A current-generator circuit is for generation of an output current of a value that is configurable as a function of a configuration signal. The circuit may have a first reference resistor element traversed by an intermediate current, the value of which is a function of a reference current, for supplying a first reference voltage. The circuit may also include a resistive divider stage receiving the configuration signal and supplying a second reference voltage as a function of the first reference voltage and of the configuration signal. A second reference resistor element supplies, as a function of the second reference voltage (Vref2), the output current on the output terminal. The value of resistance of the second reference resistor element may be matched to a respective value of resistance of the first reference resistor element.

The following discussion will make explicit reference, to the generation of a load current for electrical testing of an electronic device, such as, for example, a charge pump. As it is known, charge pumps are used in a wide range of applications for supplying boosted voltages, starting from input voltages of a value lower than a desired value. For example, in memory devices, charge pumps supply the voltages required for the operations of modifying, programming, or erasing, which have high values, higher than the value of the supply voltage available in the same memory devices.
During electrical testing of a charge pump integrated in a body of semiconductor material, such as silicon, it is desired to obtain its voltage/current characteristic curve, as the temperature, clock frequency, and supply voltage vary. This electrical test is, for example, envisaged for the step of validation of the memory device in which the charge pump is used, a step that uses characterization of all the analog circuit blocks internal to the device, both low-voltage ones (for example, oscillators, band-gap reference circuits, etc.), and high-voltage ones (for example, the charge pumps).
For this purpose, a known load current is generally set, the value of which is appropriately varied during the testing operation, and the value of the output voltage generated by the charge pump is measured.
In this way, the voltage/current characteristic of the charge pump is obtained, as illustrated by way of example in FIG. 1, where the variation of the non-regulated output voltage Vout of the charge pump is shown as a function of the load current IL. The output voltage is between a maximum value Vout—max and a minimum value Vout—min. FIG. 1 also shows the regulated output value Vreg (ON/OFF type regulation) of the charge pump. In the case illustrated, referred to the use in a memory device of a Flash type, the load current IL has, for example, a value on the order of several milliamps.
The value of the load current should remain stable as the supply voltage, the temperature, and the parameters of the manufacturing process (the so-called "process spread") vary, in particular owing to the so-called "process corners", i.e., the limit or worst cases.
Known approaches for electrical testing of a charge pump in a memory device envisage the load current IL to be set, either inside the memory device or outside the memory device, via a testing machine or testing device.
As shown schematically in FIG. 2, in the case of internal generation of the load current in a memory device, designated as a whole by reference numeral 1, the charge pump, designated by 2 is coupled, inside the memory device 1 (i.e., in the same chip of semiconductor material), to a current generator 4, which supplies the load current IL, of a value that is known and is set beforehand, and which may vary in a desired way for the purposes of the voltage/current characterization.
The storage device 1 further includes a transfer stage 5 including a plurality of pass transistors to transfer to a testing device, designated by 6 (the so-called "tester"), the output voltage Vout generated by the charge pump 2.
As shown in FIG. 3, the current generator 4 has a current-mirror configuration, where, starting from a reference current Iref, the load current IL is generated at the output by a plurality of current-mirror stages S0 . . . Sn enabled by respective enable bits B0 . . . Bn. Each current-mirror stage S0 . . . Sn supplies on an internal node N1 a current equal to the reference current Iref multiplied by a factor 2i (i being an index that ranges from 0 to n).
The current generator 4 further comprises an output stage 6, which is also provided by a current mirror having an output transistor 8, which supplies on a drain terminal thereof the load current IL.
This known approach has, however, some drawbacks. In the first place, it requires a considerable area occupation in the integrated realization, on account of the large number of current-mirror stages required for boosting the input current (even by a factor of 100 or higher).
Moreover, this approach does not guarantee a sufficient precision for many applications in so far as the exact value of the load current IL depends upon the output voltage Vout of the charge pump 2 (see also FIG. 2). In fact, the output voltage Vout is the biasing voltage present on the drain terminal of the aforesaid output transistor 8.
In a further approach of a known type, shown in FIG. 4, the load current IL for electrical testing of the charge pump, designated once again by 2, is generated outside the memory device 1, by the testing device 6. However, also this approach is not free from drawbacks.
In particular, an imprecision arises in reading the output voltage Vout generated by the charge pump 2, which is altered by the drop on the pass transistors in the transfer stage 5 inside the memory device 1, which is used to enable the measurement path, which is traversed by the load current IL.

Circuit for generation of an electric current with a configurable value


A wire cutter for electrically cutting a path through wires to allow a land ehicle to pass therethrough is provided. The wire cutter does not use the forward motion of the vehicle to provide the actual cutting and in general can cut any thickness of wire located in front of the vehicle. The wire cutter device includes first and second conductive rods mounted in spaced relationship and connected to voltages of different values, e.g., to the positive and negative terminals of a power supply. A wire catcher device, comprising a pair of arms which are arranged in a U-shaped configuration and on which the rods are mounted, is provided for capturing wires located in the path of the vehicle and for guiding wires so captured to the rods so as to complete an electrical circuit through the rods and thus provide melting of wires so captured.

It is a common practice to use coils of barbed wire, referred to as concertina wire and having a height of several feet or more, to protect against or hinder the travel of land vehicles and troops on a battlefield. For example, such wire coils are deployed to prevent wheeled vehicles such as tanks, or personnel, or both, from passing through a strategically important area. A tank and the accompanying ground units may also have their forward progress slowed or prevented by such ground wire because the accompanying ground units can not easily pass through the wire.
A number of patents disclose the use of devices mounted on the front of a vehicle for cutting a wire or fence. Considering some of these, U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,656 (Kramb et al.) discloses a cable cutting device which comprises a elongated body member having a forward, generally horizontal portion and a rearward upwardly sweeping portion having a cutter hook for severing a cable caught in the hook. In operation, as the vehicle moves along a path and the cable is encountered, the cable will be forced into the hook, where the cable will be severed by the cutting action of the hook during the forward motion of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,770,292 (Anderson) discloses a safety device for snowmobiles which comprises a plurality of hook-like members located along a bar which conforms to the nose shape of a snowmobile. This device severs a wire in a hook during the forward motion of the snowmobile.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,316 (Stotesbery) discloses a safety device for snowmobiles comprising an upright bar which extends over the windshield of a snowmobile. The bar terminates in a hook which is utilized in cutting strands of fence wire and small branches. This device functions similarly to those described above in that forward motion of the snowmobile provides the force necessary to the hook to cut through the obstruction captured in the hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,579 (Albertson) discloses a safety device for all terrain vehicles comprising a hook-shaped member which mounts upon a windshield of a vehicle such as a snowmobile. The bottom of the hook-shaped member is secured to the vehicle by a cable which attaches, at one end, to the vehicle and at the other end to the hook-shaped member. The operation of the device is similar to that of the devices described above.

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

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A coupling system for a fifth wheel coupling includes a first plug unit having a plurality of first plug connectors, and a second plug unit having a plurality of second plug connectors to engage and transmit power and/or fluid with the first plug connectors, and an adjuster unit having a guide section configured to be brought into engagement with a retaining element on one of the plug units to transmit a force from the adjuster unit to the plug unit, which displaces the plug unit along a plug-in axis, wherein the adjuster unit can be displaced transversely and laterally to the plug-in axis or can be rotated about the plug-in axis.

The present invention concerns a coupling system for a fifth wheel coupling.
Coupling systems for fifth wheel couplings as such are known from the state of the art. It is also known and common practice to establish various line connections between the towing vehicle and the trailer for the compressed air and energy supply of the trailer of a utility vehicle. Usually elastic and preferably spiral-shaped lines are used for this purpose directly between fixed sockets on the towing vehicle and the trailer. Recently, attempts have also been made to find ways of transferring energy from the towing vehicle to the trailer directly in the area of the mechanical coupling, i.e. in the area of the coupling plate and the kingpin. So far, however, it has not been possible to provide a coupling system for a fifth wheel coupling in which a large number of different lines on the towing vehicle and on the trailer can be connected to each other and at the same time create the possibility of an automated coupling process.
The object of the present invention is to provide a coupling system for a fifth wheel coupling which, on the one hand, allows a large number of different energy supply channels and, on the other hand, permits fully automated coupling processes between the towing vehicle and the trailer.


