A rack for displaying a number of magnetic measuring/gauging devices held in a releasable manner. The rack has a rigid, vertically planar, magnetically-attractable holder, a rigid, horizontal tray secured to the lower edge of the holder and configured to engage one of the ends of each device, and an attachment member secured to the rear edge of the holder for mounting the rack to a display structure. Preferably, the measuring/gauging devices are torpedo levels. A label-plate can be attached to the front edge of the holder. The display rack in certain embodiments is capable of attachment to either a cross-bar or a pegboard. In other embodiments, the display rack has two holder-plates and a stand member for engaging a display surface.

Hardware stores and home-centers constitute a growing segment of the retail market. More homeowners are deciding to tackle a wide variety of home improvement and repair projects themselves so that they save money and add value to their homes. Competition between these retailers has increased in recent years with the customers usually patronizing the store that they find makes it easiest for them to obtain the materials needed to complete their work.
One of the reasons that a homeowner commonly travels to a hardware store is the need to purchase a certain tool or other item. Searching for this particular product at such outlets can, however, be often difficult and frustrating. The number of sales personnel available to provide help is always limited and the customer can easily become disoriented in the huge expanse of the modern home-center with its aisle after aisle of tools and building materials.
Most customers have little interest or time, however, to scour a store in order to find the various items on their list. Oftentimes, the search can even become an exercise in futility since the tool sought may be difficult to identify from the multitude of other hardware displayed on the shelves or in the bins.
A way of catching the eye of the customer to spare him or her from the needless waste of time spent hunting down the desired tool is therefore an aim of nearly all retailers. Any apparatus that prominently and openly displays a specific product has particular value in this regard. These displays not only facilitate the ability of the customer to locate these products within the store but often promote impulsive purchases of such items by other customers as well.
Many displays of this nature are designed to be mounted to only one specific type of support surface. Most also include a means of holding or securing the various items being displayed that is built into the apparatus. Certain tools are capable, however, of securing themselves to a display without the need of any assistance of this type. Moreover, the retailer may be losing an excellent opportunity for highlighting a feature of such products that would otherwise be missed by the customer. In particular, suspending magnetic levels from hooks or similar devices in the same manner as non-magnetic ones does little to call to the customer's attention the usefulness of the magnetic devices and how they are distinctive from other levels.
A display rack therefore that overcomes these disadvantages and that uses an inherent property of the tools being displayed to firmly engage them to a simple and inexpensive apparatus would be highly desirable.


A fluid movement system that includes an impeller having a blade with a leading edge blade tip angle determined as a function of an increase in mass flow rate due to reinjection of flow from a flow stability device located proximate to the leading edge tip of the blade. In an exemplary method, the leading edge blade tip angle can be determined based on selecting a blade incidence level based on a mass flow gain versus flow coefficient curve. Blade leading edge tip angles determined in accordance with a method of the present invention are typically greater than blade leading edge tip angles determined using traditional methods. The greater blade leading edge tip angles can lead to more robust blades designs.

A certain class of pump and compressor inlet flow stabilizing devices includes an inlet tip bleed slot located near the impeller blade leading edge that pulls off some of the flow and then re-injects it upstream of the inlet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,008, "FLOW STABILIZATION DEVICE" to Japikse, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,557, "SECONDARY FLOW CONTROL SYSTEM" to Japikse et al. are examples of this type of device. The current art uses the stabilizing devices with impeller blade inlets or inducers that are designed with a standard design approach. The current approach does not take into account the impact of the re-injected bleed flow on the inlet incidence angles and inlet diffusion of the impeller.

Fluid movement system and method for determining impeller blade angles for use therewith


A valve monitoring system includes a latching valve, a travel sensor, and a processor. The latching valve has a snap spring, a valve piston, and an inlet port. The travel sensor is for measuring travel of the valve piston between an activation pressure and a zero pressure. The processor is connected to the travel sensor for calculating a rate of travel of the valve piston and determining a latched state of the valve. In some example embodiments, the activation pressure is greater than a normal operating pressure. In some example embodiments, determining a latched state of the valve includes calculating a derivative of the rate of travel.

Latching valves are known. An example is shown in commonly-assigned United States Patent Publication No. 2011/0315503. Latching valves may be used to hold pressure in a transmission clutch or brake when an engine is stopped. This pressure helps speed re-engagement of the clutch or brake when the engine is restarted. A transmission strategy may include a desire to determine the operating state of the latching valve to determine whether the latching state has been successfully achieved.

Method of determining an operating state of a transmission latching valve


In a wireless LAN communication system, a communication mode is automatically switched between an infrastructure mode and an ad-hoc mode. Communication between two stations is started in the infrastructure mode. Packets transmitted in an infrastructure network are monitors to detect a packet transmitted to an access point and addressed, as a final destination, to one's own station or a destination station. If such a packet is detected, it is determined that a transmitting or source station is in a state that allows an ad-hoc communication. A channel searcher of the access point searches for available channels of an ad-hoc network. A switching controller selects one of the available channels and transmits information indicating the selected channel to the source and destination stations. In response to receiving the information indicating the selected channel, the source and destination stations starts direct communication using the selected channel of the ad-hoc network. The selection of the channel may be performed by a station. Associated data may be stored in a temporary data storage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless LAN communication system having an infrastructure mode and an ad-hoc mode. Wherein, in the infrastructure mode, each station communicates with another station via an access point, while, in the ad-hoc mode, direct communication is performed between two stations located near each other. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless LAN communication system as follows. In wireless LAN communication system, when one station is capable of communicating directly with another station without needing an access point, communication is performed in the ad-hoc mode. And when communication in the ad-hoc mode is impossible, communication is performed in the infrastructure mode. In such cases, the communication mode should be automatically switched between the ad-hoc mode and the infrastructure mode depending on the status.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless LANs generally have an infrastructure network and an ad-hoc network. The infrastructure network is used for communications between stations via access points, and the ad-hoc network is used for direct communications between stations located near each other.
In conventional wireless LAN communication systems of the type described above, a wireless terminal serving as a station has information indicating other wireless terminals with which ad-hoc communication is possible. When a wireless terminal communicates with another wireless terminal that is registered in the cash memory, the ad-hoc mode is automatically selected at the start of the communication, and thus communication is performed without passing through an access point (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A No. 7-303105).
At the start of communication, a wireless station examines a database to determine whether a station with which to communicate is registered in the database and whether communication in the ad-hoc mode is possible. In the case in which the station with which to communication is not registered in the database, it is tested whether communication in the ad-hoc mode is possible. If it turns out that communication in the ad-hoc mode is possible, the station is registered in the database, and a communication channel is established. If communication in the ad-hoc mode is impossible, the communication mode is switched into the infrastructure mode, and communication procedure is started.
When a station with which to communicate is already registered in the database, communication procedure is started in the ad-hoc mode and communication is established. However, if the situation has changed into a state in which communication in the ad-hoc mode is no longer possible, the communication mode is switched into the infrastructure mode, and communication procedure is started. In a case in which communication in the ad-hoc mode becomes impossible in the middle of communication because of movement of a station, the station automatically switches the communication mode into the infrastructure mode to try to maintain communication.
In the conventional wireless LAN communication system, although a wireless station can automatically switch the communication mode from the ad-hoc mode into the infrastructure mode, automatic switching from the infrastructure mode into the ad-hoc mode is impossible. That is, the capability of automatic switching of the communication mode is very limited.
This is because communication procedure is started in the ad-hoc mode regardless of information recorded in the database.


Methods for treating diabetes by administering an inhibitor of GDF-8, or a related member of Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-β) superfamily of structurally-related growth factors (e.g., GDF-11) are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for upregulating expression of hexose transporters, such as GLUT4 and GLUT1, in a subject by administering an inhibitor of GDF-8. Also disclosed are methods for increasing glucose uptake by cells in a subject, by administering an inhibitor of GDF-8.

Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic disease worldwide. Every day, 1700 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in the United States, and at least one-third of the 16 million Americans with diabetes are unaware of it. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, renal failure, and lower limb amputations in adults and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Normal glucose homeostasis requires the finely tuned orchestration of insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells in response to subtle changes in blood glucose levels, delicately balanced with secretion of counter-regulatory hormones such as glucagon. Type 1 diabetes results from autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells causing insulin deficiency. Type 2 or noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) accounts for >90% of cases and is characterized by a triad of (1) resistance to insulin action on glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, especially skeletal muscle and adipocytes, (2) impaired insulin action to inhibit hepatic glucose production, and (3) dysregulated insulin secretion (DeFronzo, (1997) Diabetes Rev. 5:177-269). In most cases, type 2 diabetes is a polygenic disease with complex inheritance patterns (reviewed in Kahn et al., (1996) Annu. Rev. Med. 47:509-531).
Environmental factors, especially diet, physical activity, and age, interact with genetic predisposition to affect disease prevalence. Susceptibility to both insulin resistance and insulin secretory defects appears to be genetically determined (Kahn, et al). Defects in insulin action precede the overt disease and are seen in nondiabetic relatives of diabetic subjects. In spite of intense investigation, the genes responsible for the common forms of Type 2 diabetes remain unknown.
One of the fundamental actions of insulin is to stimulate uptake of glucose from the blood into tissues, especially muscle and fat. This occurs via facilitated diffusion which is mediated by specific glucose transporter proteins that insert into the plasma membrane of cells. GLUT4 is the most important insulin-sensitive glucose transporter in these tissues. Insulin binds to its receptor in the plasma membrane, generating a series of signals that result in the translocation or movement of GLUT4 transporter vesicles to the plasma membrane, where a first docking step, followed by fusion with the plasma membrane takes place; after an activation or exposure step takes place, glucose enters the cell. Studies in both animals and humans indicate that alterations in GLUT4 expression, trafficking, and/or activity occur in adipose cells and muscle in diabetes and other insulin-resistant states (Abel et al., Diabetes Mellitus: A Fundamental and Clinical Text (1996) pp. 530-543.)
New and innovative treatments for diabetes are clearly a priority for researchers in this field. The present invention provides such innovative treatments, taking advantage of the knowledge concerning GLUT4 expression and activity, and expression and activity of related hexose transporters (e.g., GLUT1).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a multiple cylinder engine having a plurality of cylinders, balance weights are centrally arranged so as to suppress the secondary vibration in a space corresponding to the second bearing journal counted from the opposite side of the transmission among a plurality of the bearing journals of the crank arms. In addition, the weights can be less light-weight and space efficiency in the engine room will become high.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a balancer apparatus for engine, more particularly, to arrangement of balance weights.
2. Description of the Related Art
In straight 4-cylinder engines, for example, the four cylinders are arranged in line and is constructed that a piston provided in each cylinder is connected to each connecting rod, the connecting rod is also rotatably connected to a crank arm of a crank shaft and the crank shaft is rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings through the crank arm.
In this type of engine, inertial force or inertial couple induced by a piston, a connecting rod, etc. of engine, generates a secondary vibration in the direction (up and down directions) of an axis of the cylinder. This causes noise shut up within a car. To reduce the secondary vibration, a balancer apparatus having balance weights which is rotatably driven together with the crank shafts rotate is provided.
A conventional balancer apparatus, generally, a plurality of balance weights are arranged symmetrically in the front and the rear directions to the engine center. Conventionally, they are arranged in a space corresponding to a bearing journal.
Moreover, other conventional 4-cylinder engines as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 4-224338, balance weights are centrally placed in a space corresponding to the third bearing journal which is the center of five bearing journals of the crank shafts.
It is, however, desirable that the secondary vibration be completely suppressed when a balance rate is set as 100%, as from the point of ideal balancer apparatus. A balance rate is a ratio between a secondary imbalance inertial force and inertial force (centrifugal force) of a balance shaft (balance weight). Further, as from the design of engine, it is desirable that a balancer apparatus be made compact.
In the apparatus disclosed in the above mentioned publication, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-224338, since the balance weights are placed in a space in the center of the engine where the third bearing journal is located, the balance rate is easily set as 100% and it is easy to make it compact (small-sized).
As from the point of ideal balancer apparatus, when the balance rate is set as 100%, it is desirable to completely suppress the secondary vibration, however, it is necessary under some circumstances even sacrificing the balance rate that it becomes a priority to lower the weight.
Moreover, recently, for improving the engine output, space efficiency in the engine room is aggravated due to the large-sized exhaust pipes, arrangement of catalyst for enforcing an exhaust gas control and introduction of parts for enforcing stiffness of the car body, etc. This, further, causes the arrangement of balancer apparatus difficult as for design consciousness. The apparatus mentioned in the publication 4-224338 is not appropriate for the design purpose.


The invention provides an enhanced peripheral device that can connect to a computer in either in one of two modes: A PCMCIA mode and a serial mode. This allows the device to continue communicating with computer even if unplugged from the PCMCIA connector. Detection circuitry is used to determine whether the peripheral device is connected using the PCMCIA connector or the serial connector. Switching circuitry then routes data from connected connector to the various data handing units, such as UARTs present in the peripheral and the computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to communications systems. More specifically, the invention relates to peripheral computer connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer peripheral devices, such as modems, can be connected to computers in a wide variety of connection types. Two such connection types in vogue currently are the serial interface type and the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) (also known as the PC Card standard) type. The serial interface type can use a port, such that the peripheral can be connected externally to the computer, while PCMCIA uses a PCMCIA slot, requiring connection on that PCMCIA slot.
FIG. 1A shows a prior art external serial modem 110 connected via serial cable 120 to a personal computer (PC) 100. Both external serial modem 110 and PC 100 have serial adapters/ports 114 and 104, respectively. These serial adapters/ports allow a serial cable to be connected to facilitate the transfer of data. The serial adapters/ports 104 and 114 are shown with a plurality of pin-out and pin-in connections which send and receive serial interface signals. Also shown in expanded form are universal asynchronous receive/transmit (UART) components 106 each coupled respectively to PC 100 and external serial modem 110. FIG. 1B is a detailed illustration of a UART and associated signals.
As shown in FIG. 1B, each UART consists of a block of control registers and a pair of shift registers. When the UARTs 106 and 116 receive data from parallel data bus 105 and 115, respectively, to be transmitted (using TX data signal) over serial adapters/ports 104 and 114, the parallel data is stored serially bit by bit in a shift register TXFIFO (transmit first in-first out). The TXFIFO is a serial register capable of holding N bits. Each consecutive bit is shifted such that the first bit is output from the register first, the second bit output second, and so forth. The serialized data is sent over the TX data pin and out through serial adapters/ports 104 and 114. Data is received through the RX data pin from serial adapters/ports 104, 114 and is shifted into a shift register RXFIFO (receive first in-first out). The RXFIFO shift register is connected to the parallel data bus 115 and 105 such that once the shift register is full, all N bits that are held by the shift register are output over the parallel data bus simultaneously.
Referring back to FIG. 1A, in this manner, the UARTs 106 and 116 are capable of converting serial data received from serial adapters/ports 104 and 114, respectively, into parallel form to be transmitted over parallel data bus 105 and 115, respectively. UARTs 106 are also capable of serializing data received from parallel data bus 105 and 115 for transmission through serial adapters/ports 104, 114 over serial cable 120. The CPU 102 of PC 100 is thus able to communicate with modem processor 112 of external serial modem 110. The essential operation is communication of an "embedded" processor (modem processor 112) with a system processor (CPU 102).
The scenario of FIG. 1A represents standard PC serial communication with an external device such as a serial modem. The parallelism in internal structure of PC 100 and external serial modem 110 allows for a UART to be used in each to serialize parallel data in the same manner. However, the serial interface as currently implemented in the art does not allow a PCMCIA device which typically connects to a PCMCIA slot via a power connector/cable to connect via a serial interface.
FIG. 2 shows a PCMCIA (PC Card) external modem 210 coupled to a PC 200. External modem 210, a PC Card device, also makes use of UART but in a different manner from external serial modem 110. External modem 210 is, essentially, a pair of UARTs 216 and 217. UART 216 is coupled over parallel data bus 215 to a modem processor 212. UART 217 represents the UART of the serial interface on the PC-end, as shown in FIG. 1A, transplanted to the PCMCIA modem. In practical design, the two UARTs are not physically separate entities though so pictured in FIG. 2. PC 200 has card detect circuitry which utilizes pull-up resistors 203 and 201 coupled to each of card detect pins 230 and a NOR gate 204. If modem 210 is connected via PCMCIA connector 220, card detect pins 230 will be active low and after inversion at NOR gate 204 cause the PCMCIA I/F (interface) 206 to recognize that an external device has been plugged in. CPU 202 communicates with modem processor 212 by sending/receiving data on parallel data bus 205 and then through PCMCIA I/F 206.
Currently, PCMCIA or PC Card devices are designed to only operate whilst plugged into the PC. When the devices are removed, their connection to the PC is lost. There is a need in some instances to be able to connect to the PC even though the device is not plugged into the PCMCIA slot, such as in a pager modem. It is desirable for a pager modem, whether connected via the PCMCIA or not, to be able to transfer messages to the PC. However, the current design for pager modems does not allow connection to the computer via serial port. Thus, the modem processor in a PCMCIA device such as pager modem, under current practice, utilizes a PCMCIA slot by necessity. Thus, there is needed a mechanism which allows a PCMCIA device to interface via a serial interface to allow the PCMCIA I/F to be otherwise utilized.

Method and apparatus for a configurable means of connection between an embedded processor and a personal computer


A vertically adjustable extension rail system for a drawer used in a housing having opposed vertical walls with a plurality of horizontally-extending, vertically-spaced guide ribs leaving alternating guide grooves. The extension rail system comprises two spaced apart extension rail assemblies with each extension rail assembly having a carrier rail and a slide rail which are slidably interconnected. A guide arm is mountable at a plurality of vertical levels along each of the slide rails. The guide arms are adapted for being lengthwise slidably received by opposing guide grooves on the vertical walls. A fixed or removable drawer receptacle can be mounted between the two extension rail assemblies.

