A unison gauge for indicating levelness of a string set of a grand piano is described. The gauge has a contact block adjustably engageable with the lowermost tangential aspect of the string set. Battery powered indicators provide an indication for each string. With the piano action withdrawn from the piano case, the base of the device rests on the key bed below the piano hammer strike area of the string set and holds the contact block mounted thereon on an extendable mast. The contacts of the contact block are in a plane parallel to the key bed. The contact block is under slight spring tension when engaged with a string set being monitored and, upon compression of the spring readily slides along the key bed to the next string set. A method of use of the unison gauge is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for determining the levelness of compound strings or string sets, namely bichords and trichords, of a grand piano. The device uses the upper surface of the key bed of the piano as a reference surface and determines levelness of the aforesaid string sets. In addition to the string leveling device, a method of use thereof is provided.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The history of the modern piano begins with the pianoforte developed by a harpsichord builder, Bartolommeo Christofori. Christofori invented the instrument in Florence in 1709 and completed a prototype around 1720. The main driving force behind the instrument's development was that, in contradistinction to the predecessor instruments—the harpsichord and the clavichord—the piano provided variations in volume. Additionally development was spurred on by the desire to play fuller, less delicate music.
Musicians of the time sought a full rich sound and were unsatisfied by the strong and uniform harpsichord tone produced by plucking large strings with keyboard-controlled quills. On the other hand, the percussive action of the clavichord, while allowing for variations in volume, produced weak tones by striking brass hammers against small, thin strings.
Of the several versions of the piano invented in the Eighteenth century, Christofori's pianoforte, is most closely related to the modern-day grand piano in that the hammers thereof are wooden blocks covered on the striking surface with soft leather. Later in the Eighteenth century a piano hammer was designed with the same basic shape that survives today. In this design, two layers of leather were used with the inner layer being a firm leather, and the outer layer being softer. The final form of the leather covered piano hammer used three layers of leather of varying firmness with the softest leather on the outside and the firmest layer on the inside. This provided a piano hammer that was soft and compliant at the surface to provide the requisite tone for pianissimo playing and a hammer firmer underneath to provide the strength for forte playing.
As the grand piano developed, it became more and more a solo instrument, and needed to be louder. To increase volume, strings needed to be thicker and the support structure stronger, so that greater tension could be achieved. The frame of the pianos, commonly made of wood, became thicker and heavier, and was strengthened by cross-bracing. By 1820, English manufacturer John Broadwood began to build iron hitch pin plates, which now meant plates were made of more metal than wood. In 1825 Alpheus Babcock patented the cast-iron frame and further in 1843, American manufacturer Jonas Chickering began making pianos with the full-perimeter plate—a feature of modern grand pianos.
In 1821 a French builder, Sebastian Erard, invented the last major basic refinement of the piano action; the double escapement. Shortly thereafter, the heavy iron frame required by the action and the higher tensioned strings was provided, and then cross-stringing, a system whereby the long bass strings cross over the shorter middle-range strings, was invented.
After the invention of the iron frame for the strings on a piano, heavier strings, including bichords and trichords, could be used at higher tensions to produce a fuller sound from the piano. This rendered the leather covered piano hammer unacceptable. The result was the development and patenting of a felt covered piano hammer by Alpheus Babcock in 1833. These hammers provided a more acceptable tone than the leather covered hammers. In the late Nineteenth century machines were invented to cover the raw wood piano hammers with felt. The felt hammers enabled the manufacturer to fine tune the tone of the piano by adjusting the hardness of the felt. The process of tonally regulating the piano hammers is called voicing, requires skilled piano technicians, and is a time consuming operation. Initially, the piano hammer felt is checked for proper shaping, particularly that the striking surface is flat across the width thereof. During voicing, the technician adjusts the tone of a hammer by adjusting the softness or the hardness of the hammer felt. When a tone sounds too soft, by applying a solution of lacquer and lacquer thinner to the hammer felt the technician adjusts the felt hardness and the tone produced at that site. Alternate methods of adjusting hammer felt hardness include working the hammer felt with a needle to loosen the fibrous structure thereof.
String leveling of a grand piano is a process completed before voicing or the adjustments of the felts of the hammers. If the string sets—bichords and trichords—are not level, the strike of the corresponding hammer produces a fuzzy note and the damping of the strike is not properly accomplished. This creates what is referred to as an aftersound or ring, which, in turn, destroys the normal clarity or definition of individual notes of the instrument. In practice, piano technicians are trained to detect unlevel string sets by ear. Upon detection, the technician is presently taught to correct the condition by withdrawing the piano action and placing the end of a steel rule on the string set to sight along the string. When gaps are present, the sagging string is drawn up to the higher string by shortening or kinking the string.
A complete piano action consists of thousands of parts and weighs on the order of 30 kilograms or more and hence has a substantial support or key bed on which the action rests when in the piano case. The key bed is rigidly connected to the piano case and is an integral part of the piano case. Because a mechanical coupling exists between the key bed and the piano soundboard through various components of the piano case, vibrations originating at the key bed are transmitted through the frame of the piano to the soundboard to produce extraneous noise, such as the aftersound, supra, which detract from the tonal integrity of the instrument. Consequently, in a grand piano, as the frame of the piano action is in intimate contact with the key bed, it is critical that the key bed be perfectly flat and that the string sets be precisely level with respect thereto.
There are two other aspects of the grand piano manufacture and maintenance that are impacted by string leveling—the una corda pedal action for playing pianissimo and the damping mechanism for curtailing and ending the resonating of a string set. The una corda pedal in the modern grand piano is the left pedal and shifts the piano action sufficiently in the key bed to enable the piano hammers to strike only one string of each bichord unison and two strings of each trichord unison. This places a further requirement on key bed construction to permit a noiseless sliding of the piano action relative to the key bed whenever the una corda pedal is depressed. The description of the una corda pedal and the action thereof is found in a patent to Harold A. Conklin, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,051, which description is incorporated herein by reference.
In the grand piano, the damping mechanism curtails and ends the resonating of a string or string set. The depressing of a key raises a damper wire which, in turn, supports a damper head and the attached damper felt and thereafter, upon release, the damper assembly falls on the string or string set. For even damping across the entire range of the piano, the weight of the damper assembly is varied in accordance with the size and tension of the string or string set so as to have a correspondingly even damping influence on the resonance thereof. The damper felt has a longitudinal aspect which for proper damping action needs to be in full contact with the string or string set. At a pre-determined node when a string set is not level, the damping mechanism does not seat properly thereon and results in a partially damped note. This is created by one or two strings ceasing to resonate and by the remaining undamped string sustaining the note until the natural decay occurs.
In manufacturing a grand piano the process of string leveling is accomplished prior to voicing which was described by Franz Mohr of Steinway as open work (or work with the piano action withdrawn from the piano case). The manufacturer anticipates that during the initial period of use, the instrument will be tuned, string leveled and voiced with greater frequency. This results as the outer portion of the hammer felts continue to be further shaped by the initial play by the pianist. Additionally, the tuning-string-leveling-voicing process takes on particular importance when a pianist individualizes the grand piano for concerts or recording sessions. When voicing is attempted without the pre-requisite string leveling, the shaping and the hardening of hammer felts do not provide the desired clarity as a hammer strike on an uneven string set produces tones with differing decays.
Similarly, in regulating the mechanical arrangement of the una corda pedal, unlevel strings create a condition in which the hammer strikes, instead of squarely meeting the string (bichord) or string set (trichord), are frequently glancing blows. This produces an uneven tonal quality that is readily heard because of the pianissimo mode.
The effect of unlevel string sets when adjusting the damper mechanism is described in a December, 2002 article in the Piano Technicians Journal. Andrew Remillard in an article entitled Dampers: Peace and Quiet at Last indicates that for proper adjustment of the dampers the strings need to be level because, "if one string hangs a little beneath its neighbor it will be virtually impossible to ever completely dampen it."
Prior to preparing this application, the inventor became familiar with several patents concerned with grand piano manufacture and maintenance, which patents are included herein as further background material. The patents are:
ITEM NO.U.S. PAT. NO.INVENTORISSUE DATE1.6,559,369GilmoreMay 6, 20032.6,489,548SchindlerDec. 3, 20023.6,479,738GilmoreNov. 12, 20024.6,278,047CumberlandAug. 21, 20015.6,107,556GilliamAug. 22, 20006.5,756,913GilmoreMay 26, 19987.5,654,515YouseAug. 5, 19978.5,528,970ZacaroliJun. 25, 19969.5,423,241Scarton et al.Jun. 13, 199510.5,065,660de BudaNov. 19, 199111.4,253,374WattermanMar. 3, 198112.4,127,051Conklin, Jr.Nov. 28, 197813.3,675,529Van Der WoerdJul. 11, 1972
Additional background information was obtained from several nonpatent references, namely:    14. 40TH Annual PTG Convention (1997)—Mini Technical Classes—Michael Vecchione, Making Unisons Sound SPOT ON     15. 40TH Annual PTG Convention (1997)—Mini Technical Classes—Clair Davies, String Leveling     16. 1998 www.ptg.org—John Woodrow, String Leveling Questions     17. Del Fandrick, RPT, Q. and A. On the Level, Piano Technicians Journal (PTJ), Vol 38, No. 2 (1995)    18. Clair Davies, RPT String Leveling by Ear, PTJ. Vol. 40, No. 11 (1997)    19. Solution for Agraffe Noise, PTJ, Vol. 32, No. 8 (1989)    20. Q. and A. Fuzzy, False Tone, PTJ, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1986)    21. Virgil E. Smith Criminal Negligence in Piano Service, PTJ, Vol. 36, No 10 (1993)    22. David W. Pitsch, RPT, After Touch, PTJ, Vol 25, No 12 (1982)    23. Susan Graham, Agraffes, PTJ, Vol. 27, No. 5 (1984)    24. Selections from Five Lectures on The Acoustics of the Piano Proceedings of the Royal Swedish Academy of Piano (1990) as published at www.speech.kth.se
In addition to the patents uncovered, the nonpatent references, as cited above, uncovered a series of five lectures entitled, The Acoustics of the Piano, sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (1990). While there was some emphasis on aftersound and the physics of sound upon a hammer striking a string, there is seemingly no mention of the effect of unlevel strings on the voicing or on the damping mechanism. In fact, the discussion seems to indicate that some roughness at the edge of the notes was deliberate, which teaches away from the precise string leveling, infra.
In Clair Davies teaching before the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) convention about string leveling, he uses the square end of a steel rule to check that the strings are coplanar and does not use the key bed as reference. This teaching also indicates that Franz Mohr called string leveling part of the "open work" of piano tuning.
With the foregoing background in mind, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel string leveling device which precisely gauges the condition of the bichords and trichords of a grand piano with reference to the upper surface of the key bed. The disclosed invention also encompasses a method of using the apparatus as a preliminary step to voicing a grand piano, adjusting the damping mechanism and regulating the una corda pedal.

