An imaging apparatus includes: a reading device that reads a recording file on which a plurality of groups of information of character strings are stored in advance; a displaying device that displays any one group of the plurality of groups of the information of character strings; a selecting device that selects one desired group of information of character strings from the plurality of groups of the information of character strings; and a recording device that records shooting completion information that indicates shooting corresponding to the one desired group of the information of character string has been completed on the recording file, when shooting is performed in a state where the one desired group of the information of character string is selected, wherein when one group of the plurality of groups of the information of character strings is selected and displayed, based on the shooting completion information, the displaying device displays the selected one group of the information of character strings, and a display of completed shooting information that indicates an image corresponding to the selected one group of the information of character strings has been shot together.

In recent years, with the widespread use of digital cameras, the usage range thereof has increased from general use to business use.
Due to such an increase of the usage range of digital cameras, various functions have been added thereto.
For example, at a construction site, photographic recording is mandatory, scenes to be shot as a record are predetermined, and it is necessary to record all the scenes with the shooting date, time, place, and so on.
Thus, the need for shooting all of the predetermined scenes has increased.
However, a technique regarding an imaging apparatus capable of easily preventing forgetting to shoot has not been suitably developed.
In Japanese patent application publication number 2009-239696, an imaging apparatus capable of storing information of a character string shot in advance by the use of a digital camera by a user in association with a shot image has been disclosed.
However, in the imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese patent application publication number 2009-239696, it is necessary for a user to shoot information of a character string including shooting date, place, and so on in advance, and a troublesome operation to associate the information of the character string with the shot image is required.
And since there is no function to prevent forgetting to shoot in the imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese patent application publication number 2009-239696, it is not possible to prevent forgetting to shoot.
Japanese patent number 4124402 discloses an imaging apparatus such that a shooting list including names of scenes of objects to be recorded is inputted in advance, and in a case where a name of a scene included in the shooting list displayed on a screen is selected and shooting is performed, data of the shot image is recorded in association with the selected name of the scene.
However, in the imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese patent number 4124402, it is necessary to select a shooting list and a name of a scene each, and this makes operations troublesome when shooting. And in the imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese patent number 4124402, since shooting completion information is all deleted in a case of selecting a shooting list and in a case of turning off the power, it is necessary to shoot all the scenes corresponding to names of scenes included in a shooting list at one time, and therefore it can hardly be said to be user-friendly.

Imaging apparatus and imaging method for recording shooting completion information


Water repellant conductive fabrics and methods for making the same are provided. The water repellant conductive fabrics may have a conductivity suitable to operate touch-sensitive electronic devices without a conductive path to the human body.

The wide-spread use of touch-screen devices continues to explode. Smart phones, for example, are becoming lighter, thinner, but more powerful and capable on almost a daily basis. In addition, tablet electronics are also becoming ubiquitous, in part, because of the varying sizes that accommodate each user's particular needs. The input to the touch-screen on these devices is controlled by a series of finger gestures that manipulate images on the display. While there are different display technologies for interpreting the gesture inputs, one of the most common are capacitive touch-screens which take some of the charge stored in fingers to activate the screen to detect the gestures. In cold weather, however, when the user wears gloves to keep warm, capacitive touch-screens are difficult to operate. One solution to such a problem is the use of fabrics and other materials that are processed such that at least a portion of the surface of the glove is electrically conductive.
The use of electrically conductive fabrics and textiles is well known in the art. These materials can be found in a wide variety of uses, such as anti-static, anti-microbial, and functional cloth applications.
For example, Child U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,893 discloses a method of depositing a conductive polymer film on a textile fabric substrate. The method includes synthesizing a pyrrole compound having improved stability by the oxidative polymerization of an aqueous solution of a pyrrole compound in the presence of an oxidizing agent, dopant anion and a stabilizing agent.
Another example is Child et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,749, which discloses a patterned conductive textile and a process for making the same. The process involves applying a durable finish to portions of the chosen substrate that inhibits the formation of a conductive polymer from forming on those areas.
Still another example is DeAngelis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,481, which discloses a process for making an electromagnetically conductive textile having a conductivity gradient through the thickness of the fabric. The process includes two or more superimposed webs of felt material with different electrical conductivities in order to create an conductivity gradient across the composite fabric's thickenss.
A further example of conductive materials can be found in Leto et al. International Publication No. WO 2010/141743, which discloses materials for use with capacitive touch-screens. The materials include textiles, leathers, non-woven materials, and leather-like materials impregnated with a composition including an electrically conductive agent and a binder. The described process includes curing coatings either under heat or air dried without heat.
Attempts at producing conductive material products have been somewhat successful. For example, Fownes Brothers & Co. has produced a line of touch-screen conductive gloves (see for example, www.urpowered.com) that provide the user with the ability to operate their touch-screen devices without removing the gloves, while the gloves themselves do not have the silver or metallic threads on the fingertips that many found to be undesirable. The conductive nature of these gloves, however, can degrades over time and use particularly due to conditions such as from wetness due to snow, ice, and laundering. This is due, at least in part, to the incompatibility between the process for making fabrics conductive versus making them water repellant. For example, if fabrics are already water repellant, it is very difficult to successfully treat to make them to make them conductive as well. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide high-quality water repellant conductive materials and methods for making the same that overcome the shortcomings of the current state-of-the art.

Water-repellant conductive fabrics and methods for making the same


An optical glass composition having high refractive index and low dispersion is disclosed which is characterized in that it contains no harmful thorium compound and instead contains WO.sub.3 in a content of 10 to 35 percent by weight introduced into the system of B.sub.2 O.sub.3 -La.sub.2 O.sub.3 -ZrO.sub.2 -Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5. The optical glass herein disclosed has a high refractive index (nd) ranging from 1.85 to 1.97 and a low Abbe's number (.nu.d) ranging from 28 to 38. Also, the optical glass is stable against devitrification and excellent in chemical durability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical glass composition having high refractive index and low dispersion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many known glass compositions of high refractive index and low dispersion contain an amount of thorium oxide to give to the glass compositions the desired properties of high refractive index and low dispersion. But, thorium is radioactive and harmful to the human body. Therefore, the use of a thorium compound as an ingredient of a glass composition must be avoided.
An example of a high refractive index and low dispersion glass composition containing no thorium oxide is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,080,240 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2936/1961). This known glass composition is of the system of B.sub.2 O.sub.3 -La.sub.2 O.sub.3 -ZrO.sub.2 -Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5 and its optical constants are 1.747 to 1.873 in refractive index (nd) and 40.0 to 52.8 in Abbe number (.nu.d). However, this glass composition has some drawbacks. It is unstable against devitrification because of its high liquid phase temperature and it is unsuitable for industrial scale mass production. Furthermore, its refractive index (nd), the upper limit of which is 1.873, is not satisfactorily high.


A method for monitoring a state of at least one predetermined battery cell of a battery having a number of series-connected or series-connectable battery cells. In one example, the method includes placing the battery, during a first phase, into a first state in which the battery cells in each case have a predefined charging state, discharging the battery, which is in the first state, during a second phase following the first phase, charging the battery during a third phase, following the second phase, up to a point in time at which at least one battery cell of the battery has the predefined charging state, detecting the voltage provided by the at least one predetermined battery cell at least temporarily, and determining information for detecting the state of the at least one predetermined battery cell by evaluating the detected voltage.

The present invention relates to a method and a corresponding device for monitoring a state of at least one battery cell of a battery having a number of series-connected or series-connectable battery cells.
In battery cells, faults may occur. These faults can be, for example, local short circuits which are caused, for example, by dendrites and/or contamination in the battery cells, aging of the battery cells, production faults or mechanical effects. Such short circuits can lead to a production of self-discharging currents in the battery cells. In consequence, these faults represent a safety risk in a charged state of a battery having such battery cells since local heating of the battery cells may occur.
Current battery systems which are typically used for electromobility applications comprise batteries having a number of series-connected or connectable battery cells through which one and the same current flows during charging and/or discharging of the battery. The electrical energy and power which can be taken from such a battery system is determined by the battery cell which has a minimum capacity and a maximum internal impedance of all battery cells. It is advantageous, therefore, that in such a battery system, battery cells are installed which have similar capacities and internal impedances, if possible. It is known that aging of a battery cell typically reduces its capacity and typically increases its internal impedance. Due to aging and self discharging currents flowing in the battery cells of an aforementioned battery system, the battery cells discharge at different rates. In the long term, this leads to different charging states of the battery cells. It is necessary, therefore, to perform a charging state compensation between the charging state of the battery cells of such a battery system regularly. This process is usually called balancing.
From document CN 10231546 B, a battery having a number of battery cells is known. In this context, a state of the battery is monitored by a battery management system. The battery management system is designed to initiate and activate a performance of a charging state compensation between different charging states of the battery cells of the battery.
From document US 2013/0018606, a battery having a number of battery cells is known. In this context, a number of charging state compensations are performed between different charging states of the battery cells of the battery. Furthermore, a frequency is determined for each battery cell with which an energy stored in the respective battery cell is varied during the number of charging state compensations. Using an evaluation of the frequency determined for each battery cell, it is determined whether the respective battery cell is in a faulty state. Such a faulty state can occur in consequence of an internal short circuit of the respective battery cell.

