34results about How to "Maximum result" patented technology

Disclosed is a method to achieve digital quantification of DNA (i.e., counting differences between identical sequences) using direct shotgun sequencing followed by mapping to the chromosome of origin and enumeration of fragments per chromosome. The preferred method uses massively parallel sequencing, which can produce tens of millions of short sequence tags in a single run and enabling a sampling that can be statistically evaluated. By counting the number of sequence tags mapped to a predefined window in each chromosome, the over- or under-representation of any chromosome in maternal plasma DNA contributed by an aneuploid fetus can be detected. This method does not require the differentiation of fetal versus maternal DNA. The median count of autosomal values is used as a normalization constant to account for differences in total number of sequence tags is used for comparison between samples and between chromosomes.

Disclosed is a method to achieve digital quantification of DNA (i.e., counting differences between identical sequences) using direct shotgun sequencing followed by mapping to the chromosome of origin and enumeration of fragments per chromosome. The preferred method uses massively parallel sequencing, which can produce tens of millions of short sequence tags in a single run and enabling a sampling that can be statistically evaluated. By counting the number of sequence tags mapped to a predefined window in each chromosome, the over- or under-representation of any chromosome in maternal plasma DNA contributed by an aneuploid fetus can be detected. This method does not require the differentiation of fetal versus maternal DNA. The median count of autosomal values is used as a normalization constant to account for differences in total number of sequence tags is used for comparison between samples and between chromosomes.

A granular biomass burning furnace for use with any appropriate granular biomass, such as grains, cherry pits, etc. The furnace includes a three stage heat exchanger, a fuel injector, a fuel stirrer, an ash ejector, a wash down system, a three stage air inducer, a fuel igniter, and supporting components. The unit includes a computer controller which controls all aspects of the operation of the unit based on information from sensors located throughout the unit. The unit includes a smart logic thermal controller to adjust the output heat of the unit via a variable speed air inducer. The three stage heat exchanger system includes a spiral water jacket surrounding the burn pot, a plurality of heat exchanger baffles in the unit, and a fine finned heat exchanger at the top of the unit. The air inducer provides air to the burn pot from three directions to promote complete combustion.

A system and / or method for sensing the presence of moisture (e.g., rain) and / or other material(s) on a window such as a vehicle window (e.g., vehicle windshield or backlite). In certain example embodiments, a capacitor-based system and / or method is provided for auto-correlating sensor data to determine the existence of a material on the window, and then cross-correlating sensor data to identify the type and / or amount of that material (e.g., rain). This data may be used to actuate and / or deactivate a vehicle's wiper(s), and / or adjust wiper speed. In certain example embodiments, the sensor may include an array of at least two capacitors. In certain example embodiments, the system and / or method may perform check(s) to enhance the accuracy of the detection by comparing, for example, the sign of autocorrelation values, maximum autocorrelation values, and / or gradients of autocorrelation values

A dual flush toilet system (120) with a water tank (122), a discharge opening (159), a flush valve (156), and a toilet bowl, is provided with a dual action flush lever (130) for actuating a full or a partial flush operation, an engaging device (161) with a V-shaped groove (160) for selectively engaging the flush valve (156) in both upward or downward movements and rotations about a vertical axis, a travel limit device (141) for limiting the maximum vertical travels of the flush valve (146), a load device (420) for selectively applying a downward load to the flush valve (156) to forcibly push the flush valve (156) down to close the discharge opening (159), and an electronic control system (1020) for electronically regulating the volumes of water used to flush the dual flush toilet system (120) according to the wastes in the toilet bowl. The dual flush toilet system (120) can perform a full or a partial flush operation through controlling the volumes of the water used to flush the wastes by selectively limiting the maximum travels of the flush valve (156), applying a downward load to forcibly push the flush valve (156) down to close the discharge opening (159), using an electronic control device (1020) to control the duration of flushing, or utilizing the differences of the physical properties of air and water flowing through different sizes of holes at different elevations on biased rotations of the flapper valve (1130) to control the duration of the flapper valve (1130) in an open position.

