A memory management and protection system for realizing a high speed execution and a proper and flexible memory access control for multiple programs sharing an identical logical address space. In the system, the memory access is permitted according to a segment identifier identifying a segment in the logical address space, and a memory protection information for a region in each segment including a target right permission to indicate assigned rights to make a memory access from the region to each of the segments, and an execution permission to indicate a type of the memory access permitted by the right permission. Alternatively, a memory access can be permitted by using an access control list to be attached to each address table entry, which stores a plurality of program numbers identifying programs which are permitted to make accesses to the logical address stored in each address table entry, among which one that matches with the current program number is to be searched. Also, it is preferable to allocate a plurality of programs within a limit of available memory protection capacity to an identical logical address space, without any overlap between adjacently allocated address regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system using a virtual memory, and more particularly, to the memory management and the protection for controlling memory accesses to the virtual memory in the computer system.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in a computer system using a virtual memory, a so called MMU (Memory Management Unit) has been used in translating the logical addresses to the physical addresses and protecting the memory region specified by the physical addresses. In a usual MMU, a program number uniquely assigned to each program is utilized for distinguishing a plurality of programs which can make accesses to the memory, such that the same logical address can be translated into different physical addresses for the different programs.
In such a computer system using a virtual memory, it has become popular in recent years to employ a programming mode such as a server-client type programming in which a plurality of programs sharing the same data are executed in mutual cooperation as a result of the recent progresses made in the network technique and the parallel processing technique. In such a programming mode, a plurality of memory accesses are made from a plurality of programs to the identical physical address storing the shared data, so that it becomes necessary to provide a memory region protection in order to limit the memory accesses made from the plurality of programs to only those which are judged as proper ones.
To this end, a conventionally employed memory region protection method has been that which utilizes the program number as the identifier for indicating a program from which each memory access originates. Namely, in such a conventional memory region protection method, each data is accompanied by the program number of the program which may make accesses to this data, while the program numbers available to each program are appropriately assigned to each program as an identifier in advance. Then, the access to each data is permitted only when this access is judged as a proper one having the identifier indicating the program number which matches with the program number accompanying each data. The well known examples of this type of a conventional memory region protection method include a segmentation method and a ring protection method.
In a segmentation method, a dedicated memory region can be secured for each program by assigning a unique program number available only to that program, while a shared memory region for a plurality of programs can be secured by assigning a program number commonly available to these plurality of programs, so that the highly flexible memory region protection can be realized.
However, in order to deal with a plurality of program numbers, it becomes necessary in this segmentation method to provide a plurality of identifier storage registers and a plurality of identifier comparators. As a consequence, this segmentation method has been associated with the following problems.
Firstly, there is a case in which a number of identifier storage registers are occupied with respect to a single physical address, such that the address translation for the other physical addresses cannot be carried out efficiently. For example, in a case a number of entries in the address table is constant, when a plurality of entries are occupied by a number of identical logical and physical address pairs with different program numbers assigned, the types of the physical addresses that can be stored in the address table can be reduced considerably. Such a situation is equivalent to a case in which the address table covers only a limited range of the address space. When the covered range of the address space is limited, the probability at which the address given from the processor makes a hit at the address table becomes lower and a number of address table misses increases, such that a time required for the address table miss recovery operation increases. This time required for the address table miss recovery operation is counted as a part of the overall address translation time, so that the average overall address translation time is increased considerably in such a case.
Secondly, when the program to be executed is switched from one program to another, the entries accompanied by the program numbers used in the previously executed program are invalidated regardless of whether the program numbers are shared by the next program to be executed, so that the operation for filling the address table entries is required even for the shared program numbers. For example, in a case two programs sharing the logical address space are to be executed alternatively, when a new entry is required, the entries accompanied by the program numbers used in the previously executed program are invalidated regardless of whether these entries belong to the shared logical address space or not. In order to fill these invalidated entries anew, it becomes necessary to carry out the operations of address translation and the program number matching for each entry all over again, and the time required for these address translation and program number matching operations is counted as a part of the overall address translation time, so that in a case of the switching of the program to be executed, the average overall address translation conversion time is increased considerably. In the worst case, the time required for these address translation and program number matching can occupy the major part of the overall address translation time, as the invalidation of the entries occur every time the program to be executed is switched.
Thirdly, it becomes necessary to check the properness of the rights to make accesses for a plurality of programs simultaneously, so that the operation for checking the properness of the rights to make accesses can be quite complicated. For example, in a case a plurality of programs share the identical logical address space, an entry in the address table is set up for each of the program numbers. In such a case, when a page swapping occurred, it becomes necessary to invalidate all the entries related to the specific logical address or physical address, whereas when a plurality of entries made hits, it becomes necessary to select the valid one among the plurality of entries making hits, and the time required for these operation for invalidating all the related entries and selecting the valid entry is counted as a part of the overall address translation time. Here, the number of related entries are unknown, so that the operation can be quite complicated as a great number of different states must be accounted for.
Now, there is an alternative manner of handling a plurality of program numbers in the segmentation method in which a specialized instruction is provided in the processor side to specify the program number at a time of execution. The switching operation using such a specialized instruction is effective in reducing the number of identifier storage registers so that the time required for the exchange of the segment registers can be shortened. However, in this case, each execution of each instruction becomes quite time consuming, so that it has been difficult to improve the throughput of the program. Thus, in the segmentation method, it is easy to separate the different programs completely, but it requires a large number of additional hardware and complicated operations to share the data among the programs.
In addition, in the segmentation method, there is a problem that it is necessary to provide a flexible protection check mechanism capable of dealing with different types of accesses differently permitted to different programs and different levels of the rights to make accesses differently endowed to different programs. For example, in a case a plurality of programs share the data, very frequently, there is a case in which only one program is permitted to update the data and the other programs are only permitted to read this data.
Also, there is a case in which it is necessary to provide the hierarchical protection among the programs according to the difference of the content and the level of the programs such as Kernel, OS, and application programs. The method to achieve such a hierarchical protection is known as a ring protection method.
In order to cope with such cases, it is necessary to provide each entry of the address table with a field for specifying a data access type and a field for specifying a ring level, so as to distinguish the data in different specified levels as different entries.
In the ring protection method, the program numbers are hierarchically ordered to establish strength relationships in which the transition of the control toward the stronger region is limited to only those which are made through a proper procedure, and the data access toward the stronger region is prohibited, such that the directionality can be provided in the accesses among the protected regions. In this ring protection method, one program number can have a right to make accesses to a plurality of regions, so that the number of identifiers can be reduced and the time required for switching the identifiers can be shortened. In addition, the check of the properness of the program number can be made by comparing the sizes of the identifier of the accessing side and the identifier of the accessed side at a time of the access, so that there is no need to provide a specialized instruction to the processor side in this ring protection method.
However, this ring protection method has a drawback that the set up of the protection regions is not very flexible because it is predetermined that the overlapping region between the region for one identifier and the region for another identifier is to be regarded as the region for the stronger identifier.
Now, in general, in the ring protection method, a kernel program is positioned at the strongest level, and the protection levels of the other programs are determined according to the absolute strength relationship of each program with respect to the kernel program.
However, in a case of the server-client type programming in which a plurality of programs are executed in mutual cooperation, there is a case in which the hierarchical relationship among the program changes in every execution, so that it has been difficult to set up the absolute protection level for each program in advance.
The strength relationships established among the memory regions in the ring protection method is shown in FIG. 1, in which segment-1 to -4 corresponds to the different programs such as kernel, OS, library, and application programs. Here, in order for each of the kernel program and the OS program to have a dedicated data region, the segment-3 and the segment-4 corresponding to the OS program and the kernel program must be assigned to the same protection level as shown in FIG. 1, and the dedicated data regions of these two programs must be managed the method other than the ring protection method, so as to make the dedicated data region of one hidden from the dedicated data region of another.
However, in FIG. 1, there are four protection levels provided in correspondence to four programs, so that when the kernel program and the OS program are assigned to the same protection level, there will be a protection level to which no program is assigned. In other words, there are cases in which the programs having no hierarchical relationship with each other must be assigned to the same protection level, and the protection level having no program assigned exist. Such a conflict of the hierarchical relationships occurs at a higher possibility as a number of programs to be allocated into the protection space increases, and makes the management of the different protection levels difficult.
