The invention relates to a child's vehicle with a folding frame, comprising at least one front shaft provided with at least one front wheel, a rear shaft provided with at least one rear wheel, and a pushing device cooperating with a guiding handle, wherein said frame includes at least one assembly of two pieces which can slide in relation to each other without a space therebetween. A first piece of said two pieces has at least one track and the second of said two pieces has at least one slider which slides in said track.

Very many techniques are already known for folding stroller frames. In general, an attempt is made to reconcile at least some of the following objectives:                efficiency of folding, the stroller should be as small as possible when folded so as to facilitate its storage and transport, for example in an automobile vehicle,        simplicity of folding and unfolding manipulations; the user should be able to perform these operations as simply as possible        strength and safety of the transported child,        simplicity and low cost of manufacturing.
One category among the various known frame types is called "broken folding". According to this technique, when in the unfolded position, the push arms are located approximately along the extension of the front stands and tilt with respect to them when folding. The push arms usually tilt downwards, the top end of the push arms moving towards the rear wheels.
Techniques are also known according to which the push arms tilt upwards, such that the top end of the push arm moves closer to the front wheels. This type of technique has been developed particularly by the holder of this patent application for so-called "off-road" strollers that are provided with large wheels (compared with conventional strollers), usually fitted with inflatable tires.
Another known technique is shown in FIG. 1. According to this technique, each push arm 1 can slide parallel to the front strut 2 between an extended position in which the push arm forms a continuation of the front strut and a folded position in which the push arm and the front strut corresponding to it are arranged side by side. Each rear strut 3 is articulated close to its top end onto the corresponding front strut.
These various techniques usually have a common factor, by which push arms slide with respect to the front struts. These various elements are made in the form of metallic tubes and sliding is based on a constant principle consisting of using a connecting part 4 installed fixed on the front strut and provided with a slide, at a spacing from the attachment point of the front strut, in which the push arm can slide parallel to the front strut while being separated from it.
With this mechanical assembly, it has been possible to propose several folding techniques using this type of sliding, particularly the techniques mentioned above.
However, this design principle introduces several disadvantages.
The push arm is only guided in a relatively short portion of the connecting part. With part wear and progressive appearance of gradually increasing clearances between them, sliding is affected by offset phenomena so that it becomes difficult for the user to perform the above folding and/or unfolding operations.
Furthermore, connecting parts and push arms are likely to get dirty, to a variable extent depending on the paths along which the child's stroller is taken, and can cause blockage of sliding during folding or unfolding.
Moreover, during folding and unfolding operations of the stroller, the user or the child being carried might accidentally slide his or her fingers into the space between the push arm and the front strut, at the risk of getting them trapped with more or less serious consequences.

Children's vehicle with a frame with sliding elements without a space therebetween and corresponding chassis


A circuit substrate for attachment to an integrated circuit chip comprises an electrical trace, a mounting pad and a dielectric layer. The mounting pad has a first surface, one or more sidewalls and a second surface. The first surface is attached to the electrical trace. The dielectric layer substantially covers the one or more sidewalls of the mounting pad and has an uppermost surface that is substantially coplanar with the second surface of the mounting pad.

Direct chip attachment (DCA) refers to a semiconductor assembly technology wherein an integrated circuit chip is directly mounted on and electrically connected to its final circuit substrate instead of undergoing traditional assembly and packaging. Advantageously, the elimination of conventional device packaging in DCA both simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces the space that the integrated circuit chip occupies on the final circuit substrate. It also improves performance as a result of the shorter interconnection paths between the integrated circuit chip and the circuit substrate.
Flip chip attachment to a flexible circuit substrate (flip-chip-on-flex (FCoF)) is one variant of DCA that is evolving into a mainstream process for the construction of some classes of electronic devices. A flip chip comprises an integrated circuit chip with a multiplicity of conductive solder bumps attached to the chip's bonding pads. In FCoF, these solder bumps are directly attached to a flexible circuit substrate. The flexible circuit substrate, in turn, comprises copper electrical traces that act to connect the flip chip with other electronic components in a manor similar to a conventional rigid printed circuit board. Flexible circuit substrates are used extensively in applications where their unique ability to bend and curve into flexible shapes is required. Flexible circuit substrates are used, for example, in notebook computers, hard disk drives, PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) connectors, docking stations, pointing devices, compact disk players and mobile phones.
Mounting a flip chip on a flexible circuit substrate involves attaching the solder bumps on the flip chip to the copper electrical traces incorporated into the flexible circuit substrate. In a flexible circuit substrate, these copper electrical traces are typically covered with some kind of polymer coverlayer, frequently called a "solder mask." Accordingly, openings are created in the polymer coverlayer to create attachment areas that allow the solder bumps on the flip chip to access the underlying copper electrical traces. A high temperature reflow process is then used to permanently attach the solder bumps to the copper electrical traces. Subsequently, a non-conductive underfill material is dispensed into the region between the flip chip and the flexible circuit substrate. The underfill material protects the solder bumps from moisture and other environmental hazards, provides additional mechanical strength to the assembly, and compensates for any thermal expansion difference between the flip chip and the flexible circuit substrate.
Because of its many functions, the underfill material will preferably completely and uniformly fill the region between the flip chip and the flexible circuit substrate. This requires that the distance between the flip chip and flexible circuit substrate ("standoff distance") be precisely controlled. Unfortunately, in conventional FCoF applications, this standoff distance is influenced by many factors including the size of the attachment area on the flexible circuit substrate, the thickness of the polymer coverlayer (i.e., solder mask), the ductility of the solder bump alloy and the reflow profile of the solder bumps. For example, if a large attachment area is exposed on the flexible circuit substrate, a solder bump landing in that area will have a tendency to wick along the exposed copper electrical traces during the high temperature reflow process. This causes the standoff distance to decrease, compromising the application of a complete and uniform layer of underfill material between the flip chip and the flexible circuit substrate.
As a result, there is a need for an improved flexible circuit substrate for use in FCoF applications that promotes a larger and more uniform standoff distance between the flip chip and the flexible circuit substrate when compared to conventional flexible circuit substrates.

Flexible circuit substrate for flip-chip-on-flex applications


Chemically modified .alpha.-macroglobulin is conformationally locked by cross-linking .alpha..sub.2 M with a bi-functional peptide crosslinker, and then modified with methylamine, to provide conformational intermediates with limited conformational change. These modified compounds have a high binding affinity for inflammatory cytokines including TNF-.alpha. and IL-1.beta.. When administered in vivo, the modified .alpha..sub.2 M (MAC) protects against development of septic shock, and is an effective treatment aid in treating mammals with established septic shock.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to a new class of therapeutic agents, modified .alpha..sub.2 -macroglobulin (.alpha..sub.2 M) and its utility in binding inflammatory cytokines particularly implicated in septic shock. Specifically, .alpha..sub.2 M is modified by reaction with a cross-linking agent, to lock the conformational structure of .alpha..sub.2 M, and then treated with methylamine to give the modified .alpha..sub.2 M (MAC). MAC is demonstrated to be an effective binder in vitro, and an effective therapeutic, in vivo.

Chemically modified a-macroglobulins, methods of making, and methods of using the same in anti-cytokine therapy

The University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A closed loop system for attaining premium telemetry performance for vector field electromagnetically coupled telemetry systems. The disclosed system utilizes a linear ramped envelope for downlink RF bursts, resulting in a detected pulse width in the implanted device which is proportional to the downlink detection margin. The detected pulse width, when uplink telemetered to an external programming unit allows the programming unit to generate a telemetry status feedback signal for the user positioning the programming head with respect to the implant site. Feedback based upon both uplink and downlink signal strength in especially advantageous in dual-coil systems where there are distinct and unique coupling coefficients for uplink and downlink.

