A device for rotating a layered body includes multiple rotating plates arranged in equally spaced layers and coaxially aligned about an axis of rotation. Facing plate surfaces between each pair of neighboring plates form a gap between neighboring plates. At least one magnetic pole is provided on each plate surface that forms a gap. The magnetic poles being arranged such that the polarities of magnetic poles on facing surfaces in each gap are the same. When the rotating plates are stationary, the at least one magnetic pole on one plate is arranged to occupy an alternating position with a corresponding magnetic pole on the facing surface of the neighboring plate.

A flywheel energy storage system is so adapted as to store rotational energy produced by rotating a flywheel disk at a high speed, and the rotation of the flywheel disk is urged with an electric motor. For such a flywheel energy storage system, the rotational energy to be stored can be made greater as the flywheel disk becomes heavier and as it is rotated at a higher speed.
In order to allow the flywheel disk having a heavy weight to rotate at a high speed from its stationary state within a short time, a large-size and large-rated electric motor having a great magnitude of a driving torque is required. Such an electric motor, however, is expensive and a place where it is to be installed should be large, whereby the total system also becomes too large in size.
On the other hand, when the attempt is made to rotate a flywheel disk having a heavy weight at a high speed by an electric motor small in size and to drive the rotation of such a heavy flywheel disk directly by means of an output of the such small-size electric motor, there is the risk that the electric motor becomes in an overload state and it is burned out. Hence, the flywheel disk is required to be rotated gradually by means of a certain transmission mechanism in order to cause no or little overload to be imposed upon the electric motor. This system, however, requires a long time for rotating the flywheel disk at a high speed. Further, such a transmission mechanism produces energy such as heat, resulting in a loss of energy.
The present invention has been performed with the above situation taken into account and the object of the present invention is to provide a device for rotation and a method therefor, capable of efficiently converting sequentially input rotative driving power into the rotational energy of the whole of the layered rotating body of a layer structure. This arrangement allows even a small-sized electric motor to rotate the heavy flywheel disk at a high speed within a short time.

Layered body having rotating adjacent layers with magnetic poles on facing surfaces


An exemplary method includes receiving information relating to a long bone, and generating a bone model representative of the long bone. The long bone includes a shaft, and the bone model includes a shaft model representative of at least a portion of the shaft. The method includes identifying a target orientation for the bone model, and generating a cropped model including at least a portion of the shaft model. The method further includes generating cylinder parameters based at least in part upon the cropped model, registering the cylinder to the cropped model, and generating registration information related to the registering. The method further includes generating a correction angle based upon the registration information, and generating a corrected model based upon the correction angle. The method may further include generating an adjusted model based upon the corrected model, and generating a surgical device using the adjusted model.

Bone models generated from medical imaging techniques are commonly used in surgical planning procedures to enable a surgeon or other user to pre-operatively generate a surgical plan and/or a patient-specific orthopedic tool. Certain techniques may require that the model be properly oriented in three-dimensional space for optimal accuracy. The orientation is often determined by visually assessing industry-recognized anatomical landmarks and features, and rotating the model to the proper orientation based upon the anatomical landmarks and features. This manual approach is subject to process inefficiencies, and the orientations determined for a single model may exhibit two types of variability. Inter-operator variability occurs when the process is performed by different operators, and intra-operator variability occurs when the process is performed by the same operator at different times. As will be appreciated, both forms of variability may adversely affect the consistency of the orientations determined for a given single model, and it may be desirable to improve the consistency of the orientations by reducing these forms of variability. Therefore, a need remains for further improvements in this technological field.

Bone model correction angle determination


Each line of a television signal has a sequence of interleaved luminance and chrominance samples according to a given format (Y.sub.o U.sub.o Y.sub.1 V.sub.o etc.) which are written into a one line store using a first address sequence and then read out using a second address sequence such that the luminance samples are in reverse order, (and likewise the chrominance); however their interleaving conforms to the given format. The second address sequence is used also for writing in the next incoming line, which is then read out using the first sequence, the two sequences alternating throughout a field period. The technique is especially useful in videotelephony and videoconferencing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a scan reversing unit for video signals. Although not limited thereto, one application of scan reversal is in video telephone or conferencing systems where it is desired to display to the user his own (i.e. the transmitted) picture; it is subjectively more acceptable for this picture to be laterally inverted, because it is this image of himself in a mirror that the user is accustomed to seeing. Although this effect can be achieved on a CRT display simply by reversing the polarity of the line scanning coils, this involves switching of high peak voltages; moreover, reversal can not always be readily implemented on modern solid-state display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention is concerned with apparatus for processing the video signal so that the resulting signal results in a laterally inverted display on a standard monitor. Previous such apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,411 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,965. It is particularly concerned with video signals in which luminance and chrominance samples are interleaved, where the desired sample sequence is not simply the reverse of the input line.

Lateral image reversal of digital television signals

British Telecommunications public limited company


A rudder-directed tube delivery sprinkler head. A rudder configured to direct water into a tube, triggering distribution of water around an axis. Adjustable stoppers contact a rudder assembly, causing the rudder to pivot, directing water into a different tube and changing the direction of rotation.

Various methods have been devised to distribute water and other liquids in a circular pattern among agricultural regions. One of the most common methods is through the use of impact sprinklers, which have acquired widespread use since the 1930s. As the name suggests, the impact sprinkler operates in a somewhat noisy and violent manner, and causes the water conduit to which it is attached to rotate and the sprinkler mechanisms to undergo stress. A need exists for improved method of distributing water and other liquids in a circular pattern with less noise and improved wear and tear on the sprinkler parts resulting in greater operating lifespan, plus decrease cost to manufacture.

Rudder directed tube delivery sprinkler head


A deployment and retraction mechanism for deploying and retracting a deployable component of a surgical instrument includes a gear assembly, a slider, and one or more actuators. The slider is translatable between a proximal position, corresponding to a storage condition of the deployable component, and a distal position, corresponding to a use condition of the deployable component. The actuator(s) is coupled to the gear assembly and is movable from an un-actuated position to an actuated position. The gear assembly is configured such that a full actuation and subsequent release of the actuator(s) translates the slider from one of the proximal or distal positions to the other of the proximal or distal positions while a partial actuation and subsequent release of the actuator(s) translates the slider from one of the proximal or distal positions to an intermediate position and back to the one of the proximal or distal positions.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments and, more particularly, to a multi-function surgical instrument including a bipolar end effector assembly and a deployable monopolar assembly.
Background of Related Art
Bipolar surgical instruments typically include two generally opposing electrodes charged to different electric potentials to selectively apply energy to tissue. Bipolar electrosurgical forceps, for example, utilize both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to effect hemostasis by heating tissue to coagulate and/or cauterize tissue. Certain surgical procedures require more than simply coagulating and/or cauterizing tissue and rely on the unique combination of clamping pressure, precise electrosurgical energy control, and gap distance (i.e., distance between opposing jaw members when closed about tissue) to "seal" tissue. Once tissue is sealed or otherwise treated, e.g., cauterized, coagulated, desiccated, etc., it is often desirable to cut the treated tissue. Accordingly, many forceps have been designed which incorporate a knife that effectively severs the tissue after tissue treatment.
Monopolar surgical instruments, on the other hand, include an active electrode, and are used in conjunction with a remote return electrode, e.g., a return pad, to apply energy to tissue. Monopolar instruments have the ability to rapidly move through tissue and dissect through narrow tissue planes.
In some surgical procedures, it may be beneficial to use both bipolar and monopolar instrumentation, e.g., procedures where it is necessary to dissect through one or more layers of tissue in order to reach underlying tissue(s) to be treated. Further, it may be beneficial, particularly with respect to endoscopic surgical procedures, to provide a single instrument incorporating both bipolar and monopolar features, thereby obviating the need to alternatingly remove and insert the bipolar and monopolar instruments in favor of one another.
As can be appreciated, as additional functional components are added to a surgical instrument, additional deployment structures or deployment structures capable of actuating more than one component are required. However, multiple deployment structures and/or combined deployment structures may be limited by spatial constraints within the housing of the surgical instrument, functional constraints of the components (e.g., where a combined deployment structure imparts additional force requirements for deploying one or more of the components coupled thereto), and/or may overly complicate the operable components of the surgical instrument.

Surgical instrument having a bipolar end effector assembly and a deployable monopolar assembly


A wireless network is disclosed that comprises base transmitter/receiver stations coupled to a trunk communications network and several mobile computing devices that are capable of transmitting and receiving messages. Messages to be transmitted will be encrypted and digitally signed to insure privacy and authentication of the messages. Each mobile computing device that participates in the wireless network is capable of voluntarily allocating some amount of memory for cooperative messaging storage. Each mobile computing device is responsible for receiving messages addressed to other devices, storing the received messages in the allocated memory and then periodically retransmitting the received messages. Each message includes a unique serial number and time/date stamp. The message serial numbers are used to prevent duplicate messages being stored in the allocated memory. Furthermore, the time/date stamps on the messages stored in the allocated memory are periodically examined such that outdated messages are automatically killed after some specified time interval.

