Projection lens having long focal lengths for use with LCD panels are provided. The lenses have a first lens unit which has a positive power and a second lens unit which has a negative power. The first lens unit contains at least three lens elements organized into two subunits, namely, a positive first lens subunit having a positive lens element and a negative lens element and a positive second lens subunit having a positive lens element. The second lens unit contains at least two lens elements, namely, a positive lens element and a negative lens element. The projection lens preferably employs only five lens elements arranged in a positive, negative, positive, positive, negative configuration.

Projection lens systems (also referred to herein as "projection systems") are used to form an image of an object on a viewing screen. The basic structure of such a system is shown in FIG. 3, wherein 10 is a light source (e.g., a tungsten-halogen lamp), 12 is illumination optics which forms an image of the light source (hereinafter referred to as the "output" of the illumination system), 14 is the object which is to be projected (e.g., a LCD matrix of on and off pixels), and 13 is a projection lens, composed of multiple lens elements, which forms an enlarged image of object 14 on viewing screen 16. The system can also include a field lens, e.g., a Fresnel lens, in the vicinity of the pixelized panel to appropriately locate the exit pupil of the illumination system.
Projection lens systems in which the object is a pixelized panel are used in a variety of applications, including data display systems. Such projection lens systems preferably employ a single projection lens which forms an image of, for example, a single panel having red, green, and blue pixels.
Pixelized panels, specifically, LCD panels, come in various sizes depending upon the type of projection system in which they are to be used. Large LCD panels, e.g., panels having a diagonal of from about 5.0 inches (about 130 millimeters) to about 10.6 inches (about 270 millimeters), can be effectively employed in producing high resolution color images since such panels can have a high pixel count while still maintaining a pixel size which is large enough for reliable manufacture. In this regard, it should be noted that for a full color image from a single LCD panel, the number of pixels needed is three times that required for a monochrome image, thus making for small pixel sizes unless large LCD panels are used.
There exists a need in the art for projection lenses for use with pixelized panels which simultaneously have at least the following properties:
(1) a long focal length; PA1 (2) a relatively simple construction, i.e., a relatively small number of lens elements; PA1 (3) a high level of color correction; PA1 (4) low distortion; and PA1 (5) low sensitivity to temperature changes. PA1 (6) the ability to operate (focus) over a wide range of magnifications (conjugates) while maintaining an efficient coupling to the output of the illumination system and a high level of aberration correction (hereinafter referred to as the "lens' focus range"); and PA1 (7) the ability to provide a range of magnifications for any set of conjugates in the lens' focus range while again maintaining an efficient coupling to the output of the illumination system and a high level of aberration correction (hereinafter referred to as the "lens' zoom range"). PA1 (A) a first lens unit (U1) having a positive power P.sub.1, said first lens unit comprising in order from its image side to its object side: PA1 (B) a second lens unit (U2) having a negative power P.sub.2, said second lens unit being spaced from said first lens unit by an axial distance D.sub.12 and comprising in order from its image side to its object side: PA1 (1) the first lens subunit comprises (most preferably, consists of) a positive lens element (L.sub.1P) and a negative lens element (L.sub.1N), the positive lens element being on the image side of the first lens subunit and the negative lens element being on the object side of that subunit, said positive and negative lens elements being separated by an axial distance D.sub.1P1N ; PA1 (2) L.sub.1P is composed of a low dispersion plastic material, e.g., acrylic, and has at least one aspherical surface; PA1 (3) L.sub.1N is composed of a high dispersion glass material, i.e., a flint glass; PA1 (4) L.sub.1N has spherical surfaces; PA1 (5) the second lens subunit consists of a single lens element (L.sub.2); PA1 (6) L.sub.2 is composed of glass and has spherical surfaces; PA1 (7) the second lens unit consists of L.sub.2P and L.sub.2N ; PA1 (8) L.sub.2P is composed of glass and has spherical surfaces; PA1 (9) L.sub.2N is composed of a low dispersion plastic material, e.g., acrylic, and has at least one aspherical surface; PA1 (10) the projection lens consists of only five lens elements; and/or PA1 (11) the projection lens satisfies some or, preferably, all of the following numerical limitations: PA1 (a) an illumination system comprising a light source and illumination optics which forms an image of the light source, said image being the output of the illumination system; PA1 (b) a pixelized panel which comprises the object; and PA1 (c) a projection lens of the type described above, said projection lens having an entrance pupil whose location substantially corresponds to the location of the output of the illumination system.
For certain applications, it is desirable for a projection lens having the foregoing properties to also having the following two additional properties:
For a large pixelized panel, the use of a long focal length allows the field of view of the projection lens to be maintained in a range which facilitates aberration correction, e.g., the semi-field of view of the lens can be less than 15.degree.. Also, a long focal length permits a long throw distance which is desirable in large auditoriums.
A relatively simple construction is desirable from a cost, weight, and size point of view. Large numbers of lens elements consume more raw materials, weigh more, and are more expensive to build and mount. Accordingly, a lens with a minimum number of lens elements is desired.
As is well known in the art, lenses which are capable of zooming generally employ numerous elements in a complex structure to simultaneously provide focal length changes and aberration correction. Accordingly, properties (2) and (7) above work against one another in arriving at a suitable lens design.
In this regard, it has been found that a mini-zoom range, e.g., a zoom range in terms of image height at the viewing screen (object height in the tables) of 15% or less (.+-.7.5% or less from the center point of the zoom range), is sufficient to meet the great majority of the zooming needs of users of LCD projection lens systems. Moreover, it has been further found that such mini-zoom ranges can be achieved using simple lens designs which employ at most one additional lens element and, in many cases, no additional lens elements than a fixed focal length design which can achieve a similar image quality over a similar focus range. In this way, the incompatibility of properties (2) and (7) can be overcome.
More particularly, by limiting the zoom range, it has been found possible to design the lenses of the invention by: 1) designing a non-zooming lens which will achieve the desired focus range, 2) selecting a lens unit of such a design which will be moved during zooming, and 3) reoptimizing the design with the selected lens unit being moved to achieve the desired zoom range. In practice, it has been found that the zooming version of the lens requires the addition of at most one lens element and, in many cases, no lens element, to achieve limited zooming while maintaining a desired focus range.
Property (3), i.e., a high level of color correction, is important because color aberrations can be easily seen in the image of a pixelized panel as a smudging of a pixel or, in extreme cases, the complete dropping of a pixel from the image. These problems are typically most severe at the edges of the field.
All of the chromatic aberrations of the system need to be addressed, with lateral color, chromatic variation of coma, and chromatic aberration of astigmatism typically being most challenging. Lateral color, i.e., the variation of magnification with color, is particularly troublesome since it manifests itself as a decrease in contrast, especially at the edges of the field. In extreme cases, a rainbow effect in the region of the full field can be seen.
In projection systems employing cathode ray tubes (CRTs) a small amount of (residual) lateral color can be compensated for electronically by, for example, reducing the size of the image produced on the face of the red CRT relative to that produced on the blue CRT. With a pixelized panel, however, such an accommodation cannot be performed because the image is digitized and thus a smooth adjustment in size across the full field of view is not possible. A higher level of lateral color correction is thus needed from the projection lens.
The use of a pixelized panel to display data leads to stringent requirements regarding the correction of distortion. This is so because good image quality is required even at the extreme points of the field of view of the lens when viewing data. As will be evident, an undistorted image of a displayed number or letter is just as important at the edge of the field as it is at the center. Moreover, projection lenses are often used with offset panels, the lenses of the examples being designed for such use. In such a case, the distortion at the viewing screen does not vary symmetrically about a horizontal line through the center of the screen but can increase monotonically from, for example, the bottom to the top of the screen. This effect makes even a small amount of distortion readily visible to the viewer.
Low distortion and a high level of color correction are particularly important when an enlarged image of a WINDOWS type computer interface is projected onto a viewing screen. Such interfaces with their parallel lines, bordered command and dialog boxes, and complex coloration, are in essence test patterns for distortion and color. Users readily perceive and object to even minor levels of distortion or color aberration in the images of such interfaces.
In order to produce an image of sufficient brightness, a substantial amount of light must pass through the projection lens. As a result, a significant temperature difference normally exists between room temperature and the lens' operating temperature. In addition, the lens needs to be able to operate under a variety of environmental conditions. For example, projection lens systems are often mounted to the ceiling of a room, which may comprise the roof of a building where the ambient temperature can be substantially above 40.degree. C. To address these effects, a projection lens whose optical properties are relatively insensitivity to temperature changes is needed.
One way to address the temperature sensitivity problem is to use lens elements composed of glass. Compared to plastic, the radii of curvature and the index of refraction of a glass element generally change less than those of a plastic element. However, glass elements are generally more expensive than plastic elements, especially if aspherical surfaces are needed for aberration control. They are also heavier. As described below, plastic elements can be used and temperature insensitivity still achieved provided the powers and locations of the plastic elements are properly chosen.
Optional property (6), i.e., the ability to efficiently operate over a wide range of magnifications (a large focus range), is desirable since it allows the projection system to be used with screens of different sizes and halls of different dimensions without the need to change any of the components of the system. Only the object and image conjugates need to be changed which can be readily accomplished by moving the lens relative to the pixelized panel. The challenge, of course, is to provide efficient coupling to the output of the illumination system and a high level of aberration correction throughout the operative range of magnifications.
The ability to change the magnification of the image for a given set of image and object conjugates, i.e., the ability to zoom, has similar benefits. In this case, the changes in magnification are used for fine tuning of the image to, for example, fully fill a viewing screen.
It should be noted that while properties (6) and (7) above, i.e., focusing and zooming, both involve magnification changes, the magnification changes are achieved in fundamentally different ways. Thus, during focusing, the focal length of the lens remains substantially constant as the image and object conjugates change, and the magnification change is a result of the change in the ratio of those conjugates. During zooming, on the other hand, the focal length changes while the image and object conjugates remain constant, and the magnification change is a result of the change in the focal length. (Note that in Table 1 below, the focal lengths shown include the Fresnel lens which remains fixed during focusing (and zooming). As a result, the focal length of the lens appears to change during focusing, when in fact it is remaining constant for the lens elements which move during focusing. Also, the lenses of the tables include means for accommodating for changes in the focus of the lens resulting from zooming. In particular, the tables show some changes in conjugates during zooming which achieve these focus corrections.) The projection lenses described below achieve all of the above requirements and can be successfully used in producing relatively low cost projection lens systems capable of forming a high quality color image of a pixelized panel on a viewing screen.

