A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a test input/output port including test pads; an internal input interface configured to generate an internal clock, an internal address, an internal command, internal data and temporary storage data in response to external signals through the test input/output port; and an error detection block configured to determine whether the internal data and the temporary storage data are the same, and output a result through one test pad of the port. The internal input interface includes a data input/output block which generates the internal data and the data input/output block includes a temporary storage part which stores the internal data as the temporary storage data, a data output part which receives the temporary storage data, and a data input part which receives an output of the data output part and outputs it as the internal data.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments relate to a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory apparatus.
2. Related Art
Generally, a semiconductor integrated circuit, for example, a semiconductor memory apparatus may include a plurality of pads for communication with a system. The pad may be disposed in a signal transfer port of the semiconductor memory apparatus. As the semiconductor memory apparatus is highly integrated and is scaled down, the size of the pads is gradually decreasing.
Currently, a pad increasingly used among pads with scaled-down sizes is a micro bump. Since the size of such a micro bump is small, it is difficult to directly test the micro bump using the pin of test equipment. Although a test may be performed by mounting a semiconductor memory apparatus including micro bumps, to a substrate (for example, a printed circuit board: PCB), it is not in reason to test entire mass-produced semiconductor memory apparatuses by mounting them to a substrate.
While a semiconductor memory apparatus with micro bumps may be tested by providing test-pads with a size larger than the micro bumps, because the test-pads have a large size, it is difficult to realize high density semiconductor memory apparatus integrated in a large number of test-pads. Therefore, a technology capable of testing a semiconductor memory apparatus using a limited number of test pads is demanded.

Semiconductor integtrated circuit including test pads


An information handling system (‘IHS’) cooling apparatus includes a blank base comprising a pair of opposing ends. A connector engagement member extends from each opposing end of the blank base. A notch is defined by the blank base and located on each opposing end of the blank base. A contacts channel is defined by the blank base and the connector engagement members and extends between the opposing ends of the blank base. The IHS cooling apparatus may be secured in an IHS connector in order to direct airflow over memory devices secured in adjacent IHS connectors.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to directing airflow in an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system ('IHS'). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Some IHSs include memory devices that need to be cooled by fans coupled to the IHS. As the memory power density of the memory devices in IHSs increase, achieving the thermal and acoustic goals for the IHS raises a number of issues.
Conventionally, the cooling of the memory devices is typically accomplished by using a fan to move air over the memory devices. However, due to acoustical goals for the IHS, increasing the fan speed in order to provide additional cooling may not be advantageous, as the increased fan speed provides unwanted noise. One proven method for increasing cooling without increasing fan speed is to reduce the amount of bypass airflow around the memory devices. This is typically accomplished by providing an airflow blocking member moveably connected to the IHS chassis. The airflow blocking member typically occupies the space normally taken up by a memory device in the IHS when there is no memory device installed in a memory device slot on the IHS in order to block airflow through that space. The airflow blocking member is then operable to move out of the way of a memory device and into the IHS chassis when the memory device is installed a memory device slot on the IHS.
However, some IHSs include a plurality of densely packed smaller chassis which are positioned in a larger chassis that includes fans for moving air through the plurality of smaller chassis. The smaller chassis also includes memory devices which need to be cooled by the fans, but the densely packed smaller chassis typically do not include the space required to include airflow blocking members moveably connected to the smaller chassis that can move in and out of the space provided for the memory devices in order to block airflow from the fans when memory devices are not present in the memory device slots on the IHS.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide for directing airflow in an IHS absent disadvantages, some of which have been discussed above.

Directing airflow for an information handling system


A method for database processing includes allocating primary, secondary and tertiary data structures for each column. Columnar content is written into the primary data structure. Updated values are written into the tertiary data structure. Storage keys indicate correspondence to the primary data structure. Query responses involve first reading updated values from the tertiary data structure, sorting by storage keys, storing into the secondary data structure, and clearing the tertiary data structure. Then the primary and secondary data structures are consulted to respond to the query, reading the value for each row from the secondary data structure where present, otherwise from the primary data structure. A commit phase produces a new version of the primary data structure by merging the secondary data structure and an old version of the primary data structure, consulting them in a similar manner.

Reference document 1 (Stonebraker et al.) generally explains how column-oriented databases differ from more traditional row-oriented databases. In very general terms, in a traditional row-oriented database engine attributes of a record (or tuple) are placed contiguously in storage. Row-oriented database engines provide good performance for writing (inserting and updating data), and they are efficient for On-Line Transaction Processing ("OLTP"). Stonebraker et al. also disclose an example of a column-oriented database engine in which the values for each single column (or attribute) are stored contiguously. A column-oriented storage layout supposedly allows for better compression of data, because typically the variation among the same attribute for all records is smaller than the variation among all the attributes of a single record. In a modern database server the performance bottleneck is often the data transfer speed to and from the permanent storage, and better compression alleviates this bottleneck. As a result, column-oriented database engines are increasingly popular for applications that involve reading large volumes of data. Such applications are frequently called On-Line Analytical Processing ("OLAP") applications. OLAP database engines are optimized for reading or query processing in applications wherein a query may span a great deal of all the data stored in the database.
One of the problems associated with the above arrangement is related to the fact that when an attribute of a record in the database is to be updated, it may not be possible to update that piece of data in-place in the compressed form. Typically, the entire compressed data block has to be re-compressed. If there is a large volume of updates to process, this re-compression may have a great adverse effect on the update performance in a column-oriented database which utilizes compression.

Mechanism for updates in a database engine


A method is provided for producing non-glycosylated single chain prourokinase (proUK). The method comprises cultivating bacterial strains of E. coli which have been transformed with plasmids carrying the cDNA sequence coding for proUK.

Urokinase-type plasminogen activators (u-PAs) are found in at least three different forms in human urine, plasma and conditioned culture medium from a variety of cell lines. The first form to be characterized as u-PA consisted of a fibrinolytically active polypeptide of 410 amino acids, with an apparent moelcular weight of 54000 daltons, containing two disulfide-linked chains (Gunzler, W. A., Steffens, G. J., Oetting, F., Kim, SM. A. Frankus, E., and Flohe, L.: Hoppe--Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 363, p. 1155, 1982).
The A-chain or light chain contains 157 amino acids and one triple disulfide-bonded "kringle" structure. This chain also contains a receptor binding domain for normal and neoplastic cells (monocytes, monocyte-like cells and A 431 epidermoid cells). The B chain or heavy chain (30000 daltons) consists of 253 amino acids and contains the catalytic domain.
This molecular form of u-PA is generally termed urokinase (UK), two chain urokinase (TC-UK) or high molecular weight urokinase (HMW-UK)(Gunzler, W. A., Steffens, G. J., Oetting, F., Buze, G., and Flohe, L.: Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Phisiol. Chem. 363, p. 133, 1982). The second form of u-PA has a molecular weight of 33000 daltons and results from proteolytic degradation of the HMW form by either plasmin or trypsin. It is called low molecular weight urokinase (LMW-UK). Protein sequence determinations have revealed that LMW-UK is identical to HMW-UK except for the absence of the NH2-terminal 135 amino acids that are specifically removed by the action of plasmin or trypsin (Steffens, G. J., Gunzler, W. A. Oetting, F., Frankus, E., and Flohe, L., Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Phisiol. Chem., 363, p. 1043, 1982). Native prourokinase (proUK) is a single chain (54000 daltons) form of urokinase and is also termed single chain urokinase type plasminogen activator (scu-PA). As stated before, proUK displays a fibrin-specific thrombolytic activity and is therefore a better thrombolytic agent compared to the presently used high or low molecular weight urokinases.
In order to produce prourokinase, the authors of the present invention have developed a recombinant DNA procedure which allows the preparation of large amounts of the proUK polypeptidic chain.
Several methods have been described in the scientific and patent literature for the production of proUK (Holmes, W. E., Pennica, D., Blaber, M., Rey, M. W., Gunzler, W. A., Steffens, G. J. and Heynecker, H. L.; Biotechnology, 3 , p. 923, 1985; European Patent Application 0092182). However, the method described within the text of the present invention exploits parameters known to be important for the expression of heterologous proteins in E. coli, but whose combination has never been applied before to the production of recombinant proUK.
The main parameters, whose combination contributes to the establishment of a recombinant strain of E. coli, able to produce proUK, and which represents the object of the present invention, are the E. coli promoter Ptrp, the Shine-Dalgarno sequence MS-2 from the phage MS-2, and E. coli strains of the type B as hosts for the expression of the human proUK gene (see below).
Such combination is crucial. Substitution of one of these parameters with an alternative expression signal may not yield as much proUK.
Accordingly, object of the present invention is a method for the preparation of non glycosilated pro-UK, characterized in that non-glycosilated pro-UK is expressed under the control of the E. coli promoter Ptrp and the Shine-Dalgarno sequence MS-2 by E. coli B.