Extension rail systems have been used to enable a drawer, and therefore its receptacle, to be fully extended out of a housing, such as a medication cart. Most extension rail systems are like those found in filing cabinets. These systems usually employ two extension rail assemblies, one assembly mounted on either side of the drawer receptacle. Each assembly usually comprises three interacting rails, with one of the rails being fixed to the receptacle, one of the rails being fixed to a vertical wall in the housing and a third or intermediate rail being located between the other two rails in each assembly. Typically, these rails are made of thin gage steel or other similar metal and many employ roller or ball bearing type assemblies which enable the three rails of each assembly to slidably interact along their length.
While this type of extension rail system is often associated with filing cabinets, they have also been employed for the drawers used in carts for storing and dispensing medication. Such medication carts often employ locking mechanisms for preventing the drawers from inadvertently extending open. In addition, security systems are often used with these locking mechanisms to limit access to authorized personnel. Such extension rail systems often suffer from a number of drawbacks. For example, the rails are susceptible to being permanently bent when the drawer is fully extended, and the roller or bearing assemblies are susceptible to being damaged. Once the rails are bent or the roller or bearing assemblies damaged, the rails are likely to bind or jam, making it difficult or even impossible to fully open or close the drawer (i.e. fully extend or retract the rails). If the rails become bent and jam to the point of preventing the drawer from being fully opened, access to medication located in the drawer may be blocked. If the drawer is prevented from being fully closed, then the locking mechanism and the security system may be inoperative. Such damage to the rail system would necessitate repairs which typically requires a maintenance mechanic and prevents at least the subject drawer from being used while repairs are conducted. Putting the entire cart or even just one drawer out of commission while repairs are conducted often wrecks routines and disrupts the dispensing of patient medication.
To perform properly, these metal extension rail systems require lubrication. When the drawers are fully extended, portions of the metal rails are exposed. Thus, medication dispensing personnel are susceptible to having their clothing or their person soiled by the lubrication. While most of the personnel who dispense medication from such carts are not required to be sterile, they are typically required to maintain a degree of cleanliness, such as clean hands and clean clothing. Therefore, an extension rail system which did not need lubrication would be desirable for use in such medication carts.
In the medication dispensing industry there is a need for various styles of medication storage and dispensing carts. These carts are used in a number of facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and the like. Each such facility often has medication dispensing carts specially tailored to their individual requirements. For example, for a given cart design, one facility may require one combination of drawer sizes and another facility may require a different combination of drawer sizes. However, with existing extension rail systems, where the rails are fixed to the cart, adapting each cart to the needs of any given customer is typically labor intensive and expensive. Essentially, each cart has to be custom built. Manufacturing custom carts tailored to the needs of each facility could be economical if most of the components used to build the carts were standardized an easily interchangeable to adapt to each facilities requirements.
In some applications, the drawer receptacles are made removable. For example, sometimes the medication is held in re-usable containers which are stored in the drawer receptacle and the containers are cycle filled. In cycle filling, when the mediation is consumed, the drawer receptacle with all its empty containers is removed and taken to a pharmacy or other prescription filling facility where the containers are refilled with the appropriate medication. The drawer receptacle and the now filled containers are then returned to the medication dispensing facility. These removable drawer receptacles have typically been made of metal and shaped like a box. To accommodate the different size medication containers used by its customers, manufacturers of these medication carts have had to produce and inventory different size receptacles. One type drawer designed to accommodate such receptacles has a tray with an extension rail assembly fixed to each side and the removable receptacle sitting on the tray.


A method of forming a Ga2O3-based crystal film includes epitaxially growing a Ga2O3-based crystal film on a (001)-oriented principal surface of a Ga2O3-based substrate at a growth temperature of not less than 750° C. A crystal multilayer structure includes a Ga2O3-based substrate with a (001)-oriented principal surface, and a Ga2O3-based crystal film formed on the principal surface of the Ga2O3-based substrate by epitaxial growth. The principal surface has a flatness of not more than 1 nm in an RMS value.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of forming a Ga2O3-based crystal film, and a crystal multilayer structure including the Ga2O3-based crystal film.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique is known in which a Ga2O3-based crystal film is epitaxially grown on a Ga2O3-based substrate (see e.g. WO 2013/035464).
Referring to WO 2013/035464, when the Ga2O3-based crystal film is grown on the Ga2O3-based substrate with a (001)-oriented principal surface at a growth temperature of 700° C., the growth rate of the Ga2O3-based crystal film is about 90 nm/h. Likewise, when the Ga2O3-based crystal film is grown on the Ga2O3-based substrate with a (010)-oriented principal surface at a growth temperature of 700° C., the growth rate of the Ga2O3-based crystal film is about 130 nm/h.

Method of forming Ga2O3-based crystal film and crystal multilayer structure

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY


A charge coupled displacement sensor includes a first number of electrodes disposed to form a first ring including a first diameter and further operable to form an electric field around an object. A second number of electrodes are alternately disposed with the first number of electrodes within the first ring and are further operable to measure variations in the electric field attributed to a position of the object. A third number of electrodes are disposed to form a second ring including a second diameter greater than the first diameter and further electrically coupled with an electrical ground.

The background of this invention is the domain of dimensional measurement, inspection, and position control. More specifically, the determination of the shape of a rotating body as well as the location of its spin axis is measured.
One application may described as follows: In magnetic recording media, for example as used in hard disk storage devices, information is written to and read from magnetic elements that represent digital bits. In order to increase the amount of information that can be stored within a given area, the size and distance between these magnetic elements may be reduced so that they may be more densely positioned. At the same time, in order to increase production volume and decrease production cost, the speed at which disks are written to and read from when preparing the disks for use by an end-user may be increased. For example, a disk format operation may be performed on one or more disks during the manufacturing process in preparation for use by an end-user. In any case, accurate information of location as a function of time of the spin axis of the disks is useful.
One way to increase disk production volume and decrease production cost is by increasing the speed at which the disks rotate so that more magnetic elements may be accessed within a certain amount of time, thereby yielding more completed disks within the same amount of time. Another way to increase disk production volume and decrease production costs is by performing the same operations on more disks simultaneously, thereby requiring less manufacturing equipment.
However, both of these methods require more energy, which in turn increases the noise and vibration in the disks' environment. The interferences caused by rapid disk rotation and other interferences may cause random radial displacement or eccentricity of the rotating disk, resulting in non-repetitive run-out. As a result, in combination with the increasingly small size and proximate positions of the magnetic elements, the non-repetitive run-out may interfere with the accurate writing and reading of information stored on the disks, during their various manufacturing phases.


Hearing aid system for the in-situ fitting of hearing aids, said system comprising a separate control device, and a least one hearing aid, adapted for communication with each other, said hearing aid comprising at least one microphone, a signal processor for generating an output signal to a receiver, and means for receiving control signals form the control device. During the in-situ fitting the control device is in communication with said hearing aid for the activation of generation of test signals, which test signals are delivered to said receiver and emitted therefrom as acoustic test signals. Further, the hearing aid comprises a switch means which when said hearing aid is in communication with the control device may optionally be switched between at least a first and a second position, said switch attenuating in the first position the output signal to the receiver using a voltage dividing resistor network, and said switch bypassing in the second position said voltage dividing resistor network so as not to influence the output signal to the receiver.