To facilitate the transfer of digital information between computer systems, computers are often connected together in networks. For example, the personal computers at most offices are coupled together using a local area network (LAN) such as Ethernet. Coupling together the personal computers in an office enables the co-workers to quickly easily transmit electronic mail messages and transfer data files.
To further make computer resources easily accessible, many people now use portable computer systems. Portable computer systems enable a user to access computer resources anywhere, anytime. Portable computer systems range in power and complexity from small simple palmtop organizers to portable workstations.
However, a portable computer system is often not easy to incorporate into a computer network due to its portable nature. Currently, network communication with portable computer systems is based on one of two paradigms: (1) A direct connection from the portable computer system to a computer communications infrastructure thereby allowing full network access; or (2) The composition and queuing of messages, pending a direct connection to the communication infrastructure.
Only when a portable computer system has a direct connection to a computer communications infrastructure can the portable computer system transmit electronic message. The direct connection between the portable computer system and the computer communications infrastructure can consists of a direct wired connection or a wireless connection.
Examples of direct wired connections between a portable computer system and a computer communications infrastructure include Ethernet LAN connections, a token ring LAN connections, or a telephone line and a modem. Direct wired connections usually are the most cost-effective computer communication solutions, however direct wired connections cannot be used in portable computer systems such as palmtop computers that are used during transit.
Alternatively, the direct connection between the portable computer system and the computer communications infrastructure may comprise a wireless connection such as a wireless cellular modem or digital packet radio. An important aspect of a wireless communication system is the amount of "coverage" that is supported by the wireless communication system. The coverage is defined as an area from which a user can send and receive messages. The coverage area can be quantified by its size and location. If a user moves out of the coverage area, the user will be unable to send or receive messages.
To increase the coverage area of a wireless system, wireless communication vendor can install more transmitter/receiver stations. Alternatively, the wireless communication vendor can amplify the signals transmitted by the transmitter/receiver stations. Either solution requires a major investment by the wireless communication vendor.
If a user of a wireless communications service moves out of the coverage area, then the portable computer system can not send or receive any messages. To handle electronic messaging while a portable computer system is not connected to a computer communications infrastructure most portable computer systems allow for the composition and queuing of messages, pending a direct connection to the communication infrastructure. When the portable computer system eventually establishes direct connection with the computer communications infrastructure, all the queued messages are then transmitted. Thus, any queued message must wait an indeterminate amount of time until a direct connection is established so that messages can be transmitted.
To reduce the lag time for pending messages, it would be desirable to increase the coverage area of a wireless communication system. However, increasing the coverage area of a wireless communication system usually requires the added cost of installing additional transmitter/receiver stations. Thus it would be desirable to find an inexpensive method of increasing the coverage area of a wireless communication system.

Method and apparatus for cooperative messaging


A high intensity x-ray source that uses a flowing stream of liquid gallium as a target with the electron beam impinging directly on the liquid metal.

This invention relates to a device which produces high intensity x-rays by bombarding a flowing stream of liquid gallium with an electron beam, thereby avoiding the cooling and contamination problems associated with prior art x-ray sources while permitting the use of large electron beam power.
The need for continuous duty, high intensity x-ray tubes exists in medical radiography, i.e., fluoroscopy and computerized tomography (CT), and in industrial applications such as x-ray diffraction and non-destructive testing. In the prior art the efficiency and lifetime of these instruments has been limited by two major factors: the tendency of large power densities of bombarding electron beams to heat the target surface, roughing and even melting the anode at the focal spot, and the buildup on the anode of contaminating materials.
Some prior art devices avoid the problems of heating by rapidly rotating the anode to bring cooler metal surfaces into the focal spot area, or by coating the anode with, e.g. ceramic oxides, to increase the thermal emission of the target. Liquid cooled rotating anode x-ray tubes are common. A hollow anode is rotated, and the heat generated by irradiation by the electron beam is transmitted to a heat exchange surface, typically the interior wall of the hollow anode. Generally the interior wall is roughed to increase turbulence, and a flow of liquid coolant, usually water, is passed into contact with the wall to remove the heat and cool the anode.
One invention (U.S. Pat. No. 3,719,847 issued to Webster, Mar. 6, 1973) uses a liquid metal with a relatively low boiling point as a coolant within the rotating anode. The heat created by the energy beam striking the target wall is sufficient to vaporize the liquid metal in contact with the inner surface of the wall at the point where the beam strikes the wall, and heat is drawn away from the wall by vaporization. As the anode is rotated, the vaporized metal is returned by centrifugal force into contact with and condenses on other portions of the inner surface of the wall, where it is again available to draw off heat through vaporization.
Maintenance problems associated with prior art x-ray sources sometimes cause as much as 50% downtime. Because most rotary anode x-ray sources require high speed anode rotation and high coolant pressures, an appreciable portion of the downtime for rotary anode x-ray sources is related to mechanical wear on rotating bearings and seals, and the need to reestablish a vacuum after vacuum enclosed parts are repaired.
The utility of prior art high intensity x-ray sources is limited as well by the tendency for contaminating materials to accumulate on the anode. Water bearing surfaces are subject to buildup due to corrossion. In addition, both rotary and stationary anodes become contaminated by the buildup of filament material transferred to the anode from the cathode. For example, if the cathode is made of tungsten, tungsten characteristic lines will appear in the output x-ray spectrum, which may not be desirable for the particular purpose of the instrument.
In most cases the response of the prior art has been simply to require that the instrument be shut down and cleaned. Alternative cleaning methods introduce apparatus for continuous cleaning using sputtering of the anode surface, thereby increasing the size and complexity of the x-ray device and making it more breakdown prone.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an apparatus which avoids the cooling and cleaning problems typically associated with prior art high intensity x-ray sources.
In the accomplishment of the foregoing object, it is another important object of this invention to provide an apparatus which permits the use of larger electron beam power and therefore increases the maximum intensity of x-rays obtainable when compared to standard rotary anode sources.
It is another important object of this invention to provide an apparatus which is characterized by high stability, long lifetime and low maintenance.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following and by practice of the invention.

High intensity x-ray source using liquid gallium target

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


An embodiment of the disclosure provides a method for contextualizing vulnerabilities. The method is performed by a server including a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon, such that when the instructions are executed by the processor, the server performs the method including: (a) importing raw vulnerability data from a vulnerability scanner, the raw vulnerability data including one or more vulnerability data wherein each vulnerability data includes a vulnerability identification (ID) and an asset value; (b) importing an asset inventory from an asset database; (c) merging the asset inventory and the raw vulnerability data to obtain contextual vulnerability data, the contextual vulnerability data including one or more vulnerability data linked to a vulnerability ID, an asset value, and an asset owner; (d) categorizing the contextual vulnerability data; and (e) generating a report of the categorized contextual vulnerability data.

Computer security, or in general, cyber security is a growing industry due to the prevalence of computers, smartphones, servers, and other computing devices being connected to the internet in growing numbers. Cyber security deals with protecting computing systems and infrastructure from virtual information theft and/or damage to computer software or hardware. Improvement in cyber security mitigates disruption or misdirection of services provided by a computing infrastructure/system.
Organizations utilize cyber security to protect against harm that may come via network access, data and code injection, whether intentional or accidental. With the explosion of ways of harming an organization's business through hacking, code injection, or some other means, cyber security should continually evolve to counter newly developed threats. An assessment of an organization's vulnerability to cyber security threats may be valuable to its continued business growth and success.
An organization's vulnerability to cyber security threat is difficult to manage even after vulnerabilities are identified due to a large number of vulnerabilities that exist. A great amount of labor and manpower may be required to understand the identified vulnerabilities or even select highly critical vulnerabilities.


A pump drive system (10) for pumping high temperature fluid includes a fluid pump (12) defined by a housing. The pump includes a fluid piston (16) for developing an impulse for pumping the fluid through the system (18). A fluid column (24) is included that is in fluid communication with the high temperature fluid system (20) and the piston (16) of the pump. The fluid column includes valves 54, 56 for introducing and exhausting fluid from the column during the pumping stroke of the plunger. During operation of the pump, high temperature fluid is introduced in the fluid column through the valves, mixed with the fluid within the column and pumped through the valve into the fluid system thereby pumping the fluid while maintaining the temperature adjacent to the fluid piston at a reduced level to insure lubrication of the piston packing (52) while preventing deterioration.