Method and device for monitoring a state of at least one predetermined battery cell of a battery


A system for matching a pair of patient records as belonging to the same individual or patient is disclosed. A set of matching rules (4) represents persistent characteristics of clinical properties of patients. A clinical property extractor (5) is used for extracting at least one first clinical property from clinical information contained in the first patient record (1) and at least one second clinical property from clinical information contained in the second patient record (2). A match detector (3) is used for detecting whether the first patient record (1) and the second patient record (2) relate to the same patient, based on the first clinical property, the second clinical property, and the set of matching rules 4. A demographic property extractor (6) is used for extracting demographic data.

Patients receiving care at several healthcare organizations may receive several distinct patient identifiers, usually one at each autonomous healthcare organization that they visit. The patient data, such as electronic medical records, medical images, and other relevant medical information are spread across multiple sites. In order to be able to retrieve all relevant patient data regardless of the healthcare site where these data were captured and stored, the patient identifiers at the various sites and the respective patient records should be linked, without requiring the sites to adopt a common patient identifier.
The volume of data collected for a patient in the context of a complex disease such as cancer has increased tremendously, and a large portion of these data, describing the medical history of a patient, can be relevant for diagnosis and treatment of the patient. In the case of recurring cancer patients, the relevant cancer-related health episodes can go many years back. Comorbidities are often relevant as well, as they may be a constraining factor for choosing a therapy. For example, many chemotherapy agents are cardiotoxic, and in order to choose the right therapy, prior information concerning cardiac disease may be important. It is highly unlikely that the information about all these health-related episodes of a patient resides in the system of a single institution. However, the treating clinician seeing a patient should be able to extract all the relevant prior health episodes from the patient record, cancer-related as well as and non-cancer-related episodes. Each patient record may include many episodes and span a few decades.
The flow of information into and out of the patient record is typically channeled through a Master Patient Index (MPI) that associates a unique medical record number (MRN) with each patient entity when a unit record exists. To obtain a view on patients across distributed data sources, the local identifiers in the individual institutions need to be reconciled. This is currently done by building an MPI that interrelates all the identifiers in hospitals that are part of a collaborating group, or enterprise. An Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) is developed through integration of the individual MPIs of the sources. Generally, the integration is achieved by comparing demographic attributes such as first/last name, gender, date of birth, address etc., to create an enterprise-level identifier, and is rarely based on a single identifier shared across the different organizations in the enterprise. Most of the existing systems deploy probabilistic algorithms which typically compare a fixed record with a number of candidates for a match, computing for each candidate a likelihood ratio (weighted score) that is compared to chosen accept and reject thresholds. This is used to decide whether to link the records or not. When the decision cannot be taken automatically (the computed likelihood falls between the accept and reject thresholds), qualified personnel reviews or flags the potential (mis)matches before they are accepted (or rejected). However, submitting a large amount of records for manual review is very costly and may make the solution impractical.
The number of matches automatically rejected, accepted, or submitted for manual review depends both on the weights associated with the different attributes during comparison, on the basis of which the likelihood ratio is computed, and on the chosen reject and accept thresholds. The matching process is tuned with these thresholds by trading off data consistency versus completeness. The pairs of records having scores between the reject and accept threshold are submitted for manual review, which means that a clinical expert or dedicated personnel needs to manually review those records and decide on whether to match them, or even ask the patient whether the two records belong to him or her. With a conservative approach, when both false positives and false negatives need to be avoided, this may constitute a high cost for the healthcare organization. Also, when matching across large medical record systems and other data sources such as PACS and lab systems, and when large amounts of data need to be manually reviewed and matched for each pair of potentially matching records, the number of erroneous matches may go up.
S. J. Grannis et al., "Analysis of a probabilistic Record Linkage Technique without Human Review", AMIA 2003 Symposium Proceedings, pages 259-263, discloses record linkage using probabilistic linkage techniques. Grannis et al. further discloses avoiding human review in such methods by means of an estimator function using an expectation maximization algorithm to establish a single true-link threshold.


A seal including a body with a longitudinal axis X that includes a base-piece having a first end and an opposed second end, two opposed side walls connecting the two ends, and two shoulders located on either side of each of the two side walls and at one of the ends. The body is made of a single flexible material and, in a section perpendicular to the X axis, the width of the base-piece, from one side wall to the other, in the vicinity of the end on the opposite side from the shoulders is larger than the width of the base-piece, from one side wall to the other, in the vicinity of the end near the shoulders.

I. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a seal that may in particular be fitted into an insulating glazing panel. This seal is particularly suitable for insulating glazing panels that are intended to be used in refrigerated cabinets, but the use of this seal is in no way restrictive and may be applied to any glazing panel having a housing intended to receive the seal of the invention.
II. Description of Related Art
Refrigerated cabinets are, for example, refrigerated display cases or chests whose insulating glazing panels constitute the glass fronts behind which products to be consumed are displayed. These products or foodstuffs, that have to be visible to the consumer, are perishable and therefore have to be kept at a suitable temperature, while preventing any bacteriological contamination.
The insulating glazing panels of these refrigerated cabinets are often joined end to end and the end glazing panels are generally attached to a side wall. However, a sufficient space must be provided between two glazing panels and/or a glazing panel and a side wall so as to allow a display case to be opened and closed in order to place or remove the products, or else to clean the display case, without any risk of striking the adjacent glazing panel or the side wall. Of course, it is paramount to provide a seal in this space so as to ensure thermal insulation between the refrigerated interior of the display case and the outside, to reduce thermal losses and to prevent any bacteriological contamination from outside the display cases of the products placed inside them.
Sealing is then achieved by seals fastened to the periphery of the glazing panels, each seal having a sealing lip that covers the lip of the seal of the adjacent glazing panel when the display cases are in the closed position, or else bears against the side wall. The seals are regularly put under stress as the display cases are being frequently opened and closed, and it is also preferable for them to be resistant to these rubbing forces by suitably fastening them to the glazing panel, while still being able to be easily removed for the purpose of replacing them.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,414 proposes a seal for these types of refrigerated cabinet.
The front of a refrigerated cabinet is formed from one or more insulating glazing panels, that are generally curved, comprising at least two glass panes separated from each other by an air or gas layer and held spaced apart by a spacer, together with sealing means designed to seal against water vapor and against water and/or other liquids between the inside and the outside of the glazing panel.
In that document, the spacer used on the lateral parts of the double-glazing panel consists of a hollow rigid strip that is open to the outside of the glazing panel and has a bottom facing the gas or air layer, side walls facing the internal faces of the glass panes and an opening on the opposite side from the bottom, giving access to the internal cavity of the strip at the edges of the glass panes. The free ends of the side walls toward the opening terminate in the form of a narrowed portion such as a constriction.
The sealing means of the insulating glazing panel consist of a first barrier impermeable to water vapor, such as a butyl seal placed between the side walls of the spacer and the internal faces of the glass panes, and a second barrier, impermeable to water and/or to other liquids, such as a polysulfide placed between the narrowed portion of the spacer and the internal faces of the glass panes.
The seal associated with this glazing panel includes a first portion that is held inserted in the cavity provided in the body of the spacer, and another portion placed on the outside of the cavity of the strip and projecting from insulating the glazing panel in order to cooperate with a seal for an adjacent insulating glazing panel.
More precisely, the seal of that document, which is obtained by extrusion, comprises a stem, a flat part extending the stem, a central rib located between the stem and the flat part, and flanges going from the stem obliquely toward the central rib. The stem and the central rib are made of a rigid plastic having a Shore A hardness of about 75 to 80 so as to ensure that they are inserted into the cavity of the spacer, in particular at the restriction, and to ensure that the seal is correctly positioned. The flanges and the flat part are made of a flexible plastic having a Shore A hardness of about 65 so as to ensure that they bend when the stem is forcibly inserted into the cavity, in particular at the restriction, and so as to ensure suitable flexibility for the flat part that is intended to cooperate with a flat part of a seal of an adjacent insulating glazing panel.
However, this seal does not seem to provide a completely satisfactory solution. This is because such a seal is necessarily associated with the spacer of the insulating glazing panel of the display case, this spacer having to have a specific shape, thereby requiring special spacers to be manufactured for these insulating glazing panels and resulting in additional production costs.
Moreover, if the central rib does not correctly close off the opening of the spacer, there is a possible risk of bacteriological contamination and proliferation in the cavity of the spacer, something which is inconceivable for this type of insulating glazing panel used in refrigerated cabinets intended for merchandizing food products.
Furthermore, the seal is made of at least two separate plastics—one rigid and the other more flexible—resulting in more complex manufacturing means than if the seal were to be obtained from a single material, and therefore not contributing to achieve as low as possible a manufacturing cost.
Finally, the sealing means of the insulating glazing panel, which in particular are made of polysulfide, are visible along the edge of the glazing panel, providing it with an unattractive appearance that may make customers feel that the display case is not clean.

