A sensing system has a sensor arranged in the immediate neighborhood of a contacting shaped body. The sensor is connected to a circuit which is likewise arranged in the neighborhood of the contacting shaped body and emits electromagnetic radiation when the sensor responds to contact by the contacting shaped body with a surface to be measured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensing system for coordinate measuring equipment, and more particularly, to a sensing system with a contact body for contacting the surface of a workpiece to be measured.
Sensing systems for coordinate measuring equipment for tactile measurement of workpieces may be divided into two classes: sensing heads of the so-called measuring type and those of the switching type. While sensing heads of the measuring type constantly provide a signal which is proportional to the deflection of the resiliently mounted tracer pin, and are thus also suitable for the continuous tracing of workpiece surfaces in so-called scanning operation, sensing heads of the switching type produce a pulse signal on contact with the workpiece. In this latter case, the workpiece surface must be newly contacted at each point at which its position or shape is to be determined.
Switching sensing systems usually have an electromechanical switch contact in the mounting for a resiliently received tracer pin. This switch contact is adjusted very sensitively and opens as soon as the tracer pin, on contact with the workpiece, moves relative to the portion of the sensing head which is fixed to the machine.
To increase the sensitivity of such sensing heads, it has also already been proposed to build highly sensitive, e.g., piezoelectric, sensors into the tracer pin carrier or into the tracer pin itself, in order to be able to detect the contact with the workpiece as soon as there is the smallest reaction force between the workpiece and the contacting shaped body, that is, the sensing ball. Such a sensing head is described, for example, in German Patent DE-PS 27 12 181 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,568) and German Laid-Open Patent Applications DE-OS 28 20 813, DE-OS 33 09 122. Nevertheless, even with these sensing heads, the instant of contact cannot be reliably and precisely determined. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, a delay time occurs, particularly with long tracer pins, between the first contact with the workpiece and the response of the sensor, due to the travel time of the pressure wave or sound wave from the contacting shaped body to the sensor, dependent on the materials used for the tracer pin or its extension, etc. Furthermore, the sound wave produced on contact can be attenuated by destructive interference on its path to the sensor. This becomes in particular noticeably disadvantageous, for example, in sensing weak materials, when only a very small amount of mechanical impact energy is transmitted. Instead of perceiving the sound wave, the sensor first perceives the static pressure which builds up very much later, and which arises when the sensing head travels further on the workpiece surface.
It has also already been proposed to arrange the sensor in the neighborhood of the contacting shaped body (FIG. 8 in the first-mentioned DE-PS 27 12 181). However, such tracer pins have not yet been reduced to practice. This is because, on the one hand, the wiring and reliable contacting arrangements for tracer pins, which as a rule are interchangeable, gives rise to noticeable signal conduction problems; and on the other hand, several tracer pins are often built into complex sensor configurations on the sensing head and cannot be immediately connected in parallel with the signal leads of the sensors. The sensor is therefore usually arranged on the sensing head side of the place for change-out of tracer pins, and solutions for the problems relating to the propagation delays of sound and to signal intensity are found in other ways.
Furthermore, it has been proposed to determine the instant of contact precisely with interferometric sensors which measure a mirror surface on the contacting shaped body through the hollow tracer pin, as is described, for example, in German Patent DE-PS 39 20 716 and German Laid-Open Patent Application DE-OS 42 44 240. However, this solution is obviously not particularly well suitable for either interchangeable tracer pins or for the simultaneous attachment of several tracer heads to the sensing head of a coordinate measuring device.
Finally it is also known to measure workpieces directly on the processing machine, in that a sensing head is inserted, instead of the processing tool, in the Morse cone of the tool holding fixture. As a rule, battery-powered, self-contained sensing heads are used for this purpose, since no electrical leads for current supply and signal transmission are provided in this location. With such sensing heads, the sensing signal is then transmitted from the sensing head to the machine tool by radio or infrared radiation or even inductively. Such connecting sensing heads for machine tools are described, for example, in German Laid-Open Patent Application DE-OS 34 22 102 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,608,763; 4,509,266; 4,578,874; and 4,670,989. However, all of the sensing heads described therein use a switching contact located in the mounting of the moving tracer pin to generate the contact pulse, which is then transmitted further by radio means. The problems mentioned hereinabove relating to the distance between the sensor and contacting shaped body are neither solved nor addressed, since the requirements for sensors used on machine tools are basically set lower as regards contact accuracy than for sensing heads which are used on coordinate measuring devices.

Sensing system for coordinate measuring equipment


The car-charging system can charge only an authenticated car both in a public parking area and at home. The car-charging system is capable of charging a charge-accumulating device in the car to be charged through a power-supplying line from a power source outside the car, and is arranged to authenticate the car by means of communication between an authentication-managing device in a power-supplying device outside the car and a DSRC onboard device in the car. The authentication-managing device and DSRC onboard device each have a DSRC basic application software program implemented thereon.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a car-charging system of a car equipped with a charge-accumulating device chargeable from the outside thereof, and particularly to authentication of the car.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an electric car equipped with a charge-accumulating device and an electric motor, and a so-called hybrid car have been studied as environmentally friendly vehicles. Such cars are driven by an electric motor using electric power of a charge-accumulating device as they run, and therefore it is required to charge the charge-accumulating device. To charge the charge-accumulating device, a dedicated power source in a public parking area and a commercial household power source can be used.
When charging the charge-accumulating device, it is necessary to perform authentication between a power-supplying device and car in question regardless of whether the car is in a public parking area or at home and check whether or not the car is one which may be charged for the purpose of preventing the theft of electric power.
A prior art-related patent document, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication JP-A-2007-228695 discloses a car-charging system which uses information on an ETC card to authenticate a user of the car. Also, another document, JP-A-2008-61432 discloses a car-charging system which uses a cryptographic key recorded in a charger of a car for authentication.
Further, according to a prior art-related non-patent document, ITS Shyasai-ki DSRC-bu hyou-jun shiyou (ITS onboard device DSRC part standard specifications) JEITA TT-6002A, a DSRC onboard device, which is a DSRC application system, has been standardized and put to practical use as a communication system such that a road-side unit and a car authenticate each other and exchange information therebetween. Likewise, another non-patent document, dedicated short range communication (hereinafter referred to as "DSRC") basic application interface specifications' guideline ITS FORUM RC-004 standardizes and shows an application software program for a road-side unit to authenticate an onboard device and to bill a car concerned.
It is preferable that car-charging systems use a common car-authentication method in both cases where charging is performed from a dedicated power source in a public parking area and where charging is conducted from a commercial household power source.
However, the car-charging system as disclosed by the patent document JP-A-2007-228695 has the problem of the impossibility of supporting a power-supplying device for household use. This is because such car-charging system needs to use ETC card information to identify an individual in authentication although the information is undisclosed in general. Further, the car-charging system as disclosed by the patent document JP-A-2008-61432, which uses a cryptographic key recorded in a car-charging device in authentication, has the problem that as the cryptographic key varies depending on the car manufacturer and the type or model of the car, it has no general versatility and cannot be used in e.g. a public parking area.
With a functional configuration of a DSRC onboard device defined by ITS Shyasai-ki DSRC-bu hyou-jun shiyou (ITS onboard device DSRC part standard specifications) JEITA TT-6002A, an application software program can be executed through the wireless communication, but it is not taken into account to allow an external device to execute it through an interface.


A pressure control system remotely controls pressure within one or more remote zones, each respectively connected to an enclosure through a conduit, by controlling flow of a fluid into and out of each enclosure. The pressure of the fluid is measured within each enclosure. An estimated pressure within each zone is computed, as a function of the measured pressure in the enclosure and known characteristics of the conduit and the zone. For each zone, an inlet proportional valve and an outlet proportional valve of each enclosure is operated so as to control the input flow rate of the fluid into the respective enclosure and the output flow rate of the fluid out of the enclosure as a function of a pressure set point and the estimated pressure, thereby regulating pressure within the zone in accordance with the pressure set point.

In some applications, it may be necessary to regulate the pressure within remotely located zones. For example, some machines and equipment may include chambers that are pressurized or evacuated during operation of the equipment. Examples of such machines may include, but are not limited to, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) machines.
A pressure sensor inside a measurement chamber may only measure pressure within that measurement chamber, not within a zone that is coupled to the chamber but remotely located with respect to the sensor. As a result, a pressure control system that only uses pressure measurements by a pressure sensor located inside the measurement chamber may have to assume that the pressure in the remote zone is equal to the pressure in the measurement chamber. Often, however, the pressure in the remote zone may not be equal to the measurement chamber pressure. For example, when localized pressure transients occur in the measurement chamber, the pressure in the remote zone may be not affected in the same way so that the pressure in the two locations are not equal. This may result in a substantial degradation of the performance of the pressure control system.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that allow the pressure within remotely located zones where pressure is not measured directly to be controlled accurately.


