N-alkyl, N-alkenyl, N-cycloalkyl, N-aryl amino or imino propionic acids with an alkyl chain ranging from 6 to 18 carbons, or alkenyl chain from 8 to 30 carbons, are obtained from a reaction process in the absence of solvent at a temperature range from 30 to 180° C. and a time of 1 to 10 hours at atmospheric pressure. Formulations composed of N-alkyl or N-alkenyl or N-cycloalkyl or N-aryl amino or imino propionic acids, polyethers derived from propylene oxide or ethylene oxide or copolymer thereof and a solvent consisting of aromatic compounds such as toluene or xylene, diesel or gasoline or alcohols such as isopropanol and ethanol, or mixtures thereof, are obtained inhibit ferrous metal corrosion of pipelines and storage tanks and transport crude oil and liquid fuels. A method inhibiting corrosion of ferrous metals adds an effective amount of the corrosion inhibitor to a petroleum based material such as crude oil and liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, and aviation fuel.

The pipelines are commonly used for transportation of crude oils, usually used steel pipes of different diameters for this purpose.
Because the terrain features that are installed the pipelines, as well as fluids that are managed, it is necessary to protect materials of construction of the pipelines, both external and internal surfaces. With regard to internal corrosion, it is usually caused by contaminants in the crude oil, such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, organic acids, water, minerals, suspended solids, asphaltenes, paraffins and microorganisms. Common ways to mitigate the damages include mechanical cleaning and the use of different chemicals such as corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, biocides and dispersants.
The main damage caused by internal corrosion is uniform wear of the material, mainly due to the formation of iron sulphides and chlorides.
Globally and in México, there is a tendency of increasing the production of heavy crude oils, which generally have a higher content of pollutants.
Corrosion taking place in environments exposed to liquid fuels is a function directly related to the concentration of organic acids, organosulfur compounds, emulsified water and oxygen-rich environment. All of these factors together determine how aggressive this system can be.
Because of this, the global trend in the area of chemicals is the development of corrosion inhibitors with a greater degree of versatility to be able to control the corrosion levels despite significant increases in contaminants in the oil and fuel oil, which makes them more aggressive.
Most corrosion inhibitors used in the oil industry are organic compounds. The composition and chemical structure of the inhibitor significantly depend on the environment to which it will be immersed, is how they have the means in which the majority is water composition in which the organic phase is higher.
A variety of organic and inorganic compounds have been used to control corrosion in different aggressive media. Thus for packages employing aqueous based organic phosphonates, while for environments where the presence of hydrocarbons predominantly inhibitor use film base amino compounds, alcohols and imidazolinic compounds is a common practice.
Film corrosion inhibitors are usually composed of two parts: A polar electron-rich to be able to adhere to a metal surface through a coordination bond and a hydrophobic part that can be efficiently repel contaminants in the aggressive medium.
It is very important that the corrosion inhibiting composition does not emulsify water due to problems such as corrosion in pipelines and storage tanks or equipment failures and internal combustion engines.
Prior processes for obtaining N-alkyl or N-alkenyl or N-aryl beta-amino or imino propionic acids include:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,195,974 (Process for the production of new amino-carboxylic acid) discloses the development of new compounds such as N-alkyl or N-alkenyl or N-aryl beta-amino or imino propionic acids are produced from alkyl or alkenyl or aromatic amines and acrylic acid with water as a solvent with or without alkali metal bases.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,468,012 (beta-amino propionates) discloses the process of obtaining N-alkyl beta amino propionic acids produced from alkyl amines and esters of acrylic acid in the absence of solvent and subsequent neutralization with a alkali metal base.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,816,911 (Process of preparing N-alkyl-beta-alanine) discloses the process of obtaining N-alkyl beta amino propionic esters, which are produced from alkyl amines and esters of acrylic or methacrylic acid, in the absence of solvent, in a temperature range from 50 to 120° C. and subsequent neutralization with an alkali metal base.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,922,909 (Process for the selective control of amphoteric, zwitterionic compositions) discloses the process of obtaining N-alkyl or N-alkenyl or N-aryl beta-amino or imino propionic acids produced from alkyl or alkenyl or aromatic amines with beta-unsaturated acids in the presence of water in a pH range of 4.0 to 7.0, controlled by the addition of alkali metal bases or organic and subsequent neutralization with acid.
The use of corrosion inhibitors for ferrous metals in the transport and storage of liquid fuels include:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,876 (corrosion inhibiting composition) discloses the development of a formulation of the corrosion inhibition for ferrous metals exposed to hydrocarbon fuels made from 75 to 95% of an unsaturated aliphatic carboxylic acid of 16 to 18 carbons and 5 to 25% monoalkenyl succinic acid with a chain from 8 to 18 carbons, and their use as a solvent hydrocarbon compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,951 (Corrosion Inhibitor for alcohol-based fuels and gasoline-alcohol mixtures) discloses the development of a formulation of the corrosion inhibition for ferrous metals exposed to liquid motor fuels based on alcohol-gasoline blends alcohol consisting of aliphatic carboxylic acid polyunsaturated 18-carbon, and the reaction product of a polyamine with an alkenyl mono-unsaturated aliphatic carboxylic acid of 18 carbons or alkenyl succinic anhydride from 8 to 30 carbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,366 (Liquid fuels and concentrates containing corrosion inhibitors) discloses the development of a formulation of the corrosion inhibition for ferrous metals exposed to liquid alcohol-based fuel or gasoline-alcohol mixtures consisting of aliphatic carboxylic acid poly-unsaturated 16 to 18 carbons and a polyamine alkenyl.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,159 (Corrosion inhibitor for liquid fuels) discloses the development of a formulation of the corrosion inhibition for ferrous metals exposed to liquid hydrocarbon fuels made from 35 to 70% by weight of a monoalkylene succinic acid with a chain ranging from 8 to 18 carbons and 30 to 65% of aliphatic or cycloaliphatic amine containing from 2 to 12 carbons and solvents and aromatic hydrocarbon compounds alcohols of 1 to 4 carbons.
The use of corrosion inhibitors for ferrous metals used in the processing of crude oil include:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,104 discloses the obtaining of organic acid salts of basic compounds derived from 1-aminoalkyl-2-alkyl imidazolines and their use as corrosion inhibitors for ferrous metals in acidic characteristic of the oil industry. The efficiency of corrosion inhibition of these compounds was evaluated by gravimetric techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,137 discloses a composition characterized by the presence of a mercaptan or polymercaptan group, an amido group or polyamide, and the use of this composition as a corrosion inhibitor for acid media.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,992 discloses a corrosion inhibiting formulation for oil and water systems, wherein the formulation is resistant to sludge formation and tends to stabilize oil in water. The corrosion inhibitor includes an imidazoline dissolved in an aromatic solvent, a 2-hydroxy alkyl carboxylic acid and glycol. The imidazoline is preferably prepared from the reaction of a long chain fatty acid and a polyamine in a molar ratio of 1.5:1.
EP 526,251, A1 discloses the production of corrosion inhibitors from the reaction of compounds 1-aminoalkyl base 2-alkyl imidazolines with acids or unsaturated organic esters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,805 discloses a composition and method for inhibiting corrosion of ferrous metals that are in contact with aqueous systems containing sulfur compounds. Composition comprises an aqueous solution of an alcohol, an organic acid, a fatty imidazoline, an ethoxylated fatty diamine and an aqueous solution of compound of molybdenum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,895 discloses a method for inhibiting corrosion in aqueous media. The method involves incorporating into the medium an amount of corrosion inhibitor sufficient to inhibit corrosion. The corrosion inhibitor comprises an N-ethoxy-2-imidazoline. The N-ethoxy substituent is comprised of one to thirty ethoxy units and the substituent at the position 2 can be a polyunsaturated fatty chain formed from six to thirty carbon atoms. If the medium is fresh, the inhibitor also be constituted of a phosphorus ester derived from a oxyethylated alcohol soluble in water.

Amino and imino propionic acids, process of preparation and use


An improved method and system for visualizing an object-oriented program's execution in a manner that facilitates understanding, debugging, and tuning programs of arbitrary size and complexity by visually depicting a sequence of one or more messages to an object or between objects as a tree. Each node in the tree represents an object, and each edge represents a message between the objects. To manage the complexity of what is displayed, the user may elect to collapse subtrees so that they appear in abbreviated form. The user may expand collapsed subtrees so that they are visible in full. By selectively expanding and collapsing subtrees, the user can examine only those parts of the execution that are immediately relevant. The user may specify additional criteria for classifying subtrees, i.e., the conditions under which two subtrees are deemed equivalent. The system can then consolidate equivalent subtrees automatically, replacing them with a more general execution pattern that subsumes them all. Furthermore, an execution pattern can be augmented with summary (e.g., performance or complexity) information. This summary information reflects characteristics of the message sequences, for example, the resource usage they incur, or a measure of their complexity. Preferably, the summary information is superimposed graphically on the execution pattern's graphical rendition.