A method and apparatus are disclosed for setting an initial transmit power level of a deployable network that overlaps in coverage with a WAN. Multiple transmit power levels are determined. For each transmit power level, a geographical coverage area of the deployable network at an incident is determined based on a signal propagation model, a first set of mobile devices is determined that are within the geographical coverage area and that are involved in responding to the incident, and a second set of mobile devices is determined that are within the geographical coverage area, that are not involved in responding to the incident, and that may be interfered with by transmissions of the deployable network. A transmit power level of the multiple transmit power levels then is selected as the initial transmit power level based on the first and second sets of mobile devices determined for each transmit power level.

It is important that public-safety responders have an adequate link to communication services (for example, telephony, data services, and the like) when responding to an incident. However, in many instances, the available RAN signal may not have enough capacity to support the required public-safety mission. To facilitate communication between the responders and offsite utilities, incident area networks (IANs) are often set up using deployable networks. These deployable networks establish a link between a given mobile device (for example, a handheld mobile radio) and a given network resource, typically using some standard for over-the-air communication, for example, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol.
It is desirable that a deployable network be able to communicate with public-safety responders as quickly as possible. However, it is also important that the deployable network minimally interfere with reception by mobile devices utilizing an overlapping wide area network (WAN) and that are not responding to the incident. Therefore, for the sake of general efficiency and for optimized allocation of network resources, it is important that transmissions by deployable base stations be coordinated with existing communication networks. On the other hand, occurrences of incidents often are unpredictable and therefore coordination between an IAN and an overlapping WAN often is, at least initially, nearly impossible.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as "circuitry" may equally be accomplished via replacement with software instruction executions either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP). It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Method and apparatus for transmit power control by a deployable network in a wireless communication system


The invention provides a cell line comprising Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Preferably, the cell line is a body cavity-based lymphoma cell line, and more preferably, the cell line does not harbor Epstein-Barr virus. Two cell lines designated BC-2 and BC-3 are thus provided. These cell lines can be used in a method of propagating KSHV. The method comprises culturing the cell line, wherein the KSHV within the cell line thereby propagates. The BC-3 cell line, in particular, can be used in a method of propagating KSHV in the absence of Epstein-Barr virus. The method comprises culturing the cell line designated BC-3, wherein the KSHV within the cell line thereby propagates. Further provided is a purified viral suspension of KSHV, as well as a composition comprising purified KSHV and a suitable carrier.

Throughout this application various publications are referenced, many in parenthesis. Full citations for each of these publications are provided at the end of the Detailed Description. The disclosures of each of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
Recent studies have shown the presence of DNA sequences belonging to a novel herpesvirus in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tissues (Chang et al. 1994). This virus has been called KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and is provisionally designated human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Although KSHV does not appear to be present in control tissues from non-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients (Chang et al. 1994; Moore and Chang 1995) or in the peripheral blood of normal blood donors (Whitby et al. 1995), it has been detected in two unique and distinctive categories of lymphoid proliferations, namely the primary effusion (body cavity-based) lymphomas (BCBL) (Cesarman et al. 1995a) and multicentric Castleman's disease (Soulier et al. 1995). The BCBLs are a distinct group of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas presenting with a unique spectrum of clinical, morphologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular genetic characteristics that distinguish them from most AIDS-related lymphomas (Knowles et al. 1989; Walts et al. 1990; Green et al. 1995). More specifically, BCBLs tend to present in the pleural, pericardial, and/or abdominal cavities as lymphomatous effusions, usually in the absence of any identifiable tumor mass throughout the clinical course. They have an unusual immunophenotype in that they commonly express CD45 in the absence of other B- or T-cell lineage-restricted antigens. At the molecular level, they are characterized by a B-cell genotype as determined by clonal immunoglobulin (Ig) gene rearrangements, the presence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the lack of c-myc gene rearrangements (Cesarman et al. 1995a; Knowles et al. 1989; Green et al. 1995; Chadburn et al. 1993).
Sequence analysis of the KS330Bam and KS631Bam fragments of KSHV, as well as of cloned flanking regions (Chang et al. 1994), has shown homology to two viruses in particular: EBV (Baer et al. 1984) and herpesvirus saimiri (HVS) (Albrecht et al. 1992). Both of these viruses are members of the gammaherpesvirinae subfamily of herpesvirus, which members are characterized by their propensity to infect and transform lymphoblastoid cells (Roizman 1990; Liebowitz and Kieff 1993; Fleckenstein and Desrosiers 1982). The degree of homology, with amino acid identities in the range of 30% to 50%, is consistent with these sequences belonging to a novel member of the same family, which is referred to as Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) (also referred to as human herpesvirus 8 or HHV-8). It is well known that EBV immortalizes B cells in vitro and is associated with certain malignant lymphomas, including Burkitt's lymphoma, some AIDS-related lymphomas, the post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders, and Hodgkin's disease (Liebowitz and Kieff 1993). HVS is a virus of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) that can be isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy animals but causes fulminant T-cell lymphomas in New World primates other than its natural hosts (Fleckenstein and Desrosiers 1982). HVS is also capable of transforming human T lymphocytes to continuous growth in vitro (Biesinger et al. 1992). Thus, the two herpesviruses most homologous to KSHV have the ability to latently infect peripheral blood lymphocytes of their natural host, immortalize lymphocytes in vitro, and lead to the development of malignant lymphomas. This finding, in conjunction with the presence of KSHV sequences in all AIDS-BCBLs analyzed thus far, suggests that these sequences may play a pathogenic role in the development of some malignant lymphomas.
A need exists, therefore, to find means to isolate and propagate KSHV so that more can be learned about KSHV.


A bed portion, minutely speaking, a portion corresponding to a rise-and-fall position of a needle, of a lock stitching machine or an over-lock stitching machine is formed into a unit and combined with a machine proper in a mounting/detaching free state, and uses plural sewing units that are selectively exchanged for each other. The machine proper 1 is formed by cutting of a top portion of a bed 1" on the right of a needle plate portion, leaving the cut-off portion as a connecting surface 5. A sewing unit 2 or 3 is formed by providing a needle plate 12, feeding teeth 13, a shuttle drive mechanism 15, a cloth feed mechanism 19 or loopers 47 and 49 and their drive mechanism 48 and 58 in one unit body. Its right side is left as a connecting surface 20, and the two elements are combined as one body in a mounting/detaching free state through a shaft coupling 7, a fitting portion 10 and a combining means 11, respectively protruding on the abovementioned two connecting surface.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a sewing machine and characterized by forming a machine with a vertical cut-off part of the bed of a sewing machine at an appropriate point on the right-hand side of a rise-and-fall position of a needle, and also forming a sewing unit provided with a needle plate, a feeding teeth, a shuttle or a looper, etc., and connecting the sewing unit to the cut-off part of the bed of the sewing machine so as to perform a desired stitching.
(2) State of the Prior Art
Conventional sewing machines may be divided into two types, for example, a locking stitching machine which can perform lock stitching or zigzag stitching optionally, and a lock stitching machine which can perform over-lock stitching or cover hemming.
Further, there is a sewing machine as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,677, owned by the applicant of the present application, and applicable to a combined use for lock stitching and over-lock stitching.
The above-mentioned conventional sewing machine having a combined use for lock stitching and over-lock stitching is provided on a portion of a bed with a shuttle and a driving means for lock stitching, and at the same time is provided with upper and lower loopers and driving means for over-lock stitching. It is able to select either lock stitching or over-lock stitching by operating an actuation switch-over means provided on the bed portion.
Among the above-mentioned conventional sewing machines, the first cited machines are respectively of almost single capacity. Therefore, in the case of users desiring various kinds of stitchings, it is required to have a plural number of sewing machines of different stitching functions. Thus, users need to buy many sewing machines.
While in the case of the example cited last, over-lock stitching as well as lock stitching including zigzag stitching and pattern stitching can be performed by a single sewing machine. Therefore, the latter has an advantage in that it is less expensive than the former, but, at the same time it has a disadvantage in that it has to set various elements in its narrow bed, and thereby becomes complicated in structure, difficult to assemble and high in manufacturing cost, Moreover, the functions given to the machine may interfere with each other and thereby cannot be fully used.
Thus, it has been a problem to develop a sewing machine which is easy for users to operate and easy to manufacture while being hard to break down, and which enables users to perform their desired mode of stitching selectively.

Convertible lock and over-lock sewing machine


A database management system has a data structure intending to manage external files and an external file linking function extension called during an update process of a record including the data structure, whereby update of the record is carried out in synchronism with update of the content of an external file to maintain matching between the record and the external file. By reflecting the update on only a link destination file of an updated database record in accordance with the number of references from the database record to the file, the edition management of files using the database can be realized.

