Various holders are provided to retain a tom-tom drum of the musical type in a playable position on a horizontally oriented surface, such as a floor. A percussion contact surface of the tom-tom drum must be perpendicular, or nearly perpendicular, to the horizontally oriented surface in order to be playable using holders of the instant invention. Various examples are given of transportable units which have a transportable orientation and a deployed orientation. Passive contact with the drum where gravitational retention occurs is explained as is active contact where structural attachment occurs. Adjustment means is provided to allow a specific holder to be employed with tom-tom drums of various diametric dimensions as well as with tom-tom drums having various spacing of the respective tension members.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the invention relates to supports for musical drums. More specifically, the invention relates to such supports which retain the musical drum wherein the percussion contact surface of the drum is generally perpendicular to the floor for impaction thereof by a striker.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The instant invention has two (2) primary considerations. The first consideration is the desire to provide the musician with full creative expression by expanding the tonal characteristics which may be produced by the musician. The second consideration is the practical desires of allowing for ease of transport to and from the performance site and the ability to utilize tom-tom drums which exist within the musician's collection of drums.
Numerous methods exist to support musical drums wherein a percussion contact surface of the drum may be struck by an impaction member. Within these methods the percussion contact surface of the drum may be retained parallel to the floor, hereinafter upright, perpendicular to the floor, hereinafter sideways, or at a desired angular orientation between upright and sideways.
There exist two (2) common methods for a drummer to provide for impaction of a musical drum. The first method involves impaction of an impaction surface of the drum by a hand held striker member, as exampled by a drum stick. The second method involves impaction of the impaction surface of the drum by a striker member controlled by a foot pedal assembly. Generally, when the drum is sideways with the percussion contact surface of the drum perpendicular, or nearly perpendicular, to the floor, the impaction member is mounted to a foot pedal assembly. It is generally accepted practice to utilize a large diameter drum, as exampled by bass drums, when so deployed sideways in combination with a foot pedal assembly.
Within drum sets bass drums are routinely deployed for impaction by a striker controlled by a foot pedal assembly. Bass drums generally have diameters between eighteen (18) and thirty (30) inches with depths generally with the range of fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) inches. When a bass drum is deployed for use with the foot pedal assembly, the bass drum is sideways with the impaction surface of the bass drum perpendicular, or nearly perpendicular, to the floor. Additionally, a lowest extent of the impaction surface is relatively close, in the range of several inches, above the floor.
There exists a class of drums referred to as tom-tom drums. These drums generally have diameters between eight (8) and eighteen (18) inches with depths generally within the same range. The tom-tom drum may be mounted substantially above the floor for impaction by a drum stick held by the drummer. This type of deployment is exampled by attachment to another drum, such as a bass drum, to an overall drum set frame assembly or supported by a dedicated floor stand. Alternatively, the tom-tom drum may be deployed as a floor or side tom-tom. Generally, a tom-tom drum having a diameter in the upper range of tom-tom drums is utilized as a floor or side tom-tom. Without regard for the deployment method selected, tom-tom drums are normally impacted by a drum stick held by the drummer. Tom-tom drums are universally mounted within the drum set in generally upright positions with the percussion contact surface parallel, or slightly off parallel, relative to the floor. It is typical for a drummer to have tom-tom drums within his or her collection of drums.
It is common practice within the industry to permanently attach at least one mounting member to a portion of the drum. These mounting members may be attached at various locations on the drum. The most common attachment locations are penetrating the wall of the drum housing, to the rim and to the tension bars. These mounting members in turn attach, permanently or temporarily, to other support assemblies. This attachment ultimately provides for rigid restriction of the drum in a desired positional orientation during play thereof by the musician. This is exampled by the drum being attached to another drum, to the drum set frame assembly or to a dedicated floor stand. Another example has the drum supported on the floor in a solitary manner. Yet another example provides for a combination of direct floor support with attachment to other components of the drum set.
Various deficiencies exist with current use sideways positioned floor drums as utilized for play with a foot pedal assembly. One of the principle deficiencies resides in the size of the currently utilized bass drum. It is not convenient for many musicians to transport all of the equipment required by a current use drum set which includes bass drums, and particularly the larger bass drums. Drummers must transport a significant quantity of equipment when traveling to a performance site. Drummers often must travel on airlines, taxis, subways, commercial carrier buses, trains and tour buses. These requirements result in a restricted amount of space being available to the drummer.
Tonal characteristics of music are ever changing. Musicians are required to perform more varied types of music than has ever before been required. More musical performances have what is commonly referred to as a world beat which included more ethnic rhyme than has been previously performed domestically. As a result it is important that drummers be provided with drum configurations which allow for adaptation of the style of play to produce the musical effects desired and envisioned. The present invention will allow the drummer to compliment the current use floor positioned bass drum with a floor positioned tom-tom drum with both being operated by foot pedal assemblies.
Another deficiency which exists with current use floor positioned bass drums, due to the desire to impact the impaction surface at a generally central location thereon, is that the striker of the foot pedal assembly must be elevated a significant distance from the floor at the point of impact. This significantly reduces the control thereover which the musician has during play. Improvements in materials have enabled tuning of the smaller tom-tom drums to imitate quite successfully a wide varieties of musical sounds. This includes those sounds produced by certain bass drums. Tom-tom drums, due to their smaller size, are more easily transported than the larger bass drums. Due to the smaller diametric measurement of the tom-tom drums, a lower elevational impact point may be selected on the impaction surface. Additionally, the majority of serious drummers have spare tom-tom drums within their collection of drums.
Various attempts have been made to provide for ready transport of drum sets. These attempts have been less efficient than desired. As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a substitution of the existing bass drum within a drum set with a tom-tom drum capable of similar play and capable of producing similar musical sounds. The present invention substantially fulfills these needs.


Disclosed are a solar cell and a method for manufacturing the same. The solar cell includes a support substrate; a back electrode layer on the support substrate, the back electrode layer being formed with at least one first through hole to expose a part of a top surface of the support substrate; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer; a window layer on the buffer layer; and a high-resistance region on a lateral side of the back electrode layer forming the first through hole. The high-resistance region has a resistance value higher than a resistance value of the light absorbing layer.

Recently, as energy consumption is increased, the development on a solar cell to convert solar energy into electrical energy has been performed.
In particular, a CIGS-based solar cell has been extensively used, in which the CIGS-based solar cell is a PN hetero junction device having a substrate structure including a glass substrate, a metallic back electrode layer, a P type CIGS-based light absorbing layer, a high-resistance buffer layer, and an N type transparent electrode layer.
In addition, in order to increase the efficiency of the solar cell, various studies have been performed.

Solar cell and method for manufacturing the same


An apparatus is provided with a cooling unit for cooling a treatment substrate, a supporting body for supporting the treatment substrate before being transferred to the cooling unit and a cooling apparatus for cooling the treatment substrate supported by the supporting body. The apparatus cools the treatment substrate in a position where the treatment substrate stands by before being transferred into the cooling unit and thereafter cools the cooled treatment substrate in the cooling unit, which makes rapid and accurate cooling possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling method and a cooling apparatus for cooling a treatment substrate such as a glass substrate or a silicon substrate and a treatment apparatus therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fabrication of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display (LCD), a circuit pattern is formed by what is called photolithography technology with the process described hereinafter. A photo-resist solution is coated on a semiconductor wafer that is a substrate or an LCD substrate to form a resist film which is subsequently exposed corresponding to the circuit pattern, and thereafter the circuit pattern is developed.
In the coating and developing process, when the resist film is formed, heat treatments including the pre-bake process for stabilizing the photo-resist, post-exposure bake process after exposure, post-bake process after development and the like are performed. Moreover, the cooling process for cooling the substrate of which the temperature is raised after the heat treatments is conducted.
When the substrate of which the temperature is raised after the heat treatments is cooled, heat exchange is conducted on a cooling plate that is a supporting body for supporting the substrate. More concretely, the substrate of which the temperature is raised is mounted on the cooling plate provided with pipelines for circulating cooling water. Heat exchange is conducted between the cooling water and the substrate, thereby lowering the temperature of the substrate.
However, since demand for shorter tact time in substrate treatments are increasing nowadays, the above-described cooling method can not satisfy the demands. In the above-described cooling method, when the tact time is shortened, the substrate after the aforesaid heat treatments is unable to be cooled to the predetermined temperature.

Cooling method, cooling apparatus and treatment apparatus


A piston-cylinder unit for a hydraulic system, especially for the actuation of clutches in motor vehicles, comprises a housing with an axially stepped bore hole in which a piston fastened to a tappet is guided so as to be axially displaceable. The piston displaces a fluid in the cylinder of the housing by its front end. The cylinder includes at least one pressure line connector, a connection to a fluid chamber, and at least one cup which is sealingly arranged in the housing relative to the outer surface of the piston. Both the housing and the piston comprise assemblies made of a plurality of parts. The assemblies are constructed by inserting the plurality of parts in order into a larger part and press fitting them in place.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a piston-cylinder unit for transmitting hydraulic control forces.
2. Description of the Related Art
German reference DE 195 16 391.5 discloses a cylinder for hydraulic assemblies, especially for motor vehicles, for providing controlling pressure to the hydraulic assemblies. The prior art cylinder comprises a cylinder housing, a piston, a piston rod cooperating with the piston, and a dust seal arranged between the piston rod and cylinder housing. In particular, the prior art is directed to a master cylinder for controlling a clutch release via a slave cylinder. The piston of the master cylinder comprises an outer tube which is inserted over an inner tube. The inner tube is pressed against a resilient connection part between the head of the piston and a lock or stop in the outer tube to absorb hydraulic pressure impact shocks between the piston and the piston rod.