Long focal length projection lenses for use with large pixelized panels


A control system for an converter circuit using two interleaved boost circuits is described which uses a single PWM controller to control the switches in both of the interleaved boost circuits. A voltage feedback control circuit monitors the output voltage of the converter circuit and sends that information to the PWM controller. A current sensing circuit is provided that senses the current in each of the boost converters. The current sensed in the current sensing circuit is converted to a voltage and used in conjunction with the voltage information from voltage feedback control circuit by the single PWM controller to regulate both of the boost converter switches. By regulating the boost converter switches, the single PWM controller is able to ensure proper synchronization and current sharing while tightly regulating the output voltage and improving the input power factor of the converter circuit.

Generating clean stable dc power for sensitive equipment from an ac source, single phase or three phase, is a common problem. The most simple solutions utilize bridge rectifier circuits and large filtering capacitors. Simple bridge rectifiers, however, have input current waveforms that are not sinusoidal and are highly distorted, resulting in very poor input power factors and total harmonic distortion. The use of a boost converter having a single switch, or multiple parallel switches, between the bridge rectifier and the dc output can significantly improve the input power factor and reduce the total harmonic distortion. The objectives of the boost converter are to shape the input line current to become a square wave which can be done using constant peak current-mode control with a switching duty cycle of less than 50%, and to regulate the output voltage to ensure that it is constant.
It often becomes necessary or desirable, for example with increased power levels, to augment the single boost converter, which has multiple switches connected in parallel, with additional boost converters which are interleaved with the first. The interleaving of two boost converters results in an overall converter size reduction due to the reduced size of the energy-storage boost inductors, differential-mode electro-magnetic interference ("EMI") filters, and the output filter capacitors. Interleaving also effectively increases the switching frequency without increasing the switching losses of power switching devices.
The control scheme of conventional interleaved boost converters for a three-phase, six-diode input bridge, consists of two PWM controllers, each controlling one voltage regulation loop, and one current control loop, which can be either peak current or average current controlled. One of the PWM controllers acts as a master controller and the other acts as a slave controller where the clock of the salve controller is synchronized to the master with the help of additional synchronization circuits.
The problem with this control scheme is that the parameter variation of the synchronization circuit components and other circuit elements will cause the duty cycle of the slave boost converter to be different from that of the master boost converter. Therefore, the two boost converters may operate at different duty cycles and the two boost switchings may not be the expected 180 degrees out of phase. The result is a degradation in the anticipated effect on the input line current ripple cancellation and the output ripple cancellation. Further, the two boost converters will exhibit asymmetrical sharing of the current in addition to the use of more circuit components.
An interleaved boost converter system configured to use a single PWM controller would ensure the proper 180 degrees phase shift between the switching of the two boost switches and would result in symmetrical current sharing, thereby solving the problems in input line current harmonics, output ripple, and the asymmetrical sharing of current in the two boost switches seen with the master/slave controllers of the conventional scheme.

Control architecture for interleaved converters


Described herein are systems and methods for determining or quantifying tinnitus conditions within a patient, including determining if a patient has some form of tinnitus as well as categorizing or determining the severity of a tinnitus condition, if present. The described systems and methods are also useful in evaluating the efficacy a tinnitus treatment by measuring the degree of reduction of tinnitus symptoms in a patient. The described systems and methods also provide a personalized profile for each specific patient, allowing for more effective treatment options as various forms or causes of tinnitus become apparent.

Subjective tinnitus is an auditory illusion that is not associated with any physical sound. According to the VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, about 3-4 million veterans are affected by tinnitus (www.ncrar.org). Tinnitus is the most prevalent service-connected disability for all Veterans, as well as among war Veterans specifically returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It has been estimated that the Veterans Benefits Administration pays more than $1.2 billion per year in compensation for hearing loss and tinnitus (Veterans Health Administration, 2009). At present there is no cure for tinnitus, although there are therapies that alleviate the distress associate with it for some portion of the population. One major obstacle in finding a cure is that there are likely many different types of tinnitus, and potential cures will likely have to be individually focused on these subtypes.
Some progress has been made in understanding mechanisms of tinnitus using several techniques ranging from animal physiological studies to brain imaging studies, but questions remain. In particular, there is a poor understanding of how neural mechanisms of tinnitus relate to behavioral measures of severity and to the heterogeneity of the tinnitus population. The heterogeneity of the tinnitus population has several driving factors. These include the type of sound perceived (tone, buzzing, crickets, etc.); the location of the sound relative to the head (left, right, center); the severity of accompanying hearing loss, a condition highly comorbid with tinnitus; and the age at which onset of the percept occurred. This onset can be driven by many pathologies, including sudden sensorineural hearing loss, presbycusis, acoustic neurinomas, ototoxicity, chronic noise trauma, acute acoustic trauma, and Meniere's disease (Spoendlin, 1987, Tyler, 2000). However, in some cases of tinnitus there is no accompanying hearing loss or pathology (Barnea et al., 1990).
One major variable among the tinnitus population is their reaction to the chronic sound. This reaction ranges from mild to severe, with the latter reaction type having a major impact on a person's life, making sleep difficult and making intellectual work challenging, and it may lead to depression or anxiety (Davis and Rafaie, 2000). Subgroups within the tinnitus population, in particular those associated with tinnitus severity, may have different neural underpinnings. This may relate to why certain tinnitus therapies are successful in some tinnitus patients and not in others. The present disclosure is concerned with an individual's emotional reaction to the tinnitus sound, which will be gauged by tinnitus severity/handicap questionnaires. The subgroups we will examine in our study will relate to variations in tinnitus severity.
In the past few decades, with advances in brain imaging, studies have begun to focus on diverse neural networks that may subserve the generation of tinnitus and an individual's reaction to it. The primary focus has been on the auditory pathways (e.g., Muhlnickel et al., 1998, Andersson et al., 2000, Smits et al., 2007, Melcher et al., 2009). Additionally, the abnormal involvement of non-classical auditory pathways, which receive input from the emotion-processing (Lockwood et al., 1998, Rauschecker et al., 2010, Leaver et al., 2012, Carpenter-Thompson et al., 2014), attention-processing (Delb et al., 2008, Roberts et al., 2013, Schmidt et al., 2013), somatosensory (Shore, 2011, Vanneste et al., 2011) and visual (Burton et al., 2012) pathways, may modulate tinnitus. Critical to treating and managing tinnitus is a better understanding of its neural mechanisms and the determination of its objective biomarkers, which might have prognostic and therapeutic use. Described herein is the use of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), wherein participants do not perform any task and spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity are measured, to investigate these biomarkers.
It can be seen from the foregoing that there remains a need in the art for systems and methods for identification and treatments of tinnitus conditions, including diagnosis, categorization, classification, treatment and measurement of treatment efficacy in order to provide medical professional the necessary tools to help patients afflicted with tinnitus.

Automated, objective method of assessing tinnitus condition

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


Method for the manufacture of a galvannealed steel sheet includes the following steps: A) the provision of a pre-coated steel sheet coated with a first coating comprising iron and nickel, such steel sheet having the following chemical composition in weight percent 0.10<C<0.40%, 1.5<Mn<3.0%, 0.7<Si<2.0%, 0.05<Al<1.0%, 0.75<(Si+Al)<3.0% and on a purely optional basis, one or more elements such as Nb≤0.5%, B≤0.005%, Cr≤1.0%, Mo≤0.50%, Ni≤1.0%, Ti≤0.5%, the remainder of the composition making up of iron and inevitable impurities resulting from the elaboration, B) the thermal treatment of such pre-coated steel sheet at a temperature between 600 to 1000° C., C) the hot-dip coating of the steel sheet obtained in step B) with a second coating based on zinc and D) an alloying treatment to form a galvannealed steel sheet.

