacitances are formed between the drive lines and the sense lines, where the capacitances at the locations where the drive lines and the sense lines overlap are not changeable by an outside touching object, and the mutual inductive capacitances formed by a fringe electric field generated at the locations where no electrodes overlap are influenced directly by an outside touching object.
The touch screen is scanned in the prior art as follows: a drive signal at a specific frequency is input line by line from one end of a drive line, and a signal at the same frequency is output from a sense line. When an object comes into contact with the surface of the touch screen, parasitic capacitances with a drive line and a sense line are formed, and a portion of the sense signal will leak to ground by the parasitic capacitances through a human body or the grounded object, so that the sense signal generated at that location will be attenuated, and therefore a specific location where a finger touches can be ascertained by detecting a signal change of the sense lines sequentially.
Typically, it is very likely for a finger to touch in a constantly moving way instead of touching at a point or in a defined area. Thus, when a drive signal is injected to each row sequentially in the vertical direction, that is, a scan line by line, there is a variable angle formed between the scan direction and a moving vector of a finger in a touch area. The amplitude and the profile of a gained touch signal will vary with this angle, and in the extreme case that the angle is equal to zero, there will be a special instance in which a scan pulse follows the moving finger. When the finger moves at a speed greater than or equal to a fast scan speed, there will even be a situation in which the moving touch signal fails to be followed and there is no output while there is a touch. Even if the scan speed is far above an instantaneous speed at which the finger goes across the surface of the display screen, there will be a different output signal arising from a different moving direction of the finger, thus resulting in a non-uniform touch signal. When there are a plurality of touch points at the same time, output signals of the different touch points may be different due to their relative distances and relative speeds to the spatial location of a drive signal, thus distorting the gained touch information. Consequently, when the touch screen is scanned, the precision of detecting the touching finger in motion may be low and the acquired information of the touching finger may not be comprehensive, thus making the scan inefficient.

Touch detection apparatus and method of driving the same

Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd.


There is provided a method for relaying a payment card detail during a telephone call between a customer's telephone and a vendor's telephone, the customer's telephone storing the payment card detail therein, the method comprising: initiating a telephone call between the customer and the vendor; the customer's telephone receiving a predetermined input; during the telephone call, the customer's telephone accessing the payment card detail stored in the customer's telephone based on the predetermined input; and the customer's telephone audibly relaying to the vendor the accessed payment card detail, wherein audibly relaying to the vendor the accessed payment card detail comprises the customer's telephone converting, using at least one text-to-speech algorithm, the accessed payment card detail to an audible message containing the payment card detail and audibly relaying the audible message during the telephone call.

In many situations, a customer may be required to make a payment during a telephone call with a vendor. For example, this may be required when making a purchase for goods or services during a telephone call with the vendor. In these situations, with the methods and systems currently known in the art, the customer is required to retrieve, during the call, their payment card and relay the payment card details required by the vendor to authorize the payment.
However, as this is carried out during the telephone call with the vendor and therefore usually whilst the customer is holding their telephone, this normally results in a physical limitation during the call as the customer has to retrieve the payment card and hold their telephone at the same time. As the payment card is typically initially stored within a wallet, retrieving the payment card during the call tends to prove physically challenging in many situations, especially if the customer is involved in other activities during the phone call such as walking, running or cycling.
Furthermore, with currently known methods and systems, the customer is required to read the card payment details aloud into their phone to relay the card payment details to the vendor. This presents significant security risks especially if the customer is attempting to hold the telephone call in a public space as a third party may eavesdrop and obtain the customer's payment card details.
In view of the above, there is a need for a physically convenient and secure method for relaying a payment card detail during a telephone call between a customer's telephone and a vendor's telephone. There is also a need for a physically convenient and secure system for relaying a payment card detail during a telephone call between a customer's telephone and a vendor's telephone.