A method for weighing vehicles moving on a bridge deck pavement is provided. At least one vibration sensor is mounted on a lower side of the pavement to sense low frequency pavement vibrations generated by moving vehicle wheels and propagated in waves in the pavement. Vibration sensor output signals are provided to a computing device. Sensed vibration energy rate is computed and, with signals from vibration sensors mounted at two locations separated by a known longitudinal distance, vehicle speed is also computed. The weight of the vehicle is determined as the product of a calibration coefficient and the ratio of sensed vibration energy rate to velocity. Using vibration sensor signals indicative of wheel generated vibrations in the very near field and summing vibration energy rates computed from these signals during vehicle passage over the vibration sensors the weight of individual vehicles is computed when other moving vehicles are present.

For purposes of this application, the term "bridge" as used herein refers to bridges that cross natural or manmade boundaries or obstacles, such as rivers and streams, ravines, canyons or the like, structures that cross underlying roads, railroads or any other structural contrivance having a free space thereunder and which conveniently connects two points for the purpose of facilitating movement of vehicular traffic. Furthermore, the bridge may have one or more spans, and a bridge deck that provides a surface on which vehicles move. The bridge deck typically comprises a pavement surface, which may be a more-or-less continuous slab of pavement material that is usually less than about a foot thick, and a bridge deck support structure that supports the pavement. Such support structure may be of a box-girder, beam-girder or other design. While Applicants' method is disclosed as being used in conjunction with a pavement bridge deck, the invention disclosed herein should be usable with all manner of bridge decking.
Monitoring weights of vehicles crossing a bridge is useful for a number of bridge management functions related to public safety, maintenance budgetary considerations and capital infrastructure projects. In this regard, the vehicles of primary importance are loaded trucks, and especially trucks that may be loaded above allowed limits with respect to bridge design load limits and known bridge structural deficiencies. Examples of bridge management functions are developing input data for advanced planning of bridge pavement and structural support enhancements and immediate alerting or logging incidents of overweight trucks for motivating urgent pavement and structural inspection and subsequent maintenance and/or repair. Bridge load monitoring is especially important considering the large number of aging and structurally-deficient bridges that are heavily used, this importance being particularly emphasized by well publicized catastrophic collapses of bridges with their attendant loss of life.
Conventional prior art systems for weighing vehicles crossing a bridge are usually in-pavement systems. These systems typically incorporate sensors that are installed in the pavement just below the pavement surface, and which utilize bending or flexure members similar to load cells. Usually these bending members are installed in the pavement of a bridge approach, and less frequently are installed in pavement of a bridge deck because of significant difficulties encountered by such an installation on bridge spans. These systems are also expensive in both equipment and installation costs. Further, these systems experience frequent failures, especially on more heavily used bridges, because of high cycle deflection and fatigue of sensing members, thereby requiring frequent maintenance. Because these sensors are installed in the bridge approach or bridge deck pavement, this maintenance requires disruption of traffic flow over what is typically a main traffic route, and these main routes usually have inconvenient detour routes available.
An off-road weigh-in-motion system for roadways has been disclosed in Applicants' previous patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,567) which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference. As disclosed, seismic signals, generated by vehicles traveling on a roadway, propagate through a distance of surface layer of earth adjacent the roadbed and are measured by a seismic sensor. The computed energy represented in the measured sensor output signal is indicative of vehicle weight. Such a system could be deployed alongside bridge approaches, but not on a bridge deck. Furthermore, bridge approaches often have a concentration of nearby access ramps and service roads thereby making practical application of this system for bridge vehicular loading difficult or impossible to implement because of interfering seismic signals from vehicles traveling on nearby roadway approaches. For this reason, Applicants' prior art only discloses a seismic system along a single roadway, and in some embodiments uses a rumble strip to generate a specific, identifiable seismic signal.
A distributed fiber optic detection system based on Sagnac and Michelson interferometers is proposed by Udd (U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,021) for simultaneously measuring location and amplitude of an acoustic disturbance on a bridge as well as simultaneously measuring slowly-changing local and regional longitudinal strains in bridge structure. Udd proposes a system wherein fiber optic sensor loops are installed within the bridge deck and encompass the entire bridge length.
The portion of the Udd system sensor having capability for simultaneously measuring location and amplitude of acoustic disturbance on a bridge is a continuously-distributed measurement sensor. Udd proposes to accomplish this by measuring two signals: a signal that is dependent on both disturbance magnitude and disturbance location in the loop (Sagnac interferometer component) and a signal that is dependent on disturbance amplitude but is independent of disturbance location (Michelson interferometer component). Significantly, Udd's system will be of little practical value for bridge applications because commonly there will be present more than one vehicle on a bridge; this is especially the case on bridges with longer spans and/or on moderately-to-heavily utilized bridges. In this common multiple vehicle situation, a determination of disturbance magnitude will be an indication of a sum of the weights of all vehicles present on a bridge span and a corresponding disturbance location will not represent an actual vehicle location.
The aspect of the Udd sensor system proposed for measuring local and regional longitudinal strain in a bridge structure is achieved by including local spectral reflective elements at points along an optical fiber cable in bridge pavement encompassing the entire length of a bridge. However, and as noted, this local strain information for a bridge cannot in general determine individual vehicle weight because local strain on a bridge is significantly influenced by weights and locations of all vehicles on the bridge span. Consequently, this system cannot measure weights of individual vehicles because local strain in a bridge span is sensitive to weights of all vehicles in all lanes of the bridge span. This fact may have motivated Udd's selection of locations for deploying local strain elements to be at or near span joint areas above vertical bridge supports. Local strains near the pavement surface at these particular between-span locations will be among the largest experienced throughout the bridge, and Udd appropriately notes that these strain elements are useful for indicating bridge health.
From the foregoing, the Udd system may provide useful information on the strains within bridge deck structure, but it is believed that this information, as disclosed, cannot be used for weigh-in-motion purposes to reliably measure weights of individual vehicles crossing a bridge.
Considering the deficiencies described in the aforementioned systems and methods, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide a reliable and satisfactorily accurate system for determination of weight of vehicles moving across bridges. It is a further object that such a weighing system has reasonable equipment cost and reasonable installation cost for existing bridges, as well as for new bridge constructions. It is yet another object that Applicants' measuring system is by nature robust relative to effects of traffic and inclement weather, with key components of the system located in relatively protected locations, i.e. under a bridge, so that maintenance is infrequent, but in the infrequent event that maintenance is required no disruption of traffic on a bridge is required to perform such maintenance. Other objects of the invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following appended specification.

Method for weighing vehicles crossing a bridge


The disclosure is directed to a self-adjusting wrench, comprising a movable jaw member, a fixed jaw member a biasing member and a handle, wherein the movable jaw member, the fixed jaw member and the handle engage to self-adjust and lock the gap between the movable jaw and the fixed jaw upon applying pressure to the jaws using the handle.

The disclosure is directed to an adjustable key wrench. Specifically, the disclosure is directed to a self-adjusting key wrench.
Conventional adjustable wrenches typically comprise a movable jaw and a stationary jaw extending from a handle portion. A worm gear receiving portion is provided at a lower portion of the movable body. A square hole is disposed in the fixed jaw to receive a section of the worm gear receiving portion of the movable jaw. A worm gear is provided within the square hole to engage the worm gear receiving portion of the movable jaw. When a user manually rotates the worm gear, the movable jaw can move in a horizontal direction corresponding to the rotation of the worm gear, which in turn drives the movable jaw to move in the same direction, thereby adjusting the width of a jaw of the wrench.
Adjustable wrenches having that configuration are relatively simple in construction and convenient for use. However, such a wrench has disadvantages that when the width required to be adjusted is relatively large, the worm gear must be turned frequently. For example, if a large size wrench is used in exploitation of oil where a relatively larger pipe or nut needs to be turned, it is necessary to turn the worm repeatedly to give a full jaw travel. Furthermore, it is difficult to reliably hold an object by manually adjusting the width of the jaw. Also, adjusting the gap may become cumbersome when the variability of the widths needed to be adjusted is large and frequent.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fast, self-adjusting wrench, capable of adjusting to the width of the nut with one hand, while maintaining the width for the duration of the operation of the wrench.


A new and distinct Chamelaucium cultivar named ‘GIL’ is disclosed, characterized by large, white flowers and flower buds colored near Red 45A. Flower production begins in winter in Israel. Petals are distinctively semi-erect in attitude. The new variety is a Chamelaucium, normally producing cut flower stems, or as a garden or container plant.

The new Chamelaucium cultivar is the product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Nitzan Nir, in Kfar Hess, Israel. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Chamelaucium varieties for ornamental commercial applications. The new variety was selected as a seedling from the breeding program at a commercial nursery in Kfar Hess, Israel.
The crossing resulting in this new variety was made in February of 2017. The seed parent is the unpatented variety referred to as Chamelaucium uncinatum 'Nir'. The pollen parent is the unpatented variety referred to as Chamelaucium uncinatum 'Guy'. The new variety was discovered in February 2020 by the inventor in a group of seedlings resulting from previously mentioned crossing, in a commercial nursery in Kfar Hess, Israel.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar has been performed by terminal vegetative cuttings. This was first performed in May of 2020 at a commercial nursery in Kfar Hess, Israel in and has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in at least 4 successive generations.


