A landing shock absorbing device 18 disposed in a foot mechanism 6 of a leg of a robot, wherein an inflatable bag-like member 19 (a variable capacity element) is provided at a ground-contacting face side of the foot mechanism 6. The bag-like member 19 is constructed of an elastic material such as rubber and has a restoring force. An interior portion of the bag-like member 19 is communicated with the atmosphere side through a flow passage 20. During a landing motion of the leg, the bag-like member 19 makes contact with the ground to be compressed, and the air in the interior portion thereof flows out into the atmosphere through the flow passage 20, so that its outflow resistance is generated. Accordingly, a landing shock is reduced. In a lifting state of the leg, the restoring force of the bag-like member 19 allows the bag-like member 19 to be inflated while the air flows into the interior portion thereof. An impact load during the landing of the leg of the legged mobile robot may smoothly be reduced in a light-weight configuration.

In a legged mobile robot such as a biped mobile robot equipped with a plurality of legs, each leg is brought into contact with a floor through a ground-contacting face portion of a foot mechanism provided on a far end portion thereof. More particularly, the foot mechanism is a mechanism connected to a joint on the farthest end side of each leg (an ankle joint). The legged mobile robot moves by lifting and landing motions of each leg. More particularly, the lifting and landing motions are a repetition of motions that while at least one leg of a plurality of legs as a supporting leg maintains a foot mechanism of the supporting leg in a ground-contacting state, the other leg as a free leg lifts a foot mechanism of the free leg from its ground-contacting location into the air and moves the same, and make contact with the ground on other ground-contacting location.
In such a legged mobile robot, when a ground-contacting face portion of a foot mechanism of the leg is brought into contact with the ground by the landing motion of each leg, a relatively great impact load (a transient floor reaction force) instantaneously acts through the foot mechanism of the leg. Particularly, when the legged mobile robot is moved at relatively high moving speed, motion energy of the leg in moments immediately before the foot mechanism of the leg makes contact with the ground is great, so that the impact load will be high. When this impact load is high, rigidity of each portion of each leg needs to be enhanced in order to resist the load, and furthermore, this will interfere with a size reduction and a weight reduction of each leg. Accordingly, a reduction (shock absorption) of such an impact load is desired.
As such a shock absorber, for example, the one that the present applicant proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5-305578 is known. In this shock absorber, a cylinder filled with hydraulic oil is provided at a heel of the foot mechanism, and a rod is extendedly provided from a piston slidable in this cylinder toward a bottom face side of the heel of the foot mechanism. A ground-contacting element widened in diameter in a mushroom shape is provided on a tip portion of the rod. Additionally, the piston is energized in a direction that the ground-contacting element projects to the bottom face side of the foot mechanism by a spring accommodated in the cylinder on the upper side thereof. Furthermore, in the piston, a flow passage that allows the hydraulic oil to flow between an upper chamber and a lower chamber thereof is drilled.
In the shock absorber configured in this manner, at the time of the landing motion of the leg, the aforementioned ground-contacting element makes contact with the ground and is pressed with the piston in a direction opposite to an energizing force of the spring. At this moment, while the hydraulic oil in the cylinder flows through the flow passage of the piston, the piston slides in a direction that the piston compresses the spring, and this allows the impact load during the landing motion of the leg to be reduced.
However, in the shock absorber, as a result of the use of the hydraulic oil, particularly, when a moving speed of a robot is fast, pressure of the hydraulic oil suddenly increases at the instant when the ground-contacting element touches the ground. Accordingly, a relatively high impact load tends to be generated at the instant when the ground-contacting element touches the ground. In this situation, when an area of an aperture of the flow passage of the piston is designed to be relatively large, the sudden increase in the pressure of the hydraulic oil at the instant when the ground-contacting element touches the ground may be controlled. However, in a situation like this, a damping effect caused by a flow of the hydraulic oil (an attenuating effect of motion energy) decreases and a vibration of a floor reaction force immediately after the landing motion of the foot mechanism tends to be generated, and resultingly, a posture of the robot tends to be unstable.
Furthermore, in the shock absorber, as a result of the use of the hydraulic oil, weight of the shock absorber will be heavy, resulting in interfering with a weight reduction of the robot. Additionally, the ground-contacting element that makes contact with the ground during the landing motion of the leg can only move in a sliding direction of the piston (an axial center direction of the cylinder) and is a solid body. Consequently, the impact load acting on the ground-contacting element may act in a direction that crosses a movable direction thereof depending on a geometry of a floor, so that the impact load may not adequately be reduced, and a damage of the shock absorber may be generated.
In light of such a background, it is an object of the present invention to provide a landing shock absorber that can smoothly reduce an impact load during a landing motion of a leg of a legged mobile robot with a light-weight configuration.

Device for absorbing floor-landing shock for legged mobile robot


A tension-retaining system for retaining tension in a tensioning cord of a wearable article may include a retainer including an anchor and a wedge. The anchor may define a notch, and the wedge may have a tensioning cord coupling feature. The wedge may have an engagement portion that fits within the notch with the engagement portion disposed further in the notch than the tensioning cord coupling feature.

Wearable articles such as footwear, garments, headwear, other apparel, and carry bags may include a closure system that adjusts the fit of the wearable article to the body. For example, a closure system for an article of footwear may include a tensioning cord to tighten an upper around a foot.

Tension-retaining system for a wearable article


A process for the preparation of 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid (1) and salts thereof from a glucose source containing 1,4-linked glucose as a substituent is described. The process uses an alkali metal hdyroxide and hydrogen peroxide to convert the glucose source to (1). The compound (1) is useful as a chemical intermediate to naturally occurring fatty acids and is used to prepare 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid-gamma-lactone (2) and furanone (3), particularly stereoisomers of these compounds.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for preparation of 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid and salts thereof from a D-hexose source, particularly a glucose source containing glucose as a substituent. In particular, the present invention relates to a process for preparing (S)-3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid and salts thereof.
(2) Prior Art
During the course of the development by syntheses for naturally-occurring (R)-3-hydroxy long chain fatty acids, various synthetic routes to (S)-4-bromo-3-hydroxybutanoic acid methyl or ethyl esters were examined. The general approach was to carve out this chiral fragment from a suitably modified carbohydrate structure. Initial attempts involved selective protection and structural modification of methyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside followed by cleavage to yield a 4-carbon fragment containing the required functionalities. Although this approach proved to be quite viable, it proved not to be as direct as we had envisioned.
A reaction in which some of the desired product is generated in a fewer steps from inexpensive starting materials was considered. The treatment of cellobiose, a beta-1,4-linked glucose disaccharide, maltose (the alpha-1,4-linked isomer) and other related compounds with alkali has been shown to generate low yields of the desired material along with D,L-2,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid, glycolic acid, isosaccharinic acids, ketones, diketones, glyceric acids and a myriad of other degradation and condensation products (Corbett, W. M., et al., J. Chem. Soc., 1431-1435 (1955); Green, J. W., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 78:1894-1897 (1956); and Rowell, R. M., et al., Carbohydr. Res., 11:17-25 (1969)). Starch and cellulose also yield similar compounds in what is known as the "peeling reaction". This process is, generally, thought to have no synthetic potential. Most of the products formed in these reactions are formed from the intermediate dicarbonyl (diulose) compound F shown in FIG. 1 according to a mechanism proposed by Isbell (Isbell, H. S., J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand., 29:227 (1942)). The dicarbonyl compound F is rapidly attacked by alkali to yield a tarry mixture and the formation of 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid (1) and glycolic acid (4) as shown in FIG. 1 in low yields and is slow and oxygen-dependent.
Alkaline hydrogen peroxide rapidly cleaves diketones to give carboxylic acids and treatment of diuloses and other carbohydrates with hydrogen peroxide in this manner has been described (Moody, G. J., Advances in Carbohydr. Chem., 19:149-180 (1964)). The reference does not describe the use of hydrogen peroxide to cleave a glucose source containing a 1,4-glucose linkage. Earlier work on the oxidation of maltose (Glattfeld, J. W. E., et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 40:973 (1918) using base and hydrogen peroxide yielded no 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid but gave glycollic acid, arabonic acid, D-erythronic acid, oxalic acid and formic acid. In this work, the reaction was conducted for a very prolonged period (13 days) at room temperature followed by an undefined period at 50.degree. C. The molar proportions of base and hydrogen peroxide were both 8 to 9 fold of the sugar proportion. These conditions cause complete conversion of product to formic acid.
3,4-Dihydroxybutanoic is a valuable chiral building block and the general strategies for obtaining it and its derivatives hinge upon the development of enzymatic systems utilizing beta-ketoesters as substrates (Nakamura, N., et al., Tetrahedron Letters, 30:2245-2246 (1989); Zhou, B., et al., J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 105:5925-5926 (1983); and Nakamura, N., et al., Tetrahedron Letters, 31:267-270 (1990)).