The present invention relates to a hearing aid system for the in-situ fitting of hearing aids.
For persons with a hearing loss, the sensitivity of the ear will often be frequency dependent within the usual audible range, ie. the person may have almost normal sensitivity at certain frequencies, but a low sensitivity at others.
Since the object of the hearing aid is to give normal hearing at all frequencies, the amplification provided by the hearing aid must as a result also be frequency dependent, with a high amplification at frequencies where hearing sensitivity is low and zero or low amplification where hearing is normal or close to normal.
Because hearing losses vary from person to person the frequency dependency or amplification characteristic for the hearing aid should be adjustable, so that the hearing aid can be fitted to the actual hearing loss of the person.
One way is to separately measure an audiogram for the patient, ie. measuring sensitivity of the ear to different frequencies and sound pressures, using a test signal generator and a headphone, and adjust the settings of the hearing aid accordingly based on the audiogram.
Another way is the in-situ fitting where the audiogram is measured with the hearing aid placed in the ear and acting as an audio signal source instead of the headphone. This is described in eg. U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,819.
In the in-situ fitting procedure the hearing aid is coupled to an external control device, with which a generation of test signals for the receiver, ie. the output transducer of the hearing aid can be activated. The test signals may either be generated in the control device and delivered to the hearing aid, or they may be generated in the hearing aid in accordance with control signals from the control device. In both cases the built-in amplifier of the hearing aid is used to achieve the different levels for the test signals, and hence the output sound levels from the receiver. The control device further may further provide the power for the hearing aid during the fitting procedure.
Even though the use of the hearing aid itself in the fitting procedure has advantages, such as higher accuracy in the fitting of the frequency characteristic compared to the fitting using a separate audiogram, it does have some drawbacks.
One major drawback is that a very high dynamic output range for the acoustic test signals is needed for the fitting procedure.
This dynamic range is expressed as the difference between the maximum output level achievable and the inherent noise level in the amplifier.
The reason that this very high dynamic range is needed is that the amplifier on one hand should be able to deliver signals powerful enough to make the sounds output by the receiver exceed the hearing threshold for persons with severe hearing losses, eg. above 130 dB SPL (Sound Pressure Level). On the other hand, when measuring on persons with normal hearing in at least certain frequency ranges very low sound output levels are needed, and in such cases the inherent amplifier noise should not exceed the level of the test signal. The latter requiring that the amplifier noise does not exceed approximately 10 dB SPL.
Hence, the necessary dynamic range of the amplifier should exceed 120 dB if the hearing aid is to be fitted in-situ on any person with an unspecified hearing loss.
In fact, if the same amplifier is to be used in different hearing aids of different construction, in particular with different receivers having different responses, the dynamic range should be even higher, eg. 140 dB.
This dynamic range of 140 dB is far more than the dynamic range of 60-80 dB needed under normal circumstances when the hearing aid is used.
Achieving these high dynamic ranges is complex and costly in hardware, and would increase the costs of the amplifier and thus of the hearing aid, whereas lower dynamic ranges of say 90 to 100 dB are readily achieved with both analogue and digital amplifiers. For instance this higher dynamic range would normally in digital hearing aids require a higher number of bits to achieve the higher resolution.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,149 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,758 it is known to attenuate the output signal from the final stage in analogue amplifiers by means of resistor components. However, none of these hearing aids are adapted for in-situ fitting, and hence do not have a need for the mentioned large dynamic range.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,149 the attenuation of the analogue signal is done for the purpose of volume control by means of a voltage divider in the form of an adjustable potentiometer. Having such a voltage divider as the final stage before the receiver leads to increased power consumption. Power consumption is an important issue in hearing aids, in particular because these of aesthetic reasons are small, leaving little room for batteries. Having such a voltage divider in the output circuit of a hearing aid is therefore undesirable.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,758 is described a programmable analogue hearing aid with multiple frequency bands. When the hearing aid is fitted, the various frequency bands may be attenuated individually. The sum of these individual frequency bands are amplified in an analogue output stage. For the purpose of achieving a desired overall gain of the hearing aid the analogue output signal from the output stage may also be attenuated. This last attenuation is fixed once in the fitting procedure for the hearing aid, and is not changed, unless the hearing aid is fitted anew. This attenuation is achieved by means of a number of resistors which may be connected in parallel with each others between the output of the amplifier and the receiver, ie. in series with the impedance of receiver. The receiver may also be connected directly to the output of the amplifier by short circuiting of all the resistors. Apart from the fact that this way of attenuation also incurs losses, it is further undesirable because the output characteristic of the receiver compared to a solution using a voltage divider will be more dependent on the impedance of the receiver, which may not be linear but depend on frequency.
Contrary to the above mentioned analogue amplifiers digital amplifiers, known as class D or switch mode amplifiers, may, in principle, be made practically loss free. They are therefore often used where there is a need for high efficiency of the amplifier, eg. in battery powered hearing aids. In such amplifiers a fixed voltage level is switched in pulses. The impedance of the receiver receives the full supply voltage during these pulses, giving rise to a current. To achieve a specific output signal the pulses are modulated to give a mean current corresponding to the desired signal. Because the output level may be regulated entirely by adapting the switching cycles there it has never been suggested to use voltage dividers in connection with digital amplifiers as this would compromise the desired high efficiency of the amplifier.

Hearing aid system and hearing aid for in-situ fitting


A coffee-making machine of the type to deliver hot water during a brewing cycle to ground coffee supported in a removeable filter unit includes a heated reservoir for water heating and storage and a sprayhead to deliver heated water from the reservoir to the filter unit. A first valved conduit is actuable to deliver a first amount of heated water from the reservoir to the sprayhead and a second valved conduit is actuable to deliver a second amount of heated water from the reservoir to the sprayhead. Selection switches allow an operator to select an amount of coffee to be brewed. A controller is in communication with the selection switches and controls actuation of the first and second valved conduits during a brewing cycle to deliver an appropriate amount of heated water to the sprayhead for delivery to ground coffee in the filter unit thereby to brew the selected amount of coffee.

Conventional coffee-making machines commonly used in offices, restaurants and coffee shops are provided with a water reservoir, a heating element in the reservoir and various heat and flow controls so that an appropriate quantity of hot water is available for coffee brewing purposes. The ground coffee is contained in a removable filter unit disposed below a sprayhead in fluid communication with the hot water reservoir. When it is desired to brew a pot of coffee, hot water from the reservoir is delivered to the sprayhead and then onto the ground coffee contained in the filter unit.
Most coffee-making machines of this nature have a single valve, which controls the amount of water delivered from the hot water reservoir to the sprayhead. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,836 to Patel, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a coffee-making machine having a single valve controlling the flow of hot water from the hot water reservoir to the sprayhead. The duration of time the valve remains open is regulated by a timer. The valve is kept open longer when larger amounts of coffee are to be brewed. Therefore, depending on the amount of coffee to be brewed, the coffee grounds are exposed to hot water from the sprayhead for different durations. It has been found that exposing coffee grounds to hot water for different durations sometimes yields inconsistent coffee.
Still other types of coffee-making machines have employed a bypass method for delivering varying amounts of water onto the coffee grounds. Depending on the amount of coffee to be brewed, some of the water exiting the hot water reservoir bypasses the coffee grounds to avoid contact therewith. While this maintains the water contact time with the coffee grounds generally constant for different amounts of brewed coffee, not all of the water exiting the hot water reservoir contacts the coffee grounds. As a result, uneven extraction of the coffee grounds occurs leading again to a varying quality of brewed coffee.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel coffee-making machine, which obviates or mitigates the above-identified disadvantage.


The Cloaking System is designed to operate in the visible light spectrum, utilizes optoelectronics and/or photonic components to conceal an object within it, and employs analog or digital control feedback resulting in camouflage adaptable to a changing background. The system effectively conceals either a still or moving object from view by the interposing of a shield between an observer and the object and recreating a full color synthetic image of the background on the shield for viewing by observer, thus creating the illusion of transparency of both the object and the Cloaking System. This system consists of four major elements: a sensor; a signal processor; a shield; and a means of interconnecting, supporting, and safely enclosing the aforementioned elements along with the concealed object.

1. Field of the Invention
The need for this invention arises out of the present state of the art of military camouflage in the visible light spectrum. This invention is designed for the purpose of concealing both stationary and moving objects from view. The term "cloaking" as used in the title of this invention and elsewhere herein refers to concealing such objects.
2. Prior Art
The techniques in use today largely involve painting, coloring, and/or contour shaping to allow an object to better blend in with the background. Such techniques are rather primitive and do little to conceal a moving object as it is not possible with present fixed state camouflage techniques to cause an object to continually blend in with a changing background. In order to effectively camouflage a moving object, its appearance must be constantly controlled from the viewpoint of the observer to blend in with the changing background from the observer's perspective. Little has been done to utilize modern advancements in optoelectornics, computers, or microminiature components to camouflage an object. The proposed system was conceived with the view in mind of effectively concealing a stationary or moving object such as a man, vehicle, or aircraft from view by utilization of this technology. This invention will find practical application in military and law enforcement where field commanders find it useful to conceal such an object from view.

Cloaking system using optoelectronically controlled camouflage


Composition useful for decontaminating surfaces of food products of animal, vegetable origin and fruit, in particular for eliminating microbic loadings and unsanitary substances, without altering and making noxious the food texture is described. A method is moreover disclosed for using said composition, comprising the steps of subjecting the food product to a bath of an aqueous solution of the composition and subsequently rinsing by water in order to remove the polluting substances being present. The food product may alternatively be sprayed with a solution of the composition.