Gasket and insulating glass comprising said gasket


A knotmeter impeller eliminator system is provided which includes a circuit that simulates the pulsed output of an impeller-type transducer system by generating pulses having a pulse repetition rate corresponding to speed, with the speed being derived from a navigation unit such as a LORAN, GPS, SAT/NAV or OMEGA unit which provides as an output thereof a standardized NMEA 0183 coded signal corresponding to calculated speed. In one embodiment, a switching system is provided which switches the knotmeter input between either the impeller output or the simulated output to provide a speed indication regardless of whether or not the impeller is jammed by seaweed, eel grass, or other debris. In one embodiment, the pulse generating system involves the utilization of a transistor, the base of which is controlled to turn the transistor on at a rate related to the calculated speed, with pulses to the base of the transistor being generated by a pulse generator which detects a digital signal representing calculated speed and produces a corresponding analog voltage that is in turn coupled to a voltage-controlled oscillator circuit. Alternatively, calculated speed may be transformed into the requisite number of pulses per second via an internal clock and count-down circuits within the CPU used to detect the NMEA 0183 speed sentence.

Knotmeters or knotlogs as they are sometimes called have been provided in the past in which water movement past an impeller provides a signal related to the impeller speed and thus the flow of water past the impeller. As is common, impeller speed may be readily converted into an indication of boat speed, either through the magnitude of a signal generated by a generator coupled to the impeller or by the number of pulses per second generated when a magnetic element in the impeller passes by a Hall effect transistor. In general, the latter type of knotmeter transducers generate between 17,000 and 24,000 pulses per knot.
One of the difficulties with the utilization of an impeller type knotmeter is that the impeller can become fouled both by barnacles and marine growth, but more importantly and more recently by eel grass, weeds, and in fact plastic bags and debris in the water. In the past the problems of fouling the impeller have been addressed through housings which permit the removal of the impeller portion of the sensing unit. At the same time it is necessary to simultaneously put a plug in the housing to stop the gush of water as the impeller element is removed from the housing since this housing is in the form of a conduit which passes through the hull of the boat. This of course is both time consuming, inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous in that if the plug is not properly positioned, the boat can sink. Invariably, however, the individual performing the cleaning operation gets soaking wet.
The frequency of clearing the impeller has increased in recent years such that on a given boat trip, the impeller may need to be cleaned under way as often as every three or four miles. This is an intolerable situation and one which renders the knotmeter useless for most of the time.
Additionally, for those boats utilizing transom mount transducers, the impeller may be damaged by virtue of a log or floating debris physically hitting the impeller and bending or damaging it so that it will no longer rotate. Moreover, for those transducers having a flip up capability, the knotmeter ceases to function when the transducer is flipped up, requiring reaching over the stern of the boat to flip the transducer down to its operating position.
All of the above militates against a properly functioning knotmeter. Additionally, speed through water is of course no indication of speed over the bottom.


Systems and methods of the present disclosure are directed to a computing system configured to provide seamless protection to data (which can include, without limitation, data files, executable files, system configuration files, program files, and other data) stored in the computing system, while making it nearly impossible for attackers to be able to access the data outside of the computing system. The computing system uses targeted encryption and decryption, in which values of one or more system attribute are used to generate a cryptographic key used for encryption and decryption of data stored in the computing system.

One approach to securing data is to encrypt the data using an encryption key. The data, once encrypted with the encryption key, can be decrypted using the same or a corresponding encryption key. Some cryptographic techniques rely on the user to possess the cryptographic key. In some other techniques, the encryption key may be embedded in the encrypted data, such that the user can use the embedded encryption key to decrypt the encrypted data.

Systems and methods to secure data using computer system attributes


The hollow glass vacuum microspheres are made by forming a liquid film of molten glass across the coaxial blowing nozzles, applying the metal vapor blowing gas at a positive pressure on the inner surface of the glass film to blow the film which combines with the centrifugal force to form an elongated cylinder shaped liquid film of molten glass. A transverse jet is used to direct the inert entraining fluid over and around the blowing nozzle at an angle to the axis of the blowing nozzle. The entraining fluid as it passes over and around the blowing nozzle fluid dynmically induces a pulsating or fluctuating pressure field at the opposite or lee side of the blowing nozzle in the wake or shadow of the coaxial blowing nozzle. The continued movement of the entraining fluid over the elongated cylinder produces asymmetric fluid drag forces on the cylinder and closes and detaches the elongated cylinder from the coaxial blowing nozzle and the detached cylinder by the action of surface tension forms into a spherical shape.. Quench nozzles are disposed radially away from the rotor and direct cooling fluid downwardly at and into contact with the hollow glass amicrospheres to rapidly cool and solidify the molten glass to form a hard, smooth hollow glass microsphere and where metal vapor blowing gas is used to cool and condense the metal vapor and to deposit the metal vapor on the inner wall surface of the microsphere as a thin metal coating.

In recent years, the substantial increases in the energy costs of heating and cooling has encouraged the development of new and better insulation materials and many new insulation materials have been developed in an attempt to satisfy this need.
In recent years, the substantial increases in costs of basic materials such as plastics, cement, asphalt and the like has also encouraged development and use of filler materials to reduce the amount and costs of the basic materials used and the weight of the finished materials. One of the newly suggested filler materials utilizes hollow glass microspheres. The known methods for producing hollow glass microspheres have not been successful in producing microspheres of uniform size or uniform thin walls which makes it very difficult to produce filler and insulation materials of controlled and predictable physical and chemical characteristics and quality.
One of the existing methods of producing hollow glass microspheres for use as insulating materials, for example, as disclosed in the Veatch et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,201 or Beck et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,365,315 involves dispersing a liquid and/or solid gas-phase precursor material in the glass material to be blown to form the microspheres. The glass material containing the solid or liquid gas-phase precursor enclosed therein is then heated to convert the solid and/or liquid gas-phase precursor material into a gas and is further heated to expand the gas and produce the hollow glass microsphere containing therein the expanded gas. This process is, understandably, difficult to control and of necessity, i.e. inherently, produces glass microspheres of random size and wall thickness, microspheres with walls that have sections or portions of the walls that are relatively thin, walls that have holes, small trapped bubbles, trapped or dissolved gases, any one or more of which will result in a substantial weakening of the microspheres, and a substantial number or proportion of microspheres which are not suitable for use and must be scrapped or recycled.
In addition, in some applications, the use of low density microspheres presents a serious problem because they are difficult to handle since they are readily elutriated and tend to blow about. In situations of this type, the filamented microspheres of the present invention provide a convenient and safe method of handling the microspheres.
It is also been suggested that hollow glass vacuum microspheres having a reflective metal deposited on the inner wall surface thereof be used to make insulating materials. There have been several methods suggested for making this type of hollow vacuum microsphere but to date none of the known methods are believed to have been successful in making any such microspheres.
Further, the existing methods practiced to produce hollow glass microspheres usually rely on high soda content glass compositions because of their relatively low melting points. Many of these glass compositions were found to have poor long term weathering characteristics.
Thus, the known methods for producing hollow glass microspheres have therefore not been successful in producing microspheres of uniform size or uniform thin walls or in producing hollow glass microspheres of controlled and predictable physical and chemical characteristics, quality and strength.
In addition, applicant found in his initial attempts to use an inert blowing gas to blow a thin molten glass film to form a hollow glass microsphere that the formation of the glass microsphere was extremely sensitive and that unstable films were produced which burst into minute sprays of droplets before a molten glass film could be blown into a microsphere and detached from a blowing nozzle. There was also a tendency for the molten glass fluid to creep up the blowing nozzle under the action of wetting forces. Thus, initial attempts to blow hollow glass microspheres from thin molten glass films were unsuccessful.

