A shoe sole, a shoe and a method for producing a shoe sole, which has at least one cleat that is designed to make contact with the ground on the underside of the sole facing towards the ground when used as intended. In order to improve the traction of the shoe fitted with such a shoe sole the cleat has a base body that is fixed to the underside of the sole, wherein an arcuate recess having a longitudinal direction of arc is arranged in the base body which has two openings on a surface facing the ground of the base body. An insert having a shape congruent to the arcuate recess is arranged in the recess. The insert is arranged such as to be movable in the base body in the longitudinal direction of arc of the arcuate recess.

The invention relates to a shoe sole, which has at least one cleat that is designed to make contact with the ground on the underside of the sole facing towards the ground when used as intended. Furthermore, the invention relates to a shoe with such a sole as well as a method for the production of such a sole.
A shoe of the generic kind respectively such a shoe sole is known for example from EP 1 392 136 B1. Here, a sport shoe is described which is especially used as a soccer shoe, which comprises a plurality of cleats at the underside of the sole.
Although a cleat or cam shoe is already available with the pre-known solution by which already a positive influence of the traction behaviour of the shoe can be obtained, it has been found that a demand for improvement exist with respect to the stability during striking of the shoe on the ground. Accordingly, pre-known shoes are not yet designed in an optimal manner with respect to the grip of the shoe on the ground. This applies specifically in the case of using the sport shoe for soccer or golf, where due to the course of movement a good and slip-proof hold of the shoe on the ground is aimed for during the phases of movement.

Shoe sole, shoe with such a shoe sole and method for the production of such a shoe sole


This invention relates to an improved process for the minimization of acid-catalyzed reactions of certain echinocandins of the kind disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,804. The process involves the use of a boronic acid.

This invention relates to an improved process for the minimization of acid-catalyzed reactions of certain echinocandins of the kind disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,804. The echinocandin compounds disclosed in the patent have been prepared as described in the patent and in patents claiming improvements of the process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,521 discloses a three-step process for preparing the compounds of the invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,936,062 discloses an improvement of the three-step process using a boronate intermediate. Articles in the Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1999, 64, 2411–2417 and J. Med. Chem. 1994, 37, 222–225, describe an amide to nitrile dehydration of similar echinocandins using cyanuric chloride. However, the previous processes resulted in the formation of unwanted benzylic substituted derivatives of the desired compound. The instant invention results in increased yield of the desired product while minimizing the acid-catalyzed reaction at the benzylic center as well as acid-catalyzed epimerization at the benzylic center. Additionally, the process allows for the use of moderate to strong acid catalysts previously determined to be ineffective at catalyzing the reaction in a highly chemo-selective manner. The improvement permits the use of considerably less acid to complete the formation of the desired compound. Additionally, the α/β stereoselectivity for the phenylsulfide formation reaction is greatly increased.


A sheet-shaped hollow fiber membrane module includes a casing having a flat shape, the casing including a supply port and a discharge port, and a plurality of hollow fiber membranes accommodated inside the casing. The casing includes a plurality of the supply ports on one main surface of the casing and a plurality of the discharge ports on the other main surface of the casing, at least one of the plurality of the supply ports is closable, and at least one of the plurality of the discharge ports is closable. Each of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes includes a first opening at one end of the hollow fiber membrane and a second opening at the other end of the hollow fiber membrane, and the first opening and the second opening communicate with an outside of the casing and do not communicate with an inside of the casing.

Forward osmosis (FO) is a phenomenon in which water of a side of water to be treated (a feed solution) at a low concentration (a low osmotic pressure) moves toward a solution (a draw solution) at a high concentration (a high osmotic pressure) via a semipermeable membrane. On the other hand, in a field of water treatment, a water treatment method using a reverse osmosis (RO) process has been conventionally known. The reverse osmosis process is a process in which water moves from high concentration water to be treated to a low concentration solution side contrary to the forward osmosis by artificially applying a high pressure.
However, since the reverse osmosis process requires a high pressure, energy consumption is extremely large and energy efficiency is low. Therefore, in recent years, in order to increase the energy efficiency of water treatment, a forward osmosis water treatment system utilizing the natural osmosis phenomenon that need not artificially apply pressure has been proposed.
For example, a forward osmosis water treatment system using a hollow-fiber-type semipermeable membrane is disclosed in International Publication No. 2013/118859 (PTL 1). A hollow fiber membrane is advantageous in that a membrane area per module is increased and membrane permeation efficiency is increased compared to a spiral type semipermeable membrane or the like. In addition, since the hollow fiber membrane itself has a separation and a self-supporting function, spacers are unnecessary, and a packing density and volumetric efficiency of the membrane element is increased. Therefore, there is a feature that a permeate flow rate per unit volume of a membrane element is increased.
On the other hand, various kinds of the draw solutions used for the forward osmosis water treatment system are known, and a high viscosity solution such as a polyglycol copolymer that is used as the draw solution is disclosed in, for example, National Patent Publication No. 2014-512951 (PTL 2).
In addition, although a membrane separation apparatus in which modules having a plurality of flat sheet membranes are connected in multiple stages is disclosed in PTL 3 (US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0175011A), the membrane permeation efficiency is not increased as in the case where the hollow fiber membrane is used.
Further, a membrane separation apparatus in which a plurality of sheet-shaped hollow fiber membrane modules are disposed in parallel is disclosed in PTL 4 (Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-51672), each of the sheet-shaped hollow fiber membrane modules includes a knitted fabric integrated by threads in a state where a plurality of hollow fibers are disposed in parallel.

Sheet-shaped hollow fiber membrane module and membrane separation unit


A method for adjusting the luminance IM.sub.HI of pixels in a high resolution image includes first forming a low resolution image of the original by grouping pixels into superpixels such as 8.times.8 blocks. A low resolution luminance correction value .delta..sub.LO is determined for each superpixel by comparing the luminance of the superpixel to both a predetermined darkness threshold T.sub.D and a predetermined brightness threshold T.sub.B. The low resolution luminance correction value .delta..sub.LO is modified to yield .delta.'.sub.LO for each superpixel by forming islands of the superpixels and smoothing .delta..sub.LO between superpixels within each island. Finally, a high resolution luminance correction value .delta..sub.HI is calculated for each pixel of the original high resolution image by comparing the luminance IM.sub.HI of each pixel to both T.sub.D and T.sub.B, keeping in mind that .delta..sub.HI is generated through a series of mathematical computations as a function of both the pixel luminance IM.sub.HI and the low resolution luminance correction value .delta..sub.LO. Each pixel of the original image is adjusted by the corresponding high resolution luminance correction value .delta..sub.HI and a luminance adjusted image is produced.

Anyone acquiring an image needs to have a permanent record which faithfully reproduces the original subject or scene, or at least those aspects of the subject or scene which are considered most important. The quality of the reproduction is judged by visually comparing the hardcopy with the original scene. In making this judgment an observer in part compares the brightness of various points in the hardcopy with the brightness of corresponding points in the original scene and thereby forms a subjective opinion about the quality of the reproduction. Exact subjective tone reproduction requires that the brightness of each point in the hardcopy equals that of the brightness of a corresponding point in the original scene. However, as those skilled in the arts know, exact subjective tone reproduction is extraordinarily difficult and inconvenient to achieve because hardcopy media from printers, and media from other devices (such as electronic cameras, scanners, monitors, etc.) are generally viewed at illumination levels which are significantly less than those under which an original was created--original photographs typically being about 1/100 that of the original scene. Also, most hardcopy or electronic media have a limited ability to capture the range of tones which typically exist in nature. Nevertheless, satisfactory subjective tone reproduction can, in part, be obtained if the perceptible brightness of the image on the medium appears similar to the brightness of the original scene.
To assure that the foregoing conditions are satisfied depends, in part, on properly matching the luminance range of the scene to the tone scale of the medium, taking into account the particular scene characteristics to be emphasized, prevailing scene lighting conditions, and the medium reproduction characteristics. The issue of matching the luminance range of the scene to the tone scale of the medium was addressed in the Scene Analysis method of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/414,750 filed Mar. 31, 1995 by James R. Boyack and Andrew K. Juenger. Specifically, an image is partitioned into blocks and certain blocks are combined into sectors. An average luminance block value is determined for each block and a difference is determined between the maximum and minimum average luminance block values for each sector. If the difference exceeds a predetermined threshold value, then the sector is labeled as an active sector and an average luminance sector value is obtained from maximum and minimum average luminance block values. All active sectors of the image are plotted versus the average luminance sector values in a histogram, then the histogram is shifted via some predetermined criterion so that the average luminance sector values of interest will fall within a destination window corresponding to the tonal reproduction capability of a destination application. The result of the Scene Analysis is a global balancing of the image brightness by large scale luminance adjustment.
Certain areas of the image typically still require luminance adjustments following Scene Analysis. These adjustments highlight and enhance specific regions of interest in the image in order to prevent loss of details and the subsequent reduced image quality. For instance, scenes with a large shaded region adjacent to a bright region are especially difficult to develop or display without loss of some image quality in either or both of the dark and bright regions. This type of luminance adjustment was addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,434 issued Aug. 10, 1993 to Munib Wober.
The method of patent '434 includes a first pass through an image compensation stage, the image being partitioned into groups of pixels called superpixels. Each superpixel is individually processed to determine whether it is part of a larger grouping (i.e. region) of superpixels which all fall beyond predefined darkness or brightness threshold values. Each superpixel is given a SIZE value and an AVERAGE luminance value for all pixels resident in the given superpixel.
In a second pass through the image compensation stage, the amount of luminance adjustment for each region of superpixels is determined in relation to both the corresponding SIZE and AVERAGE values. For small and intermediate regions, a smoothing function is applied to prevent the appearance of artifacts along the borders of the superpixel.
Further luminance adjustment is sometimes necessary at the pixel level. Thus, the present invention is primarily directed at an improved system and method for performing pixel level luminance adjustments of a digital image which is independent of large area luminance averaging. This and other objects will become apparent in view of the following description, drawings and claims.

