A bearing assembly comprising a rolling element bearing and an acoustic emission unit. The rolling element bearing is provided with at least a bearing seal, wherein the acoustic emission unit is arranged on the bearing seal. The assembly also provides an improved method for measuring acoustic emissions in a bearing assembly.

In bearing assemblies, such as rolling element bearings, there is often a need for monitoring the conditions of the components in order to determine the status of the components and possibly predict future failures. Monitoring the conditions is particularly important for bearing assemblies since they are used under extreme operating conditions which in turn result in that the materials and components are heavy-loaded. Various measurements can be used for monitoring the conditions of the components in a bearing assembly.
One particularly critical component in a bearing assembly is the lubricant, e.g. oil or grease. The main purpose of the lubricant is to prevent metallic contact between the rolling elements, raceways and cages and thus to prevent wear of the bearing assembly. The lubricant is also used for cooling and to protect the bearing surfaces against corrosion. Accordingly, it is central that the condition of the lubricant is monitored in order to ensure a reliable operation of the bearing assembly. That is, by measuring and monitoring the condition of the lubricant, it is possible to early detect if there is an insufficient lubrication.
It has been observed that in certain circumstances, the metallic contact, i.e. the asperity contacts, between the bearing raceway surface and the bearing rolling element may generate acoustic emissions (AE). Moreover, acoustic emissions can occur due to contamination within the lubricant, other metallic noise sources, roller skewing or skidding. Acoustic emissions may also result from the initiation and growth of cracks, slips and dislocation movements, twinning, or phase transformations in metals. Hence, acoustic emission generated from various sources is regarded as one significant and measurable indication of the condition of a bearing assembly. In view of this, there is an increasing demand for monitoring acoustic emissions in a bearing assembly.
As an example, acoustic emission measurements can be obtained by mounting an acoustic emission pickup sensor directly onto a bearing outer ring surface of a bearing assembly. Conventionally, this is carried out by attachment of the acoustic emission pickup sensor in a predefined groove or space in the radial plane of the outer ring. The attachment of the AE pickup sensor can for instance be done by gluing or by using pressure such that the sensor is firmly maintained on the bearing ring surface.
However, due to the construction of the bearing assembly, minor space is left for additional components in the bearing housing. It is therefore often problematic to mount various monitoring equipments and sensors in the bearing assembly, while maintaining a high level of accuracy and quality in the measurements. Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative solution for monitoring the conditions of a bearing assembly enabling improved and accurate acoustic emission measurements. In particular, it is desirable that a balance is kept between the size and the functionality of the monitoring components such that measurements can be carried out in mass-produced bearing assemblies.

Acoustic emission measurements of a bearing assembly


Disclosed are compositions and methods for their use, such as in identifying G-protein coupled receptors and ligands and compounds that modulate signal transduction. The compositions and methods employ promicuous G-proteins. Activation of the promiscous G-protein can be detected in a variety of assays, including assays in which activation is indicated by a change in fluorescence emission of a sample that contains the composition.

Many physiological signals (e.g., sensory, hormonal and neurotransmitter signals) are transduced from extracellular to intracellular environments by cell surface receptors termed G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) (for a review, see Neer, 1995, Cell 80:249-257). Typically, GPCRs contain seven transmembrane domains. Putative GPCRs can be identified on the basis of sequence homology to known GPCRs.
GPCRs mediate signal transduction across a cell membrane upon the binding of a ligand to an extracellular portion of a GPCR. The intracellular portion of a GPCR interacts with a G-protein to modulate signal transduction from outside to inside a cell. A GPCR is therefore said to be "coupled" to a G-protein. G-proteins are composed of three polypeptide subunits: an .alpha. subunit, which binds and hydolyzes GTP, and a dimeric .beta..gamma. subunit. In the basal, inactive state, the G-protein exists as a heterotrimer of the .alpha. and .beta..gamma. subunits. When the G-protein is inactive, guanosine diphosphate (GDP) is associated with the .alpha. subunit of the G-protein. When a GPCR is bound and activated by a ligand, the GPCR binds to the G-protein heterotrimer and decreases the affinity of the G.alpha. subunit for GDP. In its active state, the G subunit exchanges GDP for guanine triphosphate (GTP) and active G.alpha. subunit disassociates from both the receptor and the dimeric .beta..gamma. subunit. The disassociated, active G.alpha. subunit transduces signals to effectors that are "downstream" in the G-protein signalling pathway within the cell. Eventually, the G-protein's endogenous GTPase activity returns active G subunit to its inactive state, in which it is associated with GDP and the dimeric .beta..gamma. subunit.
Numerous members of the heterotrimeric G-protein family have been cloned, including more than 20 genes encoding various G.alpha. subunits. The various G subunits have been categorized into four families, on the basis of amino acid sequences and functional homology. These four families are termed G.alpha..sub.s, G.alpha..sub.i, G.alpha..sub.q, and G.alpha..sub.12. Functionally, these four families differ with respect to the intracellular signaling pathways that they activate and the GPCR to which they couple.
For example, certain GPCRs normally couple with G.alpha..sub.s and, through G.alpha..sub.s, these GPCRs stimulate adenylyl cyclase activity. Other GPCRs normally couple with G.alpha..sub.q, and through G.alpha..sub.q, these GPCRs can activate phospholipase C (PLC), such as the .beta. isoform of phospholipase C (PLC.beta.) (Stermweis and Smrcka, 1992, Trends in Biochem. Sci. 17:502-506).
Certain G-proteins are considered "promiscuous" G-proteins because their G subunits allow them to couple with GPCRs that normally couple with G-proteins of other families. For example, two members of the G.alpha..sub.q family, human G.alpha..sub.16 and its murine homolog G.alpha..sub.15, have been shown in transient cell-based systems to possess promiscuous receptor coupling. Although G-proteins having these G subunits are promiscuous with respect to the GPCR with which they couple, these G-proteins retain the ability to couple with a specific downstream effector. In other words, regardless of which receptor is used to activate these G-proteins, the active promiscuous G subunit nonetheless activates PLC.beta..

Promiscuous G-protein compositions and their use


A new and distinct Aeonium cultivar named ‘Emerald Ice’ is disclosed, characterized by very even, concentric rosettes, comprised of an abundance of green leaves, colored marginally with creamy white, and arranged in an attractive, variegated geometric pattern. Further, the new cultivar ‘Emerald Ice’ freely offsets, enabling increased and faster propagation of the cultivar. In addition, the robust growth, in combination with the freely offsetting characteristic of the new cultivar ‘Emerald Ice’, results in the clusters at an early age, and enhances production intervals. The new variety is an Aeonium, part of the Crassulaceae complex that includes Aeonium, Echeveria, Graptopetalum, Sedum and others. Aeonium is a popular genus, typically produced as container plants for the patio or as landscape plants.

The new cultivar, Aeonium 'Emerald Ice', was found by the inventor, Renee O'Connell, as a naturally occurring, whole plant, mutation in an existing population of the unpatented variety Aeonium hybrid 'Party Platter'. The parent variety is the product is a planned breeding program conducted same inventor, Renee O'Connell. Aeonium 'Emerald Ice' was discovered by the inventor, Renee O Connell, in November of 2011, in a block of motherstock plants of Aeonium 'Party Platter' at a commercial greenhouse in Vista. Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'Emerald Ice' was first performed in Vista, Calif., at a commercial greenhouse, by vegetative cuttings in December of 2011. 'Emerald Ice' has since produced multiple generations and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.


The method and apparatus of the invention allow a neovascular membrane in the ocular vasculature of the fundus of the eye to be identified and treated while minimizing damage to the sensory retina. First a bolus of fluorescent dye is injected and allowed to circulate through the ocular vasculature. When the fundus is diffusely irradiated with laser energy, dye present in the vasculature fluoresces. A neovascular membrane is identified when a particular area of fluorescence differs from the fluorescence of the surrounding normal vasculature. To treat the neovascular membrane, a second laser is focused on the site of the membrane and a second bolus of fluorescent dye is injected. When the presence of the second injection of dye is detected, energy from the focused laser is applied to damage or destroy the neovascular membrane.

This invention is a method and apparatus to detect and treat neovascular membranes in the ocular vasculature of the fundus of the eye. It is related to U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,447 to Bernard F. Hochheimer and the present inventor and entitled "Simultaneous Angiography of the Separate Retinal and Choroidal Circulations". According to this patent, simultaneous angiography of the separate retinal and choroidal circulations of the human eye is accomplished following a single intravenous injection of a mixture of at least two dyes having differing spectral characteristics. In a preferred embodiment of the patent, a single injection of a mixture of sodium fluorescein and indocyanine green dyes is administered intravenously to the subject. Angiograms of the separate retinal and choroidal circulations are then taken simultaneously with a fundus camera modified to separate the electromagnetic radiation emanating from the eye which is respectively attributable to the sodium fluorescein dye and to the indocyanine green dye.
This patent also disclosed a fundus camera system similar to that used in the present invention.
A scientific article entitled "An Image Processing Approach to Characterizing Choroidal Blood Flow", Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Vol. 31, No. 4, April, 1990 by G. J. Klein, R. H. Baumgartner and R. W. Flower, the present inventor, discusses the use of indocyanine green (ICG) dye angiography in the study of choroidal blood flow in the human eye using angiographic image processing algorithms.
A second scientific article entitled "Pulsatile Flow in the Choroidal Circulation: A Preliminary Investigation" Eye, (1990) 4, 310-318 by R. W. Flower and G. J. Klein, also discusses the computer aided image analysis of ICG choroidal angiography.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,652 relates to ophthalmic equipment for angiographic examination of the eye.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,783 discloses a fundus camera for performing fluorescein angiography of the eye. It incorporates a barrier filter seated in the imaging optical path and an exciter positioned in the illuminating optical path.