Animal training apparatus particularly useful in the training of cutting horses to cut a cow or calf from a herd. The apparatus includes a pneumatic tube, preferably annular, mounted at a selected height above the ground by support members. The tube is provided internally with a piston which is reciprocally moveable at a desired speed and direction by compressed air fed into and removed from air ports in the tube by an air compressor. A wheeled carriage, mounted on the exterior surface of the tube, carries a second magnet, magnetically coupled to the first magnet of the piston, for movement of the carriage in concert with the piston. An artificial cow or calf downwardly depends from the carriage, serving as a stimulus for training of the horse.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to animal training devices, and, more particularly, to apparatus for the training of horses for cow cutting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years, horses have been trained to "cut" cattle from a herd. Where "cutting" was once, and sometimes still is used for practical reasons, such cutting is now largely for sport.
In training the horse, historically, live cows, or calves, are brought into an arena, which is enclosed and is generally circular for limiting the movement of the cow. The horse then occupies a position toward the center of the arena and is trained in its movement to force or "cut" the cow in a desired direction about the inner periphery of the arena, or to hold the cow in a given position. Problems in the use of live cows include the expense of obtaining and maintaining the cattle, as well as a "souring" of a particular cow or calf; i.e., the cow or calf may be used only for two or three days in the training of a horse before becoming listless and not responding to the cutting procedure.
For this reason, several devices have been invented and developed for training cutting horses with the use of artificial animals, as typified by the inventions embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,995, issued to D. Brinson and U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,261, issued to G. Genelin.
The Brinson device provides an artifical calf mounted on a rotatable platform; the platform being moveable in an arc about a vertical pivot and the platform being moved forwardly and rearwardly by a telescoping extension on a boom which holds the platform. Besides being costly in construction, the Brinson apparatus is extremely confining in area covered; provides maintenance problems in having a multiplicity of moving parts; does not provide proper stimulus because of the size of the machinery relative to the size of the artificial animal; and presents safety problems because of collision possibilities between the horse to be trained and the platform holding the artificial animal.
The Genelin device is also extremely confining in area covered and, because movement of the artificial animal is constricted for movement only in a lateral to and fro direction, only one end of an arena can be effectively used. Besides utilizing only a prescribed portion of the arena, such linear movement requires the horse being trained to move completely lateral and substantially parallel to keep up with the artificial calf. In an enclosed arena, with live calf, the horse may pivot on its hind legs, moving the front legs about the pivoting rear legs to cut the calf. The action of the horse is therefore unnatural in requiring full lateral movement upon slight movement of the artificial calf. Additionally, like the Brinson device, the Genelin device includes a multiplicity of moving parts, including a gearing system; a plurality of cables; pulleys; and other mechanisms--all contributing to maintenance problems and proper stimulus problems because of the mechanics of the device.


A surface mountable device includes a ceramic substrate including a first principal surface, a second principal surface, and a side surface connecting the first principal surface to the second principal surface, a terminal electrode disposed on the first principal surface, and a first conductor for appearance inspection extending continuously from the terminal electrode to the side surface and having a width smaller than the width of the terminal electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface mountable device that is surface mounted on a motherboard such as a printed circuit board by, for example, soldering, and more specifically, to a surface mountable device in which the appearance of the bonding condition with the motherboard can be visually inspected.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 16 to 19 show examples of the structure of known surface mount devices. FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a state in which a surface mount device 30 including side electrodes 33 disposed at the side surface of the substrate is mounted on a motherboard 32 (a mount board for a device) by soldering. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view taken along imaginary cutting line B-B in FIG. 16. Land electrodes 34 of the motherboard 32 for mounting the surface mount device 30 are generally arranged so as to be exposed from the side surface of the surface mount device 30 toward the outside by a width a. Thus, the land electrodes 34 are intentionally exposed from the side surface toward the outside in order to form solder 35 having a certain thickness at the side surface of the surface mount device 30. This structure increases the peel strength of the surface mount device 30.
FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a state in which a surface mount device 31 including terminal electrodes 37 disposed at the bottom surface of the substrate is mounted on a motherboard 32 by soldering. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-250620 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1"), a surface mount device including external connection electrodes in a ball grid array (BGA) structure corresponds to such a surface mount device. FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view taken along imaginary cutting line C-C in FIG. 18. Land electrodes 34 of the motherboard 32 for mounting the surface mount device 31 are generally disposed at the inside so as not to be exposed from the side surface of the surface mount device 31 to the outside. In this structure, solder 35 is not exposed from the side surface of the surface mount device 31 toward the outside, thereby improving the packaging density of the motherboard 32. Recently, downsizing has been highly desired, and the surface mount devices shown in FIG. 18 in which terminal electrodes are disposed at the bottom surface of the substrate has become desirable.
For both of these types of surface mount devices, such as electronic components, after the surface mount devices are mounted on a motherboard, the appearance is inspected to confirm the solderability. Regarding the surface mount device 30 shown in FIG. 16, the appearance can be checked by visual inspection 36 because the solder 35 is provided outside of the surface mount device 30. On the other hand, with the surface mount device 31 shown in FIG. 18, the appearance cannot be thoroughly checked by visual inspection because the solder 35 is provided in a narrow clearance between the surface mount device 31 and the motherboard 32. Consequently, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-170455 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 2") discloses a method for inspecting the appearance by X-ray transmission.
However, even if the method for inspecting the appearance described in Patent Document 2 can be applied to the surface mount device 31 shown in FIG. 18, the method cannot be easily applied to the actual manufacturing process in terms of the cost because a transmission apparatus required for the appearance inspection by X-ray transmission is expensive.


The present invention provides a novel process for preparing a catalyst useful in gas phase polymerization of olefins wherein the physical properties of the polymer and the productivity of the catalyst can be altered depending on the sequence of addition of the catalyst components. The catalyst consists of compounds of Ti, Mg, Al and optionally an electron donor supported on an amorphous support.