It is known that fresh food products, both of animal and vegetable origin, are frequently brought to the place of consumption loaded by unsanitary surface substances so as to provide a great risk for the health of the consumer. The unsanitary substances may consist of polluting agents of organic or inorganic chemical and microbic nature, deriving from the environment and animal, such as food residues, soil, secretions, defecations and the like.
In particular, the bacterial contaminations, the amount of which on the surface of live animals (such as swine and chicken) is of the order of several tens millions germs/cm.sup.2 of skin, is responsible for the process of degradation of the food products. The odor characterizing the altering processes of a lot of food products, such as meats, chicken, or poultry, eggs, fish, etc., is mainly due to products deriving from the bacterial metabolism of the microflora (Pseudomonas, Achromobacter, Corynebacteria, etc.) and not to products of the tissue autolysis.
British patent application 2,009,222 published Jun. 13, 1979 in the name of the same applicant as the present application shows one attempt to eliminate unsatisfactory substances. It describes a composition consisting of Tween as a surfactant, sodium bicarbonate as a wetting agent, propyleneglycol as a dispersant, sodium hexametaphosphate as a sequestering agent, urea as an anti-dehydrating agent, citric acid as a buffer agent, sodium silicate and sodium sulfate as the inorganic salts. Clearly the surfactant is different from the present invention because Tween are esters of sorbitol with a fatty acid.
Carboxymethylcellulose is a very useful component because it has recontamination preventing properties but is not present in the composition of this publication.
The composition according to the above British application does not comply with the requirements imposed at present by international sanitary laws with respect to the lack of toxicity of the products being used in contact with the food and the safety of the food products.
The presence of microorganisms and unsanitary substances of chemical nature on the skin and generally on the outer layers of the food products, in addition to limiting the commercial duration of the products, also contributes to a contamination of the underlying muscle tissue in the case of meat and of the comestible inner portions in the case of eggs, by preventing their negotiability since bacteriological requirements must be met.
In the case of vegetables, the surface contamination negatively affects the sanitary and microbiological qualities in all the transformation and preservation steps of the finished products.
The industry in this field has addressed the problem of eliminating these toxic residues and improving the hygienic sanitary degree related to the processing of several food products, by adopting a number of solutions, the main of which is the solution which consists of using disinfectant substances in order to neutralize the bacterial loadings, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,649 patent.
However, the proposed methods and compositions are practically unsatisfactory. In fact, the unsanitary substances to be removed, particularly in food products of animal origin, correspond to several tens of millions of germs/cm.sup.2 of surface; the problem therefore is that because of the hygienic-sanitary aspect and economical aspect, there is the impossibility of the above mentioned method of removing tens of millions of germs/cm.sup.2 of surface, so that there is a lack of elimination and the food products are rapidly perishable and toxic. Thus, chlorinated water has been already used (containing 10D20 ppm's of active chlorine): however, these disinfection methods lead to the presence of residues of the final products; in the specific case of the slaughtering of swine, it occurs that an amount larger than 50% of chlorine is retained on the meat and particularly on the fat tissue, so as to combine with the lipid fractions thereby providing new products, the dangers of which have not been established.
Moreover, according to the laws, it is not permitted to use disinfectant, antiseptic and antibacterial substances the residues of which would be susceptible to remain for an indefinite time in food products provided for human consumption, with dangerous consequences for the public health. This problem specifically affects the processing or treatment of bird and pork meats, for which the critical steps in which the most contamination occurs are the scalding bath, the plucking and entrails removal steps.
According to conventional meats cleaning methods, the animal carcass is subjected to a first washing step, by immersing it for a precisely set time into a hot water bath (the temperature of the bath being of 52.degree.-55.degree. C.), which also provides the advantage of facilitating the possible subsequent plucking step, in the case of birds, or pile removing step, in the case of swine. The output of the scalding bath, however, that is the total microbic loading on the outer surface of the carcasses corresponds, in the conventional processing methods, to values which can not meet the sanitary rules or requirements, since these values will increase after the plucking, pile removing and entrails removing steps, so as to cause altering processes to occur on the processed meat, to the detriment of their quality and preservation.
A further problem resides in the fact that the organic and inorganic materials carried by the slaughtered animals accumulate in the scalding bath and can achieve a concentration in the case of poultry processing, of 8.56% by weight of the bath itself: in this case, the pollution of meat will depend, in addition to a primitive pollution of the carcasses, on the greatly polluted working environment; in fact, the washing water, will tend to become, in time, a culture broth, mainly if, as it is conventional, one tries to extend the duration to the limit of the eight working hours, as in conventional operations.
The high temperature of the scalding basin is not sufficient to suppress the bacterial flora built-in therein and the most advanced slaughtering technique is not at present suitable to overcome this drawback.
In order to improve the processing sanitary conditions, both of scalding water and of the surface of the food products, the prior art teaches the addition of disinfectant substances to the washing water, which is however prohibited in all countries, in order to reduce the bacterial mass. However, it has been found that the hygienic properties of the slaughtered animal obtained by adding to the bath disinfectant substances, not only continue to be technologically insufficient, but, moreover, the food items are worsened by toxic residues retained on meat up to 60% of the concentration. Under the best hygienic-sanitary conditions and by the most improved technological systems adopted in modern industry, at the end of the processing on meat a bacterial load of the order of 5 10.sup.5 germs/cm.sup.2 of skin is found if simple washing water is used, whereas a bacterial load of about 1-3 10.sup.5 germs/cm.sup.2 of skin is found if to the washing water is added a disinfectant substance, and this is contrary to the CEE's rules. Thus, the bacterial load on the meat surfaces is too great to assure a proper hygienic-sanitary level. In view of the inefficiency or poor results of the above mentioned methods, the above mentioned unsanitary residues remaining on the meat surfaces are considered as technologically unavoidable by those skilled in the art.
Accordingly, there is a need of overcoming the above mentioned technical drawback, by providing a method for cleaning the surface of the above mentioned food products which does not use food additives susceptible to alter their organoleptic properties, aspect and texture, which does not use active disinfectant, anti-bacterial agents or other compositions prohibited by law, which is not toxic, does not alter the food products, and does not leave any residue on the food products itself.
The chemical and bacteriological contamination of the surface of agricultural origin food products is mainly due to the use of fertilizers, pesticide, weed-killer substances, systemic insecticides for plants and animals; these products have revolutionized the agricultural methods, but they leave on the food products residues which make these products incompatible with human health.
Accordingly, it is necessary to remove the above toxic residues also from the surfaces of vegetable origin food products both as they are provided for direct consumption and as they are provided for industrial transformation and processes of preservation.

Composition for eliminating unsanitary residues from food products and method for using the same


A quality of service (QoS) class indicator (QCI) structure is provided, wherein the QCI structure is arranged to control communication in a communication network and to classify data flows in the communication network, and wherein the QCI structure comprises: an identifier of a provider of an industry vertical and/or of a service in the communication network; and a QoS parameter set for the provider of the industry vertical and/or of the service. A QoS central controller is configured to manage QoS classes in the communication network according to the QCI structure. Each one of one or more QoS sub-network controllers is arranged to configure devices in a respective sub-network of the communication network according to the QCI structure.

Next generation communication networks are envisioned to incorporate a wide variety of services from multiple industry verticals. On one hand, these services are expected to co-exist in the same communication network and to share the resources of the communication network. On the other, the services being from different industry verticals have varying set of requirements and often tend to require fine-grained Quality of Service (QoS). The 5th generation mobile network or 5th generation wireless system (5G)) represents a next generation communication network and denotes a next major phase of mobile telecommunications standards beyond the current 4G/IMT-Advanced standards. 5G will create an ecosystem for technical and business innovation involving vertical markets or industries such as automotive, energy, food and agriculture, city management, government, healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, media, entertainment, and many more. 5G will serve a larger portfolio of applications with a corresponding multiplicity of requirements ranging from high reliability to ultra-low latency going through high bandwidth and mobility. Thus, via 5G, not only various service providers will offer services in the communication network, but also several industry verticals will be present there. Through the implementation of 5G, the variety of transmitted data flows and, consequently, also the transmitted data amounts will increase. Therefore, techniques will be required that are capable to manage the different data flows in an efficient way to enable a fast and efficient communication among different devices in the communication network, the different devices being arranged for executing communication with regard to different services and/or with regard to different industry verticals in the communication network.
This situation becomes further complex in the context of 5G where the communication network comprises one or more different core networks and one or more Radio Access Networks (RAN) with varying degrees of capabilities.
QoS provisioning is currently done in LTE via Quality Class Indicator (QCI), which in turn is a statically defined classification of end-to-end packet loss and latency tolerance. The QCI is defined per bearer type and happens to be an inherent part of the bearer establishment process. This is further enforced via Traffic Flow Templates (TFT) while the QCI at eNodeB specifies the forwarding treatment (e.g. scheduling weights, admission thresholds, queue management thresholds, link-layer protocol configuration, etc.). Generally, QCI is a mechanism for ensuring that the bearer traffic or a data flow is allocated appropriate QoS. Different bearer traffic or different data flows respectively require different QoS and, therefore, different QCI values.
QCI in its current state is a simply an index of packet loss and latency. This is leading to some of the critical challenges:                QCI only represents packet loss and latency. However, for services from vertical industries the QoS parameters extend beyond these two key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, in Car-2-Car communications, jitter and message frequency are two of the essential QoS KPIs in addition to packet loss and latency. This is unfortunately not sufficiently represented in the present QCI system.        9 QCIs were originally introduced in LTE. The 9 QCIs were later expanded to 13 in Release-12 with the introduction of services from Machine Type Communications (MTC). Generally, the QCIs are provided in a table of QCIs. For supporting industry verticals, the QCI table has to be expanded as in the above-mentioned case where the 9 QCIs were later expanded to 13 QCIs. Such a vertical expansion of QCI table is not a sustainable solution since hundreds of new service types from vertical industries are envisioned to be introduced in 5G.
The existing QoS class provisioning is not future proof when one considers the proposed 5G concepts. In 5G, a unified air interface is designed that could be sliced for various verticals with the slices being dynamically re-configurable. Furthermore, a service from one vertical industry may have a higher priority when compared to the service from another vertical even if they are similar in nature. For example, transmission of sensor data from Car-2-Car communications might have a higher priority over the transmission of sensor data of IoT (Internet of Things).
Considering these aspects of 5G, QoS class provisioning in future should meet at least some of the following aspects:                Support network slicing for different verticals with network slices being introduced and torn down dynamically;        Facilitate QoS support for services within the slices of the verticals;        Take into consideration Allocation-Retention-Policy (ARP) management, load balancing across industries, access and core network capabilities etc.; and/or        Be compatible with the individual QoS capabilities of different access and core networks.
Thus, further methodologies are required for handling different data flows in a communication networks according to different QoS classes.

