A data visualization device comprises a focal attribute calculator for calculating a focal value of each of a plurality of data input items, and for categorizing each of the plurality of data input items as either non-cluster blobs or second blobs. The device further comprises a clustering attribute calculator for clustering data input items categorized as second blobs into one or more cluster blobs, and a visualization shaper for arranging the one or more cluster blobs and the non-cluster blobs, relative to each other in accordance with the focal values of the data input items of respective blobs.

Browsing information from large datasets can be a challenging exercise that becomes difficult when multiple datasets and/or changing datasets are involved. There is often a need to keep track of multiple datasets of information containing dynamic content. Such dynamic content may for example include data-points whose attributes change constantly in response to inputs from other users, or data-points which are being newly created. It becomes increasingly difficult for users to manually keep track of such large information spaces, whether dynamic or static.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show two known visualizations for providing users with greater awareness of information, using the concept of peripheral awareness. The visualization 100 of FIG. 1A utilizes a side bar 102 placed on a user's workspace. The side bar 102 displays information that is updated automatically. The visualization 104 of FIG. 1B uses a combination of a list view and a tree view to summarize information related to all data points in a user's workspace. The list and tree view provides a linearization of a multidimensional dataset. Data is aggregated under heading sub-views, which can be minimized and maximized.
Other visualizations 200, 202, 204, 206, such as those shown by FIGS. 2A-2D, offer either one or more of the following visual functionalities: an overview of the entire workspace, a peripheral view of the workspace, re-aggregation of data in the visualization, multiple regions of interest, an ability to compare between data points based on certain attributes, and aggregate versus focused vision in the same view.
The publication by Jing Yang et al., "Interactive hierarchical displays: a general framework for visualization and exploration of large multivariate datasets", Computer & Graphics, V27, N2, April 2003, pages 265-283, describes a framework for visualizing large multivariate datasets. The underlying principle of this framework is to develop a multi-resolution view of the data via hierarchical clustering, and to use hierarchical variations of traditional multivariate visualization techniques to convey aggregation information about the resulting clusters. Users can then explore their desired focus region at different levels of detail, using our suite of navigation and filtering tools
The publication by Gansner et al., "Topological fish eye view for visualizing large graphs" (http://www.research att.com/areas/visualization/papers_videos/papers/2004gkn—1.pdf) describes visualization to effectively layout dense graphs. Gansner et al. propose a topological zooming method. Which pre-computes a hierarchy of coarsened graphs that are combined on-the-fly into renderings, with the level of detail dependent on distance from one or more foci. A related geometric distortion method yields constant information density displays from these renderings
There is a need, however, to allow users to keep track of relevant information even when their attention is not focused on the data-space of the relevant information (i.e. peripheral view of whole workspace), and/or allow users to maintain an awareness of the entire data-space though the users may be focusing with greater attention on a particular set of data-points.
There is further a need for providing visualization of information in a manner so as to allow comparison of the information based on attributes and values of such information, or of functions thereof.

International Business Machines Corporation


In the digital signal processor used for realizing application filters, the filter output calculation processing system 5 and the tap coefficient update calculation processing system 6 are separated. In the update calculation processing system 6, the integrating calculation for the tap coefficient updating that requires read and write operations on the data memory DRM is performed in one machine cycle by using the dedicated data bus 10 and executing the read-modify-write operation on the data memory. As a result, to the extent that the time taken by the integrating processing which has conventionally required two machine cycles can be shortened, the operation clock frequency can be lowered to reduce the power consumption while maintaining the processing capability per unit of time.

The present invention relates to an arithmetic circuit, an adaptive filter and an echo canceler, each formed as a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more specifically to a technique effectively applied for reducing the power consumption of, for example, an echo canceling LSI for ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
Adaptive filters such as transversal filters are the ones that can change their characteristics in response to changes over time in the input signal. That is, this kind of filter performs two calculations: an output calculation whereby the input signal is multiplied by tap coefficients and the multiplied values are summed up for a predetermined number of taps to produce a filter output; and an update calculation consisting of multiplication and addition whereby the tap coefficients are updated according to an error signal which is the difference between the filter output and a signal from a certain object system to which the filter output is made to respond. According to the result of the update calculation, the filter rewrites the tap coefficients in chronological order so as to change the filter characteristics in real time. Where such an adaptive filter is formed by a digital signal processor, the updating of the tap coefficients can be realized by an integral processing which involves adding an update amount to a tap coefficient read out from memory and writing the updated tap coefficient into the same address.
The digital signal processor has in addition to the arithmetic and logic unit a multiplier as hardware, which makes multiplication and addition more efficient, improving the real time digital signal processing capability. As an example of this kind of digital signal processor may be united a DSP "TMS320C25," introduced in user's manual for second-generation digital signal processor TMS320C25, p. 3-2-p. 3-6, 1989 published by Texas Instruments Japan, Ltd.

Arithmetic circuit, and adaptive filter and echo canceler using it


A combination headgear and eyewear system including eyewear that magnetically attaches to the headgear. A magnetic ball and disc joint allows the eyewear to pivot on the headgear and into a position wherein the eyewear rests upon a user's face. Adjustable temples allow the eyewear to be configured so to accommodate a large range of head sizes.

In certain industrial professions and sporting activities, it is desirable to wear headgear to protect the participant's hearing from noise having a potentially dangerous sound pressure level. Examples in the professional setting include, without limitation, construction workers, craftsman, airport ground support, and military personnel. Sportsmen who often encounter loud noises include hunters and any individuals who recreationally use firearms. These individuals must don earplugs, ear muffs, or similar headgear in order to prevent hearing loss or injury to the user's hearing.
In addition, these users often opt to use some form of protective eyewear in conjunction with headgear. For example, there is often a risk of eye damage in the event of eye contact with an errantly ejected shell from a firearm. Likewise, there is often a risk of eye contact with debris when the user is engaged in a professional activity such as construction, woodworking, or use of heavy machinery.
Numerous difficulties are encountered when a user opts to wear both eyewear and headgear simultaneously. First, it is often cumbersome and uncomfortable to fit eyewear in combination with the headgear. Second, it remains difficult for the user to remove and later reposition the eyewear when the user must insert a portion of the eyewear within the headgear. Lastly, eyewear worn underneath hearing protection may compromise the seal between ear protection and the user's ears, rendering the protection less efficacious.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for headgear and safety gear that allows eyewear to be quickly and easily secured to headgear, when the headgear is already worn by the user. Moreover, there is a further need for a system that allows the eyewear to be quickly removed and stowed when the user does not need the eyewear during a professional or recreational sporting event.

Combination ear and eye protection system and related method


A process for manufacturing a writer main pole for a perpendicular magnetic recording system is provided. The writer pole may have a constant sidewall angle from the ABS to yoke and may be formed out of an insulating material and a magnetic material. The sidewall angle of the yoke region may be adjusted during manufacture. The ABS region may correspond to the magnetic material and the yoke region may correspond to the insulating material. The insulating material may comprise Alumina. The magnetic material may comprise a NiFe alloy.

PMR systems have been developed to meet the growing demand for improved magnetic disk drive data rate and capacity. With the ever increasing need for higher recording areal densities (over 920 GB/in2) and track densities (over 500K tracks per inch), improved processes for manufacturing PMR writers with wrap around shields (WAS) continue to be developed.
Damascene processes may be used to build up structures for use in a PMR writer head, as opposed to methods which rely upon material removal to form such structures. As applied to the formation of PMR writing heads, the damascene process involves forming trapezoidal trenches in a material, and then depositing (e.g., electroplating) a magnetic pole material into the trenches to form write poles. The PMR writer pole is the trapezoidal formation of the magnetic material deposited in the trapezoidal trench etched in a surrounding material.
An important consideration during the manufacture of PMR writers is the sidewall angle of the structure, which affects both on track performance and neighboring track impact from the head skew angle. In current magnetic disk drives, the head generally has a skew angle relative to the track direction when the head operates at inner and outer radii of the recording medium surface. This skew may cause magnetic fields from the writer pole surface to erase data in neighboring tracks. A high sidewall angle for a writer pole at an air bearing surface (ABS) prevents this skew impact on neighboring tracks. However, a high sidewall angle may also cause on track reverse overwrite loss. Optimization of the sidewall angle is thus needed to achieve acceptable on track performance while avoiding skew impact in neighboring tracks.
Existing processes for manufacturing PMR writer poles, however, generally produce a varying sidewall angle from the pole's yoke to its air-bearing surface (ABS). FIG. 1 illustrates this variation for four PMR writer main poles manufactured using existing processes. The sidewall angle continuously increases from the ABS through the yoke region. This sidewall angle increase from the ABS to the yoke results in an increase in on track reverse overwrite loss without any corresponding benefit to skew impact.
For example, existing Alumina (Al2O3) based damascene reactive ion etching ("RIE") processes produce an inconsistent sidewall angle from the ABS 120 through the yoke region 110 due to the RIE loading effect. Under the RIE loading effect, the yoke region etches at a faster rate than the ABS region (assuming the same etching chemistry and selectivity in both regions) because the yoke region has a larger surface area. The faster etching process in the yoke region results in a larger sidewall angle in the yoke region in contrast to the ABS region.