Zinc based coatings are generally used because they allow for a protection against corrosion, thanks to barrier protection and cathodic protection. The barrier effect is obtained by the application of a metallic coating on steel surface. Thus, the metallic coating prevents the contact between steel and corrosive atmosphere. The barrier effect is independent from the nature of the coating and the substrate. On the contrary, sacrificial cathodic protection is based on the fact that zinc is a metal less noble that steel. Thus, if corrosion occurs, zinc is consumed preferentially as compared to steel. Cathodic protection is essential in areas where steel is directly exposed to corrosive atmosphere, like cut edges where surrounding zinc will be consumed before steel.
However, when heating steps are performed on such zinc coated steel sheets, for example hot press hardening or welding, cracks are observed in steel which spread from the steel/coating interface. Indeed, occasionally, there is a reduction of metal mechanical properties due to the presence of cracks in the coated steel sheet after the above operation. These cracks appear with the following conditions: high temperature; contact with a liquid metal having a low melting point (such as zinc) in addition to the presence of tensile stress; heterogeneous diffusion of molten metal with substrate grain and grain boundaries. The designation for such phenomenon is known as liquid metal embrittlement (LME), also called liquid metal assisted cracking (LMAC).
Sometimes, zinc coated steel sheets are alloyed at high temperature in order to obtain a galvannealed steel sheet. This steel sheet is more resistance to LME than a zinc coated steel sheet because an alloy comprising Fe and Zn is formed which has higher melting point and forms less liquid during spot welding as compared to pure Zinc.
However, although galvannealed steel sheets are more resistance to LME, when heating steps are performed, some cracks can appear because the resistance to LME is not sufficient enough.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A downhole tool for removing debris from fluid flowing through the downhole tool comprises a screen member in sliding engagement with an inner wall surface of the tool. As the screen member becomes blocked, it moves from a first or initial position to a second or actuated position which causes a pressure change detectable at the surface of the wellbore. The pressure change causes the debris blocking fluid flow through the screen member to fall off the screen member thereby allowing an increase in fluid flow through the screen member. As a result, the screen member returns to its initial position and fluid again flows through the screen member for capturing by the screen member.

1. Field of Invention
The invention is directed to a downhole clean-up tool for use in oil and gas wells, and in particular, to a downhole clean-up tool that is capable of self-cleaning debris out of the flow path so that the tool can continue to operate for a longer period of time.
2. Description of Art
Downhole tools for clean-up of debris in a wellbore are generally known and are referred to as "junk baskets." In general, the junk baskets have a screen or other structure that catches debris within the tool as fluid flows through the tool. This occurs because the fluid carrying the debris flows through the tool such that at a point in the flow path, the speed of the fluid flowing through the tool decreases such that the junk or debris falls out of the flow path and into a basket.

Junk basket with self clean assembly and methods of using same


Systems and methods are provided for a cascade phase locked loop. A first phase locked loop receives a reference clock signal having a first frequency and generates a high frequency clock signal that is phase aligned with the reference clock signal. A first divider divides the high frequency clock signal to generate a middle frequency clock signal, and a second divider divides the middle frequency clock signal to generate a low frequency reference clock signal. A second phase locked loop receives the low frequency reference clock signal and generates an output signal, compares the output signal to the low frequency reference clock signal to generate a frequency increasing (UP) signal that indicates a phase difference between the output signal and the low frequency reference clock signal. A delay locked loop receives the middle frequency clock signal and the frequency increasing (UP) signal and delays the middle frequency clock signal based on the frequency increasing (UP) signal to generate the realignment clock signal. The second phase lock loop receives the realignment clock signal and adjusts the phase difference between the output signal and the low frequency reference clock signal based on the realignment clock signal.

A phase locked loop (PLL) may include a realignment clock, which is typically derived from a high quality reference clock of the PLL and thus has the same speed as the reference clock. In a ring-oscillator type PLL (RO-PLL), however, this type of realignment clock may limit the performance of phase noise during realignment mode and may also limit jitter performance.

Circuits and methods for a cascade phase locked loop

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A method including providing a sensor device including one or several sensors. The sensor device is arranged to perform at least one high-power type measurement and at least one low-power type measurement and includes at least one image sensor arranged to depict a person by a measurement of said high-power type. Each of the low-power type measurements over time requires less electric power for operation as compared to each of the high-power type measurements. The method includes detecting a potential presence of the person using at least one of said low-power type measurements. The method includes producing, using one of the high-power type measurements, an image depicting a person and detecting a presence of the person based on im-age analysis of the image. The method includes detecting, using at least one of the low-power type measurements, a maintained presence of the person. The method includes failing to detect a maintained presence of the person.

In many applications, it is important to know if a person is present at a particular expected location. For instance, a computer or smartphone screen can be dimmed or switched off when not being used, but should light up again when needed.
In other applications, it is useful to know if a person who is present is actually focusing attention towards a particular entity, such as on a screen or on some object being displayed on a screen.
In yet other applications, such as in authentication applications, it is necessary to identify a detected present person.
There exist many known ways of achieving such person detection, based on, for instance, image analysis, password entering via keyboard and biometric input. However, such identification is often complicated or perceived as cumbersome. A frequent problem is also that a person needs to re-perform certain steps, such as moving a computer mouse, to maintain a system in an active mode if too much time has elapsed since the last detection of the person.
Solutions for maintained person detection exist, but such solutions are however relatively heavy consumers of power and/or computer resources. Further, some of those solutions do not detect people in a robust and reliable way.
In many applications the processor used for presence detection is powered using a battery, having limited capacity. If instead powered by a wired mains, the use of electrical energy is ultimately associated with both cost and environmental load.
For these and other reasons, there is a desire not to unnecessarily spend processor power on detecting a person. The present invention solves this problem, providing a solution requiring less energy over time.
Furthermore, the solution according to the present invention achieves a more robust detection of a person under varying and complex conditions, such as when the person moves around in front of a screen on which a scene is displayed, and/or when the person has several screens that are used at the same time.

Method and system for detecting physical presence


A log holding plate having a base plate and a hook on a top side thereof that attaches the log holding plate to a rearward holder member of a hydraulically controlled log splitting device and also having with a bottom support rib member attached to a bottom end of the base plate that braces a log against a forward wedge of the log splitting device to position and secure the log in place for splitting.

Various types of attachments for a log splitter are known in the prior art. However, what is needed is a log holding plate having a base plate and a hook on a top side thereof that attaches the log holding plate to a rearward holder member of a hydraulically controlled log splitting device and also having with a bottom support rib member attached to a bottom end of the base plate that braces a log against a forward wedge of the log splitting device to secure the log in place for splitting.


A powertrain has a planetary gear arrangement with a simple planetary gear set and a compound planetary gear set which are interconnected by a continuous drive connection and are controlled to provide five forward drive ratios, a reverse drive ratio and a neutral condition. A plurality of torque transmitting devices including four clutches and two brakes are engaged in combination of three for each drive ratio. Two of the torque transmitting devices are engaged during the lowest forward drive ratio, the reverse drive ratio and the neutral condition.

Automatic transmissions employ multi-speed planetary gear sets, controlled by friction clutches and brakes, to provide a plurality of gear ratios between the engine and final drive gearing, The number of ratios provided in passenger vehicles has increased from two forward ratios and one reverse ratio to five forward ratios and one reverse ratio. As the number of ratios increases, the number of planetary gear sets has increased.
Currently, the five speed transmissions available in passenger vehicles incorporate three planetary gear sets. It has been proposed in the art to use only two gear sets. Such devices are disclosed in pending U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 09/144,140 filed Aug. 31, 1998 and U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 09/179,756 filed Oct. 27, 1998 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,264, which are assigned to the assignee of this application. Five speed arrangements incorporating two gear sets are also shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,141,477; 5,567,201 and 5,692,988.


Disclosed is a light-emitting module wherein light entering into a solar cell is not attenuated, thereby preventing power output decrease of the solar cell. In addition, this light-emitting module can be produced by a simple process. Specifically disclosed is a light-emitting module wherein at least (a) a solar cell unit (b) a first adhesive layer, (c) a light-emitting unit composed of a second light-transmitting insulating substrate (transparent PET), a second metal layer (circuit pattern) and a light-emitting element (chip LED), (d) a second adhesive layer and (e) a third light-transmitting insulating substrate are sequentially stacked. The transparent PET having a thickness about 50-500 μm which is provided with the circuit pattern in advance is used for producing the light-emitting unit. A silver paste which can be cured by 30-minute heating at 150° C. is used as a circuit pattern material, and the circuit pattern is formed on the transparent PET by screen printing, and then thermally cured.

Hitherto, as such light emitting modules, the following are known: a light emitting device wherein a translucent light emitting section and a solar battery are laminated on a translucent substrate, as described in Patent Document 1; an illumination panel wherein the light receiving face of a solar battery is arranged near a panel-form light emitting body having a light emitting face so as to position the light emitting face and the light receiving face on the same plane, as described in Patent Document 2; and a solar-power-generation-used light emitting module wherein a solar power generation section and a light emitting section which emits light by electromotive force of this solar power generation section are mounted on a single planar substrate, as described in Patent Document 3.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-217991
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60-78477
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-351418

Light-emitting module and light-emitting system


A portable, collapsible hammock for outdoor use has a body support surface being suspended on a position above and not touching the ground. The hammock also has a support frame comprising a pair of inclined upright arms, between which there is at least one X-scissor linkage connecting the arms. There are two connecting means disposed over the upright arms providing connections to the scissor linkage and a pair of legs. One means is a slidable connector disposed over the upright arms and the other means is fixed at the bottom end of the inclined upright arms. There is a leg/upright arm interface provides a three direction hinged joint for the connectors.