Method and apparatus for pixel level luminance adjustment


A sheet type key top of a push button switch which is disposed over a switch contact used for the input portion of a portable electric appliance or a machine control portion or the like, and through which the underlying switch is depressed to turn it on or off. A film on key tops is formed with a multi layered elastic film (4), and a display portion printed layer (3) is completely covered with the protective layer (4). Then, thermoplastic fine powder (5) capable of heat fusing is added to the display portion print layer (3) and/or to the protective layer (4), thereby the film and the display portion are integrally united by heat fusing a thermoplastic substance constituting key tops and the thermoplastic fine powder through heat generated during molding process. Further, stress intercepting zones of concave or convex shapes are disposed at distances between adjacent keys to prevent error activation. Thereby the free design of the key top profile can be secured, the variety of the key top design can be attained, and further in the case of the case design of three dimensional configuration, the various design thereof can be also realized.

As disclosed by Japan Utility Model Laid-Open No. HEISEI 2-14726 or the like, it is well known, in a structure of a push button switch, that the conventional film covering key tops composes of a sheet of film printing a display portion and a thermoplastic substance of the key top body produced by a molding, wherein a curvature portion having the same profile as the upper face of the key top body is disposed on the film and the upper face of the key top body is contained in the curvature portion so as to integrally unit the film with the key top body.
Further, as disclosed by the inspection of Japan Patent Laid-Open No. SHOWA 54-154461 and Japan Patent Publication No. HEISEI 7-54656, a manufacturing technology of key tops in which thermoplastic resin is buried into a resin film by injection molding, is also well known.
A structure of the push button switch as disclosed by Japan Utility Model Laid-Open No. HEISEI 2-14726, is characterized in its waterproofness, however it does not describe about chattering error key activation due to an insufficient glueing between the film and the key body which causes a problem for practical operation, an occurrence of wrong inputting due to operating together with adjacent keys, or materials and characteristics necessary for the film in accordance with a profile of the key body.
In the key top which is manufactured through a step of buring thermoplastic resin into resin film by means of injection molding as disclosed in Japan Patent Laid-Open No. SHOWA 54-154461 and Japan Patent Publication No. HEISEI 7-54656, resin is used as the film material. Therefore it has a disadvantage that the formation of a cavity with a sufficient depth is restricted, for example, in respect of the height and the shape of key which is important elements of a key top for portable telephone, the design of key shape for portable telephone is greatly limited, as clearly noted in Japan Patent Publication No. HEISEI 7-54656.
Further, as described in paragraph 0031! of Japan Patent Publication No. HEISEI 7-54656, the design of the case of a portable telephone is restricted in the height of key top, so said design cannot be applied for three dimensional configuration, as represented in perspective views from lateral face and bottom face sides in FIG. 4. To overcome the problem mentioned above, it is considered to arrange the film along the curved surface of a case face a as illustrated by FIG. 5, nevertheless the process has as well a limitation for the formation, because the film is formed with resin. As undue stress is applied to the film, the distortion of the keys is caused during the mounting. For the above reasons, an input portion of a portable telephone set is limited so as to be almost flat, so the whole design of the telephone set is resultingly restricted.
Furthermore, for instance, in a sheet type key top used for a portable telephone set, there is sometimes the case where the portable telephone set is left behind in a car, therein under the test of leaving it in a temperature atmosphere of 85.degree. C. which is generally a standard test for car equipments, the sheet type key top is distorted by residual stress in the resin film to return to the state before molding, thereby the key top cannot accomplish sometimes the function of itself.
Still further, in the case where key top elements molded using an elastic film such as an elastomer film or the like are applied as an input portion, the key tops are scratched by fingernails during key operation, or when the user puts the set into his/her bag or the like, the surface of key top may be easily damaged because the elastic film lacks sufficient hardness, and may not look nice outer appearance. Furthermore if thermoplastic substance contained in the curvature portion of the film is composed of resin, the key top is enough hard, and is in the direction to be hard of said tendency. The key top feeling during the input operation to appliances is limited by the resin feeling, as the result, a soft feeling such as a rubber switch can not be achieved.
In an integral molding, when an adhesive is applied onto the film, when a display portion of characters or the like is printed, or when an adhesive layer is provided after printing the display portion on the film, there has been a known technology for preventing heat from spreading towards the printed portion during injection molding, but since the adhesive is applied during or after molding, it is required that the adhesive is unhardening, thus the elongation of the printed portion is caused in accordance with the stretching of film which is heated during injection molding. Accordingly, although the printed portion itself is relieved of heat, the stretching of film can not be ristricted, and the distortion or the elongation of printed display portion cannot be avoided. Therefore the restrictions of the conditions of injection molding and the profile of key top are unavoidable.
When two or more key tops are composed of resin film, or when the film end is fixed (adhered, bonded or held) with other member, suppose that one of keys is depressed on key operation. At that time, adjacent keys may be also activated together through being pulled in the direction of film pushing. At the same time, input operations of keys are acted, and there has been a problem of error activation of appliances or unachieving of a desired operation or the like.


Among other things, methods, systems and computer program products are described for detecting and tracking a moving object in a scene. One or more residual pixels are identified from video data. At least two geometric constraints are applied to the identified one or more residual pixels. A disparity of the one or more residual pixels to the applied at least two geometric constraints is calculated. Based on the detected disparity, the one or more residual pixels are classified as belonging to parallax or independent motion and the parallax classified residual pixels are filtered. Further, a moving object is tracked in the video data. Tracking the object includes representing the detected disparity in probabilistic likelihood models. Tracking the object also includes accumulating the probabilistic likelihood models within a number of frames during the parallax filtering. Further, tracking the object includes based on the accumulated probabilistic likelihood models, extracting an optimal path of the moving object.

Detection and tracking of independently moving objects from a scene can be important in video surveillances, for example. When images are captured using a moving camera, the detection and tracking problems can become more complex because the camera motion tend to induce a motion in all pixels of the image. Some conventional approaches for detecting moving regions may rely on the stabilization due to the camera motion using parametric motion models and defining moving pixels as the ones that have not been stabilized. In addition, other conventional approaches in motion detection and tracking may assume that the scene can be approximated by a plane (i.e. a flat ground), and thus, image transformation tend to be modeled as a 2D affine or projective transformation.

Detection and tracking of moving objects from a moving platform in presence of strong parallax


In a power steering device, a hydraulic power cylinder is configured to assist a steering force of a steering mechanism linked to steerable road wheels, a pump is configured to supply a hydraulic pressure to respective pressure chambers of the hydraulic power cylinder, an electric motor is configured to drive the pump, a torque sensor is configured to detect a steering torque of the steering mechanism, an operating load state detecting circuit is configured to detect an operating load state of the pump based on a viscosity resistance characteristic of a working oil, and an electric motor control circuit is configured to output a drive signal to the motor on the basis of a torque signal from the torque sensor and the operating load state of the pump.

The present invention relates to a power steering device that assists a steering operation of a vehicle driver by means of a hydraulic.
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 2000-142434 published on May 23, 2000 exemplifies a previously proposed power steering device. In the disclosed power steering device, a drive current flowing through an electric motor is detected, a temperature rise corresponding to a heat generation quantity of a driver element developed due to this drive current per unit time is determined from its data, accumulates the temperature rise in terms of time to derive a temperature rise value with respect to an oil temperature, and the oil temperature is estimated from this temperature rise value and a temperature of the driver element.


Provided herein are methods of selective screening. In addition, various targeting proteins and sequences, as well as methods of their use, are also provided.

Recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) are vectors for in vivo gene transfer applications. Several rAAV-based gene therapies are proving to be efficacious, most notably for the treatment of Leber's congenital amaurosis, hemophilia associated with factor IX deficiency and lipoprotein lipase deficiency (Simonelli et al 2010; Nathwani et al 2011; Gaudet et al. 2010). Recently, the first rAAV-based gene therapy, Glybera, was approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of lipoprotein lipase deficiency. rAAVs have also shown success in preclinical models of a large variety of diseases, including Rett syndrome, congenital ALS, Parkinson's, Huntington's disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, among others and for the prophylactic delivery of broad neutralizing antibodies against infectious diseases such as HIV and influenza (Garg et al 2013; Valori et al. 2010; Foust et al. 2010; Foust et al 2013; Southwell et al 2009; Balazs et al 2011; and Balazs et al 2013). In addition, rAAVs are also popular vectors for in vivo delivery of transgenes for non-therapeutic scientific studies, such as optogenics.


A method and apparatus for the application of a sleeve upon a tubular, such as a pipe string, used in downhole applications, for example in oil and gas exploration or recovery. A mould is located around the tubular into which a composite material is injected. The material is cured at ambient temperature. Optional heating may then be applied to enhance the properties of the sleeve. The heating temperatures are well below those at which the structural integrity of the metal tubular would be compromised as regards its fitness for downhole use. Embodiments of wear protectors are illustrated for sleeves with and without wear pads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wear protectors and in particular, though not exclusively, to a method and apparatus for the application of a sleeve upon a tubular, such as a pipe string, used in downhole applications, for example in oil and gas exploration or recovery.
2. Description of Related Art
In oil and gas exploration and recovery procedures involving movement of a pipe string within a well bore contact normally occurs between the pipe string and the well bore or between the pipe string and an external casing already present in the well bore. Such contact can cause wear or perhaps even damage to the outer surface of the pipe string and the casing.
Conventionally the problem of wear upon the pipe string has been addressed by the provision of wear protection at strategic points on its outer surface, for example, at joints. Such wear protection is positioned on the outer surface of the pipe string to at least reduce contact between the outer surface of the pipe string and the wellbore, thereby reducing wear of the outer surface of the pipe string.
Conventional wear protection typically takes the form of strips of a hardwearing metal composition, such as nickel based tungsten carbide. Alternatively, the wear protection may be provided in the form of a coating of such a material over the entire outer surface of at least part of the length of the pipe string (i.e. wear banding). Pads of material may also be arranged on the surface of the pipe string. Clearly the wear protection is subject to wear when in use that would otherwise be sustained by the pipe string itself. Thus, in time the wear protection itself needs repair or replacement.
Repair or replacement of wear protection typically involves welding, and the present applicants have recognised the significance of applying heat to a pipe string during the welding process. More specifically, the structural integrity of the pipe string can be compromised by the application of heat. Thus, the pipe string is normally inspected when welding is complete to determine whether or not any structural weakness has arisen. Whatever structural weakness there is may then need to be remedied by an appropriate treatment, such as annealing. The present applicants have appreciated that such processes require specialist equipment and personnel that may only be available far from the site of use of the pipe string. Moreover, such processes are of themselves normally burdensome in cost and time.
A further type of wear protector is formed by providing the band of material as a separate sleeve located around the pipe string or tubular. These sleeves can be fixed to rotate with the tubular, often termed 'rotating' type, or may rotate relative to the tubular, termed 'non-rotating' type. Non-rotating sleeves are required to be axially retained on the tubular between raised ends or stops. This provides a disadvantage for assembly. Either the tubing must contain a threaded joint between the stops to allow the tubular to be separated to insert the sleeve, or the sleeve must be of component parts which connect together to provide an annular band. It is recognised in the industry that any joint or connection provides a potential weak point which may be prone to failure.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method of applying a sleeve to a tubular which mitigates at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a sub including a sleeve which is adapted for use as a wear protector.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of creating a sleeve on tubing for use in a well bore, the method comprising the steps:    (a) locating a mould around the tubular, the mould comprising at least first and second portions, the portions including opposite mating surfaces to engage adjacent portions such that a seal is provided between the portions and the mould including first and second ends, the ends being arranged to provide a seal against the tubular when the mould is located around the tubular with the portions providing at least one circumferential recess in the mould;    (b) inserting a composite material into the/each recess through at least one entry port in the mould;    (c) curing the composite material; and    (d) removing the mould to there provide a composite sleeve around the tubular.
In this way there is no requirement to break the tubular to insert the sleeve and the sleeve is of single piece construction. Additionally the use of a composite material, which is cured, removes the need to heat the tubular to temperatures which could affect the integrity of the tubular. Indeed, the simplicity of the system makes it readily available for use at the well head. The sleeve provides a wear protector upon the tubular.
Preferably, the method includes the step of keying at least a portion of the surface of the tubular prior to step (a). Keying the tubular may be done by sand blasting or another roughing method which provides better adhesion of the composite material to the tubular.
Optionally, the method includes the step of coating at least a portion of the tubular with a stand-off material prior to step (a). Preferably, the method includes the step of removing the stand-off material once the composite material has cured. By using a stand-off material such as wax, adhesion of the composite material is prevented and a clearance is created between the tubular and the sleeve so that the sleeve may rotate relative to the tubular.
Preferably, the method includes the steps of keying circumferential bands on either side of a central band longitudinally arranged on the tubular. This provides a central non-rotating sleeve bounded by end stops in-situ.
Advantageously, the method includes the step of inserting the composite material into at least one further recess arranged on the circumferential recess of the mould, the at least one further recess being arranged as a pad. This allows pads to be incorporated during manufacture of the sleeve. Such wear pads provide wear protection while also allowing fluid to easily bypass the sleeve in the well bore. Alternatively a wear pad may be made in the further recess and then applied to the sleeve as the sleeve is moulded. The pad may be made of a composite material. Here the composite sleeve will attach the pad to the tubular.
It should be noted that these wear pads are not blades or fins as would be found on centralisers. Any centralising ability of the pads would be quickly lost due to the uneven wear to which the pads are exposed to. The material of the pads is also selected to be sacrificial to advantageously reduce friction between the string and casing, this is not the case for blades on centralisers. The use of pads and the shape selected for them is chosen to allow optimum fluid flow past the wear protector sleeve in use.
Preferably the step of curing the composite material is achieved by leaving the mould upon the tubular for a period of time at ambient temperature. Thus the method can be carried out at any location, i.e. at the well head or platform. Additional heating may be applied to the composite material prior to insertion in the mould. In this way the viscosity of the material can be decreased to aid insertion to the mould. This pre-heating temperature may be up to approximately 50 degrees C.
Following curing, heat may optionally be applied to the sleeve to enhance advantageous properties of the composite material. Such properties may include increased wear resistance, heat resistance etc. This heating effectively gives the material a 'memory' quality. Such heating may be to temperatures up to approximately 150 degrees C. These temperatures are still below approximately 600-800 degrees C., these being the minimum temperature where the structural integrity of the metal tubular may need to be considered.
Preferably also, the method may include the step of inserting a matrix material in at least one recess. The matrix may be a webbing of high strength material to which the composite adheres. This will improve the tensile strength of the sleeve. Alternatively, the method may include the step of wrapping a bandage of material around the tubular prior to locating the mould on the tubular over the bandage. The bandage may be a webbing soaked in a composite or glass fibre mix and applied before it sets or cures. Again this will improve the strength of the sleeve.
Preferably, the composite material comprises at least two composite components, which when mixed are in a mouldable condition and which subsequently change to a rigid condition. More specifically, one of the composite components may comprise a catalyst. Additionally, the composite material may be a sacrificial material. In this way, the sacrificial material will wear away upon contact to and in preference to the surface of the well bore or casing bore.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a sub for location in a tubular string within a well bore, the sub comprising a tubular body having first and second ends adapted for connection in a tubular string; a continuous single piece sleeve located around the tubular body, the sleeve arranged to move axially and rotationally upon the tubular body; first and second end stops, the stops comprising continuous single piece annular bands located around the body at either side of the sleeve, the stops being fixed upon the body such that they limit the axial movement of the sleeve and wherein the sleeve and stops all comprise a composite material.
Preferably the sub is a wear protector.
Preferably the sub is formed by a method according to the first aspect. In this way the composite material may be identical for the sleeve and the stops. The sleeve may further comprise a matrix in the form of a web imbedded within the composite material. Alternatively, or additionally, the sleeve may further comprise a bandage arranged circumferentially within the composite material.
Advantageously there may be arranged on the sleeve one or more wear pads, the pads comprising the composite material.
Preferably the sleeve has an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter of the stops.
According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a mould for use in providing a sleeve by a method according to the first aspect, the mould comprising at least first and second portions, the portions including opposite mating surfaces to engage adjacent portions such that a seal is provided between the portions and the mould including first and second ends, the ends being arranged to each provide a circumferential seal against a tubular when the mould is located around a tubular with the portions providing at least one circumferential recess in the mould. The mould can thus be located around the tubular and a material injected into the mould, left to set and the mould removed.
Preferably, there are arranged two circumferential indents spaced apart longitudinally on the mould, each indent traversing the portions and having a depth approximately equal to a depth of the recess at the location of the indent. In this way, a sleeve with integral stops can be provided.