Thus, the ring protection method is suitable for a case in which the cooperative relationships among the programs are simple and fixed, but lacking in an ability to express semi-ordered hierarchical relationships among the programs.
As a consequence, in the ring protection method, it is impossible for the memory protection device to set up the strength relationships among the programs dynamically according to the progress of the programs. In addition, in the ring protection method, a region belonging to a certain protection level is accessible from the regions belong to the stronger protection levels, so that it has been impossible to provide a dedicated region for a program belonging to an intermediate protection level.
Moreover, in the ring protection method, there is a possibility for the entries of the address table to be occupied by the identical logical and physical address pairs, so that the ring protection method also has the drawback of the extended average memory access time, similar to the segmentation method. Furthermore, in the ring protection method, there is a case in which a plurality of entries make hits in an address table look up, and it becomes necessary in such a case to select the valid one among the plurality of entries making hits. Also, when a number of programs share the OS region, it is required to manage a certain group of programs collectively, but this has been impossible in the conventional ring protection method and it would have been necessary to manage each entry separately.
Now, the virtual memory to be used in a computer system is in either one of a single virtual space scheme in which a plurality of programs to be executed in parallel are loaded into one virtual space, or a multiple virtual space scheme in which each of the plurality of programs to be executed in parallel is allocated to separate one of a plurality of virtual spaces.
For example, in the UNIX system, the different processes are allocated to different virtual spaces. For this reason, when the multiple processes are executed, the virtual space must be switched when the process is switched and the hit rates for the TLB (Translation Look-aside Buffer) and cache devices can be deteriorated considerably. In other words, the TLB and cache devices which are provided for the purpose of increasing the execution speed would not operate effectively in such a multiple process environment.
Here, it is noted that, in the TLB and cache devices, the data and the physical addresses are searched by using the virtual addresses used in each program as keys, and the address positions are usually fixed regardless of the program so that the virtual address positions are common to all the programs. For this reason, when the data of the previously executed program are left in the TLB and cache devices, there is a possibility for causing an erroneous hit during the execution of the new program after the program switching.
In order to prevent the occurrence of such an erroneous hit, conventionally, a space number for identifying each virtual space has been provided in addition to the virtual addresses, and the consistency of the TLB and cache devices with respect to the main memory device are checked every time the context is switched. However, these conventional provisions require an extra amount of hardware, and also make the software operation to be used in the context switching very complicated, so that the increase of the execution speed could not have been realized without introducing considerable disadvantages in other practical aspects.
Despite of this difficulty, the performance under such a multiple process environment has become increasingly important because of the increasing use of the server-client type programming in which a plurality of programs sharing the same data are executed in mutual cooperation, due to the considerable advantages of the server-client type programming that the server program and the client program can be developed separately and flexibly such that each program can be developed to have a wider applicability and a longer lifetime.
In this regard, the size of the OS has been increased so much recently, because of the increasing number of functions to be supported by the OS, such that the OS is no longer provided as a single program as it used to be but separated into a plurality of mutually cooperating programs according to the types of the functions to be supported. Similarly, there are cases in which the application programs are also provided as a plurality of mutually hidden programs, in order to improve the software productivity. In such a case in which a plurality of programs are to be operated in mutual cooperation, the operations related to the context switching and the copying of the argument which are to be carried out by the data processing unit become quite time consuming.
In order to resolve this problem, it has been considered desirable to omit the operation related to the switching of the programs by allocating a plurality of programs to a single virtual space. Here, in a conventional scheme such as that shown in FIG. 2 in which a plurality of user programs 601 to 605 are separately allocated to separate virtual spaces under the OS 600 while these user programs 601 to 605 are using the same address region, it is impossible for one user program to make an improper access to the data of the other user program as each user program is allocated to separate virtual space. However, when the scheme to allocate a plurality of programs to a single virtual space is adopted, the data of the other programs, which have been inaccessible in the multiple virtual space scheme, become accessible as all the programs are allocated to the same virtual space, so that there is a need to provide a mechanism to control the accesses according to the properness of each access.
However, when the conventional segmentation method is utilized for this purpose, an enormous amount of hardware would be required such that the switching of the access regions would be quite complicated, while when the conventional ring protection method is utilized for this purpose, the protection ranges cannot be set up freely among the programs because the strength relationships cannot be changed dynamically in the ring protection method. Consequently, it has conventionally been difficult to realize the simple and flexible protection of the memory regions among a plurality of programs in which the protection ranges can be set up freely.
In summary, there has been the following three major problems in the conventional memory management and the protection system for controlling memory accesses to the virtual memory in the computer system adopting a server-client type programming mode in which a plurality of programs sharing the same data are executed in mutual cooperation.
First of all, as the programs are allocated to different logical address spaces separately, it becomes necessary for the programs allocated to different address spaces to exchange the data through the operating system (OS) in order to share the data among them, but this causes a considerable slow down of the processing speed due to the overhead of the OS.
Here, it is possible to devise a method in which a plurality of threads are executed on a single logical address space such that the sharing of the data among the threads can be achieved without causing any overhead to the OS.
However, such a method does not account for the protection of the data among the threads, so that in order to protect the data used by one thread from the other threads, it becomes necessary to employ a scheme requiring a large overhead to the OS. Namely, to this end, it becomes necessary to allocate each thread to different logical address space along with those data which are accessible from this thread. This scheme actually requires a considerably large overhead to the OS so that it is quite impractical to adopt this scheme.
Thus, the first major problem is that it has been impossible for each program to have the different types of accesses that are permitted to each thread.
Secondly, in order to provide a logical address space for each thread separately, it becomes necessary to provide a page table for each logical address space and allocate the same program to the same address region in the different logical address spaces. However, this in turn requires all the threads which are commonly accessible to a certain address region to have the same logical address and physical address pair in respective page tables, such that the memory capacity to be used by the page tables of all the threads must be provided redundantly to a large extent.
Here, when the types of accesses permitted to all the threads which are accessible to the commonly accessible address region are identical, it becomes possible to share a part of the page tables among a plurality of threads, but in a case of using a TLB (Table Look-aside Buffer) as a cache device for the page table, the redundancy cannot be avoided and the average processing speed for the address translation is inevitably slowed down accordingly.
The reason for this drawback is as follows. Namely, each entry of the cache of the page table has a pair of a page table information and a thread number, so that different cache entries are required for different threads even when the page table information is identical. Consequently, a number of cache entries having the same page table information but different thread numbers will occupy a large portion of the cache, such that a number of actually different physical addresses that can be stored in the cache will be reduced, and therefore the processing speed for the address translation will be slowed down.
In addition, there is also a drawback that the information related to the same page must be placed and managed on a plurality of page tables, such that the processing for the paging becomes quite complicated. For instance, in a case a plurality of threads are mapping the identical physical address to different logical address spaces, when it becomes necessary to page out a certain page, it becomes necessary to search and invalidate all the entries of the page tables which are mapped to that certain page. Similarly, in a case of page in, it becomes necessary to search and validate all the entries of the page tables which are mapped to that certain page. The additional time required for these operations will be added to the average address translation processing time, so that the processing speed for the address translation will be slowed down.
Thus, the second major problem is that the memory capacities required for the page tables and the page table caches are redundant and the management of the page tables and the page table caches becomes quite complicated and inefficient.
Thirdly, it has been considered effective in some applications to change the access rights permitted to each thread depending on which thread is executing a program on which address region in each logical address space. For example, when the data on a certain address region can be changed only by the thread executing the programs on another certain address region, the data on that certain address region can be changed while maintaining certain conditions. In a case the data of the database are allocated to that certain address region while the access routines for the data of the database are allocated to that another certain address region, it becomes possible to make accesses to the data of the database without requiring the intermediate use of the OS, while protecting the data of the database sufficiently, so that the high speed access processing becomes possible.
On the other hand, a conventionally memory management unit such as the Intel's 80486 processor has been capable only of changing the access rights by limiting the range of the programs that can be executed by each thread by using the segmentation scheme and shifting from one access level to another access level by using a call gate. In other words, such a conventional memory management unit has been lacking a flexibility in that the access rights can only be controlled among the elements related by an order relationship, such as the application programs with respect to the OS and the kernel, such that the element at a higher access level will become accessible to all the elements at lower access levels, because a number of different access levels realizable has been limited by the hardware.
Thus, the third major problem is that it has been impossible to flexibly change the permitted access rights for each address region, in a case the programs and data are allocated to a plurality of divided address regions within the single logical address space.