Ziegler-Natta type catalysts are well known and have been used since the early 1950's. Generally, the catalyst comprises a transition metal compound, typically titanium in the 3 or 4 valence state (e.g. TiCl3 or TiCl4) supported on magnesium chloride.
In some cases, the catalysts are prepared in conjunction with an electron donor (ED), which is used to dissolve the MgCl2 and TiCl3 when they are used. This type of formulation teaches away from the current disclosure. When supported on silica, and placed in a gas phase reactor with at least one co-catalyst, typically an aluminum compound such as a trialkyl aluminum (e.g. triethylaluminum (TEAL)) or an alkyl aluminum halide (e.g. diethylaluminum chloride (DEAC)) this combination makes a good catalyst for the polymerization of polyethylene. The ED used as the solvent in the formulation tends to narrow the molecular weight distribution in the resulting polymer. As the ED is difficult to remove, polymers having a broader MWD are difficult to manufacture using this catalyst synthesis process. Also, as the ED must be capable of dissolving the MgCl2, and in some cases TiCl3, the choice of the electron donor is limited, a problem which is solved with the current disclosure. A good description of these types of catalysts is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,566 issued Nov. 24, 1981 to Karol et al., assigned to Union Carbide Corporation.
Alternately, the catalysts may contain magnesium chloride which may be generated from a dialkyl magnesium compound and active chloride. These types of catalysts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,691 issued Apr. 13, 1982 to Imperial Chemical Industries. This is a broad patent covering the synthesis of these types of catalysts but not disclosing the process of the present invention. This patent teaches that when an active chloride is used that the Ti species be added after the chloride which is also a restriction of the current disclosure but it is also limiting in that it teaches that when a Lewis base (i.e. ED) is used it is preferred that the Mg compound be added prior to the Lewis base a restriction which is not needed in the current disclosure.
In a similar vein, U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,419 issued May 27, 1997 to The Dow Chemical Company discloses a supported Ziegler-Natta type catalyst or catalyst precursor. However, it is a limitation of the reference that the halide is used in the form of a hydrogen halide (e.g. HCl). The reference teaches away from the subject matter of the present invention, which preferably use alkyl halides as the halide source. Additionally, the reference teaches the use of an agglomerated support such as silica, instead of a typical granular support, which is contrary to the method for preparing the catalyst of the present invention. Finally, this reference teaches away from the subject matter of the present invention as it teaches that the order of adding the components, is not critical, provided the Ti compound is added after the chlorinating agent when a dihydrocarbyl magnesium compound is used. While this criteria is of importance, a catalyst made using the order dihydrocarbyl magnesium, chlorinating agent, titanium compound, aluminum alkyl, electron donor (ED) was found to have poor polymerization productivity.
European Patent Application 0 744 416 published Nov. 27, 1996 in the name of BP Chemicals Limited (BP) teaches supported catalysts and catalyst precursors. The reference teaches that the support is reacted with either an aluminum compound or a magnesium compound followed by an alkyl halide and a tetravalent titanium compound. Electron donors can be added to the support or anytime during the synthesis. The reference teaches against the addition of a second aluminum compound. This reference also teaches that the Al:Mg molar ratio is between 0.05–0.35 which is outside the scope of the present catalysts formulations. This reference also teaches that the halogenating agent must be used in a molar ratio such that all of the Mg and Al compounds are converted to their respective halides, a limitation which is not part of the present invention. That is, in accordance with the present invention, there is an excess of reactive aluminum and magnesium groups over reactive halide so that not all of the alkyl aluminum or magnesium are reacted to their respective chlorides.
BP patent EP 0 595 574 B1 granted in Jan. 2, 1997 requires that the catalyst be prepared on a support treated with an organosilicon compound. The supports used in accordance with the present invention are treated thermally and chemically (aluminum alkyls) but not with organosilicon.
BP patent EP 0 453 088 B1 granted in Jul. 31, 1996 teaches that the catalyst be made on dehydrated silica and that the catalyst needs to be pre-polymerized to obtain a useful catalyst for the synthesis of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE). The catalysts of the present invention do not need to be pre-polymerized to be useful for the polymerization of ethylene to LLDPE to HDPE. This reference also teaches against the addition of a second aluminum compound.
Mobil Oil Corporation U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,683 issued Sep. 3, 1991 to Allen deals with improving the polymers physical properties using trimethyl aluminum (TMA) instead of triethyl aluminum (TEAL) as a co-catalyst. This patent teaches away from the aspects of the current invention, which can produce products having good physical properties using TEAL as a co-catalyst.
NOVA Chemicals Ltd. U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,264 issued Oct. 31, 2000 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,126 issued Apr. 4, 2000 to Kelly et al, both deal with making a TiCl4 supported catalyst on magnesium chloride (precipitated from a dialkyl magnesium compound and an organic halide) which is on a thermally and chemically treated silica. This reference teaches against the addition of a second aluminum compound and limits the electron donor to relatively low levels both restrictions which have been removed from the present invention. This patent also does not identify that the order of chemical addition is important to catalyst productivity and polymer physical properties.
The present invention seeks to provide a process for the polymerization of olefin polymers, preferably polymers of ethylene in which the physical properties of the polymer are improved while maintaining the catalysts productivity. Prior to this discovery, one way known to improve the polymers physical properties through catalyst changes was to reduce the titanium on the catalyst by adding large amounts of aluminum alkyls, which in turn produced a catalyst with undesirable catalyst productivity. The inventors have unexpectedly found that both the catalyst productivity and the polymers physical properties can be altered by varying the order of addition of the catalyst components. These catalysts are novel as the physical properties of the resin that they produce can be altered by changing the order of addition of components for the catalyst preparation. That is to say, the polymers physical properties and catalyst productivity will change even though the concentrations of the catalyst components are kept constant.


An apparatus and method for predicting a lubricating oil replacement time for an engine by precisely predicting a total acid value and/or an amount of soot in a lubricating oil and by displaying an accurate time which will elapse before a required lubricating oil replacement. Accurate prediction of lubricating oil replacement prevents engine seizing and other damage and avoids wasteful replacement of otherwise useful lubricating oil.

Conventionally in a construction machine, engine lubricating oil replacement is based on an engine operating time as measured by a hour meter. A user must compare the measured engine operating time to a replacement operating time defined by the construction machine manufacturer. In a vehicle or the like, replacement is performed on the basis of a period of time specified by the vehicle manufacturer or a traveling distance. This method, however, has a problem that a lubricating oil which remains useful may be wastefully replaced with new oil depending upon a condition for use or that lubricating oil subject to severe conditions may not be immediately replaced with new oil, which reduces the working life of the engine.
Accordingly, as a method of deciding a time for replacing a lubricating oil of an engine, there is provided Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-44490 of 1985. In this publication, there is disclosed an apparatus for replacing an engine oil comprising a sensor for detecting the number of revolutions of an engine, a sensor for detecting a load, and a calculating section for calculating an amount of tramp soot (hereinafter "soot") within the oil on the basis of output values of these sensors. The Japanese reference further discloses an apparatus for integrating and storing the amount of soot, in which an alarm is produced in order to instruct an operator to replace the oil when the integrated total amount of soot in oil exceeds a predetermined amount.
The working life of lubricating oil commonly exhibits the following characteristics. In one case, increased engine wear is caused by an increase of oil viscosity due to the soot contained in the oil and in addition to a decrease of oil alkali value. In the other case, increased engine wear is caused by a bearing seizing to an increase of the total acid value of the lubricating oil in addition to an increase of sludge caused by an increased acidity in the lubricating oil.
Thus, the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-44490 for detecting soot has the following problems:
(1) if an engine is radically loaded, as in a construction machine, the amount of smoke from the engine is rapidly increased, consequently the amount of soot in the engine lubricating oil sharply changes, thereby affecting the ability to accurately predict the amount of soot content within the lubricating oil; PA1 (2) if a load on an engine is greatly changed as in a construction machine, a large capacity calculating section to calculate a soot content within an engine lubricating oil is needed and a control unit cannot commonly follow the variation, thereby again affecting the ability to accurately predict the amount of soot content within the lubricating oil; PA1 (3) the amount of soot changes depending upon an operating condition (e.g., a temperature of the lubricating oil or the like) of the engine, further impeding the ability to accurately predict the content of soot within the lubricating oil; and PA1 (4) it is difficult to grasp the total acid value in the engine lubricating oil, thus also affecting the ability to accurately predict the lubricating oil soot content.

Apparatus and method for predicting replacement timing of engine lubricating oil


A steering system for a vehicle, the vehicle defining a vertical direction, a forward direction and a reverse direction, the steering system including: an axle assembly defining a central axis comprising an axle and a bearing sleeve circumferentially surrounding the axle; a wheel assembly; and axle-to-wheel connection hardware set defining a caster axis with the caster angle being the angle between the caster axis and the vertical direction; and a caster angle adjustment assembly; wherein: the axle-to-wheel connection hardware mechanically connects the axle assembly to the wheel assembly so that the wheel assembly can rotate about the caster axis with respect to the axle assembly; and the caster angle adjustment assembly is structured, connected and/or located to actuate at least the axle-to-wheel connection hardware set to change the caster angle between at least a first angle and a second angle during operation of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle suspension systems and, more particularly, to systems for causing the rear axles of a vehicle having a long wheel base (for example, cars, trucks, trailers, buses, heavy equipment, airplanes) to track around sharp corners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art rear axle (see DEFINITIONS section) tracking systems have been disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,999 issued to the present inventor on Jan. 2, 1996 and entitled "Powered, Automatic, Self-Tracking System for the Rear Axles of Trucks, Trailers and Buses," (the "'999 patent") and U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,972 issued to the present inventor on Jun. 22, 1993 and entitled "Self-Tracking, Rear Vehicle Suspension System for Trucks, Trailers and Buses" (the "'972 patent").
The '972 patent discloses an apparatus for permitting the self-tracking of rear axles through angling of torsion rods coupled with means for permitting lateral deflection of the suspension hardware employed on the vehicle (for example, widening of the spring hangers on a vehicle employing a leaf-spring type suspension). More particularly, the forward ends of each pair of laterally spaced torsion rods are moved inwardly toward each other to create separate reaction forces which cause the associated axle to pivot with respect to the vehicle centerline in a direction away from the turn during cornering. Consequently, the rear tires rotate closely along the turning path of the front tires such that the rear tires "track" around the corner. The more closely the rear tires track the front tires around the turn, the easier it is for the driver to safely negotiate the turn. For example, when the rear tires closely track the front tires then the vehicle can make turns without having to use more than a single lane of the roadway as drivers of such vehicles normally do when making turns.
The '999 patent discloses power controls which automatically respond to cornering of the vehicle by applying a controlled, measured force against selected points of the vehicle's suspension system which further assist in pivoting the rear axle(s) in the appropriate direction, thereby causing the respective rear tires to self-track into the turn, in both forward and reverse directions of travel.
The following published documents may also include helpful background information: (i) U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,131 ("Watts"); (ii) U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,625 ("Houser"); (iii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,931 ("Encarthe"); (iv) U.S. patent application 2010/0078517 ("Coles"); (v) U.S. Pat. No. 7,392,996 ("Mattocks"); (vi) U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,839 ("Keeler"); (vii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,570 ("570 Gottschalk"); and/or (viii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,078 ("078 Gottschalk").
Description Of the Related Art Section Disclaimer: To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, these discussions should not be taken as an admission that the discussed publications (for example, published patents) are prior art for patent law purposes. For example, some or all of the discussed publications may not be sufficiently early in time, may not reflect subject matter developed early enough in time and/or may not be sufficiently enabling so as to amount to prior art for patent law purposes. To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, they are all hereby incorporated by reference into this document in their respective entirety(ies).