A colorless tunable optical dispersion compensator (TODC) comprising a silica arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) directly coupled to a polymer thermo-optic lens. As a result of its inventive construction, the device exhibits low loss, large tuning range, low electrical consumption and is readily manufactured using standard processes. Additionally, the TODC is fully solid-state and scales to a large figure-of-merit (dispersion range times bandwidth squared).

In long-distance transmission of optical signals, the accumulation of chromatic dispersion in optical fiber presents serious problems. These problems intensify with an increase in bit rate and the distance traveled by the optical signals. Efforts to date that compensate for dispersion have mainly involved the use of dispersion compensating fiber (DCF).
Dispersion compensating efforts that employ DCF—while well-proven—are not particularly amenable to integration in existing network elements. This is due—in part—because DCF is employed as a large spool of fiber which occupies significant space in a network office and is not adjustable. In addition, service providers that utilize DCF in their networks must accurately characterize their fiber, deploy more expensive optical amplifiers, and accept additional latency added to links employing the DCF [˜20% additional latency for a fully compensated standard-single-mode fiber (SSMF) link]. Finally, DCF cannot satisfy all of the dispersion compensation requirements of many 40-Gb/s links, consequently, a tunable optical dispersion compensator (TODC) having a small tuning range is often required in addition to the DCF.
A TODC employing an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and thermo-optic lens was described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,006,730 directed to a "Multichannel Integrated Tunable Thermo-Optic Lens and Dispersion Compensator"). And while the TODC described therein appeared to be an attractive alternative/supplement to DCF, it unfortunately required significant electrical power (7.3 W to tune over 400 ps/nm) and generated relatively high local temperatures thereby negatively impacting its long-term reliability.

Tunable dispersion compensation apparatus


A method and apparatus for forming a pressure vessel liner are disclosed. One method includes forming an extruded tube by extruding a parison through a die and a mandrel and forming main body sections and return line sections in the extruded tube according to a first pattern. A cross-sectional area of the return line sections is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the main body sections. The method further includes changing the pattern according to which the main body sections and the return line sections are formed from the first pattern to a second pattern without stopping the forming of the extruded tube and forming the main body sections and the return line sections in the extruded tube according to the second pattern.

Conformable pressure vessel concepts offer improved storage efficiencies and reduced system weights compared to traditional cylindrical designs. These pressure vessels may be comprised of a plurality of smaller cylindrical vessels that can be stacked or bundled to fit into a predetermined packaging space.
Production of conformable pressure vessels requires the fabrication of a polymeric pressure vessel liner to act as a barrier layer to prevent permeation of the liquids and gasses contained by the pressure vessel at high pressures. One method for production of pressure vessel liners is to extrude a continuous plastic tube and send the plastic tube through a corrugation process that creates the desired profile comprising rigid main body sections and flexible return lines.
One limitation of existing fabrication methods is insufficient speed of the corrugator, which restricts production capacity. Fabricating the larger main body sections and smaller return lines requires speed reductions in the corrugator, further restricting production volumes. Producing larger amounts of plastic pressure vessel liners therefore requires numerous pieces of expensive production equipment and significant floor space.
An additional limitation of existing equipment is that the number of mold elements in the repeating pattern is constrained by the equipment design. Some pressure vessel liner geometries are only possible to achieve by adding an excessive amount of additional mold elements to the pattern. This lengthens the equipment, which adds to the cost and overall size of the equipment. Other pressure vessel liner geometries are not possible to achieve because the pattern of mold elements required would be too large to be practical.
An additional fabrication method for pressure vessel liners involves the separate production of extruded main body sections and formed return lines. This improves throughput, but joining the segments together introduces several potential leak paths that are exacerbated by high pressure, extreme temperatures, and pressure cycling.
Another limitation of existing fabrication methods is inconsistent mechanical properties, including variability of wall thickness and material properties of the pressure vessel liners. This is caused by the limitations of the forming equipment which has difficulties creating a larger outer diameter and a smaller return line diameter from a single extruded tube.
Another limitation of existing fabrication methods is the inflexibility of the forming equipment, which cannot produce flexible main body lengths without stopping the process and reconfiguring the equipment. Stopping production and reconfiguring equipment further reduces effective production capacity and results in more connections between varying length pressure vessels, leading to additional potential leak paths.

Continuous polymeric liner production methods for conformable pressure vessels


A device for fixing or attaching a wall-mounted drum type washing machine having a tub includes: a plurality of anchor bolts configured to be fixed or attached to a wall; a back panel that extends from the tub; a plurality of coupling members at, in and/or on a rear surface of the back panel; and a plurality of shock absorbing members in and/or fastened to the plurality of coupling members, wherein the plurality of anchor bolts passes through the coupling members and the shock absorbing members, fixing or attaching the wall-mounted drum type washing machine to the wall.

A washing machine refers to an apparatus that washes laundry by performing processes of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying laundry using drive power of a motor.
In general, in accordance with the washing process, the washing machine may be classified into a vortex type washing machine (e.g., a totally automatic washing machine), a drum type washing machine, an agitation type washing machine, and the like.
In recent years, an amount of laundry has generally decreased due to a decrease in the average size of families, and thus a demand for small washing machines has increased. In order to match the demand and to minimize the space required to install a washing machine, a small wall-mounted drum type washing machine has been developed.
In general, the wall-mounted drum type washing machine collectively refers to a drum type washing machine that washes a small amount of laundry, and may be relatively smaller or used in a narrow space.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wall-mounted drum type washing machine 1 in the related art. The tub of an integrated rear panel and tub 2 holds water supplied by a water supply valve (not illustrated in the drawing).
A case 4 forms outer surfaces of the wall-mounted drum type washing machine.
A cylindrical drum 3 is between the tub 2 (FIG. 2) and the case 4, such that the cylindrical drum 3 rotates by rotational power of a motor (not illustrated in the drawing).
A door 5 is installed on a front surface of the case 4, and a user may open the door 5 to place laundry in the drum 3.
A control unit 6 is below the door. The user operates the control unit 6 to selectively or sequentially perform processes of washing, rinsing, and spin-drying the laundry.
The wall-mounted drum type washing machine 1 is operated by opening the door 5, placing the laundry into the drum 3, closing the door 5, supplying electric power to the wall-mounted drum type washing machine 1, and operating the control unit 6.
When the wall-mounted drum type washing machine 1 is operated, the water supply valve is opened such that water flows into the tub 2, and the water flowing into the tub 2 flows into the drum 3. When the water flows into the drum 3 at a predetermined level or more, the motor is operated by a microcomputer, such that rotational power is transmitted to the drum 3. Thus, the drum 3 is rotated by the rotational power of the motor, such that the laundry in the drum 3 is washed.
In general, the wall-mounted drum type washing machine in the related art is installed on a wall by a fixing device such as a bolt or a fixing bracket that may be fixed or attached to the wall. However, unlike general drum type washing machines, the wall-mounted drum type washing machine does not include a spring and a damper to absorb vibrations. Thus, vibrations and noise may be generated when the wall-mounted drum type washing machine contacts the wall surface during operation of the wall-mounted drum type washing machine.
Thus, vibrations and noise generated by the wall-mounted drum type washing machine in the related art may cause some displeasure to the user, and/or may reduce strength of the wall surface.
A conventional wall-mounted washing machine may be disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2013-0077994

