A low-resistance hydrocarbon-adsorptive cartridge for an air intake of an internal combustion engine comprising a structure for being mounted into a portion of an engine air intake system. The structure is adapted to orient and retain one or more thin sheets of activated carbon sheeting in the intake system. Preferably, a plurality of sheets is oriented such that the leading edge of each sheet is presented to the engine intake air stream, thereby minimizing reduction in total cross-sectional area of the intake system. Preferably, the one or more sheets are spaced apart by a distance that is small relative to the extent of the elements in the direction of engine air flow such that a high probability is created that hydrocarbons migrating out of a shut down engine's intake manifold will encounter a surface of at least one of the adsorptive sheets and thus be adsorbed.

Gasoline-fueled motor vehicles have many sites from which hydrocarbons (HC) may evaporate into the environment, thereby contributing to the formation of smog. HC in the atmosphere is a major contributor to smog formation. One such known site is the intake manifold of an engine. As HC emission regulations are tightened, a means is needed to prevent HC vapor from escaping from the intake manifold after engine shutdown. Known approaches have included, among others, closing off the intake and idle air with the throttle valve when the engine is shut off; adding a rigid monolith structure formed of activated carbon into the intake air flow path of the air cleaner (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,551 B2); and lining the intake manifold, other air ducts, and/or the air cleaner with adsorptive carbon sheeting.
Employing an engine's electronic throttle control to close the intake at shut down may impair the desirable option of a so-called "limp-home" mode in which a vehicle may be driven in the event of a partial failure of the engine electronics control system. Systems with mechanical throttles not employing electronic throttle controls typically close the throttle at shut down leaving a separate "idle air" passage open. In these systems, achieving a completely sealed manifold is difficult and expensive.
Carbon sheeting applied to inner surfaces of the manifold and air ducts is only partially successful because much HC laden air can escape the manifold without being brought into proximity with an adsorptive surface. Relatively large areas of carbon sheeting are required to ensure that an adequate quantity of HC comes into contact with the adsorber.
An adsorptive rigid monolith formed from activated carbon is unsatisfactory as it is expensive to fabricate, brittle and therefore vulnerable to breakage during assembly and use, and inherently restricts the volume of intake air. A known carbon monolith has an open area of only about 80%. The last shortcoming is especially undesirable as both engine performance and fuel efficiency can be adversely affected by undue air flow restriction.
What is needed in the art is a means for providing hydrocarbon adsorption during engine shutdown at the main air entrance to an engine while minimizing intake air restriction during engine operation.
It is a principal object of the present invention to reduce hydrocarbon emissions from a shut down internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of the invention to minimize the restriction of combustion air inflow into the engine caused by a hydrocarbon-adsorptive means.

Low-resistance hydrocarbon adsorber cartridge for an air intake of an internal combustion engine


A head mounted display (HMD) is disclosed. The HMD comprises a screen, a processing circuit and an eyeglass frame. The screen displays a coded data associated with an exchange information. The processing circuit outputs the coded data to the screen. The eyeglass frame carries the screen and the processing circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to an electronic apparatus and more particularly to a head mounted display (HMD).
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the advance in technology, people assimilate more and more information every day. Commonly seen electronic apparatuses such as multimedia play apparatus, network communication apparatus and computer apparatus are equipped with a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying images. However, the pixels and size of a displayed image depend on the size and efficiency of the display and a conventional CRT or LCD cannot meet the requirements of large size and convenient portability at the same time. To resolve the above problem, an optical see-through head mounted display (HMD) is provided. The head mounted display apparatus has a CRT or LCD disposed in front of each eye. The head mounted display apparatus projects the images outputted by respective CRT or LCD onto the user's retinas through beam splitters and creates a 3D effect by using the parallax between the user's two eyes.


A method, apparatus and computer program product for entering text on a touch-screen device is presented. Entry of at least one letter of a word on a virtual keypad of a touch-screen device is detected. In response to the detection of an entry of least one letter of a word on a virtual keypad of a touch-screen device a first row of keys is displayed on the virtual keypad, the first row of keys comprising a predictive character set of keys based on the entry of at least one letter of a word.

Swype is an input method for touch-screens where the user enters words by sliding a finger or stylus from letter to letter, lifting only between words. Swype uses error-correcting algorithms and a language model to guess the intended word. Swype also includes a tapping predictive text system in the same interface. Swype is designed for use on touch-screen devices with a traditional QWERTY keyboard. Swype's underlying technology relies on four major components: an input path analyzer for Swyping, a predictive tap corrective engine for tapping, a word matching search engine with accompanying word database, and a flexible user interface. These four components together with standard features make Swype a viable input solution for virtual keyboard applications. Swype is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens, and more

Method for simplifying a Swype based touch-screen keypad for fast text entry


Data integration including extracting a first native record having a first native format from a first native repository through a first adapter, the first adapter loosely coupled for data integration to a data integration application, the first native format having a datatype; transforming the first native record having first native format to a first native record having dynamic common format, the dynamic common format being a subset of a dynamic common model, the dynamic common model comprising mappings to and from the dynamic common format for all native records in all datatypes; transforming the format of the first native record having dynamic common format to a first native record having second native format; and inserting through a second adapter, also loosely coupled to the application, the first native record the second native format into a second native repository.

Large masses of data reside in multiple databases, applications, file systems, repositories, or specialized data stores. The large masses of data are comprised of multiple models of multiple products of multiple vendors or manufacturers, all of which utilize different data structures and different database management systems including different user interfaces into their respective underlying databases. The data structures within databases even vary among versions of the same model from the same manufacturer. Adding to the complexity, many data stores are not even databases as such, comprising, for example, repositories of electronic files or documents stored in file systems under hierarchical directory structures.
Data integration is intended to enable a customer using one repository to make use of data residing in another repository. Data integration customers typically need to locate data in a source repository, transform the data from a source format to a destination format, and transfer the data from the source to the destination.
The most ambitious attempt in prior art to solve the problem of data integration is data warehousing based upon a standard data model. The idea of the standard model is that an industry, for example the seismic data processing industry or the geophysical data processing industry, gathers in committee and agrees on standard data formats for seismic data. The geophysical data processing industry is a good example of the need for data integration because the industry utilizes extremely large volumes of geophysical data regarding wells, well logs, and log curves. If the industry could agree on a standard data model, then the industry could build application programs to convert the multiple data models from various source databases into one standard model and use the data in standard form to transfer data among customers.
In one application of a standard model, data in the standard form is physically stored in a central location called a data warehouse which is then made available to subscribing customers who can make use of the data through applications designed to operate against the standard data model. It is useful to note that data warehousing, as the term is usually used in the data integration industry, does not require use of an industry-wide standard model. In fact, many data warehousing projects start with a group within a corporate entity establishing a local standard model for their own internal warehouse. This local standard model may or may not be based on any industry standard. However, when such a local standard model is established and used as a corporate standard, it behaves identically to an industry-based standard with all its inherent flaws and weaknesses.
The standard data model does, to some extent, ease access to data across structure types. The standard data model, however, demonstrates problems that seem intractable within the standard model itself. One problem is that the standard data model utilizes a completely static standard structure. That is, there is no method or system within the standard model for giving effect to routine changes in source system data structures. After the structure of a standard model is standardized by an industry standards committee (or a local data management group), the standard model structure is locked in place until changed by the committee. The source data structures in the databases integrated by the standard model, however, change daily. The only way to change the standard model data structures to keep up with the changes in structures in industry databases is to gather a list of desired changes, take them to the industry standards committee, and request changes in the standard model. After the committee approves changes in the standard model, all applications desiring to use the new standard model, as well as the software processes, if any, comprising the model itself, must be rewritten, an extremely laborious, expensive, and time-consuming process.
A second problem with the standard model is data loss. The static nature of the standard model means that all data structure changes in industry databases not yet integrated into the standard model result in data loss every time data from an external repository is transferred into the standard model. In addition, the fact that the standard model data structure is established by committee means that it is a compromise practically never capable of including all fields from all databases for any record type. Neither the initial implementation of a standard model nor subsequent upgrades typically include all fields from all repositories contributing transferred data for a record type. For these reasons, actual utilization of a standard model for data integration almost always results in data loss.
For these reasons, and for other good reasons that will occur to the reader, there is an ongoing need for improved methods and systems for data integration.