Since the introduction of the first implantable pacemakers in the 1960's, there have been considerable advancements both in the field of electronics and the field of medicine, such that there is presently a wide assortment of commercially-available implantable medical devices. The class of implantable medical devices now includes not only pacemakers, but also implantable cardioverters, defibrillators, neural stimulators, and drug administering devices. Today's state-of-the-art implantable medical devices are vastly more sophisticated and complex than early pacemakers, capable of performing significantly more complex tasks. The therapeutic benefits of such devices have been well-proven.
As the functional sophistication and complexity of implantable medical devices has increased over the years, it has become increasingly more important for such devices to be equipped with a telemetry system for enabling them to communicate with an external unit.
For example, shortly after the introduction of the earliest fixed-rate, non-inhibited pacemakers, it became apparent that it would be desirable for a physician to non-invasively exercise at least some amount of control over the device, e.g., to turn the device on or off or adjust the fixed pacing rate, after implant. In early devices, one way the physician was able to have some control over implantable device operation was through the provision of a magnetic reed switch in the implantable device. After implant, the reed switch would be actuated by placing a magnet over the implant site. Reed switch closure could then be used, for example, to alternately activate or deactivate the device. Alternatively, the fixed pacing rate of the device could be adjusted up or down by incremental amounts based upon the duration of reed switch closure. Many different schemes utilizing a reed switch to adjust parameters of implanted medical devices have been developed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,111 to Bowers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,518,997 to Sessions, U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,486 to Berkovits, U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,860 to Lopin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,369 to Adams et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,796 to Terry, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,086 to Alferness et al.
As new, more advanced features are incorporated into implantable devices, it is typically necessary to convey correspondingly more information to the device relating to the selection and control of those features. For example, if a pacemaker is selectively operable in various pacing modes (e.g., VVI, VDD, DDD, etc . . . ), it is desirable that the physician or clinician be able to non-invasively select a mode of operation. Similarly, if the pacemaker is capable of pacing at various rates, or of delivering stimulating pulses of varying energy levels, it is desirable that the physician or clinician be able to select, on a patient-by-patient basis, appropriate values for such variable operational parameters.
Even greater demands are placed upon the telemetry system in implantable devices having such advanced features as rate adaptation based upon activity sensing, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,388 to Sivula et al. entitled "Method and Apparatus for Implementing Activity Sensing in a Pulse Generator", in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,413 issued to Bennett et al, entitled "Rate Responsive Pacemaker and Method for Automatically Initializing the Same", and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/880,877, filed May 11, 1992 in the name of Shelton et al., entitled "Work-Modulated Pacing Rate Deceleration". The Sivula et al. '388 patent, the Bennett et al '413 patent and the Shelton et al. '877 application are each hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
The information which is typically communicated to the implantable device in today's state-of-the-art pacemakers includes: pacing mode, multiple rate response settings, electrode polarity, maximum and minimum pacing rates, output energy (output pulse width and/or output current), sense amplifier sensitivity, refractory periods, calibration information, rate response attack (acceleration) and decay (deceleration), onset detection criteria, and perhaps many other parameter settings.
The need to be able to communicate more and more information to implanted devices quickly rendered the simple reed-switch closure arrangement insufficient. Also, it has become apparent that it would also be desirable not only to allow information to be communicated to the implanted device, but also to enable the implanted device to communicate information to the outside world.
For diagnostic purposes, for example, it is desirable for the implanted device to be able to communicate information regarding its operational status to the physician or clinician. State of the art implantable devices are available which can even transmit a digitized ECG signal for display, storage, and/or analysis by an external device.
As used herein, the terms "uplink" and "uplink telemetry" will be used to denote the communications channel for conveying information from the implanted device to an external unit of some sort. Conversely, the terms "downlink" and "downlink telemetry" will be used to denote the communications channel for conveying information from an external unit to the implanted device.
Various telemetry systems for providing the necessary communications channels between an external unit and an implanted device have been shown in the art. Telemetry systems are disclosed, for example, in the following U.S Pats: U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,992 to Calfee et al. entitled "Method and Apparatus for Communicating With Implanted Body Function Stimulator"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,732 to Batty, Jr. et al. entitled "System and Process for Enabling a Predefined Function Within An Implanted Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,571.589 to Slocum et al. entitled "Biomedical Implant With High Speed, Low Power Two-Way Telemetry"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,248 to Berntson entitled "Circuit for Controlling a Receiver in an Implanted Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,404 to Wyborny et al. entitled "Telemetry Format for Implanted Medical Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,235 to Keller, Jr. et al. entitled "Programmer for Implanted Device"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,382 to Markowitz entitled "Marker Channel Telemetry System for a Medical Device"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,063 to Thompson et al. entitled "Telemetry System for a Medical Device".
Typically, telemetry systems such as those described in the above-referenced patents are employed in conjunction with an external programming/processing unit. One programmer for non-invasively programming a cardiac pacemaker is described in its various aspects in the following U.S. Patents to Hartlaub et al., each commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention and each incorporated by reference herein: U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,884 entitled "Apparatus For and Method Of Programming the Minimum Energy Threshold for Pacing Pulses to be Applied to a Patient's Heart"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,132 entitled "Digital Cardiac Pacemaker with Threshold Margin Check"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,133 entitled Programmable Digital Cardiac Pacemaker with Means to Override Effects of Reed Switch Closure"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,985 entitled "Multi-Mode Programmable Digital Cardiac Pacemaker"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,466 entitled "Temporary and Permanent Programmable Digital Cardiac Pacemaker"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,120 entitled "Digital Cardiac Pacemaker with Program Acceptance Indicator".
Aspects of the programmer that is the subject of the foregoing Hartlaub et al. patents (hereinafter "the Hartlaub programmer") are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,008 to Smith, entitled "Pacing Generator Programming Apparatus Including Error Detection Means" and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,524 to Powell et al., entitled "Program Testing Apparatus". The Smith '008 and Powell et al. '524 patents are also incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Most commonly, telemetry systems for implantable medical devices employ a radio-frequency (RF) transmitter and receiver in the device, and a corresponding RF transmitter and receiver in the external programming unit. Within the implantable device, the transmitter and receiver utilize a wire coil as an antenna for receiving downlink telemetry signals and for radiating RF signals for uplink telemetry. The system is modelled as an air-core coupled transformer. Examples of such a telemetry system are shown in the above-referenced Thompson et al. '063 and Hartlaub et al. '120 patents.
In order to communicate digital data using RF telemetry, a digital encoding scheme such as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,404 to Wyborny et al. entitled "Improved Telemetry Format" is used. In particular, for downlink telemetry a pulse interval modulation scheme may be employed, wherein the external programmer transmits a series of short RF "bursts" or pulses in which the during of an internal between successive pulses (e.g., the interval from the trailing edge of one pulse to the trailing edge of the next) encodes the data. In particular, a shorter interval encodes a digital "0" bit while a longer interval encodes a digital "1" bit.
For uplink telemetry, a pulse position modulation scheme may be employed to encode uplink telemetry data. For pulse position modulation, a plurality of time slots are defined in a data frame, and the presence or absence of pulses transmitted during each time slot encodes the data. For example, a sixteen position data frame may be defined, wherein a pulse in one of the time slots represents a unique four bit portion of data. The Wyborny et al. '404 patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Programming units such as the above-described Hartlaub et al. Programmer typically interface with the implanted device through the use of a programming head or programming paddle, a handheld unit adapted to be placed on the patient's body over the implant site of the patient's implanted device. A magnet in the programming head effects reed switch closure in the implanted device to initiate a telemetry session. Thereafter, uplink and downlink communication takes place between the implanted device's transmitter and receiver and a receiver and transmitter disposed within the programming head.
For programming arrangements such as the one just described, both uplink and downlink telemetry signal strength vary as a function of programming head positioning. Thus, it is important for the programming head to be properly positioned over the patient's implant site, not only so that the magnet in the programming head is close enough to the implanted device to cause reed switch closure, but also so that the downlink RF signals can be detected in the implanted device and the uplink signals can be detected by the programming head. If the programming head is too far away from the implanted device, the attenuation of RF signals transmitted across the boundary of the patient's skin may be too great, preventing the telemetry link from being established.
Although both uplink and downlink signal strength vary as a function of head position, the coupling maps for uplink and downlink telemetry may be different. That is, what may be optimal positioning for uplink telemetry may be less optimal for downlink telemetry, and vice versa.
Differences between the uplink and downlink telemetry coupling maps arise when a so-called "dual-coil" system is employed in the programmer. An example of a dual-coil telemetry system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,532 to McQuilkin, entitled "Dual Antenna Receiver". The McQuilkin '532 patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In a dual-coil system, two coils are connected in series opposition to achieve noise cancellation in the receive mode. The two coil series-opposing configuration makes the programmer sensitive to the curl of magnetic fields. Such curl sensitivity results in a significant increase in noise rejection over a single-coil antenna for in-band, spatially-aligned interference fields present in the proximity of the antenna.
For transmission from a dual-coil antenna, the two coils are configured in "parallel aiding" fashion, such that the magnetic field transmitted by the antenna is effectively doubled.
Often, medical device programmers, for example the Model 9710 or 9760 programmers commercially available from Medtronic, Inc., are provided with a Head Positioning Indicator, either audible or visible, for indicating to the physician or clinician when the programming head is properly located over a patient's implanted device. In the prior art, the technique most commonly used for determining when the programming head is properly positioned can be characterized generally as "open loop", in that the determination of correct head positioning is based solely upon an assessment of whether the uplink signal (i.e., the signal transmitted from the implanted device to the external programming head) meets some minimum requirement. In particular, uplink signal strength is measured based upon the operating gain of the uplink telemetry receiver. In such open loop verification systems, adequate downlink signal strength is not tested.
An example of an open loop system for determining the proper positioning of a programming head is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,523 to Anderson, entitled "Digital Gain Control for the Reception of Telemetry Signals From Implanted Medical Devices". The '523 patent relates to a system wherein verification of the programming of an implanted device is provided by the transmission of predetermined signals from the implanted device. When errors are detected in these uplink signals, the number of errors are counted over a period of time. If more than a predetermined number of errors occur in that time, the gain of the programming unit receiver is adjusted downward by a predetermined amount. This adjustment continues until uplink signals are received without error. As an open loop system, however, the system of the '523 patent does not test for errors in downlink telemetry signals, and does not evaluate the strength of the received downlink telemetry signals.
When downlink signal strength cannot be tested, it is important for the physician or clinician to be able to otherwise verify that programming signals transmitted from the programming head are accurately received and processed by the implanted device. To this end, a system is described in the above-referenced Hartlaub et al. '120 patent wherein circuitry in the implanted device performs several different checks on the detected downlink programming signal, including a parity check and an access code check, and issues a program acceptance signal if the downlink programming is found to be valid.
As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, a communications protocol using handshaking can verify that a minimum downlink field strength for detection in the implanted device exists prior to signalling the physician or clinician that correct head positioning has been achieved. However, a handshaking protocol cannot provide any information useful for optimization of head positioning to ensure an adequate operating margin. This means that proper programming head positioning may be indicated even though the programming head is actually marginally positioned, such that a very slight shift in positioning (e.g., due to patient motion) results in downlink telemetry failure.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one possible way to ensure an adequate margin between the strength of detected downlink signals in an implanted medical device and the device's detection threshold would be to transmit downlink telemetry signals having much larger than nominal amplitudes. From an energy consumption standpoint, this solution is particularly feasible when used in the context of a line-powered (as opposed to battery-powered) external programming unit, since for a line-powered programming unit, energy consumption is not a critical factor. If extremely strong downlink signals were transmitted, the programmer could be assured that the signals will be strong enough to be detected by the implanted device. In this way, the need for a downlink signal strength indication would be obviated.
There are several disadvantages, however, with the use of excessively strong downlink telemetry signals to ensure their detection by the implanted device. First, while power consumption is not a crucial factor in line-powered programmers, it is becoming increasingly common for programming units to be portable and battery-powered, so that they may be easily transported and used in a variety of clinical and/or non-clinical settings. For battery-powered programmers, it would be inefficient and undesirable to consume the limited battery power with unnecessarily high-level downlink signals.
Perhaps a more critical disadvantage of transmitting high-level downlink signals is the possibility that the large RF energy bursts in the downlink transmission may interfere with the operation of the implanted device. In particular, for very high-energy downlink telemetry pulses, it is possible for the downlink signal to induce voltages on implanted pace/sense leads. Such induced voltages may be interpreted by the implanted device's sensitive sensing circuitry (e.g., pacemaker) as cardiac events and may thereby cause pacemaker inhibition or lead to loss of synchronization with intrinsic cardiac activity. This problem is likely to worsen as improved (i.e., more sensitive) sensing circuitry is developed. It is also possible that when downlink telemetry is performed continuously for long periods of time (e.g., during clinical diagnostic tests on the patient), that excessively large downlink signals could cause thermal complications, i.e., cause the implanted device to exhibit an undesirable increase in temperature.
In the prior art, implanted devices have been provided with clamping diodes to prevent overdriving of the implanted devices' telemetry inputs and circuitry to dissipate energy induced in the implanted downlink telemetry receiver coil. For example, energy induced in a device's receiver coil can to a limited extent be redirected to the device's battery.
Nonetheless, problems with excessive energy from downlink telemetry are likely to be exacerbated in state-of-the-art and future devices to which more and more information must be communicated over relatively long periods of time.
A further problem arising from the inability, in prior art programming arrangements to ascertain the strength of the downlink signal as detected by the implanted device is that telemetry failures are difficult to troubleshoot. This is due, in part, to the fact that when downlink signals are not successfully received, the programmer cannot tell whether the problem lies in the positioning of the programming head, in inadequate downlink signal strength, or elsewhere.
The use of a secondary (feedback) sensing coil within the programmer itself to sample the downlink signal intensity within the programming head compensates for such variables as supply voltage variation, temperature-induced variation, parts tolerance variation, transmit antenna detuning and transmit antenna loading. However, a sensing coil does not compensate for field distortions beyond the programming head that do not result in intensity changes in the feedback sensing coil. The field is merely standardized and does not dynamically adjust to compensate for field distortion or attenuation that occurs in and around the implanted device itself, nor for the alignment of the electromagnetic field vector with the implanted device's downlink sensing vector.
As a result of the foregoing considerations, it is believed that it would be desirable to provide a programmer with the capability of evaluating the strength of downlink telemetry signals as detected by the implanted device, i.e., to enable the implanted device to communicate to the programmer information about the strength of downlink signals after they have crossed the implant boundary. Such capability would be particularly desirable in the context of dual-coil systems, wherein the uplink and downlink coupling maps are different due to the different coil configurations used in the programmer for transmission and reception. With such a capability, the programmer could dynamically adjust the amplitude of downlink telemetry pulses, such that downlink signals would be transmitted at a level known to exceed the implanted device's detection threshold. At the same time, the programmer would minimize transmission of excessively or unnecessarily large downlink signals which could lead to the aforementioned problems with telemetry receiver overdriving, pacemaker inhibition due to induced voltages applied to the sensing circuitry, and the like.
If the received downlink can be controlled, programmers with very high output level capabilities could be used to extend the range of the system.