This invention discloses a method of fabricating color jacquard fabric, comprising the processes of design and fabrication of pattern card, loom preparation, looming and weaving. The steps of design and fabrication of pattern card are: reading target image for jacquard into a computer; adjusting the image and setting parameters; selecting pixel value according to image dimensions; modifying the image; dividing the modified target image into motif image and auxiliary pattern around the motif image, designing and making the pattern card of motif image and auxiliary pattern of different design characteristics by jacquard design software; and finally combining said two pattern cards into a pattern card that represents the image and pattern of different characteristics in one fabric with corresponding warp and filling yarns. The invention can provide vivid lifelike picture of fabric, integrating rich color representation and artful pattern.

Traditional color jacquard fabrics mainly represent natural colors of silk yarns in the form of float of warp and filling yarns of different colors. Such colors are simple. However, if color contents are rich, the warp and filling yarns of many different colors have to be used. For a classical example, a product of Hangzhou DuJinsheng Silk Weaving Mill adopts 15 shuttles to weave 15 colors in the pattern and represent scores of texture and color variation (normally colors represent the texture). Although traditional color jacquard pattern uses manual pattern processing and presents good 3-dimensional effect and flexibility, yet it lacks rich colors because it relies on the number of each texture to display a color. The invention patents (ZL99125610.7 and ZL00126505.9) of this inventor proposes a method of color clustering and texture combining to utilize only several color yarns and system textures to weave and represent complicated and plentiful pattern colors. The color-representing texture thus combined can reach thousands of varieties (larger number can be obtained theoretically). Such fabrics present an effect of color photo and painting that cannot be viewed in traditional technique, featuring a character of rich color variation and a breakthrough of technique and theory of modern jacquard design established by Europeans and used in more than a century. However, the pedestrian textures given by computers lack the flexibility of manual pattern processing in traditional designing method, such as changeful manual interlacing to embody elegant character of jacquard fabric.

Method of fabricating color jacquard fabric


An low-nickel austenitic stainless alloy containing about 16.5 to about 17.5% by weight chromium; about 6.4 to about 8.0% by weight manganese; about 2.5 to about 5.0% by weight nickel; about 2.0 to less than about 3.0% by weight copper; less than about 0.15% by weight carbon; less than about 0.2% by weight nitrogen; less than about 1% by weight silicon; and the balance essentially iron with incidental impurities.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an austenitic stainless steel, and in particular, relates to an austenitic stainless steel which has a low nickel content and desirable metallographic, mechanical and corrosion resistance properties.
2. Description of the Invention Background
Certain iron and chromium alloys are highly resistant to corrosion and oxidation at high temperatures and also maintain considerable strength at these temperatures. These alloys are known as the stainless steels. The three major groups of stainless steels are the austenitic steels, the ferritic steels and the martensitic steels. The austenitic stainless steels have a microstructure at room temperature substantially comprised of a single austenite phase. Because of their desirable properties, the austenitic steels have received greater acceptance than the ferritic and martensitic types.
Chromium promotes the formation of delta ferrite microstructure in the stainless steels. This is usually undesirable in austenitic stainless steels. For example, in most conventional size ingots, if more than 10% delta ferrite is present during hot rolling, the resultant product will have slivers, hot tears and be prone to cracking unless costly treatments and procedures are employed. Nickel is therefore added to the austenitic stainless steels because it prevents the formation of delta ferrite and stabilizes the austenite microstructure at room temperature. Favorable mechanical properties, enhanced formability and increased corrosion resistance in reducing environments result. At present, the most widely produced austenitic stainless steel is AISI type 304, having 8.00-12.00% nickel.
Nickel is not abundant and the demand for the element has steadily increased. As such, the cost of nickel is projected to escalate, causing the price of nickel-containing austenitic steels to rise and, perhaps, become non-competitive with other materials. Because of the probability of fluctuations in the price of nickel and its increasing scarcity, it has been an object of researchers to develop an alternative austenitic stainless steel alloy which contains relatively lesser amounts of nickel, but which has corrosion resistance and mechanical properties comparable to existing nickel-containing austenitic alloys.
Lowering the nickel content of an austenitic stainless alloy promotes delta ferrite formation and the austenite phase becomes unstable. Therefore, as the nickel content is lowered in an unstable austenitic steel, the austenite phase must be stabilized by the addition of other austenite-promoting, or "austenitizing", elements. These elements include, for example, carbon, nitrogen, manganese, copper and cobalt. None of these elements as a single addition is entirely satisfactory. Cobalt is only slightly effective as an austenitizer and is quite expensive. Addition of carbon in an amount necessary to form a completely austenitic microstructure detrimentally affects ductility and corrosion resistance. Nitrogen cannot be added in quantities sufficient to achieve the desired effect, while additions of both carbon and nitrogen, due to interstitial solid solution hardening, undesirably increase the strength of the alloy. Manganese and copper are relatively weak austenitizers.
Although commercially available austenitic stainless steels exhibit predominantly the austenite phase in their asprocessed condition, certain austenitic alloy compositions become unstable by forming appreciable amounts of martensite when they are deformed during cold working. The amount of martensite formed during deformation is the most important cause of work hardening. An austenitic stainless steel may be considered "stable" if it forms less than about 10% martensite upon heavy cold deformation and "unstable" if it forms 10% or more martensite. The 10% limit is significant because deep drawing operations are less desirable above that percentage as cracking or excessive die wear tends to occur. The propensity of an austenitic steel to form martensite upon cold working may be reduced or eliminated by increasing the alloy content, especially the nickel content. However, as explained above, a high nickel content is economically undesirable. Manganese and copper, although relatively weak austenite stabilizers, have a beneficial side effect as they decrease the work hardening rate of austenitic steels by suppressing the transformation of austenite to martensite during plastic deformation. Thus, by alloying with austenite-promoting elements, a low-nickel austenitic stainless steel may be developed having a low delta ferrite content, acceptable corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, and satisfactory resistance to martensite formation upon plastic deformation.
A number of prior art stainless steels have some similarities to that of the instant application. Attention is directed to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,568,387, 4,533,391 and 3,615,365. These prior art references neither disclose the alloy of the instant application nor suggest the combination of elements that imparts the instant alloy with its unique combination of properties.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a nickel-manganese-copper-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel alloy having a reduced nickel content and acceptable metallographic structure, mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and workability. More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a nickel-manganese-copper-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel alloy which has the following properties:
a. nickel content less than about 5% by weight and preferably less than 4% by weight; PA0 b. low delta ferrite content of hot rolled and cold rolled sheet product; PA0 c. satisfactory workability; PA0 d. acceptable mechanical properties, e.g., yield strength, tensile strength and tensile elongation; PA0 e. acceptable corrosion and pitting resistance; and PA0 f. satisfactory resistance to martensite formation upon deformation.

Low nickel, copper containing chromium-nickel-manganese-copper-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel


The routine use of antibiotics to battle Streptococcal pathogens has produced a new class of superbug—multi-drug resistant streptococci resulting in a need for new antimicrobials. The LambdaSa2 prophage endolysin gene harbors an amidase-5 (endopeptidase), an amidase-4 (glycosidase) domain and two Cpl-7 cell wall-binding domains. This endolysin can digest the cell walls of Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Turbidity reduction and plate lysis assays indicate that this peptidoglycan hydrolase also shows strong lytic activity toward Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Streptococcus uberis, Streptococcus equi, GES, and GGS. Deletion analysis on the His-tagged version of this gene further indicates that the N-terminal endopeptidase domain is minimally active in the absence of a Cpl-7 domain when lysing cells from without; however, with both Cpl-7 domains, it achieves a higher specific activity than the full length protein (on some strains) and shows weak activity against two Coagulase Negative Staphylococci, Staphylococcus hyicus and Staphylococcus xyloses.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nucleic acid encoding a functional module or domain of a particular peptidoglycan hydrolase, the streptococcal phage λSa2 endolysin, a protein which digests the peptidoglycan cell wall of streptococcal species with near species-specificity. Optimal Ca++ and NaCl concentrations and pH have been determined for native λSa2 endolysin and for multiple truncations of λSa2 endolysin. The invention further relates to lysis of untreated, live streptococcal bacteria observed as a result of native and truncated λSa2 lysis activity and enhancement of that activity on streptococcal bacteria as well as staphylococcal bacteria when the nucleic acid encoding the functional endopeptidase domain is further modified with one or more copies of endogenous phage cell wall-binding domains, i.e., Cpl-7 domains or with the SH3b cell wall-binding domain from the bacteriocin lysostaphin. The invention further relates to compositions and methods of treating diseases caused by the bacteria for which the λSa2 endopeptidase and modified λSa2 endopeptidase are specific, namely, streptococcal diseases, and in addition, compositions and methods comprising λSa2 endopeptidase for treating staphylococcal-associated diseases, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Description of the Relevant Art
Streptococci are notorious pathogens in animals and man, with S. pneumoniae being most widely recognized for the pneumonia it causes (2007. Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 56:1077-1080). Other streptococci are renowned, for example, for human diseases such as group A streptococcus (GAS) pharyngo-tonsillitis (Passali et al. 2007. Acta Otorhinolaryngol. Ital. 27:27-32), group C streptococcus (GCS)-associated wound infections, otitis media, purulent pharyngitis, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (Davies et al. 2007. Clin. Infect. Dis. 44:1442-1454; Salata et al. 1989. Medicine (Baltimore) 68: 225-239), and group G streptococcus (GGS)-associated bacteremia (Sylvetsky et al. 2002. Am. J. Med. 112:622-626). Similarly, for the animal diseases, examples are: GCS Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus of haemorrhagic pneumonia in dogs (Kim et al. 2007. Vet. Rec. 161: 528-530), and (GES) group E streptococcal lymphadenitis of swine (Wessman, G. E. 1986. Vet. Microbiol. 12: 297-328). Streptococci having the ability to infect both humans and livestock occur as well, as is seen in group B streptococcus (GBS) mastitis (Wilson et al. 1997. J. Dairy Sci. 80: 2592-2598), perinatal GBS disease of infants (2007. Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 56:701-705), and in S. suis causing septicemia, meningitis, endocarditis and arthritis in pigs and causing fever, malaise, nausea and vomiting, followed by nervous symptoms, subcutaneous hemorrhage, septic shock and coma in humans (Gottschalk et al. 2007. Anim. Health Res. Rev. 8:29-45). The streptococci are following the trend of all antibiotic-treated pathogens with high levels of antibiotic resistance development being noted by clinicians (2007. Moth. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 56:1077-1080; Niederman, M. S. 2007. Chest. 131:1205-1215; Passali et al., supra) and veterinarians (Lloyd, D. H. 2007. Clin. Infect. Dis. 45 (Suppl. 2):S148-52; Mathew et al. 2007. Foodbome Patholog. Dis. 4:115-133).
In this age of increasing resistance to antibiotics, efforts to find novel antimicrobials are turning to bactericidal proteins of bacterial and/or phage origin (Hermoso et al. 2007. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 10: 461-472). Many Gram positive bacteriophage endolysins have been tested and shown to be efficacious when exposed externally to host-related pathogens (lysis from without or exolysis) (for recent reviews, see Loessner, M. J. 2005. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 8:480-487; Fischetti, V. A. 2005. Trends Microbiol. 13: 491-496). In fact, lysostaphin (a bacteriocin secreted by Staphylococcus simulans to kill S. aureus) recently achieved higher efficacy than vancomycin against clinical isolates of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Yang et al. 2007. J. Med. Microbiol. 56: 71-76).
In the search for new antimicrobials, it has been deemed essential by FDA, CDC, USDA and other US government agencies in an interagency forum to develop agents that avoid resistance Retrieved from the Internet: <URL: cdc.gov/drugresistance/actionplan/2005report/index.htm. In support of this federal objective, the near-species specificity of bacteriophage endolysins is anticipated to help avoid resistance development among the non-related commensal bacteria that are inadvertently exposed to antimicrobials, something that occurs routinely during antibiotic treatment episodes. Furthermore, for the few bacteriophage endolysins tested, no resistant strain development has been identified (reviewed in Fischetti, supra). In addition, the efficacy of peptidoglycan hydrolases as an antimicrobial agent has been demonstrated in animal models of human disease (Cheng at al. 2005. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:111-117; Entenza et al. 2005. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49:4789-4792; Rashel et al. 2007. J. Infect. Dis. 196:1237-1247) as well as in animal disease applications e.g. transgenic cattle with mammary expression of lysostaphin have been shown to be resistant to S. aureus-induced mastitis (Wall et al. 2005. Nat. Biotechnol. 23: 445-451).
Most Gram Positive lysins (bacterial or, phage origin) have an N-terminal lytic domain and a C-terminal cell wall-binding domain. The lytic domain of the phage endolysin can have any of three functions: an amidase activity, an endopeptidase, or a lysozyme-like glycosidase activity. The cell wall bonds sensitive to amidase (N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanine) and glycosidase lysin activities (β-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl muramic acid residues) are conserved in the peptidoglycan of nearly all bacterial species, while the amino acid sequence of the peptide portion of peptidoglycan that is sensitive to endopeptidase activity can vary between species and genera (Schleifer and Kandler. 1972. Bacteria Rev. 36: 407-477).
The stem peptide region of peptidoglycan is often conserved across multiple species, within any given genus. Species-specificity in peptidoglycan structure usually occurs in the interpeptide bridge (Schleifer and Kandler, supra). The result is that phage lysins that recognize and cleave bonds in the regions of the peptidoglycan that are conserved within a genus will often lyse a much broader range of species than just the host range of their phage of origin. For example, the streptococcal B30 bacteriophage is hosted by a relatively small subgroup of type III GBS, but the B30 phage lysin can kill streptococci of Lancefield groups A, B, C, E, and G, with the rate of lysis for groups A, C and G being much higher than the host GBS (Pritchard at al. 2004. Microbiology 150: 2079-2087).
Species-specificity of these lysins can originate in part from both the lytic and cell wall-binding domains. The species-specificity of lysin endopeptidase domains can easily be ascribed to the differences in amino acid sequences of the peptidoglycan. This has been demonstrated experimentally, with digestion of short synthetic peptides that mimic the bonds recognized by the endopeptidase domain in question (Pritchard et al. 2007. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 7150-7154). The bonds cleaved by amidase and glycosidase activities of lysins are so highly conserved among all bacterial species that it is difficult to imagine how these structures themselves confer specificity to the lysins. However, it is known that O-acetylation at the C6-OH of the N-acetylmuramic acid can affect lysozyme's ability to digest the sugar backbone (Bera et al. 2006. Infect. Immun. 74: 4598-4604), with only a few enzymes known with the ability to cleave this O-acetylated sugar backbone. (Pritchard et al. 2007, supra; Yokogawa et al. 1974. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 6:156-165). That being said, there are still other largely undefined factors that contribute to species-specificity of the lysins. A hint at one source of this specificity is apparent when it was reported that the B30 endolysin with an inactivated endopeptidase domain resulting from a site-directed mutation and an active Acm lysozyme-like domain could digest the prepared peptidoglycan of GBS (Pritchard et al. 2004, supra), but the same lysin could not lyse GBS as a growing cell (Donovan et al. 2006b. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72:5108-5112). These results suggest that non-peptidoglycan factors (i.e. present on growing cells, but not prepared peptidoglycan) can alter peptidoglycan sensitivity to the lysin. There are numerous other structures on the Gram Positive cell wall that might participate in defining peptidoglycan hydrolase specificity, e.g. teichoic acid, capsule, poly-N-acetylglucosamine. Their potential role in endolysin specificity is undefined.
The C-terminal cell wall-binding domain of peptidoglycan hydrolase enzymes is known to effect cell-type specificity. The SH3b domain of the staphylococcal lytic enzyme ALE-1 (which is virtually identical to the SH3b domain of lysostaphin) has been examined via both mutagenesis and crystallography (Lu et al. 2006b. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 549-558). This and other studies (Grundling and Schneewind. 2006. J. Bacterial. 188: 2463-2472) have indicated that the SH3b domain recognizes the penta-glycine interpeptide bridge of staphylococcal peptidoglycan. Prior studies have indicated that lysostaphin requires the C-terminal 92 amino acids, including the SH3b domain, for cell-type specificity (Baba and Schneewind. 1996. EMBO J. 15:4789-4797). Similarly, the SH3b domain of the PlyB endolysin from a Bacillus anthrasis phage is required for high levels of activity (Porter et al. 2007. J. Mol. Biol. 366: 540-550). Essential choline-binding domains that are specific for streptococcal cell walls have also been described (Garcia et al. 1990. Gene 86: 81-88; Sanchez-Puelles et al. 1990. Gene 89: 69-75) with the CPL-1 lysin harboring one such domain having been recently crystallized (Perez-Dorado at al. 2007. J. Biol. Chem. 282:24990-24999). Again, this endolysin demonstrates an absolute need for the choline-binding domain for lytic activity (see a recent review of those lysins which have been crystallized with cell wall-binding domains, Koehl et al. 2004. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48: 3749-3757).
Despite an absolute requirement of a cell wall-binding domain for the full lytic activity of some lysins, numerous examples of higher activity from truncated endolysins lacking their SH3b domains have been reported, e.g., staphylococcal phage Twort (Loessner et al. 1998. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 162:265-274) and phiWMY endolysins (Yokoi et al. 2005. Gene 351: 97-108), streptococcal phage endolysin PlyGBS (Cheng and Fischetti. 2007. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 74:1284-1291), and streptococcal B30 endolysin (Donovan at al. 2006. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72(7):5108-5112; Donovan at al. 2006. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72(4):2988-96); Bacillus anthrasis Lambda phage endolysin PlyL lambda (Low at al. 2005. J. Biol. Chem. 280:35433-35439). This apparent inconsistency is further complicated by the fact that some lytic domains are not only more active, but maintain their cell type specificity in the absence of their SH3b cell wall-binding domain (Donovan et al. 2006b, supra). Still other domains do not show any activity toward their growing host when exposed externally (Donovan et al. 2007, supra) despite evidence that the domain is active on prepared peptidoglycan (Pritchard et al. 2004, supra). These inconsistent results dictate that a thorough analysis is needed of candidate peptidoglycan hydrolase antimicrobials to identify the most active domains and the constructs required to achieve lytic activity.
To counter the rise of drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, there is a need for new specific antimicrobial treatments. Reagents shown to be very specific for the genera, species or substrains of concern would give better effective control of economically important diseases and therefore are ideal candidates for therapeutic treatments. In this study we have identified the domains necessary for lysis from without (exolysis) for the Lambda Sa2 endolysin (λSa2), identified constructs that enhance the native enzyme activity level against the target species, (streptococcal), and extended the list of pathogen species known to be lysed by the enzyme.