There are three important concepts in object-oriented programming: encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. Encapsulation refers to how implementation details are hidden by an abstraction called an "object." An object is said to encapsulate data and operations on that data. An object-oriented software system is made up of objects interacting with one another. They interact by sending "messages" to each other. An object implements its response to a message in a "method." Objects are unaware of each other's implementations; they only know the messages other objects respond to. Encapsulation controls complexity by partitioning the software system into small, well-defined pieces, and it makes it easy to change part of the system without affecting other parts.
Objects send messages as a result of receiving them. The "call stack" for an object-oriented program records the current chain of communication from object to object. After the first object on (the top of) the call stack sends a message to the second object, the first object waits for the method on the second object (which implements the message) to finish executing. After the second object on the call stack sends a message to the third object, the second object waits for completion of the corresponding method, etc. The last object on the (bottom of the) call stack is the one for which a method is being executed currently. The first object on the call stack is the "caller" of the second object on the call stack. The second object is the first's "callee." Similarly, the second object on the call stack is the caller of the third object, and the third is the callee of the second, and so forth.
Inheritance refers to taxonomic relationships between objects. An object belongs to and is defined by a "class." A class defines the set of messages an object can respond to, and it defines the data and methods that implement those responses. An object is said to be an "instance" of a class. A class can have arbitrarily many instances.
Inheritance lets classes be defined in terms of other classes. A class that inherits from another class is called a "subclass" of the other class (which is called the "parent class" or "superclass"). The subclass responds to the same messages as its parent, and it may respond to additional messages as well. The subclass "inherits" its implementation from its parent, though it may choose to reimplement some methods and/or add more data. Inheritance lets programmers define new classes easily as incremental refinements of existing ones. It also enables polymorphism.
Polymorphism refers to the substitutability of related objects. Objects are "related" if they have the same "type," and in most object-oriented languages that means they are instances of the same class, or they have a common parent class through inheritance. Objects that are related through inheritance may be treated uniformly, that is, without regard to their specific type. For example, a Graphic class that defines an abstraction for graphical objects may define a Draw method. The Graphic class might have subclasses Rectangle and Circle that reimplement the Draw method to draw a rectangle and circle, respectively. Polymorphism allows Rectangle and Circle instances to be treated uniformly as Graphic objects; that is, all one needs to know to tell an object to draw itself is that the object is an instance of a Graphic subclass. Whether the object is an instance of Rectangle or Circle is immaterial; one can send it the Draw message without knowing its exact type (e.g., Rectangle or Circle).
Polymorphism lets programmers write general code that can be customized later without change. Suppose we have code that draws pictures by sending Draw messages to a set of Graphic instances. We can pass it Rectangle and Circle objects, and it will tell them to draw themselves. Later we can define a new subclass of Graphic, say, Polygon, implementing its Draw method appropriately. Because Polygon is a subclass of Graphic, we can pass instances of Polygon to our picture-drawing code, and it will draw polygons in our picture--with no modification whatsoever.
Object-oriented programs often use thousands of objects, organized by tens or hundreds of classes. Often it's hard to understand how these programs work just by examining their code, since the code describes only the static aspects of the program (i.e., the classes). Understanding the dynamic aspects of the program requires a depiction of the program at execution time. Animated graphics are a way to depict an object-oriented program's execution.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,717 to Beck discloses a graphical presentation depicting individual objects on the display sending messages to each other. Objects appear as graphical nodes, and messages are shown as directed lines between the nodes. Once drawn, objects stay in fixed positions for the duration of the program's execution. No semantics are associated with placement of nodes.
Another well-known visual metaphor is the "interaction diagram," which also depicts messages to classes or objects over time. Typically, a message is shown as a labeled directed line that points to a perpendicular line denoting a class or object. Distance along the class or object line corresponds to time. Lines denoting messages are parallel to each other and are ordered to reflect the order in which the messages were sent Lines denoting classes or objects appear parallel to each other and perpendicular to the message lines. The advantage this metaphor has over Beck's approach is that repeated messages sent to the same or nearby objects do not interfere with each other, since time is given a physical dimension.

Visualizing execution patterns in object-oriented programs

International Business Machines Corporation


According to an embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a prefetch unit and a scheduler unit. The prefetch unit is configured to prefetch a scheduling entry corresponding a future time period in advance from scheduling information including one or more entries each of which at least contains a transmission state and interval for each of one or more transmission queues. The scheduler unit configured to determine a starting time of transmission for each frame waiting for transmission in each queue, on the basis of the prefetched entry.

In the fields of industrial networks connecting industrial apparatuses in a factory, in-vehicle networks connecting a controller in the vehicle, and the like, high real-time performance is required. In recent years, Ethernet (registered trademark) has been used increasingly in industrial networks, in-vehicle networks, and the like, and various real-time Ethernet standards have been proposed. For example, a technique has been disclosed. In the technique, transmission control is performed on the basis of the priority, the guaranteed bandwidth, the transmission cycle or the transmission interval of the frame, and the like.
However, conventional art has difficulty in performing scheduling to perform strict transmission timing control in the unit of frames within the range of the transmission possible time dynamically changing on the basis of transmission scheduling information assigned in advance to the transmission queue. Specifically, conventional art has difficulty in performing scheduling to perform transmission timing control with high accuracy.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program product


A process for feeding an animal a diet which alters the function and morphology of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), a large lymphoid organ in the animal and which improves glucose metabolism, satiety, and nutrient absorption. The process involves feeding a companion animal such as, for example, a dog or cat a diet of a pet food composition containing fermentable fibers which have an organic matter disappearance (OMD) of 15 to 60 percent when fermented by fecal bacteria for a 24 hour period, the fibers being present in amounts from about 1 to 11 weight percent of supplemental total dietary fiber. The animal is maintained on the diet for a sufficient period of time to allow the fermentable fibers to ferment in the GIT of the animal.

This invention relates to a process involving the use of a pet food composition containing fermentable fibers to improve glucose metabolism, satiety, and nutrient absorption in companion animals such as, for example, dogs and cats.
Recent research has suggested that dietary fiber is important for its fermentation properties in the large intestine of dogs and cats. For example, Reinhart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,569, describes the addition of fermentable dietary fiber to a pet food composition for the purpose of maintaining normal gastrointestinal function and ameliorating chronic diarrhea in animals. Howard et al, FASEB J. (1996) 10:A257, teach that fermentable fiber consumption by dogs can result in the partition of waste nitrogen from the urine to the feces, increasing nitrogen excretion through the feces of the animal. Sunvold et al, J. Anim. Sci. (1995) 73:1099-1109, found that feeding moderately fermentable fibers to dogs could promote gastrointestinal tract health by optimizing short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production in the intestines of the animals.
Certain animals, such as dogs, as well as humans, sometimes suffer from diabetes or have an impaired ability to regulate blood sugar levels. There are many causes of diabetes. Where diabetes or impaired blood glucose regulation has been diagnosed, medication and diet for the animal should be closely controlled. Currently, diets having high concentrations of nonfermentable fibers are used to treat diabetes. However, these nonfermentable fiber-containing diets often impair nutrient absorption by the animal, resulting in undesirable effects on the animal's health and well being.
Certain animals also may have a tendency towards excess caloric intake which increases the risk of the animal developing diabetes or other chronic diseases. It would be desirable to be able to manage caloric intake through dietary means so that the animal would become sated after meals, but without excessive caloric intake.
Other animals may have difficulty in digesting and absorbing nutrients from their diets. For example, animals which exhibit exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), a condition in which there is an insufficient secretion of enzymes by the pancreas, struggle to digest nutrients normally, especially fats, in their diets. It would be desirable to be able to improve such animals' nutrient absorption capabilities. Thus, there remains a need for additional dietary measures which will improve glucose metabolism, satiety, and nutrient absorption in companion animals without the adverse effects of diets containing nonfermentable fibers.

Process for improving glucose metabolism, satiety, and nutrient absorption in companion animals