Closed-loop downlink telemetry and method for implantable medical device


This invention concerns an electrical energy supply and distribution system. The system is able to handle both large centralized electricity generation plants, as well secondary energy sources which are becoming increasingly important. These sources may or may not be connected to deliver electrical energy to a 50 Hz AC power distribution grid. The system comprises a supply side where multiple electrical energy generators are connected via connections ports, involving conditioning circuitry, into a single DC electrical energy source. This energy source may be supplied to a common inverter system to convert it to AC for transmission on over a power grid. A rectifier may take the AC power from the grid and delivers it to loads. Whether an AC grid in involved or not, on the delivery side energy is delivered to multiple loads via connection ports involving conditioning circuitry. Any of the generators or loads may be taken offline or connected back into the system at will.

Industrialised countries are heavily dependent on large centralised electricity generation plants to produce power. For example, 80% of the electricity generated in Australia is produced by coal power plants. These power plants are usually built away from the cities where the power is consumed.
In addition, secondary energy sources are becoming increasingly important. Common renewable energy sources include photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, wind turbine generators, wave turbine generators and tidal turbine generators. These sources can be connected to deliver electrical energy to the standard 50 Hz AC power distribution grid by means of AC inverter schemes designed to synchronize with the power grid.
Because the secondary sources deliver fluctuating amounts of energy, connection to the power grid invariably requires some energy storage, with an energy delivery time frame in the order of hours or days. Examples of storage systems include: high capacity batteries (electrical "flow batteries"), solar "molten salt", solar hot water, and solar generated biogas where electrical energy is generated in a secondary process such as steam turbine generators. These schemes are relatively expensive and are only economically viable on large scale electrical power systems.

Electrical energy and distribution system


Systems, devices, apparatus and methods of allowing one to use a handheld type calculator and/or computer based program having factory pre-set and preprogrammed color indicia buttons/keys to allow the user to easily and quickly do a variety of specialized calculations for financial planning results that include retirement planning, wealth accumulation, pension analysis, mortgage comparison shopping and funding future education.

As American companies continue to eliminate pension benefits, many people are concerned with affording retirement and determining how much would be needed to finance a comfortable retirement. Financial planning for retirement often requires one having to go to separate specialists such as financial planners, accountants, stock brokers, mortgage brokers and the like, to get detailed and accurate information. The costs of such separate representation and engagement can be quite expensive and time consuming to have to engage multiple professionals to get the necessary financial advice.
Various surveys have found that when asked their top financial goal, a majority indicates their top goal is being able to afford a comfortable retirement, and when asked their greatest challenge with respect to retirement planning, it is calculating how much they will need to finance it.
It is a commonly accepted fact that even a person with both a pension and social security will need additional income to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. For some, that income can come from continuing to work either full or part time, but that is not an option for everyone; many Americans are unable to work in their later years due to either health issues or lack of skills needed by potential employers. But for those who do not want to depend on charity or government programs for their daily needs, the gap between benefits received and income needed requires income from personal investments.
Retirement planning calculations can be done using a financial calculator, a spreadsheet program such as Excel, a web-based calculator, or with the assistance of a financial advisor. The problem with using a financial calculator is that many users lack the knowledge of what information needs to be entered with which keys to make the calculations easy. The problem with using a spreadsheet program is that most people do not have the financial training to know what formulas to use to create the spreadsheet.
The problem with web-based calculators is that they are very generic, and either make assumptions about retirement factors that may be applicable to each user, or do not allow sources of income such as part time work, mortgages, lump sum receipts, or expenses, different inflation rates on different expenses to be entered into the calculation. The problem with using a financial advisor is that the cost for an analysis, and the potential for pressure to make investments, may be high.
An alternative to hiring professionals would require one to educate themselves in a vast number of specialties that could include buying resources such as books, CDs (compact discs), tapes, educational classes, and seminars. These educational costs would also be quite expensive and time consuming to the user.
Also, most individuals do not have the training or skills to double check professional advice and their calculations and projections. Additionally, individuals do not have the ability to double-check the results from using educational materials.
Several attempts have been made in the prior art to provide easy methods and apparatus to perform financial calculations for retirement planning, wealth accumulation, pension analysis, mortgage comparison and education funding but significant disadvantages remain.
A general-purpose calculator capable of performing interdisciplinary business calculations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,060. Although the calculator has keys that can perform the intricate calculations related to retirement planning, the use of the calculator requires substantial knowledge of the application of financial formulas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,367 describes a calculator designed specifically for computing minimum principal payments for deposit into savings accounts and certificates of deposit. To perform calculations related to retirement funding needs with this calculator, if it could be done at all, would require extensive knowledge of finance and math, and an understanding of the formulas involved in retirement funding calculations.
A computer for calculating compound interest is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,849. However, substantial experience and knowledge on the part of the user would be required in order to do even basic retirement funding calculations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,019 describes a calculator capable of performing and displaying financial calculations, such as present and future values, related to retirement planning. But the calculator requires the user to understand what value is to be entered for each of the function keys and substantial financial knowledge on the part of the user. While the calculator appears to have the capability of doing the required calculations, it would not be easy for someone who lacked significant financial training to quickly and easily do the necessary calculations to determine retirement funding needs.
A portable electronic financial calculator and planner is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,536. Although the calculator can solve problems relating to loans, savings and the like, the calculator cannot take into account the many variables related with retirement funding calculations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,062,458 describes a computer-based method for a financial advisory system. Although the system allows users to trade off among different input decisions, it is a system regarding feasible and optimal portfolio allocations using a specified set of investment products. '458 system limits the assumptions to those of specific products. It does not allow the user to make individual assumptions or take into account other sources of retirement income that can affect the amount of personal savings needed to achieve a defined retirement goal. It takes control of the planning process away from both the advisor and the client, and focuses on a specific portfolio suggestion, not retirement calculations. Moreover, the '458 system is designed for the sophisticated financial advisor and not the casual user.
None of the above prior art provides, for a person with limited experience in the field of financial and retirement planning, the capability to perform the calculations involved in computing retirement funding needs along with the flexibility in assumptions used to make such computations. Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Retirement and financial planning calculator apparatus and methods


Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method for deforming a curved surface using a three-dimensional target curve. The curved surface deformation apparatus of the present invention includes object curved surface selection means, sample vertex extraction means, basis function calculation means, target curve input means, control point variation calculation means, and object curved surface deformation means. The object curved surface selection means selects all or part of the curved surface of the NURBS model. The sample vertex extraction means extracts a plurality of vertexes from the object curved surface. The basis function calculation means calculates a basis function of the object curved surface. The target curve input means inputs a target curve, composed of a plurality of target. The target curve projection means projects the target curve onto the object curved surface. The control point variation calculation means individually interpolates variation values ranging from projection points of the object curved surface corresponding to the target points, calculates variation values of sample vertexes, and calculates variations of control points using the calculated variation values and a pseudo-inverse matrix of the basis function. The object curved surface deformation means deforms the object curved surface on the basis of the calculated variations of the control points.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an apparatus and method for deforming a curved surface using a three-dimensional target curve and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for deforming the curved surface of a non-uniform rational B-spline model on the basis of a three-dimensional target curve input by a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Three-dimensional graphics have been widely applied in various fields, such as the production of movies, as well as the implementation of games, Computer Aided Design (CAD), animation, and virtual reality. A representative method of implementing three-dimensional graphics is polygon modeling. Such polygon modeling is based on solid modeling and denotes a scheme of implementing a desired shape by dividing or combining respective closed solids, all surfaces of which are closed. However, in order to represent a slightly curved surface, a great number of polygons is required depending on the extent of variation in the curvature of a curved surface, or the level of detail of an operation, so that there is a problem in that the final amount of data is excessively increased.
Due to such a problem, concern about Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) modeling has recently been highlighted. NURBS is an improved method of mathematically representing a three-dimensional curve, and is a modeling method capable of precisely defining, in particular, a non-uniform curve or surface.
In NURBS modeling, an object is not represented through sampling, but is represented by numerical formulas using control points and knot vectors. The control points are points used to represent the shape of a curved surface in a manner similar to that of a Bezier curve, which is used to represent computer fonts, etc. Knot vectors are required to prevent a problem in which the overall shape of a curved surface is changed due to the movement of a single point at the time of adjusting the shape of a curved surface, that is, a shape in which local adjustment is impossible, and are used to adjust only a portion of the curved surface, influenced by the knot vectors, among the entire curved surface, even if control points are changed. The use of such NURBS modeling confers many advantages in that more precise representation is possible depending on the hardware that is used, and gentle and smooth motion can be represented through the adjustment of parameters.
A principal operation in three-dimensional modeling can be referred to as an operation of deforming a curved surface. Methods of deforming a model can be broadly classified into an indirect deformation method (1) of deforming a model, as in the case of free-form deformation of a solid model by Seberberg & Parry, and a direct deformation method (2) of directly deforming a model, as in the case of direct manipulation in free-form deformation by Hsu, Hughes & Kaufman [(1) Free-Form Deformation of Solid Geometric Models, Proceedings of SIGGRAPH'86, Computer Graphics, p 151-p 160, 1986]/[(2) Direct Manipulation of Free-Form Deformations, Proceedings of SIGGRAPH'92, Computer Graphics, p 177-p 184, 1992].
The indirect deformation method, which deforms a model according to the deformation of a grating, is disadvantageous in that it is difficult to use to implement precise deformation, and it is not intuitively grasped by a user. In contrast, the direct deformation method is advantageous in that it allows a user to intuitively deform a model, but is disadvantageous in that, in order to deform a model into a desired form, a lot of time and expense are required to learn the usage method thereof, and the user must undergo a lot of trial and error.
Meanwhile, a method of a designer (or a user) expressing his or her thinking in a planar sketch is implemented by basically representing the contour, texture or feature of an object using curves. From the standpoint of a designer, such an operation method is implemented as drawing habits through use and education over a long period of time.
However, the plurality of graphic tools employing NURBS modeling does not sufficiently consider the drawing habits of a designer. Therefore, the operation of deforming a model is problematic in that it is not intuitively used by a designer and, moreover, a series of deformation methods defined by graphic tools must be learned for a long period of time.

NURBS surface deformation apparatus and the method using 3D target curve

Chung-Ang University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation


A residual image eliminating apparatus and method for a liquid crystal display device is adaptive for eliminating residual images emerging on a screen after power-off due to electric charges accumulated in pixel cells. In the apparatus, upon power-on, a first voltage level for turning off thin film transistors is applied to gate lines. Upon power-off, a higher level voltage than a ground voltage is applied to the gate lines. At this time, a voltage at the gate line is raised into a voltage level capable of opening a channel of the thin film transistor, thereby discharging an electric charge charged in a pixel. As a result, residual images are rapidly eliminated from the liquid crystal panel upon power-off.