1. Field of the Invention
The device of the present invention relates to an improvement for a feed water pump drive system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reciprocating pumps are employed to force or pump high temperature fluid at a high velocity to a fluid utilization device such as the coils of a boiler. Due to the high temperature of the fluid being pumped, it has been necessary in the prior art to prevent the high temperature fluid from coming into immediate contact with the plunger and the plunger packing since the high temperatures will rapidly deteriorate the packing. This deterioration of the packing results in rapid wear of the plunger and scoring of the plunger and plunger cylinder.
Accordingly, typical prior art devices employ structure for separating the high temperature fluid from the plunger. Such prior art devices are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,241,496 and 3,972,654. In the prior art systems, the plunger is physically separated from the high temperature fluid by a diaphragm or a similar member. Due to this separation, there is a necessity to provide separate structure for lubricating the packing surrounding the plunger. A complete separate lubrication system is normally provided in the prior art systems increasing the cost of the pump and the complexity of its manufacture and assembly.
The system of the present application is an improvement of the system illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,719 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and that patent is incorporated by reference herein.


The invention provides a motor-driven steering lock apparatus which can improve a reliability of locking and unlocking operations, with a simple circuit structure. A power supply line from a battery and a driving means are connected by a switching means only at a time when a feed signal from a host first control means to a drive control means (CPU), a power supply-enabling signal from the host first control means and a power supply-enabling signal from a host second control means are input to the switching means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor-driven steering lock apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for example, a motor-driven steering lock apparatus of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-308050 is structured such that a switch means is provided in a power supply line to an electric motor driving a lock bolt, and a power supply to the electric motor during traveling is interrupted by the switch means based on a signal from an external power supply control apparatus, for preventing the lock bolt from carelessly locking during traveling of a vehicle.
However, the power supply line to an internal CPU controlling a driving direction of the electric motor is provided independently from the power supply line to the electric motor so that the internal CPU can carry out the other controls than the drive control of the electric motor even during traveling.
Accordingly, the power supply is continuously fed to the internal CPU, and a standby current is consumed even in the case of a sleep state. Further, there is a possibility that the internal CPU produces an improper operation during traveling of the vehicle.
Then, the structure may be made such that a switch means is provided in the power supply line of the internal CPU, and the power supply to the internal CPU is interrupted during traveling. However, it is necessary to provide a signal line for inputting a control signal in the switch means, causing a circuit structure to become complicated. Further, as described in FIG. 11 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-308050, if the switch means is provided in the power supply line for feeding the power to the internal CPU and the electric motor, and the power supply to the both is interrupted during traveling, only the internal CPU cannot be started during traveling, making it impossible to execute the other controls (such as a confirmation of a lock and unlock state of a lock bolt during traveling of the vehicle) by the internal CPU.


A RAM data transmitting apparatus transmits data from a RAM to an external host via a first-in first-out (FIFO) memory having a given storage capacity. RAM data is sequentially written into the FIFO in response to the generation of a write enable signal. If the RAM data is written in a first area of the FIFO smaller than the FIFO storage area, a first flag is generated. If the RAM data is written in a second area of the FIFO (the second area being smaller than the storage capacity but larger than the first area), a second flag is generated. If no RAM data is written into or remains in the FIFO (the FIFO is empty), a third flag is generated. A controller is provided which generates the write enable signal from the time the first flag goes low until the second flag is generated, whereby the RAM data stored in the RAM is written in the first-in first-out memory. A data access circuit is provided to allow continuous accessing of the RAM data from the FIFO memory, beginning from the time the second flag is generated until the third flag is generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for transmitting data stored in a RAM (random access memory), and more particularly to devices for transmitting data stored in a RAM after temporally writing the data to a FIFO (first input first output) memory, and method a thereof.
The present application for a RAM data transmitting apparatus using FIFO memory, is based on Korean Application Serial No. 39610/1995 which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a device such as a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) decoder is provided with an externally connecting RAM. For the RAM connected to the CD-ROM decoder, commonly referred to as a dynamic RAM, data applied from outside (data read from a compact disk) is processed by being temporally written and read as required when signed processing operations are to be performed on the data. That is, the CD-ROM decoder performs required actions such as error correction by reading data from outside which is written on a RAM and then writes the corrected data again on the RAM. The data written on the RAM after error correcting is accessed and processed by a host computer.
In accessing data written on a RAM (hereinafter called RAM data) by a host computer, an intervening first-in first-out memory (hereinafter, called FIFO) is generally used between the RAM and the host computer. In other words, when the access to the RAM data is required by the host computer, the RAM data to be transmitted is written on and then read out from the FIFO memory. Conventionally, this transmitting action is controlled by an empty flag and a full flag indicating the state of the FIFO. A controller for controlling the operation of the FIFO determines the state of the FIFO using these empty and full flags and applies request for RAM data transmitting to a RAM controller which controls the operation of the RAM. Then, according to the RAM data transmitting request signal received from the FIFO controller, the RAM controller writes the RAM data on the FIFO. The host computer reads the RAM data written on the FIFO until it receives an indication the FIFO is empty from the empty flag.
When a RAM data transmitting request signal is generated in response to the empty flag as mentioned above, the RAM controller causes RAM data to be written on the FIFO. When the RAM data is written on the entire contents of the FIFO, the full flag is generated and the RAM data transmitting request signal is stopped. At this time, the generation of the full flag is canceled when the host computer reads the data written on the FIFO, and the RAM data transmitting request signal is then generated again. When the host computer accesses the RAM data written on the FIFO at every time when the FIFO is full, the result is that the RAM data transmitting request signal occurs frequently, at a timing in proportion to the access times. However, since the RAM is being used in many ways, the frequent RAM data transmitting request signals inefficiently provide for few for the RAM chances to be used in the other ways. When the transmission of the RAM data is required when the FIFO becomes empty, the data access action of the host computer is blocked so long as the FIFO remains empty. Therefore, it is difficult to continuously access the data.

RAM data transmitting apparatus and method using a FIFO memory with three fullness flags


Disclosed is a method for and an apparatus for detecing amines or amino acids, which apparatus generally includes a capillary electrophoresis separation tube with a post-capillary reactor positioned at the end of the tube to immediately receive separated samples from the tube. The post-capillary reactor includes a solution of Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.2+ buffered with a base. The post capillary reactor further includes an electrode assembly for providing current to the solution to convert nonluminescing Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.2+ to luminescing Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+. The method generally includes separating the desired analyte from the sample, contacting the analyte with the solution to produce luminescence, and then photometrically measuring the amount of analyte present as a function of the luminescence.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting chemicals. In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting amino acids and amines. In even another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting amino acids and amines utilizing chemiluminescence in combination with capillary electrophoresis. In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting amino acids and amines utilizing in situ generated chemiluminescence in combination with capillary electrophoresis having end column addition of a compound convertible into a chemiluminescence compound. In yet another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for detecting amino acids and amines utilizing in situ generated Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+ in combination with capillary electrophoresis having end column addition of Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.2+.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent developments in the fields of molecular biology, genetic engineering and DNA sequencing have suggested that further advances will require improvements in the ability to sequence the amino acid composition of proteins by at least one to two orders of magnitude.
Currently available techniques for amino acid analysis usually involve pre- or post-column derivatization to enhance detection, since most amino acids have no inherent fluorophore or chromophore. These derivatization methods may involve reaction of the amino acid with either ninhydrin, phenylisothiocyanate, dansyl chloride, o-phthalaldehyde, 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformater or other derivatizing agents in order to faciliate detection using conventional UV-visible or fluorescence spectroscopy. Other methods involve attachment of a chemiluminescent probe to the amino acid. In general, preparation of amino acid derivatives can be problematic as the procedures are often labor intensive, some derivatives may not be stable, and the moiety added to enhance detection may dominate the physio-chemical properties of the complex. This can complicate the separation of the various amino acid derivatives.
Not surprisingly, there have been suggestions in the prior art of techniques for the detection of underivatized amino acids.
Chemiluminescence has been suggested as a method for the detection of underivatized amino acids, following high performance liquid chromotography, either by providing Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.30+, see, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,427, or by in situ generation of Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+, see, Downey and Nieman., Anal. Chem. 1992, 64, 261-268.
Electrophoresis in small diameter open Teflon tubes was introduced in 1979, see Mikkers et al., J. Chrom., 1979, 169, 11. Capillary electrophoresis separation was then demonstrated in 75 .mu.m i.d. pyrex capillaries in 1981, see, Jorgenson et al., Anal. Chem., 1981, 53, 1298. Briefly, capillary electrophoresis is a separation technique which can provide extremely high efficiency separations based on electrophoretic mobility. The separation is electrical field driven and occurs in a 75 .mu.m i.d. silica capillary. The high efficiency of the separation system provides a separated sample which is dispersed in approximately 10-50 nanoliters of buffer. Detection modes which are compatible with these requirements of small volume and dilute conditions are rare.
Capillary electrophoresis is generally performed with detection by UV absorption, in which typically, analyte concentrations of approximately 10.sup.-4 to 10.sup.-5 M may be detected.
Chemiluminescence has also been suggested for use in combination with capillary electrophoresis. Dadoo et al. in "Chemiluminescence Detection in Capillary Electrophoresis", 1991, with the authors stating that "adaption of chemiluminescence to capillary electrophoresis appears promising because it is easily implemented."
However, detection of separated analytes following electrophoretic separation is much more challenging than detection following high performance liquid chromotography. The characteristics which make electrophoretic attractive separation technique also make detection difficult. The most obvious is the very small dimensions of the capillary itself and the minuscule volumes of analyte injected. Construction of off-column detection cells analogous to detection cells used for UV-vis, fluorscence, and electrochemical detection in high performance liquid chromotography is almost impossible due to the very small dead-volumes required for efficient detection without excessive zone broadening. Most absorbance, fluorescence, and other optical techniques employ on-column detection. This involves removal of some of the polyimide coating of the capillary at a position somewhere along the separation capillary. This spot is then the "detection cell". The detection capability of such a configuration is particularly hampered by this short pathlength.
In addition, the present inventors encountered other difficulties when adapting chemiluminescence to capillary electrophoresis utilizing a Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+ system.
Thus, the present inventors submit that the adaption of chemiluminescence to capillary electrophoresis, especially when utilizing a Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+ system is not an easy implementation.
There is a need in the art for an improved detection method and apparatus.
There is another need in the art for a detection method and apparatus for detecting amines and/or amino acids.
There is still another need in the art for a detection method and apparatus for detecting amines and/or amino acids which utilizes chemiluminescence and capillary electrophoresis.
This is yet another need in the art for a detection method and apparatus for detecting amines and/or amino acids which utilizes chemiluminescence and capillary electrophoresis in a Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.3+ system.
These and other needs in the art will become apparent to one of skill in the art upon review of this application.