A device for applying therapeutic or analgesic pressure quantitatively which includes a sensor for continuously measuring the pressure on a patient's skin and underlying tissue. The instrument includes a hand-held force sensitive transducer having a blunt tip extending therefrom. When the blunt tip of the device is pressed against the skin thereby compressing the underlying tissue, the transducer yields an electrical signal proportional to the applied pressure. This signal is then fed to a resettable digital display. When the pressure applied to the skin reaches a threshold value, an actuator switch is actuated starting a timer which measures the elapsed time period during which the skin and underlying tissue is exposed to the measured pressure. An optional alarm indicates when the combination of pressure and elapsed time has reached a previously determined level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for measuring and applying pressure to the skin and underlying tissue of a patient in therapeutic or analgesic quantities. Such a device is useful to therapists and physicians in treating ailments responsive to acupressure or acupuncture or trigger point therapy.
2. Prior Art
Health care practitioners have used a patient's sensitivity to externally applied pressure as a diagnostic tool for at least thirty-five years. The sensitivity to external pressure was indicated by bilateral variation, in pain threshold, is considered symptomatic of certain ailments. Certain neurological and other medical examinations and procedures entail the location and delineation of areas of analgesia or hyposthesia, the former being the absence of pain or touch sensitivity; the latter, reduced pain or touch sensitivity. Also of interest is hyperalgesia, that is, enhanced sensitivity to painful stimuli. Such tests are normally carried out in special examinations for the treatment of neurological disorders as well as in general medical checkups and in diagnosing various diseases.
Cutaneous sensations are transmitted from the skin to various regions of the cerebral cortex. Thus, sensations of touch as well as those of warmth and coolness are perceived and interpreted in particular regions of the somesthetic or bodily sensor area of the parietal lobe. The sensation of pain for each side of the body is conducted to the brain independently. Hence, the sensitivity of a particular area of the body may be compared with a reference area on the opposite side thereof. This comparison, as mentioned above, is useful in diagnosis because as the involvement of the sensory nervous system is unilateral.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,661, Kalurukal describes a device called an algesimeter. The instrument, which is a pain threshold gauge, includes a hand-held pressure sensitive transducer terminating in a pointed probe. When the point of the probe is pressed against the skin, the transducer then yields an electrical signal proportional to the applied pressure, this signal being fed to a resettable digital display. When the pressure applied to the skin reaches a threshold value (at which the patient experiences pain), a switch is actuated by the patient or the health care practitioner to retain the digital indication at that value whereby it may be read by the practitioner and recorded after the instrument is withdrawn from the skin.
Alban, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,278, describes a device for algesimetry comprising a gas-type member such as a cylinder for confining a fixed amount of gas and a two-ended member such as a rod. The first end of the rod is pressed against the patient's body to apply gradually increasing pressure, and a second end acting much as a piston in a cylinder, decreases the volume of the fixed amount of gas. Indicia are provided for indicating how much the volume of gas decreases. Alban's device may also be modified to test materials for softness or firmness.
Yet another pain threshold gauge is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,539 to Fisher. Fisher discloses a pen-like instrument having a needle secured to one end of a compressible spring disposed within a tubular casing, the needle going through a bore in the front end of the casing. The other end of the spring is attached to a plunger within whose axial bore is a rotatable shaft having a spiral groove. An indicator pin carried by the plunger extends into this groove. When the needle is pressed against the skin, this acts to axially shift the plunger and thereby rotate the shaft and to cause the indicator pin to advance along a pressure indicating scale. The Fisher device is intended for use in determining paid thresholds and its sharp needle-like point renders it useless for applying precise pressure to the skin and underlying tissue non-invasively.
Kress, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,930, describes yet a further device useful for the prevention of pressure induced skin ulceration. The Kress device consists of a pressure sensor for continuously measuring the pressure on a patient's skin at the interface between the skin and a surface exerting pressure on the skin. A monitoring device monitors the pressure exerted on the skin and the elapsed time period during which the skin has been exposed to the measured pressure. An alarm then indicates when the combination of the pressure and the elapsed time is approaching a previously determined level in order to prevent damage to the patient's skin. The Cress device is particularly useful for preventing ulcer formation in patients that are bedridden.
All of the foregoing prior art inventions described devices for detecting levels of pressure which can result in either pain or cell damage. Except for the Alban device, they are all pointed instruments, having a needle-like probe tip which punctures the skin. In addition, all of the foregoing prior art devices, including Alban's, are designed to measure pain thresholds for diagnostic or preventative purposes.
Acupuncture points have been well known in China from earliest times and most of them are held to correspond to specific organs and areas of the body. Acupuncturists work by inserting needles of varying lengths at these points. When particular acupuncture points are stimulated, the corresponding areas being treated respond to the stimulation. Each acupressure point occupies only a very small area, approximately half of a square millimeter on the skin surface. An acupuncture point is highly sensitive and the feeling elicited in response to pressure is quite different from the surrounding tissues. The acupuncturist will, of course, insert his or her needle in such points but non-invasively pressing on the point can be almost as effective. After application of a therapeutic quantity of pressure to a particular acupuncture point, the length of time for which relief lasts will vary from patient to patient from a few minutes to several hours, or even days, but the effectiveness of the point will not diminish through use and the same result will be obtained time and time again.
It is well known that pressure is felt much more intensely by patients at acupuncture points than in adjacent areas to the extent that the pain is felt to be unbearable in the former while being, scarcely felt at all in the latter. It has been noted that Naloxone.RTM. brand of, a morphine antagonist which blocks the action of morphine and of endorphins in the brain, blocks the action of acupressure. Naloxone.RTM. also has the effect of preventing acupressure from relieving pain. Naloxone administered to a patient following acupressure also reverses the pain relief already produced by acupressure. This strongly suggests that acupuncture and acupressure acts by stimulating the production of endorphins. Thus, it has become important to be able to deliver an accurately known pressure to a particular point upon the skin of the body in order to effect relief of pain and other symptoms. The foregoing prior art pain threshold devices simply do not meet the need of the acupuncturist physician or therapist in quantitatively and non-invasively delivering repeatable amounts of pressure to points such as fibromyalgic tender points and myofascial pain trigger points.


The present invention provides an organic EL display device which has a long lifetime. The organic EL display device includes a plurality of pixels each of which is constituted of a top-emission-type active matrix organic EL element. The EL element includes: a pixel electrode; a reflective layer arranged between the pixel electrode and an active element and is formed over a leveling layer; an organic light emission layer; and a common electrode. The reflective layer includes: a first reflective layer which is made of high-melting-point metal; and a second reflective layer which is arranged on the first reflective layer. The second reflective layer includes a planar pattern in which an outer periphery of the second reflective layer is surrounded by the first reflective layer. The pixel electrode extends outward from the first reflective layer and the second reflective layer.

The present invention relates to an organic EL (electroluminescent) display device, and more particularly to the reflection structure of a top-emission-type active matrix organic EL display device.
The reflection structure of a conventional top-emission-type active matrix organic EL display device is disclosed in JP-A-2005-222759 (patent document 1).
The patent document 1 discloses that it is preferable to insert a layer made of a Mo-based material to improve adhesiveness between Al and a leveling film.

Organic EL display device comprising a reflection structure


Hepatitis C virus oligonucleotides and a system to determine hepatitis C virus genotypes with polymerase chain reaction utilizing those oligonucleotides as primers.

The present invention concerns hepatitis C virus (hereinafter called HCV) oligonucleotides and a system to determine HCV genotypes with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) utilizing those oligonucleotides as primers.
Viral hepatitis of which DNA and RNA of the causative viruses have been elucidated, and their diagnosis and even prevention in some cases have been established, are hepatitis A and hepatitis B. The general name NANB (non-A, non-B) hepatitis was given to the other forms of viral hepatitis.
Post-transfusion hepatitis was remarkably reduced after introduction of diagnostic systems for screening hepatitis B virus in transfusion bloods. However, there are still an estimated 280,000 annual cases of post-transfusion hepatitis caused by NANB hepatitis virus in Japan.
NANB hepatitis viruses were recently named C, D and E according to their types, and scientists started a world wide effort to conduct research for the causative viruses.
In 1988, Chiron Corp. claimed that it had succeeded in cloning RNA virus genome, which it termed hepatitis C virus (HCV), as the causative agent of NANB hepatitis and reported on its nucleotide sequence (British Patent 2,212,511 which is the equivalent of European Patent Application 0,318,216). HCV (c100-3) antibody detection systems based on the sequence are now being introduced for screening of transfusion bloods and for diagnosis of patients in Japan and in many other countries.
The detection systems for the c100-3 antibody have proven their partial association with NANB hepatitis; however, they capture only about 70% of carriers and chronic hepatitis patients, or they fail to detect the antibody in acute phase infection, thus leaving problems yet to be solved even after development of the c100-3 antibody by Chiron Corp.
The genome structure of HCV, or NANB hepatitis having relation to c100-3 antibody, has single stranded RNA which suggests some relationship to Flaviviruses and Pestiviruses. From the comparison of those genome structures, regions coding core protein (C), envelope protein (E) and non-structure protein (NS) were found in HCV. c100-3 antibody detected by Chiron's ELISA kit is thought to recognize a part of the border region of NS3/NS4.
The course of NANB hepatitis is troublesome and many cases of horizontal transmission are considered to become carriers and then to develop chronic hepatitis. In addition, most patients with chronic hepatitis develop liver cirrhosis, then hepatocellular carcinoma. It is therefore very imperative to isolate the virus itself and to develop effective diagnostic reagents enabling earlier diagnosis.
The presence of a number of NANB hepatitis which can not be diagnosed by Chiron's HCV (c100-3) antibody detection kits suggests the importance of detection of antibody to core protein instead of antibody to non-structural protein. From that view point, the genome of the core region and the protein coded for by this region have been studied world wide.
From the two-by-two comparison of nucleotide sequences of various HCV isolates, homologies for the core region, which is rather conservative, were found to be less than 90% in some cases. In addition, more variability was found in the envelope region (which is thought to be important for development of vaccine); less than 60% homology was found between some isolates. The sequence diversity between strains reflects the features of HCV as RNA virus.
A rapid and simple method of classifying of HCV genomes into groups, therefore, would be very useful for diagnosis, therapy and prevention of NANB hepatitis.
Determination of HCV genotypes could be useful in the following medical and social applications:
(1) identification of infectious sources in vertical (mother-to-baby) transmission and horizontal transmission;
(2) clarification of genotype-specific features in the course, condition and prediction of recuperation of NANB liver diseases and making a guide of therapy therefore:
(3) increasing the detection sensitivity of HCV by nucleic acid detection system or antibody detection system based on the study of diversity in nucleotide or amino acid sequences among HCV isolates of distinct genotypes;
(4) production of type-specific immunoglobulin (IgG) and vaccine based on the study of type-specific conservative regions in the envelope gene of various genotypes; and
(5) rapid and effective prevention by selecting an appropriate IgG or vaccine for each genotype.
The inventors have obtained various HCV-RNAs from sera of humans and chimpanzees, and cloned cDNAs of HCV genomes in non-coding regions and coding regions for core and envelope proteins, followed by determination of nucleotide sequences (Japanese Patent Applications 196175/91, 287402/91 and 360441/91), and sought to find a method to determine HCV genotypes and oligonucleotide primers to be used in said method, which would be useful in diagnosis, therapy, prevention, identification of infectious source, and epidemiological study on HCV. As a result, variation of nucleotide sequence characteristics in some groups in the core region, which was thought to be rather conservative, was found, and much more variation was found in the envelope region.