Method, system, and product for data integration through a dynamic common model


A bill handling machine includes a bill placement base on which bills to be handled are placed, a bill transaction section through which the bills are received and fed out and a drum provided adjacent to the bill placement base, the drum including a pair of endless drive belts and a pair of movable endless driven belts which are disposed so as to face the endless drive belts and are adapted to hold the bills between the endless drive belts and themselves, a bill transportation passage being formed in the drum by the endless drive belts and the endless driven belts, the length of the bill transport passage being determined to be slightly greater than a length of a bill in a transporting direction whose length in the transporting direction is greatest among the bills to be handled, the bill handling machine further including a shutter which can project into and be retracted from the bill transportation passage, a length between an end portion of the bill placement base on a side opposite from the drum and the shutter being determined to be slightly greater than the length of the bill in a transporting direction whose length in the transporting direction is greatest among the bills to be handled and-a length between an end portion of the bill placement base on a side of the drum and a portion into which the shutter projects being determined to be shorter than a length of the bill in the transporting direction whose length in the bill transporting direction is shortest among the bills to be handled. According to the thus constituted bill handling machine, it is possible to reliably and readily receive, dispense or return bills whose lengths in the bill transporting direction differ greatly.

The present invention relates to a bill handling machine such as a bill receiving machine, a bill receiving and dispensing machine or the like, and, in particular, to a bill handling machine which can reliably and readily receive, dispense or return bills whose lengths in the bill transporting direction differ greatly.


A system for minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit includes a switch coupled between an input to the precharge circuit and a global bitline; and a control circuit coupled to a precharge component and the switch. The control circuit determines whether the switch and the precharge component are activated and the control circuit receives feedback from the switch. A method of minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit includes controlling whether an input signal outputting a first signal and a second signal from the precharge circuit; controlling the outputting of the second signal from the precharge circuit based on a clock signal, a select signal, and a dynamic signal.

In computer and information processing systems, various integrated circuit chips must communicate digitally with each other over common buses. The receiving bus nodes recognize the signal as being high or low using receivers, also referred to as input buffers. Often the receiver is a differential receiver, i.e., a receiver that detects the difference between two input signals, referred to as the differential inputs. These input signals may be a received signal and a reference voltage or they may be a received signal and the inverse of the received signal. In either case, it is the difference between the two input signals that the receiver detects in order to determine the state of the received signal.
Integrated circuits are powered at certain voltage levels, which levels are then provided to the various components, such as the receivers, which are located on the integrated circuit. However, the nominal supply voltage for integrated circuits keeps being decreased to reduce power consumption. Additionally, fluctuations of the voltage level during operation can make the voltage level powering a receiver even lower. The lower the supply voltage, the more challenging it is to get a receiver to operate reliably.
The signal frequency at which communication occurs can limit the performance of the overall system. Thus, the higher the communication frequency, the better. The maximum frequency at which a system communicates is a function not only of the time that it takes for the electromagnetic wavefronts to propagate on the bus from one chip to another, but also of the time required for the signals to be reliably recognized at the receiving bus nodes as being high or low. Characteristics that affect the time in which a signal is recognized by a receiver include the set up time of the receiver, i.e., the amount of time before a clock edge that a signal must arrive and settle to a recognized level, and the hold time of the receiver, i.e., the time that the received signal must stay at a certain level in order for that level to be detected by the receiver.
Other characteristics that affect the ability of the receiver to determine that state of the received signal include the ability of the receiver to reject input noise and power supply noise and sensitivity, i.e., the ability of the receiver to resolve small voltage differences between the differential inputs of the receiver. There are many kinds of receivers, inverters, differential amplifiers, and sense amplifiers. Sense amplifier type input receivers have the advantage of good sensitivity, i.e., almost zero setup time and a specific hold time. These features improve timing for high speed I/O interfaces.
Output from a sense amplifier, or other clock-like signal, is delivered to a global bitline through a driving stage as shown in FIG. 1. The sense amplifier output (sao) fed into an nmos transistor (MN1) coupled between another nmos transistor and a pmos transistor. The pmos transistor (MP) is coupled to Vcc and receives the delayed clock signal 1 (dclk1). The nmos transistor (MN2) is coupled to ground (GND) and receives the delayed clock signal 2 (dclk2). The global bitline (gbit) is coupled to the driving stage between the pmos transistor (MP) and the nmos transistor (MN1). The sense amplifier output is derived on the high to low transition of the clock signal (clk), i.e., the b-phase. However, the sense amplifier output (sao) may change so slowly that the clock signal (clk) has transitioned low to high, i.e., the a-phase, before the change occurs.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that when a driver and precharge of a signal is driven by different signals, the driver has to turn off before the precharge begins and precharge has to end before the driver turns on. If not, crowbar current will flow between the precharge and driver transistors, and the output may not be driven or precharged to rail voltages. Thus, clock skew has to be accounted for in order to avoid these conditions.
The above configuration is commonly known as a footer device scheme because it includes the pull down transistor (MN2). In a footer device scheme, in order to attain the same drive strength as a non-footer scheme, the driver device size has to increase. Further, the footer device increases the clock loading.
If there are multiple drivers and precharge on the same signal (wired-or structure), with the drivers and precharges driven by more than one clock grid, the clock skew may become so large that the window for driving and precharge of the signal becomes very narrow. To compensate for this narrowed window, the driver and precharge transistor sizes often is increased. Even then, at some point, the return is diminished because the increased diffusion capacitance of the now larger transistors causes self-loading on the signal. Thus, regardless of how large the transistors sizes are increased thereafter, the signal does not speed up.
In general, in one aspect, a system for minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit comprises a switch coupled between an input to the precharge circuit and a global bitline; and a control circuit coupled to a precharge component and the switch. The control circuit determines whether the switch and the precharge component are activated and the control circuit receives feedback from the switch.
In general, in one aspect, a method of minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit comprises controlling whether an input signal outputting a first signal and a second signal from the precharge circuit; controlling the outputting of the second signal from the precharge circuit based on feedback of the first signal; and controlling the outputting of the first signal from the switch based on a clock signal, a select signal, and a dynamic signal.
In general, in one aspect, an apparatus for minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit comprises means for controlling whether an input signal outputting a first signal and a second signal from the precharge circuit; means for controlling the outputting of the second signal from the precharge circuit based on feedback of the first signal; and means for controlling the outputting of the first signal from the switch based on a clock signal, a select signal, and a dynamic signal.
In general, in one aspect, a system for minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit comprises a switch coupled between input to the precharge circuit and a global bitline; and a control circuit coupled to a precharge component and the switch. The control circuit determines whether the switch and the precharge component are activated, the control circuit receives feedback from the switch, and the precharge component receives feedback from the switch and the global bitline.
In general, in one aspect, a system for minimizing the effect of clock skew in a precharge circuit comprises a switch coupled between a first input to the precharge circuit and a global bitline and a second input to the precharge circuit and a global bitline; a first control circuit coupled to a precharge component and the switch, and a second control circuit coupled to a precharge component and the switch. The first control circuit determines whether the switch and the precharge component are activated for the first input, the second control circuit determines whether the switch and the precharge component are activated for the second input, the first control circuit receives feedback from the switch, the second control circuit receives feedback from the switch, and the precharge component receives feedback from the switch and the global bitline.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