Process for the preparation of 3,4-dihydroxybutanoic acid and salts thereof

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


Disclosed is a method of preventing or inhibiting biofilm formation by a population of bacteria comprising the administration of a sterile intravenous normal saline solution containing glycerin and amino acids. In some embodiments, the concentration of glycerin in the normal saline solution is approximately 3%. In some embodiments, the concentration of amino acids in the normal saline solution is approximately 3%. In some embodiments, the intravenous solution is administered for 48 hours at 80 cc/hour. In some embodiments, the solution is infused via intracavernous administration into an infected body cavity.

Field of Invention
This invention pertains to the use of sterile intravenous or intracavernous glycerin solutions to treat biofilms that infect humans and animals.
Description of Related Art
A biofilm occurs when bacteria stick to each other on a surface. These adherent cells are frequently embedded within a self-producing matrix of extra cellular polymeric substance. Biofilms are also referred to as slime. The polymeric conglomeration is generally composed of extra-cellular DNA, proteins and polysaccharides. Initially the biofilm is weak and adhesion is by van der Waals forces. Later, the bacteria form cell adhesion structures such as pili. Once colonization has begun the biofilm grows through a combination of cell division and recruitment.
The development of biofilm may allow for an aggregated cell colony to be increasingly antibiotic resistant. Bacteria from the biofilm can disperse which causes the spread and colonization of new surfaces. The matrix protects the bacteria within it and facilitates communication among them through biochemical signals. Biofilm has been implicated in such problems as urinary tract infections, endocarditis, cystic fibrosis and infections of prosthesis and heart valve. Invariably the only recourse for treating prosthetics such as mechanical heart valve is to have them replaced. Biofilms are present on the removed tissue of 80% of patients undergoing surgery for chronic sinusitis.
In the 1980's Danish pioneers first connected biofilms with human disease and then antibiotic resistant infections. They discovered that once these biofilm infections had begun they are difficult to get rid of in the body. The immune system can mop up free-floating bacteria in the blood but reaching bacteria in biofilms is difficult.
Even if an antibiotic reaches a biofilm, a large portion of the bacteria would be insensitive to the specific antibiotic as bacteria in a biofilm occupied a spectrum of physiological state from rapid growing to dormant. The dormant bacteria are not vulnerable to the antibiotic. Later, these dormant bacteria can quickly renew the biofilm. Low oxygen concentration in the biofilm also protects the bacteria from some antibiotics.
The CDC claims that 65% of bacterial infections that are treated by physicians develop biofilm. Biofilm have been implicated in chronic infections. Most notable among them is staphylococcus aureus especially the methicillin resistant variety, staphylococcus epidermis and pseudomonas aeruginosa. Topical glycerin can treat biofilm in the mouth such as halitosis.
A 66 year old female developed cellulitis and an open ulcer on her leg. This was treated by oral antibiotics and was also treated at an outpatient wound care center. When the outpatient care was not successful she was admitted to the hospital for intravenous antibiotics. After 3 weeks there was no sign of improvement and the ulcer was enlarging. At this stage the ulcer measured 3 cm by 1½ cm in size and there was surrounding redness suggestive of inflammation. She was then given intravenous glycerin. The intravenous glycerin was given as a solution of 3% glycerin and 3% amino acids. This is currently the only commercially available source of intravenous glycerin. She was given the infusion at a rate of 80 cubic centimeters (cc) per hour. At the end of 48 hours there was evidence of healing in the ulcer. During these 48 hours she was continued on intravenous antibiotics. After 72 hours the patient was discharged home on oral antibiotics. When she was re-examined 3 weeks later there was no evidence of the ulcer and the surrounding inflammation that was caused by cellulitis had totally cleared. Ulcers such as this patient had develop bacterial biofilm and can have increased resistance to antibiotics that at times cause the antibiotics to be ineffective.

Method of destroying bacterial biofilm using sterile intravenous or intracavernous glycerin


A voltage generating circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus is provided including a voltage generator that generates a core voltage in response to a voltage generating signal, a voltage drop part that drops a level of the core voltage to a predetermined target level when the level of the core voltage is increased by an overdrive operation, and a voltage generation controller that disables the voltage generating signal when the overdrive operation is performed so as to stop the driving of the voltage generator.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory apparatus, and more particularly, to a voltage generating circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus.
2. Related Art
In general semiconductor memory apparatuses, when an active command is input, a bank is activated and the data in the memory cells are transmitted to a sense amplifier through the bit lines. The sense amplifier performs a sensing operation on the transmitted data. In order to accurately and quickly perform the sensing operation, the sense amplifier performs an overdrive operation.
During the sensing operation of the sense amplifier, a voltage stored in the memory cells, i.e., a core voltage, is applied to the bit lines precharged with a bit line precharge voltage and to the bit line bars, and a voltage difference between the bit line and the bit line bar is amplified. When the sensing operation begins, an external voltage is applied to the bit lines for a predetermined amount of time, which is the overdrive operation.
The core voltage is applied to the memory cells. When the core voltage level is higher than a target level, memory cells may become defective. When the core voltage level is lower than the target level, the data may not be appropriately preserved. Therefore, the core voltage needs to maintain a constant level.
The core voltage is generated by a voltage generating circuit provided in the semiconductor memory apparatus. When the core voltage level is increased by the overdrive operation, the voltage generating circuit reduces the core voltage level to the target level by comparing the level of the core voltage with a level of a reference voltage.
The problem with the conventional voltage generating circuits is that when an overdrive operation that is not associated with the generation and adjustment of the core voltage and any other operations are being performed, the voltage generating circuit continues its operation to generate and/or adjust the core voltage. However, his conventional approach increases the power consumption of the semiconductor memory apparatus.

Voltage generating circuit of semiconductor memory apparatus capable of reducing power consumption


An organic light-emitting device including: a light emitting diode that emits light by a signal current; a driving thin film transistor connected between a source voltage and a light emitting diode and connected at its drain to the light emitting diode and a current source, and that supplies the signal current to the light emitting diode depending on display data; a storage capacitor connected between the source voltage and a gate of the driving thin film transistor, and that stores the display data depending on a display data signal; a first switching unit connected between the drain of the driving thin film transistor and a data driver and connected at its gate with a first scan line, wherein the first switching unit and selects the data signal; a second switching unit connected between the gate and the drain of the driving thin film transistor and connected at its gate with a second scan line wherein, the second switching unit drives the driving thin film transistor; and a third switching unit connected between the drain of the driving thin film transistor and the light emitting diode and connected at its gate with a third scan line, wherein the third switch unit selects the signal current applied to the light emitting diode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light-emitting device and an organic light-emitting display using the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is an active light-emitting device that excites a phosphor and emits light by a recombination of electrons and holes. An organic light-emitting display including the organic light-emitting diode may be used in a wall mounted device or a portable device due to its fast response speed, low direct-current driving voltage, and ultra thinness, in comparison to a passive light-emitting device needing a separate light source such as a liquid crystal display.
The organic light-emitting diode produces a color using pixels where red, green, and blue sub pixels combine to a color. In a method of driving the subpixel, the organic light-emitting diode may be classified into a passive matrix organic light-emitting diode (PMOLED), and an active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) employing a driving method using a thin film transistor (TFT).
The driving method of the active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) may be classified into a current driving method, a voltage driving method, and a digital driving method.
FIG. 1 is an equivalent circuit diagram illustrating a conventional current driving active matrix organic light-emitting device (AMOLED), and FIG. 2 is a driving timing diagram of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional organic light-emitting device 50 includes a first TFT (M2), a second TFT (M3), a first switch (S/W5), a second switch (S/W6), a storage capacitor (Cst), and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
The first and second TFTs (M2 and M3) have a mirror structure to supply a constant current to the organic light emitting diode (OLED), are connected at their sources with a source voltage (VDD), and are connected at their gates to the storage capacitor (Cst). The drain of the first TFT (M2) connects to the organic light emitting diode, and the drain of the second TFT (M3) connects between the first and second switches (S/W5 and S/W6).
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the first and second switches (S/W5 and S/W6) are series connected between the gates of the first and second TFTs (M2 and M3) and a data line. The first and second switches (S/W5 and S/W6) are connected at their gates with a scan line, and switch the data signal (data n) by the scan signal (scan n) of FIG. 2 applied through the scan line.
The storage capacitor (Cst) is between the gates of the first and second TFTs (M2 and M3) and the second switch (S/W6), and stores the data voltage from the source voltage (VDD) by the data signal (data[n]) of FIG. 2.
The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) emits light by a current generated from the first TFT (M2) driven by the data voltage stored in the storage capacitor (Cst). A gray level of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is determined by the amount of the signal current. For a high gray level, a larger signal current is supplied to the organic light-emitting diode (OLED), and for a low gray level, a smaller signal current is supplied to the organic light-emitting diode (OLED).
However, the conventional organic light-emitting device has a drawback in that when a low gray level is displayed, in comparison a current supplied from a data driver is dozens of nA. Then the storage capacitor cannot be charged with a desired data voltage due to a data line load on the data line between the data driver and a pixel before the storage capacitor of the pixel is charged with the desired data voltage.
In other words, the conventional organic light-emitting device has a drawback in that when a low gray level is displayed, due to the data line load, the storage capacitor (Cst) cannot be sufficiently charged with a current of dozens of nA during a gate on time of several msec.
As a result, the conventional organic light-emitting display having a pixel circuit including the organic light-emitting device has a drawback in that it cannot be put to practical use due to the deterioration of the capability to display a low gray level.