Oligonucleotides and determination system of HCV genotypes


Embodiments of source separation for reverberant environment are disclosed. According to a method, first microphone signals for each individual one of at least one source are captured respectively by at least two microphones for a period during which only the individual one produces sounds. Mixing parameters for modeling acoustic paths between the at least one source and the at least two microphones are learned by a processor based on the first microphone signals. Second microphone signals are captured respectively by the at least two microphones for a period during which all of the at least one source produce sounds. The reconstruction model is estimated by the processor based on the mixing parameters and second microphone signals. The processor performs the source separation by applying the reconstruction model.

Mixed audio signals presented in multi-channel format (e.g., stereo, beamforming, 5.1, 7.1 and the like, are created by mixing different audio sources in a studio, or generated from a plurality of recordings of various audio sources in a real environment. Source separation is useful for a wide range of audio processing applications. For example, when recording an auditory scene using one or more microphones, it is preferred that sound source dependent information be separated for uses in a variety of subsequent audio processing tasks. The examples of such applications include re-mixing/re-authoring applications, spatial audio coding, 3D sound analysis and synthesis, and rendering the sources in an extended play-back environment (rather than the original mixed audio signals). Other applications require source parameters to enable source-specific analysis and post-processing, such as pitch correction, time warping, sound effects, boosting, attenuating, or leveling certain sources.
Source separation consists of recovering either the source signals or their spatial images given the mixed signal. Most existing approaches transform signals into time-frequency domain via the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and approximate the mixing process in each frequency bin by a complex-valued mixing matrix or spatial covariance matrix. Source separation is then achieved by estimating the mixing matrices or spatial covariance in all frequency bins and deriving the source STFT coefficients. An example method of recovering source signals is by way of estimating the mixing matrices and thereafter deriving the source STFT coefficients as described in A. Ozerov, C. Fevotte, "Multichannel Nonnegative Matrix Factorization in Convolutive Mixtures for Audio Source Separation," IEEE Trans ASLP Vol. 18, No. 3, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety herein (referred to as "reference 1" hereafter). Another example method of recovering spatial images of sources is by way of estimating the spatial covariance and deriving the source STFT coefficients as described in Ngoc Q. K. Duong, E. Vincent, R. Gribonvoal, "Spatial Covariance Models for Under-determined Reverberant Audio Source Separation," IEEE Workshop on Application of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated in their entirety herein (referred to as "reference 2" hereafter).

Source separation for reverberant environment

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


A control for a liquid level regulating system including a casing which is immersed in the liquid to a depth at which control is to be effected, a loose flexible diaphragm closes the casing at the bottom and is moved in accordance with the liquid head. A plunger mounted in the casing for free vertical movement within a selected range has a disc-like foot positioned for free engagement by the diaphragm. An adjustable spring and stops are provided for setting the range of movement. Vertical movement of the plunger actuates a cam or screw to vary the setting of the control element of the level control system. This element may be the discharge outlet control. The control provides quick response and actuates the level control to effect accurate maintenance of the required liquid level in an air pressure control system or, for example, a variable resistance control in an electrical control system.

Various devices have been employed for maintaining predetermined levels of liquids, slurries and the like in tanks and other containing vessels. Float mechanisms and pressure responsive devices have been used for this purpose; these devices include electrical resistance controlled systems, air pressure controlled systems and devices such as the so called "bubbler" controls, which involve the release of gas into the liquid or slurry at selected distances below the surface. While these devices have been satisfactory for a wide range of applications, they involve problems in many applications in which contamination of the liquid or slurry must be avoided. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved device for controlling the level of liquids, slurries and the like.
It is another object of this invention to provide a liquid level control system including a level responsive device having an improved arrangement for preventing contamination of the liquid by the operation of the device.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved liquid level sensing device for activation of air pressure actuated level control systems.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved, reliable and highly sensitive liquid level probe or sensing device for a system for controlling the level of a liquid, or a slurry or the like.

Control device for a liquid level maintaining system or the like


A phase-locked loop includes an input terminal (1) for receiving a binary signal, a phase comparator (3) having a first input (2) coupled to the input terminal (1), having a second input (4), and having an output (5) coupled to an input (9) of a control-signal-controlled oscillator (10) via a control-signal generator unit (7). An output (11) of the oscillator is coupled to the second input of the phase comparator. The phase comparator derives a first pulse (P.sub.1) and a second pulse (P.sub.2) in response to a signal transition from a first value to a second value in the binary signal applied to the first input and an oscillation signal applied to the second input, the first pulse having a pulse width which is a measure of the phase difference between the binary signal and the oscillation signal, and the second pulse having a pulse width proportional to 1/2.f.sub.o, where f.sub.o is the frequency of the oscillation signal. The control-signal generator unit (7) derives a control signal from the first pulse and the second pulse and applies the control signal to the oscillator, and the control-signal generator unit derives such a control signal from the first pulse and the second pulse that the phase difference is controlled substantially toward zero.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a phase-locked loop comprising
an input terminal for receiving a binary signal, PA1 a phase comparator having a first input coupled to the input terminal, having a second input, and having an output, PA1 a control-signal-controlled oscillator having an input for receiving a control signal, which input is coupled to the output of the phase comparator, and an output for supplying an oscillation signal of a given frequency in response to the control signal, which output is coupled to the second input of the phase comparator. The invention also relates to a phase comparator for use in the phase-locked loop and to a reproducing device including the phase-locked loop.
2. Description of the Related Art
A phase-locked loop of the type defined in the opening paragraph is generally known and is used to derive a clock signal from the binary signal. The binary signal may be an originally digital signal recorded on a record carrier. Upon reproduction an analog reproduction signal is obtained which is converted into a binary signal in a comparator circuit, this binary signal being then applied to the phase-locked loop. The clock signal can subsequently be used to recover the original digital signal during reproduction.
The known phase-locked loop has the drawback that variations in the nominal oscillator frequency of the oscillator give rise to timing errors in the clock signal.

Phase-locked loop, phase comparator for use in the phase-locked loop, and reproducing device including the phase-locked loop


An apparatus includes a sensor stack, first and second shields positioned on opposite sides of the sensor stack, and a first shield stabilization structure adjacent to the first shield and applying a bias magnetic field to the first shield. A second shield stabilization structure can be positioned adjacent to the second shield.

As the storage capacity of magnetic data storage devices increases, the magnetic bit size in the storage media becomes smaller. A smaller bit size requires a reduction in physical dimensions of the recording head.
Magnetic recording heads typically include a reader portion having a sensor for retrieving magnetically encoded information stored on a magnetic disc. Magnetic flux from the surface of the disc causes rotation of the magnetization vector of a sensing layer or layers of the sensor, which in turn causes a change in the electrical properties of the sensor. The sensing layers are often called free layers, since the magnetization vectors of the sensing layers are free to rotate in response to external magnetic flux. The change in the electrical properties of the sensor may be detected by passing a current through the sensor and measuring a voltage across the sensor. Depending on the geometry of the device, the sense current may be passed in the plane (CIP) of the layers of the device or perpendicular to the plane (CPP) of the layers of the device. External circuitry then converts the voltage information into an appropriate format and manipulates that information as necessary to recover information encoded on the disc.
The magnetoresistive (MR) sensor (reader) may be located between high permeability shields to screen the sensor from external magnetic fields, such as stray fields from media. With increasing recording density, the shield-to-shield spacing of the reader becomes narrower to meet higher linear density requirements and to screen external flux.
A narrow shield-to-shield spacing of the reader requires that layers in the reader stack become thinner, which makes the sensor more sensitive to materials around it. A thinner reader stack cap could make the free layer more susceptible to magnetic domain changes in the shields and introduce unwanted instability. Furthermore, the shield topography may also introduce additional domain movement in the shield, which could influence the free layer response and add noise to the read signal.
In order to ensure the stability of the reader when it is subjected to external fields and to minimize noise from any magnetic domain movement inside the shields, it would be desirable to provide improved control of the magnetic properties of the shields.