Method and apparatus to identify and treat neovascular membranes in the eye


Methods of treating or suppressing mitochondrial diseases, such as Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA), Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactacidosis, and stroke (MELAS), Kearns-Sayre Syndrome (KSS), are disclosed, as well as compounds useful in the methods of the invention, such as 4-(p-quinolyl)-2-hydroxybutanamide derivatives. Methods and compounds useful in treating other disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and pervasive developmental disorders such as autism are also disclosed. Energy biomarkers useful in assessing the metabolic state of a subject and the efficacy of treatment are also disclosed. Methods of modulating, normalizing, or enhancing energy biomarkers, as well as compounds useful for such methods, are also disclosed.

Mitochondria are organelles in eukaryotic cells, popularly referred to as the "powerhouse" of the cell. One of their primary functions is oxidative phosphorylation. The molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) functions as an energy "currency" or energy carrier in the cell, and eukaryotic cells derive the majority of their ATP from biochemical processes carried out by mitochondria. These biochemical processes include the citric acid cycle (the tricarboxylic acid cycle, or Kreb's cycle), which generates reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH+H+) from oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), and oxidative phosphorylation, during which NADH+H+ is oxidized back to NAD+. (The citric acid cycle also reduces flavin adenine dinucleotide, or FAD, to FADH2; FADH2 also participates in oxidative phosphorylation.)
The electrons released by oxidation of NADH+H+ are shuttled down a series of protein complexes (Complex I, Complex II, Complex III, and Complex IV) known as the respiratory chain. These complexes are embedded in the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. Complex IV, at the end of the chain, transfers the electrons to oxygen, which is reduced to water. The energy released as these electrons traverse the complexes is used to generate a proton gradient across the inner membrane of the mitochondrion, which creates an electrochemical potential across the inner membrane. Another protein complex, Complex V (which is not directly associated with Complexes I, II, III and IV) uses the energy stored by the electrochemical gradient to convert ADP into ATP.
The citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation are preceded by glycolysis, in which a molecule of glucose is broken down into two molecules of pyruvate, with net generation of two molecules of ATP per molecule of glucose. The pyruvate molecules then enter the mitochondria, where they are completely oxidized to CO2 and H2O via oxidative phosphorylation (the overall process is known as aerobic respiration). The complete oxidation of the two pyruvate molecules to carbon dioxide and water yields about at least 28-29 molecules of ATP, in addition to the 2 molecules of ATP generated by transforming glucose into two pyruvate molecules. If oxygen is not available, the pyruvate molecule does not enter the mitochondria, but rather is converted to lactate, in the process of anaerobic respiration.
The overall net yield per molecule of glucose is thus approximately at least 30-31 ATP molecules. ATP is used to power, directly or indirectly, almost every other biochemical reaction in the cell. Thus, the extra (approximately) at least 28 or 29 molecules of ATP contributed by oxidative phosphorylation during aerobic respiration are critical to the proper functioning of the cell. Lack of oxygen prevents aerobic respiration and will result in eventual death of almost all aerobic organisms; a few organisms, such as yeast, are able to survive using either aerobic or anaerobic respiration.
When cells in an organism are temporarily deprived of oxygen, anaerobic respiration is utilized until oxygen again becomes available or the cell dies. The pyruvate generated during glycolysis is converted to lactate during anaerobic respiration. The buildup of lactic acid is believed to be responsible for muscle fatigue during intense periods of activity, when oxygen cannot be supplied to the muscle cells. When oxygen again becomes available, the lactate is converted back into pyruvate for use in oxidative phosphorylation.
Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to various disease states. Some mitochondrial diseases are due to mutations or deletions in the mitochondrial genome. If a threshold proportion of mitochondria in the cell is defective, and if a threshold proportion of such cells within a tissue have defective mitochondria, symptoms of tissue or organ dysfunction can result. Practically any tissue can be affected, and a large variety of symptoms may be present, depending on the extent to which different tissues are involved.
One such disease is Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA or FA). Friedreich's ataxia is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative and cardiodegenerative disorder caused by decreased levels of the protein frataxin. Frataxin is important for the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters in mitochondrial respiratory-chain complexes. Estimates of the prevalence of FRDA in the United States range from 1 in every 22,000-29,000 people (see www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001411.htm) to 1 in 50,000 people (see www.umc-cares.org/health_info/ADAM/Articles/001411.asp). The disease causes the progressive loss of voluntary motor coordination (ataxia) and cardiac complications. Symptoms typically begin in childhood, and the disease progressively worsens as the patient grows older; patients eventually become wheelchair-bound due to motor disabilities.
Another disease linked to mitochondrial dysfunction is Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON). The disease is characterized by blindness which occurs on average between 27 and 34 years of age; blindness can develop in both eyes simultaneously, or sequentially (one eye will develop blindness, followed by the other eye two months later on average). Other symptoms may also occur, such as cardiac abnormalities and neurological complications.
Yet another devastating syndrome resulting from mitochondrial defects is mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactacidosis, and stroke (MELAS). The disease can manifest itself in infants, children, or young adults. Strokes, accompanied by vomiting and seizures, are one of the most serious symptoms; it is postulated that the metabolic impairment of mitochondria in certain areas of the brain is responsible for cell death and neurological lesions, rather than the impairment of blood flow as occurs in ischemic stroke. Other severe complications, including neurological symptoms, are often present, and elevated levels of lactic acid in the blood occur.
Another mitochondrial disease is Kearns-Sayre Syndrome (KSS). KSS is characterized by a triad of features including: (1) typical onset in persons younger than age 20 years; (2) chronic, progressive, external ophthalmoplegia; and (3) pigmentary degeneration of the retina. In addition, KSS may include cardiac conduction defects, cerebellar ataxia, and raised cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein levels (e.g., >100 mg/dL). Additional features associated with KSS may include myopathy, dystonia, endocrine abnormalities (e.g., diabetes, growth retardation or short stature, and hypoparathyroidism), bilateral sensorineural deafness, dementia, cataracts, and proximal renal tubular acidosis. Thus, KSS may affect many organ systems.
Co-Enzyme Q10 Deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder, with syndromes such as myopathy with exercise intolerance and recurrent myoglobin in the urine manifested by ataxia, seizures or mental retardation and leading to renal failure (Di Mauro et al., (2005) Neuromusc. Disord., 15:311-315), childhood-onset cerebellar ataxia and cerebellar atrophy (Masumeci et al., (2001) Neurology 56:849-855 and Lamperti et al., (2003) 60:1206:1208); and infantile encephalomyopathy associated with nephrosis. Biochemical measurement of muscle homogenates of patients with CoQ10 deficiency showed severely decreased activities of respiratory chain complexes I and II+III, while complex IV (COX) was moderately decreased (Gempel et al., (2007) Brain, 130(8):2037-2044).
Complex I Deficiency or NADH dehydrogenase NADH-CoQ reductase deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder, with symptoms classified by three major forms: (1) fatal infantile multisystem disorder, characterized by developmental delay, muscle weakness, heart disease, congenital lactic acidosis, and respiratory failure; (2) myopathy beginning in childhood or in adult life, manifesting as exercise intolerance or weakness; and (3) mitochondrial encephalomyopathy (including MELAS), which may begin in childhood or adult life and consists of variable combinations of symptoms and signs, including ophthalmoplegia, seizures, dementia, ataxia, pigmentary retinopathy, sensory neuropathy, and uncontrollable movements.
Complex II Deficiency or Succinate dehydrogenase deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder with symptoms including encephalomyopathy and various manifestations, including failure to thrive, developmental delay, hyoptonia, lethargy, respiratory failure, ataxia, myoclonus and lactic acidosis.
Complex III Deficiency or Ubiquinone-cytochrome C oxidoreductase deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder with symptoms categorized in four major forms: (1) fatal infantile encephalomyopathy, congenital lactic acidosis, hypotonia, dystrophic posturing, seizures, and coma; (2) encephalomyopathies of later onset (childhood to adult life): various combinations of weakness, short stature, ataxia, dementia, sensory neuropathy, pigmentary retinopathy, and pyramidal signs; (3) myopathy, with exercise intolerance evolving into fixed weakness; and (4) infantile histiocytoid cardiomyopathy.
Complex IV Deficiency or Cytochrome C oxidase deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder with symptoms categorized in two major forms: (1) encephalomyopathy, which is typically normal for the first 6 to 12 months of life and then show developmental regression, ataxia, lactic acidosis, optic atrophy, ophthalmoplegia, nystagmus, dystonia, pyramidal signs, respiratory problems and frequent seizures; and (2) myopathy with two main variants: (a) Fatal infantile myopathy—may begin soon after birth and accompanied by hypotonia, weakness, lactic acidosis, ragged-red fibers, respiratory failure, and kidney problems: and (b) Benign infantile myopathy—may begin soon after birth and accompanied by hypotonia, weakness, lactic acidosis, ragged-red fibers, respiratory problems, but (if the child survives) followed by spontaneous improvement.
Complex V Deficiency or ATP synthase deficiency is a respiratory chain disorder including symptoms such as slow, progressive myopathy.
CPEO or Chronic Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia Syndrome is a respiratory chain disorder including symptoms such as visual myopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, or dysfunction of the central nervous system.
In addition to congenital disorders involving inherited defective mitochondria, acquired mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to diseases, particularly neurodegenerative disorders associated with aging like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's Diseases. The incidence of somatic mutations in mitochondrial DNA rises exponentially with age; diminished respiratory chain activity is found universally in aging people. Mitochondrial dysfunction is also implicated in excitoxic, neuronal injury, cerebral vascular accidents such as that associated with seizures, stroke and ischemia.
The diseases above appear to be caused by defects in complex I of the respiratory chain. Electron transfer from complex I to the remainder of the respiratory chain is mediated by the compound coenzyme Q (also known as ubiquinone). Oxidized coenzyme Q (CoQox or ubiquinone) is reduced by complex I to reduced coenzyme Q (CoQred or ubiquinol). The reduced coenzyme Q then transfers its electrons to complex III of the respiratory chain (skipping over complex II), where it is re-oxidized to CoQox (ubiquinone). CoQox can then participate in further iterations of electron transfer.
Very few treatments are available for patients suffering from these diseases. Recently, the compound idebenone has been proposed for treatment of Friedreich's ataxia. While the clinical effects of idebenone have been relatively modest, the complications of mitochondrial diseases can be so severe that even marginally useful therapies are preferable to the untreated course of the disease. Another compound, MitoQ, has been proposed for treating mitochondrial disorders (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,928); clinical results for MitoQ have not yet been reported. Administration of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamin supplements have shown only transient beneficial effects in individual cases of KSS.
Mitochondrial dysfunction has also been implicated in various other diseases. Recent studies have suggested that as many 20 percent of patients with autism have markers for mitochondrial disease (Shoffner, J. the 60th Annual American Academy of Neurology meeting in Chicago, April 12-19, (2008); Poling, J S et al J. child Neurol. 2008, 21(2) 170-2; and Rossignol et al., Am. J. Biochem. & Biotech. (2008) 4, 208-217). Some cases of autism have been associated with several different organic conditions, including bioenergetic metabolism deficiency suggested by the detection of high lactate levels in some patients (Coleman M. et al, Autism and Lactic Acidosis, J. Autism Dev Disord., (1985) 15: 1-8; Laszlo et al Serum serotonin, lactate and pyruvate levels in infantile autistic children, Clin. Chim. Acta (1994) 229:205-207; and Chugani et al., Evidence of altered energy metabolism in autistic children, Progr. Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiat., (1999) 23:635-641) and by nuclear magnetic resonance imagining as well as positron emission tomography scanning which documented abnormalities in brain metabolism. Although the mechanism of hyperlactacidemia remains unknown, a likely possibility involves mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation dysfunction in neuronal cells. A small subset of autistic patients diagnosed with deficiencies in complex I or III of the respiratory chain have been reported in the literature (see Oliveira, G., Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (2005) 47 185-189; and Filipek, P A et al., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2004) 34:615-623). However, in many of the cases of autism where there is some evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction, there is an absence of the classic features associated with mitochondrial disease, such as mitochondrial pathology in muscle biopsy (see Rossignol, D. A. et al., Am J. Biochem. & Biotech, (2008) 4 (2) 208-217).
Recently, Hayashi et al. (Science Express, published online 3 Apr. 2008: DOI: 10.1126/science.1156906, and Ishikawa et al., Science (2 May 2008) 320 (5876) 661-664) indicated that mitochondrial DNA mutations can contribute to tumor progression by enhancing the metastatic potential of tumor cells.
The ability to adjust biological production of energy has applications beyond the diseases described above. Various other disorders can result in suboptimal levels of energy biomarkers (sometimes also referred to as indicators of energetic function), such as ATP levels. Treatments for these disorders are also needed, in order to modulate one or more energy biomarkers to improve the health of the patient. In other applications, it can be desirable to modulate certain energy biomarkers away from their normal values in an individual that is not suffering from disease. For example, if an individual is undergoing an extremely strenuous undertaking, it can be desirable to raise the level of ATP in that individual.
Accordingly, compounds for treatment of mitochondrial disease and/or to adjust biological production of energy have a wide range of practical applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