Process for making PMR writer with constant side wall angle


A retaining apparatus for a surgical mesh includes a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface has a central elongated recess for receiving a portion of the surgical mesh. Retaining straps are provided for securing the surgical mesh portion to the recess. Centrally located within the recess is an inverted dimple for fitting into a cylindrical opening of the surgical mesh. The inverted dimple restricts lateral movement of the surgical mesh.

Surgical meshes are typically employed to repair or obturate a hernia. One surgical mesh device which has proven to be particularly efficacious in the treatment of hernias consists of a cylindrical hernial canal insert terminating at one end with a collar and at the other end with a base. The canal insert is inserted in the hernial canal and extends there through for obturation. The collar and base facilitate fixation of the canal insert and are positioned on the outside and inside surfaces, respectively, of the abdominal cavity adjacent to the hernial cavity.
Conventional techniques for transporting and storing such devices are not entirely satisfactory. These techniques often lead to damage or alteration of the shape of the surgical mesh. The canal insert, typically having a cylindrical shape, is intended to be inserted into a hernial canal of corresponding size and shape. The shape of the device facilitates the insertion and placement of the device for treatment of hernias. If the device is crushed during shipping, it will be difficult for the surgeon to use the device and properly place it in the patient. Moreover, the canal insert is of a size sufficient to allow the insertion of a finger or instrument for purposes of facilitating insertion of the surgical mesh. Therefore, the maintenance of the shape of the surgical mesh device is very important.
However, given the delicate three-dimensional shape of the surgical mesh device, i.e. the collar and base portions of the surgical mesh being typically located some distance away from each other with the canal insert there between, it is difficult to prevent alteration of the device's three-dimensional shape during shipping.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for retaining a surgical mesh device which ensures that the three dimensional shape of the surgical mesh device is maintained.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for retaining a surgical mesh device whereby displacement of the surgical mesh device therefrom is prevented.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a retainer which can easily have a surgical mesh device secured therein.
It is still further object of the present invention to provide a retainer for a surgical mesh device which can be easily manufactured.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the description and claims which follow or may be learned by the practice of the invention.

Method and apparatus for retaining a surgical mesh


The drilling tool (1) has a drilling segment (4) and a shaft segment (3) with a hexagonal cross section for a torsionally rigid connection with a conventional driving machine. A combination drilling tool having different functional segment on opposite ends thereof for performing two different and sequential work operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tools for drilling and screwing. More particularly, it relates to a combination tool for performing both drilling and screwing work operations.
2. The Prior Art
When working as a professional, or even at the home work level, workpieces consisting of wood or similar materials are generally joined by means of screws or screw-like fasteners. In order to join the pieces together without damaging them, a hole for receiving the screw is first drilled into the workpiece. Even when using so-called self-cutting screws, predrilling of a screw hole is recommended, especially when joining wood workpieces, the quality of the coupling is increased. Furthermore, if the respective screw holes are slightly recessed before the fastening means is screwed in, the fastener can be countersunk into the workpiece. Without a slight chamfering of the screw holes, the workpieces disposed directly near the fastening means can be damaged, or at least become visually impaired.
Screwing tools or reversible drilling machines are increasingly used for facilitating the tightening and loosening of screws or screw-like fasteners. However, it is difficult, and sometimes annoying, to be required to manipulate two or three tools. These tools are generally drills, various screwing tools and, if need be, a sinking tool in order to complete the work operations, which have to be carried out directly one after the other.
For solving this problem, it is proposed in DE-OS 3 938 244 to use a special adapter that enables the user to change between a drill and a screwing tool without having to use the chuck normally used in connection with drilling machines. Accordingly, the published reference describes a quick-change attachment. The disclosed solution facilitates the handling of the drilling machine with some work operations; however, the user continues to be forced to keep several different tools available for carrying out all of the sequential work operations.
It has been proposed in DE-OS 2 620 176, as well as in DE-PS 2 660 357, which is branched from the former, to connect a drilling machine with a displaceable sleeve. The displaceable sleeve can be pushed back such that the drilling insert is released. When pushed forward, the sleeve grips over the head of a screw like a nut, and the respective screw can subsequently be screwed in. As a further development of this solution, DE-OS 3 008 394 describes another screwing sleeve, which also can be operated in connection with a percussion drilling machine.
The aforesaid solutions have drawbacks in that they cannot be applied with conventional drills or screwing tools, but require a special driving machine. The displaceable screwing sleeve solution requires the drilling machine to be permanently equipped with an excessively protruding front attachment which is troublesome in practical use.


A solid-surface article may include a surface layer including at least one of gel coat, epoxy, glass, silicone, diamonds, and mica. The article may also include a sub-layer including a resin, curing agent, a color pigment, and resin filler/fillers. The composite article may resemble a countertop, such as granite, marble, polished concrete, quartz, glass, laminate, wood, stone, and copper countertops.

A countertop usually refers to a horizontal surface in kitchens, furniture, bathrooms, or other table surfaces. It is frequently installed on and supported by a cabinet framework. The surface of a countertop is typically positioned at an optimal height for which the countertop is designed. The surface of a countertop may be constructed of various materials with different attributes and aesthetics.
For example, countertop surfaces may be natural such as granite, quartz, onyx, marble, sandstone, bluestone, limestone and other natural materials. Countertop surfaces may also include materials that are artificial, such as, concrete, laminate, acrylic or other manmade materials with various colors and patterns.
Traditional countertops—whether natural or artificial—are often heavy, and require professional installers for installation. For instance, for natural materials, specialized equipment is required to cut, measure, and polish the materials, such as granite. In addition, granite slabs are exceptionally heavy, and require upright-vertical positioning when not supported horizontally to prevent the slabs from cracking or breaking. And typically, at least two people are required to transport, and install the slabs as countertops.
Likewise, laminate and similar countertops are heavy and awkward to maneuver. In addition, these countertops have other drawbacks. For instance, to fit and install these countertops requires special tools, and bonding agents. Moreover, the bonding agents emit noxious fumes. So, plenty of ventilation is required when applying the bonding agents, and during the curing process. Further, the overall process of installing laminate countertops is usually time consuming, and better left to experienced installers.