Shield stabilization configuration with applied bias


Provided is an engine control device which can suppress a shortage of output terminals of the control unit and an increase of costs even in a multiple-cylinder internal combustion engine equipped with ignition energy supply units of two systems. An engine control device controls a multiple-cylinder engine in which ignition energy supply units of two systems are provided for every cylinder. A signal is transmitted through a common signal line to a plurality of ignition energy supply units of one system among the ignition energy supply units of the two systems to control the ignition energy supply units of the one system.

In recent years, a reduction of fuel consumption of an internal combustion engine has been important. A method of improving the fuel efficiency is increasingly employed in which a large amount of EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) gas is introduced in a light-loaded operation region for the purpose of low fuel consumption on the basis of the fact that pumping loss is reduced by introducing an EGR gas. However, in such a case, an inert gas is increased to reduce a ratio of the air which is newly introduced into a cylinder of the internal combustion engine, and accordingly a ratio of an appropriate air-fuel mixture is reduced around an ignition plug. Therefore, a secure ignition and a stable combustion are hardly achieved in a short-term discharge, and the internal combustion engine comes to be in an unstable state due to an incorrect combustion.
In an ignition device for an internal combustion engine, a state of the air-fuel mixture deviates in the vicinity of the ignition plug so as to cause a state where the air-fuel ratio is reduced or a state where an inert gas such as an EGR gas is mixed. In such a state, it is considered as a very important technique that an unstable ignitionability of the air-fuel mixture is improved in a short-term discharge and the fuel efficiency of the internal combustion engine is improved by improving the ignitionability and by making the combustion stable. For example, there is a well-known technique "Ignition device of overlap discharge type for internal combustion engine" (PTL 1) as the related art.


For creating a storage unit comprising a container housing enclosing a storage volume for receiving freight and a gaseous medium surrounding said freight, said storage unit further comprising a tempering system provided with a tempering unit associated with said storage volume for maintaining a flow of said gaseous medium circulating in said storage volume and passing through said tempering unit in order to be maintained at a defined or set temperature, said tempering unit comprising an internal heat exchanger arranged in said flow of gaseous medium passing through said tempering unit, said tempering system being provided with a refrigerant circuit comprising said internal heat exchanger, an external heat exchanger exposed to ambient air surrounding said container housing which operates reliably and cost efficient under the aforementioned condition, as well as a compressor unit for compressing refrigerant, and said tempering system being further provided with an engine for driving said compressor unit in an independent power source mode and said tempering system being further provided with an electric motor/generator unit mechanically coupled to said compressor unit, and said compressor unit and said motor/generator unit being commonly driven by said engine in said independent power source mode.

The invention relates to a storage unit comprising a container housing enclosing a storage volume for receiving freight and a gaseous medium surrounding said freight, that storage unit further comprising a tempering system provided with a tempering unit associated with said storage volume for maintaining a flow of said gaseous medium circulating in said storage volume and passing through said tempering unit in order to be maintained at a defined or set temperature.
In particular said storage units are transport storage units used for transporting or shipping freight.
Such storage units are used in a wide variety of climatic zones of the globe and under harsh conditions.
The freight to be stored in such storage units is mostly perishable, such as, for example, frozen fish, meat, fruit or chocolate or flowers.
It is the object of a present invention to create a storage unit which operates reliably and cost efficient under the aforementioned conditions.

Storage unit and tempering system for a storage unit


A computer, in particular a personal computer with the voice input and a voice output system thereby allowing the computer to be used as an integrated dictation system.. The computer includes analog-to-digital conversion means for converting analog signals corresponding to the spoken word into digital signals. These digital signals are stored in the storage device of the computer. The digital representations are recalled from the storage and converted to sounds by a digital-to-analog conversion means and a headset for the user to listen to while transcribing the words via the keyboard of the computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a computer, in particular a personal computer, with a voice input/output system, for use as an integrated dictation system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to take dictation, normally two devices are required--a dictation recorder and a computer, particularly a personal computer, configured as a word-processor. A first person speaks into the dictation recorder, then a second person plays the recording back, typically through headphones, while transcribing the spoken words through a keyboard of a word-processor.
This process is disadvantageous in that a typical transcription recorder uses recording tape or other media which is not well-adapted to long-term storage or abuse. Indeed, the use of magnetic tape for acoustic recording is becoming an outdated technology in view of modern digital audio recording techniques.
However, the use of many modern computers, especially those equipped with digital audio equipment, may be too complex and intimidating for many office workers.
Furthermore, the use of two different pieces of electronic equipment is awkward in the dictation process.

Personal computer dictation system with voice anad text stored on the same storage medium


A communication device includes an enclosure and two antennas rotatably attached to each fixing member. The enclosure includes a pair of sidewalls and a pair of fixing members projecting from a first end portion of each of the sidewalls. Each fixing member includes a plurality of projections spaced from each other. Each of the antennas includes a main body including a first end portion and an adjusting member projecting from the first end portion to adjust the antenna to be in a preferable position to optimize transmission and reception of signals. Each adjusting member includes hooking portions with grooves defined therebetween. The projections move in the adjusting member, resulting in rotation of the antennas relative to the enclosure. Each of the projections is received in a corresponding groove to allow the pair of antennas to be in the preferable position.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to communication devices, and more particularly to a communication device with rotatable antennas.
2. Description of Related Art
In communication devices such as access points (AP), mobile phones, and the like, an antenna is required to transmit and receive signals. A typical communication device includes a plurality of groups of antennas fixed thereon to optimize signal transceiving. However, production cost of the communication device is increased by the multiple antennas.
Therefore, a need exists in the industry to overcome the described limitations.

Communication device with rotatable antennas


A system for collecting, managing and disseminating information relating to medical procedures includes a central computer and a plurality of medical devices each in communication with an injector, a scanner, a hospital system and/or at least one other device. Each medical device receives (I) before a procedure is performed, patient identification information from a user interface, the scanner and/or the hospital system and (II) during and/or after the procedure, injection information from the injector and imaging study information from the scanner. Each medical device has an associated database for storing as a record therein the patient identification information, the injection information and the imaging study information for each procedure performed on each patient. The central computer remotely links to each medical device for accessing, collecting and storing in a related database the records transmitted therefrom and for analyzing the records and creating therefrom at least one related entry based thereon.

A person's natural tendency is to perform a known task in the same manner in which he has performed the task numerous times in the past.
Similarly, when performing a particular task, a person's natural tendency is to rely on the same equipment that he has used successfully in the past.
Additionally, where standards have been established for the completion of a particular task, a person's natural tendency is to follow the accepted standards.
In the medical profession, these three tendencies are particularly pronounced. Naturally, where a person's health and life are at stake, it is entirely justified for those in the medical profession to take a conservative approach to medical treatment by relying on trusted techniques, equipment, and standards.
While conservatism fosters the perpetuation of sound and trusted medical procedures, the continued use of reliable equipment, and the practice of accepted standards, it also fosters a certain degree of stagnation. Those in the medical profession are less likely to embrace new and untested medical techniques, equipment, and standards before they have been proven to be safe and effective. In fact, those in the medical profession are likely to follow accepted medical practices, use accepted equipment, and rely on accepted standards even though technology may have advanced sufficiently to render them obsolete or, at a minimum, cast doubt on their current efficacy or applicability.
All of this means that new medical techniques, technologies, and standards, even those that may be more cost effective and beneficial than tried and tested techniques, technologies, and standards, are slow to be adopted. This slows the progress of medicine.
Presently, in order to assess the efficacy of a change in a medical technique, technology, or standard, a physician must perform the procedure, use the technology, or test the new standard with a number of patients in a number of multi-site clinical trials. Naturally, those trials must include a control group for proper assessment of the medical technique, technology, or standard.
Following clinical trials, the physician typically describes and publishes his findings in a suitable medical journal. In addition, he may present his findings to his peers at medical conferences. As can be readily understood, this process often may take a number of years. Moreover, the sheer magnitude of the undertaking often means that only the most deserving of medical techniques and technologies and the establishment of the most beneficial standards are pursued.
In addition, the enormous costs associated with studies prohibit most doctors and physicians from testing any techniques or equipment or from establishing new standards without assistance from large companies and research organizations that have sufficient financial resources to fund these activities.
For example, when performing a diagnostic evaluation that involves the use of a medical injector in combination with a scanning device (such as a CT (Computed Tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner), it may be the widely accepted practice to inject contrast media into the patient at a rate of X ml per minute to assure that the diagnostic evaluation provides useable information to the physician. The standard rate of injection probably was established through the clinical trial method described above.
It may be the case, however, that the rate of injection of contrast media may not need to be as high as the rate recommended due to advances in scanning technology. For example, the sensitivity of the scanner used for a particular diagnostic may have improved (and probably has improved) since the development of the standard(s) associated with its use. Some doctors will adapt their protocols to the capabilities of the new equipment. These are often called "rapid adopters." However, other practitioners, despite advances in technology, may continue to use the established contrast flow rate simply because the flow rate falls within the standard established for the particular diagnostic technique.
The result of applying the established standard irrespective of any advances in medical equipment has several consequences. First, if the scanner's sensitivity has increased so that the standard flow rate is no longer required, the patient receives more contrast media than is required for the medical diagnostic. Not only does this increase the cost of the procedure (because more contrast media is used than is required), it also increases the possibility that the patient may have an adverse reaction to the contrast media. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, due to its increased sensitivity, the scanner's performance may be hindered by the use of contrast media at the standard rate if it performs optimally at a lower injection rate that is not recognized by the standard.
The same reluctance may be exhibited when new equipment is brought to the medical arena. For example, if an improved scanner is offered for use, rapid adopters will purchase and use the equipment to the benefit of their patients. Other doctors or practitioners may resist purchasing and using the equipment until its safety and efficacy are proven. As a result, patients may not benefit from the advances that the equipment offers to provide a more accurate diagnosis. Because of the cost and difficulty in proving the benefits of the improvement, as mentioned above, there often is significant delay in making this improvement available to all patients.
In summary, what the prior art and current practice fails to provide is a system or methodology for the appropriately rapid adoption of step-wise, incremental advances in medicine that develop on a continuing basis, the kind of incremental changes that result from daily practice. Simply, there are few, if any, existing mechanisms by which incremental advances may be shared with other practitioners in the medical profession to more rapidly advance medical care and quality, among other things.
The divergence between the conservative approach to the advance of medicine and the need for the reevaluation of standards and the evaluation of new medical techniques and equipment has created a technology gap in modern medicine that cries out for a solution.
At the same time, technological advances relating to information communication have been exploding. Home utility meters can automatically transmit readings for billing purposes. Copiers and other equipment can call a central office when their self-test software detects a failure or imminent failure. And, for some equipment, it is possible to remotely conduct equipment diagnosis and change equipment settings or software.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for automated benchmarking for the recognition of best medical practices and products and for establishing standards for medical procedures