Device for fixing a wall-mounted drum type washing machine


A photosensor system includes an image read section which includes an image read region formed by arranging a plurality of photosensors in a matrix form. The image read region includes a sensitivity adjustment image read region, which is constituted of at least one of rows of the photosensors and columns. The image read section performs a read operation of a subject image by the image read region in accordance with an image read sensitivity. Read operation section is provided for sensitivity adjustment for performing a read operation for sensitivity adjustment which includes setting a charge accumulation period, reading an image for adjustment in the sensitivity adjustment image read region, and deriving an optimum image read sensitivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensor system including a photosensor array constituted by two-dimensionally arranging a plurality of photosensors, and a driving control method of the photosensor in the photosensor system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a solid image pickup device has frequently been used, including a photosensor array constituted by arranging a plurality of photoelectric conversion devices (photosensors) in a linear or matrix form in order to pick up a subject image and convert the image to an image signal in image pickup apparatuses for picking up the subject image such as an electronic still camera and video camera, and an image read apparatus for reading a printed matter, photograph, and fine concave/convex shape of a fingerprint.
As this solid image pickup device, in general, a charge-coupled device (CCD) has been used. As well known, the CCD includes a constitution in which a plurality of photosensors such as photodiodes and thin film transistors (TFT) are arranged, and detects a charge amount of electron-positive hole pairs generated in accordance with a light amount with which a light receiving portion of each photosensor is irradiated by horizontal and vertical scanning circuits to sense luminance of an irradiation light.
In the photosensor system using this CCD, selection transistors need to be individually disposed in order to bring each scanned photosensor into a selection state. Therefore, there is a problem that with an increase of the number of pixels constituting the photosensor array, the system is accordingly enlarged.
On the other hand, as a constitution for solving the problem, we have developed a photosensor (hereinafter a double gate type photosensor) by a thin film transistor having a so-called double gate structure in which photosense and selection functions are imparted to the photosensor.
FIG. 12A is a sectional view showing a structure of a double gate type photosensor 10, and FIG. 12B shows an equivalent circuit of the double gate type photosensor 10.
The double gate type photosensor 10 includes: a semiconductor thin film 11 of amorphous silicon; n+ silicon layers 17, 18 disposed on opposite ends of the semiconductor thin film 11; a source electrode 12 and drain electrode 13 respectively formed on the n+ silicon layers 17, 18; a top gate electrode 21 formed above the semiconductor thin film 11 via a block insulating film 14 and upper gate insulating film 15; a protective insulating film 20 disposed on the top gate electrode 21 and upper gate insulating film 15; and a bottom gate electrode 22 formed below the semiconductor thin film 11 via a lower gate insulating film 16, and is formed on a transparent insulating substrate 19 such as a glass substrate.
The double gate type photosensor 10 constituted in this manner includes: an upper MOS transistor constituted of the semiconductor thin film 11, source electrode 12, drain electrode 13, and top gate electrode 21; and a lower MOS transistor constituted of the semiconductor thin film 11, source electrode 12, drain electrode 13, and bottom gate electrode 22. As shown in the equivalent circuit of FIG. 12B, it can be considered that the photosensor is constituted by using the semiconductor thin film 11 as a common channel region and combining two MOS transistors each including a top gate terminal (TG), bottom gate terminal (BG), source terminal (S), and drain terminal (D).
The protective insulating film 20, top gate electrode 21, upper gate insulating film 15, block insulating film 14, and lower gate insulating film 16 are all constituted of materials which have a high transmittance against a visible light for energizing the semiconductor thin film 11. When a light incident upon the top gate electrode 21 is transmitted through the top gate electrode 21, upper gate insulating film 15, and block insulating film 14, and incident upon the semiconductor thin film 11, charges (positive holes) are generated and accumulated in a channel region.
FIG. 13 is a schematic constitution diagram of a photosensor system constituted by arranging a plurality of double gate type photosensors 10 in a matrix form.
As shown in FIG. 13, the photosensor system includes: a sensor array 100 in which a plurality of double gate type photosensors 10 are arranged in the form of a matrix of n rows×m columns; a top gate line 101 and bottom gate line 102 in which the top gate terminal TG and bottom gate terminal BG of each double gate type photosensor 10 are respectively connected in a row direction; a top gate driver 110 and bottom gate driver 120 connected to the top gate line 101 and bottom gate line 102, respectively; a data line 103 in which the drain terminal D of each double gate type photosensor 10 is connected in a column direction; and an output circuit unit 130 connected to the data line 103.
In FIG. 13, φtg and φbg denote control signals for generating a reset pulse φTi and read pulse φBi described later, and φpg denotes a precharge pulse which controls a timing to apply a precharge voltage Vpg.
In this constitution, as described later, when the top gate driver 110 applies a predetermined voltage to the top gate terminal TG, the photosense function is realized. When the bottom gate driver 120 applies the predetermined voltage to the bottom gate terminal BG, and an output voltage of the photosensor 10 is taken into the output circuit unit 130 via the data line 103 and outputted as serial data Vout, the read function is realized.
FIGS. 14A to 14D are timing charts showing a basic driving control method with respect to the photosensor 10 of one row in the photosensor system, and show a detection operation period (i-th row process cycle) in an i-th row of the sensor array 100.
First, a high-level pulse voltage (reset pulse; e.g., Vtg=+15 V) φTi shown in FIG. 14A is applied to the top gate line 101 of the i-th row, and a reset operation is performed to discharge charges accumulated in the double gate type photosensor 10 of the i-th row in a reset period Treset.
Subsequently, when a low-level (e.g., Vtg=−15 V) bias voltage φTi is applied to the top gate line 101, the reset period Treset ends, and a charge accumulation period Ta by a charge accumulation operation into the channel region is started. In the charge accumulation period Ta, the charges (positive holes) are accumulated in the channel region in accordance with the amount of light incident from a top gate electrode side.
In parallel with the charge accumulation period Ta, a precharge period Tprch elapses in which the data line 103 has a precharge voltage Vpg, a precharge pulse φpg shown in FIG. 14C is applied, and the drain electrode 13 holds the charges. Thereafter, when a high-level (e.g., Vbg=+10 V) bias voltage (read pulse φBi) shown in FIG. 14B is applied to the bottom gate line 102, the double gate type photosensor 10 is brought into an ON state and a read period Tread starts.
In the read period Tread, the charges accumulated in the channel region act in a direction in which the low-level voltage (e.g., Vtg=−15 V) applied to the top gate terminal TG having a reverse polarity is relaxed. Therefore, the voltage Vbg of the bottom gate terminal BG forms an n-channel, and a voltage VD of the data line 103 indicates a tendency to gradually drop with an elapse of time from the precharge voltage Vpg in accordance with a drain current. That is, the change tendency of the voltage VD of the data line 103 depends on the charge accumulation period Ta and the amount of received light. As shown in FIG. 14D, when the incident light is dark and has a small light amount, and a small amount of charges are accumulated, the voltage indicates a tendency to moderately drop. When the incident light is bright and has a large amount of light, and a large amount of charges are accumulated, a tendency to steeply drop is indicated. Therefore, the amount of irradiation light is converted based on a value of the voltage VD of the data line 103 after the elapse of a predetermined time.
In the photosensor system shown in FIG. 13, for example, rows of the sensor array 100 are driven/controlled in parallel with one another based on the above-described driving control method and at a timing at which times of the respective driving pulses do not overlap. Thereby, reset, precharge, and read operations are prevented from being executed at overlapped times. Moreover, the read operation can be performed before the reset operations in all the rows end, and a time required for the read operation of a two-dimensional image can be reduced.
In the above-described photosensor system, the double gate type photosensor is used as the photosensor. However, this is not limited. Even in the photosensor system in which a photodiode or phototransistor is used as the photosensor, similarly operation steps include "the reset operation→charge accumulation operation→precharge operation→read operation", similar driving procedure is used, and the following similar problem occurs.
In the constitution of the above-described photosensor, the charges generated by the incident light are accumulated in the charge accumulation period, and bright/dark information of the subject image is detected based on the amount of charges. Therefore, when a subject is dark, and thus a small amount of charges are accumulated, the charge accumulation period is lengthened to obtain a sufficient detection sensitivity, and an image read sensitivity needs to be set to be high. On the other hand, when the subject is bright, and thus a large amount of charges are accumulated, the charge accumulation period is shortened in order to prevent the charges from being saturated, and the image read sensitivity needs to be set to be low. That is, it is necessary to appropriately set the image read sensitivity of the photosensor in accordance with the brightness of the subject so that the subject image is constantly satisfactorily read with appropriate sensitivity.
With various changes of place, time, and subject of the photosensor system for use, every time an ambient environment such as external illuminance, and/or a subject state changes, the brightness of the subject changes. Therefore, an appropriate image read sensitivity for satisfactorily reading the subject image changes every time. Then, it is necessary to perform an image read operation for obtaining and setting an appropriate image read sensitivity (hereinafter referred to as "read operation for sensitivity adjustment") before a normal read operation of the subject image.
Examples of the read operation for sensitivity adjustment include: an operation of setting the image read sensitivities of the photosensors of the respective rows to be different from one another in the photosensor system including the photosensor array in which the photosensors are arranged in the matrix form; and reading a predetermined image for adjustment with a plurality of image read sensitivities by the image read operation for one screen corresponding to the photosensor array.
FIGS. 15A to 15J show one example of a timing chart of the driving control method in the read operation for sensitivity adjustment of the photosensor system.
As shown in FIGS. 15A to 15D, the driving control method first comprises: successively applying reset pulses φT1, φT2, . . . Tn−1, φTn from the first row of the top gate line 101 of the double gate type photosensor 10, for example, at a time interval Tdelay; and successively initializing the double gate type photosensors 10 of the respective rows. Subsequently, when the reset period Treset ends, the charge accumulation period Ta successively starts in each row, and the charges (positive holes) are accumulated in the channel region of the double gate type photosensor 10 in accordance with the amount of incident light.
Subsequently, as shown in FIGS. 15E to 15H, after the reset pulse φTn falls with respect to the last row (n-th row), from the n-th to first rows, for each row, the charge accumulation period Ta is changed at a time interval of the pulse interval Tdelay corresponding to a sum of the read period Tread, precharge period Tprch, and reset period Treset, and read pulses φBn, φBn−1, . . . φB2, φB1 are applied to the respective rows at a timing at which the time of the read period Tread of each row does not overlap.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 15I, prior to the application of the read pulses φBn, φBn−1, . . . φB2, φB1 to each row, the precharge pulse φpg is applied in parallel within the charge accumulation period set for each row, and the precharge voltage Vpg is applied to the drain line 103 of the double gate type photosensor 10 of each row for the precharge period Tprch.
Thereby, following the precharge period Tprch, the read period Tread is started, and voltage changes VD1, VD2, VD3, . . . VDm corresponding to the charges accumulated in each double gate type photosensor 10 as shown in FIG. 15J are taken in and read out by a column switch 131 via the data line 103.
According to the driving control method, the images read with the same number of stages of different image read sensitivities as the number of rows can be acquired by the image read operation of one screen. In this case, since the charge accumulation period Ta of each row changes at a time interval twice Tdelay, a change range of the image read sensitivity can relatively be increased. It is possible to obtain an optimum value of detection sensitivity in accordance with a broad range of changes of the ambient environment or detection object.
However, in an actual use state, an optimum image read sensitivity does not very largely change depending on the state of use environment or subject in some case. In this case, even when the range for changing the image read sensitivity is narrowed to a certain degree in the read operation for the sensitivity adjustment, there is no problem as confirmed.
On the other hand, when the above-described driving control method is used in the read operation for sensitivity adjustment, and when the read operation for sensitivity adjustment is executed using all row ranges of an image read region of the photosensor array, the charge accumulation period, that is, the change range of the image read sensitivity becomes larger than the required change range of the image read sensitivity depending on setting conditions such as the time interval of the charge accumulation periods for each row and the number of rows of the photosensor array. In this case, there is a problem that useless control process is performed and time is wasted.
Moreover, to solve the problem, the execution timings of the reset and read operations are controlled so that the change range of the image read sensitivity is limited only to a necessary range. Then, there is a problem that the image read by the normal image read operation is deteriorated as described later in detail.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Photosensor system and drive control method for the same