Method and apparatus for detection of underivatized amines and amino acids utilizing end column addition of Ru(bpy).sub.3.sup.2+

Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas


A mitt having opposite, matching side expanses forming opposite sides of the mitt is disclosed. Each side expanse is made up of a foam layer sandwiched between opposed overlay layers. The mitt may be shaped for use either on the left hand or the right hand, with a web in the mitt having a reversible concavo-convex shape which is changed depending upon the hand with which the mitt is used.

This invention relates to a glove, and more particularly to what is referred to herein as a catching mitt, in that the mitt is worn on the hand of a player and assists the player in catching an object, such as a ball or other play object, thrown toward the user during the course of play.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, an apparatus and a system for transmitting information. The method for transmitting information includes: a controller determines a work path and a protection path, where the work path corresponds to a first tag, and the protection path corresponds to a second tag; the controller transmits first information to a first apparatus to instruct the first apparatus to transmit, according to the first information, a second message and a fourth message to a second apparatus via the work path and the protection path respectively; the controller transmits second information to the second apparatus to instruct the second apparatus to receive the second message via the work path according to the second information, drop the fourth message received from the protection path, and output the first message in further.

With continuous development of Internet, an OpenFlow technology emerges. Direction of flow of a data packet in a conventional network is specified manually. Network devices (such as switches or routers) exchange data at the packet level. In an OpenFlow network, a controller can determine a transmission path of a data packet in the network. The OpenFlow technology converts a data packet forwarding process originally controlled by the switch/router into a process which is respectively completed by the OpenFlow switch and the controller.
In a situation of an OpenFlow controlled data network, an existing OpenFlow technology cannot support a service with a higher quality of service (quality of service, QoS for short) requirement.

Method, apparatus and system for transmitting information


The present invention relates to a device for straightening of surface sheets of a vehicle, which device comprises supporting beams (1, 2) mounted at a distance from each other on surface sheets of a vehicle, a transverse support (3) placed between the supporting beams, which transverse support is placed at a distance from the surface of a vehicle (4) during a straightening operation, a straightening fastener (5) attached to the support, which can be attached to the surface sheet of a vehicle, as well as a transferring device (6) for moving the straightening fastener with respect to the vehicle for straightening a surface sheet. In the device in accordance with the invention the transferring device (6) has been placed in the supporting rests (1, 2).

In collisions as well as in small crashes or accidents in which a vehicle is involved it is usual that at least surface sheets of the vehicle are damaged, in other words, they become more or less dented. When a vehicle is repaired after a crash or other accident, straightening of surface sheets of the vehicle is one of the working phases. Various tools and tool devices are employed for straightening. One of these kind of tool devices is a straightening device, which is attached/supported on the surface of the car near the damage, on the surface sheet on the damaged area, and usually to the place which is most dent special fasteners are attached, and by means of a straightening device the surface sheet is pulled until it straightens.
In one of presently known device there are supporting beams, a transverse support between the supporting beams and in the middle of the support a permanently fixed straightening fastener and at this point near to the straightening device a transferring device for moving the straightening fastener. The pulling force created in this way is of the same magnitude all the time, and it cannot be varied. In addition, regulation of the device by other means is also difficult.
In a vehicle there are so called strong lines in several places and at those points under surface sheets there is a frame, or there are seam points of surface sheets. These points are remarkably stronger than the surface sheet alone. It would be beneficial, while straightening a vehicle, if the supporting beams could be placed on these strong lines. It is of special importance to place both supporting beams on the surface, which does not yield during the straightening operation.
The purpose of the invention is to provide a device for straightening of surface sheets of a vehicle, which device eliminates the disadvantages connected with present devices. Especially, the purpose of the invention is to provide a device in which it is possible to regulate the employed force. In addition, the purpose of the invention is to provide a device, which is easy to adjust to various positions and various places on surface sheets of a vehicle.
Further, the purpose of the invention is to provide a device, which is versatile and easy to use.

Device for straightening of surface sheets of a vehicle


A radial winding stator structure for a single phase motor is composed of plural silicon steel sheets that are stacked together and have the same structure. Each of the silicon steel sheets includes a hub and six poles. Each pole is radially extended from a circumference of the hub to form a radially extended portion, and tangentially expanded at a terminal of the radially extended portion to form a tangentially extended portion. The hub and the poles are one-piece made, the radially extended portions of each of the poles are stacked to form a pole bobbin of the radial winding stator structure, the tangentially extended portions of each of the poles are stacked to form a pole surface of the radial winding stator structure, and an electrically conductive wire is wound around all of the pole bobbins.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stator structure for a fan motor with an outer rotor, and more particularly to a radial winding stator structure for a single phase motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B are a top view and an A—A cross-sectional view showing a conventional radial winding stator 1 for a fan motor with an outer rotor, respectively. In the four-pole stator, only the magnetic flux lines of force produced by a permanent magnet (not shown) of the rotor and linked with stator coils that contribute to the rotational torque of the fan motor, so the portions of an electrically conductive wire 2, which is wound around the pole bobbins 12 of the four-pole radial winding stator 1 and protrudes over a pole surface 11 in an axial direction cannot contribute to the rotational torque of the motor. That is, bending portions 21 of the wire cannot contribute to the rotational torque of the motor.
Consequently, with regard to the conventional four-pole radial winding stator 1, when the number of turns of the wound electrically conductive wire 2 is increased in order to provide a larger magnetic force, the ratio of the electrically conductive wire bending portions 21 protruding over two ends of the pole surface 11 in the axial direction to the total electrically conductive wire is getting greater and greater, thereby causing more and more ineffective regions. Consequently, the efficiency of the four-pole radial winding stator structure of the fan motor cannot be effectively improved.
On the other hand, FIG. 1C shows a silicon steel sheet 3 constituting the radial winding stator 1. The silicon steel sheet 3 is composed of a hub 31 and poles 32 extending from the hub 31. Each pole 32 is formed with a bobbin 321 and an end portion 322. The external surface of the end portion 322 is a camber having an arc length S1 determined by θ1 and R1, wherein θ1 denotes an angle of each end portion 322 on the overall circumference, and R1 denotes a distance from a center of the hub 31 to the external surface of the end portion. Please refer to FIGS. 1A to 1C simultaneously. Since the stator is composed of several stacked silicon steel sheets 3, the space occupied by the bending portions 21 in the axial direction in the overall stator is getting larger as the bending portions 21 of the electrically conductive wire protruding over two ends of the pole surface 11 are getting more, thereby adversely influencing the number of silicon steel sheets that may be stacked within a fixed height H of the stator. Consequently, the magnetic flux lines of force of the permanent magnet (not shown) of the rotor cannot be completely conducted.
Also, in a fan motor structure, there is a settled limitation to the height of the radial winding stator. With regard to the conventional four-pole radial winding stator 1, the number of silicon steel sheets can not be further increased because the bending portions 21 of the electrically conductive wire protruding over two ends of the pole surface 11 in the axial direction are too large. For example, in FIG. 1B, the height L1 of the silicon steel sheets and the heights x of the electrically conductive wire protruding over two ends of the pole surface 11 are limited by the threshold height H of the stator. Thus, it is impossible to enhance the efficiency of the fan by increasing the number of silicon steel sheets.