A golf club with improved performance over a larger percentage of the strike face, including the lower extremities of the face, is disclosed and claimed. The club head has a coefficient of restitution that approaches substantial uniformity across the face. The golf club head includes a body having a face, a sole, a transition zone between the face and the sole. The transition zone has an internal surface and an external surface. Both the internal and external surfaces have radii of curvature greater than 0.2 inch. The transition zone transitions smoothly from the face, through the transition zone, to the sole. An extension may be provided adjacent the transition zone, cooperating with the transition zone to form a chamber. Dampening and/or weight inserts may be positioned within the chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club, and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a golf club with improved performance over a larger percentage of the strike face.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to make wood-type golf clubs out of metallic materials. These clubs were originally manufactured primarily by casting durable metals such as stainless steel, aluminum, beryllium copper, etc. into a unitary structure comprising a metal body, face, and hosel. As technology progressed, it became more desirable to increase the performance of the face of the club, usually by using a titanium material.
With a high percentage of amateur golfers constantly searching for more distance on their drives, the golf industry has responded by providing golf clubs specifically designed with distance in mind. The head sizes of wood-type golf clubs have increased, allowing the club to possess a higher moment of inertia, which translates to a greater ability to resist twisting on off-center hits. However, known golf club heads tend to be "hotter" toward the top of the strike face. That is, the upper portion of the club face tends to result in longer and more desirable shots than the lower section of the face. This is because known clubs tend to have an acute angle between the face and sole surfaces. The radius for a typical leading edge is in the range from 0.100 inch to 0.150 inch, while the matching core radius (that is, the radius of the interior surface of the leading edge) is from 0.100 inch to 0.125 inch. This disparity effectively thickens this region with respect to the face (>0.085 inch) and the sole (>0.060 inch). This increased wall thickness along with the acute face-sole angle increases the structural rigidity of the bottom portion of the face, which in turn reduces the flexibility and lowers the coefficient of restitution (COR) of this area.
Thus, what is needed is a club head with improved performance over a larger percentage of the strike face, especially the lower portion of the face.


A sportboard storage rack system, for holding one or more sportboards that have a narrow region and a wider region. The rack system has a first member that defines a blind recess into which a sportboard is placed, the recess having an open face with a width that is greater than the width of the narrow region of the sportboard and less than the width of the wider region of the sportboard, the recess also having an inner area in communication with the open face, the inner area having a width that is greater than the width of the open face, and less than the width of the wider region of the sportboard.

Sportboards such as snowboards, skis, wakeboards, surfboards, skateboards, mountainboards and the like have gained in popularity. These boards are typically tapered in the middle or at the ends. Many of these boards, such as snowboards and skis, have a more narrow, central "waist" region, and wider end regions. Surfboards, on the other hand, typically have a wider central region and more narrow end regions.
In order to maintain such boards in optimal condition, it is necessary to store the boards in a manner that prevents them from getting nicked or crushed. Many times, this equipment is stored in a basement or garage, along with other items. There is thus a danger of these boards being damaged in storage. Also, these boards can be quite large and thus take up substantial floor space.
These same concerns apply to the retail display of sportboards. There is thus the need for a sportboard storage rack system that solves the problems associated with typical current homeowner and retailer sportboard storage.
One proposed solution for sportboard storage is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,226. That patent discloses an apparatus with gripping members that are movable relative to a base member, to support sportboards of different widths. The gripping members are angled such that they match the angle of the flared edges of the sportboard. The gripping members grip along a portion of the edges and along a portion of the thickness of the sportboard.
Although this apparatus may be satisfactory for storage of sportboards, it is rather complex to use, expensive to make, and prone to failure. For example, since the gripping members are held to the base with a screw, the gripping members can potentially be insufficiently tightened or come loose, which can result in the board falling from the apparatus. Further, as the gripping members grip only a portion of the thickness of the board, if they are not properly placed tightly against the two edges of the board, the board can slip out of the apparatus. The multi-part apparatus is both expensive to manufacture and relatively difficult to install. Further, as the gripping members can be removed from the base, the gripping members can be lost.


A liquid crystal display is provided with a liquid crystal module. An external picture signal source outputs RGB gray scale signals for displaying picture images. The liquid crystal display module is adapted to the RGB gray scale signals to control a gamma curve. The liquid crystal display module outputs one or more rigid positive/negative gray scale voltages, and one or more variable positive/negative gray scale voltages on the basis of the controlled gamma curve, thereby displaying the desired picture images.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and a method of driving the same and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal display which controls a gamma curve to be adapted to the input gray scale data, thereby displaying a high contrast screen image without any loss in the gray scale data.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, in the case of liquid crystal displays, the required number of gray scale voltages is in direct proportion to the number of data bits. For instance, three bits of data correspond to eight gray scale voltages. Recently, it has been proposed that six or eight bits of data might be used for the display application, and hence, the required number of gray scale data should be increased as much.
Meanwhile, it is difficult to make all of such increased number of gray scale voltages in a separate manner. Therefore, the drive IC for the liquid crystal display receives only eight or nine gray scale voltages from the outside while producing the intermediary gray scale voltages in situ by way of resistance division.
For instance, ten gray scale voltages V0 to V9 are input from the outside, and the intermediary voltage values are generated within the drive IC in accordance with a predetermined rule. The sequence of the gray scale voltage values is inclined while forming a curve. As the light transmission of the liquid crystal is made in a nonlinear manner, it should be corrected to obtain a uniform light transmission characteristic. This is called the "gamma correction," and the curve used for the gamma correction is called the "gamma curve."
FIGS. 1A to 1C are graphs illustrating such gamma curves where the range of brightness is indicated as a function of the range of gray scale data. As shown in FIG. 1A, the usual TFT LCD module is established to have a gamma curve of γ=2.2.
However, such a rigid gamma curve irrespective of the input gray scale data involves several disadvantages.
In the case of a relatively bright screen image such as a scene of seashore, most of the input gray scale data involve high brightness and hence, contrast becomes to be deteriorated over the entire screen area. That is, as shown in FIG. 1B, the brightness range becomes shorter, resulting in deteriorated contrast.
As shown in FIG. 1C, in the case of a relatively dark screen image such as a scene of forest, most of the input gray scale data involve low brightness and hence, contrast again becomes to be deteriorated over the entire screen area.
For this reason, in most of LCD monitors or graphic cards, it is established that the user himself can directly select and use a suitable gamma curve.
In case the user mainly makes use of a bright screen, the gamma constant is established to be more than 2.2. By contrast, in case the user mainly uses a dark screen, the gamma constant is established to be less than 2.2. In this way, the brightness range becomes to be widened, thereby enhancing the contrast.
However, the above-like technique of controlling the gamma curve involves the following problems.
As the gamma curve is fixedly established or manually controlled, the gamma curve control should be made one by one at the respective display screen states. In the case of γ>2.2, the dark display screen becomes to be darker while deteriorating the contrast. By contrast, in the case of γ<2.2, the bright display screen becomes to be brighter while deteriorating the contrast.
Furthermore, in the case of γ>2.2, the gray scale data is taken away by a predetermined amount so that data loss is made at the color area close to black. By contrast, in the case of γ<2.2, the gray scale data is added up by a predetermined amount so that data loss is made at the color area close to white. This makes it impossible to express all of the desired gray scale data.
For instance, when zero (0) to sixty three (63) gray scale data are displayed, the gray scale data may be shifted through adding up or taking away four (4) gray scale data. In this case, zero to third gray scale data close to full black, or sixtieth to sixty third gray scale data close to full white are lost.
As the gamma curve control is made in larger scale, the amount of data irrelevant to the desired gray scale expression is increased as much.

Liquid crystal display with an adjusting function of a gamma curve


A detector circuit is to be used for measuring current by means of substantially identically wound ring core transformers, in which magnetomotive forces are induced by a main current. The magnetomotive forces are counteracted by magnetomotive forces induced by a compensating current. Two of the ring core transformers (2, 3) are magnetized in antiphase by means of a modulation signal. The detector circuit includes optionally a synchronous rectifier for providing an adjusting signal for the compensating current. According to the invention means are provided for compensating for possible differences between the two ring core transformers for the modulation signal. These means include a cornmon winding surrounding the two ring cores (2, 3), said common winding detecting a possible error signal used in a negative feedback loop which automatically seeks to establish an equilibrium.