Self-tracking system for the rear axles of trucks


A printed circuit board (PCB) substrate and method for construction of the same. In one embodiment, a first dielectric material is associated with a first current return layer and a second dielectric material is associated with a second current return layer. A signal path layer is interposed between the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material. An adhesive layer is interposed between the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material such that the adhesive layer is substantially coplanar relative to the signal path layer.

In recent years, the computer industry has strived to introduce printed circuit board (PCB) substrates having low attenuation at high frequencies, for example at frequencies greater than 1 GHz. Relatedly, the industry has further endeavored to lower attenuation in PCB substrates that may employ odd mode propagation via differentially coupled traces. These attenuation loses are associated with the loss tangent of the PCB substrate composite material, wherein the complex dielectric constant, εr, of the composite material varies by frequency and may be expressed by the following equation:εr=ε′r−jε″r, wherein                ε′r is the relative permittivity of the composite material which varies as a function of frequency; and        ε″r is the loss factor of the composite material which varies as a function of frequency.Loss tangent, tan δ, may be defined by the following equation in terms of the relative permittivity, ε′r and the loss factor, ε″r:tan δ=ε″r/ε′r
Existing PCB substrates include signal traces disposed in a composite dielectric material, such as a Fire Retardant (FR)-4 material, which is an inexpensive composite material formed by glass strands embedded in an epoxy resin. During the curing of the dielectric material, the resin component and the glass component cure at different rates, thereby creating a phase separation defined by a glass phase that is superposed over a resin phase. Generally, the resin phase has a higher loss tangent than the glass phase and in particular instances the resin phase may have a loss tangent as high as 0.4. Hence, the high loss resin settling between the signal traces can cause a significant amount of differential mode signal attenuation. Presently, the differential mode attenuation in PCB substrates is lowered by constructing the entire PCB substrate from materials having low loss tangents. Low loss tangent materials, however, add significant material costs to PCB substrate construction.

Printed circuit board substrate and method for constructing same

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In an emulated computing environment, a method is provided for logically decoupling the host operating system from the processor of the computer system with respect to certain processor settings of the processor. A hypervisor of the emulation program replaces some of the processor settings of the processor with processor settings associated with software routines or data structures provided by the guest operating system. The replaced processor settings are written to memory. During this period, when the processor calls a software routine or accesses a data structure associated with the replaced processor setting, the processor will call or access a software routine or access a data structure associated with the guest operating system, bypassing the host operating system and communicating directly with the guest operating system. When the host operating system is to be recoupled to the processor, the processor settings that have been saved to memory are rewritten to the appropriate registers of the processor.

Computers include general purpose central processing units (CPUs) that are designed to execute a specific set of system instructions. A group of processors that have similar architecture or design specifications may be considered to be members of the same processor family. Examples of current processor families include the Motorola 680X0 processor family, manufactured by Motorola, Inc. of Phoenix, Ariz.; the Intel 80X86 processor family, manufactured by Intel Corporation of Sunnyvale, Calif.; and the PowerPC processor family, which is manufactured by Motorola, Inc. and used in computers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Although a group of processors may be in the same family because of their similar architecture and design considerations, processors may vary widely within a family according to their clock speed and other performance parameters.
Each family of microprocessors executes instructions that are unique to the processor family. The collective set of instructions that a processor or family of processors can execute is known as the processor's instruction set. As an example, the instruction set used by the Intel 80X86 processor family is incompatible with the instruction set used by the PowerPC processor family. The Intel 80X86 instruction set is based on the Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) format. The Motorola PowerPC instruction set is based on the Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) format. CISC processors use a large number of instructions, some of which can perform rather complicated functions, but which require generally many clock cycles to execute. RISC processors use a smaller number of available instructions to perform a simpler set of functions that are executed at a much higher rate.
The uniqueness of the processor family among computer systems also typically results in incompatibility among the other elements of hardware architecture of the computer systems. A computer system manufactured with a processor from the Intel 80X86 processor family will have a hardware architecture that is different from the hardware architecture of a computer system manufactured with a processor from the PowerPC processor family. Because of the uniqueness of the processor instruction set and a computer system's hardware architecture, application software programs are typically written to run on a particular computer system running a particular operating system.
A computer manufacturer will want to maximize its market share by having more rather than fewer applications run on the microprocessor family associated with the computer manufacturer's product line. To expand the number of operating systems and application programs that can run on a computer system, a field of technology has developed in which a given computer having one type of CPU, called a host, will include an emulator program that allows the host computer to emulate the instructions of an unrelated type of CPU, called a guest. Thus, the host computer will execute an application that will cause one or more host instructions to be called in response to a given guest instruction. Thus, the host computer can both run software designed for its own hardware architecture and software written for computers having an unrelated hardware architecture. As a more specific example, a computer system manufactured by Apple Computer, for example, may run operating systems and program written for PC-based computer systems. It may also be possible to use an emulator program to operate concurrently on a single CPU multiple incompatible operating systems. In this arrangement, although each operating system is incompatible with the other, an emulator program can host one of the two operating systems, allowing the otherwise incompatible operating systems to run concurrently on the same computer system.
When a guest computer system is emulated on a host computer system, the guest computer system is said to be a virtual machine, as the host computer system exists only as a software representation of the operation of the hardware architecture of the guest computer system. The terms emulator and virtual machine are sometimes used interchangeably to denote the ability to mimic or emulate the hardware architecture of an entire computer system. As an example, the Virtual PC software created by Connectix Corporation of San Mateo, Calif. emulates an entire computer that includes an Intel 80X86 Pentium processor and various motherboard components and cards. The operation of these components is emulated in the virtual machine that is being run on the host machine. An emulator program executing on the operating system software and hardware architecture of the host computer, such as a computer system having a PowerPC processor, mimics the operation of the entire guest computer system. The emulator program acts as the interchange between the hardware architecture of the host machine and the instructions transmitted by the software running within the emulated environment.
A hypervisor is a control program that exists near the kernel level of a host operating system and operates to allow one or more secondary operating systems, other than the host operating system, to use the hardware of the computer system, including the processor of the computer system. A hypervisor of an operating system emulates the operating environment of the secondary operating system so that the secondary operating system believes that it is operating in its customary hardware and/or operating system environment and that it is in logical control of the computer system, when it may in fact be operating in another hardware and/or operating system environment and the host operating system may be in logical control of the computer system. Many operating systems function such that the operating system must operate as though it is in exclusive logical control of the hardware of the computer system. For multiple operating system to function simultaneously on a single computer system, the hypervisor of each operating system must function to mask the presence of the other operating systems such that each operating system functions as though it has exclusive control over the entire computer system.
If it is desired to emulate the entire hardware architecture of the guest system, it is often useful or desirable to make maximum use of the hardware in the host computer system, including, for example, the memory management unit, the context switching hardware, the exception handling vectors, the interrupt routine pointers, and the floating point units of the host processor, and the memory of the host computer system. This hardware, however, is normally under the control of the host operating system and is shielded from access by user-level or application software. An exception is an event occurring in the computer system that cannot be resolved by the processor. An interrupt is a request sent to the processor to temporarily interrupt the current instruction stream to perform some other operation.
One option to avoid this difficulty is to employ an emulation program that does not attempt to use the lower level hardware of the host computer system. This sort of approach is often in the case of emulation program that resides as an application program and runs on the host operating system. These application emulation programs, of course, are subject to the performance penalties of being an application program that runs on the host operating system of a host computer system. Further, these application emulation programs only gain access to the hardware features that are exposed to the application emulation program by the host operating system. As an example, an emulation program that runs as an application on the host operating system can include an exception handler. The difficulty is that the exception handler of the emulation program is separated from the processor of the host computer system by several software layers, creating a latency between the time that the host processor issues and exception and the time that the exception is identified to the exception handler of the emulation program. Another option is for the emulation program to share the hardware with the host operating system, assuming that support for the sharing of computer system by an emulation program can be written into the hypervisor of the host operating system.