Radial winding stator structure for single phase motor


A method maps positions of a direct input device to locations of a pointer displayed on a surface. The method performs absolute mapping between physical positions of a direct input device and virtual locations of a pointer on a display device when operating in an absolute mapping mode, and relative mapping between the physical positions of the input device and the locations the pointer when operating in a relative mapping mode. Switching between the absolute mapping and the relative mappings is in response to control signals detected from the direct input device.

Indirect and Direct Input Devices
Typically, a computer implemented graphical application is controlled with a pointing input device. Indirect pointing devices include a mouse, a trackball and a touch pad, and direct pointing devices include touch sensitive display surfaces. The interaction with graphical objects is typically represented by a graphical pointer displayed by the application on an output device. Movement of the input device results in corresponding movement of the pointer on the output device.
With an indirect input device, such as a mouse, touch pad, or trackball, the input device and the pointer are physically separate. Moreover, the input device typically moves on a horizontal plane of a desktop or touch pad, while the pointer moves on a vertical plane of the display device. When using a direct pointing input device such as a touch-sensitive surface, graphical objects are manipulated directly by touching them on the display surface. Direct input modalities are a viable alternative to indirect input, such as using a mouse.
Absolute and Relative Mapping
The mapping between a position of the pointing device and a location of the pointer can be either absolute or relative. Most direct pointing input devices use an absolute mapping. That is, the pointer is positioned directly under a finger or a stylus used for the pointing. While this is the most obvious, and arguably the most natural mapping, there are drawbacks. Hands, arms, fingers, and stylus can occlude portions of the display. This can be a nuisance in both single and multi-user systems.
For many rear-projection output devices, accurate pointing and selection are hindered by parallax error. For front-projection, the finger or hand casts a shadow over the object of attention.
On a small display all areas of the user interface are easily within reach, on a large display this may not be the case. Using direct input devices loses its desirability the more users must stretch their arms, twist their body, or physically walk to distant parts of a display. In extreme cases, it may become impossible to reach the entire extent of very large displays. These difficulties only increase when working in a large, multi-display environment in which distant graphical objects may not only be hard to reach, but also may require the user to interact across bevels or even gaps between displays. For example, directly moving a pointer on a display surface that is several square meters large is awkward, and perhaps physically impossible.
Indirect pointing overcomes many of these limitations, albeit perhaps at the cost of naturalness. The main benefit in terms of large, wall-sized displays is that distant targets can be manipulated without walking, as small movements of the indirect input device can be mapped to large movements of the pointer. The opposite is also true. Relative mapping with indirect input devices allows for more control over pointing because control-display (CD) gain ratios can be less than 1:1 for slow movements and more accurate pointing.
Occlusion and parallax error are also less of a problem with indirect pointing. In addition, dragging pointers between different displays is easily supported, and all areas of a large display are easily selected. In multi-user setting, users can reposition themselves such that they do not block the view of collaborators.
Regarding the performance of indirect and direct pointing, the prior art describes different conclusions. Sears et al. compared indirect mouse input to direct touch screen input. Their experiment used a 27.6 by 19.5 cm display with a mouse CD gain close to 1. For targets that are 16 pixels in width and greater, they found direct selection using a touch-sensitive screen was faster than indirect selection with a mouse. Furthermore, for targets 32 pixels in width of greater, direct touch selection resulted in about 66% fewer errors than with an indirect mouse. Yet, even with the apparent superior performance of direct touch input modality, participants still preferred mouse input, Sears, A. and Shneiderman, B., "High Precision Touchscreens: Design Strategies and Comparisons with a Mouse," International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 34(4). 593-613, 1991.
Meyer et al. also compared direct input devices with indirect input devices. They found that when used in an indirect manner, with physically separated control and display areas, the indirect device performed better than the direct device. In fact, they found all direct input devices to be slower than the indirect devices, Myers, B., Bhatnagar, R., Nichols, J., Peck, C. H., Kong, D., Miller, R. and Long, C., "Interacting at a distance: measuring the performance of laser pointers and other devices," in Proc. of ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 33-40, 2002.
On the other hand, Graham et al. compared selection performance using direct physical and indirect virtual touching. In the physical mode, users selected targets with their hand directly on a physical surface, but in the virtual mode, the user's hand was hidden and rendered as a "virtual finger" on a display. There was no performance difference between techniques for the initial movement phase, but virtual touching was slower in the second movement phase as the hand decelerated to select small 3 to 12 mm targets. This suggests that direct input can outperform indirect input in some situations, Graham, E. and MacKenzie, C. Physical versus virtual pointing. in Proc. of the CHI '96 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 292-299, 1996.
Those results are in contrast to the results described by Accot et al. They found that for steering tasks users were about twice as fast with an 8″×6″ indirect touch tablet in absolute mode, than with a smaller indirect touchpad in relative mode, Accot, J. and Zhai, S. Performance evaluation of input devices in trajectory-based tasks: an application of the steering law. in Proc. of ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 466-472, 1999.
One absolute, indirect input device is described by, J. K., Mandryk, R. L., and Inkpen, K. M., "TractorBeam: seamless integration of local and remote pointing for tabletop displays," in Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Graphics interface, Human-Computer Communications Society, pp. 33-40, 2005. That system uses a handheld Polhemus Fastrak tethered pointing device for six degrees of freedom motion tracking. The displayed pointer, in this case a virtual laser dot, is always displayed on a tabletop exactly where the handheld pointer is aimed. However, accurate selection of distant targets with a handheld devices is well known to be difficult and error prone. It is impossible to hold a hand steady for an extended length of time. Jitter is inevitable. This makes the usability of handheld direct input devices questionable for large displays, Myers, B., Bhatnagar, R., Nichols, J., Peck, C. H., Kong, D., Miller, R. and Long, C., "Interacting at a distance: measuring the performance of laser pointers and other devices," in Proc. of ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 33-40, 2003.
There is also an issue of reach with large displays or across multiple displays. Many prior art solutions repurpose large areas of the workspace or display graphical feedback over a wide area of the display. While that approach is fine for an individual user on a wall-sized display, the heavy use of graphics may be inappropriate for multi-user workspaces in which other users may become distracted by these techniques.
Baudisch et al. described Drag-and-Pop as a means of moving a selected object to a distant target. When that technique is invoked, proxies for distant targets are drawn near the user where the proxies are easily within reach. Reference lines connect these proxies to their true targets. However, there is a good chance that these reference lines might cut through another's workspace in a multi-user setting. Additionally, Baucisch's technique does not allow for the selection of the area around target objects, only the selection of the objects themselves. Baudisch, P., Cutrell, E., Robbins, D., Czerwinski, M., Tandler, P., Bederson, B. and Zierlinger, A., "Drag-and-Pop and Drag-and-Pick: Techniques for Accessing Remote Screen Content on Touch and Pen operated Systems," in Proceedings of the ninth IFIP TC13 international conference on Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 57-64, 2003.
Similarly, Bezerianos et al. described the Vacuum technique for selecting distant objects. The Vacuum displays a large adjustable area of effect that can easily cover much of the display as distant targets are drawn close to the user. Like Drag-and-Pop, the disruption of other users working in the same space may reduce the benefits of addressing the reachability problem of large displays, Bezerianos, A. and Balakrishnan, R., "The vacuum: facilitating the manipulation of distant objects," in Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, ACM Press, pp. 361-370, 2005, incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1A shows a three state model for a direct input and absolute only mapping system, Buxton, W., "A three-state model of graphical input," in Proc. of the IFIP TC13 Third International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, pp. 449-456, 1990. That system uses a stylus with a tip switch, and a horizontal display surface. When the stylus is not in contact with the surface the system is in State 0 101. The tip switch is open, and the stylus is considered to be out of range. Movement of the stylus has no effect. When the stylus is on the surface, a displayed pointer absolutely tracks the movement of the stylus and the system is in State 1 102. When the stylus is pressed hard on the surface, the tip switch is closed, and a displayed graphical object coincident with the pointer is absolutely dragged in State 2 103. Removing pressure on the stylus, while keeping the stylus in contact with the display surface opens the tip switch and 'releases' the graphic object, and the system reverts to State 1. Lifting the stylus cause the system to enter State 0. This emulates the actions of an indirect input device, such a mouse, where closing the switch has the same effect as pressing the left button on the mouse while moving the mouse.
For relative mapping, one needs to support not only tracking, and dragging/selection, but also clutching. FIG. 1B shows a modified three-state model for a mouse pen with relative only mapping. The mouse pen is operated by moving the tip of the mouse pen on a surface. The mouse pen also includes a switch. When the mouse pen is in light contact with surface the switch is open, and the displayed pointer tracks the movements of the pen, but unlike the absolute stylus in FIG. 1A, the graphical pointer is not directly under the tip of the pen. This is a relative tracking state 104. Lifting the pen up and slightly away from the surface signals a clutching action, which is referred to as the clutching state 103. Putting the pen in contact with the surface returns to the tracking state 104, except that the pointer now moves relative to where the pointer was before the clutching action took place. This is similar to lifting a mouse from the work surface, and placing the mouse elsewhere. The pointer initially remains at the location where it was, and then can be moved again with the mouse at a different position. Pressing the pen onto the surface closes the switch and selects a graphical object under the graphical pointer and drags the object. This is the dragging state 105.
When tracking and dragging, the CD gain between the input device and pointer movement can vary as a function of stylus velocity. Typically, this is referred to as a pointer acceleration function.
Intuitively, absolute mapping should perform well when distances to be traversed are small, whereas a relative mapping is best when distances are large. However, the affordance of an absolute "under-the-stylus" mapping may be so strong that users could find using a relative mapping difficult or unnatural, lowering performance even at large distances. Further, using a relative mapping for a graphical object that is far away might result in the object is being harder to see and select than in an absolute mapping mode where the user is always visually close to the object.
FIG. 1C shows the results of an experiment in which user performance is compared for an object target selection task between absolute (FIG. 1A) and relative (FIG. 1B) mapping modes for direct input on a large wall-sized display. The graphs in FIG. 1C show selection times for targets at different distances for both absolute and relative mapping. The crossover in performance between absolute and relative mapping occurs at distances of about two meters. Object distances in this experiment range from about 1000 pixels to almost 4000 pixels of the display, which corresponds to physical distances between one to four meters.
As one can see from the graph, users perform better when using absolute mapping for nearby objects, and performed better when using relative mapping for distant objects. This crossover in performance indicates that when working on a single large display, which has a cross sectional width larger than two meters is over 2 m, users may benefit from being able to select an absolute or relative mapping when using their input device to work with differently distances.
In a similar experiment, participants used both absolute and relative mapping on a TabletPC with a 12.1″ diagonal display. Participants were significantly faster at and greatly preferred selecting targets with absolute mapping for objects on this small display. However, for small objects, users were more accurate when using relative mapping.
This tradeoff among speed, preference, and accuracy indicates that users may benefit from being able to switch to relative mapping when a high level of accuracy is required.
Multi-display environments, such as that described by Streitz et al. have generated a lot of interest in recent years. These environments often include a heterogeneous mix of devices with different input capabilities, Streitz, N., Geiβler, J., Holmer, T., Konomi, S., Müller-Tomfelde, C., Reischl, W., Rexroth, P., Seitz, P., and Steinmetz, R., "i-LAND: An interactive Landscape for Creativity and Innovation," in Proc. of the ACM Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 120-127, 1999. Enabling a user to perform input with absolute mapping when working on their personal laptop or handheld systems, while allowing the users to switch to relative mapping for controlling pointers on other displays is desirable.
Johanson et al. described a pointing technique, called PointRight, Johanson, B., Hutchins, G., Winograd, T., Stone, M., "PointRight: Experience with Flexible Input Redirection in Interactive Workspaces," in Proc. of the ACM Conf. on User Interface and Software Technology, pp. 227-234, 2002. That technique allows a user to move a system pointer across the displays of multiple systems using a single indirect device, such as a mouse. In that case, a user can manipulate graphical objects displayed on a handheld as well as objects displayed on wall mounted displays. Users can also be positioned around a touch-sensitive table surrounded by large vertical displays. While nearby displays in such a multi-display setting could benefit from direct input, it would be tedious to force users to walk to distant displays in order to interact with the graphic objects. On the other hand, indirect input would allow users to work with distant displays, but would be awkward for objects on nearby displays.
Up to now, system designers must select between an absolute direct input modality or a relative indirect input modality when implementing systems. However, it is desirable to provide an input mechanism that enables fluid switching between relative and absolute mappings, while using a direct input device, thus, enabling users to benefit from the best of both input modalities.