1. Field of the Art
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display device displaying an image employing a light transmissivity of liquid crystal, and more particularly to a residual image eliminating apparatus and method that is adaptive for eliminating a residual image emerging on a screen due to a residual electric charge accumulated in a picture element (or pixel) cell after a power source was turned off.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been an accelerated development of a flat panel display device of an active matrix driving system, for example, a liquid crystal display device using thin film transistors (TFTs) as switching devices. Since such a liquid crystal display apparatus can have a smaller dimension in comparison to the existing cathode ray tube (or brown tube), it has been commercially available for a display device of a portable television, a lap-top personal computer, and so on.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a pixel cell of a liquid crystal display panel that includes a TFT 10 having a gate connected to a gate line 11 and a source connected to a data line 13, and a parallel connection of a liquid crystal cell 12 and a support capacitor 14 between a drain of the TFT 10 and a common voltage source Vcom. The TFT 10 is turned on with a voltage higher than a threshold voltage applied to the gate thereof upon displaying of a picture, thereby connecting the data line 13 to the liquid crystal cell 12 and the support capacitor 14. The liquid crystal cell 12 and the support capacitor 14 accumulate a voltage of an image signal Vd from the data line 13 when the TFT 10 is turned on, and maintains the accumulated voltage until the TFT 10 is turned on again. Upon line inversion driving, the polarity of the common voltage Vcom is inverted depending on the gate line 11, thereby supplying the adjacent gate lines with a common voltage Vcom having the contrary polarity with respect to each other.
When a power source of the liquid crystal display panel is turned on, a gate low voltage Vg1 having a voltage level less than the gate threshold voltage Vth is supplied to gate lines 11, excluding the gate line coupled with the image signal Vd. This gate low voltage Vg1 is set to have a value lower than the minimum value of the image signal Vd. On the other hand, when a power source of the liquid crystal display panel is turned off, the gate low voltage Vg1, the image signal Vd and the common voltage Vcom are converged into a specific level (i.e., a voltage level corresponding to a ground voltage supplied during operation of the liquid crystal display panel, hereinafter referred to as "ground level" GND). At this time, the gate low voltage Vg1 changes as shown in FIG. 2. Typically, the liquid crystal display device includes a residual image eliminating apparatus for eliminating a residual image by converging the gate low voltage Vg1 to the ground level GND after a power source of the liquid crystal display panel was turned off.
As shown in FIG. 3, the residual image eliminating apparatus includes a zener diode ZD for maintaining the gate low voltage Vg1 to be supplied to the gate line 11 at a predetermined level, and a transistor Q1 for switching a current path for converging the gate low voltage Vg1 into the ground level GND when a power source of the liquid crystal display panel was turned off. Also, the residual image eliminating apparatus has a capacitor C1 connected between a positive voltage line PVL and the base of the transistor Q1. The zener diode ZD is commonly connected to the gate low voltage line VGLL and the emitter of the transistor Q1 to always lower a negative voltage VEE from a negative voltage line NVL into its breakdown voltage, and supplies the lowered voltage to the gate low voltage line VGLL. For example, if the negative voltage VEE is −5V and the breakdown voltage of the zener diode ZD is 1V, then the gate low voltage Vg1 becomes −6V. The transistor Q1 is a PNP-type transistor which receives a voltage VDD having a positive level (e.g., 5V or 3.3V) from the positive voltage line PVL at the base thereof through the capacitor C1 when a power source of the liquid crystal display panel is turned on. At this time, since almost an infinite value of resistance exists between the emitter and the collector of the transistor Q1, the gate low voltage Vg1 on the connection node between the zener diode ZD and the transistor Q1 is not bypassed into the ground voltage GND, but it is supplied to the gate low voltage line VGLL. Meanwhile, the capacitor C1 charges the positive voltage VDD from the positive voltage line PVL.
When a power source of the liquid crystal panel is turned off, the ground voltage GND is developed on each of the negative voltage line NVL and the positive voltage line PVL. At the same time, the capacitor C1 applies a negative polarity voltage—VDD to the base of the transistor Q1 by the charged electric charges thereof. Then, the transistor Q1 is turned on by converging the positive voltage VDD into the ground level GND, thereby connecting its emitter to the collector. The gate low voltage Vg1 is converged into the ground level GND by turning on the transistor Q1. The zener diode ZD is turned off by converging the negative voltage VEE [and the gate low voltage Vg1] into the ground level GND.
On the other hand, upon line inversion driving, the common voltage Vcom having an alternating current shape as shown in FIG. 4 is supplied to the liquid crystal cell 12 and the support capacitor 14. During line inversion driving, the gate low voltage Vg1 is supplied to the gate line 11 in a shape of alternating current synchronized with the common voltage Vcom by means of an alternating current source AC and a coupling capacitor Cc. When a power source of the liquid crystal display panel is turned off, the common voltage Vcom is converged into the ground level GND. At this time, A side pixels charged with a negative polarity level with respect to the ground level GND and B side pixels charged with a positive polarity level with respect to the ground level GND exist in the liquid crystal display panel. If a power source of the liquid crystal display panel is turned off, then a channel of the TFT is turned on because the image signal Vd, the gate low voltage Vg1 and the common voltage Vcom are charged into the ground level GND and a negative polarity voltage with respect to the ground level GND is charged in the A side pixel. Accordingly, the voltage charged in the A side pixel is converged into the ground level GND. In other words, when a negative(−) voltage is charged into the liquid crystal cell 12 based on the ground level GND, a voltage applied to the gate of the TFT 10 becomes higher than a pixel charge voltage Vp. As a result, electric charges charged in the liquid crystal cell 12 are bypassed into the data line 13, so that a residual image does not emerge at the corresponding lines.
Otherwise, since a channel of the TFT connected to the B side pixel charged with a positive(+) voltage with respect to the ground level GND is turned off, the pixel voltage Vp is converged into the ground level GND slowly. In other words, in the case of the liquid crystal cell 12 charged with a positive (+) voltage based on the ground level GND before the power source is turned off, a voltage applied to the gate of the TFT 10 becomes lower than the pixel charge voltage Vp. Accordingly, even though a power of the liquid crystal display panel is turned off, a residual image emerges on a screen (i.e., a liquid crystal display panel). Further, in the case of being driven in the line inversion system, a residual image appears at odd-numbered gate lines 11 or even-numbered gate lines 11. It takes a considerable time (i.e., more than about one minute) to extinguish such a residual image.

Apparatus and method for eliminating residual image in a liquid crystal display device


Disposable urinary devices may be arranged in a nested stack and enclosed within a dispenser. Each of the urinary devices may include body that tapers from an inlet opening having a curled edge to an outlet opening. The dispenser may provide an enclosure which permits the stacked urinary devices to be transported without damage during ordinary handling and to provide a sanitary covering for the urinary devices during storage. The dispenser also includes a retainer to allow the urinary devices to be withdrawn one by one, while providing a sanitary storage enclosure for the remaining urinary devices.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate in general to a disposable urinary device, and more particularly to an improved disposable urinary device and a dispenser.
2. Description of Related Art
A woman may desire to urinate in a standing position for a variety of reasons, e.g., health, sanitation, convenience, etc. This has precipitated the development of a variety of urinary devices.
Some conventional urinary devices are presented as flat sheets (and sometimes as flat folded sheets) of material. Because the device is flat, it can be discretely carried by the woman, and therefore available at all times. The flat sheets may be packaged individually or a plurality of flat sheets may be provided in a dispenser. In any event, the flat sheet must be formed into a funnel shape prior to use. Furthermore, during use, pressure must be carefully maintained around the exterior of the device to keep the device open.
Other conventional urinary devices are preformed. These devices tend to be more rigid, bulky, complex, expensive to manufacture, and sometimes require assembly prior to use. Such devices are packaged individually and intended for repeated use.


Reconciliation and subscription-model permissions of data stored across independent ledger instances of a database. A system includes a resource manager coupled to a plurality of client accounts. The system includes an execution platform and a shared permissioned ledger comprising independent processing and storage nodes for executing data operations for the plurality of client accounts. The resource manager defines a settlement group comprising one or more client accounts and authenticates an observer node associated with the settlement group. The resource manager assigns ingested data an encryption level on a key hierarchy based on content of the ingested data.

Numerous industries generate and output data in high volumes that can become unmanageable for ingestion, analysis, and storage. Example industries generating high-volume data entries include, for example, retail industries generating transactional data, financial industries executing trades between parties, research and development industries receiving sensor data, and so forth. Traditional systems for data ingestion, analysis, and storage are complicated by processing and storage constraints. These traditional systems experience high latency when different data output nodes provide data at different volume rates over time. In some industries, it can be critical to ingest and assess enormous sums of data in near real-time.
In some cases, and particularly in the financial transaction industry, it can be important for multiple parties to ingest and assess incoming data in near real-time. In traditional transactional systems, executing a transaction between two or more counterparties can take several days because each of the two or more counterparties must analyze large sums of data to determine obligations and exposures before settling the transaction. The delay in executing transactions between counterparties is associated with the latency in processing and storage resources for assessing incoming, up-to-date transactional data. Additionally, most transactions can only be executed during business hours when various entities such as banks, clearinghouses, and exchanges are open and operating. This is due at least in part to the individualized data analysis performed by the counterparties.
What is needed are centralized data ingestion, analysis, and storage resources for multiple parties that cannot share data for security reasons but must coordinate actions based on data analysis. In light of the foregoing, disclosed herein are systems, methods, and devices for near real-time analysis of information consumed by high-throughput data ingestion. Additionally, disclosed herein are systems, methods, and devices for partitioning data in a database for secured, permissioned access such that the data can be assessed by independent nodes for coordinating actions between parties.

Reconciliation of data stored on permissioned database storage across independent computing nodes


Hybrid antibodies and/or hybrid antibody fragments and methods of making them are provided. In one embodiment the hybrid antibodies and/or hybrid antibody fragments contain heavy and/or light variable regions that contain two or more framework regions derived from at least two antibodies. In another embodiment, at least two of the framework regions are classified in the same germline gene family. In one embodiment, at least two framework regions are classified in the same germline gene family member. The hybrid antibodies or hybrid antibody fragments may contain human framework regions and nonhuman CDRs.