Danish Patent No. 149238 discloses a zero-flux current transformer for measuring the current for an electromagnet in a particle accelerator. As very high current values are involved, viz. several hundred amperes, the main current is advantageously converted into a comparatively weaker measuring current which is easy to handle, and which is passed through a measuring resistor. As a result the voltage drop across the measuring resistor can be used as a measurement representing the value of the main current.
The known zero-flux current transformers are formed by a combination of a magnetic integrator and a 2nd harmonic modulator. In principle a magnetic integrator includes a ring core of a ferromagnetic material, said ring core being provided with a primary winding, a secondary winding and a sensing winding. The sensing winding communicates with the inlet terminals of an amplifier driving the secondary current through a measuring resistor. Therefore an alteration of the magnetic flux in the ring core induces a voltage in the sensing winding, and this voltage affects the amplifier in such a manner that said magnetic flux generates a compensating current which counteracts the alteration of the flux caused by the primary current. As a result the magnetomotive forces generated by the current through the primary winding are equalized by the magnetomotive forces generated by the current through the secondary winding in such a manner that a specific relationship exists between the current value in the primary winding and the current value in the secondary winding.
However, the magnetic integrator cannot handle DC and very low frequencies, and accordingly it is necessary to include a separate circuit for this function. Such a circuit is formed by a magnetic modulator including two identically wound ring cores and a driver circuit. The ring cores are driven in saturation, and at a balance/"zero flux" the current curves are symmetrical relative to zero with the result that the contents of equal harmonics are zero. Therefore it is possible to use either a direct, symmetrical detection by means of a window comparator/Schmitt trigger or a second harmonic detector using synchronous rectification of the current signal presenting the double frequency of the modulation signal. In both cases an output signal is obtained which is zero at a balancing between the primary and the secondary ampere winding number. An unbalance results in a voltage of an amplitude and a polarity which depend on the degree and polarity of said unbalance. One ring core suffices for carrying out the latter detector function, but it is necessary to involve two cores in antiphase in order to prevent the compensating circuit from suppressing the detection and in order to prevent the modulation signal from disturbing the magnetic integrator through a magnetic coupling. However, the two cores cannot be completely identical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,706 discloses a magnetic current sensor for measuring the currents in a telephone circuit, i.e. relatively weak currents. This current sensor includes an offset correction circuit, and this offset correction circuit is only capable of carrying out an offset correction while the measuring of the current has been interrupted.

Detector circuit to be used for measuring current


A computer system and method for outputting printer commands to a printer in response to a print request from an application program are presented. The printer includes a device font whose characters are addressed for printing via a single, double, or n-byte code. The text data to be printed, however, utilizes the Unicode Standard to identify its characters. The system, therefore, includes a graphics device interface, which is compatible to read the Unicode data, to invoke the printer driver functions for controlling the outputting of the text data to the printer. A printer OEM supplied minidriver contains a characterization of the printer, including information identifying the device font resident in the printer and the code used to identify the individual characters of the font. A printer driver uses this information to translate the text data to be printed from the Unicode Standard to a code capable of selecting a device font provided character. This system and method greatly enhance printer performance by utilizing, to the maximum extent possible, printer resident device fonts. This system also eliminates the need for separate printer drivers to support separate language symbol sets. Printing of both proportional and fixed pitch characters in the same device font is also provided.

This invention relates to the printing of glyphs, and more particularly to the optimization of the selection and printing of glyphs whose characters are identified by multi-byte standards.
Worldwide globalization has affected many industries, providing both tremendous opportunity and overwhelming problems. Many of these problems are related to the complex cultural differences between nations and their people, while some lie at a more basic level. One such basic problem is that of language. One industry in particular is acutely aware of this basic problem as language forms the basis for its operational systems and products. This industry is the computer industry.
While the computer industry has enjoyed a tremendous growth in the global market, problems relating to multi-language data input, processing, display, interchange, and printing have proved to be serious impediments to the realization of the potential growth of this industry on a worldwide scale. While humans are adept at mastering multiple languages, computer application programs and hardware drivers are generally written in one language to serve a primary market. Extension of these programs and drivers to other countries and other languages requires extensive redesign and re-coding, which delays the availability and increases the cost of such programs and drivers.
This problem exists because of the way that computers identify the various glyphs of worldwide languages. While computer programs operate internally on a binary basis, the requirement of a human interface forces the computers to display and print glyphs which are understandable to humans.
To allow for a readable human interface with the binary operation of the computer, various standards have been established to allow a computer to print and display human readable glyphs. One such standard is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) which utilizes a 7-bit code and 8-bit extensions to identify either 128 or 256 different glyphs respectively. While such a standard is adequate to display and print glyphs utilized in the English language, it does not include provision for many international characters used around the world. Therefore, to allow for display and printing of characters utilized in other languages, various other standards, such as the ISO International Register of Character Sets, the ISO/IEC 6937 and ISO/IEC 8859 families of standards, as well as the ISO/IEC 8879 (SGML) standards, were developed. Other national and industry standards were also developed (including code pages and character sets from Adobe, Apple, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lotus, Microsoft, NEC, WordPerfect, and Xerox).
Unfortunately, these various national and international standards cannot utilize common coding of their glyphs because only 256 separate glyphs can be addressed with 8 bits. This lack of a common representation for a given glyph code presents serious problems when international exchange of data through, for example, e-mail is considered. Specifically, if a user generates an e-mail message utilizing one national standard, transmits that message to a user in a different country whose computer operates on a different national standard, the characters displayed to the recipient of the e-mail message will quite likely be garbled. This is because his graphics device interface (GDI) will interpret the glyph codes differently than the application program from which the message was generated.
To further complicate the international computing language problem, many of the Far East languages utilize character sets which have well over 20,000 glyphs which must be displayed and printed. Unfortunately, a single byte coding of these characters will only be able to address a maximum of 256 of these over 20,000 glyphs by using all 8 bits in a single byte. Recognizing this problem, application program developers and computer hardware manufacturers have developed yet another coding standard which utilizes 2 bytes (16 bits) to identify these Far Eastern characters. However, as described above, the requirement of a separate interface type function requires additional programming, increased cost, and delayed availability of many programs originally developed for western application.
Recognizing this problem, the Unicode Consortium was formed in 1988 to develop a true global character identification standard. The goal of this consortium was to develop a standard which would allow the unique identification of all of the world""s characters for every modern and many ancient languages. As a result of their efforts, the Unicode consortium has developed the Unicode Standard, now in version 2.1, available from Addison-Wesley Developers Press 1997, with updates and modifications available on the Internet at http://www.unicode.org. This standard is hereby incorporated by reference.
The Unicode Standard utilizes a double byte system (16 bits) which allows the unique identification of 65,536 separate characters. While this number is anticipated to be more than sufficient to individually identify characters from all the world""s languages, one million additional characters are accessible through the surrogate extension mechanism, were two 16-bit code values represent a single character. While full implementation of the Unicode Standard is anticipated to overcome the problems described above, a vast majority of the computer hardware and software available and in use today does not recognize the Unicode double byte character identification standard. Much of the hardware and software existing in the western world currently only understands single byte characters, and therefore will continue to require additional coding to allow utilization on an international scale.
One such piece of computer equipment in widespread use is the computer printer. While a computer printer can print any glyph, English, international, as well as Far Eastern glyphs, the mechanism by which a majority of these international characters are printed greatly handicaps the printing performance of the device. This is because the printing of international characters is accomplished by the computer interpreting the international character as a bitmap graphic, and transmitting the bitmap image data to the printer to allow the printer to draw the international character as a bitmap picture of the character. This typically requires approximately 2,000 bytes of data to be transmitted to the printer to print a single international character. Even with the high speed, sophisticated equipment available today, this transfer of bitmap data to allow a printer to draw an international character greatly slows the printing performance of the device.
To allow for enhanced printing performance, most printers include device fonts which are resident within the printer itself and require only the unique identification of a glyph to be transferred to it to allow priority of that glyph. This simple transfer of a unique identifying code typically uses one of the above-identified 8-bit standards such as, e.g., ASCII. A font is a complete assortment of characters that have common design and size. A typical font supports more than 256 characters. So, the characters within a font must be grouped into multiple symbol sets each having only 256 characters. Therefore, the symbol set identifies a specific collection of symbols provided by the font, with each symbol set being defined with a specific application in mind. For example, a German language symbol set will have German language specific symbols, while an English language symbol set will have only English symbols. Unfortunately, current printer drivers are unable to switch between symbol sets, requiring that separate drivers be provided to allow the enhanced printing performance of device fonts for each separate language. That is to say, a computer operating in America requires a different printer driver then a computer operating in, e.g., Germany to be able to use device fonts to print. As discussed above, this increases the development time, increases the cost, and delays the availability of these programs on an international basis. This problem is acute when importation into Far East countries is considered. As described above, the shear number of characters which must be printed requires 2 bytes to identify each character. Therefore, the development time and cost are greatly increased for release of these programs in the Far Eastern countries.
In addition to the tradeoff between the speed of utilizing device fonts with the associated increased development and support costs versus the reduced printing performance of printing international characters as bitmaps. Since a font describes not only the height, pitch, style, stroke, weight, typeface, and orientation of a character, but also its spacing, reporting the widths of the characters precisely to the application is very important for correct formatting. Specifically, most western characters are printed on a proportional basis whereby the space a character takes up on the printed page is proportional to its character width. That is to say, an xe2x80x9cixe2x80x9d is given less space on a page then a xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d. Other languages, Far Eastern languages in particular, utilize fixed spacing for its characters, i.e. all characters occupy the same width regardless of the width of the individual character. If English were printed in a fixed pitch, both the xe2x80x9cixe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d would be given the same width space on the printed page, regardless of the fact that the xe2x80x9cixe2x80x9d has a much narrower width then the xe2x80x9cWxe2x80x9d. Unfortunately, current printer drivers are unable to switch between these printing formats, which results in the printed document being different than the same document viewed on a display. This is because, e.g., in Far Eastern countries documents containing both English and Far Eastern characters are all printed in fixed pitch.
There is, therefore, a need for a printer driver which is able to interpret, and therefore take advantage of, the new Unicode Standard, but which is also able to utilize the device fonts of existing printers. There is also a need for a printer driver which supports multiple symbol sets to allow full support of all characters in a font thereby precluding the need for separate printer drivers to be developed for particular countries"" applications, and which is able to switch between fixed and proportional pitch printing for eastern and western characters in the same document.
In view of the above described problems existing in the art, a preferred embodiment of the instant invention comprises a printer driver which has the capability of correctly printing all glyphs from all languages, and which does so in an optimized fashion through maximum utilization of printer device fonts. This printer driver of the instant invention includes full Unicode Standard support for double byte character identification. Advantageously, the printer driver of the instant invention is also capable of translating the double byte Unicode character standard into proper format for utilization by a printer device in printing the glyphs using, to the maximum extent possible, device fonts stored therein. Specifically, a preferred embodiment of the instant invention translates the Unicode Standard character identifiers into n-byte printer character codes to select an individual symbol set with a device font and to select an individual character within the selected individual symbol set of the device font to enhance printer performance.
In a preferred embodiment of the instant invention, the printer driver is modular and extensible. The modularity of a preferred embodiment of the instant invention allows new fonts or new glyphs to be added without requiring a change to the base driver by simply modifying an appropriate sub-module within the driver. This results in reduced support and maintenance costs as well as increased flexibility in supporting new device fonts as they are made available.
These and other features, aspects, and functions of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Printer driver and method for supporting worldwide single binary font format with built in support for double byte characters