Organic light-emitting device and organic light-emitting display


A method of making an alkoxylated polyethyleneimine (APEI) product having reduced discoloration includes treating a composition including a component selected from the group of polyethyleneimine (PEI), APEI intermediate, and combinations thereof that is used to make the APEI product. The method of treating the composition includes heating a composition that includes an adduct of a conjugate base and PEI, water, and the component at a temperature of from 158 to 338° F. for a period of at least three hours in the absence of additional water in order to substantially decompose the adduct in the composition. The aqueous solutions of APEI product thus made have Gardner color values of less than 6.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a method of making an alkoxylated polyethyleneimine product. More specifically, the subject invention relates to a method of treating a composition including at least one of a polyethyleneimine and an alkoxylated polyethyleneimine intermediate to improve the appearance of the alkoxylated polyethyleneimine product in an aqueous solution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Alkoxylated polyethylenimines (APEIs) are known in the art, as are methods of making APEI products including the APEIs. Among the APEIs, propoxylated polyethylenimines (PPEIs) and ethoxylated polyethylenimines (EPEIs) are most common in commercial applications. The EPEIs are commonly used in consumer products, especially laundry detergents, and generally function as dispersants by chelating cationic particles, such as clay particles, and holding them in solution. The EPEIs hold the particles in suspension until the particles are removed through a rinsing process, thus preventing the particles from re-depositing on the fabric in the laundry.
Current methods of making the APEI products start from a composition including polyethyleneimines (PEIs). A method of making the composition including the PEIs is by reacting ethylenediamine (EDA) and ethylenimine (EI) under acid catalysis, in solvents such as water. An example of a common EI is aziridine, which is a three-member ring having a reactive nitrogen. The EI is polymerized through a ring-opening reaction involving the reactive nitrogen of the aziridine. The reaction is maintained until the amount of unreacted EI falls below a predetermined level. The resulting polyethylenimines (PEIs) in the composition have primary, secondary, and tertiary amine functionalities that are available for further chemical conversion, e.g. alkoxylation with alkylene oxides such as ethylene oxide to form APEI. The ethoxylation of PEIs is described in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen Chemie, 4. Ed., Vol. 14/2, p. 440 ff. (1963) and Vol. E 20, p. 1367 f. (1987).
One of the problems with current APEI products is discoloration in aqueous solutions including the APEI products. Incorporation of APEI products that cause significant discoloration in consumer products is undesirable since it can distort the desired color and appearance of the consumer products, which in turn can diminish consumer appeal. The discoloration of the aqueous solutions including the APEI products is typically measured using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer or by comparing the aqueous solutions including the APEI products to color standards such as Gardner color standards. In such measurements, the APEI products are diluted with solvents like water or alcohols, e.g. methanol or ethanol, THF, DMF or aqueous acids, to concentrations that are practical to determine coloristic properties. These concentrations can range from 5 to 30% by weight for the active polymer. Measurements of the coloristic properties are conducted at various wavelengths that can range from 350 to 800 nm and are carried out in one or two channel UV/Vis-spectrophotometers.
It is known in the art that impurities present in compositions including the PEI produce significant discoloration and high color in the aqueous solutions of APEI product made from them. However, there is no way of knowing from the appearance of the composition including the PEI whether aqueous solutions of APEI product with sufficiently low color can be made, since the compositions including the PEI are generally of low color, in the range of 1 to 3 by the Gardner standard.
Hydrides, such as sodium or potassium borohydride, are thought to improve the color of the aqueous solutions of APEI product and are often used in the manufacturing process. The aqueous solutions of APEI product manufactured following the conventional processes are highly colored and the formation of color bodies is unpredictable. For the aqueous solutions of APEI product manufactured following the conventional processes, Gardner color values are typically above 10 and often in the range of 14-18. Aqueous solutions of APEI product having Gardner color values greater than 10 are considered significantly discolored, and their utility in consumer products is inhibited. It is desirable to obtain aqueous solutions of APEI product with Gardner color values less than 6, which are presently unattainable through the use of the hydride or other measures alone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,961 to Suzuki et al. suggests a method of treating compositions including PEI that have been produced from EI, which in turn was manufactured via a dehydration reaction of monoethanolamine in the presence of a catalyst. The method includes adding water to the PEI in an amount of from 1 to 95 parts water, based on the weight of the PEI to form the composition including the PEI. At least 15 percent of the added water is then distilled out of the composition at a temperature of from 212 to 392° F. and at reduced pressure to remove volatile impurities such as excess ethanolamine and other low-boiling residual components such as ammonia, lower alkyl amines, and aldehydes. According to the '961 patent, those volatile impurities cause offensive smell and a reduction in stability of the polyethyleneimines when present.
While it is obvious that water and other volatile compounds that are not chemically bound to the PEIs will be more quickly removed from the composition at higher temperatures, there could be factors that control the outcome of alkoxylation of the PEIs other than the removal of volatile impurities. Specific factors that may control the outcome of alkoxylation include the reaction of products of carbonyl compounds with the nitrogen functionality of the PEIs, subsequent removal of those products through distillation, and possible structural changes of the PEIs due to the removal of cross-linking building blocks. Such factors are not accounted for by the treatment method of the '961 patent. Furthermore, ethanolamine and ammonia, which are removed in the treatment method of the '961 patent, are not considered harmful in the sense of causing discoloration. More specifically, the functionalities of the ethanolamine and ammonia are also found in compositions including the PEI and/or the APEI product. Ethanolamine and ammonia are known to readily participate in the alkoxylation process, leading to colorless APEI products. Hence many of the volatile impurities removed in the '961 patent need not be removed to reduce discoloration of the aqueous solutions of APEI product, and the drawbacks of the presence of the ethanolamine and ammonia are not experienced by the consumer since the ethanolamine and ammonia are consumed during the production of the APEI product, thus yielding minute amounts of high molecular weight products in the APEI product that are chemically similar to the APEI. Finally, the presence of water in the composition including the PEI negatively affects alkoxylation beyond the reaction of one equivalent mole of alkylene oxide for each functionality of the PEI. As a result, the presence of excessive quantities of water during alkoxylation to produce the APEI product, which has more than one mole of alkylene oxide for each functionality of the PEI, is undesirable.
There remains an opportunity to provide a method of making APEI products that consistently exhibit improved color properties in aqueous solutions of the APEI products, namely Gardner color values of less than 6, without affecting the chemical structure or properties of the APEI products.