Countertop and method of manufacturing the same


In CMOS processing, there may be a case in which a resistance element, such as a poly-silicon resistance, or the like, may be formed which has negative temperature characteristics. In a constant current circuit using this resistance element, a constant current output less affected by the influence of varying temperature is obtained. To a load-side path of a current mirror circuit, a serial connection circuit and a temperature compensation circuit are arranged in parallel each other. The serial connection circuit includes a transistor Q1, a resistance element R1 and a bipolar transistor Q6 and flows a current I1 having positive temperature characteristics. The temperature compensation circuit includes a transistor Q8 and a resistance element R2 and flows a current I2 having negative temperature characteristics. A constant current output based on the sum current I of the currents I1 and I2 is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a constant current circuit which is manufactured as a semiconductor integrated circuit, and in particular to achievement of stable characteristics relative to varying temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a variety of constant current circuits have been conceived with various ideas applied thereto to obtain a constant current which is less affected by the influence of varying temperature.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a conventional constant current circuit. Specifically, Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFET) Q1 and Q2, and MOSFETs Q3 and Q4, respectively constitute current mirror circuits, and these transistors Q1 through Q4 operate such that equivalent currents I flow through a first path which includes the MOSFETs Q1 and Q4 and a second path which includes the MOSFETs Q2 and Q3. The gate of the MOSFET Q5 is connected to the gate of the MOSFET Q4 which has a gate and a drain being short-circuited. As a result, the pair of the MOSFETs Q4 and Q5 also constitute a current mirror circuit in which a current which is equivalent to the currents I flowing through the first and second paths, respectively, is extracted from the drain of the MOSFET Q5 as an output of the constant current circuit.
Further, in the circuit shown in FIG. 1, as a structure to suppress the influence of varying temperature, a resistance element R1 and a PNP transistor Q6 are serially connected between the source of the MOSFET Q1 and the ground, while a PNP transistor Q7 is serially connected between the source of the MOSFET Q2 and the ground. The MOSFET Q6 is set n time the size of the MOSFET Q7. Each of the MOSFETs Q6 and Q7 is a diode-connected transistor in which the base and collector thereof are short-circuited. Based on the current-voltage characteristics of the respective MOSFETs Q6 and Q7 in the above described condition and with a condition that equivalent voltages are applied to the MOSFET Q7 and the serially connected MOSFET Q6 and resistance R1, respectively, the current I takes the value obtained by the following expression.I=VT·ln(n)/R1  (1)wherein VT represents a heat voltage which is expressed as follows using electron charge q, Boltzmann constant k, and absolute temperature T,VT=kT/q  (2)
A typical resistance element, such as a discrete resistance element, has positive temperature characteristics, and, as is obvious from Expression (2), a heat voltage VT also has positive temperature characteristics. Therefore, change of the current I due to varying temperature can be suppressed as the respective positive temperature characteristics of the heat voltage VT and the resistance R1 are mutually offset in the current I given by Expression (1).
Here, in CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) processing, for example, a PNP transistor can be prepared as a parasitic element which has a collector formed utilizing a P-type semiconductor substrate (P-sub). Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a constant current circuit as shown in FIG. 1 in the form of a semiconductor integrated circuit manufactured through CMOS processing.
However, in CMOS processing, a resistance element, such as a poly-silicon resistance or the like, having negative temperature characteristics may be formed. In such a case, a problem is expected in which the circuit shown in FIG. 1 cannot enjoy the effect that the temperature characteristics of the heat voltage VT and the resistance R1 are offset to each other. On the contrary, the heat voltage VT and the resistance R1 may synergistically work on such that the temperature characteristics of the current I is enhanced in the position direction.

Constant current circuit operating independent of temperature


Pipe-handling tool for use in a drilling rig catwalk. A V-shaped pipe kicker plate is mounted in a pipe trough and has a pinned end mounted for rotation about the pin and a free end. An actuator has an extendable rod end attached to the kicker plate. The extendable rod has telescopically engaged first and second stages. An annular first stage piston is slidably disposed to engage a drive end of the first stage of the rod. A first stage gland slidably receives the first stage of the rod. A second stage piston is slidably disposed within the first stage piston to engage a drive end of the second stage of the rod. The first stage can have a longer stroke than the first stage, whereas the second stage can have a higher stroke velocity to assist kicking the pipe from the trough.

A catwalk pipe-handling tool is available under the trade designation Pipe Wrangler™ from Forum Energy Technologies. In operation, a tubular is placed in a V-shaped pipe trough in a platform. The tubular must then be ejected to make room for the next tubular to take its place in the pipe trough. This is accomplished by a set of V-shaped kicker plates in the bottom of the pipe trough. These kicker plates are pinned at one end and have a hydraulic cylinder pinned near the middle of the kicker plates. When the hydraulic cylinders extend, the kicker plates rotate about the pin at the end, lifting the tubular out of the pipe trough 14 and rolling it across the platform. When the tubular is fully ejected from the pipe trough, the hydraulic cylinders retract and the process repeats with another tubular. This process can take place many times per day.
With the existing equipment, however, the cylinder has a limited stroke, and a tubular sometimes fails to be fully ejected from the pipe trough and/or rolled across the platform. When this occurs, a costly manual intervention must occur. In the existing devices, the location of the cylinder limits the outside dimensional envelope of the cylinder, and the mounting provisions and attachments to kicker plate and pipe kicker assembly are designed around the existing cylinder. With hundreds of machines in existence of the same design, it would be costly to redesign and manufacture mating components to match a dimensionally different cylinder.
What is needed is a more reliable kicker actuation. Ideally, a design using the existing pipe handling tool and hydraulic cylinder dimensions would facilitate a simple retrofit.

Logan Industries International Corporation


A low profile floor console for a vehicle includes a pair of end walls. In a lowered position, the console permits pass through between two spaced apart vehicle seats. When raised, fabric or netting attached, together with the end walls define a storage area. In the preferred embodiment, an add-on module fits over the raised end walls to provide a rigid storage area, and additional functionality, such as a tray, a power port, cup holders, change bins, and the like. The lid of the module may be configured for sliding or pivotal movement to allow access to the interior thereof. Also in the preferred embodiment, the floor console is constructed to trim out a parking brake assembly. In various alternate embodiments, the floor console end walls may be constructed to provide additional functionality, such as internal map pockets, and the console system may be arranged for use at different locations within the vehicle, such as in the cargo area. The add-on console modules may additionally provide a variety of functionality besides storage, such as a cooler, a kid's module, a baby module, an infotainment module, a work module, and the like. Two or more of the floor consoles of the present invention may be used between different seating rows within a vehicle or at other locations in the vehicle.

The present invention relates generally to the art of vehicle storage devices and more particularly to consoles which may be used between spaced-apart seats or other locations in a vehicle. In its most preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a low profile floor console having end walls which may be raised to provide a storage area and to add-on modules which may be disposed between such walls and used for a variety of end use applications.
A wide variety of console systems for vehicles are currently in use and are described in various publications, including patents. The popularity of consoles has increased dramatically in recent years with the popularity of SUVs, vans, light trucks, and the like, as well as of sedans having split front seats. Consoles are known to provide enhanced functionality, such as storage bins for CDs, DVDs, maps, change bins, as well as additional features such as power ports, cup holders, trays, and the like. In some vehicles, the gear shift lever and/or the parking brake may be part of the center console, as may a variety of controls for such vehicle components such as lights, heating and cooling systems, mirrors, etc.
While consoles such as those described above are popular, they do present one disadvantage, i.e., they typically occupy the full area between the seats and extend from the floor to a level at or even above the level of the seat cushions. Accordingly, it is not possible to pass long items such as skis, lumber, etc. through from the rear of the vehicle to the front of the vehicle. Also, such known consoles inhibit occupant "pass-through" due to their relatively high profile or stature. Moreover, such center consoles close off the area between the seats and do not provide for a range of functionalities which would be desirable for certain vehicles, such as family vehicles, vehicles used for camping or various work purposes wherein different needs may exist for different vehicle drivers and passengers.
Storage consoles are also known for use in areas of vehicles other than between the seats. For example, in Seel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,741 issued Jun. 19, 2001, for "Stowage Apparatus for a Cargo Area of a Motor Vehicle", a stowage is shown for use behind the second row of seats in an SUV. In the device shown in the '741 patent, covers for a storage area pivot upwardly and netting may be used to define a storage area therebetween. In particular, FIGS. 15 and 16 of the '741 patent of the patent illustrate a system in which U-shaped retaining brackets may pivot downwardly when not in use. They may be used to support wire baskets in one embodiment or storage nets in another.
An example of another type of vehicle storage device is shown in Demick, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,257, issued Feb. 20, 1996, for "Back Panel Organizer for Van-type Motor Vehicles". In the device shown in the '257 patent, a U-shaped storage element having a leg portion may be pivoted from the rear of a seat. It includes brackets or other elements for supporting items within a storage area, such as plastic shopping bags (e.g., which are not self-supportive). Center consoles for vehicles are also illustrated in the prior art, such as that shown in Landry, U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,160, issued Mar. 14, 1995, for "Vehicle Console."
It is further known that height adjustable storage systems may be used for storage and as an arm rest. For example, see Huang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,957, issued Mar. 1, 1994, for "Container Fixing Support".
It is further known that consoles may be removed and placed in various locations within a vehicle. In this connection, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,674, issued Sep. 12, 2000 to Allison et al. for "Removable Console for Use with a Vehicle".
An additional example of a removable console is provided in Young et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,081, issued Aug. 16, 1994, for "Removable Floor-Mounted Console".
In addition to the devices mentioned herein, additional examples of storage containers, most of which are useful with vehicles, can be found in German Patent DE3831317 C1 issued Sep. 15, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,859 issued Feb. 21, 1989, to Hudson for "Apparatus for Securing Containers to Moving Platforms"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,277 issued Sep. 18, 2001, to Spykerman for "Cargo Management and Article Support Systems"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,054 issued Feb. 4, 1997, to Butz et al. for "Vehicular Storage Apparatus for Elongated Objects"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,179,445 issued Apr. 18, 1916, to Manning for "Combined Automobile Trunk and Device for Preventing Theft of Automobiles"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,412,192 issued Apr. 11, 1922, to Moore for "Adjustable Detachable Bumper and Carrying Rack"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,177 issued May 2, 2000, to Schneider for "Collapsible Storage Container for Vehicles"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,527 issued Oct. 24, 2000, to Bily for "Cargo Compartment Organizer"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,718 issued Jul. 17, 1990 to Alexander III et al. for "Concealed Retractable Housing"; and Japanese patent 404050047A issued Feb. 19, 1992.
It can be seen then that a wide variety of console systems are already known, but that many suffer from disadvantages such as those mentioned above. A lower profile, highly functional console system would represent a significant advance in the art.