Centrifuge apparatus and method for producing hollow microspheres

c/o Materials Technology Corp., P.O. Box 6844


To improve the strength in the connection between an inflator and an airbag, an area around a gas inlet 12 of an airbag 10 is fitted onto an inflator 30 and is bound tightly by two bands 14. The areas of the airbag 10 near the bands 14 are provided with stitches 16 extending in the circumferential direction of the inflator 30. The stitches 16 rise from the outer surface of the airbag 10. The areas around the gas inlet of the airbag 10 and the inflator 30 are held by saddle bands 24 of a holder 20. The stitches 16 are caught by the bands 14 when the airbag 10 is inflated and the airbag 10 is about to be slipped off, thereby securely preventing the detachment of the airbag 10.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connecting structure between an airbag and an inflator used for an automobile or other vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to connecting structure between an airbag and a rod-type inflator having a rod-like shape in which gas is spouted out from one end of the inflator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rod-type inflator is employed in a side airbag device arranged on a side of a vehicle seat, a head protecting airbag device of which an airbag is inflated on a side of a vehicle occupant's head, a torso/lap protecting airbag device (sometimes referred to as "inflatable belt device") which is assembled in a webbing of a seat belt, or other airbag device.

Connecting structure between an airbag and an inflator


A method of producing dicyclopentyldichlorosilane which comprises reacting cyclopentene and dichlorosilane with each other by using a platinum catalyst and/or a rhodium catalyst in the presence of 1,3-diethinyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane.

Dicyclopentyldichlorosilane is widely used as a basic starting material having high activity in the production of other organosilicon compounds or compounds containing organosilicon groups.
Therefore, it has so far been attempted to produce the dicyclopentyldichlorosilane by the reaction between easily available starting materials, namely cyclopentene and dichlorosilane, and many studies on catalysts for this reaction have been done. However, all the catalysts which have so far been studied do not sufficiently drive the reaction, and so they cannot serve for the industrial use.
Such being the case, the production of said compound has been carried out by another method which uses trichlorosilane and cyclopentene as starting materials. According to this method, trichlorosilane and cyclopentene undergo addition reaction in the presence of a platinum and/or rhodium catalyst to produce cyclopentyltrichlorosilane as an intermediate, and then the intermediate is made to react with cyclopentylmagnesium chloride to give the intended compound. However, this method has a disadvantage in requiring two different reactors since it comprises two different types of reactions, namely addition reaction and Grignard reaction.
Thus, it is still a problem to be solved to produce useful dicyclopentyldichlorosilane by a one-step addition reaction alone.

Method of producing dicyclopentyldichlorosilane


A method and apparatus for pressure forming plastic pipe bells utilizing external air pressure is disclosed. The apparatus includes a horizontally oriented, shaped mandrel, which may or may not have expanding segments for forming an internal groove in the pipe bell, mounted within a pressure chamber. A natural rubber circular gasket is positioned at the front end of the pressure chamber and the end of the pipe is pushed through the rubber gasket and over the mandrel. A pair of cooperating upper and lower front plates are oppositely vertically reciprocal relative to the bell end of the pipe and act to retain the gasket when pressure is built up within the pressure chamber. Suitable air and water spray inlet and outlet connections are provided.

The present invention relates generally to the field of forming a bell or shaped socket in the end of a length of plastic pipe, and more particularly, is directed to a novel method and apparatus capable of producing a sharply defined bell on a previously softened end of a length of plastic pipe regardless of wall thickness.
It is the present practice to utilize known types of plastic pipe forming apparatus to provide a bell or shaped socket in one end of each length of plastic or other pipe to allow joints in adjacent lengths of pipe to be readily made in the field by utilizing known techniques and existing tools. The presently available pipe belling machines for use with plastic pipes usually incorporate a means to heat one end of the plastic pipe prior to belling to sufficiently soften the plastic to permit shaping the bell. The existing belling apparatus utilize a mandrel means to shape the interior of the bell at the heated pipe end and external clamps to shape the exterior periphery of the belled end during the belling process. It is also common practice to reciprocate the mandrel means into and out of the end of the pipe during the belling process. The prior art devices usually also incorporate suitable cooling means to set the shaped end after the withdrawal of the mandrel means in a rapid manner to provide efficient utilization of the machine and to reduce time requirements and production costs.
It is now increasingly popular and usually necessary to provide an interior groove in the shaped bell as the pipe bell is formed to accommodate a sealing gasket. The sealing gasket is secured within the groove and is employed on the job site to quickly and automatically seal the pipe joint when adjacent lengths of pipe are joined together. To form such an internal groove in the pipe bell, it is now the common practice to provide a plurality of expanding and contracting cooperating segments within a mandrel construction to thereby permit the mandrel to automatically and simultaneously form the interior configuration of the pipe bell and also to form the interior peripheral groove.
It will be appreciated that wall thicknesses of plastic pipes vary widely from pipe to pipe due to the design requirements of such parameters as pipe diameter, type of intended service of the pipe, the type of plastic employed in fabricating the pipe, pressure requirements of the finished pipeline and other such design considerations. Due to the variances in wall thickness of the different plastic pipes which are now presented to a belling fabricator for pipe belling purposes, each mandrel apparatus for each diameter of pipe has to be equipped with various sized external clamps, which clamps are specifically designed and configured for a particular pipe wall thickness. Accordingly, it is possible for one mandrel to require several sets of clamps in order to make a pipe belling machine relatively universally adaptable for the pipes normally treated by a single plant. In other instances, additional tooling costs were involved in carefully machining the clamps to assure forming bells with minimum acceptable wall thickness throughout the entire bell, including the critical area in and about the internal groove. Because of this, tooling and equipment costs have become quite expensive when utilizing existing machines to form pipe bells by employing the combination of a mandrel with external clamps.
Additionally, the external clamps have proved to be deficient to a degree in that the use of such external clamps has usually resulted in marring the exterior periphery of the belled end of the pipe due to imperfections in the surfaces of the clamps, and imperfections in the mating surfaces of the cooperating upper and lower clamp halves possibly caused by misalignment of the parts during the bell forming operations.

Method and apparatus for pressure forming pipe bells


A control type vibro-isolating support includes a pulse signal generator for generating reference signals x, which represent the state of the vibration being generated by an engine. An acceleration sensor detects residual vibration on the support member side, and generates a residual vibration signal e. A controller is supplied with the reference signals x and residual vibration signal e. On the basis of the reference signals x and residual vibration signal e and in accordance with, for example, synchronous filtered X LMS algorithm, the controller generates a drive signal y so as to lower the vibration level on the member side. An engine mount is interposed between the engine and the member, and has an electromagnetic actuator. The drive circuit for the actuator is supplied with the drive signal y. The controller judges that abnormality has occurred, if a maximum value of the residual vibration signal e exceeds a threshold, and if maximum values of the signal e have occurred at the same periodicity as the reference signals x.

This invention relates to apparatus for supporting a vibrator such as a car engine on a support body such as a car body. In particular, the invention relates to a control type vibro-isolating support, that can generate controlling force depending on the conditions in which vibration is generated by a vibrator and transmitted to a support body. Abnormality in the vibro-isolating support can be detected for use to make the system more reliable.
A conventional vibro-isolating support of this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. H.3-24,338, for example. This prior art includes a supporting elastic body interposed between a vibrator and a support body. The elastic body partially defines a fluid chamber, which is filled with fluid. An elastic body supports a movable plate so that the plate can change the volume of the chamber. An electromagnetic actuator includes a permanent magnet and an electromagnet. The actuator can properly displace the movable plate so as to change the volume of the chamber. The volume change elastically deform the elastic body in the expanding direction. This generates controlling force which can cancel the vibration transmitted to the vibro-isolating support.
Specifically, the electromagnetic actuator attracts the movable plate to a specified neutral position, where the supporting force of the elastic body, which supports the plate, balances with the magnetic force of the permanent magnet. Proper adjustment of the magnetic force generated by the electromagnet increases or decreases the magnetic force applied to the plate. It is therefore possible to change the clearance between the plate and the actuator to any value within a possible range, thereby varying the volume of the fluid chamber.
Conventional control type vibro-isolating supports such as mentioned above, however, include no means for detecting their own trouble, degradation or other abnormality. In order for the apparatus to be sufficiently reliable, there is a need to use highly durable members or parts, which make the trouble or degradation offer no problem, but are expensive.