Antibodies are proteins produced by lymphocytes known as B cells in vertebrates in response to stimulation by antigens. The basic structural unit of an antibody (a.k.a. immunoglobulin (Ig)) molecule consists of four polypeptide chains which come together in the shape of a capital letter "Y". Two of the four chains are identical light (L) chains and two are identical heavy (H) chains. There are five different kinds (isotypes) of heavy chains which divide antibodies into five classes, namely, IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM. In addition, there are two different isotypes of light chains designated K and λ. Each class of heavy chains can combine with either of the light chains. The heavy and light chains each contain a variable region (VH and VL, respectively) that is involved in antigen binding and a constant (C) region. The antigen binding site is composed of six hypervariable regions (a.k.a. complementarity determining regions (CDRs)). Three CDRs from the heavy chain and three CDRs from the light chain are respectively positioned between four relatively conserved anti-parallel β-sheets which are called framework regions (FR1, FR2, FR3 and FR4), on each chain. By convention, numbering systems have been utilized to designate the location of the component parts of VH and VL chains. The Kabat definition is based on sequence variability and the Chothia definition is based on the location of structural loop regions.
For each type of Ig chain synthesized by B cells, there is a separate pool of gene segments, known as germline genes, from which a single polypeptide chain is synthesized. Each pool is located on a different chromosome and typically contains a relatively large number of gene segments encoding the V region and a lesser number of gene segments encoding the C region. Each light chain V region is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence assembled from two kinds of germline gene segments, i.e., a long V gene segment, a short joining (J) gene segment, and a C segment. The heavy chain is encoded by four kinds of germline gene segments, three for the variable region and one for the constant region. The three germline gene segments that encode the heavy chain variable region are a V segment, a J segment and a diversity (D) segment. Human germline V, D and J gene sequences have been characterized. The human germline VH gene segments (such "segments" are also referred to herein as family members) are classified into seven families (VH1-VH7) based on sequence homology of at least 80%. See, e.g., Matsuda, et al. J. Exp. Med. (1998) 188:2151-2162. There are approximately fifty-one VH segments (family members). The first two CDRs and three framework regions of the heavy chain variable region are encoded by VH. CDR3 is encoded by a few nucleotides of VH, all of DH and part of JH, while FR4 is encoded by the remainder of the JH gene segment. With regard to light chains, V Kappa (Vk) or V lambda (Vλ) gene segments (family members) encode the first two CDR and three framework regions of the V region along with a few residues of CDR3. J Kappa (JK) and J Lambda (Jλ) segments encode the remainder of the CDR3 region in a Vk or Vλ region, respectively. DNA encoding the k chain includes approximately forty Vk segments (family members) that are classified into six families (Vk I-Vk VI) based on sequence homology. DNA encoding the λ chain includes approximately thirty-one Vλ segments (family members) that are classified into ten families. See FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 6.
Antibodies and antibody fragments have become promising therapeutic agents in connection with various human diseases in both acute and chronic settings. There are several methods being utilized to generate antibodies including hybridoma technology, bacterial display, ribosome display, yeast display, and recombinant expression of human antibody fragments on the surface of replicative bacteriophage. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which may be produced by hybridomas, have been applied successfully as diagnostics for many years, but their use as therapeutic agents is just emerging. The vast majority of mAbs are of non-human (largely rodent) origin, posing the problem of immunogenicity in humans. When antibodies of rodent origin are administered to humans, anti-rodent antibodies are generated which result in enhanced clearance of the rodent antibody from the serum, blocking of its therapeutic effect and hypersensitivity reactions. These limitations have prompted the development of engineering technologies known as "humanization".
The first humanization strategies were based on the knowledge that heavy and light chain variable domains are responsible for binding to antigen, and the constant domains for effector function. Chimeric antibodies were created, for example, by transplanting the variable domains of a rodent mAb to the constant domains of human antibodies (e.g. Neuberger M S, et al., Nature 314, 268-70, 1985 and Takeda, et al., Nature 314, 452-4, 1985). Although these chimeric antibodies induce better effector functions in humans and exhibit reduced immunogenicity, the rodent variable region still poses the risk of inducing an immune response. When it was recognized that the variable domains consist of a beta sheet framework surmounted by antigen-binding loops (complementarity determining regions or CDR's), humanized antibodies were designed to contain the rodent CDR's grafted onto a human framework. Several different antigen-binding sites were successfully transferred to a single human framework, often using an antibody where the entire human framework regions have the closest homology to the rodent sequence (e.g., Jones P T, et al., Nature 321, 522-5, 1986; Riechmann L. et al., Nature 332, 323-327, 1988; and Sato K. et al., Mol. Immunol. 31, 371-8, 1994). Alternatively, consensus human frameworks were built based on several human heavy chains (e.g., Carter P. et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 89, 487-99, 1992). However, simple CDR grafting often resulted in loss of antigen affinity. Other possible interactions between the 3-sheet framework and the loops had to be considered to recreate the antigen binding site (Chothia C, et al., Mol. Biol. 196, 901-917, 1987).
Comparison of the essential framework residues required in humanization of several antibodies, as well as computer modeling based on antibody crystal structures revealed a set of framework residues termed as "Vernier zone residues" (Foote J., et al., Mol Biol 224, 487-99, 1992) that most likely contributes to the integrity of the binding site. In addition, several residues in the VH-VL interface zone might be important in maintaining affinity for the antigen (Santos A D, et al., Prog. Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol 60, 169-94 1998). Initially, framework residues were stepwise mutated back to the rodent sequence (Kettleborough C A, et al. Protein Engin. 4, 773-783, 1991). However, this mutation approach is very time-consuming and cannot cover every important residue.
For any particular antibody a small set of changes may suffice to optimize binding, yet it is difficult to select from the set of Vernier and VH/VL residues. Combinatorial library approaches combined with selection technologies (such as phage display) revolutionized humanization technologies by creating a library of humanized molecules that represents alternatives between rodent and human sequence in all important framework residues and allows for simultaneous determination of binding activity of all humanized forms (e.g. Rosok M J, J Biol Chem, 271, 22611-8, 1996 and Baca M, et al. J Biol Chem 272, 10678-84, 1997).
The above approaches utilize entire framework regions from a single antibody variable heavy or variable light chain to receive the CDRs. It is advantageous to provide highly homologous engineered antibodies based on antibodies from an originating species which exhibit reduced immunogenicity while maintaining an optimum binding profile that can be administered to a target species for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.


Disclosed is a block toy for music education which recognizes combined melody blocks so as to replay sounds in order having the same pitch as the melody blocks, thereby playing a melody. The corresponding melody block is lit up to display a playing melody block while playing a melody. It is possible to differentiate each melody block by detecting, with a mechanical switch, uneven patterns formed at the lower sides of melody blocks. Since music can be visually understood, the block toy can help the emotion and music education of children.

Building block toys generally play music as blocks are built, thereby helping emotional cultivation of children or stimulation of their musical interest. Korean Patent No. 939,166 registered on Jan. 20, 2010 suggests a block toy that plays music or emits light according to a three-dimensional structure including unit blocks built on a game board. These unit blocks are supplied with power through a surface terminal from an external power source, and transmit and receive information to and from a game-board body through wireless communication. Here, musical elements, such as scale, octave, sound field, tone, dynamics, and the like, are defined depending on assembled or disassembled forms of blocks, and melodies are played by detecting these assembled or disassembled block forms.
However, in such block toys, each block includes a high-priced microprocessor or a wireless communicator, thereby increasing production costs. Further, as each block depends on an electric terminal on a surface, such limitation on instruments may result in an unstable electric connection, and contaminations on a surface and the like may cause connection failure with lapse of time, thereby leading to operation errors.
Korean Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-0064731 published on Jun. 14, 2006 discloses a toy for music education, in which music is played according to an electronic musical score by recognizing musical note blocks inserted into holes of an electronic board with a manuscript paper written thereon. Similarly, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-312275 published on Nov. 9, 2001 discloses an automatic music playing apparatus, in which musical blocks may be played in sequence by connecting side by side musical blocks, each of which has a musical score and musical notes drawn on its surface, and includes male and female connectors on both sides, and by recognizing the connected musical blocks by a main body block with a treble clef drawn on its surface.
However, such music playing blocks, which are based on professional music scores, are not suitable for toddlers or young children.


The apparatus is a hydride heat pump which uses double communicating section containers holding high and low temperature metal hydrides, with the containers moving back and forth within channels between three heat exchangers. The preferred device has a cylindrical body with the several cylindrical channels in a circular pattern around the axis of the cylindrical body. High, medium, and low temperature heat exchangers are located in the body in sequence along the channels. Transition regions formed by thermal bridges alternating with thermal insulation are located along the channel walls between the heat exchangers to transfer heat among all the hydride containers located in each transition region. The lengths of the heat exchangers and the transition regions, the geometry of the containers, the timing of the reciprocation, and the number of channels are selected so that at least two containers moving in opposite directions are in contact with the transition zones at any time.