Methods and apparatus are disclosed for monitoring a Maintenance Association (MA) for Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) in a network supporting Equal Cost Multiple Paths (ECMP). A set of ECMP paths is generated for sending data between endpoints in the network. Furthermore, a set of ECMP MAs is created that are used for monitoring the generated ECMP paths between the endpoints. The created set of ECMP MAs is subsequently used for sending monitoring packets. ECMP path MAs therefore conform to existing CFM operation and are compatible with both ECMP point to point path MAs and ECMP multipoint path MAs.

Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) is a term used to describe processes, activities, tools, standards and so on that are involved with operating, administering, managing and maintaining a communication network. OAM requires fault management and performance monitoring, connectivity fault management and link layer discovery.
CFM is a protocol of OAM that provides Connectivity Fault Management (CFM). The CFM protocol uses Maintenance Domains (MD) for monitoring levels of service providers, core networks or system operators. Each level has Maintenance Associations (MA) dedicated to monitoring specific provider/provider or provider/customer service. Each MA depends on a set of Maintenance Points (MPs) for monitoring. An MA is established to verify the integrity of a single service instance. A Maintenance Association Edge Point (MEP) is an actively managed CFM entity which provides the extent of an MA and is associated with a specific port of a service instance. It can generate and receive CFM Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and track any responses. It is an end point of a single MA, and is an endpoint for each of the other MEPs in the same MA.
CFM PDUs are transmitted by a MEP in order to monitor the service to which the transmitting MEP belongs. A problem arises in Equal-Cost Multiple Paths routing (ECMP) networks where CFMs cannot be guaranteed to take the same path as the data.
ECMP routing is a forwarding mechanism for routing packets along multiple paths of equal cost. An aim of ECMP is to equalise distributed link load sharing. Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated schematically a very simple network architecture in which data sent between two endpoints 1, 2 can be sent via intermediate nodes 3 or 4 at equal cost.
Some data packets are sent via intermediate node 3 and others are sent via intermediate node 4. In this way the load on the network is balanced.
Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) enables the use of link state protocols (IS-IS) for constructing active topologies within a Bridged Network. For more information, see IEEE Std 802.1aq-2012, Shortest Path Bridging. Recent standardization work within IEEE802.1 enhances SPB by enabling ECMP support on SPBM services that use the same VID identifier, as described in P802.1Qbp/D1.0 Equal Cost Multiple Path (ECMP). P802.1Qbp discusses the services supporting ECMP connectivity and, in particular, defines two types of ECMP connectivity. One is associated with point-to-point (PtP) ECMP services provided by ECMP devices that support flow filtering. The other is a generic Virtual LAN (VLAN) service associated with a specific VLAN Identifier (VID) that is mapped to ECMP operation (SPBM VLAN MA in clause 27.18.1 in P802.1Qbp/D1.0 Equal Cost Multiple Path).
ECMP connectivity paths may use the same Bridging VLAN Identifier (B-VID) in their tags but the service connectivity provided by these paths are different than that associated with frames having the same B-VID and controlled by traditional L2 control protocols like spanning tree or SPB. A typical example of connectivity instances that use the same VID but are not members of a VLAN are Traffic Engineered Service Instances (TESIs) in Provider Backbone Bridges-Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE). ECMP connectivity is similar to that of TESIs but it has a further property that a superset of all ECMP paths identified by the same VID (and endpoints) is not a tree topology. A VLAN on the other hand is always defined in a context of a tree (see clause 7 in IEEE Std 802.1Q-2011, VLAN aware Bridges).
Shortest Path Bridging-MAC address mode (SPBM) connectivity is different to ECMP connectivity. SPBM connectivity is similar to that of PBB-TE (in that it there is no flooding, no learning, it is symmetric, and uses only explicit entries in a Filtering Database (FDB) for forwarding), which means in practice that CFM enhancements for PBB-TE (described in IEEE Std 802.1Qay-2009 PBB-TE and IEEE Std 802.1Q-2011, VLAN aware Bridges) can be used almost identically for SPBM MAs. Nevertheless, ECMP connectivity differs in that multiple paths are enabled for the same end points. The same VID and correspondingly the ECMP CFM require further changes in order to monitor the associated services. As a result ECMP MAs need to be separated from SPBM MAs, and the associated monitoring protocol tools need to be modified as their operation depends on the type of connectivity that they monitor.
ECMP Point-to-Point (PtP) path connectivity and the associated monitoring tools are described in P802.1Qbp, but P802.1Qbp does not describe ECMP multipoint monitoring in a consistent manner. In particular, the "SPBM VLAN" connectivity is associated with an overall connectivity identified by the same SPBM VID value. However, an overall SPBM-VID connectivity is meaningless for ECMP, because ECMP creates multiple independent connectivity paths between subsets of nodes that are members of the SPBM-VID. The operational status of each of the ECMP subsets is therefore independent of the operational status of the other ECMP subsets identified by the same SPBM-VID. This ECMP independency means that, when using SPBM OAM mechanisms and an overall SPBM-VID connectivity is reported as being error-free, the connectivity on ECMP subsets could be non-operational. The above connectivity characteristic of the SPBM VLAN Maintenance Association (MA) creates problems for monitoring multipoint ECMP services. In particular, since the SPBM VLAN Continuity Check protocol attempts to monitor the overall "VLAN" service, the scope of propagation of the Continuity Check Message (CCM) PDUs is provided by the use of a broadcast address (constructed using SPBM default Backbone Service Identifier, I-SID). The result of this is that monitored connectivity is different from the connectivity associated with the monitored data traffic. In addition, the operation of Link Trace Messages (LTM) becomes quite difficult and the extent of reachability of the LTMs can be quite different to that defined by the configured ECMP related MAC address entries.
Furthermore, the placement of the "SPBM VLAN MEP" in parallel to ECMP PtP path Maintenance Association Edge Points (MEPs) breaks the operation of the ECMP path MAs (stopping every ECMP Path CFM PDU on the SPBM-VID as can be seen from FIG. 27-4 in P802.1Qbp/D1.0.)