4-(p-quinonyl)-2-hydroxybutanamide derivatives for treatment of mitochondrial diseases


A multimedia distribution system is provided that includes a multimedia distributor and a customer device. The multimedia distributor is in communication with a multimedia producer. The multimedia producer produces multimedia content. The multimedia distributor encodes the multimedia content with a metatag. The customer device is in communication with the multimedia distributor and is configured to present the multimedia content to a customer and provide the customer with a plurality of options for the customer to obtain additional information about a subject of the metatag. The multimedia distributor encodes the multimedia content with the metatag based on information about the customer.

Advertising has been an integral part of multimedia content from radio and television broadcasts to movies. Advertising has been implemented in many forms with multimedia content, including a single sponsor paying for large blocks of advertising time before and after multimedia presentations or selling short advertisement times to multiple sponsors throughout a multimedia presentation. Another less invasive method of advertising is through product placement. Product placement is the use of real commercial products by characters in multimedia content. For example, a character may use a commercially available cell phone in the midst of a television show. The use of product placement in multimedia content is presented in such a way as to evoke a response from a potential customer that may be associated with the product in order to encourage the purchase of the product.
With the advent of digital video recorders (DVRs) customers now have a new level of control over their viewing experience. DVRs may be used to record multimedia content and give a user control over how the content is played back or presented through controls such as pause, rewind, and fast forward. The increased control gained by using a DVR has enabled viewers to fast forward past advertisements. However, it has been found that some viewers actually rewind to watch or re-watch commercials that are of particular interest to them.
Through monitoring how users control their viewing experience on DVRs, it can be seen that viewers are not opposed to commercials in their entirety, but would prefer to only view advertisements that are of particular interest to them. Further, advertisements to date have typically been static presentations of commercials or product placements with little or no way for a potential customer to interact with a product and act on the emotional or other appeal associated with the presentation of the product.


A method includes selecting an item. The method further includes determining a plurality of groups. The item is associated with each of the plurality of groups. The method includes determining a plurality of group policies for a policy type. Each of the plurality of group policies corresponds to one of the plurality of groups and comprises a setting. The method includes ranking the plurality of group policies based on a first predetermined priority. The method further includes generating a consolidated item policy. The consolidated item policy includes the settings in the plurality of group policies prioritized based on the ranking of the plurality of group policies. The method further includes assigning the consolidated item policy to the item.

The present disclosure relates to infrastructure and operations management and, more specifically, to a method and system for defining and consolidating policies based on complex group membership.
Existing infrastructure and operations management systems manage global lists, which define default policies that apply to all items within a network or system. Such default policies correspond to settings that generally apply to all of the items in the system. If a user wants to make an exception for an individual item or a type of item in the system, the user may manually specify an override to the settings for that individual item or type of item. However, as the number of items that are monitored increases and the diversity of these monitored items grow, the user may find it increasingly difficult to guarantee default policies that would apply to all or a majority of the items. Thus, in some sophisticated systems, the user may define policies based on a type of item or a group of items. But if an item belongs to more than one group, these sophisticated systems may fail to assign an appropriate policy to such an item.

Method and system for defining and consolidating policies based on complex group membership


A fast tool arrangement, in particular for lathes for machining optical workpieces, has a carriage, which for linear reciprocating movements is guided in a housing on bearing elements stationary in relation to the housing, and which at its outer end carries a holder for a tool or workpiece and at its inner end is actively connected with a moving coil drive. The carriage has the cross-section of a T-profile with plane-parallel flange and web faces wherein the bearing elements are arranged in pairs on both sides of the profile web and the profile flange.

Starting from the prior art according to WO 02/06005 A1, the invention is based on the object of providing a fast tool arrangement of the design and application described initially in which carriage heating leads only to very low dimensional changes, so that high requirements imposed on the precision and quality of the optical surfaces generated can be fulfilled, and which allows a high precision linear guidance and mounting of the carriage, even with large stroke paths, and a low carriage mass.