This invention deals generally with refrigeration, and more specifically with metal hydride heat pumps powered by waste or solar heat.
Metal hydride technologies have been well established for nearly two decades. Hydrogen reacts with metals to form metal hydrides, a reaction that is reversible depending upon the temperature and pressure. Metal hydride heat pump technology is receiving increasing attention in recent years, partially due to the call for more compact and higher performance thermal control systems that consume minimal electricity. A metal hydride heat pump uses the energy associated with the hydrogen and metal reaction to perform heating and cooling, and thereby consumes minimal electricity. Furthermore, metal hydrides can store thermal energy indefinitely without insulation.
There are two main reasons for the limited use of metal hydride heat pumps at the present time. One reason is the low efficiency of metal hydride heat pumps compared to vapor compression heat pumps, and the other reason is the reliability problems of metal hydrides after many absorption and desorption cycles. Metal hydride reliability has been significantly improved, and over 100,000 hydriding and dehydriding cycles have been successfully demonstrated for a number of commonly used metal hydrides.
Japanese Patent No. 63-27624 (1988) shows a metal hydride heat pump constructed as a body within which high, medium and low temperature containers enclosing metal hydride oscillate with a rotational motion to transfer heat to a fluid.
Japanese Patent No. 1-21432 (1989) discloses metal hydride within two adjoining containers which are attached but whose volumes are not interconnected. The first embodiment reciprocates linearly along the axis of the containers so that at any one time the two containers are in thermal contact with different heat exchangers, and a second embodiment reciprocates with rotational motion to accomplish the same result.
Each of these devices operates on the same well established principle. A container with higher temperature metal hydride is exposed to heat at an input heat exchanger, and the heat causes the hydride to decompose and pressurize the sealed container with hydrogen, thus storing heat energy within the container. Either an increase of pressure or a decrease in temperature within the container will then cause the hydrogen to be reabsorbed by the metal hydride. The higher temperature metal hydride container is then moved to the mid-temperature heat exchanger where it is exposed to a lower temperature, and the metal hydride is reformed as the hydrogen is absorbed and the container gives up heat to the mid-temperature heat exchanger. The higher temperature metal hydride is then moved back to the input heat exchanger to absorb more heat energy, and at the same time a container with lower temperature metal hydride is moved into contact with the mid-temperature heat exchanger. The lower temperature metal hydride then picks up heat from the mid-temperature heat exchanger and moves it to the lower temperature heat exchanger in the same manner that the higher temperature metal hydride container operates. Furthermore, since the two containers are attached, their movement is simultaneous.
Essentially, a bucket brigade of packages of heat is established, and it should be appreciated that as these packages of heat are moved they not only heat the cooler region, but they also cool, that is remove heat from, the hotter region. Thus, this arrangement can be used as either a heater or air conditioner.
However, the disadvantage of these prior art structures is the low efficiency due to thermal losses during each heating and cooling of the non-reactive containers which enclose the metal hydrides. Furthermore, the energy consumption of these prior art metal hydride heat pumps also increases as the difference between ambient temperature and the hydride generated temperature increases.
Thus, there is still a need for improving efficiency beyond the efficiency offered by the metal hydride heat pumps of the prior art.


A wearable electronic device for conveying information in an analog manner at least in part by the use of at least one display hand positioned on the dial side of a dial, wherein the wearable electronic device uses the display hand(s) to convey information that is stored in the controller of the device and/or provided by sensors and/or an external transmitter. An actuation mechanism, preferably a stepper motor, is used to rotate the display hands in the clockwise and/or counterclockwise directions in predefined increments to convey the information.

This invention relates generally to wearable electronic devices, such as timepieces, and in particular, to an electronic device, such as for example and not limitation, a watch, that has multiple display functionality. More specifically, the electronic device of the present invention provides unique constructions and methodologies for displaying information with the use of hands, such as that found in analog watches (i.e. in an "analog manner").
Originally, watches were typically viewed merely as a device for telling time or providing other time related information. Over the years, watches have become the means by which information, other than time information, could be presented to the wearer.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,521 ("Amano") describes a watch with a multifunction analog display particularly designed to display time information and biorhythms. Described therein are the use of "small watches" that are able to display the features of the biorhythm along with the display of the current time, and a separate condition display scale and condition display hand is provided therefor. In a related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,054 ("Truini") describes the use of separate analog displays that correspond to one's intelligence, emotion and body cycles, and the hands for these separate displays are described as being "enacted" by the watch movement. It can thus be seen that Truini, as well as conventional chronograph watches, do not describe or suggest rotation of the smaller displays based on "stored data," but rather merely only upon the passage of time. As will become clear below, this is a perceived deficiency in the prior art.
Most displays of non-time related information has been incorporated into the digital watch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,126 describes an electronic tide watch comprising a memory for storing a table of tide times, heights, and geographic offsets, an input circuit for entering times, dates, and geographic offsets, a processing circuit for identifying stored tide information corresponding to a specified time and date, and a display for showing selected tide times and heights.
The use of watches to digitally display information to a user regarding external conditions are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,246 describes an electronic wrist watch with water depth measuring capability including an LCD panel and display screen for presenting time and water depth, and a display area that illuminate static arrows to indicate depth variations along with the direction of variation.
Another example is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,058, which describes a "health watch" for digitally displaying a plurality of information, such as time, atmospheric temperature, body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.
At least one patent has described the use of a wristwatch with interchangeable sensors for sensing and conveying to a user, through a digital display, information regarding external parameters. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,295 describes a miniature portable physiological parameter measuring system with interchangeable sensors, in which the system can be incorporated into a wrist-worn device having the general configuration of a wristwatch. Through the use of remote sensors, the '295 patent appears to describe the desirability to enable a wristworn device to monitor heart rates, or other parameters such as lung capacity, temperature, and respiration.
The prior art also describes the use of remotely located sensors that wirelessly transmit heartrate information to a watch. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,007, describes the transmission of an encoded digital signal from the chestworn transmitter to the wristworn receiver. The receiver receives unit-specific information from the transmitter, which is displayed in the form of a digital number representing the wearer's heart rate. In a similar manner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,856 describes a system for measuring the speed of a person while running or walking along a surface. An acceleration sensor located in or on the wearer's shoe provides an acceleration signal which is processed and then transmitted by means of an RF transmitter and received by an RF receiver in a watch. The information, which can include average speed, maximum speed, total distance traversed, calories expended, and heart rate, is then digitally displayed by the runner or walker.
As therefore can be seen, the prior art generally recognizes that a timepiece, such as a wristwatch, can be used to convey non-time related information to a user.
However, the prior art provides such information in a less than desirable format. For example, many of the aforementioned devices display such non "time of day" information digitally. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to visually appreciate fluctuations in such parameters as they are being displayed. Furthermore, not all users need to have such exacting information, but rather may merely want to ensure they are within a specified range, etc. (e.g. such as a heartrate). For this reason, it is more desirable and effective to use a hand for the display of such information, so that a user can quickly see where his/her heart rate is relative to a chart or scale, especially when the precision of digital representation is unnecessary. Furthermore, studies have shown that, in certain situations, use of a hand to display information may be more desirable than using digital readouts. Still further, at least U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,521 uses a hand that is mounted on the center axis. Such a limitation prohibits more versatile and widely functional display potentials, and impedes the ability, in some constructions, of viewing the time of day simultaneously with the viewing of other displayable information. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,054 appears to describe separate displays that are not independently driven but rather "enacted" by the watch movement, thereby also contributing to the deficiencies in the prior art. As stated above, such a device only describes the movement of the separate display hands based on the passage of time, not on any information stored in the device. Such is also true for conventional chronograph watches.
Accordingly, it can be seen that further advancements in the art are desired. It is believed that the functionality and methodologies to provide the foregoing advantages and achieve the aforementioned objectives, as well as those set forth below, are provided by the present invention.

Wearable electronic device with multiple display functionality


This invention provides a power supply comprising a mother board, a first socket, and a DC-DC converter module. The mother board comprises a transformer operative for transforming an input power into a first AC output power and a filter operative for receiving the first AC output power and filtering the first AC output power into a first DC output power. The first socket is mounted on the mother board and electrically coupled to a circuitry of the mother board by way of at least one conductor terminal operative for providing the first DC output power. The DC-DC converter module mounted on a printed circuit board electrically coupled to the mother board comprises a DC-DC converter operative for receiving the first DC output power and converting the first DC output power into a second DC output power and a third DC output power and a second socket operative for providing the second DC output power and the third DC output power by means of a conductive path of the printed circuit board. There are several advantages including the reduction of the use of the conductive wires, the improvement of the efficiency of the power supply, the simplicity of the circuitry of the power supply, and the easy replacement of the broken component because the DC-DC converter module is mounted on an individual printed circuit board different from the mother board.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply, and more particularly to a power supply including a DC-DC converter module mounted on an individual printed circuit board different from a mother board.
2. Description of Related Arts
Referring to FIG. 1, a perspective view of a conventional power supply is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 1, the power supply 100 includes a mother board 110 and a housing 120. An example of the typical mother board 110 generally comprises some basic components such as transformers 111, capacitors, resistors, filters, etc mounted on the mother board 110. The mother board 110 is electrically connected to an outer power source by means of the input socket 112 for receiving an AC input power from the outer power source and providing a DC output power from the power supply 100 to a component disposed inside of the computer case via a removable cable attached to the power supply 100, wherein the transformer 111 converts the received AC input power into a 12 volt AC power, a 5 volt AC power, and/or a 3.3 volt AC power and the 12 volt AC power, the 5 volt AC power, and/or the 3.3 volt AC power are/is filtered by the filter to provide a 12 volt DC power, a 5 volt DC power, and/or a 3.3 volt DC power. The 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power, and/or the 3.3 volt DC power are/is coupled and delivered to a socket 117 by means of a plurality of wires 113A, 113B, 114A, 114B, 115A, 115B, 116A, and 116B for supplying the 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power, and/or the 3.3 volt DC power from the mother board 110 to the socket 117. It is necessary to utilize a plurality of wires 113A, 113B, 114A, 114B, 15A, 15B, 116A, and 116B to supply the 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power, and/or the 3.3 volt DC power from the mother board 110 to the socket 117, respectively. Thus, the circuitry of the power supply 100 is more complex and has more power consumption because there are more conductive wires utilized in the power supply 100. In other words, there are more conductive wires electrically connected between the mother board 110 and the socket 117, which means higher resistance and more power losses.
Referring to FIG. 2, a perspective view of another conventional power supply including a DC-DC converter is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 2, the power supply 200 includes a mother board 210 and a housing 220. An example of the typical mother board 210 generally comprises some basic components such as transformers 211, a DC-DC converter 213, capacitors, resistors, filters, etc mounted on the mother board 210. The mother board 210 is electrically connected to an outer power source by means of the input socket 212 for receiving an AC input power from the outer power source and providing a DC output power from the power supply 200 to a component disposed inside of the computer case via a removable cable attached to the power supply 200, wherein the transformer 211 converts the received AC input power into a 12 volt AC power and the 12 volt AC power is filtered by the filter to provide a 12 volt DC power. The 12 volt DC power is converted by the DC-DC converter 213 to provide a 5 volt DC power and/or a 3.3 volt DC power. The 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power and/or the 3.3 volt DC power are/is coupled and delivered to a socket 217 by means of a plurality of conductive wires for supplying the 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power, and/or the 3.3 volt DC power from the mother board 210 to the socket 217. It is necessary to utilize a plurality of conductive wires to supply the 12 volt DC power, the 5 volt DC power, and/or the 3.3 volt DC power from the mother board 210 to the socket 217, respectively. Thus, the circuitry of the power supply 200 is more complex and has more power consumption because there are more conductive wires utilized in the power supply 200. In other words, there are more conductive wires electrically connected between the mother board 210 and the socket 217, which means higher resistance and more power losses.
It would thus be desirable to provide a power supply in order to reduce the use of the conductive wires and simply the circuitry such that the power loss and the power efficiency could be improved.