An electrode for a lead-acid voltaic cell comprises a high surface area, high porosity 3-dimensional lattice structure wherein the core elements forming the lattice are substantially contiguous. The core elements are coated with one or more corrosion resistant and conductive materials, and solid active materials are coated on the core elements and retained within the matrix. The lattice structure acts as the current collector.

The basic electrochemistry of the lead-acid battery was discovered over 140 years ago. It is relatively simple and well documented. The active materials involved in the battery chemistry are shown in Equation 1 below.Pb+PbO2+2H2SO4←→2PbSO4+2H2O  (Eq. 1)
Lead-acid batteries are widely used worldwide due to their low cost, robustness and acceptable energy density. However, they are heavy, and contain aqueous sulfuric acid which is corrosive. The lead-acid battery is inherently heavy because the anode and cathode contain high density lead and lead-based materials. The lead-based materials are generally formed into a "paste" which is held in a rigid "grid" structure for support. The paste is shaped into a plate supported by the grid substrate. The paste is subsequently treated and cured to form a high surface area "sponge" lead in the negative plate and lead dioxide in the positive plate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,517,370 describes a method for making such a paste. As the lead-based grid structure adds considerable weight to the battery, various efforts to reduce grid/plate weight have been undertaken. Only about 50% of the active materials are actively involved in the electrochemical reactions, further compounding efforts to reduce overall battery weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,911 discloses a self-supporting porous electrode, without plates or grids to achieve a lighter battery. The electrodes are made by adding a leachable component to a molten lead mixture to form a solid in the required configuration, and removing the leachable component to create a porous electrode with a network of relatively uniformly distributed voids. The walls of the pores are then oxidized to form the electrochemically active material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,306 describes a battery with at least a portion of the positive plate coated with electrically conductive doped tin oxide, where the positive plate can be in the form of organic or inorganic fibers in, for example, woven form. The tin oxide coating increases the conductivity. Such design enhances battery performance by allowing some conductivity to the non-conducting lead sulfate active material. U.S. Pat. No. 7,060,391 teaches the use of a reticulate carbon substrate having pores and a lead-tin containing alloy applied to such a substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,935 describes the use of electrically conductive "wiskers" selected from carbon, graphite or potassium titanate mixed within the active materials of the negative and positive electrodes to provide lower weight, charge and volume efficiency, and improved resistance to sulfation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,261 describes a method for producing a sponge metal made from nickel, copper or lead using a polymer sponge as a template which is impregnated with a solution of nitrite or sulfate of the metal. The object of the invention was to create a microporous metal structure for use as an electrode in portable alkaline storage cells. No reference is made to the electrochemical or corrosion protection of such an electrode in a highly oxidizing and corrosive environment, as is present in a lead-acid battery, nor is there any reference to the coating of such a metal substrate with any active materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,017 describes a lead-acid battery grid design that reduces the total weight of the battery by providing for an electrode grid comprising a reticulate made of an organic or inorganic compound (i.e. a sheet of glass fibers). Such a design allows for a battery weight reduction, especially for the negative electrode. A lead or lead alloy electricity collecting part covers part of the reticulate, where the grid can be covered with a thin film of a lead alloy on the reticulate surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,617,071 teaches a method whereby the battery plate is covered with a conductive polymer which is then coated with nanoscale particles of active material. Such design serves to reduce the weight of the battery and minimize positive grid corrosion. The design provides for the substantial utilization of the active material, as the nanoparticles are entrained and held within the conductive polymer skeleton and provide a large surface area for reaction. The conductive polymer has a rigid porous structure to promote the diffusion of acid and ionic species, but is still able to act as a "spring" during charging/discharging as the active materials change volume. However, the disclosed approach still requires a grid plate having at least one surface. Further, the conductive polymer skeleton limits the size of the active particles held therein to "nanoscale size", thereby greatly limiting the mass of held particles, and thus the energy density of this design. The small size of the porous polymer structure limits the diffusion of the acid and ionic species, with the potential of the particles clogging the nano-sized pores during the discharge cycle, thereby limiting the rate of charge/discharge. Additionally, since the nanoparticles are added to the polymer after it is polymerized on the battery grid, the depth to which the nanoparticles can be entrained is greatly limited by the nano-sized pores within the polymer.
US Patent Publication No. 2009/0269658 A1 proposes a grid structure comprised of a low density material such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which is then coated with a metal such as copper or nickel, followed by a coating of lead/lead alloy, followed by electrodepositing a layer of a conductive polymer such as polyanaline. However, such design still requires a grid/plate structure onto which the active and protective layers are coated. No reference is made to dealing with the reactive materials on the multi-coated substrate or the electrochemistry and reactions of the reactive materials.
To obtain reasonable energy storage capacity, porous positive and negative plates with high surface area are preferable. This can be achieved by applying a paste (ie. lead and lead oxide) over a lead-based grid. Such "pasted plates" are made porous by adding leachable materials to the active materials, which are subsequently removed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,423 discloses the addition of magnesium, zinc or magnesium to the lead or lead-alloy, which is prepared by casing, then pulverized, with the additives finely dispersed in the lead or lead-alloy particles which were added to the paste. The additives are then leached by sulfuric acid to create a porous lead or lead-alloy matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,300 describes the use of ultra-thin non-perforated electrode plates coated with an ultra-thin layer of active material with thin absorptive separator material layers. This arrangement provides for a large ratio of plate surface to active material, low internal resistance and heat dissipation during discharge. However, over time, such plates are subject to clogging of the pores by growth of non-conductive lead sulfate crystals. Such pore-clogging limits the rate of charge and discharge, and reduces cycle lifetime. These non-conductive crystals continue to grow and aggregate over repetitive discharge cycles, becoming increasingly difficult to convert back to lead-dioxide during the charge cycle. The sulfuric acid electrolyte becomes unable to penetrate the now-clogged pores and the electrical conductivity to the grid (collector) plate is lost, increasing the internal resistance and slowing the charge rate. This so-called "sulfation" process is a key limiting factor in battery charge/discharge capacity, ultimately causing the battery to fail. Various techniques have been developed to limit battery sulfation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,592,094 B2 discloses a method for introducing mechanical excitation into the battery to minimize sulfation. That patent provides an extensive review of the prior art, which relate to methods for inducing electrical pulses to remove or reverse the sulfation process.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,979,513 describes a battery current collector having a carbon foam made from a carbonized wood substrate. The active materials are disposed on the carbon foam collector. No reference is made to protecting the surface of the carbon foam. Accordingly, such a design is prone to corrosion of the carbon material in the highly oxidative and acidic conditions at the positive electrode of a lead-acid battery, resulting in CO2 generation, and gradual loss of the carbon foam support structure during repetitive charge/discharge cycles. Additionally, this patent teaches the use of a paste or slurry of the active materials applied to the current collector, using a paste-containing transfer sheet, dipping or painting method, which approaches are limited to coating relatively large pores to a limited depth, where the foam collector acts essentially as a grid support for the active material paste or slurry.
US Patent Publication No. 2009/0269666 A1 discloses an electrochemical cell, including a lead-acid battery cell, where the carbon fiber structures are used to fabricate a grid/current collector to achieve weight reduction of the battery and to increase charging rate using a large surface area to active material. This patent teaches the use of a buffer layer between the graphite fibers and active materials where said buffer layer is comprised of a ternary carbide (ie. Ti3SiC2 or Ti2PbC), or noble metals such as lead, gold, silver, tantalum, platinum, palladium or rhodium. In one embodiment, thin current collecting plates are comprised of the carbide alloy and are reinforced with graphite fibers and active materials electroplated on each side. The approach still requires a current collecting plate and active materials which are electroplated only onto the surface of the grid. No reference is made to active materials deposited to or held within a 3-dimensional porous lattice structure.
Another salient issue of lead-acid battery chemistry is that the active materials at the positive and negative plates change dimensions in the x-y and z planes during the charge and discharge cycle. During the discharge cycle, the positive plate active material (lead-dioxide) converts to lead sulfate, where the lead sulfate structure expands by about 92%. Similarly, the negative plate active material (pure lead) also converts to lead sulfate on discharge, expanding by about 164%. During the charge cycle, the lead sulfate at both the positive and negative plate contracts back to lead-dioxide and pure lead, respectively. Such physical expansion-contraction of the plates create mechanical stresses within the battery, weakening the adhesion of the active material in the grid, and reducing the electrical continuity.
The lead-acid battery contains an aqueous solution of corrosive sulfuric acid of about 33% (v/v) at full charge. The sulfuric acid acts as an ionic conductive electrolyte and also takes part in the charge/discharge electrochemical reaction. Since the voltages required for complete battery re-charge are above that for the hydrolysis of water, oxygen is generated at the positive plate and hydrogen at the negative plate. The battery thus requires gas venting and servicing to replace lost water. This "open" gas system is generally referred to as the "flooded design", which requires that the battery be maintained upright. The combination of the corrosive acid, and generation of oxygen and hydrogen during the charge cycle, represent a safety hazard. To resolve this issue, extensive efforts have been dedicated to fabricate so-called Valve-Regulated Lead-Acid Batteries (VRLA) containing a "fumed silica gel-acid mix" or "adsorptive glass fiber mat (AGM)" separators to entrain the corrosive sulfuric acid. Such batteries are sealed, and can be used in any orientation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,861 is the first one to disclose a method for fabricating such a sealed, maintenance-free lead-acid cell by utilizing an "oxygen-cycle".
The separator is a key component in the VRLA battery, determining properties such as oxygen transport, electrolyte distribution and plate expansion. Extensive work has been done to optimize such separators. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,509 describes a multilayer separator comprised of a microporous polymer layer and at least one glass fibrous layer to provide for improved tensile strength and oxygen transfer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,218 describes a separator comprised of coarse and fine particles of hydrous silicon dioxide. Such a design creates a large specific surface area (20-400 m2/g), a porosity of 85-90%, with gas channels that permit efficient reaction for oxygen absorption.
A detailed discussed of VRLA-AGM separators is given in Chapter 7, pages 183-204, in an edited book by D. A. J. Rand, P. T. Moseley, J. Garche and C. D. Parker, titled "Valve-regulated Lead-Acid Batteries, 2004, Elsevier).
A key feature of sealed batteries is that they have a safety release pressure valve, and a mechanism for allowing oxygen and hydrogen to recombine. In the AGM design, such recombination occurs because the glass microfiber separator can adsorb large amounts of electrolyte and at the same time maintain some porosity, such that about 95% is electrolyte, with the balance void space available for rapid gas transport. Rapid oxygen transfer is not viable directly through the aqueous electrolyte due the slow diffusion rate of gas through fluid electrolyte. During charging, the electrogenerated oxygen can diffuse from the positive plate to the negative plate for oxidation with (unreacted) pure lead and for recombination with hydrogen (if excessively generated under conditions of overcharge). Use of an excess of active material at the negative plate will mitigate the generation of hydrogen. Also, use of purified active materials tends to suppress the oxygen cycle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lead-acid battery. The electrode according to the invention avoids the use of a grid or support plate and the active materials are substantially converted during each charge and discharge cycle. The invention reduces the overall battery weight, provides increased specific energy, minimizes sulfation, increases the rate of charge/discharge, decreases acid stratification and increases cycle lifetime as compared to typical prior art lead-acid batteries.
These and other objects of the invention will be appreciated by reference to the summary of the invention and to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment that follow, it being understood that not all objects are necessarily simultaneously attained by each aspect of the invention, and that not all objects are necessarily fulfilled by each claim of the application.