Minimizing the effect of clock skew in precharge circuit


Methods and products useful to simultaneously control the root diseases caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis, Rhizoctonia, and Pythium in crops susceptible to these root diseases are described. These include a method to identify seed-treatment products for potential to simultaneously control the three kinds of root diseases; Bacillus strains having activity against the three kinds of root diseases and methods of obtaining the same, and compositions comprising a fungicide and a Bacillus strain having activity against the three kinds of root diseases, which compositions are useful for field control of the combination of the three kinds of root diseases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and compositions useful to simultaneously control root diseases caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis, Rhizoctonia, and Pythium species. More particularly, the invention relates to a novel method to identify seed-treatment products for potential to simultaneously control the three kinds of root diseases; microorganism strains having activity against the three kinds of root diseases and methods of obtaining the same; and novel compositions which include a fungicide and biocontrol microorganism, which compositions are useful for field control of the combination of the three kinds of root diseases.
2. Description of the Art
Root diseases caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis, Rhizoctonia, and Pythium cause a significant adverse impact on the production of important crops worldwide. The root disease take-all, caused by Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt), Rhizoctonia root rot, caused by Rhizoctonia solani and R. oryzae, and Pythium root rot caused by any of several Pythium species, notably, Pythium ultimum and P. irregulare, are important root diseases of cereal crops, e.g., wheat, barley, triticale, and rye, worldwide.
Take-all is probably the most important root disease of wheat and related cereals worldwide. This disease is more severe on wheat and triticale than on rye or barley. Among wheats, it tends to be more severe on durum than common wheats. It causes black lesions on both seminal roots (the first roots to emerge from the seed) and the crown roots (secondary roots from the bases of the mainstem and tillers). Take-all also progresses into the crown (tissue where tillers are physically united to the mainstem) and up the tillers and mainstem of infected plants. Plants tend to die as adult but not yet ripened plants, giving a display of white unfilled heads mixed with normal green heads.
Rhizoctonia root rot occurs throughout the United States Pacific Northwest, in Australia, and South Africa, and potentially throughout the temperate regions of the world wherever cereals are grown, especially if grown with reduced or no-tillage (direct drilling). Rhizoctonia root rot caused by R. solani AG8 begins as brown cankerous lesions on the seminal and crown roots that eventually girdles and then severs the roots. Plants with roots pruned off by this disease remain stunted and eventually die without making heads. The disease tends to affect plants in patches and has given rise to other names, such as bare patch disease, purple patch, crater disease, and barley stunt disorder. Of all cereals, barley is especially susceptible to R. solani AG8. Rhizoctonia oryzae infects the embryos of germinating seeds, preventing germination or limiting the formation of seminal roots to only one or two when healthy seedlings produce five or six seminal roots. These two Rhizoctonia species, together with Rhizoctonia cerealis and possibly other Rhizoctonia species occur as different mixtures, depending on the soil, cropping systems, weed management practices, and possibly other factors not yet identified.
Pythium is possibly the most widespread soilborne pathogen of cereals in the world, occurring in virtually all agricultural soils. Pythium damage to cereals begins as embryo infections and associated poor emergence or stand establishment and continues as destruction of the fine lateral rootlets and root hairs. Plants with Pythium root rot have the appearance of plants without enough fertilizer, because the disease limits the absorptive capacity of the root system through destruction of fine rootlets and root hairs. There are several species of Pythium with ability to attack cereals, either embryos of germinating seeds, root tips and fine rootlets, or all of these delicate and usually juvenile or meristematic tissues.
The pathogens responsible for take-all and Rhizoctonia root rot survive as hyphae or mycelium in the tissues of host plants colonized through their parasitic activities. Pythium species survive in soil as thick-walled oospores or sporangia produced from nutrients robbed from the plant through parasitism. Usually, all three diseases develop simultaneously on the same plants, although one root disease may dominate.
Although Pythium species are ubiquitous in agricultural soils cropped to cereals, damage to cereals caused by Pythium species, e.g., reduction in seedling emergence and plant vigor, is greatest in soils kept wet, especially if the soils are also naturally high in clay content and with pH values below 6.0. Allowing volunteer cereals (plants that develop from seed spilled or dropped by the harvester on the soil surface) to grow in the field after harvest of one crop until only 1 or 2 days before planting the next crop, then spraying with an herbicide such as glyphosate (ROUND UP, Monsanto), controls the weeds but greatly favors Rhizoctonia root rot. As another example, planting wheat directly into the standing stubble of a previous wheat crop with soil kept moist by sprinkler irrigation or leaving the soil covered with straw favors all three root diseases.
Wheat and other cereals with root disease yield poorly and return less on investments to the grower. Plants with these root diseases also compete poorly with weeds, thereby making it necessary to spend more on herbicides to control weeds. Cereals with root diseases also leave fertilizer unused in the soil, including nitrates, which then may move by leaching below the rooting zone and eventually into ground water. Growers throughout the world continue to use some form of tillage for production of cereals, largely because tillage helps control these root diseases. Tillage causes soils to be more vulnerable to soil erosion. It also requires more energy, and leads to greater evaporation of water needed for yield. Some farmers attempting to use no-till burn the stubble in their fields in the belief that this will provide some relief from root diseases. Stubble burning is both environmentally detrimental and socially unacceptable, especially to people in urban areas and cities that object to having to breathe the smoke produced by stubble burning.

Methods and compositions for the simultaneous control of the root diseases caused by gaeumannomyces graminis, rhizoctonia, and pythium

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

Washington State University Research Foundation


A glass panel comprising: a pair of glass sheets (1), (2) disposed in opposition to each other via a gap (V) therebetween, peripheral edges of the two glass sheets (1), (2) being bonded with low melting glass (4) for sealing the gap (V);                wherein in a cross section substantially normal to faces of the two glass sheets, (1), (2), an adjacent face (4a) of the low melting glass (4) adjacent the gap (V) has a center portion thereof between the two glass sheets (1), (2) bulging toward the gap (V).

The low melting glass is often used for sealing the gap of such glass panel as above because it has superior adhesive property to e.g. metal solder. Conventionally, the low melting glass in the form of paste would be applied to the peripheral edges of the two glass sheets and heated to 480° C. or higher, thereby to render the low melting glass into melted state. Then, it would be cooled to the normal temperature for solidification, whereby the peripheral edges of the glass sheets were bonded for sealing the gap.
However, since the low melting glass has good adhesive property for the glass sheets, the glass under its melted state also has good wettability to the glass sheets. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, in a cross section substantially normal to the faces of the glass sheets 1, 2, an adjacent face 4b of the low melting glass 4 adjacent the gap V is formed as a concave face with its center portion between the glass sheets 1, 2 extending away from the gap V.
Then, according to the convention, the glass would be cooled and hardened directly under such condition. Hence, in the conventional glass panel, the adjacent face 4b of the low melting glass 4 adjacent the gap V is formed as a concave face with its center portion between the glass sheets 1, 2 extending away from the gap V.
Therefore, with the conventional glass panel, at opposed ends of the adjacent face 4b of the low melting glass 4, there are formed sharp edged portions 4c contacting the glass sheets 1, 2 and projecting toward the gap V. then, for instance, when a wind pressure acts on the faces of the glass sheets, as denoted by arrows in FIG. 8, thereby to apply a force which tends to displace the two glass sheets 1, 2 closer to each other, there occurs stress concentration at the sharp edged portions 4c at the opposed ends of the adjacent face 4b and the two glass sheets 1,2 will tend to be bent in the mutually approaching direction, thus tending to bend the sharp edged portions 4c. As a result, the sharp edged portions 4c would often be cracked and damaged.
Moreover, when the sharp edged portions 4c are damaged, due to the characteristics of the low melting glass vulnerable to brittle fracture, the crack would develop from that damaged portion. For this reason, the conventional glass panel has a shortcoming in the strength of the low melting glass used for bonding and sealing the peripheral edges of the two glass sheets. This shortcoming would appear especially conspicuously with a vacuum double glazing with the gap between the opposed glass sheets being maintained under a depressurized state.
The present invention addresses to such shortcoming of the convention and its object is to provide a glass panel which even when constructed as a vacuum double glazing, can effectively prevent damage in the low melting glass portion thereof by improving the strength of the low melting glass used at the peripheral edges of the two glass sheets.


An inlet is an inlet to which a charging connector is connected when charging a power storage device mounted in a hybrid vehicle from an external power supply. The inlet includes a cylindrical guide wall that guides the charging connector to be connected to the inlet; a flange portion that is provided in a plate shape on an outer periphery of the guide wall, and is fixed to the vehicle; a lever retaining portion that is provided on the outer periphery of the guide wall, and retains the charging connector; and a recessed portion that is provided in a position overlapping with the lever retaining portion when viewed from a connecting direction of the charging connector, and is recessed toward the connecting direction of the charging connector from the flange portion. This kind of structure provides an inlet in which a protruding length from the vehicle side is reduced.

Regarding a related inlet, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-238529, for example, describes a power supply plug lock device that is aims to make a lock operation an operation according to an intent of a user (Patent Document 1).
In the power supply plug lock device described in Patent Document 1, a charging system for charging a battery is provided in a hybrid-type vehicle. A power supply plug having a nozzle shape is provided on a power supply side of the charging system, and a charging connector is provided as a connecting location of the power supply plug on the vehicle side. An inlet is provided as a connecting port for an electric terminal of the power supply plug, in the charging connector, and a protruding portion is provided on an upper wall surface of this inlet. A lock arm that has a catch is pivotally attached to the power supply plug. The power supply plug is prevented from coming out of the inlet by the catch on the lock arm catching on the protrusion, when connecting the power supply plug to the charging connector.