The present invention relates to a system for managing "files" defined by a file system of operating system (hereinafter referred to as an OS file system), under the control of a database management system (hereinafter referred to as a DBMS) and more particularly, to database-file link method and apparatus which are effective when the content of a file managed by the database management system is updated.
Datalinks in a database for managing external data are disclosed in "DATALINKS: MANAGING EXTERNAL DATA WITH DB2 UNIVERSAL DATABASE" by J. R. Davis, IBM CORPORATION, February 1999, pp 1-18.
For managing "files" or "directories" (hereinafter, a single file, plural files and a plurality of files concomitant with a directory structure are generally termed "contents"), a method is available in which location information of a file or directory (a so-called directory path) is written in one field inside a record. In this method, this stored data is seen as a mere character line when viewed from the DBMS side, so that the method does not recognize that the character line designates a file or directory and is unaware of the attribute including file size and of distinction between the file and the directory. In other words, the user must manage a contents designated by a directory path of interest independently of the DBMS. A user program preparing or creating a database according to the method as above searches the database by using a desired field as a search key and a character line in the field written with the directory path in a record of interest is acquired so that the character line may be regarded as the directory path to reference the contents.
According to the prior arts for directly storing the directory path in the record of the data-base, management of the external contents is carried out independently of management of the field storing the directory path and there is a possibility that update/delete applied to the external contents is executed asynchronously with update/delete of the field value in the database, thus making mismatching between the database and the external contents liable to occur. Once matching is disturbed, recovery of matched conditions is difficult to achieve.
Further, in the case of the aforementioned prior arts, in making the correspondence relation between the same contents and a plurality of fields in the database, the number of fields holding the correspondence relation must be managed additionally. Without this management, when a contents is updated and deleted, even the content of a link destination as viewed from a field of the database representing a different link originator is updated, resulting in mismatching. As will be seen from the above, it is difficult to apply the prior arts to the edition management of the contents by using the database.
As described above, the prior arts have difficulties in keeping the link matching between the database and the external file in operation, raising a problem that the confirmation procedure during execution of update/delete of the content of an external contents becomes complicated.

Database-file link system and method therefor


A zone-optimized mirror (MZ) for reflecting extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or X-ray radiation (18) includes a reflective surface (S) having two or more substantially discrete zones (Z1, Z2, . . . Zn) that include respective coatings (C1, C2, . . . Cn). Each coating is configured to optimally reflect a select range of incident angles of the radiation incident thereon. An EUV optical system (10) and an EUV lithography system (200) that includes at least one zone-optimized mirror are also disclosed.

EUV and X-ray optical systems, such as certain types of telescopes, microscopes and lithography systems, generally employ reflective mirrors rather than transmissive lenses due to the short wavelengths involved. The surfaces of such mirrors include a specialized reflective coating that provides a considerable reflectivity coefficient for electromagnetic radiation at the wavelengths of interest.
Two main types of reflective coatings are used: single layer and multiple layers (or "multilayer"). The single-layer coating is typically a thin metal layer (e.g., 100 nm of Au, Ru or Pd film) that has a high reflectivity for low grazing incidence angles α (i.e., where angle α is measured relative to the reflective surface), e.g. >80% for incidence angles a between ˜0° and 18°. Single metal layers are used in so-called grazing incidence mirrors, such as Wolter type mirrors, where the radiation is incident at relatively small grazing incidence angles a, e.g. ˜0° to 20°.
FIG. 1 plots the reflection coefficient R versus grazing incidence angle α for two Ru films. The two Ru films have different thicknesses and were formed using different thin-film deposition methods. The plot shows that the reflectivity R drops considerably for grazing incidence angles a greater than about 20°. Although one of the films displays a consistently higher reflectivity than the other, they both exhibit the characteristic drop off in reflectivity with grazing incidence angle α, which is caused by a fundamental physical effect. Consequently, it is not expected that future advances in the film preparation method will mitigate this effect.
Multilayer coatings typically consist of a periodic or a periodic sequence of thin layers (e.g., Mo and Si layers or films) configured to have a high reflectivity R at some variable angle. Multilayer coatings are used in so-called normal incidence mirrors, where the reflection coefficient R is optimized for light at or near a normal incidence angle φ (i.e., as measured relative to the surface normal). The reflectivity R is tuned by varying the multilayer period. FIG. 2 plots the EUV reflectivity versus normal incidence angle φ for a Mo/Si multilayer coating. A broad peak at about φ=19° is evident.
Common to both types of the aforementioned mirror coatings is the fact that they are configured to be uniform over the spatial extent of the mirror. This restricts the use of the mirror to the limited angular range for which the coating is designed. Consequently, EUV and X-ray optical systems tend to require multiple mirrors, with each mirror coating configured for a different limited angular range. It is desirable to reduce the number of mirrors in such optical systems because each mirror adds to the system complexity and cost, and also decreases the system's overall optical transmission.

Zone-optimized mirrors and optical systems using same


A printing apparatus having an ink-jet head which discharges an ink toward a medium, a UV light source, a movement mechanism which moves the medium, and a controller. When the printing mode is selected, the controller controls the ink-jet head to discharge the ink toward the medium, and the controller controls the UV light source to radiate a small amount of the ultraviolet light to cure the ink. When the erasing mode is selected, the controller controls the UV light source to radiate a large amount of the ultraviolet light toward the medium to decolorize the ink. Accordingly, the medium, on which the printing has been once performed, can be reused quickly and reliably. Further, the printing can be performed on a variety of media.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink (UV-curable decolorizable ink) containing a coloring component which is decolorizable by the ultraviolet light and a curing component which is curable by the ultraviolet light, a printing apparatus for performing a printing process and a decolorizing process by using the UV-curable decolorizable ink, and a program, a storage medium, and a method to be used therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as the progress of office automation is advanced, the opportunities are increased, in which the computer data is printed on the paper, for example, for the purpose of the hard copy. In such situations, the amount of consumption of the paper is increased. Therefore, the deforestation is carried out in succession in order to secure the wood to be used as the raw material of the paper, and the serious environmental problem, i.e., the forest destruction is caused. In view of the above, a countermeasure is suggested such that the image, which has been printed on the paper, is erased, and the paper, which has been subjected to the printing, is reused without being discarded.
For example, an ink-jet printer, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-185588, uses a water base ink containing a dye which is modified and decolorized when the ultraviolet light is radiated thereon. The ink-jet printer is provided with an ultraviolet radiation lamp at the upstream of an ink-jet head for jetting the ink. According to this ink-jet printer, when the ordinary printing is performed, then the paper sheet is transported in a state in which the ultraviolet radiation lamp is turned OFF, and the ink-jet head is driven so that the ink is discharged toward the paper sheet to perform the printing. On the other hand, when the printed image is erased, then the paper sheet is transported in a state in which the driving of the ink-jet head is stopped, and the ultraviolet radiation lamp is turned ON. The dye of the ink is decolorized by the ultraviolet light radiated from the ultraviolet radiation lamp, and the paper sheet is discharged while returning into the blank paper state.
However, the ink-jet printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-185588 uses the water base ink. Therefore, when the ink is discharged from the ink-jet head, and the ink is deposited to the paper sheet, then water or the like as the solvent is evaporated, and the dye, which is decolorizable by the ultraviolet light, is deeply permeated into the fiber of the paper. In such a situation, the ultraviolet light, which is radiated from the ultraviolet radiation lamp, is hardly absorbed by the dye sufficiently, and it takes a long period of time in order to completely erase the printed image. Further, when the water base ink is used, a problem also arises such that the printing is hardly performed on any medium which has the low water permeability.

Printing apparatus, program, storage medium, method, and ink


A procedure for information transmission utilizing a system for reception of data signals using clock signals in which the phase shift between clock signals and data signals is calculated using a formulation of the gradient t.sub.n+1 =t.sub.n +p/q-.alpha.e.sub.n (t.sub.n)e'.sub.n (t.sub.n). The phase shift signal (t.sub.n+1) is calculated for an (n+1) data signal, the phase shift signal (t.sub.n) is calculated for a (.sub.n) data signal, and (p/q) in the ratio of the clock period to the data period. In addition, e.sub.n (t.sub.n) is the error between a real sample and an assumed theoretical value and e'.sub.n (t.sub.n) is the derivative of e.sub.n (t.sub.n) with respect to (t.sub.n).

Field of the invention
The present invention concerns a procedure for the transmission of information, and particularly a procedure for reconstituting information received from samples obtained by sampling using a clock asynchronous with the received information signal. The invention is particularly applicable to reading magnetic records for VCRs, computer peripherals and special professional recorders.
More precisely, the invention does this reception by applying a Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation, hereinafter referred to as MLSE, and which uses a VITERBI algorithm described in the document "Principles of Digital Communications and Coding" by A. J. VITERBI et al, McGraw-Hill, 1979. The MLSE algorithm is described in the article "Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation of Digital Sequences in the Presence of Intersymbol Interferences" by G. David FORNEY, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. IT-18, No 3, pp. 363-378, May 1972. This algorithm has the constraint that a sampled signal must be processed synchronously with the data at a frequency f.sub.e equal to the frequency f.sub.s of the data signal.
In the case of an asynchronous system, preprocessing has to be carried out in addition to equalization to correct the phase using a Phase Locked Loop (PLL) interpolation. These operations do not give good results for withdrawal, in other words for very low frequencies f.sub.e. Therefore f.sub.e is taken>f.sub.s (but as the fractional ratio for hardware installation reasons), such that decimation is subsequently necessary in order to obtain the right frequency.
Therefore, the present invention concerns application of the MLSE algorithm to asynchronous reception and extends to the case of data sampled at a frequency f.sub.e other than the signal frequency f.sub.s. This means that a phase calculation has to be carried out between a data signal and the sampling clock.