Method and system for switching between absolute and relative pointing with direct input devices

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A method and a system for treating seawater to facilitate secondary recovery of petroleum from a location below a body of saline water by flooding a permeable stratum with the treated water. The system utilizes a spirally-wound cross flow semipermeable membrane cartridge incorporating a three layer membrane arrangement preferably having nanofiltration characteristics which facilitates treatment of open ocean water by a single pass without any chemical or mechanical pretreatment to result in a liquid stream of desired character that can have greater ionic strength than the input seawater, e.g. at least about 18,000 ppm of chloride ion and less than 50 ppm of sulfate ion. This surprising objective is obtained even at high operating temperatures, e.g. as high as about 70° C., through the combination of the construction of the feed spacer and the nanofiltration character of the three layer membrane arrangement.

Offshore oil production normally involves secondary oil recovery for economical overall production; however, before an oil formation may be flooded by means of a high pressure water jet, the water to be injected should meet certain requirements. Such water should be free from suspended solids and essentially free from sulfate in order to eliminate potential oil reservoir blockage which can be caused by such solids and by less soluble ions, e.g. barium, reacting with sulfate that might be carried in any significant concentration in such injection water. Furthermore, it is important that the injection water should have a similar ionic concentration to that of the oil reservoir water, e.g. chloride ion content, lest clay or other minerals in the formation would be caused to swell as a result of significant difference in ionic strength in water being injected during oil production operation.
The prior art contains processes for water treatment for use in such oil production. Generally, these prior art processes involve the use of softeners, ultrafiltration and/or other membrane techniques in an attempt to provide water having a high chloride ion concentration and a low sulfate iron concentration. British Patent No. 1,520,877 (UKAEA) (Aug. 9, 1978) describes a process for the secondary recovery of oil where treated water is injected at a high pressure through an injection well. Prior to injection, raw sea water, after first treatment with an ultrafiltration apparatus, is fed to a first reverse-osmosis apparatus at a pressure of about 1,000 psi and thereafter to a second reverse-osmosis apparatus at a pressure of about 1,500 psi to produce a final product water concentrate which is utilized. A subsequent British patent issued to the UKAEA, No. 1,522,595 (Aug. 23, 1978) describes a two-step injection process wherein water of a relatively low ionic concentration is first injected into the oil reservoir through the injection well, causing the pores of clay-like particles to gradually close until pores of the rock near the outlet well become filled with oil. Thereafter, water having the predetermined higher ionic concentration is injected, causing the clay-like particles to shrink so that water can flow through the spaces and force the oil to the outlet well.
These documents teach that, by treating the injection water source by ultrafiltration followed by two sequential reverse-osmosis treatments, using desalination units that were state-of-the-art at that time, it was possible to adjust the ionic composition to desirable levels. Also contained is the teaching that certain divalent ions, e.g. sulfates, react with counterions, e.g. barium ions, found in the rock reservoir to form insoluble sulfates, the result of which can be pore blockage as a result of precipitation of such sulfates. The intention appears to be to adjust the ionic composition to remove divalent runs, but no explanation is given as to how such removal is effected. The initial treatment by ultrafiltration is said to remove minute particles less than a micron in diameter, and cellulose acetate RO membranes are used to adjust the composition of the concentrate which is the desired end product.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,603 to Plummer (Marathon Oil Company) issued Feb. 9, 1988 took advantage of subsequent developments in separation membrane technology to provide a more efficient process for treating water for use in secondary oil recovery by removing precursor ions, i.e. bivalent anions and cations, from the water being injected while keeping a desired concentration of soluble monovalent ions in the water. Such was accomplished using a polyamide semipermeable membrane of the nanofiltration type sold under the tradename FilmTec NF-40. The membrane was of the reverse-osmosis type, but it was alleged to effect an adequate rejection of bivalent ions, such as sulfate, at 22° C. while allowing about 91-92% of monovalent ions, e.g. sodium, chlorine, etc., to pass in order to effect the clay stabilization taught to be desirable in the aforementioned British patent.
Although the process taught in the '603 patent was worthwhile in reducing two RO treatment-steps to one membrane treatment step, it too experienced significant limitations. It was often unable to achieve desired concentrations in a single step, and it was not able to operate in warm or tropical regions (where the temperature of the water being treated is substantially higher than that found in the North sea and other drilling locations where offshore oil production was occurring) without expensive cooling of the feedwater. Therefore, improved processes continue to be sought.


Portable cooler comprising a container body of insulating material and provided with a top cover consisting of two areas, top and bottom, the bottom one having a lesser-profile defining a resting edge for an intermediate drilled plate. The top area comprising a plurality of removably compartments for keeping food and/or drinks and the ice, resting on the intermediate drilled plate. At the lower area having a liquid tank receiving liquid defrosting from ice liquefaction through the drilled bottom and the intermediate drilled plate, this liquid tank being provided with a draining hole with the relevant sealing plug.