Methods and systems for relaying a payment card detail during a telephone call between a customer's telephone and a vendor's telephone


An automatic safety infusion catheter needle including: a trifurcate connector having a first and a second connecting sections coaxially aligned with each other; an infusion soft needle inserted on the first connecting section of the trifurcate connector; and a steel needle having a needle body slidably fitted in a sleeve and axially passed in the soft needle. The sleeve is connected with the second connecting section of the trifurcate connector. The holder body of the steel needle has a projecting post formed with an air guiding hole for exhausting the air outside and making the liquid medicine smoothly flow into the soft needle. An infusion catheter is serially connected with a third connecting section of the trifurcate connector for infusion of liquid medicine through the soft needle into the body of a patient. The steel needle is formed with a latching groove and at least one guiding rib is disposed on a lower edge of the latching groove. When pulling back the steel needle out of the sleeve, the guiding rib serves to outward expand the latching flange of bottom end of the sleeve, permitting the latching flange to smoothly latch with the latching groove of the steel needle so as to hide the needle body of the steel needle in the sleeve.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic safety infusion catheter needle in which the steel needle is formed with a latching groove and at least one guiding rib is disposed on a lower edge of the latching groove. When pulling back the steel needle out of the sleeve, the guiding rib serves to guide the latching flange of bottom end of the sleeve, permitting the latching flange to smoothly latch with the latching groove of the steel needle so as to firmly locate and hide the needle body of the steel needle in the sleeve.
The existing infusion catheter needle employs one single injection needle for intravenous injection. As shown in FIG. 1, such catheter needle includes an infusion soft needle 100 and a steel needle 200. The needle body 200a of the steel needle 200 is passed through the needle body 100a of the soft needle 100 for hardening the soft needle body 100a, whereby the soft needle body 100a can be smoothly thrusted into the vein of a patient. After the soft needle body 100a is thrusted into the vein, the medical personnel must press the soft needle body 100a with one hand F to avoid back flow of the blood of the patient and draw the steel needle 200 backward from the soft needle 100 with the other hand. Then an infusion catheter 300 is serially connected with the soft needle 100 to complete the injection procedure. In use, the above catheter needle has some shortcomings as follows:
1. When pressing the soft needle body 100a with one hand, the medical personnel must draw the steel needle 200 from the soft needle 100 with the other hand. Moreover, the medical personnel must then connect the infusion catheter 300 with the soft needle 100. It is quite inconvenient to perform all these procedures at the same time.
2. After the steel needle 200 is drawn from the soft needle 100, the steel needle 200 is exposed outside and tends to impale the medical personnel. Therefore, the medical personnel may be infected with AIDS, hepatitis, etc. This is extremely dangerous to the medical personnel.

Automatic safety infusion catheter needle


A drilling device has a drilling mast and a movable drifter thereon with a drill rod stabilizing device for stabilizing drill rods in position during drilling. The stabilizer travels along the mast along with the drifter, and includes a locking arm that automatically opens and closes the stabilizer to allow passage of drill rods into an out of the drill line from storage, while supporting the drill rods during drilling. In a substantially vertical drilling position, the stabilizer is moved downwardly by gravity, and upwardly by the drifter's drive chain, which is retained in contact with the stabilizer by a pick-up link on the drive chain contacting stop blocks on the stabilizer. In a substantially horizontal drilling position, the stabilizer is moved in a return direction by the pick-up link and stop block combination. The stabilizer is advanced in the opposite direction by the drifter's pick-up link, which is retained in contact with the stabilizer by a pair of spaced-apart rollers on the stabilizer that frictionally contact and retain the pick-up link and stabilizer together.

This invention relates generally to crawler mounted rock drills for the construction and mining industry, and more particularly to a device for providing drill rod stabilization in a crawler having a drill tower and a movable drifter positioned thereon. It is often necessary to provide a center guiding device for long drill rods (rod length more than 14 feet or two piece rods joined together by a coupling) in addition to the regular centralizer at drill guide footpiece to prevent the drill rod from buckling during the drilling operation.
To provide a rod on the crawler machine, one prior art approach utilizes a moving guiding device in front of the drifter. The guiding device travels with the same speed as the drifter advance. This type guiding device is usually called a traveling centralizer. One side of the rod's guiding device is always arranged to have an opening in order to provide access for adding or removing drill rods from the drill string to the rod storage racking area. This opening will sometimes let the drill rod jump out off the guiding device during drilling or removal of drill rod from a drill hole.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present drill rod guiding devices. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.