The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


A method includes providing a public encryption key and a seed to a party and receiving a first encrypted data set encrypted using the public encryption key and marked by the party with a first mark based on the seed. The method also includes aggregating the first encrypted data set into an aggregated data set at an aggregator and receiving an indication that a first operation associated with the party has been performed on the aggregated data set. In response to the receiving, updating the first encrypted data set of the aggregated data set by updating the first mark to a second mark according to the first operation, generating a verification encrypted data set according to at least the second mark and at least the corresponding first operation, verifying the aggregated data set by comparing the updated first encrypted data set and the verification encrypted data set.

The present invention is directed to improvements to hardware and computer security, and more specifically to improvements to computer data privacy and security in homomorphic encryption in a minimal trust environment.
Data aggregation is the process of consolidating data coming from different entities. Aggregation is a powerful data analytics tool that can be used to understand a model, to do a prediction or to make a decision. Different entities might be interested in computing aggregated statistics over joint data, but may be concerned with safeguarding privacy of their respective inputs, which can include sensitive data or information. Data aggregation is desirable in many computer systems and schemes. However, data aggregation poses the challenge of how to protect the privacy of the participants, parties, or users, especially when the parties do not trust each other and other computer-based entities such as a data aggregator or decryptor, which also may distrust each other. Typically, the aggregator is a separate entity to the decryptor, either virtually or physically.
One existing approach for data aggregation is to use the service of a third-party aggregator that obtains individual parties' inputs, performs the aggregation and publishes the result. Such model inherently allows the aggregating third-party entity to learn all the individual parties' data. A mitigation method for this model is referred to as dataset anonymization, in which another third party removes any unique identifiers from the data in order to make harder to connect a given input to the party that provided it. However, linking the data to the owners of the data remains possible. In addition, this existing model poses a trust boundary problem as the participating parties need to trust the new anonymizing third-party entity with the data. Furthermore, existing approaches also do not account for fully malicious parties that would deviate from assigned method steps to obtain authorized access to private encrypted data.
Certain existing private data aggregation protocols include specific multiparty computation (MPC) protocols that were specifically designed for data aggregation. However, these protocols assume semi-honest aggregator or rely on the security assumption that some parties are not colluding. Such assumption can limit the adoption of the solution for some applications for which the parties do not trust each other.
Therefore there remain problems to be addressed in the data security and hardware fields.

Preserving aggregation using homomorphic encryption and trusted execution environment, secure against malicious aggregator


A technique for dynamically calibrating a successive approximation charge to digital converter by toggling at least some portion of the converter between two predetermined states, with the design goal of balancing the voltage and/or charge that is output in the two states. The two states are chosen such that they are expected to generate the same output voltage when the converter is in “normal” operation mode, e.g., within a fraction of the Least Significant Bit (LSB) resolution of the converter. If there is an imbalance, switching between the two calibration states invariably generates a square wave signal that toggles between two distinct values. A synchronous demodulator having a bandwidth centered at the toggle frequency can then be used to accurately detect an amount of error, which is then feedback to generate correction signals. If there are undesirable static offsets introduced by the synchronous demodulator or by the signal and/or charge levels output by the two differential halves of the converter, a properly timed latch can be used to further stabilize the error signal.

The present invention relates to calibrating Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) or Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs), especially those which use Charge Coupled Device (CCD) pipeline structures and successive approximation techniques.
Many modern electronic systems require conversion of signals from analog to digital or from digital to analog form. Circuits for performing these functions are now required in numerous common consumer devices such as digital cameras, cellular telephones, wireless data network equipment, audio devices such as MP3 players, and video equipment such as Digital Video Disk (DVD) players, High Definition Digital Television (HDTV) equipment, and numerous other products.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,059 issued to Schlig is an early example of a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) based converter. In that design, a number of charge storage stages are arranged as a serial pipeline register so that an input source charges pass from stage to stage down the pipeline. A reference charge generator and a charge splitter at each stage generate reference signals. A first of the reference signals is compared to a source charge that is temporarily stored at the stage. The comparison generates a binary one if the source charge is greater than or equal to the first reference charge, or a binary zero if this source charge is less than the first reference charge. If a binary one is generated, only the stored contents of the stage need pass through to the next successive stage. However, if a binary zero is generated, the stored contents of the stage are passed to a next successive stage, together with a second reference charge, in such a way that the stored charges are combined. Auxiliary buffer registers are provided to temporarily store the output bits of the comparators. This allows forming a digital word for each source charge packet as the packet and its associated charge components travel down the pipeline.
A further refinement in charge to digital converter design is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,007 issued to Paul. In that arrangement, the pipeline produces a serial stream of both positive and negative signal charges corresponding to a differential signal. The differential signal structure provides improved sensitivity in the charge to voltage translation process, and thus increased dynamic range. The structure also exhibits reduce sensitivity to mismatches, by suppression of common mode noise signals in the charge domain.
In order to provide a high precision converter, the differential type successive approximation pipeline must often be trimmed or calibrated. The precision of the calibration apparatus must therefore be considerably better than the converter itself, making its design quite challenging.
Existing converter calibration techniques typically set the converter to a static state and then adjust one or more parameters of the pipeline to provide for Direct Current (DC) balance. These techniques usually require precise, low noise, low DC-offset amplifiers and/or comparators. Unfortunately, thermal noise, low frequency (l/f) noise, and DC voltage offsets produced by these devices often limit how accurately the converter can be calibrated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Analog to digital converter calibration via synchronous demodulation


An adaptor and a connection device are provided. The adaptor and the connection device fix a tool to an arbor of a hollow spindle machine. The adaptor has an inlet opening at a first part of the adaptor, the inlet opening being connectable to the central passage way of the arbor. The adaptor has an outlet opening at a second part of the adaptor, the second part radially protruding over the first part and being adapted for holding the tool. The adaptor has a connection device for fixing the adaptor to the arbor and a fluid distribution passage way connecting the inlet opening with the outlet opening so that the coolant is supplied to the tool via the outlet opening of the adaptor.

In the manufacture process of curvic couplings, central discs of turbines, and vanes, for instance, tools or cup style tools like cup style grinding wheels, cup style cutting wheels, cup style lapping wheels, and cup style polishing wheels are used. These cup style tools are rotated by an arbor and are brought into contact with a workpiece. The interaction of the cup style tool and the workpiece generates heat energy, which can have detrimental influences on the tool itself as well on the workpiece to be manufactured. The detrimental influences can be the production of cracks and fractures of the tool and the workpiece, which will reduce the lifetime of the tool and the workpiece and which makes the operation of the tool and the workpiece more dangerous. Moreover, the generated heat might discolor the workpiece and might damage or remove temper or heat treatment on the workpiece.
To reduce the generation of heat and to lead away the generated heat from the tool and the workpiece it is well known to use a coolant, which is delivered to the contact area of the tool with the workpiece. The coolant is delivered to the contact area e.g. by spraying the coolant to the contact points of the tool and the workpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,297 describes a superabrasive grinding wheel with integral coolant passages. The described grinding wheel comprises a fluid distribution passageway having a central supply tube formed within a tool holder, an annular space and guide channels formed within the body of the grinding wheel, and a plurality of non-perpendicular fluid delivery openings formed in the grinding surface so that coolant fluids at pressures of 14 bar and greater can be received within the fluid distribution passageway and delivered in a controlled manner toward the grinding surface via the delivery openings for either cooling the grinding tool and the workpiece.

Through coolant adaptor for use on hollow spindle machine tools


An optical signal monitoring system includes a bit rate information collecting unit and a monitoring unit. The bit rate information collecting unit gets bit rate information indicating a bit rate of an optical signal passing through an optical communication path. The monitoring unit extracts a monitoring optical signal from the optical communication path. When the bit rate information is not able to get, the monitoring optical signal is judged to be a noise. This system can make a sharp distinction between a broad optical signal whose bit rate is over 40 Gbit/sec and the ASE noise. Further, this system can correct optical signals dependently to those bit rates.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of the optical monitoring technique in the wavelength division multiplex transmission (WDM) system will be explained. In a node in which an optical monitoring system is installed, some wavelength of an optical signal S3 included in a WDM optical signal S1 sent out from an upstream node is demultiplexed by an optical demultiplexer 102, and is dropped off through a transponder 106. Moreover, an optical signal S4 that is to be added in this node is added to an optical signal S2 that is included in the optical signal S1 except what was dropped therefrom through a transponder 108, becoming an optical signal S6 that is multiplexed in an optical multiplexer 104. The optical signal S6 is amplified by an optical amplifier 110, a part thereof is extracted by an optical branching device 112 as an optical signal S5 for monitoring, and the part except the extracted optical signal is made to transmit to a downstream side. An optical monitoring module 120 monitors the optical signal S5. The optical monitoring module 120 detects a peak value of signal light, and measures various parameters.
For monitoring an optical signal, an optical monitoring functional device for detecting and monitoring a signal of a bandwidth that is equivalent to a transmission speed of about 10 Gbit/sec can be used. In the case of such a transmission speed, even if the wavelength resolution of an optical monitoring module inside an optical monitoring functional device was coarse, the optical signal could be detected without error.
Listed below are documents relevant to optical monitoring techniques of the optical communication system.    1. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application JP-P2006-189465A    2. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application JP-P2006-074698A    3. Japanese Laid-Open Paten Application JP-A-Heisei, 9-252283