Method of making an alkoxylated polyethylenimine product


According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes: a stack body having a step structure body with a plurality of wire line layers and a plurality of interlayer insulating layers alternately stacked being set as one step on a substrate; and memory cells arranged three-dimensionally in the stack body, in which the step structure body includes: a plurality of terrace portions configured with the interlayer insulating layers, the plurality of terrace portions having different heights; a plurality of step portions connecting the respective terrace portions in a height direction; insulating layers covering the step portions; and a lead wire line leading out a lowermost wire line layer of a first step onto the terrace portion of a second step being a lower step of the first step.

In recent years, miniaturization of semiconductor memory devices has progressed, and three-dimensional nonvolatile memories having a stack structure of memory cells have been proposed. In the three-dimensional nonvolatile memory, in some cases, a step-shaped structure is adopted in order to lead out the word line in each layer of the memory cells arranged in the height direction.
However, in order to obtain such a structure, precise process control is required, and it is difficult to obtain a sufficient process margin.

Semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing semiconductor memory device


An outboard motor comprises an engine of vertical type in which a crank shaft is disposed vertically in an installed state of the engine, an engine holder supporting the engine, an oil pan which is disposed below the engine through the engine holder and in which an oil is accumulated, and a lubricating device for lubricating the oil from the oil pan to an inside of the engine. The lubricating device comprises an oil pump mounted to a lower side portion of the engine holder and adapted to suck the oil accumulated in the oil pan, an oil suction passage and an oil discharge passage. The oil suction passage and oil discharge passage extend in parallel to each other from the oil pump and are formed integrally with an inside portion of the engine holder.

The present invention relates to an outboard motor and, more particularly, a device for lubricating an inside portion of an engine unit of an outboard motor with oil.
An outboard motor has an engine unit mounted vertically in such a way that the crank shaft of the engine is vertically disposed. The engine is formed by assembling a crank case, a cylinder block, a cylinder head and the like. If the engine is a four-stroke-cycle engine, an oil pan is disposed below the engine. A lubricating device having an oil pump for pumping up oil accumulated in the oil pan is provided to lubricate the inside portion of the engine.
As a conventional lubricating device for an outboard motor, the following lubricating devices have been provided as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 8-100614 (hereinafter called a "first conventional example"), Japanese Patent Publication No. 2516024 (hereinafter called a "second conventional example"), Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 7-94803 (hereinafter called a "third conventional example") and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 3-38156 (hereinafter called a "fourth conventional example").
The lubricating device according to the first conventional example has a structure in which an oil pan is attached below a cylinder block and a cylinder head. An oil pump is disposed below the cylinder head in the oil pan 88, and the oil pump is operated by a cam shaft rotatably supported in the cylinder head.
The lubricating device according to the second conventional example has a structure in which an oil pan is attached below a cylinder block. An oil pump is disposed below a cylinder head which serves as the outer surface of the oil pan so that the oil pump is operated by a cam shaft. An oil discharge passage extending from the oil pump is formed in the core portion of the cam shaft and the inside portions of the cylinder block and the cylinder block. An oil-pressure control valve is disposed in a portion in which the oil discharge passage passes through the inside portion of the cylinder block. An oil strainer connected to the suction portion of the oil pump is attached to the lower surface of the cylinder block.
The lubricating device according to the third conventional example has a similar structure in which an oil pump is disposed below a cylinder head at a position on the outside of the oil pan. Thus, the oil pump is operated by a cam shaft. In this example, oil suction passages extending from the oil pump and oil returning passages for returning, to the oil pan, oil supplied to the inside portion of the cylinder head are formed from the cylinder head to a cylinder block. A hose for returning oil extends from the head cover, the hose being joined to the oil returning passage. Moreover, an oil strainer is attached to the lower surface of the cylinder block.
The lubricating device according to the fourth conventional example has a structure in which an oil pump disposed on the lower surface of a cylinder head is operated by a cam shaft. An oil discharge passage extending from the oil pump is formed from the cylinder head to a cylinder block. An oil-pressure control valve connected to an intermediate position of the oil discharge passage is disposed on the lower surface of a plate secured to the lower surface of the engine.
However, the conventional lubricating devices for the outboard motors according to the above-mentioned four conventional examples suffer from the following problems.
Since each of the lubricating devices for an outboard motor has the structure in which the oil pump is disposed on the lower surface of the engine, when the engine is solely removed from the outboard motor for maintenance thereof or the like, it is removed with the oil pump projecting over the lower portion of the engine. Thus, there is a possibility that the oil pump is broken attributable to an external factor. Moreover, the engine cannot be placed on a flat workbench to perform the maintenance. Thus, the maintenance cannot easily be performed.
The lubricating devices according to the second and third conventional examples are structured such that the oil suction passage and the oil discharge passage extending from the oil pump are formed in the cylinder head and the cylinder block of the engine. Therefore, the structure of a mold for casting each of the cylinder head and the cylinder block becomes too complicated to easily manufacture the engine. In particular, the lubricating device according to the third conventional example has the oil returning passages formed in the cylinder head and the cylinder block in addition to the oil suction passages. Moreover, the hose extending from the head cover is joined to the oil returning passage. Therefore, it is more difficult to manufacture the engine of this type, and the size of the engine cannot easily be reduced.
The lubricating device according to the second conventional example has the structure in which the oil-pressure control valve is disposed, together with the oil pump, on the lower surface of the engine. Therefore, when the engine is solely removed from the outboard motor, the oil-pressure control valve may be broken as well as the oil pump. Since the lubricating device according to the fourth conventional example has the structure in which the oil-pressure control valve is disposed on the lower surface of a plate secured to the lower surface of the engine, the oil-pressure control valve cannot be broken when the engine is solely removed in such a manner that the plate is left. However, the oil-pressure control valve may be broken when the engine is removed together with the plate.
The lubricating devices according to the second and third conventional examples have the structure in which the corresponding oil strainers are attached to the lower surfaces of the cylinder blocks. Therefore, the oil strainers must be removed for the purpose of preventing breakage when the engine is removed solely. Therefore, the maintenance easiness further deteriorates.
The lubricating devices according to the second and fourth conventional examples have the structure in which each of the oil discharge passages extending from the oil pumps penetrates a junction between the cylinder head and the cylinder block. Moreover, each of the oil-pressure control valves is disposed in the downstream portion of each of the oil discharge passages. Therefore, there is a possibility that oil leakage takes place from the oil discharge passages in the junction between the cylinder head and the cylinder block.


A selectively configurable electric motor comprises a stator and a plurality of poles electrically coupled to the stator. The selectively configurable electric motor also includes an actuator separated from the poles by an air gap and configured to move relative to the stator in the presence of an electromagnetic field. The selectively configurable electric motor further includes a plurality of electric conductors, each of the plurality of electric conductors substantially wound around one of the plurality of poles. The selectively configurable electric motor also includes a power converter, at least a portion of which is coupled to the plurality of electric conductors, including a plurality of switching elements configured to selectively couple one or more of the plurality of electric conductors in a predetermined electrical configuration.