Hammocks have been known for many, many years, and have been widely used for both recreational and utilitarian purpose. Because of the recreational popularity of hammocks, numerous types of foldable hammock supporting structures for holding the hammock in an outstretched position have been suggested. However, such foldable or collapsible hammock supports are typically complex in construction and are generally heavy and quite bulky when in a collapsed or folded configuration. Accordingly, they are extremely difficult to transport from place to place.
One prior art collapsible hammock is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,422 (refer to FIG. 9). Although it is lightweight in construction, and easy to use, it not suitable for heavy people. The stop pin 58 may be not strong enough to prevent two support arms 50 from rotating inwardly. It would cause the stretched hammock to collapse under the weight of a heavy user. So a risk of safety exists. From this consideration the designers should pay more attention to the problem of making a foldable hammock stronger for supporting heavier person's weight.
It will become more apparent from the discussion that the many efforts should be focused on strengthening the force to resist the inward rotation of two support arms 50, thereby maintaining the rigidity of stretched position of the hammock when a heavier person's weight exerts against the hammock surface.


Provided herein are immunogenic compositions comprising a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a CD40 ligand (CD40L) and a nucleic acid sequence encoding a heterologous disease-associated antigen, wherein the immunogenic composition induces increases T-cell immune responses specific for the heterologous disease-associated antigen when administered to a human host, and related methods and uses.

Decades of successful vaccine development led to a drastic reduction in child mortality and debilitating illness resulting from infectious disease, although a substantial unmed medical need remains. Despite this impressive success, probably best exemplified by the eradication of smallpox, an estimated 5.6 million deaths annually can attributed solely to the three most devastating infectious diseases: malaria, tuberculosis, and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome ("HIV/AIDS")[World Health Organization, World Health Report 2004: Changing history. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at http.//www.who.int/whr/2004/en]. Other infectious diseases, such as Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fever, are quite rare but accompanied by high fatality rates. Moreover, the corresponding viruses might be used as bioterrorism agents. The common element linking these very diverse diseases is the requirement for strong T-cell responses as part of the adaptive immune response to protect the host from infection. Because it is generally accepted that an ideal vaccine should induce both T-cells and antibodies (i.e., both T-cell and B-cell responses), modern vaccinology is faced with the challenge to create a safe vaccine able to activate efficiently both arms of the adaptive immune system.
Progress in the vaccine arts has also led to the development of active immunotherapies for the treatment of various types of cancer. Unlike preventive vaccines for infectious disease, development of a successful cancer vaccine requires the identification of specific tumor-associated antigens characteristic of particular types of cancer and the ability to break self-tolerance so that the patient's immune system can recognize and attack cancer cells expressing the tumor-associated antigen. Like vaccines for infectious disease, however, it is thought that cancer vaccines must also induce a strong T-cell response as part of the tumor-specific adaptive immune response to treat the disease, as well as a robust antibody response (i.e., both T-cell and B-cell responses). While the first cancer vaccine was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in 2011, there remains a substantial unmet medical need for effective oncology therapeutics lacking the side effects typically associated with chemotherapeutics.
Among the many possible vaccine modalities, live vector viruses seem best to fulfill the requirement for inducing both T-cell and B-cell responses [R. A. Koup and D. C. Douek, "Vaccine Design for CD8+ T Lymphocyte Responses," Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Med. 2011; 1:a007252]. While some live virus vaccines, such as vaccinia virus and yellow fever virus are effective but have unfavorable safety profiles, others, such as adenovirus, face problems due to preexisting immunity [A. R. Thorner, et al., "Age Dependence of Adenovirus-Specific Neutralizing Antibody Titers in Individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa," J. Clin. Microbiol. 44(10):3781-3783 (2006)]. A safe live vector vaccine unaffected by preexisting immunity is modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), originally created by Anton Mayr and further developed into a third-generation smallpox vaccine (MVA-BN®) [Z. Wang et al., "Recombinant Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Expressing a Soluble Form of Glycoprotein B Causes Durable Immunity and Neutralizing Antibodies against Multiple Strains of Human Cytomegalovirus," J. Virol. 78(8):3965-3976 (2004)].
The excellent safety profile of MVA, because of its replication deficiency in human cells, has been proven in many clinical trials, including vaccination of immune-compromised individuals, and during the smallpox eradication campaign in the 1970s, when 120,000 people were vaccinated with MVA [A. Mayr et al., "The smallpox vaccination strain MVA: marker, genetic structure, experience gained with the parenteral vaccination and behavior in organisms with a debilitated defense mechanism," Zentralbl. Bakteriol. B 167 (5-6):375-390 (1978)]. Since then, many different recombinant MVA vaccines have been generated and tested for the ability to immunize animals and humans against infectious (e.g., HIV, malaria) and non-infectious (e.g., prostate cancer) diseases. Its proven safety and good immunogenicity thus make MVA a prime candidate for a T- and B-cell-inducing vaccine vector.
Classically, vaccine development has focused on the induction of neutralizing antibodies. In recent years, however, T-cells, especially CD8+ T-cells, have moved into the focus of vaccinologists. This paradigm shift stems from an increasing amount of data showing the need for high amounts of multi-functional CD8+ T-cells to clear or protect against pathogens such as HIV, simian immune deficiency virus ("SIV"), Ebola virus, human papillomavirus ("HPV"), hepatitis C virus ("HCV") and P. falciparum, the causative agent of malaria. Furthermore, adoptive transfer experiments have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of CD8+ T-cells in treating cancer. This increased awareness of the importance of CD8+ T-cells has spurred more basic science aimed at better understanding T-cell biology. Even though not all factors and mechanisms governing cytotoxic T-lymphocyte ("CTL") expansion and memory differentiation are understood in all details, it is believed that expansion, development of effector functions, and ultimately, differentiation into CD8+ memory T-cells are mainly determined during the first few days after antigen encounter. In a simplistic view, antigen recognition via the T-cell receptor ("TCR")(signal 1) activates the T-cell, co-stimulation via CD28 and CD80/CD86 (signal 2), and the secretion of cytokines such as interleukin-12 ("IL-12") and interferon-alpha ("IFN-α")(signal 3) ensure the efficient generation of effector and memory CTLs. However, after pathogen encounter, a plethora of additional stimulatory and inhibitory molecules are induced, creating a specific inflammatory environment, which further influences quality and quantity of CTL responses [P. Wong & E. G. Pamer, "CD8+ T-cell responses to infectious pathogens," Ann. Rev. Immunol. 21:29-70 (2003); E-pub. Dec. 19, 2001].
Among those molecules, members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor/tumor necrosis factor ("TNFR/TNF") superfamily are well known for their T-cell shaping properties. This family includes, among others, CD27/CD70, CD30/CD30L, CD40/CD40L, OX40/OX40L, 4-1BB/4-1BBL, GITR/GITRL and Fas/FasL. The role of CD70, OX40L and 4-1BBL for primary and secondary T-cell responses has been investigated in a broad range of infectious disease models [Hendrick et al., "CD27 is required for generation and long-term maintenance of T-cell immunity," Nature Immunol. 1(5):433-440 (2000); Matter et al., "Virus-induced polyclonal B-cell activation improves protective CTL memory via retained CD27 expression on memory CTL," Eur. J. Immunol. 35(11):3229-3239 (2005); A. Schildknecht et al., "Priming of CD8+ T-cell responses by pathogens typically depends on CD70-mediated interactions with dendritic cells," Eur. J. Immunol. 37(3):716-728 (2007)]. Interestingly, the up-regulation of co-stimulatory molecules (including CD80, CD86, CD70, 4-1BBL and OX40L) on dendritic cells ("DCs") can be induced by combined TLR/CD40 stimulation [Sanchez et al., "Combined TLR/CD40 stimulation mediates potent cellular immunity by regulating dendritic cell expression of CD70 in vivo," J. Immunol. 178(3):1564-1572 (2007)]. Furthermore, TLR/CD40 ligation also induces the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-12p70, by DCs in vivo [Schulz et al., "CD40 triggering of IL-12p70 production by dendritic cells in vivo requires a microbial priming signal," Immunity 13(4):453-462 (2000)]. Thus, CD40 can be regarded as a master-switch for DC activation. While CD40 is constitutively expressed on many cell types, including B-cells, macrophages and DCs, its ligand CD40L is predominantly expressed on activated CD4+ T-cells [Lee et al., "CD4−, but not CD154, expression on B-cells is necessary for optimal primary B-cell responses," J. Immunol. 171(11):5707-5717 (2002); D. Y. Ma and E. A. Clark, "The role of CD40 and CD154/CD40L in dendritic cells," Semin. Immunol. 21(5):265-272 (2009)]. The cognate interaction between DCs and CD4+ T-cells early after infection or immunization 'licenses' DCs to prime CD8+ T-cell responses [J. P. Ridge et al., "A conditioned dendritic cell can be a temporal bridge between a CD4+ T-helper and a T-killer cell," Nature 393(6684):474-478 (1998)]. DC licensing results in the upregulation of co-stimulatory molecules, increased survival and better cross-presenting capabilities of DCs. This process is mainly mediated via CD40/CD40L interaction [S. R. Bennet et al., "Help for cytotoxic T-cell responses is mediated by CD40 signalling," Nature 393(6684):478-480 (1998); S. P. Schoenberger et al., "T-cell help for cytotoxic T-cell help is mediated by CD40-CD40L interactions," Nature 393(6684):480-483 (1998)], but CD40/CD40L-independent mechanisms also exist (CD70, LTβR). Interestingly, a direct interaction between CD40L expressed on DCs and CD40 on expressed on CD8+ T-cells has also been suggested, providing a possible explanation for the generation of helper-independent CTL responses [S. Johnson et al., "Selected Toll-like receptor ligands and viruses promote helper-independent cytotoxic T-cell priming by upregulating CD40L on dendritic cells," Immunity 30(2):218-227 (2009)].
Several studies indicate that agonistic anti-CD40 antibodies may be useful as a vaccine adjuvant. In addition, recombinant AdV [K. Kato et al., "Gene transfer of CD40-ligand induces autologous immune recognition of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B-cells," J. Clin. Invest. 101(5):1133-1141 (1998)] and VV [Bereta et al., "Immune properties of recombinant vaccinia virus encoding CD154 (CD40L) are determined by expression of virally encoded CD40L and the presence of CD40L protein in viral particles," Cancer Gen. Ther. 11(12):808-818 (2004)] encoding CD40L have been created that showed superior immunogenicity in vitro and in vivo compared to non-adjuvanted viruses. Based on these data, the central role of CD40/CD40L co-stimulation for CD8+ T-cell responses and the good CTL-inducing capacities of MVA together with its favorable safety profile, we constructed a recombinant MVA expressing CD40L and the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA). In vitro and in vivo analyses revealed significantly enhanced DC activation and cytokine production (including high levels of IL-12p70) after treating cells or mice with MVA-OVA-CD40L. This effect was entirely dependent on de novo gene expression, partly contradicting previous results [Bereta et al., (2004)]. While we could not detect any influence on antibody responses, immunization with MVA-OVA-CD40L led to strongly enhanced primary and memory CD8+ T-cell responses. Of note, one immunization with MVA-OVA-CD40L induced the same number of CTL as two immunizations with MVA-OVA. Importantly, not only the quantity but also the quality of the CTL response was improved, as revealed by intracellular cytokine staining and in vivo killing activity. Finally, the superior T-cell response directly translated into better protection against a fatal virus infection in B-cell-deficient mice. These results highlight the potential of a CD40L-adjuvanted MVA rapidly to induce strong antigen-specific multi-functional CD8+ T-cell responses. Thus, recombinant MVA-CD40L is a prime candidate vector for the development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fever, malaria, hepatitis C and other infectious diseases.