Lead acid cell with active materials held in a lattice


The present invention is a method and apparatus for regulating the velocity of a member constrained to move about a predefined path. The invention comprises a magnetic patch or strip, located on a surface of the member, and having a plurality of magnetic signals recorded thereon, along with a magnetic detector, positioned in proximity to said magnetic strip, for sensing the magnetic signals recorded thereon, during movement of the member, and producing an output signal in response to the magnetic signals. The invention further comprises means, operatively connected to impart a driving force to the member, and control means for regulating said driving means so that the member is driven at a velocity which is a function of the output signal.

A serious problem in document reproduction machines is a phenomena referred to as "banding". Banding is a defect observable in output copies resulting from variations in the speed of the moving photoreceptor during, for example, the exposure of the photoreceptor by a raster output scanning device such as a laser. The velocity variations create a misplacement of scan image lines in the slow scan or process direction. For many printer applications, the output copies must be virtually band free, requiring holding velocity variations to less than one percent, which is in the order of approximately one micron spatial variation at certain frequencies and for certain systems. In addition, newer printers incorporating light scanning sources, such as Raster Output Scanners (ROS) or image bars, create successive color exposure frames on a photoreceptor during a single pass. The leading edges of each of the successive color images must be in registration, within tolerances of approximately 125 microns. This precise tolerance requirement, in turn, necessitates a very accurate spacing between exposure frames. Hence, it is necessary to accurately control the velocity and position of the photoreceptor at all times during the electrophotographic process.
Heretofore, various methods have been employed to control the velocity of endless belts, such as a photoreceptor, of which the following disclosures which may be relevant:
U.S. Pat. No. A-3,581,888 Patentee: Kelly et al. Issued: June 1, 1971
The relevant portions of the foregoing patents may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. A-3,581,888 discloses a memory system for storing positional information of pieces of ore moving, on the surface of a belt, through a scanning zone. The system includes a belt speed sensor that is preferably a magnetic pickup positioned so as to detect the passing of slugs of magnetic material fastened at spaced intervals on the belt. The output of the belt speed sensor is a pulse series which is proportional to the speed of the belt.
U.S. Pat. No. A-3,790,271 teaches a system for controlling the processing steps of an electrostatic printing machine which employs an endless photoreceptor belt. The various processes are controlled in response to control pulses. The control pulses are generated by a magnetic pickup aligned with a drive gear operatively coupled, via a drive chain or timing belt, to the photoconductive belt. Programming control of the machine processing steps are then accomplished in response to the control pulses.
U.S. Pat. No. A-3,930,725 describes a multiple sheet feeding system for an electrostatographic printing machine. Similar to U.S. Pat. No. A-3,790,271, the system employs a magnetic pickup, aligned with a drive gear used to drive the photoconductive member, to produce control signals. The control signals are used to enable sheet conveying mechanisms to properly register sheets in timed relationship with the photoconductive member.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,045,819 teaches an audio/video recording and playback mechanism which employs a pair of recording belts, one for the video information and the other for the audio information. The video belt is described as having properly spaced holes which are detected by an electro-optical sensor to control the speed of the belt. In another embodiment, a magnetic signal of a known frequency is located on the belt, and read out by a magnetic head, in order to obtain tight speed control.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,072,989 discloses an audio-visual presentation device which includes a magnetic cassette tape drive and a remotely controllable slide projector. A first track of the tape contains audio signals, while a second track of the tape contains synchronization signals which are used to control the remote slide projector so that the visual presentation remains in synchronization with the audio presentation.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,263,627 teaches an electronic tachometer for determining the speed of a servo head while traversing a series of magnetic tracks on a magnetic disk. By detecting the interaction between the head and the tracks, where the head detects a maximum signal level at the center of each track, the radial speed of the head can be determined.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,594,618 describes, as prior art, a recording mode signal (CTL) which indicates whether the recording has been done in a standard or long-time mode. More specifically, the CTL signal is read from a tape and used to reset a counter which counts pulses from a capstan motor used to drive the tape. The recording mode is determined as a function of the maximum count achieved between successive CTL signals.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,634,404 discloses a method of controlling the rotation speed of a driven shaft by varying the diameter of one or more variable diameter pulleys about which a V-belt is entrained. A magnetic pickup, coupled to a controller, is used to sense the position of a gear affixed in rotational association with the driven pulley. The magnetic pickup generates a speed signal in response to the projections of the gear, whereby the signals represent the rotational speed of the driven pulley.
U.S. Pat. No. A-4,675,752 teaches a method and apparatus for recording or reproducing slow motion picture images. A control pulse signal (CP) is read from magnetic tape by a control head. The CP signal is then passed to a monostable multivibrator, the output of which is used to control the voltage applied to the tape drive system to reduce resonant vibration of the tape.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for regulating the velocity of a belt moving in a recirculating path. The apparatus comprises a magnetic strip, located on a surface of the belt, having a plurality of magnetic signals recorded thereon, along with a magnetic detector, positioned in proximity to said magnetic strip, for sensing the magnetic signals recorded thereon, during movement of the belt, and producing an output signal in response to the magnetic signals. The apparatus also includes control means, responsive to the output signal, for regulating said driving means so that the belt is driven at a velocity which is a function of the output signal.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for monitoring the position of a member moving along a predefined path. The apparatus comprises: a magnetic strip located on a surface of the member, said magnetic strip having at least one track suitable for recording magnetic signals thereon; a magnetic read head, operatively aligned to detect the magnetic signals recorded on the track during movement of the member; and means, responsive to a frequency at which the magnetic signals are detected on the track, for controlling the speed of the member.
Pursuant to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing machine for producing copies of an original document, comprising a movable charge retentive member including a magnetic recording strip on a surface thereof. Also included in the apparatus are processing means for generating and developing a latent image on the charge retentive member and transferring the developed image from the charge retentive member to a copy sheet, and means for controlling the operation of said processing means in response to a signal recorded on said magnetic recording strip.