Power supply apparatus having DC-DC converter module mounted on individual printed circuit board


The present invention provides a gaming machine which can provide games that are prevented from progressing monotonously and thus can provide a player with a feeling of tension, thereby facilitating the consumption of more gaming media. A currently played chance game is discontinued and the chance game is started afresh from the first game under the condition that a second symbol appears on a symbol display unit upon the number of games being less than a predetermined number in the chance game mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine and, more particularly, to a gaming machine which rearranges symbols in each of unit games and awards a benefit when a winning pattern is established in the rearranged symbols.
2. Description of the Related Art
A slot machine is a gaming machine that rotates reels to rearrange symbols in a display area each time a game player presses a button located on a control panel to start playing a unit game. When a winning pattern is formed in the display area, a benefit (e.g., a payout) is awarded to the player (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,048).
In consideration of players' diversified preferences, there have been developed a variety of slot machines. For example, the slot machines has been developed which varies in symbol patterns, gaming scenarios, side effects (sound effects, effects using images, and effects by means of reel spinning). Moreover, the slot machine has been developed which is provided with a bonus game (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,345). Furthermore, the slot machine also has been developed which permits the enjoyment of a free game under predetermined conditions (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 7,942,733).
Furthermore, there also have been developed the slot machine that allows the player to access television program, web sites, or pay-per-view services (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 7,871,327).
Yet further, there has been conventionally a gaming machine which adds further free games when a predetermined condition is established in a free game mode. This enables a player to play extra free games in a row, and thus more benefits have been able to given to a player.

Gaming machine having normal game mode and chance game mode


A voltage controlled oscillator that is a differential ring oscillator type voltage controlled oscillator that, by connecting in cascade differential delay elements to which differential clock signals of a mutually reverse phase are input and controlling the current that flows to the differential delay elements by a bias voltage, controls a delay amount of this differential clock signal, having a phase detection portion that outputs a detection signal by comparing an output voltage of the differential output of any differential delay element and a reference voltage that is set to a voltage that detects an abnormal operation, and a cross-coupled circuit that is provided at each of the differential delay elements and, when the detection signal is input, amplifies the potential difference between the pair of differential output terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage controlled oscillator capable of changing an oscillation frequency with a control voltage.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-39025, filed Feb. 20, 2007, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) has generally been used as a circuit for generating digital waveforms.
In particular, a VCO with the structure shown in FIG. 9 that uses differential delay elements shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B has been widely employed as a phase locked loop (PLL) for internal clock generation in a synchronous LSI (for example, refer to William J. Dally and John W. Poulton, "Digital Systems Engineering Basic Edition", trans. Tadahiro Kuroda, Maruzen, Mar. 30, 2003, p. 747).
In the above-mentioned differential delay element, an N-channel type MOS transistor N100 into which a bias voltage signal NBIAS is inputted is used as a constant current source that provides a constant current I. Moreover, this differential delay element consists of P-channel type MOS transistors P100 and P101 into which a bias signal PBIAS is input, and diode-connected P-channel type MOS transistors P102 and P103 that are connected in parallel to the MOS transistors P100 and P101, respectively. This parallel circuit forms resistance of resistance value R.
The VCO shown in FIG. 9 operates with the gap between the differential nodes (the point of turnback at the maximum value and minimum value of the oscillating wave) being amplitude RI(=VDD−Vlow, with VDD being the power supply voltage, which is the maximum voltage in the output waveform, and Vlow being the minimum voltage in the output waveform).
By adjusting the abovementioned bias voltage signals NBIAS and PBIAS and mainly controlling the current value I, the propagation period (namely, delay time) of the differential delay element is changed, and so the oscillating frequency of the VCO is changed.
The signals CT1 to CT8 and CB1 to CB8 that are output from each of the differential delay elements 101 to 108 propagate while being delayed in turn by the differential delay elements of the next stage as in the waveform shown in FIG. 10. Thereby, it is possible to generate a multi-phase clock signal in which the signal CT4 has a phase difference of 90 degrees, the signal CB8 has a phase difference of 180 degrees, and the signal CB4 has a phase difference of 280 degrees with respect to the signal CT8 in a locked state of the frequency being stabilized.
Moreover, the phase difference of the outputs between the adjacent differential delay elements is 22.5 degrees (360 degrees/16). By interpolating this phase difference, it is possible to readily generate a multiphase clock that is synchronized with a signal that differs from the reference clock of the PLL.
However, the VCO mentioned above may fall into a the false oscillation state in which the phase differences between the differential delay elements shift from the design values due to the reason given below.
That is, since each of the differential delay elements (101 to 108 of FIG. 9) shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B has a small phase difference with another adjacent differential delay element, feedback is not applied to the voltage of the output terminals OUTP and OUTM other than weak feedback.
For that reason, as shown in FIG. 11, in the differential delay elements (101 to 108) that form the VCO by being connected in series, a metastable condition exists in which the signal waveforms of CTi, CBi that are even numbered (i=2, 4, 6, 8) are all in the same phase, while the signal waveforms of the odd-numbered CTj, CBj (j=1, 3, 5, 7) are in a reverse phase of the signal waveforms of the even-numbered CTi, CBi (first problem).
The phenomenon above easily occurs in the case of lowering the bias voltage signal in order to perform control that lowers the operating frequency of the VCO and dropping the gain of the differential delay elements. In this false oscillation state, the VCO cannot generate and output the intended multiphase clock as a designed value. That is, the phases of adjacent differential delay elements shift by 180 degrees each, leading to a state of the normal phase difference of 22.5 degrees between adjacent differential delay elements not being satisfied.
Moreover, the VCO may enter the metastable oscillation state as shown in FIG. 12. This false oscillation state is a stable state in which CTi (i is even number) and CBi all become the "L" level low-voltage level Vlow, and CTj (j is odd number) and CBj all become the "H" level high-voltage level VDD (second problem).
Also in this case, it is not possible to generate the intended multiphase clock as in the case of FIG. 11 and not possible to readily escape from the metastable state, and so returning to the normal oscillation state is difficult.


Retrofit connectors that secure together the outside sheathing and underlying structural members of wood-frame or masonry houses, preventing damage when subjected to lateral stresses from a hurricane, or transverse loads from an earthquake. The connectors have special bushings and bearing surfaces that tie the outside sheathing and underlying structural members together, but allow deflection, and transfer of energy to other structural members. Different embodiments of the connectors allow them to adapt to most wood-frame and masonry homes, and to most roof pitches.

Recent studies of earthquake damage on wood-frame buildings indicate that the outside wall sheathing is the most important structural member in preventing destruction to a home. Sheathing that is tightly secured to a house, stiffens the vertical components against damaging deformations.
The initial failure location on buildings during hurricanes is at the roof to wall connection, or at the wall to floor connection. This invention uses the outside wall sheathing to help tie the roof and floor to the walls, and stiffens the wall to distribute wind loads to the roof framing and end walls.
Failure and loss of the roof sheathing is common during hurricanes, mainly because of inadequate fastening of the roof sheathing to the underlying structural members. The roof system provides stability to a house by supporting the tops of exterior and interior load-bearing walls.
Sheet metal joints perform better than nailed joints in high winds and during seismic activity. Strong connectors, secured by sturdy fasteners, will insure that the major structural members of a house are securely tied together. Rigid outside sheathing, securely fastened to the walls, strengthens the link between the horizontal and vertical components of a structure.

Retrofit hurricane and earthquake protection