Aiming at providing a semiconductor device advanced in performance of transistors, and improved in reliability, a semiconductor device of the present invention has a semiconductor element, a frame component provided over the semiconductor element, while forming a cavity therein, and a molding resin layer covering around the frame component, wherein the frame component is composed of a plurality of resin films (a first resin film and a second resin film) containing the same resin, and the cavity allows the active region of the semiconductor element to expose therein.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a semiconductor element packaged therein, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Art
Minimization of influences of parasitic capacitance may be an effective means for improving performances of transistors. For this purpose, various techniques of reducing the parasitic capacitance, based on covering an active region of a chip using a material having a lower dielectric constant, have been proposed.
For example, a semiconductor device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-070061 has, on an integrated circuit substrate having a semiconductor element mounted thereon, a micro wall of a certain height, risen up on the integrated circuit substrate in the normal direction so as to surround the semiconductor element. The micro wall is composed of an insulating material, electroconductive material, or the like. Space surrounded by the micro wall is closed by a micro lid, so as to form a cavity therein. The micro lid is composed of an electroconductive material.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-070061 describes that the above-described configuration allows protection of the semiconductor elements without causing degradation in electrical characteristics of the integrated circuit, because a resin used for encapsulation by potting will never be brought into contact with the semiconductor element and signal lines in the cavity, and that high-frequency integrated circuit may be obtained at low costs.
However, the conventional technique described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-070061 still had a room of improvement in the aspects below.
First, the micro lid and micro wall, containing an electroconductive material, may possibly be brought into contact with wire provided so as to contact with electrode pads on the element, to thereby cause electrical short circuiting.
Second, the micro wall and the micro lid have occasionally resulted in separation at the joint portion, if they had different values of linear coefficient of expansion. The molding resin may therefore enter the space, and may give damage to the active region.
Third, the active region has occasionally cause physical or chemical damage when the micro lid is fixed to the top of the micro wall by methods of bonding such as soldering, heat cladding, ultrasonic cladding and welding, and thereby yield ratio of products has occasionally degraded.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A reagent for analyzing solid components in urine comprising: (i) a buffer agent for maintaining pH at 5.0 to 9.0, (ii) an osmotic pressure compensating agent for maintaining osmotic pressure at 100 mOsm/kg to 600 mOsm/kg, (iii) a first dye which is a condensed benzene derivative, (iv) a second fluorescent dye capable of staining a damaged cell, and (v) a chelating agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reagent for analyzing solid components in urine and to a method for analyzing solid components in urine employing the reagent, and more particularly to a reagent employed for an optical analysis of solid components in urine by applying flow cytometry and a method for analyzing the same.
2. Related Art
In renal and urinary diseases such as infectious diseases, inflammatory lesions, degenerative lesion, calculosis, tumor and the like, various kinds of solid components appear in the urine depending on the disease. Examples of solid components include erythrocytes, leukocytes, epithelial cells, urinary casts, bacteria, fungi, crystals and mucus threads. Analyzing these components in urine is of great importance for early discovery of renal and urinary diseases and presumption of abnormal sites. For example, the measurement of erythrocytes is important in determining whether there is bleeding in the passageway from the nephric glomerulus to urethra. Appearance of leukocytes suggests suspicion about renal disease such as pyelonephritis, leading to early discovery of inflammation and infectious disease. By investigating urinary casts and morphological features of erythrocytes, the derivational sites thereof can also be inferred.
Conventionally, solid components in urine have been analyzed by visual microscopy using a microscope. This is performed by concentrating the urine to be tested by centrifugalization, then sometimes after staining the obtained sediments, putting them on a microscope slide so as to classify and count them under a microscope.
In recent years, an automatic measuring apparatus has been developed in which a flat sheath flow and an image processing technique are combined. The urine sample adjusted to flow in an extremely flat stream with a sheath liquid serving as an outer layer is filmed by a video recorder and the still picture thus obtained is subjected to image processing, thereby cutting out and displaying the images of solid components in the sample liquid. Observing the display, an examiner distinguishes and counts the solid components contained therein.
Further, for automatically classifying and counting the solid components in urine, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4(1992)-337459 discloses a reagent (employed) for an analysis of cells in urine by applying flow cytometry and a method for analyzing thereof. The reagent employed therein contains a fluorescent dye, an osmotic pressure compensating agent and a buffer agent. Various kinds of fluorescent dyes, osmotic pressure compensating agents and buffer agents are disclosed therein and a reagent employing Neutral Red or Auramine O as a fluorescent dye is described in an Embodiment.
Incidentally, it is desired to test the urine specimen as soon as possible after the specimen is taken out from the subject because the solid components degenerate and the number of bacteria increases in accordance with the passage of time.
Visual microscopy by microscope requires a lot of time and operation for the pretreatment of the urine specimen such as centrifugalization and concentration. Besides, microscopy is a great burden to the examiner. Also, the microscopy accuracy is low because the number of observed cells are small.
An automatic measuring apparatus using an image processing technique is advantageous to microscopy because the burden of microscopy is alleviated. However, when a lot of specimens are to be tested, it is not satisfactory enough because solid components need to be distinguished by an examiner and the processing speed is not speedy.
Moreover, distinguishing the solid components requires skill in both visual microscopy and examination by an automatic measuring apparatus using an image processing technique.
A method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4(1992)-337459 wherein flow cytometry is applied to urine analysis have the advantage of quick measurement. However, on further investigation, the method was found to have the following problems.
(1) Appearance of crystals in the urine renders it difficult to distinguish between the crystals and the erythrocytes contained therein.
(2) When a lot of amorphous salts appear in the specimen, it becomes difficult to classify the other cells.
(3) In measuring a urine specimen containing hemoglobin or protein by using the reagent containing Auramine O having pH 8.5 shown in an Example of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4(1992)-337459, it may be impossible to measure the urine specimen accurately because of bonding the hemoglobin or the protein to the dye and depositing tiny sediments.
(4) Although the problem of (3) is solved by allowing the pH to be set at an acid value, stainability of the reagent declines at such pH value and, when yeast-like fungi appear in the specimen, it is difficult to distinguish erythrocytes from the fungi.
(5) When urine is analyzed by flow cytometry, it is necessary to repress the dilution ratio to be low because the quantity of solid components contained in the urine is small. However, when the dilution ratio is low and a fluorescent substance, for example, a pharmaceutical agent such as a vitamin or an antibiotic substance is excreted in the urine, it may be difficult to obtain sufficient fluorescent signal intensity of the solid components contained therein because the background fluorescence (background noise) of the urine itself is not negligible. When Neutral Red is used, there will be a great influence of the background fluorescence caused by the dye which does not bond to the cells.

Reagent for analyzing solid components in urine and method for analyzing solid components by employing the same


The present invention provides a nitrogen oxide removal equipment, a nitrogen oxide removal method, a container used for the removal of nitrogen oxide, and a method for filling the container. A nitrogen oxide removal equipment 94 according to the present invention supplies gas with the unevenness of flowing amounts eased to an absorption unit 94a via a gas rectification means 108 for supplying gas to a large-area side of solid absorbent layers, the absorption unit 94a being provided with solid absorbent layers including a plurality of low-profile solid absorbents 95 constituting the nitrogen oxide absorption means. Nitrogen oxide contained in gas effectively passes through the solid absorbent layers and removed.