System and method for the logical substitution of processor control in an emulated computing environment


A computer-implemented method of encrypting information on a virtual ledger, the method including receiving the information from a first party and a second party, encrypting a portion of the information received from at least one of the first party and the second party, publishing the encrypted portion on the virtual ledger, and providing a decryption key based upon the published encrypted portion to the first party and the second party.

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are increasing in popularity. An ever-growing number of businesses and individuals are using cryptocurrencies to store value and as a medium of exchange. It is now possible to pay individuals and purchase goods and services using cryptocurrencies. As a result, the number of daily transactions using cryptocurrencies is increasing.
For many cryptocurrency systems to work it is important that there be a ledger system that maintains the integrity of the system. In most such cryptocurrency systems, a virtual ledger system may be maintained by a group of decentralized individuals who validate and timestamp transactions and add them to the virtual ledger. In one example, that of Bitcoin, this virtual ledger system is referred to as a blockchain and the individuals who maintain the blockchain are referred to as miners. These miners serve to encode data regarding Bitcoin transactions into the blockchain.
The blockchain allows for recording of information, including information associated with multiple parties who wish to protect at least some of the information. Cryptology can provide methods for protecting information, but known methods do not provide the use of cryptology to protect information on a blockchain. As such, methods and systems for utilizing cryptology with virtual ledgers are needed.
A component or a feature that is common to more than one drawing is indicated with the same reference number in each of the drawings.

Systems and methods for utilizing cryptology with virtual ledgers in support of transactions and agreements

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)


Apparatus and washing and extracting head for an apparatus designed to wash microplates. The head is mobile above the microplate(s) in treating position and comprises an alignment of dispensing needles or tubes and suction needles or tubes associated in pairs, the number of the two types of needle pairs being equal to the number of wells per column or per row and the spacing between two adjacent pairs being equal to the spacing between two adjacent wells of the same column or row. The suction needles, and the parts of the consecutive suction and/or recovery circuit, have a passage cross sectional diameter not less than the largest transverse dimension of the sample supports present in the wells and the head comprises or co-operates with elements retaining the microplate to be washed or preventing it from being lifted, at least during the suction extraction phase.

The present invention relates to the field of diagnostic techniques and medical tests by means of microplates, and more particularly the automatic treatment of such plates, and has for its object a washing and extraction head for a washing robot, as well as an apparatus or a microplate washing station comprising such a head.
At present, numerous medical tests have been carried out in batteries by means of microplates in the form of a support plate of plastic material provided with a plurality of reinforcements in the form of wells each receiving a sample to be analyzed, said analysis wells being generally arranged in a flat matrix arrangement of rows and columns that are mutually perpendicular.
Before analysis, these microplates must be treated for the preparation and handling of the different samples in a form (in solution) suitable for the tests and/or for the operative manipulations to be carried out and, after removal or analysis, it is necessary to clean said wells by washing, possibly several times, and rinsing.
For this purpose, said microplates are placed in or brought into a washing robot or a washer principally constituted by a support adapted to receive said microplates and by a removable washing and extraction head associated with fluid supply and removal circuits.
The support of the microplates and the head can be moved relative to each other in at least one straight direction disposed in the plane of the microplate in the treatment position and in a direction perpendicular to said plane.
Such a head is, in known manner, movable above the microplate or plates in the treatment position and generally comprises a row of needles or distribution tubes connected to a liquid supply circuit for washing and/or rinsing and a row of needles or suction tubes connected to an evacuation and/or recovery circuit, with each needle of the first type being associated a needle of the second type with an offset in the direction of movement of relative translation between said head and said microplates in the course of treatment of these latter, a number of pairs of needles of the two types being equal to the number of wells per column or per row, or to a fraction of this number, and a spacing between two adjacent pairs of needles being equal to the spacing between two adjacent wells of the same column or row, or to a multiple of this spacing.
Automatic microplate washing apparatus or stations provided with such a head, are also known and there can, for example, on this subject, be cited the automatic washer known under the name LAVEUR LP40 of the company ADIL INSTRUMENTS.
These known washers and heads are well adapted for the treatment of microplates whose wells receive the usual samples in liquid or dissolvable solid form.
However, for neonatal diagnosis, there exists a technique of removal of particular samples on blotting paper. The sample is deposited on the blotting paper by direct removal from the heel of the newborn. This method facilitates the sending of samples to a central analysis laboratory (sent in an envelope, not a specimen tube).
This type of test is very widespread in Europe. For analysis, the laboratory recovers the blood specimen to be analyzed by cutting out one or several discs of standard dimension from the sheet of blotting paper impregnated with blood (3.2 mm or 4.5 mm diameter). The sample discs to be analyzed are then deposited in the wells of a microplate. The addition of a buffer (dilution solution) permits dissolving the specimen to be analyzed. After prolonged incubation, the paper disc must be withdrawn from the microplate to be able to continue the qualitative analysis. The plate thus follows a conventional cycle of washing and then reading at the end of diagnosis.
At present, in the automatic processes for treating microplates, there must be two different devices for carrying out the phases of extraction of the discs and washing of the microplate, so as to avoid plugging the suction circuit for the liquid of the washing apparatus.
Thus, the extraction of the discs is carried out by or on an extractor for sucking up the discs one by one. After extraction, the user verifies that there remain no more discs at the bottom of the microplate, and then places the microplate in the washer.
The result is high cost and large space requirement, because of the use of two different apparatus and a substantial prolongation of the duration of the washing phase, the present extractors operating with a single needle (well by well) and the operator having to transfer manually the microplate from one apparatus to the other.
An alternative method consists in returning the microplate manually and to tap it against a flat surface, which constitutes a delicate operation and requires careful verification on the part of the operator.
Finally, for the two alternative methods of extraction set forth above, the risks of plugging the suction needles for liquid of the washing apparatus cannot be entirely overcome, which should give rise to frequent requirements for maintenance and lead to poor washing of the wells that could result in subsequent false analyses.

Washing and extracting head for microplate washing appliance and corresponding appliance


A document holder has compact construction for in-line placement and viewing between a keyboard and display monitor. The holder can be set-up in a minimum profile configuration to accommodate small source documents, and can be quickly expanded to accommodate relatively large source documents. Easel size conversion is provided by a compound easel that is mounted for pivotal movement on a base platform. The easel viewing angle can be tilted to suit operator viewing preferences. The document support position can be adjusted vertically up and down to provide a reading level that satisfies operator needs and preferences. The compound easel includes a “drop-down” reading rack that can be extended below the front edge of a workstation support surface in the over-hang zone adjacent the edge of the work surface and above the keyboard to allow in-line placement and use of the document holder in workstations where the available work surface area is not large enough to support a conventional document holder.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related generally to document holders, and in particular to document holders that are adapted for in-line installation and use in combination with a keyboard and video display monitor in a data entry or word processing workstation.
2. Description of the Related Art
An important consideration in the use of computer workstations is the provision of ergonomically correct support for documents which are being viewed by the operator attending the workstation. Document holders have been developed which may be placed to one side of a keyboard and video display monitor. These holders require the operator to constantly look to the left or right to view documents supported by the holder while transferring information from the document to the computer or when comparing information on the document with information displayed on a display screen. Such motion can lead to eye strain and fatigue because of the repeated head and eye movements required for viewing the document, the display monitor and the keyboard.
The long hours of work spent by operators of data entry and word processing equipment underscores the need for a document holder which may be used safely and effectively, considering the physical constraints imposed by computer equipment and workstation furniture, and the personal limitations and preferences of operators who use the equipment. Preferably, the document holder should be positioned in-line between the keyboard and the display monitor, be adjustable toward or away from the operator, be capable of being tilted to improve line of sight and reduce glare or light reflection, be adjustable from side-to-side, and be vertically adjustable, both up and down.
Various types of document holders have been developed for use in conjunction with keyboard workstations. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,086; U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,524; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,100,883 which describe document holders having a generally vertically disposed easel which is adjustable vertically as well as laterally from side-to-side.
Other document holders have been developed which are supported for pivotal movement with respect to a support adjacent one side of a keyboard and associated machine, including a video monitor. These conventional document holders require frequent head movement and eye movement between positions for viewing a video display monitor and for viewing a document supported by the holder.
Document holders have also been developed for mounting at an elevated position above the work surface. However, such holders are generally not suitable for use where a video display monitor takes up a considerable amount of space directly behind the keyboard, for example in desk top computer workstations. Moreover, as mentioned above, conventional document holders have not provided the capability for precise positioning of the document easel over a wide range of viewing positions. That capability is desirable for an ergonomically correct workstation where a source document is being viewed by a keyboard operator who also requires constant reference to the video display screen. Such a range of positions should provide for correctly placing the source document to minimize head and eye movement of the operator, and more importantly, accommodate the needs of individual operators who have different physical limitations and personal viewing preferences.