Procedure for transmission of information on a channel including a system for reception of data signals by sampling using clock signals


A motor realizes mechanical field-weakening control by controlling the leakage magnetic flux from the rotor cores of the motor. The motor includes a stator, a rotor including rotor cores circumferentially spaced apart from one another inside the stator and permanent magnets disposed between the respective rotor cores which extend radially from the stator, and a magnetic flux adjustment unit including a ring-shaped main frame, magnetic substance portions extending from the main frame so as to be circumferentially spaced apart from one another and non-magnetic regions defined between the magnetic substance portions. The magnetic flux adjustment unit is rotatable to control the leakage magnetic flux from the rotor cores.

1. Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a motor to control so-called leakage magnetic flux.
2. Description of the Related Art
A motor is a machine that acquires rotational power from electric energy and generally includes a stator and a rotor. The rotor may be configured to electromagnetically interact with the stator and may be rotated by a force applied between a magnetic field and a coil current.
Permanent magnet motors may be classified, based on a constituent permanent magnet of a magnetic circuit and the shape of a rotor, into a surface mounted permanent magnet motor (SPM), interior permanent magnet motor (IPM), and spoke type permanent magnet motor.
Among these, a spoke type permanent magnet motor has a high magnetic flux concentration structure, and therefore may advantageously achieve generation of high-torque and high-output and a compact motor size with respect to the same output. The spoke type permanent magnet motor may be applied to a drive motor for a washing machine or a drive motor for an electric vehicle, which require high-torque and high-output.
Permanent magnet motors including the spoke type permanent magnet motor may be designed to realize high-speed motor driving using field-weakening control techniques.
In particular, electric field-weakening control to control a phase of current applied to a stator coil has been used. However, since such electric field-weakening control has restrictions on the maximum current which may be applied to a driving circuit, there exists an upper limit of current available upon so-called field-weakening control and a theoretically realizable maximum speed is limited.

Motor including a rotor and magnetic flux adjustment unit to change an amount of magnetic flux generated by the rotor


Methods for increasing hybrid seed production are provided. Increased hybrid seed production is achieved through higher outcrossing rates in cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines of rice by introgressing the long stigma trait of Oryza longistaminata. CMS lines having higher outcrossing rates capable of high hybrid seed set are also provided.

Rice is the staple food of more than half the world's population, providing more than 20% of the daily caloric intake of over 3.5 billion people. It is estimated that an additional 116 million tons of rice will be needed by 2035 to feed the world's growing population.
Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, increasing yields progressively replaced area expansion as the principal source of growth in world grain production. The Green Revolution occurring between the 1940s and late 1960s saw the development of new agricultural practices and technologies that significantly improved grain yield per acre, and is credited with saving millions from mass famine in India during the early 1960s. In particular, the rice variety IR8 was developed, which produced more grain per plant when grown with irrigation and fertilizers. Many additional high-yielding rice lines have been developed since IR8.
Green Revolution technologies, which spurred gains in annual rice yields of more than 3% are now generally considered almost exhausted of any further productivity gains, with annual yield gains falling to around 1.25% since 1990. Decreases in annual gains have lead to plateaus in rice yield in many small to medium-sized countries, including Japan and South Korea. Rice yields in larger countries such as India and China appear to be approaching their own glass ceilings.
Beginning in the early 1970s, significant research efforts have gone into developing hybrid rice, which has been shown to have yields of up to 20% greater than those of conventional Green Revolution high-yielding lines. It was during the early 1970s that Chinese researchers discovered a wild-abortive cytoplasmic male sterile (WA-CMS) rice plant on Hainan Island. This discovery led to development of three-line hybrid rice breeding in China, where hybrid rice has been grown commercially since 1976. This led to Chinese hybrid rice yield surpassing 6.0 t ha−1.
Although hybrid rice has been commercialized on a large scale, particularly in China where hybrid rice covers more than 50% of the total rice-planted area and accounts for about two-thirds of the national production, transferring Chinese hybrid technology to other Asia countries has proven difficult. For hybrid rice commercialization to be successful, hybrid rice seeds must be affordable for farmers, as fresh hybrid seeds are required each season.
Cultivated rice is predominantly self-fertilizing due to the morphology of its flower, i.e., the anthers and stigma are shorter, and pollen is released shortly after the florets open. Outcrossing rates in cultivated rice varieties have diminished along with changes in the morphology of rice flowers during the process of domestication, giving outcrossing rates of about 0.01%. The low rate of outcrossing causes poor hybrid seed production (seed set of 5-20%), resulting in high costs for hybrid rice seeds. These two factors have been cited as major constraints for extending hybrid rice.
It would be beneficial to develop rice varieties and lines with improved outcrossing rates useful for increasing hybrid seed production.

Increasing hybrid seed production through higher outcrossing rate in cytoplasmic male sterile rice and related materials and methods


Described are compositions and methods for inhibition of Hepatitis B virus gene expression. RNA interference (RNAi) agents for inhibiting the expression of Hepatitis B virus gene are described. The HBV RNAi agents disclosed herein may be targeted to cells, such as hepatocytes, for example, by using conjugated targeting ligands. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising one or more HBV RNAi agents optionally with one or more additional therapeutics are also described. Delivery of the described HBV RNAi agents to infected liver in vivo provides for inhibition of HBV gene expression and treatment of diseases and conditions associated with HBV infection.

The Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a strict hepatotrophic, double-stranded DNA containing virus. Although DNA is the genetic material, the replication cycle involves a reverse transcription step to copy a pregenomic RNA into DNA. Hepatitis B Virus is classified as one member of the Hepadnaviruses and belongs to the family of Hepadnaviridae. The primary infection of adult humans with Hepatitis B Virus causes an acute hepatitis with symptoms of organ inflammation, fever, jaundice and increased liver transaminases in blood. Those patients that are not able to overcome the virus infection suffer a chronic disease progression over many years with increased risk of developing cirrhotic liver or liver cancer. Perinatal transmission from Hepatitis B Virus-infected mothers to newborns also leads to chronic hepatitis.
Upon uptake by hepatocytes, the nucleocapsid is transferred to the nucleus and DNA is released. There, the DNA strand synthesis is completed and gaps repaired to give the covalently closed circular (ccc) supercoiled DNA of 3.2 kb. The cccDNA serves as a template for transcription of five major viral mRNAs, which are 3.5, 3.5, 2.4, 2.1 and 0.7 kb long. All mRNAs are 5′-capped and polyadenylated at the 3′-end, There is sequence overlap at the 3′-end between all five mRNAs.
One 3.5 kb mRNA serves as template for core protein and polymerase production. In addition, the same transcript serves as a pre-genomic replication intermediate and allows the viral polymerase to initiate the reverse transcription into DNA. Core protein is needed for nucleocapsid formation. The other 3.5 kb mRNA encodes pre-core, the secretable e-antigen (HBeAg). In the absence of replication inhibitors, the abundance of e-antigen in blood correlates with Hepatitis B Virus replication in liver and serves as an important diagnostic marker for monitoring the disease progression.
The 2.4 and 2.1 kb mRNAs carry the open reading frames ("ORF") pre-S1, pre-S2 and S for expression of viral large, medium and small surface antigen. The s-antigen is associated with infectious, complete particles. In addition, blood of infected patients also contain non-infectious particles derived from s-antigen alone, free of genomic DNA or polymerase. The function of these particles is not fully understood. The complete and lasting depletion of detectable s-antigen in blood is considered as a reliable indicator for Hepatitis B Virus clearance.
The 0.7 kb mRNA encodes the X protein. This gene product is important for efficient transcription of viral genes and also acts as a transactivator on host gene expression. The latter activity seems to be important for hepatocyte transformation during development of liver cancer.
Patients with detectable s-antigen, e-antigen, and/or viral DNA in the blood for more than 6 months are considered chronically infected. Nucleoside analogs as inhibitors of reverse transcriptase activity are typically the first treatment option for many patients. Administration of lamivudine, tenofovir, and/or entecavir has been shown to suppress Hepatitis B Virus replication, sometimes to undetectable levels, with improvement of liver function and reduction of liver inflammation typically seen as the most important benefits. However, only few patients achieve complete and lasting remission after the end of treatment. Furthermore, the Hepatitis B Virus develops drug resistance with increasing duration of treatment. This is especially difficult for patients co-infected with Hepatitis B and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Both viruses are susceptible to nucleoside analogue drugs and may co-develop resistance.
A second treatment option is the administration of interferon-alpha. Here, patients receive high doses of interferon-alpha over a period of 6 months. The Asian genotype B gives very poor response rates. Co-infection with Hepatitis D Virus (HDV) or Human Immunodeficiency Virus has been shown to render interferon-alpha therapy completely ineffective. Patients with strong liver damage and heavy fibrotic conditions are not qualified for interferon-alpha therapy.
Certain Hepatitis B Virus-specific RNA interference (RNAi) agents have been previously shown to inhibit expression of HBV gene expression. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0005793, to Chin et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses certain double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) molecules for inhibiting the expression of Hepatitis B Virus gene.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

RNAi agents for hepatitis B virus infection


A method of operating a wireless communication device in a wireless communication network is disclosed. The wireless communication device transitions between a plurality of modes, wherein the plurality of modes further includes a sleep mode, wherein the wireless communication device does not listen for downlink data transmissions, and the plurality of modes further includes an active mode, wherein the wireless communication device listens for downlink data transmissions. While the wireless communication device is operating in the active mode, it receives control signalling from a transmitter to adjust a length of time for transitioning between a first mode among the plurality of modes and a second mode among the plurality of modes based on one or more sleep rules. The wireless communication device transitions from the first mode to the second mode based, at least in part, on the adjusted length of time.