Topically applied compositions for transdermal administration of efficacious paid relief medication are described. The compositions contain several physiologically active components which act synergistically to attack pain-causing aspects of an injury or disorder while simultaneously blocking the immediate transmission and sensation of the pain. As the source of the pain is progressively diminished, the patient is spared the sensation of current and transient pain. Thus the compositions provide the patient with relief of both systemic and perceived pain. The compositions include medically effective amounts of a vasodilator, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, a membrane stabilizer, and a seratogenic reuptake inhibitor, and a medically acceptable carrier into which the foregoing are incorporated. Medically effective amounts of a topical anesthetic and/or a steroid anti-inflammatory drug are also advantageously included. A method of relief of a patient's pain which comprises topical administration to the patient of such compositions is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to medications for relief of pain and inflammation associated with the production of pain. More particularly it relates to such pain and inflammation relief medication compositions which are administered topically.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pain relief is a major focus of current medical attention. It is well established that patients respond much better to treatment for a wide variety of serious physical and neurological injuries and disorders if the pain associated with those conditions can be relieved. Similarly, even for relatively lesser injuries or disorders, where a physician's attention may be required only initially or at infrequent intervals while the patient recovers, the patient who can self-administer medication to relieve pain associated with the condition will recover faster, and during the recovery period will be able to resume normal activities earlier than if he or she was also simultaneously trying to cope with persistent pain.
Pain relief may be accomplished in two different ways. In one, the pain itself continues but is masked from the patient. This is essentially the function of the various types of anesthetics. The anesthetics do not attack the root cause of the pain, but rather block pain transmission so that the patient does not sense pain. Because they merely block pain sensation, anesthetics must be continually administered as long as the underlying condition causing the pain persists, or at least until the condition has improved to the point where the pain generated by the condition has decreased to a level that the patient can tolerate and resume daily functional activities and participate in kinematic functional activities.
More effective are treatment methods intended to attack the condition which is causing the pain. In most cases, once the physiological and neurotransmitter etiology of the pain begins to be alleviated, the sensation of pain is reduced.
There are, of course, a wide variety of ways to administer physiologically active agents. Probably the least objectionable to most patients is administration transdermally. A composition is applied to the outer surface of the skin and the active ingredients in the topical cream migrate from the cream through the skin and proceed to the site of the wound or affected organ. Many literature and patent references exist showing different types of topical creams, and great attention has been paid to various types of compounds or compositions to enhance the rate and completeness of such transdermal transfer of the active materials. While some of these references have described analgesics in general terms as among the physiologically active materials which can be administered transdermally, focus has been on the mechanism and rate of transdermal administration based on the using the specific compounds or classes of compounds identified in the references as the transdermal transmission rate "enhancers." Little or no attention has be directed toward effecting significant or comprehensive pain relief and migration of inflammation through transdermal administration of topically applied compositions.

Multicomponent pain relief topical medication


A method of controlling odors from a hydrocarbon-containing sludge including the steps of mixing a quaternary ammonium compound with water, adding a surface-active agent to the mixture of the quaternary ammonium compound and water, and dispersing the mixture into the hydrocarbon-containing sludge. A masking agent may be introduced to the mixture of the water, the quaternary ammonium compound, and the surface-active agent. A pH control agent is added to this mixture, along with a quantity of a polyglycol ether. The quaternary ammonium compound is benzalkonium chloride. The surface-active agent is butyl cellosolve. The masking agent is limonene. The step of dispersing the mixture includes spraying the mixture onto the hydrocarbon-containing sludge.

A variety of compounds are presently used in various industries to treat malodorous materials, wastes, and fuels. The treatment chemicals are applied as odor-masking agents such as lemon or orange extracts, and biocides, such as aldehydes. Biocides work by killing the bacteria which produce malodorous materials such as organosulfur compounds and hydrogen sulfide. In some instances, both masking agents and biocides are simultaneously applied.
Although these materials are effective in many industries, their success in the oil industries (where oil biodegradation is performed) has been lacking. The major reason for lack of success in the oil industry is attributed to the strength of the waste and the low penetration of treatment chemicals on the sludge. The low penetration of treatment chemicals results in an increase in the strength of the treatment required. The masking agents, when used in high concentrations, result in a strong nauseating citrus smell. Biocides, to be effective in oily sludges, must be applied in high concentrations. These high concentrations kill not only the undesired anaerobic bacteria, but also the beneficial bacteria. The loss of the beneficial bacteria is extremely detrimental to the biodegradation of the oil and subsequently is not a desired treatment method.
In hydrocarbon-containing waste, the sludges can contain mercaptans, hydrogen sulfide, thios and other odorous compounds. The selective removal of the hydrogen sulfide, the mercaptans, the thios, and the other volatile odor-producing agents is extremely expensive by most commercially available odor-masking agents. In addition, most commercially available odor-masking agents only mask the odor and do not actually destroy the volatile odorous compounds. It is desirable to mask, as well as destroy, some of the odor-producing compounds.
In use, it is often very difficult to be able to intimately and integrally mix the treatment compound with the hydrocarbon-containing sludge or fuel. If it is necessary to carry out an intimate mixture of the items, then the cost of mixing may be excessive. Additionally, it may be necessary to actually load the sludge into a mixing apparatus so as to allow the chemical composition to effectively interact with the components of the sludge. As such, it is extremely desirable to create a chemical composition which can be simply sprayed onto the sludge.
It has been difficult to spray prior treatment compositions since such treatment compositions would not effectively penetrate the surface of the sludges. It is important to interact the treatment composition thoroughly throughout the sludge so as to effectively reduce odors. Surface treatment is one solution. However, over time, such surface treatment is very temporal in nature. Ultimately, the composition which is used to treat the sludge or fuel should be of a quality that effectively penetrates the surface.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and composition for the control of odors which effectively controls undesired bacteria as well as sequesters malodorous compounds.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an odor control composition that allows the chemical to interact with the sludge or fuel.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an odor control composition which is relatively easy to manufacture, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.

Odor control composition and method of using same


A small X-ray laser generator including a device (1) for generating and accelerating an electron beam, a plurality of targets (2) placed on the transport trajectory of a generated electron beam (4), and X-ray mirrors (3) for monochromatizing X-rays (5) generated by making the electron beam (4) collide against the plurality of targets (2), in which the X-rays (6) generated from the respective targets (2) are made to interfere with each other to produce a hard X-ray laser beam of 1 keV or more.

A method comprising placing tiny targets on an electron trajectory of a tabletop synchrotron, invented by Hironari Yamada, is known as an X-ray generating system. This method generates a high-brilliance, hard X-ray by using low-energy electrons in the range of several MeV to several tens of MeV. However, the obtained X-ray has a low coherence and is not a laser beam. Another known method comprises generating a GeV-level electron beam and passing the electron beam through an undulator to generate a relatively high-coherence X-ray. However, the apparatus is extremely large, and it is difficult to generate a short-wavelength X-ray of 1 keV or more. Another known method comprises generating a plasma in the form of a very narrow channel to produce an X-ray laser beam, and the method generates an X-ray of about 1 keV. A photon storage ring laser invented by Hironari Yamada, which comprises an annular mirror placed around an exactly circular electron orbit of an exactly circular synchrotron to make the generated synchrotron light and an electron beam interact with each other, is also known. However, it is difficult to produce an X-ray using the photon storage ring laser.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 08-195300.    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-058300.    Non-patent Document 1: Netze, R., Wouts R., van der Spoel D., Weckert E., and Hajdu, J., Nature 406,752 (2000).    Non-patent Document 2: S. Yamamoto, K. Tsuchiya, and T. Shioya, Construction of two new in-vacuum type tapered undulators for the PF-AR, in press, the Proc. of the Eighth International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (2003).


An electronic device, method, and computer readable medium for 3D association of detected objects are provided. The electronic device includes a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory. The at least one processor configured to convolve an input to a neural network with a basis kernel to generate a convolution result, scale the convolution result by a scalar to create a scaled convolution result, and combine the scaled convolution result with one or more of a plurality of scaled convolution results to generate an output feature map.

Deep learning or deep neural networks is a revolutionary force in artificial intelligence. Neural networks help computers make sense of infinite amounts of data in the form of images, sound, and text. Using multiple layers of neural perceptrons, computers now have the capacity to see, learn, and react to complex situations as well as if not better than humans.
Most deep learning networks rely heavily on convolutional layers, which typically account for over 90% of total computation of the network. One convolutional layer typically has tens of thousands to millions of small 2D kernels. There are large amount of redundancies in these kernels and there is a need to compress or simplify these kernels to reduce the complexity of the neural networks.

System and method for convolutional layer structure for neural networks


An optical measurement of a crystalline sample to be measured. The sample is irradiated with an exciting light from the polarization direction in which the Raman scattering is prohibited by the selection rule. When a metal probe is brought to proximity to the sample to be measured, the selection rule is eased locally only in the proximity portion near the probe end in order that Raman scattering becomes active. Thus, a Raman signal only from the proximity portion near the probe end is detected. An optical measurement apparatus having an optical arrangement for measuring a signal light re-emitted from a sample to be measured when the sample is irradiated with an exciting light is provided. The optical measurement apparatus comprises a means for limiting the polarization state of the exciting light or signal light and a means for bringing a metal probe near the sample to be measured. The optical measurement apparatus is used to measure the signal light obtained by locally easing the limitation on the polarization state by bringing the metal probe near the sample. Therefore, Raman scattering light from silicon or the like can be measured with high space-resolution exceeding the light diffraction limit.