Work machines such as, for example, wheel loaders, motor graders, track-type tractors, dump trucks, and other types of machinery are used to perform a variety of tasks associated with an industry such as, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, or any other such industry. Generally, work machines include a power source such as, for example, a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, a natural gas engine, or any other type of power source that provides power required to complete these tasks. To efficiently perform these tasks, the work machine may utilize a transmission that is capable of transmitting energy produced by the power source, in the form of torque, over a wide range of speeds. In some work machines, the transmission may include a generator coupled to the power source to provide an electrical power output for one or more electric motors. The motors may be connected to ground engaging traction devices to propel the work machine.
The electric motors coupled to the traction devices may include, for example, switched reluctance (or variable reluctance) motors. While these types of motors may provide the variable speed capability required to effectively propel a mobile machine, torque output over the broad range of speeds may be limited. For example, for a series wound switched reluctance motor, torque output at low speeds is typically very high and nearly constant. However, as rotor speed increases, the high current required to maintain the electromagnetic force necessary to maintain constant torque output cannot be provided, due to the electrical time constraints of the charging and discharging of the phase coils. Thus, it may be advantageous to provide a system to allow additional current flow through the phase coils at higher speed to provide a constant torque output over a wider range of speeds.
One method to maintain the torque output of a switched reluctance motor is described in Published U.S. patent application No. 2004/0217668 (hereinafter referred to as the '668 publication), which discloses a switched reluctance electrical machine including a salient pole stator, a salient pole carrier configured to move relative to the stator, and a plurality of coils. Each coil includes a "tap" to alter the effective number of turns in the coil, based on the speed of the rotor. The tap reduces the inductance of the turns in the coil to supply "high speed peak current" to the coils at high speed. Additional taps may be included to extend the range of speed while maintaining constant power output.
Although the system of the '668 publication maintains a constant power output over a range of machine speeds, it may be unreliable. For example, the system of the '668 publication relies on an electrical "tapping" of the coils of the electric motor, which requires additional conductors in close proximity with energized coils. These additional conductors may generate additional heat in the coils, create multiple high voltage potential points with the stator conductor, and/or otherwise unpredictably alter the operation of the coils that could increase the likelihood of premature coil conductor damage and/or inefficient operation of the motor. Furthermore, in multi-phase machines, tap locations must be located in the same relative position on each phase coil to ensure that the inductance reduction (and associated current flow) will be identical between the phases. Designing and locating identical and repeatable tap locations for each coil within the motor may substantially limit motor design flexibility.
In addition, because the electric motor of the '668 publication requires physical taps, manufacturing costs may be expensive. For example, tapping of the phase coils during manufacture of the machine may require additional time, personnel, and/or material resources to precisely position the tap locations, to properly wind the conductors with respect to the tap locations, and to ensure that all "tapped" locations are accessible by maintenance personnel. This cumbersome manufacturing process may substantially increase motor manufacturing and design costs.
Finally, the electric motor described in the '668 publication may be extremely difficult to repair and/or maintain. For example, should one or more of the tap conductors require replacement (or if additional taps need to be made), the phase coil must be unwound and/or replaced, which may require substantial technical knowledge. Furthermore, isolating a problematic tap could require substantial testing, potentially rendering the electric motor inoperable (and unproductive) for prolonged periods.
The presently disclosed electric motor is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.


Disclosed is an optical lens, from an object side to an image side including a first lens, a second lens and a third lens. The camera optical lens satisfies: 1.20≤f1/f≤1.80; −2.00≤f2/f≤−1.00; 0.75≤f3/f≤1.10; −6.00≤R2/R1≤−2.00; 2.20≤R4/R3≤8.00; 1.50≤d2/d4≤3.50; where f, f1, f2 and f3 denote a focal length of the camera optical lens, the first lens, the second lens and the third lens, respectively; R1, R2 denote a central curvature radius of an object-side surface and an image-side surface of the first lens, respectively; R3, R4 denote a central curvature radius of an object-side surface and an image-side surface of the second lens, respectively; d2 denotes an on-axis distance from the image-side surface of the first lens to the object-side surface of the second lens, and d4 denotes an on-axis distance from the image-side surface of the second lens to an object-side surface of the third lens.

With the emergence of smart phones in recent years, the demand for miniature camera lens is increasing day by day, but in general the photosensitive devices of camera lens are nothing more than a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor (CMOS sensor), and as the progress of the semiconductor manufacturing technology makes the pixel size of the photosensitive devices become smaller, plus the current development trend of electronic products towards better functions and thinner and smaller dimensions, miniature camera lens with good imaging quality therefore have become a mainstream in the market.
In order to obtain better imaging quality, the lens that is traditionally equipped in mobile phone cameras adopts a structure of a three-piece. Also, with the development of technology and the increase of the diverse demands of users, and as the pixel area of photosensitive devices is becoming smaller and smaller and the requirement of the system on the imaging quality is improving constantly, a three-piece lens structure gradually appears in lens designs. The present three-piece lens structure generally has good optical performance, however an optical focal length, lens spacing, a lens shape thereof are still arranged unreasonably, so that the nine-piece lens structure cannot meet a design requirement of wide-angle ultra-thin and ultra-thin in the case when the lens structure remains good optical characteristics.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a camera optical lens with good optical performance and meeting a design requirement of wide-angle and ultra-thin.


A method and system for controlling the operation of a lean-burn engine whose exhaust gas is directed through an emission control device and a downstream reductant-concentration sensor, wherein a stored value for the device""s instantaneous capacity to store a selected exhaust gas constituent, such as NOx, is periodically adaptively updated when the sensor""s output signal falls outside a predetermined range during a device purge event. A device purge event is scheduled when an accumulated measure of instantaneous feedgas NOx concentration during lean engine operation exceeds the stored NOx-storage capacity value. The purge event is discontinued when the sensor""s output signal exceeds the upper limit of the predetermined range, or when a determined value representing a cumulative amount of excess fuel supplied to the engine during the purge event exceeds a threshold value calculated based upon previous values for stored NOx and stored oxygen.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and systems for the treatment of exhaust gas generated by xe2x80x9clean burnxe2x80x9d operation of an internal combustion engine which are characterized by reduced tailpipe emissions of a selected exhaust gas constituent.
2. Background Art
Generally, the operation of a vehicle""s internal combustion engine produces engine exhaust that includes a variety of constituent gases, including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The rates at which the engine generates these constituent gases are dependent upon a variety of factors, such as engine operating speed and load, engine temperature, ignition (xe2x80x9csparkxe2x80x9d) timing, and EGR. Moreover, such engines often generate increased levels of one or more constituent gases, such as NOx, when the engine is operated in a lean-burn cycle, i.e., when engine operation includes engine operating conditions characterized by a ratio of intake air to injected fuel that is greater than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, for example, to achieve greater vehicle fuel economy.
In order to control these vehicle tailpipe emissions, the prior art teaches vehicle exhaust treatment systems that employ one or more three-way catalysts, also referred to as emission control devices, in an exhaust passage to store and release selected exhaust gas constituents, such as NOx, depending upon engine operating conditions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,153 teaches an emission control device which stores exhaust gas NOx, when the exhaust gas is lean, and releases previously-stored NOx when the exhaust gas is either stoichiometric or xe2x80x9crichxe2x80x9d of stoichiometric, i.e., when the ratio of intake air to injected fuel is at or below the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio. Such systems often employ open-loop control of device storage and release times (also respectively known as device xe2x80x9cfillxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cpurgexe2x80x9d times) so as to maximize the benefits of increased fuel efficiency obtained through lean engine operation without concomitantly increasing tailpipe emissions as the device becomes xe2x80x9cfilled.xe2x80x9d
The timing of each purge event must be controlled so that the device does not otherwise exceed its capacity to store the selected exhaust gas constituent, because the selected constituent would then pass through the device and effect an increase in tailpipe emissions. Further, the timing of the purge event is preferably controlled to avoid the purging of only partially filled devices, due to the fuel penalty associated with the purge event""s enriched air-fuel mixture. Moreover, when plural emission control devices are deployed in series, excess feedgas HC and CO during the purge event are typically initially consumed in the upstream device to release stored oxygen, whereupon the excess feedgas HC and CO ultimately xe2x80x9cbreak throughxe2x80x9d the upstream device and enter the downstream device to thereby effect a both an initial release of oxygen previously stored in the downstream device and then a release of stored selected exhaust gas constituent.
The prior art has recognized that the storage capacity of a given emission control device is itself a function of many variables, including device temperature, device history, sulfation level, and the presence of any thermal damage to the device. Moreover, as the device approaches its maximum capacity, the prior art teaches that the incremental rate at which the device continues to store the selected constituent, also referred to as the instantaneous efficiency of the device, may begin to fall. Accordingly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,153 teaches use of a nominal NOx-retaining capacity for its disclosed device which is significantly less than the actual NOx-storage capacity of the device, to thereby provide the device with a perfect instantaneous NOx-absorbing efficiency, that is, so that the device is able to absorb all engine-generated NOx as long as the cumulative stored NOx remains below this nominal capacity. A purge event is scheduled to rejuvenate the device whenever accumulated estimates of engine-generated NOx reach the device""s nominal capacity. Unfortunately, however, the use of such a fixed nominal NOx capacity necessarily requires a larger device, because this prior art approach relies upon a partial, e.g., fifty-percent NOx fill in order to ensure retention of engine-generated NOx.
The amount of the selected constituent gas that is actually stored in a given emission control device during vehicle operation depends on the concentration of the selected constituent gas in the engine feedgas, the exhaust flow rate, the ambient humidity, the device temperature, and other variables including the xe2x80x9cpoisoningxe2x80x9d of the device with certain other constituents of the exhaust gas. For example, when an internal combustion engine is operated using a fuel containing sulfur, the prior art teaches that sulfur may be stored in the device and may correlatively cause a decrease in both the device""s absolute capacity to store the selected exhaust gas constituent, and the device""s instantaneous constituent-storing efficiency. When such device sulfation exceeds a critical level, the stored SOx must be xe2x80x9cburned offxe2x80x9d or released during a desulfation event, during which device temperatures are raised above perhaps about 650xc2x0 C. in the presence of excess HC and CO. By way of example only, U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,049 teaches a device desulfation method which includes raising the device temperature to at least 650xc2x0 C. by introducing a source of secondary air into the exhaust upstream of the device when operating the engine with an enriched air-fuel mixture and relying on the resulting exothermic reaction to raise the device temperature to the desired level to purge the device of SOx.
Thus, it will be appreciated that both the device capacity to store the selected exhaust gas constituent, and the actual quantity of the selected constituent stored in the device, are complex functions of many variables that prior art accumulation-model-based systems do not take into account. The inventors herein have recognized a need for a method and system for controlling an internal combustion engine whose exhaust gas is received by an emission control device which can more accurately determine the amount of the selected exhaust gas constituent, such as NOx, stored in an emission control device during lean engine operation and which, in response, can more closely regulate device fill and purge times to optimize tailpipe emissions.
Under the invention, a method is provided for controlling an engine operating over a range of operating conditions including those characterized by combustion of air-fuel mixtures that are both lean and rich of a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and wherein exhaust gas generated during engine operation is directed through an exhaust purification system including an upstream emission control device and a downstream sensor operative to generate an output signal representing a concentration of reductants, i.e., excess hydrocarbons, in the exhaust gas exiting the device. The method includes determining a first value representing a cumulative amount of a selected constituent of the engine feedgas, such as NOx, generated during an engine operating condition characterized by combustion of an air-fuel mixture lean of the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio (xe2x80x9ca lean operating conditionxe2x80x9d). The method also includes determining a second value representing an instantaneous capacity of the device to store the selected constituent, wherein the second value is determined as a function of a characteristic of the output signal generated by the reductant sensor during an engine operating condition characterized by combustion of an air-fuel mixture having an air-fuel ratio rich of the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio (xe2x80x9ca rich air-fuel ratioxe2x80x9d), and a predetermined reference value. The method further includes selecting an engine operating condition as a function of the first and second values.
More specifically, in a preferred embodiment in which the selected exhaust gas constituent is NOx, the first value is estimated using a lookup table containing mapped values for engine-generated NOx as a function of engine operating conditions, such as instantaneous engine speed and load, air-fuel ratio, spark and EGR. The lean operating condition is discontinued, and a rich operating condition suitable for purging the device of stored feedgas NOx is scheduled, when the first value representing accumulated feedgas NOx exceeds the second value representing the instantaneous device NOx-storage capacity. The second value is a previously stored value which is periodically adaptively updated based upon a comparison of the amplitude of the reductant sensor""s output signal with the predetermined reference value during a subsequent device purge event. In this manner, the storage of NOx by the device and, hence, the xe2x80x9cfill timexe2x80x9d during which the engine is operated in a lean operating condition, is optimized.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the method preferably includes calculating a third value representing the amount of fuel, in excess of a stoichiometric amount, which is necessary to purge the device of both stored selected exhaust gas constituent and stored oxygen, based on the first value representing accumulated exhaust gas constituent present in the engine feedgas and a previously stored fourth value representing the amount of excess fuel necessary to purge only stored oxygen from the device. The method also preferably includes determining a fifth value representing a cumulative amount of fuel, in excess of the stoichiometric amount, which has been supplied to the engine during a given rich operating condition; and discontinuing the purge event when the fifth value representing the supplied excess fuel exceeds the third value representing the necessary excess fuel to purge the device of all stored selected constituent and stored oxygen. In this manner, the invention optimizes the amount of excess fuel used to purge the device and, indirectly, the device purge time.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the method preferably includes selecting an engine operating condition suitable for desulfating the device when the second value representing the device""s instantaneous capacity to store the selected exhaust gas constituent falls below a minimum threshold value. The method further preferably includes indicating a deteriorated device if a predetermined number of device-desulfating engine operating conditions are performed without any significant increase in the second value.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the fourth value representing the oxygen-only excess fuel amount is periodically updated using an adaption value which is itself generated by comparing the amplitude of the reductant sensor""s output signal to a threshold value during a scheduled purge.
The above object and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the best mode for carrying out the invention when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Method and system for reducing lean-burn vehicle emissions using a downstream reductant sensor