In packet transmission systems, the data is organized into packets and transmitted along with control information such as the size (or start and end) of the data, and the identity of the receiver (at least when communicating over shared media). In many systems the time is divided into time frames, where each frame carries zero or more packets, along with the mentioned control information.
A receiver in such a system monitors the transmitted control information for the presence of packets that should be received by that receiver. In situations where the bitrate required by the application is much lower than the transmission bitrate, the receiver is most of the time essentially idle, just monitoring the control information.
Examples of the above include all existing cellular packet transmission techniques, i.e. GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA (R99, HSDPA, and E-UL), and CDMA2000 (1x, Ev-DO, and Ev-DV).
With many transmission technologies, actively monitoring the control information can be very power consuming, even if the control information itself contains little information and there is no data that needs to be received. For example, a wideband radio transmission technique, designed for high data bit rates, may require that the receiver demodulates and processes the entire frequency band even though it is only interested in the control information. This is the case, e.g. for WCDMA HSDPA and may well turn out to be the case for OFDM-based systems such as the long-term evolution (LTE) of UMTS.
This means that for a low-rate service (such as voice) the power consumption can be significantly larger when using a wideband system compared to a narrowband system.
If the mobile terminal occasionally could enter a "sleep mode", meaning that it does not monitor the control information during a period of time, power consumption could be reduced. This type of sleep mode is currently used when the mobile terminal has entered a paging state. In paging state the mobile terminal only occasionally listens for a "wake up" or "paging" signal, from the network. However this method requires additional signaling between the network and the mobile terminal, in order to "wake it up", and wouldn't be appropriate to use for short time intervals e.g. between successive packets in an ongoing real-time data session.

Method and arrangement for reducing power consumption in a mobile communication network


A method and system for network data transmitting in a communication system includes transmitting a data from at least one transmission node to at least one receiving node of a transmission-receiving group among the plurality of communication nodes by utilizing a node ID, the node ID of communication node in the group is being assigned by a N-carry operation of a determined number N.

In communication systems a network node (or so called host) can allocate its ID or address statically or dynamically. In a static configuration, users need to acquire an available address in advance and manually configure the address. In contrast, in a flexible multi-hop environment, such as the type described in IEEE 802.16j, it is not reasonable for operators or users to perform manual configuration. Another choice, dynamic configuration, allows a node to configure its ID or acquire an ID from a centralized server dynamically. In a typical dynamic configuration scheme, all node IDs are assigned randomly, and additional routing algorithms or routing tables are required in order for nodes to exchange or maintain additional routing information and to decide routing paths.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary multi-hop relay (MR) network 100. In network 100, a multi-hop relay base station BS (MR-BS) 102 acts as a root node, and relay stations (RSs) and mobile stations (MSs) act as intermediate nodes or leaf nodes. A network setup process assigns each network node an identification (or address) and constructs routing groups between nodes. For example, RS3 104 is assigned an address and is responsible for forwarding packets from MR-BS destined to RS4 106, and RS1 108 will drop the packets it receives from MR-BS that are destined to RS3. Such routing information may be maintained in a routing table of each RS so that when an intermediate node leaves or enters the network, that newest routing information can be updated.
Two examples show utilization of routing tables. U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,051 discloses a multi-level tree data structure in a centralized routing table and in distributed forwarding tables for forwarding network packets. Each level of each structure is associated with a different field of a network address appearing in received packets. U.S. Pat. No. 6,934,252 discloses binary network address lookups using parent node information stored in routing table entries. Variable length prefixes are stored in a network address forwarding table. Each prefix corresponds to an entry in the forwarding table. Each entry in the forwarding table includes path information regarding parent nodes of each entry in the binary tree.
Node identification may be performed without maintaining a routing table. U.S. Pat. No. 6,618,755 discloses a software facility for automatically identifying subnets in a network by a range of addresses within the network represented by nodes in the network. The addresses each include an ordered series of a fixed number of bits.
A prime factorization method to represent nodes of a network and groups between nodes is described in US2006/0198320, as well as in IEEE C802.16j-06/171. In the forwarding process of this method, a receiving node needs to factorize the ID number of the packet received to determine where to forward the packet. Another method is described in IEEE C802.16j-07/048r6, which relates to a contiguous integer block routing method, in which a network node identifies the integer block of a received address to determine where to forward the packet or if it should drop the packet.

Method and system for network data transmitting

Industrial Technology Research Institute

Telcordia Applied Research Center Taiwan Company


An RF energy harvesting system includes an antenna, an impedance matching network, an RF rectifier module, an enhanced RF rectifier module, a protection circuit, a power control module, an energy storage branch and load branches. The antenna receives RF signals and converts the RF signals into electric energy. The impedance matching network produces an initial voltage signal according to the electric energy output by the antenna. The RF rectifier module converts the initial voltage signal into a first voltage signal. The enhanced RF rectifier module converts the initial voltage signal into a second voltage signal. The power control module is self-driven through the first voltage signal and the second voltage signal. The RF rectifier module adjusts the internal electrical connection according to control signals of the power control module. The energy storage branch stores the electric energy output by the power control module.

Converting energy harvested from the nature into electric energy without batteries or a wired power supply is one of the developmental directions of power supply technology. RF energy harvesting technology can provide flexible, portable and renewable energy resources and therefore has become a research hotspot of the public. Conventional RF energy harvesting systems typically include an antenna and an RF rectifier. The antenna is configured to receive RF signals and the rectifier is configured to convert the received RF energy into a DC power supply. However, the self-adaptability of such systems is not strong and the input energy is often not stable while the energy output of a system is often required to be as stable as possible and the output power is required to be high. Conventional RF energy harvesting systems often need to be equipped with an external power source and cannot be self-driven. At the same time, redundant energy harvested by conventional RF energy harvesting systems can only be stored outside the systems instead of being stored inside the systems, thus leading to inconvenience in operating and using such systems. On the other hand, the load of such systems often varies and the variation of load may influence the operation of such systems, and therefore does harm to the stability of such systems.


A cushioning posterior fulcrum back shaper is an apparatus that supports and guides the back and neck of a user. The apparatus encourages the proper form throughout stretches and exercises, positioning each engaged body parts. The apparatus includes a back shaper that supports the arch of the back, and a neck shaper which supports the spine of the user, and consequently the neck. The first grooved channel positions and guides the spine. The back shaper includes a semicircular prismatic body, a sacrum-supporting depression, and a pelvis-supporting depression. The neck shaper includes an elongated body, a first interlocking arm, and a second interlocking arm. The semicircular prismatic body supports the arch of the back. The sacrum-supporting depression and the pelvis-supporting depression position the sacrum and the sacrum and head, respectively. The elongated body is rotatably mounted to the semicircular prismatic body with the first interlocking arm and the second interlocking arm.

Humans are unique in many aspects when compared to any other species. One of the defining traits of the humans is an exclusive S-shaped posture. The vertebral column is one of the most important parts of our musculoskeletal system. Effective mobility is defined with the ability to sit upright and move on two legs, with respect to the effect of gravity. The human backbone houses the spinal cord, which serves as the main pathway connecting the brain to the nervous system. Due to the overall complexity of the spine, even light damage can cause serious medical issues, that can lead to constant pain, and in more severe cases even paralysis. Generally, serious injuries occur due to physical trauma to the backbone area. However other factors, such as prolonged improper posture, can have a major impact as well. A plurality of issues can be caused by an improper posture, leading to constant pain and discomfort as a result of weakening muscles in the musculoskeletal structure. Poor posture differs from person to person. Individuals may be more susceptible to poor posture depending on body type and genetics.
The best way to ensure comfortable long-term living is to maintain a correct posture. Back pain can be self-inflicted due to a lifetime of bad habits, that is why understanding and maintaining an accurate posture that maintains the natural shape of the vertebral column is very important. The spine is not only responsible for support and movement, but it is one of the key factors that ensures proper function of the nervous system. Humans are born with what is known as a C-shaped curve. Development, during infancy leads to the lifting of the head and the curve in the neck starts to form forward thus creating the defining unique shape of the backbone. Some of the more important roles of the vertebral column are protection, support, and movement. The vertebrae which make up the vertebral structure of the spinal cord, allow it to conduct these functions.
The present invention aims to create an improved way of reshaping the vertebral column, by applying opposing forces anteriorly and posteriorly to the spine without the need for complex equipment that can only be found at a specialized facility. The present invention is positioned onto any flat supporting surface for use with the body in the supine position. A plurality of factors is the cause for the deformation of the vertebral column. Some of the more common ones occur through aging, repetitive motion injuries, physical trauma or as mentioned above continuous incorrect posture. Incorrect posture not only affects the shape of the backbone but it can also weaken and/or strengthen certain muscles. Weakened muscles leading to the loss of the spinal curvature, can disable the human body, especially the back. Restoring the S-shaped curvature in the human spine, can act as an effective permanent pain relief method for a plurality of medical conditions, therefore directly improving the quality of life.