The pump is designed to be mounted on a receptacle, and comprises a pushbutton that is movable between a high position and a low position relative to a pump body, and that co-operates therewith to define a pump chamber of variable volume. The pump body has a vent suitable for communicating via a passage with the outside of the receptacle when the pushbutton is in an intermediate position between its high position and its low position, thereby enabling air to enter the receptacle while the substance is being sucked into the pump chamber. The pushbutton has an inner skirt integrally formed therewith and suitable for sliding in sealed manner inside the pump body, the inner skirt being shaped so as to isolate said vent from the outside when the pushbutton is in its high position and when it is in its low position.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,426 discloses a pump for mounting on a receptacle, the pump comprising a pushbutton that is movable relative to a pump body between a high position and a low position and that co-operates therewith to define a pump chamber of variable volume, the pump body having a vent suitable for communicating via a passage with the outside of the receptacle when the pushbutton is in an intermediate position between its high and low positions, thereby enabling air to enter into the receptacle while substance is being sucked into the pump chamber.
The pushbutton has an outer skirt suitable for isolating the vent when the pushbutton is in its high position and when it is in its low position. The pushbutton has an inner skirt which co-operates with the outer skirt to define a groove suitable for housing a return spring.
The outer skirt is exposed to the possibility of being dirtied, which dirt can then come into contact with the substance contained in the pump body.
In addition, the return spring is immersed in the substance, which can give rise to problems of compatibility.


Controlling a hybrid powertrain includes monitoring an operator torque request, determining maximum and minimum allowable transmission output torques based upon the operator torque request, determining a commanded transmission output torque, and comparing the commanded transmission output torque and each of the maximum and minimum allowable transmission output torques.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Known powertrain architectures include torque-generative devices, including internal combustion engines and electric machines, which transmit torque through a transmission device to an output. The output is operatively connected to a driveline for a motor vehicle. One exemplary powertrain includes a two-mode, compound-split, electro-mechanical transmission which utilizes an input member for receiving motive torque from a prime mover power source, preferably an internal combustion engine, and an output member for delivering motive torque from the transmission to the vehicle driveline. Electric machines, operable as motors or generators, generate a torque input to the transmission, independently of a torque input from the internal combustion engine. The electric machines may transform vehicle kinetic energy, transmitted through the vehicle driveline, to electrical energy potential that is storable in an electrical energy storage device. A control system monitors various inputs from the vehicle and the operator and provides operational control of the powertrain system, including controlling transmission operating state and gear shifting, controlling the torque-generative devices, and regulating the electrical power interchange between the electrical energy storage device and the electric machines. A control system monitors various inputs from the vehicle and the operator and provides operational control of the powertrain system, including controlling transmission operating state and gear shifting, controlling the torque-generative devices, and regulating the electrical power interchange between the electrical energy storage device and the electric machines.
The exemplary electro-mechanical transmission is selectively operative in fixed gear and continuously variable operating state ranges through selective control of torque transfer clutch states, via a hydraulic circuit. The fixed gear operating state range occurs when rotational speed of the transmission output member is a fixed ratio of rotational speed of the input member from the engine, due to application and release states of one or more torque transfer clutches. The continuously variable operating state ranges occur when rotational speed of the transmission output member is variable based upon operating speeds of one or more of the electric machines. The electric machines are connected to the output shaft via application of one or more clutches. Selective clutch control is effected through a hydraulic circuit.

Method and apparatus to monitor output of an electro-mechanical transmission


The differential amplifier made in a CMOS monolisic IC form has input offset voltage worse than the case structured by the bipolar element. A bipolar element structured by a usual CMOS process is used in a differential amplifying stage having a greatest effect on input offset voltage in a CMOS differential amplifier, thereby obtaining a differential amplifier with reduced input offset voltage.

The present invention relates to a device using a differential amplifier made in CMOS monolithic IC form and to a differential amplifier made in CMOS monolithic IC form.
One example of a conventional CMOS differential amplifier is shown in FIG. 2.
A differential amplifying stage 101 has input transistors 1, 2 transistors 3, 4 forming a current mirror stage, resistors 8, 9 a constant current source 6, and an output thereof is connected to a gate of an output transistor 5 to directly drive the output transistor 5. When a gate voltage of a non-inverted input transistor 2 is higher than a gate voltage of an inverted input transistor 1, a drain voltage of the output transistor 5 as a differential amplifier output becomes high in voltage value. When the gate voltage of the non-inverted input transistor 2 is lower than a gate voltage of the inverted input transistor 1, the drain voltage of the output transistor 5 as the differential amplifier output becomes low in voltage value.
The differential amplifier formed by a CMOS element has an input offset voltage generally of approximately .+-.10 mV at maximum, whereas the differential amplifier formed by a bipolar element has an input offset voltage generally of approximately .+-.5 mV at maximum. Thus the input offset voltage of the differential amplifier formed by a CMOS element is worse in input offset voltage than that formed by a bipolar element.
In using a CMOS element, an improvement in input offset voltage of the differential amplifier can be achieved by trimming the resistances 8, 9 or other elements in FIG. 2 using a laser or the like on the chip. This however requires on-chip occupying portions thus resulting in chip size increase.
There has been a problem in that both the trimming process addition and the chip size increase constitute a factor of increased cost.
Also, the CMOS differential amplifier improved in input offset voltage by utilizing laser trimming is large in chip size and hence large in package size, and is thus not suited for mounting on small apparatuses such as portable apparatuses.


A multiple band sizing and repairing device is provided with a base and a plurality of blocks rising from the base for receiving and securing a watch band along its edge. The blocks are separated by varying distances from each other to form channels of varying widths therebetween to accommodate watch bands of varying thickness. A pair of shoulders extend from one side of the base and are separated from each other to form a gap therebetween. A passageway in each shoulder permits a pair of bolts to extend through the pair of shoulders. Upon rotation of the bolts, a vice is formed wherein the passageways guide movement of the bolts therethrough in applying pressure to a pin of the band. A hollow tip is provided at the inner end of at least one bolt so that the pin can be receivingly seated and held by the tip. Each block also includes a receptor for seating a bit therein. The bit serves as a screwdriver to engage and thereby prevent rotation of a screw connecting the band to a watchcase when otherwise operating on the band.

This invention relates to a device for sizing and repairing bands such as, but not limited to, watch bands and in particular to a multiple band sizing and repairing device for easily and quickly repairing and sizing bands having small parts.
Watchbands have become increasingly more diversified and complicated in both technology and construction. The technological advancements resulting in smaller parts have made insertion of pins and screwing of screws and removal of same in repairing and sizing of watchbands far more difficult. Retailers frequently refuse to buy products which include bands too awkward and/or complicated to repair and size.
In repairing and sizing a watchband, it is generally necessary to have a second individual present for holding the band in a stationary position when repairing and/or sizing the band (e.g., inserting or removing a pin and/or screwing or unscrewing a screw). Time which can be devoted to other activities such as selling of merchandise must be spent on time consuming repair and sizing of such watchbands. Similar problems are encountered in sizing and repairing chain links, bracelets, necklaces and the like having similar small parts.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device which can quickly and easily facilitate the sizing and repairing of a band with minimal effort and manipulation. The device should provide a far simpler method for insertion of pins and screwing of screws and removal of same while maintaining the band in a stationary position. Preferably, the device should also require no additional tools and be of simple design and construction.

Method of use for a multiple bond sizing and repairing device


The method to detect and determine the profile of the material property or the structure changes not only on surface but also at the subsurface, of a storage medium or a scanned sample. This method comprises the following steps: (a), a nondestructive periodic or modulated perturbation is applied to the sample to be scanned. (b) the perturbed sample is then scanned using a microprobe, e.g., scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM), which is responsive to the applied periodic or modulated perturbations and (c) the modulated output signals from the microprobe, in combination with the input perturbation signals, are processed and demodulated to automatically control the motion of the probe, and to determine the profiles of the material properties or the structure changes of the scanned sample.