Methods and compositions for enhancing vaccine immune responses


A cartridge for an electronic smoking device. A housing includes a first reservoir configured to store a first liquid vaporizable material, a second reservoir configured to store a second liquid vaporizable material. A first and/or a second heating element is configured to be selectively heated by electrically energizing one or both of a first and/or a second terminal, respectively, so as to selectively produce an inhalable vapor of single flavor or of a blend of flavors. A base member between the first and second terminals may be electrically engaged by a capital assembly. The base member may define a first and second air aperture in fluid communication with the first and second heating elements, respectively. A third and a fourth terminal may be in electrical communication with the first and heating elements, respectively. The base member maybe configured to electrically energize the third and the fourth terminals.

The electronic cigarette—often referred as an e-cigarette, electronic smoking device, or electronic vaporing device—is a battery-powered device which simulates tobacco smoking. An atomizer may include a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution (e-liquid) including, for example, nicotine, flavoring, or a combination thereof. The electronic smoking device may include a cartridge that contains the e-liquid, the heating element, and other components. The cartridge may be removably coupled to a base that houses several components of the electronic smoking device. The cartridge may be disposable, whereas the base may be reusable.
The electronic smoking device may include more than one atomizer to selectively vaporize one or more e-liquids, such that those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,271,528, issued Mar. 1, 2016, and U.S. Pat. No. 10,039,320, issued Aug. 7, 2018, the entire contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference. The '320 patent, for example, mentions a vapor blend recipe produced by vaporizing more than one flavored e-liquid. The devices lack an intuitive and efficient manner by which to select which one or more of the e-liquids to be vaporized, and/or to indicate to the user which one or more of the e-liquids is being vaporized during operation of the electronic smoking device.
Perhaps one appealing aspect of certain electronic smoking devices is the small form factor which may be easily stored and/or concealed. Providing an electronic smoking device including a cartridge for storing and selectively vaporizing more than one separately stored e-liquids in a space-conscious manner is a challenge not sufficiently addressed by known electronic smoking devices. Therefore, an electronic smoking device configured to overcome one or more of the aforementioned shortcomings is desired.

Cartridge for an electronic smoking device


A styrene process is disclosed that uses a dehydrogenation reactor and a transalkylation reactor and in which a significant portion of the benzene, the inhibitors, or both, recovered from the dehydrogenation reactor passes to the transalkylation reactor. The process disclosed herein can also use an alkylation reactor and can increase the run length of the alkylation catalyst.