The present invention relates to uplink receiver circuitry which combines a local oscillator signal with an S-Band signal in a high-level mixer, operating in saturation, to produce an intermediate frequency (IF) signal in a high-level mixer. The use of a saturated high-level mixer enables the circuitry to convert received RF signals into undistorted IF signals without an RF limiter and its attendant dynamic range restrictions and distortion.

In various communication uplink systems, signals at the output of a receiving antenna vary from a maximum value of +60 dBm to a minimum of -15 dBm. Receiver circuitry connected to such an antenna is thus required to process signals over a 75 dB dynamic range. A good IF limiter could satisfy such dynamic range requirements, however uplink receivers in the past have not used the IF limiter in this way. In the prior art, signals from an antenna have first entered an RF limiter which then passed the signal to a fixed 45 dB attenuator. The output from the attenuator would then enter a low level mixer together with the output from a local oscillator. The output from the low level mixer would represent a dynamic range considerably less than the 75 dB characteristic of the signal at the output of the antenna. The output of the low level mixer was then entered into the IF limiter. By the time the signal entered the IF limiter, much of the upper portion of the dynamic range--which was within the limits of the IF limiter--was lost in the systems of the prior art.
The loss of dynamic range is attributable to the restrictions inherent in the low level mixer and the IF limiter when used together: the low level mixer having a maximum allowable input of 0 dBm with a conversion loss of 7 dB and the IF limiter being restricted in dynamic range between -70 dBm and 30 15 dBm by its design. As a result of these limitations, prior art schemes have not only failed to maximize the dynamic range capabilities of the IF limiter, but also required the use of an RF limiter in order to restore at least some of the upper portion of the signal that would be lost after the 45 dB attenuation and the low level mixing. Without the RF limiter, the +60 dBm signal would be attenuated 45 dB to +15 dB which is not an allowable input to the low level mixer. All signals between 0 and +15 dBm would thus be lost in the low level mixer stage. The RF limiter, in effect, transforms the "+60 dBm to -15 dBm" range into a "+45 dBm to -15 dBm" range, lowering and compressing the signal from the antenna to better fit the 45 dB attenuator and the low level mixer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,185,931, 3,292,093, and 3,387,220 represent various prior art circuits which demodulate square FM signals into a corresponding sinusoid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,931 is not especially directed to mark-and-space data and does not vary the sinusoidal period depending on whether a mark is followed by a space or another mark. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,093 does not provide distinct but varying sinusoid outputs depending on a mark or space data sequence. U.S. Pat. No. 3,387,220 does disclose the demodulating of mark and space data into an alternating signal waveform, the varying of the waveform period depending in some way on the data; however, this reference teaches a three-level output signal without clear sinusoid characteristics and does not disclose two distinct waveform characteristics depending on what data follows a mark. None of the above references (nor any other known prior art) propose the elimination of RF limiting in a receiver system by using high level mixing. Such references thus fail to detect signals--with minimal noise, nonlinearity, and other distortion--over the full dynamic range of the receiver.
In general, the use of an RF limiter and the failure to exploit the full dynamic range of the receiver and its IF limiter does not especially adversely affect the operation of a communication receiver. In applications where waveform distortions and transients are particularly undesirable, however, the use of an RF limiter, which alters the initial signal, creates problems which make its use impractical.

RF and IF Circuitry of an uplink receiver

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


Films obtained from paints based on conventional aqueous polymer dispersions exhibit improved wet adhesion to alkyd resin-coated substrates and improved blocking resistance if the paints contain polyglycidylamines which carry 2 or more glycidyl groups which are bonded to hydrogen-free nitrogens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in the wet adhesion and blocking resistance of paints based on aqueous polymer dispersions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The adhesion of paint films based on aqueous polymer dispersions to smooth substrates coated with oil-based or alkyd resin-based paints which have not weathered is frequently unsatisfactory even in the dry state. Furthermore, the adhesion depends on the wetness and in general decreases with increasing wetness of the paint films. In practice, this often results in damage to the paint films and there have therefore been many attempts to improve the wet adhesion of paint films based on aqueous polymer dispersions. For example, an attempt has been made (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,627) to improve the wet adhesion by the presence of special auxiliary monomers, for example basic acrylates, eg. ureidoacrylates, as copolymerized units in the binder polymers employed. Further attempts to improve the wet adhesion of paint films have been made by copolymerization of auxiliary monomers containing glycidyl groups and subsequent reaction of the glycidyl groups with ammonia, hexamethylenetetramine or lower primary or secondary monoamines (cf. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,350,339, 4,089,829 and 3,969,296). Finally, it has already been proposed (British Pat. No. 1,527,616) to improve the wet adhesion of paint films containing a binder polymer by introducing copolymerized units of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated halogen compounds into the polymers and then reacting them with ammonia or hexamethylenetetramine. The reaction of binder polymers, containing carboxyl groups, with alkyleneimines, especially ethyleneimine and 1,2-propyleneimine, is also alleged (cf. British Pat. No. 1,434,535) to improve the wet adhesion. However, the binder polymer dispersions improved by these conventional methods give paint films whose wet adhesion continues not to be fully satisfactory, and which furthermore often block. In addition, the wet adhesion of paint films prepared with such conventional binder dispersions often depends very greatly on the components, eg. pigments, additionally contained in the paints, and is sometimes difficult to reproduce.

Aqueous paints which contain polyglycidylamines as additives


Provided are a harmonic rejection mixer and a harmonic rejection mixing method. A plurality of oscillator signals having a ⅓ duty cycle and uniform phase differences may be generated and a differential or quadrature mixer with harmonic rejection may be realized by using the oscillator signals.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a harmonic rejection mixer and a harmonic rejection mixing method, and more particularly, to a mixing method and apparatus for generating a plurality of oscillator signals having ⅓ duty cycles and uniform phase differences and rejecting harmonics by using the oscillator signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
As signals of undesired channels are input to a receiver of a broadband wireless communication system, and more particularly, a wireless broadcasting communication system such as an Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) system, these signals may be combined with harmonics of a local oscillator (LO) of the receiver and added to a desired channel during a frequency mixing process. The added signals may act as noise and may reduce a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the receiver.
Methods of reducing harmonic mixing in a broadband receiver may include a method using a radio frequency (RF) filter and a method using a frequency mixer. The RF filter method may simply reject harmonics by using only one filter but may have to use an external element to obtain a desired level of harmonic rejection in consideration of the performance of a system. Meanwhile, the frequency mixer method may combine multi-phase LO signals with an input signal by using a plurality of parallel frequency mixers and may remove an effect due to harmonic mixing by adjusting gains of combined signals. Although this method may realize an on-chip device, LO signals having uniform phase differences may not be easily formed over a broadband and harmonic rejection may be reduced due to mismatches between parallel circuits. A method of dividing a high frequency LO signal may be used to form uniform phase differences over a broadband. However, this method may have a high structural complexity and may increase power consumption.
Accordingly, a frequency mixer rejecting harmonics, with low power consumption may be required.

Harmonic rejection mixer and harmonic rejection mixing method

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


Disclosed herein are method of treating neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, with the anti-histaminic drug betahistine.