String leveling device and method of use thereof


Dissipation of the heat produced by the operation of electronic circuitry may be improved by a heat sink which comprises a flat base from which a number of vertical fins extend. The fins are parallel to one another and define a number of parallel channels into which coolant flow is directed. The thermal resistance of the heat sink is optimized by setting fin thickness and channel width parameters to appropriate values. The heat sink may be attached in a heat conductive manner to a heat producing electronic component. One or more of these heat sinked components may be laid out in an in-line or staggered arrangement on a support in the form of a circuit pack. Cooling fluid is delivered to the circuit pack in a variety of ways to cool the heat sinked components. A method of determining the optimum fin thickness and channel width parameters involves determining a relationship between total thermal resistance of the heat sink and combinations of fin thickness and channel width parameters. A contour plot is produced in accordance with the relationship referred to above. The contour plot shows regions of optimum heat dissipation for heat sinks in accordance with the geometry identified here.

Effectively dissipating the heat produced by the operation of electronic components is an important concern in optimizing the performance of the circuitry in which those components are used. In addition to optimizing performance, effective heat dissipation also helps to prolong the useful life of those components. Heat dissipation is particularly important in the case of high power electronic components which may produce three watts per square centimeter or more. Some exotic methods of cooling of high power electronic components, such as forced liquid cooling of heat sinks attached to those components, have been proposed, but these methods are not desirable because they are costly to implement and maintain. Simple air cooling techniques have been avoided because of the inadequate performance of heat sinks and coolant delivery systems developed to date and because of a general perception that air cooling is not up to the task of adequately dissipating the heat produced by today's high power electronic components.
There has been some work involving the use of air cooled narrow channel and microchannel heat sinks to cool electronic components. For example, Goldberg, "Narrow Channel Forced Air Heat Sink," IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids, and Manufacturing Technology, Vol. CHMT-7, No. 1, March 1984, pp. 154-159 refers to confined channel heat sinks in which channel spacing and width were either 0.0127 cm., 0.0254 cm. or 0.0635 cm. Air was used as the cooling fluid and it was ducted directly to the heat sink. The heat sink of Goldberg was said to have achieved thermal impedances of 3.4.degree. to 5.9.degree. C. per watt.
Hilbert et al., "High Performance Micro Channel Air Cooling," Proceedings of the Sixth Annual IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, pp. 108-113) 1990, refers to an array of microchannel finned heat sinks in which air was specially ducted to the top of each heat sink. The heat sinks were said to have achieved thermal impedances in the range of 1.6.degree. to 2.1.degree. C. per watt.
Both Goldberg and Hilbert do not deal with heat sinks having an optimum configuration which maximizes their heat dissipation capability. In addition, both Goldberg and Hilbert refer to unusually shaped heat sinks which are difficult and expensive to manufacture. Also, Goldberg and Hilbert achieve the performance they achieve with coolant delivery systems which are non-standard in most electronic systems. Most electronic systems either push or pull air flow across electronic components which are situated on flat circuit boards which are disposed in a parallel configuration in bays or racks in a cabinet. There is a fan shelf placed at the top or bottom of the system to force air into the cabinet and through the spaces between the parallel circuit cards. The flow impingement techniques of Goldberg and Hilbert cannot be used with, or readily adapted to; these kinds of cooling arrangements.
Efforts such as those of Goldberg and Hilbert, therefore, really have not satisfied a long felt need to provide a cooling system for electronic components which is able to most effectively dissipate the heat generated by today's high power electronic components using simple air cooling technology without drastic change of the mechanical arrangement of the components.

Circuit pack layout with improved dissipation of heat produced by high power electronic components


Sulfonamide-containing linkage systems for release of payload compounds from an attached targeting moiety in drug conjugates. The conjugates have the formula of [(P)-(L)]m-(T), wherein (P) is a payload compound, (L) is a linker, (T) is a targeting moiety and m is an integer from 1- to 10. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions comprising such conjugates and there use in treating cancer.

Field
The invention relates to linkage systems for release of payload from an attached targeting moiety, and methods of using the same.
Description of the Related Art
Delivery scaffolds find many uses in the biological, chemical, and medical fields. For example, the delivery of drugs and other agents to target cells or tissues for the treatment of cancer and other diseases has been the focus of considerable research for many years. Most agents currently administered to a patient parenterally are not targeted, resulting in systemic delivery of the agent to cells and tissues of the body where it is unnecessary, and often undesirable. This may result in adverse drug side effects, and often limits the dose of a drug (e.g., chemotherapeutic (anti-cancer)) that can be administered. Although oral administration of drugs is considered to be a convenient and economical mode of administration, it shares the same concerns of non-specific toxicity to non-target cells once the drug has been absorbed into the systemic circulation. Further complications involve problems with oral bioavailability and residence of drug in the gastrointestinal tract leading to additional exposure of the gastrointestinal tract to the drug and hence risk of gastrointestinal tract toxicities.
Accordingly, a major goal has been to develop methods for specifically targeting agents to cells and tissues. The benefits of such treatment include avoiding the general physiological effects of inappropriate delivery of such agents to other cells and tissues. The use of antibody-drug conjugates for the targeted delivery of cytotoxic or anti-mitotic agents (e.g., drugs to kill or inhibit tumor cells in the treatment of cancer) can allow targeted delivery of the drug moiety to tumors and accumulation in tumor cells and the tumor environment. In contrast, systemic administration of unconjugated drug agents may result in unacceptable levels of toxicity to normal cells as well as the tumor cells sought to be eliminated.
The linkage of drugs to antibodies or other targeting moieties to form conjugates that are capable of releasing free drug involves consideration of a variety of factors, including the identity and location of the chemical group for conjugation of the drug, the mechanism of drug release (e.g., via a cleavable bond), the structural elements providing for drug release (e.g., an enzyme recognition sequence and a cleavable bond), and any structural modifications resulting from drug release. What is required is a means for conjugation and specific drug release that does not compromise drug activity. In some instances, the installation of a chemical handle in a drug of interest may be desirable for effective conjugations and drug delivery.
In the medical field, there is a need for drug conjugates that can release potent anti-mitotic and cytotoxic compounds selectively at desired target locations. The present disclosure fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sulfonamide-containing linkage systems for drug conjugates


A sound transducer, which may be a microphone or a speaker, is constructed using a metallic film sandwich of piezoelectric film as the active element. The sandwich is laminated to a flat inflexible substrate, such as a printed circuit board, over substantially its entire surface area, so that it operates as a transducer without flexing the piezoelectric film. Since the piezoelectric film is less sensitive in this mode than when it flexes, either the area of the sandwich must be large, or, as a microphone, the transducer must be subject to powerful sound waves. Such powerful sound waves are most easily achieved by either putting the microphone in physical contact with the sound source or placing the microphone in a contained pressure-field with the sound source. This entire package is then provided with impedance matching to connect it to an external point where the resulting signal can be used, is provided with a ground shield, and is encased in waterproof layers.