In recent years, study has been vigorously forwarded in the fields of nano-structures and nano-devices, and a spectrophotometric technology featuring a high resolution has been desired for evaluating properties of a variety of samples in these fields. In the silicon devices, for example, strain in Si seriously affects the device characteristics such as mobility and the like. Therefore, it is very important to know spatial distribution of the strain in Si device with a high resolution. One of the strain measurement methods is based on the Raman measurement. The Raman measurement is based on a principle that a peak position of a Raman signal shifts depending upon the strain. Upon mapping peak positions of Raman signals, therefore, it is allowed to know the distribution of strain.
The optical measurement with a high spatial resolution has heretofore been conducted by using a microscope. However, the above microscopic optical measurement encounters a barrier of diffraction limit which makes it difficult to accomplish the space resolution of finer than one micron. In modern silicon devices, the structural sizes are reaching the orders of submicrons and nanometers, and a measuring method of a higher resolution is desired. In recent years, therefore, various attempts have been made for improving the spatial resolution relying upon the near-field spectrophotometry by using a probe such as an optical fiber.
This method uses a near-field light leaking from a very small aperture at the end of the probe. Therefore, when it is attempted to observe maintaining a resolution of finer than 100 nm, the aperture size, too, must be decreased to be smaller than 100 nm, resulting in a very great loss of light quantity and arousing such a serious difficulty in the measurement that the method can be applied to only those samples that produce large signals. In the case of the Raman measurement of silicon, in particular, the optical fiber itself contains silicon which is a cause of disturbing the emission of Raman signals making it further difficult to take a measurement.
To solve this difficulty, one of the technologies proposed in the field of Raman spectroscopy uses a metallic AFM (atomic force microscope) probe. According to this method, Raman signals are enhanced only near the end of the probe due to a local electric field at an end of the metal probe, enhancing the space resolution. In this method, a large enhancing effect is obtained when two metals are brought close to each other maintaining a very small gap and when a sample to be measured is placed in the gap. Therefore, though the result can be obtained to some extent in the measurement of molecules and ultra-fine particles, the method cannot still be applied to the measurement of solid materials. This is because the sample to be measured which is a solid material cannot be placed between the two metals described above. Besides, strong signals in the far visual field are excited at positions away from the metal probe and conceal the signals in the near field.
The following patent document 1 discloses technology which uses a transmission type electron microscope to detect fine crystalline distortion in semiconductors. The image obtained by the transmission type electron microscope can be converted into a digital image, and the pattern can be calculated by two-dimensional Fourier transform.
[Patent document 1] JP-A-2000-65762

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A submersible light includes a back cover which mounts the light. A lens assembly is mounted on the back cover and forms a downwardly-open enclosure therewith. A light assembly, which includes an illumination subassembly, is received in the enclosure. The light assembly includes a housing which engages a sealing gasket within the enclosure for sealing the light assembly against water infiltration. A second barrier against water infiltration is provided by the bell jar effect of the back cover of the lens assembly, which collectively form a downwardly-open enclosure for receiving the light assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vehicle lights and in particular to a submersible light for boat trailers and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vehicles and other devices are equipped with a wide variety of lights for illumination, signaling, safety and other purposes. For example, lights are commonly provided on vehicles for illuminating their paths of travel and for alerting other drivers to their positions and courses.
Trailers comprise a class of vehicles which are subject to specific lighting requirements for operation on public streets and highways. Such requirements are often met by mounting discrete, self-contained lights on the trailer frames. Certain types of trailers, such as boat trailers and flat bed trailers, have exposed frames which are well suited for mounting discrete, self-contained lights. Installing self-contained trailer lights can simplify trailer construction, particularly as compared to more complicated procedures in which light assemblies are integrated into vehicle bodies. This latter type of procedure is commonly used in the manufacture of passenger vehicles.
Weatherability is an important design requirement for lights that are exposed to the elements, such as those mounted on vehicles. A further design requirement for boat trailer lights is that they be submersible. In operation, boat trailers are typically subjected to at least partial submersion when boats are launched and retrieved. A common procedure for boat launching and retrieval involves backing the boat and trailer down a boat ramp until the boat trailer is submerged and the boat can be floated off of it. Tail lights on boat trailers can thus be subjected to repeated emersion.
Various solutions have been proposed to provide submergibility in vehicle lights, particularly trailer lights. For example, the Cunningham et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,617 discloses a submersible taillight assembly for a boat trailer. Water is excluded from entering this light assembly when submerged by air entrapped within a capsule light assembly housing. The Payne et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,894 discloses a boat trailer light assembly with an integral bulb fixture molded to an external housing. The internal enclosure forms a watertight compartment in which the bulb is mounted. A gasket is provided for sealing the enclosure.
Heretofore there has not been available a submersible light for trailers and the like with the advantages and features of the present invention.


A vehicle cargo carrier, and specifically a movable frame assembly, for storing and transporting luggage, gear, equipment and the like on the exterior of a vehicle. The carrier is attached to a common trailer hitch and is particularly well suited for use with a mini-van or sport utility vehicle which has a rear opening door or hatch. The carrier is slidably movable, permitting outward extension, while still being connected to the vehicle, to provide easy access to and unobstructed opening of the vehicle rear door or hatch, and to provide unobstructed access to the vehicle's existing interior cargo area. Subsequently, the carrier is inwardly slidably retracted so that it is firmly disposed in an aerodynamically favorable position proximate the rear of the vehicle. The frame assembly comprises a connection member which interfaces with the hitch and a frame member which interfaces with the connection member. A storage box or container member is connected to the frame member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicular storage apparatus, and more particularly to a movable frame assembly for a cargo or equipment carrier attached to the exterior of a vehicle. The frame assembly of this invention is particularly useful with mini-vans or sport utility vehicles when attached to a standard tow or trailer hitch or attachment thereon.
2. Background Information
In the past, various devices have been used and/or proposed to carry equipment such as luggage on the exterior of a vehicle. However, these devices have significant limitations and shortcomings. They tend to obstruct the opening and closing of a rear door of a vehicle, and tend to allow excessive lateral play or twisting by the frame assembly within the hitch. Additionally, any extendable members in these devices tend to bind whenever the carrier is unevenly loaded. Furthermore, these devices are unable to quickly and easily adjust the mounting position of a cargo carrier to make it level with respect to the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,983 to Tomososki and U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,100 to Liscinsky disclose a vehicle cargo carrier attachment which is connectable to a common trailer hitch. The carrier includes a fixed bracket supporting a cargo box. U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,439 to Groeneweg discloses a luggage carrier apparatus for a vehicle. A mounting apparatus telescopingly connects the carrier to a mini-van frame. U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,702 to Applicant discloses a movable vehicle cargo carrier.
Despite the need in the art for a cargo carrier, and specifically a movable or adjustable frame assembly, which overcomes the disadvantages, shortcomings and limitations of the prior art, none insofar as is known has been developed or proposed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cargo carrier for vehicles. It is a further object of this invention to provide a cargo carrier which is attachable via a common vehicle hitch system, which is easily attachable and detachable, which is easily accessible, which permits easy access to and operation of the rear door or hatch of the vehicle (and the interior vehicle cargo area), which has an aerodynamically favorable design and is conveyed in an aerodynamically favorable position with respect to the vehicle with which it is conveyed, and which overcomes the limitations and shortcomings of the prior art.


Disclosed is an electronic real property viewing system for providing virtual tours of real property units via a public communications network such as the internet. The electronic property viewing system includes a system for affiliates to create their own virtual tours in real time by uploading photographs into a template, resulting in both movable and still photographs with accompanying data sets. Another embodiment of this invention involves the exchange of the creation and/or maintenance of such virtual tour available on a public communications network for occupation time units in the real property units.