Neurons build the nervous system, the system which includes the brain and spinal cord. On damage or death of these neurons, body is in no capacity to replace them and thus such conditions lead to neurodegenerative diseases which include Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, characterized by memory loss, cognitive impairment, and functional decline. During early stages of the disease, sleep disturbances and forgetfulness are generally first presenting symptoms. In severe stages, patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) require permanent observation, either by a home care professional or a family member.
Dementias are responsible for the greatest burden of disease with Alzheimer's. The cluster of symptoms seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is called dementia. Alzheimer's disease (AD) comprises approximately 60-80% of the total population suffering from dementia. The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) is believed to be determined by a combination of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, and environmental factors.
A progressive dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease is characterized by pronounced neurodegeneration in the entorhinal cortex, hippocampal CA1 and subiculum. The neurodegeneration present in hippocampus, cortex, and entorhinal cortex in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are the products of several neurodegenerative processes that occur at different stages of disease. Cholinergic abnormalities are the most problematic neurotransmitter deficiencies in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Acetylcholine (Ach) acts on muscarinic and nicotinic receptors in both peripheral and central nervous systems. Increased activation of nicotinic receptors in hippocampus and cortex elicits a therapeutic response, improving cognition and memory. Many current Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapies focus on the inhibition of Acetylcholine esterase (AChE), the enzyme that hydrolyzes Acetylcholine (Ach). These therapies may provide symptomatic relief in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. An estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer's disease in 2014. This includes an estimated 5 million people age 65 and older and approximately 200,000 individuals under age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer's. In US, one in nine people age 65 and older (11 percent) has Alzheimer's disease, about one-third of people age 85 and older (32 percent) have Alzheimer's disease. Of those with Alzheimer's disease, the vast majority (82 percent) are age 75 or older.
Acetylcholineesterase inhibitors (more often called as Cholinesterase inhibitors) and NMDA receptor antagonists are the two type of medications used in Alzheimer's treatment. The most common treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is Cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine. Cholinesterase inhibitors curb the breakdown of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter in the brain, which is responsible for memory and learning. Cholinesterase inhibitors increase the levels of acetylcholine in the brain and may slow down the progression of symptoms. Memantine is a NMDA receptor antagonist which is generally recommended for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease.
The currently available therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) provide only symptomatic relief, and may not cure or prevent the disease from worsening over time. Secondly, a particular drug may not be beneficial to a patient considering the side effects suffered by a particular individual considering the stage of the disease. Since Alzheimer's disease (AD) is multifarious, with various etiologies, it seems unlikely that any one treatment or approach may be able to cure it. The modern approaches for treatment and research are focusing on several different aspects, like, maintaining mental function, managing behavioral symptoms, slowing or delaying the symptoms of the disease, preserving cognitive and functional processes, improving the patient's quality of life, delaying institutionalization, decreasing the caregiver burden.
Though the thought process in the same context is ongoing one may still look into approaches which can give promising results in this direction. Approaches considering the activity and mechanisms of the existing array of drugs or actives in order to treat Alzheimer's disease may be a techno-economical path forward in the desired direction.

Betahistine for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases


A method of determining the shift lever position of an electronic automatic transmission system by identifying the mode of transmission operation selected by the driver of the vehicle to provide hysteresis between the park, reverse, neutral, drive and low positions, to permit improved performance and response of the controller and to permit limited operation of the controller upon the occurrence or detection of a fault effecting the performance of the transmission. Such faults include the loss of a PRND2L sensor and the loss of one or more sensors indicative of the dynamics of the vehicle or hydraulic circuit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an automatic transmission and more particularly to a method of determining the shift lever position selected by the driver of a transmission that is controlled electronically and hydraulically.
2. Discussion
Generally speaking, land vehicles require three basic components. These components comprise a power plant (such as an internal combustion engine) a power train and wheels. The internal combustion engine produces force by the conversion of the chemical energy in a liquid fuel into the mechanical energy of motion (kinetic energy). The function of the power train is to transmit this resultant force to the wheels to provide movement of the vehicle.
The power train's main component is typically referred to as the "transmission". Engine torque and speed are converted in the transmission in accordance with the tractive-power demand of the vehicle. The vehicle's transmission is also capable of controlling the direction of rotation being applied to the wheels so that the vehicle may be driven both forward and backward.
A conventional transmission includes a hydrodynamic torque converter to transfer engine torque from the engine crankshaft to a rotatable input member of the transmission through fluid-flow forces. The transmission also includes frictional units which couple the rotating input member to one or more members of a planetary gearset. Other frictional units, typically referred to as brakes, hold members of the planetary gearset stationary during flow of power. These frictional units are usually brake clutch assemblies or band brakes. The drive clutch assemblies can couple the rotating input member of the transmission to the desired elements of the planetary gearsets, while the brakes hold elements of these gearsets stationary. Such transmission systems also typically provide for one or more planetary gearsets in order to provide various ratios of torque and to ensure that the available torque and the respective tractive power demand are matched to each other.
Transmissions are generally referred to as manually actuated or automatic transmissions. Manual transmissions generally include mechanical mechanisms for coupling rotating gears to produce different ratio outputs to the drive wheels. Automatic transmissions are designed to take automatic control of the frictional units, gear ratio selection and gear shifting. A thorough description of general automatic transmission design principals may be found in "Fundamentals of Automatic Transmissions and Transaxles," Chrysler Corporation Training Manual No. TM-508A. Additional descriptions of automatic transmissions may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,744, entitled "Hydromatic Transmission," issued Jan. 4, 1972 to Blomquist, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,048, entitled "Lock-up System for Torque Converter," issued on Sept. 15, 1981 to Mikel, et al. Each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
In general, the major components featured in such an automatic transmission are: a torque converter as above-mentioned; fluid pressure-operated multi-plate drive or brake clutches and/or brake bands which are connected to the individual elements of the planetary gearsets in order to perform gear shifts without interrupting the tractive power; one-way clutches in conjunction with the frictional units for optimization of power shifts; and transmission controls such as valves for applying and releasing elements to shift the gears, for enabling power shifting, and for choosing the proper gear, dependent on shift-program selection by the driver, accelerator position, the engine condition and vehicle speed.
The control system of the automatic transmission is typically hydraulically operated through several valves which are operable for directing and regulating the supply of pressurized fluid. This hydraulic pressure control will cause either the actuation or deactuation of the respective frictional units for effecting gear changes in the transmission. The valves used in the hydraulic control circuit typically comprise spring-biased spool valves, spring-biased accumulators and ball check valves. Since many of these valves rely upon springs to provide a predetermined amount of force, it will be appreciated that each transmission design represents a finely tuned arrangement of interdependent valve components. While this type of transmission control system has worked well over the years, it does have its limitations.
In view of these limitations, several advanced transmission control systems have been proposed. One such system was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,947 to Leising, et al., issued on May 18, 1979, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The automatic transmission disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,947 features an adaptive control system that includes electronically operated solenoid-actuated valves for controlling certain fluid pressures. In accordance with this electric/hydraulic control system, the automatic transmission would be responsive to an acceleration factor for controlling the output torque of the transmission during a shift from one ratio of rotation (between the input and output shafts of the transmission) to another. Specifically, the operation of the solenoid-actuated valves would cause a rotational speed versus time curve of a sensed rotational component of the transmission to substantially follow along a predetermined path during shifting.
Another advanced transmission control system was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,735 to Holbrook et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,735 in an improved adaptive transmission control system utilizes an electronic controller to receive input signals indicative of engine speed, turbine speed, output speed (vehicle speed), throttle angle position, brake application, predetermined hydraulic pressure, the driver selected gear, engine coolant temperature and/or ambient air temperature. The controller generates command signals for causing the actuation of a plurality of solenoid-actuated valves which regulate the application and release of pressure to and from the frictional elements of the transmission system. Accordingly, the controller executes predetermined shift schedules stored in the memory of the controller through appropriate command signals to the solenoid-actuated valves and the feedback which is provided by various input signals.
Another significant aspect of U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,735 is the ability to utilize closed-loop feedback to control the transmission. Closed-loop feedback allows the control system to perform its functions based on real-time feedback sensor information. This is particularly advantageous as the control actuation can be corrected as opposed to an open-loop control in which signals to various elements are processed in accordance to a predetermined program. The controller is also programmed to determine the shift lever position of the driver selected gear of the transmission to provide hysteresis between the various gear positions, and to provide limited operation of the transmission in the event the sensors which determine the driver selected gear or operating conditions are not operating properly.
Despite these advancements, there remains a need in the art for an improved transmission control system which is more reliable in operation and which provides improved fault detection. Furthermore, there remains a need in the art for an improved transmission control system which provides enhanced functionality despite the existence of a fault within the transmission control system.