Tracking resource use includes determining when the resource is allocated, determining when the resource is first used, determining when the resource is last used, and determining when the resource is deallocated. The resource may be a software object. Deallocating the resource may be performed automatically by a run time system when there are no remaining references to the object in run time code or variables. Deallocating the resource may include at least one of: setting a flag for the resource and adding an identifier for the resource to a list of resources to be deallocated. Time measurements may correspond to a count of garbage collection cycles. Tracking resource use may also include determining additional resource usage metrics.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to computer software, and more particularly to the field of tracking use of objects in software.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer software programs create, use, and discard software objects at run time and, in some cases, according to run time conditions. When objects are created, memory is allocated for use. Objects which are not discarded, such as by performing garbage collection, may result in inefficient memory usage. Inefficient memory usage by a program may create performance and scalability problems.
Current memory diagnostic tools may provide memory footprint analysis resulting in a current view of allocated objects. Memory analysis tools may provide a view of what memory is allocated that may never be used and/or referenced, or memory which is never deallocated by a program. However, existing techniques may not provide for automatically measuring and quantifying the memory usage of objects that have remained allocated for too long or objects that have been allocated too early. For example, various user interactions may be required to obtain each current view or snapshot at different points in time. Additionally, it may not be easy to determine or quantify a difference between memory usage associated with each snapshot or view.
It is desirable to provide a technique which gives insight into memory usage, such as for objects, for an arbitrary period of time of a program's lifetime in an automated fashion. It is also desirable that this technique provide a mechanism to easily quantify memory quality and efficiency. It is also desirable that this technique be generally applicable for use with different resources in addition to object memory usage.


Compounds having the structure I:

Immunosuppressive agents are widely used in the treatment of autoimmune disease and in treating or preventing transplantation rejection, including the treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Common immunosuppressive agents include azathioprine, corticosteroids, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 6-mercaptopurine, vincristine, and cyclosporin A. In general, none of these drugs are completely effective, and most are limited by severe toxicity. For example, cyclosporin A, a widely used agent, is significantly toxic to the kidney. In addition, doses needed for effective treatment may increase the patient's susceptibility to infection by a variety of opportunistic invaders.
A number of compounds derived from the Chinese medicinal plant Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) have been identified as having immunosuppressive activity, e.g. in the treatment of autoimmune disease, and in treating or preventing transplantation rejection, including the treatment of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Triptolide and certain derivatives and prodrugs thereof have also been reported to show anticancer activity. See, for example, Kupchan et al., 1972, 1977, as well as co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,843 (September 2003), which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In general, the biological activity per se of triptolide derivatives has been found to be less than that of native triptolide. However, these compounds often provide other benefits relative to native triptolide, in areas such as pharmacokinetics or biodistribution, by virtue of their activity as prodrugs and/or differences in lipid or aqueous solubility. See, for example, Jung et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,972,998 and 6,004,999, Kupchan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,108, Lipsky et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,443, and Qian et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,054, as well as co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,539 (Triptolide prodrugs having high aqueous solubility), U.S. Pat. No. 5,962,516 (Immunosuppressive compounds and methods), U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,452 (Immunotherapy composition and method), U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,550 (Method for suppressing xenograft rejection), U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,335 (Immunosuppressive compounds and methods), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,376 (Immunosuppressant diterpene compound), and references cited therein.

Halogenated triptolide derivatives as immunomodulators and anticancer agents

Abstract: Compounds having the structure I:

Abstract: are useful for inducing cell death (apoptosis) and in immunosuppression. In structure I,                CR1R2 is selected from CHOH, C═O, CHF, CF2 and C(CF3)OH;        CR6 and CR13 are selected from CH, COH and CF;        CR7R8, CR9R10 and CR11R12 are selected from CH2, CHOH, C═O, CHF and CF2; and        CR3R4R5 is selected from CH3, CH2OH, C═O, COOH, CH2F, CHF2 and CF3;        such that: at least one of R1-R13 comprises fluorine;        no more than two of CR3R4R5, CR6, CR7R8, CR9R10, CR11R12, and CR13 comprises fluorine or oxygen;        and, when CR1R2 is CHOH, CR3R4R5 is not CH2F.


Disclosed are adjustable exercise machines, apparatuses, and systems. The disclosed machines, apparatuses, and systems typically include an adjustable, reversible mechanism that utilizes pivoting arms and a floating pulley. The disclosed machines, apparatuses, and systems typically are configured for performing pushing and pulling exercises and may provide for converging and diverging motion.

The field of the invention relates to exercise machines and apparatuses for strength training that utilize resistance mechanisms.
Exercise machines and apparatuses are known in the art including those that utilize resistance mechanisms such as a weight stack and a pulley system. A typical exercise machine includes a frame, a resistance mechanism mounted on the frame, and one or more exercise outlets that are functionally connected to the weight stack. Pulleys and cables are commonly used to functionally connect the weight stack to the exercise outlets.
Many exercise machines are designed for use in areas that are either multipurpose or smaller than a traditional gymnasium, for example, a home, apartment, or hotel room. These area restrictions make it increasingly important to conserve space by reducing the size of the exercise machines as well as incorporating multiple functions into one machine. Providing an exercise machine that allows an exerciser to perform different exercise movements using a single resistance mechanism therefore is desirable. Furthermore, adjustable exercise machines and apparatuses are desirable.

Adjustable, reversible exercise apparatus with converging and diverging motion


A turbofan engine includes an outer bypass duct and a gas turbine engine having an outer casing. The gas turbine engine is disposed in the outer bypass duct such that a bypass airflow passage is formed between the outer casing of the gas turbine engine and the outer bypass duct. The turbofan engine includes a turbine rear frame link assembly including a set of links coupled between the outer bypass duct and the outer casing to support the gas turbine engine relative to the outer bypass duct. The links are arranged around the gas turbine engine on a plane that is perpendicular to a centerline axis of the turbofan engine. None of the links extends through the bypass airflow passage at a position that intersects a radius extending in a vertically downward direction from the centerline axis.

Turbofan engines, such as those used on aircraft, generally include a fan, a gas turbine engine to drive the fan, and an outer bypass duct. The fan and the gas turbine engine are disposed within the outer bypass duct such that a bypass airflow passage is formed between the gas turbine engine and the outer bypass duct. The fan produces accelerated airflow, a portion of which flows through the bypass airflow passage and used to produce forward thrust. The gas turbine engine is typically supported in the outer bypass duct by one or more structural members.

Turbine rear frame link assemblies for turbofan engines


A system and method for compressing that comprises establishing attributes or elements to build a schema that is utilized to generate a record that includes the connection descriptions, building a set of substitution rules by using range expressions and substitution variables, and utilizing the set of substitution rules to associate value assignments that compress the connection descriptions within the record.