Cushioning posterior fulcrum back shaper


Novel proteins and their corresponding nucleotide sequences in enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) are provided. In particular, Aap and the five gene cluster (aat) of the AA probe region of the pAA plasmid of EAEC 042 have been identified, sequenced, and further characterized. The use of these novel proteins and their corresponding nucleotide sequences for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of EAEC infections is also provided.

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is an emerging enteric pathogen associated with sporadic, endemic, and epidemic diarrheal illnesses in individuals of all ages in both developing and industrialized countries. (Nataro et al., Emerg Infect Dis 4:251–261 (1998); Nataro et al., Clin Microbiol Rev. 11:142–201 (1998); Okeke et al., Lancet Infect Dis 1:304–313 (2001)). The pathogenesis of EAEC infection includes strong adherence to the intestinal mucosa, most likely to both the small and the large intestines, followed by secretion of one or more enterotoxins that induce cytopathic effects in intestinal epithelial cells. (Nataro et al., Infect Immun 64:4761–4768 (1996); Eslava et al., Escherichia coli. Infect Immun 66:3155–3163 (1998); Czeczulin et al., Infect Immun 67:2692–2699 (1999)). Adherence of EAEC to the intestinal mucosa is characterized by the presence of a thick aggregating biofilm, which may favor the persistence of this organism in the human intestine. (Nataro et al., Clin Microbiol Rev. 11:142–201 (1998); Tzipori et al., Infect Immun 60:5302–5306 (1992)). In addition, EAEC may induce intestinal inflammation, which can precipitate growth failure even in the absence of diarrhea. (Steiner et al., J Infect Dis 177:88–96 (1998)).
The defining feature of EAEC is its distinctive characteristic aggregative adherence (AA) pattern to HEp-2 cells in culture. (Nataro et al., Pediatr Infect Dis J 6:829–831 (1987)). In particular, EAEC adhere to the surface of HEp-2 cells, to the glass substratum, and to each other in a distinctive stacked-brick formation. Aggregating adherence to HEp-2 cells in well-characterized strains requires the expression of one or more members of the plasmid-bome Aggregative Adherence Fimbriae (AAF) family. (Nataro et al., Infect Immun 60:2297–2304 (1992); Czeczulin et al., Infect Immun 65:4135–4145 (1997)). Two of members of the AAF family, AAF/I and AAF/II, have been characterized at the genetic level and each is encoded on a large plasmid (designated pAA). (Savarino et al., J Bacteriol 176:4949–57 (1994); Elias et al., J Bacteriol 181:1779–85 (1999)). It has been shown that the human pathogenic strain 042 requires AAF/II fimbrial antigen for adherence of the bacterium to the colonic mucosa, thereby suggesting that this adhesin is a virulence factor for human infection. (Czeczulin et al., Infect Immun 65:4135–4145 (1997)).
It has been shown that the majority of EAEC strains lack AAF/I and AAF/II. (Czeczulin et al., Infect Immun 67:2692–2699 (1999)). Nevertheless, most EAEC strains carry the ca. 100 kb pAA plasmid, recognized by the presence of several conserved loci. The most prominent among these loci is a transcriptional activator of the AraC class designated AggR, which is required for expression of both AAF/I and AAF/II. AggR is also present in a large percentage of EAEC strains that do not express any identified AAF. (Nataro et al., J Bacteriol 176:4691–4699 (1994)). Recently, a novel AggR-dependent gene lying immediately upstream of AggR in EAEC 042 has been identified and characterized. (Sheikh et al., J Clin Invest (in press) (2002)). This AggR-dependent gene encodes a secreted 10.2 kD protein, designated Aap, that appears to coat the bacterial surface and promote dispersion of EAEC on the intestinal mucosa. Aap has alternatively been designated dispersin. It has been shown that Aap mutants form larger aggregates, fewer individual bacteria, and aggregate more intensely than the wild type. In addition, Aap partially counteracts AAF-mediated aggregation and may play a fundamental role in EAEC pathogenesis. Moreover, the data suggest that Aap binds non-covalently to the bacterial cell surface. However, the mechanism by which Aap is translocated across the outer membrane is as yet unknown.
Another prominent locus is the binding site of a DNA probe, CVD432, on the plasmid. The CVD432 probe was developed to simplify the identification of EAEC and has been used as the AA probe. (Baudry et al., J Infect Dis 161:1249–1251 (1990)). In its original evaluation, the probe was found to be 89% sensitive and 99% specific for EAEC. The nucleotide sequence of the AA probe represented a cryptic open reading frame (ORF) located adjacent to the plasmid replicon. (Nataro et al., Infect Immun 64:4761–4768 (1996)). Further sequence analysis of the AA probe region revealed five ORFs. The predicted protein of one of the ORFs was similar with the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) domain of the ABC transporter, suggesting that the gene cluster is involved in the transport of an unidentified molecule of EAEC. Furthermore, this gene cluster appears to be associated with the translocation of Aap, and the formation of a new transporting system of the virulence factor of EAEC. The five gene cluster was designated aat.
EAEC infections are medically important in populations around the world. For example, in developing countries, children are often infected with EAEC and can develop prolonged diarrhea, often with significant malnutrition. In industrialized countries, EAEC is an emerging cause of traveler's diarrhea. An effective vaccine to protect against enterotoxigenic E. coli would protect against at least one-half of traveler's diarrhea cases. However, in the past, there has been no effective treatment or prevention of EAEC-induced illnesses.
It is therefore desirable to identify and characterize Aap and the five gene cluster (aat) of the AA probe region of the pAA plasmid of EAEC 042 and to use these proteins and their corresponding nucleotide sequences for diagnosis, therapy, and prevention of EAEC infections.

Nucleic acids encoding novel proteins in enteroaggregative


Disclosed is an optical semiconductor device that provides an optical gain or optical loss depending on application of electric current. The optical semiconductor device comprises: a lower clad layer; an active layer disposed on the lower clad layer, the active layer generating optical gain or optical loss depending on injection of carriers; an upper clad layer disposed on the active layer, the upper clad layer serving to trap light in the active layer in cooperation with the lower clad layer; and a temperature control part for controlling the temperature distribution of the active layer along the light propagation axis in such a manner that temperature of the active layer varies depending on positions in the active layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broad-band optical semiconductor device containing an active layer. In particular, the present invention relates to a broad-band optical semiconductor device which has an extended gain band.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM-PON) requires a light source that emits light over a broad range of wavelengths. To meet this requirement, a WDM-PON is provided with broad-band optical semiconductor devices, such as semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOA), semiconductor lasers, or other devices that can operate over an extended gain band.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional broad-band optical semiconductor device. The broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a lower electrode 110, a lower clad layer 120, an active layer 130, an upper clad layer 140, and an upper electrode 150.
The lower clad layer 120 is an n-type compound semiconductor. The lower electrode 110 placed at the bottom of the lower clad layer 120 is connected to the ground and formed from a conductive metal. The active layer 130 placed on the top of the lower clad layer 120 is comprised of the 1st through the nth quantum wells 130-1˜130-N, having a thickness increasing gradually from the 1st quantum well to the nth quantum well. The upper clad layer 140 placed on the top of the active layer 130 is a p-type compound semiconductor. The upper electrode 150, where an electric current is applied, is placed on the top of the upper clad layer 140 and formed from a conductive metal.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing the gain curve as a function of wavelengths of the conventional broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 described above. As shown in FIG. 2, the gain v. wavelength curves 210-1˜210-N of the 1st through the nth quantum wells 130-1˜130-N overlap with one another resulting in a broad-band gain curve 220.
As noted above, the conventional broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 is provided with an active layer 130 that includes multiple quantum wells having thickness that increases gradually to provide an extended gain band. However, one of the problems faced by the broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 described above is that it is impossible to obtain uniform gain. In other words, the broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 shows decrease in efficiency of the gain because carriers (electrons and holes) are injected non-uniformly, depending on the position of a quantum well.
Another problem attributable to the conventional broad-band optical semiconductor device 100 is that use of the active layers containing the quantum wells results in a great change in the gain with respect to the direction of polarization of the incident light.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of another conventional broad-band optical semiconductor device. The broad-band optical semiconductor device 300 includes a lower electrode 310, a lower clad layer 320, an active layer 330, an upper clad layer 340, a first upper electrode 350, and a second upper electrode 355.
The lower clad layer 320 is an n-type compound semiconductor. The lower electrode 310 comprising a conductive metal is placed at the bottom of the lower clad layer 320 and connected to the ground. The active layer 330 is placed on the top of the lower clad layer 320 and generates optical gain depending on the injection of carriers. The upper clad layer 340, a p-type compound semiconductor, is placed on the top of the active layer 330. The first and the second upper electrodes 350 and 355, which are conductive metals and to which electric current is applied, are placed on the top of the upper clad layer 340. The active layer 330 is divided into a first region 370, to which carriers 360 are injected by way of the first upper electrode 350, and a second region 375, to which carriers 365 are injected by way of the second upper electrode 355.
The first level of current I1 and second level of current I2, different from each other, are applied to the first upper electrode 350 and the second upper electrode 355, respectively. Therefore, the first region 370 and the second region 375 have a different number of carriers, and the first region 370 and the second region 375 have different gain bands.
FIG. 4 is a graph showing the gain curve depending on wavelengths in the above-described broad-band optical semiconductor device 300. As shown in FIG. 4, the gain curve 410 of the first region 370 and the gain curve 420 of the second region 375 overlap with each other, resulting in a broad-band gain curve 430.
As described above, the broad-band optical semiconductor device 300 provides an extended gain band compared to other conventional optical semiconductor devices by varying the carrier number distribution along the light propagation axis. However, the broad-band optical semiconductor 300 is incapable of ensuring sufficient gain band, as change in the carrier number results in a change in the gain band.