Certain lipophilic polycationic sulfonamides are provided and are useful for treating various diseases or conditions and particularly sepsis.

Endotoxins, or lipopolysaccharides (LPS), the predominant structural component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria,1-3 play a pivotal role in septic shock, a syndrome of systemic toxicity which occurs frequently when the body's defense mechanisms are compromised or overwhelmed, or as a consequence of antibiotic chemotherapy of serious systemic infections (Gram-negative sepsis).4-7 Referred to as "blood poisoning" in lay terminology, Gram-negative sepsis is the thirteenth leading cause of overall mortality8 and the number one cause of deaths in the intensive care unit,9 accounting for more than 200,000 fatalities in the US annually.10 Despite tremendous strides in antimicrobial chemotherapy, the incidence of sepsis has risen almost three-fold from 1979 through 200011 and sepsis-associated mortality has essentially remained unchanged at about 45%12, both calling to attention the fact that aggressive antimicrobial therapy alone is insufficient in preventing mortality in patients with serious illnesses, and emphasizing an urgent, unmet need to develop therapeutic options specifically targeting the pathophysiology of sepsis.
The presence of LPS in the systemic circulation causes a widespread activation of the innate immune response13;14 leading to the uncontrolled production of numerous inflammatory mediators, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), primarily by cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage,15;16 as well as others, such as nitric oxide produced by the endothelial cell,17;18 which, in concert, act to cause a frequently fatal systemic inflammatory response,19 termed 'septic shock'. The toxic moiety of LPS is its structurally conserved glycolipid component called Lipid A,20 which is composed of a hydrophilic, bis-phosphorylated diglucosamine backbone, and a hydrophobic domain of 6 (E. coli) or 7 (Salmonella) acyl chains20 (FIG. 1). The pharmacophore necessary for the neutralization of lipid A21 by small molecules requires two protonatable positive charges separated by a distance of ˜14 Å, enabling ionic H-bonds between the cationic groups and the lipid A phosphates; in addition, appropriately positioned pendant hydrophobic functionalities are required to further stabilize the resultant complexes via hydrophobic interactions with the polyacyl domain of lipid A (for a recent review, see Ref.22). These structural requisites were first identified in certain members of a novel class of compounds, the lipopolyamines, which were originally developed, and are currently being used as DNA transfection (lipofection) reagents.23-26 In a detailed study of the effect of the hydrocarbon chain length in a homologous series of acylhomospermines, it was shown that C16 is the ideal lipophilic substituent, corresponding to maximal affinity, optimal aqueous solubility (and bioavailability), and neutralization potency.27

Polycationic sulfonamides and use thereof


Methods and apparatus utilizing indications of memory cell density facilitate management of memory density of a memory device. By permitting each of a plurality of portions of a memory array of the memory device to be assigned a corresponding memory cell density determined through an evaluation of those portions of the memory array, better performing portions of the memory array may not be hindered by lesser performing portions of the memory array.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuit devices in computers or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including random-access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and flash memory.
Flash memory devices have developed into a popular source of non-volatile memory for a wide range of electronic applications. Flash memory devices typically use a one-transistor memory cell that allows for high memory densities, high reliability, and low power consumption. Changes in threshold voltage of the memory cells, through programming (which is often referred to as writing) of charge storage structures (e.g., floating gates or charge traps) or other physical phenomena (e.g., phase change or polarization), determine the data value of each cell. Common uses for flash memory include personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital cameras, digital media players, cellular telephones, solid state drives and removable memory modules, and the uses are growing.
There is a continuing desire to increase memory density, e.g., the number of bits of data that can be stored for a given integrated circuit die area. A variety of approaches can be used, such as reducing the size of individual memory cells, forming memory cells vertically (such as changing the orientation of the memory cells or forming memory cells on multiple planes), or increasing the possible number of data states to which each memory cell can be programmed.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternative methods of determining, assigning and/or using memory density, and devices to perform such methods.