Piezoelectric film has been used to make many different types of sensors. One type of sound transducer that can be made using this technology is a microphone. Such a microphone is frequently constructed in the prior art by stretching a film membrane tight between two or more attachment points, allowing the film membrane to serve as a moving diaphragm. Sound causes the film diaphragm to vibrate. The vibration of the film generates an electric voltage across the two surfaces of the film which is then amplified and fed into a communication system. One significant limitation of this type of microphone is that it cannot operate in harsh environments where water or water vapor is present. Placing a waterproof membrane over the face of the vibrating diaphragm drastically reduces and almost eliminates the sound reaching the diaphragm and resulting in vibration of the diaphragm.
Conventional use of piezoelectric film in microphones involves the film being stretched between points or across a ring to provide stress in the film. When sound strikes the film, the film vibrates. This mechanical vibratory motion is what causes the film to produce an oscillating voltage field between the two sides of the film. If the film is not stretched tight, it is less sensitive to sound pressure waves, and therefore the oscillating voltage field between the two sides of the film is significantly reduced. If the volume of the sound source is increased, or the sound source is moved closer to the piezoelectric film, the sound level striking the film is greater and therefore the signal emitted from the film is increased.

Surface-laminated piezoelectric-film sound transducer

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


A method for isolating a ribonucleic acid, which comprises dissolution of a sample containing the ribonucleic acid, such as cells, in an acidic solution containing a lithium salt and a chaotropic agent, bringing the ribonucleic acid into contact with a nucleic acid-binding carrier such as silica particles, thereby to allow selective adsorption of the ribonucleic acid alone onto said carrier, and eluting the ribonucleic acid from the nucleic acid-bound carrier; a reagent therefor; and a method for producing a cDNA from the ribonucleic acid isolated by this method. According to the present invention, a high purity ribonucleic acid can be isolated quickly and safely from a sample containing the ribonucleic acid.

A deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) constitutes the genome carrying the information of life. A ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an important biological polymer which receives such information and is involved in protein biosynthesis and the like in the body. The ribonucleic acid is largely divided into a messenger RNA (mRNA), a transfer RNA (tRNA) and a ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and each has distinct properties. There are some viruses that utilize a ribonucleic acid as the genome carrying the information of life.
An analysis of ribonucleic acid provides extremely important information for the fields of biochemistry, genetic engineering, clinical diagnostics and the like. Isolation of ribonucleic acid from a biological material is an essential step for such analysis. It is necessary to use a ribonucleic acid having a highest possible purity to achieve good results in analyses, such as northern blot analysis, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the like, which are routinely used in these fields.
In generality, a ribonucleic acid cannot be extracted without rupture of cells, during which stage a ribonucleic acid is obtained in a mixture with protein, lipid, sugar, deoxyribonucleic acid and the like. Inasmuch as ribonucleic acid is easily degraded by a ribonuclease universally found in living organisms, it is isolated in the presence of a protein denaturing agent or in an organic solvent, thereby weakening the activity of the ribonuclease. The most predominantly used for this end is a so-called AGPC method (Analytical Biochemistry, 162: 156-159 (1987)), which comprises (1) extracting a biological material with a guanidine thiocyanate solution, successively adding an acidic solution, a phenol solution and a chloroform solution, (2) centrifuging the resulting mixture to separate proteins denatured with phenol and insolubilized deoxyribonucleic acids, into an intermediate layer between an organic layer and an aqueous layer, (3) adding isopropanol to the aqueous layer to insolubilize a ribonucleic acid therein, and (4) selectively precipitating the ribonucleic acid alone by centrifugation. The AGPC method is advantageous in that it can isolate ribonucleic acid relatively easily and efficiently, as compared to other methods involving ultracentrifugation for isolating ribonucleic acid. However, it requires a poisonous substance such as phenol and chloroform, as well as a rather time-consuming step such as isopropanol precipitation, which in turn gives rise to a need of a safer and time-saving method when a number of samples are to be treated at the same time in common research institutions.
In the meantime, a different, simple and convenient method for extraction of nucleic acid has been proposed by Boom et al. (J. Clin. Microbiol., 28(3):495-503 (1990)), which uses silica particles as a nucleic acid-binding carrier. This method includes (1) mixing a biological material, a neutral solution consisting of guanidine thiocyanate, EDTA and Triton X-100, and a nucleic acid-binding solid phase (silica) to bind the nucleic acid to said solid phase, (2) separating the nucleic acid-bound solid phase from a liquid phase, (3) washing said solid phase with a wash solution containing guanidine thiocyanate, (4) washing said solid phase with 70% ethanol, (5) washing the solid phase with acetone, followed by drying thereof, and (6) eluting the nucleic acid with an eluent. This method characteristically permits isolation of nucleic acid without the use of a poison such as phenol, or concentration with isopropanol. The ribonucleic acid obtained by this method contains a large amount of deoxyribonucleic acid, which renders this method unsuitable for isolation of ribonucleic acid at high purities.
As a different isolation method of nucleic acid using a carrier such as silica particles, there has been known a method comprising adsorbing a nucleic acid in an agarose gel onto the surface of glass particles in an NaI solution and separating the nucleic acid from a liquid phase (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76: 615 (1979)). What is common to these methods is that silica and nucleic acid are bound in a neutral solution containing a chaotropic ion (i.e., monovalent anion having greater ionic radius), such as iodide ion and thiocyanate ion. These methods, however, mainly aim at isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid, wherein ribonucleic acid may be isolated yet only in low yields, and isolation of ribonucleic acid alone is not attainable. Again, these methods are unsuitable for isolation of ribonucleic acid.
Another isolation method (lithium precipitation method) of ribonucleic acid has been reported, which utilizes a chemical property that addition of a lithium ion to an aqueous ribonucleic acid solution leads to insolubilization of ribonucleic acid (Molecular Cloning, 2nd ed., 1.40 (1989)). This method, nevertheless, requires centrifugation at high rpm to precipitate ribonucleic acid. Thus, development of an isolation method of ribonucleic acid which is free of such difficulties has been desired.


According to one aspect, a hand assist device may be configured for use with an endoscope. The hand assist device may comprise a body configured to removably couple to a handle of the endoscope. The body may comprise a recess configured to receive the handle of the endoscope. The recess may extend from a proximal end of the body to a distal end of the body. The body may also comprise a palm support portion and a finger support portion proximal to the palm support portion. The body may further comprise a base support portion distal to the palm support portion.

During endoscopic procedures, the medical professional operating the endoscope often wraps their entire palm around a grip or handle portion of the device. Various actuators on the handle of the endoscope require the medical professional to contort their hands frequently and for prolonged periods of time during a procedure, which can cause strain, or even an injury. In some cases, actuation of different scope controls, like knobs or an elevator, may result in movements of the medical professional's thumb or other fingers, which may result in the loss of gripping power. Endoscope operators can experience wrist and hand discomfort resulting from holding and manipulating the endoscope's handle. In some cases, medical professionals may experience symptoms similar to those of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or tendonitis. When a medical professional experiences fatigue or other pain in the hand or wrist, the medical professional may shift from a primary grip position to a secondary grip position that may be a less powerful grip than the primary grip position, such as shifting from a four finger grip to a three finger grip.
When a medical professional repeatedly readjusts his or her hand grip in between procedure tasks, the procedure may be prolonged and procedural tasks may be more difficult. Endoscopes and other medical devices with handles that include improved support for the medical professional's hand may help address one or more of these or other issues.


A pet food composition comprising a supplement is provided. The supplement can comprise a Probiotic component, a cocoa butter component, and a sweetener component. A process for making the supplement can comprise providing a sweetener component, a cocoa butter component, and a Probiotic component, mixing the cocoa butter component and Probiotic component to form a mixture in a temperature and humidity controlled chamber; mixing the mixture with the sweetener component in the temperature and humidity controlled chamber to form a final mixture; optionally mixing in a colorant with the final mixture; and cooling the final mixture. A package for the supplement can comprise a secondary container housing a primary container, which houses a supplement. An array of packages is also provided.

Compositions containing Probiotic microorganisms are desirable, especially in the pet food art. While various commercial attempts have been made to achieve such compositions, many of these do not provide sufficient efficacious levels of Probiotic microorganism whether in live or dormant state due to issues associated with susceptibility of the microorganism to standard commercial pet food manufacturing procedures. For example, with pet food compositions in particular, efforts of coating or filling standard pet food kibbles with Probiotic microorganisms have been suggested but, in practice, often prove impractical. To avoid issues associated with standard commercial food manufacture, other manufacturers may provide jars or Probiotic microorganism powder for sprinkling on standard foods. However, this method raises issues of convenience and compliance such that still further development in this area is necessary to achieve an efficacious composition and method of making the same that will be successful in the marketplace and gain widespread human use and use with pets. Furthermore, powder forms of Probiotic microorganisms are not stable enough because as soon as powder forms are exposed to the ambient environment, moisture in the environment promotes premature activation of the Probiotic microorganisms.
Thus, a Probiotic in a very stable form is needed. Moreover, the stable form should be easily administrable such that the consumer is able to administer it to the pet and be sure that the pet is ingesting the Probiotic. Furthermore, the Probiotic microorganisms should be in a controllable amount such that the owner knows that the pet is receiving a specific dose of the Probiotic. Upon ingesting, the Probiotic form should be able to survive in the pet until it reaches and becomes live and active in the gastrointestinal tract.
Therefore, a stable, easily administrable, survivable, and controllable dosing Probiotic composition and process for making the same are needed.