Motion control system for printing machines


Embodiments include methods, computer systems and computer program products for selecting a new redundancy scheme for data relocation in computer system having multiple data storage tiers and multiple redundancy schemes. Aspects include: receiving, at a processor of computer system, a request to relocate a data object to a destination data storage tier, retrieving a first and a second data reliability thresholds, redundancy scheme and data access pattern information of the data object, generating a set of available redundancy schemes for the data object with at least one copy on the destination data storage tier, calculating total cost for each of available redundancy schemes using performance cost, re-encoding cost, and storage cost for each of available redundancy schemes generated, selecting a redundancy scheme, and relocating data object to selected destination data storage tier by re-encoding the data object using the selected redundancy scheme.

The present disclosure relates generally to a data storage system, and more particularly to methods and computer program products of selecting a new redundancy scheme for data relocation.
Multi-tiered data storage systems are increasingly being used for reducing storage costs. Each data storage tier includes a different type of storage device, e.g., hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), magnetic tapes, optical discs, and cloud. The different storage devices are not only different in terms of their costs, accessibility, speed, and performance characteristics, but are also different in terms of their reliability characteristics. Therefore, a different redundancy scheme may be required when data is moved from one data storage tier to another to ensure the same level of protection for the data against device failures.
Depending on the applications, data may be frequently moved from one data storage tier to another for reasons of performance, accessibility, security, and reliability. For example, the data stored in an SSD can be accessed much quicker than the data stored in an HDD. Therefore, the data in the HDD may be moved to the SSD to increase the access speed. If the data had a certain redundancy scheme when stored on HDDs, e.g., 3-way replication, it has a certain level of protection assessed by an appropriate reliability measure such as the mean time to data loss (MTTDL) or the expected annual fraction of data loss (EAFDL). When it is required that there be at least one copy of the data on SSD, e.g., for performance reasons, then there are several options available, e.g., move all 3 copies of the data from the HDDs to the SSDs, or move 1 copy to SSD but keep the remaining 2 copies on HDDs. It could even be that the data is stored using a Reed-Solomon (RS) erasure code on SSD with one copy on HDD.
Each of these options results in a different level of protection for the data, a different level of storage efficiency, and a different level of performance. Therefore, it is desirable to have a storage system that can automatically change the redundancy scheme when data is moved from one data storage tier to another by considering various factors including data reliability, storage efficiency, performance, and effort required to re-encode data.
Therefore, heretofore unaddressed needs still exist in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Methods and computer program products of selecting a new redundancy scheme for data relocation

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A plastic functional element comprising a lower electrode and a transparent upper electrode provided perpendicular to the contact surface between a first oxidation reduction material membrane and a second oxidation reduction material membrane, the oxidation reduction potentials of which being different each other, wherein, based on the difference in oxidation reduction potentials between the oxidation reduction material membranes, by irradiating light to the contact surface or applying a voltage between the electrodes, the condition of electron in the oxidation reduction material is controlled, so as to store information of incident light or applied voltage, and an operational function responding to an input voltage is given, thereby the minimization in size is possible to realize a high density and high speed operation.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic functional element having memory function and operational function controlled by at least one of light and electric field, and more particularly to an organic memory element and organic operational element.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the field of an element comprising an organic membrane provided with a memory function and a switching function controllable by both light irradiation and electric field, elements which is based on insulator-metal transition resulting from doping of conducting polymer has been already invented and established. In this case, as the method for controlling doping process by light or electric field, an electro-chemical method using solid electrolyte or electrolyte aqueous solution or optical dissociation of solid electrolyte can be used. Then the conducting polymer can be used for a memory element and a switching element based on remarkable change in the absorption spectra and conductivity due to insulator-metal transition by doping.
FIG. 1 shows an example for describing the structure of the above mentioned organic optical memory element or the organic optical switching element based on doping to conducting polymer proposed by Katsumi Yoshino et al on Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 24, p. L373, 1985.
In the figure, the electrode 1 comprising an Indium-Tin coated glass plate, a conducting polymer membrane 2 of polyacetylene, a polymer matrix membrane 13 of polystyrene or the like containing triphenylsulfonium hexafluoroarsenate salt or the like, and a transparent electrode 4 comprising Indium-Tin coated quartz plate are shown.
Then the operation of this type of element shown in FIG. 1 is described. Upon the irradiation of light 5 with the wave length ranging from visible to ultraviolet from a Hg lamp onto the element, triphenylsulfonium hexafluoroarsenate salt contained in the polymer membrane 3 is optically dissociated, hexafluoroarsenate ions are doped on the polyacetylene in the conducting polymer membrane 2, and color changes from red to blue. The blue color is maintained for three months or more under an open circuit condition in air. By applying a negative bias voltage (1.2 V) on the polyacetylene of the conducting polymer membrane 2, the hexafluoroarsenate ions doped in the polyacetylene are electrochemically dissociated and the color turns to red again. Based on this mechanism, the element can be used as an erasable optical memory.
Then by applying a positive bias voltage on the conducting polymer membrane 2 of polyacetylene, triphenylsulfonium hexafluoroarsenate salt in the polymer membrane 3 is electrically dissociated to dope hexafluoroarsenate ions in the conducting polymer membrane 2 of polyacetylene, and the color changes from red to blue. By short-circuiting or applying a negative bias voltage on the conducting polymer membrane 2 of polyacetylene, the color changes from blue to red on the same reason as mentioned above. Based on this mechanism, a switching element controllable with light irradiation and electric field is provided.
Because the conventional organic memory element or the organic switching element is based on the doping of carriers caused from ion transfer as described above, the writing and reading time is limited when this element is used as a memory element and the switching time for a switching element is limited. In addition, since this type of element can not be made small in size due to the material properties of polymer, the element has some limitation to use for an integrated circuit due to these difficulties.


A method and system for burst profiling an application program. The native application executes free and unfettered for a first time period. Then, the native application is halted and is instrumented by a dynamic translator. The dynamic translator translates and instruments code blocks of the application as the application is executing. The instrumented application executes and gathers profile data for a second time period. When the second time period expires, the dynamic translator continues to execute the instrumented application until it reaches a known state. Then, the instrumented application is halted at that known state. Next, the native application resumes execution from the known state. This process repeats until either the application finishes execution or enough profile data has been collected.

A computer program is typically written in a high-level programming language. This high-level program, or source code, is then compiled by a compiler into object code. The object code is further processed and eventually turned into an executable program.
When compiling the source code, it is important that the compiler generate object code that optimizes use of computer resources. Often, it is necessary to examine the execution of the compiled program to determine when and where optimization is required. A "profiler" is a software tool that examines the execution of a program. By examining a profiler's output, a programmer can learn which regions of the profiled program will benefit from additional optimization.
Generally speaking, techniques used by current software-based profilers can be divided into two camps: sampling and instrumenting. In sampling, the profiled program is periodically halted and its state is then examined. Given enough samples, sampling can obtain a relatively good representation of the program's behavior.
In instrumenting, code is added to the profiled program. When the program is executed, the instrumentation code gathers statistics about the program's behavior. Since the instrumentation code is present and operating during the entire execution of the program, instrumenting can produce extremely detailed profile information.
Both of these techniques, however, suffer significant drawbacks. Sampling only provides states of the program at particular instants in time. Sampling provides only little, if any, information about how the program reached each particular state. Instrumenting, on the other hand, provides detailed information about the state of the program, but is extremely computationally expensive. That is, an instrumented application executes very slowly.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a profiler that provides detailed information at a low cost.
That is, there is a need in the art for a profiling technique that produces the detailed information available through instrumenting while executing at the speed associated with sampling.