An un-coated valve (11) is connected between a first and a second pipe component (12, 12a). Each pipe component (12, 12a) includes a length of a pipe (21, 21a) with a flange (22, 22a) that is secured at one end. The valve (11) is positioned between the two pipe components (12, 12a), forming a first and a second sealing connection between the valve (11) and the pipe components (12, 12a). Each sealing connection is made between a valve sealing surface (25, 25a) and the flange (22, 22a) on the respective pipe component (12, 12a).

This invention relates to pipe or tubing assemblies. More particularly, the invention relates to an assembly having un-coated components connected to galvanized or otherwise coated steel pipe using flanged connections. The invention encompasses a valve and pipe assembly that includes an un-flanged valve connected between two flanged pipe components. The invention also encompasses a method for manufacturing a valve and pipe assembly made of coated and un-coated components.
Valve and pipe assemblies are used in many applications, and particularly in industrial applications. A manifold is a common example of a valve and pipe assembly having wide industrial application. Manifolds are made up of a number of pipe segments interconnected with valves which are used to control the direction or route of fluid flow through the various pipe segments. For example, a manifold may include two fluid input points and two fluid output points. The valves in this example manifold may be arranged to selectively direct fluid from either input to either output, combine two input streams and direct the mixed stream to a single output, split a single input stream into two output streams, or completely block flow between either input and either output.
Various types of connections may be used to interconnect the pipe segments and valves in a manifold or other valve and pipe assembly. For example, a valve in a valve and pipe assembly may be connected to the adjacent pipe segments through threaded connections or flanged connections. A threaded connection uses threads on each end of the valve and on each pipe end. Making the connection requires rotating the valve with respect to the pipe segments or rotating the pipe segments with respect to the valve in order to thread the valve and pipe segments together. In a flanged connection between a valve and two pipe segments, the valve includes a flange at each end and each pipe segment end also includes a corresponding flange. The flange connection is made by aligning each flange on the valve with a different pipe flange and then bolting the flanges together, usually with an O-ring sealing element sandwiched between the opposing flange faces. Alternatively to threading or flanging a valve between two pipe segments, a valve may also be welded between two pipe segments to form a permanent connection. Welding requires that the valve and pipe segments meet or fit together in a position suitable for accepting a weld.
In many industrial applications, valve and pipe assemblies are used in corrosive environments. Manifolds and other pipe assemblies used in these corrosive environments must be manufactured from corrosive resistant materials or protected with corrosive resistant coatings. For example, both the pipe segments and valves in a valve and pipe assembly may be made of corrosive resistant materials such as stainless steel. Alternatively to forming the various valves and pipes in an assembly from corrosive resistant materials, the various components may be made of galvanized or coated carbon steel. Galvanized carbon steel has a protective outer layer of zinc which is deposited on the steel in a separate galvanization process after the steel is formed. In addition to galvanizing, other protective coatings may be used to protect carbon steel used in corrosive environments.
The choice of connections and choice of materials used in a valve and pipe assembly will depend upon a number of factors including the pressures to which the assembly will be subjected and the environment in which the assembly will be used. Corrosion resistant components such as stainless steel or galvanized steel must be used where the assembly will be subjected to corrosive environments. Flanged or welded connections are generally preferred for high pressure applications, and may be required by industry standards even for low pressure applications. However, welded connections should not be used for previously coated steel components because welding destroys the coating in the area of the weld and leaves the weld joint unprotected. Also, the heat of welding may release dangerous gases from some coatings, especially the zinc coatings of galvanized components.
An entire valve and pipe assembly may be made from flanged stainless steel components to accommodate high pressures or industry standards and to withstand corrosive environments. However, it is desirable to avoid using stainless steel components whenever possible in order to avoid the expense of stainless steel components. Using coated carbon steel pipe segments in a valve and pipe assembly such as a manifold may greatly reduce the cost of the manifold as compared to using stainless steel pipe segments. The cost of the assembly could be reduced further by eliminating stainless steel or carbon steel valves and instead using less expensive valve components.
Bronze valves are a desirable alternative to steel valves in many applications because bronze valves are much less costly than both carbon steel and stainless steel valves and because bronze valves provide excellent resistance to corrosion. Prior to the present invention, however, bronze valves posed problems in applications where welded or flanged connections were required. Bronze valves are typically manufactured with threaded connections and not with flanges. Thus, a bronze valve would have to be welded to the pipe segments or be specially manufactured with flanges. Having bronze valves specially manufactured would increase the cost of the valves and defeat the primary purpose of using bronze valves over steel valves. Also, welding the bronze valves in place is not possible using conventional welding techniques. Therefore, it has not been practical to use bronze valves and steel pipe to form a flanged or welded valve and pipe assembly, especially where the assembly is to be used in corrosive environments requiring any carbon steel components to be durably coated.
It is an object of the invention to provide a valve and pipe assembly which overcomes the above-described problems associated with valve and pipe assemblies which are subjected to corrosive environments and require flanged or welded connections. More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a valve and pipe assembly having an unflanged valve which is connected in a line of flanged pipe, especially flanged pipe which is pre-coated. It is another object of the invention to provide a method for connecting an unflanged valve with the coated pipe.
A valve and pipe assembly according to the invention includes a valve, a first pipe component, and a second pipe component. Each pipe component includes a length of pipe having a flange secured at one end. Rather than including flanges, the valve includes a first valve sealing surface at a first end and a second valve sealing surface at a second end. The valve is positioned between the two pipe components with the first valve sealing surface facing the flange associated with one pipe component and the second valve sealing surface facing the flange associated the other pipe component. A flange connector arrangement, preferably comprising a number of bolts (two or more) extending between the two pipe component flanges, connects the two flanges together with the valve component sandwiched in between. This connection between the two pipe component flanges produces two sealing connections. A first sealing connection is formed between the first valve sealing surface and the flange that it abuts, and a second sealing connection is formed between the second valve sealing surface and the flange that it abuts.
Perhaps the most important benefit of the valve and pipe assembly according to the present invention is that the assembly allows an inexpensive, unflanged bronze valve to be connected to two flanged pipe segments that are protected from corrosion with a durable coating such as galvanizing. Any welding required to produce the two pipe components may be performed before the pipe is coated. Thus, the coating on the pipe components and their associated flanges remains substantially intact to protect the underlying steel. The valve and pipe assembly is therefore well suited for use in corrosive environments and can be used in place of the much more expensive assemblies using all stainless steel components or mixtures of stainless steel components and galvanized steel components.
Where the flanged pipe segments require a coating for corrosion protection, the invention is particularly suited for situations in which the flanged pipe segments are coated with a material or in a process incompatible with the valve. This is the case where the valve is a bronze valve and the flanged pipe segments must be galvanized or coated in some other process that subjects the material to harsh chemicals and/or high temperatures. In these situations, it is not possible to simply make the assembly and apply the coating to the entire assembly. Rather, the parts to be coated must be coated prior to connecting the assembly. The preferred manufacturing process, which includes coating the flanged pipe segments prior to making the assembly, will be discussed in detail with reference to FIGS. 4-9 below.
The valve component used in the a valve and pipe assembly according to the invention may include positioning features on its exterior surface which may cooperate with one or more of the flange bolts to limit any rotation of the valve with respect to the two pipe components. The required cooperation may be achieved by using a minimum clearance between the flange bolts and the outside diameter of the pipe of the two pipe components. This minimum clearance places the flange bolts close to the valve body in position to contact the positioning features and thus prevent the valve body from rotating with respect to the two pipe components.
In the preferred form of the invention, each pipe component includes an alignment tube extending past the sealing face of the respective flange. These alignment tubes are inserted into the bore on either end of the valve and ensure that the valve is in the proper position to produce the sealing connections required against the respective pipe flanges at each end of the valve. The base of each alignment tube also preferably helps form an area for receiving an O-ring which helps facilitate the seal at each end of the valve body.
The method of manufacturing a valve and pipe assembly according to the invention includes welding a first flange to a first pipe to form a first component and welding second flange to a second pipe to form a second component. After coating the first and second components, the method includes machining flange sealing surfaces on each flange so that a good sealing connection can be made with the valve sealing surfaces. Once the flange sealing surfaces are machined, the method includes aligning the valve in a connected position between the first flange sealing surface and the second flange sealing surface and then connecting the two flanges together to produce the desired sealing connections between the sealing surfaces at each end of the valve and the respective pipe flanges. These seals may result from the direct contact between the valve material and the flange material or through an intermediate material such as an O-ring positioned between the respective valve sealing surface and flange sealing surface.
The preferred form of the invention includes welding the flanges on the respective pipes so that the bolt holes for receiving the flange connecting bolts can reside as close as possible to the outside surface of the pipe. This close spacing between the flange bolt holes and the pipe outside surface helps facilitate the desired cooperation between the flange bolts and positioning feature on the valve body to prevent the valve from rotating with respect to the pipe components. The preferred flange welding step comprises welding each flange to the respective pipe only on the side of the flange facing a near end of the pipe, that is, the side which will face the valve body when the assembly is connected. The welding fills a chamfer area in order to provide sufficient strength in the pipe to flange weld.
In order to produce the alignment tubes the pipe flanges are preferably welded to the respective pipe segment at a point somewhat removed from the end of the pipe so as to leave a pipe extension protruding from the flange. After coating these unmachined pipe components, the method preferably includes turning down the outside of each pipe extension to form the alignment tubes and removing coating from a portion of the flange facing the near end of the respective pipe. This machined portion of the respective flange face comprises the flange sealing surface which cooperates with the respective valve sealing surface to form the desired sealing connection, with or without an O-ring.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment, when considered with the accompanying drawings.