Probiotic supplement, process for making, and packaging


A toner conveying device conveys powdery toner with a screw pump including an elastic stator formed with spiral grooves in its inside periphery and a rotor rotatable inside the stator for conveying the toner in the axial direction. The toner includes a polymerized toner having mean circularity of 0.95 to 0.99.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, copier, facsimile apparatus or similar electrophotographic image forming apparatus and more particularly to a toner conveying device for use in the image forming apparatus and a toner replenishing device including the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a developing device for developing a latent image formed on an image carrier with a developer. When a two-component type developer, i.e., a toner and carrier mixture is used as a developer, a toner bottle, toner cartridge, toner tank or similar toner container is positioned in the vicinity of the developing device in order to replenish fresh toner to the developing device, as needed. A full-color image forming apparatus, extensively used today, needs four developing devices and four toner containers respectively storing yellow, magenta, cyan and black toners. In addition, it is necessary with such an image forming apparatus to make the configuration compact without reducing the amount of toner to be stored in each toner container. In this respect, arranging a particular toner container in the vicinity of each developing device not only obstructs the compact configuration of the apparatus, but also noticeably limits design freedom.
In light of the above, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-81778, for example, discloses an image forming apparatus in which a suction type of screw pump, generally referred to as a Mono pump, is used to replenish toner from a toner container to a developing device. This configuration allows the toner container to be located at any desired position as a unit independent of the developing device. However, the apparatus taught in the above document has some problems left unsolved, as will be described hereinafter.
When the screw pump replenishes toner to the developing device, frictional resistance acts between toner grains and the outer periphery of a rotor, between the toner grains and the walls of spiral grooves formed in a stator and between the toner grains themselves, obstructing the movement of the toner grains and exerting a torque when the screw pump is driven. It follows that if the shape of the toner grains is amorphous far different from a sphere, then it is likely that the toner grains are caught by the outer periphery of the rotor, the walls of the spiral grooves of the stator and each other, aggravating the drive torque of the screw pump.
Further, because the suction type of screw pump sucks the toner from the toner container by generating vacuum, it sucks small, light toner grains more easily than large, heavy toner grains. Consequently, if the size of the toner grains is distributed over a broad range, then it is likely that small toner grains are replenished before large toner grains with the result that the toner grain size of the developer noticeably varies and brings about various image defects including background contamination.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2001-249525 and 2002-62760.

Toner conveying device for an image forming apparatus and toner replenishing device including the same


A method (and system) for contact center management contract evaluation including determining a potential profitability/risk for contact center management based upon a proposed contract term between one of a client and a service provider, and a service provider and a vendor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for minimizing risk in contact center management contracts. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for determining the risk exposure of potential contract terms and conditions and providing decision support for improving the contract terms and conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a contact center environment 100. The environment 100 includes one or more clients 102 that has a need for handling contacts. A client 102 may engage one or more service providers 104 and negotiate a contract with each of the service providers 104 to arrange to handle contacts for the client 102. In turn, the service provider 104 may outsource the handling of the contacts to one or a plurality of vendors 106. The service provider 104 may enter into a contract with each of the vendors to handle contacts on behalf of the service provider 104 for the client 102. Each vendor 106 may include one or more call centers 108 that actually handle the contacts.
In this environment, multiple service contracts may exist between the various parties involved. Before a contract is signed, it is valuable to know what contract terms are likely to lead to a profitable outcome. Management of contact centers is fairly complicated and it can be difficult to determine how to structure and parameterize contract terms to optimize the likelihood of a profitable outcome.
Contracts for information technology outsourcing, business transformation outsourcing, and contact center hosting/management are typically specified well in advance of the actual commencement of the outsourced service(s).
An outsourcing contract may be executed between a client and a service provider and/or between a service provider and a vendor. Contracts between a client and service provider may include conditions that involve the vendors used by the service provider. A client may outsource its services to one or more service providers, and may be interested in optimizing its business objectives across all outsourcing engagements. Similarly, a service provider may support one or more clients and may use one or more vendors, and may be interested in optimizing its business objectives across all such engagements.
The client and service provider involved in an outsourcing engagement may have an incentive to minimize risk when devising the contracts. In contact center contracts, risk may be associated with one or more factors, including, for example, the costs incurred by the involved parties, revenue earned by the involved parties, and/or quality of service provided to the client(s).
Assessing risk is very complicated for the service provider due to the principal features of these types of outsourcing contracts.
Contracted prices may be paid by the service provider to the third-party vendors and contracted prices are paid to the service provider by the client. However, the contracted prices may vary depending upon the volume of contacts handled in various time periods (e.g., billing cycles) over the life of the contract. These volumes may not be known precisely at the time that the contract is written. Further, contract price structures are often complex (e.g., non-linear and discontinuous functions due to volume discounts, step-wise costs, dependencies on occupancy levels, etc.), making it computationally challenging to estimate the service provider's cost and revenue over the life of the contract.
Multiple financial penalty and bonus structures relating to the quality of service(s) provided may also be specified in an outsourcing contract. The realized quality of service may depend upon the delivery of the service over the course of the contract.
Multiple constraints may be imposed in such contracts, such as the minimum amount of load to each vendor and/or the minimum occupancy level at each site or vendor. These contracted constraints may limit the ability of the client(s), service provider(s) and/or vendor(s) to optimize their business objectives (e.g., minimize cost, maximize revenue, and maximize profit).
Given the complex price structures, penalty and bonus structures and operating constraints specified in an outsourcing contract, it is challenging for any of the parties involved to estimate potential financial gains and exposure to the risk of financial losses over the life of the outsourcing contract(s). This assessment is important during the contract negotiation phase, so that the parties involved more intelligently (i.e., in a manner that promotes their business objectives) negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract(s).
One conventional method collects and stores data in a database of a computer system regarding a contractual agreement. This method establishes a plurality of data fields in a database corresponding to a selected contract term or contract condition identifies a clause in the contractual agreement corresponding to the selected contract term or contract condition and compares the identified clause to a standard contract clause corresponding to the selected contract term or contract condition.
Another conventional method produces quotations and related information on optimized inputs and services for the production of food, feed, fiber, livestock, and the like, and executes customized commercial service agreements including a performance guaranty or insurance policy. This system includes a database of historical input and service performance and a decision support system to optimize future performance. The commercial service agreement includes protocols for applying inputs, performing services, and assessing performance. Related information includes input management plans; savings, rebate or cost-share information, applications or credits; information or forms for permits or regulatory compliance; and emissions trading credits or executed trades. The system administers a remedy if performance standards are not met. This method has broad application to plant and livestock production in reducing nutrient and pesticide inputs and pollution, and in reducing economic risks for producers and input/service providers.
Another conventional method predicts the expected performance of a contact center. The method includes receiving performance information from a performance monitoring system associated with the processing center system. The method generates predictions based on a computer model and analyzes the predictions to generate performance scenarios for the contact center.