In general, legacy code iterates through a list of cable connection data to verify wiring and generate a verified record detailing a physical cable wiring of a mainframe. Yet, due to the nature of the legacy code, there are many unavoidable if-then-else conditional clauses that make the legacy code difficult to maintain.
For example, to add a new wiring rule to the legacy code, the legacy code must be extensively parsed to identify the right location in which to add the new wiring rule and corresponding verification code. Moreover, tasks such as defining all possible cabling combinations are even more tedious and error prone, particularly because differences between two different wiring connections can be very discrete and imperceptible.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A system, methods, and apparatus for point-in-time requirement tracking are disclosed. In an example embodiment, requirements for a project are stored in a database communicatively coupled to a server, the requirements including at least a first requirement stored in a first record and a second requirement stored in a second record. The server receives changes to the first requirement and the second requirement during the edit session and stores the changed first requirement to a third record and the changed second requirements to a fourth record. The server then provides the first and third records to a client device so that the client device can concurrently display the first requirement as specified in the first record and the first requirement as specified in the third record.

In many commercial or industrial construction projects, a single project can have thousands of different requirements. Current project management tracking systems generally maintain a record of current project requirements. These known systems manage a database of project requirements that is accessible to authorized users associated with a project. These systems usually enable authorized users to make changes to requirements. The systems may then display an indication to other authorized users identifying which requirements have been modified or added. Generally, once a requirement has been changed and approved, past versions of the requirement are not available to be viewed.
In some instances, a history of requirements needs to be viewed. For example, project auditors need to review how project requirements have changed over time to determine why a project has become over budget. In other examples, project requirements may be improperly or incorrectly changed, thereby overwriting the correct requirements. In other instances, a final compliance check (final punch) has to be completed before a customer can approve the completion of a project. Oftentimes, the final compliance check includes approving changes to original requirements or determining why some requirements do not match the final result. In these instances, the customer or project manager has to review and verify hundreds or thousands or requirements.
In any of these instances, database architects generally have to recreate the requirements for previous time periods. Data analysts then have to painstakingly reconcile possibly thousands of requirements for the different time periods of a project to identify which requirements changed and exactly when each of the requirements changed. While there are some tools to help identify the differences between databases as a way to identify when requirements changed, these tools still require analysts to view each change. As a result, an audit or a recovery of previous requirements can take days or weeks to perform. A need exists to improve these inefficient and expensive project management tasks.

Point-in-time requirement tracking methods and apparatus


An interchangeable tool part for a reamer includes a hard metal cutting plate. The cutting surface of the cutting plate is arranged at a distance of at least 0.02 mm from the cutting edge on one side in the region of the cut part and at least partially has a peak-to-valley height which increases by at least 0.01 mm in order to assure the production of cut fragments in the main cutting area and to prevent a build up of cuts in the region of auxiliary cutting section and/or to simplify the removal of cuts. Also high targets can be reached by virtue of the fact that the cutting plates define at least one cutting cavity in the cutting surface thereof at a distance of at least 0.02 mm from the main cutting edge on the end side in the region of the entry angle.

A plurality of indexable inserts for turning, reaming, planing, milling, boring and the like are known in machining technology that are designed in a work tool to effect a highest possible cutting capacity with an advantageous formation of the chips and whose distance from the cutting area is the same. The target value of these indexable inserts, as mentioned above, is definitely the cutting capacity, whereby the accumulating, essentially coarse chips are broken and/or prepared, where applicable, by means of deformation by chip-breaking tools of the cutting plates for quick, targeted discard.
In reaming, undersized pre-drilled holes are slightly expanded to a high-precision dimension, in order to achieve and ensure a dimensionally accurate transition of components.
Reamers are tools for fine finishing borehole surfaces, whereby the drilled surfaces may be designed as blank holes or as throughholes, and they are mostly formed by a traction part and a tool part with at least one cutting tip. The cutting tips have at least one main cutting edge, which may be formed from several components, and at least one auxiliary cutting edge.
Naturally, with the fine finishing of surfaces, in particular with the reaming of boreholes, substantially different conditions concerning an insertable cutting plate shape as well as chip formation advantageously prevail in comparison with a performance-oriented chip removal from work pieces, but the type as well as the shape and flow of the fine chips removed also greatly influence the quality of borehole surfaces attainable and the service life of the tool in reaming.
According to the state of the art, reamers are provided with differently oriented main and auxiliary cutting edges.
For example, from patent EP 1 160 042, a chip breaker is known that constantly limits the chip-bearing surface facing the cutting edges in the area of the main cutting edge and the auxiliary cutting edge, whereby the chip breaker rises in the area of the main cutting edge and has a decreasing distance to the main cutting edge. Normally, the main cutting edge is used for the roughing operation and the auxiliary cutting edge is used for fine finishing and the chips removed from the cutting edges hit a preferably straight chip breaker and are broken, receiving as well a velocity impulse in a direction that is determined by the slope of the chip breaker.
EP 0 631 834 B1 disposes a cutting tip for a reamer for the fine finishing of metallic work pieces with a main cutting edge and an auxiliary cutting edge as well as a chip-bearing surface protruding toward these cutting edges and with a chip breaker limiting the latter. In order to achieve short chips in fine finishing, the chip breaker is provided with a high point at the vertex of the cutting edges, from which the chip breaker slopes in the area of the main cutting edge and, in the area of the auxiliary cutting edge, it is designed parallel to the latter, or it may likewise be sloping.
However, all cutting plates for reamers according to the state of the art have the same disadvantage in that the flat chip bearing surfaces of the main cutting edge and the auxiliary cutting edge are facing the cutting edges, which collect the chips in particular in the area of the auxiliary cutting edge, whereby, due to the clogging of chips, increased chip removal may result in higher friction coefficient factors and in the generation of heat as well as a reduced surface quality during the fine finishing of the work piece.

Mapel Fabrik fur Prazisionswerkzeuge Dr. Kress KG


There is provided a communication device for effectively encoding an audio/music signal while maintaining a predetermined quality by controlling the transmission bit rate of the transmission side considering the use environment of the reception side. In this device, a transmission mode decision unit (101) detects an environment noise contained in the background of the audio/music signal in the input signal and decides the transmission mode controlling the transmission bit rate of the signal transmitted from a communication terminal device (150), which is a communication terminal of the partner side, according to the environment noise level. A signal decoding unit (103) decodes encoded information transmitted from the communication terminal device (150) via a transmission path (110) and outputs the obtained signal as an output signal. Here, the signal decoding unit (103) detects a transmission error by comparing the transmission mode information contained in the encoded information outputted from the transmission path (110), to the transmission mode information obtained by the transmission mode decision unit (101) while considering the transmission delay.

When a speech/audio signal is transmitted using a packet communication system represented by an Internet communication or mobile communication system, a compression/coding technology is often used to enhance transmission efficiency of the speech/audio signal. Furthermore, with regard to multiplexing of signals, the smaller the transmission bit rate of each communication terminal, the more communications can be multiplexed, and therefore for many subscribers to simultaneously communicate, it is desirable to adopt a technique that reduces a transmission bit rate of each communication terminal and enhance the efficiency of channels.
In this respect, there are conventionally disclosed technologies for reducing a transmission bit rate in a communication terminal and base station by acquiring information such as the number of simultaneously accessing users, call loss rate, access waiting time, BER (Bit Error Rate), SIR (Signal Interference Ratio), selecting an appropriate mode from among a plurality of predetermined communication modes according to the information acquired and carrying out communication (e.g., Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, a technique of detecting the presence/absence of speech of a speaker and controlling a transmission bit rate according to its detection result, is also developed. For example, Non-patent Document 1 discloses a technology of detecting the presence/absence of speech of a speaker, transmitting data coded at a high bit rate for a period during which the speaker is speaking (voiced period), coded at a low bit rate for a period during which the speaker is not speaking (unvoiced period) so as to reduce the overall transmission bit rate (e.g., Non-patent Document 1).    Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-331936    Non-patent Document 1: ANSI/TIA/EIA-96-C, Speech Service Option Standard for Wideband Spread Spectrum Digital Cellular System