Broad-band optical semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same

Maetan-Dong, Yeongtong-Gu, Suwon-Si, Gyeonngi-Do


Method and device for gauging an electronic apparatus are disclosed. The method comprising acts of processing measured data sets by a learned neural network to generate a gauging result, and updating neural coefficients of the learned neural network with a reference data for more accurate prediction. The learned neural network is trained with known algorithm or known data provided by the manufacture or collected from others. The device comprises sensors and controller. The sensors are configured to sense the electronic apparatus to generate the measured data sets. The controller has the learned neural network and a error feedback unit. The neural network generates the gauging result. The error feedback unit generates a reference data sensed from the electronic apparatus to the neural network for updating neural coefficients of the neural network for more accurate prediction.

Gauging an electronic apparatus is to determine the performance and/or capabilities of the electronic apparatus, which is important and complex tasks in developing the electronic apparatus. For example, battery fuel consumption of an electronic automobile represents one performance of the car. Accurately predicting or measuring remaining charge of the battery fuel is critical.
Much work by many manufacturers has gone into developing algorithms that can extrapolate the remaining battery life based on battery variables and continually updating a database of those battery variables as they change over time.
However, determining the amount of charge left in a battery is an extremely vexing function for the engineer. This is especially true for particular battery types such as the popular Li-ion battery. The remaining charge will be dependent on the open circuit battery voltage, the battery temperature, the load current, age of the battery and behaviors for person using the battery.

HUAYUAN SEMICONDUCTOR (SHENZHEN) LIMITED COMPANY


A new topology for a buck-boost switching regulator is provided herein. Embodiments provide an efficient buck-boost switching regulator that provides a regulated output voltage from an unregulated input voltage. Embodiments include a buck-boost switching regulator topology, where the operating mode is determined separately from the pulse-width modulated (PWM) control signal. This topology, in one embodiment, provides a better transient response than typical buck-boost switching regulator topologies, where PWM control circuitry and operating mode circuitry are combined. Furthermore, embodiments provide a buck-boost switching regulator that allows for high efficiency when the output voltage is close to the input voltage.

The present invention relates generally to switching regulators. More particularly, the invention relates to a new topology for a positive buck-boost switching regulator.
Buck-boost switching regulators are a common solution to the problem of providing a regulated output voltage from a widely varying input voltage. They are frequently implemented in battery powered electronic devices to regulate the battery output voltage which, during charging and discharging, can be greater than, less than, or substantially the same as the desired output voltage.
Conventional buck-boost switching regulators generally have one or more power switches and an inductor-capacitor (LC) filter coupled between an unregulated input and a regulated output via power switches. A control circuit selects the buck-boost switching regulator configuration (i.e., the operating mode) by controlling switch positions of the power switches and the duration of time during which switch positions remain unchanged.
Depending on the switch configurations, the buck-boost switching regulator can operate as one of three distinct converter types: a buck converter, a boost converter, or a buck-boost converter. A buck converter down-converts an input voltage to a lower output voltage. The power switches operating in a buck converter configuration alternately connect and disconnect the input voltage from the input of the LC filter. A boost converter, on the other hand, up-converts an input voltage to a higher output voltage. In the boost converter configuration, the input supply is continuously connected to the input of the LC filter, but the inductor of the LC filter is alternately connected and disconnected from the load where the regulated output voltage is applied. A buck-boost converter switches between the buck-converter configuration and the boost converter configuration.
A typical control circuit operates the buck-boost switching regulator as a buck converter, boost converter, or buck-boost converter depending on whether the input voltage is above, below, or substantially the same as the desired output voltage. Feedback is introduced to allow the control circuit to monitor the output voltage and adjust the switching regulator configuration accordingly. The control circuit operates to not only control the configuration the buck-boost switching regulator is operating in, but the duration of time the configuration remains unchanged. Controlling these two parameters allows the buck-boost switching regulator to regulate the output voltage at a desired reference voltage level.
A pulse-width modulated (PWM) control scheme is typically used to manage the time duration (i.e., duty cycle) the buck-boost switching regulator configuration remains unchanged, as well as the actual configuration the regulator operates in: buck, boost, or buck-boost. An error signal, proportional to the difference in output voltage and the desired reference voltage level, is used by the PWM controller in these determinations.
A disadvantage of this typical buck-boost switching regulator topology is that the configuration (i.e., the operating mode) of the switching regulator is determined within the PWM control circuit. The PWM control circuit typically contains a compensation network for stabilizing the feedback loop introduced when calculating the error signal. Switching from buck to boost is therefore dependent on the compensation network. As a result, the transient response of the buck-boost switching regulator is slow.
A further disadvantage of this typical buck-boost switching regulator topology is that the selection of the PWM controller is restricted by the necessity of the buck-boost switching regulator configuration (i.e., the operating mode) being determined within the controller.
Furthermore, typical buck-boost switching regulators maintain an average inductor current that is significantly larger than the required output current when the input voltage is close to the regulated output voltage. As a result, conduction losses are high and efficiency is decreased.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a high efficiency buck-boost switching regulator topology that separates the operating mode circuitry from the PWM control circuitry. It would also be desirable to provide a circuit for determining the operating mode of the buck-boost switching regulator that is not dependent on any feedback signals from the switching regulator circuit.
It would be further desirable to provide a buck-boost switching regulator topology that maintains the inductor current as close as possible to the output current. This reduces conduction losses and increases efficiency when the input voltage is close to the regulated output voltage.

Topology for a positive buck-boost switching regulator


The invention provides polynucleotides, preferably synthetic polynucleotides, which encode processing enzymes that are optimized for expression in plants. The polynucleotides encode mesophilic, thermophilic, or hyperthermophilic processing enzymes, which are activated under suitable activating conditions to act upon the desired substrate. Also provided are “self-processing” transgenic plants, and plant parts, e.g., grain, which express one or more of these enzymes and have an altered composition that facilitates plant and grain processing. Methods for making and using these plants, e.g., to produce food products having improved taste and to produce fermentable substrates for the production of ethanol and fermented beverages are also provided.