The recent developments of scanning microprobe technology have made possible the detection and inspection of the topographical structure of a sample surface with sub nanometer resolution. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) technology as disclosed in Binnig et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,993, issued August 1982, is based on the tunneling currents which occur when a voltage is applied to an extremely fine conductive tip which is brought to a distance of approximately 1 nm from a surface structure. The tunneling current is generated when the conductive probe tip comes close enough to the surface so that the electron clouds surrounding the atoms in the tip and on the scanned surface overlap, thus allowing a current to flow between them when a voltage is applied. The magnitude of the tunneling current is exponentially dependent on the distance between the tip and the surface. Because of this sensitivity, the tunneling current is often used as a feedback signal to control the tip-sample separation. Additionally, the tunneling current is also a function of the conductivity of the scanned material and the surface structures. Therefore, by monitoring the variations of the tunneling current, the STM technique provides a means to detect a material structure change with a very fine resolution down to scale of individual atoms. A topographic map of a scanned surface with subnanometer resolution can be generated by scanning and monitoring the variations of the tunneling current.
One of the limitations of the scanning tunneling microscope is the requirement that the tunneling tip and the scanned surface either have to be electrically conductive or must be coated with an electrically conductive layer. Binnig, U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,318, "Atomic Force Microscope and Method for Imaging Surfaces with Atomic Resolution", issued Feb. 9, 1988, discloses an atomic force microscope (AFM) which generates a topographical image of a sample by monitoring the change of the STM tunneling current from the surface of a spring-like cantilever. The cantilever has a sharp-point fixed at one end. This sharp-point is brought to a very close proximity to the surface structure to be imaged. The atomic force between the sharp tip and the surface of the sample will cause small deflections of the cantilever corresponding to the topography of the surface. The STM in turn detects the tunneling current variations due to the deflections of the cantilever as the AFM scans the entire surface of the sample. Binnig, U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,318, by the use of an AFM, has overcome the limitation encountered in the STM technology where only a conductive surface or a conductively coated surface can be imaged.
By use of the STM or the AFM, a very high-density data storage device was proposed by topographically deforming the surface of a data storage medium to represent encoded binary bits. The encoded data is read back by scanning and detecting the bits using the STM or AFM. For example, in Quate, U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,822, "Method and Means for Data Storage Using Tunneling Current Data Readout", issued Mar. 11, 1986, a high-resolution data storage device is described in which the data is encoded as indentation, removal, or deposition of material to create a structural feature that can then be imaged. However, topographic encoding schemes are generally limited to a very low data rates because the microprobe must be servo controlled over the topographic features in order to avoid contacting and destroying the surface. Servo circuits for scanning microprobes have a bandwidth of typically 5 kHz, which is impractical for a data storage device. In addition, topographic encoding requires that the surface of the medium be exceedingly smooth so that blemishes are not misconstrued as data. This near-perfect surface must be protected from deterioration in the operating environment, for example, from oxidation or deposition of ambient contaminants. Many such schemes therefore require vacuum, protective overcoats, low temperature, inert gas flushing, or extensive filtration. Furthermore, there exists a large number of potential storage mechanisms which are non topographic and are not appropriate to the topographic readback methods disclosed in the prior art. Reliance on topographic encoding greatly limits the types of storage media that can be developed.
A method to write, read, and erase data bits which are non topographically encoded onto a storage medium by the use of an STM was disclosed by Foster et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,688, "Data Storage Method Using State Transformable Materials", issued Apr. 10, 1990. Foster describes the use of a scanning tunneling microscope to selectively heat discrete areas of a state-transformable film by applying a large tunneling current to the area. Resistive heating in the film transforms the electronic structure in the area from a crystalline to an amorphous state, or from an amorphous to a crystalline state, depending on the nature of the tunneling current pulse. The change in electronic structure implies a change in conductance, work function, and band gap which can be detected by the STM as an alteration in the magnitude of the tunneling current. The effects of topography on the readback of data, e.g., the blemishes on the surface of the film, were minimized by measuring the rate of change of the current vs. the applied voltage (dI/dV) while keeping the tip/sample separation constant, or by measuring the rate of change of the tunneling current vs. the tip/sample separation (dI/dS) while keeping the voltage constant. However, this scheme, while minimizing the effect of surface topography, may be affected by the presence of material blemishes, such as oxidation or contamination, which would have to be minimized for the readback technique to operate. Furthermore, it may have difficulty with a protective overcoat because the readback technique is most sensitive to the surface layer of the film.
In some cases the material properties of the sampled surface can by themselves limit the effectiveness, i.e., the resolution of the STM application. Sakuhara et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,435, "Tunneling Scanning Microscope Having Light Source", issued Jun. 6, 1989, had to apply a light to irradiate the surface to increase the conductivity in order to obtain a higher resolution in the investigation of the surface structure of the scanned material.
In the reading of discrete binary data from a storage medium using scanning microprobe techniques as disclosed in the prior art, each is limited by one or more of the following difficulties: (1) the speed of the device is limited by the bandwidth of the servo circuit that controls the motion of the tip over the topographically encoded data; (2) a near-perfect surface has to be fabricated; (3) this near-perfect surface has to be maintained under all operating conditions; (4) no protective layers can be used to protect the surface because it will affect the sensitivities of the scanning probe measurement; and (5) existing readback techniques are not sensitive to many potential bit storage mechanisms, greatly limiting the types of storage media that can be developed. Due to these problems, the development of an ultra-high density storage technology is hindered by the very high cost of both manufacturing the storage media and also maintaining the operational conditions in order to measure the highly sensitive tunneling currents for data detection.

High-resolution detection of material property variations


Systems and methods for dual-technology air traffic tracking are disclosed. An autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) may include a low-power dual-technology transponder configured for transmitting real-time tracking data of the AAV in outbound tracking messages, using both first and second transmission technologies specified for operation within a common flight tracking system. The AAV may further include a global positioning satellite (GPS) system, one or more processors, and memory storing instructions for carrying out dual-technology tracking. Operations may include determining real-time tracking data of the AAV from the GPS system, and broadcasting outbound tracking messages alternatingly in time using the first and second technologies in ping-pong fashion, the outbound tracking messages including the determined real-time tracking data and an identifier of the AAV. The tracking data may include location of the AAV. In an example embodiment, the common tracking system may be ADS-B and the two technologies may be 1090ES and UAT.

Aircraft tracking systems are used for monitoring airspace for flight safety and air traffic control. Also referred to as air traffic surveillance systems, aircraft tracking systems can be deployed both as ground systems and onboard systems, and can include ground components and onboard components that communicate and cooperate with each other to provide real-time, live information about aircraft location, motion, and identification. An example of tracking technology is conventional radar.
As part of a process to modernize air traffic surveillance, conventional radar is being phased out in favor of a self-reporting scheme in which individual aircraft use satellite-based global position system (GPS) surveillance to determine their respective tracking data (e.g., position and velocity), and then broadcast the information to ground stations and possibly other aircraft within some reception range. Receivers of broadcast tracking information—both ground stations and aircraft—may then use it for various management and safety operations, such as routing and collision avoidance. The new self-reporting scheme has been developed according to a standard referred to as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B.
Under ADS-B, two different transmission link technologies have been implemented that are compliant with the standard but not directly compatible with each other. Both technologies employ radio frequency (RF) transmission and reception, differing mainly according to RF operating frequency and transponder technology, as well as certain aspects of message structure. The two technologies are Universal Access Transmitter (UAT), which operates at 978 MHz, and 1090 MHz Extended Squitter (1090ES), which operates at 1,090 MHz.
In order to bridge the incompatibility between UAT and 1090ES, ADS-B-compliant ground systems can receive messages on both technologies, and then translate and rebroadcast the translated messages on the respective technologies. A network of ground stations enables aircraft with one of the two systems to receive translated messages from aircraft with the other of the two systems via the ground system. Any two aircraft using the same system can receive messages from each other directly.

Dual-technology onboard air traffic tracking system for autonomous aerial vehicles


The rear-entry ski boot disclosed herein includes a substantially rigid outer foot portion and a relatively movable leg portion, the foot portion having an inner lining with at least one inflatable air pocket interposed between the foot portion and the inner lining. A pump operable by bending movements of the leg portion is provided for inflating the air pocket.

This invention relates to a rear-entry ski boot.
Rear-entry ski boots are known in which each boot is not open at its front but instead is provided with a rear opening in the leg portion to allow entry of the skier's foot. Such boots seem particularly suitable for satisfying current skiers' requirements, and for this reason they are becoming increasingly more available commercially.
In known rear-entry boots, there is usually provided between the foot portion and the inner boot lining a presser member which acts vertically on the skier's foot in order to force it against the boot insole. This presser member can be of a type adjustable from the outside by screw devices or other means.
However, such boots have certain drawbacks. In particular, they exert a localized gripping action which, after a short time, can cause pain that can be withstood by the skier only for limited period or with considerable discomfort. Furthermore, the donning or removal of the boot is frequently laborious in that the screw adjustment device has to be manipulated in order to operate the presser member.
In order to obviate these drawbacks, ski boots have been proposed in which the presser member comprises an air pocket interposed between the foot portion of the boot and the inner lining, the pocket being inflatable by means of a manually operated pump provided on the foot portion.
Such known boots have, however, the drawback of requiring a certain effort from the user who is compelled to kneel, operate the pump in order to inflate the pocket, stand up again, and check that the required degree of grip has been attained, failing which the operations have to be repeated.