Method and system for minimizing risk in contact center management contracts

International Business Machines Corporation


Described herein are frequency-domain back-projection processes for forming spotlight synthetic aperture radar (“SAR”) images that are not corrupted by the effects of multiple-bounce ghosting artifacts. These processes give an approximately exact reconstruction of the multiple bounce reflectivity function (MBRF) ƒ(x,y,γ). Specifically, the evaluation of ƒ(x,y,γ) in the γ=0 plane gives an approximately exact reconstruction of the true object scattering centers which is uncorrupted by multiple-bounce contributions to the phase history data G(ξ,θ). In addition, the non-zero dependence of ƒ(x,y,γ) upon the MB coordinate γ can be used to facilitate the identification of features-interest within the imaged region.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the invention involves a process for forming radar images. More specifically, the invention involves a process for mapping multiple bounce ghosts (MBGs) and for forming radar images without the deleterious effects of MBGs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radar, at its most basic application, is used to measure the range to a target. With knowledge of the speed of propagation of the wave, i.e., electromagnetic wave, that is transmitted toward the target, it is possible to resolve in a first dimension, the distance to the target, based on the received reflected wave or echo. In order to use radar as an imaging tool, it is necessary to collect information about the cross-range of the target, in addition to the first dimension information. This cross-range information is about a second dimension perpendicular to the first dimension.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be used to collect data in both the first and second dimensions, through a process wherein the reflected waves are measured at different angles with respect to an object-of-interest. This process is referred to in the art as collecting radar measurements over a synthetic (as opposed to a literal) aperture. By taking various measurements of the object-of-interest from varying aspect angles, it is possible to determine approximate distance to the scattering centers within an object-of-interest in the first dimension and location of these scattering centers within the object-of-interest in the second, cross-range dimension. This process of two-dimensional imaging is commonly referred to as reflection tomography.
SAR systems take advantage of the long-range propagation characteristics of radar signals and the complex information processing capability of modern digital electronics to provide high-resolution imagery. SAR imaging is not restricted by time of day or atmospheric conditions due to its operative frequencies. Consequently, SAR imaging supplements other photographic and optical imaging techniques in order to facilitate environmental monitoring, earth-resource mapping, and military operations which may require broad-area imaging at high resolutions. More specifically, SAR technology provides detailed terrain information to geologists for mineral exploration, environmentalists for determination of oil spill boundaries, navigators for sea state and ice hazard mapping, and the military for reconnaissance and targeting information.
Other systems using reflection data, also referred to as projection measurements, are fault inspection systems using acoustic imaging, submarine sonar for imaging underwater objects and the like, seismic imaging system for tunnel detection, oil exploration, geological surveys, etc., and medical diagnostic tools such as sonograms and echocardiograms.
There have been two basic types of processing techniques used in the field of reflection tomography to reconstruct single-bounce (SB) reflection data. First, the frequency-domain projection-slice theorem takes the measured phase history from the reflection data taken at different aspect angles and generates the reconstruction of an image using Fourier transforms. This reconstruction technique is often used for reconstructing SAR imaging data in order to minimize the computational load that results from necessarily complex processing. A second technique, more prevalent in the medical imaging community, is based on the time-domain back projection techniques. Both of these techniques are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,098 to McCorkle which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Process for mapping multiple-bounce ghosting artifacts from radar imaging data

Science Applications International Corporation


A gas phase species (such as ozone, H2O2, or N2O) is photodissociated with ultraviolet light into a reactive species that is patternwise directed (e.g., through a mask) onto a surface of a material, such as an organosilicate. The reactive species reacts with the material to form a polar oxidation product such as —OH, thereby resulting in discrete hydrophilic regions separated from each other by hydrophobic regions. The degree of hydrophilicity of the discrete regions may be tailored by controlling the concentration of the reactive species, the ultraviolet light intensity, the temperature to which the material is heated, and exposure time. End products made with the methods are suitable for use in a biomolecular array.

Biomolecular arrays have quickly developed into an important tool in life science research. Microarrays, or densely-packed, ordered arrangements of miniature reaction sites on a suitable substrate, enable the rapid evaluation of complex biomolecular interactions. Because of their high-throughput characteristics and low-volume reagent and sample requirements, microarrays are now commonly used in gene expression studies, and they are finding their way into significant emerging areas such as proteomics and diagnostics.
The reaction sites of the array can be produced by transferring to the substrate droplets containing biological or biochemical material. A variety of techniques can be used, including contact spotting, non-contact spotting, and dispensing. With contact spotting, a fluid bearing pin leaves a drop on the surface when the pin is forced to contact the substrate. With non-contact spotting, a drop is pulled from its source when the drop touches the substrate. With dispensing, a drop is delivered to the substrate from a distance, similar to an inkjet printer. Reaction sites on the array can also be produced by photolithographic techniques (such as those employed by Affymetrix or NimbleGen, for example).
The quality of the reaction sites directly affects the reliability of the resultant data. Ideally, each site would have a consistent and uniform morphology and would be non-interacting with adjacent sites, so that when a reaction occurred at a given site, a clear and detectable response would emanate from only that one site, and not from neighboring sites or from the substrate. To reduce the overall size of an array while maximizing the number of reaction sites and minimizing the required reagent and sample volumes, the sites on the array should have the highest possible areal density.
With current microarray technology, which is dominated by the use of flat substrates (often glass microscope slides), areal density is limited. To increase the signal from a given reaction site, the interaction area between the fluid (usually aqueous) and the substrate should be maximized. One way to do this is by using a surface that promotes wetting. A flat surface that promotes wetting, however, can lead to spots (and thus reaction sites) having irregular shapes and compositions. A flat wetting surface can also lead to the spreading of fluid from its intended site into neighboring sites. Thus, flat surfaces are intrinsically limited by fluid-surface interactions that force a tradeoff between the desired properties of the reaction sites.
To make the sites more uniform, the surface can be made non-wetting. Unfortunately, this reduces the interaction area between the fluid and the surface, thereby reducing the signal that would otherwise be obtainable. In addition, since droplets do not adhere well to a flat non-wetting surface, deposition volumes can vary from site to site, and droplets can slide away from their intended location, unless they are otherwise confined.
One way of avoiding the wetting vs. non-wetting dichotomy is to prepare surfaces that have regions of varying hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast. Due to the aqueous environment of biomolecular arrays, patterned media having hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast are ideal for confining bioactivity to within discrete regions defined by the pattern, with each discrete region in effect acting as an individual bio-probe. A hydrophobic surface is generally regarded as one having a static water contact angle of greater than 90 degrees, with decreasing contact angles resulting in progressively more hydrophilic surfaces. A surface having a water contact angle of less than 65 degrees is considered strongly hydrophilic. (For a discussion of contact angles, see A. W. Adamson et al., "Physical chemistry of surfaces", John and Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997.)
Several methods have been reported for preparing patterns of varying hydrophilicity, including traditional lithographic methods, imprinting, and contact printing. Lithographic techniques rely on the attachment of hydrophobic (or hydrophilic) molecules to preselected regions defined by photoresists in a hydrophilic (or hydrophobic) matrix. (See, for example, J. H. Butler et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 8887.) With imprinting techniques, hydrophilic regions are created by pipetting droplets of a washable or hydrophilic lacquer, much like that in an ink-jet printer, and then converting the adjacent regions to hydrophobic regions. (See, for example, UK Patent Application GB 2340298AUK and Patent Application GB 2332273A.) Contact printing methods typically involve elastomeric stamps with hydrophilic (or hydrophobic) inks, with hydrophilic (or hydrophobic) patterns being generated as a result of transferring the ink onto a substrate. (See, for example, G. MacBeath et al, Science 2000, 289, 1760; and C. M. Niemeyer et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 2865). U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,314 to Koontz discloses porous polymeric membranes having hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast, in which the pore size is on the order of 0.1–2000 microns, but pores of this size are still relatively large. These methods generally involve, however, a series of several process steps.
A simple, more effective route to patterned substrate arrays having regions of varying hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast would be highly desirable. Further, such arrays should have a high areal density of sites and high effective surface area to permit the collection of data with good signal/noise ratio. In addition, such an apparatus would ideally have sites of consistent and uniform spot morphology.

Patterned substrate with hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast, and method of use


A method for protecting a zone in a power system, which has a number of transmission lines connected to power sources and a number of transmission lines connected to a number of loads, where the power sources and the loads are arranged outside the zone. Continuously measuring all the incoming currents (Iin) to the zone, continuously measuring all the outgoing currents (Iout) from the zone, and continuously calculating the differential current (Id) according to