There are conventional methods for removing nitrogen oxide contained in gas such as an ammonia denitration method and an urea denitration method for removing nitrogen oxide contained in a combustion gas for a boiler or a power generation facility such as a gas turbine or a gas engine etc. Further, there is a three-way catalyst method for removing nitrogen oxide contained in an exhaust gas of an automobile by using hydrocarbon contained in the exhaust gas as a reducer. In the removal of nitrogen oxide contained in the exhaust gas by the above method, the hydrogen oxide is reduced to nitrogen gas by using an energy of the exhaust gas at several hundred Celsius degrees. Further, the concentration of the nitrogen oxide in the combustion gas or the exhaust gas is generally several hundred ppms.
When the above nitrogen oxide removal method used for combustion gas or exhaust gas is applied as a method for removing nitrogen oxide contained in air, there is a problem of a low reaction rate due to a low concentration of nitrogen oxide contained in the air. In this case, there is another problem in that a large amount of energy is consumed to raise the temperature of the air, which is lower than the temperature of the combustion gas or the exhaust gas, to several hundred Celsius degrees.
Further methods for removing nitrogen oxide contained in air include an alkali absorption method using an alkali absorbing liquid (Patent Document 1), a reduction method using a reducer, and an absorption method using solid absorbents (Patent Document 2).
However, although the alkali absorption method is capable of absorbing nitrogen oxide of a low concentration, it also absorbs carbon dioxide contained together with the nitrogen oxide in air. Accordingly, there is a problem in that nitrogen oxide cannot be absorbed efficiently. As for the reduction method, since the reducer is oxidized by oxygen coexisting in the air, nitrogen oxide cannot be reduced efficiently. Further, as for the solid body absorption method, when nitrogen oxide is contained in air at a low concentration, the solid absorbents reach absorption breakthrough even though the solid absorbents have absorbed a few amount of nitrogen oxide. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the nitrogen oxide contained in the air cannot be absorbed sufficiently.
Furthermore, there is another method using a purification function of soil to remove nitrogen oxide contained in air at a low concentration. However, in case that the purification function of soil is used, there is a problem in that an extremely wide land is needed to secure a sufficient amount of soil to remove the nitrogen oxide.
A pressure required to pass gas through the above nitrogen oxide removal equipment is preferably low. Accordingly, the thickness of solid absorbents through which the gas passes is preferably as small as possible so far as the nitrogen oxide removal function thereof is not adversely affected.
However, to make the thickness of the solid absorbents through which gas passes small, the installation area for the solid absorbents needs to be increased along with increase in an amount of the gas to be treated in a unit time. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to secure the installation space and this causes a problem. In particular, when the removal equipment needs to be constructed in a limited space although an amount of gas to be treated per unit time is large, there is a problem in that the removal equipment may not be installed because the installation space cannot be secured in the case where the removal equipment is installed specifically on a center divider, nearby a crossroads, under an elevated bridge, and in an air vent of a tunnel etc. in an urban area.
Furthermore, as the installation area for the solid absorbents increases, it is more difficult to pass gas through the solid absorbents at a constant flowing rate resulting in a problem of a phenomenon called "breakthrough" that the gas passes through the solid absorbents although the nitrogen oxide contained in the gas is not removed sufficiently by the solid absorbents, and this causes a problem of deterioration of the removal function.
In such nitrogen oxide removal equipment, the gas supplied to the nitrogen oxide absorption means is preferably humidified.
Further, a conventional nitrogen oxide removal equipment uses a humidifying means provided separately from the removal equipment to humidify the gas. Accordingly, the removal equipment and the humidifying means need to be interconnected with a piping duct for interconnection and this causes a problem in that installation spaces for the humidifying means and the piping duct for connection need to be secured before the installation of the removal equipment. There are also problems in that a pressure required to pass gas through the removal equipment is lost in the piping duct and the installation of the piping duct for interconnection is troublesome.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 211427/1998    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9957/1999    Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 259798/2001

Equipment and method for removing nitrogen oxide


A shake detecting apparatus includes a shake detecting sensor for outputting signals resulting from shake given to the shake detecting apparatus. In the case of application, for example, to an image pickup apparatus, the shake detecting sensor detects camera shake given to the image pickup apparatus. The shake detecting apparatus further includes an first integrating section for integrating the signals outputted from the shake detecting sensor, a second integrating section for integrating outputs of the first integrating section, and a correcting section for correcting the outputs of the first integrating section using outputs of the second integrating section after the lapse of a specified period following a specified timing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting shake such as camera shake given, for example, to an electronic camera, and an apparatus for correcting a photographing optical system against the shake based on a shake detection result.
2. Description of the Background Art
There have been widely known image pickup apparatuses having a so-called camera-shake correcting function in order to enable secure photographing in cases where "shake" such as camera shake is likely to occur during the photographing by a telephoto lens or of an object in the dark (requiring a longer exposure) with the apparatuses hand-held. This camera-shake correcting function corrects a displacement of an optical axis by driving a shake-correcting optical system or an image pickup device based on shake in the case of the displacement of the optical axis resulting from the shake given to the image pickup apparatus, for example, due to the hand shake of a user.
In the image pickup apparatus having the camera-shake correcting function is provided a shake detecting sensor including, for example, a gyroscope for detecting a shake amount of the image pickup apparatus. A shake correction control unit calculates a shake angle of the image pickup apparatus by integrating outputs of the shake detecting sensor, and drives the shake-correcting optical system based on the shake angle information.
A detection output of the shake detecting sensor when the image pickup apparatus is stationary has a relatively large individual difference, and changes according to an environmental temperature. Thus, the shake detecting sensor is normally connected with an amplifier via a high-pass filter constructed by a capacitor and a resistance element so as to remove direct-current components from an output signal of the shake detecting sensor.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H08-82823 discloses a camera having a shake correcting function of calculating a shake amount of the camera from an output signal of an angular velocity sensor and correcting a movement of an object image on a light receiving surface by driving a correcting optical system arranged on a light path of a photographing optical system based on the calculated shake amount. In this publication, direct-current cutting means for cutting direct-current components contained in an output voltage of the angular velocity sensor is comprised of subtracting means for subtracting a direct-current component voltage V3 from an output voltage V1 of the angular velocity sensor, direct-current detecting means for calculating the direct-current components based on an output voltage V2 of the subtracting means by an operation of (V3+V2/Kx), and setting means for setting a detection criterion of the direct-current detecting means by changing the coefficient Kx. This direct-current cutting means cuts up to relatively high frequency components by setting the coefficient Kx at a relatively small value K1 during a period until a light measurement switch is turned on after the camera is powered, continuously changes the coefficient Kx from the value K1 to a value K2 larger than K1 during a period until a specified time lapses after the light measurement switch is turned on, and cuts only relatively low frequency components by setting the coefficient Kx at the value K2 thereafter.
In the case of providing the high-pass filter constructed by the capacitor and the resistance element, an output signal of the shake detecting sensor comes to contain relatively more direct-current components, for example, when the image pickup apparatus is panned. As a result, the high-pass filter outputs a signal containing direct-current components with an opposite sign (however, attenuated by a time constant of the high-pass filter), whereby a wrong detection result (detection angle) is generated to lead to a reduction in shake correcting performance.

Shake detecting apparatus, shake correcting apparatus and image pickup apparatus


A reflector for a headlamp is divided into zones depending on the sizes of the light source images produced by the various parts of the reflector. Those parts of the reflector that provide smaller image sizes are used to supply light to the higher intensity parts of the road pattern. This allows greater control over glare and is particularly useful for headlamps having high intensity discharge as a light source. In one embodiment, a larger reflector is trimmed to be smaller and yet to retain portions that provide the small light source images.

Styling and performance requirements have directed the automotive industry toward headlamps with clear lenses and reflector optics. Further, demand for increased headlamp performance has heightened interest in high intensity discharge (HID) light sources. Marriage of these two technologies into one product requires that several technical problems be overcome.
Two of the most difficult issues in designing reflector optics for a low-beam headlamp for use with an HID source are control of glare light and control of excess amounts of foreground light. These problems stem from the extended discharge area of the HID source, which is an ellipse of about 4.4 mm.times.4.4 mm.times.7.1 mm, compared to the typical tungsten halogen (TH) bulb, which is a cylinder 5.2 mm.times.1.2 mm. The extended discharge area of the HID source creates a large effective light source, which causes a large angular spread of light from a point on the reflector surface. This large angular spread can lead to excess amounts of glare light or foreground light.
The angular spread of light (i.e., the angular image size) from any point on the reflector depends on the size of the light source and the distance between the source and the point on the reflector. The image sizes produced by the reflector, however, can be controlled to some extent. For example, the image size can be decreased by increasing the distance between the light source and the point on the reflector.

Automotive headlamp reflector and method for its design


The present invention relates to a dual clutch device which comprises: a retainer portion to which a rotation force is transmitted; a pair of plate portions provided to the retainer portion; disc portions which are respectively arranged at the plate portions; a hub portion connected to the disc portion; piston portions which respectively apply pressure to the plate portions; driving portions which respectively move the piston portions; and a restoration portion which is arranged between the driving portions and provides a restoration force to the piston portions. The dual clutch device, according to the invention, uses one restoration portion, thereby simplifying a flow path and reducing the size of a product.

In general, an automatic transmission uses a planetary gear device as a multiple-stage speed change mechanism which changes the rotation force transferred from an input shaft and transfers changed rotation force to a driving shaft.
The planetary gear device is constructed such that an element serves as an input element and another element serves as a reaction element to transfer speed-changed rotation force to an output element.
In the planetary gear device, in order to allow respective elements to serve as the input element, the reaction element and the output element, a certain element of the planetary gear device is connected by a hydraulically acting friction element, and the hydraulically acting friction element is actuated or deactuated by application or release of a control pressure from a hydraulic control system.
The hydraulically acting friction element is constituted by a clutch which transfers the rotation power of an input shaft and a brake which secures one element of the planetary gear device.
If a hydraulic pressure is supplied to the clutch, a piston is moved and brings multiple clutch plates and multiple clutch disks into close contact.
Since the plates are spline-coupled to a retainer and the disks are spline-coupled to a hub, if the plates and the disks are brought into close contact, the power of the retainer is transferred to the hub.
A balance chamber and a return spring are arranged between the piston and the retainer. Since a lubricant is filled in the balance chamber, centrifugal force in a piston-acting direction by a working fluid may be offset.
Accordingly, if the pressure of the working fluid is released, the piston is returned to its original position by the returning force of the return spring.
Meanwhile, in a dual clutch device, two pistons are used, and a balance chamber and a return spring are provided for each of the two pistons.
The background art of the present disclosure is disclosed in Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-1996-031833 (published on Sep. 17, 1996 and entitled 'Clutch Assembly Structure of Multiple Disk Clutch').