Optical signal monitoring system and optical signal monitoring method


A method of treatment for diabetic neuropathy using combined administration of a formulation including as an active ingredient a prostaglandin I derivative, especially a prostaglandin I.sub.2 derivative with an anti-diabetic agent is applied to hypofunction of motor nerve and sensory nerve to which conventional anti-diabetic agents do not provide sufficient treatments, with nerve conduction velocities improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of treatment of diabetic neuropathy, which is a complication of diabetes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diabetic neuropathy occupies an important place as one of three major complications of diabetes, along with retinopathy and nephropathy, because it develops at relatively earlier stages of diabetes among various other complications of diabetes. It occurs very frequently, ruins patients' quality of life, and leads to distinctively poor prognosis in cases where an autonomic disorder develops as a complication.
Diabetic neuropathy is currently categorized into three groups comprising mononeuropathy, symmetrical peripheral polyneuropathy and autonomic neuropathy (Williams Text Book of Endocrinology, 8th Edition, p. 1301, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th Edition, p. 1754).
Mononeuropathy is a focal or multifocal mononeural disorder which appears as lesions of the cerebral nerve or affects soma and/or extremities. Its major symptom emerges as dyskinesia in many cases. It is known to develop more often in elder patients.
Symmetrical peripheral polyneuropathy is the most frequent form of diabetic neuropathy. It generally makes slow progress, so that patients tend to become aware of the symptoms only after it has reached an advanced stage. The initial symptoms are often a reduced Achilles reflex and a decline or absence of vibratory sensibility. Urtication represented as a smarting feeling and then numbness on both feet follow.
With autonomic neuropathy, patients show representative symptoms for autonomic disorder, such as orthostatic hypotension, cardiac rate alteration, dyshidrosis, atony of esophagus or gastric atony, diabetic diarrhea, impotence and others.
As mechanisms for development of these symptoms, metabolic hypothesis and vascular/ischemic hypothesis have been implied. For the former hypothesis, hyperegasia of polyol metabolic pathway, a pathway where sorbitol and fructose are produced from glucose provided due to hyperglycemia is considered to be the major contributing factor. Another theory involving a reduced content of myoinositol is related to peripheral nerve disorder. In the latter hypothesis, neuro-microvascular occlusion and/or destruction of blood-nerve barrier are thought to be related to the nerve disorders.
For diagnosis and follow-up of diabetic neuropathy a variety of neurologic tests are required. In the first place, Achilles reflex, knee reflex, biceps reflex and triceps reflex are usually examined as deep reflexes. Other than that, tests are performed wherein thermal sensitivity is examined through unmyelinated fibers (C-fibers), cold sensation through small (thinly) myelinated fibers (A.delta.-fibers), heat pain through A.delta.-fibers and C-fibers, and cold pain through C-fibers. Accordingly, for testing sensory nerve functions, vibratory sensibility, pain sensation and thermal sensation (using both warm tests and cold tests) are examined (Clinical Medicine for Diabetic Neuropathy, edited by Masatada Hirata and Norihei Matsuoka, 1992, Gendai-Iryou-sha, p. 95).
Among various neurologic tests, nerve conduction velocity (NCV) examination is the most widely used as a method of objectively evaluating severity of diabetic neuropathy. For motor nerves, two different locations at a nerve are selected to be stimulated with intensities selected to induce the largest peak for each of the corresponding controlling muscles in electromyograms. Then the distance between the two locations is divided by the balance between the obtained latencies in the two electromyograms. The sensory nerve is electrically stimulated in the orthodromic direction at an intensity selected to obtain the largest action potential, and then the distance between the stimulated location and the induced location is divided by the latency.
As methods of treatment of diabetic neuropathy, it has been reported that some trial treatments have been conducted during the 1970s and 1980s based upon the hypothesis that abnormality of metabolic factors is viewed as a cause, Greene D A, De Jesus P V Jr., et al. (Effects of insulin and dietary myoinositol on impaired peripheral motor nerve conduction velocity in acute streptozatocin diabetes; J. Clin. Invest., 1975, 55, 6, 1326-36.) and Yagihashi S., Nishihira M., et al. (Morphometrical analysis of the peripheral nerve lesions in experimental diabetes rats, Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 129, 2, 139-49, 1979). These confirmed that peripheral nerve fibers of model rats for diabetic neuropathy were morphologically impaired and NCV was reduced. In addition to that, they reported that when insulin was administered to the rats, improvements in NCV could been observed, thus finding that control over blood glucose level led to improvements in NCV.
Since then, tests measuring NCV have been always conducted to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of diabetic neuropathy. Afterward, no adequate results, however, have been practically provided by the treatments for diabetic neuropathy targeting improvements of NCV. In detail, Pietri A, et al. (Changes in nerve conduction velocity after six weeks of glucoregulation with portable insulin infusion pumps.: Diabetes, 29, 8, 668, 1980) and Graf R J, et al. (Glycemic control and nerve conduction abnormalities in non-insulin-dependent diabetic subjects: Ann. Intern. Med., 94, 3, 307, 1981) separately gave drug therapies using insulin to patients with insulin-dependent diabetes and patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes in 1980 and 1981, respectively, in order to treat diabetic neuropathy. It was consequently reported that motor nerve conduction velocity (MCV) was improved by controlling blood glucose level. It was also reported, however, that only by controlling blood glucose level, improvements in sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) could not be observed, and that treatments mainly proposing to control blood glucose level, accordingly, only provided very limited improvements of functions such as thermal sensitivity and vibratory sensibility.
Although Pfeifer M A (Effects of glycemic control and aldose reductase inhibition on nerve conduction velocity: Am. J. Med., 79, 5A, 18-23, 1985) and Yoshio Goto, et al. (Clinical research for diabetic neuropathy using epalrestat (ONO-2235)--Inter-group double-blind placebo (including a trace amount of a curative medicine)-controlled trial: Igaku-no-Ayumi, 152, 6, 405, 1990) tested treatments using aldose reductase inhibitors (ARIs) based upon a hypothesis of abnormality in polyol metabolic pathway as one of the candidates of the cause of the disease in 1985 and 1990, respectively, the effects of aldose reductase inhibitors (ARIs) on improving motor nerve conduction velocity (MCV) and sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) remained low.
Accordingly, current methods of treatment for diabetic neuropathy, dietary therapy and administration of insulin, both mainly proposing to control blood glucose level, administration of aldose reductase inhibitors and aminoguanidine, both mainly proposing to improve abnormal glucose metabolism, administration of troglitazone, and administration of agents for limb ischemia mainly proposing to improve blood flow, have been conducted.
In any treatments, improvement of nerve conduction velocity was not always sufficient when a single drug was used, and methods of treatment by combined use of different therapeutic agents which have different functions have yet to be established. Accordingly, combined drug therapies for diabetic neuropathy, aiming at recovering once reduced nerve conduction velocity, have not yet been confirmed.
It has been reported that therapeutic efficacy obtained by single use of an anti-diabetic agent has achieved only limited improvements, i.e., applying 12-week treatment using an aldose reductase inhibitor alone (for 86 subjects), MCV (median motor nerve conduction velocity) and SCV (median sensory nerve conduction velocity) achieved improvement by only 2 m/sec and 3.2 m/sec, respectively. (Clinical research on diabetic neuropathy using epalrestat (ONO-2235)--Double-blind placebo (including a trace amount of a curative medicine)-controlled trial): Igaku-no-Ayumi, 152, 6, 405, 1990). In addition, when treatments with single use of an oral hypoglycemic agent (for 51 subjects) or an insulin (for 10 subjects) had been continued separately for 5 through 10 years, both nerve conduction velocities were rather reduced, i.e. MCV (median motor nerve conduction velocity) and SCV (median sensory nerve conduction velocity) were reduced by 2.9 m/sec and 0.6 m/sec, respectively (Juhani Partanen et al., Natural history of peripheral neuropathy in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus: N. Eng. J. Med., 333, 2, 89-94, 1995). Accordingly, it has been found that using methods of treatment with an anti-diabetic agent alone, nerve conduction velocities were only improved 3.2 m/sec at the best. Even in some cases these velocities rather were reduced as the illness proceeded.
It has been verified through animal experiments using beraprost, a prostaglandin-12 derivative, that beraprost has therapeutic efficacy on diabetic neuropathy. (Publication of unexamined application for Japanese Patent: Serial Number 1990-262519). No reports, however, have been published on combined effects of beraprost with an anti-diabetic agent on diabetic neuropathy aiming at functional improvements of sensory nerve and motor nerve.
As described hereinbefore, in the treatments of diabetic neuropathy aiming at recovering once-reduced nerve conduction velocity, any of the conventional anti-diabetic agents with its single use even shows some effects, but the degrees of which are not evaluated as clinical satisfaction. Moreover, no combined therapies using two curative agents with different functions have yet been achieved.

Method of treatment for diabetic neuropathy


An electrohydraulic transmission controller (7), a transmission device with an electrohydraulic transmission controller and a vehicle drive train that features an electrohydraulic transmission controller are disclosed. The electrohydraulic transmission controller is constructed with a plurality of electrically actuatable pressure control valves (9 to 16), as well as with a plurality of valve arrangements (17 to 34) that can be acted on in each case by an hydraulic precontrol pressure depending upon the actuation of the pressure valves, by way of which valve arrangements switching elements (A to E) of a transmission device can be acted on in each case with a control pressure to produce a required operating state of the transmission device. An additional pressure control valve (9) is provided to adjust a precontrol pressure (p_VS—9) of an additional valve arrangement (35), whereby downstream of the additional valve arrangement, the sub-assembly (6) of a vehicle drive train can be acted on by a cooling oil volume flow subject to the precontrol pressure of the additional valve arrangement and an operating state of the additional valve arrangement (35) corresponding to it.