Use of dynamic translation to burst profile computer applications


A fuel cell for a fuel cell generator including a housing including a gas flow path for receiving a fuel from a fuel source and directing the fuel across the fuel cell. The fuel cell includes an elongate member including opposing first and second ends and defining an interior cathode portion and an exterior anode portion. The interior cathode portion includes an electrode in contact with an oxidant flow path. The exterior anode portion includes an electrode in contact with the fuel in the gas flow path. The anode portion includes a catalyst material for effecting fuel reformation along the fuel cell between the opposing ends. A fuel reformation control layer is applied over the catalyst material for reducing a rate of fuel reformation on the fuel cell. The control layer effects a variable reformation rate along the length of the fuel cell.

A fuel cell generator converts chemical energy directly into electrical energy. Most fuel cell generators comprise a cathode or air electrode and an anode or fuel electrode separated by an electrolyte. At the cathode, oxygen is ionized and the oxide ions migrate through the electrolyte to the anode. At the anode, hydrogen or hydrocarbons react with the oxide ions to form water and release electrons. The released electrons then travel from the anode out of the fuel cell generator through a load and are returned to the cathode, thereby completing the circuit and providing an amount of direct electrical current. It is well known in the art that ion quantities can vary and additional or other constituents can be used.
Fuel cell generators typically comprise a plurality of electrically interconnected fuel cells. The fuel cell generators usually use a hydrogen-bearing and/or carbon-bearing fuel (i.e. natural gas, methane, carbon monoxide) at the anode, and an oxidant (i.e. air, oxygen) at the cathode. A schematic arrangement of one such fuel cell generator, which uses solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,468.
Because fuel cell generators are efficient, use plentiful and renewable fuels, do not require direct combustion, and produce low undesirable emissions, they are a very attractive energy conversion device. However, although the basic electrochemical processes and schematic arrangement of fuel cell generators are well understood, engineering solutions necessary to lower fabrication costs and make such generators an economical alternative to fossil fuel and other power generation systems remain elusive.
One technical problem with conventional fuel cell generators involves a reformation of the hydrocarbon fuels, which are typically reformed to produce CO, H2, CO2 and H2O as gaseous reformation products. The gaseous reformation products, which are also called reformate, form a suitable fuel gas for the operation of the fuel cell generator to produce electricity.
The process of reformation may be carried out externally or internally (i.e. inside or outside the high-temperature fuel cell module). External reformers, which are known for performing the external reformation process, can be expensive and also take up valuable space in and around the fuel cell generator. One type of fuel reforming SOFC uses pre-reformers and separate stack reformer boards (SRBs) to reform the fuel before reaching the anode. However, the SRBs are expensive and thus it would be preferable to avoid use of SRBs in generators by providing a less expensive alternative.
Prior art arrangements for developing SOFCs having internal fuel reformers may result in excessive cooling of the closed end of the fuel cell due to the fuel reformation, which may decrease performance of the closed end of the fuel cell. Further, excessive cooling of the closed end of the fuel cell may result in high levels of thermal stress on the fuel cell bundles, which may cause damage to the generator.
There is a continuing need for a fuel cell generator construction that addresses thermal stress factors associated with operation of fuel cell bundles, while providing sufficient fuel reformation for the production of electrical energy.

Fuel cell generator with fuel electrodes that control on-cell fuel reformation


Provided is a pesticidal Flavobacterium strain and bioactive compositions and metabolites derived therefrom as well as their methods of use for controlling pests.