Quality of service class indicator structure and corresponding controllers and control methods


Compositions which can prevent oxidation darkening of foods and beverages and methods for producing it are disclosed. The compounds inhibit the enzymatic browning of foods and beverages susceptible to browning, such as shrimp, apples, fruit juices and wines. Methods for producing the compounds and methods for inhibiting browning using the composition are described.

Browning of foods is a major problem in the food and beverage industry. Browning, or oxidative darkening, can be the result of the action of an enzyme, such as polyphenol oxidase (PPO), or the result of non-enzymatic chemical reactions, for example, due to polymerization of phenolic compounds which are present in some foods. High PPO activity is present in foods which are susceptible to browning, e.g., shrimp, bananas and mushrooms. Browning causes deleterious changes in the appearance and texture of foods and beverages. Both enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning constitute serious problems for the food industry and result in millions of pounds of wasted food products per year.
Enzymatic browning, in particular, has been the subject of much research, particularly as the causative agent of shrimp melanosis, which is characterized by the formation of dark spots on shrimp. Faulkner et al., Advanced Food Research, 19: 302-310 (1953). Enzymatic browning is the result of PPO-catalyzed oxidation of mono- and diphenols to o-quinones which polymerize spontaneously to form dark-colored, high molecular weight polymers, leading to the characteristic browning or formation of dark spots.
Several methods have been developed to prevent browning, including heat inactivation of PPO and various chemical treatments, such as altering the pH of the food. Heat inactivation is not appropriate for fresh foods, such as fruits and seafood, as the high temperatures necessary to inactivate PPO change the quality and texture of the foods. Likewise, reducing the pH by adding an acid (e.g., citric acid or phosphoric acid) deleteriously affects the appearance and quality of some foods.
The control of PPO-catalyzed enzymatic browning in mushrooms using citric acid was reported by McCord and Kilara in the Journal of Food Science, 48: 1479-1483 (1983). The inhibition of polyphenol oxidase activity in an extract of Jerusalem artichokes using various sulfite compounds was described in Zawistowski et al., in Can. Inst. Food Sci. Tech. J., 20 (3): 162-164 (1987). The use of cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid to control enzymatic browning in fruit juices was described by J. R. L. Walker in Food Technology, 11: 341-345 (1976). T. C. Wong et al. report in Plant. Physiol., 48:24-30 (1971) that phloroglucinol and resorcinol, and their derivatives d-catechin and orcinol react with 4-methyl-o-quinone which is formed by PPO in peaches, although these compounds are not substrates for PPO. R. Kuttner and H. Wagreich, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 43: 80-87 (1952) report that mushroom PPO (catecholase) is inhibited by benzoic acid and selected benzoic acid derivatives. None of these methods have proven entirely satisfactory, however, due to expense, lack of availability, or inferior performance.
Labuza in Cereal Foods World, 34(4):353 (1989) describes the use of proteases, especially ficin, in the control of enzymatic browning of certain foods. The author attributed this effect to attack on PPO by the protease.
Another method for reducing browning which has been prevalent in the food industry is adding sulfite salts to foods and beverages. Some forms of enzymatic browning, such as shrimp melanosis, have traditionally been treated by dipping or coating the shrimp or other food in a sulfite solution, such as sodium bisulfite. Sulfites are also added to wines to prevent oxidation. Sulfites reduce o-quinones to the mono- and/or diphenols, thereby inhibiting the browning reaction. However, the use of sulfites in foods has been restricted due to adverse health effects in certain individuals, and may be restricted further or even eliminated completely.

Compositions and methods for inhibiting browning in foods


A parallel processing computer system for solving a system of linear equations having coefficients residing in a first matrix and right-hand sides of the linear equations residing in a first vector. The first matrix is divided into a plurality of ND row disk sections, a plurality of ND column disk sections and ND diagonal disk sections. Each of these sections, in a preferred embodiment, are known as disk sections, and are stored on non-volatile media such as magnetic and/or optical disks. Further, the equations are defined by the first vector, the first vector comprising ND sections. Each of the plurality of j row sections and j column sections is factored. Then, the j diagonal section is factored and inverted. In a preferred embodiment, the inversion uses a Gauss-Jordan technique. These steps are repeated for all values of j that range between 1 and ND. Then, forward elimination is performed for all sections in the first vector using the first matrix, and back substitution is performed for all sections in the first vector using the first matrix.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for solving large dense systems of linear equations on a parallel processing computer. More particularly, this invention relates to an efficient parallel processing method throughout which solves dense systems of linear equations (those containing approximately 25,000 variables) wherein the system efficiently utilizes the computing and input/output resources of the parallel processing computer and minimizes idle time of those resources.
2. Prior Art
For some applications, such as determining the radar cross-section of aircraft, or simulating flow across an airfoil, very large systems of linear equations are used. These linear equations sometimes range on the order of 25,000 variables or more. It therefore is necessary to solve very large matrices comprising approximately 25,000.times.25,000 elements or more for solving these linear equations. This is typically difficult to accomplish on prior art linear algebra computers due to their inherent limitations, such as processing power, or input/output device speed. Also, general limitations have prevented the solutions for these problems, such as bandwidth and the cost of super-computing resources. Parallel computing architectures have been used for solving certain types of problems, including systems of linear equations, since many small processors may perform certain operations more efficiently than one large high-speed processor, such as that present in a typical super computer. The practical limitations in partitioning the problem to be solved in the parallel-processing machines, however, has hindered the usefulness of this architecture.
In a parallel processing machine, it is necessary to break down a problem (such as the operations to solve a large matrix representing a system of linear equations) into a series of discrete problems in order for the system to generate a solution. Segmenting such a problem is a nontrivial task, and must be carefully designed in order to maximize processing by each of the parallel nodes, and minimize input/output operations which must be performed. This is done so that the system does not spend the majority of the time performing input/output operations (thereby becoming "I/O bound") while the computing resources in the system remain substantially idle. Therefore, one goal of designing systems and problems is to maximize the amount of time that the system is processing. Another goal of parallel processing architectures in implementing very large matrix solutions, is to balance the I/O capacity of the system so that the system does not become totally "compute-bound" (e.g. processing only, no input/output operations) and the I/O units remain idle.
Another problem with parallel processing computers is that large chunks of a matrix (perhaps the entire matrix) need to be loaded into main memory of each parallel processing node in order to compute the solution. Given that very large matrices require vast amounts of computer main memory, certain systems perform matrix solutions "out-of-core." In other words, elements within the matrix that are not needed at a particular time may be written off to disk, and/or spooled to tape, for later retrieval and operation upon in the main memory of each node in the parallel processing system. Such an arrangement provides an easy system of maintaining backups (since they are constantly being spooled off to tape, disk or other similar media), as well as providing a natural check-point at which computation may resume if computer system power is lost, a system malfunction occurs or some other event occurs which halts processing. Given the long time period for solving very large matrices (up to a full real-time month for some very large systems, for example, those containing 100,000.times.100,000 elements), the possibility of losing system power or another type of malfunction may prove fatal to solving the matrix. Such a system may be termed an "out of core solver."

Parallel processing computer for solving dense systems of linear equations by factoring rows, columns, and diagonal, inverting the diagonal, forward eliminating, and back substituting


This invention relates to a kind of down branch fiber fabric, its fabricating method and device. The fabric is composed of 10-100% down branch fiber and 0-90% textile fiber by weight. The processing steps include material choosing, silver feeding, twisting, winding packages, heat setting and weaving. The device comprises a raw material tank, a feeding conveyer belt, a inclined feeding conveyer belt, a adjustable even roller, a brambly catching roller, a first subsiding room, an even roller, a brambly dividing roller, a second subsiding room, two dust cages. The present invention makes the down branch fiber spinnable and weavable. It solves the problem that the down branch fiber cannot be combed and drawn and drafted by the prior textile technique, so that chances the fact that the down branch fiber can only be used as the fiber stuffing to make down garments, quilts, ticks and other bedding. This new fabric is applicable to make thermal woven, hoses, quilts, ticks or other bedding.