In the motor vehicle drive trains known from the state of the art, which are equipped respectively with an internal combustion engine, a transmission device and an output. The component assemblies thereof are subjected to stresses depending on operating state. These stresses result from the greater frictional stresses on switching elements that are periodically operated in a slipping state during startup procedures or switching operations in the transmission device.
In order to reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions, motor vehicles are increasingly equipped with hybrid drives. In motor vehicles, systems are provided with both parallel and serial arrangement of the two drive systems, that is, the internal combustion engine and the electric engine.
When there is parallel arrangement of the two drive systems, a vehicle can be operated by both drives independent of each other, where an internal combustion engine can be separated from an electric engine by way of a decoupler and the latter, in turn, uncoupled by way of an additional friction-locked switching element an additional decoupler.
A transmission device is, in each case, connected to an output of a vehicle drive train, where with an engaged switching element that is arranged between the internal combustion engine and the electric engine and with an engaged switching element that is provided between the electric engine and the transmission device, a vehicle can be driven by the internal combustion engine alone or in combination with the electric machine engine. By engaging only the switching element that is arranged between the electric engine and the transmission device, a vehicle can be driven soley by the electric engine or by braking energy that is recuperable via the electric engine, which is then driven by a generator.
The previously described hybrid systems are used in connection with automated transmissions and in combination with automatic transmissions. Particularly in the case of use in automatic transmissions, a switching element of the automatic transmission is ideally located between the electric engine and the transmission device. A torque converter, provided as a startup device for internal combustion engine startup procedures is, in hybrid drives, often replaced by the switching element arranged between the internal combustion engine and the electric engine or between the electric engine and the transmission device.
The different assemblies in hybrid motor vehicle drive trains are subjected to considerable thermal stresses during critical operating states because, particularly the switching elements between the internal combustion and electric engines and the transmission device must be transferred in a slipping state with high rotational speed differences and with high torque applying to them at the same time into an engaged operating state. This is the case when a vehicle, due to a low charge condition of electrical storage units assigned to the electric engine, has to be started using the internal combustion engine or a clutch configured as a switching element for vibrationally disengaging the internal combustion engine, has to be operated in a slipping state.
In order to reduce the high thermal stresses occurring in the previously described switching elements, the switching elements are usually wet multi-plate clutches of disc brakes, which are cooled by a cooling oil volume flow. In order to adjust the cooling of the switching element to the changing requirements during different operating states of a vehicle drive train, there is an attempt to vary the coolant volume flow that is supposed to be supplied to the switching elements at any given time by way of a predefined strategy subject to operating state.
There is no satisfactory representation capacity with conventional hydraulic systems with electrohydraulic transmission controllers of strategy-compatible cooling systems, of switching elements of drive trains or hybrid drive trains of motor vehicles, as known from DE 198 58 543 A1 or from DE 10 2005 012 586 A1.
This results from the fact that in order to adequately cool the switching elements that are under great thermal stress, in addition to the hydraulic transmission systems, there must also be hydraulic cooling systems with their own coolant circulation and their own coolant pump, which exhibit complex construction, require a large installation space and have a high dead weight, and which are also characterized by a great control and regulation complexity which, among other things, results in high cost.
The present invention is therefore based on the task of providing an electrohydraulic transmission control, a transmission device and a motor vehicle, which reduce thermal stresses on assemblies of a motor vehicle drive train over the entire operating range of a motor vehicle drive train in a simple and cost-effective way.
This task is performed with an inventive electrohydraulic transmission controller and transmission device of a motor vehicle drive train or with a vehicle drive train.

Electrohydraulic transmission controller, transmission device, and a motor vehicle drive train


A PGIA for use in measurement devices (e.g., data acquisition device) having improved dielectric absorption (DA) compensation and common mode rejection ratio (CMRR). When a step function is applied to an input of the PGIA, a first and a second DA compensation circuit may generate DA compensation signals derived from the step function. The DA compensation signals may combine with an original response of the PGIA to cancel some of the dielectric absorptions effects and improve the overall step response of the PGIA. An input stage of the PGIA may include a CMRR enhancement circuit to increase symmetry at the inputs of the PGIA. The CMRR enhancement circuit may delay an input signal received at a negative input terminal a particular amount such that it is in phase with an input signal received at a positive input terminal of the PGIA, to improve the CMRR.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to measurement and data acquisition systems and, more particularly, to programmable gain instrumentation amplifier (PGIA) design.
2. Description of the Related Art
Scientists and engineers often use measurement systems to perform a variety of functions, including measurement of a physical phenomena or unit under test (UUT), test and analysis of physical phenomena, process monitoring and control, control of mechanical or electrical machinery, data logging, laboratory research, and analytical chemistry, to name a few examples.
A typical measurement system comprises a computer system with a measurement device or measurement hardware. The measurement device may be a computer-based instrument, a data acquisition device or board, a programmable logic device (PLD), an actuator, or other type of device for acquiring or generating data. The measurement device may be a card or board plugged into one of the I/O slots of the computer system, or a card or board plugged into a chassis, or an external device. For example, in a common measurement system configuration, the measurement hardware is coupled to the computer system through a PCI bus, PXI (PCI extensions for Instrumentation) bus, a GPIB (General-Purpose Interface Bus), a VXI (VME extensions for Instrumentation) bus, a serial port, parallel port, or Ethernet port of the computer system. Optionally, the measurement system includes signal conditioning devices which receive the field signals and condition the signals to be acquired.
A measurement system may typically include transducers, sensors, or other detecting means for providing "field" electrical signals representing a process, physical phenomena, equipment being monitored or measured, etc. The field signals are provided to the measurement hardware. In addition, a measurement system may also typically include actuators for generating output signals for stimulating a UUT.
Measurement systems, which may also be generally referred to as data acquisition systems, may include the process of converting a physical phenomenon (such as temperature or pressure) into an electrical signal and measuring the signal in order to extract information. PC-based measurement and data acquisition (DAQ) systems and plug-in boards are used in a wide range of applications in the laboratory, in the field, and on the manufacturing plant floor.
In a measurement or data acquisition process, analog signals may be received by a digitizer, which may reside in a DAQ device or instrumentation device. The analog signals may be received from a sensor, converted to digital data (possibly after being conditioned) by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and transmitted to a computer system for storage and/or analysis. When a measurement system generates an output analog signal, the computer system may generate digital signals that are provided to one or more digital-to-analog converters (DACs) in the DAQ device. The DACs convert the digital signal to an analog signal output that is used, e.g., to stimulate a UUT.
Generally, analog signals that are received at a DAQ device are first routed from a particular channel via a multiplexer. The signals may then enter an instrumentation amplifier, typically a programmable gain instrumentation amplifier (PGIA). A distinctive feature of an instrumentation amplifier is that it provides very high input impedance, common mode rejection ratio (CMRR), and some gain. A PGIA typically applies a specified amount of gain to an input signal, which raises the signal to a higher level and ensures proper A/D conversion. The PGIA may also convert differential input signals applied to the DAQ board to a single-ended output so that the ADC can correctly digitize the data.
The functionality described above may be achieved by utilizing several operational amplifiers (op-amps) with the right combination of other components. However, as more components are added to the input stage, the settling time of the overall amplifier may suffer significantly. Each component may introduce additional delays due to parasitics (also called dielectric absorption), and therefore may change the overall time constant and step response of the amplifier. Moreover, device tolerances, mismatches, and any asymmetrical topology in the instrumentation amplifier often result in a much lower CMRR than the ideal case.

Programmable gain instrumentation amplifier having improved dielectric absorption compensation and common mode rejection ratio


Food handling tongs having a first arm and a second arm, each of which includes a front end, a rear end and a middle portion, and pivotally connected to one another in a scissors-like manner. A bottom plate is attached to an upper surface of the first arm and a top plate is attached to the lower surface of the second arm whereby the top and bottom plates move toward and away from one another as the food handling tongs are moved between open and closed positions. A plurality of parallel rows of serrated teeth are formed on an inner surface of the top and bottom plates. Each row of teeth extends between a pair of opposed sides of each plate. The rows are positioned one after the other from a front end of the plates to a rear end of the plates. The rear end of each arm includes a looped handle member which forms a finger receiving opening. A coil spring extends between the first and second arms and is positioned between the pivotal connection of the arms and the handle members to bias the food handling tongs towards the closed position.