Memory management and protection system for virtual memory in computer system


A local video communication device, the device includes a local translucent display device configured to display remote video information received from a remote video communication device; and a local camera array configured to capture local video information of a plurality of local users; wherein the local translucent display device includes a naked-eye three-dimensional display, the local camera array comprises a plurality of cameras arranged in a two-dimensional array, the local camera array is placed on a back of the local translucent display device, and the local translucent display device further comprises a micro processing unit, wherein the micro processing unit includes: a micro processing unit, where the micro processing unit includes a video capture and processing module, a location acquisition module, a communication module and a display module.

With the development of the communication technology, video communication has been widely used in work places and people's lives in general, such as remote video conferencing of a company, video chat with friends from different places. However, users of a remote video communication system cannot look directly into each other's eyes. The reason is that the display of the remote video communication system and the camera of the remote video communication system are not in the same position. As a result, users cannot make direct eye contact with each other when using the remote video communication system, thereby undermining the communication experience.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Video communication device and method for video communication

Beijing FUNATE Innovation Technology Co., LTD.


Systems and methods are provided for selecting an optimized data model architecture subject to resource constraints. One or more resource constraints for target deployment are identified, and random model architectures are generated from a set of model architecture production rules subject to the one or more resource constraints. Each random model architecture is defined by randomly chosen values for one or more meta parameters and one or more layer parameters. One or more of the random model architectures are adaptively refined to improve performance relative to a metric, and the refined model architecture with the best performance relative to the metric is selected.

Data models described as "deep learning" models are increasingly popular as a means to detect and classify objects within complex data sets such as image data. An increasing number of data model variants are available that are optimized to solve different problems or to operate with certain types of data. Current development trends are focused on improving the accuracy of data models in detecting and classifying objects or patterns of interest.

Systems and methods for optimization of a data model network architecture for target deployment


Disclosed herein is a verbena plant which has a broad spreading growth habit and long stems. The plant forms flowers in clusters with a great profusion of blooms. The blooming period is late April to November and flowering duration is long. The entire plant remains in bloom for an extended period of time. The flower size is large and the petal color of the flowers is light purplish pink. The plant is highly tolerant to heat, and exhibits a high resistance to pests and diseases, particularly powdery mildew, and a high resistance to rain.

The present invention provides a new and distinct variety of Verbena hybrida plant obtained from crossing a Verbena hybrida named `Amour White` (non-patented in the United States) (.female.) and a wild type of verbena plant Verbena peruviana (.male.) native to Brazil.
The verbena is a very popular plant and is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few varieties of Verbena plants which have a spreading growth habit, much branching, a large number of flowers in a cluster and which have a high resistance to rain, heat, cold and diseases. Accordingly, this invention was aimed at obtaining a new variety having a spreading growth habit, strong branching, a large number of flowers in a cluster, a flower of large diameter, a high tolerance to heat and cold, and resistance to diseases and pests, and also having petals that are light purplish pink.
The new variety of verbena plant according to this invention originated from crossing a Verbena hybrida plant named `Amour White` (.female.) and a wild type of verbena plant Verbena peruviana (.male.) that is native to Brazil.
Initially, 38 seedlings were obtained in the autumn of 1994, following the crossing of `Amour White` as the female parent and a wild type of verbena plant (Verbena peruviana f. rosea) as the pollen parent in the May of 1994. From this crossing, 3 seedlings were selected in view of their spreading growth habit and were propagatged by cuttings, and then grown as a trial in flower beds and planters beginning in the spring of 1995. Finally one seedling was selected in the autumn of 1995 and the botanical characteristics were examined, using the varieties `Sumaripi` (non-patented in the United States) and `Derby Salmon Rose` (non-patented in the United States) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Verbena is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of verbena plant of the present invention was named `Sunmarisa`.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with the Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S. Colour Chart), and the Inter-Society color Council-Nation Bureau of Standard Color Name (I.S.C.C.-N.B.S. Color Name). A color chart based on The Japan Color Standard for Horticultural Plant (J.H.S. Color Chart) is also added for reference.
`Armour White` was used as the female parent when obtaining this new variety `Sunmarisa`. `Armour White` has an erect growth habit and is publicly available.
The pollen parent used in obtaining this new variety `Sunmarisa` was a wild type of Verbena peruviana native to South Brazil. This wild type of verbena plant is presently maintained at the Hakushu Nursery Center of SUNTORY Ltd., 2913-1 Torihara, Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan. The main botanical characteristics of this pollen parent are as follows when grown at the Hakushu Nursery Center of SUNTORY ltd., 2913-1 Torihara, Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan.
Plant: PA0 Stem: PA0 Leaf: PA0 Flower: PA0 Physiological and ecological characteristics: High resistance to diseases and pests and high tolerance to heat and cold. PA0 Plant: PA0 Stem: PA0 Leaf: PA0 Flower: PA0 Physiological and ecological characteristics: High resistance to diseases and pests, particularly powdery mildew. High tolerance to heat and moderate tolerance to cold. PA0 Plant: PA0 Stem: PA0 Leaf: PA0 Flower: PA0 Physiological and ecological charactgeristics: Weak resistance to diseases, heat and cold. Moderate resistance to pests.
Growth habit.--Spreading. PA2 Plant height.--10-20 cm. PA2 Plant extension.--100-150 cm. PA2 Diameter.--1.0-2.0 mm. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation.--Present. PA2 Branching.--Medium. PA2 Pubescence.--Medium. PA2 Length of internode.--3.0-4.0 cm. PA2 Phyllotaxis.--Opposite. PA2 Shape of blade.--Hastate. PA2 Length.--3.0-4.0 cm. PA2 Width.--1.5-2.0 cm. PA2 Depth of incision.--Shallow. PA2 Color.--Moderate olive green (R.H.S. 146A, J.H.S. 3509). PA2 Pubescence.--Slight. PA2 Facing direction.--Upward. PA2 Outward curvature of petal.--Slightly curved. PA2 Diameter.--2.0-3.0 cm. PA2 Height.--20-30 mm. PA2 Color.--Strong reddish purple (R.H.S. 77B, J.H.S. 8911). PA2 Color presentation.--Substantially even. PA2 Overlapping of petals.--Opened. PA2 Flower cluster.--30-40 mm in length; and 50-60 mm in diameter. PA2 Calyx.--1.5-2.0 cm in length. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation of calyx limb.--Absent. PA2 Peduncle.--1-2 mm in thickness; and 3.0-5.0 cm in length. PA2 Number of flowers.--Plentiful (approximately 10-14) PA2 Reproductive organs.--1 pistil and 4 stamens. PA2 Flower fragrance.--Absent. PA2 Flowering duration.--Short. PA2 Growth habit.--Spreading. PA2 Plant height.--15-25 cm. PA2 Plant extension.--50-70 cm. PA2 Growth.--Very vigorous with abundant branching and great profusion of blooms; the entire plant remaining in bloom for an extended period of time. PA2 Diameter.--2.0-3.0 mm. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation.--Present. PA2 Branching.--Abundant. PA2 Pubescence.--Medium. PA2 Length of internode.--4.0-5.0 cm. PA2 Phyllotaxis.--Opposite. PA2 Shape of blade.--Hastate. PA2 Length.--4.0-5.0 cm. PA2 Width.--2.0-2.5 cm. PA2 Depth of incision.--Shallow. PA2 Color.--Grayish olive green (R.H.S. 137A-137B, J.H.S. 3716). PA2 Pubescence.--Slight. PA2 Facing direction.--Upward. PA2 Ourward curvature of petal.--Curved. PA2 Diameter.--1.5-2.0 cm. PA2 Height.--20 mm. PA2 Color.--Deep purplish pink (R.H.S. 70C, J.H.S. 9213). PA2 Color presentation.--Uneven. PA2 Overlapping of petals.--Separate. PA2 Spike.--30-35 mm in length; and 50-55 mm in diameter. PA2 Calyx.--1.0 cm in length. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation of calyx limb.--Present. PA2 Peduncle.--2-3 mm in thickness; and 5.0-6.0 cm in length. PA2 Number of flowers.--Plentiful (approximately 13-15) PA2 Reproductive organs.--1 pistil and 5 stamens. PA2 Flower fragrance.--Absent. PA2 Flowering duration.--Long. PA2 Growth habit.--Semi-erect. PA2 Plant extension.--Medium. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation.--Absent. PA2 Branching.--Medium. PA2 Pubescence.--Medium. PA2 Length of internode.--Medium. PA2 Phyllotaxis.--Opposite. PA2 Length.--Medium. PA2 Width.--Medium. PA2 Blode incision.--Absent. PA2 Color.--Dark green. PA2 Pubescence.--Medium. PA2 Facing direction.--Upward. PA2 Outward curvature of petal.--None. PA2 Diameter.--Large. PA2 Height.--Medium. PA2 Color.--Vivid red (R.H.S. 52A, J.H.S. 0106). PA2 Color presentaion.--Substantially even. PA2 Overlapping of petals.--Closed. PA2 Cluster.--Medium in length; and medium in diameter. PA2 Anthocyanin pigmentation of calyx limb.--Present. PA2 Peduncle.--Medium in thickness; and medium in length. PA2 Number of flowers.--Medium. PA2 Reproductive organs.--1 pistil and 5 stamens. PA2 Flower fragrance.--Absent. PA2 Flowering duration.--Medium.
The `Sunmaripi` variety was used as a comparison for this new `Sunmarisa` variety. The main botanical characteristics of the `Sunmaripi` variety are as follows when grown at Hakushu Nursery Center of SUNTORY Ltd. at 2913-1, Torihara, Hakushu-cho, Kitakomo-gun, Yamanishi-ken, Japan.
`Derby Salmon Rose` (non-patent in the United States) was used as a comparison for this new variety `Sunmarisa`. The main botanical characteristics of `Derby Salmon Rose` are as follows when grown at the Hakushu Nursery Center of SUNTORY Ltd., 2913-1 Torihara, Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan.
This new variety of verbena plant `Sunmarisa` was asexually reproduced by cuttings at the aforementioned Hakushu Nursery Center of SUNTORY Ltd., at 2913-1 Torihara, Hakushu-cho, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi-ken, Japan, and the homogeneity and stability thereof were confirmed. The characteristics of the new variety are fully stable following such asexual reproduction.