Natural products are substances produced by microbes, plants, and other organisms. Microbial natural products offer an abundant source of chemical diversity, and there is a long history of utilizing natural products for pharmaceutical purposes. Despite the emphasis on natural products for human therapeutics, where more than 50% are derived from natural products, only 11% of pesticides are derived from natural sources. Nevertheless, natural product pesticides have a potential to play an important role in controlling pests in both conventional and organic farms. Secondary metabolites produced by microbes (bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi) provide novel chemical compounds which can be used either alone or in combination with known compounds to effectively control insect pests and to reduce the risk for resistance development. There are several well-known examples of microbial natural products that are successful as agricultural insecticides (Thompson et al., 2000; Arena et al., 1995; Krieg et al. 1983).
The development of a microbial pesticide starts with the isolation of a microbe in a pure culture. It then proceeds with efficacy and spectrum screening using in vitro, in vivo or pilot scale trials in a greenhouse and in the field. At the same time, active compounds produced by the microbe are isolated and identified. For the commercialization of a microbial pesticide, the microbe has to be economically produced by fermentation at an industrial scale and formulated with biocompatible and approved additives to increase efficacy and to maximize the ease of application.
Nematodes are non-segmented, bilaterally symmetric, worm-like invertebrates that posses a body cavity and complete digestive system but lack respiratory and circulatory systems. Their body wall contains a multilayer cuticle, a hypodermis with four longitudinal cords, and internal musculature (Chitwood, 2003). Their body contents are mostly occupied by digestive and reproductive systems. Nematodes may be classified as either parasitic or free living. Parasitic nematodes may be classified by their hosts (e.g., plant parasites). Free living nematodes may be classified according to their feeding habits and include the following groups: (1) omnivores; (2) bacterial feeders; (3) fungal feeders and (4) predators.
Plant parasitic nematodes generally feed on underground parts of plants, such as roots, bulbs, and tubers as well as above ground parts of the plants, such as leaves and stems. Annual crop losses caused by plant-parasitic nematodes have been estimated to exceed US $100 billion (Koenning et al., 1999). Examples of plant parasitic nematodes include but are not limited to nematodes belonging to Meloidogyne spp. (e.g., root-knot nematodes); Pratylenchus spp. (e.g., lesion nematodes) Heterodera spp. (e.g., cyst nematodes); Globodera spp. (cyst nematodes); Ditylenchus spp. (e.g., stem and bulb nematodes); Tylenchulus spp. (e.g., citrus nematodes), Xiphinema spp. (e.g., dagger nematodes), Radopholus spp. (burrowing nematodes); Rotylenchulus spp. (e.g. reniform nematodes); Helicotylenchus spp. and Scutellonema spp (e.g. spiral nematodes); Belonolaimus spp. (e.g., sting nematodes); Bursaphelenchus spp. (e.g. pine wilt nematodes); Hoplolaimus spp. (lance nematodes), Longidorus spp. (needle nematodes); Nacobbus spp. (false root-knot nematodes); and Aphelenchoides spp (foliar nematodes). The most efficient means for controlling nematodes is via nematicides that inhibit egg hatching, juvenile motility and/or plant infectivity. The development of chemical control for plant-parasitic nematodes is challenging because of both environmental and physiological reasons: (1) most phytoparasitic nematodes live in a confined area in soil near the roots and hence, delivery of a chemical nematicide is difficult and (2) the outer surface of nematodes is a poor biochemical target, and is impermeable to many organic molecules (Chitwood, 2003). Moreover, delivery of toxic compounds by an oral route is nearly impossible because most plant parasitic nematode species ingest material only after they have penetrated and infected plant roots. Therefore, nematicides have tended to be broad-spectrum toxins with high volatility or with other chemical and physical properties promoting their motility in soil.
During the past decade, halogenated hydrocarbons (e.g. ethylene dibromide, methyl bromide) have been the most heavily used nematicides around the world. Due to their high human toxicity and detrimental effects on stratospheric ozone layer these compounds were banned in the Montreal Protocol but the use of methyl bromide for nematode and plant pathogen control was extended in the US due to lack of substitution products. Along with organophosphates, carbamates are the most effective non-fumigant nematicides. Unfortunately, most carbamates such as aldicarb and oxamyl are also highly toxic. As of August 2010, the manufacturer of aldicarb, Bayer, has agreed to cancel all product registrations on potatoes and citrus in the US, and aldicarb will be completely phased out by the end of August, 2018. Recently, abamectin—a mixture of two avermectins produced by a soil actinomycete, Streptomyces avermitilis—has been registered for nematicidal use (Faske and Starr, 2006). Syngenta markets this active ingredient as a seed treatment for cotton and vegetables under the trade name Avicta®.
Several microbial plant/nematode pathogens have been reported to be active against plant parasitic nematodes (Guerena, 2006). These biological control agents include the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, Burkholderia cepacia, Pasteuria penetrans and P. usgae. Pasteuria Biosciences has launched P. usgae against sting nematodes on turf in the southeastern US. Nematicidal fungi include, but are not limited to, Trichoderma harzianum, Hirsutella rhossiliensis, H. minnesotensis, Pochonia chlamydosporia (synonym. Verticillium chlamydosporum), Arthrobotrys dactyloides, and Paecilomyces lilanicus (marketed as BioAct® and MeloCon® by Prophyta). Another fungus, a killed fungus, Myrothecium verrucaria is available in a commercial formulation, DiTera®, by Valent Biosciences.
Other commercial bionematicides include Deny® and Blue Circle® (B. cepacia), Activate® (Bacillus chitinosporus) (Quarles, 2005) and an Israeli product BioNem® (Bacillus firmus) (now marketed by Bayer as a seed treatment VOTiVO®) (Terefe et al. 2009). It has been hypothesized that the detrimental effect of microbial isolates on nematode egg hatching, juvenile motility and infectivity can be attributed to toxins produced by these organisms (Hallman and Sikora, 1996; Marrone et al, 1998; Siddiqui and Mahmood, 1999; Saxena et al., 2000; Meyer and Roberts, 2002), ability to parasitize or even trap nematodes (Siddiqui and Mahmood, 1996; Kerry, 2001; Jaffee and Muldoon, 1995), induction of systemic resistance (Hasky-Gunther et al., 1998), changing nematode behavior (Sikora and Hoffman-Hergarter, 1993) or interfering with plant recognition (Oostendorp and Sikora, 1990).
Botanical nematicides such as plant extracts and essential oils can be used to control nematodes (Kokalis-Burrelle and Rodriguez-Kabana, 2006). Chitwood has summarized the options of using plant-derived compounds for nematode control in his recent review article (Chitwood, 2002). Siddiqui and Alam (2001) demonstrated that potting soil amended with plant parts from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) and Chinaberry tree (Melia azadirah) inhibited root-knot nematode development of tomatoes. However, no neem products are currently registered in the US for use against nematodes. A new botanical product from Chile (Nema-Q®) based on a Quillaja saponaria tree extract containing saponins (bidesmosidic derivatives of quillajic acid substituted with a trisaccharide at C-3 and an oligosaccharide in C-28) has been recently registered as a an organic nematicide through US EPA and listed for organic farming by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). It is marketed by Brandt.
Crop rotation to a non-host crop is often adequate by itself to prevent nematode populations from reaching economically damaging levels (Guerena 2006). Allelochemicals are plant-produced compounds that affect the behavior of organisms in the plant's environment. Examples of nematocidal allelochemicals include polythienyls, glucisonolates, alkaloids, lipids, terpenoids, steroids, triterpenoids and phenolics (Kokalis-Burrelle and Rodriguez-Kabana, 2006; Chitwood, 2002). When grown as cover crops, bioactive compounds from allelopathic plants are exuded during the growing period and/or released to the soil during biomass decomposition. Brassica crops can be used for biofumigation—a pest management strategy based on the release of biocidal volatiles during decomposition of soil-incorporated tissue (Kirkegaard and Sarwar, 1998). However, studies of Roubtsova et al. (2007) on the effect of decaying broccoli tissue on M. incognita numbers indicated that for proper control, thorough mixing of plant tissue with the complete nematode-infected soil volume was necessary.
The future of nematode control in agricultural soils relies on two factors: development of nematode resistant crops and the discovery and development of new, broad-spectrum, less toxic nematicides. The cost of research, development and registration of a new chemical nematicide is extremely high (>$200 million), which limits their development. Of the 497 new active ingredients registered for use as a pesticide from 1967 to 1997, only seven were registered as nematicides (Aspelin and Grube, 1999). Besides conventional chemical methods, RNA interference (RNAi) has been proposed as a method for controlling nematodes. Use of gene silencing via RNAi was first demonstrated on Caenorhabditis elegans and quite recently also for plant parasitic nematodes such as Meloidogyne spp. (Bakhetia et al. 2005). The search for new microbial strains to use as sources for biological nematicides is an important goal in order to reduce the significant economic damage caused by plant-parasitic nematodes as well as to reduce the use of toxic compounds currently registered for nematode control.
According to Sasser and Freckman (1987), crop losses by nematodes range from 8 to 20% on major crops around the world. Plant parasitic nematodes can cause considerable crop damage with annual losses estimated at $87 billion worldwide (Dong and Zhang, 2006). Fumigants such as methyl bromide are very effective in controlling both soil-borne plant diseases and nematodes but due to the high mammalian toxicity, ozone depleting effects and other residual effects, the use of methyl bromide has already been banned in various countries and its complete withdrawal from the market is planned by international agreement (Oka et al., 2000). Chemical alternatives such as methyl iodide, 1,3-Dichloropropene, and cholorpicrin also have issues with mammalian and environmental safety. Chemical non-fumigant nematicides are being phased out and banned. Most recently, the US-EPA announced that aldicarb was being phased out.
Uses of Flavobacterium and Products Produced Therefrom
Flavobacterium sp., a gram negative bacterium, is a member of the Flavobacteriaceae family (reviewed in Bernardet et al., 2006a and 2006b). Species of Flavobacterium have been found to be pathogenic to fish, algae and soil organism. Flavobacterium has been found to produce a variety of enzymes involved in the degradation of agar, alginate, chitin, pectin, xylan, keratin, laminarin. For example, it is thought that polysaccharide-degrading enzymes may be produced by Flavobacterium. Such enzymes may degrade the cell wall of, e.g., various pathogens. Flavobacterium may also produce proteases. Recently, Flavobacterium has also been found to produce anti-fungal compounds that may be used to control banana pathogens.
Species of Flavobacterium have been found to produce a variety of compounds. Some species in this genus were able to oxidize a broad range of aromatic hydrocarbons (see, for example, Barnsley E. 1988).
The fermentation of Flavobacterium sp. SC 12154 was found to produce deacetoxycephalosprin C and a mixture of novel 7-substituted cephalosporins (Singh et al., 1984) which were reported to exhibit weak antibacterial activity. Flavocristamides A & B, two sulfonolipids with inhibitory activity against DNA polymerase α were isolated from a marine bacterium Flavobacterium sp. (Kobayashi et al., 1995) which was separated from the marine bivalve Cristaria plicata. The isolation and identification of chitinovorins A, B & C, which belong to the class of β-lactam antibiotics were reported from the culture broth of Flavobacterium chitinovorum (Shoji et al., 1984). The more strongly basic antibiotic named chitinovorin D was later isolated from a Flavobacterium sp. PB-5246, along with the known chitinovorins A, B & C (Shoji et al., 1985). Sulfobacins A and B, novel von Willebrand factor (vWF) receptor antagonists, were isolated from the culture broth of Chyseobacterium sp. later reported as Flavobacterium sp. NR 2993 (Kamiyama et al., 1995). New polar carotenoid sulfates were isolated from the marine bacterium, strain PC-6 identified as a Flavobacterium sp., and were assigned as (2R,3S,2′R,3′R)-4-ketonostoxanthin-3′-sulfate and (2R,3S,2′R,3′R)-nostoxanthin-3-sulfate (Yokoyama et. al, 1996). The chemical structure of the lipid A of the lipopolysaccharide component isolated from Flavobacterium meningosepticum IFO 12535 (Kato et al., 1998) was elucidated on the basis of mass spectroscopy and chemical modification. A novel monoacyldiglycosyl-monoacylglycerol was isolated from the gram negative bacterium Flavobacterium marinotypicum ATCC 19260 along with other glycolipids and phospholipids (Yagi & Maruyama, 1999). The arctic bacterium of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-bacteroides was found to produce several volatile organic compounds (Dickschat et al., 2005), which were dominated by methyl ketones. The methyl ketones were aliphatic saturated, or unsaturated, and contains 12-18 carbon atoms, sometimes with terminal methyls branches.
In addition to the above metabolites, the other known compounds from the genus Flavobacterium sp. are myxol (Yokoyama et al., 1995), a compound that belongs to the class of carotenoids, which has been previously reported from blue-green algae Oscillatoria limosa (Francis et al., 1970); decaprenoxanthin, the bicyclic C50 carotenoid dial from Flavobacterium dehydrogenans (Liaaen-Jensen, et al., 1968), which was later synthesized due to its interesting structure (Ferezou & Julia, 1985).
Furthermore, a biosurfactant-producing Flavobacterium sp., strain MTN11 (accession number AY162137) isolated from samples of arid soil has also been found to produce flavolipids which are very polar and are good emulsifiers (Bodour, 2004). Examples include arthrobactin and aerobactin. It has been suggested that these flavolipids could be used in contaminated soil to mitigate metal toxicity during organic biodegradation (Kaplan and Kitts, 2004). Specifically, Kaplan and Kitts (2004), found that organisms attributed to Flavobacterium spp. and Pseudomonas spp. from 16S rRNA gene sequence were present in soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons particularly during the degradation phase of these petroleum hydrocarbons.

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