Connectivity fault management in a communication network


A system and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems is provided. A plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) blocks are received by an OFDMA base station transceiver from a plurality of remote user devices in wireless communication with the base station. A ranging subchannel is extracted from the OFDM blocks. The number of active codes in the ranging subchannel is determined, active codes are identified, and carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) are estimated for each active code. Timing delays and power levels for each active code are then estimated. The estimated CFOs, timing delays, and power levels are broadcasted by the base station to the remote user devices, so that the user devices can utilize same to adjust transmission parameters to optimize power levels and synchronize communication with the base station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to a system and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems.
2. Related Art
In the field of wireless communication technology, recent demands for high data rates have stimulated intense research activity in multicarrier modulation techniques. Particular interest has been directed to orthogonal frequency-division multiple-access (OFDMA) wireless communication systems, which have become part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.16 family of standards for wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs). OFDMA systems allow for the transmission of digital information between a base station (BS) and a plurality of remote user devices, such as cellular telephones, wireless handheld computers, etc. OFDMA systems split the available bandwidth into smaller subchannels composed by a set of orthogonal subcarriers, which are assigned to different users to simultaneously communicate with the BS. The user signals are received at the BS as a series of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) blocks, from which information data are extracted by the BS. Unfortunately, OFDMA systems are extremely sensitive to timing errors and carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) that may occur between uplink signals and the local references at the BS. Timing errors give rise to interblock interference (IBI), while inaccurate compensation of the CFOs destroys orthogonality among subcarriers and produces interchannel interference (ICI) as well as multiple access interference (MAI).
In an attempt to alleviate these drawbacks of OFDMA systems, the IEEE 802.16 standards specify a synchronization procedure called Initial Ranging (IR), wherein users that intend to establish a link with the BS adjust their transmission parameters so that uplink signals arrive at the BS synchronously and with approximately the same power level. In its basic form, the IR process develops through the following steps. First, a remote user computes frequency and timing estimates on the basis of a downlink control channel. The estimated parameters are then used in the uplink phase, during which each remote user transmits a randomly chosen code over a ranging time-slot that comprises a specified number of adjacent OFDM blocks. However, as a consequence of the different users' positions within the cell, uplink signals arrive at the BS at different time instants. Furthermore, since the ranging time-slot is randomly selected, several users may collide over a same ranging subchannel. After separating colliding codes and extracting timing and power information, the BS broadcasts a response message indicating the detected codes and giving the necessary instructions for timing and power adjustment.
The main functions of the BS during the ranging process may be classified as multi-user code detection, and multi-user timing and power estimation. In existing IR techniques, a long pseudo-noise (PN) code is transmitted by each RSS over all available ranging subcarriers. Code detection and timing recovery is then accomplished on the basis of suitable correlations computed in either the frequency or time domains. These approaches require huge computational complexity since each correlation must be evaluated for each possible ranging code and hypothesized timing offset. Moreover, separation of users is achieved by exploiting only the correlation properties of the employed code set. In the presence of multipath distortions, however, ranging subcarriers are subject to different attenuations and phase shifts, thereby leading to a loss of the code orthogonality. This gives rise to MAI, which severely degrades the system performance.
Alternative solutions involve replacing the PN ranging codes with a set of modified generalized chirp-like (GCL) sequences and mitigating the effects of channel distortion through differential detection of the ranging signals. Unfortunately, this approach is still plagued by significant MAI and, furthermore, it cannot be applied to interleaved OFDMA systems since ranging subcarriers must be assigned adjacently. Some attempts at reducing the system complexity rely on the decomposition of the multi-parameter estimation problem into a number of successive steps. However, they are only suitable for flat channels and fail in the presence of multipath distortions. Still another approach involves a reduction of the computational burden, but this is achieved at the price of an increased overhead using a dedicated common ranging code.
A common drawback, among others, of existing IR methods is their poor performance in the presence of frequency selective channels. For example, in one existing method a signal design is proposed which is robust to multipath distortions, wherein ranging signals are divided into several groups and each group is transmitted over an exclusive set of subcarriers with a specific timing delay. This approach leads to a significant reduction of MAI as signals of different groups are perfectly separable in either the frequency or time domain. Additionally, in existing approaches, phase rotations induced by residual CFOs between the uplink signals and the BS frequency scale are ignored even though such rotations may become significant over ranging periods spanning several adjacent blocks. In such cases, the received ranging signals are no longer orthogonal and CFO compensation is necessary to avoid a serious degradation of the system performance. Unfortunately, frequency recovery schemes for OFDMA systems are normally derived under the assumption that uplink signals are transmitted over disjoint subcarriers and, as a result, cannot be applied to a scenario where multiple codes share the same subchannel.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a system and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems, which addresses the foregoing shortcomings of existing initial ranging approaches.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems


An illustrated view of an exemplary changeable holiday display for displaying lighted celebrations of holidays is presented. The changeable holiday display is useful for providing programmable displays of events such as holidays, celebrations, etc. without having to remove the display after each event. The changeable holiday display is useful for being updatable to a new display of event and programmable to add and edit events as is desired.

A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tradition of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job held or personal choices.
The concept of holidays often originated in connection with religious observances. The intention of a holiday was typically to allow individuals to tend to religious duties associated with important dates on the calendar. In most modern societies, however, holidays serve as much of a recreational function as any other weekend days or activities.
In many societies there are important distinctions between holidays designated by governments and holidays designated by religious institutions. For example, in many predominantly Christian nations, government-designed holidays may center on Christian holidays, though non-Christians may instead observe religious holidays associated with their faith. In some cases, a holiday may only be nominally observed. For example, many Jews in the Americas and Europe treat the relatively minor Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as a "working holiday", changing very little of their daily routines for this day.
The word holiday has differing connotations in different regions. In the United States the word is used exclusively to refer to the nationally, religiously or culturally observed day(s) of rest or celebration, or the events themselves, whereas in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations, the word may refer to the period of time where leave from one's duties has been agreed, and is used as a synonym to the US preferred vacation. This time is usually set aside for rest, travel or the participation in recreational activities, with entire industries targeted to coincide or enhance these experiences. The days of leave may not coincide with any specific customs or laws. Employers and educational institutes may designate 'holidays' themselves which may or may not overlap nationally or culturally relevant dates, which again comes under this connotation, but it is the first implication detailed that this article is concerned with.
A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel, theatre, casino, train station, or similar building. It often has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist(s) appearing at that venue. The marquee is sometimes identifiable by a surrounding cache of light bulbs, usually yellow or white, that flash intermittently or as chasing lights.
Electronic signage (also called electronic signs or electronic displays) are illuminant advertising media in the signage industry. Major electronic signage includes fluorescent signs, HID (high intensity displays), incandescent signs, LED signs, and neon signs. Besides, LED signs and HID are so-called digital signage.
Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message to a specific group, usually for the purpose of marketing or a kind of advocacy. A signage also means signs collectively or being considered as a group. The term signage is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980.
Signs are any kind of visual graphics created to display information to a particular audience. This is typically manifested in the form of wayfinding information in places such as streets or on the inside and outside buildings. Signs vary in form and size based on location and intent, from more expansive banners, billboards, and murals, to smaller street signs, street name signs, sandwich boards and lawn signs. Newer signs may also use digital or electronic displays.
The main purpose of signs is to communicate, to convey information designed to assist the receiver with decision-making based on the information provided. Alternatively, promotional signage may be designed to persuade receivers of the merits of a given product or service. Signage is distinct from labeling, which conveys information about a particular product or service.
Many people put up electronic displays to celebrate holidays. These signs are removed after the holiday and stored until the next holiday. Another display is used for the next holiday. This is time consuming, requires usage of a lot of space and extra effort to remove one display for another display, etc.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a device that can display various holiday celebrations. The device should have the capabilities to be "programmed" via a remote computing device and can be display year round.


An elevator installation has at least one shaft door and a monitoring device for monitoring movements for opening the shaft door, the monitoring device has a first, energy-autonomous counting device for counting the movements, which independently of an intact power supply increments a first count value in the case of one of these movements, and a second counting device for counting the movements, which when the power supply is intact increments a second count value in the case of one of these movements, and a comparison circuit which calls up and compares the first and second count values and can generate a signal based on the comparison of the count values.

Monitoring of shaft doors is used in order to help ensure the safety of persons present in the elevator installation.
An elevator installation usually comprises an elevator shaft with a plurality of shaft doors and an elevator cage movable in the elevator shaft. Each shaft door is secured by a locking device. A shaft door contact is arranged at the locking device for the purpose of detection of unlocking. The shaft door contacts of several shaft doors are connected in series in a closed current circuit and are a component of a safety circuit. The closed current circuit is acted on by a basic voltage. In the case of unlocking of one of the shaft doors not attributable to a usual user-related utilization of the elevator cage this safety circuit is interrupted by the associated shaft door contact. After such an unlocking the assumption can be that a person is present in the elevator shaft outside the elevator cage. This can be caused by, for example, manual unlocking of the shaft door, but also by faulty functioning of the locking device.
Independently of re-locking subsequently taking place, an operating mode of the elevator installation is adapted. Travel or speed limitations are incorporated into a travel pattern of the elevator cage. It can thus be ensured that a person possibly present on the elevator cage or on the floor of the elevator shaft has sufficient room. The elevator installation can, instead, also be stopped as a precaution. In both cases a service specialist thereafter has to ensure on site that nobody is present in the elevator shaft outside the elevator cage. Only then can the specialist reset the elevator installation back to an operating mode corresponding with normal operation.
It can be problematic with such a procedure that the device for monitoring the shaft doors is 'blind' in the case of a longer-term power failure in which the basic voltage in the safety circuit cannot be maintained by a battery. Consequently, for reasons of safety it should be assumed after a longer-term power failure that a person is present in the shaft, although it is also possible that none of the shaft doors was unlocked during the power failure. It can thus be necessary in every instance for a service specialist to be on site if the power supply is guaranteed again and the elevator installation can be set back into normal operation.