1. Technical Field
Generally, the invention relates to tongs. Particularly, the invention relates to tongs for handling and grasping food. Specifically, the invention relates to tongs having top and bottom plates which pivot between open and closed positions and which include contiguous rows of serrated teeth extending across opposed surfaces of the plates.
2. Background Information
Food handling tongs are used to grasp food and allow a user to move the food without using his or her fingers. For example, food being cooked on a grill or in a frying pan is too hot to move with a user's fingers or with a short object such as a fork. Food handling tongs allow the user to grasp the hot food while preventing the user from burning his or her hands or fingers on the hot grill or pan. Another benefit to using food handling tongs is that the tongs prevent a user from passing germs from his or her fingers and hands to the food article or to adjacent food articles.
Examples of food handling tongs are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,533 which discloses food handling tongs having a pair of arms interconnected in a scissor-like manner. A grasping element extends from one end of each arm and a handle element extends from the other end of each arm. The grasping elements are curved towards one another and have drainage openings formed therein. The free end of each grasping element includes a pair of pincers for grasping relatively small articles. The handle elements extend generally perpendicular to the arms and are formed with finger receiving openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,569 discloses tongs for grasping food which include a pair of arms interconnected in a scissors-like manner. A first end of one arm includes a ladle bowl and a first end of the other arm includes a spoon, a plurality of spaced fingers extend upwardly from a side wall of the ladle bowl. When the tongs are closed, the spoon enters into the ladle bowl within the spaced fingers to securely retain the food therebetween. A pair of finger receiving openings are formed on the second end of the arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,009 discloses food handling tongs having upper and lower plates formed with a plurality of circular apertures surrounded by countersunk frusto conicle portions. The plates are attached to a pair of arms which are interconnected in a scissors-like manner. A finger receiving opening is formed at an end of each arm opposite to that of the plates. The apertures allow liquids, such as grease, to drain from the food article being handled by the tongs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,628 discloses food handling tongs with serrated blade slots. The tongs include a pair of arms interconnected in a scissors-like manner. A food gripping plate is attached to one end of each arm and finger receiving handles are formed on the other end of each arm. A pair of serrated teeth defining slots is formed in each plate whereby the teeth of each slot engages the food article being handled by the tongs.
U.S. Pat. No. Des.-341,997 discloses food tongs having a pair of spaced arms biased towards an open position. A circular member is attached to an end of one arm and a semi-circular member is attached to an end of the second arm.
Although these prior art tongs are adequate for the purpose for which they are intended, these prior art tongs fail to provide parallel rows of serrated gripping teeth along the entire surface of the tong plates which bite into the food article being held therebetween and prevent the food article from slipping from its engagement with the tongs. Several of these prior art tongs are specifically designed to handle food articles of a particular shape or texture and are unsuitable for general use.
Therefore, the need exists for improved food handling tongs which provide a pair of plates having a plurality of parallel rows of serrated teeth extending along the entire surface of the plates, which are suitable for general use including handling food articles such as hamburgers and the like, and which prevent the food articles from sliding from their engagement between the plates.


A deodorant composition comprising arginine, bicarbonate, zinc and carbonate, preferably arginine bicarbonate and zinc carbonate (ABZC), and one or more physiologically acceptable excipients, administered for the modification of cutaneous microfloras—generally to reduce axillary odor, promote the growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria, inhibit the growth of Corynebacterium striatum bacteria, or any or all of the preceding.

The human axilla (i.e., underarm) is a region of the human body that contains a high density of apocrine glands that produce and secrete sweat, as occurs during increased physical activity or exposure to heat. Also, it has been known for many years that sweat (or perspiration) per se contains odorless precursors which, when acted upon by the axillary bacteria, produce sugars, sugar amines, amino acids, and short chain carboxylic acids (SCCAs), of which some are degraded further to products that include odorants that are associated to a major extent with axillary odor (Zeng et al, 1991; Jackman, 1982).
The axillary microbiome in humans includes a variety of microorganisms, of which staphylococci, corynebacteria and propionibacteria are among the most prominent (Starkemann et al., 2005, Troccaz et al., 2004, Jackman, 1982). A study of 229 subjects by Leyden et al. (1981) established that axillary odor typically includes a strong pungent and a weak secondary odor, that is acidic and generally of lesser intensity. Leyden et al. further found that the primary axillary bacteria responsible for the strong pungent odor were corynebacteria. More recently, Emter et al. (2008) narrowed this finding to specific species among the corynebacteria. Leyden et al. (2002) demonstrated that staphylococci and other axillary bacteria also contribute to axillary odor. The contributions of these other (non-corynebacteria) bacteria to the odor bouquet are products that tend to be more acidic and less offensive in nature. What was not known was whether and/or how these two major odor streams might be related and if and how they could both be inhibited simultaneously. Such interaction and balancing are central to manipulating and modifying microfloras found in the oral cavity (Kleinberg et al., 2002), and possibly also in the vagina and large intestine. Such modification at these sites provide a more healthy condition, which may be termed dysbiotic to eubiotic microflora transformation.

Compositions and methods for reducing cutaneous microbiome malodor

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York


A wind deflector for a pickup truck or a similar vehicle, is formed with a frame that includes left and right side members for removably attaching to structure in the truck. A rigid wind deflector panel is supported on the frame and extends diagonally up and back from the floor of the truck bed over the tailgate. One or more strap members secure to a lower transverse member of the frame, and each has a bracket member that removably grips the rear lip of the truck bed floor where the tail gate is located. The strap member is tightened to pull the transverse member downward and rearward to hold the wind deflector in place in the truck bed. A spoiler bar can be attached. A tray supported on the frame holds small articles in the space beneath the wind deflector. The wind deflector can be quickly installed and removed.

This invention relates to wind deflectors for the rear part of the open pickup truck bed, and is particularly concerned with air deflectors or wind deflectors that minimize drag occurring in the bed of the pickup truck, and which can increase fuel efficiency in the pickup truck. The invention is also concerned with a wind deflector or streamliner that permits the tailgate to be opened and closed when the wind deflector is in place, and which itself can be easily installed and removed without having to bolt or screw into the bed or floor of the truck.
A number of drag reducers or air deflectors have been proposed in the prior art, but these all have significant drawbacks that have prevented them from being widely adopted.
Kuo U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,058 proposes an air current guide that fits into the rear of the pickup truck bed, and can be used to hold tools, etc., in the space under a main guiding plate. Kuo also proposes the use of panels that move sideways to adjust to the width of the truck bed. But Kuo does not provide for holding the device in place on the truck bed, or keeping it from sliding forward during braking. Also, the entire item is fairly massive, and would be difficult for a person to install and remove.
Felker U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,589, Fonseca U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,829, Larsen U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,747, and Corner U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,616 propose wind deflectors of this general type, which are attached by fasteners to the floor or bed of the truck body. Thus these require a great deal of effort to install and remove.
Others have proposed installing aerodynamic surfaces on top of the truck tail gate, and one example of this is found in Burg. U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,020. This approach ignores the major turbulence created at the right angle formed by the tail gate, and only concentrates on the air flowing over the upper lip of the tail gate.
Thus, to date there has been no truly practical streamliner or air deflector proposed for guiding the air efficiently out of the bed of the pickup truck. As a consequence of this, many operators have taken to driving with the tailgate down to cut down on wind resistance. However, this is an unsafe practice, and can result in damage from rear end collisions, even at low speeds. Also, this approach can only be used when the pickup truck bed is completely empty.
What is lacking, and is the problem that this invention resolves, is structure of holding the air deflector or device in place just ahead of the tail gate, attaching to existing structure in the truck bed and/or side panels, so that it can be both sturdy and light weight, and so that it can be easily removed and stored when the operator needs to place a load into the bed of the truck.

Streamliner wind deflector for pickup truck


A system joins predicate evaluated column bitmaps having varying lengths. The system includes a column unifier for querying column values with a predicate and generating an indicator bit for each of the column values that is then joined with the respective column value. The system also includes a bitmap generator for creating a column-major linear bitmap from the column values and indicator bits. The column unifier also determines an offset between adjacent indicator bits. The system also includes a converter for multiplying the column-major linear bitmap with a multiplier to shift the indicator bits into consecutive positions in the linear bitmap.

There are generally two methods used in computing for storing multidimensional arrays in linear memory: row-major ordering, and column-major ordering. Identifying the correct layout is important for processing the array because the manner in which a computer program traverses the linear array depends on the method used to generate the array.
In row-major ordering, a multidimensional array is stored so that rows are positioned one after the other. For example, a simple two dimensional array such as
123456is stored linearly as [1 2 3 4 5 6]. Conversely, when stored in column-major ordering, the two dimensional array is stored as [1 4 2 5 3 6].
Column-major layout has emerged as a common scheme for organizing data in data warehouses because this layout results in reduced IO requirements for queries. This is because each query needs to scan only the columns that it references. However, stitching together the results of operations over individual columns is complicated by the column-major layout.
For example, assume that: (1) a column A is encoded using a 10-bit dictionary code and is stored linearly as 25 values in a 256-bit word, with 6 bits of padding; and (2) a column B is encoded with a 9-bit code stored linearly as a 14 values in a 128-bit word with 2 bits of padding. If one were to run a query with conditions (predicates) of A<5 and B=10, one can very efficiently compute the answers of the predicates on columns A and B separately (i.e., separately compute the list of records satisfying A<5, and satisfying B=10).
However, it is very inefficient to combine the results of the query on A and B. Currently methods for combining the results of the queries include either: (1) extracting the results for A and B into separate bitmaps by applying a separate shift and mask for each tuple and then forming a bitwise-AND of the results; or (2) performing Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) shuffle instructions to expand both columns to occupy, for example, four entries of a 128-bit word and then doing a bitwise-AND of the resultant words. A further difficulty with either of these methods is that the query results must all be bitmaps that are positionally aligned with each other. Stated differently, the i'th bit of the query result of column A must be for the same record as the i'th bit of the query result for column B.

Multiplication-based method for stitching results of predicate evaluation in column stores

International Business Machines Corporation


A through electrode substrate includes: a substrate having a first surface and a second surface facing the first surface; through electrodes penetrating through the substrate; and a first capacitor including a first conductive layer, an insulating layer, and a second conductive layer, arranged on the first surface side of the substrate, and electrically connected with at least one of the through electrodes. The first conductive layer is arranged on the first surface side of the substrate and is electrically connected with the through electrode. The insulating layer includes a first part and a second part and is arranged on the first conductive layer. The second conductive layer is arranged on the insulating layer. The first part is arranged between the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer. The second part covers at least a part of a side surface of the first conductive layer.

In a recent electronic device, a configuration in which wirings are used on both surfaces of a substrate is used. In Patent Literature 1 (WO 2005/034594), a substrate in which wirings on both surfaces of the substrate are connected by an electrode that penetrates through a glass substrate is disclosed.

Through electrode substrate and semiconductor device