Combination un-galvanized and galvanized manifold assembly and manufacturing method


A waterproof electrical connector comprises a structure intended for the reduction of air pressure trapped inside the connector during its coupling with a mating connector. The waterproof electrical connector (10) has a waterproof-sealing member (50) retained by an inner housing (20) and an outer housing (30). In a cavity (55) of a wire-sealing section (53) of the waterproof-sealing member (50), a deformable elastic thin-wall partition (56) is provided. The thin-wall partition (56) is deformed when the connector is coupled with a mating connector, thus reducing the air pressure inside the connector.

An example of a known waterproof electrical connector can be found in Japanese Patent Publication No. 95-326422. The waterproof electrical connector according to this publication has an integral rubber waterproof sealing means that is secured on a housing and is disposed at a mating side of the housing and at a side of the housing accommodating a bundle of electrical wires thereby providing a watertight seal for the bundle of wires. The rubber waterproof sealing means is applied from a back side of the housing, that is from the side accommodating the leads, and it is secured in position by a cap member. The rubber waterproof sealing means exerts a watertight connection when a mating housing of a mating connector is engaged with the connector housing, and its housing forms a waterproof coupling therebetween.
Connectors of this type must offer good waterproof properties in order to increase the reliability of the electrical connection. However, the measures aimed at the improvements of waterproof properties create trouble when the mating housings of the connector are coupled together. The reason for this is that in connectors with superior waterproof properties, when the mating housings of the connector are coupled together, air is locked in the space between the mating housings, and since there is no escape for the air, it remains inside the connector at a rather high pressure.
Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a waterproof electrical connector, the design of which makes it possible to reduce pressure of the air trapped between the mating housings of the mating connectors.

Waterproof electrical connector with pressure reducing structure


The invention relates to a device for therapy and training for the back, comprising two elastically deformable bodies (1) which are arranged at a distance from each other, between which a deformable spacer (2) which interconnects both bodies (1) is arranged, said device being characterized in that said spacer (2) is embodied as a spring element in form of a helical spring (2), the ends thereof being bent so as to form journals (2.1) extending in the extension of the helical spring axis, said journals being introduced into blocks (3) fixed in the inside of the bodies (1).

The invention relates to a device for therapy and training, comprising two elastically deformable bodies which are arranged at a distance from each other and between which a deformable spacer which interconnects the two bodies to each other is arranged.
A training device described in DE 33 12 060 A1 comprises two massage rolls which are supported to be displaceable along an axis and which are pre-tensioned outwardly or pressed outwardly by a spring arranged on the axis between the massage rolls. The axis is supported by a frame which restricts the outward movement of the massage rolls.
A therapy and training device described in DE 20 2012 104 883 U1 comprises two rotationally symmetrical, elastically deformable bodies which are connected with each other by an axis directly adjoining the two bodies and made of the material of these bodies and are housed in an envelope of flexible material. This envelope is provided in its middle region between the two bodies with a constriction having a smaller cross section than the cross section of the bodies. A spacer made also of flexible or elastically deformable material is placed around the constriction. This spacer ensures functionally similar to a joint that the two rotationally symmetrical bodies are flexibly moveable in the longitudinal direction as well as in the transverse direction appropriately for use.
US 2012/0077648 A1 describes an exercise device for the hand. This exercise device comprises two spherical weight members, preferably consisting of elastomeric material. These members are fastened to the ends of an elongate spring element on which a handle is situated centrally. After having gripped the handle, the weight members can be pivoted back and forth for exercising the hand and arm muscles. This known device is not suited for use as a therapy and training device for the back primarily due to the very large distance between the weight members and the handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,691,978 describes a massage device for the chin or chin region comprising two substantially spherical massage bodies which are fastened to an essentially bow-shaped, elastically deformable handle.
JP 000H11332955 A describes an exercising device with two spherical bodies connected to each other by an axis. A spring element is supported on the axis in order to push the two spherical bodies outwardly. This device is designed as an exercising device for the fingers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,336 describes an exercising device to be used for exercising the hand. This device comprises two spherical bodies which are fastened to the ends of an axis. Each spherical body has a diameter of approximately 40 mm in order to be easily held in one hand. The length of the axis connecting the two spherical bodies with each other is designed such that the whole exercising device comprised of the two spherical bodies and the axis can fit into an open hand. The axis connecting the two spherical balls to each other has preferably a length of approximately 75 mm. The two spherical bodies consist of a soft elastic material. The axis is an elongate tube body on which the two spherical bodies can be shifted without being loaded by a spring. The axis is composed of two tube bodies which are provided with end stops and between which an intermediate member forming a joint is located.
It is an object of the invention to design a therapy and training device for the back such that, on the one hand, an appropriate training-related adaption of the device to the back of a person lying on the training device is ensured and that, on the other hand, the stability of the device is improved in particular compared to the back therapy device according to DE 20 2011 104 883 U1.

Device for therapy and training for the back


A power supply circuit includes a first transistor and a second transistor electrically coupled between a power supply terminal and an output terminal. When a first current path, in which output terminal through the first transistor, is formed, a voltage level of the output terminal may be controlled to be greater than or equal to a predetermined level. When a second current path, in which a current flows from the power supply terminal to the output terminal through the second transistor, is formed, the voltage level of the output terminal may be controlled to be less than or equal to the predetermined level.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a power supply circuit and a semiconductor memory device including the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Instead of Hard Disk Drives (HDD), which are slow, heavy, large, and emit noise, the use of semiconductor memory devices has increased.
Semiconductor memory devices are memory devices that use semiconductors, such as silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and indium phosphide (InP). Semiconductor memory devices are generally classified into volatile and nonvolatile memory devices.
Volatile memory devices are unable to maintain their data without a constant source of power. Volatile memory devices include Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and the like. Nonvolatile memory devices are able to maintain their data even without a constant source of power. Nonvolatile memory devices include Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Programmable ROM (EPROM), Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, Phase-change RAM (PRAM), Magnetic RAM (MRAM), Resistive RAM (RRAM), Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), and the like. Flash memory is generally divided into a NOR type and a NAND type.
For operations such as read, program, and erase, various voltages need to be supplied to a memory cell array of the semiconductor memory device. Research on power supply circuits that generate such voltages has been conducted. In particular, research has been conducted on decreasing the amount of chip area consumed by the power supply circuit, decreasing the voltage drop of the power supply circuit, and expanding the range of the output voltages of the power supply circuit.

Power supply circuit and semiconductor memory device including the same


A corset-type back brace apparatus is disclosed which has electromechanical means for tightening a corset around the trunk of a patient to a desired tension. The electromechanical means includes a pair of motor driven rollers which are controllable by the patient to effect predetermined tension settings.

A common method of alleviating pain and promoting healing in post-operative back surgery patients and those otherwise suffering from back injuries is to stabilize the spine by means of a brace. Such braces typically consist of a corset made of canvas or similar material which can be snugly fitted around the patient's trunk. The back portion of the corset will usually have pockets into which are inserted rigid stays for providing vertical support. Such braces are effective if worn properly, but most patients have difficulty manually adjusting the brace to a tight enough fit for providing adequate support. This is especially true in the case of post-operative patients who are in pain and lack sufficient strength. Such patient non-compliance obviously reduces the effectiveness of the brace. Another problem with these types of braces is their inability to adapt as the patient moves from a standing to a sitting position.