Feather and down are all good natural heat-retaining materials. Feather has a flat shape with parallel barbs grown on quills in rows. Down has a shape liking cloud and down can be sorted as down-feather and semi-plume. The down feather has a fluffy structure with little shaft or no shaft. The semi-plume has a fluffy structure too, but it has well formed shaft. For these characters, the feather and down cannot be sorted as fiber. Using common technology, we can separate barb-fibers of the feather or down-branch-fibers of the down or semi-plume from their quill or shaft to get separated barb-fibers or down-branch-fibers. The barb fiber has a same structure as the down-branch-fiber but is coarser than the down-branch-fiber. The barb-fiber and down-branch-fiber both are defined as down branch fiber thereafter. Since down branch fiber has very tiny barbules and hooks distributing equally along fiber, the down branch fiber is considered as a kind of unique nature fiber with many merits, for example, soft, light, heat retaining, etc. However, to us common textile technologies such as combing, twisting, draughting to process down branch fibers is very difficult since the down branch fibers are non-crimp, fluffy, and very short, most of them are around 15 mm to 25 mm. This is the main reason that people use feather, barb-branch-fiber and down branch fiber as stuffing materials for making down garment, quilts, ticks and other bedding only.
Chinese Patent Publication Number CN1222591A titled "Down Branch Fiber Fabric and Its Fabricating Method" and Chinese Patent Publication Number CN1293270A titled "Down Shell Fabric" described a kind of spinning method for the mixture of downs or down-branch-fibers with textile fibers.
According to the common knowledge in the down products industry, down is short, soft fluff got from feathers of waterfowls, such as geese, ducks and the like. Down also means a mixture of down, feather, barb-fiber, down branch fiber and other impurity, in which the ration of down must be over the lowest standard stipulated by this industry. The "down" described in the above-mentioned two patent publications is not a kind of material having same structure, it can't be considered as fiber too. Where, the fiber means a kind of natural or synthetic thin filiform textile material only. Downs can't be used as textile materials for spin directly. If spinning the mixture of downs with other textile materials for yarns, it is impossible to get smooth and uniform yarns since down is fluffy and mixed with other impurity, such as feather and barb-fibers. During processing downs will be blown away since downs can't be mixed with other textile fibers as a uniform combination.

Down branch fiber fabric and the fabricating method thereof


A double clutch for a transmission with two transmission input shafts is disclosed having two clutches which can rotate about a common rotational axis, are arranged one behind the other in the axial direction, and have a common driving outer plate support and which each have a driven inner plate support. A tension sleeve at least partially surrounds the outer plate support for selectively activating one of the two clutches.

Double clutches for motor vehicles are distinguished according to the type of their frictional partners as dry or wet, i.e., cooled by liquid coolant, clutches. Furthermore, double clutches can be distinguished according to their arrangement. For wet double clutches, there are configurations of clutches nested one in the other in the radial direction ("concentric arrangement") and clutches arranged one behind the other in the axial direction ("parallel arrangement").
Wet parallel clutches, in which the motor-side drive is realized via the inner plate support and the power take-off is realized via the outer plate support, are known. Such an embodiment follows, e.g., from EP1195537 B1. This configuration has the disadvantage that the driven-side flywheel masses are relatively large due to the large cylindrical outer plate support. This leads to disadvantages in the synchronization of the individual gears.
Furthermore, a configuration by means of power take-off via inner plate supports is also known. Examples of such double clutches follow from DE19833376 A1 or DE10146606 A1. However, in both embodiments, the hydraulic activation is complicated and expensive. In particular, DE19833376 A1 has a relatively complicated lever rod assembly with a plurality of tie rods for power transmission from annular pistons to the plate packet.


The present invention relates to a nozzle suitable for jetting high pressure and high temperature steam, and a method and an apparatus for producing an entangled nonwoven fabric using the nozzle. According to the apparatus, a steam inlet side main conduit (c1) and a steam outlet side conduit (c3) are connected with both end parts of a tubular nozzle holder (11) in a longitudinal direction provided integrally with nozzle members (15, 16, 23) having a plurality of nozzle holes (16a, 26). A steam outlet side conduit (c2) is provided with an opening/closing valve (55) and a trap conduit (57) is branched from a conduit at an upstream side from the opening/closing valve (55). By opening the opening/closing valve (55), a rapid temperature rise of the nozzle holder (11) can be enabled at a time of starting a production of a nonwoven fabric. Furthermore, even in the opening/closing valve (55) is closed in a regular operation, drainage generated inside the nozzle holder (11) can always be discharged to outside so that steam can be jetted stably and continuously, and thus a high quality entangled fiber nonwoven fabric can be produced continuously from the fiber web by the steam.

Conventionally, a technique for producing an entangled nonwoven fabric by entangling constituent fibers with each other by jetting a high pressure fluid flow to a fabric web has been known as it is disclosed in for example Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 51-133579 (patent document 1), JP-A No. 9-256254 (patent document 2), JP-A No. 2000-144564 (patent document 3), or the like. However, as the high pressure fluid disclosed in the patent documents 1 to 3, a high pressure liquid is used mainly. According to a production of an entangled nonwoven fabric by jetting a high pressure liquid flow, not only a liquid scattering prevention equipment is required due to a large liquid use amount and a purifying process equipment is required for the large amount of the liquid at a time of discharging the liquid after the process, but also a drying equipment for the obtained nonwoven fabric and a gigantic thermal energy consumed therefor are required. Moreover, noise based on a liquid jetting operation is rampant so as to deteriorate a work environment.
On the other hand, for example, although use of high pressure steam in stead of the high pressure liquid is mentioned in the above-mentioned patent document 1 and patent document 3, it is not for actively entangling the fibers or it is adopted without a recognition of a difference between the liquid flow and the steam flow. As a result, according to the patent documents 1 and 3, a jetting nozzle of the same structure is used without especially distinguishing the liquid flow and the steam flow, and thus a specific disclosure is not at all provided for the nozzle structure in consideration to a behavior peculiar to the jetted steam or a steam supply mechanism or discharging mechanism.
In order to solve problems at a time of producing the fiber entangled nonwoven fabric by the high pressure liquid flow, for example, WO 95/06769 pamphlet (patent document 4), JP-A No. 7-310267 (patent document 5), and the patent document 2 proposes active use of the steam as the high pressure fluid at the time of producing a nonwoven fabric by the high pressure fluid flow. In a case the steam is used, compared with the water jetting method, the water use amount can drastically be reduced as well as the discharging process equipment therefor can be miniaturized so that the noise generation can be reduced so as to improve the work environment. Additionally, the drying device can be eliminated or miniaturized for realizing energy saving. Furthermore, generation of a pattern at an entangled parts appearing on a nonwoven fabric surface peculiar to the fiber entangled nonwoven fabric by the liquid flow can be alleviated.
According to a production method for the nonwoven fabric of the above-mentioned patent document 4, an end product (nonwoven fabric) is produced by providing a fiber having a melting point lower than a temperature of the steam or superheated steam as an entirety or a part of a constituent fiber for the fiber web, producing a cloth (nonwoven fabric) preliminarily by entangling the web constituent fiber by a liquid flow, then jetting the steam or the superheated steam from a cloth surface toward a cloth inside so as to melt and fuse a low melting point fiber in the web constituent fiber. Moreover, a web entangling method disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document 5 is for entangling the web fiber with each other by using the steam as the high pressure fluid. According to a production method for the nonwoven fabric disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document 2, the nonwoven fabric is produced by jetting directly the steam to the fiber web instead of the conventional high pressure jetting water so as to function with fog like water generated by a temperature drop at a time for entangling the web constituent fiber.
According to an analysis of a content of the above-mentioned patent document 4, although use of high temperature steam is mentioned, various conditions peculiar to the fiber entanglement by the steam such as a steam pressure at the time of jetting and a nozzle hole size, a shape, or the like, are not mentioned. From this aspect, it is understood that the production of the nonwoven fabric by for example a high temperature superheated steam flow disclosed in the patent document 4 aims mainly at melting the fiber web constituent fiber made of a thermally fusible material by the steam heat instead of entangling the fiber by its steam flow. In general, as it is disclosed for example in the above-mentioned patent document 3, the fiber entangled nonwoven fabric produced by jetting a high pressure water flow has a hitting trace or an open hole trace by the jetting fluid.
According to the production method for a nonwoven fabric of the above-mentioned patent document 4, fiber entangling by the jet water flow is executed as a pre-process for jetting the steam to the fiber web. Therefore, it is considered that naturally the hitting trace and open hole trace remain on the cloth with the fiber entangling by the jet water flow so that the high temperature steam jetted thereto passes mainly through the hitting trance and open hole trace without penetrating through in a thickness direction in a cloth entire surface. Of course, another low melting point fibers present on the web surface without formation of the hitting trace or open hole trace are molten at the same time. It is recognized from a fact that parts with the fibers fused with each other are present in a region without formation of the hitting trace or open hole trace in FIGS. 4 to 5 in the patent document 4. As a result, the nonwoven fabric shown in the figures is not different from the conventional nonwoven fabric produced by point bonding in terms of flexibility, and there are hardened parts by the thermally fusible material particularly on the surface.
Moreover, although a structure of an embodiment of a steam jetting nozzle is shown in a figure of the above-mentioned patent document 5, the structure, a size, a use embodiment, or the like of the jetting nozzle is not at all mentioned specifically.
On the other hand, although the above-mentioned patent document 2 discloses a specific structure of a steam jetting nozzle, how the steam is sent into the jetting nozzle and what kind of conditions are required to jet the high pressure steam evenly and continuously from the nozzle are not disclosed specifically. As the steam used for the jetting operation, in general, industrial water with a soft water process and a slight amount of an additive added is used. Furthermore, since it passes through various kinds of tubes, or the like, extremely fine foreign substances can be mixed in the steam so that the jetting nozzle holes can easily be choked. Or since a part of the steam introduced into the nozzle is condensed so as to be drainage and pooled in a vicinity of the nozzle hole, the nozzle hole can easily be choked and thus the steam can easily be jetted intermittently instead of jetted continuously. Furthermore, although the nozzle structure disclosed in the patent document 2 can be adopted preferably for a fluid flow jetting nozzle, a number of parts is too large so that it is too complicated for a steam jetting nozzle.
The present invention has been achieved for solving the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to provide a pressurized steam jetting nozzle having a simple structure, capable of jetting pressurized steam evenly and continuously, obtaining a predetermined strength by certainly entangling a part or substantially the entirety of the constituent fibers of a fiber web, ensuring a surface flexibility of the nonwoven fabric to be obtained, and improving an internal embodiment thereof, an efficient production method for a nonwoven fabric capable of certainly entangling the constituent fibers of a fiber web by jetting pressurized steam using the nozzle, and a continuous production apparatus for a high quality fiber entangled nonwoven fabric by steam using the nozzle.