Apparatus and method for monitoring elevator shaft doors


A new and distinct cultivar of Gaura plant named ‘Whiskers Deep Rose’, characterized by its deep rose-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage often tinted red, and moderately vigorous, upright growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gaura plant botanically known as Gaura lindheimeri and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Whiskers Deep Rose'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Elburn, Ill. during June 2005. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Gaura cultivars that are free flowering with a compact growth habit.
The new Gaura cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Gaura lindheimeri breeding selection coded 0024-B2-B2, not patented, characterized by its dark rose-colored flowers, dark green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, semi-upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Gaura lindheimeri breeding selection coded 0032-A1-4, not patented, characterized by its light blush-pink colored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, semi-upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during August 2012 in a controlled environment in Elburn, Ill.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since August 2012 in Elburn, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


A character and symbol pattern generator includes a skeleton data storage device for storing beforehand, for every skeleton pattern. Skeleton data includes coordinate data of each skeleton point at which changes occur at least in the stroke direction of skeleton pattern for forming characters and symbols, two thickness data which represent lengths of two thickness segments of a stroke on the start and end points of the skeleton pattern, and two angle data which represent angles of the two thickness segments with respect to the stroke direction or the horizontal direction. An input device is used to designate the kind and size of the character and symbol. A thickness data calculating device calculates thickness data of each skeleton point from the two thickness data of the start and end points and the coordinate data of each skeleton point. An angle data calculating device calculates angle data of the thickness segment of each skeleton point from the two angle data of the start and end points and the coordinate data of each skeleton point. An outline data generating device generates outline data from the skeleton data and from the thickness data and the angle data of each skeleton point calculated by the calculating devices respectively. A character and symbol pattern synthesizing device synthesizes character and symbol patterns based on the outline data. An output device outputs the character and symbol patterns.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character and symbol pattern generator, and more particularly to a character and symbol pattern generator which is applied to electronic information processing equipment such as a word processor, a computer, an electronic notebook and the like and generates character and symbol patterns based on skeleton data for forming the skeleton of characters and symbols.
2) Description of the Related Art
A method for consecutively storing a plurality of point coordinates on the outline of a character, interpolating each point by straight lines or curves to obtain outlines so that character patterns having outline font are generated has conventionally been used.
However, data volume for a character increases if the point coordinates of the outline for forming the character pattern are consecutively present. For this reason, the memory capacity for storing the point coordinates of the outline considerably increases, thereby decreasing the processing speed at which the character patterns are generated.
According to the prior art which solves these problems, the following method and apparatus have been known.
For example, a pattern generating system has been proposed wherein center coordinates and information about a thickness (width) up to an outline and an angle are present for each point which constitutes a skeleton of a stroke, so that the outline points are calculated to generate the outline (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 3(1991)-21991).
Also, a character outline generating method has been proposed wherein each point constituting a skeleton of a stroke has information about a skeleton line and a thickness up to an outline, and the start and end points of the stroke have information about an angle formed between the outline direction and the thickness direction to generate the outline (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. SHO 63(1988)-217394).
A character pattern generator has been proposed wherein each point which constitutes a skeleton has information about the position and the thickness up to the outline to generate the outline (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. SHO 59(1984)-210482). Furthermore, a character generating device for thickly/thinly processing each outline width for forming outline font (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 7(1995)-191657), and a character pattern generating method and device therefor for reducing the time for drawing each outline width for forming outline font (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. HEI 7(1995)-178963) have been known.
According to the prior art disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. HEI 3(1991)-21991, SHO 63(1988)-217394 and SHO 59(1984)-210482, outline data representing outlines are generated from the skeleton data, the thickness data and the angle data so that data volume for generating character patterns is reduced. In the above methods and apparatus, the thickness data and the angle data are retained for every skeleton point in a stroke to obtain an outline point corresponding to each skeleton point. For this reason, there is a problem that the data volume is not fully reduced when generating character patterns with outline font. Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. HEI 7(1995)-191657 and HEI 7(1995)-178963 have not disclosed the reduction of data volume to generate characters with outline font.

Character and symbol pattern generator based on skeleton data including thickness calculation


The present invention relates to a method of preparing a solid form of soy isoflavone (e.g. genistein). In particular, the present invention relates to a method of preparing a solid form of soy isoflavone by precipitation with compressed antisolvent using a supercritical fluid to produce nano-sized particles of soy isoflavone with an improved dissolution rate and bioavailability. An oral composition or aerosolized formulation comprising the nanoparticles of the soy isoflavone prepared by the method of the present invention is also disclosed herein. The dissolution rate and bioavailability of the nanoparticles of the soy isoflavone prepared by the method of the present invention have a 2-fold increase and a 2.6-fold increase respectively as compared to those of the raw soy isoflavone.

Oral route is the most common route of drug administration. The drug delivered by oral administration is usually in the form of powder, tablet or capsule, and is first dissolved in the gastrointestinal fluid along the GI tract and the dissolved drug subsequently permeates through the gastrointestinal membrane. However, oral route is not suitable for many drug molecules because of unacceptably low bioavailability caused by low water solubility, poor gastrointestinal membrane permeability, first pass metabolism, and instability in the gastrointestinal environment.
Soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens with chemical structures and physiological functions that are similar to those of the female hormone, estrogen. Thus, they can relieve estrogen-deficient diseases especially menopausal symptoms including hot flashes, osteoporosis and cardiovascular problems. To date, twelve main isoflavones have been characterized in soy bean or soy bean products including genistein, daidzein, and glycitein (aglycones), and their respective malonyl, acetyl, and glucosyl forms (glucosides) (Apers et al. 2004; Rostagno et al. 2004). Although isoflavones (e.g. Genistein) have been widely used as healthcare products to relieve estrogen-deficient diseases especially menopausal symptoms, their therapeutic effects may be hampered by its poor water solubility. In order to improve its water solubility, some research groups have tried to form complexes between genistein and different carriers such as cyclodextrins (Lee et al. 2007; Stancanelli et al. 2007; Daruhazi et al. 2008) and PEG (Motlekar et al. 2006). However, these methods have limitations such as high residual organic solvent content, the instability of drugs and carriers as well as the safety issues of the carrier materials. Thus, there still remains a need for a process which can produce a dosage form of soy isoflavone with improved water solubility and bioavailability.
A way to increase the dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drugs is through the increase in the total surface area by reducing the drug particle size. Different techniques have been applied for this purpose, including spray drying, freeze-drying, milling, liquid anti-solvent crystallization and precipitation with supercritical fluid. Compared to other techniques, supercritical fluid-based technology has attracted a great deal of attention because of the following four major advantages: (1) controlled particle size and distribution, (2) low cost and environmentally benign properties, (3) no degradation of product due to mechanical or thermal stresses relatively because of the mild operating conditions (Tc=31.1° C., Pc=7.38 MPa), (4) no contamination due to the presence of organic solvents. Among the supercritical fluid based processes for producing fine particles, precipitation with compressed antisolvent (PCA) using supercritical CO2 has attracted a vast amount of attention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,029 (Subramaniam; Bala et al. 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,521 (Randolph; Theodore W. et al. 2001), U.S. Pat. No. 7,332,111 (Grothe; Willy et al. 2008), disclosed PCA process for producing fine particles. However, none of these conventional methods have achieved a significant particle size reduction with proof of improvements in the dissolution rate and bioavailability of the active ingredients being atomized into fine particles. Therefore, there is a need for providing an optimized PCA process to produce a desirable nanoparticle of soy isoflavone with significant particle size reduction and improved dissolution rate/bioavailability suitable for both oral and inhalable administrations.