The present invention relates to a method for protecting a zone in a power system, which zone comprises a number of transmission lines connected to power sources and a number of transmission lines connected to a number of loads where the power sources and the loads are arranged outside the zone, wherein the method comprises the steps of: continuously measuring all the incoming currents (Iin) to the zone, continuously measuring all the outgoing currents (Iout) from the zone, and continuously calculating the differential current (Id) according to Id=Iinxe2x88x92Iout.
During a number of years there has been a rapid development of power systems and the capacity requirements of these in turn require highly reliable relaying principles for protecting the system or components of the system in case of faults. These protection requirements apply to many parts of the power system such as for example transformer differential protection, motor differential protection, generator differential protection and busbar protection.
In this kind of protection system, the incoming and outgoing currents of a certain protection zone has been measured since these may be used to detect if a fault occurs within or outside the protection zone. In order to measure these currents, so called current transformers, or CT, are used, one on each incoming and outgoing line. Further each line is provided with a circuit breaker for breaking the line in case of a fault. Traditionally the secondary currents of all the CTs are lead to a central differential relay which calculates the differential and the restraint current, compares them and makes the decision whether to trip all breakers of the in- and outgoing lines of the protection zone. In the case of an internal fault, ie a fault within the protection zone, the differential relay should trip the breakers.
If however the differential relay trips all circuit breakers during an external fault, or misoperates in normal operating conditions, this will cause serious technical and economical consequences for the power system.
One solution to this is to have a distributed, or decentralised, algorithm processing principle. This principle is presented in the paper xe2x80x9cImplementation of a distributed digital bus protection systemxe2x80x9d, by He Jaili et al., IEEE Transaction on Power Deliver, Vol. 12, No. 4, October 1997. Here the whole bus protection system is divided into a number of protection units, each installed on one circuit of the bus, ie incoming and outgoing transmission line or transformer. All the protection units are connected by a data communication network. Each unit samples and compares instantaneous values of the differential and restraint currents, and makes a decision whether or not to trip its own circuit breaker.
The low impedance protection algorithm widely used in digital protection systems may be expressed as follows. If for example we suppose a busbar which connects N lines, the differential current Id and restraint current Ir among these lines are expressed as                               I          d                =                  "LeftBracketingBar"                                    ∑                              i                =                1                            N                                                  I              i                                "RightBracketingBar"                                    (        1        )                                          I          r                =                              ∑                          i              =              1                        N                                          "LeftBracketingBar"                          I              i                        "RightBracketingBar"                                              (        2        )                                                      I            d                    -                      k                                      xe2x80x83                                                  I              r                                       greater than         D                            (        3        )
In case of an internal fault, then Id=Ir and equation (3) can be confirmed if proper values to k (k less than 1) and D are chosen. Equation (3) is also known as the percentage differential protection since it introduces the restraint current in order to make the protection more stable for external faults.
In the case of normal loads or external faults, Id should be zero in order for equation (3) to be satisfied and no trip signal will be issued.
However, for external faults, Id will be greater than zero during the saturation period of the CT, causing a misoperation during this time period. Saturation occurs as a result of unpredictably high fault currents, during which, the CT saturates and produces erroneous non-proportional values for the actual current. The main technical problem for the differential protection algorithm is thus misoperation due to external faults principally because the saturation of the CT in the faulted line will produce a picture similar to an internal fault in the measuring circuits, that is to say, the differential current Id will be the same as the restraint current Ir during the saturation period of the CT when an external fault occurs.
Another problem with the above system is that it, due to the above mentioned transformer saturation problems, requires a stabilised restraint current signal to keep stability in the case of an external fault. As a consequence the tripping time is increased to above 20 milliseconds. For many systems it is however required to have faster tripping signals, preferably below 15 milliseconds due to system stability and safety requirements.
One object of the present invention is to provide a fast tripping algorithm for power system protection that remedies the above mentioned problems encountered with present technology.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a means to guarantee supply of electric power through a protected zone in a case when a fault is external to the protected zone.
The present invention displays a number of advantages over the state of the art. Since the integrated values of the incoming, outgoing and differential currents are used for determining where a fault has occurred, much more stable values are obtained. This means that the evaluation will be more reliable and accurate and that external faults will not wrongly trip the protection device. Because the rate of change values, based on the incoming, outgoing and differential currents, display very characteristic behaviour depending on whether the fault is inside or outside the protection zone, the risk of wrongly tripping the system is substantially reduced.
Further the protection device will not be influenced by current transformer saturation with the present invention. With the algorithm presented, a very fast tripping signal may be obtained that operates either well below the fault current levels or well below the operational time of conventional protection devices.
Another advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is that the method may be used to guarantee power transmission through a protected area in the case of a fault that is external to the protected area. Such a guarantee of assured supply with greatly reduced risk of power outages, brownouts etc, due to faulty tripping in a protected area is of great economic benefit, especially to a supplier of electrical power. Such a guarantee facilitates the avoidance of unnecessary loss of supply leading to extremely expensive consequences in terms of lost production, scrapped production, downtime of expensive plant and so on.
These and other aspects of, and advantages with, the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description and from the accompanying drawings.

Method and device for power system protection

Abstract: Continuously integrating Iin, Iout and Id according to                               I          IN                =                              ∫            t1                          (                              t1                +                T                            )                                                                    I              in                                                  ⅆ              t                                                          (        5        )                                          I          OUT                =                              ∫            t1                          (                              t1                +                T                            )                                                                    I              out                                                  ⅆ              t                                                          (        6        )                                          I          D                =                              ∫            t1                          (                              t1                +                T                            )                                                                    I              d                                                  ⅆ              t                                                          (        7        )

Abstract: wherein T is the fundamental frequency cycle. Changes of the continuously integrated values Iin, IOUT and Id are indications of whether faults in the power system occur within or outside a zone. A computer program implements performance of the method.


Information processing apparatus, including occurrence number counter counting events that occurred in each of a plurality of CPUs. Apparatus performs functions of; storing accumulated occurrence number of events, which occurred while the thread is being executed by each of the CPUs, in a thread storage area of the thread associating accumulated occurrence number with CPU; storing, in the thread storage area, a value of occurrence number counter of the CPU, the value having been counted before the thread is resumed by the CPU; and adding, to accumulated occurrence number which has been stored in accumulated number storing unit while corresponding to the CPU, a difference value obtained by subtracting a counter value, which has been stored in the start-time number storing unit of the thread, from a counter value of the occurrence number counter of the CPU, in a case where the CPU terminates an execution of the thread.

The simplest method for knowing an amount of usage of a resource for each thread is to use a system call of an OS kernel. For example, an amount of usage of a central processing unit (CPU) can be known by means of getrusage( ) in Linux and GetThreadTimes( ) in Windows (registered trademark). However, the system call requires a transition to a privileged mode, and accordingly costs much. Therefore, the system call is not suitable for such a way of use as storing time stamps at entrances and exits of all methods. Moreover, besides such a problem of the cost, there is also a risk that excessive processing such as a rescheduling is performed in the OS kernel owing to the system call, leading to a disturbance of an inherent behavior of an application.
In many cases, a recent CPU includes a "resource usage counter" readable from a user level. For example, in a CPU such as Pentium (registered trademark), a 64-bit internal counter termed as "time stamp counter (TSC)" holding the number of clock counts from the time of reset is prepared, and is readable by means of the RDTSC instruction. However, this counter is accompanied with the CPU, and is counted up no matter which thread is being executed. Accordingly, from the counter, the amount of usage of resource for each thread cannot be known.
By contrast, a package for the Linux, which is termed as "Estime," has provided a solution to this problem (as disclosed by Estime: a High-Resolution Virtual Timer for Linux. According to this method, when an OS kernel is going to dispatch a thread, an amount of the CPU capacity, which has been used by the thread by then, and a value of the TSC at the time the dispatch is performed are written into a memory area which has been mapped in a user space. The thread can calculate an amount of the CPU capacity, which has been used at an arbitrary time, from these values and the most recent value of the TSC, without entering into the OS kernel. This method is innovative in that a low-cost measurement of an amount of resource used can be performed "for each of the threads." However, no attention has been paid to a measurement "for each of the CPUs."
When a large-scale program such as a Web application is investigated by a sampling measurement, in many cases, there is no specific method executed extremely frequently, and a flat profile where the respective methods are evenly executed is obtained. Therefore, it is difficult to use a conventional technique of tuning a "hot method".
In order to grasp and improve a behavior of such an application, it is necessary to make investigations considering an execution path of the method, and to find a critical path which consumes the resource. However, when it costs much to measure the amount of usage of the resource, there occur such problems that an overhead of the measurement itself becomes dominant, and that the behavior of the application is changed. Moreover, the measurement considering the execution path does not make sense if the measurement cannot be performed for each thread. If such information on the amount of usage of the resource can be measured for each CPU, it is made possible to know a status where it takes time to execute a code or a cache miss frequently occurring in a specific CPU.


The new blueberry plant variety ‘C14-771’ is provided. ‘C14-771’ is a commercial variety intended for the fresh market. The variety is produced from a cross of unpatented parents ‘FL10-012’ and ‘FL05-613’.

The new variety 'C14-771' was selected from a population of seedlings derived from crossing the blueberry varieties known as 'FL10-012' (unpatented seed parent) and the variety known as 'FL05-613' (unpatented pollen parent). The cross was made in 2010 in Florida, USA and the seed was sown and grown in Corindi Beach, New South Wales, Australia. The new variety was selected in 2014 from among plants located on land at Corindi Beach and assigned the breeding code 'C14-771'. Plants of 'C14-771' were propagated by cuttings for further evaluation and resulted to be uniform and stable. The new variety showed distinctive traits such as evergreen, with fruit of good size, flavor, and firmness.


The present invention includes a coating composition which can be used for transportation and sign surfaces. The coating composition comprises a mixture of a binder capable of being polymerized and crosslinked and comprising an organic material and an inorganic material, a visibility enhancement filler, a retroreflectivity enhancement filler, and a moisture proofing and water repellent material. The coating composition can further include various additives. The present invention also includes methods of preparing the coating composition and methods of producing a coated substrate using the coating composition of the invention.