The object of the present invention is to enable presentation of information on a target object (vehicle) located on a road to a pedestrian at an appropriate time and such that the information includes appropriate information for the pedestrian's statues. A pedestrian device transmits position data of a pedestrian to an in-vehicle device, which determines whether or not the pedestrian approaches a vehicle based on the position data. When determining that the pedestrian approaches the vehicle, the in-vehicle device transmits guidance direction information to the pedestrian device. The pedestrian device performs control based on the guidance direction information so as to guide the pedestrian to look toward the vehicle, and the pedestrian device acquires sight status information of the pedestrian from a wearable terminal and transmits the sight status information to the in-vehicle terminal. Then, the in-vehicle terminal determines whether or not the pedestrian sees the vehicle. When determining that the pedestrian does not see the vehicle, the in-vehicle terminal transmit alert information to the pedestrian terminal, and the pedestrian terminal performs control based on the alert information so as to provide an alert to the pedestrian.

In recent years, studies have been in progress for the practical and widespread use of safe driving assistance wireless systems utilizing ITS (Intelligent Transport System). In such safe driving assistance wireless systems, an in-vehicle terminal mounted in a vehicle performs ITS communications (vehicle-to-pedestrian communications) with a pedestrian terminal carried by a pedestrian; that is, transmits and receives the position data of the vehicle and that of the pedestrian to and from the pedestrian terminal, thereby determining if there is a risk of collision between the vehicle and the pedestrian and providing a necessary alert to a driver of the vehicle and/or the pedestrian in order to prevent an accident.
However, when a pedestrian has recognized the presence of a vehicle, such an alert needlessly provided to the pedestrian tends to cause annoyance to the pedestrian. Some known technologies which have been made in view of this problem include a system configured to detect a direction of face of a pedestrian and allow for provision of an alert to the pedestrian only when the pedestrian does not look in the direction toward the vehicle (See Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, in such safe driving assistance wireless systems, an in-vehicle terminal performs not only ITS communications with a pedestrian terminal (vehicle-to-pedestrian communications) but also ITS communications with other in-vehicle terminals (vehicle-to-vehicle communications). In addition, such systems are configured such that roadside devices installed on or near roads perform ITS communications with in-vehicle terminals and pedestrian terminals (roadside-to-pedestrian communications, roadside-to-vehicle communications).
In this way, ITS communications are generally used to exchange information, such as position data, to support pedestrian's safety confirmation and vehicle drivers' safe driving. In other embodiments, safety systems may be configured to use ITS communications to deliver different information to pedestrian terminals to present the information to pedestrians. In particular, such a system may present information on advertisement objects along the road to pedestrians, thereby improving advertising effectiveness of the advertisement objects. However, when pedestrians are not interested in an advertisement object, it is pointless to present information on the advertisement object to the pedestrian. Thus, there is a need for systems which is capable of detecting pedestrians who express some interest in an advertisement object, thereby presenting information on the advertisement object to the detected pedestrians.
In this connection, known technologies include a system in which the direction of a person's line-of-sight is detected and information is presented to the person when the person's line-of-sight is directed to a certain direction, so that information can be presented to the person in an efficient manner (See Patent Documents 2 and 3).

Pedestrian device, communication device, and information distribution method


A gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry detector and a hyphenated apparatus, the gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry detector comprises a gas chromatography mechanism and an ion mobility spectrometry mechanism. The gas chromatography mechanism comprises a chromatographic column and a sample injection port. The ion mobility spectrometry mechanism comprises a mobility tube and a connecting body, while a metal connection plate of the connecting body comprises a chromatographic metal plate, an ion mobility metal plate and a semipermeable membrane; on the ion mobility metal plate there are provided an ion mobility sample and carrier gas inlet, an ion mobility sample chamber and a sample injection port; the chromatography sample chamber and the ion mobility sample chamber are separated by semipermeable membrane.

An ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) has characteristics of simple structure, high sensitivity, high rate of analysis, etc., and thus they are widely used for detection of chemical war materials, narcotic drugs, explosives or environmental monitoring, and so on. However, when IMS is used alone as a detecting instrument to detect a sample with complicated components, they have the following problems: (1) the existing commercial IMS has a resolution ratio of 40 or so, due to the matter of manufacturing technique, so that it is hard to distinguish those substances having similar immigration rates; (2) the ions of some compounds will annihilate each other with complex reaction; (3) IMS has a low dynamic range, when one or more compounds have a very large concentration, the formation of ions of other compounds will be affected, resulting in an omission. For the above reasons, when an IMS is used to detect a sample with complicated components, omission and misdiagnosis are more likely to occur.
A gas chromatograph is currently universally recognized separation tools with high efficiency and high stability, and they have wide range of applications in compartment analysis of gas phase substance. However, different detectors have different selectivity and sensitivity for substance, while even some detectors (such as electron capture detector (ECD) and hydrogen flame detector) are not universal detector; moreover, as a universal detector, a thermal conductivity detector may not have a sensitivity that can completely meet the requirement of detection limit for many substances.
The gas chromatograph-ion mobility spectrometer (GC-IMS) technique not only effectively utilizes the GC's prominent separation ability for complicated sample, but also effectively utilizes the characteristics of high sensitivity of the IMS detector as well as wide selectivity to substance under the dual mode (positive & negative), such technique can greatly improve both the detection accuracy and the detection sensitivity of a mixture (compound). Consequently, the hyphenated techniques get enough attention and rapid development in the field of analysis and detection.
However, in the existing GC-IMS technique, the connection manner between GC and IMS may be selected only from the following manner: inserting the chromatographic column directly at the front end of the ionization zone of IMS, or inserting the chromatographic column directly into the ionization zone of IMS, or inserting the chromatographic column into the reaction zone of IMS. These connection manners are usually simple and easy to operate. However, such connection manners on one hand will produce pollution within the mobility tube during long term use of the instrument, which is hard to clean/remove, and, on the other hand, since the reactive ion in an IMS positive mode is mainly H+(H2O)n the reactive ion in a negative mode is mainly O2−(H2O)n, while as GC carrier gas, high purity nitrogen continuously enters into IMS will also affect the ionization environment of IMS, results in complicated component of reactive ions in a positive mode, and reactive ions are difficult to produce in a negative mode, and so on, all of these factors go against the long term stability and popularization of GC-IMS.

Gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry detector and gas chromatograph-ion mobility spectrometer


Disclosed are arrays for monitoring ecosystems, such as bodies of water, and methods and systems for making such arrays. In one embodiment, the array may include a plurality of oligonucleotides immobilized at known locations on a substrate, such that each location on the array is an oligonucleotide having a sequence derived from a single, predetermined operational taxonomic unit (OTU). The sequences immobilized on the array may be from known, or unknown organisms. Also disclosed are methods for identifying and isolating bioindicators diagnostic of specific ecosystems. The arrays and bioindicators of the invention may be used for rapid, and continual monitoring of ecosystems.