The more recent acceptance and use of public communications networks such as the internet, has provided a network or system through which the viewing of both real and personal property may be accomplished in a much more efficient and desirable way than has ever previously been provided or available. The increased ability to handle larger amounts of data and information over the internet has further allowed more graphical images to be presented to the viewer, which facilitates much more effective presentations or tours to users of the internet.
While there have been prior attempts to make available the viewing of still photographs of property over the internet, the prior systems have typically required that a photographer be hired on behalf of the company providing the website, who must go to the property to take photographs. The website company then posted the one or more still photographs on the website, and later input text describing the still photographs.
These prior systems therefore have a relatively high cost in the commercial creation of the photographs, and then in their placement on the website of the website company. The prior systems also took an unjustifiably long amount of time before the photographs of the property were available to viewers or potential purchasers.
It is therefore an object of an embodiment of this invention to provide a property viewing system wherein affiliates, such as real estate agents or property owners (in the real estate embodiments of this invention), property managers (in the rental property embodiments of this invention), or the property management companies & owners (in the vacation rental or room rental embodiments of this invention), may take their own photographs and upload the images along with the desired data sets to the website, thereby constructing their own virtual tour which would be available immediately or in real-time.
In the typical prior systems the viewer accessing a property viewing website over the internet would find one or more photographs on the first page for that property unit, but typically must then move from new page to new page in order to view the plurality of photographs of the property. In order to go back to a prior view of the property to look at it a second time and to look at other pages which contain other photographs of the property, the user must typically click on the back button on his internet browser. Requiring a user to continually go back to the start page for a series of photographs or images makes the tour more tedious and less desirable for the user. This becomes a relatively slow process and does not provide a sufficiently easy or desirable virtual tour of the property.
It is therefore an object of an embodiment of this invention to provide a property viewing system in which the viewer may take a virtual tour of property while staying on the same reference page, and further which provides the index, tabs or other selection means to directly go to each of the other multiple views of the property from the same page. Some of the embodiments of this invention have the advantage of providing a tab system which allows the user to view or access any one of the tour views or pages from any one of the tour views or pages, significantly reducing the amount of time to take a complete virtual tour, and making it more pleasing to the consumer.
In most property viewing situations, merely providing small single shot still photographs does not make the best presentation of the property being viewed. It is much more desirable to provide larger photographs, panorama photographs or movable photographs, which allow the potential customer or viewer to see a more complete view of the property, and to control the movement of the photograph or the view of the property. Providing panorama photographs also gives the viewer more of a feeling or belief that he or she is actually taking a tour of the property, and turning their head or looking around the property unit, as opposed to merely looking at a still photograph.
A feature of one embodiment of this invention therefore provides a virtual property viewing or tour system, which provides one or more panorama or movable photographs. Text and/or still photographs may be combined with the movable photographs as part of the same virtual tour.
There are numerous different embodiments for which this invention may be used, such as without limitation, providing virtual tours of real property for sale or lease, virtual tours of vacation properties and virtual tours of vehicles, virtual tours of art or museums using movable photographs; to name but a few examples.
There is not currently a sufficiently versatile website which contains a virtual tour of real property, with options of having a movable photograph with a three hundred sixty degree range, a movable photograph having less than a three hundred sixty degree range, and still photographs, in the same is virtual tour. With the varying types of photographs and photographic capabilities of affiliates and potential affiliates, this type of flexibility is long overdue. It is therefore an object of this invention and a feature of one embodiment of the invention to provide a virtual tour site which is versatile enough to optionally provide a movable photograph with a three hundred sixty degree range, a movable photograph having less than a three hundred sixty degree range. It is a still further object to provide such a site which additionally provides the option for still photographs.

Electronic property viewing method and computer-readable medium for providing virtual tours via a public communications network


A fishing device includes a base having a receiving member and a guiding sleeve securely connected to the receiving member. The guiding sleeve includes a positioning section at a distal end thereof for mounting a net. A first gate is mounted between the receiving member and the guiding sleeve, the first gate being openable only in a direction which towards the guiding sleeve. A movable seat is mounted in the guiding sleeve and includes an opening defined therein. A second gate is mounted in the opening and openable only in a direction the same as that of the first gate. A cylinder includes an end connected to the positioning section, and a piston rod is partially, reciprocatingly received in the cylinder. The piston rod includes an end securely attached to the movable seat to move therewith. The piston rod together with the movable seat are urged to reciprocatingly move in a longitudinal direction of the guiding sleeve. Movements of the piston rod and the movable seat cause a suction force in the receiving member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing device which may effectively trap fish.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical fishing method is to put a net into deep sea to catch fish. Nevertheless, such a method is prohibited now since the net is attached with sharp spikes or thorn-like members which may cause serious injury to coral and thus cause destruction to the environment. Another typical fishing method uses static devices for trapping fish which is time-consuming, ineffective, and uneconomic.
The present invention is intended to provide an improved fishing device which may effectively trap fish without destroying the environment.


Systems and methods for converting a data stream from a first sample rate to a second sample rate, where the data is received in bursts. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving bursty audio data on a first input line and receiving synchronization data on a second input line that is separate from the first input line. An input sample rate is then estimated for the received audio data based on the received synchronization data and the audio data is converted to an output sample rate. The input sample rate is determined by counting samples received in a time interval and potentially low-pass filtering the result. The audio data may be in packetized, parallel, or other forms, and the synchronization data may include individual signals, such as pulses or bits received at regular or irregular intervals.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to audio amplification systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for converting data streams having a first sample rate to a second sample rate, wherein the input data streams are received in a packetized or bursty fashion.
2. Related Art
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) or Class D signal amplification technology has existed for a number of years. PWM technology has become more popular with the proliferation of Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS). Since this technology emerged, there has been an increased interest in applying PWM techniques in signal amplification applications as a result of the significant efficiency improvement that can be realized through the use of Class D power output topology instead of the legacy (linear Class AB) power output topology.
Early attempts to develop signal amplification applications utilized the same approach to amplification that was being used in the early SMPS. More particularly, these attempts utilized analog modulation schemes that resulted in very low performance applications. These applications were very complex and costly to implement. Consequently, these solutions were not widely accepted. Prior art analog implementations of Class D technology have therefore been unable to displace legacy Class AB amplifiers in mainstream amplifier applications.
Recently, digital PWM modulation schemes have surfaced. These schemes use Sigma-Delta modulation techniques to generate the PWM signals used in the newer digital Class D implementations. These digital PWM schemes, however, did little to offset the major barriers to integration of PWM modulators into the total amplifier solution. Class D technology has therefore continued to be unable to displace legacy Class AB amplifiers in mainstream applications.
In a digital amplification system, audio data is usually transferred through a dedicated serial interface (SAI), SPDIF receiver, or DSP/host interface. An SAI interface provides a dedicated "LRCK" signal for frame synchronization and to indicate the sample rate. SPDIF data is biphase-mark encoded. Subframe and sample rate information may be recovered fairly easily by examining the preambles.
A DSP/host interface may, on the other hand, transmit data in a bursty manner, either as packetized data or as a straight FIFO write. To convey sample rate and channel information, time stamps and other information may be encoded in the packet header or such information may be passed in the commands, so that sample rate clock may be recovered by dedicated hardware clock recovery circuitry. One problem with this is that recovering the clock using time stamps and generating a low jitter clock from it is not a trivial design task.

Streaming multi-channel audio as packetized data or parallel data with a separate input frame sync


The present invention includes an electrode having a filament with the end of each lead wire connected to each end of the filament, a cylindrical glass tube in which the electrode is provided, and a thermal fuse which is electrically connected to the lead wires in series, and is provided near the electrode on an outer peripheral surface of the glass tube, wherein, when a position on the outer peripheral surface of the glass tube which extends in a radial direction of the glass tube from a connecting portion of the filament and the lead wire, serve as a reference position, in case where the diameter of the glass tube is 8 mm or more, the thermal fuse is arranged at a distance of 1.5 mm or less from the reference position in the longitudinal direction of the glass tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric discharge lamp, such as a fluorescent lamp, having an electrode with a filament and lead wires connected thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hot cathode electric discharge lamp includes a pair of electrodes inside and at each end of a cylindrical glass tube. The electrode of the electric discharge lamp, comprises a filament connected to lead wires which extend through and are supported by a stem formed in an end portion of the glass tube.
In this kind of hot cathode electric discharge lamp, an anomalous discharge may be caused: after an emissive material (emitter) depletion at the end of the lamp's life, by a preheating current increase, or by an electrode material or lead wire material dispersing and adhering on the surface of the stem. When this occurs, the electric discharge lamp will generate heat by a short circuiting of the lead wires and the preheating current will flow on the surface of the stem, creating the possibility of melting the glass around the stem and the glass tube.
To prevent the stem and the glass tube from melting by an anomalous discharge of a hot cathode electric discharge lamp, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-203934 (hereafter JP '934) discloses a construction of a thermal fuse which interrupts current flow at the time of an anomalous discharge. The JP '934 patent publication discloses the construction of a thermal fuse positioned on an outer peripheral surface of the glass tube near an electrode.
According to JP '934, at the time of an anomalous discharge, temperature will have the tendency to increase faster at a location near the electrode and increase slower at locations further from the electrode in a longitudinal direction of the glass tube. For this reason, there is an issue that variation of temperature detected by the thermal fuse will be significant, depending on the installation position of the thermal fuse.
Nevertheless, in the technology disclosed in JP '934 mentioned above, the location of the thermal fuse with respect to the electrode is ambiguous. JP '934 neither discloses nor suggests the relative position between the thermal fuse and the electrode, nor does it teach the relationship between the diameter of the glass tube and the placement of the thermal fuse. JP '934 only discloses a possibility that the variation in operating temperature of the thermal fuse may be significant depending on the thermal fuse is located.
There is also a need to avoid relatively high temperatures in an electric discharge lamp used as a back light source for a transmissive liquid crystal display (LCD). In a transmissive LCD, variation in the operating temperature of a thermal fuse may adversely affect components used to manufacture an LCD well before and even if the glass and stem area do not reach the melting point.