A Liquid Flow Indicator Device comprising: a sight glass having one or more cages positioned around the sight glass for containing one or more indicator objects, so a user can see the indicator objects, which are visible to the user looking through the sight glass, thereby providing visual notification to the user. When the liquid is flowing through the cages and also the sight glass, the indicator objects will float around inside the cage, thereby providing visual notification to the user that the liquid is flowing through the cage and the sight glass. The indicator objects can also make a sound when the liquid flows through the sight glass and through the cage by banging around inside the cage, thereby providing audio notification to the user that the liquid is flowing through the sight glass. As such, this invention provides Audio notifications and/or Visual notifications regarding the flow of liquid. A fluid transport system and a method of using the device.

With the rise in oil production and the need for carrying this precious commodity, wasting it becomes an unacceptable practice for the oil production companies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulations on preventing oil spills, and oil shipping companies have to obey and act in the best interest of these regulations.
In recent years, reports have shown that an estimate of 18,000-24,000 oil spills occur from the production, storage, transport, and use of oil, and about 10-25 million gallons of oil are spilled yearly. These oil spills not only affect the companies in terms of monetary loss, but they also can release toxins into our environment, threatening public health and safety and damaging wildlife habitats.
With the increased oil production in the U.S. in particular, transporting this commodity becomes crucial in order to refine the extracted oil substances into various by-products. The methods of transporting oil can vary from air, sea, and land but the most efficient and cost effective method is through sea transportation. Unfortunately, there are many situations which require oil, or other liquids, such as hazardous, volatile, and/or flammable liquids, gasoline, fuels, fuel oil, chemicals, etc., to be transported over land, and this requires trucks equipped with large tanks to be utilized. These trucks, also known simply as tankers, require that specific measures of safety and precision be taken in order to deliver the oil to its destination whether it's a local gas station, refinery, or factory fuel supply.
Some tankers (e.g., sometimes called cargo tankers) might carry up to about 11000 gallons, for example, but this may vary based on the type and size of the tankers. The EPA has certain requirements that must be obeyed by tankers, for example collection efficiency should be assumed to be 98.7 percent. This means that for tanker trucks without leakage, the tanker should not be filled to 100 percent of its capacity.
A tanker-type truck is conventionally utilized to transport fuel from storage depots to various service stations. Typically, the tanker is divided into a plurality of containers holding various types of fuel. A sight glass is preferably provided in the discharge tube from the tanker so that the flow of fuel may be directly observed by the tanker driver when discharging the fuel into the storage tanks at the service station. In this way, the tanker driver can check that fuel is flowing through the tube, as well as confirm the type of fuel flowing therethrough.
One type of sight glass currently utilized for this purpose is composed of a solid clear cast acrylic substance formed in the shape of a ring. The clear acrylic ring is then fastened between a pair of flanges conventionally found in a connection between two sections of the tanker discharge tube. In this way, fuel flows through the hollow interior of the clear acrylic ring for viewing by the tanker driver.
It is not uncommon to find additives mixed in with conventional fuel products in order to raise the octane level of the fuel. Such additives, such as MTBE, have been found to dissolve, craze, or optically cloud the acrylic material, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the material as a sight glass. Acrylic is preferred material for use as a sight glass in fuel lines, since the material is clear, yet more resistant to breakage than glass.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved sight glass device for fuel lines.
Tanker drivers while delivering liquid products have no knowledge of product flow. Once the driver connects all of the hoses and opens the main internal valve on the tanker, the fuel begins to flow. There is no way to know what really is happening, other than a slight view through an acrylic sight glass that is approximately 2″ thick. Under really good lighting and a new slight glass, the driver can see there is the liquid flowing from the tank. But, with bad lighting and an old sight glass that are discolored/yellowed, the driver can only guess, by picking up the hose to see if it is full. It is basically a blind process.
Unfortunately, the industry is plagued with this issue. As such, there is a need in the art for new device and a new way to help tanker driver better identify when liquid is flowing and when the liquid has stop flowing, so the tanker driver can be sure that there is no liquids that were accidently left on the tanker. Additionally and most importantly, we need to prevent cross contamination and/or over fills while loading at a local gas station, refinery, or factory fuel supply.
This new device is a simple addition to existing fixtures that allows the driver to see as well as now be able to hear that the liquid is flowing and that his lines are full with product moving as well as being able to hear when the liquid has stop flowing.
It is an object of this new device to allow the tanker drivers to have full knowledge that the product is moving in the hose and stopping him/her from prematurely closing the internal valve until all of the liquid has been transferred and it is complete.
It is an object of this new invention to create a new device that is very simple and helps solve a problem tanker driver have continuously had that was supposedly solve with high priced electronics that claim to service this same issue, but were not effective.
Most importantly with this device is the knowledge that it transfers to the tanker driver of what is going on during the transfer of liquids, which has never been fully addressed by the prior inventions.
This new invention allows tanker drivers to see an object inside the sight glass, a novel point. With this invention the driver can see one or more indicator balls bouncing around in the flow of liquid. A second novel point is that the balls bounce against an aluminum screen, making a distinct noise, an audible sound that the driver can hear. Similar to a popcorn and/or a rattling noise, that allows them to hear liquid flowing. There has never been a product with an audible response in the industry. While unloading at night or in inclement weather, being able to hear and knowing that the fuel is flowing is an incredible safety feature.
It is an object of this new device to position it in the sight glass pinched between the flanges and position it between the piping that leaves the internal valve and ends at the final shut off butterfly valve and folded into the sight glass pinched between the flanges.
It is a further object of this device to create a cage made of aluminum or stainless steel or similar material and hold one or more balls like marbles that are not effected by the material being transferred and contained inside the sight glass holding these balls into the flow of product. When the product is flowing, these balls bounce and bang against the cage in the flow. The driver can see the balls bouncing, due to they are a different color than the product. While they are bouncing, they are making this very unique sound, a rattle and/or tinkling noise that is never before heard while moving liquids. This alone is a novel invention that has never been introduced before.
As such, there is a need in the art for an invention that provides a device that enhances Audio and Visual notifications to users regarding the flow of liquid.