As the threat of bioterrorist activities has become evident in recent years, concern about the vulnerability of ecosystems such as municipal water supplies to deliberate contamination has grown. Additionally, human development can result in chemicals, waste, and/or agricultural runoff being introduced into the ecosystem. Increases in population may lead to over-harvesting of marine resources, landscape alterations that alter the ecosystem, and the introduction of living and non-living contaminants into the ecosystem (Mallin, J. M., et al. 2000, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 41:56–75). For example, spills from concentrated animal feeding operations can degrade water quality and stimulate algal blooms (Mallin, M. A., 2000, American Scientist, 88:26–37). Also, over-development of coastal areas may introduce coliform bacteria, and the introduction of nutrients and or chemical compounds may lead to eutrophication or other changes in microbial communities (Mallin, M. A., et al. 2000, Ecological Applications, 10:1047–1056; Paerl, H. W., et al. 2003, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 46:233–246; DeLorenzo, M. E., et al., 1999, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 18:2824–2835).
Reservoirs, recreational lakes, and coastal areas can be difficult to secure against accidental or intentional contamination. Further, the contamination of a water source has the propensity to impact a relatively large population, and water filtration systems may not sufficiently alleviate the threat. Perhaps most troubling is the lack of a real-time test to detect the agents that are most likely to contaminate water supplies. The turnaround times for culturing microbes is slow enough that consumption of contaminated water may occur before the test results are known. Also, the expense involved in frequent monitoring of the water supply with currently available laboratory tests can be prohibitive.
As yet, there has not been a large-scale, deliberate contamination of a municipal water source. However, sporadic and relatively confined natural contaminations have demonstrated the importance in being able to monitor the water supply. The number of outbreaks attributable to contaminated drinking water supplies more than doubled in 1999–2000 over the previous two-year period, with contamination of well water also on the rise. In addition, recreational water sources have also reported significant increases in contamination (Bowman, 2002, Outbreaks of waterborne illnesses on the rise in US, Scripps-Howard News Service, Nov. 23, 2002). These incidents of water contamination were exacerbated by the difficulty in pinpointing the cause of the outbreak and subsequent misdiagnosis of the symptoms, illustrating the importance of "early warning" diagnostics of water supplies.
A number of microbial genome sequencing projects have been initiated to characterize pathogenic organisms. Although identification and characterization of genomic sequence data for individual pathogens may provide for the identification of specific microbes, such targeted testing fails to provide a comprehensive, economically feasible system for monitoring ecosystems of interest, such as municipal water supplies. The accuracy of a molecular diagnostic test for a microbe may be compromised where the pathogenic agent is endemic, or possesses substantial genetic similarity to non-pathogenic organisms (Leff et al., 1995, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 61:1634–1636; Xiao et al, 1999, Appl Environ. Microbiol., 65:3386–3391). Also, although some putative contaminants of water have been identified, anticipating all possible contaminants is not feasible, and thus, specific tests are inherently limited.
Thus, there is a need for devices and methods that enable real-time monitoring of water supplies and other ecosystems of interest. The monitoring system should allow for detection of known, as well as unknown, contaminants. The monitoring system should be available in a format that is accessible for routine monitoring, as well as for rapid testing in response to a specific event.

Nucleic acid arrays to monitor water and other ecosystems

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro


A functional unit includes one or more instances of arithmetic circuitry for calculating averages. Each instance of arithmetic circuitry includes first, second and third adders, each having first and second inputs and an output that is a sum of the first and second inputs and a carry-in bit. An output of the first adder is coupled to a first input of the third adder, and an output of the second adder is coupled to a second input of the third adder. The arithmetic circuitry is able to calculate an arithmetic operation on a set of four inputs. The arithmetic operation is fully determined by control bits and may be: an average of two values (with or without rounding by 1), an average of four values (with or without rounding by 1 or 2), or a sum of four values.

Averaging arithmetic operations are very useful in the field of digital signal processing and particularly video filtering.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity.

Arithmetic circuitry for averaging and methods thereof


A display device according to the present invention is an invention for smoothly and quickly displaying a large-capacity web page, wherein the display device comprises: a user input interface unit for receiving a web page access command, a display unit for displaying one area of a web page, a network interface unit for receiving resources related to a current web page area, a storage unit for storing received resources, and a control unit for controlling the device so as to receive a scroll command and so as to receive resources related to the current web page area changed in accordance with the scroll command.

Recently, a digital TV service using a wired or wireless communication network has come into wide use. The digital TV service may provide various services which cannot be provided by an existing analog broadcast service.
For example, an Internet protocol television (IPTV) service or a smart TV service which is a digital TV service provides interactivity for enabling a user to actively select a type of a program to be viewed, a viewing time, etc. The IPTV service or the smart TV service may provide various additional services, e.g., Internet search, home shopping, online games, etc. based on such interactivity.
In particular, when a display device, such as a TV, provides Internet search or web shopping services, the display device downloads all the resources included in the webpage from a web server as soon as the user accesses the webpage.
However, recently, webpages providing Internet search or web shopping services often contain dozens to hundreds of large image files. Accordingly, when a display device having a smaller capacity of memory is connected with a webpage including large-capacity image files, the webpage is frequently forcibly terminated due to the insufficient memory.
One of the conventional techniques to solve such a problem is a method for dynamically interworking with a web server while downloading only resources to be additionally displayed on a webpage instead of simultaneously downloading all the resources included in a webpage at a time. However, such a case may shorten only the time for loading the first page, and not prevent the memory shortage due to the continuous loading of the webpage.

Display device and operating method thereof


A method of detecting an accumulator failure is provided. The method may comprise measuring a first pressure on a gas-side of an accumulator, measuring a second pressure on a fluid-side of the accumulator, finding a difference between the first pressure and the second pressure, and comparing the difference to a predetermined threshold. A system for detecting an accumulator failure is also provided. The system may comprise a non-transitory memory communicating with a processor, the non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may include receiving a first pressure measurement, receiving a second pressure measurement, determining a difference between the first pressure measurement and the second pressure measurement, and detecting the accumulator failure based on the difference.

Aircrafts may use hydraulic systems to actuate various components in the aircraft. For example, hydraulic systems may power emergency and/or parking brake systems. In brake systems, an accumulator may serve as an energy storage device. An undetected hydraulic accumulator failure may leave pilots unprepared, as such a failure may cause the emergency brake system to not respond as expected. An accumulator may fail when the piston in the accumulator becomes stuck against the inner wall of the accumulator. The failure mode of a stuck piston may be referred to as sticktion. Sticktion may cause the hydraulic pressure in the accumulator not to rise or fall in response to the gas pressure in the accumulator rising or falling. Thus, an accumulator failing from sticktion may output less hydraulic energy than expected or desired.

System and method of determining accumulator status


A reservoir component of an electronic vaping device includes an outer housing, an air inlet, a vapor outlet, an air passage communicating with the air inlet and the vapor outlet, and a reservoir. A magnetic, electrically conductive and resistive heater element is located adjacent the air passage. The heater element is configured to be in electrical communication with an alternator of a power supply component. A wick is in communication with the reservoir and is configured to draw pre-vapor formulation from the reservoir toward the heater element. The heater element is configured to heat pre-vapor formulation to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the pre-vapor formulation and form a vapor.

Field
Electronic vaping devices may include a heater configured to heat a pre-vapor formulation to form a vapor.
Description of Related Art
Electronic vaping devices may include a first section coupled to a second section via a threaded connection. The first section may be a replaceable cartridge, and the second section may be a reusable fixture. The second section may include a power source. The first section may include a heater and a pre-vapor formulation reservoir. The heater is configured to heat the pre-vapor formulation to a temperature sufficient to form a vapor.

Electronic vaping device and components thereof


A biological information measuring apparatus includes a detector, a measuring unit, a calculator, and a determining unit. The detector detects pulse waves continuously. The measuring unit measures first biological information. The calculator calculates second biological information from the pulse waves based on the first biological information. The measuring unit suspends the measurement and resumes the measurement after a lapse of a period in a case where the determining unit does not determine that the result of measurement is normal, and the measuring unit continues the measurement in other cases where the body motion is not generated, the pulse waves are not irregular or the blood pressure value fails to vary.