A bond coat composition is provided for applying to the surface of a ceramic composite component between the composite substrate and the thermal barrier coat. The composition includes an alumina powder, a silica-yielding liquid, glass frits, and sufficient solvent to permit mixing of the components and forming a bond coat.

The present invention relates generally to a bond coat composition for use with ceramic matrix composites. Specifically, the present invention relates to a bond coat composition for use with thermal barrier/wear coatings for ceramic matrix composites.
In some applications, a structural part is exposed to high surface temperatures on a heated surface of the part. These structural part constructions, such as ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), provide structural support for components associated with engine exhaust, and possibly the engine itself. An oppositely disposed surface of the part is cooled with a flow of cooling air. The maximum temperature reached by the part is determined by a balance between the amount of heat that enters the part from the heated surface, and the amount of heat removed by the cooling air flow over the cooled surface. Examples of such applications include combustors, nozzles, liners, exhaust flaps, seals and turbines in aircraft gas turbine engines.
It is known to apply a thermal barrier coating (TBC) to the heated surface of the part to serve as an insulation that reduces the heat flow into the part and allows it to operate in a hotter external environment. The TBC typically includes a metallic bond coat overlying the metallic substrate that forms the part, and a ceramic layer overlying the bond coat. The bond coat improves the adherence of the ceramic layer to the substrate. The ceramic layer, such as a zirconium-based ceramic, reduces the heat flow into the substrate from the hot surface.
Coated articles having a ceramic substrate, an intermediate thermal barrier coating overlying the substrate, and a low-emissivity metallic top coat over the thermal barrier coating are known. The available thermal barrier coatings typically utilize a ceramic layer overlying an intermediate metallic bond coat. The ceramic layer insulates the substrate, and the metallic bond coat improves the adherence of the ceramic layer to the substrate. The low-emissivity top coat reflects some of the radiant thermal radiant energy incident upon the coated article, so that the ceramic part below is exposed to less heat input. While operable, the available systems with metallic top coats have not been practical for use in high-temperature environments such as gas turbines, because the reflective metal degrades and/or volatilizes after brief exposure, frequently in minutes, to the high-temperature, corrosive environment.
It has been found that the bond coat is critical to the service life of the thermal barrier coating system in which it is employed, and is therefore also critical to the service life of the component protected by the coating system. The oxide scale formed by a diffusion aluminide bond coat is adherent and continuous, and therefore not only protects the bond coat and its underlying substrate by serving as an oxidation barrier, but also chemically bonds the ceramic layer. Nonetheless, aluminide bond coats inherently continue to oxidize over time at elevated temperatures, which gradually depletes aluminum from the bond coat and increases the thickness of the oxide scale. Eventually, the scale reaches a critical thickness that leads to spallation of the ceramic layer at the interface between the bond coat and the aluminum oxide scale. Once spallation has occurred, the component will deteriorate rapidly, and therefore must be refurbished or scrapped at considerable cost. Therefore, what is needed is a bond coat composition for use with CMCs that is inexpensive to make, easy to form and apply in a consistent manner, and tightly adheres both to the CMC substrate and TBC for providing enhanced durability improvement to the CMC.

Bondcoat for the application of TBC's and wear coatings to oxide ceramic matrix


A resistance heating system is provided which includes a resistance heater, a source of alternating current electricity connected by conductors to the resistance heater, and a controller comprising a timer arranged to connect the source of alternating current electricity to the resistance heater for a selected time period and to disconnect the source from the resistance following the selected time period. In an embodiment, the resistance heating system is provided with a controller configured to be connected to a source of alternating current electricity and having a plurality of cable plug receptacles arranged to receive electricity. An electricity conducting cable having a cable plug at one end is configured to be received in the receptacles and has a resistance heater provided at an opposite end. A master timer may be connected with a communication arrangement to the controller. The master timer is arranged to control an electric output of a plurality of the receptacles.

The present invention relates to heating devices and controllers therefore, and in particular to a resistance heating device and its controller for heating a rod or post, such as a stud or threaded bolt.
The present invention has a particular application in the heating of studs or bolts, such as the bolts of a steam turbine casing. Although the invention is not limited to such an application, the invention will be described in such an environment and use.
It is desirable to heat the bolts used in a steam turbine casing during the fastening and unfastening thereof in that the bolt will elongate due to expansion during heating, allowing the nut to be threaded onto the bolt to a greater degree during the fastening process. When the bolt cools and shrinks, the nut is pulled tighter against the surrounding surface, thus assuring a secure fasting of the nut on the bolt and a clamping of the parts held together by the nut and bolt. In order to ease the removal of the nut from the bolt, such as during the servicing of the turbine, it is helpful to again heat the bolt to elongate it, in order to move the nut away from the surrounding surface, or at least to lessen the force holding the nut against that surface.
It has long been known to heat bolts, for example see U.S. Pat. No. 2,176,601, and to use induction heating to heat such bolts, for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,209 and 5,397,876.
Commonly available resistance type bolt heaters operate at 240 volts, and are individually controlled (on-off). These bolt heaters generally provide a heating power of about 50 watts per square inch. With the bolt heaters powered and controlled individually and with the given heating power output, the heating of a bolt used in a typical turbine requires generally 5 to 10 minutes or more of heating to elongate the bolt sufficiently to provide the necessary tightening or loosening of the bolt.
It would be an advance in the art if there were provided an easy to use resistance heating device and a method for heating multiple items, such as bolts.


A system and method for protecting sensor positions in an array of acoustic sensors which make up a gunfire locator system. The inventive system includes a purity of sensors and a host computer. Each sensor includes: a microphone for receiving acoustic information; a processor for processing acoustic information to detect an acoustic event and determine a time of arrival; a GPS receiver; an encryption module for encrypting transmitted sensor positions; and a network interface for transmitting sensor positions and times of arrival. The host computer includes: a network interface for receiving sensor transmissions; an encryption module for deciphering sensor positions; and a CPU.