With the portable cooler of this invention, said drawbacks have been overcome and the cooler is provided with a structure separating food and drinks as regards to the ice and facilitates therefore location and removal of food and drinks; the amount of water from the ice liquefaction is also separated and collected at a lower container and the liquefaction speed is thus reduced.
The portable cooler of this invention is of the type comprising two differently-sized parallelepiped bodies inserted one within the other, a thermoinsulating material filler inserted between body and body, and in a quite simpler way a peculiar good-natured main moulding body can also be provided. The cooler having a top cover with the same insulating characteristics or not than the main body and has a carrier handle. The cover is fixed to the main body by conventional sealing means.


A portable device capable of building a panorama, a panoramic video or/and a panoramic audio. The portable device has a plurality of sensors with overlapping sensing areas and an input device receiving a trigger signal that triggers the sensors to sense data for generating a panoramic photo/video/audio file.

Traditionally, a panorama photo is generated by multiple photographs captured by a single camera (e.g. the rear camera) of a smartphone. It may take a long time to capture all of the photographs by the single camera and is very inconvenient.
A portable device that can easily generate a panoramic photo, or panoramic video, or panoramic audio file, is called for.

Portable device capable of generating panoramic file


A fire safety apparatus particularly useful in association with Christmas trees comprising a smoke detector, circuitry for processing a signal generated by the smoke detector, an audible alarm, a moisture level sensor and circuitry for interruption of the flow of electricity to a receptacle. In the event of a Christmas tree fire, the smoke detector activates the circuitry which cause the audible alarm to be sounded. The audible alarm is sensed by a receiver which contains the circuitry for interruption of the flow of electricity and is in the form of one or more switches. Any appliances, such as Christmas tree lighting which are plugged into the receptacle, are deactivated by the interruption of electrical flow at the receptacle. Additionally, moisture sensing probes are provided which activate circuitry which cause the alarm to be sounded when the moisture level contained in a Christmas tree base falls below a certain level. Again, the circuitry activates one or more switches, thereby precluding the flow of electricity to the appliances plugged into the receptacle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a fire safety apparatus, and more particularly, to a fire prevention, limitation and alarm system for fires caused by lights suspended upon a Christmas tree.
2. Description of Related Art
During the Christmas season, often fires occur as a direct result of faulty Christmas tree lighting. Christmas trees tend to become dried out and susceptible to ignition in this condition, thereby limiting the reaction time available to individuals to preclude serious damage or injury.
There are devices currently available or which have been available in the past which are intended to notify of a dangerous condition by sounding an alarm. These devices utilize any one of a number of different detection means such as temperature sensors, light reflection sensors, and unburned hydrocarbon sensors, such as the Taguchi gas sensor, among others.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,919 to Acre, entitled "Smoke and Gas Detection and Alarm Apparatus" which issued Jan. 14, 1975, discloses an improved Taguchi gas sensor type detection and alarm system for smoke, gas or the like, which is particularly adapted for use in environments where the only source of electrical operative power is an ordinary storage battery. The storage battery provides for both the low voltage, high current electrical power required for activating the Taguchi gas sensor and an audio frequency output signal for operating an audible warning component of the system when the sensor has detected the presence of smoke, gases or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,878 to Schoenwetter, entitled "Christmas Tree Mounted Smoke Detector" which issued Nov. 18, 1986, discloses a smoke alarm mounted to the top of a Christmas tree which comprises an alarm having a built-in ionization chamber for detecting smoke, control circuits for operating the ionization chamber and circuitry for processing and interrupting the output signals from the ionization chamber. In the event smoke is detected, the control circuit operates an alarm which generates a loud audible signal to warn individuals in the vicinity.
The present invention relates to a fire safety apparatus useful for limiting, and preferably preventing, dangerous conditions such as fires and more particularly, Christmas tree fires. The fire safety apparatus of the present invention typically includes three main components. The first component is a detector which includes smoke sensing means, circuitry for processing the signal generated by the smoke sensing means and an audible alarm. The second component includes a receiver and circuit interruption means for precluding the flow of electricity. The third component includes moisture sensor means which are connected to the circuitry contained in the detector component to cause the flow of electricity to become interrupted via the circuitry of the second component and activate an audible alarm.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a fire safety apparatus wherein the detector is adaptable to be appended to a Christmas tree such that upon activation an audible alarm is sounded which warns of impending dangerous conditions. The audible alarm also activates circuit interruption means to preclude the flow of electricity to the Christmas tree lights.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a smoke detector which can be positioned in various locations to warn of a fire.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a moisture level sensor which activates circuitry causing an audible alarm to be sounded to worn of impending dangerous conditions. The audible signal also triggers circuit interruption means to preclude the flow of electricity to the Christmas tree lights.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a test means for ensuring that the audible signal and shutdown circuits are operative.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a wireless operation between smoke detection means and an electricity shut-off mechanism.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a combined smoke and moisture level detector which is easy to manufacture and set up.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a moisture level detector which is integral with the Christmas tree stand.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from reading of the detailed description of the preferred embodiments which make reference to the following set of drawings in which :


A hybrid AES-SMS4 hardware accelerator is described. A System on Chip implementing a hybrid AES-SMS4 hardware accelerator may include a processor core and a single hardware accelerator coupled to the processor core, the single hardware accelerator to encrypt or decrypt data. The single hardware accelerator may include a first block cipher to encrypt or decrypt the data according to a first encryption algorithm and a second block cipher to encrypt or decrypt the data according to a second encryption algorithm. The accelerator may further include a combined substitution box (Sbox) coupled to the first block cipher and the second block cipher, the combined Sbox comprising logic to perform Galois Field (GF) multiplications and inverse computations, wherein the inverse computations are common to the first block cipher and the second block cipher.

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. AES has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes the Data Encryption Standard (DES), which was published in 1977. The algorithm described by AES is a symmetric-key algorithm, meaning the same key is used for both encrypting and decrypting the data. SMS4 is a Chinese block cipher standard, mandated for use in China for protecting wireless networks.


A clamping device for an RF excited laser is provided which reduces stress on ceramic components and also is less expensive than existing clamping devices. The RF excited laser lacking an electrode over the waveguide channel intersection regions. Ceramic covers are provided over a portion of these channel intersection regions to reduce plasma build up. Increased power is achieved by adding a fourth channel to a conventional waveguide to form a ring resonator. The optical component mount uses radial compressive forces to hold the optical component to a post, thereby preventing the face of the optical component from being distorted. Mirror mounts are also configured to allow more mirrors to be mounted at each end of the laser. The waveguide channel of the RF excited laser having a U-shaped cross section and an aspect ratio grater than one-to-one, which improves laser performance. A beam redirection device allows the laser head to serve as a mounting surface for other optical components. Anamorphic beam expander prisms are provided to charge the laser beam diameter and recollimate the laser beam. Relief holes or slots are provided in the waveguide to relieve pressure build-up with the channels on the waveguide.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to RF excited waveguide lasers and in particular to improvements to RF excited waveguide laser components.
2. Prior Art
In general, RF excited waveguide lasers having a distributed inductance are known. Referring to prior art FIG. 1, a conventional RF laser disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,090 ('090) is shown. The '090 patent discloses a distributed inductance RF excited waveguide arrangement which is inserted into a metal housing structure which serves as both the vacuum housing and the structure to support resonator mirrors. The '090 patent teaches clamping the inserted assembly within this housing structure by deforming one surface of the structure with an external clamping plate. It has been found in practice that this clamping approach has a number of problems which adversely effect the laser's integrity and performance. For example, the clamping force is difficult to control which has resulted in clamping forces that are so large that fracture of the internal ceramic waveguide structure has occurred. In addition, this clamping arrangement requires that one surface of the vacuum housing be very thin so that it can be deformed by the clamping plate. This results in a reduction of the stiffness of the housing thereby compromising the optical alignment stability of the laser.
Referring to prior art FIGS. 2 and 3, a conventional folded waveguide which uses a common electrode to excite a gas discharge within a Z-fold optical waveguide structure so that a gas discharge is obtained in all the channels, is shown. The waveguide comprises a ceramic substrate 4 with waveguide channels 6 formed therein. Metal electrodes 8 are placed on either side of the ceramic substrate 4. RF energy applied to this configuration results in a plasma discharge within the waveguide. It has been discovered that the plasma formed in the intersection regions 12 of the waveguide channels is characterized by a substantially higher current flow compared to the normal waveguide region resulting in a relatively hotter and more intense plasma in this region. This non-uniform gas discharge condition results in a decrease in laser conversion efficiency and in some cases sputtering of the electrode in this region.
Turning to prior art FIG. 4, a conventional waveguide Z-fold resonator configuration which incorporates a U-bore waveguide slab is shown. The phrase "Z-fold" refers to the arrangement of the waveguide channels 6 in a Z pattern (i.e., the three waveguide channels, each passing across the waveguide). Reflecting mirrors 11 are positioned adjacent to channels 6. The output laser beam is emitted through a transmitting mirror 13.
Referring to prior art FIG. 5, an end view of waveguide channels used in conventional waveguides is shown. As is shown, conventional waveguide channels have circular, square and U-shaped cross sections. Each of the channels has an aspect ratio (ratio of height to width) of approximately one-to-one.
Mirrors 11 and 13 (FIG. 4) positioned at the end of each waveguide channel are mounted on optical mounts that must satisfy a number of simultaneous requirements. First, the angular alignment of the mirror must be accomplished without compromising the vacuum integrity of the gas envelope, and second, the alignment should be stable over a wide range of environmental conditions. Additionally, in higher power lasers, the mount should remove excess heat from the mirror's optic substrate to minimize potential damage and surface figure distortions which, if left uncorrected, will lead to a loss of performance and reduced reliability. Fastening the resonator optic to the mount while maintaining angular stability and maintaining a low thermal resistance without distorting the surface figure is also critical, yet difficult to achieve. Finally, to be commercially useful, the cost must be low enough to make economic sense for the application and market being addressed.
Referring to prior art FIG. 6, a cross-sectional view of a conventional gas laser resonator transmitting mirror mount which utilizes a metal post 14 having a transmitting mirror 16, is shown. A flexure arrangement 17 about the flexing point effects an angular movement through the vacuum envelope. The mirror mount is bolted onto a laser housing (not shown) by mounting bolts 19 as is well known. A hermetic seal with the mirror and the laser housing is obtained by "o" rings 21 and 23, respectively. Angular movement of the mount is accomplished through the use of fine threaded adjustment screws 18 located outside the vacuum envelope. The screws in turn apply an angular force to post 14 which is usually monolithic with and hermetically sealed to the laser housing (not shown), as described above. In many applications, four adjusting screws 18 induce orthogonal angular movement but are not as stable as a three point mounting system. The transmitting mirror is held in compression against "o" ring 21 by a press-on cap 20.
The conventional method used to attach mirror 16 to post 14 has disadvantages. Transmitting mirror 16 (and high reflecting mirrors, not shown) is typically attached using press on cap 20 which applies an axial force to the mirror. For cooling purposes, firm intimate contact of the back side of the high reflection mirrors is required and shown in FIG. 7. The placement of press-on cap 20 creates forces in the axial direction of mirror 16 (as shown by the arrows F). This force often results in a deformation in a region 22 of the optic, thus ruining the mirror's surface figure. One approach to circumvent this problem is to mount the mirror against a classic three point contact on the end of the post. This approach, however, compromises the thermal aspects of the design.