Detecting and treating a biological abnormality early using biological information has gradually been becoming important to medical care because of an environment in which a high-performance sensor can easily be used with the development of sensor technologies.
A biological information measuring apparatus is known which is capable of measuring biological information about pulse, blood pressure and the like, using information detected by a pressure sensor that is in direct contact with a biological portion through which the arteries such as the radial artery of a user's wrist pass (see, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-113368).
The blood pressure measuring apparatus described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-113368 calculates a blood pressure value using a cuff in a portion different from a biological portion with which a pressure sensor is brought into contact to generate calibration data from the calculated blood pressure value. Then, the pressure pulse wave detected by the pressure sensor is calibrated using the calibration data to calculate a blood pressure value for each beat.
Since however, the blood pressure measuring apparatus described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAT Publication No. 2004-113368 is large, the accuracy of measurement is difficult to increase. Since, furthermore, the blood pressure measuring apparatus is based on the premise that it is used in the limited environment and operated by a specific person, it is difficult to use for daily medical treatment and home medical care. Since, moreover, the blood pressure measuring apparatus is provided with a number of tubes and wires and is annoying, it is impractical to use the apparatus routinely and during sleep.
In addition, it is not certain that the blood pressure apparatus for calibration can make normal measurement. For example, it is likely that the pulse waves will become irregular during their calibration and influence the blood pressure.

Biological information measuring apparatus, method and program


A radio communication apparatus uses an intermediate frequency section to convert a signal from a receiver into an intermediate frequency signal. The intermediate frequency signal is filtered in a filter section, and then demodulated. Matching circuits with variable circuit constants connect the filter section with the intermediate frequency section and the demodulator. A control section supplies a transmitter with an input signal which is then transmitted to the receiver, converted to an intermediate frequency, filtered, and demodulated. The control section adjusts the variable circuit constants in accordance with the input signal and the demodulated signal. Thus, inappropriate circuit constants are adjusted so that the radio apparatus has a high receiving sensitivity without a mismatch.

This invention relates to a radio communication apparatus having a reception intermediate frequency filter.
In general, a radio communication apparatus using a digital modulation method comprises a reception section having a reception intermediate frequency (IF) filter section. The reception section receives a transmission signal as a reception signal which is transmitted from an additional radio communication apparatus. Furthermore, the reception section comprises an IF section and a demodulating section. The IF section is for converting the transmission signal into an IF signal. The IF signal is filtered into a filtered IF signal by the IF filter section in order to remove a noise from the IF signal. The demodulating section demodulates the filtered IF signal into a demodulated signal.
The IF filter section comprises a reception IF filter and a matching section. The matching section is for use in matching the IF filter to the IF section and the demodulating section.
The matching section has a matched impedance which will be called a circuit constant. Dispersion inevitably occurs in the circuit constant under manufacturing. Similarly, dispersion inevitably occurs in the filter characteristic of the reception IF filter under manufacturing. Furthermore, each of the circuit constant and the filter characteristic may vary on the basis of an ambient temperature.
The IF filter may not match to the IF section and/or the demodulating section on the basis of the variation of the circuit constant and/or the filter characteristic. When such a mismatch occurs in a conventional radio communication apparatus, a receiving sensitivity reduces in the conventional radio communication apparatus. Namely, it is difficult to obtain a high receiving sensitivity in the conventional radio communication apparatus.

Radio communication apparatus having a high receiving sensitivity


A laptop computer is constructed having a case including a keyboard and containing traditional computer components. A display screen is pivotally secured to the computer case and may be pivoted about the hinge to an operative position wherein an operator can observe the information displayed on the display screen. A second display screen is pivotally secured to the first display screen and is also connected to the computer components within the computer case. The second display screen, when hinged to its operative position displays the same information displayed on the first display screen, but is directed in an opposite direction to permit an operator and an observer to observe the same information viewable on the first and second display screens, respectively.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to laptop computers, and more particularly to portable computers having two displays, one or both of the displays being an interactive touch screen.
2. State of the Art
Computers, particularly laptop computers, in combination with selected peripheral equipment have been designed in the past for utilization by computer operators to make presentations to groups of observers. The techniques utilized when operating such computers are intended for the presentation of selected materials, viewable by the operator on the computer display screen, to several individuals or groups on secondary or supplemental display screens that are large enough for the entire group to observe. Such techniques are common for the presentation of materials in seminars, sales meetings, or similar gatherings wherein it is the intention of the computer operator to display the information available to him on the display screen to a group.
Early versions of such computers, and the implementing software together with the necessary peripheral equipment, were relatively bulky and very expensive. More recent versions of computers allow for a dual screen display for use in presentations where the presenter and observer can look at two separate, but hingedly attached, displays while facing each other for more effective communication. Examples of dual screen laptop computers are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,006 to Moscovitch (issued Jan. 29, 2002) entitled Computer Display Screen System and Adjustable Screen Mount, and Swinging Screens therefore, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,295,038 to Rebeske (issued Sep. 25, 2001), the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference for their disclosure of possible structures, operations and functions of laptop computers with multiple display screens known in the art. Each of these patents discloses examples of multiple-screen laptop computers suitable for operators doing sales-type presentations to observers.
While conventional dual-screen displays are effective for giving one-way presentations to an observer, when an observer has a question about something on the display, the observer must either explain the screen in sufficient detail to explain the question to the presenter, or have the presenter move to come see the observer's display. In many cases, this negates much of the benefit of having a second display, because both the presenter and the observer eventually spend some of their time looking at the same display. Attempts to coordinate viewing of multiple displays by multiple people can even disrupt the flow, and therefore the effectiveness, of the presentation.

Tablet laptop and interactive conferencing station system


A process for manufacturing bulk solutions and lyophilized pure α-aztreonam lysinate for large scale production of an inhalable aztreonam is disclosed, as is a pure α-aztreonam lysinate for inhalation. A dry powder or lyophilized pure α-aztreonam lysinate composition for inhalation is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The current invention concerns a process for manufacturing bulk solutions and lyophilized pure α-aztreonam lysinate for preparation of inhalable formulations for treatment of pulmonary bacterial infections caused by gram negative bacteria. In particular, the invention concerns a manufacturing process for preparation of pure α-aztreonam lysinate without need for conversion to β-aztreonam. The process is fast, safe, practical and economical.
The pure α-aztreonam lysinate bulk solution is easily converted into a lyophilized form. The lyophilized α-aztreonam lysinate is delivered to the lung as an aerosol or as an inhalable dry powder. For aerosolization, about 75 mg/ml of lyophilized α-aztreonam lysinate is reconstituted in about 1 to about 5 ml of normal or diluted saline or another aqueous solution of pH between 4.5 and 7.5, delivered to the lung endobronchial space in an aerosol having mass medium average diameter particles predominantly between 1 to 5μ using a nebulizer able to atomize the α-aztreonam lysinate solution into particles of required sizes.
For delivery of dry inhalable powder, α-aztreonam lysinate is lyophilized, milled or spray dried to particle sizes between about 1 and 5μ. Both the dry powder formulation or a reconstituted lyophilized α-aztreonam lysinate solid for aerosolization have a long shelf-life and storage stability.
2. Background and Related Disclosures
A wide variety of gram-negative bacteria cause severe pulmonary infections. Many of these bacteria are or become resistant to commonly used or specialty antibiotics and require treatment with new types of antibiotics.
Aztreonam is a synthetic antibiotic which has a good biological activity against gram-negative bacteria and its arginine salt derived from the β-aztreonam has previously been used for intravenous treatment of bacterial infections. However, its use is severely limited due to its low efficacy requiring administration of very large intravenous doses ranging from 1000 to 4000 mg a day.
Aztreonam is currently commercially available only as an arginine salt. Arginine has been shown to be toxic to the lung and causes lung tissue irritation, inflammation, bronchospasm and cough and therefore is not suitable for a delivery by aerosolization. Consequently, aztreonam arginine salt is not approved for inhalation use in the United States or elsewhere. Moreover, the β-aztreonam form used for preparation of aztreonam arginine is not stable and requires special handling conditions. Thus, although aztreonam would be an antibiotic of choice for complementary treatment of patients treated with tobramycin or other antibiotics, such treatment is not practical because of the high doses required and complications encountered with the β-aztreonam arginine salt.
However, aztreonam could become a drug of choice for inhalation treatment, if it could be prepared as a different salt than arginine, if such salt would be suitable for inhalation and if the aztreonam form would permit manufacturing of bulk solutions and salt conversion without raising the impurity levels.
Suitability of aztreonam for treatment of gram-negative bacterial infections by inhalation is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,249 issued on Dec. 9, 2003 and the preferable aztreonam salt, namely α-aztreonam lysinate, even better suited for such purposes, is disclosed in a co-pending patent application Ser. No. 10/613,639, filed on Jul. 3, 2003, both by inventors. Both the U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,249 and the patent application Ser. No. 10,613,639 are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Thus it would be advantageous and desirable to provide a pure aztreonam salt which would be easier to manufacture and handle when an inhalable aztreonam formulation for delivery of aztreonam by aerosol or a dry powder is prepared.
It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a manufacturing process for preparation of a pure α-aztreonam lysinate without need for conversion of aztreonam into β-aztreonam, said pure α-aztreonam lysinate being suitable for delivery of aztreonam by inhalation into lungs for treatment of pulmonary gram-negative infections.
All patents, patent applications and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