This application hereby claims priority back to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/481,919, filed on Jan. 20th, 2004 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROTECTING THE LOCATION OF AN ACOUSTIC EVENT DETECTOR", hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth fully herein.
The present invention relates to a system and method for detecting and locating an acoustic event. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, in a system for identifying and locating an acoustic event, the present invention provides a system and method for protecting the location of an acoustic sensor.
Gunfire and sniper detection systems are generally known in the art. Such systems can be broadly grouped into three categories: systems which pinpoint the precise location of the source of gunfire; azimuthal sensors which provide an indication of the radial direction to the source of gunfire; and proximity sensors which merely provide an indication that nearby gunfire was detected. While such systems have been demonstrated to perform well in both law enforcement and military applications, the entire field is presently an emerging technology.
In many large cities, gun-related violence has become a plague of epidemic proportions. Urban gunfire, whether crime-related or celebratory in nature, results in thousands of deaths per year in the United States alone. Gunfire location systems, such as those installed in the Redwood City, Calif., Glendale, Ariz., Willowbrook, Calif., City of Industry, Calif., and Charleston, S.C. areas, have proven to be effective in reducing law enforcement response time to detected gunfire, apprehending criminals, collecting evidence, and reducing the occurrence of celebratory gunfire. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,998, issued to Showen, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
Showen, et al. discloses a system wherein sensors are placed at a density of roughly six to ten sensors per square mile. Audio information is sent to a computer at a central location and processed to: detect a gunshot; determine a time of arrival for the gunshot at each sensor; and calculate a location of the shooter from the differences in the times of arrival at three or more sensors. Showen, et al. takes advantage of the long propagation distance of gunfire to place sensors in a relatively sparse array so that only a few of the sensors can detect the gunfire. This permits the processor to ignore impulsive events which only reach one sensor—a concept called "spatial filtering". This concept of spatial filtering radically reduces the sensor density compared to predecessor systems, which require as many as 80 sensors per square mile.
Another gunshot location system is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/248,511 by Patterson, et al., filed Jan. 24, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference. Patterson, et al., discloses a system wherein audio information is processed within each sensor to detect a gunshot and determine a time of arrival at the sensor. Time of arrival information, as determined from a synchronized clock, is then transmitted wirelessly by each sensor to a computer at a centralized location where a location of the shooter is calculated in the same manner as in the Showen, et al. system.
As yet, azimuthal systems have not been as widely accepted as, for example, the Showen, et al. system. Azimuthal sensors typically employ one or more closely-spaced sensors, where each sensor includes several microphones arranged in a small geometric array. A radial direction can be determined by measuring the differences in arrival times at the various microphones at a particular sensor. Presently such systems suffer from somewhat limited accuracy in the determination of the radial angle, which in turn, translates into significant errors in the positional accuracy when a location is found by finding the intersection of two or more radial lines, from corresponding sensors, directed toward the shooter. Since errors in the radial angle result in ever increasing positional error as the distance from the sensor to the source increases, the reported position will be especially suspect toward the outer limits of the sensors' range.
To provide an absolute location for an event, the locations of reporting sensors must be known. In a fixed system, the location of each sensor can be surveyed at the time the sensors are placed. In a system with moving or re-locatable sensors, each sensor typically self-surveys with a global positioning system receiver ("GPS") or other such system. Either periodically or at the time of an event, the sensor typically reports its position to a server.
One application that is foreseen for gunshot location systems is in military applications, typically utilizing a combination of fixed sensors, soldier-worn sensors, and vehicle mounted sensors. Information about the source location of a gunshot would be supplied to individual soldiers to provide sighting information for return fire or so the soldier may find effective cover. Soldier-worn or vehicle mounted sensors employ, by necessity, wireless communication. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, enemy eavesdropping on communications of the gunshot detection system could be disastrous since the enemy would know its position had been compromised and, worse yet, the enemy would be supplied the location of individual soldiers and/or vehicles.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for securing the location information from acoustic sensors in a gunshot detection system during transmission from, or to each sensor.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for protecting the location of an acoustic event detector


Fiberglass mesh is tentered by conveying the mesh in sliding relation over counter-rotating heated rollers or oscillating heated bars. The mesh is pulled over the rollers or bars and is slit and tightly wound, all in-line.

This application relates to the manufacture of fabrics made from fiberglass and, more particularly, to the treatment of a fiberglass mesh or fabric for use in varied applications.
It is known to produce a fabric or mesh comprised of a weave of fiberglass yarns, which is useful in varied applications. Fiberglass fabric is useful, for example, in laying up on a mold or pattern a resinous composite including a fiberglass fabric or mesh as a layer together with various resins. It is also known to utilize a fiberglass mesh as a reinforcing material in a cementitious or concrete panel, such as that panel disclosed in any of the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,284,980; 4,203,788; Re. 32,037; Re. 32,038; 4,281,952; Re. 31,921 or 4,420,295. Such panels include a lightweight aggregate core faced on each side or face with a fiberglass mesh material which has been bathed in a slurry of neat cement and pressed against the aggregate core, such that when the neat cement and the aggregate core are cured, there is provided a composite, fiberglass mesh reinforced, cementitious panel. Such panels are useful for a number of building or structural applications. For example, they serve as backer boards for the mounting of ceramic tiles in wet environments and the like, and they also can be used in a number of other applications.
In the manufacture of such fiberglass mesh, it is important to provide a fabric or mesh which is soft of hand and which is compatible with other materials with which the mesh might be utilized. For example, in the alkaline environments of cementitious material, it is necessary that the alkaline does not attack or otherwise damage the fiberglass material. Accordingly, in one prior art process for the manufacture of a fiberglass mesh or fabric, a glass fiber strand from a glass yarn skein is directed through a yarn coating bath, at which time the strand is coated with one or more layers of a plastic or polymer material, dried and thereafter wound onto a yarn spool. These spools are generally mounted on a large holding rack and the elongated strands are then wound on a large spool called a "beamer", which can hold 20,000 or more linear feet of the strand. The beamed material is then juxtaposed to a weaving loom and feeds the loom in the warp or through direction. A single strand is also fed across the loom by various means in a 90.degree. direction to the warp, and is called the "woof" or "weft" direction.
Once the loom weaves the yarn into a mesh or fabric, the finished "beam" is transported to another area to be "tentered". In the tentering process, the mesh is subjected to heat which is sufficient to bind the strands in the fabric together. Thus the strands in the fabric in the warp and weft directions are secured to render the fabric more stable. In the prior art process, tentering requires several people to load the tentering apparatus and to observe and unload the material after it goes through a furnace of about 350.degree.. The mesh must be kept on the move in the tentering furnace, otherwise the mesh becomes hard of hand. In addition, if too much heat is applied to excessive temperatures in the tentering furnace or to a slow down or stoppage of the web in the furnace, the coating can be damaged, leaving the yarn exposed of the alkalines in the cementitious products in which the fabric is used. For example, too much heat can cause the coating to "bubble" and open bubbles expose the yarn. Upon exiting the fabric tentering furnace, the fabric is rolled and slit at the same time. Some of the slit rolls require rewinding tightly in order to provide a tight roll.
The various spool winding and unwinding steps and the tentering furnace require extra time and floor print or space, in a mesh-producing facility. Moreover, the process is not in-line but rather the material is transported at various stages from one process area to another, requiring personnel to oversee the moves.
In addition, it will be appreciated that the tentering process is subject to certain environmental considerations. Since the tentering is done in a furnace, the air in the furnace must generally be filtered and scrubbed, so that the exhaust air complies with various environmental requirements. Accordingly, such prior art process, which is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 1 of this present application, inherently involves a number of disadvantages.
Accordingly, it is one objective of the invention to provide an improved fiberglass mesh process which can be carried out with less expense and labor intensity and with less environmental impact than the prior art processes.
Another objective of the invention has been to provide an in-line continuous process for manufacturing fiberglass mesh useful in cementitious applications.
Another objective of the invention has been to provide an improved tentering process.
To these ends, a preferred embodiment of the invention includes a mesh production process wherein one or more strands of yarn from one or more yarn skeins are run through a coating bath, dried and rolled. Instead of yarn spools from the drying line being combined into a yarn beamer, the yarn is directly conveyed to a loom from which a fiberglass mesh is produced. Thereafter, the fabric is directly conveyed to a fabric conditioning system, rather than being rolled and then introduced to a fabric tentering furnace at another area in the facility. In this regard, the fabric is conveyed through a heating and treating station which treats the fabric to "tenter" the fabric, yet without subjecting it to a fabric tentering furnace. In particular in one embodiment, the fabric is conveyed between two heated rollers, the rollers being heated to such an extent and the fabric moved therebetween at such a velocity to tenter or set the overlapping fabric strands together in order to provide a soft hand fabric material. Preferably, the rolls are counter-rotating with respect to the direction of movement of the fabric, for the purpose of engaging the fabric and further treating it to provide the soft hand.
Alternatively, the fabric is conveyed from the loom between two heated wiper bars oscillating in a perpendicular direction with respect to the fabric motion. The heat imparted to the fabric from the bars serves to tenter it or to set the fiberglass stands with respect to each other, while still providing a fabric mesh which is soft of hand. At the same time, the oscillating motion of the bars serves to prevent any buildup of material on the bars and to further treat the fabric. Upon exiting from the treating station so described, the fabric is directly slit and is wound up directly in tight rolls, thereby eliminating another fabric rolling step and the potential re-winding step.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that several steps have been eliminated from the prior art process described above, resulting in a less expensive fabric mesh process, which yet produces a fabric mesh soft of hand and suitable for use in various applications. In particular, the yarn beaming steps of the prior art are completely eliminated. Moreover, the fabric tentering furnace is eliminated, together with its various air filtering and scrubbing components. Also, since the treated fabric is not slit on one roll and rewound on others at the end of the process, it is simply initially slit and wound to provide a tight roll. Accordingly, the various rolling and handling processes attendant the prior art are simply eliminated, thereby reducing the number of people required to manufacture the fabric, the number of process steps, and the foot print or factory space required in the process. A continuous, in-line, less expensive process is thus provided.
Also, the tentering of the mesh is improved, with the heated surfaces always moving or more easily controllable to avoid imparting excessive heat.

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Processes and kits therefor for detection of water-borne pathogens and indicator organisms in water samples by recovering cells of the pathogens or indicator organisms from a water sample, lysing the cells to recover undegraded DNA, amplifying a target gene sequence of a target gene present in cells of the pathogens or indicator organisms by polymerase chain reaction amplification and detecting the presence of amplified target gene sequence to determine the presence or absence of pathogens or indicator organism in the test sample.