Transportation surfaces such as roads, runways, bridges and sign surfaces are generally marked using colored coatings such as paints. For example, roads, runways and bridges generally include lane markings, pedestrian crossings, directional markings and other markings which help to control the flow of traffic. Signs also include markings such as safety markings to provide information to the vehicle operator. Because these markings help to maintain order on roads, runways and other transportation surfaces, these markings should be highly visible to the driver under different weather conditions.
Heretofore, markings for transportation and sign surfaces have been produced using solvent-based organic binders. However, solvent-based organic coating materials are associated with the release of volatile organic compound (VOC) into the atmosphere. VOC is environmentally objectionable and is considered one of the major causes of the breakdown of the protective ozone layer of the earth.
Another problem with organic-based coatings is that these coatings tend to deteriorate during normal use. Specifically, the organic-based coatings degrade under ultraviolet light which greatly shortens the service life of the markings.
One alternative to solvent-based organic binders are coating compositions which use thermoplastic binders. Thermoplastic binders are not solvent-based materials and thus do not release VOC. Therefore, thermoplastic binders share a large portion of the market for transportation marking paints. Nevertheless, the application of paints having thermoplastic binders is rather difficult because it requires heating and spreading the paints during application of the paints. Furthermore, it is hard to clean painting machinery and equipment which has been used with paints containing thermoplastic binders. Moreover, the range of thicknesses for which these paints can be applied is limited.
One alternative to overcome the problems of organic-based coatings has been the use of coatings which use inorganic binders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,888 to Sano et al. describes preparing a colored inorganic coating material having excellent adherence, high crack resistance, fire resistance, weather resistance, and high gloss. The colored inorganic coating material is formed by applying an aqueous, viscous solution of an alkali silicate and pigments and/or fillers to a substrate, and applying a hardener to the inorganic coating material to harden the inorganic coating material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,003 to Bosco et al. describes a coating material for the protection of substrates from wear and corrosion which comprises a silica-based binder of an alkali metal silicate, silica gel, a crosslinking agent and water. Nevertheless, these inorganic-based materials do not possess the desired properties for transportation and sign surfaces such as retroreflectivity and flexibility and are therefore not fit for this purpose.
An additional concern in the application of coatings for marking transportation and sign surfaces is the accumulation of dirt on the surface markings. The accumulation of dirt causes a reduction in the visibility of the surface marking during daylight and the retroreflectivity of the surface marking at night. Unfortunately, however, conventional coatings generally attract dirt from the environment and ongoing traffic.

Coating and composition for transportation and sign surfaces and method of preparing and applying same


A simulation system includes a cache structure that stores determined characteristics related to the propagation of an event. If a similar event occurs, and the factors affecting the determination of these characteristics have not changed, the characteristics associated with the new event are retrieved from the cache, rather than being re-determined from the underlying factors. In the example of mobile transceivers, if multiple transceivers share a common set of underlying factors, the determined characteristics of one transceiver can be shared among all of the other transceivers. If the underlying factors are dependent upon geographic area, mobile transceivers that enter a geographic area having associated cached characteristics can use the cached characteristics of other transceivers that are, or had been, in the area. Because the cache process is structured to intercept a call to the routine that determines the characteristics, the modifications to a simulation system to incorporate this caching feature should be minimal.

This invention relates to the field of simulation systems, and in particular to a network simulator that is configured to model wireless networks.
The simulation of networks to predict performance, identify bottlenecks, assess possible changes, and so on, is common in the art. In wired networks, parameters such as propagation delay, error rates, reliability, and so on, are fairly constant for a given communications link. In a wireless network, however, such parameters can vary substantially with time, particularly in a wireless network with mobile transceivers. The simulation of wireless transmissions requires, for example, the computation of a set of characteristics to determine whether a communication can take place between a transmitter and receiver, including, for example, the current distance between the transmitter and receiver, interference between the transmitter and receiver, the current power level of the transmitter, and so on. These characteristics also affect the determination of whether the receiver obtains a valid copy of the transmission, the degree of interference on other communications caused by the transmission, and other factors that are used to assess the overall performance of the network.
The conventional simulation of a system is accomplished by generating sample events, then propagating each event from node to node in the system. That is, for example, consider an event that is a new message generated at node A and addressed to node B. Consider, also that node X is between nodes A and B. The transmitted message from node A is simulated as arriving at node X at some time after its transmission from A, then simulated as being processed by node X, incurring, for example, a queuing delay at node X, and a subsequent transmission to node B at a following time. The transmitted message from node X is simulated as arriving at node B at some time later, processed at node B, including queuing or other delays, as appropriate. By propagating the message in this manner, the total delay time from transmission at node A to completed reception at node B can be determined. Other phenomena can also be modeled. For example, random requests for retransmissions can be generated based on simulated noise levels, increasing queue delays can be simulated based on increased traffic, and so on. In like manner, the models of each node can be changed to determine the effect of the change on the system performance. For example, the propagation delay time between node A and B can be determined as a function of the size of buffers, or the type of processor, at node X, to determine whether changes should be made at node X.
Because simulation is an iterative process of propagating simulated events and subsequent internal events caused by the simulated events, a simulation of a moderately complex network can be extremely time consuming. An increase in the time required to simulate the propagation an event at a node can have a substantial effect on the time required to simulate a system. Because each transmission at a wireless node requires the aforementioned determination of potentially changing characteristics, the simulation of a wireless network is generally significantly slower than the simulation of a similar-size wired network.
It is an object of this invention to reduce the time required to simulate a wireless network. It is a further object of this invention to reduce the time required to simulate a wireless network without substantially modifying the structure of a conventional simulation system.
These objects, and others, are achieved by a simulation system that includes a cache structure that stores determined characteristics related to the propagation of an event. If a similar event occurs, and the factors affecting the determination of these characteristics have not changed, the characteristics associated with the new event are retrieved from the cache, rather than being re-determined from the underlying factors. In the example of mobile transceivers, if multiple transceivers share a common set of underlying factors, the determined characteristics of one transceiver can be shared among all of the other transceivers. If the underlying factors are dependent upon geographic area, mobile transceivers that enter a geographic area having associated cached characteristics can use the cached characteristics of other transceivers that are, or had been, in the area. Because the cache process is structured to intercept a call to the routine that determines the characteristics, pass the call to the routine if the characteristics have not yet been determined for the given set of underlying factors, and store the results from the routine for potential subsequent use, the modifications to a simulation system to incorporate this caching feature should be minimal.
Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar or corresponding features or functions.

Wireless link simulation with generic caching


A quickly accessible and fillable plastic bag unit includes a spacer unit having two layers, and a plastic bag having front and back walls which are joined together, and a pair of complementary separable zipper halves which are provided respectively on the front and back walls and which are spaced apart from the spacer unit at a predetermined distance. The plastic bag unit has an aperture unit formed through an intermediate portion of the spacer unit, two narrower outer uncut spaces which are respectively adjacent to the longitudinal sides of the plastic bag and which connect the spacer unit to the front and back walls, and two wider inner uncut spaces which are respectively adjacent to the aperture unit and which connect the spacer unit to the front and back walls. Each of the outer uncut spaces and an adjacent inner uncut space cooperatively define therebetween a slit line having a length which is longer than those of the uncut spaces. The slit line of the plastic bag is designed so that, upon application of a quick pulling force to a portion of the front wall adjacent to the aperture unit toward the zipper halves, the front wall separates from the spacer unit the wider inner uncut spaces, thereby subsequently separating the zipper halves from each other and finally separating the plastic bag from the spacer unit along the outer uncut spaces on the front wall and the uncut spaces on the back wall.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plastic bag, more particularly to a plastic bag which can be quickly accessed and filled with products due to the provision of a special zipper unit and uncut spaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
For some retail occupations or industrial applications, it is quite often important that the plastic bags which are used to hold and store the products to be sold be quickly accessible and fillable so as to minimize the time required for manually filling the plastic bags with the products. In this regard, Huseman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,437 discloses bags which are suspendable on a stand. The suspendable bags are made of a plastic film and include a front wall and a back wall that are joined together, thereby forming a bag cavity therebetween. An opening is provided between the front and back walls leading to the bag cavity. Complementary separable zipper profiles are provided on the front and back walls at the opening, thereby making the plastic bag selectively openable and closable. A lip is attached and extends from the front wall above the zipper profiles. A header portion is attached and extends from the back wall above the zipper profiles, and apart of the header portion is suspended or supported on the stand for carrying the bag. A plurality of identical such bags may be stacked above one another and attached to one another at the header portion, thus creating a bag pad attached at the header portion. A perforation line is provided on the header portion between the part that is supported on the stand and the zipper profiles and, also, between the header part, whereat a plurality of identical bags are attached to one another and to each respective bag zipper. In the process of opening and placing products in the plastic film bag, the plastic bag pad is placed and supported on a stand. Initially, the complementary zipper profiles are attached to one another, and the bag opening is closed. The front wall lip is initially gripped by the operator and, thereafter, is pulled away from the bag header portion and the support stand, thereby separating the complementary zipper profiles and opening the bag. By subsequently pulling the lip away from the stand and the header portion, the bag is severed from the header portion at the perforation line and, thus, the operator has in hand an opened bag generally ready for placing products therein for filling the same. Thereafter, product is placed in the bag cavity through the bag opening and, finally, the complementary separable zipper profiles are joined, thereby closing the bag opening and sealing the product within the bag cavity.
The stand is adapted for suspending or supporting the suspendable bags thereon, and includes two upstanding walls connected together at their upper ends and a base portion connecting together the two lower ends of the upstanding walls and forming a generally A-frame structure. An arcuate support peg is located at the upstanding wall and is adapted to be received through the support holes of the suspendable bags which are formed in the back walls of the suspendable bags and which are located between the perforation lines and the zipper profiles of the suspendable bags.
However, the bag pad disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. patent still has the following drawbacks:
1.The extension of the arcuate support peg through the support holes of the bags is time-consuming. However, a situation in that the complementary zipper profiles are not separated after the bag is severed from the header portion may occur in the absence of the arcuate support peg. PA1 2. To prevent the above mentioned problem, the strength of the perforation lines must be greater than the strength of the zipper profiles such that pulling on the lip first causes the zipper profiles to separate and thereafter causes the bag to be separated from its header portion. Since the strength of the perforation lines is determined in accordance with the pitch between two holes of the perforation lines, the pitch between two holes of the perforation lines has to be varied when the width of the bag is varied in order to ensure that the separation of the zipper profiles is prior to the separation of the bag from its header portion, thereby inconveniencing the manufacture of bags with different widths and increasing the manufacturing cost of the same. PA1 3. In order to ensure that the pulling force or tension is experienced along substantially the entire length of the perforation lines during the initial pulling and prior to the separation of the zipper profiles so as to ensure that the separation of the zipper profiles is prior to the separation of the bag from its header portion, the bag's perforation lines are strategically placed sufficiently high enough with respect to the zipper profiles, thereby resulting in a waste of plastic material and in an increase in the manufacturing cost.