Process for manufacturing bulk solutions and a lyophilized pure α-aztreonam lysinate


First to third exciting coils are arranged at a reference position. First to third detecting coils are arranged at a measuring subject position distant from the reference position. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are measured when the first exciting coil is excited. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are measured when the second exciting coil is excited. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are measured when the third exciting coil is excited. An azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position based on a predetermined calculation by using all nine induced-voltages which are obtained by the first to third detecting coils.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an azimuth measuring method and an azimuth measuring apparatus which are used for measuring an azimuth of a measuring subject position from a reference position, and a position measuring method and a position measuring apparatus which are used for measuring a measuring subject position.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are examples of measuring methods for measuring slide of a slide of a slope of shoulder in a road and a hillside. In a first example, a wire is provided between a measuring subject position and a reference position, a tension meter is installed to the wire, and the occurrence of the slide of the slope is detected based on a tension of the wire. In a second example, a wire is provided between a measuring subject position and a reference position and a displacement measuring meter is installed to the wire, and the occurrence of the slide of the slope is detected based on a displacement of the wire.
According to the above-mentioned measuring methods, the measurement is performed in such a manner that a measuring system makes contact with a measuring subject. Therefore, when a distance between the measuring subject position and the reference position is increased, the wire is loosened, thus causing a measurement error. Consequently, the above measuring methods are limited to the measurement of a relatively short distance.
To overcome the above-mentioned problem, optical measuring methods are used. The optical measuring methods use optical measuring equipment such as an electro-optic distance meter, a transit, and the like. By using the optical measurement equipment, the reference position is predetermined and the measuring subject position is optically measured based on the reference position. Thus, the change in the azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position can be measured in a non-contact status between the measuring subject and the measuring system. Further, the distance between the measuring subject position and the reference position can be prolonged and the optical measuring methods are frequently used for the measurement of the displacement and the slide of the slope.
However, the above optical measuring equipment has a problem in that the measuring subject position cannot be directly detected and measured in underground and underwater and, therefore, the optical measuring methods cannot perform the measurement in underground and underwater.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a position measuring method and a position measuring apparatus in which an azimuth of a measuring subject position from a reference position can be measured even in underground and underwater.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an azimuth measuring method and an azimuth measuring apparatus in which coordinates of a measuring subject position can be measured.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a position measuring method and a position measuring apparatus in which when a measuring subject at a measuring subject position is moved at another position, the other position can be measured.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an azimuth measuring method, first to third exciting coils are arranged, at a reference position which is predetermined, so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system. First to third detecting coils are arranged at a measuring subject position distant from the reference position so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially measured when the first exciting coil is excited. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially measured when the second exciting coil is excited. Voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially measured when the third exciting coil is excited. An azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position is determined based on a predetermined calculation by using all nine induced-voltages which are obtained by the first to third detecting coils.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, an azimuth measuring apparatus comprises a signal generating circuit for outputting an AC signal, first to third exciting coils arranged, at a reference position which is predetermined, so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system, a first switching circuit for sequentially exciting the first to third exciting coils in response to outputs of the signal generating circuit, first to third detecting coils arranged at a measuring subject position distant from the reference position so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system, a second switching circuit for sequentially extracting outputs of the first to third exciting coils, and a voltage extracting circuit for obtaining a voltage signal from the outputs extracted by the second switching circuit. In the azimuth measuring apparatus, first, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the first exciting coil is excited. Next, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the second exciting coil is excited. Further, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the third exciting coil is excited. An azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position is determined based on a predetermined calculation by using all nine induced-voltages which are obtained by the first to third detecting coils.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an azimuth measuring apparatus comprises first to third exciting coils arranged at a reference position which is predetermined, for generating magnetic fields perpendicular to each other, a signal generating circuit for sequentially supplying AC signals to the first to third exciting coils and exciting them, first to third detecting coils arranged, at a measuring subject position distant from the reference position, so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system, an output switching circuit for sequentially extracting outputs of the first to third detecting coils, and a voltage extracting circuit for obtaining a voltage signal from outputs extracted by the output switching circuit. In the azimuth measuring apparatus, first, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the first exciting coil is excited. Next, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the second exciting coil is excited. Further, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the third exciting coil is excited. An azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position is determined based on a predetermined calculation by using all nine induced-voltages which are obtained by the first to third detecting coils. In addition, in the azimuth measuring apparatus, an output from one of the first to third exciting coils is set as a reference output of the one exciting coil. In order to generate perpendicular AC magnetic fields, when exciting one of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, the signal generating circuit applies a compensating voltage to the one exciting coil and the other remaining exciting coil of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil so that a magnetic field output of the one of the two remaining exciting coils is perpendicular to that of the one exciting coil. When exciting the other remaining exciting coil of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, the signal generating circuit applies a compensating voltage to the one exciting coil and the one of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil so that a magnetic field output of the other remaining exciting coil is perpendicular to magnetic field outputs of the one exciting coil and the one of the two remaining exciting coil.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, an azimuth measuring apparatus comprises first to third exciting coils arranged at a reference position which is predetermined, for generating magnetic fields perpendicular to each other, a signal generating circuit for sequentially supplying AC signals to the first to third exciting coils and exciting them, first to third detecting coils arranged, at a measuring subject position distant from the reference position, so that central axes thereof match three perpendicular axes of a triaxial coordinate system, an output switching circuit for sequentially extracting outputs of the first to third detecting coils, and a voltage extracting circuit for obtaining a voltage signal from outputs extracted by the output switching circuit. In the azimuth measuring apparatus, first, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the first exciting coil is excited. Next, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the second exciting coil is excited. Further, voltages induced in the first to third detecting coils are sequentially extracted when the third exciting coil is excited. An azimuth of the measuring subject position from the reference position is determined based on a predetermined calculation by using all nine induced-voltages which are obtained by the first to third detecting coils. The azimuth measuring apparatus further comprises first to third compensating coils which are wound to the central axes of the first to third exciting coils, respectively. An output from one of the first to third exciting coils is set as a reference output of the one exciting coil. In order to generate perpendicular AC magnetic fields, when exciting one of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, the signal generating circuit applies a compensating voltage to one of the first to third compensating coils corresponding to the one exciting coil and one of the two remaining compensating coils, excluding the one compensating coil, corresponding to the other remaining exciting coil of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, so that a magnetic field output of the one remaining exciting coil is perpendicular to that of the one exciting coil. In order to generate perpendicular AC magnetic fields, when exciting the other remaining exciting coil of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, the signal generating circuit applies a compensating voltage to one of the first to third compensating coils, corresponding to the one exciting coil, and one of the two remaining compensating coils, excluding the one compensating coil, corresponding to the one remaining exciting coil of the two remaining exciting coils excluding the one exciting coil, so that a magnetic field output of the other remaining exciting coil is perpendicular to magnetic field outputs of the one exciting coil and the one remaining exciting coil.

Azimuth measuring method, azimuth measuring apparatus, position measuring method, and position measuring apparatus


A portable pouch suitable for both transporting and serving water or beverages to animals is provided. The pouch is sealed to contain and protect the liquid during transport. Such sealed pouches will lay in a generally flat configuration for shipping and storage. Generally, a resealable zip closure is provided at the top of the pouch for later re-use. When the liquid-filled pouch is opened for use, a specially gusseted bottom panel also opens in a generally round and flat orientation to provide a bowl-like configuration and the opened upper edges of the pouch may be rolled downwardly for additional stability. In this open configuration, the pouch bowl will stand upright without assistance from the animal handler. An animal may then drink from the top of the open pouch and a zip closure may be used to save some liquid for later use.