In-line document holder for computer work station


An electric double layer capacitor is proposed which is constructed by sandwiching a laminated body of a pair of polarizable electrodes consisting of a porous solid conductive material each impregnated with an electrolytic solution and a platelike ion permeating separator member, between a pair of collectors for external connection terminals, and housing the aggregate in a gasket, wherein the gap between the inner surface of the gasket and the outer surface of the laminated body is filled with an auxiliary electrolytic solution. The auxiliary electrolytic solution consists of glass fibers or water absorbing polymer impregnated with gelatinous electrolytic solution or a liquid electrolytic solution, and replenishes the lost portion due to evaporation and leakage of the electrolytic solution of the electric double layer capacitor. Moreover, this auxiliary electrolytic solution acts as a buffer to mechanical impact externally applied to the capacitor. Therefore, the electric double layer capacitor according to this invention has excellent resistance to high temperature and resistance to impact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric double layer capacitor, and more particularly to an electric double layer capacitor which employs polarizable electrodes consisting of activated carbon or the like impregnated with liquid electrolyte (electrolytic solution).
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electric double layer capacitor employs an electric double layer formed at the interface of a porous solid such as activated carbon and an electrolytic solution, formed by impregnating the electrolytic solution to the activated carbon which is electrochemically stable to the electrolytic solution and is electrically conductive, and is capable of easily realizing a large capacitance of the order of farad (F). The large capacitance which reaches 10 to 50 F/cm.sup.3 is due to the very small thickness comparable to the diameter of a molecule, of the electric double layer that corresponds to the dielectric layer of the ordinary capacitor, and an extremely large effective surface area of the activated carbon. This large capacity makes it possible to use this kind of capacitor as a substitute for a battery which is the power supply of an IC memory or a microprocessor. Since the polarizable electrode and the electrolytic solution does not give rise to a chemical reaction in charging and discharging, differing from a battery which utilizes an electrochemical phenomenon, the life in the use that is accompanied by a repeated charging and discharging, namely, the life for repetitions charging and discharging is much longer than that of a battery.
However, the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the electric double layer capacitor is high, despite its large capacitance, so its use is limited such as it is not suited for the removal of high frequency components in a signal processing circuit or for a smoothing circuit for rectifier output. Accordingly, exploitation of new usage that makes advantageous use of its ease in realizing a large capacitance and long life for repetitions charging and discharging has been desired.
Aimed at such new uses, technologies that realize a large capacitance and a low resistance (ESR) are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open H4-288361 (1992) filed by the same assignee as the assignee of the present invention, and in Japanese Patent Laid Open S63-226019 (1988). In the polarizable electrode materials described in these publications, as the means for maintaining the state of contact between activated carbon and an electrolytic solution, use is made of a porous solid material obtained by heating the mixture of powder or fibers of activated carbon and phenol resin in the atmosphere of an inert gas, and binding the activated carbon powder (or fibers) with carbonized phenol resin. A polarizable electrode for the electric double layer capacitor is obtained by impregnating the electrolytic solution into the solid material. Compared with a conventional polarizable electrode, namely, a polarizable electrode which is a pastelike mixture of activated carbon and an electrolytic solution, these polarizable electrodes have large density and low resistivity so that it is possible to further increase the capacitance per unit volume of the electric double layer capacitor and further decrease ESR mentioned above. In particular, the polarizable electrode according to the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open H4-288361 has a large effect of increasing the capacitance and decreasing the resistance (ESR), and is mechanically strong. It is shown in the above-mentioned publication that it is possible to prolong the life for repetitious charging and discharging of a lead acid storage battery to about six to seven times that of the conventional value by combining the electric double layer capacitor which is formed by impregnating diluted sulfuric acid to the polarizable electrode, in parallel connection with the lead acid storage battery for vehicles. This example of application shows that the electric double layer capacitor is effective in the reduction of size and prolongation of life of an electric energy supply source in an electromechanical energy transducing mechanism such as actuator and motor.
Although new uses have been found through increase of capacitance and reduction of ESR as described in the above, there are still left unsolved problems in order to ensure its reliability. Namely, when the polarizable electrode is placed for a long time in a high temperature environment, the capacitance of the capacitor is decreased and the ESR is increased by the loss of the electrolytic solution. In contrast, in the newly explored use, that is, in the use for composing a power supply for driving the starter motor of vehicles by the combination with the lead acid storage battery, the capacitor is installed in an environment where vibration and impact are prevailing such as the engine room, so that it is indispensable to ensure the reliability under such an environment.
Generally, the electric double layer capacitor has a basic construction in which a pair of polarizable electrodes each impregnated with an electrolytic solution are housed stacked within the inner space of a gasket consisting of a thin frame of insulating material, with a sheet of a separator made of an insulating material placed in between. On the end faces of the gasket, there are respectively provided flat layers of collectors consisting of a conductive material so as to constitute a cover plate and a bottom plate of the gasket. These collectors act as terminal plates to the outside, of the pair of polarizable electrodes, and constitute also the sealing members together with the gasket.
In order to ensure the resistance to vibration and the resistance to impact of the capacitor, external mechanical pressures are applied to the pair of collectors in housing the aggregate in the gasket. For subjecting the collectors to the pressurizing process, the afore-mentioned polarizable electrode based on pastelike mixture according to the conventional technology is more suited than the solid material based polarizable electrode disclosed in the above-mentioned publication. In the latter case it is difficult to realize a sufficient resistance to vibration even after going through the pressurizing process. Namely, since it is necessary to press mold the polarizable electrode in advance, a gap, though slight, needs be provided between the gasket inner surface and the electrodes by considering the accuracy of the machine tool. Accordingly, the pair of polarized electrodes tend to slip out of place in planes parallel to the separator even after they are housed in the gasket, and the resistance to lateral impacts is weak.


A device, method and system for recovering an operating system may comprise a near field communication module; a high speed wireless communication module; and a recovery manager. In some embodiments, the recovery manager may initiate a session between a portable communication device and another portable communication device through a near field communication connection established by the near field communication module; continue the session to receive an operating system image from the another portable communication device through a high speed wireless connection established by the high speed wireless communication module; and recover the operating system of the portable communication device with use of the operating system image.

With prevailing of portable communication devices, such as smart phones and tablets, more and more people worry about security for operating systems of the portable communication devices. In current practices, when an operating system of a portable communication device is crashed, the portable communication device may be connected with a computer via a data line or a universal serial bus (USB) to copy an operating system image from the computer. Usually, before the copying, the computer may online search and download the operating system image suitable for the portable communication device,

Method, apparatus and system of recovering an operating system on a portable communication device


The invention is concerned with novel sulfonamide derivatives of formula (I)

High levels of free fatty acids (FFA) lead to an increase of liver mitochondrial β-oxidation, which is crucial to drive efficient gluconeogenesis. The mitochondrial oxidation of long-chain FFA requires the intervention of two membrane-bound carnitine-dependent palmitoyltransferases (CPTs). CPT1, the outer mitochondrial membrane enzyme, catalyzes the formation of long-chain acylcarnitines. Liver (L-CPT1) and muscle (M-CPT1) CPT1 isoforms are encoded by two different genes and inhibited by malonyl-CoA. The N-ter domain of L-CPT1 confers its lower sensitivity to malonyl CoA. CPT2, the inner mitochondrial membrane enzyme, reconverts long-chain acylcarnitines into long-chain acyl CoA esters. Long-chain acyl-CoAs are then β-oxidized to acetyl-CoA, which activates the pyruvate carboxylase and gluconeogenesis. According to the mechanism of action described above, pharmaceutically active substances which inhibit L-CPT1 reduce liver β-oxidation, consequently inhibit gluconeogenesis and therefore counteract hyperglycemia.

Abstract: wherein R2, R3, R4, A, X, Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4 and Z1 are as defined in the description and in the claims, as well as physiologically acceptable salts and esters thereof. These compounds inhibit L-CPT1 and can be used as medicaments.