Enzymes are used to process a variety of agricultural products such as wood, fruits and vegetables, starches, juices, and the like. Typically, processing enzymes are produced and recovered on an industrial scale from various sources, such as microbial fermentation (Bacillus α-amylase), or isolation from plants (coffee β-galactosidase or papain from plant parts). Enzyme preparations are used in different processing applications by mixing the enzyme and the substrate under the appropriate conditions of moisture, temperature, time, and mechanical mixing such that the enzymatic reaction is achieved in a commercially viable manner. The methods involve separate steps of enzyme production, manufacture of an enzyme preparation, mixing the enzyme and substrate, and subjecting the mixture to the appropriate conditions to facilitate the enzymatic reaction. A method that reduces or eliminates the time, energy, mixing, capital expenses, and/or enzyme production costs, or results in improved or novel products, would be useful and beneficial. One example of where such improvements are needed is in the area of corn milling.
Today corn is milled to obtain cornstarch and other corn-milling co-products such as corn gluten feed, corn gluten meal, and corn oil. The starch obtained from the process is often further processed into other products such as derivatized starches and sugars, or fermented to make a variety of products including alcohols or lactic acid. Processing of cornstarch often involves the use of enzymes, in particular, enzymes that hydrolyze and convert starch into fermentable sugars or fructose (α- and gluco-amylase, α-glucosidase, glucose isomerase, and the like). The process used commercially today is capital intensive as construction of very large mills is required to process corn on scales required for reasonable cost-effectiveness. In addition the process requires the separate manufacture of starch-hydrolyzing or modifying enzymes and then the machinery to mix the enzyme and substrate to produce the hydrolyzed starch products.
The process of starch recovery from corn grain is well known and involves a wet-milling process. Corn wet-milling includes the steps of steeping the corn kernel, grinding the corn kernel and separating the components of the kernel. The kernels are steeped in a steep tank with a countercurrent flow of water at about 120° F. and the kernels remain in the steep tank for 24 to 48 hours. This steepwater typically contains sulfur dioxide at a concentration of about 0.2% by weight. Sulfur dioxide is employed in the process to help reduce microbial growth and also to reduce disulfide bonds in endosperm proteins to facilitate more efficient starch-protein separation. Normally, about 0.59 gallons of steepwater is used per bushel of corn. The steepwater is considered waste and often contains undesirable levels of residual sulfur dioxide.
The steeped kernels are then dewatered and subjected to sets of attrition type mills. The first set of attrition type mills rupture the kernels releasing the germ from the rest of the kernel. A commercial attrition type mill suitable for the wet milling business is sold under the brand name Bauer. Centrifugation is used to separate the germ from the rest of the kernel. A typical commercial centrifugation separator is the Merco centrifugal separator. Attrition mills and centrifugal separators are large expensive items that use energy to operate.
In the next step of the process, the remaining kernel components including the starch, hull, fiber, and gluten are subjected to another set of attrition mills and passed through a set of wash screens to separate the fiber components from the starch and gluten (endosperm protein). The starch and gluten pass through the screens while the fiber does not. Centrifugation or a third grind followed by centrifugation is used to separate the starch from the endosperm protein. Centrifugation produces a starch slurry which is dewatered, then washed with fresh water and dried to about 12% moisture. The substantially pure starch is typically further processed by the use of enzymes.
The separation of starch from the other components of the grain is performed because removing the seed coat, embryo and endosperm proteins allows one to efficiently contact the starch with processing enzymes, and the resulting hydrolysis products are relatively free from contaminants from the other kernel components. Separation also ensures that other components of the grain are effectively recovered and can be subsequently sold as co-products to increase the revenues from the mill.
After the starch is recovered from the wet-milling process it typically undergoes the processing steps of gelatinization, liquefaction and dextrinization for maltodextrin production, and subsequent steps of saccharification, isomerization and refining for the production of glucose, maltose and fructose.
Gelatinization is employed in the hydrolysis of starch because currently available enzymes cannot rapidly hydrolyze crystalline starch. To make the starch available to the hydrolytic enzymes, the starch is typically made into a slurry with water (20–40% dry solids) and heated at the appropriate gelling temperature. For cornstarch this temperature is between 105–110° C. The gelatinized starch is typically very viscous and is therefore thinned in the next step called liquefaction. Liquefaction breaks some of the bonds between the glucose molecules of the starch and is accomplished enzymatically or through the use of acid. Heat-stable endo α-amylase enzymes are used in this step, and in the subsequent step of dextrinization. The extent of hydrolysis is controlled in the dextrinization step to yield hydrolysis products of the desired percentage of dextrose.
Further hydrolysis of the dextrin products from the liquefaction step is carried out by a number of different exo-amylases and debranching enzymes, depending on the products that are desired. And finally if fructose is desired then immobilized glucose isomerase enzyme is typically employed to convert glucose into fructose.
Dry-mill processes of making fermentable sugars (and then ethanol, for example) from cornstarch facilitate efficient contacting of exogenous enzymes with starch. These processes are less capital intensive than wet-milling but significant cost advantages are still desirable, as often the co-products derived from these processes are not as valuable as those derived from wet-milling. For example, in dry milling corn, the kernel is ground into a powder to facilitate efficient contact of starch by degrading enzymes. After enzyme hydrolysis of the corn flour the residual solids have some feed value as they contain proteins and some other components. Eckhoff recently described the potential for improvements and the relevant issues related to dry milling in a paper entitled "Fermentation and costs of fuel ethanol from corn with quick-germ process" (Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol., 94: 41 (2001)). The "quick germ" method allows for the separation of the oil-rich germ from the starch using a reduced steeping time.
One example where the regulation and/or level of endogenous processing enzymes in a plant can result in a desirable product is sweet corn. Typical sweet corn varieties are distinguished from field corn varieties by the fact that sweet corn is not capable of normal levels of starch biosynthesis. Genetic mutations in the genes encoding enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis are typically employed in sweet corn varieties to limit starch biosynthesis. Such mutations are in the genes encoding starch synthases and ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylases (such as the sugary and super-sweet mutations). Fructose, glucose and sucrose, which are the simple sugars necessary for producing the palatable sweetness that consumers of edible fresh corn desire, accumulate in the developing endosperm of such mutants. However, if the level of starch accumulation is too high, such as when the corn is left to mature for too long (late harvest) or the corn is stored for an excessive period before it is consumed, the product loses sweetness and takes on a starchy taste and mouthfeel. The harvest window for sweet corn is therefore quite narrow, and shelf-life is limited.
Another significant drawback to the farmer who plants sweet corn varieties is that the usefulness of these varieties is limited exclusively to edible food. If a farmer wanted to forego harvesting his sweet corn for use as edible food during seed development, the crop would be essentially a loss. The grain yield and quality of sweet corn is poor for two fundamental reasons. The first reason is that mutations in the starch biosynthesis pathway cripple the starch biosynthetic machinery and the grains do not fill out completely, causing the yield and quality to be compromised. Secondly, due to the high levels of sugars present in the grain and the inability to sequester these sugars as starch, the overall sink strength of the seed is reduced, which exacerbates the reduction of nutrient storage in the grain. The endosperms of sweet corn variety seeds are shrunken and collapsed, do not undergo proper desiccation, and are susceptible to diseases. The poor quality of the sweet corn grain has further agronomic implications; as poor seed viability, poor germination, seedling disease susceptibility, and poor early seedling vigor result from the combination of factors caused by inadequate starch accumulation. Thus, the poor quality issues of sweet corn impact the consumer, farmer/grower, distributor, and seed producer.
Thus, for dry-milling, there is a need for a method which improves the efficiency of the process and/or increases the value of the co-products. For wet-milling, there is a need for a method of processing starch that does not require the equipment necessary for prolonged steeping, grinding, milling, and/or separating the components of the kernel. For example, there is a need to modify or eliminate the steeping step in wet milling as this would reduce the amount of waste water requiring disposal, thereby saving energy and time, and increasing mill capacity (kernels would spend less time in steep tanks). There is also a need to eliminate or improve the process of separating the starch-containing endosperm from the embryo.


An apparatus controls the treatment of water that flows through a cooling system. The electrical conductivity of the water is sensed. A valve control opens a system drain valve when the sensed conductivity is greater than a threshold, and closes the drain valve when the conductivity drops below the threshold by a given amount. The water drained form the system is replenished through an inlet and a mechanism measures the volume of water added to the cooling system. Chemicals to treat the water are fed into the system when specified volumes of water have been added. The sensing of conductivity can be inhibited for a certain period following the application of the chemicals. A possible system malfunction is indicated when the conductivity does not drop below the threshold after the drain valve is open for a given period of time.

The present invention relates to evaporative condensers for use in cooling systems; and more particularly to apparatus for controlling the treatment of water used in such condensers.
Large cooling systems, such as those found in commercial and industrial buildings, have an exterior evaporative condenser to remove heat from the building interior or from an industrial process. These evaporative condensers are commonly called "cooling towers." A pump circulates water from a reservoir at the base of the cooling tower through a shell or tube heat exchanger where the water picks up waste heat from a refrigeration system or industrial process. The water flows back to the cooling tower where it is sprayed into a stream of air that is drawn or forced through the cooling tower, thereby promoting evaporation of the water which removes heat from the system. Some of the water evaporates before it reaches the reservoir at the bottom of the cooling tower. When the water level in the reservoir drops below a given point, a level activated valve opens which introduces water from a supply to replace, or make-up for, the water which has evaporated.
As the water evaporates over the course of time, the concentration of minerals and other dissolved solids in the circulating water increases. Periodically, an outlet valve of the reservoir is opened to drain some of the water which has a high concentration of total dissolved solids. This water is replenished by water from the supply causing the concentration of dissolved solids in the cooling tower water to diminish. The draining process is commonly called a "bleed-off". Conventional systems for automatically controlling the bleed-off measure the electrical conductivity of the water and open the drain valve when the conductivity exceeds a threshold level which corresponds to an undesirably high concentration of total dissolved solids. Standard conductivity sensors become fouled with minerals over time which diminishes the accuracy of the sensor. Therefore, the sensors periodically must be tested and cleaned when their accuracy falls outside a tolerance range.
Because the cooling tower is open to the atmosphere, algae, bacteria and other organisms can exist and multiply within the reservoir. In response to a programmable time clock, biocides were added to the reservoir water to eliminate these organisms. The concentration of biocides diminishes as the water is drained from the reservoir and new water is added, thereby requiring periodic addition of more biocide.
The internal components of the cooling system may corrode over time depending upon the acidity of the water from the supply. To counter this effect, a corrosion inhibitor also is added to the cooling tower water and must be replenished in order to maintain the proper concentration as water is bled from the system. Previous systems for treating the cooling system water added corrosion inhibitor whenever the bleed-off control discharged water from the system. However, such conductivity based systems can apply more chemical than is required to adequately treat the water.
It is therefore desirable to provide an automatic control system for bleeding off the cooling tower when the concentration of total dissolved solids becomes excessive. The control system also should add the biocides and corrosion inhibitors as needed. However, in order to reduce operating expenses,, the addition of chemicals must be regulated so that only the amounts necessary for satisfactory operation are added to the cooling tower. It is also desirable that the accuracy of the system be periodically checked and an indication given to the operator when maintenance is required, such as cleaning the conductivity sensor.

Water treatment controller for an evaporative condenser