Quickly accessible and fillable plastic bag unit


A method for manufacturing a chew toy for pets has steps of: producing a base layer and an outer layer; shaping the base layer; (c) applying the outer layer to the base layer to manufacture a semifinished material and drying the semifinished material to obtain a chew toy, wherein the base layer has poprice, sweet rice flour and water and the outer layer has soybean, animal parts and glycerol. The chew toy has poprice, sweet rice flour, soybean, animal parts and glycerol, therefore has a nutritional value, is easily digested and has health benefits for the pet, including strengthening their teeth and exercising their palate and jaw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chew toy for pets, especially to a chew toy for pets that is easily digested and has a nutritional value.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Conventional chew toys for dogs and the like are often rawhide. The rawhide is broken up and pressed to form bone-shaped chew toys. The bone-shaped chew toys can enhance dogs' enjoyment, while providing health benefits to their teeth, palate and jaw. However, rawhide has little nutritional value and is not easily digested by dogs.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a chew toy for pets to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Chew toy for pets and method for manufacturing the same


Systems and methods are disclosed for memory, including techniques for reading and writing to memory. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method of implementing a read and a write operation (e.g., a read before write operation) is disclosed for a memory, such as for example for a single port or a multiport memory, with the write operation beginning prior to the completion of the read operation.

Memory is required in a variety of applications, with many of the applications requiring information to be read from and written to the memory. A typical operation for the memory may be a read-before-write (RBW) operation, where a read operation occurs prior to the write operation within the same clock cycle, with the read operation reading out "old" information stored in the memory prior to the write operation writing "new" information into the memory.
One drawback of a typical memory performing the RBW operation is that the read and write operations are sequential, with the write operation occurring only after the read operation has been completed. Specifically for example during the RBW operation, the write operation may not begin until after the information from the memory is read out on an output data bus after being latched and buffered. This results in certain disadvantages in terms of excessive power consumption and lengthy cycle times. As a result, there is a need for improved techniques for accessing memory, such as for a RBW operation.


A differential mechanism includes a housing having a wall exposed to an open end and a pair of receptors defined in the wall. A lid is affixed to the open end forming an enclosure with the housing. The opposing gears are in driving engagement with one and the other and are disposed in the enclosure. A shaft is slidably disposed in the receptors extending through two of the opposing gears thereby supporting the opposing gears rotatable relative the housing. A retaining mechanism is defined between the shaft and at least one of the receptors forming a rigid connection therebetween to prevent movement of the shaft relative the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a differential mechanism for use with a vehicle transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical automotive axle application, a differential case is supported within a differential housing. Differential gears interconnect a prop shaft of the vehicle to a vehicle transmission of a vehicle. The differential gears further connect axle shafts which extend from the differential housing to the rear wheels. Thus, power is transferred from the vehicle transmission, through the drive shaft, through the differential case, and to the wheels of the vehicle. Differential mechanisms are used in vehicle transmission to transmit torque from a transmission output to opposing axle shafts allowing right and left wheels to rotate at different speeds, particularly important when negotiating a turn.
While performing generally the same function, differential mechanisms have different dimensional requirements for rear wheel and front wheel drive vehicles. Specifically, differentials intended for use on the front wheel drive vehicles require a beveled, and even annular shape in order to compensate for both the smaller packaging area available and to account for the steering characteristics of the front wheels of the vehicle. The rear wheel drive vehicles are typically larger and require more torque production than front wheel drive vehicles and include sport utility, pick-ups, and even heavy duty vehicles. Therefore, the rear wheel drive differential is typically dimensioned larger with heavier gauge steel than is a front wheel drive differential.
Iron castings presently used to form the housing of a differential for the rear wheel drive vehicle requires a large number of machining operations to produce finished parts having the dimensions necessary to provide adequate tolerances to support the gears disposed within the housing. Dimensional accuracy is important to produce a vibration free motion of the differential in order to produce a smooth vehicle operation. Given the high torque requirements that is typical of the rear wheel drive vehicle, it is believed that the differential housing should include a more dimensionally stable and durable configuration than what is required of a front wheel drive differential housing. Furthermore, many of the manufacturing drawbacks of cast differential housings have resulted in excessive cost of the typical vehicle transmission.
The art is replete with various designs and methods of forming a differential housing using a cold flow-forming process taught by the U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,479 to Victoria et. al; U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,907 to Victoria et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,152, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,277 to Victoria et. al. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,479 to Victoria et al, for example, teaches a housing for differential mechanism that is formed in two pieces using a cold flow-forming process. Each of the housing portions is formed with an internal hemispherical surface, and U-shaped recesses, which when aligned form circular recesses within which a pinion shaft is seated. A subassembly that includes the pinion shaft, pinion gears, side bevel gears, and a thin plastic liner surrounding the subassembly has to be aligned within the housing before an upper housing portion is inserted within the upper portion and welded. The opportunity remains for an improved alignment and meshing engagement between the pinion gears and the side bevel gears along with improved method of installation of the pinion and side bevel gears.
Alluding to the above, the prior art patents do not provide an improved meshing engagement between the gears as the gears are installed within the differential case. Therefore, there is a constant need in the area of a differential art for improved designs and methods of manufacturing the differential mechanisms that is durable, rigid, and which forms an improved alignment and meshing engagement between the pinion gears and the side bevel gears along with improved method of installation of the pinion and side bevel gears.

Differential mechanism for a vehicle and method of forming the same


A surveillance camera mounting apparatus for facilitating installation of a surveillance camera on a mounting pole such as a conduit. Typical installations on a conduit include a globe enclosure for protection of the camera equipment and to discourage a person from avoiding the aim of the camera. The mounting apparatus may also be adapted to mount a surveillance camera in a ceiling. A pivotable saddle allows for the top or bottom attachment to a camera. Adjustments facilitated by the saddle provide for positioning the camera to have its optical axis maintained in a position normal to the tangential surface of a globe enclosure over almost any vertical or horizontal position of the camera.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for mounting a surveillance camera. The surveillance camera mounting apparatus of the present invention facilitates the installation of a surveillance camera on a mounting pole such as a conduit. Typical installations on a conduit include a globe enclosure for protection of the camera equipment and to discourage a person from avoiding the aim of the camera. The mounting apparatus may also be adapted to mount a surveillance camera in a ceiling. A pivotable saddle allows for the top or bottom attachment to a camera. Adjustments facilitated by the saddle provide for positioning the camera to have its optical axis maintained in a position normal to the tangential surface of a globe enclosure over almost any vertical or horizontal position of the camera.
The present invention is a surveillance camera mount apparatus comprised of a saddle for attachment of the camera, an outer yoke, and at least one leg. The saddle of the present invention may be rotated about an axis to allow a top or bottom mount of a camera to the saddle. The present invention typically includes a pivotable connection between the saddle and the yoke. The present invention may include a three-point alignment for attachment of the legs of a camera mount of the present invention. As a result of the three-point alignment, the saddle of the camera mount may be always oriented toward a viewing slot in a globe or hemispherical enclosure of the present invention. The present invention may include a multi-piece globe or a hemispherical-shaped enclosure for the camera and the camera mount.