Apparatus having indications of memory cell density and methods of their determination and use


Systems and methods provide for enabling an autonomous vehicle to automatically and dynamically monitor and maintain itself. The autonomous vehicle can analyze diagnostic data captured by a sensor of the autonomous vehicle in accordance with a model of autonomous vehicle operations. Based on the analysis of the diagnostic data, the autonomous vehicle can determine an operational issue and a criticality level of the operational issue based on the model of autonomous vehicle operations and, based on that determination, send the analysis of the diagnostic data to a routing service. The autonomous vehicle can receive instruction from the routing service to dynamically route the autonomous vehicle in accordance with a maintenance action.

An autonomous vehicle is a motorized vehicle that can navigate without a human driver. An exemplary autonomous vehicle includes a plurality of sensor systems, such as, but not limited to, a camera sensor system, a lidar sensor system, a radar sensor system, amongst others, where the autonomous vehicle operates based upon sensor signals output by the sensor systems. Specifically, the sensor signals are provided to an internal computing system in communication with the plurality of sensor systems, where a processor executes instructions based upon the sensor signals to control a mechanical system of the autonomous vehicle, such as a vehicle propulsion system, a braking system, or a steering system.
Currently, a human operator needs to constantly monitor a fleet and drive an autonomous vehicle into a shop when it is deemed as needing repair. This requires checking quantitative and qualitative values against a range of acceptable values. Once repair is deemed necessary, the human operator must direct the autonomous vehicle to a garage. This can be a time consuming and error-prone process, especially as a fleet increases significantly in size or area of operation, since it relies on human intervention.

Self-maintaining autonomous vehicle procedure


An airbag of a knee-protecting airbag device is prevented from being damaged during inflation and deployment, and the airbag is allowed to deploy evenly on the left and right sides to improve occupant protection function. The inside of an airbag (10) is defined into a plurality of air chambers (21), (22), and (23) by tethers (24) and (25). An inflator (2) accommodated in a diffuser (30) is disposed in the first air chamber (21). The diffuser (30) is provided with an opening (31) that allows gas from the inflator (2) to flow in the airbag (10) and is disposed so as to face the central portion of the first tether (24). This opening (31) is closed in such a manner that it can be opened by the gas from the inflator (2), and the entirety thereof is simultaneously opened by the gas pressure when the airbag (10) deploys. Thus, the gas in the accommodating portion (32) is supplied from the opening (31) to the airbag (10) evenly on the left and right sides. Furthermore, the diffuser (30) protects the airbag (10) from the gas generated by the inflator (2).

There is widespread use of cars equipped with airbag devices for protecting occupants in the driver's seat and the passenger seat in a vehicle collision or in an emergency. The airbag devices are installed in, for example, the steering wheel and the instrument panel and have airbags that are inflatable and deployable. Furthermore, in recent years, knee-protecting airbag devices that can protect, at least, the knees of occupants are employed. In order to protect mainly the knees of the occupant, the airbag device is disposed in the vehicle body in front of the occupant, and the inflator is activated in a vehicle collision or in an emergency to inflate and deploy the airbag (a so-called knee bag or knee airbag) mainly between the vehicle body and the knees of the occupant.
This knee-protecting airbag device is disposed in, for example, a lower part of the instrument panel in front of the occupant. From there, in order to protect the occupant, the airbag is inflated and deployed toward a narrow space between the vehicle body and the occupant's legs up to the vicinity of the knees of the occupant before the knees of the occupant come into contact with the vehicle body. Therefore, knee-protecting airbag devices are required to have faster deployment characteristics; for example, the airbags need to deploy up to a height above the knees of the occupant within a short period of time (about 10ms (milliseconds)) after the airbag starts to inflate and deploy. At the same time, if the airbag exerts a force in directions spreading the knees of the occupant apart during inflation and deployment, the injury to the occupant would be significant, which is dangerous. Therefore, the airbag is also required to deploy evenly on the left and right sides, while preventing the occupant from coming into contact with the airbag deploying in a lateral direction.
In order to meet such a requirement, conventionally, a knee-protecting airbag device is known in which gas supplied from an inflator to the airbag is distributed to both sides in the lateral direction (the left-right direction) of the vehicle using a gas-flow distribution cloth to prevent the central portion of the airbag from inflating and deploying and to improve the inflation and deployment performances at ends in the left-right direction of the airbag, allowing the airbag to rapidly enter in front of the knees of the occupant (see Japanese Patent No. 3687602).
However, with this conventional knee-protecting airbag device, depending on the type of the inflator to be used or the manner in which the inflator is disposed in the airbag, the deployment characteristics of the airbag may decrease. That is, for example, a tubular inflator used in this airbag device usually has a gas discharge port at one end in the lengthwise direction. Therefore, if this inflator is disposed in such a manner that the center thereof is aligned with the center of the airbag in the lateral direction, the gas discharge port at one end is positioned so as to face an end of the gas-flow distribution cloth located off the center. As a result, the gas generated from the inflator may be supplied unevenly to one side in the airbag, making the deployment of the airbag uneven in the left and right directions. On the other hand, in order to counter this, if the inflator is disposed so as to be shifted in the lateral direction in the airbag to make the gas discharge port be aligned with the center of the airbag, the disposition thereof in the airbag becomes difficult. This makes it difficult to assemble the inflator with the airbag, decreasing the working efficiency in the assembling. Furthermore, in this case, a problem of decrease in the balance of the airbag device in the left-right direction occurs.
In addition, in this conventional knee-protecting airbag device, because the gas generated by the inflator is directly blown against the gas-flow distribution cloth and the airbag, the heat may make a hole and damage the gas-flow distribution cloth and the airbag. Similarly, in this airbag device, because the gas discharge port of the inflator is directly in contact with the airbag, the airbag, including the internal members, may be more likely to be damaged during inflation and deployment; for example, the heat generated by the gas generation in the vicinity thereof may make a hole in the airbag.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 3687602