Method of preparing soy isoflavone nanoparticles by precipitation with compressed antisolvent (PCA) using a supercritical fluid

NANO AND ADVANCED MATERIALS INSTITUTE LIMITED


An improved sheet detecting rotary switch activator is disclosed. The switch is modified by mounting the switch for rotation at a hub member which pivots about a fixed point. The hub member has teeth with a helical surface which mate with fixed surfaces having helical top surfaces. When the switch is rotated from a first position by passage of a paper sheet, energy is stored in the spring connected to the hub member. Upon release of the spring, energy by movement of the paper path switch contact arm moves the hub member from a position where the mating helical surfaces overlying are in contact to the output contact position. The return is a "soft" stop due to the dissipation of the release force of the spring in a direction generally normal to the helical surfaces of the mating teeth.

The present invention relates to a rotary switch actuator and, more particularly to an actuator whose construction and operation has been modified to reduce the "bounce back" phenomena after the switch has been activated and released.
Mechanical/electrical rotary switches are well known in the art and have been used for a great variety of purposes. One function is to provide an electrical signal upon detecting the passage of an object such as a sheet of paper moving along a transport path. U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,790 discloses the use of a switch actuator which is positioned in a sheet transport path. The switch of the present invention can find utility in a sheet transport system of the type disclosed in this patent, whose contents are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional prior art switch. A description of the switch and its operation is provided to identify and describe the cause of the "bounce back" phenomena which constitutes a problem for usage of this type of prior art switch. As shown in FIG. 1, the switch consists of a base substrate 2, which may be of a lightweight plastic construction, to which are mounted a horseshoe sensor 4 and a rotary switch assembly 6. Sensor 4 has a bifurcated or horseshoe configuration to establish upper and lower legs 8, 10, respectively. Upper leg 8 supports a light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) 12, where the lower leg 10 supports a light detector such as a photodiode 14. The diodes 12, 14 are aligned on a common sensing axis 16. Conventional wiring circuitry (not shown) supplies power to the LED 12 along connection 18, while output signals from photodiode 14 are sent to a system control circuit along connection 20. Switch 6, which may be made from a one piece molded plastic, comprises a hub 22 which is seated on a metal pivot post 24. Post 24 is rigidly connected to substrate 2. A curled hook segment 26 forms an extension of the hub and is used as the connection for one end of biasing spring 28. The other end of spring 28 is connected to a protrusion 30 which extends vertically upward from substrate 2. Switch 6 further comprises two arms 32, 34. Arm 32 is an arcuate shape and terminates in a tip 33 which projects an inclined edge surface 35 into the path of a paper sheet 36, moving in the direction of arrow 37. Arm 34 is generally oriented in the opposite direction and is positioned in its non-operative state so that the tip of arm 34 lies within the common sensing axis 16 between LED 12 and diode 14. In this position, the light from LED 12 is prevented from reaching diode 14; hence, there is no output signal on connection 20.
In operation, as paper sheet 36 moves in the direction of arrow 37, the leading edge encounters edge surface 35 of area 32 and begins to move arm 32 in a counterclockwise (CCW) direction. The movement is transmitted to all of the integral components of switch 6. Hub 22 is rotated about post 24 and the tip of arm 34 is rotated out of the position on sensing axis 16. Light from LED 12 illuminates diode 14, creating an output signal on connector 20. The signal, representing the arrival of a copy sheet, is sent to the system control and is used for timing and registration purposes. The rotational force imparted to switch 6 causes spring 28 to be extended, resulting the creation of stored energy which will return the switch to its original position when the trailing edge of sheet 36 exits the contact with edge surface 35 of arm 32. The "bounce back" phenomena is created when the spring energy is released and is a function of the way in which the bottom portion of hub 22 interfaces with the seating portion of frame 2. As shown in the exploded view in FIG. 2, two arcuate rectangular teeth like segments 40, 42, extend vertically upward from the substrate 2. The teeth are separated by 180.degree. and by a radial arc distance D. Hub member 22 has two, arcuate teeth-like segments 22A, 22B. When hub member 22 is fully seated, the body of the hub 22 is supported by the top surfaces of segments 40, 42, and teeth 22A, 22B are seated in the spaces between teeth 40, 42. The width of teeth 22A, 22B is less than distance D, thus providing the play required during switch rotation. During the CCW rotation of switch 6, hub 22 and teeth 22A, 22B rotate within the distance D until they come to a stop against the side of teeth 40, 42, respectively. Upon release of the energy stored in spring 28, switch 6 and hub 22 are rapidly rotated in a clockwise (CW) direction. The vertical edges of teeth 22A, 22B come to a hard stop against the vertical sides of teeth 40, 42. This results in a portion of the closing return force expended by spring 28 being translated back into the hub and throughout the structure of switch 6. This sometimes results in the tip of arm 34 "bouncing back" in a CCW direction sufficient to move the arm out of sensing axis 16, thus generating an incorrect (false) output signal from diode 14.
According to the present invention, this "bounce back" phenomena is practically eliminated by changing the seating configuration of the hub member of the switch so as to reduce the effect of the return force exerted by spring 28. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rotary switch actuator comprising:
an actuator arm pivotably mounted to a substrate for movement between a reset position and a switch activated position, a hub member mounted for rotation on a pivot member fixed in position on said substrate, the improvement wherein the bottom surface of said hub member has at least two inclined surface segments which mate with inclined surfaces protruding upward from the substrate.

Rotary switch actuator for detecting the presence of a sheet or the like with a hub member having inclined surface segments


A method for the measurement of rheological properties of high density slurry materials and in particular high density mill tailings. A sample of the tailings is placed within a mixing tub, with mixing paddle used to effect the mixing. A digitally controlled electric motor is used to directly drive the paddle at a constant predetermined speed or speeds. Feedback control elements, including a variable speed drive and a computer constantly monitor the mixing speed and compensate for deviations therefrom. The tub is laterally pivotable against a load cell for a direct determination of reaction torque with correlation to viscosity and other rheological properties of the mill tailings. The load cell emits signals which are conditioned and fed to the computer which correlates torque to speed and determines the rheological properties on a continuous real-time basis. The computer also compares determined torque/speed parameters to stored rheological properties of known materials.

The standard devices in the field of measurement of rheological properties of concrete are described by GH Tattersall and PFG Banfill ("Tattersall"), in chapter 6 of their treatise, The Rheology of Fresh Concrete (Pitman Publishing Inc. 1983). The various devices described, all involve the mixing of the concrete in a bowl by either concentric or planetarily movable paddles, driven through an electric motor with an hydraulic transmission. Mixing torque, with correlation to concrete viscosity and other rheological properties of the concrete, is determined by variations in oil pressure in the hydraulic gear box, occasioned by the torque of mixing. Recordation of the variations in oil pressure is used in a subsequent calculation, with reference to the set mixing speed or speeds in order to obtain torque/speed plots, from which the relevant rheological properties are determined.
While such devices provide some measurement of the rheological properties of concrete, there are inherent properties of the system which result in substantial measuring errors. Since the mixing torque is measured by monitoring oil pressure in the hydraulic gearbox there is no allowance for energy losses in the drive system between the hydraulic gearbox and the mixing paddle. In addition, there is no provision for oil temperature corrections which cause pressure and measurement deviations.
Another source of error in the Tattersall system is the measurement of paddle speed which requires the use of calibration curves of torque versus speed at various speed settings of the hydraulic gearbox and interpolation for intermediate speed settings. Unknown deviations of paddle speed may occur, with continued mixing, caused by changes in mixing torque.
In addition, while the Tattersall device provides some degree of accuracy with concrete, its indirect torque measurements are not suitable for accurate measurement of the rheological properties of high density mill tailings, which have completely different "aggregate" gradations, and different water to solids ratios by an order of magnitude. The tailings also interact chemically with the binder system, with deviations resulting from different products and their rheological properties, as well as diminution of reactant materials.

Method and device for determining rheological properties


A cooker includes a top plate provided with a plurality of cooking zones on any of which a heating object is to be placed, a plurality of heaters each provided to a corresponding one of the plurality of cooking zones, a housing provided below the top plate and accommodating the plurality of heaters, a storage defined by a partition and provided in the housing, a door configured to cover an opening provided at the housing and communicating with the storage, and a storage case attached to the door and stored in the storage. A center of gravity of the cooker is positioned closer to a width-direction center of the housing than a width-direction end of the housing.

There have been cookers that each include a top plate provided above a housing of the cooker and heat a heating object to be placed on the top plate. As an example of such a cooker, a cooker has been proposed that includes an article storage provided in a housing of the cooker (see Patent Literature 1, for example).