Styrene (phenylethylene, vinylbenzene) is commonly produced in a two-step process. First, ethylbenzene (EB) is formed by alkylating benzene, by transalkylating polyethylbenzenes (PEBs), or by both. Then, the EB is dehydrogenated to produce styrene. Styrene is an important monomer used in the manufacture of many plastics.
In the first step, benzene is alkylated with an ethylating agent such as ethylene to form EB. Diethylbenzenes (DEBs), triethylbenzenes (TEBs), and other heavier PEBs are also formed. To maximize EB formation, the PEBs are usually transalkylated with benzene to form more EB. When both alkylation and transalkylation are used, two separate reactors, each with its own catalyst, are often employed. Both the alkylation and transalkylation effluents flow to a distillation train, which recovers benzene, EB, and the light PEBs (DEBs and TEBs) as distillates in three distillation columns in series. These columns are called the benzene column, the EB column, and the PEB column. Benzene distillate from the benzene column is recycled to the alkylation and transalkylation reactors, and the light PEBs distillate is recycled to the transalkylation reactor. Examples of distillation trains for separating EB produced by alkylation and transalkylation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,169,111 and 4,891,458; PCT Publication WO 96/20148; and Catalysis of Organic Reactions, edited by W. R. Moser, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, USA, 1981, at pages 39–50.
In the second step, the EB is dehydrogenated to styrene in the presence of steam, which supplies the sensible heat needed for the endothermic reaction. Byproducts of this dehydrogenation reaction include benzene, toluene, and heavies (tar). The separation of the dehydrogenation effluent (which the prior art sometimes refers to as "crude styrene") to recover styrene from steam, unreacted EB, and the byproducts is reasonably straightforward using three or four distillation columns.
In one distillation scheme, a first column separates or splits the effluent into EB and lighter components in its overhead and styrene and heavier components in its bottoms. A second column separates the first column's overhead into benzene and toluene in its overhead and EB in its bottoms for recycling EB to the dehydrogenation reactor. A third column separates the first column's bottoms into styrene product in its overhead and heavies (tar) in its bottom. U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,689, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, describes this scheme. According to this patent, the hydrocarbonaceous phase removed from the phase separation section passes into an effluent splitter distillation column. This first column separates or splits the effluent into EB and lighter components in an overhead stream and into styrene and heavier components in its bottoms stream. This overhead stream passes to a second distillation column called an EB recovery column to produce an overhead stream containing benzene and toluene and a bottom product containing EB. The EB product is recycled. The bottom stream of the effluent splitter column flows to styrene distillation column to produce purified styrene as an overhead stream and a bottom stream containing heavies.
Another distillation flow scheme recovers benzene-toluene, EB, and styrene as distillates in three distillation columns in series, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,776, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, the hydrocarbonaceous phase removed from the phase separation section passes into a benzene-toluene recovery distillation column. This first column operates at a subatmospheric pressure to allow its operation at lower temperatures and hence reduce the rate of styrene polymerization. Within the benzene-toluene recovery column a separation of benzene and toluene from the effluent occurs to produce an overhead stream which is substantially free of styrene and EB. This overhead stream preferably contains at least 95 mol-% benzene and toluene. The bottoms stream of the benzene-toluene recovery column passes into an EB recovery distillation column from which EB is removed as an overhead product and recycled. The bottoms stream of this EB recovery column then passes to a styrene column to produce purified styrene as an overhead stream and a bottom stream containing heavies.
Using either distillation flow scheme, a fourth column can further purify the styrene product. For further information and examples of these distillation trains, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,615 (Watson); Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th Edition, Vol. A25, VCH Publishers, New York, USA, 1994, at pages 329–344, and especially at pages 334–5; Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, Vol. 55, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, USA, 1996, at pages 197–217, and especially at pages 203–205; the technical sheet entitled "Lummus/UOP Classic SM Process," UOP LLC, Des Plaines, Ill., USA, 1997; and the technical sheet, "Ethylbenzene/'Classic' Styrene Monomer," ABB Lummus Global, Bloomfield, N.J., USA, Mar. 29, 2001.
Typically the only benzene present in the dehydrogenation zone is the relatively small amount that is formed as a byproduct of the reactions that take place during EB dehydrogenation. This benzene is subsequently recovered in the benzene-toluene fraction. The quantity of byproduct benzene is usually considered to be so commercially insignificant that operators of some styrene plants simply reject the entire benzene-toluene fraction from the plant for some other use or to disposal. However, operators of other styrene plants may either lack an alternative use for this fraction or may wish to avoid the disposal costs. Also, operators may introduce benzene to the dehydrogenation zone as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,409,689 and 3,525,776, and so more benzene than just byproduct benzene may be present in the benzene-toluene fraction. These styrene plant operators distill the benzene (including byproduct benzene) from the benzene-toluene fraction and then recycle it to previously mentioned distillation train that is used for separating the alkylation and transalkylation effluents. In some cases, this benzene from the dehydrogenation zone is introduced into the first column (benzene column) of the distillation train, where it is recovered in the benzene-containing overhead stream. In other cases, it is combined directly with some or all the overhead stream of the benzene column.
Since benzene is, of course, a major feedstock for both the alkylation and transalkylation reactors, the benzene column of this distillation train or its overhead stream is also the destination for other, much larger flows of benzene. Because benzene is often supplied to these reactors in a large molar excess, the alkylation and transalkylation reactor effluents each carry a major flow of benzene to the benzene column. In addition, makeup benzene enters the benzene column or into that column's overhead. The effect of combining these various flows of benzene in the benzene column or its overhead is that the distillation train for the alkylation and transalkylation reactor effluents produces what amounts to a relatively homogeneous stream of benzene for recycling to the alkylation and transalkylation reactors. The relatively small amount of benzene arriving from the dehydrogenation zone is significantly diluted in this much larger stream.
That flow of recycle benzene, in turn, is split into two portions, with one portion passing to the alkylation reactor and the other to the transalkylation reactor. The split of benzene between the alkylation and transalkylation reactors depends on the operating conditions of the two zones, but generally less than 30% of the benzene recovered from the dehydrogenation zone passes to the transalkylation reactor. Except for the capital and operating costs of the additional distillation column needed to separate the benzene-toluene fraction, persons of ordinary skill in the art of styrene plants have viewed recycling the benzene from the dehydrogenation zone in this manner as technically-sound, as economically-acceptable, and as having no significant deleterious effect on the process.
While the distillation flow schemes for separating the alkylation, transalkylation, and dehydrogenation effluents are reasonably straightforward, it is well known that difficulties arise in distilling the dehydrogenation effluent. One difficulty is corrosion, since acidic aqueous solutions tend to condense in the cooler overhead sections of the distillation columns. Another difficulty is styrene polymerization in the hotter sections (typically from about 90° C. to about 150° C. (194° F. to 302° F.)) of the columns, since styrene tends to autopolymerize.
To prevent corrosion and polymerization, small amounts of inhibitors are added to the dehydrogenation effluent and/or the distillation train. The optimum choice of inhibitor(s) involves weighing many factors besides inhibition effectiveness, including cost, availability, volatility, toxicity, thermal stability, solubility, viscosity, whether oxygen is present, and the nature of the resultant residue. While individual styrene plants may use different inhibitors, most if not all styrene plants today use at least one inhibitor. The exact chemical compositions of inhibitors in commercial use today are not widely known, since the commercial suppliers of these inhibitors tend to keep this information secret. However, since the chemistry of both corrosion and polymerization is well understood, certain general characteristics of these inhibitors are well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art.
As concerns corrosion inhibitors, it is generally believed that many may be nitrogen compounds. These nitrogen compounds are believed to possibly include primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. One or more hydrogen atoms of the amine may be replaced with one or more alkyl groups or hydroxy alkyl groups. It is believed ethanolamine and diethanolamine may be in use. Other nitrogen compounds thought to possibly be in use include diamines and triamines. Each nitrogen atom of the diamines and triamines may be linked to one or more hydrogen atoms, alkyl groups, or hydroxy alkyl groups. The possible diamines may include ethylene diamine. Other possible classes of nitrogen compounds that may be in use include amides, N-(acyloxy)-alkane amines, dihydro-1-alkyl-N-substituted imidazoles (e.g., dihydro-1-alkyl-N-hydroxyalkane-imidazoles and dihydro-1-alkyl-N-aminoalkane-imidazoles), trialkylaminium dialkyl phosphates, and trialkylaminium alkyl hydrogen phosphates. Besides the corrosion inhibitors listed here, others may be in use.
As for polymerization inhibitors, the previously-mentioned reference in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry states that at one time sulfur was used, but many new inhibitors are aromatic compounds that have amino, nitro, or hydroxy groups, including phenylenediamines, dinitrophenols, and dinitrocresols. It is believed that aromatic compounds that have nitroso groups are also in use as polymerization inhibitors. The "Background of the Invention" section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,943 B1 (Kurek and Frame) summarizes the extensive art disclosing a variety of compounds which are claimed to inhibit polymerization. These include N,N-nitroso-methylaniline; N-nitrosodiphenyl amine in combination with dinitro-o-cresol; N-nitroso aniline derivatives; a mixture of dinitro-p-cresol and N-nitroso-diphenyl amine; alkyl substituted p-nitroso phenol in combination with p-nitroso phenol; N-nitrosophenyl-hydroxylamine plus hydroquinone monomethyl ether; a phenylene-diamine compound plus a hydroxyalkylhydroxyl-amine compound; 1-oxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine plus an aromatic nitro compound; a phenylenediamine compound plus a hindered phenol compound; the reaction product of a C9–C20 alkyl phenol with sulfuric and nitric acid and optionally an aryl or alkyl-substituted phenylenediamine; 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyl benzyl amine; 4-acetylamino-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine N-oxyl in combination with 4-nitroso phenol; phosphite compounds, nitrosoamine compounds or phenol compounds; the ammonium salt of N-nitrosophenyl hydroxylamine; nitrosophenols plus dicyclohexyl-ammonium nitrate; substituted nitrosobenzene; p-nitroso phenol plus p-t-butyl catechol; N-nitroso compound, e.g., N-nitroso-diphenylamine and a catechol, e.g., p-t-butylcatechol; and N-nitroso derivates of unsubstituted or dialkyl substituted phenylenediamine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,943 B 1 itself discloses a mixture of at least one nitroso compound such as N,N′-di-2-butyl-N,N′-dinitroso-1,4-diaminobenzene and a dinitrophenol compound such as dinitrocresol, and optionally a stabilizer compound such as an N,N′-dialkyl substituted 1,4-diaminobenzene.
When corrosion inhibitors are used, they are typically added into the upper portions or overhead sections of the distillation columns. When polymerization inhibitors are used, they are typically added to distillation mixtures containing styrene distillation columns processing styrene. Typically, any polymerization inhibitor is added to the dehydrogenation effluent stream passing to the first distillation column in the dehydrogenation separation section. When inhibitors are used, generally less than 30% of the inhibitors recovered from the dehydrogenation zone passes to the transalkylation reactor. For further information on the use of specific polymerization inhibitors in styrene production, see Journal of Polymer Science: Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol. 26, 2853–2858 (1988); U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,717 (Frame et al.) and the previously mentioned references of U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,615, Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, the UOP LLC technical sheet, and the ABB Lummus Global technical sheet.
In order to be commercially profitable, industrial styrene plants must operate uninterrupted and for extended periods of time. Shutdowns must be minimized. One obstacle to maintaining continuous production is that the alkylation catalyst deactivates over time. It is known, of course, that the rate of catalyst deactivation can be decreased somewhat by operating at a high benzene/olefin molar ratio in alkylation, and that deactivated catalyst can be reactivated to some extent by contacting the catalyst with benzene in a regeneration step. However, it is also known that some catalyst deactivation occurs that can be neither slowed by operation at higher benzene/olefin molar nor reversed by regenerating the catalyst with benzene. Catalyst deactivation that cannot be reversed by typical regeneration procedures is sometimes referred to as "permanent," either because it sometimes requires additional reactivation measures beyond contacting the catalyst with benzene or because it sometimes requires shutting down and replacing the catalyst.
Methods are sought to minimize deactivation of the alkylation catalyst.

Styrene process with recycle from dehydrogenation zone


The present invention provides a new method for detecting or monitoring a liver disease in a subject that has no indication of any liver pathologies, by measuring the amount of concentration of albumin mRNA in an acellular blood sample from the subject, and then comparing the amount or concentration of albumin mRNA with a standard control.

Many potentially life-threatening liver diseases affect a significant portion of the human population. One such example is hepatitis B, a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is a major global health problem and the most serious type of viral hepatitis, due to its potential of causing chronic liver diseases, which may ultimately lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. Worldwide, an estimated two billion people have been infected with the HBV, and more than 350 million have chronic liver infections though many are asymptomatic. Hepatitis B is endemic in China and other parts of Asia. Most people in those regions become infected with HBV during childhood, and 8% to 10% of the adult population are chronically infected. Liver cancer caused by HBV is among the first three causes of death from cancer in men, and a major cause of cancer in women.
A number of liver function tests have been developed and routinely used in clinics. For example, a patient's blood sample may be tested for the level of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin, or gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) for the purpose of assessing liver function. However, because of the high prevalence of liver diseases and the vital importance of early detection and treatment, especially in view of the fact that most liver diseases show only mild symptoms initially, there exists a need for new and more sensitive methods that would allow early diagnosis of liver diseases. This invention fulfills this and other related needs.


An apparatus for securing one end of a guitar string to a guitar is disclosed. The apparatus includes a mount adapted to be secured to and extend upwardly from the bridge of the guitar, and where the mount defines a pivot axis above the bridge of the guitar. The apparatus also can include a string holder pivotally connected to the mount at the pivot axis, the string holder comprising an anchor to securely hold the end of the guitar string, the string holder having a first end and a second end, the first end positioning the guitar string below the saddle height of the bridge. Additionally, the apparatus can include a position adjuster operatively connected to the mount and the string holder, where the position adjuster can be used for adjusting the pivot angle of the string holder to adjust tension on the guitar string.

Guitar strings must be secured to a guitar on two ends. At the end of the guitar neck, tuning pegs serve as one anchor point. At the opposite end, in guitars such as acoustic guitars, the guitar string passes over a saddle supported by the bridge and is secured by a pin that forms an interference fit in a hole in the bridge.
Most electric guitars, in contrast, do not employ a hole and pin method of securing a guitar string to a guitar. Instead, the ball end of the guitar string is held in place by u-shaped stoppers aligned on the bridge.
It is with respect to this general environment that the embodiments of the present application are directed.