Examples described herein include systems and methods for creating a per-app virtual private network (“VPN”) using hooking, even though an isolated process is used for networking functions. The isolated process can include networking functions of the WebView class for ANDROID. The application can start an HTTP proxy server to receive local HTTP requests. Then, the application can trigger a broadcast to the isolated process, causing the isolated process to route its HTTP requests to the HTTP proxy of the application. The application can then hook HTTP requests and send them to a virtual private network (“VPN”) tunnel server. This can allow an application to securely connect to enterprise files or data even though the networking functions occur in the isolated process.

Companies today often require employees to connect to an enterprise network to access secured intranet sites, internal content repositories, or other corporate network shares. Providing widespread access to enterprise data is challenging from a security standpoint. Many common device-level virtual private network ("VPN") technologies lack the ability to selectively provide access between different applications (also referred to as "apps") on mobile devices. This inability produces two key concerns: loss of enterprise data into personal applications and the possibility of malware infecting an enterprise network or data center.
A per-app VPN tunnel provides a secure method for organizations to allow both internally built and public applications to access enterprise resources on a per-app basis. To do this, the application uses runtime function hooking to replace an application programming interface ("API") function with an alternative function during runtime of the application. In an enterprise mobility management ("EMM") system, runtime function hooking can be used by a tunneling application to establish VPN access to enterprise files and data for that application process. For example, an unmanaged device, such as a phone, tablet, or laptop, can use ANDROID's Tunnel software development kit ("SDK") to achieve a per-app tunnel through use of runtime function hooking.
However, an application can only perform hooking within its own application process. This is because the application must have access to the function call it is replacing. If the functions instead are running in a separate isolated process, then the application cannot replace them with an alternate function.
Newer versions of ANDROID have caused some classes of the operating system ("OS") to run certain functions in isolated processes. For example, ANDROID Nougat (7.0) and above causes the WebView class to run its rendering and networking in an isolated process for security and performance reasons. Therefore, even though WebView executes as part of an application, the networking processes involved are isolated from the application process. As a result, the application cannot hook functions in the isolated process as required for a per-app VPN. This effectively breaks the per-app VPN capabilities of such applications.
As a result, a need exists for a per-app VPN that works when an application relies on multiple processes that are isolated from one another.

Per-app virtual private network tunnel for multiple processes


In a method of producing a filter body which comprises adsorber particles fixedly connected together by an adhesive and which is formed with through passages, a base member having through holes is used, through the through holes in which are passed needles which close off the through holes. The needles project into a housing chamber which is defined by the base member and into which the adsorber particles are then introduced. The needles project with end portions out of the adsorber particle bed. The adsorber particles are consolidated by the adhesive to constitute the filter body. Thereafter the needles are withdrawn from the consolidated filter body to give a filter body with corresponding through passages.

Filter bodies comprising adsorber particles tightly connected to each other by an adhesive, with the filter bodies having through passages, have hitherto been produced for example by an extrusion process, as is described for example in EP 0 492 081 A1. For that purpose the adsorber particles must be mixed with a plasticising agent. That mode of manufacture requires an extrusion apparatus which is expensive to buy. For that reason an extrusion apparatus of that kind is not suitable for the production of relatively small numbers of filter bodies comprising adsorber particles and having through passages therein, because the purchase price of the apparatus would have an excessive influence on the price per item of the filter bodies.
DE 40 34 798 A1 discloses a method of producing an adsorption flat filter comprising an air-permeable carrier in web form, on which a melt adhesive is applied in uniformly distributed fashion, but only partially covering the surface of the carrier, whereupon adsorber particles are fixed to the adhesive. The melt adhesive used in that known method is a reactive polyurethane-based melt adhesive which cross-links under the effect of moisture in the air and/or moisture of the carrier. As cross-linking of the adhesive does not take place at elevated temperatures, it is possible to use temperature-sensitive materials both for the carrier and also for the adsorber particles.

Method of producing an adsorber filter body

Helsa-Werke Helmut Sandler GmbH & Co. KG


A long or triple jump foul detector system is disclosed which very accurately detects a foul by an athlete when a portion of an athlete's shoe crosses over a foul line when beginning the jump. A laser beam is emitted parallel to and directly above the foul line. A laser beam detector detects interruption of the laser beam by the athlete's shoe and a foul detector provides a foul indication. An audible foul indication is delayed so as not to interfere with the athlete's jump. Also, the system may provide additional detection of an athlete's foot crossing a training line positioned in front of the foul line. Furthermore, the system distinguishes between a relatively quick interruption of the beam caused by the athlete's shoe when jumping, and a relatively slow interruption of the beam which may result such as by a judge placing his or her hand in the beam when measuring a jump. The system is equally well adaptable to either indoor or outdoor long or triple jump competition, and includes convenient set-up procedures which ensure accuracy. The system also automatically compensates for varying light conditions and is effective in bright sunlight. When a low battery voltage condition arises, the system automatically alerts the operator. A micro-processor is employed for rapid and accurate control of the various functions performed by the system.

The invention relates to judging of the long jump and triple jump events in track and field.
In the long jump and triple jump events in track and field, it is necessary for a judge to determine whether or not each competitor has initiated his jump prior to crossing a "foul" line (also known as a scratch line). If any portion of a competitor's foot extends beyond the foul line or makes a mark after the foul line when jumping, then the jump is not measured.
It has been very difficult for track and field judges to accurately determine whether the leading portion of an athlete's foot has crossed the foul line. This difficulty arises from the high rate of speed with which athletes approach the foul line for their take-off. It is thus difficult to determine whether a leading portion of one of the feet of the competitor crosses the foul line before the foot leaves the ground.
Previously, a layer of a deformable substance known as plasticine or the like was laid down on a board positioned immediately beyond a jumping or take-off board. However, such a film layer must be repeatedly smoothed down whenever a competitor fouls and leaves an imprint thereon. Such a prior art system is also inaccurate, since an entire toe portion of the athlete's foot may not be in direct contact with the ground, but might be slightly raised from it when he takes off for his jump, thus not leaving a proper imprint in the film layer. Variations in style by various jumpers thus may result in inconsistent foul calling. Furthermore, variations in shoe type may also affect whether or not the shoe makes an accurate mark in the deformable layer used for foul detecting.

Long jump and triple jump foul detector system


A fin mounting system for a surfboard which utilizes a box embedded within the surfboard with the mounting being achieved by producing a through cavity within the surfboard, placing the box within the through cavity and then pouring a hardenable resin between the box and the sidewall of the cavity completely filling such. The box is constructed of a glass filled polyurethane plastic. After the resin is hardened, any portion of the box that protrudes exteriorly of the surface of the surfboard is removed. The fin has a mounting end which is to be transversely snugly received within the box. The fin is adjustable longitudinally within the box. A fastener is employed to fix in position the fin when the desired adjusted position is achieved. The fin is constructed of a glass-filled, nylon material. The fastener comprises a conventional bolt and nut with the nut being embedded within the fin. The fin includes an enlarged recess directly in alignment with the nut which facilitates insertion of the bolt in conjunction with the fin facilitating engagement with the nut. The box may include a leash attachment section.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to surfboards and more particularly to a mounting system for the fins in conjunction with a surfboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surfboards are known to have between one and three fins mounted on the undersurface of the surfboard. The purpose of the fins are to provide control to the rider when the surfboard moves through water. In the past, these fins have been mounted permanently in conjunction with the board. This permanent type of mounting as certain disadvantages. One disadvantage is that when the board is being shipped or carried from one location to another, the overall size of the surfboard is significantly increased. Elimination of the fin or fins will substantially reduce the size of the surfboard especially if it is contained within a surfboard carry bag. If the surfboard is carried on board an airplane, it is common for the carrier to charge a fee for each surfboard that is being carried. If the fin could be removed, in the same space that a single board would occupy, there could be placed within a carry bag three in number of surfboards. Generally, a single carry bag is only charged the fee for a single surfboard even though there are two or three in number of surfboards within the bag.
Additionally, the protrusion of the fin or fins substantially increases the possibility of damage to the surfboard when being transported. The fin can strike and object or an object can strike the fin which can result in the fin actually being broken or the mounting arrangement of the fin could be damaged.
Within recent years, it has been known to mount a surfboard fin in a removable manner in conjunction with the surfboard. A box is utilized which is embedded within the board and then the fin is then mounted in conjunction with the box. This mounting permits removing of the fin during times of transporting of the surfboard.
Another advantage of mounting the fin in conjunction with a box embedded within the surfboard is that if the box is made of an extended length, then the fin can be adjusted to different longitudinal positions within the box. Once an established longitudinal position is achieved, the fin is then fixed into position to the box. Some surfboard riders are classified as beginners with other surfboard riders having a more intermediate skill level and more advanced riders having advanced skill. It has been discovered that a beginning type of rider generally desires the surfboard fin or fins to be located in a certain position while an intermediate skill level of rider desires a slightly different position for the fin or fins. Still further, the advanced skill level rider desires a still further different position of the fin or fins. Permitting adjustment of the fins achieves the individual different skill level for each of the riders.
In the past, this adjustment requires the insertion of a fastener through a confined opening in the box that is embedded within the surfboard. The connection of that fastener to the fin is not easily accomplished as there is no structure within the fin that facilitates this connection.
Additionally, most surfboard riders have a desire to use a leash which is a lanyard which is attached between the rider and the surfboard. When the rider falls from the surfboard, the surfboard is maintained in close proximity to the rider by the leash. It is common to embed within the board a leash attachment which is separate from the mounting system for the fins. This requires an inclusion of an additional structure to be mounted in conjunction with the board.