Communication device, signal encoding/decoding method


A negatively-chargeable non-magnetic one-component developer for developing an electrostatic latent image using a contact DC-bias development method, having a capacitance of 1.05×10−12 to 1.25×10−12 F, a volume resistivity of 5.0×1010 to 5.0×1012 Ω·cm and a dielectric loss tangent of 1.0×10−3 to 2.0×10−2. In a contact DC-bias development method, the developer has a capacitance of 1.30×10−12 to 1.60×10−12 F, a resistivity of 5.0×109 to 5.0×1010 Ω·cm and a dielectric loss tangent of 1.0×10−3 to 2.0×10−2. In a non-contact DC/AC-bias development method, the developer has a capacitance of 1.45×10−12 to 1.60×10−12 F, a resistivity of 5.0×109 to 1.0×1010 Ω·cm and a dielectric loss tangent of 1.0×10−3 to 2.0×10−2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer for developing an electrostatic latent image, and more particularly to a negatively-chargeable non-magnetic one-component developer. The present invention also relates to an image forming method using the developer.
2. Discussion of the Background
Electrophotographic image forming methods typically include the following processes:
(1) charging a surface of a photoreceptor to such that the surface has a predetermined potential (charging process);
(2) irradiating the charged surface of the photoreceptor with light to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor (light irradiating process);
(3) developing the electrostatic latent image with a developer including a colored toner to form a toner image on the surface of the photoreceptor (developing device);
(4) transferring the toner image onto a receiving material optionally via an intermediate transfer medium (transfer process); and
(5) fixing the toner image on the receiving material by applying heat, etc. thereto, resulting in formation of a copy (fixing process).
Dry developing methods used for electrophotography and electrostatic recording methods are broadly classified into two-component developing methods using a two-component developer including a toner and a carrier and one component developing methods using a one-component developer including a toner and no carrier.
The two-component developing methods have an advantage in that toner images having good image qualities can be relatively stably produced but have a drawback in that the carrier deteriorates and in addition the ratio of the toner and the carrier in the developer varies and thereby image qualities tend to vary when the developer is used for a long period of time. In addition, it is troublesome to keep the developing devices maintained and it is hard to miniaturize the developing devices. Therefore, the one-component developing methods using a one-component developer (hereinafter referred to as a one-component toner) attract attention now.
In the one-component developing methods, a developer (i.e., toner) is typically fed by at least one toner feeding member and the fed toner develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member, resulting in formation of a visual (toner) image. In addition, a toner thickness controlling member is arranged so as to face the toner feeding member to form a toner layer having an even thickness on the toner feeding member and to frictionally charge the toner particles in the toner layer. Blades are typically used as the toner thickness controlling member. Specifically, toner particles located on and fed by the toner feeding member are pressed by a blade serving as the toner thickness controlling member, and thereby a toner layer having a predetermined thickness can be formed on the toner feeding member while being frictionally charged by the blade. Rollers can be used as the toner thickness controlling member instead of blades.
The charging methods are broadly classified into non-contact charging methods such as wire charging methods which utilize corona discharging, and contact charging methods utilizing charge injection or short-range charging methods utilizing small gap discharging. Recently, contact charging methods are typically used to miniaturize the charging device and reduce the amount of generated oxidizing materials (such as ozone and NOx).
In the developing process, the bottom portion of the toner layer on the toner feeding member (such as developing sleeves), i.e., the bottom portion of the toner layer near the surface of the sleeve, has a large amount of charge, and thereby the bottom portion is strongly attracted by the surface of the sleeve due to reflection power. Therefore, the bottom portion is hardly moved on the surface of the sleeve, and the toner particles in the bottom portion of the toner layer on the sleeve is hardly transferred to an electrostatic latent image. This phenomenon is called "a charge-up phenomenon". This charge-up phenomenon easily occurs under low humidity conditions.
When the charge-up phenomenon occurs, the upper portion of the toner layer on the sleeve has a small amount of charge, and thereby problems such as a background development problem in that the background area of an image is soiled with toner particles, a toner leaking problem in that toner particles leak from the developing device, and a toner scattering problem in that toner particles are scattered around the developing device are caused. In order to prevent occurrence of such problems, it is preferable to uniformly charge the toner particles in the toner layer. In attempting to prevent occurrence of such problems, the following proposals for improving electric properties of toner have been made.
Specifically, published unexamined Japanese patent application No. (hereinafter referred to as JP-A) 09-34159 discloses a toner having a specific dielectric loss tangent and includes a carbon black having a specific average particle diameter in a predetermined amount. One-component toners are required to have a charge property so as to be rapidly charged to have and maintain a predetermined amount of charge. Therefore, the capacity, and resistance of a toner have to be also controlled so as to fall in proper ranges as well as dielectric loss tangent. In other words, good charge properties cannot be imparted to a one-component developer (i.e., toner) only by controlling the dielectric loss tangent of the toner.
JP-A 09-34174 discloses a toner including an acidic carbon black having a pH of not higher than 7. Since acidic carbon blacks have poor dispersibility in resins, the resultant toner tends to have a high dielectric loss tangent, and therefore the toner cannot stably maintain a charge.
JP-A 2004-333970 discloses a toner having a high dielectric loss tangent. Therefore, the toner has poor charging ability, and thereby a problem in that the toner has a small amount of charge occurs. In addition, the materials constituting the toner are poorly dispersed in the toner.
JP-A 09-204063 discloses a toner in which a wax is dispersed well. However, the capacitance, resistivity and dielectric loss tangent of the toner, by which the charging ability of the toner can be represented, are not specified. Therefore, a one-component developer (i.e., toner) having good charging ability cannot be provided. Since the dispersion state of the constitutional materials in the toner and the charging ability of the toner change depending on the dielectric loss tangent of the toner, it is important to specify the absolute value of the dielectric loss tangent of the toner.
JP-A 11-295923 discloses a toner having a specific dielectric loss tangent at 100 Hz. As a result of the present inventors' study, such a toner cannot satisfy a requirement for one component developers such that the charge of the toner has to be rapidly increased to a desired charge quantity and the charge quantity is maintained. In addition, the dielectric loss tangent described in the specification of JP-A 11-295923 is too small to be balanced with the resistivity and capacitance of the toner, and thereby the toner is defectively charged.
JP-A 2000-3066 discloses a toner having a relatively high dielectric constant. Thereby, the toner has a relatively low dielectric loss tangent. In this case, the toner has a large amount of charge and a low charge rising property.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a one component toner which can be efficiently charged frictionally at a nip between a developer feeding member and a toner layer thickness controlling blade and which can produce high quality images.

Developer and image forming method using the developer


The present invention provides a complete orchestration system to generate melodic lines of any length in real time to provide a new musical accompaniment with no repeated phrases each time a particular style is played, and which can generate accompaniment styles played by groups of any size up to full symphony orchestras. It instructs a computer processing unit to compose and orchestrate a particular style of music by merely describing, to the orchestration system, the attributes of that style. An original musical score can be generated and performed that can be synchronized to the scenes in a video production to provide a complete orchestration video system.

1. Field of Invention
The field of art to which this invention pertains is electronic musical instrumentation. In particular, the present invention pertains to instruments that incorporate automatic orchestration control.
2. Related Art
Electronic music synthesizer devices have been introduced for playing musical tunes and musical accompaniment by transforming digitized data, which is representative of the tune or accompaniment to be played, into corresponding sounds. Essentially, the tunes are first digitized through one of a variety of methods and then played back upon command by the synthesizer device. The playback may be immediate, so that a user can operate, e.g., an electronic keyboard to produce music electronically. Some synthesizer systems permit the user to establish an orchestration for a tune, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,433,601, 4,508,002, 4,519,286, 4,542,675, 4,630,517, 4,682,526, and 4,719,834, in which the present inventor is a co-inventor. It is often the case that the selected orchestration is imposed on the entire tune. There is a need for an orchestration system that allows the user to automatically compose and orchestrate "on the fly" for anything from a small group to a large symphony orchestra, that is non-repeating (unless you ask it to repeat), and which also has applications for automatically scoring home video productions.


A miniaturized electronic device including a battery storing container having an opening for placing a battery in and out, a recording medium storing part for storing a recording medium detachably, and a plurality of circuit boards constituting predetermined circuits, wherein the recording medium storing part and the plurality of circuit boards are placed so as to surround the outside of the battery storing container except at its opening.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an electronic device that has a battery storing container with an opening for placing a battery in and out, a recording medium storing part for storing a recording medium detachably and a plurality of circuit boards constituting predetermined circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams explaining a conventional electronic device, 4A is an exploded perspective view and 4B is a plane schematic overhead view. An electronic device 1′ is a compact portable A-V device, such as a digital still camera, in which a recoding media connector 3, an image display unit 6 and a main substrate 4 are arranged with a battery case 2 at the center.
In this example, the recording media connector 3 and the main substrate 4 are disposed in piles on a surface substantially perpendicular to an opening 21 of a battery case 2, and the image display unit 6 and other circuit board 7 are disposed side by side on an opposite surface.
Therefore, the thickness A of the electronic device 1 becomes the total thickness of the battery case 2, the recording media connector 3, the main substrate 4 and the image display unit 6.
As a configuration of substrate in an electronic device, the following technologies are disclosed.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H8-37387>
This publication discloses the technology that attempts to miniaturize a device and to improve the heat radiation effect by disposing print boards above and below a cooling wheel.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-229288>
This publication discloses the technology that attempts to improve the heat radiation effect by disposing print boards above and below a heating component, such as a transistor, in order to provide holes for ventilation.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-8604>
This publication discloses the technology that can extend a battery operating time by making a heating component to be contacted with a battery through a heat conduction member.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-144067>
This publication discloses the technology that can improve the heat radiation effect without decreasing amounting density of a main printed board by mounting a power IC on a substitute printed board which is provided for an amplifier in addition to the main printed broad.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H7-264450>
This publication discloses a heat radiation structure in which printed boards are disposed around a camera housing via a heat conductive rubber.
<Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-60783>
This publication discloses the technology that protects a printed board from heat by disposing a printed board more underneath than a bottom end of a deviation coil of a cathode-ray tube.