A lifter with an adjustable wheel base comprising a lever assembly, an adjustable axle assembly, and a lifting assembly. The lifting assembly may be magnetic and may additionally comprise safety cables having other attachment means.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to the lifting, moving, maneuvering, and positioning of large heavy objects, particularly trench covers or utility access plates.
2. Background Art
Note that the following discussion refers to a number of publications by author(s) and year of publication, and that due to recent publication dates certain publications are not to be considered as prior art vis-a-vis the present invention. Discussion of such publications herein is given for more complete background and is not to be construed as an admission that such publications are prior art for patentability determination purposes.
Large, unwieldy objects often require lifting and positioning, such as utility access plates and trench covers. Prior art devices, specifically for use with trench covers, have offered some assistance, but fall short in design, requiring trench covers with specially designed orifices for insertion of the device. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,706 to Kono, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,607 to Monchizuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,985 to Chong et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,103 to Moisan.) Other devices require that a hook receipt area be formed on the trench cover or other object to be moved. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,131 to Werthmann and U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,925 to Girtz.) With the different device, trench cover, and other utility access panel manufacturers, it would prove difficult to find one device which would easily access all panels and covers. Further, these access cover-specific devices could not be used on other heavy metal objects since they would not necessarily have an insertion point for receipt of hooks or shape specific "keys." Therefore, there is a great need for an apparatus which can be easily used on all access covers as well as other heavy metal objects.
Another problem with the prior art devices heretofore mentioned is that they all have fixed axle lengths. For larger access panels with sizable width and lengths, the prior art devices could not straddle the resultant large opening. This would render the devices useless or at least a safety hazard since they would or might fall in the resultant hole. This is an unacceptable risk to a user. For these and other reasons, there is a great need in the art for an apparatus for lifting heavy objects which has an adjustable axle width for accommodating larger openings.

Heavy object lifting apparatus and method


A method of smoothing Kalman Filter position states forming a "groundtrack" in a receiver used in a satellite based positioning system (e.g. GPS). In such systems, data pairs including an incoming value and a "raw" reliability estimate (e.g. a standard deviation) are normally fed directly to the Kalman Filter. The Kalman Filter computes the resultant and an overall uncertainty estimate by applying a "weight" to each successive incoming value based on its reliability. The Kalman Filter also estimates incoming values based on past values.. The method involves the unique steps of replacing the raw reliability with a "modified" reliability if the incoming value is too far from the estimate in view of an adjustable limit envelope defined by the current uncertainty estimate and reliability value. If the difference between what we get and what we expect is small, then the reliability value is passed without modification. If the difference is large, however, then we decrease the reliability value to tell the Kalman Filter that the value is less reliable. In other words, we "de-weight" implausible values. The modified reliability value is preferably scaled or decreased in proportion to the amount by which the square of the incoming value is outside of the limit envelope. This even minimizes the effect of values that are very strong (have high "reliability"), but still very wrong, and thereby smoothes the resultants produced by the Kalman Filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to satellite based positioning systems (SATPS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS).
2. Description of Related Art
A SATPS receiver generally determines its positions by triangulating its Line of Sight (LOS) range to several satellites or space vehicles. A GPS receiver, for example, computes a 4-dimensional solution involving latitude, longitude, altitude, and time using the LOS ranges to as few as four satellites. The accuracy of the solution is a direct function of the accuracy of the range measurements.
SATPS receivers are growing rapidly in popularity and application. GPS receivers, for example, are now common in aviation, marine, and terrestrial applications. An increasingly common terrestrial application for GPS receivers is in automobiles. In the automotive context, the vehicle's location is typically displayed on an electronic display of a street map. It is vital in this context, therefore, to provide the driver with continuously updated position solutions, collectively called a "ground track," that accurately track the vehicle's movement from one moment to the next. From a usability point of view, the groundtrack should only reflect the vehicle's movement. In fact, experience shows that consumers consider groundtrack fidelity as one of the most important criteria in choosing a receiver. It is extremely important, therefore, that the groundtrack displayed on the GPS receiver's electronic map not have spurious jumps, stair steps, spikes, jigs, or jogs that are unrelated to the vehicle's actual path.
There are a number of factors, however, which may cause discontinuities in the position solutions which make up the groundtrack on the display of an automotive SATPS receiver.
One given source of position solution discontinuities is "Selective Availability" (SA) which is used to restrict the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers to roughly 100 meters 1-sigma for purposes of national security. The Department of Defense (DOD) implements SA by purposely injecting error into the satellite range signals.
Another common source of position solution discontinuities is "multipath," the phenomenon where the main LOS signal from a given satellite reaches the GPS receiver's antenna and is followed by additional "copies" due to reflection from nearby objects, such as buildings or cliffs. The multipath effect is particularly troublesome for automotive receivers because they are frequently used in cities and surrounded by tall buildings. This environment is sometimes called an "urban canyon" due to the canyon-like setting it resembles. Regardless of source, Multipath can be a very vexing problem because the additional signals may be very strong, but very wrong.
Yet another source of position solution discontinuities is the fact that the SATPS receiver may see a different constellation of satellites from one moment to the next. If the GPS receiver is in motion in an urban canyon environment, for example, individual satellites may become blocked and unblocked by nearby buildings. There is always some degree of error in a position solution based on one group of satellites. If the position solution is suddenly based on another group, the result may be a jump or discontinuity in position relative to the solution computed with the first group. This will, of course, cause visual groundtrack discontinuities on the receiver's display.
Other approaches to groundtrack smoothing known to this inventor, such as those based on Digital Signal Processors, are overly complicated and relatively expensive.
There remains a need, therefore, for a simple, cost effective method of smoothing resultant values in Kalman Filter systems for use in, for example, mitigating multipath effects and smoothing groundtracks in a mobile SATPS receiver.

Method and apparatus for mitigating multipath effects and smoothing groundtracks in a GPS receiver


Layer 2 refers to the Data Link layer of the commonly-referenced multilayered communication model, Open Systems Interconnection (OSI). The Data Link layer is concerned with moving data across the physical links in the network. Embodiments of the invention provide a Layer 2 and management modification to provide and maintain an accurate network map. Embodiments of the invention modify Layer 2 functionality to work with a multi-AP system without central management or with central management, and modify management frames to quickly update the network map when the client roams or when topology changes.

IEEE 802.11ai is a wireless LAN study group in the IEEE that is planning to standardize a fast, initial link setup function that would enable a wireless LAN client to achieve a secure link setup within 100 ms. IEEE 802.11ai addresses challenges where a large number of mobile users are continually entering and leaving an existing extended service set (ESS) coverage area. The amendment provides scalability for a high number of users simultaneously entering an ESS, minimizes time spent initializing a link, and provides secure authentication. In effect, IEEE 802.11ai significantly improves user connectivity in high-density environments, such as arenas, stadiums, airports, shopping malls, etc., as well as for automotive systems, allowing for a more secure and reliable connection, and enabling more efficient spectrum use by optimizing the protocol overhead in high-density user environments.
A problem with protocols, such as 802.11ai, occurs in distributed networks, such as a multi-AP system, when a client roams from one AP to another AP or when the network topology changes. In such case, the network may not be updated within the time taken to setup a link to the new AP. In such case, packets for the client may be directed to the old AP and therefore lost because the client is now linked with the new AP. This can result in a lost connection for the client.
For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of client roaming in a tree structure network topology having several APs that exchange information in connection with a router 10. In FIG. 1, when the client 14 roams from AP B 12 to AP D 13 an update must be sent from AP B to AP D notifying AP D of the change. However, to do so AP B must forward the update through the tree structure of the network, i.e. via AP C et al and then back down the tree to AP D. This is time consuming. Communications directly between AP B and AP D may be permitted for management purposes, but would not occur within the 100 ms link time of the client under 802.11ai.
802.11r Fast Transition (FT) Roaming defines a procedure for the initial handshake with the new AP even before the client roams to the target AP, which is called Fast Transition (FT). IEEE 802.11r specifies Fast Basic Service Set (BSS) transitions between access points by redefining the security key negotiation protocol, allowing both the negotiation and requests for wireless resources to occur in parallel. Moreover, 802.11r defines solutions to allow for the part of the key derived from the server to be cached in the wireless network, so that a reasonable number of future connections can be based on the cached key, avoiding the 802.1X process. Using 802.11r, 802.11ai, and other protocols clients have become more aggressive in roaming.
FIG. 2 is a second schematic representation of topology change in a tree structure network topology having several APs that exchange information in connection with a router 20; one or more clients 21 are connected to an AP. These clients may be any of Ethernet, wireless, etc. clients. In FIG. 2, the original network topology, shown on the left side of FIG. 2, changes, as shown on the right side of FIG. 2. In such topology change, AP A 22 moves from AP C 24 to AP D 25. Here, the router must send a packet for AP B 23 client via AP D instead of AP C. Again, management of the topology in connection with 802.11ai protocol delays packet delivery and can result in dropped packets, given the 100 ms link establishment in 802.11ai.
FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a network device showing the number of tables to be updated when effecting a rapid topology change. In FIG. 3, an incoming packet 31 is received by the device 30 at a Pin port 32. Receipt of the packet updates the host bridge table 34 and Wi-Fi bridge table (also known as the WDS table) and is transmitted to the destination. Respective bridge tables 36 are maintained in the host CPU 34 for each port p0, p2, p3, (38) each of which is connected to further devices via the network, each of which maintain a bridge table, such as for Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, there Is no standard way to update all of these tables.
FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a network device showing in greater detail the several bridge tables that are maintained across multiple network devices. In FIG. 4, a source packet 41 is received at Pin of device U1 30, which is a host device having a CPU that maintains a bridge table 36, as discussed above in connection with FIG. 3. Device U1 also has an entry in the bridge table for a Wi-Fi connection to device U2 40. Device U2 has a CPU that maintains a bridge table 42 in which there is a Wi-Fi entry for device U1. Further, device U2 maintains a bridge table entry for a Wi-Fi connection to device U3 44. Device U3 maintain a bridge table 46 having an entry for a Wi-Fi connection to device U2, as well as for an Ethernet connection to a destination 43 for the packet.
FIG. 5 shows an example host table and a Wi-Fi or Ethernet table. In some cases, it may take up to the timeout of an aging timer before the table is updated. For example, the Host Table shows aging times of 8.01 and 2.1 and the Wi-Fi/Ethernet table shows aging times pf 12.6 and 6. The aging timer determines the number of seconds that an entry is kept in the table. This delay is a concern because, in an 802.11ai environment, table entries must be added and removed proactively, and cannot wait for various timeouts if the link setup is to occur within the specified 100 ms.