A dishwasher appliance is provided with a spray arm assembly. The spray arm assembly defines an orifice for directing liquid out of the spray arm assembly. The orifice can selectively receive a nozzle with a particular outlet geometry. By selectively receiving the nozzle, a spray pattern of liquid exiting the orifice can be changed by replacing or modifying the nozzle without remanufacturing or replacing the spray arm assembly.

Dishwasher appliances generally include a tub that defines a wash compartment. A rack assembly can be slidably mounted within the wash compartment and configured for receipt of articles for washing. In addition, dishwasher appliances can include spray arm assemblies for applying wash fluid to articles in the rack assembly.
Spray arm assemblies for dishwasher appliances generally include a housing that defines a cavity. The cavity can receive wash fluid during operation of the dishwasher appliance. The cavity directs such wash fluid to a plurality of orifices defined by the housing. The wash fluid exits the cavity through the orifices and can be directed towards articles within the rack assembly.
Each of the plurality of orifices can have any of a variety of outlet geometries or configurations. For example, a particular one of the plurality of orifices can have a pencil jet geometry or configuration. Conversely, another of the plurality of orifices can have a fan jet geometry or configuration. Various arrangements of outlet geometries can be selected to adjust the spray pattern of the spray arm assembly. For example, pencils jets direct a concentrated stream of wash fluid adapted, e.g., to removing food particles and stains from articles in the rack assembly during a wash cycle. On the other hand, fan jets direct a mist of wash fluid adapted, e.g., to rinsing wash fluid from articles in the rack assembly during a rinse cycle. Accordingly, a dishwasher designer can select outlet geometries in order to generate a particular spray pattern for the spray arm assembly. By carefully selecting the spray pattern, the designer can improve performance of the dishwasher appliance.
In certain dishwasher appliance, the spray arm assembly is molded from single piece of material. Accordingly, during the molding process, the outlet geometries of the plurality of orifices are determined by the mold used to construct the spray arm assembly. Thus, in the event of a design change involving the outlet geometries of the plurality of orifices, the entire mold is modified or replaced. For example, if the designer desires to change the direction of a pencil jet, the entire mold used to construct the spray arm assembly may require replacement or modification.
Replacing or modifying the entire mold can be a time intensive and expensive process. Accordingly, a spray arm assembly with features for more easily modifying an outlet geometry of an orifice would be useful. In particular, a spray arm assembly with features for modifying an outlet geometry of an orifice without requiring modification or remanufacture of the remainder of the spray arm assembly would be useful.

Spray arm assembly for a dishwasher appliance