A device may be configured to identify a plurality of images that are similar to a query image; generate a plurality of sets of rankings of the identified images based on a plurality of image attributes; compare the generated plurality of sets of rankings of the identified images to a reference set of rankings of images; select, based on the comparing, a particular set of rankings; and rank a plurality of images that are associated with another query image, based on an attribute associated with the selected particular set of rankings.

The World Wide Web ("web") contains a vast amount of information. A search engine may assist a user in locating images, located on the web, that are similar to a query image.
Information retrieval systems, for example, Internet search engines, aim to identify resources, such as web pages, images, text documents, multimedia context, etc., that are relevant to a user's needs, and to present information about the resources in a manner that is most useful to the user. Internet search engines return a set of search results in response to a user submitted query. The search results identify resources responsive to a user's query. The identified resources can include varying types of content including documents, text, images, video, and audio.
In some information retrieval systems, a user can perform an image search. An image search is a search for image content responsive to an input query. An image can include a static graphic representative of some content, for example, photographs, drawings, computer generated graphics, advertisements, web content, book content. An image can also include a collection of image frames, for example, of a movie or a slideshow.

Low-overhead image search result generation


Systems and techniques are described for a computer program product that can provide an interaction center (IC) manager's graphical user interface on an interconnected display device. The graphical user interface includes an overview area displaying at least one user-selected statistic that relates to a user-selected group of interaction center agents being monitored and a detailed area displaying a list of each of the user-selected group of interaction center agents being monitored and further displaying for each of the listed agents at least one user-selected monitored statistic relating to the listed agents.

In today's business society, customer relations and customer satisfaction are critical for successful and profitable operations. Customers purchase various products and services from a variety of providers, and use various purchase means. When customers purchase various products and services, they often have questions, concerns, or complaints about their purchases. To maximize customer satisfaction, businesses must be capable of responding quickly and effectively to customer questions, concerns, or complaints. Many businesses employ customer care agents in interaction centers (IC) who are responsible for interacting with customers. These agents may interact with customers personally or over the telephone. More recently, many customer care agents engage in interactive chat sessions with customers over the Internet or by e-mail and other channels. These chat sessions allow agents to communicate quickly and easily with customers all over the world.
In recent years, interaction centers have become much more widespread. A call center is one type of IC that has agents to receive calls from customers. The interaction center agents may deal with, for example, customer service calls or sales calls. The interaction centers manage many efforts, and interaction center agents working in these centers often place and receive thousands of calls to and from various customers in different regions of the country. These agents often use headsets to speak with customers while they enter information relating to the customers into a computer workstation.
Managers may be hired to improve the efficiency of the interaction center. A manager may need to monitor the activities within the center and, in particular, the activities of interaction center agents working in the center.
Managers may check the real-time status of the interaction center to assure that interaction center agents are adhering to their schedules and that calls are being handled expeditiously. A manager may rely on, for example, a scheduling of calls to maximize the use of the fewest interaction center agents to handle the volume of incoming calls. The manager may monitor the interaction center to ensure there is adequate coverage at all times.
Displaying an interaction center agent schedule can help the manager to monitor an agent and helping to organize the agent's time. In one example, a manager may not have a particular agent start an evaluation session that takes an estimated 45 minutes if the agent is scheduled complete his or her shift in less time. Because interaction centers may receive calls from customers that are geographically widespread, interaction center agents, in some cases, have to interact with customers who speak a variety of different languages. For example, in a product support interaction center, interaction center agents may need to field support questions from customers who are located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In this example, a manager may route an evaluation session to a particular agent having appropriate language skills.

Customization of an interaction center manager's graphical dashboard


A desktop stapler having a feature for alignment of the anvil with the striker is disclosed. In one embodiment, a stapler body containing a striker is pivotably attached to a base. The pivoting rotation of the body causes a front-to-back motion of the striker over an anvil. A rib disposed at the back end of the body selectively pulls the back end of a linkage to the anvil backward as the body pivots downward to the stapling position. The anvil thus translates in relation to the body to maintain a close alignment of the striker over the anvil. The base assembly may include a cover plate slidable upon a base, wherein the cover plate includes the anvil. Another embodiment uses a tab that urges a staple track to be forcibly pulled open as the body is rotated away from the base.

A desktop stapler normally includes a lower base portion and a main body pivotally attached to the base. The body pivots toward the base in normal use as the stapler handle is pressed to eject a staple from the staple track. A striker urges a staple out of a staple exit location toward an anvil, where the anvil is immediately under a stack of papers to be fastened together. The anvil bends the legs of the staple so that the legs clinch behind the papers. It is important that the striker remain aligned with the anvil, being neither too much in front nor too rearward of the anvil. Misalignment of the striker and anvil prevents the staple from forming correctly behind the papers since the legs bend forward or rearward where it is desired only that the legs be bent toward each other.
Such a defective curl or formation of the staple behind the stack of stapled papers renders the staple unsuitable for its intended purpose of fastening the papers together. The user must then somehow unfasten the defective staple and re-staple the stack. Uncurling, detaching or withdrawing the defective staple from the stack is time consuming and an irritation, often requiring use of a staple puller, a bladed tool to slide underneath the staple to pry it loose, or finger pinching manipulation. It is at the very least a nuisance to fix a defective staple and is undoubtedly a waste of productive time.
Typically the stapler body is pivoted from a position above the base. As the body arcs downward about the pivot into position just above the anvil to eject a staple, the staple exit location underneath the striker translates rearward in relation to the anvil.
In particular, in a conventional stapler, the translating motion of the striker is rearward as the body moves toward the base since the pivot point is above the level of the base. An analogy is to look at the hands of a clock. If the minute hand is at the 3 o'clock position, the pivot point and the pointer of the hand are horizontally at the same level, but once the hand is pointed toward the 2 or 4 o'clock positions, the horizontal distance of the pointer of the minute hand to the pivot point has shortened as compared to the 3 o'clock position. Through basic trigonometry, if the distance from the pivot point to the striker is radius R, and the angle between the horizontal position of the body and the downward stapling position of the body is θ, then the horizontal distance x that the striker translates toward the pivot point is x=R−(R)(cos θ). On the other hand, if a stapler were designed with the pivot position at or below the level of the base, then the striker translates forward as the body moves toward the base.
Another alignment consideration is the vertical distance between the striker and the anvil at the beginning of the arcuate movement of the body. If the stapler is of small capacity, such as for stapling less than 20 pages, the amount of striker rearward translation is not significant if the pivot location is not too far above the base. However, in the case of a larger capacity stapler, such as 60 pages, the highest and lowest stapling positions of the body in relation to the anvil are quite different. If the position of the pivot is relatively high above the base, the rearward translation component of the arcing motion is further increased. Consequently, it is desirable to have a mechanism in a stapler that can closely maintain the striker to anvil alignment in spite of the front to rear translating motion and regardless of the paper capacity.

Desktop stapler striker/anvil alignment system


A rear body panel for a golf car includes a seat support portion and a bag well portion disposed rearward from the seat support portion. The rear body panel also includes a pair of wheel wells disposed on opposite sides of the bag well portion. The seat support portion includes a discontinuous recessed flange, a lower end trim edge, and at least one tab for limiting movement of the rear body panel on the golf car. Stiffening ribs are also included adjacent the wheel wells, and hand hold apertures are further included. The bag well portion includes a front wall portion, a pair of outwardly sloped side walls, and a floor portion with an impact absorption feature.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Golf cars provide transportation for persons around a golf course or other area. The body of a golf car typically includes a frame, seating, and a variety of panels affixed to the frame. The panels can be of a variety of shapes for supporting components of the car and adding aesthetic appeal to the vehicle. Also, these panels can include various features, such as a bag well for storage of golf bags for added convenience.
However, these panels can be brittle and can fracture easily due to, for instance, excessive loads experienced during vehicle impact. Also, these panels are relatively large and can be unwieldy during assembly. Furthermore, bag wells are often too small to accommodate larger golf bags with full pockets or other larger cargo.


A disk drive is disclosed comprising a disk and a voice coil motor (VCM) having a voice coil for actuating a head over the disk. A VCM driver comprises an H-bridge driver having a plurality of driver switches for driving current through the voice coil to ground. A first pulse width modulated (PWM) signal controls a first voltage level driving the voice coil relative to a duty cycle of the first PWM signal, and a second PWM signal controls a second voltage level driving the voice coil relative to a duty cycle of the second PWM signal, wherein the first voltage level is greater than the second voltage level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disk drives for computer systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive employing a multi-stage pulse width modulated voice coil motor driver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk drive comprising a disk 2 rotated about a center axis by a spindle motor (not shown). A head 4 attached to a distal end of an actuator arm 6 is actuated radially over the disk 2 by a voice coil motor (VCM) 8. The VCM 8 comprises a voice coil 10 which interacts with permanent magnets of a VCM yoke in order to rotate the actuator arm 6 about a pivot. The VCM 8 is typically driven in either a linear mode or in a pulse width modulated (PWM) mode. In addition, the motion of the VCM 8 may be controlled using a current feedback loop by sensing the amount of current flowing through the voice coil 10 which is proportional to the amount of torque applied to the actuator arm 6.
FIG. 1 also shows a VCM driver 12 comprising a conventional H-bridge driver for driving the voice coil 10 shown as a resistance Rvcm 14 and an inductance Lvcm 16. The H-bridge driver comprises a plurality of driver switches 18A–18D for selectively connecting the ends of the voice coil 10 to a supply voltage 20 or to ground 22 depending on the desired direction of rotation. A PWM signal 24 controls the switches 18A–18D in order to drive current through the voice coil 10 relative to the duty cycle of the PWM signal 24.
Driving the VCM 8 in a PWM mode reduces power dissipation in the driver switches 18A–18D as compared to driving the VCM 8 in a linear mode. However, PWM drivers are slow since an update can be made to the duty cycle only once for each PWM period. If the PWM frequency is increased to compensate for this delay, power dissipation increases due to the rise and fall time of the H-bridge driver, diminishing the benefit of the PWM mode. Additionally, edges of the PWM signal 24 propagate into the VCM wiring, inducing noise in the sensitive read channel circuitry.
There is, therefore, a need to drive a VCM of a disk drive in a PWM mode without requiring high clock speeds while providing adequate closed-loop frequency response.