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for opening threaded joints of drilling equipment (6) by striking the drilling equipment (6) with the percussion device of a rock drilling rig (1) and by measuring vibration originating from the drilling equipment (6) during striking. In addition to vibration, measuring means (9) measure a parameter defining at least one additional condition, on the basis of which the decision to stop striking is made.

The invention relates to a method for opening threaded joints of drilling equipment by striking the drilling equipment with the percussion device of a rock drilling rig, the method comprising measuring vibration originating from the drill rod during striking and analysing the measured vibration according to a predefined principle for the purpose of determining whether the threaded joints have opened.
The invention further relates to an apparatus for opening threaded joints of drilling equipment by striking the drilling equipment with the percussion device of a rock drilling rig, the apparatus comprising a control device for controlling the rock drilling rig and having a measuring device for measuring vibration originating from the drill rod during striking and analysing means analysing the measured vibration according to a predefined principle for the purpose of determining whether the threaded joints have opened.
When drilling long holes into rock or ground, drill rods are used in which several threaded drill rods are connected together in succession. During drilling, the threads tighten due to both rotating torque and impacts directed to them by the percussion device and stress waves generated as a result of the impacts, and in practice, it is generally not possible to open them with just a rotating motor.
As known, this problem has usually been solved in such a manner that the operator has, after the drilling of the hole has ended, struck the drill rods with the percussion device while they are not under feed force, whereby a suitable number of impacts have loosened the threads. The operator does this by experience and usually stops the striking when hearing a certain type of noise or vibration from the drill rod.
In practice, a problem arises herein from the fact that it is difficult for the operator to detect the loosening of the threads and it does not always succeed the first time. A problem is that unnecessary striking after the threads are already open wears and may even damage the drill rods. Further, the fact that the operator has to do this manually prevents automatization.
Attempts of different type have been made to provide automated drill rod opening and thread openness detection. These are described in publications EP1671011, JP56966/1986, and JP1864566, for example. However, the solutions presented therein are not completely reliable in practice.
One known solution also uses timers to try to control the duration of striking. However, this is not completely reliable, because the time required for striking depends on the drilling parameter values, rock conditions, and even the specific rock drilling rig, for instance. Thus, the striking time varies considerably, and it is difficult to determine a suitable value. Correspondingly, in known automated striking solutions, the result is entirely independent of the operation and accuracy of the equipment, which is not sufficient in practice.

Method and apparatus for opening threaded joints of drilling equipment


A charge coupled device (CCD) amplifier is utilized for amplification of charge packets as small as 500 electrons into usable signals. Very little noise is injected into the signal. The charge amplifier consists of two connecting electrodes, one designated as the detector G.sub.1 and the other designated as the response G.sub.2, physically separated by any convenient distance on the same LSI chip surface on which an NMOS field effect transistor (FET) is attached. Also coupled to the FET is another electrode G.sub.3 designated as the amplifier gate. The charge amplifier structure is embedded in the silicon dioxide layer, with the detector response, and amplifier electrode being located some convenient distance above the silicon-silicon dioxide interface.

Charge coupled devices are well known for their use in light detection in imaging systems. Arrays of charge coupled devices (CCDs) have been utilized for scanning in a raster scan type of arrangement or in a two dimensional array for use in television scanning, for example. The limiting factor for the use of charge coupled devices in imaging system is its low level light detection capability. In order to fully utilize the capability of a charge coupled device, rather than prior art vacuum tube or other kinds of photodetectors, the device must be capable of low level light detection and amplification.
According to the present invention, a charge coupled device (CCD) amplifier is utilized for amplification of charge packets as small as 500 electrons into usable signals. The disclosed process contributes very little noise to the signal. The charge amplifier consists of two connecting electrodes, one designated as the detector and the other designated as the response, physically separated by any convenient distance on which an NMOS field effect transistor (FET) is attached. Also coupled to the FET transistor is another electrode designated as the amplifier gate. The charge amplifier structure is embedded in the silicon dioxide layer, with the detector, response, amlifier electrodes and the NMOS (FET) Transistor being located some convenient distance above the silicon-silicon dioxide interface on the same LSI chip surface and becomes an integral part of the LSI amplifier design.


The rendering of hierarchical data having large number of nodes, such as organizational charts, can present challenges based upon the browser technology utilized. Rendering of thousands of nodes can be memory intensive and provide poor performance when rendered in a browser. A method of rendering hierarchical data in a browser is provided. Node data from a datastore associated with human resources management software is retrieved. Each item of node data is associated with an employee of the associated organization. A viewport for the hierarchical data structure is determined based upon the computing device used for viewing the hierarchical data structure. Coordinates for nodes in the hierarchical structure based upon their relative position in the hierarchy and a configuration of the view port can then be determined and rendered.

Hierarchical data structures that have many nodes can present rendering problems in how to present the data efficiently with many different web browsers. In data sets have 1000's to 10000 of nodes the ability to render the data can be limited without using rendering tools. However the rendering tools may not be available on all platforms resulting in performance issues. In large organizations each employee may be defined as a node. In the rendering of an organizational chart the employees can be arranged hierarchically.
Browsers were not designed to do animations on. For example, unlike graphical libraries, browsers don't give programmers things like "back buffers", "transformation pipelines" or direct access to the "GPU". In a browser, whenever you make a change to an element programmatically those changes are immediately applied on the screen and that is not very efficient when you need to make lots of changes on each individual frame of animation. The very concept of "frames of animation" is something not typically supported by browsers.
Rendering lots of elements in a web page can be very challenging as the increasing number of elements decreases performance. The way a browser structures elements on a page is very powerful and flexible. Both the Document Object Model (DOM) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) trees allow graphical designers to create very rich and stunning looking web pages. However, that flexibility and power comes at the cost of less than optimal performance. The more elements are displayed in a web page, the more this problem is noticeable. This means that creating a large org tree to go together with a large application like ours did represent a big challenge in terms of the number of visual elements that need to be displayed. New developments in web technology like HyperText Markup Language (HTML) 5 supports such ability however a requirement to support older browsers by an application removes the ability to leverage newer technologies.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods that enable effective rendering of large hierarchical data structures across platforms remains highly desirable.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.

System and method for rendering of hierarchical data structures