Most water-borne human pathogens cause infections and human disease via ingestion of fecal contaminated water or food. Various human parasites and pathogens are transmitted in this way, including protozoa, virus and bacteria, transmitted via human fecal contamination of water used for drinking, bathing, recreation, harvesting of shellfish, or washing/preparation of foods. Additionally, some water-borne pathogens are transmitted via contaminated aerosols and enter the human body through the respiratory tract. Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of legionellosis fatal respiratory pneumonia infection know as Legionnaire's Disease, is transmitted in this manner. Warm stationary domestic water found in air conditioner cooling towers, inadequately chlorinated swimming pools and spas, hot water heaters, respiratory therapy equipment and shower heads, have been identified as sources of Legionella infectious outbreaks. The need for and adequacy of water purification and the safety of natural (ground and surface) waters for recreation, drinking and shellfish harvest, routinely is monitored by standard microbiological tests for fecal flora and for Legionella. The control of legionellosis requires environmental monitoring so that the reservoirs of L. pneumophila can be identified. Decontamination procedures can then be implemented in order to reduce or eliminate this bacterial pathogen, thereby reducing the risk of outbreaks of legionellosis. Additionally, the sources of L. pneumophila must be quickly determined when outbreaks of legionellosis occur to prevent additional cases.
Because many fecal pathogens are hard to assay or are infective at densities so low that water sample collection and concentration is inconvenient, fecal microbial water contamination often is assessed by testing for harder and more robust, but not necessarily pathogenic, microbes, referred to as indicator organisms, such as the "fecal coliforms", especially Escherichia coli.
The most common tests for both fecal bacteria indicator organisms and Legionella require culturing for one to several days on/or in a nutrient medium under standard conditions, followed by counting of the colonies which develop or identification of positive liquid cultures and the use of a most probably number table to determine the numbers of bacteria in the sample. Various metabolic, biochemical and immunochemical tests may be used to confirm the microbiological identities of the organisms enumerated in these tests, although they require additional time, expense and skilled labor.
Culture tests of microbiological contamination are tedious, time consuming, unsatisfactorily slow, delaying decisions which might seriously affect human health and which test should be made on the time scale of hours, not days.
There are several problems with viable culture methods used for routine monitoring of the bacteriological safety of water supplies, including the tediousness of the method, maintaining viability of bacteria between the time of collection and enumeration, lack of growth of viable but nonculturable bacteria--such as those stressed by chemicals in the water, failure to cultivate all living cells of interest, time (days) required for detection and confirmation of enteric bacteria, lack of specificity for detection of true fecal coliforms such as E. Coli, failure to distinguish living from dead cells using direct microscopic counts, and misidentification of organisms due to antigenic cross reactivity using serological procedures.
Usually such culture tests are not as specific or as sensitive as desirable to ensure with sufficient certainty the presence or absence of specific microbes in low numbers. Gene probes that specifically hybridize with the DNA of specific regions associated with specific pathogens or indicator organisms provides a means of specific detection but conventional gene probe methods are generally about 10,000 times less sensitive than required for environmental monitoring purposes.
Recently, tests based upon detection of .beta.-D-glucuronidase, such as the Colilert test, have been suggested as alternate approaches for detecting coliforms. Enzymatic transformation of the fluorogenic substrate 4-methylunbelliferyl-.beta.-glucuronidide or colorimetric substrate p-nitrophenyl glucuronide is indicative of the presence of E. coli, but detection of such enzymatic activity still requires culturing of bacteria. It has also recently been reported that basing a test on .beta.-D-glucuronidase activity may fail to detect a significant proportion, about 30%, of fecal coliform bacteria in some cases because of occurrences of high incidences of .beta.-D-glucuronidase negative E. coli.
The traditional methods for the detection of L. pneumophila are the viable plate count and the direct microscopic count, the latter by using several commercially available fluorescent antibody reagents. Although cultivation of viable cells of Legionella from water samples is a standard procedure, it is tedious and time consuming. Additionally, cultivation methods may underestimate numbers of viable cells because some cells of L. pneumophila are sensitive to the acid-wash treatment and selective media used in the standard viable enumeration procedure. Also, some cells may be viable but nonculturable. The serological detection of Legionella using polyclonal antibody reagents likewise has limitations because immunofluorescence microscopy cannot distinguish living from dead cells and also some non-Legionella cells show false positive reactions due to antigenic-cross reactivity.
Detection of Legionella has been reported by colony hybridization using a radiolabelled unique DNA gene probe fragment isolated from Legionella chromosomal DNA after restriction enzyme digestion. In waters with high microbial populations, as are found in water cooling towers, the level of detection sensitivity by colony hybridization would be about 10.sup.4 /ml. A sensitivity of 5.times.10.sup.4 cells was achieved by using a separate gene probe. A commercial gene probe detection kit, based upon rRNA detection, has a sensitivity of 10.sup.3 or 10.sup.4 cells.
It is therefore highly desirable that a process and kits therefor be available for detection of water-borne microbial pathogens and indicators of human fecal contamination in natural environmental, purified or other water sources in which the aforementioned problems are eliminated or substantially reduced. A further object of the invention is to provide such a process and kits which have greater specificity and sensitivity to ensure detection of the pathogens or indicators at very low concentrations. A still further object of this invention is to provide such a process and kits therefor which enable the noncultural detection of such pathogens and indicators. Another object of this invention is to provide such process and kits therefor which detect nonculturable coliforms. It is also an object of this invention to provide such a process and kits therefor which enable the detection of such pathogens and indicators in a matter of hours rather than days. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a process and kits therefor which permit direct detection of pathogens in water samples, rather than relying upon the indirect detection of indicator organisms.
An additional object of this invention is to provide an effective, specific and sensitive process and kits therefor for detection of sources of Legionella so as to prevent or determine the sources of outbreaks of legionellosis. A still further additional object of this invention is to provide such a process and kits therefor for specific detection of L. pneumophila for both clinical diagnosis and environmental monitoring or source tracing of L. pneumophila. It is another object of this invention to provide such a process an kits therefor in which one can detect both all Legionella species and all L. pneumophila serotypes in the same water sample at the same time.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a process and kits therefor which will detect substantially all species and strains which fall in the microbial pathogens or indicator class and no organisms from other species or genera. A still further object is to provide such a process and kits therefor which employ a highly polymorphic sequence within the target gene to permit distinction among variants and in some other cases to avoid any distinction among variants of the same target species, genus or other defined group.

Process for detection of water-borne microbial pathogens and indicators of human fecal contamination in water samples and kits therefor


A system and method for revenue and expense realignment is provided. A revenue and expense realignment application (RECAST) comprising of a rules engine executing on a computer receives revenue and/or expense transactions. At predetermined time intervals, the RECAST executes a series of steps, each of which has one or more user defined rules associated therewith to transform inbound transactions. The transformed transactions are then posted to other applications including, for example, a general ledger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accounting systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for revenue and expense realignment.
2. Background Information
Accounting within a business entity of any appreciable size is a complex operation. The business entity typically maintains a general ledger showing all of the transactions conducted by the various organizational units of the business enterprise. One or more revenue sources, which may be divisions, sales offices, individual salesmen, etc., generate revenue transactions that are stored within the general ledger. Similarly, one or more expense sources generate expense transactions showing various expenses related to the business enterprise. Typically, the plurality of revenue and/or expense transactions is are stored within the general ledger as individual entries. A noted problem with conventional business accounting systems is that there exists no easy technique for retrieving certain types of information from the general ledger. Individual entries within the general ledger may be retrieved, however, assimilating the data into a meaningful representation to answer common accounting and/or business-related questions may be complicated and/or impossible, depending upon at what granularity the revenue and expense sources output transactions.
A further noted disadvantage of conventional accounting systems is that data may be output from the various revenue and/or expense sources utilizing levels of granularity different than what is desired by users of the accounting system. For example, revenue may be output on a per product basis; however, the business entity may desire to a apportion the revenue from a particular product among several constituent elements of the business entity, e.g., between two divisions and/or between two salespeople. To track such information, the business entity may be required to keep multiple sets of books and associated revenue/expense sources for each level of granularity at which information may be desired. Such a redundant system introduces obvious cost increases with a concomitant increase in problems of data security and consistency. Additionally, users of the general ledger are typically limited by the static configuration of the revenue/expense sources and the type of information that they export.

System and method for revenue and expense realignment