Disk drive employing a multi-stage pulse width modulated voice coil motor driver


A technique for selectively adjusting the quality of an image processing apparatus in relation to deviations from image quality standards including the steps of recognizing a deviation of the image processing apparatus from the image quality standards, responding to the state of deviation from the image quality standards by providing a plurality of time delays for adjusting the quality of the image processing apparatus, the time delays include automatically adjusting the quality of the image processing during a current job run, automatically adjusting the quality of the image processing apparatus upon completion of a current job run, and automatically adjusting the quality of the image processing apparatus upon a predetermined time delay after completion of a current job.

The invention relates to image quality adjustments and more particularly, to progressive levels of copy quality adjustment in an image reproduction machine.
It is important in the operation of complex electronic equipment such as reproduction machines to maintain the quality of the finished copy sheets. To this end, machines often undergo periodic quality adjustments. It is also important for efficiency to reduce the time spent in monitoring and maintaining the machine operation. Quality adjustments can be initiated automatically in response to recognized conditions or can be manually initiated by service representatives. The need for quality adjustments becomes even more crucial in machines adapted for highlight color or full color reproductions. Such machines often require more extensive or more frequent analysis and correction to produce a quality color product.
It is known in prior art machines for the machine to cycle down in the middle of a reproduction job to initiate a needed copy quality adjustment. Often manual operator intervention is needed both to initiate the quality adjustment and to cycle up or return the machine from the adjustment phase to resume completing the reproduction job. This type of required operator attention is particularly inefficient. In addition, prior art machines often require operator intervention after the completion of a quality adjustment to initiate a new job demand. Also, in prior art machines, the machine may simply cycle down after completion of a job when a quality adjustment is needed and requires operator intervention initiation of the quality adjustment.
In the prior art, it is also known to be able to enter and store copying information in a reproduction machine. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,556 discloses a copying machine that allows for inputting copying instructions, means for temporary storage of these instructions, an interrupt mode that will let the operator input different copying instructions, a readout of the new instructions, and a means to return to the original mode settings once the interrupt is completed.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,880 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a technique for pre-programming a reproduction machine for a plurality of complete jobs involving a variety of machine features and requirements using the operator console and touch sensitive screen display while the machine is still in the process of completing a previous job. In particular, while the machine is in operation, a job can be pre-programmed to simulate a plurality of features and subfeatures of the machine.
While quality adjustments are necessary to maintain machine quality standards, an efficient machine should tolerate only brief and limited machine downtime during the quality modifications. It would be desirable, therefore, to minimize the diagnostic time of service representatives as well as minimize the lack of machine productive output and operator machine attention during quality adjustments. It would also be desirable to be able to automatically initiate a quality adjustment as well as to be able to automatically resume operation, such as completion of the current job or initiation of the next job, after completion of the quality adjustment. It would also be desirable to be able to selectively delay or postpone a quality adjustment depending upon the nature of the quality adjustment needed and the pending jobs to be completed.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved technique to make quality adjustments and corrections in an imaging machine without extensive operator intervention. It is still another object of the present invention to be able to selectively schedule, with appropriate delay, if necessary, copy quality adjustments, dependent upon the nature of the adjustment required and pending job demands, and to be able to complete the quality adjustments and resume operation without operator intervention. Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

Progressive levels of automatic machine quality adjust


An automatic gain control (AGC) for a Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) receiver, a method of automatically controlling gain and a SDARS receiver incorporating the AGC or the method. In one embodiment, the AGC includes: (1) an AGC function selector configured to compare first and second time division multiplexed (TDM) power signals and a nonzero threshold and select an AGC function based thereon and (2) an AGC function applier associated with the AGC function selector and configured to apply the AGC function to the first and second TDM power signals to develop therefrom an AGC control signal.

The last several decades have brought significant changes to broadcast radio technology. First came amplitude modulation (AM) analog radio, then, in turn, frequency modulation (FM) analog radio, FM-AM and FM multiplex stereo analog radio, FM discrete stereo analog radio, FM multiplex quadraphonic analog radio and, finally, AM discrete stereo analog radio. Some of these radio technologies proved longer-lasting than others. However, the latest in high-tech broadcast radio, Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, or SDARS, is capable of providing a new level of service to the subscribing public.
SDARS promises to overcome several perceived limitations of prior broadcast forms. All such prior forms are "terrestrial," meaning that their broadcast signals originate from Earth-bound transmitters. As a result, they have a relatively short range, perhaps a few hundred miles for stations on the AM and FM bands. Therefore, mobile broadcast recipients are often challenged with constant channel surfing as settled-upon stations slowly fade and new ones slowly come into range. Even within range, radio signals may be attenuated or distorted by natural or man-made obstacles, such as mountains or buildings. Radio signals may even wax or wane in power or fidelity depending upon the time of day or the weather. This only serves to compound the motorists' frustration.
Additionally, broadcast radio is largely locally originated. This constrains the potential audience that can listen to a particular station and thus the money advertisers are willing to pay for programming and on-air talent. While the trend is decidedly toward large networks of commonly-owned radio stations with centralized programming and higher-paid talent, time and regulatory change are required to complete the consolidation.
Finally, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined the broadcast radio spectrum decades ago, long before digital transmission and even digital fidelity were realizable. The result is that the bandwidth allocated to an FM radio station is not adequate for hi-fidelity music, and the bandwidth allocated to an AM radio station is barely adequate for voice.
SDARS promises to change all of this. A user who has a SDARS receiver in his vehicle can tune into any one of a hundred or more nationwide stations with the promise of compact disc (CD) quality digital sound. By virtue of satellite redundancy, transmission from overhead and transcontinental coverage substantial provides immunity to service interruption. Satellite technology appears to be doing for radio what cable and satellite technologies have done for television.
While SDARS uses satellites for broad-area coverage, SDARS calls for terrestrial repeaters capable of transmitting relatively strong signals to augment the satellites by filling-in data when and where satellite signals may be too weak. Satellite signals are particularly prone to being weakened in urban areas due to the buildings, bridges and tunnels.
To promote competition in SDARS, the U.S. Government has divided the 25 MHz S-band allocated to SDARS into two equal 12.5 MHZ subbands and licensed those subbands to two separate companies: Sirius (www.sirius.com) and XM (www.xmradio.com). Each company operates its own independent service, including its own constellation of satellites and its own network of terrestrial repeaters, located mostly of course in urban areas.
Unfortunately, because terrestrial repeater signals tend to be stronger than satellite signals and because the two SDARS services occupy proximate subbands, interference can degrade the two services. A particular concern arises when a terrestrial repeater of one service introduces noise into the satellite signals of the other service. The noise plays havoc with the way SDARS receivers interpret the signals they are trying to receive. It is especially troubling that the urban areas where interference is most likely to occur is where most SDARS subscribers are located.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way to handle interference occurring in SDARS signals and a SDARS receiver that is more immune to signal interference.

Automatic gain control for satellite digital audio radio service receiver, method of automatically controlling gain and SDARS receiver incorporating the same


A flexible swing weight comprises an elongate member with a diameter between 1/4 and 3/4 inches and a length of between 3 and 7 inches manufactured of a flexible, heavy material, such as extruded lead. An elastomeric coating is provided on the weight and the swing weight is secured to a golf club by wrapping the weight around a shaft of the club. For a stringed exercise device such as a racket or the like, the swing weight can be attached by weaving the weight through the strings of the exercise device to add additional weight to the device during practice or warm-up.

This invention relates to a swing weight, and more particularly, to a flexible swing weight that may be attached to an exercise device, such as recreational equipment including a tennis racquet or a golf club, to add additional weight to the exercise device during practice or warm-up.
Conventional swing weights may comprise a rigid doughnut shaped weight that is slipped over the handle and down the shaft of a golf club to add weight to the head of the club during practice or warm-up. Such an installation procedure may damage the expensive grip of the golf club. Moreover, the diameter of the golf club grip is usually substantially larger than the diameter of the club shaft at a position adjacent the head of the golf club. Accordingly, during swinging of the golf club the doughnut shaped swing weight may shift about the shaft of the club and result in an awkward or an unnatural swing. In addition, the rigid design of the doughnut shaped swing weight is generally only adaptable for use on a single exercise device, such as a golf club, and may not be used on other exercise devices, such as a tennis racquet, which may have a substantially larger grip than the grip of a golf club.