Liquid flow indicator device and method of use


A method and system for interactive and automated assistance with document (e.g., forms) completion for use in complying with requirements or otherwise performing functions for which automated documents are useful, and a user interface for a code authoring tool to support development, customization, and revision of such documents. The user interface for document completion includes search functions to identify documents needing completion, highlighting of fields of documents based on priority for completion of those fields, and a compliance check feature to confirm proper document completion. The code authoring tool allows a user to customize the format of data limitations for fields in documents, define selection choices presented, which are linked to the fields, create help, warning, or error messages, build calculations, define business rules, and generate code and associated documentation, which may be optionally exported.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for providing automated forms for compliance and other purposes, as well as a user interface (UI) relating thereto, and in particular to a method and system for providing user-friendly automated forms, and completion assistance therefore, via a network, for use with compliance with legal or other requirements, such as requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and for providing a UI allowing simple development of templates and corresponding code and code documentation for such forms.
2. Background of the Technology
There is an unmet need in the art for methods and systems for tracking information, supporting compliance with regulatory and other requirements, expertly assisting with completing forms, developing code and code documentation therefor, and otherwise providing assistance in meeting requirements for the complex and sophisticated management schemes that institutions need to use in order to effectively and efficiently manage mandated individualized instructional paths, disciplinary/rehabilitative paths, or social intervention paths for hundreds if not thousands of students, juveniles, etc., simultaneously, all with different start and end dates, and different internal individualized management requirements.
For example, looking at mandated individualized instructional paths, it is not uncommon to find that a U.S. public K-12 school district may need to manage 30% or more of its student population under individualized instructional programs, such as Special Education, 504, English Second Language, Early Intervention/Student Support Team, Gifted and Talented, or At Risk of Failing High Stakes Exit Exams. Each of these programs includes requirements involving events or meetings (e.g., Referrals, or Annual Meetings or Reevaluation Meetings), associated timelines, linked paperwork, and mandated outcomes. There are two key challenges for school districts in managing these programs—one is meeting the many mandated Federal and State timelines that must be met for each child, and the second challenge is filling out in a compliant manner all of the paperwork mandated for each child. On the timeline front, successful, consistent, legally compliant execution of these individualized programs by a school district requires the tight coordination of dozens of action steps across multiple team members for each affected child within relatively short time periods. Failure to effectively manage, what in many school districts may be thousands of individualized instructional paths occurring simultaneously, significantly diminishes the education effectiveness of these interventions, exposes the district to serious legal liability for violating Federal and State law, risks loss of full Federal and State funding, and drives up a districts' administrative overhead.
On the second front, managing the paperwork creates a different set of issues. In these programs, such as Special Education, it is not just simple paperwork that district staff are spending their time filling out, but rather it is paperwork with embedded legal procedural requirements. These requirements include compliance rules, such as the following: district staff check one box which immediately mandates the filling out of additional pages; when a child hits a certain birthday in the coming year, other paperwork is mandated for a transition plan for the child. Other built-in rules might be checking to see if parents are given adequate advance notice of meetings, or checking to see if a child needs a behavioral intervention plan. In Special Education, there is governing Federal law, and then each state has implemented its own interpretation of that Federal law at the state level. So every school district in this country is operating under a state specific blend of Federal and state law. It is not uncommon that there may be 200 or more compliance rules covering a district's paperwork. Many of these rules are quite sophisticated, and frequently less than 5% of the district's staff fully and accurately understand all of the relevant rules. This lack of understanding is understandable, as these staff were typically hired to teach, not to be paralegals. In addition, the situation is exacerbated by high staff turnover in districts, lack of fully certified Special Education teachers, and inadequate professional training by school districts of their own staff.
School staff incorrectly observing these compliance rules create huge legal liabilities for their districts. As one Special Educator director has observed "Parents and their attorneys are leveraging our small failures in paperwork into substantial settlements against us". Nationally, school districts are paying out settlements ranging from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars for failures related to filling out the paperwork noncompliantly. Districts have responded to these failures in many cases by adding more administrators, and by hiring staff known as "compliance officers," who basically read every set of Special Education paperwork generated in a district, manually noting the most serious compliance errors, and who then return the paperwork to the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) teams to rehold meeting that have substantial compliance problems in their paperwork. This is an incredibly costly approach for school districts to take.
All of these individualized instructional paths (or behavioral/rehabilitative/social intervention paths such as managing juvenile services) point to the unmet need for a software based method and system for tracking and supporting compliance with a management scheme around events, outcomes, timelines, and associated paperwork, including assisting with completion of forms. The appropriate needed database structure, and needed forms for production therewith, could simplistically be said to track the "Who needs to do what? When do they need to do it by? Did they do it? When did they do it? And if they were late, why were they late?" At the teacher or staff level, such a database structure and forms assistant needs to support staff at any point in time in knowing explicitly what they need to do, in determining when do they need to do it by, and assisting them with timely completing any forms relating thereto. At the administrator level, such a database and forms structure needs to let administrators manage to district standards for performance, allowing transparent accountability of district wide performance, regional performance, building or site performance, and even down to the individual provider performance.