A granular biomass burning furnace for use with any appropriate granular biomass, such as grains, cherry pits, etc. The furnace includes a three stage heat exchanger, a fuel injector, a fuel stirrer, an ash ejector, a wash down system, a three stage air inducer, a fuel igniter, and supporting components. The unit includes a computer controller which controls all aspects of the operation of the unit based on information from sensors located throughout the unit. The unit includes a smart logic thermal controller to adjust the output heat of the unit via a variable speed air inducer. The three stage heat exchanger system includes a spiral water jacket surrounding the burn pot, a plurality of heat exchanger baffles in the unit, and a fine finned heat exchanger at the top of the unit. The air inducer provides air to the burn pot from three directions to promote complete combustion.

What is disclosed is a clutch driven reaction wheel steering unit having at least a single drive motor (101) coupled indirectly to a plurality of flywheels operable to provide momentum for all three axes in a single unit. In an exemplary embodiment, the drive motor (101) is mounted within a unit frame (203). A plurality of gears, including miter gears, are coupled directly or indirectly to the drive motor (101). Six flywheels (102A, 102B, 102C, 102D, 102E and 102F) are coupled to the ends of a plurality of shafts which extend through or are supported by the unit frame (203). Clutches are operable to selectively transmit rotational motion to the second plurality of shafts.

The invention relates to a method for measuring personal satisfaction by means of a device for giving feedback, which comprises an internal power source and at least two selector switches for giving feedback, indicating the type of the feedback, a memory for storing feedback data, and a data transmission module for transmitting the feedback data. The method comprises: presenting the subject for the feedback, receiving feedback from at least one person giving feedback, on the basis of the selection of a selector switch, storing the data on the feedback in the memory of the device for giving feedback, and transmitting the feedback data at a predetermined time from the device for giving feedback to a server in a wireless manner. The invention also relates to a device for giving feedback and a data processing system to be used in the method.

The present invention includes compositions, methods, and systems for the analysis of skin and hair conditions. The system includes a method and apparatus for analyzing skin and hair samples by taking a sample, identifying desired components of the sample, obtaining an image electronically, storing the image, and analyzing the image utilizing analysis software.

In a symbol providing game or video poker game, the player makes a wager to play an underlying symbol providing game such as a slot-type game or a draw poker game. An additional or side bet may be required to utilize the discard gameplay option. A predetermined number of cards are dealt face-up to form an initial hand. The player may select to hold none, one, some or all of the dealt cards. The player then may choose none or at least one of the unheld cards (“discards”)—if any discards are available—to receive a narrowed selection of possible replacement cards. The narrowing of the number of possible replacement cards will most likely increase the odds of receiving a replacement card that will ultimately enhance the initial deal. The narrowed replacement card selection is based on predetermined criteria relative to the discard, a player selection, or a processor selected basis.

A screening machine including at least one screen surface, feeding means that feed material to be screened towards the screen surface and onto the screen surface where the material is separated into a first fraction remaining on the screen surface and into a second fraction passed through the screen surface while the material is moving along the screen surface. In a method for controlling the screening machine, the amount of material on the screen surface is determined by automatic measurement, and the speed of the feeding means is controlled on the basis of the measurement by automatic control.

A lowboy trailer is described having a pair of rear wheel assemblies mounted to a chassis of the trailer for movement between transport and loading positions such that the wheel assemblies are aligned across a back of the body when they are in the transport position and raised and positioned outwardly when the chassis is in the loading position. A linkage mechanism moves each of the wheel assemblies between the transport and loading positions. Each linkage mechanism automatically fastens the wheel assembly to the chassis of the trailer when the assembly is moved to its transport position. In operation, each of the wheel assemblies is moved from its transport position to the loading position by first moving to an intermediate raised position. By moving the wheel assemblies to the raised position they are automatically unfastened from the chassis and freed to move outwardly about a vertical pivot axis. Also, by raising the wheel assemblies, the back end of the chassis is lowered to the ground, which is the loading position for the trailer. To return the trailer to its transport position, the rear wheel assemblies are moved inwardly about the vertical axes so as to bring the assemblies back to their intermediate raised position. Then the wheel assemblies are lowered so that each of them automatically fastens to the body, thereby preventing lateral movement of the assemblies as the trailer moves into its transport position.

The present invention relates to a method of increasing the safety of a power plant (10) provided with at least one heat engine (1, 2) and a gearbox (BTP), said engine (1, 2) driving said gearbox (BTP), said gearbox (BTP) having a lubrication system implemented using an aqueous medium stored in a reserve (30), in which method a fluid comprising water is injected into said heat engine (1, 2) to increase the power developed by the heat engine (1, 2) without increasing the temperature of a member of the heat engine (1, 2), or to decrease said temperature without modifying the power developed by the engine (1, 2), said fluid being taken from said reserve (30).