Method and apparatus for generating and maintaining an accurate network map in a communications network


A method for producing a sulfide solid electrolyte material having a small amount of hydrogen sulfide generation and a high Li ion conductivity. To achieve the above, a method for producing a sulfide solid electrolyte material is provided, including steps of: a providing step for providing a crystallized sulfide solid electrolyte material prepared by using a raw material composition containing Li2S and P2S5; and an amorphizing step for applying amorphization treatment to the crystallized sulfide solid electrolyte material.

Along with the recent rapid spread of information-related devices and communication devices such as a personal computer, a video camera, and a cell phone, development of a battery utilized as a power source of them is important. In the automobile industry and the like, development of a high-power and high-capacity battery for electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles has been proceeding. Currently, among various types of batteries, a lithium battery becomes a focus of attention in terms of high energy density.
Since currently commercially available lithium batteries employ a liquid electrolyte containing a flammable organic solvent, it is necessary to install a safety device which suppresses an increase in temperature in the event of a short circuit and improve a structure and a material for short-circuit prevention. On the other hand, all solid lithium batteries which replace an liquid electrolyte with a solid electrolyte layer and are fully solidified do not use a flammable organic solvent in the batteries. For this reason, it is considered that the safety devices for the all solid batteries are simplified and the all solid lithium batteries are excellent in production cost and productivity. As a solid electrolyte material used in such a solid electrolyte layer, a sulfide solid electrolyte material has been known.
Since the sulfide solid electrolyte material has a high Li ion conductivity, this is useful to attain high output of a battery, and various studies have been conducted. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses sulfide-based crystallized glass in which a glass phase mainly composed of Li2S and P2S5 and a crystal phase exist.

Method for producing sulfide solid electrolyte material and method for producing lithium solid state battery


An image display device includes an image display unit including a display panel, a shelf board, and an illumination unit. The display panel is switchable between an image display mode in which an image is displayed and a transmissive mode in which the display panel is in a transmissive state where objects behind image display unit is visible in a front view of the display panel. The shelf board is disposed projecting rearward from the rear surface of image display unit, and extends in the lateral direction. The illumination unit is disposed above the shelf board and emits light downward.

Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses a display device which includes a transparent display. The display device includes: a first panel which performs display with use of transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) elements; a second panel which includes polymer-dispersed liquid crystals, is disposed on the rear surface of the first panel, and shields or transmits light from the back; and a controller which switches the second panel between a transparent state and an opaque state. The display device makes the second panel transparent, so that an image of each object behind the first panel and an image on the first panel can be simultaneously viewed. Moreover, it is possible to display a clear image with a high contrast with no intervention of outdoor light from the back of the first panel by making the second panel opaque.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention relates to a speed-changing transmission hub for a bicycle comprising: a central shaft; a controlling device; a planetary gear system, which comprises a planet gear holder, holding several planet gears; a second ring gear; a first ring gear; and two sun gears. Variations of speed are realized by separately fixing the sun gears of different diameters. There is no switching of input and no reversal of the rotation of the sun gears. The sun gears only need to be controlled by a one-way clutch guided by the controlling device, which is mounted on the central shaft. Thereby the arrangement is simplified and its weight is reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speed-changing transmission hub for a bicycle, particularly to a speed-changing transmission hub for a bicycle, which does not require switching the torque input and has a group of one-way clutches for controlling the fixing of the sun gear group.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional speed-changing transmission hub uses a planetary gear train comprising a ring gear, planet gears and sun gears. Torque is inputted to the planetary gear train either via the ring gear or the carrier, as controlled by a clutch, which engages either with the ring gear or with the carrier, thus controlling the path of torque within the planetary gear train and the degrees of freedom of the sun gears for various speeds. Depending on the characteristics of the planetary gear train, the tendency of the rotation of the sun gears is connected to which of the gears of the planetary gear train is active. Different torque inputs (by the ring gear or by the carrier) lead to different tendency of the rotation of the sun gears. If the carrier is driving, the sun gears rotate the same way as the carrier. If the ring gear is driving, the sun gears and the ring gear rotate the opposite way. U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,664 discloses a device for controlling the degree of freedom of the sun gears, wherein fixing each sun gear is controlled by two one-way clutches working in different directions. This arrangement, however, is complicated.
In order to resolve this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,500 discloses a two-stage planetary gear train with a common carrier. Therein, each sun gear is provided with a single one-way clutch, which is sufficient to control its rotation. However, since more than one sun gear and ring gear are needed, the system becomes weighty and complicated.

Speed-changing transmission hub for a bicycle

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A cooked and de-boned substantially intact slab of rib meat is provided. A process for preparing a de-boned rib meat product from a pork or beef rib cut is also provided. The process for preparing the rib meat product involves cooking a length of rib meat having rib bones embedded therein at a temperature and for a time sufficient to enable the removal of the rib bones from the length of rib meat, while maintaining a substantially intact length of rib meat.

Pork and beef carcasses are typically butchered into several cuts or portions, which may be used to prepare spare ribs and back ribs. Spare ribs may be further divided into the traditional breast bone spare ribs or St. Louis style spare ribs. St. Louis style spare ribs generally comprise the upper part of a rib separated from the breast bone or brisket bone. St. Louis style spare ribs are generally very meaty and include minimal fat.
Back rib cuts are generally prepared by cutting the loin sections between the back ribs and the semispinalis muscle adjacent to the back ribs to form a loin cut and a back rib cut. The back rib meat cut, also known as a baby back rib cut, includes rib bones and related intercostal meat. Each back rib cut is intact and includes portions of at least eight ribs. See Institutional Meat Purchaser Specification Item No. 422 (June, 1997). Back rib cuts are generally sold as a single intact rib section, which may be prepared and consumed with various sauces. The demand for the baby back rib cuts has increased dramatically in recent years due to the increase in the number of barbeque-themed restaurants. However, because back rib cuts typically contain only intercostal meat between the rib bones, conventional back rib cuts do not include a substantial amount of meat.
In recent years, corporations owning barbeque-themed restaurants have become increasingly interested in barbeque style food products that can retain the interest of repeat business. Consuming barbeque style ribs in a social situation, however, has always been a delicate undertaking. Traditionally, barbeque style ribs have carried the distinction of being an untidy food item, and as a result, are left off of may fine dining menus. Enjoying barbeque style ribs is often difficult, as eating them can be time consuming, embarrassing, and messy. As is often the custom, barbeque ribs are eaten without utensils, utilizing one's own hands to assist in separating the meat from the rib bones and introducing the meat into one's mouth.
As a result of this direct contact of the meat with the hands, the thick consistency of barbeque sauce has the potential to coat one's hands and is difficult to remove without the assistance of a moist towelettes or inserting by one's own fingers into their mouth to assist in removing the excess barbeque sauce.
Embarrassment can also occur due to the shape of the rib bones themselves. A single barbeque style rib possesses the shape of an elongated cylinder, encased in meat and covered with barbeque sauce. When taken to one's mouth to eat, if not eaten with care, the rib can displace sauce onto the consumer's face, which can cause great embarrassment.
There are also health risks associated with the consumption of ribs. Because of the irregular shapes and hardness of the rib bones, the risk of injury to the inside of one's mouth is also a concern. Furthermore, the potential for choking on a portion of a rib bone causes people to avoid consuming ribs.
Additionally, a meat cut that includes both rib bones and associated meat makes it more difficult for a person to consume all available meat, because the person must work around and between the bones. Therefore, consuming barbeque style ribs has the tendency to be tedious and laborious, due to the requirement of tearing the meat from the bones and eating meat from around the rib bones themselves.
There have been attempts to produce boneless pork and beef back rib products. One such method of producing boneless rib meat includes first separating the rib meat from the bones, creating a paste-like meat intermediate product, and restructuring the paste-like intermediate product into a form that attempts to resemble the appearance of a natural slab of ribs. These types of processed or restructured rib products are commonly offered by fast food restaurant chains and in the frozen foods sections of retail grocery stores. Obviously, these boneless pork or beef products that lack the natural appearance and consistency of an unprocessed slab of rib meat.
Heretofore, there has been no process for providing a ready-to-eat de-boned rib product that does not involve processing the native rib meat into piece or parts, and reforming or restructuring meat pieces into a slab-shaped product. Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for a barbeque style rib meat product that can be readily consumed and that overcomes the disadvantages associated with consuming traditional barbeque ribs having bones embedded therein. Such a de-boned rib meat product would avoid the stigma traditionally attached to dining on barbeque style ribs and is therefore more likely to result in repeat business for barbeque-themed restaurants, retail grocery outlets, and the like.

Rib meat product and process for preparing same