In a cellular mobile access communications system each mobile terminal registers its location at intervals. From the registration history of each mobile, a probable group of cells within which a mobile terminal may be located is predicted. When a mobile is to be paged, the paging message is transmitted to the predicted cell group. If no response is received from the terminal, the page message is then broadcast to further system cells. This reduces the overall paging load on the system.

Since the introduction of cellular communications services, the industry has experienced a rapid growth both in the area serviced and in the number of subscribers. Currently, in metropolitan areas of North America, networks of mobile switching centres (MSCs) each servicing over 100,000 call attempts per busy hour are becoming common. Each of these mobile switching centres services a network typically of over 100 cells and normally keeps track of the mobiles currently operating in its service area (SA) via a data base commonly referred to as a visitor location register (VLR). The visitor location register stores information regarding the services available to each subscriber, his home mobile switching centre and the current status (e.g. active or inactive) of the mobile. However the mobile switching centre does not as a matter of routine have accurate information regarding the precise geographical location of the mobiles. Consequently, when it is required to set up a call to a mobile, a page must be broadcast over the forward control channels (FOCCs), also known as the paging and access channels (PACH), to all the cells in the service area of the mobile switching centre. When the mobile responds to the page message the particular cell containing the mobile is then identified from the reverse control channel used for the mobile response and the call can be set up. If no response to the page is received it is assumed that the mobile is currently inactive and the call is treated accordingly.
Since, as discussed above, each mobile switching centre may serve a system of over 100 cells, in order to broadcast a page message over the forward control channels of all the cells in that system, the message is replicated into a corresponding number of copies by the mobile switching centre. As any response to the page will be received from only one cell there is a high degree of inbuilt redundancy in this method of system wide paging. The necessary message replication in the mobile switching centre is real time intensive thus reducing its call processing capacity.
One approach to this problem is to partition the cellular system into location areas which are considerably smaller than the typical service area of a mobile switching centre. Every time a mobile leaves one location area and enters another it registers a location update. The location area from which the mobile registered is recorded by the visitor location register so that, when the mobile is to be paged, the paging message is broadcast only to the cells of that location area. It will be appreciated that a reduction of the number of cells to be paged results in a corresponding reduction in the replication of the paging message. However there is also a consequent increase in registration activity in the mobile switching centre so that, although the system can be engineered to optimise the location area size so as to minimise the workload of the mobile switching centre, the improvement achievable by this technique is limited.
In one development of the above technique, the service area is partitioned into registration zones by broadcasting offsetting registration signals (REGIDs) in the different registration zones. For analogue mobiles the frequency of autonomous registration within a cellular system can be controlled via the overhead message train (OMT). Thus, if two adjacent cells belonging to different registration zones are broadcasting REGIDs that differ by a value equivalent to REGINCR this will prompt registration by the mobile whenever it moves from one cell to the other. The technique of setting up registration zones introduces a new problem associated with the re-scan process. Analogue mobiles re-scan the dedicated control channel set and lock on to the strongest channel immediately preceding the transmission of a registration message and also immediately following receipt of a registration acknowledgement message. In the circumstance where a mobile moves from a first cell in a first registration zone to a second cell in a second registration zone, it re-scans the channel set on crossing the cell boundary and locks on to the control channel of the second cell. The mobile immediately receives the overhead message train along with the registration information with the offsetting REGID prompting the mobile to register in the second cell. However, before the mobile transmits its registration message, it re-scans the control channel set and, because it is on the cell boundary, could (incorrectly) lock on to the control channel of the first cell thus transmitting the registration message over the reverse control channel of that cell. After receipt of the acknowledgement over the forward control channel of the first cell, the mobile may again lock on to the second cell, but will not register again because its memory registers have already been updated with the registration information received over the overhead message train of the second cell. Thus, although the mobile registered on crossing the cell boundary, the registration took place in the first zone instead of the second, and the information stored by the mobile switching centre regarding the location of the mobile is incorrect. This results in the paging message being broadcast in the wrong registration zone or location area with consequent failure of the attempt to set up a call.


A ceiling construction, especially for a large area shuttering construction for reinforced concrete ceilings, has a plurality of ceiling panels laterally abutting to each other. On a main plate of the ceiling panel, U-profiled shackles are arranged in a row and are aligned with each other. The U-profiled shackles have a web, two legs extending from the web to the main plate and having free ends, and flanges formed extending outwardly at a right angle from the free ends and being screwed to the main plate. Isolated longitudinal bars are fixed by a welding connection in the corners formed by the webs and legs of the U-profiled shackle. The isolated longitudinal bars are located away from the main plate. The ceiling construction is covered with concrete. During the construction and concrete operation, the isolated longitudinal bars serve to transmit forces of pressure. In the completed, solidified state, the bars serve to transmit tensile forces.

The invention relates to a ceiling construction, especially to a large area shuttering construction for reinforced concrete ceilings, having a plurality of ceiling panels, and a ceiling panel for the ceiling construction.
EP-0 164 330 discloses compound shuttering ceilings having load bearing braced steel girders and shuttering panels fixed to the braced steel girders by fixing elements. The shuttering panels also form a ceiling surface. In this embodiment, the top chord of the braced steel girder bears the forces of pressure during the mounting operation, the concreting operation, and the solidification of the concrete. After the solidification of the concrete, the armoring construction of the ceiling having the top cord and oblique bars forming stabilizing connections of the braced steel girder become statically useless.
Conventional compound systems further have the disadvantage of having large spatial requirements. Thus, large transportation capacities and high transportation costs are necessary to transport the compound system in the form of premanufactured components of a construction kit. Further, the construction of the components of conventional compound systems is complicated and, therefore, it requires complicated manufacturing processes and high manufacturing costs.


A flush toilet for a recreational vehicle has a flush mechanism including a pair of foot pedals, one for opening the bowl outlet closure of the toilet, and the other for opening the flush water valve. Depression of the first foot pedal also depresses the water valve foot pedal, though that pedal can also be operated separately. An actuating cable for the water valve extends through the arm of the bowl closure foot pedal so that, if the water valve foot pedal breaks or is damaged, the water valve can still be opened for rinsing the bowl.

A toilet for a recreational vehicle typically is assembled from a number of plastic mouldings, including an upper moulding which defines the toilet bowl, and a lower moulding or "shell" on which the bowl is supported. The bowl has a waste outlet that discharges into the shell and the shell in turn has an outlet at its lower end which is the main waste outlet from the toilet. In a recreational vehicle, the toilet is installed so that this main outlet communicates with a waste disposal conduit from the vehicle. The waste outlet from the toilet bowl is normally closed by a bowl seal which can be opened for flushing the toilet. Provision is made to deliver water into the bowl for flushing out waste, and for rinsing the surface of the bowl.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,988 (Stewart--assigned to Sanitation Equipment Limited) discloses a toilet of the general type discussed above. The toilet has a foot pedal operated flush mechanism. When the pedal is depressed, flush water is delivered into the bowl and the bowl seal is opened for discharge of waste. Other examples of recreational vehicle toilets with a foot pedal operated flush mechanism are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,601,820 and 5,060,320 (both to Sargent, et al.).
The toilet disclosed in the '320 patent has separate pedals for dispensing flush water and opening of the bowl seal, but the pedals are designed to co-act so that flush water is always discharged into the bowl when the bowl seal is opened. A possible disadvantage of this design is that failure of the foot pedals to properly co-act, or failure of or damage to the flush water foot pedal could result in the inability to add water to the bowl, and possible consequent unsanitary conditions. Particularly since recreational vehicle toilets may be used only infrequently, it is desirable for the user to be able to leave the toilet in a condition in which the bowl has been rinsed, even if there has been some failure or malfunction.
An object of the present invention is to provide a toilet which addresses the shortcomings of the prior art.