Method and system for compliance forms and compliance forms user interface


In a starter, an output shaft is coaxially disposed with a rotating shaft of a motor. A pinion tube is helical-spline-fitted on the output shaft and has a pinion mounted on a non-motor-side end portion thereof. A shift lever is driven by an electromagnetic solenoid to shift both the pinion tube and the pinion relative to the output shaft in a direction away from the motor and thereby bring the pinion into mesh with a ring gear of an engine. A one-way clutch includes an outer arranged so as to be rotated by torque generated by the motor, an inner integrally formed with a motor-side end portion of the output shaft, and a plurality of intermediate members that are arranged between the outer and the inner so as to allow torque transmission from the outer to the inner and inhibit torque transmission from the inner to the outer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to starters which have a pinion tube spline-fitted on an output shaft and are configured to shift the pinion tube relative to the output shaft in a direction away from a motor and thereby bring a pinion supported on a non-motor-side end portion of the pinion tube into mesh with a ring gear of an engine.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known, for example from Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-177168 (to be simply referred to as Patent Document 1 hereinafter), a starter that has a cantilever structure.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the starter includes: an output shaft 100 configured to be driven by a motor (not shown); a pinion tube 120 fitted on the output shaft 100 via a pair of bearings 110; a one-way roller clutch 130 configured to transmit rotation of the output shaft 100 to the pinion tube 120; a pinion 140 that is straight-spline-fitted on a non-motor-side end portion (i.e., a left end portion in FIG. 5) of the pinion tube 120; and a housing 160 that supports the pinion tube 120 via a bearing 150 axially positioned between the clutch 130 and the pinion 140. Further, the starter is configured so that with operation of an electromagnetic switch (not shown), the pinion tube 120 and the clutch 130 are together shifted relative to the output shaft 100 in the axial direction away from the motor (i.e., in the leftward direction in FIG. 5), thereby bringing the pinion 140 fitted on the pinion tube 120 into mesh with a ring gear (not shown) of an engine.
With the above configuration, however, the pinion tube 120, the clutch 130 and the pinion 140 together make up a moving body that is shifted by operation of the electromagnetic switch in the axial direction away from the motor for bringing the pinion 140 into mesh with the ring gear of the engine. Consequently, the mass of the moving body may be too large to minimize the size of the electromagnetic switch that is configured to create a magnetic attraction for shifting the moving body.
On the other hand, there is known, for example from Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-146759 (to be simply referred to as Patent Document 2 hereinafter), another starter that also has a cantilever structure.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the starter includes a pinion shaft 170 that is helical-spline-fitted to the inner periphery of an inner 131 of the clutch 130 so as to be axially movable relative to the clutch 130. Further, on a non-motor-side end portion (i.e., a left end portion in FIG. 6) of the pinion shaft 170, there is mounted the pinion 140.
With the above configuration, only the pinion shaft 170 and the pinion 140 together make up a moving body that is shifted by operation of the electromagnetic switch in the axial direction away from the motor for bringing the pinion 140 into mesh with the ring gear of the engine. That is, the clutch 130 is kept axially unmoved and thus not included in the moving body. Consequently, the mass of the moving body can be reduced in comparison with that in the starter disclosed in Patent Document 1, thereby making it possible to minimize the size of the electromagnetic switch.
However, in the starter disclosed in Patent Document 2, the inner 131 of the clutch 130 has female helical splines formed on an inner periphery thereof, while the pinion shaft 170 has male helical splines formed on an outer periphery thereof for meshing with the female helical splines. Therefore, on the radially inside of the inner 131, there exists a radial clearance between the inner 131 and the pinion shaft 170 that are helical-spline-fitted to each other. On the other hand, on the radially outside of the inner 131, there exist both a radial clearance between the inner 131 and rollers 133 of the clutch 130 and a radial clearance between the rollers 133 and an outer 132 of the clutch 130. That is, the radial clearances exist on both the radially inside and outside of the inner 131. Consequently, the pinion shaft 170 may be considerably inclined due to the radial clearances, causing wear of other components including the bearing 150 for supporting the pinion shaft 170 and gears of a speed reducer (not shown) for reducing the rotational speed of the motor. As a result, it may be difficult to secure high durability (or a long service life) of the starter.


The present invention provides a system for serving information data such as video data to one or more users, comprising: one or more storage medium units for storing data of said information data; one or more end devices for receipt of said information data by the user; managing means for managing distribution of said data to said end device, the managing means being capable of receiving demand data form said user and related to data selected by the user in the end device, and which managing means output distribution control data including channel information of the selected information data and routs information from the end device; and least one ATM switch for connecting the storage medium unit, the end device and the managing means, and for routing the data from the storage medium unit and the distribution control data from the managing means.

Conventional cable tv systems deliver video data from a distribution company through a cable to monitors of a number of viewers. Although nowadays many programs are distributed through many channels by each cable tv company, the user or viewer has to wait until the desired program is started and transmitted through a selected channel.
Recently, also interactive video systems have been proposed. In such interactive video system a viewer can chose a desired movie to be displayed on the monitor of said viewer. In such video-on-demand system a direct connection to the monitor or end device of a user is established, whereafter a demanded movie can be viewed by the end user.
In this known system it is however virtually impossible to upscale the system after it has been established e.g. by a distribution company. When the number of members for such a system increases and the number of demanded videos is increased, a new interactive video system has to be built.


Disclosed herein is a method and system to reduce the area and power dissipation in digital filters or multipliers. Compared to radix-4 Booth coding the proposed method reduces the number of partial products by one, if the input signal has certain limits on its range. One exemplary application is echo cancellation in a full duplex pulse amplitude modulation system with 10 levels (PAM-10). Echo cancellation may be achieved by calculating a digital replica of the echo from the transmission channel. The replica signal may be calculated in a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, which multiplies the transmitted signal with estimates of the echo coefficients of the transmission channel. The replica signal may be subtracted from the received signal to create an echo-free receive signal. The disclosed method may reduce the number of partial products between the PAM-10 transmit signal and each echo coefficient from three, when radix-4 Booth coding is used, to two. This in turn may reduce the number of adders in each tap multiplier of the FIR filter from two to one, resulting in lower area, lower power dissipation, and potentially higher switching speeds.

Information transmission at maximum transmission rates is the quest of the information transmission designer. Adapting existing data transmission infrastructure to accommodate faster transmission rates may also be desirable. As data transmission rates are increased, data corruption may result from effects such as attenuation, echo, return loss, and crosstalk in the existing transmission infrastructure.
Attenuation may be defined as signal loss between a transceiver and a receiver. Attenuation may increase with increasing data transmission frequency. Echo may occur as a result of full duplex operation or parallel transmission, i.e., where both the transmit and receive signals are active on the same wire. Residual transmit signal and cabling return loss may combine to produce unwanted signals which may be referred to as echo. Echo may occur due to power reflections due to cable impedance mismatches.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with embodiments presented in the remainder of the present application with references to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hardware efficient implementation of finite impulse response filters with limited range input signals


A tunneling tool for implanting a medical device into body tissue is described. The tunneling tool comprises a first leg and a second leg. An intermediate portion of the second leg is shaped to nest a medical device therein. A hub connects the first and second distal leg ends together. A sheath providing a lumen extends from the hub to an open end distal of the first and second legs. The first and second legs are manipulatable to separate the hub and the sheath into two portions, a first split portion connected to the first leg and a second split portion connected to the second leg. When a medical device is nested in the tunneling tool, breaking the tunneling tool apart enables the first and second split portions to be removed from body tissue, leaving the implanted medical device behind.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to implantable monitoring devices, and implantation systems and methods for implanting the monitoring devices at a subcutaneous implant location.
2. Prior Art
Implantable devices that monitor cardiac physiologic activity are frequently implanted subcutaneously under a patient's skin in the chest. An implantable loop recorder (ILR) is an example of a device that may be implanted in this fashion. The exemplary ILR 10 shown in FIG. 1 is shaped like a small pacemaker. The ILR comprises a housing 12 for the device electronics and battery power source. A header 14 is supported on the housing and contains conductors connected to the device electronics through one or more hermetic feedthroughs. An antenna 16 extends outwardly from a header 14. This device can be used to record an electrocardiogram (EGG) signal for the patient.
To implant the ILR device, a 25 mm incision is made, a subcutaneous pocket is formed near the incision, and a tunnel is formed to extend away from the pocket for placement of the flexible lead using a tool or finger. The ILR device may be inserted through the incision and placed in the subcutaneous pocket, tested for proper operation, and repositioned if necessary. The incision is then closed.
Implanting ILR devices in this manner may be difficult, especially for physicians who are not skilled in device implantation. If the ILR device is improperly implanted, undesirable complications for the patient or suboptimal device performance may result. In addition, tearing of tissue during formation of the pocket and tunnel, for example, may result in tissue bleeding that requires appropriate steps during surgery to avoid hematoma. In addition, it may be necessary to employ fluoroscopy to assure that the antenna is properly positioned under the skin. If not properly positioned, the ILR and antenna may require repositioning to obtain an optimal EGG signal. This may extend the surgery duration, which may increase risk of infection and trauma, as well as expense.
Accordingly a need exists for an improved insertion system for a simpler approach to insertion, shorter insertion time, reduced risk of complications, reduced expense, and a reduced need for expensive equipment, such as fluoroscopy, during device placement.

Tunneling tool for deliberate placement of an ILR