A composition can include a nanostructure, and a linker associated with the nanostructure, wherein the linker is configured to interact with a capture protein. The nanostructure can include a single-walled carbon nanotube. A plurality of the compositions can be configured in an array.

Advances in genomics and proteomics have created a demand for miniaturized, robust platforms for the high-throughput study of proteins. Microarrays, generated by spotting biomolecules on a solid surface at high spatial density, can offer these features by allowing investigators to query thousands of targets simultaneously. DNA microarrays including thousands of different DNA molecules or oligomeric sequences, for example, provide a snapshot of the transcriptional state of a biological sample. The widespread use of this technology for monitoring gene expression can provide valuable insight into various disease states. DNA microarrays can have particular value in analyzing clustered gene expression, revealing co-regulated gene networks; however, gene expression analysis does not readily predict protein abundance nor does it provide information about protein function.
Several properties of proteins make building protein microarrays more challenging than building their DNA counterparts. First, unlike the simple hybridization chemistry of nucleic acids, proteins demonstrate a staggering variety of chemistries, affinities and specificities. Moreover, proteins may require multimerization, partnership with other proteins or post-translational modification to demonstrate activity or binding. Second, there is no equivalent amplification process like PCR that can generate large quantities of protein. Third, expression and purification of proteins is a tedious task and does not guarantee the functional integrity of the protein. Lastly, many proteins are notoriously unstable, which raises concerns about microarray shelf life. Despite these challenges there has been a marked increase in the use of protein microarrays to map interactions of proteins with various other molecules, and to identify potential disease biomarkers, especially in the area of cancer biology.

Nanotube array for optical detection of protein-protein interactions


In an apparatus for mass transfer between a liquid and a gas inside a rotor, the liquid is supplied to a center of the rotor and is driven outward by centrifugal force generated by rotation of the rotor, the gas surrounding the rotor is forced inward through the rotor by a pressure of the gas, counter to the liquid flow in the rotor, and the rotor has a plurality of passages lying in the plane of the rotor that begin at a center of the rotor and terminate at an outer circumference of the rotor. The passages are each filled with a packing that increases the area of contact between the liquid and the gas.

In an apparatus for mass transfer between a liquid and a gas inside a rotor, liquid is supplied to the center of the rotor and is driven outward by the centrifugal force generated by rotation of the rotor and gas surrounding the rotor is forced inward through the rotor by the gas pressure, counter to the liquid flow in the rotor.
WO 2015/101826 (U.S. Pat. No. 9,987,589) and WO 2016/038480 (US 2017/0028311) disclose mass-transfer machines having a rotor that has two lateral faces, a packing that drives centrally delivered liquid outward as the rotor rotates in the space between the two faces. Here the rotor is surrounded by a gas that due to the gas pressure flows through the rotor counter to the liquid, in order to produce a mass transfer between the liquid and the gas.


A shadow mask for use in a color cathode ray tube includes an electron beam transmissive domed plane disposed substantially perpendicular to an electron beam path. The domed plane comprises a central apertured area which has a predetermined pattern of electron beam transmissive apertures chemically etched thereon. An unapertured border is formed along the periphery of the central apertured border and a skirt portion is formed along the periphery of the unapertured border. The skirt portion and the unapertured order include a plurality of stripe type grooves which are formed on top and bottom surfaces of both the unapertured border and the skirt portion and which are alternately configured and formed by a chemical etching process. The chemically etched plurality of stripe type grooves are provided to eliminate the problem of spring-back when the domed plane is press-formed into a domed shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cathode-ray tube having an improved shadow mask adapted to effectively suppress spring-back phenomena occurring in the skirt portion thereof.
2. Background Information
A shadow mask is typically suspended within a cathode-ray tube envelope and positioned adjacently to a phosphor screen on the inner surface of a panel. The shadow mask functions as a color selection electrode which filters the scanning electron beams projected from an electron gun, incorporated in the neck of a funnel, toward the phosphor screen.
The conventional shadow mask 10 depicted in FIG. 1 comprises central apertured area 12 having a pattern of electron beam transmissive apertures 11, unapertured border 13 surrounding central apertured area 12, skirt portion 13a formed along the periphery of unapertured border 13 and positioned substantially perpendicular to central apertured area 12, and ridge 14 formed along the periphery of the central apertured area 12 in unapertured border 13. Ridge 14 is provided for reinforcing shadow mask 10. Skirt portion 13 serves as a welding portion for attaching shadow mask 10 to frame 20.
Shadow mask 10 has a scooped surface as shown in FIG. 2 and is formed by a press-forming process using a flat thin blank of metal. The press-forming process is accomplished by drawing the blank of metal consisting of central apertured area 12 together with unapertured border 13 into a domed shape and bending the periphery of unapertured border 13 to form skirt portion 13a. Here, the aforesaid steps are successively performed by one press machine.
However, a shadow mask formed by this press-forming process has a problem. A spring-back phenomena generally occurs in the shadow mask because a complete plastic deformation is not achieved in press-forming the bent portion.
The spring-back phenomena occurs chiefly in the skirt portion making it difficult to accurately weld the shadow mask to a frame because there is loose contact between the two surfaces.
When the skirt portion and the frame are widely gaped and forcibly welded together, the skirt portion becomes partially deformed causing the central apertured area and the unapertured border to become distorted.
The central apertured area which has a plurality of electron beam passing apertures is extremely fragile in structure in comparison with the unapertured border or the skirt portion. The central apertured area is therefore easily distorted causing the electron beam transmissive apertures to become misarranged. As a result, the filtering of electron beams through the electron beam transmissive apertures is not accurately performed, thereby degenerating the color purities of the screen image formed on the phosphor screen.


Renovation of a heating wall, in particular a heating wall of a coke oven battery, includes starting with a vertical wall raising of a part to be renovated on a wall protective plate of the part, abutting a new masonry exactly on the wall protection plate, and arranging between the new masonry and the old masonry a vertically extending welding joint from a ceramic material.

The present invention relates to a method of restoring heating walls of a coke oven battery.
For restoration [repair] of the heating walls of a coke oven battery it is known to design the heating wall in which the old and the new masonry are separated from one another by a vertically extending slip joint. Moreover, then it is necessary to restore the head heating joint, a vertically extending expansion joint is arranged between the heating wall head and the wall protective plate. During the raising of a part of the heating wall to be restored, the process starts from the old masonry. In praxis, it has been however, shown that there are always problems with exact determination of the width of the expansion joint between the new brick-laid and not heated heating wall head and the wall protective plate under warming.
This situation occurs especially when several heating walls located near one another and having a different number of heating joints must be restored and/or when the position of the system including the wall protective plate-chamber frame is fixed in advance by adjacent heating wall heads which are not to be restored. It was required therefore to accurately calculate the different expansion values for different repair depths so that after heating of the heating wall head it abuts exactly against the wall protective plate and thereby the anchoring force can be transmitted from the anchoring members to the heating wall. The experience with this solution in the praxis has shown that in many cases it is not possible to calculate in advance the expansion values with the required accuracy.

Method of restoring heating walls of coke oven battery


A monitor apparatus, includes a monitor main body in which an image is formed; an upper link rotationally coupled to the monitor main body; a lower link rotationally coupled to the upper link; and a base including a link accommodating part to which the lower link is rotationally coupled and which accommodates the upper link and the lower link in a folded state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitor apparatus, and more particularly, to a monitor apparatus having an improved monitor stand configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a monitor apparatus includes a monitor main body on which an image is formed, a base supporting the monitor main body, and a link for rotating the monitor main body or adjusting the height of the monitor main body.
A conventional monitor apparatus is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-59208. This monitor apparatus includes a lower link rotationally connected with a base hinge provided in a base, an upper link rotationally connected with a monitor hinge provided in a monitor main body, a link hinge provided between the upper link and the lower link to rotate the upper link with respect to the lower link in a predetermined angle, and a first auxiliary link transmitting the rotation of the lower link with respect to the base to the rotation of the upper link. Accordingly, the monitor main body can be tilted upward and downward, and the height thereof can be adjusted when tilted.
However, this monitor apparatus has a problem. The monitor apparatus's packaging volume becomes large because the upper link and the lower link between the monitor main body and the base requires a large amount of space (large volume) when the main body is folded with respect to the base member and the upper link and the lower link are folded with respect to each other.
Further, the conventional monitor apparatus has a problem in that a connection cable and a connection connector to connect an exterior device and the monitor main body are exposed to the outside so that they occupy a predetermined volume and thus cause the height of the base to be variable. Also, the connection cable and the connection connector make an outer appearance of the monitor apparatus complicated.