Animal handlers know that pets and other animals in their care require drinking water at all times, particularly when traveling. Sometimes pets also require water-based liquid beverages having nutrients, minerals, vitamins, electrolytes or the like.
Caring for pets while away from home is a necessary chore that is made more difficult when adequate supplies of fresh water or beverages are unavailable, or when such are difficult to serve to an animal due to lack of suitable and clean receptacles.
Prior art packaging solutions have not afforded the strength, resiliency, content protection, leak-proof requirements and serving options provided by the subject design.

Portable liquid package and dispensing method for animals


In order to provide an electrochemically active unit for an electrochemical device including a membrane electrode assembly, at least one gas diffusion layer and a seal that is linked to at least one of the at least one gas diffusion layers, in the manufacture whereof as even as possible a construction of the penetration region in which the gas diffusion layer of the electrochemically active unit is penetrated by the sealing material of the seal over the periphery of the gas diffusion layer is achievable, the seal includes a linking region, a distribution region and a connection region that connects the linking region and the distribution region to one another, wherein the connection region has a minimum height that is less than a quarter of the maximum height of the distribution region and less than a quarter of the maximum height of the linking region.

In fuel cell stacks and electrolyzers, different media are guided in different levels of an electrochemical cell and, depending on the design, also in different regions of the same level. These media may be in particular an anodic fluid (fuel gas), a cathodic fluid (oxidation agent), and where appropriate also a fluid coolant.
The media to be supplied to the electrochemical device (cathodic fluid, anodic fluid, coolant) are supplied to the different levels of the electrochemical device, or removed from the different levels of the electrochemical device, by a media distribution structure (also called a manifold) having medium supply ducts and medium removal ducts that extend in the stack direction of the electrochemical device, and these media must in each case be supplied from a medium supply duct to the flow field of the respective medium in an electrochemical cell, and removed from the flow field again through a medium removal duct. Here, both the medium supply ducts and medium removal ducts and also the flow fields must be sealed in order to prevent leaks both into the external space around the electrochemical device and also between the spaces through which the different media flow.
The media guided through the electrochemical device must not mix with one another nor escape from the electrochemical cells, so seals are required on a plurality of levels.
These seals may for example be based on elastomer materials and/or adhesives.
In electrochemical cells having metal bipolar plates, the seals may take the form, entirely or partly, of beads in the bipolar plate, or of seals based on elastomer materials.
The bipolar plates (also called separators or interconnectors) may be made in one piece or include at least two individual layers (bipolar plate layers).
The bipolar plate layers of a multiple-layer bipolar plate may be connected to one another by joining methods such as welding or adhesion.
A seal may be inserted into the stack of electrochemical cells as a separate component or be fixed to a bipolar plate or to another constituent part of an electrochemical cell, for example a gas diffusion layer or a membrane electrode assembly.
Because of the advantages for handling and manufacture, and because of the simple seal construction, fixing the seal to a bipolar plate is frequently preferred. This may be done by injection molding a seal, in particular made from an elastomer material, onto a layer of the bipolar plate.
In this seal configuration, it has proved advantageous to combine the seal that is fixed to the bipolar plate with an edge reinforcement arrangement that is fixed to the membrane electrode assembly (in particular a catalyst coated membrane, CCM) in the edge region of the membrane electrode assembly, in which case the edge reinforcement arrangement serves as a mating component for the seal, helps to prevent a disadvantageous mechanical load on the membrane electrode assembly, and at the same time ensures an advantageous linking between the electrochemically active region of the membrane electrode assembly and the edge region of the membrane electrode assembly.
An edge reinforcement arrangement of this kind is disclosed for example in EP 1 403 949 B1.
An edge reinforcement arrangement of this kind is also called a sub-gasket.
An edge reinforcement arrangement of this kind may include one or more layers, wherein a typical structure includes two layers that are arranged on two mutually opposite sides of the membrane electrode assembly in the form of a peripheral frame.
The manufacture and installation of an edge reinforcement arrangement are complex and costly, however. Moreover, additional installation space is required for the overlap between the edge reinforcement arrangement and the membrane electrode assembly, as a result of which the volumetric energy density of the electrochemical device is reduced.
It is possible to dispense with an edge reinforcement arrangement if the seal is linked directly to a gas diffusion layer, since this results in the seal and the gas diffusion layer merging smoothly into one another.
A membrane electrode assembly that is compressed between two seal/gas diffusion layer units does not undergo excessive spikes in the clamping force.
By comparison with a sealing solution with an edge reinforcement arrangement, a cell structure with seal/gas diffusion layer units may be of very compact construction, since no additional space has to be provided for the overlap between the edge reinforcement arrangement and the membrane electrode assembly.
It is possible to link a seal to a gas diffusion layer for example in an injection molding process. In this case, a gas diffusion layer is inserted into a (preferably multiple-part) injection mold and overmolded with a sealing material around its outer periphery.
Where the gas diffusion layer merges with the sealing material, a penetration region is produced, in which the sealing material penetrates part of the porous gas diffusion layer.
This penetration region creates a substance-to-substance bond or a positive engagement between the gas diffusion layer and the seal, such that the gas diffusion layer and the seal have a sufficient mechanical connection with one another during the subsequent assembly steps and during operation of the electrochemical device.
In the penetration region, the pores of the gas diffusion layer are filled with sealing material, with the result that transport of a cathodic fluid or anodic fluid to the active region of the electrochemically active unit is made more difficult in this region. The penetration region should for this reason include as small a proportion of the gas diffusion layer as possible and yet be sufficiently large to ensure a stable mechanical linking between the gas diffusion layer and the seal.
In order to delimit the penetration region on the gas diffusion layer side, the gas diffusion layer, which is mechanically compressible in the direction of its thickness (parallel to the stack direction of the electrochemical device), is compressed locally in the injection mold by a compression edge. This raises the capillary pressure in the pores of the gas diffusion layer locally, and limits the penetration of the gas diffusion layer by the sealing material in the x and y directions perpendicular to the direction of thickness (z direction).
The compression edge must compress the gas diffusion layer by a minimum pressure in order to limit the penetration of the gas diffusion layer by the sealing material. However, the local compression of the gas diffusion layer by the compression edge must not be too great either, since the gas diffusion layer can be damaged in the event of excessive compression, for example by fibers breaking.
The extent to which the sealing material penetrates the gas diffusion layer depends on the locally prevailing pressure of the sealing composition in the injection mold, in the respective region of the gas diffusion layer. Moreover, the degree of penetration of the gas diffusion layer by the sealing material depends on the viscosity of the sealing material, the temperature of the injection mold (which affects, among other things, the viscosity of the sealing material) and the properties of the gas diffusion layer in the region of the compression edge and the rest of the region of the gas diffusion layer, in particular the porosity, the tortuosity (that is to say the amount by which the transport paths within the gas diffusion layer twist), the capillary pressure and the hydrophobicity.
When a seal is linked to a gas diffusion layer in an injection molding process or similar method, sealing material is introduced into the cavity of the injection mold at an injection point or a plurality of injection points and then spreads out along flow paths, forming a flow front in the cavity.
During the injection process, a pressure gradient is formed along the flow path. The highest pressure in the cavity can be expected at the injection point; the pressure falls with increasing distance from the injection point.
Since, in the case of a seal that is linked to a gas diffusion layer, the seal extends around the gas diffusion layer with a relatively small seal cross section (for example in the range of from 5 mm2 to 30 mm2) and the gas diffusion layer may have relatively long lateral lengths (for example lateral lengths in the range of from 70 mm to 400 mm), then, depending on the positioning and number of the injection points, flow paths are produced which, during the injection molding process, result in a major drop in pressure over the length of the flow path. The internal mold pressure occurring in the penetration region of the gas diffusion layer thus results in dependence on the position relative to the injection point. In sections of the penetration region close to an injection point, a higher internal mold pressure during the injection molding process can be expected than in sections further away from the injection point.
In the case of known seals that are injection molded onto a gas diffusion layer, it is thus possible for an excessive penetration of the gas diffusion layer by sealing material to occur in sections of the penetration region close to injection points, as a result of which the porosity of the gas diffusion layer is drastically reduced locally, and functioning of the electrochemical device is impaired.
In order to reduce the penetration of the gas diffusion layer by sealing material, it may thus be necessary to provide a larger number of injection points in the mold, and/or to shift the process parameters into a range that is disadvantageous for rapid performance of the injection molding method (for example by using a lower mold temperature, a lower injection rate and/or lower internal mold pressures). All these measures result in higher mold and/or process costs.

Electrochemically active unit for an electrochemical device