Screening assays that allow for the identification of agents that increase acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) acylase expression and / or AHL acylase activity in γ-proteobacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Such agents are useful, for example, for inhibiting quorum sensing activity of such bacteria by increasing degradation of long chain, but not short chain, AHLs and, therefore, can be useful for treating infections by such bacteria.

A dual flush toilet system (120) with a water tank (122), a discharge opening (159), a flush valve (156), and a toilet bowl, is provided with a dual action flush lever (130) for actuating a full or a partial flush operation, an engaging device (161) with a V-shaped groove (160) for selectively engaging the flush valve (156) in both upward or downward movements and rotations about a vertical axis, a travel limit device (141) for limiting the maximum vertical travels of the flush valve (146), a load device (420) for selectively applying a downward load to the flush valve (156) to forcibly push the flush valve (156) down to close the discharge opening (159), and an electronic control system (1020) for electronically regulating the volumes of water used to flush the dual flush toilet system (120) according to the wastes in the toilet bowl. The dual flush toilet system (120) can perform a full or a partial flush operation through controlling the volumes of the water used to flush the wastes by selectively limiting the maximum travels of the flush valve (156), applying a downward load to forcibly push the flush valve (156) down to close the discharge opening (159), using an electronic control device (1020) to control the duration of flushing, or utilizing the differences of the physical properties of air and water flowing through different sizes of holes at different elevations on biased rotations of the flapper valve (1130) to control the duration of the flapper valve (1130) in an open position.

The present invention relates to a battery storage structure for acoustic equipment having a housing and a battery-driven speaker disposed on the housing, the battery storage structure for storing a battery in the housing. A case storage section is disposed in the housing and has an open surface. A battery case has an open surface and is stored within the case storage section, wherein the open surface of the battery case is oriented in the same direction as the open surface of the case storage section. At least one connection section connects the battery case and the case storage section, wherein a predetermined gap is formed between an inner bottom surface of the case storage section and an outer bottom surface of the battery case, and between an inner side surface of the case storage section and an outer side surface of the battery case.

Screening assays that allow for the identification of agents that increase acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) acylase expression and / or AHL acylase activity in γ-proteobacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Such agents are useful, for example, for inhibiting quorum sensing activity of such bacteria by increasing degradation of long chain, but not short chain, AHLs and, therefore, can be useful for treating infections by such bacteria.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a screening machine comprising at least one screen surface, feeding means that feed material to be screened towards the screen surface and onto the screen surface (6a) where the material is separated into a first fraction remaining on the screen surface and into a second fraction passed through the screen surface while the material is moving along the screen surface (6a). In the method, the amount of material on the screen surface is determined by automatic measurement, and the speed of the feeding means (5) is controlled on the basis of die measurement by automatic control (C).

A weight for placement on a hand-held tool that has an elongated body portion. The weight has a generally cylindrical body defining a through-hole that is larger in diameter than the elongated body portion of the tool, and at least one flexible member coupled to the body and extending inwardly from the ends of the body such that it effectively decreases the through-hole diameter. The body and flexible member combination is placed onto the tool such that the elongated body portion of the tool protrudes from both ends of the body, with the flexible member frictionally engaging the elongated body portion.

Described herein is a novel, mitochondrial encoded, open reading frame, that leads to the production of a new mitochondrial peptide. Residing within the ND-Two subunit, a specific small nucleotide polymorphism disrupts expression of this mitochondrial peptide, and is correlated with an increase in obesity and diabetes, particularly in certain ethnic populations. In vitro administration of the peptide increases insulin secretion, decreases fat accumulation and improves glucose uptake in muscle cell. Antibodies generated against the peptide can be used for detecting peptide deficiency, in addition to SNP detection, supporting diagnostic approaches. In vivo studies further revealed that administration of the peptide improves glucose tolerance, thereby providing a new therapeutic avenue for a novel diabetes therapy and decreases bodyweight, thus serving as a novel obesity therapy. Generation of synthetic analogs further enhance or abrogated activity relative to the natural peptide.