Pressurized steam-jetting nozzle, and method and apparatus for producing nonwoven fabric using the nozzle


A system and method for creating a mnemonics Language Model for use with a speech recognition software application, wherein the method includes generating an n-gram Language Model containing a predefined large body of characters, wherein the n-gram Language Model includes at least one character from the predefined large body of characters, constructing a new language Model (LM) token for each of the at least one character, extracting pronunciations for each of the at least one character responsive to a predefined pronunciation dictionary to obtain a character pronunciation representation, creating at least one alternative pronunciation for each of the at least one character responsive to the character pronunciation representation to create an alternative pronunciation dictionary and compiling the n-gram Language Model for use with the speech recognition software application, wherein compiling the Language Model is responsive to the new Language Model token and the alternative pronunciation dictionary.

Speech is perhaps the oldest form of human communication and many scientists now believe that the ability to communicate through speech is inherently provided in the biology of the human brain. Thus, it has been a long-sought goal to allow users to communicate with computers using a Natural User Interface (NUI), such as speech. In fact, recently great strides have been made in obtaining this goal. For example, some computers now include speech recognition applications that allow a user to verbally input both commands for operating the computer and dictation to be converted into text. These applications typically operate by periodically recording sound samples taken through a microphone, analyzing the samples to recognize the phonemes being spoken by the user and identifying the words made up by the spoken phonemes.
While speech recognition is becoming more commonplace, there are still some disadvantages to using conventional speech recognition applications that tend to frustrate the experienced user and alienate the novice user. One such disadvantage involves the interaction between the speaker and the computer. For example, with human interaction, people tend to control their speech based upon the reaction that they perceive in a listener. As such, during a conversation a listener may provide feedback by nodding or making vocal responses, such as "yes" or "uh-huh", to indicate that he or she understands what is being said to them. Additionally, if the listener does not understand what is being said to them, the listener may take on a quizzical expression, lean forward, or give other vocal or non-vocal cues. In response to this feedback, the speaker will typically change the way he or she is speaking and in some cases, the speaker may speak more slowly, more loudly, pause more frequently, or ever repeat a statement, usually without the listener even realizing that the speaker is changing the way they are interacting with the listener. Thus, feedback during a conversation is a very important element that informs the speaker as to whether or not they are being understood by the listener. Unfortunately however, conventional voice recognition applications are not yet able to provide this type of "Natural User Interface (NUI)" feedback response to speech inputs/commands facilitated by a man-machine interface.
Currently, voice recognition applications have achieved an accuracy rate of approximately 90% to 98%. This means that when a user dictates into a document using a typical voice recognition application their speech will be accurately recognized by the voice recognition application approximately 90% to 98% of the time. Thus, out of every one hundred (100) letters recorded by the voice recognition application, approximately two (2) to ten (10) letters will have to be corrected. In particular, existing voice recognition applications tend to have difficulty recognizing certain letters, such as "s" (e.g. ess) and "f" (e.g. eff). One approach existing voice recognition applications use to address this problem involves giving the user the ability to use predefined mnemonics to clarify which letter they are pronouncing. For example, a user has the ability to say "a as in apple" or "b as in boy" when dictating.
Unfortunately however, this approach has disadvantages associated with it that tends to limit the user friendliness of the voice recognition application. One disadvantage involves the use of the predefined mnemonics for each letter, which tend to be the standard military alphabet (e.g. alpha, bravo, charlie, . . . ). This is because that even though a user may be given a list of mnemonics to say when dictating, (e.g. "I as in igloo") they tend to form their own mnemonic alphabet (e.g. "I as in India") and ignore the predefined mnemonic alphabet. As can be expected, because the voice recognition applications do not recognize non-predefined mnemonics, letter recognition errors become commonplace. Another disadvantage involves the fact that while some letters have a small set of predominant mnemonics (i.e. >80%) associated with them (A as in Apple, A as in Adam or D as in Dog, D as in David or Z as in Zebra, Z as in Zulu), other letters have no predominant mnemonics associated with them (e.g. L, P, R and S). This makes the creation of a suitable generic language model not only very difficult, but virtually impossible. As such, communicating language to a speech recognition software application still produces a relatively high number of errors and not only do these errors tend to create frustration in frequent users, but they also tend to be discouraging to novice users as well, possibly resulting in the user refusing to continue employing the voice recognition application.


A sheet post-treating apparatus is provided with a discharged sheet stacking tray displaceably provided in a casing portion for stacking thereon sheets discharged from the casing portion, and a holding portion for holding the discharged sheet stacking tray in a first position and a second position overlying the first position, and is designed such that the sheets are stacked on the discharged sheet stacking tray when in the first position, and therefore, when the sheet post-treating apparatus is incorporated into a printer and a cartridge in the printer is to be interchanged with a cartridge cover opened, a user can retract the discharged sheet stacking tray to the second position to thereby interchange the cartridge.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a discharged sheet stacking apparatus on which sheets are stacked, and an image forming apparatus provided with this discharged sheet stacking apparatus in an image forming apparatus main body. Particularly, the invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a discharged sheet stacking apparatus designed such that when an ambient member is moved, a discharged sheet stacking tray does not abut against the member in an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
Heretofore, many image forming apparatuses, such as copying machines, printers, facsimile apparatuses and those combination machines thereof, have been designed such that sheets on which images have been formed (printed) are stacked on a discharged sheet stacking apparatus provided downstream of the discharge port of the image forming apparatus.
Among such image forming apparatuses, there is one of a type in which a sheet discharged from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus is received by and stacked on a discharged sheet stacking apparatus. Also, recently, there have appeared in the market of image forming apparatuses, in order to reduce the footprint for space saving, a discharge sheet stacking apparatus that is positioned on the upper portion of the main body of the image forming apparatus and a sheet discharged from a sheet discharge port on the image forming apparatus side located on the upper surface of the discharged sheet stacking apparatus is received by and stacked on the discharged sheet stacking apparatus. Also, regarding the same problem of footprint, image forming apparatuses of a tall type, which are slim and tall as a whole and which have a great deal of sheet supplying options for supplying a great deal of sheets, is disposed on the lower layer of an image forming apparatus main body.
The footprint refers to a floor area occupied by a printer. That is, it refers to an installation area. As regards the footprint, it is a matter of course that if discharged sheets are placed not on a floor but on the upper portion of the main body of the printer, the installation area as a system decreases.
Now, many of these image forming apparatuses are of a type, in which when, for example, a toner cartridge is to be interchanged, a cartridge cover provided on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus is opened to thereby interchange the toner cartridge from above. Also, in order to improve operability, some of them are such that the cartridge cover has the operating portion of the image forming apparatus.
In the image forming apparatuses of these types, however, it is sometimes the case that when a cartridge cover has been opened, the cover strikes against the discharged sheet stacking apparatus disposed on the upper portion of the image forming apparatus and it is difficult to interchange a toner cartridge. Also, when the cover is opened by force, the cover may strike against the discharged sheet stacking tray of the discharged sheet stacking apparatus, whereby the discharged sheet stacking tray and the cover may be damaged. Also, an operating portion provided on the cartridge cover may strike against the discharged sheet stacking tray of the discharged sheet stacking apparatus to thereby push an operating button by mistake, whereby the printer may be wrongly operated. Also, in some cases, the discharged sheet stacking tray may collide against the operating portion to thereby damage a liquid crystal panel provided in the operating portion.
So, it is conceivable to detach the whole of the discharged sheet stacking apparatus or the discharged sheet stacking tray during the interchange of the cartridge, but this is cumbersome to a user. Or, if the space in which the cover is pivotally moved is sufficiently secured, the position at which the discharged sheet stacking tray is mounted with respect to the image forming apparatus main body must be made high and the discharged sheet stacking apparatus must be disposed on the image forming apparatus main body, and now that image forming apparatuses of a tall type are increased, the height of the entire image forming apparatus becomes great and it may become difficult for the user to use the discharged sheet stacking apparatus.
A similar problem has also arisen in an image forming apparatus provided with a door for maintenance provided on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus and adapted to be opened and closed when jam treatment or maintenance management is done.

Discharge sheet stacking apparatus and image forming apparatus provided with the same