Mitsubishi Electric Home Appliance Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides a method of high-temperature denitration characterized in that NOx in an exhaust gas is reduced at 450° to 800° C. using ammonia as a reducing agent in the presence of a catalyst which comprises zirconium oxide and SO3 or SO42− and has solid acid strength (Ho) of −11.93 or lower. The present invention also provides a method of high temperature denitration characterized in that NOx in an exhaust gas is reduced at 450° to 800° C. using ammonia as a reducing agent in the presence of a catalyst wherein at least one of tungsten oxide, molybdenum oxide and boron oxide is supported on a carrier comprising zirconium oxide and SO3 or SO42− and having solid acid strength (Ho) of −11.93 or lower.

A denitration catalyst to be used for an SCR method is generally prepared by adsorbing and supporting a vanadium oxide on anatase titania and adding an oxide of tungsten, molybdenum or the like thereto. The catalyst has a peak of an active reaction temperature in a range of about 350° to 400° C., and its denitration performance is lowered with a rise in reaction temperatures at 400° C. or higher. A typical characteristic of the catalyst is shown in FIG. 9. The catalyst exhibits a rapid lowering of denitration performance particularly at 450° C. or higher, and formation of NOx due to combustion of ammonia is observed at 500° C. or higher.
Recently, there have been some exhaust gas systems which need denitration by the SCR method at temperatures of 450° to 600° C. such as a gas turbine and the like equipped with no waste heat recovery boiler. A method which can denitrate an exhaust gas effectively at temperatures of 450° to 600° C. without cooling the exhaust gas and catalysts to be used for this method are required.
For denitration in a high-temperature region, a selective reduction method of nitrogen oxides without a catalyst (NCSR method) is known, but an optimum temperature in this method is 700° to 800° C., and its denitration performance is practically at most 60%.
A catalyst wherein a tungsten oxide is supported on titania and a catalyst wherein the tungsten oxide is supported on a zeolite carrier have so far been proposed for the purpose of use in the above-mentioned temperature region.
However, since denitration performance of these catalysts is apparently lower than that of the vanadium oxide-supporting denitration catalyst to be used in an ordinary temperature range, they require a large amount thereof, injection of an excessive reducing agent, injection of particular additives into the exhaust gas or the like in order to obtain a denitration rate of 90% or higher.
A subject of the present invention is to provide a method of enabling denitration of the exhaust gas effectively at temperatures of 450° to 600° C. and catalysts to be used for this method.

High-temperature denitration catalysts and processes for preparing same


A vandalism-proof lever handle system for activating a locking or latching device has a U-shaped lever handle having first and second bent end portions with a central or intermediate portion therebetween. A second end portion is secured to a mounting surface and has an extended portion for engaging the lock or latching device for activating the same. The opposite first end portion is movably secured to move in an arc-like path within a curved retaining channel forming an arc segment of given arc length. The first end portion is entrained preferably by a shoulder bolt or collar having a widened end portion. The widened end portion or widened portion of the shoulder bolt is received in an interior of the channel. End portions of the retaining channel form abutments or stop points which limit further movement during rotation of the lever handle. The shoulder bolt or widened collarlike element limits rotational, lateral, vertical, and inward and outward forces placed on the lever handle. Thus, the system is protected against vandalism and excessive forces which may damage the handle system and lock or latch to which it is coupled. A stop member may also be provided in the retaining channel to establish a stop point before reaching an end of the channel.

The present invention relates to locking devices with lever handles employed in hostile environments such as penal institutions or other environments where the devices and/or handles may be subject to vandalism.
Frequently locking devices are employed in hostile environments where they may be subject to vandalism or excessive abuse, such as in penal building institutions. More specifically, vandalism problems arise where lever style handles are used for actuating the locking devices. Because of the lever action involved, excessive horizontal, vertical, inward, outward, and circumferential forces can be applied to the handle which can cause breakage of the handle and/or the lock system. Because of the lever action of the handle, substantial forces can be applied on the lock mechanism.

Vandalism-proof lever handle system for locking or latching device


A debris mitigation system for trapping contaminant material coming from a debris-generating radiation source. The system includes a contamination barrier constructed and arranged to rotate about an axis, and a magnet structure constructed and arranged to provide a magnetic field for deflecting charged debris from the radiation source. The magnet structure is constructed and arranged to provide a magnetic field through the contamination barrier. The magnetic field, when passing through the contamination barrier, is oriented along planes generally coinciding with the axis of rotation of the contamination barrier.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In addition to EUV radiation, radiation sources used in EUV lithography tend to generate contaminant material that may be harmful for the optics and the working environment in which the lithographic process is carried out. Hence, in EUV lithography, a desire exists to limit the contamination of the optical system that is arranged to condition the beams of radiation coming from an EUV source. To this end, it is known to use a so-called rotating foil trap, for instance, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,838,684. A typical foil trap uses a high number of closely packed foils that are aligned generally parallel to the direction of the radiation generated by the EUV source. Contaminant debris, such as micro-particles, nano-particles and ions can be trapped in walls provided by foil plates. Thus, the foil trap may function as a contamination barrier that traps contaminant material from the source. Generally, these foil traps are designed to have a sufficiently large dimension to trap virtually any contaminant particle traveling through the trap. Indeed, a large fraction of debris is captured since the velocity directions are mostly non-parallel to the foil plates so that impact of the contaminant material follows eventually. Also, smaller particles travel in typical random diffusion-like paths in which most of the particles are trapped eventually. However, a small fraction of particles travel in a direction and at a velocity that allows the particles to travel through the foil trap, which may cause undesired contamination of the optics. These are mostly micro and nanometer sized particles traveling at speeds <1000 m/s. Such particles may be stopped using a rotating foil trap. However, some of these particles have a velocity that is too high to be stopped by the rotating foil trap (typically this is the case for nanometer sized particles and for ions/fast neutrals). To improve the debris mitigating function of the foil trap, electromagnetic deflecting fields have been proposed.
However, a rotating foil trap functions as a rotor in a static electromagnetic field, which may impede the function thereof and cause undesired inhibiting of the foil trap rotation.

Debris mitigation system and lithographic apparatus


A deployable charging point assembly for a vehicle includes a connecting part for connecting to a supply of electrical power separate from the vehicle. The connecting part is mountable on the vehicle, such that the connecting part is movable relative to a body of the vehicle between a first position and a second position. The charging point assembly is configured to establish an electrical connection between the supply of electrical power and an electrical system of the vehicle when the connecting part is in one or more predetermined positions between the first and second positions.

Electrically powered vehicles, such as plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, typically comprise a charge socket mounted on an exterior surface of the vehicle for connecting the vehicle to a supply of electrical power, such as an electricity grid, in order to charge batteries of the vehicle.
The charge socket is typically positioned at a location that is a compromise between ergonomics, e.g. being reachable by a user of the electric vehicle, and suitable structural points on a frame of the vehicle for mounting the charge socket.
The charge socket may be covered by a flap for protecting the charge socket from weather and debris that may otherwise settle on the charge socket and inhibit the operation of the charge socket. The flap may be opened during charging of the vehicle to provide access to the charge socket.


The present invention provides a backlight module and a display device using the backlight module. The present invention has the following advantage: An LED light shadow can be effectively optimized, and an overall display effect of a mini-LED can be improved; a problem of a mini-LED light shadow is optimized without increasing a module thickness and a module power loss as much as possible; and with a same thickness, a design of fewer LED lights can be implemented, and costs of medium- and large-sized mini-LED modules can be reduced.

A high dynamic range (HDR) has become a standard configuration for high-order display. For a TFT-LCD display technology, indexes such as a color gamut, contrast, and luminance are increasingly high, to contend with an OLED display technology. However, in the TFT-LCD technology, generally, a high color gamut is achieved at the expense of luminance, and static contrast is also poor. Consequently, it has been very difficult to improve performance of a TFT-LCD with side backlight.
To achieve a high color gamut, vendors have been developing QD-BL and QD-CF technologies, and the like. To increase contrast, a direct-type area source partitioning technology is used, to divide a backlight source into units independently controlled in a plurality of areas, that is, divide the backlight source into a plurality of mini-LEDs, and luminance of a corresponding backlight area is accurately adjusted according to distribution of bright and dark parts of each frame of image, to increase dynamic contrast, and significantly improve image display quality.

Backlight module, and display device using backlight module