A method for accessing a plurality of contents by using at least one piece of information representing at least one content selected by the user, called a reference content. The method includes the following acts implemented by a processor: rendering a plurality of pieces of metadata of said reference content, receiving a query for a selection, in said plurality, of at least one piece of metadata, called a sought piece of metadata, determining at least one resultant content, having an intensity level of said at least one sought piece of metadata, and rendering at least one piece of information representing said at least one resultant content.

To evaluate the resolution of individual sonar images in field conditions without specific targets, a statistical sampling of the imagery is taken and analyzed. Large quantities of resolution measurements are made on point-objects identified in the imagery. The measurements are compared to improve fidelity and generate statistically significant results. The image is broken into segments for analysis to identify variation in resolution across the image. The mean value of point-target resolution per segment can be determined for the imagery. A segment with an insufficient number of measurements required to determine a statistically significant value for resolution is rejected. The image resolution can be determined as the mean or median value of the segment measurements for the entire image.

A beach umbrella comprises a lower pole section and separate upper pole section with a canopy. The pole sections may be connected by inserting the lower end of the upper section into a sleeve on the upper end of the lower section. The sleeve includes a hinged lever arm that may be positioned to permit manual rotation of the lower section to bore the lower pole securely into the soil and thereby permit coupling of the upper section to the lower section positioned in the ground. The lower end of the lower section includes a hollow tubular sleeve with outwardly projecting fins or blades to bore into the soil when the lower pole section is rotated and axially projecting teeth to pierce the sand.

Methods for removing water and / or dissolved and solid contaminants from a liquid hydrocarbon such as condensate flowing through a fractionating column are disclosed. Pressure within the column and temperature at which the reboiler operates are observed to prevent boiling of the contaminated hydrocarbon thus obviating contaminant deposition on heated surfaces. Further methods directed to column operation and anti-fouling procedures augment the core method. Apparatus to effect the methods is also provided.

A novel composition comprised of a monocarboxylic fatty acid synergistically enhanced with a dual quaternary ammonium compound to provide immediate fungal and sporicidal destruction with long term residual resistance.

An electrosurgical generator includes: a power supply configured to output a DC waveform; a current or voltage source coupled to the power supply and configured to output current; and a power converter coupled to the current source. The power converter includes at least one power switching element operated at a switching waveform and configured to generate a radio frequency waveform based on the energy from the current or voltage source. The radio frequency waveform includes at least one pulse having an overshoot peak. The electrosurgical generator further includes a clipper circuit coupled to the current source and the power converter, the clipper circuit configured to generate a clipping voltage to clip the overshoot peak; and a controller coupled to the power converter and configured to modulate the switching waveform to generate the radio frequency waveform.

The invention relates to a method for rapid freezing of ice cubes by means of a higher dispensing rate and contact freezing, the cube being produced in 7 minutes with a water consumption equivalent to the volume of the cubes, thereby not wasting a single drop of water. A conventional condenser and compressor store cold in a store where the cold produced is maintained at a constant temperature of −30° C., and a gel that absorbs the cold from the medium is pumped as far as the ice-tray, where it runs into the spaces separating the cells where the cubes are formed in order then to return via a downward conduit to the cold store, continuing the cycle, and a series of dispensing devices meter out the water necessary into the cells where a contact-freezing process is initiated.

The present invention relates to a battery storage structure for acoustic equipment having a housing and a battery-driven speaker disposed on the housing, the battery storage structure for storing a battery in the housing. A case storage section is disposed in the housing and has an open surface. A battery case has an open surface and is stored within the case storage section, wherein the open surface of the battery case is oriented in the same direction as the open surface of the case storage section. At least one connection section connects the battery case and the case storage section, wherein a predetermined gap is formed between an inner bottom surface of the case storage section and an outer bottom surface of the battery case, and between an inner side surface of the case storage section and an outer side surface of the battery case.

The present invention relates to a method of increasing the safety of a power plant (10) provided with at least one heat engine (1, 2) and a gearbox (BTP), said engine (1, 2) driving said gearbox (BTP), said gearbox (BTP) having a lubrication system implemented using an aqueous medium stored in a reserve (30), in which method a fluid comprising water is injected into said heat engine (1, 2) to increase the power developed by the heat engine (1, 2) without increasing the temperature of a member of the heat engine (1, 2), or to decrease said temperature without modifying the power developed by the engine (1, 2), said fluid being taken from said reserve (30).